The moon renewed his mood and when he turned to look at the city, he found a monk bowing there, waiting for him. “I wish to speak and learn about someone named Malyx Do’Allaris.” The monk bowed and signaled for the lich to follow. He led him to the palace and informed the lich that while Ori has much knowledge of that person, the group just arriving from Taysor would have more information.
Gates opened, doors opened, and their path cleared as they made their way to the royal house. Runners moved ahead and by the time they arrived, the lich expected there would be all kinds of readiness and preparations. Since he had taken the daimo, the people only ever sent lower level and less important people to act as emissaries with the lich. When the final door opened, the lich saw that things had changed. The room contained the expected functionaries, but also contained seven heavily armored and armed warriors and three priests each bearing golden symbols of the sun wrapped on a square motif. Like standing in sunlight, the brightness burned but the lich paid it no mind.
As he entered and the monk announced him as the grand commander of the southern armies, the three priests and the seven warriors held their symbols forward and concentrated at him. The searing burn intensified and the lich sat down before them. “I assume you’re trying to do something to me. I do not appreciate it. I have not come here to fight you, but to learn. If you continue in this, I will take…” and he raised his gauntlet and spoke the word the Imperics had come to fear, “Yinta’ryx kor!”
The strongest looking priest in the room screamed a blood curdling cry as his head stretched and tore with his soul pulling free. The other two priests turned him and began praying to their Pha Rann. Interestingly, the soul tear slowed. The lich smiled as the warriors drew their swords and made ready to attack. “I can take every single one of you. Is this why you came here? Is this how you greet someone who came to talk?” The fighters paused but two of them, bearing slightly different insignia – their sun was white instead of golden and the square had spears radiating around it – screamed battle challenges and attacked.
The lich remained seated and just as one of the fighters struck, he moved the physical form of the priest whose soul he claimed into the path of the sword. It cut deep, slicing through enchanted armor. The look of shock on both the priest and the paladin’s faces were worth the effort and then the priest’s soul fell into the lich’s gauntlet. The fighter stumbled back praying to his god for forgiveness. The other fighter stumbled suddenly unsure and the lich took his soul as well.
“Lets try this again. I want information about Malyx Do’Allariss. I know the Imperics have told you this. My price for not killing you is the two souls I have claimed. They will be added to the tribute that you came here for. Do you wish to continue?” he asked turning to glare at the other fighter who had dropped to his knees praying.
One of the fighters, with the golden symbol rather than white, resheathed his sword and gestured for the others to relax. He stepped forward and said, “I am Alan of the Holy Order of the Sun God and Creator Pha Rann. By the holy temple’s decree, we do not tolerate evil and cannot abide in its presence unchallenged.”
“Yes, and so you have challenged me. How long must this tedium continue?”
Alan looked to one of the priests, who nodded and then said, “We must consult Sir Alan. There is no precedent for this.”
Alan bowed and then walked over to the knight praying and dragged him back to their line. “You should be stripped of your rank and title fool,” he said but the man remained praying.
The lich sat, unmoving and let his gaze strike each of them. He felt a ripple in the invisible ether around him and allowed his focus to drift to that strange place that reminded him of the void but had that weird flow of energy that always went in only one direction. The two priests stood within the flow and watched him, and talked. The lich regarded them from out of the flow and for just a minute, the lich was not even sure why, he allowed his true Eldar form to show. It shocked the priests who fell back down into the flow.
In the world of the real, the two priests whispered to Alan, “The lich is not a lich, well not at least any we have ever encountered. As such, there is allowance, Pha Rann willing, to speak with evil.”
The lich snorted, “Evil? Is that what you are here for? Pathetic.”
Alan stepped forward and sat down in front of the lich and asked, “Why is resisting evil pathetic? The desire to destroy for destruction’s sake must be resisted for the sake of the innocent, the weak, and the gentle. That is my role as the leader of this group. So, what of you?”
