The First Lich Lord

Chapter 24

Good timing, Damien said. I was just thinking that we could use your help.

Whats going on? I asked, taking stock of the situation.

The middle of my mindscape was now spinning normally, and things were starting to return to normal. At least in this small space. Several buildings were no longer twisted and warped.

We think we found the lair of one of your emotions, Ilore said, stepping out of one of the buildings. If we can subdue it, I can work to untwist the damage that has been done and return it to you.

What are the dangers? I asked.

We will need to fight our way there, Damien explained. And once weve subdued it, it will take time to be fixed.

What if we fail? I asked. Death in the mindscape was a real risk.

For you there isnt much danger. Even if this avatar of yours is slain by the emotion, it will merely take time for you to be reconstituted, Damien said. Its not like being killed by an invader. The emotion is part of you and should not be able to permanently harm you. As for us, we are less sure. They possess a warping effect on things they attack, and we might not come back the same if were slain.

I nodded slowly. So well be careful and not take extra risks. If it comes to it, you run while I hold it back.

That was more or less what my thoughts were as well, Damien agreed.

One of the blob creatures Damien had been fighting warbled on the central island we were heading for. Of all the floating islands, this was one of the bigger ones. It was more like a mountain than an island.

Will we be fighting many of those creatures? I asked.

Yes, Ilore said. From what weve been able to tell, each of your primary emotions generates a particular kind of monster. This one creates these blob things. Being the closest to the center of your mindscape is why we see more of these blobs than anything else. We hope to subdue this creature and fix it. The other blobs should disappear after that.

What do you think the primary emotion will be like? I asked. A giant blob?

I have no idea, but Im sure its just as annoyingly hard to kill. Damien shrugged. But the giant blob idea does make sense. Ilore helps a bunch. Evidently, the reason why Ive been struggling with them is that part of them is out of sync with time. Ilore stabilizes that affect, making them much easier to kill.

That doesnt seem like it should even be possible, I said.

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It shouldnt be, Ilore agreed. However, I have learned more about time magic here than I did in my past life. Even if I have to work with a necromancer Lich, this opportunity is more than worth it.

Maybe we can be friends. Damien shot Ilore a smile, and she blushed.

Well see about that, Ilore tried to say haughtily, but it didnt quite hit the mark.

We touched down on the island, casting a barrage of spells into the first blob. Beams of dark energy lanced out from both me and Damien, while an orb of grayish light shot from Ilores hand. When the orb hit the blob, just before our beams, it seemed to solidify. Aspects of its shifting form lining up. Our beams cut into it, and a second round of attacks finished the creature off. It began to dissipate into strangely glowing particles of pinks and reds.

I see what you mean. That was a lot easier than the last time I was here, I said. Im glad we have you. I smiled at Ilore.

Exploring the floating mountain was difficult. Gravity shifted around us, and was incredibly disorienting. At one point wed be walking across the twisted ground, and the next wed be moving across what had appeared to be a wall or ceiling a few moments ago.

We ran into several of the blob creatures, and by working together, they fell quickly. Coming upon a cave mouth, I snorted at how obvious it was. What do you want to bet its in there?

Damien pointed at a pile of bones. Nothing. Its a shame how many denizens of your mindscape have been killed by this thing. He shot me a smile. But I think we can make use of this.

In the mindscape, my power wasnt necromantic, though I did retain many of my dark magic abilities. Damien told me it was possible to be a necromancer in the mindscape, but that wasnt the most effective use of my abilities. He assured me he could take care of any of the necromantic things we needed done.

Dark energy flowed out of Damien and into the pile of bones. Sometimes, I forget just how powerful of a necromancer Damien had once been. He was much weaker now though, as his power is based off of the development of my mindscape. But he was still an impressively powerful necromancer. The bones assembled themselves into a large creature, and before long, a bone golem stood before us.

Ilore remained silent through the display, looking at it in a kind of fascination and horror. It doesnt disturb you twisting the dead to your service?

Not in the slightest, Damien shrugged. Things are different here in the mindscape, but even back in the real world the dead have no use for their bodies, so why shouldnt I give them purpose?

