The Lich's Master

Chapter 2: How to Actually Kill a Lich

Kyle glanced around in a panic as it struck him. “It’s a Lich, you dumbass!” He scolded himself. “It’s dead already!” He looked away from the bone dust slowly swirling on the ground, and scoured the room with his gaze.

A phylactery! That was what he really needed to find! That was what Liches used to store their souls in… Or something like that. He couldn’t quite remember all fantasy lore in a stressful situation like this.

A phylactery… What would it look like? A bottle? A box? He’d never seen one before! He felt like he was looking for needle in a haystack, except the needle wasn’t a needle – it could be anything! Because why not!?

Annoyed at the early demise of the Knight, the very much unnecessary resurrection of the lich, and his lack of knowledge on what a phylactery was supposed to look like, he turned his gaze towards the dust again, hoping to see some form of clue.

Maybe a line pointing towards where the phylactery was? Or perhaps the Lich’s soul would float towards it? No? Nothing?

His shoulders dropped. The boss’ health bar was still flashing red, and it hadn’t filled up at all yet. “Ok, let’s search!” He mumbled in an attempt to give himself a morale boost.

The boss room was, as he had noticed before, circular. There were two exits, though both were blocked right now. Obviously. Because the boss was still alive. Well, ‘alive’ was a strong and technically erroneous word to use for a Lich, but…

“AH, focus!” He shouted at himself. Now was the worst time to be stuck on semantics! He forced himself to look around. There were two large piles of old books on either side of the entrance. They looked so old that a single touch would probably turn them to dust.

There was also the throne made of probably human bones. He had noticed that before as well. And… nothing. There was absolutely nothing else in the room.

With a sigh, Kyle ran up to the nearest pile of books and swung his blade towards them. Maybe the damn Lich had hidden the phylactery in one of the books, the same way people hid guns or alcohol bottles: in a small cavity between the pages.

To his disappointment, the Lich didn’t disappear once he was done massacring a pile of books, and neither did he disappear when Kyle sighed in disappointment. The young man dashed to the next pile of books and wailed on them with all the strength he could muster as well, only to continue seeing a red flashing health bar.

He gritted his teeth. If the Lich revived now, he would have absolutely no chance of survival. He didn’t have the resources to kill a boss. No way.

He turned his gaze towards the throne. There, that was the only place left where a phylactery could be hidden. He felt whatever hope he had drain away. How the hell was he supposed to smash up the entire throne?!

“I hate you already!” He shouted at the Lich-dust swirling on the ground as he passed by it. As soon as he reached the throne, he reached up and searched for handholds. He grabbed one of the bones sticking out of the throne and pulled down with all his weight. Seeing as it didn’t break apart, or fall off the throne, he quickly pulled himself up.

It took him a short moment to pull himself all the way to the seat of the gigantic throne. He couldn’t help but wonder about why a human size Lich needed a giant sized throne. It made absolutely no sense unless the Lich had shrunk somehow. Which… To be honest, was an absurd mental image.

Kyle shook his head and focused on the task at hand. Phylactery! That was what he needed to focus on. He pushed himself up on his knees and looked at the backrest of the throne, at the armrests, anywhere he could see. Yet he saw nothing but the ashen white of bones, heard nothing but the creaking of the dead. It was quite unnerving, really.

As desperation set in, he climbed up on his feet and looked around again. Where on earth could this Lich have hidden his phylactery? He felt a lump form in his throat as the health bar started flashing faster. It was about to revive itself, he was sure of it!

A faint glimmer caught his eye as he turned to shoot a glance at the pile of dust that once was the Lich. A green light shone through the right armrest of the throne.

“AHA!” He shouted as he grabbed the bones covering the phylactery up and started prying them out. It didn’t take him more than a few seconds to uncover the phylactery.

As soon as he touched the phylactery, the flashing health bar filled up. Kyle pulled it out of its hidden place, and as he raised his hand to smash it into the ground, a system notification popped up.

‘Lich Cacophus Defeated’

‘Achievement Unlocked: Lich Killer’

‘Level up:

Kyle – Lv. 19 Unclassed

INT 10 | WIS 10 | DEX 10 | STR 10 | CON 10’

‘New Quest: Cacophus’ Plea’

‘Item Received: Cacophus’ Phylactery’

‘Alert: Cacophus’ Plea is a special quest. It can only be completed by a single player.’

Kyle froze mid motion as the system bombarded him with notifications popping up one by one.

“WAIT!” A scream echoed in his mind as he finished reading all the notifications, startling and almost causing him to drop the phylactery. “PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THAT, IT’S WHAT KEEPS ME ALIVE.”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he looked down to see the Lich Cacophus looking at him from the ground below. “PLEASE DON’T SMASH IT.”

Kyle glanced around, then back at the Lich.

“You do realise that you were trying to kill me just now, right?” He tightened his grasp around the phylactery. “What makes you think I’m ok with letting you uh, live?”

The Lich’s eyes, which at this point in its life were just green glows in a hollow skull’s eye sockets, somehow managed to widen. “YOU PEOPLE ALWAYS WANT POWER, RIGH? I CAN GIVE YOU POWER!”

Kyle narrowed his eyes. “How can I trust you? You’re a god forsaken Lich!”

“THE GODS HAVE NOT FORSAKEN ME, I’M ON GOOD TERMS WITH THEM!” The Lich protested.

“What?”

“BESIDES, YOU HAVE THE PHYLACTERY. MY SOUL. I WOULDN’T BETRAY YOU AND RISK PERMANENT DEATH.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes. “And what exactly can you do to make me stronger?” He asked, slowly lowering his raised hand.

The Lich’s skeletal face once again proved to be surprisingly expressive as it puffed a green smoke with relief. “WELL, I’M A LICH. HOW ABOUT AN UNDEAD ARMY?”