I Hate Dungeon School

I tightened my grip on Ice Moon as I got into a fighting stance. I shot glances at my companions to see if they were alright, but whatever spell was binding them also was inflicting great pain upon them.

The lich stared at me for a long moment, the eyes in its skull nothing but two points of light.

"You are empty. An empty creature. It has been a long time since I have seen your like. It is no wonder you do not obey." Its form flickered for a moment, and in the next moment, it was behind me. I spun on my heel, ready to defend myself.

Instead of attacking, it looked at the cylinder that held the core. My core. I felt a wave of rage filling me, and I wasn't entirely sure if it was entirely mine.

"I see. Yes. Or rather, I don't. What a strange device, holding a strange treasure, I have no doubt. The artifice of this age is most curious." The skeleton straightened and turned to me. "Give it to me."

"Excuse me?" I was confused and uneasy speaking to this undead thing. It was intelligent, that wasn't in doubt, but I had no idea what it could possibly want. What was it asking for?

"The treasure inside. I want it. You will give it to me, abomination." It said, in a more commanding tone. It was demanding, rather than asking.

"How about you piss off and die for real? How about that?" I retorted with forced bravado. I didn't want to let it see any sign of weakness.

"Curious. You really aren't affected by commands. Most deeply curious. Were this the old days of the Endless, I would have gleefully dissected you till I figured out how you function. Alas." It let out a sound that was like a sigh, a rasping sound, like bones scraping together.

I had no idea how to handle this. I had never fought something like this, and doing so like this scared the ever-loving hells out of me.

"Why do you want it?" I had to stall for time, and it was the only thing I could think of.

It scoffed at me. "Please, abomination. Anything sealed in such a vessel is something that could only be powerful. Any lich worth its salt wants power, of course. How foolish."

"Would you trade for it?" I had no idea where my mind was going with this, but I just had to keep it talking.

It stared at me for a long moment.

"What could you possibly want, abomination? You have no mana, though you wear the skin of an elf. Any power I have would be inaccessible to you. I have no treasures, as I have no need of such things. I could just take this from you. I ask for it only because courtesy demands it. I may have joined the ranks of the undead, but I was mortal once, and some scraps of propriety cling to these bones." It made a sound like a laugh, though I couldn't be sure.

"I doubt that. If you could take it from me, you would have already." A thought was forming in my head, and I decided to tug at the thread that dangled before me.

"What makes you say that? Please enlighten me. Have manners died along with the Empire I called home? I would believe it from the barbarians who tore down our palaces and temples. The elves, dwarves, humans, and their slave armies did fine work in that regard." It began to circle me.

"I think all you have is control spells. You are a mindslaver, a magic user who can only bid others to do as you command. Those spells don't work on me, being an abomination." It was a gamble, but I was feeling good about it.

It made a sound like the clicking of a nonexistent tongue. Nailed it!

"I can't command you, but I can command your friends. I could make them slit your throat easily enough." It raised a bony hand, and my friends struggled to their feet, fighting as hard as they could against the force compelling their muscles.

"They still fight against it. And I know you have to concentrate to keep your control. That's why you haven't done that little blink trick while we've been talking." I had him. It. Whatever it was.

It stared at me for a long moment.

"Very well, abomination. What do you want? In exchange for the treasure in this vessel." It stroked the top of the cylinder with a hand.

"Let my companions go. Let them take their things and leave." I demanded firmly.

"That's it? The life of these mortals? I see the foolishness of heroes persists in this era after all." It laughed, a cold, mirthless sound.

"Do we have a deal?" I pressed.

I could see Helena trying to shake her head, but I was determined.

"Very well. But you stay. If this is a trap, we both die together." It hissed as it released the spell with a wave of its hand.

"Alta! Don't do this!" Eira shouted as soon as she was free.

"Trust me! Get out of here! Keep my stuff safe, I'll be right out!" I replied, hoping beyond hope that I was right. With tears in her eyes, she nodded and dashed away.

"If you die, I will kill you, Marchesi!" Mariana shouted as she helped the others get away.

