The Lich of Fardel

The pungent stench of corpses filled the room.

Unable to bear the perverse scent of ichor for long, Del began to feel his stomach turn itself over. "What the hell is going on?"

*** Earlier that Day ***

"Another game where you play a hero fighting for justice. Just when you can't pump out another generic title Hero this or Dragon Slaying that. Why can't I find a cool game where you get to play the villain?"

Browsing through the selection of games scattered around his living room Delphonse kicked a few here and there to get a better look at the names of ones underneath them. He was not one to keep many things in his apartment, so aside from the mountain of games and consoles he had a relatively minimal place.

Del spun a smallish case between his fingers as he continued to peruse his vast collection of fantasy RPGs. I've beaten Dragon Hunt three times already… Final Dream 7 is a classic, but…

Disappointed, Del ejects the case from between his fingers and turns away to make his way into the kitchen for something to kill his boredom. However, just as he did, something caught his eye. "What's this? I don't remember a case with a dark cover like that on it." moving some stuff aside revealed a pitch black case with what looked like bone engraved around it.

"Now this is something I would have remembered buying. A collector's item? It looks like it could be fun." Touching the binding felt like ice, almost like it had been in the freezer overnight. It chilled him to the bone with a strange sense. It hurt to hold, but he felt compelled to open it. Inside was a disc that was bone white with small spikes on it, like a saw blade. "I don't think this is going to fit into my PR2..."

However, curious to see if it would work, he placed it onto the PR2 disc reader, nicking himself on one of the blades in the process and dripping blood onto the disc's surface. . Suddenly, the disk began spinning and the blood from his finger spread across the disc causing a strange glowing look to it. In fear he slammed the lid down as a burst of red light shone from his PR2 enveloping him and removing his view.

"What just happened?" He thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes, attempting to get used to the sudden darkness that surrounded him. Fortunately, it wasn't completely black, and what he could make out about his surroundings it was immediately apparent that he was no longer in his home. Instead he was in a dimly lit pit and more apparent was the stench that surrounded him.

The pungent, putrid stench of corpses filled the room.

Unable to bear the smell for long, Del began to puke. "What the hell is going on?" He could hear something twitching in the corner of the pit. It seems his commotion has awoken whatever beast was responsible for the carnage surrounding him. He froze, squinting to take a better look at whatever lurked within the darkness with him., Whatever it was, it had stopped moving as he did. Trying to be as still as possible, Del did everything in his power to not be noticed by whatever was in the room with him.

"I can smell you necromancer…" A voice from across the room spoke in an eerie tone, as rough as gravel. "Your power is weak here; you cannot hope to survive outside of this cage. Wherever you came from. I will soon return you there."

The large, amorphous creature leaped from his perched position across the room towards Del who immediately raised his arms in defense. "Oh god no, please not like this." Del thoughts ran wild as he tried to scramble out of the way of the sudden attack. Flailing, he stumbled over the bodies around him as his hand squished into what could only be the rotting flesh of some recently dead thing. "Someone please save me!"

Hitting the floor of the cage with a slop, the creature suddenly returned to a slow, crawling pace. With a low, deep, vicious growl capable of rattling bones, it lowered itself for another pounce like a tiger in waiting.. It's voice bellowed forth again. "It has been a long time since I was fed such a spry creature. Usually they only feed me their dead. With you, I will savor every last bite."

Del's back was against a wall now. The dim light that peaked in from the sky above lit up the face of the monster… no, demon in the pit with him and to Del's horror its form was worse than he could have imagined. Its teeth were jagged and long. His face was like a human's, but malformed and larger than human size. His arms were thin, but powerful and ended in sharp, crooked claws. It's body featured several ribs protruding from beneath the skin, however none of them pierced through. This was most definitely not human or if it was, it was not anymore. "Stay back!" Del shouted in utter fear, a cold sweat profusely streaming down his forehead. The creature halted. It winced before Del as he spoke.

"What was that just now?" Del thought "Does my voice frighten it?" The creature violently shook its head as if trying to remove something from it. It seemed irritated by something. By him.

"You little creep, I won't let you tell me what to do!" It lunged once more in Del's direction. "S-Stay put!" He commanded, opting to stand his ground and step aside from the leaping creature's path..

The creature grabbed at its head as if in pain before, slamming into the wall near Del. It kept holding its head but remained static and unmoving as if… as if it were staying put. Del cried out testing the limits of this unusual scenario, anxious for something, anything to work. "Quit playing around and die already!" The hideous demon-beast glared and hissed at Del from the corner of its eye, still unable to adjust it's head to properly look at him.

"Wait, I don't know what's going on but you called me a necromancer. Does that mean I have control over the living dead or was that just something you said to confuse me?" The creature did not respond, instead it howled, trying to free itself from what appeared to be invisible chains. "Answer me, now!" Del tried to sound as commanding as he could but his meek voice was never really something that commanded a room, much less an average person. However, it was enough to command this thing.

The cage fell silent for a time. Finally it spoke.

"You are a necromancer, practitioner of the undead and potential candidate for the position of undead lord of this world. It appears that I, under no will of my own, am now your first pawn in this game we call life. Just know this, necromancer, "the word coming off like street sludge on it's tongue, "I will get you back for what you have done to me!"