Chapter 1, Lisa's Struggle

9 years.

It has been 9 years since Lisa accepted the caretaker job she was coerced into by the bastard tycoon.

It wasn't a bad job, far from it there was good pay and excellent compensation for her family but she was forced to disappear from the rest of the world.

Living luxuriously in the forest could be someone's dream but for her, it was nothing but a chore.

No outside communication of any kind.

Television and the internet were allowed but no sites would allow any form of communication.

There was a ban on social media, YouTube account creation, and many games were restricted as well.

But on the bright side, there was nothing for her to wish for aside from a companion to do things with her.

She wasn't completely alone but with her charge stuck with a chronic illness, life was boring at times.

The place she was coerced into working was a beautiful property in the woods.

It was a 2 story complex with a massive underground area which was larger than the above-ground floors.

Her master's child or her charge was forbidden from entering the second floor of the building, but she was free to do so.

Part of her job was on the second floor.

Up on the second floor were 2 fully equipped operating rooms for the boy.

The rooms saw use when the doctor was called upon to check on the progression of his illness.

There were also dry storage rooms for snacks and other edible treats.

Finally, there was a massive room which was used for growing cannabis.

As there were no pharmaceuticals that could ease the boy's pain he turned to weed and found some relief from his suffering.

So of course the rich prick of an employer threw enough money at the issue that indoor growing was very simple.

On the main floor, there were several bedrooms in case of accidental soiling in the night or other times.

Then there were the usual places to make the main floor livable, of course, given who the boy's father is livable is more like extremely luxurious.

There was a home theater, a massive fully stocked walk-in closet for each bedroom, and an additional room for clothing where the laundry was done.

A smaller kitchen, small only compared to the closets, with several islands for preparing food.

There were bathrooms big enough for 5 attached to each room with a unique one in the laundry room as well.

Then from the kitchen, there was the exit to the backyard and also the stairs to the basement.

The basement was the boy's favorite place but it's not very often he is well enough to make the trek down.

Today was not a good day for him.

After being awake for the Majority of the night in the washroom bleeding and wailing at times he is now passed out in a bed.

Although it is a cruel thought part of her wishes he was awake for despite his chronic suffering he is still positive and pleasant to be around.

Without him around it is just me in this huge house and at times it can be quite oppressive.

A little after noon, she said to herself, "the doctor should be awake now."

After living basically alone she had developed a habit of talking to herself.

There were only 3 numbers that were permitted to be saved on the only phone.

A supplier for the restocking of the second floor pantry, the doctor for emergency purposes and the personal number of my employer who I am not to call unless the doctor says to do so.

Calling the doctor, after 3 rings it goes to voicemail.

So she left a message "It's Lisa, I am calling about Charleston. Get back to me soon he was up all night again, he is not doing well. He may need surgery again."

After waiting 10 minutes I called a second time where It went straight to voicemail "you have one FUCKING job answer your phone, get your ASS HERE NOW!"Lisa screamed into the phone.

Putting the phone away she wondered why he was away. "Normally he is much more reliable than this."

To clear her head Lisa went outside.

Leaving her feet bare in order to feel the cool grass, she walked over to the helipad.

The soft cool grass changed to pleasantly warm hard concrete.

Since it was a gorgeous sunny day out it was quite warm on the black ground.

Enjoying the warmth of the sun she decided to lie back on the ground and watch the clouds.

After staring at the clouds for a while she closed her eyes basking like a cat in the sun, but before she could fall asleep the bright light above got much much darker.

A large cloud covering the sun wouldn't make it this dark, Lisa opened her eyes.

When she did, she saw an object covering the sun similar to a lunar eclipse.

Unlike an eclipse, it looked as though the sun turned into a cat's eye with the center glowing.

"I've never seen anything about a solar phenomenon like this," She said to herself.

"You should have prayed harder, maybe then you wouldn't be seeing it" an ominous-sounding voice sounded next to her.

"But I don't pray…" she answered back, then realizing someone responded to her when she should be alone.

Lisa bolted upright in a panic and started to look around speaking "How The Fuck are you here? No one knows about this place and there is no way you can get in without notice. Where are you anyways"

In response to this, several different peals of laughter echoed.

"Ka Ka Ka"

"Ha Ha Ha"

"He He He"

"Ho Ho Ho"

"Listen to this mortal in her clueless panic." a different voice from the first spoke.

