A Bored Lich

"I expected this kind of thing from Thomas," Frey said, having pulled both Elero and Thomas aside. "But you, Elero, you should know that the only thing running ahead will get you is an early grave for all of us. What's your excuse?"

Elero wanted to laugh at the blood-covered giant, who lectured her like a disappointed father. Instead she said, "I had to run ahead. We were seen by only a single demon, and I wanted to take it out before it could alert the others."

"Uh," Thomas tried to interject. "I think we should plan out-"

"You wanted to get it over with," Frey argued. "You wanted to get to Doevm as fast as you could so he could fix you. Remember when you rushed off before? You were caught by the Head Mage and dragged back. This is a bad habit." He straightened up in a very similar fashion to Alexander. His lecture must have been rehearsed, or at least practiced dozens of times on disobedient underlings.

"Guys this really isn't the time for this," Thomas insisted, the only reasonable one of the group.

Elero wanted to tell Thomas that it was just a matter of principle but she felt if she looked away, she would somehow lose something. She took a step closer to Frey: "I stick by my statement. Of course I want to make it to Doevm. I have been waiting years for someone to fix my legs, so I can finally look at myself in the mirror. Despite all of that I know how to keep my head cool, unlike a certain someone I know."

Elero gestured to some of the corpses on the ground, which bore marks from Frey's mace: "You and Thomas were trained physically by Alexander. I was trained mentally. I floated as still as a corpse in a calm lake, punished for making even the tiniest ripple. I didn't do that for weeks on end just to be called out by a dick with trust issues. We watch each other's backs, on equal ground."

"We all could have handled things better, both during and after the battle," Thomas cautioned, the only reasonable one of the group. "Now can we please-"

"Very good, Miss Mech," Frey said in an overly subservient tone. "After all, listening to a mere commoner, even if he is a veteran, seems beneath such a noble like yourself. I will explore you to-"

"You mean implore not explore," Elero corrected. "Now I implore you to cut the shit and get to your point."

"Admit it," Frey snapped. "I was right. You made the wrong call. If this isn't taken care of now, we're going to be split up again."

Thomas blinked and his eyes went pitch black. He stepped in between the quarreling duo and placed a freezing cold hand on each of their shoulders. "This is not the time to argue about the past. What's done is done." Frey and Elero went slack jawed. Even after several weeks they still recognized the voice of their friend: Doevm.

"What magic is this?" Frey asked as he waved a hand in front of Thomas's wide, unblinking eyes.

"A spell that allows me to talk through my servants," Doevm's voice came through Thomas's open mouth. "But since the spell costs mana to maintain it, I can only be brief."

"Where are you?" Elero asked as she grabbed Thomas by the shoulders. Argument be damned, Doevm was alive. There was still a chance.

Doevm's voice gradually grew softer with each word. His mana must have been dwindling away. "I'm on the third floor of the academy with some allies and I've come upon some vital information. The majority of the demon king's forces, including the leader, are on the second floor. If not for the opposing group of instructors and third-year students that the Head Mage managed to rally, you would have been overrun by now. You three and Lance have become the targets."

Elero blinked, trying to absorb the wealth of information. Demon king? Head Mage? Targets? Her mouth opened and closed, hesitation and doubt preventing her from picking and asking a single question out of the dozens that had assaulted her mind.

"Understood," Frey said, either with the best poker face Elero had ever seen or too empty-headed to understand the gravity of Doevm's words. "We are on the first floor, where a unit led by a captain attempted to…"

Frey relayed everything: Alexander's training, the Notemaker, Jackal's slow annexation, searching for the ruins, finding the secret tunnel to the Magic Academy, and finding Lance. It was as concise as it was boring. Frey didn't put his thoughts or opinions into the events, telling it to the best of his memory. It was like a report to a superior.

"Understood," Doevm's voice came out as a hoarse whisper. "I intend to build a small force and head down to the second story. Take the students and march up. We'll flank the demons before they can reach the vault or the key."

"So if I have this right..." Elero said, having finally recovered from the immense weight placed on her shoulders. "The plan is to turn the demons' own strategy against them, like how they tried to flank the second floor by sending in two forces through the third and first stories?"

"Lastly, Frey," Doevm continued as he hadn't heard a word Elero said.

The confident veteran lowered his gaze. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Frey looked up and cocked his head to the side: "I don't know what you're sorry for but whatever it is, I'm sure I've done more than enough to deserve it. You see, I've realized recently that I'm kind of a dick." He stole a glance towards Elero.

"It doesn't matter that you are a dick," Doevm chuckled, an odd sight coming out of Thomas's emotionless face. "I let Jackal push me and let myself be taken from the Knight's Academy. You might say that there wasn't much I could have done since it was a commoner's word against a noble's. You might say that the generals were watching, so I couldn't kill him. I could have run, and become an outlaw. No matter what factors were at play, the fact is that I submitted. Now look at what the wise Lich dragged you three children into."

"You couldn't have known…" Frey hesitated. "Listen, I just fought through an army to stop a magic door. I don't understand a thing that's going on but we're good. I know you like to keep your secret for a reason. Just look how I reacted when I found out the truth. You had to beat sense into me. If the world found out who you were or what you could do, things would be much worse. Even someone as strong as you can't fight the world, right?" He put on his fake smile by habit.

One of Thomas' black eyes twitched, as if a piece of Doevm's facial expression had been sent through the spell: "Why can't I fight the world?"

Frey let out a nervous chuckle. "W-well it's the world. I don't get what you mean but you hid because you don't want to be hunted down by the world, right?"

"Correct. Today, however, will forever alter the course of history. Today marks the rebirth of the Lich as well as the rise of a hero. It's time for Doevm Draken and Frey Botomon to make themselves known."