Lich Encounter: Part 7

"So I'm not going to forget all about my old life when I... turn? I mean, there aren't going to be any nasty surprises like that are there?"

Alyssa was actually beginning to look annoyed. "What? No, you won't suffer memory loss, lose your sanity, crave the blood of children, or grow another head. Can you please stop worrying about this? You aren't the first man to become an Incubus, even a modified one."

It was a few days since my host had told me that I was to live forever as an undead sorcerer, and if I were to be honest about it I found the whole thing rather hard to come to terms with. As much as my fear and endless questions about my transformation had grown to annoy Alyssa I felt it was only reasonable to feel at least a mild panic over the implications. I already had changed to the point where total darkness had no effect on my sight, and was now far stronger than when I had first entered this place.

"Seriously, I almost regret telling you now." Alyssa huffed. "You should-" Oh - she had that look again. That was never a good sign, it meant she was planning something.

"Hmm... how about an experiment?"

"If it's anything to do with those clamps again, no thanks. I still cringe whenever I see those things."

"No, that didn't really do much for me, either." Alyssa replied. "I was thinking more of using my magic to show you one of my memories. Specifically, the moment I became a lich. Then you'll see that there really isn't anything to fear, and you can shut up about it so we can go back to experimenting on worthwhile things." Alyssa's definition of worthwhile needed some review, but she was right. Maybe if I could see how her transformation went I might calm down about the whole thing.

"Oh? An experiment using proper magic? That will be a first." I teased.

My attempt at lightening the mood clearly went over the liches head. "Eromancy is proper magic, Rez. Just because you find it distasteful doesn't stop it from being so."

I respectfully disagreed, but there was no point in arguing with her now. Besides, it would be a nice change to have an experiment that didn't end with me becoming a twitching mess on the floor. "Ok, what do I have to do, and is this really a good idea?"

"Just sit comfortably on the floor. It's probably going to feel a little weird, but I promise you'll be perfectly safe during this."

I did as I was told, as if I had a choice in this anyway, and Alyssa stood over me. "I've always wanted to try this!" She grinned as her hands gripped the sides of my head.

"Wait, you mean you've never done this-"

I found myself standing outside the tomb. It felt strange and disorientating, but the most distressing thing about my situation was that I couldn't move.

"Are you sure you're OK with this, Alyssa?" My head turned to the source of the voice, involuntarily. OK, now THIS is the most distressing thing about the whole situation. I knew that all I was experiencing were Alyssa's memories, but I wasn't prepared for how frightening it would be to feel completely powerless inside another body. On the other hand there wasn't much I could do about it right now, so I'd just have to try and calm down. This would be a great opportunity to learn more about Alyssa, since she never really spoke about herself due to her single minded obsession with sexual experimentation, so perhaps this would be interesting.

Standing before Alyssa were a man and a woman. They were both obviously paladins, but I didn't recognize the armour they wore. It appeared that the lich may have been older than I had initially assumed. "It's going to be dangerous in there. Undead types, traps, and who knows what else." The man warned. "We could just go with one of the expendable librarians, no need to risk a talented mage on some dusty old book, eh?"

Wait, regular Librarians are expendable? And Alyssa was originally from the Library? It was nice to see that she was being upfront with me as always about these things.

"It's not just some "dusty old book", Lars." Alyssa chided. This felt even weirder, to have your mouth move on it's own and hear someone else's voice come from it. "The Song of the Dead is rumoured to be a potent necromancy tome. According to legend, it's able to bend the rules of undeath. It's too important to leave it in the hands of some incompetent, in the wrong hands it could be devastating. Now THAT is a risk we can't afford to take."

Lars sighed in defeat. "Fine, but I warned you. Now what can you tell us about this place? All I know about it is that it's some ancient tomb with a potentially world-ending book inside."

Alyssa brushed some dark hair out of her eyes. "If I'm honest, not much. All we really know about the tomb is that it was supposedly made for a hero of a previous age; Valewood's countryside is full of these old graves, but this one is special due to the legends surrounding it."

"You mean the book, right?" Lars interrupted.

"Yes. There are many variations of this legend, but they all involve a great hero defeating a wizard or necromancer and taking a powerful artifact as a trophy. The scholars back at the Library believe that this may be the tomb of that very hero." Alyssa explained, looking to the entrance.

"Are we seriously risking our lives for a rumour!?" The woman asked in disbelief. "How do we know this isn't just some story? Remember what happened in the Lescatie mountains? An entire expedition party vanished, no trace of them anywhere, and when the search team finally got to the cave the original team was sent to explore there was nothing there!"

