A Bored Lich

Chapter 151 - Divine Intervention

"Maker?" Doevm asked.

"Correct," Maker said as the bright light which engulfed the room faded. Her radiant smile was the same as ever. She was still clothed in the same dress made of pure light. She walked around the room, having to crouch so her head didn't scrape against the ceiling. "It's been a long time, Doevm. How have you been?"

"Cut the shit," Doevm hissed. "What do you want?"

"To offer you guidance of course," Maker said as she turned to watch the battle, which had halted. Clouds remained still. Little pellets from the guns hung in the air. "For a long time, I had lost sight of you. I thought that you would never overcome your Lich-self." She reached back, stroking Doevm's hair. "It seems as though you managed to fix yourself, well, your two selves that is." She chuckled. "I knew you could do it but, you poor hybrid, I'm disappointed. I don't know how you managed to allude me for so long, but you will always come back to me, my champion."

"I am not your champion," Doevm said, still struggling to get himself onto his feet. Maker gently pushed him back down with a finger before sitting on the dragon's bloody neck. Not a spot of red dirtied her dress.

"You are my champion whether you like it or not," Maker laughed as she glanced back at the pieces of the mithril wall. "So he really is here," she mumbled under her breath, her smile fading a bit. She shook her head and turned back to Doevm. "They did quite the number on you. I never thought I would see a being as powerful as you fall to such…children." She sighed. "Nevertheless, I will offer you my guidance, as any god must do for their champion."

"Why?"

"Because you need it," Maker said, her smile widening. "And because it's fun." She got up from her gory seat and floated around the room, landing in front of one of the creatures. "What monstrosity is this?" She leaned a little close and the creature exploded in a mess of black oily substance all onto her dress. She flinched back, parts of her dress getting black stains.

"Am I dead?" Doevm asked as the room's light flickered on and off. Maker seemed to stare at the stains for a while, not seeming to hear his question. Her smile, for the first time, turned into a frown. "Am I dead?" Doevm repeated, louder this time. He coughed a couple times.

"Close," Maker said, her radiant smile reforming. The room's light returned. She ran a hand along her dress and the many stains vanished. "You have probably heard stories of this: the hero getting help in his time of need, or the demon king barely managing to escape with the help of the god of evil. Usually a word related to holy or darkness is tossed in there." She yawned. "It's so boring by now, but you mortals require it." She floated next to Doevm. "It is one of the few actions I allow us gods to do, to interfere with their champions' lives when they need it."

"I don't need your help," Doevm said. He spat a mixture of saliva and blood at her, which went straight through her dress.

"Really?" Maker put a finger on Doevm's shoulder. She looked down at him with more concern written across her face than his own mother. "You don't even know, do you? Within a few seconds, you will suffer a pain worse than anything you have ever experienced before. Your mana will rip you into pieces. You were too late to save yourself. If you weren't, why else would I be here?"

She tapped his nose. Her smile faded into a dark void, overtaking her face: "A boring death. Don't think just because you fixed yourself that you're both human and Lich. You will never be whole. You will always struggle." The room faded to black once again except for a section that gathered around Doevm. "That is what it means to be one of my many champions." She floated out of the room but her voice still sounded off as if she was right in front of Doevm. "Oh silly me I almost forgot the guidance. When time moves again, you will really die. I offer to you, time to remember."

As her last word hung in the air, something clicked inside of Doevm. Then, he felt pain. It tore at every inch of his body like he was being continuously ripped apart and pieced back together. The library was no longer visible underneath the great mounds of dirt and grime. Doevm would have screamed if he had the strength to. His mind went blank and the room vanished.

"Then what do I do?" When Doevm regained consciousness, he found himself on his feet. He was back at the base. Hundreds of light crystals hanging from tree branches around him fought back the darkness of the night. Insects flew around them while crickets sung their song. The humid heat beat down on him. In front of him, was Hopi. "Then what do I do?" he repeated.

Doevm's mouth moved on his own, but he could barely understand what he had said over the intense pain eating away at his sanity: "You will live a hard life…This anger you are feeling will never go away because it will always have a source."

"Then what do I do?"

Doevm writhed on the ground and clawed at the wooden platform, yet the memory kept playing out. "…You will never be both…you are something in between…The Savages…Use their anger to fight…It's a source of power…Use it as a motivation. Use it. Use it."

Doevm clung to consciousness, stuck inside of the memory. He no longer felt the warmth from the forest nor the wetness of the air. He didn't hear what he had said to Hopi anymore. The bugs around him fell to the ground dead. His mana and life essence flew out of his body in a tangled mess.

