I ran my hands down over the custom-made suit, feeling the soft, lightly-magical material it was made out of it.

After noticing a group of humans from Kerenth entering my territory, I’d appeared before them with a cheesy monologue, going all-out on the dark, scary Lich BBEG persona. The adventuring party had been scared out of their minds, not just at my appearance and words but also at my magical presence– after all, my power blended in perfectly with the surroundings, so it must have appeared as though I was even stronger than I really am.

They’d actually gone so far as to grovel and beg for their lives. It was pretty funny, but I started feeling kind of bad for them when one mentioned that he had a wife and kids. Yeah, yeah, I know that line never gets a real villain, but in real life it’s just… depressing.

I pretended to act all gracious, like I was doing a favor by sparing their lives, and asked that they introduce me to someone in their local leadership so I could prevent any more misunderstandings. I got to use the whole “take me to your leader” quote without it seeming cheesy, which was a win in my books..

Apparently, they’d gotten confused and thought I was asking to speak to their queen, so I’d been forced to form a fleshier body and get outfitted according to Kerenthian standards.

I’d been expecting the clothes to be uncomfortable, but that assumption had been incorrect; it was actually super soft. I guess magic really does impact every part of life in this world, even simple things like clothing and food.

Speaking of food, that was also offered to me, but after the first couple refusals I guess they realized where they went wrong. Part of me was concerned that they’d start sacrificing humans to me in the hopes of appeasing me, but I suppose not even rich people are crazy enough to do that unprompted.

Eventually, I was brought to a waiting room and made to wait. My mind immediately went to all the stuff I’d read and watched where people would be made to wait for absurd amounts of time as a power play, but luckily it only took a few minutes.

I was brought into a large courtroom, with a high, painted ceiling that was supported on either side by ornate columns. A few guards and councilors waited beside the throne warily. Sitting on the throne was a short woman with the worst case of bedhead I’d ever seen. A quick inspection told me that it was extremely early in the morning– the sun hadn’t even fully risen yet.

Part of me felt bad for obviously making this lady– on closer inspection, this kid– wake up early, and possibly without warning, to a stressful situation.

My guides both dropped to one knee, but I just stared at her with an eyebrow raised.

I felt a bit of magic swirl around her and towards me. Reading its intent, though, I could tell that it wasn’t anything hostile, but instead some sort of Skill or Boon centered around reading emotions and increasing the user’s sympathy towards the other party. A small bond formed between the two of us, but again, it didn’t hurt me in any way, so I allowed it.

The girl let out a long sigh and slouched a bit in her chair– not a calculated move, but rather one of relief. Clearly, she’d been pretty worried.

Her next words confirmed my own thoughts. “You know, when my subordinates sent an urgent message that there was a powerful undead in one of the border cities, I was expecting some sort of attack. I also hadn’t expected them to bring you to the capital to see me without communicating that fact whatsoever.” She glared down at the men beside me.

I grinned. “Don’t be too angry. I was the one who blocked their communication.”

She squinted at me, and then I felt another probe come from her link to me. Another long sigh stretched out. “You think this is all a joke, don’t you?”

My smile grew even wider. “Yup. You can call me Ambrose, by the way.”

“Ambrose, then. My name is Queen Nadiya Sharjiil the Seventh, but my full title is boring to hear every five minutes so just pick one of those and use that,” she explained, “Now, can I ask why you’re here, other than for kicks and giggles?”

I raised an eyebrow at the Earthen phrase but shrugged it off. “Well, I just expanded my domain past the Dead Belt and a bit into your territory. I spotted some humans investigating so I figured it would be a good idea to come here and make sure there aren’t going to be any issues. Yalten has already launched an attack me once, and I could probably handle another one, but it’s honestly just annoying.

“Furthermore, I was thinking that we might be able to arrange some sort of trade deal. I would be willing to open up a path for your people, both to the heart of my dominion and to the other side of the continent, though they’d have to agree to follow my rules while within the Dead Belt.”

Nadiya nodded slowly. “We’ve been cut off from our Southern neighbors for far too long. Only a mere handful of people have ever made the trip across the Belt. Might I ask what you would desire in terms of trade, and what rules there would be to follow?”

