The Necromancer - Ch. 1

Most people don’t realize what a brief and serene gift a happy, beautiful and calm life truly is. They divide their past by the wars, but always view the current as a calm, mirror smooth pond. A utopian future was a blind fantasy whether people would admit it to themselves or not. Newlyweds almost believed that their love would protect them from the evils of reality.

One couple dared to believe it was true for them. Since they met each other, they seemed capable of repelling any misfortune that blundered into their way. They lived in a relatively small village in their massive nation, but it was still on the cutting edge of technology. That wasn’t saying much for the technology of the time, though.

The newlyweds were riding a steam-powered horseless carriage lent to them by the kindly resident millionaire of the village. It was massive, almost the full length of a locomotive engine, with massive ornate brass wheels that stretched more than twice the height of the tallest man in the village. The machine didn’t go very fast, crawling along like a paddle boat on the ground, but it didn’t matter. Speed wasn’t the key. The crawler had a romantic, almost fairytale look to it. Its boiler looked like a massive metal pumpkin. It had curved railings that bowed and flowed in waves around the golden and silver land ship. The couple sat on a bed covered with flower petals sprinkled across it.

The wife’s dress was pure white, embroidered with intricate floral patterns over the whole surface. It was complicated and done by hand, her mother and sisters working on it around the clock for months. It was very tight, a corset holding her form in a perfect hourglass shape. The intricate pattern made the dress very stiff, making it even harder for her to breathe. She was fine with it, though, wanting to look absolutely perfect. Her skin was alabaster smooth and ivory pale. Her natural beauty shone without the slightest bit of makeup. She didn’t have to fight to control her hair. It lay perfectly smooth and shone like strands of gold. She had a vale down over her face, her eyes cast down in solemn thoughts of her future. She couldn’t help but smile, all her wishes for the day coming true.

Her husband sat next to her on the bed. He was wearing a flat-black suit. It was a fine suit, though nowhere near the exceedingly superb quality of his wife’s dress. He didn’t care, it was her day. He spent every dollar he had saved since he was a little boy to make the day perfect for her. He had loved her since they were both children. He had even put far more effort into his appeared, shaving far more carefully than he had before. He couldn’t have a single knick on his face today, no matter how small. He treated his black hair so that it was smooth and had a slight sheen to it. He combed his hair so that it wouldn’t block his brilliant blue eyes.

He could barely keep his hands off his beautiful bride. He raised her vale and kissed her delicious red lips when the driver wasn’t looking. His bride blushed a bright red, a burning cherry that covered almost her entire face. It was only the second time he had ever kissed her, and the first since the ceremony. She sighed as he put his hand on her hip, holding her close to him. She turned to him, putting her hands against his chest.

“Alek…” She whispered with her quietest voice. “Can’t you wait until we’re alone?” Her voice was lyrical and beautiful, despite the harsh guttural sounds of their native language. She was almost the exact opposite of her blacksmith husband, whose voice couldn’t help but bark out his thoughts. Her name was Matryona, and she was a famous opera singer legendary for her angelic voice. She was famous around the world, singing for world leaders and millionaires. She was quite rich herself, stunning everyone when she announced she was going to marry a lowly blacksmith. Even Alek was more than a little surprised.

Matryona was easily rich and beautiful enough and travelled the world enough that she could literally have her choice of any man on the planet, yet she chose Alek. They knew each other from kids and had always had secret crushes on each other for years. Despite being apart from each other for years, neither of them had forgotten the other.

One day, a horse with a thrown shoe at the exact right moment in a tour brought them back together. Alek was still surprised he had the courage to even speak to her again, little-lone confess his undying love for her. He could swear he felt his heart stop for a second when she told him she felt the same way back. She had even kept herself chaste since they last saw each other just for him, on the miraculous chance that they might meet one day. They were both young, still in their teens, just barely in Alek’s case though Matryona was just cresting her mid-teen years.

“Promise me that I’m really awake.” Alek always asked himself if he was dreaming. There was no way in his mind that a beautiful goddess would choose to be with a grungy, dirty blacksmith instead of a prince. He kept his hand on her just to make sure she wasn’t just some illusion that would disappear with a wrongly timed blink. He went to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she turned away slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“The Great War…” Matryona cast her eyes down in solemn respect of the event. It was an alliance of two ‘medium-level’ nations, Duchard and Hayabusa, that suddenly made incredible and almost impossible leaps and bounds militarily. Their power seemed unholy, like it was causing the world to hemorrhage just from its mere existence. It was enough to make their home country, Rusinova, cooperate and fight alongside their long time mortal enemy, the Atalanta Republics Alliance. They had been at each other’s throats since Atalanta Republics broke off from Albion. It was horrible, causing the peoples of the world to have unspeakable nightmares.

“On my way back from my last tour, we passed through a battleground…It was horrible…Dead farther than my eyes could see…Except for one man…He was older than us…probably older than both of us together…” Matryona looked down, biting her thumb. There was something about the battles, seeing them or passing by felt like it was scarring the soul. Innocent and naïve souls like Matryona were especially damaged, like putting too much stress on a beautiful glass sculpture. “He was the only person on the entire battlefield still alive…His ribs were split open. I could see…inside of him…his beating heart getting slower and…and…and he was begging for us to kill him...”

