The First Lich Lord Chapter 47

Do you think thats the last one? I asked Damien from the bow of the battleship.

I think so. Damien gave a worried look. Are you doing okay? I know youve had a lot of things slamming into you all at once.

Im coping.

Damien and I had been hunting wandering emotions for the last day, while Ilore focused on repairing the ones we had. Periodically I would get pulses of different emotions as they were repaired and absorbed back into my mind. It had been a trying ti. In so ways, having it happen all at once made it easier. I was no longer overwheld by one emotion and so countered each other which helped even things out.

Dont be fooled, the bombardnt was frustrating, and I took to working out my frustrations on any wandering emotion we ca across.

We had gotten very good at catching them. Damien utilized the increased power of my mindscape to devastating effect. With my limited understanding of ti magic, I was able to fill the role of Ilore for suppressing them until we could get them back to her.

On top of that, Damiens living dead dragon continued to grow in power. One of the first things hed done was enhance the dragon with the available increased ntal energies. The dragon was truly a force of nature.

The massive beast plumted to the island below us surrounded in a torrent of fla as it landed on top of the hulking emotion.

Things started happening quickly after mastering the orb. From hunting emotions to Ilore repairing them, itd beco easier. And both mine and my assistants power had increased greatly in the mindscape.

Shall we head down? I asked. Our presence was required. Mine was, at least, in order to find the emotion and transport it back to the central island.

Might as well. Damien leapt off the battleship, and I followed him down. We arrived just as the dragon was pinning the emotion under its massive claws.

Using a spell Ilore had taught , I bound the emotion in strands of ti magic. Damien wandered around the area.

As I was finishing up, Damien ca running over. Zeke, this wasnt the last one. I found a dungeon entrance.

Well, I guess its a good thing you looked around.

Damien led into a ravine. The dungeon was quite well hidden, and there were no monsters patrolling the entrance like the others. The passage was far too narrow for the dragon to enter, which was a sha. Wed sent it into a couple other dungeons ahead of us, and every ti, the dragon had done most of the work. Like I said, it was incredibly powerful.

Damien and I entered the dungeon, with leading the way with rcy. Occasionally we had to shimmy sideways between rock faces in order to continue. The first sign of danger ca as a sense I feltsothing Id taken to watching for in our fights. The precognition ability hadnt been of much use while the dragon took the frontal charge, but this ti, I was able to use this new sense to deflect a blow from a creature that leapt out from behind a corner.

The goblin snarled at , and before it could recover, I struck it down. It being in my mindscape didnt seem right.

Why are there goblins in here? I asked. So far, all the creatures wed co across were monsters based off of natural creatures, not sapient creatures.

I have no idea. Damien eyed the corpse. That is rather unusual.

Damien raised the goblin corpse, turning it into a zombie. He directed the shambling creature to continue on in front of us. Though the goblin zombie would be of limited use, we figured it could take the brunt of any surprise attacks. Which turned out to be a good idea, as the next room contained a trap. The zombie promptly fell into a pit full of spikes.

I scratched my head in confusion. None of the dungeons had traps. It was weird they were showing up in this one. Unable to retrieve the body of the goblin, we moved on without it, and I used rcy to probe the ground ahead.

The next tunnel narrowed even more, forcing Damien and I to crawl on our stomachs. We ca into a large chamber, and the mont I stood, I threw myself to the side. Three bolts slamd into the stone behind , having seen them coming in a flash of foresight. Damien swore and scrambled fast to get into a defensive position. On the other side of the room, three goblins with heavy crossbows were rapidly trying to reload.

I reshaped rcys tip into that of a spear and threw it across the room like a javelin. My attack pierced through one of the goblins, and I rushed forward, balling a fist and slamming into the big nose of a second. As I ripped rcy out of the dead goblin, a bolt of dark magic from Damien killed the third, and I quickly finished off the one I punched.

As Damien raised these freshly killed goblins into zombies, I shook my head. There shouldnt be goblins in here. Ive never had goblins in my mindscape.