The lich held out his hands and allowed the paladin to see what he expected. Brown dessicated skin under which dry tendons and bone writhed showed his body’s undead preservation and function. “I am the commander of the army besieging this city, and I hold the souls of your party members. I desire information. That is who I am. You are one some group that has come to save the royal family and the daimo, maybe even defeat me. The Imperics trusted that you could tell me about this Malyx…”
“Yes, we know of Malyx. He is a lord in the nation to our south. A drow elf who forsook Lolth…”
“Lolth is known to me. I take it then that her great creations thrive… so this drow elf forsake Lolth?"
“Umm, yes. Well, no. Actually, I don’t know how this relates to Malyx. Morbatten is a strange country. They accept all kinds but regularly ally with us to fight against necromancy. Malyx, or Daryx as he is called there, is the head of that country’s military most concerned with foreign affairs. I could tell you much, but must ask, is there something specific you want to know?”
“This Malyx appeared to me and spoke with me. He resisted my soul tear and my summons. I want to know more about a person able to do this.”
Alan shrugged, “Very well. We know that Daryx joined Morbatten at the express summons of the dragon emperor Alerius, a red dragon who rules that land. Very long ago. In the span of just several years, Malyx joined the Inner Circle, a group of advisers to the emperor. That was three hundred years ago. In that time, Malyx has recruited far and wide and seems at the heart of every military action and epic quest undertaken there. While we do not have any information about his involvement with you, it is likely that Morbatten has already determined that Ori needs help. I would guess that Daryx is assessing whether you are a threat to Morbatten. Knowing them, they probably also offered you an alliance?”
“And what if I am? What if they did?”
Alan shrugged. “Tania does not look at things the way my people do. I would guess that they will do whatever is necessary by any means necessary to prevent you from falling into the Jade God’s hands, the god of Necromancy has warred with them for millenia now.” Alan looked at the lich and stepped forward to the seat next to the lich. "I have teamed up with Tania on several occasions to fight against the Necromancer."
“And this Malyx fights against the Jade God, or for Morbatten? I don’t understand how one of Lolth’s…”
“He has forsaken Lolth though we do not know if he serves the Dragon Queen. You may know her as Takhissis?”
“Ah, yes. That name is known to me. She was mighty long before I was. And this Jade God. Please tell me about him.”
“It. Actually, we don’t know if it identifies with a gender. In the light of Pha Rann, our doctrine teaches us that shadows grew in the void as the sun’s brightness increased. The light illuminated both good and evil. The light gave hope to creation. It also enabled evil to covet creation and to seek to own and control it. Out of all the demons of the abyss, there is one who seeks to not just control but to freeze and hold things into eternal sameness. This is the Jade God. Like Morbatten, we fight against it as well as all other evils. Morbatten has fought multiple wars against the hellhounds, pardon me, the generals serving the Jade God. To be honest, I am shocked that a hellhound has yet to appear here.”
“A hellhound? I’m familiar with them. They’re nothing.”
Alan shifted uncomfortably. “Actually,
the term hellhound can refer to two things. There is the common hellhound… maybe you talk of those? They are easily defeated in this world by skilled warriors. Then, there are also The Hellhounds. They serve the Jade God. It is a term Tania, errr Morbatten, started applying to them some centuries ago. They are titanic hellhounds with some small measure of free will and infused with the Jade God’s desire to baptize all of creation in undeath. The Jade God watches through their eyes and can use them as a vessel to enter this world. Any undead creature, such as yourself, falls instantly under the Jade God’s control when confronted with a hellhound. You would be… a prize.”
The lich’s eyes flashed purple, “I am no prize.”
Alan smiled and boldly stated, “You sir are a lich. One of the most powerful of the undead and you retain free will. Our doctrine, both Pha Rann and Takhissis’, agree on one thing. The histories show the Jade God will stop at nothing to acquire you. You are a lich right?” Seeing the lich’s anger still kindled, he added, “I only ask because you resisted the combined might of my group and we have vanquished liches before. You appeared affected but are clearly not vanquished.”