“Matry…” Alek tried to calm her down, every word getting harder and harder for her to say. Every syllable was making her slowly rattle apart at her seams. He caressed her hip, trying to calm her down. “…do not worry about it…even if he died, he is in a better place…”

“It is not that he died…” Matryona bit her thumb too hard, causing a small trickle of blood to drip onto her pure white dress. She started to cry, wishing she could do something to undo her mistake. She wanted her wedding dress to go down her family, to all her daughters as far as it’d last. Now it was going to be stained because of her bad habit, advertising it to the world. “He was in such bad shape that I…I asked if Basil would not…would not mind doing him the favor of…of…” She turned, burying her face in his chest. “I am sorry…I should not be so sad on our wedding day…but I…I might as well have killed him myself…”

“I have seen men like that before…” Alek spoke quietly, trying to keep her at ease. He carefully took the hand whose thumb she bit. He tore off a small piece of his sleeve, carefully bandaging her thumb to keep her from bleeding on her dress anymore. He knew how important her wedding was in her mind. She had dreamt of this day since they were five, having small little ceremonies with her dolls at every opportunity. Alek had to help her fix a carriage for her newlywed teddy-bear couple. She hugged him and gave him a smile he could never forget, even if he wanted to. He kissed her on the cheek, just a quick, reassuring peck. “…It is doing them a favor. Even if you got him to a doctor, he would just be miserable and wishing he could die, even as the doctors did everything they could to save him…”

“I love you, Alek…” Matryona kissed Alek, the first kiss she had initiated between them. She smiled and blushed, feeling like she may have pushed the kiss far harder than she should of. Her mother always told her to be dainty at all times, and kissing Alek like that didn’t seem dainty. She scooted an inch or so away from Alek to try to be proper. Alek pulled her back, kissing her on the neck. Matryona blushed across her entire body; face, neck, shoulders and all. “Alek, stop…I…I cannot breathe…”

“Do not worry. He cannot see us…” He reassured her, kissing her on the shoulder. There was a large half-dome to act as a blinder. She trembled, pushing him away again. She hated to do it, but it was necessary. She reached for the fine buttons on the back of her dress. “Oh god, I should have been paying more attention…” He helped her carefully unbutton the back of her dress. As soon as he had enough undone, Matryona gasped for breath. “I am so sorry…”

“No harm done…” She took a deep breath. Smiling, she tugged at the long necklace she had around her neck, pulling a small key from its hiding spot in her dress. She closed her hand around it, giving it to Alek. “Do you know what this is?”

“Yes.” Alek nodded, taking it into his hands like the treasure it was. “…It is the key to your chastity belt.”

“…The key to my chastity belt, though I only wore it for tradition’s sake…” Matryona looked down at Alek slightly. “I did not need it…I have known from the first second I saw you that you were to be my husband…and I never doubted it…”

“I wonder every day what I did to earn the love of such an honest and beautiful woman like you…” He kissed her, laying her on her back. He kissed her on her neck, gently caressing her hips. “…and I would be lying if I said I have not been thinking about this moment for a long time…”

“Then let us not delay it a single moment longer…” Matryona whispered, guiding his hands up under her dress. They had to make love their first time on the bed the local priestesses blessed. It would ensure their long and happy marriage together, and that all their children would be healthy and successful their whole lives. It was the reason the vehicle also had a blinder as well, to keep their love from the driver. Matryona giggled with the joy of anticipation as she heard the lock pop open, but her joy seemed frozen in that moment forever.

A great shadow engulfed the entire vehicle, eclipsing the sun. They both gasped, seeing a giant alien monstrosity hovering hundreds if not thousands of feet in the air. They could barely comprehend what it was. A more foreign object had never entered their lives. Matryona looked up at it with stunned amazement, but every fiber of Alek’s being yelled bloody murder. Both knew it was man-made, but couldn’t understand how. Suddenly, a cluster of metal tears rained out of the bottom of the craft. They whistled and screamed like demons as they fell out of the sky.


Alek ‘woke up’ on a train that reeked of coal dust from its foul fuel. Alek was unable to sleep as mortals understood it. He had to close his eyes and pretend to sleep as he once did, imagining comforting dreams. He didn’t even remember if that was what really happened, his dreams being flow-of-thought memories, the small details slowly being blended together like all the colors of the spectrum becoming white light. Was Matryona even the woman he married that day? How many ‘Matryona’s had gone through his life? Three? A dozen? A thousand? He could no longer be sure.

He couldn’t even relate to time any longer. The years no longer marked his development, but rather the decay of the universe around him. His national alignment never changed, though his uniform had evolved over the years. It was now a smooth black with deep blue piping around the edges. It was incredibly intricate, with two columns of buttons. It kept him warm in the bitter winters of his homeland, though warmth and cold didn’t mean much to him anymore. It couldn’t do any last damage to him. He could break through the ice on a frozen lake and casually stroll to shore or even sit in the center and wait for the ice to melt come a distant spring.

Alek’s government wouldn’t allow him such leisure, though. He had followed through with his plan once, burying himself alive to see if he could convince his body to die. He remembered the embrace of the infinite dark for an all too brief eon before waking up in a lab. It had the undesired consequence of the government trying to replicate him, to varying degrees of effectiveness. Alek befriended many of them, mainly because he was often the only human contact any of them had outside of doctors.


