A Bored Lich

"Keep your life essence active at all times." Doevm said as he walked around the training field. He and Frey had already recovered their breath. They trained on separate sides of the platform, but they occasionally glanced at each other's squad's progress.

"Only use most of your life essence when you're in the middle of attacking." Frey said to his squad, who all had green life essence. "Breath out. Use your life essence on the muscles you use to attack. Breath in when you are pulling your weapon back."

"Faster." Doevm stood before an unfortunate pair who were slacking too much. "If sweat doesn't cover you head to toe after this exercise then you're doing it wrong. People who do it wrong have to run five laps around the base."

"Harder." Frey swung his wooden spear into the metal wall without using his life essence. A soft clank rang out as the bars vibrated. "It should sound close to that when your weapons clash. Your fingers should be covered in blisters by the end." As the two squads were slowly tortured by their leaders, other soldiers from around the base came to watch. Since the war hadn't gone into full swing yet, most squads were still, according to Doevm, ignorant hicks.

"Don't look at the crowd!" Doevm yelled. "Look at the sword hurtling towards your head. How are you going to counter it using the least amount of energy? Don't look around. Don't sit or lay down. Spar until you can't move."

"Yes sir." Squad six said in unison. Doevm smiled at Frey, who frowned and turned to his squad.

"Did you guys hear those squeaks?" Frey asked loud enough for even the spectators to hear. "Show them how it's done."

"Yes sir!" The squad boomed. After several hours, all energy was gone. It as Doevm and Frey said. Their fingers were blistered, their bodies covered in sweat, and their skin heavily damaged. After practice ended, the tension didn't ease up. The two squads stared at each other, internally comparing their wounds.

"That's enough for today." Doevm said. "Go get healed up then wash yourselves off. Good practice today." He left the training field with them, but he didn't go to the healers. He walked straight to the guards still covered in sweat and shallow wounds. The guard stopped him as like before.

"I already said you can't go outside alone kid." He went to shove Doevm, who stepped to the side.

"I'm the newly appointed squad leader of squad six." Doevm held out the scroll Marcus gave him.

"Kid, I bet you can't even read this." The guard snatched the scroll from him and read it. "Where did you get this counterfeit…it's real." He gasped and handed it back to him. His hand went to his forehead in a salute. "I'm sorry squad leader sir. This will never happen again. I'll make sure to inform every guard of your status."

Doevm nodded. He stepped into the elevator. The counterweight was lifted from the ground and he descended to the forest ground. "Why was a kid let through." He heard a guard whisper to another, who just shrugged.

'Finally, I can practice the spell. I can hold myself back this time. I know I have the capability. I'll only practice the one spell for maybe a week or two until I get it down and never go out again.' As he walked, he picked up broken twigs and sticks. He didn't have a destination as long as it was far enough away from the mages and was in a concealed location. 'My army isn't the only thing I have to be careful of. I'm walking through a warzone. The other army could strike at any second or I could run into another Manticore. I need a cave. If I recall correctly, I used one a dozen miles away as my base. I guess I'll need to run.' His life essence sprouted around his legs. He disappeared from the guards' vision. Leaves and branches swayed as he passed them. The hot, humid air turned cool as it brushed past his face. Every mile he collected more sticks, all of equal length to the others. After ten miles of running, he found a dark cave. He slowed down and dispersed his life essence.

It was at least a forty-foot climb to the entrance. At the bottom was a pile of crushed bones. 'It's a former den of Manticores. I can sense something inside.' He already had this mana unsealed. He climbed the rocky hill between two massive trees. As he got higher, a loud crunching noise scraped his eardrums. The last rays of the setting sun lit up the forest. Doevm lifted himself up carefully. If he fell, he could cushion himself, but the creature inside would hear him. He couldn't sense any mages nearby, only the one large creature above him.

As Doevm's fingers wrapped around the ledge, the noise stopped. The entire forest went silent. From his height, Doevm could see all the markings of the Manticores around. The trees had massive claw marks in them. Every piece of dirt in sight was a slightly redder tint than the dirt back at the base. He waited. Minutes passed. The sun's rays nearly left the forest when a large ball of bone shards flew out of the cave past Doevm. It crashed at the bottom and the creature burped. He suppressed the urge to sigh as it walked deeper into the cave. His fingers were turning white. He hoisted his head up when a foul wind blew out and he sensed the creature return at a sprint. Its sharp claws sparked against the floor. Each step shook the cave. Two large wings flapped and the Manticore was right behind Doevm. It roared and gave a smile with its dozens of teeth. Doevm's spear was tied around his back and his weapons were at his stomach. If he let go, he would just fall.

The Manticore rushed in. "I don't have time to deal with you." Doevm hissed. The last ray of light in the forest lit up the Manticore's fierce eyes. Mana poured out of Doevm. Hundreds of magic circles took form in line with the sunlight. Their concave shapes concentrated the light into each other, enhancing it millions of times. In a flash, the Manticore caught fire and evaporated. Its ashes floated down onto the pile of bone shards still covered in a fresh layer of saliva.

At the cave entrance, a Lich offered him a hand up. Doevm took it and dusted himself off. Inside the cave were lumps of fur and a few corpses. He tossed them outside and cleaned the place up with water magic. "That was so amazing," The Lich said as it leaned over the edge. "Remember how it felt when you invented light magic? You disproved all theories of humans. Back when you were a Lich, creature of darkness, you still found a way to use light in magic. You invented a type of holy magic anyone could use! It should have been impossible according to theory."

'Light magic isn't holy magic.' "I guess," Doevm sat down and placed the sticks he had picked up from left to right in order of biggest to smallest. "It was fun for a decade or so. Now it's just the same as every other magic I use. Healing magic will end up the same after I learn this single spell, just another dusty weapon in my arsenal." He took a breath. The spell had drained a little bit of his mana, but he still had plenty left. 'Why didn't Oliver use plants instead of animals? They're a lot more abundant and easier to acquire. There has to be a reason. Was it a different process? Elves used magic to heal their plants. Was it a different subsidiary of healing magic?'

He tried to remember the contents of Oliver's spell, but he couldn't remember it all from just a few seconds. He had at least twenty percent of the spell down, so he etched it on the cave wall with his dagger. 'Now begins the hard part. Since I have no teacher, I need to reconstruct the spell from trial and error. I estimate two weeks before I can get a basic healing spell down. First, I need good subjects, which I have acquired. The first question is, what does my current flawed version of the spell do?' He performed the spell, and the branch didn't move. Nothing happened but a fancy flash of light. Doevm clicked his tongue.

'While I could experiment on myself, I know more than anyone that spells can backfire if done incorrectly. I need animal test subjects so I can see the different results of plants and animals. Maybe I could have trapped that Manticore if I could have snuck up on it, but it was a shame it saw me. It would have been a great test subject. If I got a few birds or rodents, they would suffice.' He took the twigs and a few dead vines and wrapped them along each other until he formed a few basic snares. After testing them, he set them in various areas and started his walk back to his base. 'The first day was not satisfactory but I have a basic plan set up. I have to be careful or else someone like Ashtehar will catch me again.'