A Bored Lich

Doevm confidently maneuvered his soul through the subspace within minutes of instruction. Maximus seemed content to watch his pupil's progress, smiling with a prideful glint in his eyes: "You've done it."

"Thank you," Doevm wanted to say, yet his soul was mouthless and therefore voiceless. It begged the question of how Maximus could talk. Although Doevm's horizons had expanded, he could only explain a portion of what Maximus was capable of. 'Maybe the next legacy will tell me more,' Doevm thought. 'This is just the beginning.'

A flicker in Maximus's soul dragged Doevm out of his thoughts. Maximus seemed to notice too. Straightening himself up, he beckoned Doevm to float over to him: "That's enough practice for now. Soul Projection, as I call it, can bypass physical and magical barriers. It will be a great help to you, however it is not without its weaknesses." He gestured to Doevm's defenseless body.

'He wouldn't,' Doevm thought.

The dull husk of Doevm's body lit up as Maximus infused his soul into it. Doevm watched his own body stand to face him, for he could do nothing else.

Maximus, alive and well, marched up to Doevm's soul. "All soulmagic is extremely dangerous - it literally puts your very soul on the line. You can never go back to this body now…if I were your enemy."

'And then my soul would slowly dissipate,' Doevm thought back to the book's teachings.

Maximus smiled: "Luckily for you, I promised to guide you." He sat in a meditative position and, in a few seconds, expelled his soul into the open.

Even if it was Maximus, the implications behind his demonstration were too real a threat. Doevm moved back into his body as soon as Maximus left, opening his eyes to a world of pain and nausea. He let out a groan and held his head. 'Maybe I experimented too much,' he thought. 'Even if something doesn't go wrong, soulmana seems to eat away at both the mind and body.'

"Are you alright?" Maximus asked.

Doevm shook it off. "I just have more questions."

"And I will answer them in…time." Maximus's voice trailed off as his visage flickered for a second time.

'It wasn't my imagination,' Doevm thought. 'He has a limit too.'

Maximus let out a sigh. "I might have to end things here."

Doevm stood up. "Understood."

Maximus raised his brow: "You do not seem too concerned for someone in your position."

Doevm crossed his arms: "What do you mean?"

"Young people of this era must be vastly more intelligent than in mine," Maximus explained, much to Doevm's growing confusion. "It was rare if someone could read, rarer if one could read fast. You read both my books so easily, even though the language must be extinct by now."

Doevm glanced down at the cover of the book. Just as Maximus had said, it wasn't written in a modern language. Doevm could read any language, however he hadn't given that fact the slightest thought, nor to what it could imply about him. "...so what if I can read it? How does that relate?"

"It is a big deal!" Maximus insisted. "That marks you as a genius. Furthermore, you practiced for hours without concern!"

Doevm cocked his head to the side: "What are you talking about? Many people can practice for hours, even ordinary ones."

Maximus sighed. "Let me start over. You opened the first legacy, so you must know that each one signals the world of their opening."

Doevm nodded.

"The world is coming for you," Maximus exclaimed.

Again, Doevm nodded.

"And yet you've been reading and practicing for hours!" Maximus concluded. "You don't seem nervous or concerned! Why do you seem so relaxed?"

Doevm narrowed his eyes and gestured around them. "Subspaces, such as the one we are within, can change the flow of time to one's favor. A few seconds may pass on the outside, while hours have passed within. That is why I am not concerned."

Maximus beamed: "No one your age should know that! You don't just have skill, you have knowledge. It's no wonder that you learned soulmagic so quickly."

Doevm didn't blink. "If you have a point, I seem to be missing it."

Maximus's sunken eyes locked with Doevm's, seemingly for the first time. There was a black abyss within those eyes, running deeper than what most men could stand. "With your talents, you could do anything," he said. "You can just run away. This does not have to be your fight. Why are you so determined on this path? Who are you?"

Doevm couldn't seem to break away from Maxmius's gaze. The words coming out of his mouth, while coherent, were downright illogical. 'Why would Maximus risk wasting his time, just to show his concern?' he thought. 'If I run, his precious legacy would go to waste. He could've just as easily given me more information. What does he care about some random person?'

Maximus waited silently, struggling to maintain his soul. Doevm went through the scenarios in his head. Telling Maximus the truth would be easy, but if Doevm wanted that, he would have said something in the beginning. It would have been the logical thing to do, but he hadn't. Suddenly, he had an answer to Maximus's question.

Doevm let out a deep sigh. "I did not choose this path."

"Then why do you pursue it?" Maximus insisted. "You don't understand. It will bring you so much pain and suffering. You will struggle to hold yourself together, let alone take care of the people who are dragged into the battle. You cannot begin to imagine…" His image flickered and began to distort.

Doevm dug his nails into his hand to keep his expression from shifting, yet his voice wavered: "I know."

Maximus paused, disbelief written across his face.

Doevm stared back at him, unblinking.

Finally, Maximus grew curious. His eyes flashed as he peered into Doevm's soul, resulting in a visible confusion as he confirmed his words to be true. "How do you…"

Doevm swallowed down a lump that had formed in his throat. "The world still recognizes your name, Maximus Draken, as a hero. Draken Capital flourishes, and people respect your legacy."

Maximus floated in a daze. Doevm could only guess that he was too shocked to know what to think. Doevm might have been raised by Maximus, as the brothers Cerlius and Doevm, but the memories were distorted by centuries of Lichdom. Maximus was nothing more than an old acquaintance now, and the brothers were buried in the darkest depths of Doevm's mind.

"Show me," Maximus asked, displaying a sudden vitality. "I need to see it."

Doevm pulled from his spatial ring, a parchment almost as old as the legacy itself: the map of Maximus's legacies.

Maximus carefully unrolled it, then stared at its contents as if it were an old friend. His visage flickered again, the intervals growing shorter. After a long sigh of relief, he glanced back at Doevm, seeming much older: "This is…from my academy. I thought the gods erased everything."

"I walk this path because, whether I fight or run, the gods will come for my friends and their families," Doevm explained.

Maximus rolled up the map and handed it back to Doevm. "As they did for me. I am sorry. This is your fate now."

Doevm waved his concerns away. "Can I get to your other legacies using this map?"

"Yes," Maximus said. "Everything is as I left it, for the future."

"Thank you," Doevm said. "For everything."

"I have one last piece of advice," Maximus said, the flickering transitioning into fading. "Soul projection will help you sense the game pieces, so to speak. Each person's soul is unique."

"The game pieces are the gods' direct pawns, right?" Doevm asked. 𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

Maximus nodded. He spoke in a whisper: "Any souls tied to fate should glow a different color, like yours."

Doevm furrowed his brow. "As in…"

"You are part of their game, are you not?" Maximus asked.

A chill went down Doevm's spine, and he could almost feel Maker's eyes upon him. He cursed under his breath. "I knew it was just a matter of time."

Maximus shook his head. "I'm sorry, Doevm. Truly, I am."

Doevm paused. "I didn't tell you my name."

"I'm sorry. It's all because I failed you," Maximus lamented. "And now you're fighting my battle…"

Doevm opened his mouth to answer, but Maximus was already gone. "Don't blame yourself, father."