Final Battle (Part 3)

Light melted away, leaving Doevm in a world of darkness, inside his own mind. The sounds of roaring flames or the clashing of steel was far away, as if he was on in island far away from the world. He was in the sky. Above him was the darkness he feared and below him was the Lich. He pulled out his shinning necklace.

The Lich covered its eyes: "What is that? You've always carried that around, ever since the nest of the Ghouls along with that book. Is that where you're getting all this false confidence from? What the hell are you doing? We need to kill Ashtehar and avenge Frey!"

Doevm simply smiled as he descended. He pressed a hand to the cracked, transparent barrier between himself and the Lich. "I've been wondering what the difference between us is." The barrier rattled around as chunks of it broke off, allowing the marsh water into Doevm's space and Doevm's space into the Lich's.

"You are me as a Lich and I am me as a human. That's what I thought." A large crack ripped down the middle, branching out into a webbed shape. "But after reliving my memories with you, I realized that we're both not him. Both of us aren't acting in according to the original's memories, but acting from our own interpretations of them. We are not the real Doevm, but two parts of him."

Screams filled the chamber as the darkness above condensed into an orb. Doevm held it in his hands, slowly tightening his grip: "The reason is because of this, recognize it?"

The Lich's flames grew brighter. "Is that a soul shard like the one you took out of Oliver?"

"Similar," Doevm said as he crushed it. "But different. Remember when we found the book and written all around it was: "She is always watching"? She's has been watching us, probably laughing at our stupidity. That darkness that's hung above us both has been manipulating us, pitting us against each other. Remember when we first met Maker and our soul got cracked? Was that ever mended?"

"You don't mean…"

Doevm broke the barrier, letting their realms connect in a swirling mass of marsh water and air. "We are broken pieces." A bright light flashed through his mind. "From my experiment with Oliver, I learned that two souls must resonate in order to combine or separate them. That's why I didn't tell you this until now. That's why I learned holy magic, which is meant to restore things, and combined it with my learnings of soul magic. Now that she is no longer in control, we will be whole."

"But then we'll cease to exist!" Doevm could tell the Lich was flailing around, desperately trying to stop the process.

"Yup," Doevm said. "We will become something in between human and Lich, or we will be something much greater than both. I don't know what's going to happen, but we can't remain as we are." The surroundings kept getting brighter until everything was white. "We have to embrace both of ourselves and become whole again, as one soul."

Doevm opened his eyes in reality. The fires, the screams, the blood, his fatigue, they all surged through him as he took deep breaths. It had only been a few seconds in the real world. Wade and Oliver had been no match for Ashtehar. Oliver had been knocked unconscious and Wade's arm hung limp from his shoulder.

Doevm pulled out a water sac and doused his dagger with its contents. When the liquid dripped from his blade, it melted the soil beneath it. "Everyone," he said as his body was engulfed in magic circles, enhancing his physical self and draining some of his little remaining mana after fusing the broken parts of his soul. "He's mine." Before Wade or Oliver could object, he raced forward.

Blade met gauntlet. Sparks flew in the two combatant's faces. Doevm flipped around, nearly twice as fast as before. Each one of Ashtehar's fists blurred, threatening to injure him with the wind force alone. 'One good hit, that's all we need to end the fight.' The fire was blown away from each time they connected, setting more of the dead leaves and twigs on the ground ablaze. Soon, the fires surrounded the two combatants, filling their lungs with ash and smoke.

Doevm coughed as he moved, getting an elbow to his ribcage. He cushioned himself with air magic yet that didn't stop him from inhaling more smoke. Ashtehar became blurry to him. 'I only have a minute before my mana runs out.'

The war monk fought even though he was getting cut. His body flashed yet the cuts never healed. Even with his undying devotion, his face started to show signs of effort. Veins bulged out of his arms and legs. More magic circles surrounded his limbs and he moved faster. His legs, however, slowed down significantly, as Doevm always aimed low.

Doevm, in turn, brought out every ounce of his life essence and the occasional throwing knife, aimed directly at Ashtehar's tendons. 'It'll take him longer to heal those places and expend more of his mana-' The war monk managed to catch him by the nose. It crunched inwards as blood filled his mouth. Falling back, he didn't dare use his little remaining magic to heal it.

His dagger sliced forward, severing one of Ashtehar's hands, who simply regrew it and smiled: "You're weak, Lich." He tackled Doevm and flung him into the ground. Doevm bounced, letting go of the last bits of clear air he had. Ashtehar jumped on him only to hit the dirt as Doevm turned into mist, materialized five feet away, turned, and ran. "Get back here!" the war monk's words echoed in the forest. Heavy footsteps closed right behind Doevm, who increased his pace. "Don't run from our fight."

Doevm smiled, knowing Ashtehar didn't have his former speed: "I'll run from the fight the same way your goddess runs from her people. She's just a figment of your imagination, a lie fed to the people to keep them in line."

"What did you say?" Ashtehar ran after Doevm, even through the fire all to get closer.

"The goddess is just a fake!" Doevm knew the insults were childish, but he didn't have the brainpower nor the time to think of anything clever. Ashtehar followed him towards a tree that was significantly larger than the rest. Flames had already reached it, climbing up is massive trunk and spreading to its branches.

Doevm's limbs shrunk back to their normal size as his enhancements wore off. He slipped under a fist that tore a large opening in the tree, exposing the tunnel leading through the middle of its trunk. "You can't run forever," Ashtehar gritted his teeth. "And you've just run out of mana." As he talked, screams came out of the forest, louder and higher in pitch than any human could make.

