I woke up before everyone else that morning. It might have been that I turned in before them. It could also have been that my sleeping fur gave me the well-rested buff, so I didn’t have to sleep as long. Either way, I figured we would be dealing more directly with the lich today.

I took a few moments to get my mind in order. The dream of Ash was must less violent than most of the dreams. That said, it hit hard for me as I could relate to him. I couldn’t remember my parents, and there was no one I would call family. It was something that I always wanted but never had.

The closest I ever got was some of the boys from the orphanage when I was growing up—only a few of them but the ones I got into trouble with. Even then, I wouldn’t have called our relationship one of brothers. No, looking back, I was always leading them, showing them things.

I smiled a little when I thought back to one of the kids. I must have been 13 at the time; we had just watched the Godfather movies. As the credits rolled, Ryan looked over to me from the beat-up couch we had put in the attic.

“Godfather, that’s who you are.”

I laughed at that and shook my head. “No, we are brothers in all of this. At least until someone makes us family.”

Then Billy chimed in, and it was over. “No, he’s right, you know. You are our godfather. We wouldn’t have half the stuff we have now without you.”

That movie broke the illusion I had weaved for myself. I thought I had a family with those boys, but they looked up to me as more than an older brother. We eventually lost touch as it was before the days of Facebook. But that was the last time I even thought I had a family. I felt for Ash, or I guess Maximus.

Even the system here was keeping me from having a family. I was building things and moving up in power, if not levels. But the system even said that my house was Redacted. I had no family. Though I did have Blink, but that was just an odd relationship. She was my non-pet pet who called me Daddy.

Irwin and Renfry were both guys that I would love to get to know better. Perhaps even someday, call them brothers. The problem with them was the same that I had with the kids in the orphanage. They gave me a title, which set me apart. I hoped that it wouldn’t be something that couldn’t be overcome.

Then there was the other side of family. Which always caused me the most problems, women. The mystery of the ages that no man could figure out. On Earth, the ones I always dated seemed unpleasable. Worse, we would start dating, and they knew I was a call center supervisor, but after a while, they would criticize me for my job. Then, they would tend to blow up and get defensive when called on it.

No, here in this world, I had two that might give me problems. Maybe three, but I figured that I dodged Iris. I was still hopeful that girl would land someone in her town. She should be safe and okay as the Dungeon Mistress. No, It was how I would deal with Lannah and Kasidy.

Neither knew about the other, and I now had connections with both. Worse, I felt like I was now in a boss situation with Kasidy which changed all the relationship dynamics. Then there was whatever the bond was with Lannah. She told me it wasn’t a marriage, but I wasn’t sure about that.

I sighed as I rolled out of my sleeping fur. Those problems were things that I needed to deal with later. There was no need to deal with them now when we were underground in a lich’s domain. Nope, now was breakfast, and then time to move on. We had a Blink to find.

The others woke up just as tired as I thought they would. Kasidy was harder to wake than usual but, in the end, got moving. She kept shooting me strange looks as we got moving. Well, stranger than normal.

I looked at the group and asked. “Ready?”

Renfry smiled. “Yes, my lord. Let’s end the suffering of Eric.”

I sighed in my mind at being called lord. “Alright, let’s open the door and go. Blink hasn’t seemed to move all night.”

We popped the door with Renfry moving out first. I was right behind with my standard, ready to drop a shield. We came out ready to fight, not knowing if we had been found. However, much to our happiness, there was no one waiting for us.

Kasidy came out next, leading the horses, and flashed me a smile. “Here’s your lead. You really should name your horse, Arn.”

I laughed and said. “If I named my horse Arn that would get confusing.”

Renfry and Irwin both laughed, but Kasidy groaned. We mounted up and got going, Renfry retaking the scout role. When Kasidy was mounted, I passed her my standard.

As I gave it to her, I said. “Just like yesterday, we need you back here in support with Irwin. I don’t want to test us going in and out of the stone air now that we are a group.”

She bit her lip slightly and nodded. “Arn… There’s something that I want to ask you.”

I gave her a nod. “What is it?”

She looked around and sighed. “Let’s talk later. I don’t know how important it is, but I think it is. Just not when facing a lich.”

I grinned. “After?”

She nodded and gave a slight smile. “After.”

We made good speed for the next hour until the plains we were on started to get more hilly, and the grass turned to stones. The road we were on picked to go between the low rolling hills as we made our way west. After another hour of following the road, we were at what could only be the aftermath of a massive battle of some sort.

Before us was a tall mound of blackened rocks; on top of the rocks were half-destroyed undead of all types. A few tried to move to attack us, but most were unable to. Given enough time, a necromancer or, in this case, the lich could restore most of the damage.

Heck, there were a few skeletons that looked mostly intact and just looking for their heads. We paused and watched for a minute before Renfry brought his mount to me.

As he pulled up, he asked. “What do you make of this?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea what happened here. I only see bodies of undead and no signs of anyone else. It’s like someone that far out-leveled these guys just broke right through.”

Irwin stood on the wagon and looked out. “That black on the rocks is from fire magic. It leaves its own style of soot. So I think there is a mage that hit through this place. On the other hand, maybe someone else is attacking.”

I shrugged. “Renfry, want to try to clean up this mess and see how much we can level your abilities to put these guys down for good?”

He smiled and dismounted and pointed. “Aye, I’ll start on the side and move through. It’s mana-based but has an area effect. So if I start over there, I can get most of them.”

“Once you run out of mana, I have a few potions we might top you off or have you move out of the way. I can do a mass Lay-to-Rest, but I don’t want to catch you in it.”

Kasidy piped up. “So what about these other skeletons that are coming our way?”

I laughed. “You mean the headless ones?”

Kasidy, with a bit of panic in her voice. “No, I mean those!”

I looked at her and saw her pointing off to the left and a little behind us. There was a group of around 200 skeletons moving toward us. Where the massed army back in the south moved in ranks and seemed to be commanded by slightly inelegant skeletons. This group moved more like a horror movie skeleton mass. All of them walking at us in a single pack.

I smiled; this was the type of horde that my dance was perfect for. “Okay, let’s finish off the reinforcements that just showed up. Once we finish them, we can clean this up, so they don’t get on our trail again.”

Renfry gave a slightly scary grin. “How would you like us to handle this?”

I looked over at Kasidy and Irwin as I dismounted. “Kas, you and Irwin stay here. I expect that the skeletons will surround you. Keep the horses calm and stay in the dome. Irwin, we need you on healing. Kas, if it gets too bad, use Staggering Away to send the horde back. Also, use my totem to hold the edge of the dome. The hot smoke will cause some damage to the bones.”

I pointed to the right side of the horde. “Renfry, you think you can take that side?”

He smiled. “I should be able to, my lord. They appear to be weaker than most we have fought. Care to wager as to how many you can get?”

I laughed and smiled at him. “Okay, what are you thinking?”

He smiled back and said. “A song of the battle from our bard?”

I looked back at Kasidy. “You good with that? Whichever of us clears out the most skeletons you write a song about?”

Kasidy laughed and gave me a wink. “I can do that if you think we are getting out of this mess. This is far more than I have ever seen before.”

I drew my shortsword and shook my arms. “Okay, Renfry, you’re on. Irwin, counting on you to make sure that we stay healed up. My equipment will get the first two major heals. After that, I’ll need you. Kas, if we need a breather, we’ll fall back, and you let us through the dome.”

* * *