"Firstly, it's our job to locate and secure dangerous magical artifacts. Secondly, we have it on good authority that the book exists and this is it's resting place." Alyssa replied, with a familiar condescending tone. "Besides, I'm one of the most accomplished mages in the organization. Whatever is down there is unlikely to be much of a problem for us."

"You worry too much, Jess." Lars comforted. "Whatever we face today is up against the best the Library has to offer. It's going to be easy." The paladin unsheaved his sword and began marching into the tomb. "So let's just get this over with and then we can get back to the pub already."

The two women followed Lars into the tomb. It was a shame, I was enjoying the warmth of the sun on my - on Alyssa's face. It was an experience I doubt I'd ever have again once my transformation was complete. I'd almost forgotten how much I missed it since being trapped in this dark and depressing place. Alyssa cast an illumination spell and followed the warriors into the darkness ahead. I found myself wondering what she looked like as a human, if only to gauge how much my own physical appearance would change from becoming fully undead. I got my answer shortly after. Alyssa was scanning the floor in front of her for traps when I got a glimpse of her reflection in a puddle she passed. She was actually quite pretty, with short dark hair, pale skin, and the crimson eyes that you associated with someone imbued with a large amount of magical energy. I always found a mage's eyes to be intimidating, but if anything I thought Alyssa looked better as a human. Certainly, this wasn't something I should mention to her after this strange experience.

"Watch out, there's a loose tile ahead. Probably a collapsing floor or something similar." Lars warned.

"It's pretty obvious" Alyssa replied. "What kind of idiot would fall for that anyway?"

Thanks Alyssa.

They progressed further into the ancient catacombs, avoiding the traps laying in wait for them on the way. Still, I had a bad feeling about all this. Unless Alyssa had made some kind of mistake, these were the events that resulted in her becoming an undead. If she was sent by the Library to capture the book, then how and why did she end up turning it into her Phylactery? The party had reached a large room full of stone coffins, and I recognized it as the place where I had first met Lani. A sudden loud noise behind Alyssa made her spin around in search of the source. A large steel gate had fallen into place in the entrance, trapping everyone inside. The only path available now led deeper into the tomb. Alyssa's breathing became heavier at the realization. It was actually a rather odd thing to experience, after all the time I knew her as a lich it was hard to imagine her feeling fear or distress.

"How!?" Jess gasped in horror. "Did anyone step on or trip over something?"

Before anyone could answer, a sultry voice echoed at them from the depths. "Oh my, more thieves hoping to plunder my grave? I do hope you weren't expecting to leave here alive now..." The voice giggled, and footsteps approached the explorers from the darkness ahead. The Paladins drew their weapons, and Alyssa readied what appeared to be some form of fire spell in her hands in preparation for a fight. The footsteps became louder, and finally the owner of the seductive voice emerged from the dark. As expected, she was another undead type, although much different from Alyssa or Lani. She was tall and elegant, wearing a black dress with a side slit revealing a pale yet shapely leg. Her generous cleavage almost spilled out from the top of the garment, and she wore some form of amulet around her neck. The undead woman's face was pretty, with delicate features and crimson eyes, similar to Alyssa's in her human form. This was most peculiar, as I had grown to assume that undead generally shared the same purple glow to their eyes after my previous encounters with them. Her hair was long and went down to her waist, and was the usual grey-white that you would associate with an undead.

From what I knew this had to be a wight. Possibly the very same one Lani told me about in our last meeting. The wight slowly approached the paladins holding their swords towards her, with a gentle smile on her face. "Now, now." She admonished, as if she was scolding a couple of naughty children. "You knew you wouldn't be welcome in my home, so there's no use in trying to escape your punishment." The wight brought a hand up to her mouth and sensually ran her tongue over the fingertips. As she did this her hand became clad in some form of ethereal energy, and a ghost - like claw materialized around it like an over sized glove. If what I remembered from reading the stories was true, being touched by this manifestation was a very bad thing indeed. The wright playfully winked at Jess, and held her ghostly hand out to the paladin, beckoning the warrior over with her finger.

"Go to hell you dead bitch!" Jess growled, and charged the pale woman with her sword ready.

"JESS! NO!" Alyssa called after the paladin, but it was too late. The wight dodged Jess' swings with effortless ease, teasing and taunting the woman as she failed to cut down her target.