I spent a moment considering what I most desired, and eventually came to a rather easy answer. “Energy types, especially those of higher tiers.” Seeing her wince, I elaborated, “I can help provide the means to condense the energy into crystals, either by providing the labor or teaching the technique, but that is currently the most valuable thing you could offer me.”

“And your rules?” She inquired with a slight grimace still on her face.

“Those are pretty simple. No stealing and no harming others, and no intentional property damage. I hope more will not be necessary, but I expect you to reinforce those rules into the minds of any who visit or pass through the city I have constructed. If they refuse to follow them, they forfeit their lives.”

“Those are rather simple. I don’t believe we will have any issues on that front,” she said with a relieved smile.

I nodded as well. “I can also offer advanced runic technology and potentially some of my knowledge as well. I am not aware of what you have managed to develop on your own, but I’m sure there are some different perspectives in our work that could and should be explored.”

The small queen brandished a small smile. “I agree. I’m very glad that you came with peaceful intentions, Ambrose. We will get to work on establishing infrastructure to support these things. Could you work on that path through the Dead Belt you mentioned?” She had an excited look on her face as she spoke, clearly envisioning it– she’d be the first ruler since the formation of the Dead Belt who would be able to claim that she was able to establish a connection with the other half of the continent, after all.

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“Sure,” I said, focusing on the edge of the Dead Belt and the space just to my side, letting my stitching perspective of space take over as I mended the two segments of spatial cloth together with a ridiculous amount of Forbodum. I went to pin the portal in place, but found that the distance was too great for my already-strained reserves.

Turns out, making a portal outside of my influence was way harder than just zipping around my own domain. The more space the threads had to travel without the stabilizing force of my Occult Sovereignty, the more difficult they were to sustain. That… made sense.

Trying not to let the strain show, I gestured at the newly-formed portal. “Shall we?”

After the initial shock died down and a sacrificial lamb had been sent through to test the creation, the whole room filtered through the wormhole I’d formed, allowing me to remove the.

The queen’s teeth chattered as she shivered from the artificial cold that resulted from the proximity to the Dead Belt. “H-how far did you say it went? The records never really s-specified.”

I did a quick measurement in my head. “About a hundred and forty miles. My domain stretches a few dozen past that.” A thought crossed my mind, and I corrected, “Excuse me, that’s about 548 and 47 flights.” This world’s measurement system– which I would not be using for my own designs– was based on the average distance an arrow fired by a Level 5 Archer could travel.

It was, of course, an absolutely awful and imprecise system, as it would differ based on who fired the arrow, what angle they fired at, the particular arrow used, the wind, the geography, and which Skills and Boons the Archer had. It was the best they had, though, at least for now.

“No wonder our surveyors never came back,” she commented thoughtfully, “Without horses, they would have to travel for over a week in that filth, and with all those monsters…”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly call it filth. It’s more like we’re trees and you’re animals– what we breathe is toxic to you in large amounts, but it’s all part of a process that’s better for the both of us. Without life, there can be no death, and without death, there could never be any new life. Everything would stagnate and grind to a halt.”

Nadiya and her companions gave me a strange look. “I don’t… no, that’s not important right now, can you make a path for us? I need to see it with my own eyes.”

I obliged her, raising a hand and infusing the energy in the surrounding air with my own will and Intent, pushing it back away from the group.

The young woman’s eyes widened fractionally as the energy that chilled her to the bone gradually receded. Before she could get anything else out, I had to make a clarifying statement: “This isn’t the exact process I would use to create a path for you. It would just be too inefficient and focus-intensive to do this constantly. The runescript I need to work on will take a while to finish, but I’ll deploy the devices as soon as they’re finished. I can’t say exactly how long it’ll be, but I do tend to tune the rest of the world while working on a project, so it might be a while.”

She gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, then turned to one of her councilors and started chatting with him animatedly, stepping away from me to focus on the new conversation.

Obviously, I could still hear her, but I tuned her out and went to one of my assigned guides, letting him know that I’d be heading off to work on the method I had planned for ‘Moses’ing the Dead Belt, and would be back with a prototype at some point in the near future.