As the monotonous grind of the train ride continued, Alek didn’t pay enough attention to feel it come to a stop. It was a small town, with no one of importance by the government’s standards, used as a refueling station. Alek tried not to notice towns like this, where its value was measured by its location and function, not by the number of people in it. The people in it only mattered when they were drafted into the military, a reminder that no one could truly escape war. Rusinova’s habit to grab any man capable of merely holding a rifle to go to war had cost them dearly once in recent memory. A man who became famous as a technomancer had defected to the Atalanta Republics, giving them a great technological advantage.

Alek didn’t notice the train’s stop until it started again, jostling him slightly. He had been reading a rather lengthy book, doing his best to stay focused on it rather than the thin layer of soot that covered almost everything on the train. It was a history book, going over the Great War. It romanticized his role in the war, over valuing it and making his own abilities far more miraculous. Everyone heard that he was the great necromancer, able to bring the dead back to life, but that was oversimplifying it. It was far more complicated than that.

A knock on his door kept him from getting any farther into the fairy tale book. It was a gingerly knock instead of a pound, a clear sign of a woman at the other side of the heavy wooden door. Men always hit the door like they were almost trying to break the door down to announce themselves. It was almost like they were trying to intimidate him to make him less likely to intimidate them back. Women were often shy of him, worried that they might anger him. It was the unfortunate fact that got worse and worse as time went on.

Because there was likely a woman on the other side of the door, he decided to open the door himself. He put a handkerchief down so the book had a clean resting place and went to the door. He was use to the doors on train sliding into the wall, but this one was out of date, swinging into the room. He dodged its filthy edges, but was stunned into letting it hit his shoulder by the striking woman on the other side.

She was slightly taller than most women, though still shorter than most men, and possibly only a year older than Matryona was. She had golden brown hair, making it impossible to tell if it was blond or brown. Her eyes were deep blue that he could stare into for years and never see the bottom. Her dress wasn’t very striking, not horribly elegant, but likely the best a commoner girl like her could afford. It had no design on it, not even dyed onto it. It was a light blue fabric across the entire thing, with very little intentional variance to it. Still, that was barely noticeable compared to the girl’s most striking feature.

The girl was missing both her left leg about halfway up between her knee and hip and left arm shortly after her shoulder. He recognized the scars from it. He would have likely suffered the same amputations if not for his gifts and a certain amount of luck. The poor girl hadn’t had the same luck, though she did have to be almost invincible to not die from infection afterward. The pain from the surgery alone would have driven a lesser woman insane, especially since a common family could never afford anesthesia and no doctor was likely to donate any. Even using alcohol wasn’t likely available with a commoner’s budget, and would have been dangerous anyway, risking alcohol poisoning on top of blood loss. She probably had a leather strap to keep her from biting through her tongue and a hand to hold, but that was likely it.

“May I come in, my lord?” She asked in a slightly timid voice. Alek nodded, doing his best to help her walk though she barely needed it. Even though her crutch was rough and obviously cobbled together from whatever her family had on hand, she still managed to get around rather easily. He took his coat off and put it on the sofa for her to have something clean to sit on. A beauty like her shouldn’t have to wallow in filth. “Thank you, my lord…”

“You do not have to call me ‘my lord’.” Alek did his best to not sound intimidating, as he usually spoke in a dark and gravelly voice. He did his best to smooth it out, giving the effect of a calmed storm. “Despite what I have done, I am no better than you, so treat me like…”

“With all due respect…” She looked down at the ground, blushing brightly. Her healthy and ever-so-slightly tanned skin seemed to blush the perfect amount for her. She gathered her courage briefly. “I owe you the honor of calling you my lord…I am honored to just…look upon you one more time if nothing else…but I was hoping you would do me the honor of…”

“Look, Miss…” Alek knew where things were going with the girl. It was far from the first time virgins from the cities he went through offered themselves to him. It was a novelty at first, a perk of the job. Soon, it got tiring and he began preferring girls with more experience. It was more enjoyable for all parties involved.

“Lillian, but you can call me Lily…” Lily spoke incredibly timidly, her voice trembling from the beating of her heart in her throat. She couldn’t believe she actually had the guts to talk to Alek. She was a mere mortal after all, and he was the stuff of legend. She wasn’t even sure if she could look directly upon him without bursting into flames. “I am not insulted that you do not remember me…I am sure you saved far more lives than just mine…”

“I saved your life?” Alek had to ask. It was impossible to remember everyone he saved, especially since his ‘unit’ would save countless people before. Still, he was sure he’d remember saving a girl as beautiful as Lily was.

