The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 134 (Patreon)

Chapter 134 – Soul Searching

The questioning continued for several hours, breaking only so we could have breakfast, and then lunch, brought up for the mortals to eat while I wrung every bit of information from the man’s soul that I could.

It turned out that his name was Noah Barker, and he lived in Detroit. Unmarried, no real connections with people outside of work, no deep connections. The perfect expendable asset, someone who was highly skilled, highly driven, and completely loyal to their country. More importantly, he was a True Believer, meaning that he would go to any lengths to accomplish his mission, because he truly believed that it was the Right Thing to Do. Whether that was his natural state, or the product of brainwashing or cult-like indoctrination, I couldn’t tell without doing a more prolonged search through his memories.

However, despite his obvious lack of survival instincts or common sense, I was able to learn quite a bit from Barker. For instance, I learned the names of all of his compatriots who were here on mission with him, and where they had their safehouses. As my wraiths went to eliminate any further threats on the island, I learned of the secret bank accounts that they used to fund their operations, and the codes needed to access them. By lunch, I was another two billion dollars richer, as I cleaned those out.

It took some work, but I finally got the name of his organization out of him. They were the Covert Headquarters for American Defense, or CHAD for short. They’d been set up just after World War II, and operated completely off the books. Their budget was a line item in the overall defense budget, but they were not actually part of the Defense Department, or the Department of Homeland Security. Actually, from what Barker said, they didn’t actually answer even to the President, since no one in the Executive Branch was cleared to know about their activities.

That seemed farfetched, to me, but Barker wasn’t lying, or even trying to hide anything from me. CHAD did not exist on paper, and no one who didn’t already know about them was cleared to know. Everyone brought into the fold was like Barker, single and unattached, wholly loyal to the cause of ensuring American supremacy in the world.

As a black agency, they rarely, if ever, interacted with the rest of the US government. For instance, they used a charter plane belonging to the agency to fly to Easter Island, with pilots who were also part of the agency, rather than going commercial or flying on a military jet. When they needed to interact with different government agencies, they would claim to be with a secret department in the CIA or NSA, and any background checks overzealous or suspicious people might make came back with a ‘this is above your clearance’ warning. Those who persisted either had new problems to worry about suddenly drop in their lap, or were quietly eliminated.

Honestly, I wasn’t terribly surprised. There had been similar groups, in the other world, who tried to be the invisible hand, the man behind the curtain, manipulating events to suit their agendas. They had all met with the same fate whenever their agenda crossed paths with mine.

It turned out that most people had a lot of trouble manipulating events after they died.

Unfortunately, the one thing I couldn’t get from Barker was a central location or ‘big boss’ that I could go to, and make my demands in person. So, I did the next best thing. I sent a recording of everything Noah Barker told me to the Directors of the CIA, FBI, and NSA, as well as the Homeland Security Director and the leaders from both parties of the Intelligence Oversight Committees in both houses of Congress. And, along with that recording, I made sure to include the fact that, not only was I making sure that this information reached the Chinese, Japanese, and British governments, but, should this CHAD group so much as sneeze in my general direction, I would be holding all of them personally accountable for any damages, along with their agencies, with punitive damage on top of that.

Some would have said that threatening a large swathe of the US Government was a foolish, possibly even foolhardy idea. That there should be some half-measure I could use, instead of going for what most would consider the ‘nuclear option’. Of course, those people were thinking like individuals who lived normal lives. For me, that wasn’t even close to the nuclear option. Not when I could use spells that were just as devastating as actual nukes.

Once the messages had been sent, I looked at Koyama and said, “I trust you’ll inform the Japanese government of everything that has happened here, yes? I’ll give you a copy of the recording, as well, so that you can distribute it.”

Koyama grimaced, but nodded. “Yes, though I can imagine that there will be quite a few people who will be upset with all the questions this brings to light. Shadowy spy agencies that don’t even answer to the President? That is the kind of thing that never ends well. That kind of power, without safeguards, can lead to people believing that they are the only law that matters.”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “At least with absolute monarchies and dictatorships, the absolute rulers are known, and can be held accountable if they step out of line, even if that accountability comes in the form of a bloody revolution or military coup. A group of shadows manipulating things in secret is much harder to pin down and punish, if they go too far.”

“Mistress,” Ya said, “I will, of course, forward this information on to my government, as you asked, but what about the British?”

“Oh, I’ll pop over to England later on, and visit the general in charge of that base where my people are training the British in the Warrior’s Way. I’m quite certain he’ll be able to find the right people to give the information to.”

“Um, Mistress,” Naya said, hesitatingly. “What are you going to do with the guy’s soul?”

I looked at the translucent soul, still hanging in the air, my hand around his throat. The man had long since stopped trying to resist, or escape. He knew that neither was possible. “Hmm, it is a pretty weak soul, so I doubt it would do for any of my more powerful enchantments. Oh, well, I’ll just condense him into a gem, and we’ll find a use for him in the future.” And I did just that, forcing his soul into a crystal shape, which I then tossed into my pocket dimension.

