A Bored Lich

Frey huffed out a foggy breath as he approached The Pit, its entrance hanging open in the night like a toothless mouth. He took two more breaths, paused, then smiled. 'I guess old habits die hard,' he thought. He let the tension fade from his shoulders. At sunrise, he would always enter ready for a fight. At night, it was a silent welcome back. He stepped inside and a wave of nostalgia assaulted him.

Everything was the same: the stale air, the half-broken dummies, and even the circles in the dirt. A pang shot through his heart as he found himself longing to train with his old squadron one more time. However, he had new allies, who had been waiting for him. He spotted Olpi, Elero, and Thomas, but not Doevm: "Is Doevm not here yet?"

Elero looked up from filing her nails: "Nope."

"He told me he'll be here soon," Thomas called from the back of The Pit. He lobbed a dagger at a training dummy, retrieved it, then repeated the process.

Frey sighed. 'Maybe I should have slept in,' he thought. 'I knew Doevm was acting strangely, but he's rarely late.'

Elero sniffed the air and grimaced. "Why did we have to meet here of all places anyway? It smells like sweat and dudes in here."

"We meet here because it is a perfect location," said a familiar voice. Heads turned as an unnatural darkness sprang from a magic circle and engulfed The Pit's entrance. Doevm hurried inside, not bothering to explain himself: "Frey, do you mind waking Olpi up? It is important that everyone hears this."

Frey glanced at Olpi, whose eyes fluttered open. "I am up," she said. "I swear. It is just…" She paused to let out a yawn. "Why did we have to meet so late?"

"Because you humans always make a ruckus whenever one of you spot a corpse, and the dead move slowly," Doevm explained. He motioned towards the darkness, which opened like a veil as another figure stepped into the room, then another, then two more.

Four Undead shambled inside. Upon their pale-skinned backs was the lifeless, frozen corpse of Owen, who was placed upright, dead center of the room. The group cautiously stepped back. Despite his peaceful expression his body, still frozen, was ready to fight.

Frey frowned as he looked each Undead up and down. Two goblins. Two humans. He didn't recognize their faces but he shared their wounds. A gnawing sensation formed in his gut: "Doevm, why you use magic-"

"The hell?" Elero cut him off, jabbing a finger towards Owen. "Why did you melt the ice around his head? Don't tell me you're going to resurrect this jerk."

Frey shifted his focus back to Owen, who used to have fear etched into his face. He hadn't looked peaceful before. He had moved. Frey hovered a hand over his spatial ring, and the others followed suit.

"I have it under control," Doevm assured them.

Olpi swallowed her saliva. "Are you sure? What's to say he doesn't have some sort of secret trap that activates when his body is tampered with? Is this a good idea?"

Doevm chuckled, then ordered the Undead to take watch at the entrance. "Just who do you think I am? Of course there's a trap. I took care of it. As for resurrecting him…" His voice trailed off as Owen's expression shifted.

Owen's lifeless eyes gravitated towards Frey. His jaw opened wide, letting out a pained groan before he spoke to them: "Yes, my mas…my mas…" he flinched. "My master?"

"See?" Doevm shrugged. "You should be more concerned with listening."

Olpi averted his gaze. "He looks like he's in pain."

Owen let out another groan. "I-I am Owen," His raspy voice crawled out of his throat. "As a child, I trained to be a War…War Monk. There were many children like me. Fffffought. Killed. Grew…Sa-sacrilegious acts for the greater good. For the goddess I-"

Frey turned his attention to Thomas, who shifted his weight from foot to foot, his expression almost matching Owen's.

Olpi seemed to notice as well because tugged on Thomas's sleeve: "Doevm said he could control Owen, so it's probably fine."

"I know that," Thomas whispered back, frowning.

"I was one of many seeds…" Owen continued. "which sprouted under orders from the Cardinals. My orders: take the Botomans. Prepare. The...the Mumbling Prophet. There will be a new god. The prophecy has been broken. Prepare. That is all, my mas…my master."

Owen went limp, and then silence fell upon the group.

"What did he mean by a new god?" Thomas asked. "How does one even become a god?"

"I do not know," Doevm replied. "I didn't expect that I would affect things this much." He took out some paper. "Owen, repeat yourself."

Owen's head rose again: "I was trained…"

Olpi let out a nervous chuckle. "Well at least he didn't blow up or anything."

"No…" Elero said, shaking her head. "But he was one of many seeds. That means that the War Monks have spies everywhere, and after what we did at the capital, they know our faces. Be back in a moment." She pulled an artifact from her spatial ring and hurried out of the room without another word.

Frey pointed at the artifact and asked, "What's that thing?"

"It instantly messages people from far away," Olpi explained, seeing as how Elero had already left.

Frey nodded: "Oh. I don't get it. Who is she going to message at this time of night?"

"Her family, you idiot," Thomas said as he began pacing around the room. "My father was a target so why not her family? The War Monks know that we're all related to Doevm. This is bad, very very bad. What if they come after us again?"

Doevm rubbed at his wrists. "Let's all stay calm. All of you have been put in a lot of danger, and naturally that includes the ones you love. For now, let us rest then talk more in the morning."

"And what about my family?" Frey asked. "I need to get to them. Are we still going to Vilbar?"

"We will," Doevm assured him. "Nothing has changed. We just have a few more things to do. We need to do things as a group from here on out. The War Monks now know our faces, our locations, and who we really are. They will come for us, but as long as we can keep moving and keep our heads straight, we can make it out. I have a plan but once again, no one moves on their own. Is that understood?" He swept his gaze across everyone, yet he seemed to be staring at Thomas and Frey the most.

"Of course," Thomas and Frey responded in unison.

"Good, now everyone go back to the Virility estate," Doevm said.

After a few more questions and promises, Frey found himself pushed out of The Pit like the rest of the group. Behind him, he could still hear Owen repeating his words. 'I feel like I am missing something,' he thought. He shrugged and started towards the estate. 'Whatever it is, Doevm can handle it.'

"There will be a new god…" Owen's voice drifted off.

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