The First Lich Lord

Chapter 66

The biggest part of the process was getting the fire hot enough. Normally I wouldve use magic, but with the hindrance I currently had on the use of magic outside of death magic, I was hesitant to try. We left the blade sitting in the bed of coals as we blasted air into it bringing the furnaces heat to sweltering. Had I any pores, I wouldve been sweating something terrible.

I think this is the best we got, the smith said.

Without other additives, youre right. Hopefully its enough, I agreed.

We waited a few more minutes before we extracted the blade. I leaned the blade against the anvil with the hilt resting at the top and tip sitting on the stone floor. A large section of the center of the blade glowed bright red, matching the red tent of the steel.

The smith offered me a sledgehammer, but I shook my head. I grabbed Mercy from where it had been leaning against the wall and reshaped the head into a thick splitting mall. With every bit of strength I could muster, I brought it down on the blade at an angle.

There was a clang and the blade leapt off the anvil and skittered across the floor. The handle was hot, but I picked it up anyways. At a glance, I saw that there was now an indent where Id struck. Before it could burn me, I tossed it back in the forge, and we waited once again as it returned to temperature. The floor where the tip of the blade had rested now had a groove cut from where the tip had cut into it.

Once the blade reached temperature again, I took it out and used a large hammer to drive its tip straight into the ground hoping to create a place to hold it as I rested the handle once again on the anvil. When I struck the same spot, there was a snap and the blade broke in half. A pulse of magic washed out of the forge. The vital energy caught me by surprise and I felt it eat away at the essence of my being. The resistance Id gained from joining the order saved me, but it still made me gasp as I dropped to the floor.

The smith was by my side, asking what was wrong. Of course, I couldnt explain that I was an undead creature to him, so I just shook my head. That blast of magic caught me by surprise.

When we left the smithy, Maxwell was waiting for us. I take it its done? What was that weapon anyways?

Its done. That was something called a blood weapon.

The smith beside me went stiff. Lore about blood weapons was whispered about throughout the kingdom.

What is that? Oh, and the elder was kind enough to give us shelter, Maxwell said, and when I tried to protest, Maxwell cut me off. He understands were being hunted. He sent a group down the road to distract them with a story of our whereabouts. It does require that we be west of town, back the direction we came, when the map updates. Then we can return.

I gave Maxwell a concerned look, questioning just how much hed told this unknown elder.

Maxwell waved his hand. Dont worry about it. Now tell me about these blood weapons, they sound interesting.

I didnt protest, Maxwell had earned my trust. As we traveled west of town, I explained my venture with Friar Brown and what I knew of blood weapons. As soon as the map updated, we returned to town where a house had been made available to us. The elder promised that he would have somebody on watch to let us know if anyone approached during the day.

I figure you have about a half day you can rest, the elder explained. No one arrives in the night unless they are running from something or hunting something. And despite your power, I got the sense youre running.

You do know who was chasing us? I asked.

Youre not the first person Ive known to get crosswise of Olattee. He spat to the side. Those stuck up pricks look for any reason to persecute someone.

Maxwell was smilinghe mustve had a similar conversation before. Raven was already curled up by the fire in her cat form and sound asleep.

Thank you, I hope this doesnt bring you trouble.

I know how to deal with clerics, he stated and walked away.

Interesting man, I said as I stepped into the house.

Tell me about it, Maxwell chuckled.

As we settled in to rest, I sat down and leaned my back against the wall and tried to relax. My body fell into a tired trancelike state almost right away. It wasnt sleep, I was actively trying to meditate. I heard Maxwell mumble something about getting off for a few hours.

My mind drifted as it often does when Im tired. It felt like that place you sometimes find yourself between being awake and asleep. That strange state where your mind makes weird connections. Where you find yourself thinking the strangest thoughts only to suddenly realize that riding a purple elephant through downtown New York doesnt make any sense. Or that the friend youre remembering a conversation with doesnt actually have a carrot for a nose.

Zeke, you there? Damien was standing in front of me, and as my focus returned from wandering thoughts, I found myself in my Mindscape.

Whoa, thats weird. I stretched as I got up, the weariness clinging to me gone here. When youre in the Mindscape your active mind was, for all intents and purposes, asleep. Its your subconscious mind that is active, and many have said it is similar to lucid dreaming.

Yeah, you were pretty tired. Damien smiled. In that fugue state, it is often easy to slip into the Mindscape. Been a while since youve been here.

