A Bored Lich

"Let's go," Frey said.

"But we can get information out of him." Elero argued. Her fingernails had broken through the skin of the Tank's neck, and blood spilled down. "And with that we can-"

"Elero, we are here for you," Frey snapped. "Not your revenge, you." He managed to drag her around the destroyed church before she pulled away, muttering under her breath as she climbed up the mountain.

"Did she seem…" Thomas hesitated to say as he caught up with Frey. "More on edge than usual? She has threatened harm, but never death." Frey didn't react. He climbed up the vines, seemingly engrossed in his own thoughts, and vanished into the cavernous entrances overhead. Thomas followed behind, slowly organizing the many thoughts and questions floating in his head. After the three disciples regrouped, hidden under a thick blanket of tangled vines, they lay prone and observed the swamp from their vantage point.

Shifting torchlights dotted the dark canopy for as far as the eye could see. Sweeping his gaze across, Thomas recognized that they moved in a tight knit pattern. The swamp's outline was by far the brightest with the most lights, while the center was nearly pitch-black. Thomas frowned, wondering if he would see even more if he had a greater vantage point. One of the outlining torches suddenly shifted, becoming brighter as it drifted closer. He could feel the shift of his companions on the smooth stone floor, gripping their weapons.

The torchlight emerged from the vegetation, the Scout. He had returned to the destroyed church with another group, all of which wore the same black, charcoal-like masks. The second group's eyes fixed on the fallen students but they didn't approach yet, not before systematically picking through the area.

A nervousness washed away Thomas's arrogant pride like a riptide, for if he had hesitated, he would have been seen for sure. If he had been caught running ahead, they wouldn't have made it to the caves. He, Frey, and Elero sustained injuries from just handling three people. Now there were five.

"Those torchlights," Elero gasped. "They're all different groups of four. Jackal has practically made an army out of the commoners."

"I don't think that's all," Thomas chipped in. "The Squad Leader seemed to be a noble, and he was talking about how Jackal's influence was growing. How is this possible?"

"Because he's a damned good liar, and knows how to get to people," Elero muttered under her breath. She shook as the warmth progressively left her soaked self.

The second group of students woke up the Squad Leader, who had been beaten black and blue by Frey, and questioned him. "They have an order to things," Thomas explained what he had overheard. "Frey, what do you think this means?"

Frey stared down at the Squad Leader, who kept shaking his head and pointing towards the north. The urge to go down prodded at Thomas. If he could listen and gleam a couple more things. He slowly lifted his torso off the ground. If he could…no. He laid back down. He had messed up once, and it could happen again.

'If it wasn't for that snake, none of this would have happened,' he thought. He couldn't help but imagine Alexander yelling at him. 'I must have done something wrong, but I don't know what it was. I need more training, and so do the others. Frey's swings were sloppy and Elero wasn't her usual self. I took too long sneaking around, leading to their injuries. There were too many mistakes and too much luck to call this our victory.'

"Let's go," Frey whispered. Ice flaked off of him as he slowly got to his feet and wandered deeper into the cavern. The color had drained from his face. His movements were stiff. Elero was in a similar state since she had taken the plunge as well. They couldn't even start a fire to warm themselves up. The light would have given them away. Luckily they had all become very familiar with these caves after Initiation, and quickly found a secluded spot to rest.

"What exactly are we here for anyway?" Thomas voiced the most prevalent question on his mind. "We could have come here during the day when it's less dangerous. Since this isn't the demon pit, we won't get into trouble." Now that the unfortunate venomous salamanders had learned to run away from them, the three disciples could walk around safely. 'Maybe Frey wants a safe place to make the trip faster. That's what people do in an army, right? They find a base and defend it.'

Frey must have gone deaf because he still didn't seem to be hearing Thomas. Even when they stopped to warm themselves around a quick fire, the giant was quiet. Thomas turned to Elero but just as he had opened his mouth-

"Is he getting on your nerves as well?" Elero whispered.

"Funny," Thomas said. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. He is acting the same as he was in Initiation, only now it's more oppressive."

"It is different," Elero gestured over to Frey, who wore a dark expression as he stared into the fire. "Before he would flash us a fake smile and distance himself. I say that we let this play out. If he stays shelled up however, I'll break him open."

