Chapter 72: Mingling with a Mage
Ka’Lula and Penelo stare down at the lich sprawled across the throne room floor. His bony fingers clutch his ribcage as peals of laughter echo around the chamber, bouncing off the bone-lined walls and shaking the torches in their brackets.
"What’s happening?" Penelo whispers, ears trembling.
The lich gasps between laughs, pointing a skeletal finger at Ka’Lula. "She came," he wheezes. "By the flames, she actually came. After all these years!"
Ka’Lula blinks, flustered. "You were... waiting for me?"
"Yes, yes! You!" He sits up, bones creaking and joints crackling, then pushes himself upright with a dramatic flourish. "I have stood guard over this mountain for two hundred and forty-seven years. Watching. Waiting. Bound by oath, cursed by design. I could not die, I could not leave... until a dragon-kin of divine lineage came to release me."
Ka’Lula crosses her arms and pouts. "I’ve been visiting this mountain for weeks. I usually come in from the top. There’s a big hole at the summit."
The lich rubs the top of his skull, clearly embarrassed. "Yes, well... I’ve been meaning to patch that up. For... about seventy years now."
Penelo snorts. "Sounds about right."
Vuvi steps forward cautiously, adjusting her glasses. "Okay. Who exactly are you?"
The lich bows low with an exaggerated flourish of his bony arm. "I am Thalozora, former Archmage of the Crimson Order, now humble steward of this cursed mount. Once mortal, now an eternal sentinel, thanks to the... most unfortunate encounter with a seductress of unspeakable beauty."
Ka’Lula perks up. "Was she a dragon-kin?"