We had arrived on a Frigday evening, that meant we had one free day before classes resumed. Most students likely relaxed, or recovered from the crackers, if they were first year students. But I had other plans. Necromancy!

After breakfast I rushed to a lab with my friends. We had a headless corpse, plus a head, to animate.

"So, you are just going for a draugr? Add water mana and hope it lets him keep air?" Skadi asked, as we stood around the corpse.

"I can sew the head back on." Hatsumi offered. She had brought some simple thread and a needle.

"I am not sure if there is any potion I could do that helps. Sadly, none of us has an air affinity." Cassie mused.

"Air would go well with water. Make them wet, then throw lightning in their face." Helena said.

"The corpse is in very good condition. Captain Sarah cleanly cut the head off. I am hoping that means it retained some magic." Preserving the magic affinity of a corpse was not easy. Hatsumi had not retained her light affinity, for example. But we put a lot of effort into making her a vampire. And her body had been somewhat damaged.

"I don't think I can do much to help here." Skadi stated.

Cassie grinned. "You can help me! I want to make some potions."

"Are you learning alchemy?" I asked Skadi.

Skadi shook her head. "No. She mostly wants me for my blood."

"Spellblade blood is rather magical. It's amazing! I think the circulation helps too." Cassie confirmed. "Hatsumi's blood is nice as well but the whole undead part makes it less usable for some things."

While Cassie and Skadi walked to an alchemy station, Hatsumi began to sew the head back on. The cats were here too, sleeping in a pile, with Nyx on top. So far this undead had not caught their interest.

"I have an idea!" Cassie suddenly shouted and came running back with a bottle of something.

"What is it?" I asked.

Cassie grinned. "Bubbles!"

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"Bubbles?"

"You know, like in beer. That is kind of like air mixed in water, right? What if we circulate something with bubbles inside the undead?" She suggested.

I scratched my head. "I suppose it could not hurt. Do we have something with bubbles? Can you add them to water?"

"They are naturally occurring when you brew beer. No idea how you would add them to water." Skadi said.

"I don't know either but surely we could find out?" Cassie suggested.

"What about mist? Maybe we could try Nyx' mist and circulate that?" Helena proposed.

"That could work. Let's try that. Can you create freezing mist as well, or do I need to convince Nyx to help?" I asked.

Nyx opened one eye, still sleeping on top of the other cats.

"I can do it." Helena said. Nyx closed her eye again.

Unlike water, Helena could not keep the mist circulating. She did not have control over the cloud. But she could keep a steady stream blowing into the body. We created frozen pipes to funnel the mist through, hoping that would help.

If nothing else it was interesting training. Skadi, being the expert on blood, advised us where we should build those pipes. Of course we could not reconstruct the blood flow of a real person. That would be too complicated. We just had a few major pipes and Helena blew her mist through it.

Then came my part. I focused on the corpse and began animating it. I went for a tier three spell. Was I being too ambitious? Had five tier three undead already. But my core was big enough to support them and my other undead. And a goblin leader for my goblin zombies appealed to me. Hopefully I could create another loyal companion.

I could feel the body come to life as my magic poured into it. I could feel it change. I could feel a core forming. It was working! I pulled more mana from my own core and kept feeding the spell. It was a hungry one.

The head and the body did not want to play well together, at first. The spell tried to slip into the body, ignoring the head. It took a lot of concentration to combine them. I could feel the mist flowing between them. It helped anchor the head.

I could feel cold sweat on my forehead. Someone wiped it with a towel. I was too focused on my magic to keep track of my surroundings. I had no idea how much time passed as I concentrated. It felt like I had to manually guide my magic this time.

Eventually it felt right. The spell completed and a new undead was born. I heard Helena gasp.

"Is it supposed to be on fire?" Skadi asked.

My eyes shot open and I stared at my creation. The goblin's skin had turned into a greyish blue. But more importantly, flames were emerging from the gap in his throat. Blue flames.

"This is not normal fire." Cassie commented.

The goblins' eyes had the same flames. He blinked, then sat up. His head fell from his body. There was a flame where the head should have been.

"Huh." The head said. Then the body picked up its head and held it in his arms. "Ah, you must be my mistress! Greetings!"

I had so many questions, staring at my undead.

"Hello, I am Hatsumi, the mistress' maid! You would make a formidable butler." She suggested.

"Oh?" The goblin stroked his chin with one hand, while holding his head in the other. "I suppose I would look good in a suit."

"But… Why are you burning?" I asked.

"Burning? Oh my, this is no fire, my lady. This is cold fire. Worry not, it shall not damage any clothing. Not that I seem to be wearing much other than a loincloth. Apologies." The goblin replied.

"That is sort of our fault though…" Helena admitted.

"What is cold fire?" I asked.

"I…" The goblin used his empty hand to scratch his head. "I seem to be uncertain. But it fuels my body and is definitely not hot. It seems to have no relation to fire."

"Maybe I should fetch Gronir, so he can offer some insights?" Hatsumi suggested.

I just nodded, still processing the existence of my newest undead. The thread we had used to sew the head on must have been destroyed, maybe by the cold fire? Yet he seemed happy, despite not having his head attached. It was bizarre. As was the cold fire. Hopefully Gronir could help and explain some things.

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