Side Story - Moric 2: What had been Lost

AN: Turns out a nap can be too long.

Moric blinked. Or, at least, he tried to; it had been a long while since he had been able to do that. A look at his hands revealed that he was not alive, despite feeling a lot less bony than usual.

"You return," a voice he knew all too well rumbled from behind him. "Impressive."

Moric tried to sit to pay the proper respects, but an unmovable hand held him down. "Take it slow," the Great One rumbled as he removed his hand again. "A communion with more than a single Soul can have unintended side effects. Especially if they are attuned to one another like those were"

"They offered me life," Moric rattled, his voice even more hoarse than usual. The memory was still clear as day in his mind. The Souls had offered him a chance for a new beginning, one with them. "I took it."

"I see," the Great One replied. "Arido will look after you while you recover."

With those words and a slight rustling of the Great One's robes, Moric could feel his presence vanish from the room. The Lich promptly sat up straight, letting out a pained huff as his bones creaked with every movement. How did I even end up here?

When he had communed with the Souls, he had been in the mountains beyond the desert. With the Kellborn and her guard dog… While it was true that the Deremkyir were helping the [Ancestral Guard] look for Moria Kellborn, it was not because they actually valued the organisation. The Great One had been very clear that should they find her, they should bring her to Ahl Vas as soon as they could.

Why a Deremkyir should bring a Beastkin to the only Elven city in the Solito desert had not been explained, but Moric would follow the order if he happened to find Moria. The All-Mother will probably return to this world before I find the Kellborn…

Moric did not know much about the fabled Creator, but he did know that they had disappeared a long time ago; before the Great One had been born, in fact. Maybe Moria is the Creator and they trapped her somehow? He shook his head at the thought. If that was the case, the Great One would not have to help bring Souls to the great beyond. And I wouldn't either.

He was about to stand up and gather the belongings that were neatly piled on a table next to his bed when the door opened and Arido stepped inside. The Succubus looked at him for a moment before a smile blossomed onto her face.

"I hear the Great One has taken a liking to you," she said, wrapping the black wings that sprouted just above her hips around her waist. "Isn't his excellency simply the best?"

"Yes," Moric replied with a strong nod. "He truly is the Great One."

He wanted to say more, voice his appreciation of the Great One, but a glint of light caught his eyes. Moric turned so he might get a better look at what had caused the distraction but was greeted with empty space.

"Something wrong?" Arido asked, moving closer to Moric as she followed his gaze.

"I thought I saw something," Moric replied, the fires in his eye sockets flickering slightly as he scanned the room. "Guess I was wrong."

"You are probably still a little shaken from your encounter with the Souls. Oar, in his infinite wisdom, has tried his best to heal you while you were unconscious," the Succubus said, letting herself down at the foot of the bed. "Turned out that he couldn't do much."

The Lich did not reply immediately, instead looking at his bony hands and the room he found himself in. How did I even get here? he wondered as the glint that had caught his eye before twinkled at the edges of his vision again. What is that?

When he turned this time, Moric caught a glimpse of something round and glassy. Almost like a Soul… But he knew that a Soul could not exist outside a body in the mortal realm. They would become Demons! The infernal monsters were just collections of wayward Souls, after all. Doomed to obey the only sense they still had — the one that tells them they need a body to inhabit — by fighting any living creature they came across.

The room rushed past Moric's vision as Arido turned his head. "Perhaps you will be our leader here when the Great One ascends?"

"I doubt that," Moric said as he removed the Succubus' hand from his face and scooted back a little. "The Great One is far beyond what I can achieve." His words trailed off as he saw the glint again, this time more clearly.

It was definitely a Soul — Moric was sure of that now — but he still did not quite understand why it was in the realm of mortals. And not turning into a Demon.

"Can you see that?" the Lich asked, nodding towards the glowing marble that now bobbed up and down, seemingly happy that Moric had noticed it.

Arido's eyes flicked to the Soul that still happily hovered in the air. "There is nothing there," she said, standing up from the bed and sashaying her way to the area Moric had indicated. She spread her wings slightly, the small veins of mana within them glowing briefly as she worked whatever magic she had deemed appropriate. "Are you sure something is there?"

