Lich Encounter: Part 3

This floor is so cold. I'm glad she gave me my clothes back, at least.

I opened my eyes and could just about see the hole I fell through a few days ago through the gloom above me. I sat up, feeling refreshed and invigorated, only to be met with the familiar sight of suspiciously placed candles on the floor surrounding me. Whilst I was begrudgingly grateful to Alyssa for providing me with some light, the placement of these candles was too strange to be coincidental. This might just be paranoia after all that I had been through, but I thought it would be best to just ask, if not to only assure me that any sense of danger was just in my head. I looked around for her and saw that she was thoughtfully browsing the books on a shelf on the other side of the room.

"Hey, Alyssa?" Ugh, my mouth tasted funny.

She stopped and turned to face me, peering back from the darkness of the crypt. "Oh, so you're finally awake? Our last little experiment took so much out of you, I thought you'd sleep for days" she laughed softly to herself, before regaining her composure. "How are you feeling? Wide awake and ready for some more fun?" That cruel smile slowly spread upon her face again, and the memories of yesterdays' humiliation flooded back: the groping, aggressive tentacles, the Lich taunting me as she reduced me to a twitching mess. My face burned red with embarrassment as I remembered losing myself to the relentless teasing, and Alyssa's smile spread further still as she noticed my discomfort.

Oh, right; The candles. "So what's with the candles?" I quickly asked, trying to forget the events of last night. "I mean, I appreciate being able to see and all, but isn't the positioning a little... off?" I motioned to them with a hand to emphasize my point. The Lich stood silently for a while, processing my question with a frown.

"What do you mean by "off"? I thought you'd like being able to see, or perhaps you would enjoy living sightless and fumbling in the dark?" Alyssa slowly replied, with a slightly irritated tone to her voice.

I shook my head: "No, no! It's just that they're all around me in this corner of the room, surely it would make more sense to space them out around the place?" I stood up, and pointed around the darkness surrounding me. I didn't want to risk angering Alyssa after the last time, but something about this was gnawing at the back of my head. I looked down at the candles before me, and - wait, hadn't I seen this pattern before?

"Rez, you really do worry too much" Alyssa gently admonished, approaching me with her arms wide open and pulling us both into a tight hug. "I really do care about you, and want you to be happy. Why can't you just understand that I'm not going to hurt you? What kind of nonsense did the Order fill your head with?" She whispered sadly in my ear, stroking the back of my head gently. I was taken aback by this, I assumed that Alyssa had only saw me as some kind of test subject for her own perverted experiments and nothing more. She drew back, hanging her arms around my shoulders, and placed a cold, soft kiss on my cheek. "It looks like I need to overwhelm you with even more pleasure before you stop fighting it!" Sighed the Lich happily, as she gazed deeply into my eyes. Alyssa released her slight grip on me and went back to the bookshelf "Now, where was that old Zipanguise manual? I remember it had a lot of fun things in there that I wanted to try!"

Or perhaps I was wrong. I noticed that she wasn't exactly straight with me on the candle thing either, it's like she wanted me to feel uncomfortable. I looked over to where my self - proclaimed wife was, deeply hoping that she wouldn't be able to find what she was searching for. Whilst I didn't want to know what this "manual" was, the events of last night were enough to tell me that it would result in further degradation at her hands. Alyssa quietly studied the bookshelves with intense concentration, biting her lip in apparent annoyance over the elusive book. After a while I became aware of a faint sound in the distance behind me, it was kind of like... footsteps. I quickly glanced over my shoulder to where I assumed the noise was coming from, only to be met with an impenetrable wall of darkness beyond the faint candlelight. With a faint hope in my heart I looked back towards my undead captor, and hoped that she was too busy to notice.

"Aha!" Alyssa announced triumphantly, holding a tattered book in her hands and flicking through the pages. "Now, on page 48 there's this amazing looking position called..." She turned around with a huge, lecherous smile on her face, but then froze, her lusty expression turning into a surprised stare. I realized that she wasn't looking directly my way, rather that she had seen something in the dark behind me. I slowly turned around as the footsteps became louder, and I heard the unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn.

