“My inheritance, a small piece of land to the south. The only thing I have left of my mother. There’s a lake there, where we used to swim as children. My sister tried to drown me in that lake once.”

Diary of Wilhelm Brookmoor

Chapter 90

“We should have dealt with this bastard years ago.” The older mage grumbled from atop the wall as he peered ahead at the floating Lich.

The powerful undead either didn’t detect their presence, or it didn’t care, as it hovered above what little remained of the once great city of Aachen. They couldn’t detect even a hint of that vile monstrosity that Markus described. No great, white eye suspended in the sky above them, no companion shared the sky with the black moon.

But there was still…something in the air. The wizard felt tense and nervous as he sent small tendrils of mana forward, probing the surroundings for the source of his unease. There was a trace of divinity in Aachen, and it wasn’t from the false demigod taking its ease in front of them.

“We weren’t strong enough to deal with this before, Felix. I don’t know if we’re even strong enough now” His companion, Brina, stated.

Brina had lifted the ever-present maul from her shoulder, letting it rest on the ground as she observed their enemy. Despite her relaxed stance, Felix could see the tension in her as she didn’t release her death grip from the hammer’s handle.

She could feel the sheer power the Lich controlled. So much was present around it that, to her eyes, it seemed cloaked in a pulsating, black web of mana. Lines of power stretched from its body, plunging into the ground beneath them, spreading for miles in every direction.

As a paladin, Brina could smell the evil present here, like a decaying corpse left to rot in the sun. It permeated everything around them, the air, the ground, even the stones beneath their feet. With that heightened sense of evil, she could recognize the connection between the Lich and the crumbling ruins below.

“Bah! We could have nipped this problem in the bud. That bastard was only a Rank 11 the last time I saw him, we could have saved all those lives, Brina.”

“The goddess forbade our involvement.” A voice spoke behind them, interrupting their discussion.

Turning, the pair saw Kathryn and Markus, standing on the wall just behind them, the blue light of their divine teleportation fading around them.

“I don’t understand why. You more than anyone know how many people we’ve lost. Each month, we sacrifice our clerics to keep that evil at bay. We could have excised this blight from the earth and protected the innocent.”

“And in doing so, we would have unleashed something far worse than that Lich on the world.” Kathryn replied, slowly walking next to her companions, looking ahead at the desolate landscape and the powerful enemy before them.

“Discussion gets us nowhere, we should take this moment to prepare.” Markus said, before concentrating briefly.

His mana flared briefly as Echo stepped out behind him. His duplicate shared his determined expression, as the pair stood side by side, assessing the Lich in front of them.

As Markus grew stronger, and entrusted more mana in Echo, his copy grew more solid and less transparent. A casual observer could mistake them for identical twins, with the exception of one’s washed out and faded appearance.

Kathryn followed Markus’ lead, summoning her mana around her. A azure glow of light surrounded her body, as she brought forth her divine domain of ‘light’, the most destructive domain to the undead.

As the ‘Corona of Light’ grew brighter, she gripped the holy symbol of Secundus tightly in her hand. Her domain would enhance her magic, increasing the power of fire and radiant spells. The azure light expanded, until it reached even the furthest corners of Aachen.

From behind the high-ranking cleric, a faint figure gradually coalesced, as if the light were taking physical form.

Towering over her small frame, the spectral guardian entered the material plane, responding to the prayers of the priestess. The specter wore shining, mithril full plate armor, with a helmet that obscured its face as it floated silently behind Kathryn.

It wielded a long sword, shining deep indigo with radiant light, and a large, golden shield with the perfect, blue circle of Secundus emblazoned on the front.

With a ringing crash, the specter placed the shield on the stone wall, protecting its summoner while it hefted it sword in preparation for the coming battle.

Felix channeled his mana into a vast, 7th tier transmutation spell matrix that expanded hundreds of feet in diameter. Containing tens of thousands of runes, glyphs and symbols, sweat beaded on his forehead from the intense concentration required to complete the spell.

With a powerful roar that shook the very foundations of the wall, he felt the transmutation magic take hold and his body changed.

Felix was a student of the Transmutation school of magic. His specialty involved changing the physical properties of the world around him, including his own body. This particular spell was the crowning achievement of his life’s work, something that required an extremely rare ingredient to attain.

