Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

He grunted in affirmation. "It has been rotting for a week now, but yes, its current state is exactly as it was when I reanimated it."

My eyes widened in shock, and I pointed at the undead animal. "That’s the horse Victor and I arrived in a week ago!" I exclaimed.

"Of course," Gerritt agreed. "Where else would we have found a horse anywhere nearby?"

I frowned. "But that’s…"

That means you killed it.

I wanted to say that, but I stopped myself. What was wrong with killing it? I ate animal meat all the time and never thought twice about it. Plus, it made sense: killing a pack animal and bringing it back with Necromancy meant you did not have to use up resources to sustain it. And considering that we did not have much resources to spare, it was the only smart move.

Perhaps it was more humane to have simply killed it; keeping a horse alive in a small stable inside a dark cave would not have been an ideal living condition for it. There was also no worry of overworking an undead horse. It’s like killing a horse with a broken leg.

"Is something wrong, Melas?"

"It’s nothing," I muttered. "So, do I just put my stuff here?"

"Hrmph, yes." The Orc reached for my bag of books, but I stopped him.

"Wait," I said, glancing around. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. We’re mostly finished, though I do appreciate the offer."

"I see." I nodded, and reached into my bag, taking out the grimoire I had started on the night before. "I’ll just read this in the meantime, while we prepare to leave."

"Of course. Don’t worry about us, just focus on studying and practicing your spellcraft." Gerritt paused, then quickly added, "Just don’t do anything that would bring the ceiling down on us."

"I won’t. Promise." I reassured the Dark Commander with a smile, as I began to walk away.

I was willing to do anything to get my mind off of the serious stuff. Even study. So that was what I did.

I sat on a rock just by some torchlight, and continued where I last remembered I left off. It was not about a specialized book like The Thauma. It covered the general idea behind using magic to manipulate the elements.

Magic was not simply creating things out of thin air; some fields of magic were predicated on controlling the environment. If you took Geomancy for example, creating a wall of stone was possible with magic, yet it was more efficient to use magic to raise the ground up as a wall. Because, with earth magic, you had access to the earth all around you.

This was very different from Pyromancy where the biggest source of fire most people would find near them was a cooking fire. That was why Victor could create a ball of fire from nothing, but manipulated his surroundings to create the stone spear back when he saved me. And yet, apparently knowing how to control real fire was almost as important for Pyromancy as controlling the earth was for Geomancy.

The grimoire did not delve into the specifics of either Terramancy or Pyromancy, but gave an overview of all spellcasting fields. It was a foundational skill— like learning how to walk before you ran. It was something that helped you better grasp magic, and not a guide on advanced spells.

Of course, walking was not useful in a race. You did not walk your way through the 100 meter sprint in the Olympics. Yet, walking had its own uses, like for travelling incredibly long distances. In a similar vein, understanding how to manipulate the environment had its own uses.

It was not just an exercise or some sort of stretch you did before a workout, although that was one of its benefits. It was effective when employed properly on its own, which made it incredibly useful to learn.

One of the principal examples of this was from thousands of years ago, when the Demon Lord was young and magic was still new to this world. An army had been sent to attack Hell during the First Holy War.

At the time, a clash between the Demons and this army would have caused significant casualties on both sides, unlike during the Final Holy War where the Demon Lord would have been able to face them all alone.

As such, the Demon Lord chose to tactically avoid fighting them, and retreated to a better strategic location. He led his people away from the army, leading them through the forests, through the plains, through the valleys, and through mountains. And there, on a narrow pass after a rainy day, he laid his trap.

The army sent by the Church marched unknowingly through the valley, tired and weary from chasing the Demon Lord for so long. It was then that the ground began to move. The earth shifted like some kind of an illusion, but it was no mirage that the soldiers saw. It was a landslide.

The hills were too low and warm for an avalanche, but a landslide could occur on any rocky slope. Light rain fell over the weeks summoned by the Demon Lord’s magic, and it had weakened the soil, priming it to fall. Then, with a little bit of push using more magic, the earth came down on the army.

Not a single soldier survived.

It kind of reminded me of the story with Moses, and how he crushed the Pharaoh's army with a miracle. But this was not a miracle— that was not how miracles work in this world. This was magic. And I wanted to learn it.

I closed the book, and closed my eyes. I focused— concentrating not on trying to create or destroy anything, but to simply feel the world. There was a warmth coming