A Bored Lich

"I wanted to deliver a letter before we go to the initiation," Frey said as he led Doevm towards a seamstress in the middle-class district. "How would I go about that?"

Doevm sighed: "Generally, we would be the ones to deliver letters, for our lord and Thomas, but I think I might have another way. It kills two birds with one stone. Stone."

"St-oh-nn. S. T. O. H. N. E. Stone." Frey stopped in front of a building with a symbol of a spool on it. Doevm walked straight into him, crumpling several pages of the book. "Sorry, I should have warned you," he apologized as Doevm unbent the pages, muttering various curses. "Are we doing the same routine?"

"No," Doevm said. "That isn't needed here. Although if someone tries to bother me, can you step in?" Frey nodded and they both went inside. To his surprise, the seamstress's shop was similar to the blacksmith's shop in both space and construction. The only difference was that instead of weapons lining the walls, there were all sorts of clothes and colorful fabrics.

'Why are most of these shops the same?' he thought. 'Then again, most of the buildings in this district look the same. I wonder how Doevm knows how to get around in this maze.'

The other customers were gathered around a sign in the corner of the store which read "Get your purse today! Only twenty gold to get the newest product from the mysterious inventor!" Frey's eyes went wide at the price. 'Would Gwen like one? They look to be popular. Maybe I can ask Doevm to borrow some…' He took one look at Doevm and shook his head. 'Like he won't hold that over me for the rest of my life.'

A woman in a bright yellow dress appeared at the counter. Her fake smile sent shivers down his spine. After looking both Frey and Doevm up and down, she spoke with exaggerated hospitality: "How may I serve you?" she curtsied.

"I need strong rope," Doevm said. "no longer than ten feet and a spool of the cheapest string you have."

"Will that be all for today?" the woman asked, her gaze moving to Frey. "Would you be interested in buying a purse for someone special? They are almost flying off the shelves." Before Frey could reject her, Doevm pointed to the side of the counter, at a few long bamboo growing out of a potted plant.

"My plant? Sir that's not for sale." She shrugged Doevm off, tossing rope and string on the table. Her gaze locked onto Frey like a hawk that had found its prey. "Just a single purse will be more than worth it when you see how she'll smile. I guarantee it."

"I-I," Frey stuttered as the woman leaned closer, her smile widening like a demon about to make a blood contract.

"Hey," Doevm slammed the counter, and all heads whipped to him. "I would like rope, string, and bamboo. He doesn't need to buy me anything." He put emphasis on "me" that made Frey blush and facepalm as everyone in the store gasped.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you two…" the woman looked at the rope on the counter in horror. "Goddess have mercy. What are you two planning?"

"Something with rope, bamboo, and string," Doevm said as straight faced as possible. He raised three fingers, which shook. "Now if you would please, we are in a hurry if you know what I mean."

"Deal!" she said as she picked up the bamboo, pot and all, and slammed it on the desk. "I'm so sorry please come again." Doevm put the items into his spatial ring and handed three silver over.

"And I also need this delivered," Doevm said as he held out a letter. "Find the person who delivers the Virility elixirs and hand this to him. Tell him it is for Gwen." Frey felt something wash over him, a strange energy from Doevm. The woman stiffened before grabbing the letter and walking out of the store. Doevm and Frey also walked out with her but they went towards someplace else.

"Doevm," Frey said. "Please never do that again. Are you into that?" Doevm shook his head.

"I just needed for her to focus on me and stop trying to sell you whatever this "purse" is. We are going to an alchemist next," Doevm said as he held onto the back of Frey's armor and opened the book again. "Take the next right and go three thousand feet ahead, towards the red-light district. The place should be a rickety worn-down shack with the symbol of a potion on the front." Frey heard him flip some pages. "Lich."

"That word isn't in the word bank," Frey mumbled.

"I would rather you know how to spell it," Doevm insisted. "Don't worry. This word doesn't have any irregularities in it. Just sound it out and you will know how to spell it."

"L. I. C…H?"

"Good," Doevm nodded. "Human."

"H. E. W. M. A. N."

"Nope," Doevm said. "This is one of the words that tries to trick you. If you take more guesses, you can spell it several ways without actually being correct. H. U. E. M. A. N. Then there is H. Y. O. U. M. A. N. and many more."

"Fucking human," Frey said, earning a chuckle from Doevm and strange looks from the people around them. "Doevm, do you like humans at all?"

"Not as a whole," Doevm said. "Whole."

"H. O. L. E. Hole."