I was met with the sight of a hulking man in dusty steel armour, carrying a torch in one hand and a large broadsword in the other. "Rez, Get away from that thing!" He commanded. It was Ross! I never thought I'd be so glad to see a Paladin in my life, even if it had taken him so long to actually rescue me. The Paladin looked like he'd been awake for days, and considering where we were, quite possible had been. He stopped, and leaned down to inspect me closely. By the Chief God, I was so glad Alyssa had returned my clothing. He squinted "You're still... human, right?" he slowly began, hurriedly looking me over whilst glancing towards the Lich.

"O-OF COURSE!" I cried, trying to hide my embarrassment as my mind once again assaulted me with memories of the previous night. In truth I wasn't too sure about my humanity anymore, I had read that Demonic Energy easily corrupts men into Incubi, and my last two "experiments" involved a copious amount of it, unless Alyssa had been holding back for whatever reason.

Ross strode past me and readied his weapon. "I guess I'll just have to risk it for now, get the hell out of here!" He yelled over his shoulder.

"But-"

"I've cleared the way ahead, use that light magic of yours and run for it!"

I glanced at the now seething Lich, who stared daggers at Ross, before looking back to me. "Run all you want, my dear husband. My servants will return what is rightfully mine!" that usual purple glow radiated across the room, and she returned her furious gaze to Ross. "I admit you did well to get this far, but I won't let you get in the way of our love!"

Taking the opportunity, I immediately cast a light orb into the air and began to sprint towards the doorway my rescuer had seemingly entered from. My mind started to race: Freedom! Ross could have acted a little faster in saving me, and I still wasn't sure where Kyle was even if he were still alive, but better late than never! I passed through the door into a narrow corridor and - Oh, the tome! I forgot about our entire reason for being in this awful, cursed place. I briefly thought about heading back before slapping myself. The Lich would clearly have the damned thing, maybe if Ross was successful I could still retrieve it? No, to hell with the damn thing, its brought me nothing but misery.

Oh, Ross - I hoped that he would be OK. He may be an experienced Paladin, but that's still a Lich he's fighting back there. Her aptitude and skill for magic was terrifying, and Ross would be exhausted after fighting his way through Chief God knows how many undead on the way to get me. Besides, even if he did best her, would he be able to find and destroy the Phylactery? No, I couldn't concern myself with such things. My only job right now is to run and hope that I don't bump into anything the Paladins missed, and to avoid getting lost on the way. It wasn't an ideal plan, being left to run through a series of catacombs alone with no weapon and a big bright light announcing your presence over your head; But when it comes to escaping a lifetime of rape by a glorified zombie, beggars can't be choosers.

My frantic thoughts were interrupted by my legs aching and lungs burning. Being stuck in a library and reading books all day just doesn't prepare you for the kind of physical exercise escaping from a tomb requires. I stopped and rested against one of the many stone coffins against the wall to catch my breath. I panted heavily, the air I desperately gasped in setting my lungs ablaze, the sound of my wheezing being the only noise to break the deafening silence that surrounded me. Just as my heart started to slow, I heard something that started it racing yet again: A slight, yet noticeable scraping noise on the floor beside me. I turned, cautiously towards it, hoping to see a rat or something similarly harmless, but instead noticed something that made me momentarily freeze in place.

A single bone was dragging itself across the floor.

Surely a large enough breeze could - no, I couldn't feel any wind on my skin. There was only one explanation, and the realization filled me with horror. The destroyed undead must be reforming!

"You've got to be joking!" I gaped between ragged breaths. Paladins generally used divine weaponry, which was completely "fatal" to the undead. Ross was highly experienced, there was no way he would enter such a place without a weapon designed to fight the dead. What I was witnessing was impossible, just how powerful was Alyssa? Unless...

