Rozimer had given him enough candy to last him three days, and had given him a map with the cave with the vengeful spirit and the apple. Elmar snacked on bonbons as he walked on the trail leading to the cave, and he enjoyed a day without rain, for a change.

When he came to the cave, the rain began anew, and he rushed inside to avoid being drenched. There, in the cave, there was a path paved with bones. Elmar sighed. This looked like a battle in the making.

Elmar put away his bonbons in his dimensional bag and pulled out a spear he had snatched at Rozimer’s. It was made entirely of metal and looked deadly sharp. The wizard had not protested when Elmar had taken it. Probably because Elmar was going to give it back.

Elmar winced as bones crunched beneath his feed, but he kept going forward. There was a light down the tunnel and Elmar moved towards it. Then, instead of a vengeful spirit at the base of the tunnel, he saw a statue of Hades.

“Hades, are you here?” Thought Elmar. He wondered who was worshiping the god in such an abandoned place.

“I am. Why?” Asked him Hades. His voice had a sleepy quality to it, and Elmar wondered if he had just woken the deity.

“There is a statue of you in a cave in the swamp. Are you guarding a golden apple, per chance?” Asked Elmar. He heard a chuckle in his mind.

“I am. It is one of the few things I could snatch before I was transported in this world. Do you need it?”

“I do. To break a curse.” Said Elmar. A golden apple appeared before the statue’s feet, and Elmar took it. He placed his hands in a prayer and gave his thanks to the statue. Then he heard it, a wail.

“You might want to run now.” Said Hades. He sounded amused. “Glorifin has woken up.”

This must be the vengeful spirit Rozimer had spoken of. Elmar didn’t need to be told twice. He rushed out of the tunnel, bones flying each way as he ran. He managed to get out of the cave just as something dark stopped at the entrance.

Elmar looked at it and found pity in him. It was a disfigured woman with a hunchback and long nails that reached the ground. Spittle dripped down her mouth and her eyes looked crazed.

“Is there any way to help her?” Asked Elmar. He wanted to avoid leaving the spirit alone in a cave.

“This is Glorifin’s punishment for being a serial killer. She killed babies and toddlers, her children among them. Don’t pity her. Be on your way and don’t wake me again if it is not an emergency.” Said Hades, and then Elmar felt that he was alone.

Well, Glorifin was still snarling at him, but Hades was gone. Elmar placed a barrier over the cave. There was something keeping the spirit inside, but he didn’t want anything to wander inside and be eaten. The bones that paved the tunnel were proof enough that it happened.

Then, Elmar traveled back to Rozimer’s house. The door was ajar and he walked in. Rozimer was sitting next to the fireplace and eating something that looked like jelly.

“I got your apple.” Said Elmar as he closed the door behind him.

“Thank you, thank you, boy.” Said Rozimer with a dazzling smile. Elmar handed the apple and then went to sit down. So tired he was from the journey. Rozimer ate the apple and something changed about him.

He was still handsome, but now Elmar began looking at him like he did everyone else. Nothing about him inspired infatuation anymore. He was a normal twenty-year-old. Or Five hundred and sixty-something, Elmar supposed.

“Finally, someone is looking at me like a normal human being!” Rozimer whopped with joy, and Elmar found himself smiling at his antics. “But you wanted a teacher. I can teach you how to change your shape into anything. But it will take a lot of mana out of you.”

Elmar frowned, thinking he had been had.

“I don’t have any mana, I am a Litch.” Said Elmar, and he stood up. If Rozimer thought he could trick him, then he would regret it.

“You still do, although it is harder to find.” Said Rozimer and Elmar calmed down instantly. “Have you ever meditated before?”

“I have.” Said Elmar, remembering the first time he had found his mana. That dead thing at the bottom of a lake.

“Well, sit on the floor and close your eyes. Search for the spark of life within you, and you will find your mana.” Said Rozimer.

Elmar did as told, but once he closed his eyes, he found himself at a loss as to how to proceed. Before, he had searched for his core. Now, he knew where it was, but it showed his soul and not his mana anymore.

“What does a spark of life look like?” Asked Elmar, and Rozimer hummed.

“Well, Litches are not widely studied. They do tend to eat the souls of the researchers that set out to study them, after all. But from the accounts of the autobiography of the Litch Mort von Dimmheim, also known as the King of the Undead, a spark of life is a beating heart. The expanding and constricting of the lungs. Heck, even your bowel movements. Do you need to go to the restroom, boy?” Asked Rozimer with a chuckle.

“Breathing, does breathing count too?” Asked Elmar. He didn’t need to breathe anymore. He had tested by dunking his head beneath the swamp water and had held it there for half an hour.

“I don’t see why not.” Said Rozimer and Elmar began to inhale and exhale deeply.

He focused on the movement of his chest. On the little slow taping of his heart with each beat and then, after what seemed like hours, his breathing was mirrored by something else.

He saw the lake again, but the dead thing was not there. Instead, there was a giant slime there that breathed deep and clear. Elmar took a bit of the slime, just enough for a mana crystal, and when he opened his eyes, he was holding a bright white crystal in his hands.

“I dare say that you are now ready to learn.” Said Rozimer, and he went to his desk and took a heavy tome and deposited it on Elmar’s lap. Elmar sighed at the thick tome, but since he had asked for this, he figured he couldn’t complain.