The Lich’s mind was overwhelmed with the burning sensation coursing through his body. As the blue flames continue to consume and purify his body and soul, he could only look up at his enemies who were standing before him, basking in victory.
“You! You lowly scum!” The Lich screamed, letting out a ghastly growl.
“This isn’t over. I won’t let this be over! I will! I will!”
As the Lich continued to crawl and flail on the ground, images suddenly started flashing in his mind. They were glimpses of a distant memory that had seemed vivid and clean.
A small child in tattered clothes came running towards him, speaking in an old familiar tongue as the child knelt down with reverence and respect.
“Great master! How goes your day? Will the great spirit bless us today as well?!” The boy asked as the Lich weakly tried to reach out only for a new vision to suddenly play out.
A grand and beautiful gathering, dancing around a great fire. Celebrating a year of good harvest, feasting on freshly caught wild game. Loud cheers and wide smiles can be seen all throughout as he found himself sitting at the center.
Men, women, and children gathered in front of him to seek blessing for the coming year. Words of praise and gratefulness expressed in full as the jubilations continued.
Another painful jolt came and his visions brought him to another memory. A grand room, carved into the very rocks of the earth itself. Pristine stone and pillars, and a brightly lit center lay before him.
He was now sitting on a throne, a familiar throne. The one that he was sitting on upon waking up to this new and unfamiliar age.
He then waved his hand to the people who all came to greet him with a wide and happy smile and then the vision started to crack like broken glass.
Without warning, he found himself in a burning ruin. Soldiers clad in metal armor and armed with swords and shields lay siege upon his home slaughtering everyone sparing not even the children.
Their speech was not clear in this memory as if they were deliberately hazy, except for one word; Barbarian.
Not long after he saw himself, riddled with fatal wounds as blood gushed out of his broken body. He was being dragged away by a small posse of people, being brought back to that room carved into the earth. He was placed at the center as his saviors all walked away and sat themselves at the ends of the room.
At this point he found himself screaming, begging, even though he does not know why.
“No! Don’t! Don’t do it!” He shouted over and over as these people all simultaneously stabbed themselves in the chest, their still warm blood flowing down the carved stone floor.
The room then illuminated in a dark red glow as he could feel himself being forced into a deep slumber and finally he arrived at a more recent memory.
He found himself inside the decrepit crypt again, in front of a masked entity who was consumed in flame. Truth be told even he doesn’t completely understand what the masked man was or what it wants.
As a metallic box was presented to the Lich, the bright flames consuming the masked figure started to subside in a peculiar fashion. The flames did not look like they died out due to running out of fuel to burn, but rather, the dancing blaze of yellow and orange shrunk gradually until it revealed a pristine black suit underneath.
The entity then spoke as if completely unperturbed by the previous inferno.
“This funny little box can fit you and all your smelly little friends while shielding you from the ire of everyone else! Designed to be completely ignorable by force! Do not worry, for everything has been prepared for you and all you need to do is come of it at the riiight time.” The masked entity explained with its almost maddening voice.
“So? How’s progress today? Any luck remembering more?” The masked entity asked.
“Why do you ask?” He replied. “I do not remember anything at all except for this inexplicable desire for strength!” The Lich replied.
“Ah, that’s too bad.” The masked man replied and then asked another question. “Tell me, are you afraid of being forgotten?”
“What?”
“It’s an irrational fear you people have because you all think of yourselves as big and important that the mere thought of obscurity scares you. It’s the reason why you’re so desperate to remember who you were right? ” The masked figure continued to inquire, however the Lich did not respond or rather he could not respond.
“I’ll be honest it doesn’t matter what you do, it won’t change a single thing. You will remain insignificant and tiny.” The masked man continued to rant. “It’s really amusing how you people seem to hate the idea of being forgotten.”
“Then if you think this is all pointless, then why are you even helping me?” The Lich asked and then the masked man looked directly at him. Strangely enough, the Lich could feel that there was a smile forming underneath the mask.
“I am helping you because I want you to be more than just a dirty little corpse in a dark room underground.” The man explained.
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“Enough of your insolence! I will regain my power the way I see fit, you are nothing more than a convenient pawn!” The Lich angrily replied.
“Sure sure, we’re still going with your original plan that I tweaked for you don’t worry. But I am here to bring you another option, a chance to be more than just a scared little husk, afraid of the end.” The masked man continued.
“So to that end, I give you this.” Bringing up his closed fist in front of him, he then slowly opened it revealing a curious object in his hand.
Suddenly, the Lich was taken out of his dying stupor and stretched out his arm as he slowly manifested the gift that he was given. Sylvester and the rest watched in surprise as they saw a small object slowly form itself in front of the Lich’s hand.
