POV: Third

Today was not going to be a good day. No indeed. As these thoughts were racing through Cecilia’s head, she quickly followed Descal down the stairs. After all, she did not really have much choice. There was no way that she was going to the village by herself since she would be separated from the only person capable of protecting her. Descal was quite cruel to take advantage of this fact as he simply dived straight into the tomb.

Of all the monsters in this world, she despised the undead the most. Perhaps this hatred stemmed from a certain necromancy incident that occurred in the capital city which scars her to this day. So it was no incident that she ended up sticking quite closely to the nearest living being near her.

“May I have some room, please? It will be quite difficult to fight undeads if you are clinging so tightly to me.” (Descal)

“And wh-whose fault do you think that is?” (Cecilia)

“Wait? Are you afraid of ghosts?” (Descal)

“And what of it? Dead th-things should st-stay dead.” (Cecilia)

“I see…” (Descal)

Suddenly, he crouched down. Worried, Cecilia inched closer to Descal until he suddenly leaped up with a skull and shoved it into her face. Cecilia fell backward screaming until she realized Descal laughing like a maniac from the prank he pulled off. Cecilia glared at Descal as he continued to laugh. As she continued to glare at him, he quickly stopped, cleared his throat, and walked on as if nothing happened. Quickly, her fear began to be replaced with sheer anger.

“What was with that prank? You knew that I would scream. Are you trying to get a horde of zombies to attack us??” (Cecilia)

“Relax. This place isn’t that dangerous. Necromancers would not rig this place with monsters in the upper levels. We have to go deeper before we have to worry about anything. They do it to trick invaders into thinking that the lair is abandoned. As a result, the whole upper floor should be empty.” (Descal)

Cecilia sighed at this answer. The number of mysteries surrounding Descal continued to grow deeper and deeper. When she woke up with Descal missing, she had a major panic attack thinking that he had abandoned her because of how noisy she has been. She noticed the irritation around Descal’s voice whenever he replied to questions about his life and skills. As a result, she decided it would be best to hold off on direct questions and see if she could subtly get them answered. After all, it would not be the best move to lose her only bodyguard at this moment. Deep in her thoughts, Cecilia failed to notice Descal’s sudden stop and ran into him, causing them both to stumble. Descal quickly turned around with an annoyed look on his face.

“Will you please focus? This is potential enemy territory you know.” (Descal)

“It’s not my fault! I don’t know what the hell I am doing.” (Cecilia)

“Look. Can you fight? Can you use a sword? Anything?” (Descal)

“No. I never learned. I didn’t really need to learn when I was living in the palace.” (Cecilia)

“Well. My luck is worse than I thought. I thought you would be some sort of secret princess knight or something.” (Descal)

“What brought up that idea??? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounded?” (Cecilia)

“Yup. I just realized.” (Descal)

“You are a rude, horrible person.” (Cecilia)

“No. I just have a unique sense of humor, and I am extremely proficient in roasting people.” (Descal)

Cecilia looked at Descal with a look of horror until Descal quickly explained that it was a figure of speech from his home country. With that, he quickly went into a random room and looked around. Cecilia was going to inquire what Descal was looking for until Descal pushed a pillar revealing another secret room that was filled with coffins that each had a skeleton inside of them. Without batting an eye, Descal began to rummage through the coffins. Meanwhile, Cecilia immediately dashed to a corner and began to empty the contents of her stomach. The sounds of bones crunching and the occasional “oops” from Descal did not help her queasiness. Suddenly, one of the walls opened revealing a ladder descending deeper into the lair. When Cecilia edged closer to the ladder, the darkness prevented her from seeing what existed in the bottom.

