The Unbidden: A Nocuous World (3) (Long Parts)

Chapter 3 (Part 1)

I knew something had happened when the nightmares stopped appearing. I tried hard every day for the following week to recall what the dream was that seemed to just ... wash all the fear away. When I couldn't remember, I resigned myself to accepting the fact that whatever it was, it saved me from losing my mind. It was nigh impossible to fall asleep when all you could envision were terrible things happening to you. I welcomed the reprieve wholly, happy to finally have pace in my mind while I slept.

"How long do you suppose they shall continue searching?" Hargen's irate voice rose up as we headed back toward the inn.

I shrugged my shoulders. Karnied had to have paid a very hefty price for someone like me, so it made sense he would want to secure his investment. I furrowed my brows in disgust as I realized my own thoughts.

"It could go on for a while. We just need to lay low until Felt comes to, then we can leave," I adjusted my backpack as we walked.

"You seem harried for another reason as well, no?" I glanced at Hargen who had a brow raised curiously.

His perception truly astounded me.

"Yeah," I sighed.

As we pushed through the slough of people I responded in a low tone.

"When Visilius died, I didn't feel any new power come into me. Before we left, Felt's Patron told me he wasn't actually dead."

We rounded a corner leading to the final stretch of road to the inn.

"That is why they refer to creatures like him as liches. A lesser being is able to become one by going through a ritual that most races consider deplorable. I remember fighting a lich nearly a millennium ago. In order to actually finish him completely, I had to find his soul's true location."

"It wasn't in his body?" I asked, stepping in front of Hargen to open the door.

His arms were full of food ingredients that we could give to the cooks to make us whatever food we wanted, for a fee. Thankfully Felt had a spare bit of coin on him when they came this way.

"No. Every lich must store their soul in a specialized magical container separate from their bodies. It allows them to generate a new body near their soul's true location an infinite amount of times provided there is a corpse available and they have enough essence leftover."

I nodded, listening intently. We arrived at our room and entered. Liliana was sitting on the edge of Felt's bed looking down at him. She didn't appear to have noticed us at first, as she twisted her body to face us with a rigid expression. She looked like a kid who got caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing.

"That explains why we didn't gain any new power when he 'died'. I don't suppose you know how long it takes for their new body to form?" I grabbed one of the sacks from Hargen and placed it in a corner of the room.

He shook his head, placing the rest of the sacks into the corner.

"I know that his soul is secured somewhere no one would ever think to look, or be able to find by normal means. We simply need to find it, and destroy whatever container 'tis in. Then his soul will be forced into the body, at which point he will be vulnerable."

I pursed my lips as I fell onto my bed. There was no way of knowing where this box was that we needed to destroy. We paid for another couple weeks of stay since we didn't know when Felt was going to wake up. It wasn't until almost a week later when he finally stirred. The search for me had ramped up, and we saw several robed individuals scouring the streets. I had become rather uneasy.

Liliana reacted rather strangely when he finally stirred. It was a mixture of relief, and ... something else? I couldn't put my finger on it. Nonetheless, I was relieved that he was finally awake. Despite all the time he spent resting and healing, it seemed his appearance was forever changed. It was difficult not to feel a bit of pity toward him.