Sylvester wanted to reach out and stop it but he found himself frozen in place, and yet his mind was screaming for him to move.
“Why? Why can’t I move? What’s going on?” Sylvester thought as he struggled with his own actions he then looked at his friends and saw them with frozen and candid expressions, and as his mind continued to panic, a voice that sounded like a chaotic choir began whispering in his mind.
“Now now have some patience, your stage is currently being set!” The voice echoed much to Sylvester confusion and distress.
This short moment of pause, this short moment of silence, was all it needed for Lich to fully call forth what he needed. A curious little object that was the size of an acorn that looked like it was two separate items mashed together. One side being a bloodshot eyeball and other was a mass of flesh, folded into the shape of a brain. His mind then trailed off once again, towards that faithful conversation a few nights before.
“This thing is something called a seed of knowledge in this age’s tongue. If you consume it, it will grant you invaluable insights and wisdom thus granting you immense strength, after all knowledge is power. You will be reborn anew! If you ever find yourself cornered at the edge of defeat, consume this seed and unleash your new potential!”
The Lich then smiled as he looked at the gift he was given. Feeling a sense of hunger overflowing from within.
“Why? Why does it look delicious?” He asked as he slowly moved it towards his mouth while Sylvester could only look on helplessly.
“Come on! Move damn it!” Sylvester shouted at himself as he remained motionless as the maddening voice spoke to him once again and sent a shiver down his spine.
“Don’t disappoint me now, show me a great finale!” The voice said as it trailed off almost instantly and then Sylvester regained control of his body, but it was already too late.
The Lich has already swallowed and consumed the seed of flesh causing a strong pulse of mana to radiate from him, blasting away the cleansing fires of the exorcism talisman.
“I will not be forgotten!” The Lich screamed as he showed Sylvester a mocking smile.
“No!” Sylvester screamed as he gathered mana to try and attack the Lich, an action that his comrades all mirrored as Estelle and Artian charged in. But this immediate reaction was also interrupted when another strong pulse of mana erupted causing for the four of them to be blown back a few meters away.
“What is going on? What just happened!?” Artian screamed as they watched in horror.
The Lich who was on the brink of defeat, was wrapped up in a flesh-like cocoon. But instead of a blood red color, purple veins covered this strange and disgusting blanket as the group felt mana being drawn towards it.
Soon the cocoon grew dark purple roots that penetrated the ground beneath, absorbing even more mana at a faster rate causing the air around them began to have a faint bluish hue.
Rossa meanwhile wasn’t standing idly as she gathered mana to call forth a very powerful spell, chanting the words needed to shape the weapon she wanted.
“Oh blinding and righteous light of the goddess!”
“Cleanse the world below from a dark taint.”
“Purge all that is seen to be unclean.”
“And may the world be purified as you see fit.”
“Leggera Epurazione!” Rossa shouted as an even larger pillar of light erupted from underneath the cocoon, almost reaching the darkened sky above.
As the Light cleared Sylvester could only look on in horror as Rossa’s attack did no damage. But as if to declare the further escalation of events. A figure slowly slithered out of the fleshy cocoon and stood before them as the earth underneath began to shake.
---
“Mama?” A little girl asked while hugging her mother. The pair were told to run towards the beach by an angel-like figure who swooped in and saved them from certain death. They then found themselves surrounded by more survivors and kept safe by a large paper dome.
“Yes Honey?” The mother replied, trying her best to keep her wits end.
“Has the scratching stopped yet?” The little girl asked as the mother nodded in response.
“Yes. It seems the monsters have stopped trying to break through!” She said in a cheerful voice, trying to look calm and strong for her daughter even though she herself was inches away from insanity.
However, this faint ray of hope was soon crushed as they felt strong tremors on the ground.
All the mother could was hug her child tighter and pray to the heavens above.
“Oh god please! Please save us from this nightmare! I beg you!”
---
Back at Inanis Orbis the faculty has mobilized a response group to aid the Magician’s troupe within less than a minute. With situations like these, time is of the essence, and so every second mattered.
leading the team was Rossa and Sylvester’s professor, Bridget Bishop who volunteered the moment she was given word of the encounter.
She was accompanied by 6 expressionless men. They then walked into three elevators, Bridget occupying one on her own while there three each on the other two.
“Come on come on!” Bridget exclaimed as the usual quick travel time felt agonizingly long due to the situation and the elevator’s loud ping became the sound of salvation. However something was strange the moment she arrived.
Before the elevators could open, Bridget could not feel the scattered mana signatures of ghouls nor the dense signature of a Lich. Instead she felt only four very weak mana signatures all of which surely belong to humans and in front of them was a much larger and very clean mana signature, but it too did not belong to any sort of undead.
“What is happening here?”
And then the doors finally opened.