"Perhaps you forget who you're facing today?" The wight mocking asked. "I am Lady Cassandra of Valewood, slayer of the Great Demon Lord, and YOU-" She emphasized, slapping the divine blade from Jess' hands "are but a group of honourless thieves." Cassandra plunged her ethereal claw into the struggling woman, who immediately started to twitch and spasm as the unholy appendage grasped at her insides. The wight lifted the woman slightly into the air and held her there. Jess' thighs began to twitch together, and a loud squeal escaped from her mouth. Her breathing became heavy and ragged as she vainly tried to pull the wight's hand from her chest. I noticed with some discomfort that the paladin's cries were not of pain, but of ecstasy. She was being forcefully pumped full of demonic energy and being made into a monster herself. Lars tried to run to his companion's aid, but was tossed aside by Cassandra with little difficulty. Alyssa dismissed her fireball. I assumed this was due to the possibility of hitting Jess, or maybe she just assumed the powerful wight would only throw it back at her.

We all watched in horror as the paladin's skin became pale and grey, and her hair white. Her now animalistic screams of pleasure were almost deafening, and her limbs thrashed around uncontrollably. The worst part of all this was Cassandra's face. Throughout the whole ordeal the wight was smiling sweetly at the increasingly corrupted woman, gazing deeply into her eyes, almost lovingly. I willed as hard as I could to make Alyssa turn her head and stop watching, but it was for nothing. I was only watching her memories after all. There was nothing that could be done unless Lars or Alyssa had worked out a way to save their friend back then.

Just as quickly as it began, Jess' screaming and spasming had stopped. She hung from Cassandra's claw lifelessly, but a soft, yet satisfied sigh came from the body. The corruption was complete, and that thing was no longer Jess. Cassandra grinned at the newly undead woman. "That felt good didn't it?" The claw vanished just as mysteriously as it had arrived, and the former paladin fell unceremoniously to the floor in a heap. Cassandra towered over the slightly convulsing form before her. "A mere thief is unworthy of serving me. So you are free to go. Your punishment is to live as one of the very beings you once hunted, paladin -" she looked over to Lars, who in turn was staring with a grief stricken look at Jess' body. "But I'm not a heartless woman. You're free to take that man as your husband if you wish!" Still propped up on the floor from Cassandra's earlier attack, the man looked up at her in confusion, which soon turned to terror. He leaped to his feet and picked up his sword.

Jess slowly picked herself up off the floor, and Alyssa could see her face clearly now. I felt the mage's body shaking as she saw the blank look on the undead paladin's purple, glowing eyes. Jess stared intently at Lars as he slowly backed away, weapon ready. The undead began to shuffle towards the frightened man, one arm outstretched and grasping towards him longingly. It would appear that Cassandra had made this once noble paladin into a mere zombie.

"Jess? Can you hear me?" Lars asked, uncertainty in his voice. It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to understand, but perhaps they were close and he was currently in shock and denial. The zombie's shuffling towards the paladin only became faster and more desperate, leaping onto the man with a guttural growl of excitement. Lars cried out in surprise and alarm, as he tried to throw the aroused undead off him.

"That's a good girl! Now, have fun you two!" Cassandra laughed to herself, before staring right at Alyssa with pure malice in her eyes. Alyssa was clearly terrified, and threw a large fireball at the wight. The powerful undead hopped out of the way and waggled a finger at the mage disapprovingly. "Such an unruly child! Perhaps you'd prefer to be one of my skeletons, instead?"

Lars managed to throw off Jess and ran for Cassandra. "Alyssa, RUN!" The mage sprinted through the entrance from which the wight came and entered the passageways that I was now only too familiar with. "Get the book and run for it, it's your only chance!" The paladin's voice echoed after her. I was actually beginning to feel a little guilty, but seeing Alyssa running terrified though the same labyrinth as I had only a few weeks ago almost felt like revenge. Or the closest thing I would ever get to it, at least. Panting and sweating, Alyssa fled blindly through the confusing maze of catacombs that made up the lower areas of the tomb.

I could hear the sound of bones creaking around Alyssa, and knew it meant that the skeletal army in the walls were beginning to awaken. Before I had this strange vision I often wondered just where all these bodies came from, and all I could think of was Jess' forced transformation at the hands of that wight. If I could have shuddered in this odd playback of my wife's memories, I would have. Just how long had this tomb been here? Cassandra mentioned something about defeating the Demon Lord, but that was impossible. Even if she was referring to the long past age where monsters preyed on men for their flesh rather than, well, lusting over it. Hell, even if her conquest was the previous Demon Lord it would make the tomb many thousands of years old. Just how old was Cass-

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by Alyssa bumping into something large ahead. Or rather, someone. Alyssa staggered back a bit from the impact and looked up at the tall and imposing figure before her.

