Chapter 16: The eternal smile

She calmly looked at how the imp was taken away to prison by the death knights. That was the first time in her life that somebody insulted her so gravely.

She is Nyxea Primea of the Pureblood, the current queen and ruler over demonata lands and many monsters that reside in her country. Her whole being radiates great power and authority, which even the lich-lords don’t dare to challenge. With an hourglass figure, her features are similar to her daughter’s, but with a more mature beauty. Although a few hundred years old her beauty is unchanging with fairy-like soft and silky skin, fire-red hair resembling a raging inferno and two pairs of horns which indicate that she is indeed nobility. Only her eyes are different, with a violet colour, promising great punishment to anybody who dares to toy with her. Dressed in a dark-blue one-piece dress which daringly reveals a large part of her chest and the alluring thigh of her right leg, she sighs at the current situation.

“For now this meeting is cancelled. I will need to hear what that imp knows before we continue. But before that, there are still some urgent preparations for the conference which I must oversee. I suggest that we continue this discussion in two days.” She commanded as she started to prepare to leave the room.

“My queen, that imp is treacherous and cunning. I recommend executing him before he finds some way out of the prison.” Malthazar tried to persuade her, while he still had a chance.

“You think that he will be able to escape?” Deq’ria asked, irritated by the fact that he dares to speak against the queen’s order.

“With all due respect, my lord, he was able to get here without anybody noticing him.”

Before anybody else tried to make another long discussion from this matter, the queen promptly resolved it: “There is wisdom in your words Malthazar and it wouldn’t do us any bad if we are careful as you suggest.” The queen closed her eyes as she thought about what was said. “Deq’ria, you will go and use the Sleep of the forsaken spell on the imp. With that he won’t wake up until we wish for it.”

“As you command, my queen.”Deq’ria left the room to fulfil her commands right away.

“Thank you, my queen, with this I can stay calm as he won’t be able to run away from the punishment which he rightfully deserves.” Malthazar bowed and when nobody could see his face, he smiled at his good fortune.

“But mother, he was able…” Nexaria tried to say something, but was instantly interrupted.

“I don’t want to hear a single word from you Nexaria!” The queen raised her voice, looking at her daughter as if she noticed her presence just now. “I’m becoming tired of your laziness and random disturbances of my meetings like you did today. It is time that you finally start to behave like the princess who is supposed to inherit the throne. Why don’t you focus on choosing your future husband instead of these stunts you do?”

“But mother, you must know…”

“SILENCE! I spoke my words. Now leave!”

“My queen, there is something you must know.” Eliin tried to help Nexaria, but was also unsuccessful.

“Eliin, I thought you would do a better job when I entrusted you with Nexaria. Perhaps you will do better on some other post and I should choose somebody stricter to oversee her, but as I said previously, right now I don’t have time for this. We will speak later.” With a wave of her hand the queen sent them away.

As Nexaria and Eliin were made to leave, they slowly returned to Nexaria’s room. As they walked they didn’t utter a single word as both of them felt ashamed at how the situation got out of the hand. Entering her room, it was Nexaria who voiced her thoughts first.

“I can’t believe she just threw us out like that. Usually she at least hears me out before sending me away.” Nexaria started to get angry, not noticing how much she resembled her mother at that time. “She even went as far as humiliating me before the lich-lords and that necromancer. I’m only glad that master herself wasn’t present anymore to see it.”

As she raged, Eliin thought to herself: “There is no way that lord Deq’ria didn’t tell the queen about that imp beforehand. Something is wrong here?”

***

Malthazar was quietly moving through the castle as he didn’t want anybody to notice him. It wasn’t so hard, because being a Realm Walker who specialized mostly in necromancy and a little bit of dark magic enabled him to use some concealing spells. This was enough to erase his existence from almost every NPC that could have been around, as long as he was able to stay in the shadows. The only things that could pose a problem were the lich-lords and the queen herself as they were too high-levelled characters for his concealing magic to work on them.

After killing Korpus by backstabbing him, he thought that his quest will be done and he can finally go and collect his reward, but the quest didn’t end. It just revealed the next part of itself to him, which required him to go and learn who the new lich-lord will become instead of Korpus. Also, a new side quest appeared which said that he should feed the queen with false information about the whole attack. In simple terms the whole thing became a chain-quest. He didn’t do them a lot previously, because they tended to be needlessly long and even a single mistake could spell failure, even if the quest was almost finished. Of course the rewards for them tended to be higher than for normal ones, but so was the difficulty. So the only time he willingly received them in the past was when he wanted to progress with his class as a necromancer.