Doevm slowly backed away from the hole in the tree. His life essence struggled to stay materialized. His bloody nose combined with his heavy breathing put even more ash into his lungs.

"You're all alone Lich," Ashtehar coughed twice. His steps on his injured legs were shaky but determined. "Your allies are weak because they do not possess the true strength I have. In the name of the goddess," Ashtehar said as he approached. "I, as her servant shall purge you from this world."

Doevm smiled and put a hand to his ear. "Do you hear that?" Ashtehar didn't seem to care, but with his life essence enhancing his hearing, he could hear screeches and scraping sounds coming from inside the tree.

"Do not delay your fate." Ashtehar said as he raised a bloody gauntlet. "Die!" The burning tree shook as dozens of red eyes appeared. The war monk ducked under a few malnourished, pale creatures that had lept at him.

"Instead of blindly following your sects and their hypocritical rules, maybe you should have done some research," Doevm said as he backed away from the rest of the Ghouls pouring out of their burning home. "While I do love doing cool flips and stuff, I'm a Lich at the same time. Where there is a Lich, there are always dead bodies."

"You son of a-" Ashtehar was cut short as the Undead jumped on him. His legs were too damaged to run away. His enhancements wore off just like his life essence. In a short session of ripping and tearing, he was just a skeleton. Doevm walked away, back to the rest of his group.

…

He hurried back as fast as he could, coughing and bleeding. The Ghouls were too busy trying to chew Ashtehar's muscles up that they didn't even notice him. He managed to find his way back by tracking Oliver's mana signature. When he got back, however, his face darkened.

Hopi and Frey were lying close to each other, barely clinging to life. Oliver stood next to Wade, apologizing over and over again. Hopi's chest, while it had been healed a little, still needed treatment. With blood and smoke filling the Elf's lungs, he only had a little time left.

Frey wasn't any better. He was still in the crater. If it wasn't for the twitching of his eyes and his slow but shaky breaths, Doevm would have thought he were dead. "Why aren't you healing them?" he asked. "They're going to die at this rate."

Oliver bowed and said, "I only have enough mana to save one. I didn't get enough time to heal Hopi before Ashtehar attacked me. I'm sorry. I expended most of my mana already. Can't you do something?"

Doevm glared at the healer then shook his head. "I'm out of mana. It will take too long for it to regenerate." Whoever he looked at; a pang shot through his heart. 'This is what I get for developing emotions. My logic is blocked. I can't think straight.' As he tried to force his head into action, it only gave him a headache. 'Think damn it. Work my brain! Why do I feel something blocking my thoughts?' He grasped the sides of his head and squeezed hard.

He looked to Frey, who he had fought beside and considered a rival, then to Hopi, who didn't start out in the best light, but worked his way up into Doevm's favor after overcoming his rage. 'Why is this decision so hard? I should just choose them based on who can live and serve me better.' He looked at them again. He already knew the answer to that question, but he rejected it.

Wade sat next to his two fallen soldiers, alternating his gaze between them. His expression got heavier by the moment. "It has to be Frey," he said as he stood up. "He will serve the lord better." He bowed to Oliver. "Please, save him."

Oliver looked to Doevm: "After a few more minutes they'll both be gone. Do you agree with Wade? I won't save him unless you agree to it. I'm sorry to put this pressure on you."

Doevm kept switching them and imagining various possibilities. 'Frey or Hopi, who will I save?' The question repeated itself without any reasoning or logic. Each second passed faster than a blink of an eyes yet also felt like a century. "I think it should be…" he never finished the sentence.

Hopi's hand flinched. His eyes ever so slightly opened and stared at everyone standing above him. Reflected in those two dark irises were the raging flames around him. Even though his ribcage was sticking out of his chest, he moved. His arm shook as it raised itself. His mouth opened and closed, letting blood spill out: "We...are...one." His fist closed into a ball save for his index finger, which was pointed at Frey. "For once, I belong with people." The edges of his mouth raised. "Save him. Save my friend."

Oliver nodded and held his hands over Frey. The giant's bones cracked back into place as a magic circle formed over him. Flesh regenerated from the old and damaged. His breathing normalized.

Hopi's eyes closed and his arm fell to the floor. Oliver tried to say some quick words of prayer but Doevm stopped him: "Don't offer his soul to that wench. I don't want her to get the pleasure of his company."

"Then what should we do?" Oliver asked. "How will we honor the dead?"

"Remember him," Doevm bowed to Hopi's corpse: "Thank you for everything." From his eyes poured tears for the second time of the day, and the second time of his two lives. After standing up and letting the others bow, he looked at the flames around him. They burned everything away, leaving nothing behind. 'At that time, when my library went up in flames just as this forest, I wondered to myself what loss felt like.'

He and Wade picked up Frey and walked him away with Oliver. They didn't go anywhere specifically, just away. 'He's gone. That's it. Everything about him, every year he lived, every problem he sought to overcome, is gone.' He trembled, but even as he did so, he cursed at himself.

'If only I had gotten just a little bit faster. If only I had been just a little bit stronger. If only I had a little bit more mana. If only the two fractured pieces of my soul fused faster. If only, if only.' He took deep breaths but didn't calm down. 'Those damned gods. After I'm through with the academy, I'm coming after them.'

As he walked, he didn't notice, but a mark had appeared on his forehead. Its light was nothing compared to the fires. It flickered in and out before fading back to regular skin.