Terry sighed feeling the nightmare creature's arms wrapped around him in a hug. "Aly could still be in there huh? And if she is she's probably suffering huh?" Terry questioned Erebus.
Erebus was quiet for a moment, "There... is a chance of that."
Terry slowly placed his hand against the nightmare creature's middle, "This is going to hurt for a moment." Terry said feeling the ice-cold skin of the Lich. It was black and radiated a dark aura, "Goodbye Aly. Flashfire Maxima."
The nightmare shrieked as it erupted in flame but continued to hold its arms around Terry. His clothes erupted in flame but the fire didn't burn at his flesh. Terry watched as the nightmare faded into ashes leaving a small green bead behind. "Collect trophies," Erebus said in Terry's mind.
Terry bent down and took the bead out of the ashes and took the front large tooth out of each of the rats one of them was covered in blood making Terry hesitate for a moment, "Life is... fragile isn't it?" Terry questioned silently.
"For mortals yes. It doesn't take much to end a life yet when they live they really don't see how easy it would be for their lives to end. They think they are almost invincible and that they will grow old. Growing old is a luxury that many humans do not obtain." Erebus explained in Terry's mind.
Terry put the trophies in his pocket and looked down his shirt was gone. Completly seared away the bottom of his pants was singed as well, "How did that happen?" Terry questioned lifting his legs to look at how they were singed. "I don't know what to tell the circle about Aly," Terry said quietly.
"You tell them you stumbled upon a lich and you didn't have a chance to respond," Erebus said solemnly.
"A lich?" Terry asked.
"It's what the people of this world call the nightmare creature that Aly became. The green bead you picked up all liches leaves one of those behind when they die." Erebus explained.
Terry sighed, "Ok." He walked back the way he came until he came back to the sewage water. "I'm not walking through this again." Terry remembered the door and the small room in the basement of the old building they were in before they entered the sewers, "Pathways," Terry said quietly as a familiar black portal appeared in front of him.
"You remembered," Erebus said with pride.
"Yeah," Terry muttered and walked through the portal he was back in the basement the portal closing the moment he walked through it with a light growling sound. "It's... handy," Terry said walking up the stairs of the building. Ghosts of the past haunted Terry's mind as he made his way through the building. He could almost see Aly walking through the halls preparing to cast magic around every corner. "She... was so on edge."
"She was." Erebus agreed.
"How could I not see that? It meant she really wasn't confident and it could have got her hurt." Terry said with a sigh.
"Think of the mages you spent the last day with before meeting her. Top mages who were confident who are very capable in their ways. You were used to not having to worry and it's what led you to be soft. You cannot be soft anymore Terry."
"I know that." Terry walked out of the building seeing the carriage still waiting for their return. Terry walked slowly into the carriage climbing in and closing the door behind him. The chariot didn't move, "She's... not coming." Terry said realizing why the horses were not moving.
The horses whined loudly and started running back to the circle. Terry closed his eyes, "She spent years at the circle. Years training and getting herself strong enough to be able to cast magic... and in a blink of an eye she's gone."
Erebus began to speak in Terry's mind "Yes. Tragic. Something we could prevent if we were to rule..."
Terry cut Erebus off, "Stop. I don't want to hear that right now."
"Suit yourself," Erebus said with a chuckle.
The rest of the ride was in silence. Terry didn't speak nor did Erebus. The horses stopped abruptly when they arrived at the circle. Terry got out of the chariot and made his way back into the building dreading telling them the lie that Erebus had made up. "I hope the line is long like last time," Terry muttered to himself as he opened the door.
"No such luck," Erebus said with a laugh. The line had three people waiting, a much shorter line than last time. Terry walked up to the line and waited as three other mages got their tasks. "You know.... I can't shake the feeling that some of these mages may never return." Terry said in his mind.
"It's because that is a very real possibility. There's no telling what would happen on their tasks." Erebus said calmly.
Terry nodded his head as it was his turn and walked up to the receptionist it was Beca, "Hello Beca."
"Back in a day very efficient Terry... Where is Aly?" Beca questioned.
"She... won't be coming back." Terry croaked.
Beca's face turned white, "You mean she's..."
Terry nodded his head slowly.
Beca walked away from the desk into the room behind the counter which was Caim's office.
Terry stood there for a while, whatever she was doing seemed to be taking a while. The line behind him was starting to fill up as over thirty mages were lined up behind Terry. A mage behind Terry started tapping his foot, "What's taking so long? I need to get paid."
Terry shrugged his shoulders not wanting to even look at the mage as the last person he talked to in the line is now dead. "I don't know just be patient she went into the office."
Beca came back out her face still white with tears in her eyes Caim followed behind her. Caim looked at Terry, "Come to my office. We need to talk."
Terry nodded his head walking behind the counter and followed Caim into his office. Terry walked by Caim and sat down in the chair he sat in last time. Caim walked behind the counter and sat in his normal chair. Terry looked at Caim for a moment, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Tell me exactly what happened." Caim said calmly.
Terry had a tear streak down his face, "We went to pier city like we were supposed to. We found the entrance to the sewers and we were killing rats like we were supposed too. Terry said pulling out the ten rat teeth out of his pocket."
"Then what?" Caim questioned.
"A lich attacked I didn't see it coming. It attacked Aly first killing her in one blow."
"You killed a lich all by yourself?" Caim tapped his fingers on the table, "That would take a group even for me."
Terry took the green bead out of his pocket and placed it on the desk with the rat teeth.
Caim's eyes widened, "A soul gem... they hold the soul of the lich these things are used to power magic machines. They are very valuable."
Terry nodded his head as his heart started to race, "That has Aly's soul in it?" Terry questioned Erebus and they use it to power machines?"
"It... does have her soul in it," Erebus spoke bluntly.
Terry looked at Caim, "Then I want to keep this." Terry said quietly grabbing the gem and putting it back in his pocket.
"That's fine... but that doesn't explain what happened to Aly's body and your shirt."
"My shirt's easy to explain when the lich attacked me it wrapped it's arms around me and I burned it while it had it's arms wrapped around me. I lost my shirt but fire doesn't really affect me." Terry explained.
"And her body?" Caim questioned again.
"Tell him that the lich raised her from the dead as a zombie so you had to burn her too."
"I... the lich made her a zombie. I had to burn her... burn her into ash." Terry explained as another tear slid down his face as he felt a twisting feeling in his stomach, "this all doesn't feel right," Terry thought to himself.
Caim was quiet for a moment and pulled out a paper from his desk and started writing. "Your report makes sense. Be sure to report to Beca for quest completion for a class SS rank quest completion. Sixteen thousand gold coins. I'm going to contact the decease's parents to tell them what happened.
Terry gulped hard and nodded his head, "I'm sorry I should have been more alert."
"Do not apologize if a lich attacked and I was with her both of us would probably have been dead. You are lucky they are so weak to fire magic and that you are alive right now." Caim explained.
Terry stood up and left the room his heart beating quickly. The line was already gone as Terry passed Beca she turned around, "I received a message that you require a SS quest completion reward stay here." Beca said bending down grabbing a large bag of gold that she had to hold with both hands.
Terry took it and sighed holding the massive bag of gold in his arms. "Thank you."
"Do you have a room yet?" Beca questioned.
Terry shook his head, "No I don't."
"Report to the desk down this hallway and they will arrange you a private room for you to keep your personal belongings and use as your sleeping quarters," Beca said pointing to a hallway to the left of the desk.
Terry nodded his head and walked down the hallway with the gold loudly jingling with each step he took giving him odd looks from the other mages that Terry passed by.