Abyssal Road Trip - 343 - Madness (Patreon)

Amdirlain’s PoV - Material Plane - Qil Tris - Year 4370 (Local calendar)

As she tracked Malcineas moving about his laboratory, Amdirlain ignored the mess he was making. His insane mind was continually distracted, and he jumped between potion stations and inscribing workbenches. Cutting through the clatter of his madness and classes, she focused on his preserved flesh alone.

She constructed a platform on the mountainside, and a stretcher soon secured the body of a male Catfolk in his mid-twenties. The brain was near vegetative, but its automatic processes had the breathing going and the heart pumping. She’d clad him in their traditional Wizard half robes, with the deep purple and red trim of those focused on Life and Nature. The colours didn’t do the russet colouration of his fur any favours, but it was a minor matter.

The Lich’s Soul link stretched off towards the capital. Its binding supported his consciousness and existence, linked to magically preserved flesh. It was a gap in the enchantment that Amdirlain’s song exposed and used. Her notes ran down the link, bypassing wards that couldn’t constrain the link without cutting off the Lich’s ability to exist. Within the gemstone that harboured the ancient wizard’s Soul, she set a new link, one of life and tied it to his new body. Imposing a slumber on the body, she yanked the Soul from the gemstone and guided it to the body she’d prepared. Its absence from the binding caused the diamond that had held his Soul to crack and shatter, setting off a klaxon of alarms in the Matriarch’s estates.

“Someone’s upset,” Sarah said.

Amdirlain’s focus was on the new closer song of madness as the undead’s consciousness settled within the flesh, writing synapses as it went. “What’s up?”

Wrapping the Patriarch in a bubble to ensure his safety, she shifted him and the stretcher from the platform to a demi-plane.

“My monitoring of her primary estate shows lots of energy in use and people running about,” Sarah hummed happily and clicked her fingers.

“The Adam’s family theme?” groaned Amdirlain.

Sarah snorted and clicked her fingers again. “They’ve had an undead Patriarch and still got a ghoulish Matriarch. That’s pretty spooky.”

Setting lingering songs to form traps within the lab, she had them keyed to create temporal bubbles if anyone related to the Patriarch showed up. Amdirlain shifted them to the same demi-plane, popping them beside the Patriarch’s stretcher.

“I could just end up killing him,” sighed Amdirlain.

Huffing in displeasure, Sarah tapped her fingers against her leg. “It’s a risk. On the upside, he was already dead. What you do might give him a chance at life.”

Amdirlain frowned at the chaos within his mind as the process continued. “I’ll let the consciousness settle into its new flesh before I take the lich memories away.”

Retrieving hundreds of crystals from memory, Sarah motioned Amdirlain to them. “No need to be nervous. I’ve got plenty of backup capacity.”

Snorting in disbelief, Amdirlain rolled her eyes. “Really?”

“We could wait for his brain to settle and then upload the lot into one of the larger psi-crystals if you want,” proposed Sarah.

Her ears twitched as Amdirlain considered the option. “Memories restored from memory crystals can have a dissociative effect.”

“Only if you don’t know what you’re doing,” huffed Sarah.

Sitting beside him, Amdirlain listened to the consciousness impressing itself into the flesh and marked some of the chaotic, enraged themes of his insanity as they went. When his sleeping awareness had settled, she checked him with analysis to ensure it had taken and set to work.

[Name: Malcineas, Lifespring pride

Classes: Arcane Synergist / Grand Synergist / Arch Synergist / Life Steward

Level: 145 / 144 / 143 / 143

Health: 189,532

Defence: 111

Magic: 1,463

Mana: 59,898,868

Melee Attack Power: 797

Combat Skills: Staff [M] (71), Mana-Lord [G] (23), Various Spell affinities and multiple spell lists.

Details: The founder of the Kingdom of Spring which came about after proving the viability of a static community. After the growth and defence of the initial Lifespring community more extended through their previous nomadic path. His principles were betrayed by a daughter able to twist the forces of Death and Life. He tried to contain her too late, but neither he nor his trusted apprentice were strong enough combatants compared to his daughter’s faction.

Note: I could tell you more, but I figured you might like to talk to him. If not, try again.]

[Analysis [S] (35->36)]

Still a smart alec!

