The First Lich Lord
Chapter 33

It was two weeks before the snow thawed enough for the journey to be tenable. Rhea had left the previous week, though her replacement wasn’t here yet. Maxwell found me out in the field around my house clearing up debris from winter. It amazed me how many random twigs and boulders appeared in the snow.

“So, uh… you weren’t kidding about being from Earth,” Maxwell said carefully when he saw me.

“I take it you found info on me?” I asked. There were no surges of emotion, and for that I was thankful. Though that did remind me I needed to get back into the mindscape. I’d spent some time there in the last two weeks, and we thought we were close to being able to tackle the emotion in the volcano.

“Yeah…” Maxwell gave me an apologetic look. “I found your obituary. Evidently you dropped dead from a massive brain aneurysm in the middle of the store.”

“That makes sense,” I said, straining my back. “The last thing I remember was shopping for groceries.”

“You seem to be taking all of this… really well. If it were me, I would be freaking out. I know time moves differently here, but you’ve only been dead for a few months,” Maxwell said.

“Yeah, I tend to agree with you,” I shrugged. “I should be freaking out, but my mindscape got majorly messed up on my way here. Something broke inside here—” I tapped on my head. “I’m still working on fixing it.”

“I bet,” Maxwell shook his head. “I got to be honest, Ezekiel, when I found out, I almost didn’t come back. The Immortals are always going on and on about how they believe this world is real, but nobody really believes them. You, being here, changes things. It’s almost undeniable proof that this place is real. Hell, it’s even proof that souls are real. How else could you get here?”

And yet, Maxwell had returned, despite what no doubt shook him more than he was letting on, and I found myself asking, “What brought you back?”

“In all honesty, it was you, Ezekiel.” Maxwell gave me a long look. “This world being real means our actions have real consequences… That being said, I can only imagine being stuck here by yourself.”

“Thank you,” I said, not knowing quite how to feel—though there was likely more to it than he was saying. “You also realize just how much this will change things when it gets out. People won’t quit playing, and if you’re hanging out with a player as unique as me, your content could be very valuable.”

Maxwell gave me a guilty smile. “There is truth in what you say. But not as much as you think. Many of the Immortals have started following Lox’s example and are allowing their content to be sold to support their families. Heck, one even has a film crew that follows him around now.”

That wasn’t an entirely unheard-of thing. I’d even come across chatter about it taking place before I died. Things could change very quickly in the entertainment industry though. “If I were you, Maxwell, I would be sinking my money into any stocks related to those live streams. When it becomes public that this place is real, they’re going to blow up.”

“That’s a good point,” Maxwell agreed. “But I’m not gonna do that right now. Let’s go replace that village of demons.”

After wrapping up what I was doing, we left Raven behind at the cabin. I didn’t want to risk her in a fight that might be deadly. Once we were farther up the valley, Maxwell shot me a glance. “You know I learned a little bit about you and the character you used to play. Are you really a Lich?”

I stopped and pinned him with a serious look. “You cannot tell anyone.”

“Trust me, I won’t,” Maxwell said. “The bit about your phylactery is what got me thinking about your soul being what brought you here. You weren’t in your headset when you died, so there’s no way it was a conscious transfer like from an isekai. The phylactery is the only thing I could think of. I saw video of you getting turned—that was pretty hard-core.”

I continued on, shaking my head. “You really did your research.”

“What I can’t figure out is why you’re such a low level now,” Maxwell said, catching up beside me. “What happened to your incredible magic and that bad ass weapon?”

“I still have the weapon.” I twirled my staff. “What happened to it is the same thing that happened to me. Whatever pulled me in here burned up all of my levels and the levels of my weapon to fuel the crossing. It’s hard to explain. As for magic, I don’t use it other than to disguise what I am. I… did some horrible things to this world… I’m a monster now. I…”

“You’re looking for a way to redeem yourself?” Maxwell asked as much as he stated it. “You really were the villain you played?”

