Ten Months Later

After finishing up his training, Doevm had a good measure of his limits: skin and certain parts of the muscle could be regenerated in seconds, however it stopped there. When he severed the tendon to his pinky and tried to repair it, the finger remained limp. 'At least I have an excuse to go to the medical wing. I can fake injuries and indirectly learn from Oliver and Ashtehar on how to perform better healing spells. He stood up, nodded, and left the cave.

As he walked towards the base, the Lich appeared: "You, are you trying to trick me?"

"Nope," Doevm said. "It's like you've said, I had forgotten myself. I just realized exactly what I had forgotten, what both of us had forgotten."

"And what is that?" The Lich's two blue flames narrowed.

"A secret." Doevm smiled as he skipped back to base just to annoy the Lich even further. "You're right, I'm becoming more human. I am experiencing unrestrained emotions for the first time. I threw away my identity as a Lich. Thank you for reminding me of who I once was. I couldn't have come to this realization without you. Just be patient. I'll tell you eventually."

"You think you're so smart," the Lich growled. "The truth is you've given up inside, haven't you. The past months you've just been going in circles. You've made no progress. I know becuase I've watched it all. The second you drop your act, I will be there. I will take this body. If you're going to act, at least make it interesting." The Lich mumbled something unintelligible and vanished.

Doevm laughed and his smile dropped. His feet returned to a regular pace. 'That confirms it. Even though the Lich can see into my memories, it can't see my thoughts. That's such a shame. I could have gained an ally. Still, even though I know what it is, I don't like it. I've been vulnerable all this time.' He pulled the necklace that Maximus had given him out of his shirt and stared at it. 'Maybe this can give me guidance. The book didn't help me and my efforts at healing myself have hit a wall.' He put his necklace back around his neck and continued onwards.

When Doevm got back to the base, the guards gave him a note. Reading it as he went up the elevator, his neutral expression turned into a frown. He crumpled it up and threw it away. He didn't return to his quarters; instead opting to walk to Marcus's quarters. As he neared, a faint yelling brushed his ears, getting louder by the second.

The source was revealed when Ashtehar stepped out of Marcus's quarters and slammed the door. Doevm couldn't see much under the war monk's hood, but he did manage to catch a glimpse of his sour expression.

Doevm walked through the door to find a pale-faced Marcus. The captain turned to face him: "I thought you were Ashtehar coming back to fight me." He sighed and nearly fell on his desk. Wade was next to him with a similar expression.

"What do you want this time?" Doevm spared the pleasantries.

"To inform you of our new policy," Wade said as he handed Doevm a note. "I'm sure you've realized by now, but it is likely a spy is in our midst." He didn't wait for Doevm to react and kept talking. "This letter will let you enter and leave the base at will. Do not lose it. There are only three and they are going to you, Marcus, and me."

Doevm put it in his pocket: "Why am I getting one of these if there are only three, and what are the details of the new policy?"

"You are obviously not the spy," Marcus put it bluntly. "I'll be honest, you've had it the worst out of all of my squads. We believe the spy is targeting you. This man is most likely responsible for the Manticore and Elven incidents. If we are not careful, he will strike again. Everyone but the three in this room are under suspicion. They will be patted down before and after leaving their quarters. In addition, patrols will monitor the base, making sure that no stone goes unturned. Every hour of every day, there will be eyes pointed at every corner of this base."

"This battle today was only won because of this." Marcus pulled out a tiny note with a few drops of dried blood on it. "I managed to intercept this letter from the spy's messenger bird. There was no name for the sender but the information on the note detailed our formations. If the enemy obtained this, the battle today would have been a massacre for our side."

"I see," Doevm said. "So even if I leave the base frequently, I will be under no suspicion, no matter how much I do?""That is correct," Marcus said. "I have already informed the guards about it. You do, however, have to tell me the reason for your frequent leaves." He narrowed his eyes, acting as if he could see straight through everything. "You do have a reason, is that correct?"

"Training," Doevm shrugged, taking joy at the fact he was getting better at lying.

"Good enough," Marcus sighed. "Go back to your room and sleep. Everyone has already been informed of this new policy. If you see anyone doing any suspicious behavior, make sure you report it to me directly."

Doevm nodded and left. 'They're getting desperate,' he thought. 'They could've instituted this policy from the beginning, but that would have incited a panic and mass suspicion. Since it's out in the open now, that means the danger of a leak is greater than panicking the soldiers.'

'Now I can finally be a little safer when I go on missions. No matter who the spy is, they most likely don't have the proper spells or techniques to be stealthy. If they did, they would have assassinated me by now. At least, they would have tried.' Happy for the first time since leaving the Virility household, he went to bed.