[Arcane Synergist

Details: This Tier 5 class comes from combining Wizard and Alchemist at level 70 or higher.]

[Grand Synergist

Details: This Tier 5 class combines evolved Wizard Class Synergist and Alchemist classes at level 70 or higher. Having previously gained the Arcane Synergist Prestige Class.]

They didn’t have Tier 7 achievements when he gained prestige classes. The last one is likely more of the same. It only feels strong enough to be a Tier 5.

[Life Steward

Details: This evolved Wizard class requires knowledge of multiple Life Affinity Spell lists and mundane medical knowledge and experience to gain.]

The landscape of his mind was filled with wild connections, and with them nearly written to his flesh, Amdirlain had to search his mind for memory chains and listen for their stimulations. The process was slow at first, but with practice, she started recognising his memories from their feel. Though it didn’t stress True Song, the billions of neurons making up the mind pushed Resonance into progressing repeatedly. Another notice appeared as she considered if she should trim more from his early Lich memories.

[Resonance [G] (4->5)]

“I think there are still about twenty-odd years of memories from his early Lich years.”

Sarah gagged. “That will be unpleasant for him, but at least he’s alive.”

The closeness of the phrasing earned a growl from Amdirlain.

“I didn’t say what you told me not to say,” laughed Sarah. “What’s the situation with the memories?”

“Some of them are heavily linked; if I trim them back, they’ll come apart into an incoherent mess,” explained Amdirlain. “I might have to wake him up as is; otherwise, I don’t know if he’ll believe he was a Lich for a time.”

“Let’s wake him up,” Sarah said firmly from where she lounged on the grass. “Worse case, if he freaks, make him forget the conversation even happened.”

“Time for disguises then,” prompted Amdirlain, and she shifted into her appearance as the silver-furred J.

Sighing, Amdiralin let her Charisma unfurl, hoping she could inspire enough hope and calm from within him.

Sarah wrinkled her nose before her red fur turned black. “Might as well use Sar; the name got such extensive use among the dwarves.”

Jerking upright, Malcineas looked between them and scurried to his feet. His breathing sped up, and he raised his hands to warn them away. As if he had just noticed the feel of the air, Malcineas stopped and lifted shaking hands to turn them over before his eyes, trying to calm his breathing. “How is this possible? I’m no longer bones and mummified flesh.”

“You’re alive again. Have you ever heard of cloning?” asked Amdirlain.

His hands still trembling, Malcineas frowned and lowered them to regard Amdirlain. “I’m not familiar with that word.”

“It’s creating a duplicate of a living being’s body,” advised Amdirlain.

“I’m a copy?” questioned Malcineas, his voice lifting anxiously.

Pushing her Charisma more towards him, she projected Ki’s stillness, and his panic choked off.

Amdirlain gestured for him to settle and stepped close, resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “No. This is you. You’re alive again. I created a duplicate of your body but reverted to your early twenties. Then, I reversed the Soul Trap process to shift your consciousness and Soul from the phylactery to this new body. Your mind had slipped from the horror you went through, so I had to remove many of your most recent memories.”

“How many memories did you erase?” asked Malcineas, his voice quivering. “I remember years.”

“Nearly three centuries,” admitted Amdirlain, and she gently gripped his shoulder. “I’m sorry I left as much as I did. I wasn’t sure if they’d be crucial information to resolve things with your daughter. I was also concerned you might not believe me at all.”

Malcineas looked at Amdirlain, eyes widening in disbelief; his thoughts jumped to a path Amdirlain had hoped he wouldn’t take.

“If you don’t know the spell lists that allow raw flesh crafting, I’m sure we can arrange a copy,” offered Sarah casually, and her words caused Malcineas’s concern to crash to a halt. “Most of it is from the Life Affinity, but some require Mental Affinity. Memory wipes, for example, you’ll need Mental. The Soul transfer is Death affinity, which we know you don’t have, so that’s more problematic.”

His muzzle dropped open slightly before Malcineas’ ears twitched, and he started on arcane energy calculations. His jittering thoughts worked on options to extend healing spells to create a whole body and the quantity of Mana it would involve.

“That makes sense,” murmured Malcineas. He lowered his hands, rubbed them across the front of his robe, and pressed them together above his heart. “What has become of my... my murderer?”

