The Lich did remember his fight with that human, the one with the strange weapon, and now wanted to know what made him special, if he could believe it at all.

“The human they call Travis is a major cog in the strangeness that surrounds us even now. Much of what I would say you will not believe; take this for example. The humans have, in fact, lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They say tens of thousands, but that seems unlikely.

We, however, were brought to this planet, or as some hypothesize, created on this planet less than one cycle around this it's sun, so one year in human time.”

Being a master of the undead, the Lich has heard many wild things, but this one was ridiculous.

“And you believe this?” He was incredulous, but Torak could tell it did affect him.

“As I say, do your own research, think about what I have said. Focus on what you believe to be your past memories, although with your story that will be much harder.

Now let me get to my bargain. Have you noticed that certain humans have more power than others?”

The Lich said he had but didn't find it odd that some practiced magic while others didn't.

“If you had one of the more powerful beings turn into undead, how valuable would that be to you?”

The Lich thought about it before answering. He could make most organic material into a strong warrior with enough time and magic power, but if the material was powerful to begin with, and alive, he could create something immensely powerful.

“I could do something worthwhile with one of these humans if they were alive, better if they were unhurt as well. I don't know how valuable it would be though.”

Torak laughed; the Lich would not make a good negotiator, but that's okay; he would gladly give what the wolf wanted in return.

"Now that I know you can make a strong servant from someone with inherent abilities, allow me to correct the record. During the time I said beings like us showed up on this planet, the humans that were already here went through a metamorphosis, a change. Though it was a very small number in relation to their total population, so it was quite the find when one of these humans showed up at the borders of my territory. Let me show you."

The wolf flicked his wrist and a full-sized human materialized out of the sky and dropped on the ground between them. Torak had mastered the magic of the infinite bags and now had the power to carry almost anything, up to a certain weight limit he assumed.

The human, who called himself Destro, had been ready. This apparently was not the first time that Torak had made him appear like so. The man pushed his back out and flipped up landing on his feet. He was fast, and the Lich started to cast a spell but would have been too slow. As Destro leaned his arms back to cast some spell towards the wolf, he went ridged halfway through the movement. Then fell to his knees before finally falling over like a piece of dead wood.

The Lich was now interested as he had sensed power from the human, "is he dead?"

"No, just incapacitated. He will be fine in about an hour. Let us continue though, I just wanted to show you what I have to offer on top of the gift I have already given."

Let me tell you what I want in return. You can raise people from the dead. Do you understand the magic that you use in its rawest form?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Indignant, the Lich started to reply, “Of course, I do. I am...”

The wolf raised his hand and spoke directly into the undead's mind, this time not using subtlety but pure power, “Enough boasting, Lich! I need to know if you truly understand the magic that you use, or did you wake with innate power that you seek to understand more than seek to wrap to your will?”

Without his lackeys around and with a clear indication as to this being's power, the necromancer visibly became smaller; he slumped his shoulders and in an almost childlike tone explained that he had risen with the basic power at his fingertips. He did study and experiment, but in no way understood the fundamentals of the magic he used.

Torak, the werewolf mage, expected this but had to know before they continued. “That is fine, Lich King,” he tried to boost this pathetic being's confidence, “you can still supply me with what I desire.”

“I need to know the frequency that you touch on to use death magic.” Seeing confusion on the Lich, he tried again. “Every type of magic has a unique spectrum that must be focused on in order to produce the targeted affect.” The wolf had tried before to come up with a human word describing the process but always failed. He was beginning to think that it wasn't a failure of the language, there was just no word yet to define the mechanism. Spectrum was the closest he had come so far.

He didn't want to torture the information out of him, but he could tell that the Lich wasn't understanding. Maybe he needed to get down to its level, so he asked a basic question.

“What is a spell that you use not focused on raising the dead?”

“What do you mean?” The lich said frustration in his voice.

Torak had enough; he sent a strand of telepathic energy into the near-empty brain of the lich. So powerful that it felt as if his brain would literally explode, but it was a very short-lived spell. The lich looked up in horror at the wolf.

“Now answer my questions or you'll see what your fate will be.”

From the magical energy floating in the air each spellcaster tapped into a part of it to cast a spell. Yet each type of magic had a different position, although that wasn't right, it was more of a specific frequency. This the wolf mage learned through much practice and research in his short time on this world. Or alive at all if his theories were correct.

Most magic users that learned a spell used an incantation to tune to the frequency; it was automatic, subconscious even. For more powerful spellcasters, you could tap into this at your will without use of words or even training in that 'school', but you had to know exactly where to look so to speak.

Almost all magic could be used by almost any spellcaster. The type of telepathic magic that he used was one that couldn't. Another was spirit magic, but his connection to the MC settled that.

The third and most difficult was death magic, or necromancy. Being able to tap into the magical matrix to bring a once conscious being back to life was something entirely different from all other forms. Healing magic simply used the residual life energy to restore life, amazing in itself but not very difficult.

In order for Torak to master the meaning of his existence on this world, he felt he had to first master the three exclusive forms of magic. Then he could look at the world as if it was a book, or a computer program. This wasn't some philosophical exercise either, the werewolf mage thought that he could learn who or what brought him here, then he could gain the same power. Meaning he would become a God, not a God, The God.

With that lofty goal in mind he would not let this piece of filth off the hook so fast. He knew it had the information he needed, he just had to learn the right button to press to get it.

**

About 50 yards away, the goblin that the Lich told to stay behind was watching everything. He had enhanced senses, both hearing and magical, so he caught most of what was happening. For the visual, the goblin used the human device that magnified items, binoculars.

His “master,” the Lich, retained power for two reasons. The main one was that he boosted his higher-level followers, or he could basically make them immortal by setting up avatar bodies for their spirits. Although only his elite guard got that honor.

The other reason was maybe more important: it was that he could kill each of them with one spell, or at least they thought he could. Because if he was weak, they would just force him to do the magic they required, instead of having to serve him.

Hell, many leaders had magical slaves that performed spells they could not. It was the crux of much of his society. What he remembered of the place he came from, at least, even though the memories were spotty.

He would have to decide to either blackmail the Lich or kill him; whatever got him the most benefit would be the choice. He kept watching now, fixated on the spectacle.