“Descal. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Are you sure you would be able to fight a whole horde of undead by yourself? If I remember properly, doesn’t the subjugation of a necromancer’s lair require a whole army of mercenaries? Shouldn’t we just turn back? There has to be a better option.” (Cecilia)

“What? Fight? Oh… Umm. We aren’t going to fight the guards if we can help it. If anything, I plan on running out of here if we do get into a fight. Did you seriously think I was going to challenge a necromancer in his own home with no backup except a useless princess who can’t fight?” (Descal)

Cecilia could not wrap her mind on what he just retorted back to her. She could not understand what his plan was. For what other reason would someone enter a necromancer’s lair unless it was to kill the necromancer and take any treasure? Her confusion prevented her from realizing that Descal just insulted her by calling her useless. Realizing that Descal was already a good distance down the ladder, she quickly followed him. She had absolutely no intention to get left behind. When she reached the bottom, Cecilia immediately gagged from the stench. The rotting smell of corpses was overpowering her nose.

“Well. It seems that the necromancer is probably a lich since I highly doubt a human necromancer would stand this sort of smell. Hmm. I may need to change my strategy a bit.” (Descal)

“Ho-How do you know so damn much a-about necromancers? How c-can you even s-stand this g-goddamn smell?” (Cecilia)

“Skillz.” (Descal)

“What?” (Cecilia)

“Be quiet. And get ready to climb up the ladder if anything goes wrong.” (Descal)

After rudely cutting her off, he immediately strode to the door and began to knock. Moans and clattering began to respond to his knocks.

“What are you doing??? Are you trying to alert the necromancer? I thought we were just going to nab something???” (Cecilia)

“If this lair was abandoned or smaller, I would have gone with stealing something. However, after exploring the first floor and its sheer size, I realized that it would be far better to negotiate. Hello? My name is Descal. I have come to bargain with you. We have come alone. May we talk?” (Descal)

“What? Are you going to negotiate with a lich? Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?” (Cecilia)

Despite her protests, Descal continued to pound on the door and called for the lich to appear. Cecilia slowly inched closer to the ladder ready to escape at a moment notice. As she grabbed one of the ladder’s rungs, she was wrenched from the ladder and felt something bony around her neck. It was the lich.

“What is your true purpose here? If I detect a single lie, I will snap this girl’s neck like a twig.” (Lich)

Slowly turning around, Descal began to speak in a different language. Cecilia never heard that language before, but it felt… old… ancient. The lich also seemed surprised when he heard the language and began to speak back in a much less hostile tone. Once the tension diffused and the lich nodded his head in understanding, the lich released Cecilia, and she immediately hid behind Descal. After discussing for some time, the lich nodded and walked to the door gesturing to Descal to follow him. When Cecilia saw what existed behind the doors, she pissed her pants much to her later embarrassment and collapsed from fear.

Once she woke up once more, she was in a room that was lit by a magical chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It seemed they were continuing to negotiate, and Descal did not look happy. After realizing that Cecilia woke up, Descal excused himself from the table.

“You want to good news or the bad news?” (Descal)

“I want the good news first. I need some good news after what I… *mrrph*” (Cecilia)

“Ohhh. Here. Puke here.” (Descal)

“*Blaaaagh* Thanks. So. What’s the good news?” (Cecilia)

“She agreed to provide a mount.” (Descal)

“She?” (Cecilia)

“What? Oh. The lich is a woman. If you look at the pelvis, it is much more rounded. Also, I noticed how the hips swung when I saw how she walked.” (Descal)

“… Whatever. I feel a major “but” coming.” (Cecilia)

“Sigh. Yeah. Umm. So. This lair. I severely underestimated the size and age. Apparently, this lair is about 300 years old, and it belonged to this very powerful human necromancer. However, he died and left behind a bunch of undead commanders capable of sentience. As a result, this place is undergoing a massive civil war with the commanders vying for control. This lich rules the second floor, and she wants my help to break the stalemate at the entrance to the third floor.” (Descal)

“Wait. Wait. Wait. She will give us a mount if you fight in her stupid little war. Is that what I am hearing?” (Cecilia)

“Sadly. Anyway, we wasted enough time. I didn’t want to head off until you woke up. Now that you are awake be a good girl and stay here. Do NOT wander out of this room. You will be attacked and torn…” (Descal)

