Power or Planning

Although the whispered words of madness were gone, Terem found himself dealing with a different type of madness. He began to long for the days past that were filled with nothing but insignificant trifles: worrying about his next meal, how long until the cops discovered him, how long the voices would cease their mutterings for. The list goes on.

Annoyances like those, in comparison, appeared trivial; Terem's now uncertain future proved to be far scarier. After all, words and meaningless threats were all insignificant compared to the dangers of an unknown world that possessed technology greatly deviating from Earth's scientifically based inventions.

Thoughts began to flow through Terem's mind again now that his headache disappeared with the coming of terror. Unfortunately, his thoughts were still too muddled to coagulate into even a single comprehensive idea. The situation was dire and he knew it.

Suddenly, his thoughts were grounded again, just to be scattered as quickly as they had arrived with the coming of a new torment that afflicted his body that was akin to repeated electric shocks, only thousands of times worse according to the man who died in an electric chair not even two days prior. Unfortunately, the torture didn't cease.

Within seconds, Terem's muscles began to tear apart and reform; his bones fractured and restructured themselves; his heart rate skyrocketed. Minutes, that might as well have been hours, passed as the newest affliction ceaselessly ravaged its way through Terem's already beaten body. He felt like a punching bag at this point, doomed to suffer for his sins.

'What cruel irony these past couple of days have been. Maybe I'm atoning for my many sins...' were the only independent thoughts Terem managed to piece together before his mind relinquished itself to delirium, the kindest mistress he could hope to find.

Finally, the pain stopped, a dull ache gently pulsing through his body being the only remnant of its passage. Terem was tired, both mentally and physically. Eventually, his mind peeked out from behind its shield to check if it had weathered the storm of suffering, half expecting to be struck by some hidden malice.

Soon, Terem had recovered enough to begin processing what had just transpired. This was simpler than it sounded since the evidence was already in front of him, waiting to be picked up and pieced together like a 20 piece jigsaw. In addition to this, the one thing Terem didn't currently lack was time, at least that's what he forced himself to believe; whether out of hope or desperation, not even Terem knew.

However, he began by observing what his limp head had seen once the electric jolt had forced his eyes wide open. Methodically, hashed out his memories: memories of his arms and legs rupturing only to be reformed as a larger, more muscular limb mere seconds after; memories of the bloody experiment tables; and memories of his inexplicable strength that rivaled most 4-year-olds despite being a newborn. As he thought, the expelled blood, flesh, and weak bones rapidly sank to the bottom of the confinement chamber as if they were being drawn down by a mysterious force.

Upon closer inspection, Terem realized that he now possessed a quiet underlying strength within his new teenage body on top of his top-notch physique, both of which dwarfed his child's body and his prior life's body, well... corpse. He also noticed that his vitality recovered at an inhuman rate, exponentially increasing his mood and vitality with each breath. But these two discoveries were dwarfed in comparison to his final discovery.

Terem only smiled, finally confident that he would be able to escape from his prison and the unfortunate series of events that relentlessly plagued his existence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days later, a figure arrived at the facility where Terem was being held captive. The man leisurely strolled up to the contraption that Terem had gotten to calling "The Holding Cell" with slow measured steps.

For the first time since his arrival, Terem was able to see his captor.

The man, for he indeed was a man, dressed in a not-so-stylish black cowl that served to obscure most of his figure with exceptions to the face and hands, but the mysterious man still managed to exude an aura of unadulterated fear upon his surroundings, showing that he indeed possessed the power to crush everything or everyone who opposed his will at the drop of a pin or a change in his mood or even a slight shift in the weather.

The man's features did not add any bit of levity to his character whatsoever as his face appeared to be a contorted amalgamation of cruelty and bone.

What flesh remained on the man's face wavered as if it was an illusion or was simply being rejected by nature.

'A lich.' Terem thought after consulting his past life's limited knowledge of folklore and fiction.

Though unknown to Terem, the lich's gruesome appearance was in fact due to a failed experiment that was meant to forcibly give the lich an immortal human body.

Terem feigned ignorance, but in reality, he was frightened. His entire future hung on a single conjecture, a thread as his tightrope and his death right below. All of his plans hinging on a singular moment, yet that moment would not arrive for a while.

