A Bored Lich

Chapter 196 - Maddening Rage (Part 2)

"A reason?" Doevm cackled and his two flaming eyes brightened. One Undead stood up and walked between Arthur, Gwenivier, and Doevm. The rest of the Undead pooled into one of a hundred teleportation circles in order to return to other parts of the world where Doevm had placed them. The one remaining Undead wore little armor. He had a bloodied mace and a skull with one side crushed. "This was a member of the race you people call Savages. Usually, their race preaches to use that indescribable and illogical feeling called rage to fuel their actions."

…

Doevm took several deep breaths, each one longer than the last and filling his lungs with the stale air of the cave. 'Cool flips and stuff. That's a little hard to do when my enemy is practically using magic. The only way to counter magic, even if it is fake, is by either overpowering them or using fake magic. I don't have power. My mind will not accept fake magic nor to learn of it from a different person. Thus I am at a cliff, tottering at the edge. The only way I can go forward, is to jump.'

…

"The Savages however, like most everything in this world, have exceptions. Among their practices, there are always a few who prove to be immune to treatment. That is not due to lack of motivation, but because their rage seems to be bottomless. If not raised correctly, they will destroy anything in their path. Some tribes, in response to those living hypocrisies of their cultures, developed a new treatment involving magic. The spell puts one through a trial that they must overcome by battling against their own rage. Most die, their hearts exploding in their chests or their veins bursting. A few like this one however," Doevm tapped the Undead Savage on the shoulder. "Walk out alive. They are then worshiped like deities because of their strength, said to be as great as their rage. They weren't wrong. This Undead almost killed me in our duel, back when he was the leader of the long-extinct Rooli clan. After taking his magic I was impatient, for those immune individuals were rare, made rarer by my own hand. So, I used the spell on myself. It worked, partially."

…

Doevm gathered his mana. A magic circle appeared on the ground with crude red, purple, and blue runes swirling around the center. The runes along the outside moved, getting faster with each passing second until it became a vortex of mana and ancient characteristics. Inside his mind, "Lich's Malice" flew out off its shelf. Under the force of the spell, a single page ripped lose, one with the words "fake magic" written on it. It fluttered down into Doevm's shaking hands. 'An hour,' he thought. 'It's going to take longer than that, if I finish at all.'

…

"After that experience," Doevm shook his head and sat in his throne. "Never again. For a being such as me, it was the closest thing to death, repeated on a loop for a year. I died countless times; my mind broken and pleading for it to stop. When I woke up, I was surrounded by magma. You might know of it. It's called the Reelan Trench, the pit leading down to the center of this world. My berserk mana caused it. If not for my preparations beforehand, I would never have gotten to experience the closest thing I can feel to joy when my Undead urges disappeared. Not completely mind you, but I had some semblance of control. Through time, I developed even more control of myself, but there are cracks."

…

"Keep walking," Doevm told himself as his heartbeat escalated. Sweat dripped down from his forehead. "Don't fall, or I'll never get back up." He opened his eyes and looked at the words on the page. The swirling runes slowed to a halt. 'Here it comes.' When the runes crawled closer, he had to force himself not to flinch away. They crawled over his body like burning maggots, dove into every orifice, and pierced into his mind. The room filled with his screams.

Meanwhile back at the group's shelter...

'He's still not back yet,' Frey thought. He glanced at the light crystal only to once again, for the tenth time that hour, remember that he couldn't tell time by it. His eyes grew heavy but he pushed himself awake by putting pressure on his bruises. He woke Elero up and told her to keep watch while he looked for Doevm. 'I'm sorry Doevm, but I just might have to force the answer out of you.'

He crawled down the exit only to stop before the many offshoots. "Doevm?" he called only to get no response. He stood there for a few minutes, wondering what to do when a noise made him draw his weapon. Looking closer at his surroundings, he found one of the offshoots had cracked.

He went down passageway after passageway, sometimes finding the remnants of salamanders from the hunting sessions. Among everything he found however, the cracks were the one thing that he followed. He hastened his pace, his mind telling him to go back. 'How far did he go?' The cracks deepened. He could have sworn the caves were shaking a bit, but it was slight. Rounding another corner, a sound other than his own footsteps caught his attention. Following it, he soon realized that it was many smaller sounds.

"Shit!" Frey yelled as his foot stopped just shy of a large hole in the ground. Several rocks fell in, having been pushed by his sliding feet. He stared at the dark abyss, waiting for the sound of the rocks colliding with the ground. Ten seconds passed until he heard the rocks bounce. That thing in his mind, telling him to go back, grew louder like the collection of small scraping sounds.

He guessed he was close enough because now he heard Doevm's faint moans. He circled around the abyss and continued onwards. "Doevm!" he called out, his voice echoing through the chamber. When he got no response, his already hurried pace turned into a light jog. 'What the hell did he find? Is Trak's group here?'

A few seconds later, the largest opening in the cave stretched out in front of him. The flat walls, floor, and ceiling were now rubble like the many white stone buildings littering the west side of the camp. At the center of that mess, was Doevm, his back to Frey. He was sitting on the floor next to the pieces of light crystals. "Doevm what happened?" Frey stepped closer. His light crystal's light spread through the cracked, bloody room. Doevm was in a pool of blood. Cuts and scrapes covered his entire body.

"Frey," Doevm said in a voice so hoarse that he almost thought it was the wind. Frey stepped closer and almost immediately, something hit him in the face. He winced but soon realized it was some small rocks. Now that he was a little closer, the light crystal lit up thousands of pebble-sized bits swirling throughout the room, all centered around Doevm. They got faster by the second, forcing Frey to step back.

"I failed. Don't talk. Don't get closer. Don't let me see you. Don't breathe too hard. Don't tell anyone. Don't touch me after I pass out. Just turn around and keep walking no matter what you hear. You might feel pain. You might feel the temperature drop. You might feel the walls crack. Don't run. Walk normally. Don't ask questions in your head. Don't think at all. Just turn around and walk. Don't react to anything abnormal in the area. Don't ever come back to this section of the caves again. Don't ask me about what is happening. Don't turn back."

Frey turned around and began to walk, his heart beating like a drum. Each step echoed through the cave. Although he couldn't see behind him, he could tell that the swirling mass was quickening by the increasingly louder sound of the pebble-sized debris pelting against the wall. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Blood from the small hit he had taken dripped from his chin. He didn't wipe it away, although Doevm hadn't told him not to. It dripped on the ground, echoing in the cave. Pain erupted from his back but he kept walking, his hand clenched around the light crystal so hard that it nearly cracked. He didn't know what struck him. When he felt the warm breath flow down his back, he realized he couldn't turn around. Eventually the breathing sound stopped, replaced with shrieks. "Help! Fuck it hurts. Strip my skin away. Don't leave." Frey kept walking and the voice got quieter.

The light from his light crystal faded in and out of existence. He tasted metal; his clenched teeth had finally bitten through his lip. He nearly tripped several times because the caves kept widening with a force he didn't know of. He had seen magic. He had seen a pack of Ghouls nearly rip him limb from limb. He had seen his father with that knife. He had never seen that Doevm, whatever that thing was back there inhabiting his skin. That was not Doevm. This was a dream, a nightmare. After this, he would wake up and Doevm would laugh at him for even thinking of this. When he got back to the room, he lay down on the moss, wincing at whatever was stuck in his back. He wasn't told not to pull them out so he didn't. He wasn't told to close his eyes so he didn't. Elero asked him questions. He just sat there until he went to sleep.