“STOP RIGHT THERE. Are you telling me that you are going to leave me alone in this god damn room with an undead monster??? Are you insane??? I’ll die!!! Please take me with you! Please!” (Cecilia)

“Look. You can’t fight. You faint from seeing gruesome stuff. I am beginning to doubt if you can handle blood and gore. You are not going to survive very long if I take you with me. I can’t fight a battle while keeping you safe. Also, I will be really fast. I bet I can take care of this in a couple hours. It will be real quick.” (Descal)

“Then, teach me how to fight. You can’t leave me here. Please. Take me with you. You can’t leave me here alone. I’ll go crazy.” (Cecilia)

“Look. Oh god. Please don’t cry. It is much worse for me. I thought it was going to be just a regular old necromancer who would gladly accept a whole variety of monster blood. For crying out loud, I even offered a freaking Flamecreep corpse as well. She rejected a freaking Flamecreep corpse! My hands are bound here. Do you have any idea how annoying and dangerous this is going to be for me?” (Descal)

“Look. I’ll do anything. Please you can’t leave me alone here surrounded by dead walking corpses.” (Cecilia)

“Oh my god. I fucking hate you Murphy. I hate you. I fuckin jinxed it.” (Descal)

“I will hate YOU if you abandon me like this.” (Cecilia)

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“If this will make her feel better, I can stay in this form while you secure the entrance.” (Lich)

Through her blurry tears, Cecilia saw a beautiful woman standing in the doorway. She was extremely pale with red hair that flowed down to her waist. She had no clothes except for a black cloak.

“Who *hic* is she?” (Cecilia)

“umm. *Cough* Oh my god. THIS FEELS SO WRONG.” (Descal)

“Descal…” (Cecilia)

“You may call me Baniti. I am the lich.” (Baniti)

“What? You are the lich?!!” (Cecilia)

“I have placed a powerful illusion over my bones. This is how I looked when I was still alive. In addition, I have placed a temporary barrier over this room so that you won’t be affected by the death essence and the fear aura that permeates much of the floor. I suspect that is why you were feeling so uneasy.” (Baniti)

“*sniff* Now that you mention it. *sniff* I feel better.” (Cecilia)

“So umm can I go now?” (Descal)

“Only if you promise me that you will answer my questions.” (Cecilia)

“Only one.” (Descal)

“Three.” (Cecilia)

“What! No. That is a…” (Descal)

“Descal… Don’t push it.” (Cecilia)

“Fine. *grumble*” (Descal)

Mumbling away, Descal quickly went down the hallway to prepare for the upcoming battle.

“Baniti. Cecilia better be alive and in one shape with all of her bodily fluids intact when I come back. Am I clear?!” (Descal)

“Sigh. I already signed the contract with you.” (Baniti)

“Give me a verbal promise as well.” (Descal)

“Fine. You have my word.” (Baniti)

Baniti sauntered toward the table and gestured to Cecilia to sit.

“Come. It must be uncomfortable sitting on the floor like that. I also have some tea. It should help calm your nerves.” (Baniti)

Without a word, Cecilia collapsed on the chair and began to sip on the offered tea. Baniti continued to stare at her until Cecilia could no longer stand the silence.

“Do you want something?” (Cecilia)

“Yes. I am curious as to why a member of the royal family of the Ruhan Kingdom is here.” (Baniti)

“*pfff* Did Descal tell you?” (Cecilia)

“No. I was there when your country was founded, and I knew the country’s first king. You carry his blood. You shouldn’t be so surprised. I am a necromancer.” (Baniti)

“Oh. I am sorry. But I am unable to answer that question.” (Cecilia)

“Well, it must be something serious then. Well, anyway, I was wondering if you could cancel your contract with Descal and persuade him to work for me a little bit. In return, I will supply you with strong undead instead with the control crystal. The undead will be much more loyal than a random mercenary. In fact, they may even be much more useful since they won’t have any qualms about fighting to the death and will require no rest. From what I’ve heard and seen you two have not been together for long. It would be a great deal, don’t you think?” (Baniti)

Cecilia’s suspicious grew by 20 notches when she heard this proposal. There was no way that this lich would make such a proposal unless there was a clear benefit to her. Right now, she lacked information so she decided against it. It would be better to stick with the elements she had more knowledge about. In addition, she could never imagine having to travel the whole distance with only undead as her company.

