Al’nehak stifled a yawn as she continued her way down a dirt road. The air was quite different from what she was used to. The air of Bervenia was a different change. It was warm and carried a scent of fresh growing grass. Her eyes looked up again looking around as if expecting something new. Far into the distance she saw was a commune of farms. She saw a lone rancher atop his horse motioning at his herd of cattle to continue moving forward. She saw verdant grassy hills jutting out of the ground and clusters of wildflowers -beautiful marigolds- in front of her before her camel decided to make that its snack.

“What an idyllic view! You wouldn’t even realize that there is a war raging on the east,” she remarked humorously to herself. 

Al’nehak yanked her reins and gave a light kick to the camel. Time was wasting and her steed had already rested an hour prior. The beast let out a long, guttural groan and reached down for one last bite before continuing to move once more.

She let out a small exasperated sigh. The city was actually not that far. Perhaps another hour or two at the rate she was moving. Still, it would be so much easier to kill the camel at the start and raise it as her steed. Travel time would be reduced significantly among other benefits. But alas, this would blow her cover and she was fairly certain a necromancer’s reputation wasn’t all that hot in the present day, especially so when there were books written about her in the most negative light. 

The oldest and strongest emotion of man is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear was fear of the unknown. She had hoped to do away with this thinking in her time but somewhere along the way, she had erred. She knew why. Now with this war happening to the east, which fear would be the greater of the two?

Her brain trembled at the thought. How ironic and droll would it be if necromancy was instrumental in saving the world? Regardless of who died, be it friend or foe, which was one more added to her ranks. If the stories she heard about were true regarding the frozen wastelands, then who better to fight in such an environment than the dead? The dead felt nothing. They feared nothing. And most of all, the dead saving the living was unthinkable but such times called for desperate measures. Perhaps then, society would see this school of magic in a new light.

The camel stopped and let out a grunt as if it knew that they have arrived at the place she wanted. In front of her was a spitting image of the city that had hounded her the past few nights. The great trade city of Bervenia stood tall and she had never seen so much people coming in and out of the city’s gates. It was much more livelier than Rhyad.

“Bervenia,” Al’nehak uttered as her hands instinctively reached for her coin purse, still somewhat stunned that her visions had actually lead her to the correct location. She quickly recomposed herself and opened her coin purse, half expectantly hoping to see it filled with gold coins. It was completely empty. Of course it would be empty. She pouted, “What am I going to do at the city? I don’t have a copper coin to my name. Money, I need money to do things. Legally anyway. Ah it’s so tempting to go wild. So tempting!”

She paused to think. What could she do to earn some cash to get started? What was she good at to help with this? Necromancy was obviously out of the question but when it came to actually inventing magical devices, which was something she was quite skilled in. Of course, she was a trained surgeon too with a plethora of practical experience!

Things were looking up. She had 2 venues of legally earning money now. First one was to sell magical trinkets she made. The other was to use her surgical skills to earn money, perhaps out in some hospital of some sort. However, the first option required actually having the necessary tools to create such devices. That required money. Therefore, the best option was the second choice. Yes, she would be a surgeon!

But before any of that, there was one other thing that just came to mind. If she wanted to be up to date on current events and magic, there was one important place to go. 

“Bervenia should have a vast library. I would like to know more about the advances made in magic today and what has happen since my passing. I don’t mind working a hospital. I should get going, it’s going to be a long day. Let’s go you beast! To Bervenia! Hyaaa!”