A Bored Lich

\'What just happened?\' Thomas thought as he gazed at Gregen\'s unconscious form. He waited for several moments but his captor didn\'t move. \'Should I get help? Nor maybe…What am I thinking? This is my chance.\' He leaned close to his cuffs and felt around the keyhole. \'If only I had something to pick this lock. Maybe I could turn my nail into a lockpick sort of like how Eugene grew his nails. The only problem is that I don\'t have my life essence…wait a minute.\'

He relaxed his whole body, closed his eyes, and cast away all thought. He took a breath in through his nose and felt his chest rise. Out through his nose by tightening his core. After repeating this several times, a bit of life essence emerged from the tip of his finger. \'This poison, nobody knows how it works better than the Virility family.\'

The numbness washed away just like the cold breeze blowing against his back. He pictured Eugene\'s nail and how the life essence had moved just before the nail extended. It had risen and fallen just like his chest, as if it was breathing. He opened his eyes to find that his nail had grown longer than his finger, stretching to a single point. Ideas flooded into his mind. \'So what if the wooden door is locked? So what if they have much stronger and more people. I\'m faster than anyone. I can do it. I can break out of here.\'

Just as he put his nail in the lock, another breeze hit him, wet and warm. It snaked down the back of his neck and sent shivers down his spine. A low grumbling acted upon him as if the cold hands of death had caressed his ears. Thomas\'s wide eyes were glued to Gregen\'s unconscious form, not daring to glance behind him.

Warm liquid dripped on the stone floor and splashed onto the back of his shirt. He could barely hear the whisper behind him over his own heartbeat. "Peasant. Please…don\'t kill me." Dozens more warm, viscous drips and a muffled cry. A few more bugs crawled out from under the nobles\' clothing and all headed for the source of the dripping sound.

"Stop it," Gregen\'s voice made Thomas spring back and slam into the back of his cage. "You\'re too loud," He growled. "It hurts. Shut up. God damned nobles think you\'re all high and mighty." The entire room lit up with a red aura. Gregen lifted himself to his knees. The broken bits of his old great sword clattered to the ground. He covered his ears and let out a high-pitched screech.

The lock to Thomas\'s cuffs clicked, and he ripped the cuffs away. He fumbled around until he found the lock to his cell. The many sheets of leather behind Thomas flapped and hit the metal bars of his cage. Something dripped onto his head. It wasn\'t water judging by how it stuck to that one spot on his head.

Gregen\'s gripped the floor so hard that it cracked: "Crisp up their skin so that it can be torn away! Then comes the good meat. I must save the succulent pupils for last. You need to stare at me when I dip my nails into your jugular."

He knelt down as if in prayer, his nails digging into his tightly clasped hands, and slammed his head against the ground, then again, and again. Blood streamed down his now-cracked charcoal-like mask. Through the crack and underneath his skin, crawled thousands of tiny bugs as if struggling to get free.

The nobles\' chests rose, then burst as hundreds of insects flooded into Gregen\'s wide mouth. A long, exoskeletal leg stepped over Thomas\'s cage, then another. A giant humanoid insect, covered in the same red aura as Gregen\'s and tall enough to scrape against the ceiling, made Thomas\'s heart skip a beat. It ripped Gregen\'s mouth open and stuffed itself inside. Gregen\'s red, slitted eyes cracked like glass, morphing into the eyes of a fly.

The wooden door\'s lock slid and the wooden door\'s rusted hinges screeched open. Trak walked in holding a great sword. Gregen\'s head turned around without his body. "Hi." Trak\'s eyes went wide. Gregen grabbed the new great sword and drove his hand through Trak\'s chest.

Trak coughed up blood and spit, still trying to process what had just occurred. "G-Gregen?" Gregen yanked his hand out and let Trak slide to the ground. Then he looked to Thomas, or his empty cage to be precise. From the sides of Gregen\'s cracked skull stretched two antennae, which picked up the vibrations of hurried footsteps, growing fainter as they hurried into the mineshaft. Gregen reached over, locked the door, and licked his fingers.

…

"There are a lot of them," Doevm whispered to his two groupmembers as the three of them lay hidden in the bushes surrounding Trak\'s group. Just before the mountainside were a dozen or so ruined buildings, hastily restored with items from the swamp. While some members were scurrying about, most were gathered up in the ruined houses to warm themselves around small fires.

"It looks like we\'ll have to go through a lot of houses until we can find him," Elero sighed. "How do we know which one he\'s in?"

"The back," Doevm said as he pointed at the dark passageway leading into the side of a mountain at the back of the encampment. "Taking hostages is not exactly something you would want the generals to see so Thomas, and probably the rest of the nobles, are most likely put over there. It\'s what I\'d do in their shoes."

"I can still take them all down," Elero said. "Now that I have what I need." The group crawled back from the bushes and sat in a circle. "But how will you guys get in?"

"Hold on," Doevm said. "I\'m not going to overlook your part in all of this. I need to know your plan for taking down over a dozen people and what the beast bait is for."

"That\'s not very fair," Elero jabbed at him. "You already know what I\'m doing since you are such a genius. If you don\'t know, then welcome to what it feels like from our end when you don\'t tell us things, isn\'t that right Frey?" Frey forced himself to remain quiet.

"But anyway, I am entitled to my own secrets just like you, Doevm." She gave him a light punch in the arm. "You are hiding something other than that demonic weapon. I don\'t care if you hide things as long as they don\'t involve me. You put us all at an unnecessary risk. Why?"

"Because you would lose trust in me."

"Based off of what?" Elero hissed.

"Your reaction to the Ice Cerberus and your general treatment and thoughts on dark magic."

