2223 Space and Time (Part 1)

Leegaain waited for Solus to disappear before Warping them to their destination.

"Why did you follow us? I thought you would stay in my lab with Shargein." He asked Salaark who was still right beside him.

"I changed my mind. I want to meet our neighbors." The word "our" had never been so scary yet Leegaain feigned ignorance and led the way.

From the outside, Inxialot's moon lab looked like a three-story house made of stone with a wooden sloped roof. It even had a chimney that was puffing smoke. It was a cozy place suitable for romantic getaways rather than magical research.

"Before I forget, are there seasons on the moon?" Lith asked, his mind prompted by the sloping roof.

"Yes. As I told you, the moon and Mogar are one and the same. The seasons follow the same timing and cycle both here and there." Leegaain replied.

The door of the cottage was slammed open, letting the lord of the house out.

"It's a nice surprise seeing you, Leggie." Inxialot the Lich King looked like a desiccated corpse that had lost most of his flesh to the rot and retained only enough to express his emotional state.

His once luxurious mage robe was not in tatters, the grey of the dust covering the gold and red of what was left of the cloth. The gaping holes in the mage robe were filled with spiderwebs and those who had weaved them.

"Fancy a game of chess? I've trained hard and I've become really good at it." Inxialot asked.

"Maybe later. What about Lith?" The Guardian pointed at the youth.

"What about him? Why have you brought so many people here?" The Lich squinted his eyes in annoyance.

"You invited him and his wife here! I'm just their chaperone. Salaark followed us on her own." Leegaain said.

"Oh, yes! I forgot. Come in, please." Inxialot looked funny at Lith and Leegaain, making Kamila glad that they had plenty of protection.

The inside of the house was as cozy as the outside, with stone walls and thick carpets covering the wooden floor. The redwood furniture was elegant and in mint condition, unlike its master.

The door led directly to a dining room that was furnished with a stove, pantry, and a rectangular table filled with people.

At the head of the table sat a woman who looked to be in her early forties, about 1.60 meters (5'3") tall with seven streaks of different colors almost entirely covering her light brown hair.

Her dark brown eyes and features were human, but that was it. Her demeanor, aura, and the raw power she emitted were out of this world. Lith recognized her as Aylen Nagaar, the First Lich, Maker of all Liches, and Inxialot's mother.

At her right, there was Zolgrish, then Ratpack, and then a series of cats of different colors sitting on high barstools that brought them to the table level. Just like Aylen, they were holding pen and paper, playing the same game as the undead.

They all nodded and meowled at the guests for a second before focusing on their respective piles of cards.

At Aylen's left, sat a creature made of pure Chaos whose upper body resembled that of a human while the lower half shapeshifted from legs into a snake tail non-stop. His features were human, but scales popped in and out of his skin as well, giving the creature an eerie look.

"Hello. I'm Apep the Eldritch Apophis and I am…" The Eldritch rolled what Lith recognized as a d20 made of Adamant, even checking a reference table for the result. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm sorry if it took so long to set up a date for your visit, but Apep here rolls for his mood every day and I couldn't bring you here while he was under the effects of confusion or berserker rage." Inxialot said as it explained everything yet it only made his guests more confused.

Aside for Lith, of course.

'Is that...?' Solus asked via a mind link while Lith squeezed Kamila's hand and shared with her the information she needed.

'Fuck me sideways, yes! Dungeons & Looting. They are all playing it.' Lith recognized the characters sheets each participant had in front of them and the skill cards they were studying to get accustomed to their class.

'Isn't that an Earth game?' Kamila was flabbergasted. 'Doesn't that mean that this Apep guy comes from Earth just like you?'

'I'm afraid so.' Lith replied. 'Be careful about what you say or it might guess my identity. The last thing I need is even more trouble than I already have.'

"Aylen, what are you doing here?" Salaark had no time for pleasantries and questioned the Lich who kept pillaging her Desert.

"You've got some nerve asking me that! You guys destroyed my lab during your hissy fit a while ago and the Dragon Dance ruined all the repairs I had made. I should ask you for compensation, big fella." Aylen poked at Leegaain's chest and immediately regretted it.

"Are you telling me that the life of my child is less important than your insignificant lab?" His voice was a whisper, but the gust of wind it produced almost blew her away. "How dare you tell me what I can and cannot do to protect my children?"

He reverted to his full size, that of a Black Dragon 50 meters (164') tall and with a tail half as long while the house enlarged to fit him. The Father of All Dragons roared his fury and challenge at the First Lich, exuding a Dragon Fear that made the moon tremble.

Aylen's body shattered into smithereens and her phylactery failed to reform it.

It had actually been the attack on Lith's daughter that had caused the collapse of Aylen's lab and Shargein's birth to ruin the repairs, but Leegaain was too furious to care about the details.

Once in father mode, the aloof and peaceful Guardian turned into a frenzied beast who would exterminate first and talk later.

"Calm down, dear. That's not what she meant. Think of the children." Salaark caressed his scales, pointing at the felines who stood in front of Aylen to protect her.

"Who wants some tea?" Inxialot asked without a care in the moon. "I also have cookies."

"I swear to the gods that I'm going to kill you!" Aylen said, but to her son. "How can you stand there and do nothing while my life is at risk? Even my fur babies tried to protect me and they are weaklings compared to you."

Between her white core and phylactery, she had regenerated in just a few seconds.

"Sooner or later, everyone dies." The Lich King shrugged. "As long as it's not me, it's not my problem."

"Nice to meet you, guys." Zolgrish the Lich stood up, offering his skeletal hand. "My name is Zolgrish and I come in peace. Is it the first time for you earthlings on the moon?"

"May Red Mother have mercy, master! You know them already." Ratpack whined in frustration.

"They Scourge, Bright Lady, Scourge's wife…" Ratpack projected from his communication amulet the hologram of Kamila from the public pictures of the marriage. "And Guardians!"