Death of a Lich
The leaves crunched under my feet as I ran into the thick forest. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't fight her anymore... my last choice was to run. She outgrew me, more than what I thought could ever be possible. I had to find way, a place, somewhere to hide; but deep down, I knew she would find me. I kept running, I had to get away. I just had to, I fought to live as long as I had and I couldn't have just given up.
I had to have ran for at least three or four hours, my body ached... I had to sit, I had to rest. "She couldn't have caught up with me.", I thought, "There's no way.". So I lied down and I rested. I regretted everything; the murder, the mayhem, and most of all, her. What had I unleashed upon the world? What had I unleashed upon myself? Her devotion to him was far more deranged than what mine had been. She wouldn't listen to reason, she didn't care that he was using her to gain power... she just believed that he was the almighty, the alpha, the omega; she didn't know how wrong she was.
As I lay on the ground, I thought back to everything I had done in my past. I was remorseful, I had never felt remorse before. It was an odd feeling, like a hole in the pit of my stomach... I couldn't shake it. Human emotion was still new to me and so was the feeling of a heart beating in my chest. The combination of the two bewildered me. I had been anything but alive for so long that I had forgotten what being a mortal was like. It felt like I was naked to the world, the smallest pin prick would make me bleed; I could be easily plucked from this world.
I continued to lie there, thinking, remembering, regretting. Then a sound came from the orange colored foliage nearby. Faint footsteps quickly turned into the sound of an army marching. "She found me.", I immediately thought. I got on my feet and began to run when I heard horribly loud roar. I turned to see three undead charr running towards me. I could hear the marching in the distance, these three were just the scouts. The charr on the far left lunged at me and I managed to dodge in the nick of time. I turned to them once again and mumbled words in an archaic language. My hands began to glow a bright green and I took control of the charr heading towards me. The spell drained me, but the fact that I was able to do it at all was fascinating. I commanded the charr to attack the other two, he did so and I ran.
I forced myself to keep running despite my fatigue. One rotting charr wasn't going to do much against a horde of walking corpses from Dwayna knows where. I needed to find a place where I could recharge and cast the proper spells to keep her horde away. Even then, I would need supplies. "Salt, Igoba roots, elemental dust.", I repeated the things I required in my head... but how would I get them? All knew was that I was somewhere deep in the charr homelands, and the charr weren't exactly known for handing maps of their territory to humans.
My legs weakened, but I kept running until I could no longer here the feet of the undead army marching behind me. I stopped in place and looked around. I saw nothing but trees, this forest seemed like it had no end. That's when I saw it, the faintest light from the distance. I didn't think, I just ran towards it. There was hope in me that it would be an Ebon Vanguard camp, perhaps they would have the supplies I needed.
When I finally reached the light, I discovered that it was nothing more that the flames from a burning charr camp. I will never understand what drove me to do it, but I slowly approached the camp. What looked to have once been a vibrant worker camp was desolated. The sentry towers had crumbled and the smell of death surrounded me. I knew who has done this. It was her, this was a trap and I was caught in it. I tried to run back towards the forest, but I was knocked back. I stumbled to my feet and saw runes drawn into the ground.
"A dead man's trap? Honestly, I thought you would use less low brow tactics.", I said with confidence... shrouding my fear.
"But what fun would that be, Miza?", she spoke in a cocky tone, "You taught me to use what works and I did."
There she was, my work of art. My apprentice... she stood before me making my mind quake in fear, but my body stood strong.
"Tell me, L'apprendista, how does it feel to be a puppet to a fake--", she rushed towards me with enormous speed and grabbed me by the throat.
"Mind your tongue!", she lunged me towards one of the fallen sentry towers, "Speaking in such a way about your creator is strictly forbidden, dearest Miza." She lifted me up by the neck, pinning me against a nearby wall. "You know, everything would have been fine before... if you would have just kept quiet and minded your lord." She picked up a nearby stick and impaled it into my shoulder, going through the stone wall behind me, pinning me to it. I watched as she walked away from me, calling on her minions. I suppose it was her plan to have them tear me to shreds. Then she started on with some speech about Dionysus and my blasphemy. I could barely make out the words, I had lost too much blood; I was getting weaker by the second. My vision blurred and my hearing ceased, the end was near... I could feel it.
My life was flashing before me, I felt more regret and more hatred towards my ex-apprentice. I couldn't rest in the Mists knowing something as evil and deranged as her continued to live. I had to end her, I had to end all of this. My eyes opened and I screamed out. I used every last drop of power in my body and cast the spell that would end it all. My skin burned a bright green, the flames consumed me... but I continued to chant, I would finish this. She began to run away as her minions started to turn to dust and what buildings left in the camp fell down around her. The pain was unbearable, but I had to finish it. As I shouted the final words of my spell the flames exploded and the camp collapsed into itself.
Pain enveloped me, I barely opened my eyes. It was time for me to leave this world. I looked into the rubble and saw it begin to move. L'apprendista rose from the rubble, severely hurt and bleeding... but alive. I stared in fear as she clawed her way from the charred ruins of the camp. Then, I saw darkness.
|