Ilore shook her head. I do see that you have a point. It just seems so wrong.

For now, we work with what we have, Damien said. The moral dilemma around using the dead is of little consequence compared to what were dealing with here.

Fair enough, Ilore agreed. If you could direct it, to hold out its fist, I shall give it an enchantment that should help.

Damien directed his bone golem to lower a fist to Ilore. She touched it, closing her eyes and focusing. A gray glow suffused the hand, gradually fading, and she reopened her eyes. This will create a temporary stabilizing effect on anything it hits.

Can you give that enchantment to my weapon? I held out my blade-staff.

I could, but even here I can tell how heavily enchanted that weapon is. I hesitate to add more. Besides, for the most part, it would be less effective than me casting spells that coincided with your attacks.

Well, let us continue then, I said, taking in the dark mouth of the cave. Ilore, can you see in the dark?

Turns out she could. She had a spell that allowed her to see in a different spectrum, working similar to dark vision. Damien directed his massive bone golem to lead the way down the tunnel. The first room we came to had five blobs. Up until now, we hadnt seen more than solitary ones. Triggered by us entering, each blob surged, fixating on the golem.

The golem smashed its mighty fist into one, eliciting ripples of time magic that traveled through the blob as it was sent sailing backward. A pulse washed out from Ilore, with similar ripples of magic traveling to all the blobs. Instead of using magic, I lunged with my blade-staff. Ranged attacks for me in the mindscape were the least effective way to fight. Since I was the avatar, I received incredible abilities, and had focused those abilities on training me as a physical warrior here.

Before the rippling magic faded off of one of the blobs, I drove my blade-staff deep into it, twisting and slashing up. When the rippling time magic faded, the blob was almost cut in half, and each side of the gray goop slopped back and forth trying to reconnect. Damien had blasted a hole straight through one, and he also sent the bone golem on a rampage. It was smashing over and over again into a single blob while three others grabbed at it.

The blobs wed cut werent able to reconnect themselves, the time magic having interfered with their regenerative abilities. The bone golem served as a tank, distracting the warped blobs. Ilore supported us by accelerating our spells or casting time magic to freeze the demons in place. It took us a while to kill them, but wed figured out an effective strategy.

Before we pushed deeper, Damien and I used our magic to restore the damage done to the bone golem.

The winding tunnels opened up into different chambers, each containing more and more blobs. The greatest threat we faced wasnt accrued damage, it was exhaustion. They were a strong foe in the fact that they were hard to kill. Without Ilore increasing our ability to deal damage, this wouldnt have been possible.

Ilore also had another skill that came to be of great use to us. Her time magic, while it did not allow her to travel through time or stuff like that, could increase the rate at which we recovered. She explained it was temporarily affecting the flow of our own time in order to keep us pushing on. A boon we would pay a toll for later.

None of us were surprised when we came to the final chamber and a massive blob greeted us. It was mostly transparent, with shifting colors of the rainbow coursing through its undulating flesh. In its center was a suspended figure with violet glowing eyes.

Im guessing thats a representation of whatever emotion this is, Damien said.

Which one do you think it is? I asked as we withdrew to make a plan.

If were using color as indicator, Ilore said, I would guess this is one of love or happiness.

That makes sense, I agreed. I wonder what it will mean to have a singular emotion returned without the rest of them.

I would wager it will be annoying, Damien said. Well have to find a way to regulate its effects, but you will likely want to spend some time by yourself before you go around other people.

Fortunately, where Im building my home is quite secluded. All right, how do we want to tackle this?

The bone golem rushed around the corner, and before the boss could even react, it jumped and slammed itself into the bosss gelatinous surface. The construct was glowing with an eerie light that I had grown to recognize as time magic. As it sunk into the surface of the massive blob, the eerie light affected the material around it, its state shifting at random.

While the bone golem was absorbed into the boss, Damien and I cast a spell. Dark magic surrounded us before it suddenly vanished and appeared on the bone golem, detonating. With the construct sunk deep into the boss, the explosion ripped a crater along the shifting surface. Bone shrapnel penetrated the blob, causing the material around them to ripple.