Ive been a little busy. I rolled my eyes, which I had here. After repairing and restoring most of my emotions, my body had regained a humanlike appearance. Though I still didnt quite look human anymore. For one, my eyes burned with purple light.

Damien gestured for me to follow. We were on the central island of my Mindscape. Beyond its edge were the floating islands that now comprised the whole of that space. Each of the islands gravity was slightly different, some even completely reversed, the bottom was now the top. It was beautiful in its own right.

My Mindscape had been forever changed and altered by what Id seen in the Plains of Eternity as my soul journeyed from Earth to this universe. When I first arrived, it was a very dangerous place, so dangerous that the creator had erected a barrier around it to prevent it from harming those around me.

Even with my emotions restored and the barrier removed it was still far different from what itd been before. There was still much to be done to fully reestablish my Mindscape. Nothing was ever simple there, but the greatest tasks had been accomplished.

Everything within your Mindscape is reflection of your own consciousness in some way, with the exceptions of external assistance, like Damien the necromancer, and Ilore the time wizard who helped me restore my Mindscape. But the denizens and creatures, even the plants and the landscape itself, reflected my consciousness in some way. The most important of these were the core memories.

When my Mindscape had first opened up from the protective shell that protected all bound souls, Damien had gathered my core memories into what was called the library. It was a kind of tree with orbs representing different memories that shaped what I was. And on the trunk was a series of larger orbs that represented my fundamental memories. When I came to this world I had gained a dark one, and had to come to terms with what it meant about me.

My reminiscence was interrupted by Damien. That was a neat piece of magic you worked with Raven.

I didnt expect it to turn her into a werecat, I said. It sure has been useful. Any idea why it happened?

Not really, Damien said. The creation of werecats is quite varied. The only thing they appear to have in common is the full moon. If you protect her and make her strong you will have a powerful companion for your entire life.

Good to know. Anyways, where are you leading me? The battleship we had created and used to subdue much of my Mindscape floated above the edge of the island.

I want to show you what Ive been working on, Damien said.

Below us floated another island, with structures built on it. Damien stepped off the edge and fell down, and I followed him. I could fly like Superman if I wanted to and was all but immune to simple things like fall damaged.

We landed on a circular pad clearly meant for such landings. The island was far smaller than the main island. What is this?

You know that precognition ability you got? Damien asked. Ive been working with Ilore on building a way to both enhance and make it easier to use.

Yeah, the mental strain of using it can be taxing, I agreed. Being able to see slightly into the future is great and all, but its hard to keep track of what is real and what has yet to happen. They never talk about those kinds of issues when they give people cool abilities like this in comics.

I feel like that would get in the way of the story, Damien chuckled. This is a combination between a mental energy siphon for creatures you kill and a battery that will help channel that power directly into your precognition ability. Think about it like a buffering processor, itll make those images from slightly in the future feel off, so they are easier to discern between what is real and what is not.

That would definitely make it a lot more useful, I said.

Ilore came out from behind one of the buildings. She was a beautiful elf with fair skin and a tight ponytail of blonde hair. Shed hated me at first, but now she found me fascinating. If you have some time while youre here, I would like to ask you to do a test for me, I would appreciate it. You rarely have the time to be here anymore, and it would allow me to make this place more efficient.

Of course, Ilore, it would be my pleasure. I smiled at her; it was always best to be on the severe elfs good side.

Also, if youre interested, Ilore continued, I do believe Raven would be good at learning time magic.

Her affinity is dark magic though, not time magic.

Ilore let out a high-pitched laugh. No one is born with affinity for time magic. That would be quite the thing to see. I think youre probably as close as anyone gets with your precognition ability. No, time is often learned from different types of magic. Dark and light are the two closest to time magic at a base form, so if you have an affinity for one of them, it is easier to move into learning time magic than if you had affinity for say, water or fire.

I nodded in understanding. Being born with an affinity to magic was rare, and even more so to be born with a non-traditional elemental affinity. People born with fire, air, water, or earth affinities were far more common than those born with dark, light, order, or disorder affinities.

The two of them showed me what they had been working on. The complex of buildings was very impressive, I only had a vague idea of what many of the different structures were meant to do. Damien, while not able to use time magic, had learned a lot from Ilore about the theory behind it.

I thought I saw a weird spark between them, which was strange, considering they were only copies of the original versions of themselves. I passively wondered what a romance between two mental assistants would even look like or how it would even unfold. I decided it wasnt any of my business. As long as they continued to do their jobs, I didnt care. Though Damien was a friend, so I would keep an eye on things.

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