Book 8 Chapter 3

Joan stared at the lich while she nervously fiddled with his spell book. At least he didn’t seem to mind. Even better, he was calming down. “Can you tell me about it?” Joan asked.

“About what?” the lich asked.

“What it was like in your time,” Joan said. “Your name, your people, the world.”

The lich opened his mouth, then froze. After a moment he shook his head before he began to chuckle. “Would… you believe I cannot even remember my name?”

“Yeah,” Joan said. “Boney couldn’t either.”

“Boney?” the lich asked.

“Spider lich,” Joan said. “You were an elf, right? Is there any name you’d like to be called?”

The lich shrugged. “Just… call me Lich, I suppose.”

Joan gave a soft sigh. It seemed that when one became a lich, they weren’t the only thing that died. Their creativity was another fatality. “Okay, Lich. Can you tell me about your world?”

“It was my home,” Lich said. “I don’t know what else to say than that.”

Joan motioned around them. “Can you tell me what led to this?”

Lich cringed before nodding. “I suppose at this point there is nothing else I can do, is there? It all happened so quickly, you see. First the Chosen awoke, then the Hero came. Victory after victory they achieved and, finally, we believed the world was saved. They had destroyed this creature known as the Demon Lord. But… well…”

“Well?” Joan asked.

“That was when we began to notice something odd,” Lich said. “The Realm of the Gods was a place only the eldest of elves could enter. But as they left, they began to… perish.”

“Perish?” Joan asked. “Can you give a bit more information?”

“I wish I could,” Lich said. “But that was it. Dozens died, their very minds seeming shattered when they left the realm. It wasn’t long before we began to realize something was wrong. We didn’t know it at the time, but there was a spell that was destroying information in our world. If we’d gained too much it could destroy our very minds when it erased it.”

“Oh, I know how that is,” Joan mumbled softly.

“We were at a loss,” Lich said. “We kept logs in the realm, but we didn’t dare take them out for fear they would be destroyed. We kept records of what we could, but much was still lost. Information we dare not look at and check, for fear it would kill us when we left. Then we got lucky. A vampire of all things, stalking an elder scribe. The scribe attempted to escape in the doorway, but the doorway didn’t seem to affect them. Despite the fact they did not meet the qualifications to enter the realm, they could. Though they couldn’t open the door themselves. This led to more experimentation and we discovered while the minds of the living were wiped clean, those of the dead were not.”

“So you became a lich?” Joan asked.

“Eventually,” Lich said with a sigh. “I was… too young to enter the Realm of the Gods at the time, but I was still part of a team that was selected to… find… a way for us to use this. If we could find a way to learn these memories that were lost, we could possibly end whatever was stopping them. We may have succeeded, if not for the plague.”

“We’ve heard of the plague,” Joan said softly. “If… you don’t mind me asking, what ummm…”

“Happened?” Lich asked. “Nothing and then everything. It started as little more than a simple cough. For months it seemed to spread, but the damage was incredibly minor, even to us elves. A light cough that cleared quickly. Then, all at once, it changed. Overnight it went from a small bit of coughing to agony. It was unlike anything we had ever seen, even those who had only just caught the disease were affected the same as those who had it at the beginning, regardless of how far away they were. That was when we realized it wasn’t some natural ailment, it was something far more arcane in nature.”

Joan cringed. She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like having a disease like that just spread and suddenly change. “How… did you…?”

“It was quickly growing worse,” Lich said. “Every week more symptoms would appear. The Chosen and the Hero were desperately searching for the cause or a cure, but we were running out of time. The eldest were affected the most, which was when we realized. This wasn’t just a means to kill us, it was to stop us from gathering the information we so desperately needed. Members of my team were dying off quickly and I realized I would soon follow. With me, all hope would leave. That was when… that was when we realized we had no choice…” The lich lifted a hand up and clenched it into a fist. “I was the most powerful amongst us left. While we had no means by which to do what we’d set out to do, we did have… other ways. There were no undead to call on in our aid, but we could create one. Our time was running out and, as the one most likely to survive the transformation, I… was chosen.” Joan’s eyes narrowed. There was something about the way he said that. Even with his strange, gruff voice it sounded almost like he didn’t approve. Or perhaps that he was saddened by the choice.

“The others of my team sacrificed themselves, creating me. The task was done, more importantly my mind was free of the magics that infected our kind. The disease couldn’t harm me. Our sacrifice… at first… seemed as if it wouldn’t be in vain. But then…” His hand began to shake and while he had no eyes or eyelids, she had the strangest impression that he had closed his eyes then. As if he was trying to bury some deep, terrible emotions down.