“Yes…” Lily rubbed the stump of her left arm. “It is how I became so injured…and I remember it like it was just yesterday…”

“It was about eight years ago in another three months…I was eight, and I remember the exact day. You came to our village to perform one of your miracles for the mayor whose third wife had died in childbirth. Unfortunately, we were close to the border with the Atalanta Republics…and they must have heard you were coming, because they launched a vicious barrage against us…

“My house was the first one hit…It was our ancestral home, made of thick but weak mud bricks…I was playing with my little sister Anya up in her room when were heard the first blasts. It sounded like distant thunder and it was dreary cloudy day and I would have given the sound to the clouds…except for the lack of lightning…

“The…the horrible concussion…The roof and the rooms were burning, the outside walls crumbling like brimstone…It threw Anya like one of her rag dolls…and knocked me to the ground…I should say, it knocked me to the floor and then the ground as the wooden floor splintered and gave out under me…The whole house was starting to burn and fall apart…I could hear my mother and father screaming outside…My mom’s voice popped and gave out…and I was about to give out myself…I couldn’t move…my left arm and leg were mangled really badly…I…I wanted to die, to completely give in so I wouldn’t have to bear the pain anymore…but that’s when I heard your voice…

“You rushed into my burning house to save me, with no care about your own safety…You put your coat around me and carried me out to my mother…As I recall, you were severely burned…but it did not stop you from holding my hand while they…they cut off my arm and leg…” Lily took a deep breath, doing her best not to cry in front of Alek. She remembered Anya. She was far younger than her, only two at the time she was killed. Lily’s name was actually her first word. “I am sorry…It is very hard to talk about my childhood…and…and no one in my village…no one in my village wants to take a cripple as a wife…but that is alright…I live for you.”

“Look, Lily…” Alek realized he had to handle the situation with more delicacy than he usually did. Other girls he could just tell to get lost, and they might go crying home, but there was usually someone waiting for them. Lily had gotten on the train at the last stop, clearly thinking there was no chance of rejection. Lily probably had nothing to go home to. “You are a beautiful…gorgeous young woman, and I am sure you have a long, happy life ahead of you…”

Alek had realized why he didn’t remember Lily now. Times where he was put in severe pain sunk into the recesses of his mind. It created the damnedest loses in his memory, but it did serve a purpose. No matter what, his wounds would eventually heal and not scar, and the rapid healing to do it was mind-numbingly painful. If nothing else, it made him forget the horrible pain of his existence.

“…You would not be happy with me.” He looked into her eyes, wondering how much of his real story she knew, and how much she was going off just his legend. “I will live far beyond the time you die…and I will hardly age a small handful of years for your entire lifespan…”

“I do not mind that.” Lily spoke honestly. She could actually see many advantages of Alek staying the same age for the rest of her life. He’d always be capable to defend her, and wouldn’t suffer any of the failings of getting older himself. Or would he? Do minds fail because of the brain aging and wearing out, or is it that they get filled beyond capacity and give way? If the latter was the case, he’d fail as he got ‘older’ too. Lily still wanted to be with him no matter what. “I’m actually a very good shot with a pistol…and if I have a stand, I can…can shoot a rifle very well.”

“Lily, you could never live a full life with me.” Alek decided to be honest with Lily, tell her a few things he had told anyone before. “You understand that when I ‘resurrect’ a being, I do not honestly give it new life, right?”

“Yes.” Lily nodded with a little smile. “I remember you saying that it was only God or the universe that could truly give things life in an interview you did…But the people you resurrect…”

“The problem is I cannot create life. Period.” Alek tried not to yell at her, just wanting to spare her feelings. “I can NEVER give you a child, healthy or otherwise.”

“I do not want children…I could not stand to be pregnant. I would go insane.” Lily spoke honestly and didn’t hesitate. She could only imagine how hard it would be on her leg to carry the whole weight of her pregnancy. It’d be even worse if she had to be wheelchair bound for the last few months. Then she would be risking her leg atrophying and a long hard recovery while trying to keep up with her new baby. “I do not think it would ever be a problem…Truth be told, I was adopted…so I know what good it can do and would love to give a child a chance for a far better life.”

“I can still not force you to live the life I do, my dear. I have no home, I never stop moving. If I am not going to a battle, I am on the way to another job either ordered by my superiors or as part of my mercenary work.”

“Why do you have to bear it alone?” Lily had to honestly ask. No one in her mind needed to be alone, and though she could easily understand the want to be alone temporarily, no one should want to bear eternity alone. This seemed to be literally the case for Alek. After all, he had barely aged a day since she had seen him last. “If I cannot convince you that we are kindred spirits, please take whatever comfort you can find in my body as a sign of my eternal gratitude to you…so you will know you never HAVE to be alone…”

“Lily…” Alek whispered to her. He ran his fingers through her wavy hair slightly, finally just giving into his desires for her. She reminded him so much of Matryona, both equally beautiful in his eyes. Still, he’d try to focus on her and not Matryona, feeling that he owed an innocent and pure beauty like her his full attention. Lily closed her eyes, almost like she was afraid that if she watched her first kiss she’d be blinded by its radiance. It was her first kiss and she couldn’t have been happier with it. She didn’t fumble with it at all like she had worried.

Alek carried her to the bed he had further back in the car. He had the whole car to himself. It was to provide him unmolested privacy, though now it was making it intimately isolated from the rest of the world. His bed sheets were the only thing without even a hint of coal dust on them, which was a small miracle due to their softness and pure white color. Alek carefully put Lily down on the bed, being needlessly careful with her. Lily didn’t mind, glad someone treated her like a woman for a change.

