Doevm tossed and turned in his sleep, sweat on his forehead. He wrapped his thin blanket around him and clenched his teeth.

…

Doevm hurried through his throne room. His robe skipped against the backs of his skeletal feet and the rumbling floor. “Filthy god damned humans, they’re coming for me again.” he mumbled. “All I did was defend myself against a single noble and they march over the hills like ants.” The gems on his many golden rings lit up and a hundred skeletons with bows appeared. “Defend the east wall and aim for the commanders.” The skeletons bowed and hurried off. Doevm went to the top of the south wall himself to see hundreds of humans.

In the night, their torches burned with hatred, displaying their ugly faces. They stood shoulder to shoulder, prepared to die for a cause they knew nothing about, as humans often do. At the front was a man with extravagant golden armor on top of a pure white horse. He raised his silver sword and pointed it at Doevm.

“Your reign of evil ends today. You’ve killed too many of our kind.” the army behind him cheered and raised their weapons.

“Evil?” Doevm laughed. “Your kind is a plague to this land! Humans are wicked and must all be exterminated. In the morning, I’ll walk on your corpses!” A bloody battle ensued, taking nearly a month before Doevm exterminated most of the intruders. The survivors, he tortured and figured out the location of their villages. When he burned those villages to the ground with everyone trapped in their homes, he returned to his library to study magic.

‘Don’t you remember?’ a familiar voice rang out. ‘You were a Lich who hated humanity with every bone in your body. You were the ideal Lich that learned the ins and outs of magic. You could have wiped out humanity with your powers. Your thousand-year dream could have been realized. What happened, you got bored? When humans came after you, you spared them. You even befriended a human. You forgot about me – your dream of glorious genocide – but I’ll never disappear.’

‘No,’ Doevm thought, ‘I haven’t forgotten about you, I just realized how pointless you were. Humans won’t be killed no matter how many I slay. I just have to accept they will always be a part of this world. Now go away, this is just a bad dream.’

Everything went black, then a light appeared. Grass and broken trees formed. Doevm held a frozen-tipped spear against a tier one beast. His comrades were strewn on the floor.

‘You did forget. Why did you break your oath for these people? Why did you save them? You could have run away, but you let human emotions control you. You took an unnecessary risk for them.’ From inside the Lava Boar’s den, Doevm’s Lich form walked out and faced Doevm.

‘I need them for the war. I need to befriend them so they can watch my back.’ Doevm walked around the Lich. He felt attached to it and separate at the same time.

The blue flames in the Lich’s eyes flared, ‘That’s an excuse and we both know it. You can’t lie to me, I am you. The truth is that you got attached, just like with Arthur. Remember, you are not one of them. You will never be one of them. I am what motivated you for so long, trust me once again.’

‘Whatever, this is just a dream. When I wake up, you’ll just be a memory.’ Doevm sat on the grass against one of the fallen trees. He closed his eyes breathed in, but a skeletal hand wrapped around his throat. He tried to escape and opened his eyes. The Lich stared at him and squeezed the air out. Doevm’s vision went hazy.

The Lich laughed, ‘I’m a dream? That’s what you think.’

…

Doevm sat upright. His sheet was soaked in a layer of sweat and he was breathing pretty hard. He felt around his neck and sighed. ‘That’s right, you’re just something I left behind long time ago.’ sighing, he balled his sheet, threw it in the corner, and went back to sleep. In the morning, he went to the library and fell into his blissful habit of cleaning books. He took one out, wiped it down, then put it in its rightful place. He moved to the next, cleaned it, returned it. Outside, the guards weren’t practicing as usual, since they were still either on missions or recovering. He went down a couple bookcases when the lord walked in.

Doevm bowed and went back to cleaning. Reginald slumped down in his chair and rubbed his baggy eyes. “Morning Doevm, I see you slept as well as I did.”

“Yes sir, I had a bad dream about my past.” He took off another few books and cleaned them. Reginald yawned and took out some slips of papers from his desk drawers. He dipped his quill in ink but stopped an inch from the page.

“You know, that break Jameson gave you applies to your usual duties as well. I can see you’re still injured from the battle.”

Doevm took out another couple of books, “Thank you sir, but I feel this is relaxing. It helps me clear my head.” he put them back, “And what injury are you referring to?”

