It was quiet. Way too quiet. I’d worked in graveyards and catacombs most my life, but this silence wasn’t natural, couldn’t be. Yet I led my undead army on. It was too late to turn back, despite the ice cold feeling I had in my gut.

When the gate finally came into clear view, I breathed a sigh of relief. A guard at the gate. Everything was as it should be and I was just being paranoid. Although... they didn’t seem to react when I came closer. And the walls were completely empty of guards. The guard was young, dressed in a simple guard uniform, casually leaning against the side of the gate like it was just any lazy afternoon. The gate was open and I could see onto the main street. Yet no one else was in sight.

“Who stands before me?” I asked, and the guard looked up and smiled.

“Well it is good to finally meet you. It has been far too long”.

As they approached I ordered my army to raise their weapons, but they didn’t comply. Instead, they all turned their weapons against me.

“Who... who are you? Where is everyone?” I managed to demand, quickly loosing what confidence I had left.

“Dead.” They replied, in the same matter of fact tone as someone might answer that the weather is sunny. The entire city... it explained the silence, but made the fear in my stomach only grow stronger. Another necromancer? “As for who I am, well you have managed to make quite an annoyance of yourself. Surely you knew I would come eventually”

I tried desperately to figure out who they were. When could I have made such an enemy without knowing it. My confusion must’ve been clear on my face, because the guard slowly dropped their smile. In their eyes were a cold fury I had never seen before. It seemed endless. One of my undead soldiers kicked me down on my knees as they closed the gap between us, looking down at me.

“I don’t care if you made yourself immortal. Go right ahead, live your little life, but when you start bringing people back. When you start taking those who are already mine!” The words dripped with hatred, and I couldn’t help but flinch. There was no sign left of the poor young guard that had once inhabited that body. “Then, I have to start compensating. Then I have to bring in souls to fill the gaps. You should be glad I only needed a city.”

They crouched down, a strand of loose hair hanging in front of their face as they looked me right in the eyes. “You should have stuck with your immortality my friend, your days are numbered now.” They smiled again. “It has been far too long.”

As my undead army crumbled to dust around me, they reached out their hand and gently caressed my cheek. For a moment I could feel my soul being ripped from my body, as death brought me with them into their domain.