Alek ran his hands down her hips as he kissed her over and over, like he was trying to memorize even the slightest curve in her body. It had the added bonus that it distracted him from the age difference between him and her. He was old enough that he could be her father, maybe even grandfather if parentage was rushed. He kissed her neck and shoulder as he slowly unbuttoned the back of her dress. Lily smiled and blushed as he slowly slid it down her body, revealing her pure white bra and simple, undecorated chastity belt.

Chastity belts had fallen out of style for a while, only really coming into play when a woman swore that she’d be strictly devoted to a man. Unfortunately, they had fallen into use again after soldiers, both foreign and domestic, had begun raping women in the nation’s remote villages where they’re superiors would hopefully never hear about it. Often, if an ARA general found out about one of his men committing this atrocity, he’d sentence him to a firing squad. If a Rusinova general found out about it, he would often view it as the least the village could do in return for their protection. That is, unless it was someone of importance.

Alek took a moment to take in Lily’s beauty. There was nothing particularly large about Lily’s body. Her bra was simple and pure white, hugging her freckled bosom ever so gently. He caressed it, feeling that it was just as smooth as her perfect skin. For a second, he wondered why it had a small zipper in front, forgetting that Lily had only one hand. He was too focused on what was so perfect about her body, ignoring what were relatively minor flaws she could do nothing about anyway. He slipped her bra off her, finding the key in the strap across her back. It was small and barely noticeable in the hope that anyone not knowing it was there would look it over without a second thought.

As Alek slipped the key into the small lock on Lily’s hip, she started fumbling with the buttons on his shirt to get them undone. The whole thing was making Lily’s entire body dewy with sweat. Beads of sweat made small little paths across her chest, revealing a secret she was trying to hide with makeup. Alek stopped, running his fingers over it slightly to reveal it more clearly.

“Lily…” Alek spoke calmly, not over-reacting to the situation. “What is this?”

“…I was trying to hide my freckles…” Alek handed her a handkerchief out of his pocket. She rubbed the makeup off her chest, shoulders, and face. She had far more than just a few random spots like it looked before, revealing she was speckled with clouds of freckles. “I am really sorry…I know they are hideous…but I cannot hold a parasol and my crutch at the same time, so whenever I went outside…”

“It is alright…” Alek rubbed a little bit of makeup she missed off her cheek with his thumb. He knew the stigma attached to having freckles. It meant that you were poor and had to work in a field all day, from the first fingers of sun in the sky until the last sliver of the sun disappeared over the horizon. It was far worse for women, meaning they were too slow to do proper woman’s jobs. Being crippled just made things worse, telling the world even the jobs she could do despite everything, she couldn’t do well. “You are beautiful despite any of your small flaws…”

“Alek…” Lily whispered in an almost silent hush, guiding his hand back to the lock. The lock popped and the whole thing fell away from her body. She kissed him and started trying to unbutton his shirt. Alek kissed her along her newly revealed freckles and started helping her unbutton everything.


Even though it was just after noon when Lily came to meet Alek, they made love well into the night. Alek had almost infinite stamina, which he could easily forget. Outside of the hunger, Lily didn’t mind. She wanted to remember what it felt like to be so close to Alek at all times. It was all she had wanted for almost as long as she could remember, and it was everything she dreamed it would be.

Alek didn’t need sleep, taking the opportunity to watch Lily sleep in her utter contentment. Her skin was glowing slightly in the pale moon light. He didn’t think it was possible, but she was actually smiling ever so slightly in her sleep. He gently brushed a few stray hairs aside on her face and gave her a faint kiss on the cheek. He didn’t want to accidentally wake her up, but he couldn’t help it. He also couldn’t help but think of the kind of life she’d have with him. It might seem relatively easy at first, but Lily would soon find he was mostly emotionally dead inside. She may have managed to briefly reignite what was left of his emotions, but that would soon go out. It always did. Could he crush her life with his drab, dead soul for simple physical pleasure?


Lily woke up late into the day, her hunger making harder to sleep than the sun. Sleeping in Alek’s bed was the most comfortable night of sleep she had had since she was a child. However, there was one fact she couldn’t ignore; though she had spent the whole night with Alek’s arm around her, he was nowhere to be found now. She hoped he would be to help her get redressed. It took forever for her to do it on her own.

“Mhmmm…” She moaned slightly, stretching between the bed sheets. They were unbelievably soft, something that a man in Alek’s position could easily request. Still, Lily didn’t know that anyone in Rusinova could make something so perfect. That’s when she saw the tag. They were made in the Atalanta Republics, making them highly illegal contraband. Alek could easily get away with such a thing, though.

“Mistress…” A young girl’s voice echoed in from the doorway. Lily quickly pulled the sheet around herself to get covered up. The girl, wearing the plain and lightly dirty clothes of a maid, giggled, covering her mouth to try to avoid any insult to Lily. “Don’t worry, Mistress…I’ve seen far worse sights than your modest nudity…”

“Does…Master Alek get a lot of women through here?” Lily had to ask. It was driving her insane whether or not her giving her virginity to him would mean anything in the long run or not. Would she be just another notch on his belt, or a fond memory he’d hold close to his heart?