“Yea… This game was a place I blew off steam,” I explained. “When I found myself here as a level 0 Lich, I knew I needed to change what I was doing. I won’t be a real villain, it’s not who I am. Some psychopaths from that guild of mine would revel in an opportunity like this. I… I just want to live.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think you’re a bad guy. You’ve been helping out this little backwater village and everything.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged. “All I know is that I have a long path ahead of me and I’m no longer a true player. If someone kills me and destroys my phylactery, I’m gone for good.”

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” Maxwell said.

We continued up the valley, the flooded stream had swelled to more than three times its size. Rhea had been right. The snow had melted quickly with that warm rain coming off the ocean. The streams were all swelling and flooding, and the crystal-clear water of the lake was now muddy with runoff. But with the snow gone, it made our trip easier.

We followed the compass, which is a tricky thing to do in the mountains. Following the valleys created an ease of travel, but the compass didn’t always point in those directions. By the end of the first day, we found ourselves camping on an exposed mountain ridge. We hiked up there to get a sense of where the compass was indicating, and the view it provided was spectacular.

Fortunately, now that Maxwell understood what I was, he was the only one who needed shelter and warmth for the night. I simply wrapped myself in a blanket and sat down on the hard stone. Maxwell had turned part of the bear hide into a warm sleeping bag, and left the remaining hide for me back at my place, though I still didn’t know what to do with it.

I let myself meditate for the night, resisting entering the mindscape with Maxwell here. The last thing I needed was to get lost in there while on our trip. In the intervening weeks when Maxwell had been attending to things back on Earth, I spent time in the mindscape, excited with the progress Damien and Ilore were making.

The sun rose early from this high up in the mountains, the first rays breaking the horizon and lighting the few clouds up with golden light. Nothing had bothered us on the ridge, which was one of the reasons we’d chosen the spot. While it was exposed, most monsters would leave areas like this alone. There was a risk of wyvern, but I’d never heard of any in the area, so I didn’t worry about it.

We spent the day following goat trails. In some ways traveling up here was easier so long as it was leading us in the right direction. Eventually we had to cross back down into a valley. We camped near another overflowing stream.

As I sat outside Maxwell’s tent in my meditative trance that served as sleep for me, I heard guttural voices whispering in the dark. It took a moment to come back to myself, but the sounds were unmistakable. The campfire we’d built had died down, allowing my night vision to pierce through the darkness like it wasn’t even there. Making no sudden moves, I pushed the butt of my staff through the tent flap and jostled Maxwell with it—this was one of the agreed-upon signs if I saw something.

Maxwell began to stir just as I saw the first goblin. The creature thought it was hiding behind a bush, but a slight movement from it had drawn my attention. More goblins murmured—we were surrounded.

It was more likely that they were a roving raiding group from under the mountains than from the village we were sent to deal with. I wondered where they’d been headed, but decided that wasn’t worth worrying about.

I acted like I hadn’t noticed anything, keeping a careful eye on a goblin that crept closer. When he was within striking distance, I dismissed the sheath of my weapon and struck out in a blinding blur, lopping the goblin’s head off in a single blow.

As the goblin’s body collapsed, a warbling war cry filled the darkness, and the rest of the raiding group rushed in.

An ominous metallic sound, like someone striking a triangle, played out. I recognize the song almost immediately and smiled. I truly appreciated Maxwell’s taste in music. The tune became more complex, and the goblins petered to a crawl, then stopped, almost mesmerized by the sound. Then an electric guitar and drum set played out, just as Maxwell stepped out of the tent flaps with several sound nodes on his shoulders.

As the music grew, I attacked, and chuckled when Maxwell’s voice resounded with the first words of the song, as he matched the band’s sound almost perfectly.

“Nightmare!” he sang into the night and the fight truly began.

The ominous song was perfect for the setting. The goblins had good night vision, but I possessed better. Max’s music kept me moving fast, striking out at lone goblins and either stunning them or outright killing them. There were about twenty goblins in all. As they organized, their true strength started to become apparent and they were likely stronger than we could take. We had one option—we needed to scare them.