Another problem with this particular one was the fact that if he fails he will be probably banned from the demonata country by the queen and a bounty will be placed on his head. He heard that it already happened to some of the players in his guild and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. It was fine as long as they stayed in an allied country, where their guild resided, but when they tried to go to some neutral territory they were almost immediately hunted by NPC bounty hunters or other players who also earned money this way.

Sure, one could say that even if he is killed he will just respawn in 7 days in real-time but the experience points and items he lost while being killed can’t be retrieved like in other casual games. He will need to earn them again. Also, these bounties could take a lot of time to be rid of, so there is a possibility that he will be killed more than once. Especially hard to get rid of are bounties that are placed on you by some powerful NPC’s and he could bet all of his gold that the queen is one of them.

Another problem was the ban from the country. If a Realm Walker is banned from somewhere his name, class and face is publicised there and NPC’s from that area stop providing any help, quests, items or other services to him. It even goes as far as calling guards or informing bounty hunters about him immediately after spotting him, as if he were a wanted criminal in the real world.

This all could probably happen to him if his treason would be revealed. Also, he wouldn’t get anything from it because the quest would be a failure. Yes, he can leave right now, but that would also mean failing as the imp will probably tell his side of the story. The quest will also fail and he wouldn’t gain anything worthy of the effort and time this quest had already cost him.

So after killing Korpus he did as he was told and rushed to Grimthorn to meet the queen. The journey here wasn’t so hard and he was able to manage it easily even alone as the territory he went through were the Abandoned plains, where monsters were under his level. The problem came when he wanted to meet with the queen. For some reason she already knew that Korpus was dead and had called all other lich-lords back from their missions. When the message that he got some information about Korpus’s death finally got to her she insisted that they will wait for the lich-lords. That took two weeks in the game time. It was a pain in the ass to wait, especially without anything to do. He was only able to go and level up a little bit.

Today he was finally able to tell his version of the attack to them and just as he was finished that accursed imp showed up. At first he thought he was busted, but after seeing how the imp insulted everybody he sighed with a relief. He finally thought that with this the little shit will be executed and he can return, but he was wrong again. The quest changed again and now it required from him to kill the imp secretly without any witnesses. That way nobody would be able to speak against him and hopefully this whole thing will come to an end.

The only thing that still bugged him slightly was what the imp said when he shouted that he was a traitor. How did he learn that he is a Realm Walker and why did it matter? He only revealed it to Korpus and the imp, to his knowledge, was nowhere around that time.

“Hmm, maybe something to do with the storyline of the quest?” He thought to himself.

After carefully evading the servants on his way, he has finally reached the dungeon. There weren’t many guards present, probably because the monsters in the Realm Walker game weren’t known for taking hostages. They usually just killed everybody.

He saw a group of four demonata guards sitting behind a table, just before the entrance. Not looking very vigilant, they played some card game. Stopping in his tracks he observed them. After a few seconds he spotted a chain of keys attached to the belt of one of them.

“Thank god I learned that spell in case of the rogue dying in the raid.” He thought while smiling to himself as he approached the door that lead inside the dungeon.

As he came closer to them he put his hand on the keyhole and chanted: “Məndən əvvəl naməlum, kilidini açmaq. (Unknown before me, unlock.)”

There wasn’t any problem with him casting because before he left his room he also casted a spell that silenced everything he did.

Now he only waited for the right opportunity when the guards were distracted enough to not look at the door. When he was sure nobody will notice, he slipped inside, still undetected.

“This is quite a hard quest when it requires from somebody to be able to use multiple abilities, like necromancy magic, which enabled me to get closer to Korpus and then sneaking, assassination and opening locks, which I need to finish this.” He thought about everything he had to do to get so far in the quest-line.

As he carefully sneaked past the empty cells he finally reached the lower part of the dungeon. This should be the place where the imp is locked up. After searching some empty cells he was finally able to spot the bundle lying on the ground, wrapped in old rags. At first it was suspicious to him that nobody guarded the cell, but then he remembered that the queen ordered one of her lich-lords to put the creature under the Sleep of the forsaken spell. With that in effect there wasn’t any need for the guards. It was a very high level spell from the necromancy magic tree. Even the most powerful necromancy users amongst the Realm Walkers weren’t able to use it as it required insanely high mastery in the necromancy magic and ridiculously large quantities of mana. When it is casted on somebody he will fall asleep and nothing, except the caster, will be probably able to wake him up. The best thing about it was that not even attacking the affected party will cancel the spell.

Many of the Realm Walkers dreamt about using it at some bosses in dungeons and then killing them easily, but as mentioned before, until this date nobody from them was able to. This was just another reminder of how powerful the lich-lords actually were. There were of course some limitations, like number of uses it can be cast or high cooldown time but when considered as a single target spell it was overpowered.

“Let’s be done with this.” He said as he unlocked the cell with the same method as previously.