“He’s quite…popular, if that’s what you’re asking…” The maid spoke in contractions, confusing Lily ever so slightly. It wasn’t proper for people to talk like that. It was supposedly a lazy way to talk, demeaning both the talker and the listener. “He even gave me my first kiss…”

“…but you are…what? Thirteen?” The girl blushed, making Lily worry for a second that she had accidentally insulted her. Lily herself was familiar with the bitter sting of people guessing her age to be far under reality. The older women in her life told her to take it as a compliment, to view it as lucky that they guessed younger instead of older, but they didn’t understand the bitter sting of being told they still looked like a child.

“Yes…” the maid’s admittance of her real age put Lily back at ease, though it made her wonder if Alek preferred younger girls over women his own age briefly. “It was only a…brotherly kiss on the forehead, but it meant a lot to me…Usually all I get is a taste of a boot or worse…Far, far worse…”

“Like what, dear?” Lily had to ask, sitting up in bed but wearing the white bed sheet like a toga. She was doing her best to hide both her bad arm and her bad leg from her, but it was useless to try to hide something that big.

“My…owner makes me…service senators, generals…people of importance that prefer little girls like…like me…” The maid started crying and trembling, something Lily recognized from herself. She was trying to convey a pain that was beyond all reason and words. “If you wanted, I would…I would be forced to…to…”

“Oh, come here…” Lily put her good arm out to the maid, hugging her and holding her close. She would let her cry as long as she needed to comfort her. She rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. “It…it may take me a long time, but I will find a way to save you from this, alright? You just…you just have to hold on, and I will save you from this…I swear…”

“But you…but you don’t even know my name…” The maid wept out through her tears. Her voice was cracking and popping, making her even harder to understand on top of her use of contractions. Still, Lily assumed she got the gist of what she said. “I can see why Master Alek loves you so much.”

“Not to call you a fool…but if he loved me, why would he leave me?” The maid looked down and blushed again slightly. “Do not tell me this is all…just a…just a HUGE misunderstanding…”

“No, he did leave you…early in the morning…” She cleared her throat, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a waxed-sealed envelope from her pocket that was slightly dirty from her work. Lily didn’t mind, just glad that she got it. It had Alek’s symbol pressed into the wax. It was called his ‘omen’, a strange circle that would appear on the ground around him when he raised the dead. It was an arcane circle, made of swoops and curves. It was strange, causing fear like a natural reflex almost like an ancient fear, but eventually people could teach themselves to like it. “This is for you…”

“Thank you…” Lily turned away from her slightly in case her sheet-toga fell away from her while she read the letter. She opened it slowly and carefully, trying to preserve the seal. It was a futile effort, the wax stamp dissolving into dust from the mere act of opening, to prevent someone else from reading the letter and resealing it afterwards.

‘Dear Lily,

I am sorry I have to leave you, but it is just a fact of my existence. I age so slowly that it is almost non-existent, so while you could spend the rest of your days with me, I would not be able to spend the rest of my days with you. No matter how much I tried, even if I tried to kill myself to join you in death, it would be futile. I could not bear to see you decay with age, and so I have taken the coward’s route and left you. Still, I want to know you are safe and sheltered from the horrors that surround all of us, so I have arranged it so you have access to the nigh-infinite resources the government allows me. Absolutely anything you want will be yours, as long as it is not me.


Know that I will never be able to forget you,
Alek Vanyusha

P.S. – I could not help but measure you for a prosthetic leg while you were sleeping. Fortunately, from my life at a blacksmith, I am an expert at measuring to within a half-millimeter with no tools. The finest prosthetic leg producible will be waiting for you in the train’s next stop. I hope it will make your life that much easier.

“So he decided for both of us that we should not be together?” Lily trembled, not sure if she was going to cry and sink into a deep depression or scream and rage until reality itself collapsed around her. Neither would bring Alek back into her life. “The arrogance of that man…”

“It is not arrogance, Mistress…” The maid sat down on the bed next to her, straightening the heavy, cheap material her dress was made out of. It made burlap look like silk in comparison, but it kept her warm in the bitter winters. “Master Alek could have had me as a great-granddaughter if he could have children…He would be able to watch his wife, their child, then their children, and even me wither and die of old age before even hitting thirty…I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t bear eternity like that, so whatever it takes for him to ease his passage…”

“I know you are right, but…”

“That doesn’t make it any easier…” The maid finished Lily’s sentence for her. When you’re the only person in the world that doesn’t slowly shuffle along the mortal coil, you’d want to distance yourself as far as possible from those that did. “It’s a good sign that he cares about you. He’s never shown concern with anyone else outside of a one night stand…Maybe you’re fated to be together…”

“I guess I will know if I find him again…” Lily was morose about the whole thing. She hadn’t been this depressed about a boyfriend since she was a little girl and gave a boy a flower just to have him stomp on it. It dashed out her hope for him and most boys for quite some time. Alek was the first man in years Lily had feelings for.

“I’m sure you’ll meet him again…” The maid turned away from her slightly to give her some privacy. “I’ve always wanted to see Antosha…this time of year….the twentieth is supposed to be the very best day of the year…”

“Ah…” Lily got what she was saying. With Alek’s resources at her disposal, she could follow him forever if that’s what it took. She’d either convince him to be with her or follow him until she died. It was the commitment she’d be willing to make. “This might be a little awkward…but can you help me get dressed?”

