"So... where am I, exactly?"

Tom was being lead through the vast, dark corridors of the castle - his castle - by Vannes. Like every other part of the lair that he seen so far, the walls were made of dark stone bricks. There were windows cut in the walls here, though - thanks to them, Tom could see that the castle was on a high, snowy peak, surrounded by a dense forest of pines.

At the sound of Tom's question, Vannes looked back at him over his shoulder.

"This realm is called Generia. But more precisely, we are in the Mountains of Dread."

Generia... Mountains of Dread... what is this, a crappy video game?

"And... what am I, again?" Tom pointed at his decayed face to specify what he meant.

"You are a lich. Do you know what that is?"

Tom took a second to think. "Um, something like a zombie?"

"Well, you are undead like one. But you are intelligent, and you possess sorcery unrivaled."

Sorcery unrivaled... that's right, I can use spells, and stuff! It's what's gonna get me home...

"How do I use that, anyways?" he paused. "The, uh, unrivaled sorcery thing."

"Ah... I forgot, you don't have magic in the Mother Realm, do you? You should still have access to Corvus's abilities... here."

Vannes stopped in place, then turned and pointed at one of the candles on the wall.

"Point your finger towards it."

Following Vannes instructions, Tom extended one of his bony fingers at the candle.

"Now... imagine a beam of light shooting from your fingertip. Imagine the candle going out from the rush of air and cold. Imagine, that when the beam hits the wax and metal, frost creeps out over it, encasing the candle and it's holder in ice."

As Vannes spoke, Tom shut his eyes and tried to focus on what the strange man was saying. Imagine... imagine... imagine... images flowed through his head. A chill rushed through his hand, coursing up through his arm and into his body. Suddenly, his fingertip tingled, began to glow with a spark of blue... and in a flash, what Vannes had spoke of became reality.

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The candle had gone out, and surrounding it now was a few inches of jagged, glassy ice. Glimmering frost lingered in the air. Vannes smiled as the teen approached the result of his first spell.

"Wh- whoa." Crouching down, Tom reached out and touched the ice with the same finger he had made it with... it was cold, as expected. "So... I can just imagine anything, and it happens?"

"Anything within your domains." Vannes replied. "Corvus studied ice magic, fire magic, and lightning magic... along with dark arts like necromancy and mind control. You should be able to use all of those abilities, but of course, there are limits. You draw from a finite pool of energy called mana. Each spell you cast costs you some."

Mana? That's also like a video game... weird.

"I think I get it." Tom said. "What happens if I run out?"

"No more spells."

"And how do I get it back?"

"There are several methods. Sleep replenishes it naturally, there are potions you can drink that restore it as well, and consuming souls can do the trick too, but it's a difficult technique... even Corvus had trouble with it."

Hmm...

Tom rose back up, then aimed an open palm at the ice. Fire... fire... I want fire, come on fire! He could feel his hand growing hotter and hotter, heat running through his body just like cold had before... it was working!

With enough force to knock Tom on his back, a pulse of blue flame blasted out from his hand. It wreathed around the ice, melting it away... Tom struggled to sit up, but laughed with excitement when he did.

"I see you're already learning." Vannes offered a hand to Tom, who grabbed it. He helped him up to his feet, and the two continued their stroll.

"Alright, so, we should just repeat the spell Corvus did that got me here, right?" Tom said, scratching the back of his head. To be honest, he was a bit sad he'd have to give up shooting fire from his hands, but... he didn't really want to be a walking corpse forever, did he? "I mean, it should swap us back, shouldn't it?"

Vannes shook his head. "Err, not quite... the spell he used was one that would have reached into the Mother Realm to find a soul and absorb it into his body. Of course, it ended up swapping his soul with a Mother Realmer's instead... we need to modify the spell to find a soul specifically from Generia - since Corvus's is the only one there, there's no worry of it being someone else."

"I see." Tom nodded. He couldn't quite grasp the situation, but what Vannes said seemed right. "So, how do we do that... 'modify the spell?'"

"Well, there's two types of spells... basic spells, like what you just did with the candle, and advanced ones, which require preparation and ingredients and formulas and such. It's all very complex." Vannes waved his hand. "Just leave everything about that to me. In the meantime... you need to be on your throne."

"My... throne?"

"Yes, ah..." Vannes stroked his chin. "How do I say this... you're something of a big deal in Generia."

"How big?"

Suddenly, Vannes stopped walking, so Tom did too. He looked forward to see why... the two of them had reached a large set of double doors. Vannes pushed them open.

A wide, wide room stretched out in front of Tom. It had to be bigger than the school gym... no, bigger than the auditorium! At one end was a colossus of a throne, made of black metal and ice, and at the other end was a dining table so huge it looked like it could fit an army. Chandeliers, giant ones, hung from the ceiling... this was a meetingplace for powerful people, Tom could tell.

"That big." Vannes said.