Chapter 78 - Peace At Last

Old Kushim was called that, well, because he was old. He was the most ancient of the liches well before the war had even started. Considering the two-thousand years that had passed since then would put him somewhere around seven-thousand years old. With that amount of time, it was no wonder that he was also known as the most eccentric of the liches. He was known to go on long, nonsense filled rants, as well as burning down the occasional village in order to collect test subjects.

From within the black abyss that shrouded the throne, two dark blue, almost black, lights followed him as he moved closer to where the voice originated from. The flames set within a lich's skull were obviously not fire, but the physical representation of the soul. After centuries of research focused on why the soul of a lich manifested in such a way, the only thing that they all agreed upon was that each soul burned in a varying shade of blue. In fact, it was discovered that a deeper shade of blue corresponded with how old a lich was, not with the amount of power they held. That is why Professor Kal had assumed that the one sitting atop the throne was Old Kushim, from the color of his burning eyes.

Professor Kal stopped directly in front of the first step of the multi-tiered pedestal, Trist cowering behind him. "Get down here so I can..."

"INSOLENCE! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE UNDEAD LICH KING!" Old Kushim's deep voice boomed throughout the room, shaking dust and debris from the stone ceiling.

It was apparent to Professor Kal that there was an issue. Old Kushim might have been nuttier than squirrel shit, but even he wasn't bold enough to declare himself the Undead King. There is only one being capable of calling themselves that, and he would have destroyed anyone that attempted to usurp the title.

He ran his mummified hand over his smooth skull in frustration. "Have you completely lost your mind? Is there anything left in there at all?"

"IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!!"

As soon as those words reached Professor Kal's ears, thick bolts of lightening arced out from the darkness, momentarily illuminating what was hidden within it. The old lich Kushim, was adorned in black and purple robes, the hems were embroidered with iridescent mithril threads that sparkled in the white light. He was still seated on the cushioned seat, held loosely in his hand was a golden staff engraved with exquisite runes and topped with a fist sized blood red ruby. The most gaudy of Old Kushim's accessories was the crown that rested on top of his bleach white skull.

A thick band of platinum wrapped around his skull, carved into the precious metal was a diorama depicting a fierce, life or death battle, between the four races. Every part was so intricately detailed that you would be able to see each individual hair on the combatants' heads. Diamonds the size of a pinheads were set inside the eye sockets of each warrior, giving the illusion of countless twinkling stars with each movement of Old Kushim's head.

The arcs of electricity harmlessly impacted a transparent blue wall, and were forcibly diverted into the ground. Each place the finger-width bolts of lightning struck, the transparent wall rippled in every direction and was accompanied by a low pitched hum. After a full minute of being under the futile attack, the self proclaimed Undead Lich King, stopped his assault.

"You've done well to withstand this modicum of power. Let us see how much more you can take!" Old Kushim mechanically said as he stood up from his throne, using the staff as support.

The multicolored flames set inside Professor Kal's eye sockets rolled a full circle, he almost wanted to gag. The adventurers had mentioned the script that the lich would follow each time they challenged him, and he had followed it to a tee thus far. Next should be a fireball fired from the crimson ruby set atop his staff, and once Old Kushim had stood up fully, that is exactly what happened.

The melon sized fireball broke upon hitting the mana barrier that Professor Kal had erected around himself and Trist. A sea of white hot flames washed over him, completely engulfing the surrounding area. The magical attack was extremely strong, greatly boosted by the ruby, it made him curious as to how the adventurers dealt with such a spell. The stone floor turned molten and the air around him became superheated, causing a secondary explosion to thunder out across the cavernous room.

Once the flames burned themselves out, Professor Kal and company, was revealed to be completely unharmed behind the barrier. "Is there truly nothing left of you old man? Has the dungeon completely swallowed your soul?"

Lances of ice three feet long answered him as they shattered on the mana barrier, exploding into thousands of razor sharp shards that flew in every direction. Blades of water, gale force winds, boulders the size of carriages all crashed against Professor Kal's shield, nothing broke through. He was deep in thought, trying to come up with different ways to maybe get through to the lich, or at the very least find a way to interrupt the connection between it and the dungeon.

Pulling out a weathered scroll from his ring, Professor Kal recited its contents. There were thousands of different spells, there wasn't a being alive capable of memorizing each one, so he made sure to always carry around a copy of most of the more useful ones.

Elemental attacks continued to rain down on him and Trist, the undead canine was cowering between Professor Kal's legs, whimpering. In order to successfully cast the spell he had in mind, he would need to dispel the only thing preventing those deadly attacks, his mana barrier. Although transparent, the mana barrier was a solid construct that did not allow any matter to pass, from either direction.