The lich let his anger fade. “Before what you call time, I self-created. There was no trade where I gave up something for what I am. I feel your Phaer Roon but it does not affect me anymore than it did in the eldar times.”
One of the priests came forward and Alan nodded to him. “Sir, you use an archaic term for Pha Rann. Phaer Roon only ever used that name in the writings about the world’s creation. After the world, the sun god took the new name Pha Rann. In our language it designates a shift from the role of creator to the role of preserver. Do you have a name?”
“I do.” He turned his attention back to Alan, “Your doctrine then agrees with Morbatten’s, the Jade God would consider me a prize. Tell me then, if I were not a threat…”
“But you are a threat. Daryx would not speak with or tell you his name if you did not represent some threat to Morbatten. Though their goddess is evil, we have found and continue to find common ground when it comes to our fight with the Jade God.”
The lich sat in silence and then said, “Tell me of my elder sister Lolth.”
Alan blanched, “I am a paladin of the sun god. I’m sure there is nothing I could say that would be complimentary.”
“She yet exists and has not come under the Jade God’s control.”
The priest who had spoken earlier responded. “Lolth is not and does not touch the dominion of The Necromancer. The Mother of Spiders and creator of the dark elves, she has attained her own dominion. Even if, and this is solely my opinion, she would not fall under the Jade God’s sway. Her dominion is strong enough…”
“I do not understand this “dominion” you keep referring to.”
Alan supported the priest to continue. “Consider sir, Pha Rann. I am uncomfortable speaking of Lolth but the example should carry. As the creator, this world, this universe, and everything in it that has, is, and will yet be created pass through Pha Rann’s dominion. Just as the sun shines forever, so long as there is life, whether it acknowledges Pha Rann or not, they worship Pha Rann through the act of living, of surviving, of hoping. This is therefore Pha Rann’s dominion. Those of us who actively choose to worship Pha Rann and follow his teachings, magnify our worship. As we align with his will, we are able to heal wounds, resist evil, and act as agents in this life to the benefit of the innocents.”
“So, Lolth’s dominion of spiders and drow…”
“Rather, the existence of spiders and drow”
“Is her dominion?”
“That is correct sir.”
“The Jade God’s dominion is death and undeath. As a lich, with free will, why am I a prize?”
Alan shifted uncomfortably. “You must free the souls of our friends or I will not be able to continue. The information is delicate. How you use it is everything. Will you free our friends’ souls?”
The priest shook his head and said, “I would rather die than tell…”
“Your death is easy enough to arrange,” the lich commented.
“You will be cast out,” the priest pled.
“I can atone.”
“You must not.”
“I grow tired of this,” the lich said. “Tell me what you know and I will decide its worth. If it is worth your two friends, I will return them. If it is worth more, I will return others I have claimed.”
The priest grabbed Alan’s arm, “We must not.”
“I am at peace with this,” Alan said. Turning to the lich, he asked “I have your word?”
He was interrupted by the other knight with the white god symbol. Hurling his sword and praying, it ignited with white fire and impaled the lich through his torso. The knight continued to pray and the white burning fire ignited the air around him. He leapt at the lich.
Alan tried to block the paladin, but missed. A barely visible purple aura flashed around the lich. Into this shell, the paladin smashed and stuck. Small tendrils of purple energy caught the paladin there. Though the white fire burned many away, as more and more tendrils caught the knight, the white fire dimmed and then flickered out. Within the shell, the lich pulled the sword out of his torso. The metal hissed and flared burning the lich’s hand with black oily smoke. The hole in his chest popped and bubbled with ichor and smoke. Wincing with some degree of pain, the lich disintegrated the sword just as the paladin’s life force ebbed and then imploded into the aura.