“We’re working to take apart her grip on your former kingdom,” advised Amdirlain.

Malcineas groaned and bowed his head; lifting both hands, he covered his face. “What have I done? How did I fail so badly?”

“You’re not responsible for her. She’s made her own choices,” consoled Amdirlain.

Malcineas turned his head and spat as if trying to clear a vile taste from his mouth. “No, I knew she’d started delving into Necromancy. I should have executed her when I found her hidden laboratory.”

Grunting, Sarah kept her attention fixed on Malcineas. “Unpleasant experiments?”

“Her purpose wasn’t to destroy the undead. She’d filled it with skeletons, flesh golems, screaming spectres, and more. They weren’t ones we’d captured from the ghost caverns to research how to defend against. I could sense her Mana signature about them; it was clear she’d crafted them all with magic,” cried Malcineas, his voice lifting in pitch with pain. “She might have made her own choices, but I made mine. In doing so, I failed to protect them when I’d seen the evidence. I knew in my heart she wouldn’t stop. I knew what she’d become when she emerged from the ghost caverns with no one else. I tried to isolate her influence and cut her off, but after such a victory, it was too late.”

Malcineas stopped and pulled at his hair. “Hindsight is such a painful torment. Her fist has been around my thoughts and Soul for so many years. She’s not allowed me to chastise myself and bemoan my failing. I’d labour day and night, making more shielding stones to keep people safe. Isn’t it strange now that I’m free of that vileness that these emotions flood me?”

“Shielding stone?” asked Sarah.

Waving a hand dismissively, Malcineas frowned. “It’s not important now. I remember her new apprentices listening for months as her will made me share the process she couldn’t master. She and her spawn killed me and my old apprentices before we could stop her.”

That’s the legacy she needed. Let’s figure that out; it might distract him.

Amdirlain huffed. “Is it something you copied from Whiteshield pride? Or did you get it from them?”

“Why do you ask after Whiteshield’s pride? Have they smeared my name since my death?” asked Malcineas, and then he waved his hands dismissively. “Forget, I ask. There is plenty of ammunition to use for smearing, given Toliana’s nature.”

Amdirlain caught his thoughts spiralling and spread her hands in curiosity. “Given your age, I wondered if you knew how the hexagonal stones came about; did you and the Whiteshield pride find the process somewhere? They were in the old ruin where we found you as well.”

Malcineas closed his eyes and took some time to calm his thoughts, aiding Amdirlain’s support. “We worked it out, but it wasn’t just the two of us. Our coven worked to research and then perfect it. We each brought different viewpoints to the project.”

Catching his words' hints of pride and bitter joy, she focused on inspiring the satisfaction to bring it to the fore.

The subject change had eased his shaking, and though still breathy, his tears ceased flowing.

“Would you tell us more?” enquired Sarah.

“It’s ancient history,” dismissed Malcineas, his shoulders slumping.

“Not a history I’ve heard,” countered Amdirlain.

Groaning, Malcineas huffed. “Does it matter, after how I failed?”

Amdirlain smiled reassuringly as she caught his fractured pain and eased it down. “Perhaps you need to think about what you built.”

Malcineas tossed his head from side to side, and his tail slapped the ground with painful force. “It wasn’t the two of us alone. There were twelve of us, apprentices to different masters. Our groups would frequently meet through the years. The ancestors planned our routes and pride sizes to pass by so bloodlines could interchange and trade without stirring trouble. Some of us met from our masters sending us on journeys to exchange information with other wizards they’d heard about on the winds.”

“How did it start?” asked Sarah.

“A night of wild arguments,” laughed Malcineas thinly. “Five of us had gathered, talking while our masters debated. We were in our cups that night and throwing out wild ideas. There are two reasons not to let wizards drink. One is because of unreliable spellcasting, but the second is if they survive drinking together, the impossible ideas they might fuel between them.”

“A drunken boast?”

Waving his hands before his face, Malcineas smirked bitterly, but the humour slowly became real under Amdirlain’s nurturing. “No, worse. A drunken collaboration that none of us could remember fully except for the notes scribbled on the tent wall. None of our handwriting matched, so obviously, we must have been exceedingly drunk when one of us made the record. After a few spells had cleared the morning’s pain away, we decided the initial proposition of the scrawl wasn’t achievable. Yet something else greater might be possible.”