A single drop of Elder Dragon blood, more priceless than all the gold in the empire combined. It couldn’t be bought, only quested and searched for.

The Goddess, in her infinite charity, had simply gifted him the item, and he had dedicated his life to her in repayment of that kindness.

From his skin, small, glimmering platinum scales emerged, matching the color of the dragon whose blood he had obtain. His eyes changed from the dark brown eyes of a human, to the yellow, vertical slit eyes of a dragon.

Large, leathery wings burst from his back, ripping through his robes as they spread majestically behind him. His face elongated and his teeth grew sharp and pointed, until the middle-aged man resembled a humanoid dragon, standing upright on two legs and wearing a human mages clothing.

He leapt from the wall, his strength greatly enhanced by his new dragonoid form, as he flew towards the Lich using his newly formed wings.

Brina, not to be left behind as Felix to the air, pointed at the wall beside her, whistling for her mount.

Her channeled mana merged where her finger pointed, and with a flash of light, a large horse materialized on the wall. With soft, shimmering white fur, her summoned mount had large, feathery wings that stretched more than a dozen feet across.

Hefting her maul in one hand, she mounted the Pegasus, before kicking it into action. The flying horse galloped across the grey stone before leaping from the edge, taking flight towards the floating Lich.

The Lich, watching impassively as the party prepared, finally acted as it saw the transmuted mage and the Pegasus riding paladin approach. But it was the cleric, glowing blue in the darkness with the spectral guardian that drew its attention.

Pointing its finger at the cleric of Secundus, it felt a thrill deep in its soul at the thought of killing another of the Sun’s followers.

The Lich had forgotten many things in its transition to undeath, few things remained of its mortal life. But a memory remained in the forefront of its mind, a constant presence in its thoughts.

The memory of the search for its master, beyond the Aether. Of countless attempts to pierce the barrier that sealed the heavens from the beyond. And the efforts of the gods to stop him. The Goddess of the Blue Sun stymied every one of its efforts.

Few things brought it pleasure now that its physical body was a mere shell. But killing the faithful of the false gods? That never failed to please him.

If the Lich could smile, it would have as it raised its hand and pointed at the cleric standing on the wall before it. Drawing on its depthless well of mana, it formed the spell that would take her insignificant life.

“Di-” Its command was cut off as a streak of scarlet mana struck it from behind. The force of the blow detonated against its shield of black mana, knocking the Lich out of the sky as it crashed onto the ground.

The impact from its landing released a cloud of dust and debris, shattering the already damaged landscape.

As the dust cleared, the unharmed Lich looked back towards the sky. He saw the swordsman who had been standing next the female cleric, now drifting gently towards the ground, as scarlet energy slowly faded from his blade.

“Insect.” The lich hissed, as it pointed its finger at the swordsman. The mana it had gathered for its interrupted spell was still prepared, ready to be unleashed.

“Die” It commanded, watching with satisfaction as the life left the man’s green eyes.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Markus slowly fell as he watched his attack drive the Lich towards the ground. He had leapt from the wall before Felix, leaving Echo to guard Kathryn as he dashed across the ruins of Aachen.

Timing his attack perfectly, he waited until the Lich’s concentration was fully on completing its death spell, before he struck. Gathering his mana into his blade, he jumped high into the air, slashing down at the hovering Lich.

His blade slammed into its mana barrier, but the force of the blow easily knocked the Lich out of the air, its body impacting deep into the earth as his scarlet mana dispersed.

Satisfied that he had interrupted the death spell, he waited for the dust to clear. He doubted that attack would be enough to destroy the undead, but he had accomplished his task of disrupting its attack.

Markus had only a moment before the Lich was pointing its bony finger at him, commanding him to die.

Without conscious thought, he traded places with Echo. In a flash, he was no longer falling, but standing on the wall with Kathryn.

Looking back towards where his duplicate was not falling in the air, he saw the Lich’s spell strike Echo, killing the clone instantly.

With a smirk on his face, Markus gathered more energy into his blade, feeling Echo’s mana return to his body, temporarily increasing his strength.

Holding the scarlet blade, he waited for the right moment to unleash his attack.