As I saw them all leave to a safe distance, I turned back to the Lich.

"Alright. It's yours." I pointed at the cylinder with the tip of my sword.

"How stupid do you think I am, abomination?" It sighed and stared at me.

"Do you really want an honest answer to that?" I quipped.

"Humorous. No, I think you shall open it. I am not so decrepit as to be so trusting. If it turns out to be a trap, then you and your friends shall suffer mightily." Its teeth clacked together, its permanent skeletal smile all the more unsettling with its threat.

I gulped and made my peace with the universe as I sheathed my sword and approached the cylinder.

I touched the runes gingerly, one after the other in the sequence Helena had taught me. The cylinder hissed as it slowly opened. I lifted the unlocked lid and looked into it, the first time I had seen my poor infant core in a great long while.

It glowed with a weak, sickly light, its sphere shape uneven, and some sort of slime-like substance dripped from it. I could feel its presence brush against my own, familiar and strange all at once.

"A vault heart? You have removed a vault heart from its home and imprisoned it? Brave, or foolish. And I thought you feckless and too weak for the hunt for power! You are more a peer than I assumed, abomination." The Lich cackled gleefully as it reached down and lifted my core.

"A vault heart?" I asked, confused. Was this an old term for it, or something else?

"Are you blind to what you have imprisoned here? I suppose you are foolish after all. Those of us who followed the path to lichdom would seek these out and devour them to grant ourselves the blessing of unlife. After the first, you just kept gathering more and more drinking in their power. This one is young yet, and unstable, likely due to its being unhoused from a vault. You are crueler than you look, abomination. I approve." It held the core up, admiring it in the light.

The core pulsed a deeper color than I had ever seen. I could feel its fear and rage as the lich held it. Did it know what this undead monster was? Were liches and dungeons connected? Thoughts for later.

"May I go?" I asked. I sent an apologetic thought to my core. I wanted to save it, every piece of my being cried out for me to do so, but I had no power to. I was too weak. I swallowed my growing tears and maintained a strong face.

"No. I don't think so. You know too much about me, which makes wandering the world unchallenged too difficult." From a swirl of shadows emerged some kind of jagged, black bladed weapon, which it threw at me, with a negligent flick of its wrist.

The knife sped towards me, faster than I could hope to dodge or parry, and I felt my life flash before my eyes. A panoply of regrets, dreams, and hopes for petty revenge streamed through my thoughts as I made terms with my imminent death. I closed my eyes and hoped Eira and my friends would forgive me.

The blow never landed.

I opened my eyes and saw a tendril wrapped around the blade, mere inches from my face. I jumped backwards and saw that the core itself had reached out and plucked the knife from the air.

Another look and I saw that it had tendrils wrapped around and through the bones of the lich, the undead monster screaming silently as it struggled. My core had inches its form closer and closer to the thing's gemstone heart.

It was going to devour it. Just like it did the core in Mrs. Jarlsen's basement. I backed away from the horrific battle to the death.

"Curse you, abomination! I'LL SEE YOUR SOUL IN THE HELLS FOR THIS!!!" The lich cried out, as the air filled with the snapping sounds of its bones as his form was drawn into the core.

The core then hovered silently. It throbbed. Pulsed. It sang as light poured from it.

A thought spoke in my mind. A sound I hadn't heard since that fateful day in the Corridor dungeon where I first met my core.

"Run. Please. Thank you."

I did as it bade, pushing my legs to the full extent of their strength, running towards the entrance to the ruins. I felt the air blowing against me, being drawn in by whatever was happening behind me. I wanted to know, but I knew if I stopped for even a moment, I would be drawn in with it.

I could feel myself slowing, my body struggling to fight against the strength of the pull. I could feel my mind, even my soul, stretching thin against the force, but I pushed. I pushed hard.

I eventually threw myself out the entrance, tumbling down the short flight of stairs, and crawling frantically, my fingers digging against the loose snow, desperate for any kind of hold.

I felt hands against my wrists, and a pull, this time against that of the core.

There was a pulse of light, of power, of heat and cold and soul-wrenching terror. The world turned to darkness.