Empires SMP Halloween prompt oneshots

Day 12 - Lich

           Shelby stared at the pile of books and papers in front of her. To her stressed out mind, the pile seemed to be getting taller and more daunting. She sighed in exhaustion, despite not having even started yet. The little witch couldn't even imagine trying to tackle it.

           "Did I hear an exhausted sigh?" Sausage suddenly asked. Shelby jumped and shrieked in surprise. She hadn't heard nor seen Sausage even come into her room. "Sausage!" "I've been sitting here for the past ten minutes, how have you not noticed me before?" Sausage said, frowning in genuine bewilderment.

           Shelby sighed again. "So I did hear some sighing!" Sausage said triumphantly. "Why are you so interested in my sighing?" Shelby asked in a flat voice. "fWhip and I have a competition to see who can hear someone else sighing first and the most!" Sausage declared. "How did that even happen?" Shelby asked. "Uh, don't ask," Sausage said, waving her off.

           "So anyway, why are you sighing?" Shelby sighed again at the reminder of the work that she still had to do. "You know how I was accepted back into the witch's academy? Well, since I'm the resident witch of the Evermoore, I can't exactly leave to go back to school, so Barnabus mails me study material. But my homework is killing me!" Shelby wailed, clutching her head.

           "Ooh, relatable," Sausage commented. "School, am I right?" "Yeah," Shelby mumbled, lying down on the floor. "What's your homework about anyway?" Sausage asked, opening a random book and flipping through it curiously.

           "Well, I have to write an essay about the difference between a lich and a demon, draw a picture of a proper pentagram, and finish reading at least five hundred pages of a Witch's Standard Guide to Magical Deals," Shelby recounted with another sigh.

           "Are they trying to teach you to handle demons or something?" Sausage asked, opening another book and trying to read two at the same time. "Yeah, the whole school is on edge after a demon killed Headmaster Knowls." "Oh yeah, that guy," Sausage said. "I remember him. Hey, I can help you with your homework if you want."

             "You can?!" Shelby squealed, sitting up so fast she heard something pop. But that didn't matter right now; Sausage was about to save her from her school predicament. "Yup!" Sausage nodded proudly. "You could say I'm an expert on demons." "Why would you be an expert on that specific subject?" Shelby asked, suddenly wary. Sausage whistled suspiciously. "Uh, don't ask."

           So the two of them pored over Shelby's books and notes, with Sausage occasionally correcting something or adding some random fun fact he knew to the pile and Tortoise and Bubbles playing in the background.

           "I still don't think I've studied enough," Shelby mumbled when they stopped for a break a few hours later. "Yeah, well, the deadline to mail them your homework is still a week away; we'll have plenty of time to review everything!" Sausage said optimistically. Then he lit up like he had a good idea.

           Shelby did not like the look on his face. She knew both Sausages well enough to know that that look meant something bad was going to happen. "Sausage, what are you planning?" Shelby asked nervously. "Practical studying!" Sausage declared, making Bubbles yelp in alarm.

           "I don't think that's the word for what you're thinking about," Shelby said. "Well, anyway, I'm gonna summon a lich to help you study!" Sausage said, grinning ear to ear. "No!" Shelby yelped, and Bubbles seemed to facepalm while Tortoise stared at the proceedings with a cute derpy expression on his face.

            "Bad idea, Sausage, bad idea!" Shelby shouted. "Oh yeah, better idea!" Sausage said, lighting up again. "You summon the lich!" "No!" Shelby said. "Even worse idea!" "Hey, relax, I've got it all figured out," Sausage said calmly. "We summon a lich who's not a lich anymore!" "Wait, liches can turn into humans again?" Shelby asked in confusion. Sausage sighed. "This is why you're practically studying liches."

           Some time later, Shelby, who still thought that this was a bad idea, crouched on the pebbly ground, using a bit of chalk to draw a pentagram on the stone. Sausage and Katherine stood behind her; one beaming proudly and the other looking concerned for the witch's safety. Bubbles and Tortoise were there too; one feeling like this will turn out incredibly badly and the other just watching.

           Shelby finished drawing the protective pentagram to cage the lich once they'd summoned it, hoping she'd drawn the runes correctly. Every type of demon had a specific rune to cage them in pentagrams, and the one for liches were hard to draw.

           Shelby stepped back, still feeling apprehensive. "Sausage, what if there isn't a lich who turned back?" She asked. "What if we accidentally summon a lich that is still a lich?" "Don't worry, there's got to be at least one lich who isn't one anymore in at least one of the timelines." Sausage said confidently.

           "Wait, timelines?" Shelby asked. "Didn't we cover this already? When you summon a demon or any of its subspecies, unless specified, the demon will be transported to the summoner from any point in the timeline," Sausage sighed.

           "Did we specify?" Shelby asked, starting to panic for some reason. "Chill! You haven't even cast the summoning spell yet. But the one I told you about should only summon someone who was a lich before but now isn't."

           Shelby nodded and looked at the sheet of paper with the spell Sausage had written on it. "You can do this, Shelby!" Sausage called out supportingly. "We'll be here for you if anything goes wrong!" Katherine added. Her voice filled Shelby with hope and she turned back to the pentagram and started reciting the incantation.

           When she had finished there was a plume of black smoke in the middle of the pentagram. It grew bigger and bigger until a figure stepped out of it, looking incredibly confused. He had raven-black hair and dark green eyes, and he wore all black like he'd just attended a funeral. "Wha- Shelby?!" The person they'd summoned asked, looking shocked and speaking with a very familiar accent.

            "Scott?!" Sausage, Katherine, and Shelby said at the same time, equally shocked. "How do you know my name?" Scott asked, narrowing his eyes. "You look and sound a lot like a friend of mine with the same name," Shelby stammered, stepping backward.

           Scott looked down and noticed the pentagram. He let out a snort of amusement. "What were you trying to do?" Sausage explained Shelby's school predicament and Scott rolled his eyes. "There's one important thing you forgot, though," He said. "What?" Sausage asked, trying to remember. Scott just sighed and stepped outside the pentagram.

           All three emperors jumped back with a yelp. "You're not supposed to be able to do that!" Katherine said. "I'm not a lich anymore; those runes won't work on me." Scott explained like it was obvious. "Oh." Everyone said, realizing how silly they'd been. "You're smart." Shelby said, and Scott smiled at the compliment. "Thanks, but I am the strongest witch, after all. It's a given."

           "Wait, Scott's a witch?" Katherine asked, confused. "That's not our Scott; he didn't know us," Sausage explained patiently to her. "Now I wonder if he's from the past or the future?" Scott looked at Shelby thoroughly. "You wouldn't happen to be a storm witch, would you?" He asked after a few moments.

           "Um- well, no, I'm the fog witch, but I was planning to learn how to harness electricity and become a storm witch one day." Shelby said. Scott thought for a moment. "I think I'm from the future because I think you're the same Shelby that I'm friends with."

           It only took a second for the emperors to process that information. "Wait, what am I like in the future?" Shelby asked eagerly. "You are the second strongest witch in the world," Scott informed her. Then he remembered something and added, "Actually, you're the strongest now, now that I'm not a witch."

           "Wait, you stopped being a lich and a witch? How? Why?" Shelby asked, confused. "How about I don't say anything about the future and I just help you with your homework?" Scott said with a sigh. "Oh yeah, right, homework." Shelby said, remembering. Scott sighed again. "Sheesh, future you wasn't kidding when she said she was bad at school."