"The Soul Eater" by Alexey Pekhov, summary Automatic translate

This book is a dark fantasy story about a dark mage investigating the appearance of a deadly monster in the snowy settlements of northern barbarians. Written in 2005, the protagonist shatters common stereotypes: a terrifying necromancer from the hot desert, he selflessly saves ordinary people, proving the absence of rigid boundaries between light and absolute evil.

This story is part of the "Wind and Sparks" literary series, serving as a prequel to the main plot. This cycle also includes the novels "The Wind Seekers," "The Wormwood Wind," "The Wind Reapers," "The Spark and the Wind," and "The Price of Freedom." This story is considered the first book on the internal chronology of the universe of magic.

The Necromancer’s Arrival

A native of hot Sdis named Gafur walks through the frigid northern lands. A tall, dark man with a shaved head and piercing black eyes leans on a fearsome staff topped with a human skull. The necromancer moves purposefully toward the suffocating scent of Death. Accompanying the traveler is a silent troop of seven obedient corpses — kuksa — who know no fatigue and are armed with heavy two-handed swords.

After passing the ancient burial mounds of the northern god Ug, Gafur approaches the settlement of Ranga. He is met by an armed detachment of red-haired warriors of the Children of Irbis clan, led by the stern giant Ra-ton. The local sorceress demands that the servant of the Abyss be banished, but the barbarians refuse to obey her. Elder Na-gor allows Gafur to enter the village. The settlement is gripped by terror: every other night, a draugr returns from the dead and kills the people. The monster has already torn apart twenty-three people, stealing their souls without a trace.

The northerners firmly believe the monster is Ra-ton’s biological son, Dar-rom. The official version is that the young man committed suicide after killing his beloved Na-ara out of jealousy. The girl was supposed to marry the village’s best warrior, Kha-zon. Gafur dismisses the suicide theory. The necromancer knows for certain: the draugr require a tremendous amount of nourishment. The monster doesn’t consume souls for the simple sake of satiation; it obediently transfers its accumulated energy to someone more powerful.

Night battle

Gafur spends the night in Ra-ton’s sturdy stone house. The warrior hides his wife and children in the cellar, preparing his battle axe. In conversation, the necromancer tries to explain to the barbarian that darkness and light are not always equal to good and evil, and that fear robs a person of strength. As night falls, the returning draugr bursts into the settlement. Heavy footsteps shake the earth. First, the creature breaks through the roof of the imperial sorceress’s hut, killing her, and then descends upon Ra-ton’s dwelling.

The necromancer dispatches seven undead servants to intercept. The monster tears the Kuksa to pieces without even slowing. The enemy breaks through the house’s ceiling, revealing its terrifying form: a massive, barrel-shaped torso, pale blue, deathly skin, enormous yellow teeth, and blind, cataract-like eyes. Gafur unleashes powerful magic on the creature. His staff spews silver fire, knocking the enemy back. The sorcerer summons a giant snake of cold blue flame with a horse’s skull for a head. He then creates an impenetrable, blue barrier from construction dust. The monster suffers wounds and loses chunks of decaying flesh, but withstands the attacks and retreats into the forest.

Sdisets realizes that ordinary spells have little effect on the returned one. The monster possesses unnatural protection, provided by the alien flows of Power. In the morning, the sorcerer orders Ra-ton to dig up the grave of the slain Na-ara and bring back a lock of her hair. The warriors must also obtain two live pigs for the ritual.

Ambush in the clearing

Gafur, taking five northerners with him, sets off for the pine hills. Among his entourage is Kha-zon, the dead girl’s would-be husband. In a sunlit forest clearing, the necromancer draws protective runes of stability on his hand, preparing to repel ranged magical attacks. Using black paint, a mysterious iridescent potion, and his own blood, the mage transforms ordinary pigs into monstrous, fanged mutants of enormous size. To mask the scent of living humans, Gafur scatters magical black eye pollen around.

The draugr attacks in broad daylight. The guardian pigs rush at it with a squeal, buying the sorcerer precious seconds. The barbarians’ weapons are useless against the monster’s hard flesh. The necromancer suffers painful blows to his protective barriers: the draugr’s true master is attempting to block his Gift. Sdisets frees the ghost of the slain Na-ara from the ashes. Contrary to the warriors’ expectations, the spirit attacks not the monster, but Kha-zon, clawing at his face.

Gafur takes advantage of his opponent’s confusion and severs the invisible magical threads powering the draugr. Deprived of external strength, the monster falls heavily from a shaft to the heart. Its massive body melts, transforming into the ordinary corpse of Da-rom. Gafur reveals the truth to the northerners: Kha-zon found the lovers together near the old caves, killed them both out of jealousy, and staged the tragedy as a suicide. The returnee sought the real culprit to exact his revenge. Surrounded by warriors, Kha-zon surrenders.

The Elder’s Secret

Returning to Ranga, the mage demands the full truth from Na-gor. The elder confesses that eighty-five years ago, another necromancer in a white robe came to them. The villagers refused to let the exile in and shot him with arrows. The stranger’s body was carried away from the village, buried near the old caves, a stake driven through his chest, and thickly sprinkled with salt.

Gafur connects all the events. The murdered lovers accidentally spilled blood on an ancient tomb. The life force awakened a dead apostate of the Eighth Circle. The mage rose as a lich and created a draugr to drain the souls of peasants. The true goal of Gafur’s long journey is to recover the Great Staff of the Order, stolen eighty years ago.

Ra-ton escorts the mage to the stone chasms. Near the entrance, the sorcerer downs three vials of elixirs in one gulp. The potions make him look like a corpse: his skin turns white, his pulse slows significantly, his body grows cold, and his eyes turn blood-red with vertical pupils. Sdis orders the barbarian to lead the entire tribe to the burial mounds if he doesn’t return by sunset.

Duel in the Dark

Gafur descends into the icy corridors. He steps silently through the darkness, dampness, and cold, merging with the dead stone. Sensing the lich’s oppressive presence, the necromancer creates a warm, living double from his own blood. The illusion, wielding a flaming crimson sword, walks ahead, attracting the attention of the lurking enemy.

The lich takes the bait and unleashes a swarm of black spheres on the doppelganger. At that moment, the real Gafur strikes from the saving shadows. He casts a rare spell that weaves light and darkness together. An invisible magical wind assaults the apostate, severing the bonds between spirit and body. Darkness cannot resist the light at the core of this complex sorcery.

Before his death, the apostate hurls a flurry of random combat spells. A smooth shard of ice pierces Gafur’s side, inflicting a mortal wound. Bleeding profusely, blinded by pain, the mage crawls toward his fallen foe. With his crimson sword, he forcefully splits the lich’s skull.

A column of mother-of-pearl light shoots from the shattered vessel into the stone ceiling. The freed souls of the murdered peasants flutter out like bright rays of sunlight. They circle around their savior and share their soft warmth, completely healing the damaged tissue. In the evening, Gafur emerges from the cave to the waiting Ra-ton. The living necromancer now holds two powerful staffs, and a calm smile glistens on his lips.