"Wrong. I was reading the other "whole". The one I read and the one you spoke were two words that sound the same but have two very different meanings, homophones. One is a pit and the other is an entirety of something."

"You could have just given me the context," Frey grumbled as he forged on. "Where are all the people going?" he thought aloud as he glanced at the thinning crowd of people. The repeating pattern of buildings had stopped, now with a mess of strange houses built out of various materials none of which having the white stone from the middle-class or noble houses.

"There are simply less people," Doevm said. "We might be in the Capital, but we are in a very different place now, the red-light district. Keep your hand around your Kopis."

"Do you expect me to cut someone down?" Frey asked, scanning the crowd.

"No," Doevm said. "I expect it to go missing if you're not careful." The light from the center of the city could not reach here, and if it did, it had lost much of its energy. The people who walked by them were pale and covered in heavy cloths. Guards were running every which way, sending glares Doevm's and Frey's way.

"I think we might have to find another alchemist. This place doesn't seem like good news."

"Why?" Doevm asked as he put the book into his spatial ring. He looked up to find a few guards loitering around the shop as if waiting for something. "I got this." He stepped around Frey, towards the shop. The guards stepped towards them, but hesitated. Upon a closer look, Frey found them covered head to toe in bandages and fresh wounds. Their armors were riddled with small dents and a bit of dirt.

"Are we doing the same routine?" Frey asked, taking one last glance at the guards.

"I think it would be better if we didn't," Doevm said as he stepped inside, Frey trailing behind him. To Frey's surprise, the shop was similar, only with potions lining the rickety wooden walls instead of colorful cloths and weapons.

'Doevm, why couldn't we have stayed in the middle-class district,' Frey thought, squinting to see ahead of him. The only source of light was a small candle at the center of the room. He had to duck under the various plants, animal parts, and insect carcasses hanging from the ceiling. He held his nose but the smell seemed to stick to his lungs.

The Alchemist at the back looked up from her set of glass containers, beakers and burning remedies. Her thin black robe was the only thing covering her frail body. Her wart-ridden face stretched into a smile with more gum than teeth. "Care to browse my wares?" She glanced at Frey with her two swollen eyes. "Or to arrest me."

For a second, Doevm creased his eyebrows, then uttered some words which Frey didn't recognize. The alchemist flinched back, then smiled; this time wider. She took a few seconds to collect herself before speaking with a wavering voice. "It's not often I meet someone who will say hello anymore. Lorolen bless you. What would you like?"

Doevm scanned the shop, stopping when he saw a "Sold out" sign.

"Sorry, I have no more healing potions at the moment," she said. "And I won't be getting any more any time soon. I gave them all away after the attack yesterday, the ingredients included."

"In that case," Doevm rubbed his chin. "I need four Burnsticks, eight antidotes to Watersnake venom, and some water sacs if you have any."

"A man who knows what he wants. Antidotes are just to your right dear," the alchemist said, prompting Doevm to pick up eight potions, the brown liquid inside of them sloshing against the glass. "And here are the Burnsticks," she held out four black, coal-like rods with runes engraved. "And the two water sacs, you can have." After shifting her robe around, she floated off the ground, a slight humming noise emitting from her. Frey's eyes went wide as she reached up and retrieved two water sacs from the hooks above her before floating back down. "The water sacs are free of charge. They were junk I didn't need. For the rest…" she put a wrinkled finger to her chin. "Let's say ten gold."

Frey sighed. 'Now here comes the part where Doevm haggles.' However, Doevm simply took out his coins, set them on the counter, took his items, and did a slight bow.

"May Lorolen protect you," she said as Frey exited.

They hadn't made it a foot from the open door when the guards at the front stepped towards them. "You two seem like you know what's going on." One of them whispered. "Did the old crone in there say anything? Did anything smell off to you, like a rotting body?"

Doevm walked straight past them, pulling Frey along. They scoffed at them and returned to their original positions. When they were out of earshot, Doevm spat and said, "Lorolen. L. O. R. O. L. E. N. In Sylvan, the language of the fairies, it means the goddess of good. She wished us good luck, not that they would see it as anything other than words of a demon, those ignorant fools."

"Doevm, are you ok?" Frey had to quicken his pace to keep up with him. "You seem different from usual. What happened to you last night?"

"Alchemist." Frey cocked his head to the side. "That's your next word."

"A. L. C. H. E. M. E. S. T. Alchemist."