Do you have a particular hatred of goblins? Damien asked. Perhaps strong feelings about them in any way?

Not particularly I an, I think theyre vile, but other than that, no.

I guess well find out when we get to the boss. Damien directed his new zombies to continue ahead.

The three undead goblin zombies didnt last long. We lost two to a trap, and the third fell to more goblins. Those five goblins had been so focused on beating the zombie goblin to death, they hadnt noticed us enter. They were caught completely by surprise by a spinning attack from that killed three of them outright, and a pair of bolts from Damien that blew holes in the heads of the other two.

So of the goblins Damien raised along the way survived, and by the ti we made it to the boss, we had a small army of zombie goblins.

When we entered the final chamber, I understood what was going on. Well, I recognized the goblin. It was the chieftain of that goblin village Id slaughtered.

Why are you here? I didnt even know goblins had Mindscapes.

The goblin looked up at in horror. Monster! You, you, you! it stuttered, unable to get the words out.

Why are you here? I asked with more force, lacing vehence behind my words.

Damien directed the zombie goblins to move in threateningly, though they did not seem to faze the goblin boss.

You attack It paused and shook its head. You attack. I attack. I make a mistake.

I think I get it, Damien said. This goblin had so ntal abilities and attacked you when you attacked his village. Evidently, Altors barrier wasnt completely impervious. He passed right through it.

And in the process, it shattered his mind I sighed.

Here, is not right, the goblin said, getting a handle on the ability to speak. But not why you monster.

I smiled coldly. You know, recently, I ca to terms with the monster I am. So far it has been enlightening.

I surged forward, holding rcy in a high guard position, and Damien directed the zombies to attack. The goblin boss twisted his arms around, and a wave of cutting energy rocketed out, slicing the zombies apart. I deflected it with rcys blade, and Damien raised a barrier around himself.

This goblin was quite the powerful telepath.

Murderer! the goblin scread and lunged at .

If you werent goblins, I might feel bad, I said. But you were sacrificing villagers. Whos really the monster here?

I slashed, driving the goblin back, then spun rcy and slamd the butt of it into his chest. A beam of black energy from Damien cut across the room, but the goblin dodged out of the way. To , he was moving in slow motion, and I t him right as he ca out of his roll.

The power from mastering the orb was quite imnse.

I saw the goblin strike at , using a cutting force that erupted out of his hand, and before he could bring that attack into the present, I deflected his hands to the side, and the cutting force shot off away from . I blocked each of his attacks with the shaft of my weapon, then ramd the butt into his chest, causing him to stagger.

A bolt of magic from Damien knocked the goblin onto his back. Before it could rise, I was on top of it, though I didnt strike right away. What hed said bothered . But this was an invader to my mind, and I would show it no rcy.

Blinking away the hesitation, I drove rcys blade through the roof of the goblins mouth, securing its brain.

As the goblins head slid off my blade, I looked at Damien. I am not a monster.

Arent we all monsters to our enemies? Damien asked. They see us as the ones who co to end their lives. We are always a monster to soone.

Huh I honestly hadnt thought of it that way, I admitted. Then, who determines what a monster is?

I guess that the depends on where you fall in the spectrum of light and dark, Damien suggested. I personally see Father Mathis as a monster. He abuses his power and the people under him. Yes, its not as bad as what this goblin was doing to the innocent, but its still a monstrous act.

Ilore saw as a monster to start with, I pointed out. I really struggle with this concept. In the world I ca from, there was a pretty clear right and wrong. Here in the World of Magic, the lines between what is right and what is wrong are more blurred.

Damien gave a long, searching look and nodded. Good.

What do you an good? I asked.

Damien ignored and gestured for us to leave. I kept pestering him about it, but he stubbornly refused to explain what he ant. We headed back to the main island with the captured emotion.

This is the last one, Ilore confird as we laid the emotion down on a bed. I can tell. Your mind is finally feeling whole again. Theres just one piece missing, she nodded at the restrained emotion. And this is it.