More laughter ensued.

"Show yourselves cowards." Lisa spoke sternly while looking around for anything out of place.

She assumed this to be nothing more than pranksters of some kind, but the strange phenomenon with the sun cast strange shadows across the courtyard.

Sometimes she thought the shadows moved.

"You call us cowards yet it is you who shall cower if we show ourselves." a Third voice spoke.

"You can try and scare me with these petty voice recordings but it won't work. Reveal yourselves!" Lisa could feel a small panic rising in her chest.

The third spoke again, "one of us will."

A new fourth voice spoke from behind her, "don't regret your decisions child."

Whirling around to face the speaker, who materialized in front of her between her and the house.

It was a humanoid skeleton with glowing green eyes and each of the bones on its body was tipped in red.

It looked as though deep red on the ends of the bones were moving, slowly crawling to reach the other end of the bone.

It was strangely creepy yet mesmerizing at the same time.

Relaxing slightly she said, "though you are very pretty in a morbid way, how are you staying upright?"

Lisa asked another rapid fire question, "if you are just a skeleton then you should just collapse without any muscles right?"

Though this bizarre hologram just appeared in front of her she was less afraid and more curious.

After all fantasy is fantasy, the dead stay dead, that's why we fear its permanence.

She asked this to poke a hole in this prankster's plan or throw him off so she could identify where they are actually hiding.

After these questions followed another round of laughter "Ka Ka Ka Ka Ka"

The second voice spoke "Just a skeleton, Ho Ho Ho Ho."

"The first Lich to achieve immortality, just a skeleton Ka Ka Ka Ka," the third said.

The skeletal figure just laughed along with the others at first but after the third's comment, the green light in its eyes changed to red.

The red lines on the bones began to drip and It looked over to the side and let out a terrifying aura and roared. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Do you want her cooperation? Yes? Then pipe down and let me do the talking!"

As his aura flared the white bones changed to black as the dripping red began to flow faster.

The shadows in the clearing were wrapping themselves around the bones and the liquid began to mix with the shadow and merge into an ethereal armor of some kind.

Also, darkness started to surround them and began to deepen as though the restriction around the sun was narrowing, and it began to grow freezing.

All this happened almost instantly, then as if it was all her imagination it vanished.

The skeleton's eyes turned from red back to green and spoke to Lisa. "Where were we, ah yes you asked how I don't fall over. It's quite simple really, magic."

'But Magic isn't real is what Lisa would like to say, but she couldn't choke the words out after seeing what she did.

That display couldn't be faked any way she knew how to explain, it was something straight out of some kind of anime!

Knowing she had to think quickly or this could turn really bad Lisa thought of how to approach this situation.

She quickly came to the quickest and easiest one she knew, pretending you are Closten.

Another barrage of questions soon left her mouth. "Is that really Magic?! That's so cool! Can you teach me? Can you do that super strong shadow trick you just did? Were you a human a really long time ago?"

Lisa shook off her fear and assumed her charge's energetic passion when talking about his fantasy shows.

This plan seemed to get a good reaction from the Litch as he grew quite pleased with himself.

"Now, Now, Now calm down, there will be time for questions. Now you need a token from us so what is your one wish?"

Lisa thought to herself this could be a chance to make a difference in the boy's life.

"Can I wish for anything?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

The Litch nodded "So long as it is smaller than your moon and less powerful than myself it can be anything you desire."

"Ok awesome! Can I think about it?" Lisa asked, still keeping up the innocent excited naive act.

"Of course take a few minutes." replied the Litch assuming her to be another fantasy-obsessed fool to be easily manipulated.

Thinking out her specific wording for a minute Lisa said to the Litch "My Desire is I wish for a skill card with the ability to do a full restore and make my soul super strong! I want to be Invincible!"

The other 3 voices burst out laughing, "She wants to be Invincible Ha!"

"Ha Ha Ha"

"Ho Ho Ho"

"He He He"

Only the Litch wasn't laughing. Its eyes turn from green to yellow and ask "Why a skill card?"

Pretending to scratch at her head to cover up a bead of sweat on her forehead, cocking her head to the side Lisa said "Isn't that how you normally get skills?"

"Never mind," said the Litch, its eyes turning back to green.