“It’s not a problem, Mistress.” The maid spoke with a smile. She honestly didn’t mind helping people like Lily, who genuinely needed help. Lily was so kind to her, talking to her and letting her talk back without being constantly told when she could and couldn’t speak.

“You do not have to call me that…” Lily said getting tired of being called mistress. She was far too young for the formal meaning, and didn’t want to be anywhere near the slang meaning. She put her right hand out to the maid for a handshake, making her worry for a second that Lily would hit her. “My name is Lily Lufian. Pleased to meet you, Miss…?”

“Aleksandra Rochenko…” The maid blushed after she said her name, telling Lily she was embarrassed by it. She didn’t know why. It sounded like a perfectly fine name to her. “As you can guess…I was named after Master Alek…and my last name is my…master’s last name.” She spoke with a sigh. She was bought when she was very young. There was no way for her to know what her last name was, just that money was more important to her parents than her. That may not have been the case, she may have been an orphan or her parents may have sold her into slavery rather than have them all starve to death.

“How much does your master give you to live on?” Lily had to ask. The State had preferred to not call it slavery, saying it was just ‘indentured servitude’. It wasn’t true slavery in that they were required to provide more than just room and board, but most slave owners found ways around it. Many who owned female slaves and had daughters would spend the money on their daughters, spending it on clothes that were too big or too little for their slaves ‘unintentionally’ and clothing the slaves with whatever they had. It was likely the reason Aleksandra was wearing the burlap type material.

“One hundred rupees…” Aleksandra whispered in shame. She couldn’t stand having such a cheap owner. The only reason her dress didn’t say potatoes or turnips across it was they had sewn it so the labels would be on the inside.

“One hundred rupees a month? That is not too bad, but I get why you are…”

“A…a year…” Aleksandra stuttered out. Lily went slack-jawed at the news. It would be insane to expect someone to live on that small of a budget. At less than ten rupees a month, it was easy to understand why Aleksandra was such a waif. She almost looked like a stiff wind of any strength would send her tumbling across the plains like a leaf. “I think the only reason…he doesn’t let me starve to death…is he likes me…likes me better…than his wife…”

“That is IT!” Lily shouted at the top of her lungs, almost completely blind with rage. Aleksandra’s voice told Lily everything she needed to know. It seemed like everything in Aleksandra’s life was forcing her into sin and debauchery. It had to end. “Is your Master on this train?”

“Yes…He always travels with me…and especially when Master Alek rides as well…” Aleksandra sighed and trembled, trying not to collapse in a crying heap. Her Master never travelled with his wife specifically so he could have access to her. He treated her relatively nice, far better than the rest of his slaves, until she turned thirteen. Once she was thirteen, though, things changed.

Her Master revealed he had barely been able to contain himself while she was growing up. Now, she had hit that ‘magic age’ where she was fair game. Given the choice between reenacting all of his sick pleasures and being starved and worked to death, the only decision was obvious. Aleksandra could barely live with herself afterward. She’d have gladly killed herself to spare herself the shame and pain of her everyday life if suicide wasn’t one of the unforgivable sins of her religion.

“His car’s the furthest one back…the caboose…It’s the quietest car since it’s the furthest from the engine, and the only one people don’t have to go through to get to other parts of the train…” Aleksandra trembled slightly. If she went back to the caboose, and only her master was there, the results would be disastrous. She didn’t know how much more she could take.

“Take me to him…And try to keep me from beating him to death…or not.” Lily spoke with genuine hate curling on her lips. She wanted to spit on just the thought of her master. Only god knew what she would actually do to him when she got the chance.

“Wah…why would you want to see him?” Aleksandra stuttered out. She couldn’t understand why Lily would want to see him. He was a disgusting toad of a man. He wasn’t too fat, but the roundness of his body made him seem much fatter than he actually was. His skin always seemed to be fairly oily, almost as if he was in a constant acne-ridden puberty stage. To top things off, he smoked herbal cigarettes that gave off a foul, stinging odor and made his eyes bloodshot morning, noon, and night.

“I told you I am saving you from this life. I know I have not known you for terribly long, but I…well, I love you like my little sister.”

“You…love me?” Aleksandra couldn’t believe it. No one had ever said she loved her outside of taunts or manipulation. Now Lily loved her. Like a reflex, she threw her arms around Lily and kissing her deeply. Lily had rarely been kissed like that before, not knowing what to do. Finally, she just decided she had to push her away. “But I thought you loved me…”

“Like a sister…and I would never kiss a sister like that…” Lily was far more than a necessary amount of angry at Aleksandra. Homosexuality in any way shape or form was taught to be one of the worst, most unforgivable sins man could commit. Few were able to break out past the brainwashing, unfortunately. “Now…take me to see your master.”


Aleksandra’s master spent most of the day in an alcohol-induced haze. It was a thin veil he kept around his reality at all times. It use to start only at night, a habit to shield him from the bitter-cold nights with his wife. Unfortunately, like all bad habits, it slowly found its way into the rest of the day. Now, it was lucky if he didn’t have a drink in his hand by lunch.

His wife was forced into their marriage at a very young age, almost the day after she started puberty and was able to bear children. He blamed her for his inability to give her children, and lost all interest in her when she started to look like a woman instead of a girl. Now, he only even kissed or embraced her when he was absolutely desperate and blind-drunk. She refused him even the slightest touch now, knowing he was also forcing himself on Aleksandra and his other young slaves.

