“I had been wondering when you would finally remember the rest of the world existed beyond my home.”

My good mood evaporated as Ahn’Khareen spoke, sitting in her throne as I entered the great hall.

“Good evening.” I said cautiously.

“Be not afraid, my young apprentice. I am not angry nor disappointed in you. However, you should have informed me of your decision to leave my home beforehand.

Swallowing, I bowed my head. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Your apology is accepted. I believe however that I had instructed you to concentrate on your necromantic studies this evening.”

“Well, I managed to make Wilbur stay in my room!”

With a thought I reached out towards the rat’s skeleton, which had always been present in the back of my mind, although I had been able to tune it out, so to speak. Sure enough, after a few seconds the little abomination came scurrying around the corner and up my robe to perch on my shoulder. I shuddered a little, but it squeaked happily, and I reached up to pet his skull.

“Congratulations.” Ahn’Khareen’s tone was even dryer than normal, if possible. “Did you learn anything notable from your discussion with the young woman?”

I started and swallowed nervously. “How do you know about her?”

“Please, I am a mage. Scrying is one of the many spells I have available to me.”

“Wait a minute. That feeling like somebody was watching me, that was you?”

Ahn’Khareen stirred on her throne. “Oh? That is excellent news if nothing else, your ability to sense shaped mana in the environment is improving. Of course, I have been using unshielded scrying spells with you until now, but we shall have to train in that area next. But please, continue.”

I gulped. Did that mean she had scryed on me before and hadn’t told me? That was… concerning to say the least. Paranoia gripped me for a second while I quickly scrambled to try and remember if I had said or done anything incriminating when I had been alone. I didn’t think I had, but I would have to be much more careful from now on.

With a new anxiety that I would have to worry about later, I carefully recounted my time with Penelope to Ahn’Khareen. She listened impassively, asking a few clarifying questions here and there, but I got the uncomfortable feeling that she knew most of what I was saying anyways. Almost as if she had been listening in to the whole thing.

“I will not say you have done well, my apprentice.” Ahn’Khareen said when I was finished. “But you have not done poorly either. What do you reason you could have done better in the situation?”

I thought about the question for a moment, mulling the answers in my head before slowly responding.

“I shouldn’t have told her all of the information regarding the fashion in the capital.”

“Indeed, that is my major criticism. You risked your credibility over information on a topic you have no possible means of knowing. Furthermore, you introduced knowledge of your world to this one. That is something I would highly recommend you abstain from doing as of this moment. You may consider it to be of limited consequence, but you have no idea what any kind of advanced knowledge may do to the civilizations of the world.”

Shame burned my face as she spoke, and I bowed my head to avoid looking at her. The simple truth was that she was right, I had chosen a topic that I knew could get me caught but decided to go through with it anyways. I could have severely screwed things up without even knowing it.

“But I will not blame you too harshly.” Ahn’Khareen said gently, after letting me wrestle with my shame. “You were caught off guard, in quite a vulnerable position. It is quite unexpected that an inhabitant of the nearby village come such a way into the forest. Even more unlikely that she would find her way to you. As well, I would be remiss if I did not commend you on your deceptions. You did not let this woman know about your magical powers, even I do not know how they would be received in this day, and more importantly you did not let her know of my existence or the presence of my home. You have protected me, and I would reward you for that.”

Shame turned to confusion, then a strange sort of pride. I suppose I had made protected Ahn’Khareen in a strange round-about way, even if it was mostly based on protecting myself. Pride then turned back towards confusion as she mentioned a reward. She stood, and I had a gut feeling that if she still had lips to smirk, she would be right now.

“Walk with me.”

We moved in silence down a side corridor that I had only been in a few times before, and only for cleaning. Most of these rooms had been barred to me from entering when I had first got here, and Ahn’Khareen had never lifted the restriction. Our destination was a large set of double doors set at the end of the hallway, and my anxiety ratcheted up a notch as I realized what was inside. The great doors were made entirely of metal and filled the entire height and width of the passageway. They must have weighed tons with how much raw material had gone into them and were carved with elegant reliefs of what could only be dragon skeletons.