“Will we learn to do things like that, Mistress?” Ya asked.

I looked over at her and shrugged. “Well, it is not impossible. Just like I am a creature of Death, but can still cast some Life magic spells, it is not impossible that a Pyromancer like you may learn the soul magics that are some of the most advanced abilities open to Death mages, but it will not be an easy task for you.”

Looking over at Naya, I said, “As for you, you might learn them, in time, but these are arts I cannot pass on, of my own volition. I gained them through my pact, and the pact will not allow me to teach these arts, at least, not directly. A mage may learn much, just by observation and studying the processes another’s magic goes through, after all. But this knowledge is dangerous, for its power breeds fear and mistrust, much like those who develop a talent for manipulating and controlling someone’s mind. If you do not already have enough power to fend off those who might object to your having this knowledge, then seeking it may cause your demise.”

Naya nodded, slowly. “With respect, Mistress, I do not think I would wish to have that type of power. I will gladly learn all you have to teach me, and I do not fault you for using the powers you have gained, in the way that you do. But I do not want the temptation of such powers. Being able to claim someone’s soul with a wave of the hand? The idea of what could happen if that power were misused frightens me.”

“And if it did not, I would ensure that you never learned such magics, Naya. In fact,” I paused, to look at Koyama, and ensure that he was listening, “I would likely come down hard on anyone who sought to learn such magics, unless they had a truly noble cause. They say that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. They are not wrong. I am well aware of how twisted I have become, in part thanks to this knowledge, and power it gives me.”

Koyama nodded grimly, but when he spoke, I saw a flash of humor in his eyes. “I hope it will not disturb you, then, when I say that it is the dearest hope of many in the government that there is never a need for someone else to become like you? One all-powerful Lich Queen is quite enough, thank you very much.”

I giggled at the joke, as he no doubt intended. “No, that does not disturb me in the slightest. And, in fact, it pleases me greatly. There are some powers that should not be allowed out into the world. I was forced by desperate circumstance to take up the powers I have. I would not trust any mortal with this power, no matter why they needed it. Indeed, the only reason I have not been corrupted further by this power is because I am no longer among the living.”

Ya cut in, there, frowning. “What do you mean, Mistress?”

“Becoming an undead is not a simple snap your fingers and live forever kind of process. It changes you, changes your very soul. How it changes you depends on the type of undead you become, naturally. Discounting the mindless ranks of the typical skeletons and zombies, all undead have some kind of flaw, beyond things like sunlight burning a vampire or the like.

“For a Greater Zombie, their thoughts are slow, and sluggish. That is not to say that they are stupid, or dimwitted, but that they cannot think as fast as a normal person. A Greater Skeleton, on the other hand, thinks too fast, and has trouble concentrating on any one thing for too long. Ghouls, and their related kin, suffer terrible hunger pains that drive them mad, if they are not sated, while Vampires have their lust magnified, but are never able to fully quench that fire. A Mummy will greedily guard their tomb, and chase a thief to the ends of the earth to recover what was taken. Death Knights are wrath personified, in part because naturally born ones arise from warriors who fell in battle, and yet could not stop fighting. Ghosts and other specters envy the flesh they no longer have, and hate the living for it.

“And as for a Lich? My emotions, for the most part, are lost, or muted, especially the positive ones. I know my family, and I remember loving them. I will slay those who harm them, as I’ve shown, but I cannot say that I still love them as I once did. There are echoes of that love which remain, and extend to those I did not know before I left, but I know that it is more affection and familiarity than familial love.

“In return, I gained a keen intellect, and the ability to calmly and rationally analyze every situation. I can be stirred to wrath, if someone touches those things I consider important, but I have no lust, nor envy, and greed is not in my nature, save for the fact that I gather useful things, and keep them for when I might need them. I am well aware that, at best, I could be called a high-functioning sociopath, but that is the price I had to pay in order to survive and return to this world, and I have no regrets in anything I did since my transformation.”

I paused, to look them in the eye once more, and said, “And that is why I would be ill at ease allowing any mortal to have command of soul magics. Unless they went through the trials to learn them on their own, and thus gained the discipline and steady nature required to master them, then there is too great a risk that anyone walking down that path would be driven to do terrible deeds by their all-too-human emotions.”

Koyama was the first to speak. “I believe I understand. Just like there are special clearances for anyone involved with the release of weapons of mass destruction, and those files are flagged so that if anything questionable happens, they are pulled from duty until the situation is resolved. Except, with this magic, there is no pulling someone from duty. You can’t just take away the launch keys to the missile silo.”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “Take the situation with the Russians, after my sister was attacked. My response was severe, but it was purposeful, rational, and reasoned. A mortal, flush with wrath born of love? Moscow, at least, would not have survived. The entire country might have been lost. So, no, my soul magics are not spells I would wish to spread to others.”