"Going somewhere, little lady?"

It was Lani! The ghoul glared down at Alyssa with contempt in her eyes, which if I were honest was a rather amusing thing to see.

"You ain't thinking of robbing my boss now, are you?" Lani bent down, her face right in Alyssa's.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Shouted the mage, hurling the hulking Ghoul across the passage with some kind of repulsion spell. Lani landed flat on her back, and Alyssa continued her sprint through the echoing, cold corridors, stepping on Lani as she went and resulting in a stream of obscenities from the towering undead behind her. It now seemed that everyone was able to easily cast this sentry aside other than myself. It actually made me feel a little depressed, but if anything probably depressed Lani more.

In her panic, Alyssa stumbled and fell to the ground. Getting up and dusting herself off, she looked around to see dozens of skeletons all charging towards her. She looked about in what seemed to be an effort to find an escape route, and ran towards a door nearby. Slamming it shut behind her, Alyssa looked at the large room ahead. It had changed over time, but this was unmistakeably the room that the Lich now used as her chamber. Alyssa ran over to a large steel chest and with great effort pushed it in front of the door. It was a surprisingly careless move considering that this could have been a mimic. The door began to strain as the undead hordes outside pounded on it, but the sturdy metal chest seemed to be holding. Alyssa sunk to the floor and allowed herself to catch a breath. I had it - she clearly was trapped in here with no escape and decided it was better to willingly turn into a greater undead than to become a lesser type. That must have been how it all started.

After resting for a short period of time, Alyssa looked around the room carefully. There didn't appear to be any guards in here, most likely because Cassandra didn't expect anyone to make it this far. At any rate the main problem seemed to be the lack of an exit. If I didn't already know how this was going to end, I'd have been concerned about her survival chances. The room was, in this state, clearly some kind of burial chamber. The most prominent thing in the room was a large stone casket that was decorated with some kind of runes. The casket was empty with its lid thrown off, presumably by Cassandra when she first left her grave. The room itself was filled with treasures, presumably spoils from battles and conquests that this former hero had been involved with. However, Alyssa's eyes were fixed on just one thing: a sinister looking book sitting on an altar. The Song of the Dead. She stretched one hand out towards it in a grasping motion, and using some kind of magic, made the book materialize in her hand. The altar and surrounding area was instantly engulfed in fire. It made sense that it would be booby trapped, I supposed.

To my discomfort, Alyssa began to laugh, caressing the forbidden tome lovingly. "At last..." she whispered. The pounding on the door increased, and the wood was splitting from all the force placed on it. "I should thank you for dealing with my escorts, Cassandra!" Alyssa jovially called out. "You've made this all so much easier for me!"

What.

Panting with an almost sexual excitement, Alyssa sat herself down on the floor and began to greedily examine the book. "Finally, I can master magic without any idiotic regulations or Order supervision!" She pulled a vial from her cloak that appeared to be full of a dark liquid. I knew exactly what this had to be: An Elixir of Defilation. Alyssa stared at the tome, seemingly in a deep concentration, and uttered some strange words in a language I could barely register, let alone understand. The runes on the book pulsed a firey red in response, and the insane mage removed the cork from the vial.

The door was now completely mangled, and the chest blocking it thrown across the room like it weighed nothing. Cassandra was standing in the doorway with a horrified look on her face.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" She screamed. "Do you have any idea how much suffering that book has caused?!" Cassandra ran at Alyssa, eyes burning with hatred. Alyssa muttered something under her breath, and the wight was thrown back by an invisible force. It would seem that the mage had cast some form of barrier around herself.

"You fool, Cassandra. You had this wonderful artifact for all this time, and you hadn't even once considered using it?"

"You wouldn't want to either if you'd seen what it was capable of! Please Alyssa, stop what you're doing now! I'll let you go! Just stop!"

I felt Alyssa's face twist into a smug grin. "Bottoms up!"

She raised the vial mockingly at Cassandra as if proposing a toast, and to the wight's horror, gulped down the disgusting liquid. No wonder she forced this foul concoction on me as I slept, I would be impressed that she managed to keep it down if I wasn't so horrified right now.

"Far greater necromancers have used that tome before you, Alyssa." Cassandra hissed. "And in time, they all fell."