"Agreed," Thomas nodded. The three stared into the fire, waiting for the warmth to seep into their frozen bones. They must have done it accidentally, but the way they sat gave enough room for one other person to sit, one empty spot. "So what did he tell you about this place?" Thomas asked after a few minutes.

Elero shrugged. "Apparently Doevm and Frey had taken it upon themselves to explore deeper without us. They found a ruin. That's it."

Thomas nodded, not surprised in the least. A weary silence descended, only occasionally broken by chattering of teeth, dripping stalactites, or the crackling fire. Elero used life essence to heal herself while Frey used bandages. Now that Thomas got a better look, the giant's injuries didn't seem as severe as he initially thought. 'Strange,' he thought.

"So, how are you doing?" Thomas asked Elero with after a few minutes. "You kind of scared me back there when you threatened to kill someone. He probably deserved it, but you took a great risk for potentially very little gain."

Elero's hand twitched as she turned from the fire to Thomas. "That guy got in my head was all. I wish I could have gotten something out of him."

Thomas nodded. "Do people like that piss you off the most?"

"I guess." Elero's hand twitched again. The fire shifted and the three disciples' extended shadows danced, yet she remained still as if her mind was somewhere else. Thomas glanced over to the back of her wheelchair sitting a few feet away, where the word "freak" was carved. "Jackal did that," Elero said, reading Thomas's thoughts. "In case you were wondering."

He nodded and didn't say anything else. After a few minutes, the three stored the ashes in their spatial rings and moved on. Thomas had kept his crossbow out, but eventually he stowed it in his spatial ring.

"Keep your weapon out," Frey sudden said, making both Thomas and Elero jump. "The most dangerous things are still ahead." He pulled out a light crystal and as its rays pierced through the darkness, Thomas flinched. "I also wanted to travel under the cover of darkness because we can't let Jackal find out this place exists. It didn't exactly work out but at least we weren't seen entering this place."

Thomas and Elero looked at each other and nodded. "Do you really think that the key to my salvation is here?" Elero asked with an uncharacteristically gentle tone. Thomas could almost hear the ocean of suppressed sarcasm surging underneath.

Frey shrugged: "I doubt it. We're here because this place might have a clue. When Doevm dragged me into the ruin, we didn't find anything but ashes and pillars. I didn't tell you guys because of certain restrictions, lies, or distrust. One of the three." He let out a long sigh and went quiet again. Thomas and Elero tried to push more information a couple of times, yet the stubborn idiot wouldn't budge.

The three walked through more watery caverns, over the remains of long dead venomous salamanders, and even visited their old pseudo base. Various fungi sprouted from the spots they had failed to clean properly. Deeper, darker, and colder. Frey's clanking feet grew louder, scraping against the floor. He flipped the light crystal in his grasp over and over again.

Smooth pathways turned into broken halls filled with rubble, as if some monstrous force had wormed its way through. At least the previous caverns had signs of life, such as the fungi. One particular cavern had caught Thomas's eye, one with a horribly wonderful smell. Blood coated everything inside, and most of it was still wet. The other two shied away at the sight, but Thomas lingered, feeling partially rejuvenated.

The path came to an abrupt end: a mound of rusted weapons and humanoid skeletons. "I've had enough of this shit. What happened?" Elero finally snapped. Thomas couldn't blame her as he felt the same bubble of anxiety growing in his stomach. "Now Frey," she insisted. "Don't you trust us?"

"I haven't trusted people for most of my life," Fey responded. He had long since stopped shivering, but his words shook. "My name is Frey Botomon." He looked his friends in the eyes with a strange, pained expression. "Son of the murderer known as Cornelius Eustis Botomon and the grandson of the last hero, Arthur Botomon."

He showed his open palm, which lit up in a white, flaming aura. "This power I inherited from my grandfather, a power that is neither magic nor life essence. Doevm told me that last bit. As it turns out, he was a Bored Lich who reincarnated as a human." He turned and kicked the mound, scattering bone and rusted metal. Elero and Thomas coughed as a cloud of dust filled their lungs, but when the air cleared, they found that the path continued. Through the hidden entrance, they could make out the visage of two doors with an inscription that read:

"Those that know the origin of magic,

Those that realize she is not everlasting,

Even those that happen to come across these doors,

All are welcome.

Confident that no person will find this until long after my demise,

I made this to warn you of the repeating future.

Please hear me.

Even if it takes until every last plant is gone,

Even when the last humans die out,

Even after the gods have finished their game,

She must be stopped."