Ten months passed as quick as his sleep. For several of those ten, storms had rocked the forest. There was no battles or training held in that time. The men stayed indoors and built roofs over their squad barracks out of large pieces of vegetation. No matter the conditions, Doevm always left the base whenever he had time in between missions and training his men.

He learned how to heal even injuries as severe as the state his foot had been in by practicing on himself. The only reason he didn't turn out like Oliver was because he knew when to stop. There was no overbearing master that injured him out of insane devotion to a false idol. He got used to pain like it was an old friend. His will remained solid despite the Lich trying to push him further into study.

His cave transformed from plain rock walls to something like his library. Pages were stuck to the walls with help from spells. A door made out of vines was installed at the entrance to prevent storms from drenching his work. Different variations of healing spells were devised and tested. While he didn't learn everything, he hadn't devoted those ten months towards learning regular healing magic.

The Lich talked to Doevm daily, asking him questions and urging him to progress. While it was happy Doevm was practicing healing magic, it noticed errors in efficiency. "Why don't you do it like this? It's more efficient and you get to test out more theories." These words were often said followed by a smile from Doevm, who simply shook his head.

Battles, major and minor passed. Doevm and Frey slowly spread their names as the two strongest squad leaders under Marcus. They were nearing promotion, only needing to defeat a couple more squad leaders to prove themselves. Hopi achieved the red stage of life essence and got his own squad. Frey learned how to use his shield in combat. Doevm learned how to use his dagger.

…

"Ten months," Marcus said to Wade as he hovered over his map. "In ten months we haven't found anything about a spy. While we haven't had any incidents, that spy is still inside our base. It's dangerous."

"He just hasn't moved," Wade shrugged. "Maybe our patrols are keeping him at bay. We are keeping everything in our control. I can't imagine the spy would make a move now."

"Wade, this is the perfect time to make a move." Marcus pointed to the map, which had figures scattered over it. "The war is getting to its end. The final push is imminent. What if the spy has just been biding his time figuring out a weakness to our patrols? One battle, that's all it takes for us all to be wiped out. I cannot let my men down. Double the patrols. I cannot let our hard work be for nothing. The general is watching me like a hawk."

"Yes sir." Wade walked off to inform the squad leaders. 'He's right though. No matter how great our patrols are, there is always a weakness in anything. The spy has had ten months to find it.'

…

The mages had their own quarters and that is where most of them liked to stay. It was the largest building in the base because each one of the dozen rooms were the size of Doevm's quarters. Oliver stood in Ashtehar's room, which was small and basic. As a monk, they had no need for material possessions. Everything except for clothing and materials for Oliver's training had been thrown away long ago.

"It's time," Ashtehar said. "Doevm is the one we need to kill. I just know it." He pulled a book from his drawer and showed its contents to Oliver. "I have taken note of his activities. When he "trains", he goes far enough away from the camp that we can't sense him with mana. He does this every day, comes back, trains his men, then leaves. It's because he's a Lich and Liches are fascinated with mana. They can't stand the idea of parting from it for too long. It's his weakness. Even back at the start, when Frey found out your training regimen, I felt mana from somewhere. Doevm was the only one in the vicinity. It has to be him."

Oliver shrugged, but on the inside, he was panicking. Ashtehar had that crazy look in his eye, the same glint he had when praying to the goddess. That look meant one thing: obey or be beaten. There was no reasoning with it. Even if Oliver said the world was made of earth that glint would deny it. He backed away from it, not wanting to let it suck him into its plans: "Even if it is him, how are we going to kill him? He is a squad leader who has shown nothing but dedication to the Acrin kingdom. We can't touch him."

"We aren't going to kill him," Ashtehar smiled and moved his bed. Under it was a hole leading down through the tree that held up the building. Looking down, it was wide enough to fit Ashtehar. Oliver felt a breeze from outside. "You are. For the past ten months, I've constructed this hole so you and I can exit and leave as we please. I made it by hand, so the other magicians didn't notice it. At night I carefully scraped away at the wood, not daring to make too much noise. It took months, but it's finally ready. You will kill Doevm because I am you master. You will listen to me."

"Me?" Oliver gasped. "If he's so dangerous, shouldn't you kill him?"

"No," Ashtehar said as he lifted Oliver in the air. "This is a trial you must go through. Doevm should be around your level by now. Remember our training, remember how you've grown here." He neared the hole as Oliver flailed around. "Now get going!" He threw the boy down the hole. He moved his bed back and sighed. "A Manticore, three Elven squads, and a nest of Ghouls; Doevm might have gotten lucky those times but he can't escape my disciple. He can't escape the will of the goddess."