Reginald pointed to his neck. “Around here, you have a few long bruises. Did you not get those during the mission.” Doevm winced when he felt his neck.

“Actually my lord, I think I will take the day off. I apologize for leaving the work half-done.” he bowed and hurried away to the river. His reflection in the water had the marks just like the lord said. They were too thin to be from his fingers but too thick to be from thread.

‘I’m a dream? That’s what you think.’ the words echoed in his head like a taunt. Doevm sighed and walked to The Pit to go work his frustrations out. He expected it to be empty, but Thomas and Frey were sparring against one another. The Pit used to feel so small. It could barely hold a hundred people. Now that only a few people were inside, it felt huge. In terms of body mass, Thomas matched Frey, but his muscles weren’t as developed. He made up for it with skill.

Whatever Frey threw at Thomas, Thomas threw right back. The match turned into a wrestling match with both their faces turning a little red. Frey was on the verge of winning until a red mist shot out from Thomas. Frey’s back neared the floor. One shoulder touched, then he emitted a green essence a little lighter than Doevm’s. They struggled for a while. Frey’s mist flickered then disappeared. Thomas pinned him and retracted his life essence. He helped his opponent up and they got ready for another match.

‘I guess Frey got more life essence from the mission as well. I didn’t know they knew each other.’ Doevm just walked past them to the training equipment in the back of the room. Usually when working out in the library, he would just use the heaviest books as weights. It was crude, but it worked. Now that he had weights, he could finally do his regular routine. “Hey Doevm, come spar.” …until Thomas rudely interrupted him.

“Sorry guys, I don’t feel like sparring today, I’m still a little hurt from yesterday.” Doevm pointed to the marks on his neck. “Maybe next time.”

“But I’m the young master.” Thomas pulled out his ultimate move right off the bat. He smiled ear to ear. “So you should ignore a little mark on your neck. Come on, I’ll go easy.”

‘I will break you like a twig someday.’ “OK,” Doevm sighed and took a stance. Thomas was the first to move. He let loose a combination attack that Doevm blocked. He twirled around and kicked twice, but that only left him off balance. Doevm took the second one straight on and caught the leg. “What are you going to do now?”

“Watch me.” Thomas pulled the leg in, getting him closer to Doevm, who simply lifted the leg and knocked his opponent over. The young lord wiggled around and punched Doevm’s shins, but with no proper base, they weren’t a threat.

“How about you admit defeat?” Doevm asked. Frey was holding in laughter so much that his face was turning a little red. Thomas shook his head. “Fine by me.” Doevm just dragged Thomas through the grass and some dirt. He flailed around, unwilling to be a broom. “Next time, make sure you have a move down before you try to use it. No matter how advanced it is, if it fails, you’ll lose. Next time, stick to the moves you know.”

Doevm lectured as he cleaned The Pit’s floor. Thomas must have had enough because he released his life essence. Doevm let go, narrowly dodging a fist. Thomas returned to a stance. “I thought you said you would go easy. What, does a young master have to use his life essence against an injured guard?”

“Shut up, you knew I was joking.” Thomas barked, his face turning as red as his mist. Bits of dirt and grass hung from his hair and chest.

“I know you were joking. How can your sparring be considered easy?” As Doevm talked, he moved back until his back was against the weights. “It was more like a kid having a temper tantrum than sparring.”

Thomas grinned. “I know you’re trying to provoke me. You want me to go all out so you can copy my techniques. Well this spar is over, I admit defeat.” he walked past Frey’s dropped jaw and out of The Pit.

“You are in so much trouble.” Frey said. “You can’t talk to the young master like that. Even I would have been angry after that.”

“That was a taunt.” Doevm said. “When sparring, words are also weapons. I didn’t plan to look at his techniques though.” He took a step to the right and pointed to the block of steel behind him. “If he fell for my taunt, he would have gone for my face and nearly broken his hand. It seems he’s smarter than I gave him credit for.” Since it would be awkward to go straight to weight training, he asked, “So what do you plan on doing over the rest of your break?”

“I want to get stronger.” Frey said. “Breaks are for the weak.” he grabbed a couple of heavy weights and got to work. They didn’t talk to each other for the rest of the day, only stopping to get water and food.