A Bored Lich

Author's note: get ready because this chapter is going to cut from scene to scene a lot. I know you guys know, but I need to make this explicit. The three dots mean a change in perspective (or in other chapters a time change or a flashback).

Ripples were sent across the barrier as it withstood the might of three gods at once. Small cracks appeared only to be regenerated. While it had only been a few minutes, the gods were getting desperate. 'What is he doing down there?' Maker thought. 'Where is he getting this power from?'

…

Doevm flipped to the next page, completely unaware that he wasn't in the ruins anymore. He floated in a pocket dimension filled with the same type of blue light that was in the pillars. "Hey." A voice said. His eyes didn't stop moving. If not for his eyebrows flinching a little, no one would know he reacted. "Hey!" The voice yelled.

Doevm sighed and closed the book: "What do you want?" In front of him was a man with long straight black hair. His eyes were as bright and colorful as gold. By his slim yet powerful arms was a sword no less magnificent as the one Arthur had.

The man crossed his arms: "To warn you. That book, and all of my legacy was made in order to stop Maker. She is a being above the any other god-"

"I know, tell me about it." Doevm flipped the page, etching each magic circle into his memory.

"Why are you so unfazed by this?" The man floated up to Doevm and took the book away. "This is an ancient tomb that I made over a thousand years ago. I am the founder of magic, the first hero, the author of this book, Maximus Draken." He paused for awe and received only a glare. "Anyway," He mumbled, "I constructed this place and activated a trap so not even Maker could see the inside. Right now, I have cut off the vision of the gods. My time is limited. You will inherit my knowledge and stop the cycle of violence. This whole world, the hero, the demon king, the gods, they are all pieces of a game."

"I know that too." Doevm scowled. "I've read about a dozen of your volumes on magic until the gray volume."

"Well that, that uh solves a lot of issues." Maximus handed the book back. "And what do you know about the game?"

"The gods are bored." Doevm sighed and decided to entertain the soul for a bit. "Everything here is their pieces. I have been chosen to be a pawn in their game to make things more interesting, just like you I presume. I have a theory that you received a power when you became the goddess of good's champion. You used this power to hide from them and research about magic. While I don't know what that power was, I can assume it is related to the soul, just like your future reincarnations' powers. This ruin is to hand off that information to humanity so they can fight the gods." He held up the book. "And this is the first step. This will teach me how to manipulate my soul and strengthen it."

"That's exactly correct." Maximus sighed. "You’re no fun. I've been waiting for centuries in complete boredom and now I don't even get a shocked reaction." He floated around. "But there is something you don't know: you're being watched." He held his hand on Doevm's forehead. Tendrils of mana shot from his fingers. "This will protect you when the time comes. Don't practice soul magic for now. Don't let anyone see it. Don't let Maker know I told you anything. Don't trust anyone."

Doevm felt something crawl into his head, stinging his eyes a little. After the short burst of pain, something nested itself inside him. "Also take this," Maximus handed Doevm a necklace with a transparent hectogram at the base.

…

The cracks could no longer regenerate in time. The barrier faded in and out of existence until it shattered. Light was returned to the world, and the gods descended. While they couldn't materialize for long, they could still possess people. It didn't matter how strong they were or who they were. All were just puppets for them. Maker started at the south corner of Acrin. She was a simple farmer who had his hoe raised and ready to make way for his newest batch of seeds. The farmer dropped the hoe and stood straight up. A thick wall of intangible mana shot out in a circle, stretching out over a hundred square miles. After a few seconds, the wall didn't return. She clicked her tongue and left the host. The farmer blinked and wondered why his hoe was on the ground. He shrugged and picked it back up.

…

"If that necklace ever lights up, follow it." Maximus said. "It could either be another one of my legacies or an inheritor. Find them. Work together with them. Only by killing the gods can you be free of this eternal torment."

…

The Goddess of good possessed a noble and stood up. It didn't matter that other nobles were staring at her nor that the host was supposed to be kneeling before the king. A ripple of mana spread out and returned having found nothing. She blinked and was the greatest magician in the world, standing in his high tower. 'I have to find him,' she thought as he ran her hand over her back. 'Last time, he almost killed me.'

…

The god of evil possessed a dragon. He flew above his pile of gold and spread out his mana like the other two gods only to find nothing. 'I have to find him before the other two,' he thought. 'I need his strength. Using his knowledge, I can take my dear mother's head.'

…

Maximus faded in and out of existence. "I didn't expect the gods to break my barrier so fast. You know what to do. Everything depends on you. I beg you, stop this game or you'll suffer just as I have. Don't let them control you." The blue light faded and Doevm was pushed outside of the dimension. He returned just outside of the two doors. A plume of smoke emanated from the doors.

'He built all of that just for this one book,' Doevm thought as he stared up at the leaves a few miles above him. 'And he couldn't do me the courtesy of teleporting me out of this place.' He tested his magic and found that he could use it again. Now he had two choices: He could either fly up and escape this place or go look for his men.

While he did have a spell to look through walls, he still had to go through an army of Ghouls to get even one person. 'Isn't this what I wanted?' he thought. 'I want to strengthen my life essence. War was fantastic for that but I have to take too many breaks between battles, I have to train my men, and I have to hide my magic. Down here I can just fight to my heart's content. I do, however, have to rack up achievements. I have to make it into the academy. There I can learn from actual knights and pick up more than the basic fighting techniques of the spear and fist.'

'However, If I leave my men, my mission will be considered a complete failure. I will likely be demoted and have to work my way up again. While I don't see a problem with that, the spy will get in the way of my promotion. While finding my men will be easy, I can't use magic in front of them. I guess I have to do both. I will look for my men using magic. When I form a group, I'll use magic subtly like when I manipulated their spears into the Elves.'

As he considered other approaches, a blue light came from the leaves far above his head. It traveled down and deep into each cavern. A dome formed around Doevm that turned his world completely dark. When it disappeared a few seconds later, the light was gone. 'And then there's this.' Doevm picked up the transparent necklace. He doubted the material was glass. He doubted it was a material from the world. There was so much he knew about the world, yet this was not one of them. He cursed at his arrogance from his previous life. No matter how much he learned, there was always more. While he had originally planned to take on the gods after fighting the hero, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to do that. 'One thought at a time.' He took a deep breath, dispersing his thoughts. 'I first need to find my underlings. I can leave everything else for later.' His left iris turned from brown to blue as mana filled it. His right eye turned black as the shadows he could now see through. 'You're first.'