“For a time I was allowed into the Realm of the Gods. While I could not open the door, I could now enter. The things I learned. They were… terrible. So many things we had learned and taken as fact were wrong. The Hero, the Chosen, but there were others. One known as the Champion and another known as the Guide,” Lich said. “But they had disappeared long ago.”

Joan kept her mouth shut, not wanting to cut him off when he seemed to be on a roll. She could be patient, she had time. For now.

“More than that, though, I learned of the original monster that assaulted our world. The Hungry One, or as some called it, the Corrupter of the Weavers. A monster that was said to taint the very threads of fate themselves, a dark god that had tainted our world before it even existed.”

Joan nodded, leaning forward a little bit and listening intently. She knew this already, but there might be more she could use.

“This monster had been fighting the Chosen across many, many worlds until, finally, they managed to defeat it with the aid of the Guide and the Champion. However, there was a cost. In that final battle, the Champion was tainted. Corrupted, much as the weavers had been. It coiled itself around his very soul, tainting and defiling it, while its foul eggs were scattered across our realm and all realms connected to it.”

Joan nodded, clenching her fists. So far, it was pretty close to what Penthe had told her. But she couldn’t help feeling there was more.

“The Champion fought it for a time and, for many generations, there was peace. But, according to what I could find, the Champion was fighting a losing battle. With every threat, every egg of the Hungry One that hatched forced the Champion to be reborn. With every rebirth, he became more and more corrupted. So he gave his powers to another. One who adopted the title of Hero.”

Joan nodded, though she felt a knot of sadness clenching in her stomach. She had a feeling this was when everything was going to go wrong.

“Then, soon after, it all stopped,” Lich said.

“Stopped?” Joan asked.

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“Our records,” Lich said. “Past that there was little we could uncover. It was as if history after that moment had just vanished. Whatever magic erased our memories seemed to take effect soon after the Hero appeared. With it, both the Champion and the Guide disappeared as well.”

Joan gave a soft sigh. She didn’t want to tell him, but she really had only learned a little from him. Still, she supposed it didn’t hurt to have confirmation from what she’d learned from Penthe. “Then, ummm, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Lich said. “I learned other things, however. The origins of humans, dwarves, elves and demonkin.”

“Demonkin?” Joan asked.

“Our kin amongst the demon,” Lich said.

Joan blinked a few times. “That is a MUCH easier thing to call them.”

“What did you call them?” Lich asked.

“Demons,” Joan said.

“And the non-kin?” Lich said.

“Demons as well,” Joan said.

“That sounds… confusing,” Lich said.

“It really is,” Joan said. “But what about their origins?”

“All of them stem from the same race, created by the guide,” Lich said. “The humans were created first, but were… not enough, it seemed. Next were the dwarves, created using elementals to give them great power. Next were the elves, by adding fae. While they were long lived enough to enter the Realm of the Gods, they still weren’t enough. Then, however, the demonkin were made. It was soon after that that the Guide was said to disappear entirely. Some believed that the guide became the creature known as the Demon Lord. We may never know, however. With so much of our history wiped away, there is so much we still can’t know.”

Joan nodded, though she couldn’t help feeling a small nudge of guilt. While she didn’t know all of this exactly, she did know enough of it. He really hadn’t been necessary. If he’d really sacrificed everything for this, then she couldn’t imagine how much it had to hurt.

“How did you end up here?” Joan asked.

“I was betrayed,” Lich said. “By my own people. The information I gathered I could not share with them, as it would kill them. Slowly, distrust began to grow. As the disease spread more and more, it began to infect even those inside the Realm of the Gods. Not just us, but the weavers themselves.”

“The spiders?” Joan asked.

“Indeed,” Lich said. “Eventually, they began to blame me. Accused me of being the cause. I tried to dissuade them, but they refused to listen. Those I shared too much information with were killed by the spell that wiped their minds. I left them what help I could, but then they took me here and trapped me in this realm. Destroyed one of the door’s to this realm and left others to protect it.” He turned towards the dark cracks in the wall. “From there I had to wait as the world dissolved around me. It took me… ages to learn to shape this realm.”

“Shape it?” Joan asked.

“The book, the illusions, the crystal ball,” Lich said. “None of it was here when I arrived. I had to create them myself, forging them through my will. But I had time. The book I created first, using it to draw the knowledge from my own arcane works. Then the orb, allowing me to peer into the world again. However, when I could… it seemed hopeless. For ages, there were none who could enter this realm. That is, until you.”