The figure spoke.

*"Freeze... Unlock... Open"*

This time, Terem was able to hear what the amalgamation spoke. He felt a slight thrum reverberate through his being that resonated within him, unwilling to part yet not strong enough to stay.

Like last time, light accumulated within the being's hand, departing to merge with the container once it had stabilized. With a sharp crack, a circle of glass phased out of existence while the liquid remained semi-solid, never leaving the bounds of the container.

Mechanically, the lich grasped Terem by the wrist, not caring to restrain the cold that sapped his strength and locked his defined muscles nor caring to reel in the intense pressure he exuded from his entire being.

Terem had no choice but to obey as the figure wrapped an arm around his diminutive figure and warped away from the lab.

Both refused to speak to each other while Terem fought to control his face from letting out even a grimace in response to the lich's death grip, fearing that the creature's suspicion might be roused.

Once released from the man's embrace, Terem found himself in unfamiliar, but welcome, terrain. Trees spread out around him, intimidating anyone in their presence; well, except for the lich of course.

Within the glade, for that is where he was, a small hill gently sloped upwards for ten feet before gently flowing back down to the forest floor. Lush grasses and exotic, vibrant flowers sprung up wherever they were deemed fit to bud and bloom.

Mystical fireflies also took residence in the clearing as they gently tapered into the forest, lazily floating about unknowing and, most certainly, uncaring as to the night's unusual solemnity.

Looking far up, Terem peered into the cloudless firmament. What he saw surprised him.

What appeared to be one moon turned out to be two moons overlapping within the night sky: one bright crimson and the other dark green.

Another bout of wonder came when Terem realized that he had mistaken many of the fireflies overhead with stars, rendering the night sky completely devoid of other celestial bodies aside from the pair of brightly shining moons.

All of these observations took or were forced to take, seconds to complete as the zealous lich marched up the small hill, only stopping once the two had reached the mound's apex.

With a minor wave of his hand, majestic tendrils of light, appeared from the lich's palm for the third time, this time dispersing into the atmosphere; however, their effects were blatantly obvious.

A light gust of wind rustled through the forest clearing, whisking the leaves up into the night air while also agitating the drifting fireflies.

However, the purpose of the spell was soon revealed as the surface of a 5 by 5-foot tablet dully reflected the moonlight. Glyphs that resonated with power were etched within the stone's surface, adding to Terem's ever-growing worry.

Here, the lich roughly threw the boy down upon the stone slab with such force that he was forced to fight for consciousness and to prevent himself from screaming aloud in pain.

*"Restrain."*

Like before, the word seemed to warm Terem before departing into the endless night sky as if it was never there. He threw his hand out, attempting to catch the departing tendril of power only to discover that his entire body, including his mouth, was bound fast to the oddly warm stone by an unknown force.

Terem fought his panic back, believing in his one-in-a-million plan. He reasoned that everything could have gone wrong, but, so far, nothing interfered with his plan even though he never expected any of it. As long as the lich led his escapade to the expected conclusion, Terem would be fine. Still, though, his breathing hastened, adopting a ragged sound while passing through his throat.

The lich finally noticed the boy's panicked state and spoke.

*"Don't fret child. Everything will be over soon."* Of course, he didn't expect the child to understand him, nor did Terem expect to suddenly enlighten to the secrets of language through some will of the heavens.

The lich, however, gently smiled with what what remained of his face. A smile that seriously frightened Terem making him, once again, feel like his plan was akin to an ant resisting a flood. But Terem steeled himself for whatever was to come. He knew he was the ant. He would always be the ant against the lich, but no outcome is ever a certain one.

His fate had been cast into the hands of whatever Gods existed within this vast new realm and he would manipulate every odd he could to survive even if the Gods embodied a just cause to smite his body down.

The lich began chanting unknown phrases while Terem closed his eyes, or at least, he would have if the restraints hadn't been cast upon him.

Energy, thick enough to be considered tangible, pooled into the clearing from the surrounding forest. The clearing's light dimmed till even the two shining moons couldn't be perceived by the naked eye.

And then it condensed.

Light returned to the clearing long enough for Terem to realize that the fireflies had disappeared.

Then, he passed out.