"It's nothing," Moric replied, his eyes fixed on the Soul that was now slowly spinning around itself as if it was a tiny planet. "Probably just something messing with my mana."

"Walking between the realms tends to do that," Arido replied as made her way back to the Lich, folding her wings around her waist again. "Even our dear liege faces that issue sometimes." A small smile played across her lips as she set her eyes on Moric again. "You really are on your way to be like him."

Moric could only give a half-hearted rattle in reply. Don't even have half a heart, though. He doubted he would ever be like the Great One. His liege was a Demigod of Death, which was not something one just became through doing a communion with few more Souls at once. You have to work for centuries.

That still did not tell him why he could see that Souls while Arido — someone who was most definitely stronger than he was — could not.

"I would like to rest a little more," Moric said, the fires in his eye sockets dimming slightly. "If you would allow."

"Of course," the Succubus replied. Before she stood up, she leaned in towards the Lich, running her fingers along his chin. "If you need anything, just call."

Moric gave a hesitant nod in reply, not quite sure what Arido was trying to accomplish. She was part of the Great One's inner circle, not someone he would try to do anything with. Not that I could. He was a Lich, after all. He no longer had the required equipment, nor had he invested the time to learn magic to compensate. Or interest.

Arido gave him a last look and a small wave before she left the room, closing the heavy door behind her. As soon as the enchantment that ran through the room came alive again, the Soul that had only ever stayed at the edges of Moric's vision slowly drifted in front of his face.

It bobbed up and down, almost as if it was happy that he could see it. Moric slowly reached out towards the faintly glowing orb. As soon as his fingers touched the Soul, a tingle ran through his hand and the bones that usually comprised the appendage gave way to the flesh he had once had. What?

He removed his hands, looking at the skeletal hand that now greeted him again. "What are you doing here?"

The Soul bounced at his words, filling the room with what he could only describe as a happy trill. The only problem was that Moric had no idea what it was trying to tell him. And where are the other three? And what is with their offer?

He clearly remembered that the Souls had offered him another chance at life, one he could glimpse at when he touched the glowing marble in front of him. There was also another question that begged for an answer. "How are you even here?"

Of course, an answer was not forthcoming. The Soul just floated in front him, its glow pulsing softly, almost as if it was breathing. Moric shook his head before he grabbed his staff and stood up. He leaned on his staff as his legs, despite their lack of muscle or anything else, wobbled slightly under his weight. That's new…

He had not experienced such a feeling for a good long while, just like the blurred vision that now befell his eyes. Depending primarily on magic was not always a good thing, it would seem. Moric doubted a normal being of flesh and blood would have faced the issues he had. But then, they would not be able to commune with the Souls in the first place.

The only other people that Moric knew of who were able to do what the Deremkyir did were a small sect of Elves and Humans that lived in seclusion on one of the islands in the middle of the ocean. He had been there once as part of a Deremkyir mission to bring them supplies as well as some people who had wanted to join them.

Moric let out a sigh as he set his eyes on the quietly trilling Soul. He stood as straight as he could as he carefully brought his staff in front of him and let some of his mana flow into it. Like most things the Great One had made, this staff was a little more than met the eye.

The mana he had pushed into the weapon vanished, replaced with purple flames that ran the length of the staff before spreading over to his person. Moric let go of his weapon, letting it stand on its own as he spread his hands and guided the purple fire to the small flames that burned in his eye sockets. The [Vision of the Great One] was a skill not many could master but, to those who could, it was an invaluable tool.

A puff of purple smoke flowed from Moric's jaw, almost as if he still had to draw breath, as he focused on the Soul that still floated in front of him. The sight that greeted him was not what he had expected.

The Soul was so bright that Moric almost had to shield his eyes. Visualizing the potential of something was not always helpful, but here Moric hoped it would let him know how this Soul managed to defy all the rules he had spent ages learning. How are you not going insane? How are you even here?

He had not brought the Souls back to this realm. Quite the contrary, he had taken their offer at a new life. A life with a family. Moric lowered his arms, the purple fire fading as he grabbed hold of his staff again.