“No. I may not have known Descal for very long, and he may not be as loyal as your undead knights, but I believe it is much more to my advantage to keep Descal as my bodyguard and escort.” (Cecilia)

“Ohhh. I see so you have also noticed Descal’s strength.” (Baniti)

“Indeed. He has great physical strength, and he is able to think on the spot. In addition, he is quite resourceful.” (Cecilia)

“That is not what I meant. I am talking about his skills and knowledge of the arcane arts.” (Banini)

Cecilia had no idea about what Baniti was talking about; however, she instantly saw this as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the mercenary she hired. As a result, she decided to push more on this subject.

“Oh then do enlighten me on this subject? Did you see something about Descal that I missed? It would be interesting to see your perspective on him.” (Cecilia)

“First, I couldn’t see his soul. It was beautifully hidden under layers of mana. His entire body is brimming with mana as well increasing his physical attributes by an enormous magnitude. In fact, it is constantly teetering on the edge of incineration. I have a couple guesses on why he did this to himself, but I am not sure.” (Baniti)

“….” (Cecilia)

“You look like a fish gasping for air.” (Baniti)

“I had no idea.” (Cecilia)

“Well, he is still quite the monster. When he did release his aura, I felt like my soul was going to get crushed by the sheer amount of energy that he released. You are quite lucky to have that man as your escort. I am confident that you will reach your goal without fail. A pity that I can’t have him.” (Baniti)

“Thank you for the confidence? Anyway, I have a question. What language were you guys speaking in when we first met?” (Cecilia)

“Yes. This was quite the shocker, but he spoke in the old Mortem language, the language of the dead.” (Baniti)

“How does he know how to speak Mortem?” (Cecilia)

“I do not know. However, you cannot lie in the Mortem language or your soul will be torn from the physical realm. That is why I could trust his words. How did you two meet?” (Baniti)

Cecilia’s fears slowly began to abate as she began to engage in a fruitful conversation with the lich. It was quite enjoyable to talk without caring about formalities, ranks, nor hidden agendas. It turns out that Baniti was not one of the undeads who despised the living. Instead, she was one of the few who preferred to live peacefully with as little contact as possible. This was her biggest motivator for quickly taking control of the second floor, the weakest of all the floors, to prevent the others from conducting raids and invasions on the surface. She was quite grateful for Descal’s help in taking the third-floor entrance because the Wraith in charge of the third floor was beginning to get restless.

“It’s been a long time since I talked with someone like this.” (Cecilia)

“Mmm. It must be hard being royalty.” (Baniti)

“You have no idea.” (Cecilia)

“Is that why you had Descal where such a ridiculous mask? To be your mysterious knight in shining armor to take you away from your troubles?” (Baniti)

“Nonononono. NO. He did that by himself to keep his identity hidden. He doesn’t want to be publicly connected to royalty for certain reason. The mask was just something he bought from the marketplace.” (Cecilia)

“Oh. Then, does Descal have an alias?” (Baniti)

“No. He asked me to give him one. He said that he can’t choose one for himself because of certain rules that he is bound by. He didn’t really care about what name I chose for him, but I don’t want to give him a crappy one so I told him that I would tell him later.” (Cecilia)

“When were humans bound by such rules? The only beings that are unable to pick names for themselves are the ancient ones.” (Baniti)

“The ancient ones?” (Cecilia)

“I don’t know much about them. I only read about them from a book that my deceased master found from a ruin. However, the chapter stated that the ancient ones were the first beings that existed in this world. Nobody knows much about them. However, their connection with mana was so intimate that their names became closely tied to who they were. As a result, they could not simply choose names for themselves.” (Baniti)

“Interesting. Anything else?” (Cecilia)

“Other than the fact that they are all dead. None.” (Baniti)

Without warning, a large explosion was heard, and the entire room shook. Baniti immediately stood up and had an extreme look of concentration on her illusory face. Cecilia could not help but feel that something had gone terribly wrong. Was Descal caught in the explosion?