Malcineas paused with a snort, his thoughts filled with the loud, excited argument of the following day. “We recruited seven others, and it took two centuries of research to get it working. Perhaps it would have been impossible without mine and Clearwater’s magic helping keep the others young.”

“Travelling couldn’t have made research easy,” commented Sarah.

Malcineas tilted his head, and his whiskers twitched. “We moved away from the nomadic paths our ancestors had divined. Our community was barely fifty; it was too small to attract attention from the curse, but it was hard work to keep things calm. Fiery personalities could ‌clash. Sometimes, births would raise the number for a time before the children left to try their skills and win accolades. Occasionally prides would send messengers or stray from their path to trade. As a group, we always had elixirs and enchanted objects available for research materials. They spread the word to others about what we sought, and in the end, the goods we needed made their way to us if we didn’t hunt it down ourselves.”

He paused, and silence settled between the three, but Amdirlain and Sarah waited him out. Eventually shaking off thoughts of days past, Malcineas continued.

“Ultimately, we got it working before we killed each other. An alchemical material to carry the Mana needed to maintain wards set once into the individual stones. Within the coven of twelve, eight of us could create it solo; the others didn’t have the classes to do it alone, but we all had the research. Whiteshield left first to seek an opportunity within his pride. I’ll admit I left next to return to a spot I’d fallen in love with along my pride’s path, one I hadn’t seen in years. The pride was still wandering through the traditional routes and found my waystation. I’d planted fields and started to recruit, then nervously, it grew to a town and more.”

“The first ghost caverns forming must have frazzled their nerve,” stated Amdirlain.

“Oh, it did,” agreed Malcineas. “The spectres had hit the barrier in the night and woken me up. In the morning, we found a pit where a good paddock had been. The spectres had ignored the livestock outside the pens; they just wanted us. The eerie smoke rising from it in the morning light unsettled some, but others applied themselves more fiercely to their lessons. It was a relief when they could add more mana to the stores. We finally got real proof when we killed that first abomination; others started settling with us, and we began establishing new communities.”

Sarah hummed thoughtfully. “Are the other researchers still around, or were they-?”

“They passed on before my murderer was born. I heard from them from time to time. Some would meet me when age had burdened them again but, eventually, they all disappeared into history’s pages. I was seven hundred when the last of them shed their Mortal coil. Centuries weighing you down can be a burden. Look at me; I was foolish enough to stay alive and become a failure. It took making it over a millennia, but it happened.”

“You’re older than we’d heard,” admitted Amdirlain. “Accounts said you recently turned a thousand.”

Flicking an eye curiously, Malcineas frowned. “What is the year now?”

“4370,” replied Sarah.

“Fourteen hundred; I’d have been fourteen hundred and some odds and ends,” advised Malcineas, and he shivered violently. “I’m not sure I want this life you’ve returned to me.”

Amdirlain could sense the guilt and disgust twisting within him. “We could use your help to set things right with the nation you’d been building, repair what she twisted. Restore your reputation away from the figure she framed you to be.”

“Hers is a tainted thing that should be exposed, and if she’s built herself up atop me, I’ll be tainted along with her,” countered Malcineas.

“It’s not a decision you must make at once,” consoled Amdirlain. “A foundation is not to blame for the use to which it was used.”

Malcineas’ hands started trembling, and he scrubbed them together. “You said you removed some of my memories. Could you remove more? I remember the horrible feel of undead flesh, the dry, cold malice that ate at me.”

Gesturing to the stretcher, Amdirlain smiled reassuringly. “If you’d lie down, I’ll take it back to her attack on you. I wasn’t sure how much to remove. I’ll leave this conversation, so there may be some discomfort from within it.”

“Thank you,” Malcineas said, and he stopped and blinked. “I never asked your names.”

Amdirlain motioned to Sarah. “You can call me J; the black-furred one is Sar.”

“Not names to use for a Spell then,” observed Malcineas.

“No, for various reasons,” acknowledged Amdirlain.

Malcineas squeezed his hands tightly together. “Perhaps for the best.”

Amdirlain put him to sleep when he lay down, and listening to the elements within his mind, slowly worked to remove most of the memories from his years as a lich. She sometimes dipped into his sleeping mind, testing it for memory chains, and then continued unwinding the memories restored from within the phylactery.