Joan gave a sheepish smile. “Yeah, uhhh, sorry about that. I would have come sooner but, ummm…”

“I no longer exist,” Lich said. “At least, to the elves. I am… not surprised they have forgotten about me. So much has already been lost, what is one more?” Judging by his tone, she suspected he wasn’t quite as dismissive as he tried to sound.

“So, ummm, can you look anywhere in the real world with the orb?” Joan asked, quickly trying to change the subject.

“Indeed,” Lich said.

“Can you show me something?” Joan asked.

“If you so desire,” Lich said.

Joan nodded and glanced towards it. Well, they were almost done. There was really only one thing she could see getting in their way. “Can you show me the Demon Lord?” she asked.

“Do you know where they are?” Lich asked.

Joan blinked a few times. She actually had no clue. “Errrrr… not… exactly.”

“Then how?” Lich asked.

“I mean, can’t you like… focus on him?” Joan asked.

“I’ve never met him,” Lich said. “Have you?”

“More times than I can count,” Joan said softly.

“If you can focus on him, then yes,” Lich said. “Why?”

Joan gave a sigh before shrugging. “Because he and Penthe are probably the only ones who can mess everything up at this point and you probably can’t see her if you weren’t able to see her before. She can open these doors as well.”

Lich went still for a few moments, his hollow eyes staring at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. “She can?”

“Yessss?” Joan said nervously.

“I see. Then perhaps I can’t see this Demon Lord. But I can try.”

Joan nodded. “So, what do I need to do?”

“Move in front of the ball and stare into it, focus on the Demon Lord,” Lich said.

Joan nodded before walking to the orb, standing in front of it and staring into the glass. At least, she thought it was glass. Strange realm glass, she supposed. She focused on the Demon Lord, imagining his sneering face.

After a few moments the Demon Lord’s face appeared. He wasn’t moving, though. Oh, right. Of course. Time had stopped, it--

Her heart nearly stopped when the world around him came more into focus. Obsidian trolls, hundreds of them. Not only that, he had that strange woman with him she’d seen so long ago, the one she’d helped him rescue from an obsidian troll.

Worse, she knew where they were. Even though that valley was little more than ash now, she’d tread it more times across more lives than she could count.

The Demon Lord was heading towards the prison of the Inferno God. Why? How? He couldn’t know where it was located yet, could he? Only two of the envoys were awake, so how?

There were so many obsidian trolls. Could the Chosen face them? Were they ready? Was she? How? She was so far ahead of schedule, how was he doing this now? It wasn’t time. She was supposed to stop this from happening. There couldn’t be that many obsidian trolls. There couldn’t.

Joan fell to her knees and just leaned forward, resting her head against the pillar. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t. There were too many. They couldn’t win this. The Chosen weren’t ready for this. Even if they were all together, they couldn’t.

They needed time. They needed more time than they had. If the Inferno God was about to wake up, then she’d already failed. She--

No. No. NO. It just meant she had to be better. She had to be smarter. All seven of the Chosen were with her now. They WOULD do this. They would. All of them. They could. Somehow. There was nothing the Chosen couldn’t do together.

“Lich?” Joan asked.

“Yes?” Lich asked.

“We know a lot of this,” Joan said. “Well. I know a lot of this. But there’s a lot our world doesn’t know. The spell is broken, but the information doesn’t exist yet. Even if some of it is known there is still a lot you could share with us. A lot our world needs.”

Lich gave a small nod. “And if they refuse to listen? To accept my help?”

“Well, nobody else can enter the Realm of the Gods,” Joan said. “So they can’t trap you again. You’re, uhhhh, already dead. So there’s that. As to, well, refusing to listen? They will. They always do. It takes time. But you’re hardly the first strange, magical creature who could help the world. Hey, there’s actually a vampire you might like, too. She’s a bit… weird. But she could use the company. You’re already dead, too, so it’s not like she can try to turn you.”

The lich gave a long suffering sigh, before nodding. “I suppose this will do for now,” he said, his voice sounding faded and exhausted. She decided to add ‘the dead’ to the things she had exhausted.

“It’ll have to,” Joan said. “Now, um, let’s get you out of here. I guess we have to go back through the spiders, don’t we? World is on the line and all of that. Oh, I have so much work to still do and not nearly enough time to do it.”

“Are you okay? You’re quite pale,” Lich said.

“Just a bit of a headache,” Joan said. “At least this time my brain isn’t destroying itself.”

“What?” Lich asked.

“Nothing,” Joan said. “That spell was miserable. For now? Just try to think of a better name. Lich is a little impersonal.”

“Why not Lid?” Lich offered.

Joan just gave a long suffering sigh of her own. Another thing to add to the list, it seemed. At least it wasn’t that critical.