With eons of experience under his belt, Professor Kal was able to pace the wording of the spell perfectly. Just after yet another spear of ice shattered over the mana barrier, he dispelled the shield while simultaneously uttering the final word of power. "Dimensional Prison!"

The air surrounding Old Kushim began to shimmer like a mirage in a sandy desert, his figure faded until only a faint outline was all that was visible. 'Dimensional Prison' was a spell within the same family as the 'Warp Gate' spell that Professor Kal enjoyed utilizing so much. The difference was that, instead of opening a tunnel between two points on the same plane, 'Dimensional Prison' would create a sub-dimension within a small area, separate from the plane from which it was cast. It was not a very user friendly spell due to the casting time, one would almost never use it in battle, it was mainly used to hide contraband or to increase the area of a smaller space.

Professor Kal was hoping that by cutting off the connection Old Kushim had with the dungeon, that he would regain some semblance of autonomy. Before Old Kushim's figure fully faded away, a jagged fissure formed within the shimmering air. Within milliseconds, the fissure spiderwebbed, the sound of grinding glass pierced Professor Kal's ears. A bright white light could be seen from behind the fissures, growing continually brighter until reaching critical mass, triggering an explosion of light and sound.

Dropping his arm that had shielded his eye-flames, Professor Kal observed the aftermath. Standing there, motionless, was Old Kushim. His dark blue flames set into his skull were burning dimly, as if on the verge of being extinguished. It didn't even appear that he was registering that Professor Kal was standing only fifty feet away, he was a completely blank slate. Even the flames burning within the braziers interspersed throughout the room had dimmed greatly, just as they had when he first entered.

He took a few steps closer, his soft leather boots making no noise, watching the statuesque lich intently. When he cast 'Dimensional Prison', his hopes of it succeeding were exceptionally low. He already knew that for some unknown reason the dungeons heavily restricted the use of dimensional magic. Then why did his storage ring work, or how come he was able to teleport himself and his student out of the previous dungeon, even though it did take a considerable amount of mana to do so? These were all question he did not have the answer to, but the fact that the spell had an affect on the lich, told him that the connection was not perfect.

Picking up a loose stone from the ground in front of him, Professor Kal tossed it, the stone made a loud 'tink' sound as it bounced off the lich's crown. Awakening from his slumber, Old Kushim's eyes ignited, burning brighter.

"Who dares enter into my dominion!"

A familiar line came from the lich's mouth, causing Professor Kal to prepare his barrier once more. His shook his head in exasperation as a thick lightning bolt struck the barrier, followed by another scripted line.

"You've done well to withstand this modicum of power. Let us see how much more you can take!"

It was evident that there was nothing left of Old Kushim, or of any being imprisoned within the dungeons. Their souls were obviously powering their bodies, but any form of self was gone.

How dare they? Not only have they forced millions of beings deep under the ground, imprisoning them for eternity, compelling them to fight and die, over and over and over again; they ripped away the very thing that made them who they are. Maybe the lower undead remained mostly unchanged, but the higher undead were individuals, capable of their own thoughts and feelings. Before the war they had even traded freely with the living, they were but another race living upon the surface of the planet

The large, open room started to tremble, the solid stone floor groaned and quaked. Glowing braziers toppled over, spilling their burning contents onto the shaking ground. Dust and debris fell from the high ceiling, peppering the mana barrier, making it look as if one was watching a clear pond on a rainy day. Trist was attempting to keep her footing, her long, bony legs splayed wide and her head hung low.

Professor Kal gripped his staff so tightly that a long crack had formed running from the head to the butt. The multicolored flames set into his eye-sockets roared, the tips of the flames reached a foot above his head and bathed the room's far walls in a deep, red light. His mana barrier, unable to contain the intense pressure, popped like a bubble. The elemental attacks of what used to be Old Kushim, were pushed back by the force of Kal's presence alone.

The old lich looked to be within a hurricane, his shimmering robes flapping and beating his withered body as winds began to howl within the room. Every barrier or attack he generated was immediately destroyed by the overwhelming amounts of mana swirling by him. Trying desperately to control his rage, Professor Kal moved toward Old Kushim. Placing his hand on the lich's shoulder, the winds immediately around them died down instantly.

In the brief moment of calm, Professor Kal looked into the lich's deep blue flames. "How dare they?"

With those melancholy words, Old Kushim disintegrated into nothing but ash. His robe, staff, and crown fell to the floor in a silent heap, any noise snuffed out by the raging winds around them. Blue wisps of smoke rose up from the ashes, moving rapidly toward the center of the dungeon. Before allowing his soul be reclaimed by the clutches of the eternal prison, Professor Kal cast 'Soul Snare', capturing the soul within a clear gem he held within his hand.

Storing the gem away within his ring, Old Kushim had finally been granted a moment to rest.