Druak was an average human who despite his wishes to become a mage was unable to do so due to falling into a coma at a young age and missing the only opportunity he had to properly learn about magic.Â
As a result of this Druak decided to devote himself to all kinds of fields that existed within the world, blacksmithing, alchemy, and hunting, he did it all but even after learning so much he never managed to do what he truly wanted and become a mage.
Another problem that Druak faced was that due to his desire for knowledge he ended up never learning any fields properly, only achieving minor things within each field. This continued till the day he died at the age of 27, never managing to achieve anything substantial throughout his entire life.Â
What made this even worse was the way in which Druak died. He had simply died due to someone pushing him off the edge of a cliff, and even as he fell to his death he never learned who had killed him.Â
However, as Druak's body lay dead on the floor someone lay over his corpse with a maniacal smile. And as this being stood over Druak's body strange black energy seemed to seep within Druak's body, and as it did Druak's body slowly began to change.
100 years later within the great Dread forest.
The Dread forest was the home of the great Lich king, who had lived within it for almost the entire 100 years of its existence.Â
This normally desolate forest, which normally had next to no inhabitants due to the intoxicating aura that surrounded it which could kill 3rd stage and below beings almost in mere hours, was now engulfed by a crimson red light.
Appearing as if out of nowhere an enormous circle with intricate runes inscribed on it illuminated the sky, and from this circle a giant ball of fire emerged. The bright light of this fireball revealed the structure in which it was about to strike, an imposing tower which looked as if it reached the sky. This tower was located in the epicentre of an enormous forest, covered with the lifeless husks of dead trees.
The fireball, which was over 5ft wide, was flung directly towards the tower and as it struck a thundering boom echoed throughout the forest.
*Bang*
The blast was so large that it blocked the view of the person who had cast it. A grin appeared on this middle aged man as he proudly shouted. "That what you get you f*cking Lich. Maybe as you descend to hell you'll learn not to mess with the lesser kingdoms."
However, this pride quickly disappeared, as when the man looked towards the tower he realised… His spell had done nothing but leave a black scorch mark, not even putting a dent in the tower.
This wasn't to say this tower was indestructible, as it was clear that it had been through countless battles, shown by the numerous cracks in its walls. But the spell in which this man used was simply too weak.Â
It was clear the man was in shock by the fearful expression that grew on his face. He had just become a 4th stage fire mage, one of the most destructive types of mages, and yet his spell had done nothing.
Once the spell had disbursed a black boned being, clad in a black cloak with wolf skulls atop each shoulder pad, floated out from the entrance of the tower and as he did the killing intent which he was exuding was enough to cause the army before him to tremble.
Before this being, who had conquered death, was an army of over 1 million made up of almost half a dozen different species that all seemed to hold a grudge against this lich.Â
Despite the rage filled eyes glaring towards him the lich seemed unfazed as his booming voice echoed throughout the death infested forest. "You foolish insects. You dare enter my domain. How dare you disturb me, when you are merely minor kingdoms that couldn't even become anything more because of your weaknesses."
The first kingdom to react to the liches provocation was one of the human kingdoms generals, as from within the crowd of humans a blonde long haired man with a robe came out and shouted. "Shut your mouth you foul being. You have committed atrocity after atrocity, destroying villages and towns throughout countless kingdoms. And for what, for the experimentation of necromancy the most foul of magic."
The chuckle of the necromancer echoed throughout the army filled forest as he responded. "Hahaha. You all are mere cowards. Look at you, half of your army is hidden behind magic shields in fear of being attacked and the only time you bother to attack my tower is when you learn of my advancement to the blue mana core. You are all pathetic insects that can only gain courage to attack me when I'm weakened. What chance do you think you have against me."
The humans were not the only ones enraged by the lich king's remarks as even before the lich had finished speaking the army of 1 million had already begun charging.
The lich king watched the army charge closer and closer he knew it was finally time for him to cast his magic and as his magic began to be cast the intricate runes which lied his black bones began to glow a dark green.
The lich king's staff was made of a dark wood which had intricate runes inscribed on it and a green crystal atop the head of the staff. As the magic circle cast made by the lich appeared below him and it was finally formed. The lich dropped his staff through the circle and as it landed on the ground a thunderous boom trembled through the ground and cracked began to form in the ground in which the staff had fallen.
*Crunch*
Seeing the lich king begin to cast his spell the army of multiple species didn't waste a second and began to cast spell after spell until their close quarter combatants could get close enough. But all of this was for naught as the liches spell had already been completed.
A luminescent green fog appeared around the tower. The ground below this fog began to tremble, almost as if something was trying to break out from hell and break its way back to the world of the living.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
The sound grew louder and louder. Until finally…
*BANG!!!*
Hordes of undead came clawing out from the ground and without hesitation they charged toward the army of 1 million. The army of thousands of skeletons followed by an enormous demonic wolf that was bigger than an entire house. It wasn't long before all of the liches, undead creatures and demons were summoned and began to clash with the invading army.