“Sorry. However, I must go check on the third-floor entrance. I cannot pick up any connection from the undead I have assigned to Descal’s command. Stay…” (Baniti)

“NO! Take me with you. I’m worried about Descal.” (Cecilia)

“You mean you are too scared to stay alone. Whatever. I do not have time for this. However, it is not my fault if you are to perish from this choice.” (Baniti)

Dispelling her illusion, Baniti immediately ordered her zombie phalanx unit to march toward the location of the explosion. Cecilia closely followed the lich as she began to layer defensive spells around herself. Cecilia quickly equipped herself with a small dagger she has found in the hallways. When Cecilia arrived at the staircase, she once more emptied out her stomach. Decapitated bodies and intestines covered the entire floor. Every step was answered with a squelch. It took all of Cecilia’s willpower to continue following Baniti as she ordered her zombie phalanx to march down the stairs in a rigid three line formation. At the bottom of the stairs, Cecilia saw a room covered with black streak marks mixed with blood. Body parts were scattered everywhere, and Cecilia almost slipped on a slick puddle of blood. Just when Cecilia steadied herself, Descal smashed through the door and slammed into her.

“Owowowow. My ribs… Cecilia? What the hell? What are you doing here?” (Descal)

“There was this big explosion, and…” (Cecilia)

“I don’t care! Get the fuck out of here!” (Descal)

Suddenly, a bloody blob squeezed itself through the doorway. It was completely composed of organs, skins, and muscle. There were absolutely no bones. Following close behind was an army of skeletons.

“Run!!!” (Descal)

Before anybody could reach the staircase, the blob tore a piece out of its body and threw it at the escape route, crushing any zombie phalanxes that were coming down and blocking it. Realizing the situation, Baniti immediately orders her remaining zombies to set up a pike line to slow down the advancing skeletons. Then, Baniti began to engage the abomination as she tried to keep it away from her zombie lines. Cecilia was having a hard time breathing. It was simply too much. She was surrounded by things that could kill her at a moment’s notice, and she had absolutely nothing to defend herself with except a tiny dagger. When she collapsed, she felt someone catch her.

“Cecilia. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. It’s alright. I am here. You won’t get hurt. C’mon. Deep breaths. Do it with me.” (Descal)

“Descal. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.” (Cecilia)

“The first thing to do is to keep a straight mind. Let’s stand up. Don’t look at the battle yet. Look at me. You will survive. Fight. Think. You’ll be fine. I am right here. Here, smell this. It’s a nice perfume, right? Breathe. Calm yet?” (Descal)

Shaking, Cecilia slowly nodded her head. She can do this. Right now, she can’t panic. She can’t afford to die here. Tightly clenching her dagger and the cloth that Descal gave her, she turned to look at the brutal battle that was unfolding before her very eyes. Without any regard from their physical injuries, both sides were relentlessly bashing into each other while the lich was dodging the blob’s futile attempts to smash her.

“Cecilia. Give me the knife. Here. Take this weapon instead.” (Descal)

Descal wrenched the dagger from her hand and placed a wooden metal stick in her hand. It looked like a miniature pipe: it had an opening on one end while the other end had a curved wooden grip. She was confused as to why this was a more suitable weapon than the dagger. Was it because she could use this as a club?

