The Kid Lich Awakens

The Kid Lich Awakens 13 Will P.

Unlucky Prime Number

Billy loved math. Correction: Billy loved math when he knew what he was doing. Growing up, each generation of friends he made in school always hated him for being so good at it, and whenever he complained about having to do math homework, his friends would say he had no license to do that because he was a talented mathematician. Yeah, well, taking every math course at each grade level twenty plus times will do that to you. Billy had always thought.

Billy liked prime numbers. There was something about them that felt inherently powerful. Once, in high school, his algebra teacher had loaned him a book on the history of the non-number zero. Billy once had a math teacher who asked him his opinion on whether or not zero was a number. Mathematicians had been arguing about this for decades, and Billy's answer was very clever, at least he'd tell you so if you asked him.

After giving it some thought, a younger Billy had said: "Zero is kind of like the color black. Everyone calls black a color, because it has its own distinct properties and hue, but in reality it's technically the absence of color. Zero is the same way. While it doesn't hold any numerical value, it still has a distinct symbol used to denote it, and its own distinct mathematical properties which make people treat it like a number, despite it not being one."

Billy's tutor had watched him give this explanation with that look teachers sometimes get, where they have a small closed-lips smile and are just impressed by a student showing their intelligence. Billy's answer was just what occurred to him off the top of his head. [I know this doesn't seem relevant to the story, but zero is my favorite "number"!]

As Billy was eating his breakfast, he ruminated on what to do next. He didn't want to make some big move or leave his base yet; the element of surprise was still on his side, and The Morrigan and Set weren't aware that there were forces working against them yet. Also, despite what every therapist ever will tell you, there is a healthy degree of dwelling on the past that is good for the mind.

Thinking about one's past allows oneself to identify any regrets they may have, and then to think about how to come to terms with that regret. At the end of the day, the past is in the past, but before one can know one's enemy, one must first know themselves. Billy ascribed to the philosophy of "know your enemy". It was the tagline to the sequel of one of his favorite videogames, but he'd heard the phrase many times prior to the game's announcement.

Billy knew there were a few things a good commander does in war. Rule number one of war: surprise your enemies. Rule number two: death is inevitable, and soldiers have families and lives, but they truly did know the risk when they signed up for the job. Plus, there are about a million non-combatant roles one can attain while serving in the military.

Billy thought about what he knew, which honestly wasn't much. Since he'd exhausted his own mind for ideas of what to do next, he went to go fetch Sobek. He spotted Sobek a little ways across the room doing push-ups. Billy noticed that after Sobek spotted him approaching he began loudly counting, "Nine hundred, ninety-nine, one thousand! Ahh, that's better. Gotta get in my daily pushups."

Uh huh. Sure you do. Billy thought. He didn't doubt Sobek exercised daily, but he did doubt that he did one thousand push-ups. Even a god's muscles would get tired eventually. "So I figured we could start today by checking the Lichen for any significant discharges of magical energy. What do you think?"

"Lead the way, little lich." I'm going to kick your ass again the next time we spar for that... and I'm going to use a different finishing move too. Billy's temper flared, but he had the self-discipline to stay silent. As they approached the computer, Billy noticed one of the smaller monitors had a blip on it.