Lucien stepped carefully through the grass, his boots pressing forward lightly despite being of solid steel. He panted under the heavy heat as he was starting to feel tired. Three days he had been out there, searching for the accursed dragon three days of finding not a trace of anything living in the area save for the local plants. He was even starting to wonder if he was sent out on a wild goose hunt because he did not see where a dragon could be hiding in the sea of trees and grass he was surrounded by. The king of Traliseth, his father in-law had sent him out here to find and slay the dragon, and not only that, but to save his very daughter, Lucien’s wife. But how was he to kill something he couldn't find? How was he to find his love in all of this?

The armoured man steadily went forward until he saw a clearing through the tree. Finally he thought. He made his way toward it and found himself in a field of tall grass. There was a rockface a short distance from him and around it was a scattering of boulders and other large rocks. Lucien scanned his surroundings then started a brisk walk toward the rocks, he could see an opening in the side and thought he finally found what he was searching for. He came upon the large rocks and stopped partway to them and quickly drew the longsword he carried at his hip, slapping away a ball of flame from his left. He made sure not to turn and look away as there was now a robed skeletal man seated on the closest boulder to him. A man who wasn't there before now, he was sitting cross-legged and carefully stuffing a bone pipe.

“That's some fine skill you've got there.” The man nonchalantly said. Not at all bothered by the armoured man holding a sword before him. Which to him, meant trouble.

He held his sword before him and breathed outwardly, gathering his focus and storing his tiredness in a box. He was now seeing that the man wasn't just skeletal, but in fact a skeleton an undead. The man looked at the blade and lit his pipe, sticking it between his teeth. His face was pure bone, but his eyes were shining rubies in hollow sockets.

“Now now son, I'm not your enemy here” Lucien heard the voice but noticed in disgust that the mouth never moved.

“You are undead sir. And it is my duty as a knight of Traliseth to break the magic that binds you to this life. Rejoice for I shall make you rest peacefully again” Lucien struck before he finished speaking, cleaving his sword in an arc. He cursed as his sword bit nothing but air and darted backward to avoid a counterattack, but none came.

“Do take it easy. My bones aren't what they used to be.” The voice came from his right and Lucien spun on his guard and thrusted with the tip of his sword, but withdrew and rolled to his left, narrowly dodging the ball of flame that came from behind, engulfing the skeleton.

He slowly rose from his crouch and decided it was time he got a shield. It couldn't possibly be healthy to be dodging and rolling so often in full heavy plate. He sheathed his longsword and unclasped the greatsword on his back, slipping it free and holding it with both hands. There was a masked woman walking slowly towards him. She wore robes similar to that of the skeleton and held a carved staff with a dragon perched on top. She stopped and stared at him, he waited and waited, but she just stood there watching him, silently.

“I suppose you're the vile witch responsible for that undead.” He tried. She remained silent. He was starting to feel unsettled. He waited a spell more before shrugging it off and pressing forward. “I don't know who you are, but I cannot allow a defiler of graves to escape the fury of Lucien Arrengar!”

He prepared himself for a charge when she suddenly let loose a shrill scream at the mention of his name. Lucien wasted no time and dashed forward while she was distracted, he was on her almost immediately and then just as quickly was blasted into the air, he spun midair and slashed with his sword in time to cut through a chunk of earth that had been ripped out and thrown at him. He passed through the opening created and landed on another piece dashing across it and almost leapt but then it lost its upward momentum and started falling instead. He stumbled and righted his balance, cursing as it flipped and he started falling headfirst, his mind raced trying to figure out a way out of his predicament when he felt a surge of pain rush up his legs, he realized quickly that it was the rock he had fallen off of and immediately pushed off of it using the solid footing to rebalance and line up his attack before the weight crushed him.

His sword glanced off a blue shimmering shield, but he barely noticed as he was already hightailing it out of the way. He felt the ground shake as he heard the massive crash behind him. He turned and stared ahead but all he could see was dust and grass in the wind. Then he heard it again, that terrible scream, followed by a shimmer of blue and then he felt something clang against the back of his armour, Lucien half turned and looked at the bone pipe at his feet, and then at the skeleton further back, he was seated on another stone, with a smoking pipe between its teeth, he waved at Lucien, and the young man knew he had made a terrible mistake even before the ball of flame landed at his feet detonating the pipe. Lucien suddenly felt numb, he was in the air again, but he felt lighter this time, he tried to wonder why that was, but his vision swam and all he knew was blackness.