Blood, guts, and bodies were flung throughout the battlefield, it was a complete bloodbath. Not one of the species had expected such devastation; it was as if they were fighting against an entire greater kingdom and not one Lich.
The Battle ensued for weeks, not one side showing any signs of weakness.
After over a month of constant battles the Lich King had finally shown signs of weakening, he was only one being and he had his limits.
He had been supplying mana to an enormous amount of skeletal creatures and despite the constant arguments of his demonic commanders and familiars he still refused to retreat.
He knew of a way that he could escape this conflict which was to remove his core from the tower and escape from this conflict.
The problem was that if he did so his mana core would degrade by a significant amount and even more could be lost.
It had been over two months the cobalts and humans finally managed to break into his tower, using the other races as disposable fodder.
The Lich King had anticipated this and formulated a plan to trap the soldiers and mages, however, this plan had one fatal flaw. The group that managed to break in contained two of the strongest mages in the four lesser kingdoms, both being incredible mages of their respective classes.
The Lich King had been so focused on the battle before him that he couldn't properly defend his tower's core.
Just as the Lich King had defeated the Orc army, a sudden surge of pain pulsated throughout his body, his tower core was shattered.
Before he could do anything to recover from this pain a greatsword was swung down directly at his head.
Just managing to evade the attack the Lich King took the opportunity to whistle, causing an enormous Black wolf to charge toward him and transform into a black greatsword of similar size to the one that almost struck him.
The clash commenced. Druak had a clear advantage managing to dodge multiple strikes to the body.
Then just as the greatsword finally seemed to strike the Lich King a glint appeared in his eyes.
The greatsword had lodged itself between the Lich King's ribs, shattering a few of them. This didn't matter, however, as it gave the Lich King the opportunity to cleave the head of his opponent clean off.
The black mist began to escape from the blood-gushing body as it began to rise once more.
As the Lich King smiled a sudden sharp pain pulsated throughout his body once again. He had used too much power after losing his tower core, and was beginning to feel its effects.
Without warning a flash of lightning surged towards Druak along with a white spear of light.
The Lich King was in no condition to block both strikes so he tried to use whatever he could to survive these devastating spells.
Just as the spells were about to strike him they were suddenly intercepted.
What remained of his comrades had leapt in front of the spells sacrificing themselves to protect their comrade and leader.
This didn't matter as a third spell had also been cast, this spell was so destructive that the Lich King didn't even have a chance to determine who had cast it.
The Lich King instinctively released what remained of his soul so it could return to his tower core, however, there was no tower core to return to.
Just as the soul was about to escape to somewhere else a sudden bolt of light struck it causing some of the soul to evaporate into thin air.
A sharp pain enveloped the lich for the first time in ages, despite the fact that he was now a mere soul. However, thanks to this damage the liches soul had been damaged just enough, allowing the soul of a particular being to finally escape after being trapped for over 100 years.
Both the soul of the lich, as well as the soul of whatever separated from the lich, began to float in a black void that had appeared due to some kind of mysterious force. The souls of these beings floated within this void like space for 100 years.
Until a vacuum like force suddenly pulled both souls, dragging them out from the dark void they had been in.Â
After Druak's death, he had felt as if he was entrapped in a prison filled with only darkness for 200 long years, but finally, he saw light. Opening his eyes a wave of emotions flooded into him, as he finally saw something other than darkness.
Memories of his past life began gushing back, as he recalled everything that had happened to him in his past life and how empty he had felt at the end of it all.Â
Druak shook his head, not wanting to recall the horrible memories of his past life. As he slowly lent up to look around him, he heard the whispering of countless people.
"He's awake."
"How'd he manage to wake up so soon. I thought the doctor said he would be in a coma for at least 2 more years."
As Druak listened in on what was being said around him Druak finally came to his senses his brain went into shock as he thought of what he last remembered. 'Wait. I'm supposed to be dead. So how am I here. Did someone save me.'
The last thing Druak felt before he died was the feeling of someone pushing him and the pressure on his body increasing as he plummeted to his death. Yet somehow he was alive.
As Druak couldn't remember what had happened last, he decided to check what the condition of his body was as he wanted to know if anything had changed.
Druak was about to check the condition of his mana core when he finally realised something about his body. When he tried to move it felt as if his entire body was stiff which was in complete contrast to how he felt in the past. He then went to check his mana which felt as if all the mana he had accumulated in his life had almost completely disappeared.
This caused Druak to panic and before finally coming to the realisation that he was really alive, even if he was weaker than before. This caused him to unintentionally let out a loud shout trying to let out all the feelings had bottled up.
"YES!!!" Druak shouted, startling the people around him.
Druak was astonished by the mere fact that he was alive but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder how he was still alive, even after falling from so high.