“N-no, it’s okay. I, believe you. The orb has never betrayed us.” The branch manager sighed drearily. “If that’s true, then ADAS owes you a great debt of gratitude, Deidre.”
“Will all people react the way you do? Is the sight of a lich that bad?” I asked, a question somewhat directed to everyone in the room. I felt like I wanted to keep lying to myself and sticking my head in the sand about the issue, but I had to come to terms with it at some point and confront the truth. They were adventurers, which meant they were much more open-minded than regular people. But if their feelings of fear and hatred were common towards liches, then perhaps my dreams of living a purposeful life in a human society was nothing but a pipe dream.
“In ADAS,” Solina put a hand on mine, “there’s a list of monsters known as the Death List. There has never been a time when people have seen monsters from this and there has not been death. Liches are in that list, Deidre. You saved my life, and went out of your way to rescue Tina and Adam. You even healed impossible injuries. We’re indebted to you. However, others may not see it this way.”
I scoffed, which startled all of them. “Old grudges, huh?” I stood up and strolled over to the window to have a look at the busy main street. Despite the hustle and bustle, it was peaceful. Looking back on my old life, I definitely wanted to live amongst humans and fulfil what I didn’t in my previous life. Grimoire, is there no spell to make me look human?
The book floated up at my side and opened onto a spell called Cadaver Possession. It essentially raised a corpse back to faux-life. According to the information, it was a corpse without a soul, which allowed me to transfer my soul into it and dismiss my main body at will. The corpse, or vessel, could duplicate any magics or skills of the main body, providing the physical differences weren’t too huge, like going from a body with wings to one without. Is this the only option? The book did a little nod at me. How can a book be cute? Gosh!
“What if I became human?” I asked them and broke the silence in the room.
“That’s impossible, no one can change their ra—”
“Adam,” Tina interjected, “it’s a lich. They’re necromancers…”
Perhaps it was because of her background in magic that she could tell, but she was spot on. “Tina’s right. The only spell I have to ‘become’ human, is one that needs a corpse. I already feel disgusted by the thought of it, so I won’t just use it on a random person.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The branch manager sighed and muttered something under his breath. “Go invisible again and follow me. But I can’t guarantee you’ll get what you want. I hope we can repay you with this, Deidre.”
We ventured through the town and met with an odd doctor. He often did autopsies, so it wasn’t strange that he would have corpses in his place of work. Daniel, the town’s ADAS branch manager, led me and the doctor to the gallows. Thankfully, it wasn’t in public sight.
There were three people there, already dead and hanging. There was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, a woman in her twenties, and a man probably over sixty years old. I whispered in Daniel’s ear, “I want the young woman. If I can get the young man as well, that would be great. But the woman is priority.”
Daniel shivered. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence for a lich to whisper in your ear, asking for corpses. If anyone found out what he was doing, he’d probably go to jail. But it was all under the pretense that the corpses were for scientific research, so the executioners happily gave away the corpses – it meant less disposal work for them after all.
I put the bodies on ice with a little spell, then they bagged them and threw them in a carriage. Very soon, I was in Daniel’s house with Tina, Adam, and Solina, performing a really taboo spell. It’s creepy! It’s so fucking creepy, oh my gosh! I breathed, figuratively. Namaste, bitch. This is all for a brand-new life. You can get all the dick you want this way. Come on, you can do it. I focused on the woman and cast Cadaver Possession.
The spell was a master spell, in the same difficulty range of spells that would literally destroy the world. In order to get the corpse back to the best functioning state, it effectively used another master spell called Chronoheal, which bent time within the constraints of the target. Rewinding a target’s time while applying all other versions of the Heal spell meant that no matter what damages the body suffered – even aging – it would undo all the damage and put the body in an optimal state of being. It removed all debuffs, healed all physical injury, and restored stamina and mana fully.
The rest of Cadaver Possession prepped the vessel for a soul – mine – to enter it, and therefore copied all magics I could perform over to it. Once my soul entered, I dismissed my lich body and possessed the girl.
Her age went back a few years, so I was around twenty years old. Any imperfections like scars and burns were gone. This girl’s skin was as pale as snow, unlike Solina’s beautiful caramel skin. She was a petite redhead, and short too, so I probably looked younger than twenty to other people. I got a weird smell, and I wasn’t sure if it was bad body odor or if I was just unfamiliar with the woman’s smell. But I used Clean on myself and on the corpse of the man for good measure.
I ran around Daniel’s foyer to test the body out, jumped around a bit, stretched, picked up stuff. I had the same strength and speed I had as God Lich Deidre.
“Can you hurry up?” Daniel tapped his foot. “My wife’s out and I don’t know when she’ll come back. If you don’t want us both to die, I recommend you put on some clothes and perform your spell with this man too!”