Once again you have second thoughts. You can’t do this. You can’t become a necromancer; it’s not going to make your life any easier and is only going to make it vastly more difficult. You figure with your mediocre grades and magic skills, you can probably get a job working at children’s parties or something after you graduate. That least if you make a mistake it’ll be “funny” and just be part of the act. Your Mom probably won’t be too disappointed since she also works with children and you give a shit what your Dad thinks.

Yep, that’ll probably be your “life”.

You don’t go meet Big Red and instead take the next carriage home to visit your family for vacation. Your Mom is happy to see you and makes the appropriate fuss. Your sister is okay when she stops by between her duties. In fact for awhile you don’t feel so bad about your life. Sure it’ll be dull and not very glamorous, but you can deal with it…

After a month of your visit, your Dad finally comes back from one of his mercenary jobs. He’s in a typical asshole mood and gives you a bunch of shit as soon as he walks in the door. He belittles what few accomplishments you have, compares you to your sister and is a general dick to you as usual.

While your Mom attempts to rein him in, you leave the house and curse your Dad. He always spoils everything for you. You can’t wait for classes to start again just to get away from the old bastard.

You almost wished you’d taken that risk and attempted to kill Big Red and get that necromantic book. The powers it must’ve contained…you know you would’ve been able to master them. The more you think about this, the more you think that might be what you’ll do when classes start again.

After two more months of putting up with your family, you’re heading back to school. Once again your “feelings” have died down again. You’re not going to kill Big Red or any of that, you’re going to go to class and struggle as usual.

You’re going to be less than an average nobody. You’re going to live the rest of your life like a halfling.

But not for long…

About a week after classes start, something terrible happens in the city of Nuro. Portals suddenly open up all over the city and demons come pouring out of them. Loud explosions take place and there’s a strange feeling of “slowness” occurring to you and most others.

You’re in class at the time when this chaos begins. It’s obviously an attack of some sort, but nobody knows from where or who, right now everyone is just trying to escape.

Demons run amok through the streets and campus gleefully killing people. Running while suffering the effects of this aura of slowness is proving very difficult so you try to stay hidden most of the time.

Demonologists direct this attack, you even recognize a couple as students you went to class with. Apparently you weren’t the only one with the dark arts on your mind.

Eventually you get closer to the city gates and that’s when you see a horde of recently raised corpses lingering around it. You think maybe you can make it. The dead aren’t known to be fast after all.

You make your run and the group of corpses and skeletons notice you and shamble in your direction. Normally if you weren’t slowed, you probably might make it, but instead they manage to surround you and cut off escape in any direction. In desperation you cry out for this to stop and wishing that somehow they would stop attacking you.

And for a moment, they do. They just stand there obediently. You can’t believe it; you just stand there in shock, not taking advantage of the situation.

Did you really have a natural gift for necromancy after all?

Unfortunately, you’ll never know because they quickly resume attacking and strike you down before moving on.

As you lie in the street dying from your wounds, you laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Ha ha…I coulda…(cough) been…the next Great Lich Lord…”