“Cecilia. This is a ranged weapon called a flintlock pistol. You see this stick that sticks out from the bottom. That is the trigger. Alright. If you want to help in this battle, follow what I do step by step. Hold it in both hands like this to increase your accuracy. Nope. That hand goes on top. Yup. Put your index finger on the trigger. Okay. If you look down the barrel like this, you’ll see this nub. You see it? Good. Now aim that nub at the head of that skeleton. The one that’s fighting the zombie without its lower jaw. Now. Pull the trigger.” (Descal)

Following his every direction, Cecilia was shocked by the sudden flash that the pipe made, and the skeleton’s skull shattering. Caught by surprise, she lost her grip on the pistol dropping. Realizing the usefulness of the weapon, she picked it up and instantly aimed at another skeleton, but nothing happened.

“No. You have to reload it again. Here. Take this paper cartridge. First, tear off the top, carefully pour in the black powder into the barrel like this. Good. Tear the next bit off and take this metal cone out. Pointy tip point out of the barrel. Drop it in. There is this metal rod connected to the bottom. Take it out. Pound that metal cone it. All the way. Make sure you feel it go all the way in. Let me check. Good. Now. Half-cock the hammer. Pour in the remaining black powder into the flash pan. Lower the frizzen. Completely cock the hammer. Now you can shoot again. Here. This pouch has about 35 shots in it. Good luck.” (Descal)

Cecilia wordlessly began to shoot and reload the “pistol” that Descal gifted her. As her familiarity with her new weapon increased, she soon realized that its accuracy decreased when she aimed for targets farther away. In addition, the pistol was nearly impossible to dodge due to how fast it reached its target. It was almost instantaneous. This weapon made fighting seem like a joke. It did not require any skill. It was simply reload, point, and shoot. She was simply standing in the backlines picking off the skeletons. With every skeleton shot down, she felt her confidence growing, and her knees began to stop shaking as she fell into the rhythm of shooting and reloading.

She became so focused on her task that she failed to notice Descal’s warning to get down. It wasn’t until Descal rammed into her that she shook out of her trance. Cecilia was about to protest until a large explosion pushed her back down once more. She quickly realized that Descal was actually shielding her from the blast. Bone shrapnel, chunks of meat, organs, and blood began to rain down on all of the inhabitants, soaking them in all in the color red except for Cecilia.

“Damn it. You have got to work on your situational awareness.” (Descal)

“I’m sorry. I just got so focused…” (Cecilia)

“No. It’s alright. So how was your first battle?” (Descal)

“Surprisingly easier than I thought…” (Cecilia)

“Heh. Guns tend to do that. Especially in a world where guns don’t exist yet.” (Descal)

“Oh my lord. Descal. You’re bleeding!” (Cecilia)

“Oh, this. It’s nothing. Umm. Would you say that I am bony right now?” (Descal)

“This isn’t a joking matter! We need to get this treated! Should I take out the bone shrapnel? Will this get infected?” (Cecilia)

“Cecilia. Calm down. It missed my vitals. I’ll be fine. Don’t take it out yet. It’ll make the bleeding worse. First, let’s remove that glob of… meat while the Baniti and her zombies finish up the skeletons. She’s going to want the reinforcements.” (Descal)

“How do you plan on removing that? It’s going to take hours to dig through that mess.” (Cecilia)

“This.” (Descal)

He then begins to take out these round circular balls of clay out of nowhere and lights them with a miniature flame spell. He walks to the glob and thrusts them into the meat. He then runs back and tells her to crouch down. Another explosion rocks the room as the blockage disappears from the exit, and zombie soldiers begin to pour down the stairway. Using the fresh reinforcement, Baniti quickly took over the room and began to push into the next room.

“It’s finally over.” (Cecilia)

Cecilia’s knees suddenly gave out as she sat on the floor as the waves of zombie soldiers passed by her. Descal, covered in gore from head to toe, sat down next to her.

“This was so shitty. So many things went wrong.” (Descal)

She was too tired at this point to refute this.

“Are you going to be…” (Cecilia)

She never managed to finish her question because she lost conscience.