A Bored Lich

The sun, the stars, the moon, none of their light was able to reach the world. For the first time in centuries, no external light shone down. For the first time in centuries, Maker grew annoyed. She stood on the other side of the barrier and gathered her mana. Her radiance condensed into a ball the size of her fist. It rushed forward, battering against the barrier only to send a few calm ripples across it. She frowned and held up her hand. Two of her children appeared behind her. The goddess of good and the god of evil both kneeled down. All thoughts of battle were put out of their heads when their parent was angry. "That man…" Maker mumbled. "I thought we destroyed everything." She struck the barrier one last time then turned to face her children. "You both know what this means, right?"

"Yes ma'am," said the god of evil.

"Yes mother," said the goddess of good.

"Then you will both need to separate." She pointed to the central landmass. "When the barrier dissolves, I'll search the main continent while you two get the east and west. I want him or whatever legacy he left behind destroyed." The two children nodded and tried to help pass the barrier ahead of time only to be pushed back. "I guess we have to wait." Maker summoned a chair and sat down. "Even after so much time he continues to be a thorn in my side."

…

Doevm was pulled forward, crashing him and Horse into the ground in a dark room. As he got up the doors slammed close. An enormous lock made of an unknown material barred the door. Doevm held his leg, expecting pain to rise up, but it never came. The wound on his leg was healed. He stretched his limb out a couple times to find it was fine. After standing up on it, it was verified he was completely healed. Horse, on the other hand, vaporized. The mental connection was severed.

'This is either a holy shrine or a sort of safehouse from another race,' Doevm thought. He tried to use his magic to see, but it was blocked. He tried again yet nothing happened.

As if acting for him, a blinding blue light flooded the surroundings. After his eyes adjusted, he saw the source of the light was a transparent pillar. Inside were masses of blue energy flying around like a tornado. One after another, more pillars lit up on his left and right going down a long hallway. The way back was blocked, so he walked forward on the faded velvet carpet. Massive holes had been ripped in it. Besides the carpet, the floor was made of Ploly (Pl-ole) bricks.

While the roof forty feet above him was made up of thousands of shining mana crystals, the walls of steel and aluminum to reflect the light, Ploly bricks were unexpected. 'Did the construction crew run out of money half-way through this project?' Doevm thought as he picked one up. Ploly bricks were famously useless. Their melting point was of dirt. They were so soft that one could crush them in their palms. Even Doevm had a hard time believing it was that useless. He had spent a year examining them only to find out they truly were garbage. Yet, despite his failure to find anything useful about Ploly, he knew they were useful for something. It was a material no one knew the origin of. If one used alchemy to split it into its original state, it would not turn into any other base elements. It was its own dark brown material.

For a few minutes he walked until he got to the edge of the ruins. On the back wall constructed out of pure Ploly bricks were more hieroglyphics that read: "She is watching always. She is watching always. She is watching always. She is watching always." Over and over again. It filled the wall. As he continued to read, the hieroglyphs got more hurried and sloppier. By the end, it was illegible. Embedded into the center was a single book with a dark grey leather cover. The title read: "The game of the Gods, by Maximus Draken".

One hundred and fifteen years ago…

Arthur walked straight past the two Undead knights guarding the library and into the throne room. "Doevm, are you ready for this week's session?" He took off his gauntlets and leaned his sword against the wall. He made sure not to get close to the bookshelves as this Lich would always get angry whenever his stuff was touched without permission.

Doevm was in his half-destroyed throne hunched over a book. His skeletal head turned up to meet his instructor. "You're early." He shut the book and handed it to one of his Undead minions. "I guess that means we can spar for longer today." He rolled up the sleeves of his black cloak.

"You know, I always see you reading the same book, why is that?" Arthur asked.

"That's unusual," Doevm chuckled. "You interested in a book? What interests you about it?" He motioned for the servant to return. He plucked the book out of its hands and opened it once more.

"Not just the one." Arthur walked shoulder to shoulder with him. "You mostly read books by the same author, Maximus Draken." He pointed to the signature. "The capital of the Acrin Kingdom is also Draken. What's he so famous for?"

"That depends." Doevm held the book away from Arthur, afraid that his rough hands would damage the old book. "If you ask humans, they say he was the first hero. If you ask demons, he was the greatest magician. If you ask me, he was a great philosopher." A dozen servants came into the library and bowed with books presented. "Each of these is his work. His theories about mana are fascinating. They've kept me busy for a half a century now, testing each one of them. The most interesting thing about him, however, is that everyone is wrong about him."

"You mean, he wasn't smart at all?"

"No, not that." Doevm nearly hit his friend with the book, but that would most likely damage the book more than the hero's thick skull. "No one knows why he was so prominent. He was able to do so many things in his lifetime. It was like he was great at everything. Combat, magic, thinking, building, he did everything. His tombs can still be found around the world, hidden from the public's eyes. When he was at the height of his power, he lost his magic. He was unable to even see it. The kingdom that he built up was taken over. Many of his books were labeled as heresy and destroyed. No matter how much I find about him, there is no answer to what he actually did to get so strong and who made him crumble. His family was unknown. He had no heirs. Only his accomplishments are known."

"Sounds harsh." Arthur looked at the rest of the books. "They seem to be getting darker as they go. Did you notice that?"

"What do you mean, the content? There are only a few copies in the world so how could you have read them?" Doevm closed the book.

"Look at this one." Arthur forcefully yanked the book out of Doevm's skeletal hands. "This is volume one and it is bound in white leather." He picked up the next volume before Doevm could snatch his book back. "This one has a slightly darker cover and its volume two."

"Ok I get it, now put the books down before I have to kill you." Lightning cackled around his hands. Arthur shrugged and put the books back as dramatically and gently as he could. "It could be because they are getting older or just a coincidence." His blue flame eyes inspected each book. The limit of his collection was at grey. "This means there might be more…" He picked up the last book and mumbled to himself, "That means his theories continue. From the latest volume I was able to invent light magic. What happens if I get my hands on the latest volumes?" He put them back down and shooed his servants away. "I'll investigate this matter later. Our time is limited. Let's spar." He went for a quick jab. Arthur ducked. "This is for touching my stuff!" He executed a combination attack against air.

Arthur got into a stance: "I am going to touch e-ve-ry-thing after I win."

Back to the present…

The book was a trap. It had to be a trap. Doevm knew deep in his heart that such an elaborate hallway was just to make him more impatient. His magic was sealed, and he had no idea as to why. Since there was no exit to this place, only the book, it was obvious that picking up the book was what the maker of this ruin intended. He grabbed the book and opened to the first page. Right on cue, a trap activated. A soft repeating clinking went down the hallway. The pillars cracked. The blue swirling mist burst out and rushed toward Doevm, who was zoned out. His eyes were glued to the first line: "Instruction for basic soul magic."

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