I remembered the name of the book our party was sent to retrieve: "The Song of the Dead". All we were told was that it would be much safer being kept under lock and key in our archives, and that we should never attempt to read it. Perhaps it was an artifact that would allow a Lich to ignore the usual rules of undeath? I felt myself shiver slightly at the thought of her holding such power, before focusing on my current situation. As I did so, I came to another realization: Sure, Alyssa's undead servants were somehow rebuilding themselves, but that had to take time. I could get out of here before they become a threat, should I move fast enough. With a new found determination, I resumed my sprint down the lonely, echoing passageway that lay ahead. My body ached in protest, but I concentrated instead on what I would gain from my escape - the gentle warmth of the sun, the refreshing chill of the wind, the peaceful chirping of the birds...

All things I used to take for granted, but now I longed for them more than anything.

As I ran through the crumbling tomb, I noticed the bones of the dead knitting themselves back together as if invisible hands were assembling them. I had to get out of here right now. I turned a corner, and entered a large room filled with more stone coffins.

"Going somewhere, darlin'?"

I involuntarily froze on the spot, heart in my mouth and gasping for breath. I looked over to where the voice had come from, and saw a figure picking itself up off the ground. It appeared to be a woman with dark skin and long white hair. I noticed that she was wearing a tattered set of armour that looked like it was in dire need of replacing, and for a brief moment I assumed this was another explorer, before I noticed the large wound in her chest.

"Fuck, that hurt!" The woman growled, stretching her arms and then relaxing. The wound on her torso immediately vanished, the only evidence of the injury being a hole in her rusty chest plate. The woman looked at me with dull purple eyes, and it became obvious to me that she was a Ghoul. She pointed a dark red finger at me, "Now you ain't going no-where, sugar!"

I was too close to my freedom for some corpse to ruin it now. Ignoring her, I started running, only to immediately feel a weight slam up against me. I lost my balance and hit the ground hard, before noticing a sudden pressure on my chest. I looked up, slightly disorientated, and saw the Ghoul straddling me. "Like I said, darlin', you're stayin' here!"

Yeah, I wasn't about to get raped by a Ghoul too. I frantically started to struggle against the weight on my chest, desperately pounding at the undead's armour in an attempt to throw her off. The Ghoul just sighed in annoyance, before grabbing my now aching hands in a freezing, vice-like grip.

"Quit yer struggling, the Boss'll be pissed if I bring you back all banged up!" She urged. Well, even if this did go badly, at least I wasn't going to get violated from the sound of things.

"Get off me!" I demanded. "I'd rather die that go back to her!" I tried to push against her hands, but they easily held firm.

The Ghoul chuckled to herself lightly. "Darlin', there ain't no way I'm lettin' you go. The Boss'd kill me again if you got away now!"

"Please!" I begged. This wasn't fair, I couldn't get caught now, not when I was so close to escape. "Please just let me go! I don't want to be some Lich's husband, I just want to go home!" I began to sob bitterly on the floor.

"Aww..." The Ghoul sympathetically soothed. "Don't cry now, It's not so bad. The Boss really likes you, ya know. You'll be happy here, just give it time, you'll see."

She stood up, gently pulling me to my feet with her. "The name's Lani. I'm kinda the chief guard 'round here" the ghoul grinned. I guessed that this was supposed to be a friendly smile, but her wide mouth and sharp teeth only served to further my distress. The Ghoul must have noticed the twinge of fear on my face, because she immediately dropped the disturbing smile. "Aw, come on now, I won't bite. You know how pissed the Boss'd be if I hurt you? She'd make my unlife a livin' hell!" She gently giggled to herself. "Come on now, we've gotta get you back to her. I bet she's finished up with Sir Knight, anyhow." She hurled my shaking body over her shoulder, winding me slightly against her armour. "Oops! Careful, now!"

The Ghoul began to march me back to my captor "You shouldn't feel so bad about not gettin' out, ya know. Even if you got out we'd have been made to hunt you down no matter where you went."

I just stared at the floor, crestfallen

"Oh, can you put in a good word in for me to the Boss? She's probably gonna be pissed I let Sir knight through to spoil her fun."

Wait, was she serious?