"Are you here to guide me?" he asked, not able to see another reason why a Soul should even try to enter the mortal realm. "But what am I supposed to do?"

The Soul dipped slightly as if to show it understood his question before it zipped through his room and waited in front of the door. Moric followed, leaning heavily on his staff with every step he took. What the Souls had shown him had already intrigued him, that Arido could not see what he did only furthered that curiosity. The Succubus was far beyond him in terms of strength and magical understanding, and yet, she had not been able to see the Soul that was practically oozing mana because it had so much potential.

He opened the door, expecting to see the hallway he had always been greeted by. Instead, Moric saw a vast expanse of green beyond, one the Soul immediately flew into.

"What?" the Lich mumbled, extending a hand through the door. He felt a breeze brush against the skin he did not have. Is this what they meant?

His bones rattled as he tried to take a deep breath like he could in the distant past. Just a few steps, Moric thought, as he extended a shaky foot through the door. He had doubted he could do what the Great One did, but this — this felt like the road he had to walk to become like Zaine, the Great One.

Another step brought him through the door, a gust of wind forcing him to close eyes he did not have. A look at his hands confirmed that he had not suddenly become Human again as he could still see the same bony appendage he had stared at for the entire time of his second life.

A glint in the corner of his eye caused Moric to turn his head. He saw the Soul that had guided him here but also the other three he had communed with in the Beyond. As if his gaze was the signal they had been waiting for, a golden light engulfed the Soul, causing the Lich to raise a hand and shield its nonexistent eyes.

When the light receded, he was greeted with four Humans in long, flowing robes with their hands clutched in front of their chests. The family of four bowed in unison, the ornaments in their hair glinting in the harsh light of the sun.

"Thank you, Lich," the tallest man of the group said. "Without your help we would have been lost in the Great Sea; would never have been able to return."

"Our offer still stands," the woman next to the tall man said, offering Moric a smile as she unfolded her hands and placed them on the shoulders of what he assumed were her children. "A new life awaits should you wish it."

"He already said he would take it," the young boy said, looking up at his mother. "Why are we asking him again?"

"Because he might not want to now," his sister replied, flicking his forehead.

The father of the two chuckled at his children's words. "Rescuing us took a toll on him," he said. "He might not have been of clear mind when he saved us. Asking again is simply proper manners."

Moric just stared at the four, not quite sure what to make of them. He had fulfilled his goal of raising a family, it just turned out vastly different from what he had expected.

"Where would we go?" he finally asked, leaning himself a bit more heavily on his staff.

The mother's smile broadened slightly at the question and a wave of her hand brought forth a map made of light. "Ardynshaide," she said. "To rebuild what has surely been lost."

Moric hesitated at the reply, the name reminding him of something but he could not recall what. He knew of the ruins of Ardynshaide and the dungeon that shared its name.

"Who are you?" he finally asked, not sure what this family had to do with a city and dungeon of a civilization that had been extinct for more than ten millennia. "What do you want to rebuild?"

"We are what is left of our people," the man replied, lowering his head slightly. "We died when our Goddess left, hunted by those who had opposed her." He lifted his head again, meeting Moric's gaze. "But she has returned. We all felt it; called for someone who might be able to bring us back."

"Why not ask your Goddess?" Moric asked, taking a half step back. He had a suspicion who they were talking about, one he found simultaneously intriguing and frightening.

The mother gave a small laugh, a breeze flowing through the field as she did. "Our Goddess is everything and nothing," she said. "She made the worlds we live on and the magic we use, but she does not interfere with mortal life.

"A conviction that caused her to leave the world behind as everyone turned on her," she continued, staring off into the distance. "But she has returned, stronger than before, with a promise of change I can feel within my Soul."

"Will you join us, Moric?" the father asked. "Will you join us and rebuild Ardynshaide? Bring hope to all the Souls that have been lead astray?"

"Yes," Moric replied. He did not know why, but he knew this was what he was supposed to do. Why he had gotten a second chance at life. He would rebuild what has been forgotten and bring back the Souls that have been lost. "I will."