Grasping a dagger, enchanted with dark magic, which he normally used for dealing physical damage, he approached the imp who slept on the ground. Just as he was ready to stab and kill his target a bony hand shot out of the bundle before him and grabbed his arm.

Before he was able to realize what had happened, the same bundle started to expand until a lich-lord emerged from it. Feeling the 40% of pain, which the game transferred to his brain, he dropped the dagger as his hand was being utterly crushed. Looking with horror in his eyes, he noticed the poison-green robe, which covered the rest of the bony body that appeared before him. He instantly remembered which of the five lich-lords was defined with this colour and the name that came with it. Nara’akuu, the Poison Scourge. Before he was able to do anything the lich-lord’s other hand mercilessly caught him under the throat and lifted him to the same eye level.

“W-w-hhy?” Malthazar was trying to ask, his feet kicking around as they were desperately trying to reach the ground, but as he was choking his words were almost unrecognizable.

“Why indeed? That’s the same question I’m asking again and again.” Nara’akuu spoke with a calm voice as he tightly held his prisoner. “Why one of my few friends died because of a worm like you?” Now his eyes glowed dangerously as his skeletal face came closer to Malthazar’s.

Malthazar tried to say something again but his throat was now held so strongly that he couldn’t voice a single word.

“You want to speak? Let’s hear it then.” Nara’akuu lessened his grip a little bit.

“Thh-he im-pph…” Malthazar still tried to blame the imp for what had happened to Korpus, as his quest was asking of him.

“If you think that we will believe you when you say that the imp is to blame, let me warn you, that you are making a grave mistake.” Malthazar heard a woman’s voice from behind him and he was able to recognize another one of the lich-lords. This time a dark-blue robe appeared in his vision, right next to Nara’akuu and he knew it couldn’t be anybody else than Delian, the Master of Dark.

“Bh-hut, I…” Malthazar tried to speak again, but he wasn’t allowed to finish.

“You don’t need to worry. I’m willing to bet that our information is correct.” The last voice that appeared behind him belonged to the last lich-lord, Rhaxan, the Army of One.

“But we shall be generous towards you. You will receive a proper chance to explain and reveal everything that you know. After all, we are not some mindless monsters and if you are able to prove that you are innocent as you claim, you shall be freed, maybe even rewarded.” Nara’akuu slowly explained with that calm voice of his, which betrayed his cold eyes as they promised only pain and violence.

“Now let us question you.”

Those were the only words before the screams could be heard from the cell.

***

As Malakhay was brought away by the two summoned death knights he started to curse himself for being so stupid and trying to explain what had happened to Korpus. He should have forgotten about everything that he promised and rather hide somewhere where he could get stronger first.

“Screw this. I swear if I ever get out of this mess I will never trust anybody ever again.” He thought, studying his two guardians as he tried to find some miraculous method to get free. Maybe if he could use that ability when his hands and feet became untouchable, like with the orcs, he would be able to run away, but as usually it wasn’t so easy to use something you didn’t understand or learn properly first.

Only after a few minutes, as his brain tried to desperately come up with some plan, he finally noticed something weird. They weren’t taking him to the dungeon. Instead of that they opened a secret passage in one of the hallways, the existence of which should be known only by the royal family and the lich-lords, and entered it together with him. In the darkness around the only thing present were the rhythmic sounds of feet clothed in armour. As nobody could spot them here it didn’t take long before they reached the end of the passage and after using the mechanism on the wall, the secret door to a richly decorated room soundlessly opened.

Entering it, the death knights let him down and closed the passage behind them. After that they just stood next to the door on the other side of the room. As Malakhay started to look around himself he could spot a massive table that dominated most of the room. Before it were arranged two comfortably looking chairs, probably prepared for those who came to speak to the owner of the room. On the table he could see a few towers of neatly arranged papers, as if every one of them had an exact place. Around the table was built a large library filled with countless books of all kinds. Some of them related to magic, some to the economy or other countries, some of them so old that they have probably existed for a few centuries now and some looking like they were purchased just recently. On the other side of the room was a large fireplace, also with two prepared chairs before it, which probably served for comfort when somebody wanted to rest. Malakhay didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that he was standing in the queen’s study.

“Why was I brought here?” He asked himself, still confused about everything that has happened.

“Isn’t it obvious that it was for your safety?” An unknown voice asked him, startling him.

As he looked at the door which was still guarded by the death knights, two persons entered through them and again closed them.

“The queen and Deq’ria.” He immediately prepared for a fight, only to realize that if either of them wanted they could end his life with a single move of their finger.

“You don’t need to be so alarmed.” The queen said as she seated herself behind the table. “I’m not planning to harm you in any way, even if you probably deserve it after what you said about my personage. But I shall forget about all of that for now and on the contrary, if it’s a truth what Deq’ria told me, you shall be rewarded greatly.”