Waving his hand a small card appeared as though it was a game card of some sort.

Then it shined dazzling blue before dimming and shrinking to the size of a fingernail. "This will fully heal you and increase the power of your soul 22 times the original."

He then floated it to her where she snatched it out of the air.

Then in a girlish child-like voice, she said " YAY! I can show Teddy my new magic!" running towards the house with an exaggerated bounce in her step, practically skipping.

As Lisa was leaving she flicked her hand and a small bead of sweat flew off and hit the Litch. He hissed in pain and spat "fucking Salt" which Lisa overheard as she was skipping to the house.

Thinking quickly as her life appeared to depend on it, salt is a deterrent it seems.

Knowing she didn't have long till they realized they had been tricked, " 4 priorities. 1, get salt. 2, heal Closten. 3, make a note for Closten in case they take me. 4, prepare myself to fight some undead."

First, she ran to the supplies room on the second Floor grabbing 4 boxes of salt off the shelf.

She silently thanked the boy for the second time today.

If he didn't need so much salt for cleaning his bongs all the time they could potentially be screwed.

Running to the bedroom closten was sleeping in, she spared a brief look at his sleeping figure before putting the Skill card on his bare chest.

It dissolved visibly and the effect was immediate.

His body was enveloped in a brilliant light blue which wrapped itself in a cocoon-like shape.

Seeing the card's effect does seemingly what the Litch said it would do, she turned around to finish her other tasks.

Running to the kitchen she wrote 2 letters. one with the information she had discovered without trying to alarm the boy and a second in case she did not see the boy again.

This second letter was her goodbye if things go as she expected.

One doesn't simply trick the strong without being punished, and she doubted the undead will have qualms about killing the living.

Walking back to Closten's room she places the note where she has no doubt he will find it and takes a last look at her charge.

The person she spent every day with for a little over 9 years.

He may have been gross and an annoying prick at times, but Lisa had grown fond of the boy.

Hardening her resolve she prepared herself to face the Litch in order to protect him.

With the first letter on one of the island counter tops left under a box of salt, she grabs a large bowl with a lid and fills it with salt.

With a bowl of salt in hand she tucked a knife in a pants pocket and walked to the back door.

As Lisa exited the back door of the house the Litch looked at her strangely. "Why do you hold your hands behind your back? Why didn't you use the card? Your soul doesn't seem any stronger."

Realizing that she has only a small amount of time before her act is seen through.

Lisa ran up to him with a bounce in her step, knowing she was almost certainly heading to her end. "I have a surprise for you, I left the card with Teddy inside! But I brought you strawberries!"

The other 3 voices burst out laughing, "Strawberries, the worm is being hospitable"

"Ha Ha Ha"

"Ho Ho Ho"

"He He He"

The Litch had a black expression on his face as she walked closer to him holding the bowl out in front of her.

"Ummm, thank you?" the Litch said in a confused tone, he was beginning to think that they made a mistake choosing this simpleton.

When Lisa was close enough she pulled off the lid in a way that it hid the salt before dropping it and throwing the contents at the Litch.

The Litch roared in outrage "FUCK THAT HURTS! Damn it, you played me!"

As the Litch roared the light slowly disappeared and it was as if all the color had been sucked from the world.

In anger he slapped her and Lisa exploded like a watermelon bit by a hippo.

Still seething in his anger the Litch chanted an incantation: "Disappear, Disappear, Disappear, all returns to nothing. Nothing is the state of purity. The Void Returns!"

Then the being who created the skill card finished that line he clapped his hands and everything stopped.

The breeze died, the greenery turned to ash and the cat's eye covering the sun vanished along with the star.

The world turned to shades of black where no life could be found on the planet or in the solar system other than these 4 beings.

One of the voices spoke again "weren't you supposed to be working on your temper?"

"Ho Ho Ho"

"He He He"

Two of the voices laughed at the remark.

"SHUT UP" roared the Litch before throwing a punch and space received a hole in it much like a mirror. This caused the already devastated planet to start to crumble. "I am working on it…. I can't believe she fooled me."

"Ha Ha Ha Ha"

"Ho Ho Ho Ho"

"Ke Ke Ke Ke"

"He He He He"

The laughter of the 4 is all that remained as the ruined planet and solar system was slowly consumed by the void.