Ahn’Khareen stopped at the doorway to extend a hand, and green energy coruscated around her bony fingers before sinking into the heavy metal doors. A series of massive thuds echoed through the passage as what sounded like vast mechanical gears turned somewhere deep inside the walls.

“The traps set on these doors are quite… ingenious if I do say so myself.” Ahn’Khareen said, a trace of humor lacing her normally dry voice. “Yet I am still grateful that there has never been cause to put them to the test.”

“Why is that?”

Green eyes turned on me. “If adventurers were to ever get to this area of my home, you and I would both be already destroyed, my apprentice.”

The reality of what she was saying began to sink in as I gazed in trepidation at the doors, still finishing their unlocking process.

“Oh my god.” I whispered underneath my breath.

I was an apprentice to a lich, living in her lair, and learning both combat magic and necromancy. That meant, at least in traditional game terms, I could only be one thing.

I’m a miniboss.

I had known on some level that I was Ahn’Khareen’s minion of some kind for a while now, but I had never really considered what that would mean. If people burst into Ahn’Khareen’s home looking to kill her, they would see me as a bad guy and try to kill me. However, the more I thought about it, I became increasingly sure that I would try and kill them too.

At some point during my three months here, I had started to think of this place as my home. It would never be anywhere close to my real home back on Earth, but while I was stuck on this stupid and wonderful world, this admittedly creepy underground lair had become the closest thing to a home.

If people were breaking into it to try and kill Ahn’Khareen, and by extension myself, I wouldn’t stop at trying to kill them in return. A hard nugget of resolve was starting to form deep in my heart, but before I could explore it more fully, the great doors slowly swung open, and El Dorado lay inside.

I was pretty sure that El Dorado never actually existed from everything that I had read about it, but the example of a city made of gold was the closest approximation to what I was seeing inside the room.

Piles of coins covered the floor, sometimes in vast stacks that nearly reached the ceiling, and gems of all colors and sizes were liberally scattered throughout. Most of the coins were gold, but I could see flashes of copper, silver, and platinum within. Ornate gilded goblets, plates, candelabra, crowns, strings of pearls and incredibly expensive objects of all descriptions completed the tapestry of excess that lay before me, and I was stunned at its opulence. There was probably more wealth in here than some small countries produced in an entire year, and it was just lying on the floor! Torches were burning on the walls, giving a magnificent ambience to the room as the light reflected off the glittering metal, filling the air with a soft, warm radiance. The skin on my hair stood on end, and I knew if I had even a fraction of the money in here I would be set for life. Even back home I would make a killing with the size of some of these gems.

“It is mostly fake.” Ahn’Khareen said from besides me, startling me out of my reverie. “Most of it are illusions generated by basic magical items, some are cursed items, but I will admit that there is no small supply of actual wealth in this room. Of course, if you take any of it out without casting a certain disarming spell on it, the magical traps built into the walls will start to collapse my home into the ground, starting with the treasure room.”

I looked up at her, feeling almost betrayed by the lack of real luxury in this room. “But why?”

Green eyes stared down at me, looked at the horde of gold, then back at me. “If I am destroyed, I do not want to make it easy for my killers to abscond with my worldly treasures. Is it petty? Certainly. Do I care? Certainly not. I would care even less if I had been managed to be destroyed.”

Grumbling, I had to admit she had a point. Still, I wouldn’t mind having some of the money for myself. Ahn’Khareen wouldn’t notice one or two pieces missing, would she? I had never really imagined myself to be vain, or greedy, but something about the luster of the gold called to me. Something about the sight of the wealth before me reached inside and tugged at my very soul.

“Wait a minute!” I cried, taking a step back as the feeling coalesced into what felt like a black taloned grip on my heart. “There’s… there’s something wrong here. I can feel it!”

“Ahh, your third eye is growing stronger indeed.” Ahn’Khareen moved a hand, and the grip on my heart vanished as if it had never existed. “That is the effect of one of the curses on this room. It instills a desire for the gold in the hearts of those who observe it, stokes the fires of their greed. If it does not cause infighting among the group as to whom gets the bigger share, it at least ensures that they will take the money and activate the traps.”