Alyssa started to gasp and wheeze. Well, this was it. They whole reason I was being shown these awful events. I felt her panic as her lungs failed to inhale, her limbs began to twitch involuntarily, her vision getting darker. Then came a rising and increasingly enjoyable sensation. It grew to almost unbearable levels before erupting into an earth shattering orgasm. Alyssa's head thrashed around wildly and she made incoherent pleasured gurgles and groans. But that was just the start. Barely able to focus, she looked at her left hand and saw it turning from a healthy pink into an off - coloured grey. Another, even more devastating wave of pleasure engulfed Alyssa's body as she voicelessly cried out to its pure intensity. It was like her entire body was being shot full of electricity. The torrent of ecstasy was relentless and unbearable, and yet another merciless jolt of pleasure sparked deep within her loins.

I fell back, gasping for breath and with my underwear noticeably soggy. I was back in the room with Alyssa standing over me, a pleased look on her face. Oh, it felt strange to be able to move again on my own will. Well, sort of. I seemed to be frozen on the floor.

"See? If anything it's something to look forward to!"

I couldn't move. I was too busy reeling from the sheer intensity of what I had just experienced. It also looked like I was wrong, this actually was just another experiment that ended with me becoming a twitching mess. "W-what..." I tried to ask.

"I'd say the experiment was a success!" Beamed Alyssa. She looked distant for a second, then added "A few hiccups here and there, I didn't mean to give you THAT much information, and it looks like I got a few of your memories in return." She laughed slightly. "A bed wetter until seven years old? Oh my."

I scowled at her. "Oh come on!" Alyssa argued. "We're married, there should be no secrets between us, right?"

"Th-then what about-" It was hard to talk, this really had knocked it out of me.

It was now Alyssa's turn to scowl. "What? Are you mad at me for how I became a lich? Did you think that nice, honest mages just magically become them by wishing really hard?" Her voice was positively dripping with sarcasm.

"But... you... betrayed."

"YOU WERE JUST A LIBRARIAN!" Screamed Alyssa. "Do you have ANY idea what it's like to live surrounded by dumb fuck knights who will kill you the moment you show the slightest sign of any deviancy from Order approved magic!? I wanted to master sorcery, to learn arcane secrets. Instead I was doomed to live a life of imprisonment, formulating spells designed to fight Mamono. We weren't even allowed to properly study the tomes you drones brought in for us! I didn't give a shit about that nonsense! I wanted out!"

The lich seethed over me. Luckily, my partially undead status allowed me to recover from my "experience" far quicker than I would have normally. I wearily managed to stagger to my feet.

"So you betrayed your friends to study numerous ways on how to be a pervert in a dungeon instead." It probably wasn't a good idea to antagonize her right now, but I needed answers after all I had been through.

Alyssa glared at me, her eyes glowing brighter than usual. "I knew that to become a lich was to become a Mamono. I honestly thought I had the mental capacity to just ignore the urges that came with lichdom and concentrate solely on magical research." Her expression softened slightly, and a gentle, happy look appeared on her face. "But when I turned... it just felt so good." She looked back to me. "I wanted more. I wanted to explore the very limits of pleasure and excitement. Do you know how long I had to wait until the Library finally sent someone else to retrieve the book?"

I suppose in a way I could sympathize with Alyssa. If all she wanted was to escape from an oppressive life at the hands of the Order, then it was understandable. But was it really necessary to go to such lengths to achieve this?

"So why the Song of the Dead?"

"I told you. Back when I first heard of it, I theorized that one could technically become an extremely powerful lich if one were to use it as their Phylactery. It would seem that my little experiment on the book was a success, right?" Alyssa smiled. "It also helped that it allowed me to usurp power over most of Cassandra's followers."

"But what did she mean by all the suffering the book caused? If she really was guarding it all this time, surely she knows something about it you didn't?"

"Stop worrying, Rez. Cassandra was probably thinking that I'd use its power to become some kind of undead overlord. I have no interest in conquest, only experimentation." She put a hand on my shoulder. "Besides, if I hadn't taken this place over back then, you'd probably be licking her boots like a good little doggie right now."

"You mean like you made me do yesterday?"

"Yes, but that was for fun!" Alyssa protested.

"So what happened after you became a lich? Where's Cassandra now?"

"Sealed away. I have my best guards watching over her, so she isn't going anywhere."

I could only assume she meant the now undead Lars and Jess. But there was an even more troubling implication in her words. Alyssa was supposedly a master of necromancy. Even a being as powerful as a wight would have no choice but to follow her commands. So the obvious question here was why couldn't Alyssa control Cassandra?

"Anyway, feeling better now?" She asked playfully. "Even if you disagreed with my actions, you can see that the transformation is only going to bring you pleasure, right? No memory loss, no horrible side effects, just an eternity of pleasure and experimentation!"

Honestly, I regretted bringing any of this up now.