“About master Korpus. You already know that I have brought him with me.” Malakhay stated fully convinced, as everything started to slowly make sense to him.

“You are smart. It is no wonder now that Korpus entrusted his soul with you.” Deq’ria told him as she studied him with great interest.

“How did you know?”

“I see. Smart, but still lacking in knowledge.” She sounded like she was having fun. “I can feel him inside you. When I spotted you yesterday night I instantly recognized Korpus’s soul which resides within you. After that it was easy to put together what really happened. After I put you under my spell, I ordered the young princess who was with me at that time to hide you but I would have never anticipated that you will wake up. Care to explain how you were able to do it?”

Malakhay stayed quiet, not sure what to say. After all, he himself didn’t know the reason of why he was able to ward off her spell.

“You don’t really need to tell me if you don’t want to. Everybody has a secret or two which allows him to survive dangerous times. I was just curious.” She reassured him after seeing he is staying quiet.

“I don’t want to sound hasty, but I would like to hear what happened when Korpus almost died and about your journey after that.” The queen returned to their original purpose of questioning him.

Malakhay looked at both of them thinking he will be finally able to do what he came for. And so he told them everything. How he was summoned by Korpus with Malthazar present at that time. Then about his hunt of the shadow lurker and finally about the battle that happened between the elves and the undead; about Korpus entrusting his soul and some of his knowledge to him before his body died.

After that he quickly spoke about his journey, thinking that this part probably isn’t important for them. How the slave traders captured and tortured him every day, how they cut of his wings and tail for some stupid goblin alchemy and how they finally reached Grimthorn. That at the city he was finally able to run away. He left out the part with the mysterious mist which helped him, knowing it would probably cause him some problems in the future, should he reveal it. He explained his stupid attempt to enter the castle and that he lost consciousness at that time. How he woke up only to find out he is in the castle and finally how he tried to find the queen.

Both Nyxea and Deq’ria quietly listened to his story and couldn’t stop to wonder how a single imp, who was basically new-born, if what he said was truth, survived through all of that. There were some parts, like the fight with the elves, which needed more explanation but they knew Korpus will be able to tell them more details as Malakhay stated that at that time he was resting inside the laboratory, so he didn’t know the details of what had happened.

“This country harbours a great debt towards you and I will make sure that it will be paid.” Nyxea said to him thinking about everything she heard. Then she stood up and went to open the secret passage by which he was brought here. “Now let us go and bring your master back.”

After saying this, all three of them entered the passage together. Malakhay recognized that they went towards the catacombs. Making their exit in the same place as before, they went down the hallway. After some minutes they have reached a massively looking, black door.

“This is one of Korpus’s private laboratories and except him I’m the only one who has keys from it.” Nyxea explained unlocking the door.

After they entered Malakhay was surprised at what he saw. He expected a lot of different apparatus, like in the camp before but the room was, on the contrary, almost empty. On one side, dug in the wall, were holes at least 2 meters big. In every one of them rested in the standing position a body made purely of bones, resembling those of the lich-lord’s. After a quick inspection he learned that there must have been at least 10 of them, each one almost exactly the same in height and complexity. In the middle of the room was something resembling a crystal ball, which was stationed on a pedestal that looked like it was constructed from white bones.

After coming closer Malakhay was able to identify it: “That’s a soul core.” He said surprised, because he had never seen one which looked so clear. He almost thought he would be able to see through it because of its glass-like surface.

“An empty soul core if I should be precise.” Deq’ria explained to him. “Go and put your hand on it.”

He did as he was asked and came closer to it. It must have been true when she said that it is empty as he couldn’t feel any presence from it. He slowly raised his hand and put it on the soul core.

A few seconds it looked like nothing will happen, until he could feel how something inside him woke up and started to collect in one place. It was a weird feeling as if his insides were trying to come to one place and then compress together. A few moments later the feeling vanished and he was forced to open his mouth. After doing so some black mist in the form of a small skull emerged from inside him and started to crawl down his arm towards the empty soul-core. As it came closer to it, it looked like the mist attacked the core like a hungry beast and started to devour it from the inside. Maybe a minute passed until the soul-core before him lost its clear colour as the mist nested itself inside of it.

Malakhay stopped touching it and observed how Nyxea took it from the pedestal. She approached one of the unmoving skeletal bodies and inserted the core under its ribcage. Another few minutes passed and Malakhay could spot how the empty holes, where the eyes should be, shined with the blue hue so characteristic for the lichs.

“Well, well, my little Malakhay, I see you were successful.” The familiar voice he knew so well greeted him.

“Welcome back master.” Malakhay bowed after hearing him.

And so The Smiling Death walked the earth once again.