The gold slowly lost its magnificent luster as the avarice in my heart began to die down. It was still a beautiful sight, the torchlight reflecting off the warm gold, but I didn’t feel the need to have some for myself.

“That’s… sneaky.” I eventually said, voice trembling a little.

“Some would even call it insidious. Any competent mage, at least of my time, would be able to sense the curse. Adventurers are by nature greedy creatures however, and self-reflection on the nature of avarice and their own desire for money does not come easy to them. However, our treasure does not lie in this room, but beyond.”

As if walking through a room of dirty laundry Ahn’Khareen stepped past the piles of gold and over to an unimpressive patch of wall and laid her hand against it. After a few seconds the wall flickered, and disappeared entirely, revealing a doorway into another room. My mouth hung open, before I closed it with a snap.

“Another illusion?”

“Indeed so. This is where the true treasure lies.”

Next to the magnificent opulence of the gold room, the “true treasure” room was rather plain and uninspired. It looked like an armory of all things, with stands of weapons and armor placed along the walls, and chests placed in between them. On a second look however, I could see why this room was where the items of real worth were stored.

Even to my untrained senses that had only now just started to show themselves, the air practically buzzed with magic. Most of the sets of armor weren’t the plate armor like the books and shows talked about, although there was one magnificent set that looked like it should belong to a king. Instead, the armors were mostly chain mail, although the materials varied wildly. Some were a beautiful copper, most were brushed steel, and one was a dark metal that almost seemed to swallow the light around it. Leather armors were mounted on simple stands, with sets of padded cloth jackets frequently making an appearance. The weapons were beautiful as well, with swords and daggers, spears and bows of all sizes and shapes represented.

“Are all of these magical?” I asked in wonder, slowly walking a circuit around the room.

“Not all, but most.” Ahn’Khareen said, striding towards one weapons rack. “Inside the chests are robes and other magical cloths, fit for mages and the like.”

She hesitated at the rack, emerald green eye-flames slowly perusing its contents. There were a series of small objects that I couldn’t quite see from behind her, until she eventually picked one up and turned to me.

It was a small stick, or so I thought at first. Perhaps the length of my forearm, it was a classic wand, and I felt giddy looking at it. The wand was made from white wood, wider on one end and narrowing to a blunt point at the other, with its grip wrapped in dark leather. I had never really been a big Harry Potter fan when I was younger, but now I could imagine how those kids would have gotten excited over the thought of receiving a wand of their own.

That excitement waned as Ahn’Khareen approached, holding the wand out to me, and I got a clear image of it. The want wasn’t made of white wood, instead it had been carved from bone, and I desperately hoped it wasn’t human.

“This is an appropriate tool for you, I believe. It is a simple apprentice’s wand, intended for budding young necromancers.”

Her tone took on a sly, playful tone. “In fact, it is the same wand I used myself when I was first beginning to learn the art myself.”

I hesitantly took the bone wand, and as much as I disliked the feeling, it just felt right in my hands. Wilbur perked up on my shoulder and squeaked as it’s worn leather grip nestled comfortably in my palm.

“We will go over the basics of wand based magic tomorrow, after you have rested from your journeys. Come, let us depart from this place. Who knows,” She called as she began to stride out of the room. “If you perform well, mayhap you might earn another favor of mine in the future.”

--##--

As promised, the next day Ahn’Khareen showed me the fundamentals of magic with a wand.

“A wand, and by extension similar magical items such as rods or staves, are constructed around the idea of making magic, often combat magic, easier for the mage.”

We were in the great hall, which nowadays served as the main training room for us to practice magic in. I held my new wand in my hand, nervously facing off against Ahn’Khareen as she lectured at me.

“Up until now, you have had to visualize the matrix of a spell in your mind, draw in and shape the mana according to the matrix, then expel it.”

“And I have either memorized those matrices or copied them from a page in a spellbook.”

“Correct. The advantage of a magical focus, one of which you now hold in your hands, is that they contain a spell matrix inscribed into their being.”

