A Bored Lich

Chapter 354 - Hurried Goodbye

"You were a teacher, in other ways," Doevm extended his hand. "It was nice to meet you."

Lance shook Doevm's hand. "It was a miracle to have met you. Good luck, and the same to the rest of you. There's a carriage waiting near the end of the capital. It'll take you wherever you want to go, no payment necessary."

"Excuse me," General Alexander Finlish said as he hurried towards the council room door, pushing through the group but halting at the open doorway. "You're all no longer my apprentices, effective immediately. Goodbye and good luck." He stepped through before anyone could respond, then yelling echoed off the stone walls: "I literally have three, horrendously-confused armies waiting for my orders and you waste my time with a summons? I already have enough trouble from you people asking about the Von Trikes. I didn't just slaughter the entire Resistance to..." His screaming faded as the guards activated a sound-absorbing enchantment on the council room door, labeled: "in case of Alexander".

"What was that about?" Doevm asked, looking at his confused companions.

"We'll talk about it on the way," Elero suggested, already making her way towards the exit. "Let's get out of this dusty building."

"We aren't going to say goodbye to the General?" Frey asked.

Elero cleared her throat: "Hi General, it turns out we want to leave you behind because we don't care about being knights anymore. Where are we heading, you ask? We are going to Vilbar, an enemy kingdom, after you dismissed us from your time-intensive, private training sessions. Think that'll turn out well?"

Lance smiled and waved the group off. "Till we meet again."

...

Doevm inhaled the cold, stagnant air trapped within Draken Capital, and walked down one of many widened streets, taking in for the last time sights of extravagant homes surrounded by iron fences supporting green ivy. The city's famed light crystal, now wrapped in thick chains in addition to the skeletal arm's grasp, casted long shadows in front of the busy populace. Most limped along on bandaged limbs as  constant reminders of the attack's aftermath but at the same time such a shared sense of pain brought out a shared sense of community.

A month ago people would step out of each other's way and hold tight to their belongings, even more so when passing a group of armored guards. Now the people nodded and greeted one another, albeit with an ounce of hesitancy from breaking old habits. Guards turned their stares away from what they imagined to be resistance members and instead moved to tear down wanted posters they had plastered over people's doors.

The black stone colosseum, the mighty picture of knightly proportion, had dozens of small, demi-human faces peering out of it and a squadron of human scowling guards keeping a tight watch along the perimeter. "Everyone from the Underground come get your food and water and shelter," an announcer bellowed at the front of a long line, wrapping around the structure, and Doevm recognized the face of Menla. "We mages can always make more if you need it, free of charge!" She spotted Doevm's group, waved, then returned to her duties. A moment later an ecstatic demi-human rushed up to her and whispered something into her ear, spreading the wide grin like a disease. "Everyone, great news! The council has just instituted a new policy!"

The horse-drawn carriage was exactly where Lance said it would be - around a small group of brown-robed demi-humans. Doevm almost walked by them, having been looking for suits instead of student attire. Arms of different colors and lengths waved, some of which belonged to humans. Others were disproportionate and pale in complexion, a result of the instructors' novice dark magic.

Thomas adjusted his mask and kept his head down. Elero strode forth with her head held high.

"Are you smiling?" Frey asked.

"It must be your imagination," Doevm replied.

"Thank you so much!" one cried, followed by others.

"I owe you my life!"

"I'm going to become the strongest dark mage ever!"

"I can live like a normal human because of you!"

'I guess Olpi was busy at the academy,' Doevm thought, failing to find her within the cheering group of students. 'Or maybe I missed her at the colosseum, whatever it was they were attempting over there.' Doevm and the rest stepped into the carriage and sat down in between leather bags, stuffed to the brim with clothes and small nick-knacks.

"Whose do these belong to?" Elero asked.

"Not anyone's now," Doevm shrugged.

"Actually, those are mine," the voice of the driver drifted into the carriage's cabin. "Where are you folks heading?"

'Couldn't be,' Doevm thought. He raised his head to glimpse a pointed ear through the small window separating the cabin from the driver's seat. "We need to make a stop at the Virility estate. Just go straight out of the city and follow the path."

"As you wish, Cerlius," the whip prompted the horses towards the city's exit. The group of students, the houses, and eventually the light crystal in the mountain's inner peak, faded.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something," Doevm said, watching the deteriorated houses of the outer district pass by.

"It's probably because we're leaving so fast," Thomas said. "It's odd. We've been here for well over a month yet it feels like it's been both shorter and longer than that."

"Most of our time wasn't here," Frey said. "Maybe that's why."

"Still," Doevm insisted. "Something feels unfinished."

"Do you wish to turn around?" the driver's faintly familiar voice once again caught Doevm's attention.

"No, keep going," Doevm said, then he paused. "I remember it now." He snapped his fingers and six magic circles and a black curtain covered the walls, ceiling, and floor. The sounds of the city slid off the barrier like oil and water, leaving the cabin in a pitch-black silence. "Compound Magic: Conspirators' Sanctuary."

"What was that for?" Elero's voice called out in the darkness.

"For all the prying eyes," Doevm said. "Patience." Dim balls of ethereal light rose from his palm like bubbles and clustered along the slanted ceiling. In his other hand was a small, red ball which he shattered. Elero jerked forward as if something foreign had been ripped from her, but it wasn't unpleasant if not a bit sudden. "That was another defensive measure, nothing harmful I promise you," he explained and Elero lowered a fist.

"At least warn me next time. What even was that?"

"Everyone has one," Doevm stated. "A mirror that the gods can look through to view their game pieces. I broke yours, mine, Frey's, and Thomas's because I don't want the gods overhearing my plan to kill them." He pulled an ancient scroll out of his spatial ring: a map. "Those arrogant beings have become far too much of a nuisance as of late with little understanding of repercussions."

"Wait, aren't we going to Vilbar so you can meet the hero?" Elero asked.

Doevm nodded. "That's the primary objective of our visit."

Elero paused to collect her thoughts. "So what did the gods do to you that made you want to kill them? Is that even possible?"

Doevm told them everything.