Sitting beside him, Sarah set her hands on his forehead, and her mind brushed his and helped highlight more memories to erase. “You’re not the only psionic.”

“You’re a Shaper,” huffed Admirlain.

“My species trumps your training for psionic gifts,” laughed Sarah.

“I was trying to push my Resonance, but his sanity is more important, so thanks,” responded Amdirlain.

Sarah smiled. “Anytime you need me.”

The careful trimming took an hour, and the pair scoured over his memories before they risked waking him again.

“The divination of the ancestors is interesting magic,” offered Sarah. “Sounds like some pretty sneaky use of temporal magic.”

“Or a desperate one; I wonder how much warning they had between the first ghost caverns opening and the spawning abomination showing up.”

“Given it feeds off the dead, a battle site might have opened it up like in Astent,” proposed Sarah.

* * * * *

When Malcineas woke the second time, he nervously looked up at them and uncertainly licked his lips. “Thank you, J and Sar, whichever of you helped me. I remember recalling unpleasant things when we spoke but not the details.”

Amdirlain breathed a soft sigh of relief. “It was a collaborative effort, wizards doing impossible things.”

Sitting up, Malcineas’s tail twitched with growing confidence. “Were you drunk as well when you decided to bring me back to life?”

Sarah clapped. “I wish. That would make the story much more fun.”

Malcineas’ expression turned confused, and Amdirlain interjected. “Sar had been monitoring the Matriarch’s estates and found it quite boring.”

“She has an estate? Wait, estates?” asked Malcineas.

“Four,” confirmed Sarah.

“How wasteful. We used to live in one of the original high rises,” scoffed Malcineas, his lips curling with distaste.

“Okay, that means you’re unlikely to have access to her wards,” nodded Amdirlain.

“It’s unlikely I could help you with that even if I had lived in the same location. She learnt her lesson from the first laboratory I destroyed,” said Malcineas. “I don’t know how I can help. All my accumulated knowledge is likely outdated. Even the fairly constant process for the shielding stones has likely moved on somewhat.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve plans to progress that and don’t need assistance,” reassured Amdirlain. “I’m just glad you’re feeling more yourself. What would you do if you were to live a life from scratch?”

“Not let myself get pushed into being in charge,” laughed Malcineas bitterly. “For so many years I missed my wild collaborators. It gets rather repetitive, making the same things for centuries regardless of how the experience allows one to perfect things. The process hasn’t changed much despite the improvements over the years.”

“We know some teachers. Would you care to share your knowledge with students?” asked Sarah. “The teaching staff also do research.”

Malcineas’ ears stood up. “Share knowledge? Like the centre of learning Whiteshield and some other prides established?”

“I know some individuals that work at its expanded form; I could introduce you,” offered Amdirlain. “Though I’m sure you’d want to hold off taking on teaching until you’ve had time to adjust to being alive again. We’re currently over three hundred-odd years after your last memories.”

“I think that might take some adjusting,” murmured Malcineas.

Sarah nodded. “We’ll get some books for you to study. Perhaps take reading the history books a year at a time and no faster, let it sink in.”

“That will take me years,” protested Malcineas. “I’d like to be helping you. Will you tell me what she’s done since she seized power?”

“Some things are better to take your time with," countered Sarah. "I’m worried a year at a time might be too fast.”

Malcineas stopped and nodded. “Your recommendation shall guide me. Where should I live in the meantime? I’m sure the sun hasn’t moved since I first awakened. Where are we now?”

Tilting her head, Amdirlain smiled. “What do you know about dimensional magic and planes?”

Her amusement drew a wary look from Malcineas. “What do you know about the alchemical properties of fungi?”

“Fine, we’re each knowledgeable in our fields,” acknowledged Amdirlain, and she extended a hand to help him to his feet. “I’ll introduce you to an acquaintance of ours in the allied Territories. His name is Mor’lmes; he’s been helping get some new wizards resettled outside the Matriarch’s control. Hopefully, he’ll be able to find you some housing and someone from the history faculty to bring you up to speed.”

“Thank you,” said Malcineas, and he firmly clasped her hand.

Amdirlain took in the grief and confusion within his theme and scratched off plans to use his presence to fracture away the Matriarch’s supporters.