He didn’t get the reference, obviously, but knew what I meant, so he agreed to pass along the message.

My plan was pretty simple. Splitting the entire Dead Belt in two would be possible, but time consuming and bothersome. I would have to pull a titanic amount of Necrosis out of the land, and then prevent more from bleeding back into it.

Instead of doing that, I planned to create a system through which a new type of Enchanted Orb would harvest energy from the Dead Belt, using it to keep itself in the air and sending any spare power into a storage space that it could use to keep itself aloft when the energy got too thin.

Entirely new runes and systems would have to be designed for it, but I felt that it would be worth the effort.

An easier thing to do was simply fix up a road. Transmuting materials en masse was a bit bothersome, but possibly, so a large strip of dirt leading between Kerenth and Yalten was slowly compacted and reformed into stone. In order to keep it straight and consistent, I had to pace over a few mountains, which was a time-consuming task, but very much possible for me.

The process didn't take all that much focus after I got accustomed to it, so I was able to simultaneously form Safety-based Conceptium around and within my new road, reinforcing the surroundings with the idea that living beings should be safe. The ambient Necrosis fought a bit, but eventually conceded to my will. Everything seemed to be going well until I felt a sudden yet slight resistance to my influence where I was trying to reshape the land.

Sensing the problematic area, I found a familiar sensation. It was another domain. A weak one, to be certain, but it was there nonetheless. I could overpower it easily, if I felt like it, but I was curious.

A quick portal brought me to the new location, right alongside a mountain, where I started pushing my own domain gently into the weaker, Necrosis-based one, following along with its progress.

The most curious part about this domain was how unintrusive it felt. I hadn't even noticed it before I tried interfacing with the area it covered.

I ended up finding a small cave carved into the face of this mountain– the domain Skill seemed to be emanating from there. I crept forward slowly, making sure to cause as little damage to the environment as possible, including the influence that was already held within the air.

The deeper I delved into the cave, the darker it got. Without my innate senses as a lich, I would have been quickly rendered blind by the lack of ambient lighting.

Eventually, I found the source of the changes in the terrain.

A small blue gem hovered in the air. It appeared somewhat similar to the gems that I used to store magical energy, but somehow more potent, more real.

I felt a powerful wave of energy approach me, but instead of actually hurting me it simply passed over me with a small, warm tingle.

I approached the mystical rock and spread some influence over it, focusing on it with my Encompassing Knowledge– my Boon from Occult Sovereignty that let me examine objects with extreme detail.

Instead of receiving the information I was seeking, I felt a surge of Forbodum in my Repository, and my body locked up. A being made of purple shadows– one that I instinctively knew didn’t exist outside of my own senses– appeared before me, wrapped their hand around the crystal, and squeezed.

For a moment, purple lines spread out across my vision, as though reality itself had fractured. The visual distortions faded, but the creature turned its shadowed face to look me in the eyes, and I heard a voice within my mind, as clearly as though someone had whispered it into my ear.

Destroy the Fragment.

I stumbled forward as I was freed from the Dark Whisper’s brief grasp.

For a moment, the desires of the shade persisted within my mind, and my hand subconsciously clamped down around the blue gem. I felt more energy pass violently, desperately between my phalanges.

This time, I paid more attention to the energy itself, and realized why it had felt so familiar and unintrusive: it was my own energy.

Somehow, this shiny rock was exerting force over my own domain. That felt… dirty, somehow, but more importantly was the question of how? There wasn’t any clear indication of Conceptium being carried with it.

My Encompassing Knowledge dug into the details of the thing before me, all while it continued to thrash and fight against me. All I got for my efforts was the name of the object, which the Whisper had already told me– it was a Fragment.

But, what was it a fragment of? How was it manipulating my energy so freely?

Should I truly destroy it?

The voices said yes, and they probably knew what it was, but I didn’t, and I wanted to know what the consequences of doing so would be.

I resolved to study this odd gem, and search for it in Kelemnion during my next trip there. I’d also have to gather information on advanced mana types and what I could do with them.