“I can’t believe this is happening.” I thought, looking at myself in the mirror. I was looking awful. That was common to me, but not in the way you’re thinking. I wear dark clothes, I have dark hair and dark eyes. I always look awful, but today I’m messed up, my eyes are swollen, and my mascara is running down my cheeks in a flood of tears. My sister has died, and I was going to her burial when I heard a muttering sound. I cast a revealing spell immediately, but nothing showed up; it’s probably just me seeing things. It has happened a lot lately, with all that has been going on. My Necromantic powers were growing strong, all the hate and sadness running through my veins made me stronger, but I wasn’t prepared to all of this power. I began attracting Wanushkas I wasn’t ready to fight, and that’s how my sister died. “She had nothing to do with any of this!” I told myself, but a part of my head kept saying “It’s your fault. If you hadn’t begun with any of this magic, she would be alive.” But it was necessary, I couldn’t escape from this fate. I am the first female necromancer in centuries, and that cannot be ignored, neither underestimated.

    When I opened the front door, the wind of the mountain came into the house, freezing my body, and making the house temperature drop at least 15 degrees. But it didn’t feel uncomfortable, it reminded me of my childhood, entirely spent on the white snow, skiing on the mountains. And playing with her. This memory didn’t help at all in controlling my tears. Then I suddenly heard a car horn outside. “The car is here Mother!” I yelled upstairs, hoping I wouldn’t have to walk there and call her, and then I heard a husky, cigarette-harmed voice muttering “I’m going.” In the car, everything gone as I expected, my Mother didn’t even talk to me, sitting on the opposite side of the car seat. She blames me for the death of Anna, and I can’t change her opinion because I don’t think she’s that wrong.

    When we got to the cemetery, it would be a beautiful image if it weren’t, well, a cemetery. Everything was white, the snow covered everything but one little piece of it, which I took a moment to realize that was the place where she would be buried. It was time for the ceremony to begin, and it was all set when I saw Wanushkas right outside the cemetery, watching the burial with their big black eyes, long trunk and huge arms, with many phantasmal claws, which seemed incorporeal, but would kill any regular person with a touch. Their view made me get into an apprehensive stance, ready to fight, but there was no need for that, as they are forbidden to enter cemeteries, which are considered sacred ground. Their presence didn’t intrigue me at all, because I was so angry, so sad and so unstable that I must’ve been exhaling a strong aura, and Wanushkas like funerals, so they usually keep a close eye on them. But a few moments later, I had to speak to the people in the burial, but I couldn’t do it. I needed to go home. I waited silently until the burial ended, and the coffin was finally underground. I couldn’t bear to see the tombstone, I couldn’t bear to be without her.

    But I knew a way to bring her back. It is forbidden, but I’d do anything to see Anna again. In the necromancy classes we have learned about a resurrection ritual, but no necromant could perform it because it is dangerous in various different ways. First, it attracts more Wanushkas than every other known ritual, and also the resurrected subject suffers from an intense pain, both while the ceremony is done, and also forever after the ritual is complete. “But how would anyone know?” I asked myself, “If no one has ever tried the ritual, how could they know?” I was blinded by the selfishness and desire of having my sister again, so I didn’t care.

    Then I made my way to the town’s library, also known as the Necromancy School of the U.S, so I could do a research on how I was going to do the ritual. There were no books about it in the common section then, I had to sneak in the private section, and to do so I had to cloak myself in the shadows with a stealth spell. After a few moments, I was in, and there it was: the Resurrectionem Grimorium. As I was taking the book, I heard books falling close to me. “Who’s there?” I whispered, but then I heard another noise, closer this time, and I immediately cast a spell “Revelare Spiritus!” Then suddenly a Wanushka appeared in front of me, and he rose his claws and began to strike me. It was a small spirit, so after I sent a couple of dark energy bolts into his face, he dissipated. “How did a Wanushka pass through our library defenses?” I asked myself, but then I opened the book, and it was clear to me. The Grimoire had a defensive spell cast upon, when someone touches it, a Wanushka will appear to test the necromant, but surely the spell was weakened, because the Wanushka that appeared was no threat at all.

    I walked home holding the book in my chest, as it seemed it was my only hope, but on the way I started hearing voices. Whispers of insanity were coming out of nowhere, and after a few moments I realized it must’ve been the Grimoire. The voices were getting louder and louder, and I started running to get home as fast as I could. The cold air was hurting my face to the point I couldn’t feel it at all, but then I reached the door and got inside. I ran to my room and once the door was closed I threw the book on the bed, and suddenly the anguishing voices stopped. “What was that?” I thought “were those the voices of the resurrected? Why am I hearing them?” I was scared, I had never done something as dangerous or power consuming as this ritual would be. But fear couldn’t stop me, so I started reading the Grimoire, avoiding to touch it. I spent the whole evening and the entire night reading the Grimoire, and when I finished, I knew exactly what to do. I went to the woods, so I could trap a wild animal, and a very unlucky squirrel stepped in my trap. I took the living squirrel to the cemetery my sister was buried the morning before, and started drawing the runes for the ritual. After hours and hours of work, they were done, the runes now need fueling, and that’s when the squirrel comes in. I decapitated the head of the squirrel and spilled the blood on the runes. In a few seconds, the runes absorbed the blood, and started glowing red. After that, I had to do the most complex part of the ritual, which was summoning and defeating enough Wanushkas to fill the inner rune with spiritual energy. I took a deep breath on the cold air of the cemetery then I started the summoning. After a few seconds, there were more than a dozen Wanushkas around me, ready to kill, so I stopped the summoning and started fighting them. I used all the rage, the sadness and the guilt that resided in my mind, and it made me stronger, the shadows I generated were annihilating the Evil Spirits, and by my powers they fell, one by one, until there was nothing left but the white snow on the ground. I collected the energy and placed it over the central rune, which also started glowing red. Now I had to cast the resurrection spell, and it was complex, with many stages. I began casting the spell and I could immediately feel my body tingling. Such power resided in these words, but what I didn’t know was that my sister’s spirit would come out for a chat before the body was reanimated. When her spirit got out of the ground, I almost passed out. It looked exactly like Anna, but she was in a fading violet tone, clearly incorporeal. But one thing was wrong, Anna always had a smile on her face, but I could only see suffering in her gestures. “What… What is happening? Sônea, what are you doing to me!” Anna’s spirit yelled to me “You can’t resurrect me! Don’t you know it is forbidden? Even better, don’t you know why it is forbidden?” I was in shock. I thought she would be pleased to see me, thankful even. “Is that how you’ll thank me? I brought you back!” I shouted on her, and she answered “You brought me back not because you wanted me to be happy again, but because you simply can’t forgive yourself! The Resurrection ritual is forbidden because the individual that is brought back to life has his soul trapped in the Grimoire forever! That means if the person dies once again they will stay in a state of eternal agony and anguish! Let me go sister, move on with your life! Show you really love me, let me…” Suddenly her grave started vibrating under the ground, and her spirit was brought back to her body. The ritual was nearly complete when I realized I couldn’t do that to the person I loved the most. I stopped saying the enchantment, and after a few seconds, the magic dissipated, the runes faded, and the grave stopped shaking. I was so blinded by grief, guilt and anger that I couldn’t see this would torture her for eternity. I need to move on, I need to do this for her, I don’t need you to come back to me anymore.