"Close," Doevm said. "Just substitute the "e" with an "I". Typically, one can identify an alchemist by their weathered bodies as a result of their experiments. Sometimes, their dedication runs so deep that they would experiment with their own body, causing malformities such as warts, losing teeth, and rapid aging."

"They continue even at the cost of their own body, living in pain day after day due to it, yet forging onwards. It is said that the next best thing to magic is alchemy, although I've never been interested in it, at least not very long. She would have never been bothered if she was a whole human. We are going to a place called the Underground next. Underground."

"U. N. D. E. R. G. R. O…U. N. D. Underground?"

"Good," Doevm said as he led Frey inside a thick stone building. Next to a set of descending stairs was a guard, five gaping wounds in his cold chest. After descending the stairs, they emerged in an open area.

"What is this place?" Frey asked, his eyes widening at the mass of destruction around them.

"The Underground," Doevm said. "The mages might have fixed the Capital, but they do not care for this place." They climbed over the piles of rubble and destruction. Bodies lined the streets, their bodies cold and their eyes wide open. As opposed to the Capital, swaths of guards swarmed the place, searching through anything out of place. They took one look at Doevm and bowed before moving on.

"This is horrible," Frey gasped. "Why are there so many people down here, yet I've never heard of this place. Why do they live down here? The Capital might be cramped but it's still enough room."

"Take a closer look at them," Doevm said, and Frey did, discovering that they all had parts which were not human. A tail here, pointed ears there, fearful faces – frozen in death- everywhere. "They are all demihumans. The Capital considers them to be lesser beings. They keep them down here for cheap labor as disposable people. The richest ones usually make it to the red-light district."

They ventured deeper, to where ash lined the black, broken streets. "The attack on the Capital, I'm sure you heard it was a dark mage? That's a lie. It was a group called the Resistance. I'm not exactly sure of their objective, but my guess is that they want the freedom of all people."

"Then why would they cause this?" Frey asked.

Doevm stopped for a second. "After today, these people will have no other choice than to join. Their homes are destroyed, beyond repair. They can't leave or else the Capital will hunt them down and shove them back here. All you see are dead bodies because the rest are gone. They left with the Resistance members."

"I don't get it," Frey said. "Why is there so much hate towards Demihumans? Hopi was a good man, better than some of my own men. Doesn't he deserve the same treatment as humans."

"Demihumans," Doevm said. "is a word combining the root demi with humans. Demi reads as half, but it can also be defined as "to an inferior degree". These humans see demihumans as part human, and the other parts of their blood as trash. We're here." Doevm stopped in the middle of a bunch of blackened and crumbled buildings.

"Why did we go down here?" Frey said.

"To free up some space," Doevm said. "And I don't want any witnesses." He pulled out several bodies from his spatial ring. On each of them were tattoos of a broken cage, the same markings on the damaged armor sets which Doevm had given the blacksmith.

"Burnsticks," Doevm said as he pulled out a Burnstick. "Do not need to be lit. You activate them like any other artifact and they heat up as hot as fire, no matter what conditions they may be in. We'll need these for initiation." He piled the bodies up and set them on fire using a Burnstick, then deactivated the artifact immediately after.

"Their clothes heat up and spread fire," Doevm said, the flames reflected in his eyes. "If you ever see someone with tattoos of broken cages on them, don't say anything and get to me as fast as you can. Especially if they have a clear, glass-like necklace."

"So are we going?" Frey said, covering his nose. "they'll burn away if we leave them."

"I'm not making a mistake like that again," Doevm said, a hint of anger in his calm voice. They waited until the two bodies were nothing but ash. "So they have to be alive to turn," Doevm mumbled. "Do you need to do anything before we go? I doubt we are coming back to the Capital, not for a long time."

"No," Frey said as they both turned around. "So, those people are just fighting for others' freedom. Why do you have their bodies? Aren't they in the right?"

"Their leader," Doevm said. "Is vile, cruel, and cunning. He's aiming for my head. The only reason the Resistance follows him is because they have no one else to look up to. In their eyes, they are right. In the Acrin kingdom's eyes, the Resistance are terrorists who just attacked the Capital. In my eyes, it's all so boring. I have never been interested in this, nor will I in the future. Right or wrong, humans like to pretend that life is made up of only those two things when, in actuality, there is nothing purely right or wrong. It is at its core, a lie, another human trick."

'Doevm, you might be smart,' Frey thought. 'But in this case, I can't help but think that you're wrong. I could have imagined it, but I could have sworn that I heard some hesitation just then.