A Bored Lich

Chapter 201 - Distrust

'The Resistance leader is dangerous,' the Lich thought.

'I feel the same,' the other half thought. 'It makes my stomach crawl just thinking about it. It's too bad that all his planning is meaningless. We don't exactly intend to die for this kingdom.' The Lich held the shards of the glass-like material close to his chest. 'What are you doing?'

'Fusing us back together,' the Lich replied.

'But we need to erase Frey's memory first. We just need to regain a little more soulmana.'

The Lich narrowed his eyes as he felt the other half tense up. 'I've been thinking...' The Lich's forehead lit up with a pattern. 'Something's also been off about the real Doevm, a hypocrisy that's been getting on my nerves. He wants to tell Frey about us but he could have just gone down to the end of the chamber, grabbed the shards, and broke the object watching over Frey. He could have waited to go through the trial until he found a demonic weapon. Even though he didn't know that both the shards and demonic weapon were here, if I guessed it, then so could he. Then there is the shaking.' The Lich held out his hand, which hadn't stopped shaking since last night. 'I can't feel anything. I can only rely on you. Are you scared of what Frey will do?'

'Of course not. At the end of the day I'll tell him everything that-'

'The real Doevm could have at least given Frey some semblance of a hint. It's unlike us. It's not natural. I knew being around humans would do this to him, but not this soon. He's changing. It is time to embrace that change but at the end of the day, it's your choice.' 

The other half didn't say anything, but the shaking intensified. The Lich was pulled into that library. When he looked up, he found that the strands of their little remaining mana were in a tangled mess. The other half appeared next to him and stared at the mess: "It's funny, I don't think me or the real Doevm noticed at all. Only someone as objective as you could have seen that change, no matter how slight it was."

"Don't downplay yourself," the Lich replied. "He needs both of us. You might have just gotten here but you keep him going. It's my job to keep him set on the path he chose, even if I can't understand why he chose it. He never was normal, even as a Lich."

"Well that's because-"

"Don't talk about that," the Lich cut him off. "It's better for everyone if the real Doevm doesn't remember it: the circumstances around his birth as a Lich."

They both stared on as the strands of tangled mana crawled back into a smooth orb. A burst of soulmana fused the crack in their soul back together.

The real Doevm opened his eyes in reality. His eyes had long bags under them. His body was shaking. The worst pain, however, was his head. 'Damn it,' he thought. 'Why did I do something so risky? As a Lich, the habit of pushing everything aside to achieve my goal was fine. I didn't have attachments. I didn't have human needs. I could research phenomenon for years without break or having to explain. I guess…' He stepped out of the room, back to where Frey was waiting for him. 'I was too scared to see this coming.'

Doevm held out his hand a spear appeared after a small burst of flames. It was the same rusty spear, only the wear that had accumulated over time was absent. It was a spear of perfect length for him, Larque had made sure of that. It had a black, Hornwood shaft with red accents around the top and bottom. The double-sided curved tip, made of a dark metal unique to demonic weapons, was surrounded in a red aura that grew and shrank like it had its own heartbeat. He took a stance and executed a few practice stabs through the air. The way it whistled through the air, put a smile on Doevm's face. 'This is a weapon that I have earned.'

"Woah," Frey said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "Another trick?" He sighed. "Whatever happened to going further?" He sat down and leaned against a pillar on the other side of the room. His words echoed throughout the silent chamber. "Now what?"

"Now," Doevm said, checking up on his mana and soulmana only to find them depleted. 'Not yet,' he thought. 'I can't tell him when I don't have any insurance.' "I'm back. Everything is fine."

Frey stood there for a second. His expression changed several times and he muttered something. When Frey finally looked Doevm in the eyes, he held an expression Doevm could only describe as bewilderment. As Frey got to his feet however, he immediately knew something was off. "What do you mean everything is fine?" His voice shook a little. He pointed at Elero's and Thomas's unconscious figures just outside the chamber. "You did that. You cracked the fucking cave so badly that it might collapse at any second. You made salamanders spill their guts with your mind. I am not smart, I do not have some grand plan for every action, but even I can tell that a spear and an empty room is not worth what you put us through. What now Doevm? What's your plan? Will you erase our minds again?"

"Swear-" Doevm started but Frey cut him off.

"Because I don't even think it's you anymore. What was that talk about the other half and why were you referring to yourself in the third person. Are you just laughing at me behind your plain expression? This swamp has a lot of creatures. Who is to say that you're not one of them in disguise? Are you one of Trak's men and you are just disguised as Doevm?" He took out the menu of items that Mr. Quinn had given them, threw it on the ground, and spat on it. "Because I don't know what half of these things do. I can't read them because they're too hard for me. I've been following you for so long but you treat me and everyone else like we are in the way. The only reason we are still around is because you keep telling us that you'll tell us later or you simply shove whatever convenient lie down our throats so-"

"Let me finish!" Doevm cut him off, his yell echoing through the chamber. He took a breath as Larque caught a bit of rage swelling within him. "As I was saying, I'll swear. Everything. I'll tell you what I am, what's going on, everything. Just wait a few hours or until the end of the day. Then I'll let you in on everything that I've been holding back from you. I just need to recover first."

Frey went silent again. Now Doevm could only hear his own heartbeat echoing in his chest like a drum. Frey cast his head down for a second and put up those invisible walls around him so he could think. Doevm waited, his mind trying to find any path out of this incoming confrontation.

"You know," Frey said. "I would die for you. Would you do the same for me?" Doevm shook his head. Frey put on that accursed smile of his. "I knew it," He started for the exit. "I don't know what this place is and I won't ask. I'm probably too stupid to understand anyway. That's what you thought was wrong with me wasn't it? Back when I first caught onto your shit after the fight with Trak, you said something wrong with my head. It's been gnawing at me and now I know why you said it. That entire conversation you turned into a simple dream. I don't know how long you've manipulated us but it stops now."

"I wouldn't die for anyone," Doevm continued as Frey kept walking away. "I wouldn't die for you. I wouldn't die for some noble cause. I wouldn't die for Hopi. I wouldn't die for my men. I wouldn't die for you guys back at the Lava Boar incident. I wouldn't die for my mother. I wouldn't die for Jameson either. If a whole kingdom's fate rested on my shoulders, I wouldn't even blink!" At that, Frey halted.

Doevm took deep breaths while Larque caught as much anger as he could, but some still seeped through the pages of "Lich's Malice". "I cannot let myself die nor can I let my guard down even when I sleep. That's because at every waking moment I could be watched by the same entity watching me through your eyes. I cannot tell you because I cannot let her know who I am. I have been waiting because I need to both convince you and get that entity to stop watching you. Now that I've got one of the factors, I need to get the other."

Frey shook his head: "Where is your usual logical explanation of this? Where is the argument that you usually pull out of your ass? To repeat, I don't think it's you, or I'm just realizing how much of a manipulative person you really are. Just stop. We're all...you and Thomas are going home. I promised Thomas that I'd get him through initiation but I'm just tired." He turned to leave but a spear flew past his head. "Doevm what the hell?"

"I can't let you leave." Doevm said. "I can't turn back after coming this far. You don't realize the true value of what you inherited, and I need that power." He opened his hand and his spear appeared in a small burst of flames.