A Bored Lich

The night and all creatures in it sat still. Jackal's next words echoed as he stepped off the stage, heading towards Doevm: "but how can it be that everyone has taken what they have earned if not everyone has taken from the pile?"

Frey felt a hard grip on his shoulder. "Listen to me very carefully," Doevm said as he slipped his spatial ring into Frey's hands.

"Doevm, what's happening?" Frey looked at the spatial ring and his heart sunk.

"Something I can't run away from." Doevm sighed. "It was only a matter of time, but this isn't the end."

"Whatever this is, can't you just run away from it?" Frey argued, trying to shove the ring back into Doevm's hands.

"I can run," Doevm gave a sad, tired smile. "But I won't. I can handle the magic academy. Just focus on getting stronger, for when I break out."

"It must mean that…" Jackal continued as he sauntered across the platform. It wasn't bloodlust but it something emanated from Jackal, something which made the hairs on the back of Doevm's neck stand and end. Jackal stared him down with an absolute arrogance, a trait only known to the worst humans Doevm had ever met. This trait, this calm calamity, would only be revealed when one of these peoples' many puppets, mere toys for them to control, broke. "Someone cheated." Jackal practically sung out the words as if he had caught a small, insignificant fib. "Someone didn't earn their keep. I may have bent the rules but this goes beyond that. I, at least, had a reason. This method of cheating may have not been evident to many but I'm…more observant than everyone else. I know magic when I see it."

A mage dressed in a light blue robe peeled back his hood to reveal himself as a middle-aged man with a short, greying beard and mismatched eyes; one black and the other yellow. The other mage was a slightly younger man with wavy black hair and a green robe that hung loose over his frail, hunched figure.

The green-robed mage stretched out a three-fingered hand and an enormous magic circle, covering the entirety of the platform. Doevm stiffened as it went over him, feeling the seal over his mana break under its thorough inspection. He glanced at Elero, who stood just behind him, and clicked his tongue. "Frey. Don't lose your head. Stick to what I told you."

The older mage strolled through the crowd, spread his ink-stained hands, and a magic circle with dozens of characteristics appeared on the mage's chest. "Don't worry," the mage said. "You are going a place where you can properly train your talents. This lowly knights' academy is no place for a person with mana." Chains of water erupted from the magic circle, wrapped around Doevm, and bound his limbs together.

"He's here for the knights' academy, not to learn magic!" Frey yelled as he stepped forward and tried to slash at the watery chains, but his Kopis passed right through them. "He doesn't want to go!" He made sure to angle himself like Doevm had told him to, so that the mage wouldn't see Elero - whose skin had a dim glint.

Two loud crunches made him turn around to find that General Alexander had slammed both Elero and Thomas down and forced them to drop their weapons. The two thrashed about but no amount of surging blue life essence or curses could move him.

"Stand down," Alexander ordered. "This is not our decision."

"But he's..." Frey paused, scratching the back of his head for anything to put more attention on him. "He's my friend!" But in the end, he just repeated the other ones. He could almost feel his pride crumbling. The magic circle shifted and more characters appeared around its exterior. A burst of cold air froze the watery chains into place.

In the middle of the chaos, while Frey was dealing with mage, Jackal walked straight up to Doevm and whispered, "I thought I wanted to challenge you, so everyone could see that I was worthy of their love and respect. Then you got in my way and nearly blew my base and my men to hell." He gave Doevm a light slap on the cheek, then a hard backhand.

Doevm narrowed his eyes: "Do you think this is the end of me?"

"Oh no," Jackal chuckled. "I know you'll live. You always seem to do, like how Maker saved your ass back at the Underground. This time, you damned Lich, you'll break out of the magic academy well after I had made this kingdom mine, and Jackal's…my dream is fulfilled."

Jackal relaxed, allowing the broad smile to turn to a neutral frown. "Good god I don't like that face. Who popularized a smile anyway? If I ever met the man who did, I think I will rip out his teeth. Just imagine him trying to smile with only his bleeding gums. Wouldn't that be hilarious?" He pat Doevm on the shoulder with a vacant look in his eyes. "And then I'd…I don't know, shove the teeth into his eyes or something." He shrugged.

"Just whatever I was would be in the mood for. Anyway, you were fun while I cared. People in my world have a saying: it is better to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both. I tried both and failed in spectacular fashion, mostly because of you. Now, I will settle with just being feared." He grabbed Doevm by the hair, yanked up upwards, and knocked him unconscious with a single blow to the side of the temple. "Trenton. You are free to take him away," Jackal said as he pat the middle-aged mage's shoulder. A burst of cold air froze the watery chains into place.

Frey finally noticed Jackal, as if the young noble had been obscured by an invisible force before. Frey scrunched up his eyebrows and reached out to grab him: "Why the hell is he allowed-" Frey's stomach sunk as he was flung high into the air and suspended there with the influence of the green mage's magic circle, which appeared just below his feet. The younger magician waved his pale fingers, and another magic circle appeared just behind Doevm. Through it, Frey could see a dark underground space.

"By order of the king," Trenton said as he grabbed Doevm's chains and dragged him to the portal. "Any and all mages will be sent to the magic academy regardless of standing, gender, or willingness."

The two mages and Doevm vanished.

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