The room behind the stone door was huge. Its walls were not like the rest of the mines but a well-designed marble. It was a shame that no one lived there anymore, as every part of it was dusty.
The Lich that was fighting against Joshua moments ago was now inviting him to sit and talk. There was a massive table made of pure stone at the center of the room. It was clearly designed to hold reunions of some sort, so Joshua and the Lich sat there.
"You probably have a lot of questions. Anyway, I'm Leo, and you?"
Joshua gazed strangely at him and said. "Leo? That's a weird name for a skeleton. I was hoping for some more, I don't know, evil?"
Leo could not understand how humans could judge someone by their looks. Did humanity change during the time he spent inside the mines?
"I'm Joshua." After the introductions, Joshua crossed his legs and said. "Now, tell me everything you know."
"How can I start?" Leo tapped his skeleton fingers at the table. "Right. So, I was not always a Lich." The first sentence already took Joshua by surprise.
"This room was a secret meeting place of the secret society I was part of, the Crows Nest." Leo then started to explain what this secret society was all about.
"You see, since the beginning of times, the Demon Lord always came from the underworld, and tried to conquer our world. For that reason, the Gods send us four blessed heroes every time they sense the Demon Lord trying to re-establish his power."
That piece of information was not new for Joshua, and he wondered if Leo would have something useful in the end.
Leo continued with his story. "But the thing is, people always assume that the Demon Lord lost countless times throughout history, and the heroes always came up on top. That's not the case."
Joshua could not grasp entirely what that meant. "This doesn't make sense. If the Demon Lord somehow won, then why are we still here? I mean, this world should have been conquered by him, right?"
"Indeed, and that happened. Our world had to start over from scratch at least four times throughout history."
"What?" Joshua got up from his chair. This was something that changed his point of view entirely. Before he was certain that the blessed heroes would kick the Demons Lord's ass and that's all. But now Leo told him that it was not that simple.
"I know of that due to Crows Nest diaries and books. You see, our society was created a long, long time ago. With its sole purpose of helping the blessed heroes to face the Demon Lord. We did not have the strength to face him, as that was the job of the heroes, but still, we helped them grow, helped them with information, and dealt with the other slightly weaker demons that came along."
"Our world had to restart from scratch four times. It is in the records of our society. The Demon Lord won four times against the heroes and killed almost all humans, but his power eventually ran out in this plane, and he was sent back to the underworld."
"I'm the last member of the Crows Nest society in this period of time. A traitor among us helped the Demon Lord kill us all two hundred years ago, so this time we can't help the blessed heroes. For that reason, the odds of the Demon Lord erasing our world once again is extremely high."
The room was completely silent. It was a lot of information for Joshua to digest. If Leo was telling the truth, then the situation was more serious than he thought it was. He still did not wish to face the Demon Lord, as he preferred to enjoy his life in this new world and do the things he wanted to do. But if the world ended, how could he enjoy it?
But one thing looked kind of cool to him. Become the leader of a secret society. It had been his dream since he was little, and now he had the chance to finally accomplish it. That way, he could become a mysterious and badass leader of a secret society, and maybe help the other heroes with some stuff.
"That will be awesome. I can live one of my childhood dreams, help the heroes if they run into trouble, and enjoy my life. I'll not become the center of this mess." Joshua thought.
"How did you end up as a Lich anyway?" Joshua could not help but ask.
"Well, it was luck actually. I performed a ritual to become a Lich, but at the time I thought it did not work. Turns out I had to die to become one, so when the traitor killed everyone, I came back." Leo explained.
"I thought about leaving this place, but I had to stay here and protect the treasures of the Crows Nest."
Joshua thought higher of Leo. That was an attitude of someone that valued his friendships, and where he came from.
"Leo, how do you feel about restoring the Crows Nest?" Joshua smiled.
~~~~
Joshua spent hours talking with Leo and reading all of the books and diaries inside the room. This room was the main base for their reunions in the past, but it was not the only room. The Crows Nest made several of those across this country, and the other countries. Leo told him that they were all connected, and one could actually teleport from one to another.
Sadly, all of them were deactivated. Joshua would have to find them and unlock them for the teleportation to work.
"Master Joshua. What do you think we should do?" Leo said.
"I'm glad you asked young Leo. Our top priority is to earn money, and get stronger."
"Young Leo? You know I'm more than two hundred years old…"
"Young Leo my dear friend. Please focus on the task."
Leo stared helplessly at the floor…