Chapter 37: A Knife In The Dark
“Necromancy was the original study of the necros elemental force. Over the years, it greatly deviated away from this and became more about achieving immortality and bringing the dead back to life. As a means to reach this end, necromancers ended up creating a type of magic called spirit binding.
“The thought was that while the physical body eventually breaks down and dies, the soul is eternal. If one was to use aether to bind the soul to the living world, they thought it could be considered a type of pseudo immortality. You would be able to live on in this world as a spirit, hypothetically forever. The only limiting factor is that you would be forever bound to a certain place or object and your spirit couldn’t move too far away from what it’s bound to.
“However, the results of this type of magic were disastrous. Souls are not made to exist in this world without a body. The reason why souls pass beyond this world is because it is tortuous for souls to exist in the living world. Forcing a soul to remain in this world like this is tantamount to torture.
“The pain of this type of existence erodes whatever rationality the person had in life, eventually turning violent and lashing out against anyone living. The original creator of spirit binding magic, Gunder Hortensius, was actually killed by the soul he bound.
“The results of this magic also didn’t achieve anywhere close to the immortality the necromancers thought. A soul in a spirit binding will still eventually dissipate over a long enough period of time. It is not exactly known why that happens, but Archmage Pema hypothesizes that souls try to destroy themselves by grinding against the magic binding them until nothing remains, all as means to end their own suffering. This would be equivalent to grinding oneself with sandpaper to death. If true, it encapsulates how unethical this type of magic is.
“Needless to say, this type of magic is labeled as forbidden and is illegal all across the western continent.”
—“Necromancy: An Honest Study Turned Foul” by Ester Bastet
Joe and his team approached the former home of Mark.
Dan trailed behind a little, letting both Mike and Joe take the lead. A clear display of apprehension was on his face as they approached the ominous house.