The Peculiar Alchemist

41 || More Secrets to Keep

There were many mysteries that were known to the dead, secrets that were kept to serve a purpose by those who guarded them. Some secrets were less serious than the others, and some explained everything.

It seems like the most important secrets were very well-hidden, even from the dead themselves. They were people who uncovered or witnessed a secret and died because of it. Sammy was one of those people, and even he couldn't remember some details that surrounded his death despite knowing that he should.

He knew he was killed by a necromancer, and he knew that it was a wealthy one from the way he dressed and spoke. Everything about him made it clear which class he belonged to, and for some reason he was in a dark alley killing people – and apparently those dead people he killed somehow walked away.

It wasn't unheard of for a very powerful necromancer to raise the dead as temporary thralls. They would be devoid of any souls, just hollow shells of a body with no will or thought. Every move they'd make would be told as a command, an instruction. They were probably instructed to hide themselves in some place, or even stage their own death. It's probably how the crime was hidden.

But Sammy's body remained there and was discovered instead.

Maybe it was for the better since his family were informed about his death shortly after, but now nine years had passed and Sammy was still clueless about what had happened that day.

He was wandering around aimlessly, stuck revisiting the places he frequented as a living person. The school he attended was all about specializing in creatures and wards, but before he got to complete his studies, he just had to go and get killed. If he were alive now, he'd be able to ace all the classes from how many times he just sat there listening to all the lectures repeatedly.

Most students looked bored or tired whenever he looked around, but he'd give anything to be in their place.

Sammy was an anomaly among ghosts, he was full of life but lacked a physical body. It was as if he wasn't supposed to be dead, like his life decided to suspend itself indefinitely. Ghosts just don't get to want things or fall in love like the living, they're free of that. They're just dead spirits retaining their past memories and emotions. They can be vengeful, they can be protective towards those they loved, but they never developed any new attachments or desires.

It was as if they were frozen in time, but for some reason Sammy wasn't.

But then the unexpected happened when he made another loop around a certain area where he revisited old memories of his past self. He heard someone speak, and they were thanking someone for their help with directions.

That made Sammy stop and look for the source of that voice.

That voice was familiar, he remembered it from nine years ago. It was the very same necromancer who killed him, the very one who was all polite and gentlemanly as he did so. Maybe he was wearing more of a simple casual wear now with a scarf around his neck, but it was so easy to tell that he was someone who came from wealth.

And if one looked closer, they'd see the very same green stone that was associated with the Abbotts on his person. At that moment Sammy knew he was looking at Terrance Abbott, and he knew that he was definitely his mysterious killer. He felt really uneasy in his presence.

And if he took a peek under that scarf, he knew he'd see the mark of a necromancer.

Stupidly, Sammy walked up to him marveling at how much his son resembled him. They were very similar in their appearance but that's where the similarities end, their mannerism cannot be any more different.

"Hello."

A pleasant smile appeared on Terrance's face as he turned his head towards him, acknowledging him, but once he saw that Sammy was dead, he immediately looked away as if there was nothing there.