2224 Space and Time (Part 2)
"I'm pretty sure I never had the pleasure of meeting these gentlemen." Zolgrish scratched his chin, his face a mask of sheer focus as he tried to jog his memory. "Besides, Scourge looks nothing like this."
The Lich conjured from his staff the hologram of a beautiful woman who was slowly taking off her skimpy clothes.
"That's your private folder!" Ratpack facepalmed. "Look under associates."
"Damn, you are right. Just a second." The holograms of more women and men appeared as Zolgrish browsed through his files and all of them were of the same kind as the first. "It's not what you think. It's all research material related to your visit."
Finally, a hologram of Lith with his name written in big letters both above and below appeared. It shapeshifted into all of his known forms while the letters now formed the words "It's always the same guy."
"See, Ratpack? I told you that this is Scourge, you damn airhead. How could you fail to recognize him?" The Lich's flimsy memory had already rearranged the events in a more flattering way.
Too bad the others didn't share his delusions.
"Nice to meet you again, Ratpack." Lith bent down to get at the small undead's eye level. "Can you please tell me what you see when you look at us?"
Back when they had met for the first time in Zolgrish's lab, Ratpack had been able to see Solus' real form. The undead hybrid was gifted with Soul Vision thanks to his elf half, but Lith had no idea of it nor of the existence of Soul Vision.
"Nice be treated like person for once." Ratpack sighed. "You monster while Bright Lady almost done with second last thin chain. Big chain got bigger instead."
The small undead saw Solus' figure hammering at one of the chains restricting her that was close to falling apart. Also, the chain that connected her to Lith had almost doubled its size.
"When you say monster, do you mean that I'm ugly or what? What about my wife?" Lith asked, knowing that Ratpack used himself as a standard, making everyone else ugly to him.
"You ugly and monster now. Different. Scary. She just ugly instead." Ratpack pointed at Kamila who despite being forewarned was offended by his words. "This, however…"
Ratpack pointed at her womb, licking his lips several times as he tried and failed to describe the thing that was staring him in the eyes.
"Damn, where are my manners?" Inxialot gasped in embarrassment when he finally remembered the difference between host and guests.
"I could tell you where I'm going to shove them along with my staff, but not in the presence of a child." Aylen snarled, pointing at Shargein.
"Dear Lith, Constable, and Guardians, allow me to introduce my housemates to you." The Lich King ignored her and continued. "You already know my mother, Aylen."
"It's a pleasure." She offered her hand to everyone in turn and they shook it.
"You are also already acquainted with my apprentice Zolgrish and his minion, Ratpack."
The two undead just waved their hands, then Zolgrish asked Ratpack who those people were and when they had entered the room.
"The furballs belong to my mother. They are respectively Fluffy, Fiery, Blacky, Warmy, Purry, Princess, General Paws, and of course, Inxialot Junior!" The Lich's voice turned cold at the last name.
The cat showed the Lich King his paw in reply, extending solely the middle claw in an unmistakable rude gesture.
"The black cat is mine and he's called Nero. Last but not least, this is the Eldritch Apep. He actually has another name, but I can't pronounce it for the life of me.
"He comes from a very distant land called Eearth [AN: freely adapted from Mogarian]. It's a place filled with magical wonders like the one you see on the table and many others that I helped Apep to recreate."
"What's with him and the dice?" Lith asked.
"According to what he said to me, he died on Eearth, came on Mogar in the body of a powerful Divine Beast, and then died again, turning into an Abomination. After falling into an Eldritch, millennia of hunger and isolation have driven him insane."
'Millennia? Dungeons & Looting isn't that old.' Lith thought in amazement.
'What does that mean?' Kamila asked.
'Either that madness has made Apep lose his sense of time or that the reincarnation process leads at different points in both space and time.' Solus replied.
"If you ask me, it explains the bullshit about dying twice but there's no point upsetting the guy. He's crazy good at what he does." Inxialot whispered the last part or at least he tried. Too bad that from up close it was impossible to not overhear him.
"That's…" Apep rolled the d20 again. "Rude of you."
"I'm sorry, my friend. We are lucky he passed the temper check or we'd have squabbled for a whole turn until he could roll again to regain control." The apology earned the Lich King a nod, the rest of the phrase, a snarl.
"Bottom line, he uses the dice and reference tables as a crutch to keep his mind rooted to his memories of both Eaarth and Mogar. The dice holds the Chaos of his mind and the table gives him the Order he lacks."
"It's a pleasure meeting you, sir Apep. How come have moved on the moon?" Kamila felt deep compassion for the Eldritch, knowing that her husband might have ended in the very same way, had his life been different.
Without Elina, Solus, Selia, and everyone who had helped Lith retain his humanity, he would have turned into a monster as well. Kamila didn't find it polite to keep talking about the Apophis like he wasn't there so she asked him directly.
Apep rolled a 9, but between her smile and calling him sir, she passed with flying colors.
"I'm hungry. Always. The moon is full of world energy to the point that, wherever I am, I can sustain my existence without the hunger messing with my mind. Too much. This is the only place where I can safely touch things and people."
"I'm really happy for you, but I meant why are you here? In this house." Kamila gave him a small bow that brought a small smile to his reptile face.
"I work with Inxialot. Please, explain." His hand was moving toward the dice again and Apep was afraid of hurting the kind woman if he rolled badly.
"You see, that old hag of my mother has refused to share with me the secret of the white core-"
"I'm right here, jackass." Aylen said with a sneer, slapping him on the forehead.
"I'm sorry, Mom. As I was saying, this old hag of my mother…" Inxialot said while pointing at the First Lich. "…has refused to share with me the secret of the white core.
"I firmly believe that the black and the white core are just like light and darkness, two sides of the same coin. Also, I believe that just like the legends say, by combining them one can obtain the power to surpass the white cores and the Eldritches and reach the Guardians."