He found himself walking with no destination. He just needed to keep moving. The base vanished behind him in a puff of smoke. He walked through his dark mind until a forest appeared in front of him. "Humans," he thought back to his past. "Are so irrational because they are emotional." His past words as a Lich rang like a bell in his head. "They get sad, angry, love, hate, envious, fearful, and it is all just so pointless. Undead don't have to deal with that. We just shove everything down in a hole."

Doevm walked into trees and branches, earning himself scrapes and bruises. He tripped on stones and branches, tumbled to the ground, and got up. "The only thing I do, is never give up," Elero's voice said. "because if I stop, I don't think I'll ever be able to pick myself back up." Doevm kept going, the fog rolling in and crawling down his lungs. The night turned into day, and the forest caught fire. The fog turned into ash.

"I only have enough mana to save one," Oliver's voice rang in Doevm's empty head.

"Humans are," Doevm's past words kept ringing out. "by far, the opposite of the Undead. Emotion, non-emotion, life, undeath. When I turn into a human, I will not be defined by emotions."

Doevm fell. When he tried to get up, he slipped on something. He looked back, finding that the bottom of his boot was covered in fresh blood. His eyes followed the trail to Hopi's burnt body, blood still spouting out of his lungs. He flipped over onto his back and lay there, still in a daze. His head went hot as it tried to process everything yet, the more he thought, the more pain he felt, and the less he thought, the darker the world got.

"I can't act while angry. Shove it all down. I won't feel anything like any other Undead. I can't make any mistakes."

"No, I should clean it away. I must be calm and allow myself to feel like a human."

The ground gave way below Doevm, which turned into grime. He fell down into a dark pile of filth, so deep that he couldn't get back up.

Even louder than the sound of the glass-like material breaking, than thunder, even the gunshots, was a sudden snap. The dirt flooded away.

He sat up screaming and holding the sides of his head. All the thoughts, surprised by the intense pain, took form. "Maker, Goddess, God of Evil, damn you all! I swear I'll fucking kill you all! I'll lock you up in a cage and never let you see the light of day. I'll let you starve to death before resurrecting you and shoving my fist up-" His voice cracked as a hot wind rolled up his chest. He kept rolling around, getting covered in mud. Hot tears streamed down his face. For seemingly over an hour he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you," his voice had left him over the time he had writhed and screamed on the ground until only hoarse whispers escaped his throat.

He stood up, taking deep breaths. 'Everything is the fault of those gods. Don't act like you saved me when you did this to me. I swear. I'll crumble it all to the ground. I'll destroy everything you've built and dance on the ashes.' He walked up to the single bookshelf left standing and picked up the sole remaining book, "Lich's Malice".

Doevm blinked and he was back in reality. The pain faded away as a hot sensation in his chest burst open. His face flushed red and veins grew on his forehead.

A Lich is an unparalleled existence born from anguished souls fused to a skeleton. Their innate mana capacity and control is equivalent to even the strongest human mages. They usually dwell in decrepit castles, isolated from the world.

Color returned to Doevm's vision along with his strength. His fist clenched; his fingernails dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood.

Stronger than a Lich's mana is their malice. For a being born of agony can never live in happiness, no matter how they change. It is rumored by humans that Liches hate any and all living. They are wrong. A Lich's hate is only directed at those who have so brazenly dared to disrupt their activities. It will never forgive even the most minor annoyance, and it will never forget.

Time begun anew, evidenced by the blurs in Doevm's vision taking motion. He twitched and his vision returned, letting him see the three majors heading towards him. 'Maker,' Doevm thought as he sat up and pulled his weapons out of his spatial ring. 'Goddess of Good, and god of evil. You three have pissed me off more than anyone in a thousand years.'

The grime in Doevm's library condensed around the book, "Lich's Malice". The twisted bundles of mana snapped back into position and condensed into an orb at his mental center. Doevm held out his spear. Its golden and black shaft was covered in the dragon's guts and blood. He sheathed his dagger at his waist and wrapped the line of throwing knives around his chest.

The three majors were halfway across the room, fighting their way through the masses. The archer fired an arrow. Doevm held out his spatial ring, letting the arrow push itself into his inventory. A few drops of a liquid substance which had covered the arrow hit against the dragon's stomach, dissolving holes in it. It was the same substance the rogue had doused his daggers. Doevm's bones creaked as he got to his feet. 'Use hate huh?'

There was nothing left in Doevm's library except a filthy book titled "Lich's Malice". Everything else melted away as a hot sensation fought against his rationality. He held out his spear in an overhand stance. 'I thought I had abandoned those feelings long ago, even before I reincarnated. They were just hiding, waiting for a reason to surface. Now, here's the reason, three of them. Do your worst.'

Everything went red. Doevm's mind went hazy as he felt a hot breeze engulf him. It washed away all of the pain, replacing it with a pleasant homicidal tendency. His targets were in range. Doevm took a step forward, then another. He jumped out of the dragon as his life essence swirled around him.