I looked down at the wand in surprise, then back up to Ahn’Khareen in amazement. “So does that mean I can just channel mana through the wand, and it will cast the spell?”

“Indeed, it does. Now you see the value in such a focus. For certain spells you will no longer have to memorize a spell matrix, nor worry about shaping it yourself. One merely needs to point, channel the mana, and the wand will essentially cast the spell itself.”

“Why don’t all mages just use wands then?”

“There is such a thing as being too effective. I have seen many mages who should have known better rely solely on their magical foci. And when their tools inevitably give out or are disabled in some way, those mages had lost the skills they needed for self-defense.”

Frowning, I ran my fingers over the wand. “So, what spell does this wand have?”

“It has two spells to be precise. Do you see the indentations in the grip?”

Looking closer, two small indents were carved in the bone, set on opposite sides of the wand. They were obviously carved so a thumb would it in them, but a smaller one than mine, so it was a little awkward.

“By placing your thumb on one of the indentations, it will channel the mana for just the spell tied to that indentation. For the spells contained in that wand, there is Deathbolt, and Enervate.”

My eyes almost bugged out of their sockets as I stared at her. “Deathbolt?”

“Indeed. A variation of the adaptable Force Bolt spell that you already know. Whereas Fire Bolt, of which you have some experience in facing, uses fire-aspected mana to alter the composition of the spell, Deathbolt instead uses negative-aspected mana.”

“I, I don’t…”

She sighed. “Force Bolt uses non-aligned, or universal, mana to fire a simple blow of force. Fire Bolt draws upon the mana of the Plane of Fire to change force to fire. Deathbolt likewise uses negative mana from the Plane of Death to inundate the target with this energy. Instead of inflicting a blow or a burn, Deathbolt instead attempts to overwhelm the target’s normal mana with negative mana. If it succeeds, the target’s natural mana flow is ceased, and they will die. If the spell fails, it often instead grants a measure of weakness to the victim.”

She looked over, only to see me staring at her.

“It is only simple Planar Theory, any mage who has more than a base understanding of the fundamentals of magic would- “

Her eye-flames dimmed. “Ah. I forget that despite your quick comprehension of many of these subjects, you do only have a base understanding of the fundamentals of magic. Yet another topic to add to your education. Regardless, Enervate is another spell, that uses a lower concentration of energy to instead form a channel with the target and begin to drain their natural mana away. It takes some time to kill, but in the short term can again be used to weaken your opponent.”

“That all sounds horrifying!”

“It can be. But before you offer any further judgements, remember that these spells can often mean the difference between life and death. I have explained to you before that this world is unkind, and to survive you must do whatever is necessary.”

I took a long, deep breath as I tried to think through things. I didn’t want to kill anybody. I didn’t want to cause any kind of suffering at all when it came down to it. That was just simply the kind of person I didn’t want to be. But at the same time, I was beginning to think that was a luxury I just simply didn’t have the ability to indulge in anymore. And as well, there was a burning hatred mixed with fear deep within me whenever I thought of the goblins who had greeted me upon my arrival to this world.

Back on my world, back on Earth, I had been incredibly spoiled and privileged by the standards of this world. I had everything I could want, food, water, warmth, clothes, internet, everything. I didn’t have to struggle, not really. Not like I did here, where I had to work and clean to stay in Ahn’Khareen’s lair. Even being her apprentice, I was also pretty sure I was living better than a lot of ordinary people in this world.

But those goblins would have killed me. I didn’t have any way to protect myself, and if not for sheer dumb luck in finding this lair, I would be a rotting corpse in the forest. There had been no chance to reason with them, no ability to try and find common ground to avoid a fight. It had been kill or be killed, and it was my luck that I had found a third option. The next time however, I might not have that chance to find another way out. But if it were the goblins again…, would I even bother to try and find another way?

Would I want to?

Ahn’Khareen’s eyes danced with recognition of my struggles, and her tone was triumphant. “Take up your wand, apprentice, and face me.”

I steadied my grip and my nerves, determined to make sure I would never be in that situation again.