Aleksandra walked into the room, holding her hands folded over her heart. It would keep his wandering hands away from her chest. It was one of the little self-defense habits she learned the hard way over the year. This time, though, he strangely didn’t leave his chair. He lit one of his herbal cigarettes, sending its putrid smoke to the ceiling before he spoke.

“You did not tell me when Vanyusha’s stop was coming up.” He kept his eyes shut, grabbing the bridge of his nose behind his glasses. “I did not even get to see him…”

“Yes, Master. Sorry, Master.” Aleksandra shot out in two quick snaps. She had to appease him as quickly as possible to keep her master from flogging her immediately. He wouldn’t hesitate to hit her even for just the most fleeting insult or mistake. “But he was running late…a gorgeous lady attracting his attention until he almost missed his stop. I am sure you would not blame him for that…”

“And how do I know that is not just a lie to save your skin!?” He got up out of his heavy wooden chair. To make his rage clear to Aleksandra, he kicked the chair to the wall. It left a visible crater in the wall, a scar that’d cost hundreds of dollars to replace in the fine material. “A noble man like Vanyusha would never be distracted by a WHORE like some commoner…”

“She is right outside the door, Master!” Aleksandra shouted over him. She was terrified of him beating her to a bloody pulp right there, or worse, what if he would rape her and Lily were to see? She could never live with the humiliation. Worst of all, he liked that she was the only one of his slaves that resisted him and screamed. Aleksandra trembled in fear just from being around him, giving him the feeling of dominance that he couldn’t live without. “Hurr…Her name’s Lillian Lufian, and I know for a fact she spent the night with Colonel Vanyusha…and she asked me to bring her here.”

“Well then, send her in and get out before I…” Aleksandra didn’t wait for him to finish, rushing to the door. Her master was surprisingly silent when it came to Lily, stunned by both her beauty and her missing limbs. He could see why she would be such a distraction to Alek, and was lost in the beauty of her youth himself. “Come in, my dear, and feel free to take a seat.”

“If you do not mind…” Lily hobbled into the room on her crutch, “I would much rather stand.”

“What can I do for you, Miss Lily?” He said walking over to her. Lily could barely stand to look at him. Knowing what he did to Aleksandra, it was all she could do to keep herself restrained. She didn’t care if he could beat her, she just wanted to make him feel all the pain she could.

“It is Lillian to you. And I want to make this quick…” She took a couple of steps towards him, making sure her crutch made loud thumps as she went. “I am not letting you keep Aleksandra. Name any price, I will pay it, but you are NOT keeping her.”

“Has she been telling lies about me again?” He chuckled, knowing whatever Aleksandra told Lily was the god’s honest truth. His attraction to her was strange in that he knew it was wrong. It was an uncontrollable addiction that was his secret shame. He didn’t bother hiding what he was doing with his other slaves. They worshipped him like a god, and were willing participants. He wasn’t the only man in Rusinova who treated all his female slaves as his personal harem. Still, he thought he was the only person in the world who was raping a girl who had no way of getting away from him and surviving on her own. “She has quite the imagination on her and…”

“I have seen the bruises on her legs and arms…” Lily spoke strongly and slowly. She knew he had to know how he hurt her. It would be all she’d need to at least cause some problems in his life if nothing else. She knew he wasn’t likely to go to jail for what he did to her. She was literally his property, after all, but everyone would know what he did. That would let the populace decide his fate. “How many children would you have by her if you were not sterile?”

“I am NOT sterile. I would have many children now if I could find a woman capable of bearing them!” He snapped at her. Lily smirked, knowing he got under his skin. Now, the question was did she want to keep drilling, or leave well-enough alone? “And you…you could not HOPE to buy her from me.”

“Colonel Alek Vanyusha has given me access to his infinite resources. I can pay and will pay ANY price as long as it saves her from you!” Lily realized she shouldn’t have snapped at him like she did. He could say no to the whole thing and have Aleksandra flogged or even just beat her to death himself. “So, what will it take…to make you give her up?”

“Oh, I do not think you would be willing to pay what I really want…” Aleksandra’s master crawled his eyes over every inch of her body. It made her feel dirty and itchy at the same time. “You slept with Colonel Vanyusha last night, did you not?”

“Not that it is any of your business…but yes…” Lily answered with a growing sense of dread. She could practically read Aleksandra’s master’s mind, not that it was much of a challenge. If his mind was a book, it would have been less than a hundred pages, with letters that would take up half the page.

“And he was the only man you have lain with?” Lily’s throat started to close up with panic at what he was going to ask her to do. She was completely committed to getting Aleksandra her freedom, no matter what he asked. “I will ask for no money or any physical object if I can spend one night having sex with you. That is all I will accept for her.”

“Wuh…why?” Lily stuttered, her brain trying to tell her she was surprised. She knew the price for Aleksandra’s freedom had to be high and that her master had to be a horrible monster. She clenched her fist and trembled with rage. She wanted Alek to be the only person she would ever know. Though. It was all she had dreamed about since she was a little girl.

“Well, what is your decision, wench?”