"You knew from the start that you couldn\'t hide the fact that you were possessed," Elero narrowed her eyes. "So were you planning to tell me after initiation, when it would be less important to lose my trust?"

Doevm\'s hand clenched: "Yes."

"Can we get back to saving our friend who is currently in imminent danger?" Frey asked, unable to tear his gaze away from the camp. "Elero, if you need help, I can kill a couple of them."

Elero raised an eyebrow: "You mean knock out, right?" Frey shrugged. Elero facepalmed. "OK ok. Doevm, please, for the love of the goddess let me have this. Please?" Doevm nodded. "Thank you. What\'s your plan? Are you going to use some ability of yours to get in there?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Doevm said as he pulled out his Amphiboard and lay it upside-down on the ground. "Frey, lend me your Amphiboard," Frey did as he was told. "but seriously," Doevm turned to Elero. "You\'re a part of the team now so-"

"But you always hide-"

"So don\'t die." Doevm shoved the last of the Watersnake venom antidotes into her arms. "I know you\'re not overconfident. You\'ve been shaking like the rest of us." Elero gave a quick chuckle as she downed the antidotes.

"How long do these last?"

"A couple hours," Doevm responded. "As for my plan, we\'ll fly in with these." Doevm angled his Amphiboard so that it was pointed towards the entrance to the mountain. The underside was still blowing air as he propped up the far end with a rock. "These Amphiboards repel anything below them, acting like a cushion for a landing. This is because the closer the ground, or an object, is to the bottom of the Amphiboard, the harder the Amphiboard pushes. Thus, if you push two Amphiboards together and release…"

"A catapult," Elero\'s eyes went wide.

Frey nervously raised his hand: "but wait, do we have to go up high?" He let out a nervous chuckle. "Am I going to-" Doevm nodded. Frey groaned. "but won\'t they see us?"

"Nope," Elero said. "because I\'ll attack just before the both of you land and get everyone\'s attention."

"Frey help me pull these together," Doevm said as he grabbed the top ends of both Amphiboards and pulled the undersides together. Frey did the same except at the bottom ends. Life essence flared around them and a crack ran down one of the Amphiboards but they was held firm. "Good luck," Doevm said as he and Frey stepped on the top Amphiboard. They let go and flew high into the air, becoming a dot in the foggy sky.

\'Luck?\' Elero thought as she undid her braces. \'I\'ve never had much of that.\' Life essence reformed her legs. She took out a wooden spear from her spatial ring. \'I\'m not as good at Thomas when it comes to throwing, so I won\'t throw them.\' Doevm and Frey went from rising to falling, barreling towards the entrance of the mountain.

She shot forward, through the bushes they had hidden in. \'Along with my lack of luck, I\'ve never met people who treat me with such a generous indifference as the three of you. So maybe, just maybe, I might live through this without my damned brother\'s help.\'

She drew her longsword and swiped through her first victim\'s chest, a man who had just walked out of the many houses. Some heads turned towards her, but not all, as she didn\'t make a sound loud enough. She cursed under her breath, seeing Doevm and Frey about to land. The men around her got into stances. Elero took a deep breath and life essence swirled around her throat. "Listen up you peasants, I\'m here to beat your fucking asses! Bring it!"

"You noble son of-" All heads turned towards her, their gazes filled with hurt pride, their hands moving towards their weapons. Doevm and Frey landed without being noticed and hurried into he cave.

\'Well that did it,\' Elero thought they all charged towards her. She dove a spear into the ground, pulled another out of her spatial ring, and ran towards the right side of the base. When she was far enough, she chucked an empty bottle at the bit of meat, a venom sac, dangling from the end of the spear.

The spear exploded into a purple mist. Those that had been caught in the blast fell to the ground, coughing while veins bulged on their foreheads. The men backed away from it, sucked air into their rapidly expanding chest, and blew the cloud of venom away with a collective burst.

"Get into groups and surround her," one said, a youth with twin daggers.

\'They all must be veterans,\' Elero thought as they grouped up. \'This will be a little harder than I thought.\' She pulled out another spear, drove it into the ground, lept away and…no explosion. The men looked at each other, chuckled, and charged after her. Elero lept into another building and hit a tightened string. A crossbow bolt whistled through her hair. \'They even have traps. Are you kidding me?\'

A large hammer burst through the walls followed by a rally of arrows. Elero flipped a table to her right and dove behind it but the arrows pierced right through the old wood and just barely scrapped her arm. "Someone go get Trak!" the pseudo-leader ordered.

\'Damn they need more time than this.\' Elero chucked a spear and, for a single moment, time stopped. A single arrow flew from her left and pierced into the venom sac, a few feet from her face. She flew back in a daze, her ears ringing. She heard the rest of the building collapse and men backing away with hurried steps. She lifted her tired body up, took a breath of venom-filled air, and ran towards the cave entrance. The single man who was running towards it felt pain erupt from his leg. When he looked down, he found a longsword had pierced through the now-numbing limb.

Elero ripped the man\'s axe from his hands and drove another spear into the ground. Almost on cue, another arrow pierced through the meat on the end, but there was no explosion. She threw another spear, which burst to cover the entire entrance in venomous air.

She took a breath and felt the venom coursing through her veins. Life essence swirled around the men\'s chest, who prepared to blow away the venom cloud. Before they could blow it away however, Elero descended upon them like a comet.

She put all her momentum into the back of her axe, which she brought down on the closest opponent\'s skull. She whipped around right as an arrow stabbed into her hand. \'This is getting annoying.\' She snapped the arrow at the shaft and dove into another building. Her opponents pulled healing potions and downed the contents.

\'Luck?\' She thought. \'I guess that never changes for me.\' She pulled out another spear.