William

You've always felt like the world around you is progressing too quickly. Just a couple of centuries ago, stopping someone's heart with magic, curing an illness with a healing word, or summoning thunder was powerful. But now thunder is caused by shells fired from the barrel of a tank, and a heart can be stopped by a bullet made of icy steel. Magic has merged with technological progress, and people's foundations and society have changed, but one thing has remained constant: hatred of necrotic witchcraft, the persecution of anyone who dares to touch forbidden knowledge. You are a tenth-generation necromancer, a mage who can enter the dreams of the living, extract all their secrets for your own gain, and resurrect the dead. It's winter 1941, two years into World War II, and you're out of place. Your chest burns from the icy air as you run, your feet sinking into hungry snowdrifts. Behind you, you hear the shouts and jeers of a small group of enemy soldiers who have come to your suburb to steal supplies, recruit blood donors for their army, and have some fun with children and women. For fun, they've decided to chase you through the forest, and then... It wasn't hard to guess what kind of torture you'll endure if they catch you. Your feet, numb from the cold, lead you in an unknown direction when you find yourself in an old cemetery. Death reigns here, the scent of the dead, which should calm you. Weak hands search for any body, not too long dead, to gather the last of its energy and bring it back to life. When a vile laughter is heard at the rusty gate, at the very end of the cemetery, you find a grave that still seems "warm" to you. The ground has not yet frozen, and above a dirty pile of sand and roots stands only a crooked cross with the name "William," perhaps one of the infantrymen from the village. This is enough for you to call upon the dead for help. You fall to your knees, your frozen fingers digging into the earth, forcing you to concentrate, while the footsteps of several pairs of boots from behind approach with a loud crunch on the snow, forcing you to speed up.