The boss surged toward us, firing a barrage of hardened projectiles. Ilore cast a barrier that acted as a shear, disassembling the projectiles as they hit.

The hole left in the boss by the exploding bone golem hadnt quite reached the figure in the middle, but it was deep enough to give us an opening. One that was rapidly closing as more of the gelatinous slime filled in the hole. At least the edges of the crater where the time magic had affected it the most remained semisolid. Damien released a torrent of dark projectiles, my blade-staff leading the way, that slammed into the hole.

We were guessing that if we removed the figure from the middle, it would defeat the creature.

Ilore enhanced me with her time magic, and I slashed at the creature in an attempt to cut the suspended figure free. I staggered, one of my feet getting caught in somethinga portion of slime had latched onto me and was now working its way up my leg. I tried to pull it free and shake the disgusting stuff off, but it wouldnt budge. Then it started to burn.

A barrage of blasts from Damien flew at me and slammed into the slime at my feet, the dark energy searing away much of it. Ceasing my attacks, I focused, and a dark nova of energy washed out from me, burning away all of the slime around me. The effect of the dark energy was far more effective up close.

Damien, get in here! I yelled.

It was dangerous for Damien to enter the slime like I had. Since I could come back, we determined it was a risk worth taking for me to enter. Except Damien was a far more powerful necromancer in the mindscape. If he could do the same spell, it would be truly devastating. Damien rushed in without question, no doubt understanding what I was thinking. The eerie gray light of Ilores magic surrounded Damien and he sped even faster. When he reached me, he focused, and the magic began to build.

Swiping left and right, my blade-staff kept the slime at bay. Next thing I know, a powerful nova of death magic exploded out of Damien, carrying part of Ilores magic with it. The effect was better than anticipated. Much of the blob had been burned away from the figure in the middle, the crater having grown in size. Thanks to the slashes Id imparted, Damiens magic had avenues to burn deeper.

A ball of tumbling bands of gray magic rocketed out from Ilore and slammed into the figure in the center. The slime froze in place, and I used the opportunity to desperately cut. Damien fell back, casting another barrage of dark missiles toward the center of the slime even as I cut.

With a final slash, the figure came free. The massive body of slime that was still left, rippled and pulsed, seeking to reclaim its central figure. I grabbed the figure still encased in a layer of slime, and using my incredible speed, rushed away. When I glanced back, the slime was flowing around the parts that had been made solid to try and catch me, but I was outpacing it.

The body of slime the furthest away from me began to evaporate into a strange vapor, and by the time I reached Damien and Ilore, nothing was left except for what encased the figure. Peering through the distortion of slime, I saw that the figure was a beautiful woman.

Help me free her, I said.

We should leave this place first, Damien advised. We dont know if what was affecting her was this place or herself. Its best to at least eliminate one option.

While I carried her back out of the dungeon, Ilore cast time magic on her, weaving a more intricate spell to prevent the slime from spreading. That turned out to be a good thing. Occasionally spots of the gelatinous fluid would move, only to be frozen in place by Ilores magic.

We left the island and headed back to the center of my mindscape. Once there, Damien and I used our death magic to burn away the slime. The woman did not wake up. In fact, the slime seemed to reappear under her skin.

This will take some time, Ilore said as she sat down next to the woman in the meditative pose. Now that I can see her, I understand what has happened, but it will take great effort on my part to undo the damage.

Whats happened to her? I asked.

She is not a her, Ilore said sternly. She is a thing, an important thing, not a person like you are thinking. She represents your base emotion of love, I think so anyways. From what I can tell, it looks like she experienced all of the love you felt and will ever feel in one instance and it warped who she was. I need to undo the tangle that it left in her, and separate out the time that things are supposed to take place in. This will be hard, but once I figure it out, it should be a method I can use on the other emotions.

Damien and I stepped away as gray magic surrounded the emotion, and Ilore closed her eyes, concentrating