As the lich examined the primitive cave painting, he encountered a stairwell that led to a lightless abyss into what he assumed to be another floor of a potential dungeon. He descended the flight of crudely carved stairs and found himself in a cold, humid jungle. The moonless and starless night did not aid in seeing things clearly, but the lich adept in the use of darkness could peer through the veil of night and see the jungle in all its cruel majesty.
The torrential rain that soaked his lustreless robes, the strong winds that roared, the buzzing of insects, and the visage of a great monument on the horizon piqued the lich's curiosity to its limit. Awestruck by the sight, the lich exclaimed,
"I-Impossible, a sky beneath the earth? Rain that falls through a mountain? Winds that blow within a cave? The illustrious moon does not shine here nor do the stars of guidance. That... That monument, it must be the source of all this I have to know."
The lich moved through the dense jungle, the mud seeping into his cloak, ruining it, but he moved nonetheless, his thirst for knowledge not yet quenched. As he moved through the torrential rain and heavy mud, he encountered a pale light within a small pond. Cautious, the lich carefully examined the light as it moved through the air. Under a whispered breath, he said,
"Pixie? No, they would never step foot in a place such as this. No, a firefly, a swarm?"
As the lich carefully avoided the swarm, he encountered a strange lizard. He barely noticed it, as it was only three feet tall. The lizard seemed to have slimy mucous constantly surrounding it and possessed razor-sharp teeth, yet it was no match for the lich, as he simply raised his hand and expelled a deathly fog that rotted the lizard and the surrounding foliage until all that was left was bone. Then the lich weaved threads of death mana into the joints, bones, and sinew of the deceased lizard, giving it strength and mobility, and began to imbue the skeletal corpse with something alien, something that was not mana, something more ephemeral.
And once the process was complete, the lich now had an undead minion to guard it. So marched forth towards the visage of the monument. Carefully avoiding the swarms that gathered in stagnant pools of water and noticing and avoiding places that possessed the territorial marks of lizards, the lich now stood at the steps of the imposing ziggurat.
"These bricks are made of dense clay fused with water mana. Strange this is not a language a recognize. These friezes depict what I assume is a king? What kind of human kingdom would reside beneath the earth? No, this place is not ancient this would've been impossible to miss the mana needed to sustain a sky, rain, and wind would be tremendous. This place merely gives the illusion of something ancient whatever creature created this place. I must question them."
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Ascending the flight of stairs that led towards the main section of the ziggurat the lich entered a room. As soon as he stepped foot into it a ray of light gracefully illuminated the divine room as the intricate statues that surrounded the lich were illuminated showing off each of their own unique beauties. But stood in the middle of them unmoving was a mighty divine bull that stood atop an elegantly decorated altar a bull who glowed with a dazzling radiance.
Noticing the foe in front of him the lich sent out his newly raised undead to kill it. Yet as the lizard charged at the bull and slashed at his ankles the bull simply raised its hoof and stomped the poor thing to death crushing bone. It didn't even scratch at its divine flesh. But the lich only sent the lesser undead as a distraction he had summoned three spirits. One was the banshee that was enshrouded in a beautiful burial shroud, another was a formless shadow that crept and crawled on the walls and floor of the divine room avoiding the rays of light, and lastly, an antique doll that rested on the lich's hand.
The banshee shrieked shouting a harrowing song that released death mana in lethal doses enough to kill fifty men, yet the bull stood strong its light shielding it from the festering death mana. But as the banshee shrieked the shadow lurked and circled the bull trying to find a shadow to inhabit however as the radiant bull glowed there was no shadow to enter so the formless shadow was rendered useless.
The lich noticing how useless the shadow had been dismissed it. And as the bull charged into the banshee the lich activated the doll and a thin thread of death mana connected both the lich and the banshee to the doll. And just as the connection was made death mana surged through the undead bodies of the lich and his subordinate. Empowered by the antique doll the banshee shrieked yet again this time her song was far more lethal.
Even the bull of heaven who had innate resistance to death and darkness wasn't unscathed as his ears started to bleed blood trickling down into the floor. But as though undeterred by the deathly shriek the bull of heaven charged yet again but this time with renewed vigor. As the thunderous clap of his hooves on the divine pavement resounded the banshee didn't have room to dodge as the bovine's horns penetrated the ephemeral body of the banshee killing it instantly.
Laughing at himself for putting himself in a hopeless situation threw the antique doll at the heavenly bull. And as the brittle bloodstained porcelain shattered upon its head, it expelled an explosion of pure malicious death mana. After the purpleish-black smog cleared the bull looked tired sickly and weakened. But as the lich approached the weakened bull with caution. But as he tried to touch the soft golden fur it shone with the radiance of a star and purified every inch of the room.
The lich instinctively gathered all the mana within his frail undead body to protect his skull from the purifying rays of light. And as the light faded the lich had turned to dust only a shattered skull with a Tenebrous gem imbedded within it survived the light. The lich was alive though barely and as the lich contemplated what to do with his life he was raised. As though something had picked him up the lich tried to resist to no avail as he had no arms or legs to move or mana to cast with.
Weakened, battered, and broken the lich was placed within an earthen vase. And then as he was placed there something had enchanted the damn thing with light mana. Not enough to kill him but enough to hamper his mana regeneration. Something was trying to seal him and he couldn't do anything about it.