The others went on attack and another younger fighter bearing the same emblem leapt onto the shell to pull his friend away. A purple tendril brushed his hand and instantly, his arm withered to powder. He leapt back screaming in agony. Just as the other paladins went to attack, Alan commanded all of them to stop and stay still. “What Cuthbert wills and how they choose to die is no concern of ours. We were not sent here for this mission.”
Within the shell, the lich looked at them and questioned, “Cuthbert?”
Alan sighed, “Cuthbert is the god of an order of paladins within the worship of Pha Rann. Like the sun casting a shadow, they view the world as their god does – through the absolute of good and evil. They are fanatics. Part of their doctrine is that evil must be destroyed. My speaking with you violates their doctrine.”
“Alan, I came for information but this is getting tiresome. Do you accept or not?”
Alan ordered his knights to restrain the last knight of Cuthbert, who still struggled to fight one-armed. “I must have assurance that you will free my group. Should you deem this not worth, I will offer to take their place. Is this acceptable?”
The lich nodded. “In this world, no the eldar times, you are a lich. You are therefore part of the Jade God’s dominion already. Your very presence empowers it. More so, as a free-willed eldar, there are several paths you could take. The first is to claim your own dominion and become a god in your own right." Looking at the lich, Alan probed. "I'm sure Daryx mentioned something like this?" The lich nodded.
"In this world, only in this world, there is a path to do this, to Ascend and claim a dominion of your own. Though you are mighty, I do not think you will survive the first part of that quest. At some point, you become known to the Jade God and he will marshal all of hell to seek you out. There have been a few rare attempts to claim part of the dominion of necromancy. All have failed. I'm not saying you may fail. I'm saying you will. You are too great a prize to the Jade God. Remember, any contact with undead exposes you to the Jade God. Any contact with a hellhound and you are his.
“The last is to protect you from the Jade God and you continue as you are now. The issue for Morbatten, even for us, is that as an eldar lich, should you become the Jade God’s… you will become a new hellhound. Even the weakest of the hounds is mighty beyond belief. You would likely be among the mightiest, ever. Morbatten fought a twenty year war against the weakest and was nearly destroyed. I do not relish such a fate for my own people, or any people.
“There is a final path, which is y
our destruction. Given what we have seen here, it will take heroes equal to a hellhound to slay you. Like it not, heroes will seek you out, eventually, mighty heroes will come for you. Cuthbert has paladins more powerful than these who would welcome such a fateful quest. Your war here with Ori ensures that it is only a matter of time before you are forced into one of these paths. Right now, you can choose.”
“Claiming my own dominion and becoming a god sounds nice,” the lich whispered. “Tell me more about that.”
“I cannot. I have only heard rumors of it though our doctrine contains the story of the knight Cuthbert who ascended and is now worshipped by such as these,” he said pointing to the writhing knight straining to attack the lich. “The people of Ori have a similar doctrine with their god Imperius. It is not known to me how it is done. But, I believe in it and in my heart, Pha Rann whispers to me that this doctrine is true as surely as I feel that you are not entirely consumed by evil.”
Chapter Forty Nine - The Role of the World Jewel Tehra
The lich eyed the struggling Cuthbert knight as the healers restored his arm, then turned his attention back to Alan. “This doctrine you believe in, it does not apply to Pha Rann?”
“Sir, I have not studied it enough to say for sure. Maybe the priest here can elaborate but Pha Rann was before these gods who ascended in this world. Where you are an eldar, I just don’t know.”
The priest nodded and added, “Yes, you have it correct. Pha Rann was one of the mighty in the eldar times. He was the first. He never ascended. He just is and always has been the sun god, our creator, now our protector.”
The lich regarded the two and the others trying not to stare at the lich too obviously. “And were this Morbatten here, how different would – say – the doctrine and teaching of Takhissis be I wonder. For the eldar, for your Pha Rann, for their dragon queen, for ascending?”
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