The lich smiled as he watched the explosion blow the knight apart and lifted him into the air. It seemed as if he would stay up there forever but he fell back at the edge of the flames with a wet squelch. If this wasn't enough, then he feared he would have to kill the girl, which would be undesirable, both to him and the master he served. He got up from his very uncomfortable seat and cracked his joints, a habit he had failed to kick even in his current state. The lich pocketed his pipe and strode towards the remains of the young man and stopped, the dust was starting to settle and he could see his protégé walking towards them. Slow and empty of life, which meant the fight wasn't enough. He sighed, for he hated these things, a curse that only true love could break. Only a buffoon would waste valuable time and majiks to craft something so utterly pointless, why not just make the curse unbreakable? It seemed a far more fruitful endeavour, although if he was to be fair, he was glad the solution was something as simple as love. Otherwise he would have had to waste an absurd amount of time trying to find a way to lift the curse, time he would have just spent killing the child and finding a new apprentice. She was talented, but with enough time he could have taught a mule to perform the majiks she was capable of so far, and perhaps more. He decided to file that last thought away for future study and turned to Lucien Arrengar.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The man's body was a complete mess, half the back of his head was shattered and caved in, allowing some of his brain matter to leak out into the pool of blood he lay in. He was missing an arm and the other was only attached by a few strands of sinew, his gaze moved further down and noticed his entire lower half was missing.

“My apologies Lucien. I expected you to die a much cleaner death.” He spoke, the sound coming from the block of majik that held the remnant of his soul contained in the vessel he wore.

He held out his hand and registered the clack of wood against bone as his staff was pressed into his hand. He stepped back and observed as his protégé peered down at the corpse, he had noticed when she did it before the fight. She was trying to remember something, she knew who he was. She knelt and held his head in her hands, and then a heartbeat passed and he heard her gasp, and then she screamed for the third time. This is it he thought as the mask shattered and fell in pieces and then she fell, convulsing and clawing at her throat. He laughed in triumph when a blue transparent arm stretched out of her mouth, she was writhing and stared in horror as another came up, followed by a head and a body. He watched as she passed out and the ghostly figure stepped out of her, it looked at him curiously and he waved at it.

“YOU!” It screamed at him.

“Me.” He replied “it's been a while Luciana.”

“YOU RUINED IT!” it screeched.

“I suppose I did.”

“WHY!” It howled.

“Your daughter is a brilliant mind, old friend. Too brilliant for me to allow a remnant of a bygone era to usurp her body.”

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” It wailed.

“No.” The lich replied, “I won't” he pointed his staff at her and grinned, though it wouldn't be able to see it. She tried to escape but he was already working on the majiks before she was even fully free, she was anchored in place by chains and the lich went to work, carving away at its soul until it was fit for digestion. Then stored her away in a containment sphere.

When his apprentice woke he was almost done reattaching Lucien's pieces back together. He was horribly burned and some of his pieces were either lost or didn't fit correctly anymore but he saw it through, and when she came to sit by his side he turned to her before she could speak.

“We can fix him, don't worry child. He will be stronger when we're done with him, and better suited to receive you as you are now.”

“And my curse?” She asked.

“It was just your bitch mother.” He replied, waving away her question, “the curse was one that was to gradually degrade your mental state the more you used your majiks, then when your mind was eroded, she would be able to assume control of your body and continue on. I believe she never expected you'd find love, else she would have crafted a better curse.”

She pulled her legs close to her and hugged herself tight. She wanted to cry he saw, and unfortunately he had no idea how to deal with adult women he didn't want to kill or bed. So he ignored her and stood.

“Ok. It's done. Do you want to do the honours?”

“Sure”

The sun was still hot when Lucien woke, but it felt different. His body didn't burn the way the sun did it, it felt more like fire. Fire, he suddenly remembered being thrown through the skies by an explosion at his feet and his eyes snapped open, he gasped but didn't feel the air rush his lungs. He screamed and his body was on fire, it burned and wouldn't stop burning. He sat up and patted himself frantically but felt no flames on him, he didn't feel anything at all, except for the fire that still burned him. Lucien looked around wildly not recognising the cabin or cot he lay in, he was confused, he felt like he was breathing heavily but still he felt no air inside his lungs, his chest didn't even move when he breathed. He put his hand on his chest and flinched in shock, he didn't feel a heartbeat, all he felt was the flames licking his body from the inside, he was in pain, but he felt fine. His hands were burned and looking down on his chest he found it a mess of burn scars he didn't recognise. He swung his feet off the cot and pressed them against the floor, once again noting that he felt nothing, except for the agonizing searing of the flames. He tested his weight on his legs and was startled when the door before him burst open and his wife stared at him with watering eyes.

“Ro….sa…li….na?” His tongue felt heavy and his mouth felt like they were stuck but he tried and got the words out.

She rushed inside and he saw her wrap her arms around him but he couldn't fucking feel it. All he felt were the damn flames roasting him from the insides. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around her, burying his face in her bosom.

“What……happened…..to…….me?” He asked, he felt like he was crying but he knew that if he wiped his eyes there wouldn't be anything there to wipe.

“You died, Lucien” she whispered in his ear, choking on a sob. “I was afraid I wouldn't be able to bring you back, but master helped. He did most of the work putting you back together again.”

“.......What?”

“Don't worry about it.” She pulled herself off him and held out her hand. “Come, there's someone you should meet.”

He stretched out his arm and clasped her hand, it was then that he finally realised she wore the robes of the witch that had killed him.