Rushing at the gathering goblins, twirling my staff, I let my robes fall back and my illusion fade. I went from being a man with a weapon, to a black skeleton wielding a scythe.

“Come to me and die!” I roared at the very moment I cut into the first goblin, its blood painting the ground.

Fear overtook every set of eyes intent on me. They broke and ran. I let out a cackling laugh, really working to sell my story. When the last of the goblins were gone, Maxwell’s music ended.

“You might not claim to be a bad guy, but you sure do play the part well,” Maxwell said, chuckling.

“So do you,” I said, going over to one of the dead goblins. “‘Nightmare’ by Avenged Sevenfold?”

“Well, it is the middle of the night,” Maxwell protested. “And you gotta admit, it fit really well with you going all skeletal on them.”

“You didn’t know I was going to do that,” I pointed out.

“So what? It worked out.” Maxwell inspected another of the fallen goblins. “T’ch, these goblins have nothing useful on them.”

“What did you expect, they’re goblins. Though… since you know what I am now, I might as well retrieve something.” I proceeded to cut into the goblin and remove the death core that was created when I killed it. When we killed the bear, I’d been careful to absorb the death core before Maxwell saw. Here, I let him inspect it.

“What is this?” Maxwell asked when I handed him the death core.

“Something that I started creating once I became a Lich,” I explained. “I can absorb them to grow my own death core and become more powerful.”

“Interesting. Are there other uses? I know magical cores can have uses in enchantments.”

“Yes, I can also use them in spells. Although I’ve been stockpiling them. The death core replaced many of my base stats, and these things help increase its power.”

“What do you do with the rest of your stat points then?” Maxwell asked. “Do you just have fewer stats you can increase?”

“Fewer stats. The death core replaced my endurance and strength, and enhances several of the others.”

“Wow, you can just boost the other stats to higher levels without worry then,” Maxwell said. “I see why Lichs are so powerful.”

“You have no idea. The things I could do if I embraced my own nature are both amazing and horrifying.”

“For the record,” Maxwell said, “while I understand your reluctance, I think you’re overthinking being a Lich. You can be a powerful, evil creature—” he made air quotes “—and still do good. I think you should absorb all of your cores and be as powerful as you can be.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” I snorted.

“Maybe,” Maxwell acknowledged. “But I personally think who you are isn’t related to what you are. So, I say be the most powerful you can be. Besides, you can’t redeem yourself if you’re too weak to protect yourself.”

We continued to follow the compass deeper into the mountains, coming across many strange creatures. At one mountain pass, I was pretty sure I’d spotted a large flying creature in the distance. It wasn’t until the end of the fourth day of hiking that we saw smoke rising from our target. I was impressed by how far away Rhea had been able to detect the village.

We carefully approached the village under the cover of darkness, hiding on a mountainside above. Similar to where I lived, this village had been built around a small lake, with a stream running to the west leading away. Studying the twisted creatures that lived there, from their stature in size alone, they were likely not goblin descendants, which meant they’d probably come from the west.

There was a nation that way I knew very little about. It housed a mix of races—everything from orcs to high elves lived in that nation, and seemingly in unity. Seemed a nice enough place, though I didn’t expect them to be okay with the undead.

Maxwell and I spent the day studying the village from afar, making a plan. It didn’t appear to be well defended, which was a good thing. There were only two of us after all.

The village, nestled against the lake, consisted of a dozen buildings, with one larger central building. Made of timber, it had clearly been there through the winter. There was a pavilion they kept a fire burning in the middle of. My guess was they’d taken up residence sometime last summer, and it had only recently grown in strength enough for Rhea to detect.

From what I understood about demons and their offspring, it would be best for the region if this village was removed. The power that created demonlings affected the world around them, and the presence of this population would gradually corrupt the surrounding area.

Or so I’d been told.