Daughter of Death - A Necromantic LitRPG

In my dreams, that tired old void consumes me again. I’m alone, without a soul, bereft of the legacy I’ve built and the power I’ve gained. But my thoughts remain, trapped within the housing of my soul which hovers in the oceanic depths like the lantern of an anglerfish.

The leviathan arrives from the darkness, melding out from the murk with all the gracefulness of a whale soaring the abyss. Its appearance is nothing short of horrifying: whipping tentacles studded with thorns connected to a central mass upon which the beast’s maw awaits for a meal. It had no eyes, no ears, no nose - it was a creature who had transcended the need for such peripherals.

I can sense its anger. Inconsolable fury buffets my soul like a whirlwind, never seen but always felt. A fear the likes of which could not be instilled within me by the world’s fiercest predators welled up from my incorporeal heart. For a moment, I was resigned to death - convinced that my dreams had finally run afoul of the divine. I was about to be consumed.

But no matter how close the leviathan hovered, it could not harm me. That, I realised, was the source of its anger. It would have delighted in the taste of my colourful soul, casting the very dregs of my being into a landscape of pure suffering. As the truth of its circumstances unravelled, I felt confident. Not even this otherworldly being, so divine and immortal and ephemeral, could bring low my desires.

My name returns. My purpose shines like a distant star.

“Worthless.” Lieze said, “You can’t even harm me. How can you claim to be a God when a single mortal is capable of driving you into such a pathetic huff? Does my ambition frighten you? Does it threaten your coveted hierarchy?”

Betrayal… Betrayal… Betrayal!

Relinquish! Offer! Sacrifice!

Worship! Prostration! Devotion!

“I know how fragile your dominion really is.” She ignored the Blackbriar’s fury, “You locked away one of your brethren when it refused to participate in your vile game of worship across the realms. You forged the gemstones of the Scions from its flesh, gifted them to those who would happily usher in your next reign, and awaited the moment when your influence could spread across the world unabated.”

Lieze Sokalar!

A final bellow from its alien lungs was almost enough to rend Lieze’s soul asunder. It was worth remembering that she was speaking to a God, worthless as its influence was without a victorious Scion to channel its power through.

“...The Light-in-Chains will be released.” She vowed, “I was willing to play the part of your pawn until I got my foot in the door. Coaxing a free resurrection from your gullible offer was quite lucky, I have to admit. It’s a good thing Gods are just as gullible as men, or my journey may have ended before I even left Tonberg.”

Without a champion, the Gods were useless beyond acting as a conduit for communion. She had known so for quite some time now, but seeing that knowledge proving itself before her eyes was more satisfying than she could have ever dreamed. They were nothing but convenient tools for humanity to make use of - a pitiful state to be in, considering their supposedly divine nature.

“What can you do?” She asked, “Uproot my powers? Deny my requests for mana? Influence my thralls? Descend from on high to pass judgement on me and the Order? No… you can’t do any of that, can you? Because if you could, you’d have done so already. The Gods draw power from faith, so what happens when that faith dwindles? They become nothing more than beasts - figments of nature. And if mankind has proven itself capable of dominating its environment time after time, then why can’t that influence extend to the very Gods?”

Silence. There came no response, for every argument the Blackbriar could levy against her own was steeped in an air of defeat. Her words were nothing short of the entire truth. No matter how terrifying the deity in front of her was, she couldn’t bring herself to act afraid when it was incapable of enacting its divine wrath.

“I would tell you to choose your champion with a little more scrutiny next time.” Lieze reached for her waist, finding the handle of her trusty dagger, “-But, then again, there isn’t going to be a next time, is there? I worshipped you for the lesser part of two decades thinking you were the embodiment of our dogma. But you don’t wish to eradicate life - you covet it. I won’t kneel before a God who betrays my expectations.”

She placed the tip of the dagger against her chest and wriggled its tip until her mortal flesh, perceptible beneath the veneer of spirituality, protested with a tiny yelp of pain.

Bargain.

Compromise.

Lieze.

“No.” She refused, “I won’t be taken advantage of anymore.”

Lieze…

Lieze…

“Lieze!”

A pair of hands were upon her own. The distant, amber skyline blinded her for a moment long enough for Drayya to wrench the dagger from her grasp. She felt the bumps of the land on her rear as the wagon bounced over an uneven road.

“...Hm?” She looked from side to side, “Was I asleep?”

“What kind of person unconsciously places a dagger right next to their heart when they’re sleeping!?” Drayya exclaimed, “And to answer your question - yes! You were! And I was going to let you snooze away right up until the moment when you tried to kill yourself!”

“Oh… don’t worry about that.” Lieze yawned and stretched her arms, “The Blackbriar tried to communicate with me, but I wasn’t having any of it. The dagger is a good trick to wake myself up when that happens.”

“The Blackbriar…?” Drayya’s tone was trapped between curious and careful, “...Well, what did it tell you? There was a time when I would have considered that an honour, but nowadays…”

“The only fact it’s managed to convince me of is that we’re headed in the right direction.” She replied, “The Gods are terrified of the Light-in-Chains, Drayya. Without a victorious Scion, none of them can exert their will over the world. It makes me wonder why the Gildwyrm chose me to begin with. Did it really think I was up for expounding the beliefs of an ideology that opposed my own?”

“Mm… maybe it thought you’d be eager to fight back against the Order when… well…”

“-When you all abandoned me?”

“Urk…” Drayya’s expression fell, “Yeah. Exactly.”

“Not a bad gambit. But one that ended up turning pear-shaped rather quickly.” Lieze returned her eyes to the road. Drayya had lifted the reins from her snoozing hands and was directing them after the others, “-Though, I suppose I did end up fighting back in one way.”

“The Lich is dead. There hasn’t been a victory this monumental for the Sovereign Cities since they killed my father.” Drayya smirked, “Shame they’re gone now. Sokalar’s passing only ended up placing someone with far more initiative in his place. I don’t think the Gildwyrm’s plan ended up falling through in the end, all things considered.”

Her memory, fragmented by an unwanted encounter with the Blackbriar, began to return. They had been on the move for just over a week, sidling into the familiar landscape of the Kanin Delta where the local extinction event a month prior had cast a shadow of silence over the entire region. Lieze was only glad that they didn’t have to take any more boats.

“What do you want to tell the Sages when we contact them again?” Drayya asked.

“That I don’t trust them. And I don’t expect them to trust me, either.” Lieze replied, “As long as our interests are aligned and mutual, then there won’t be a problem. But you said it better than me - rarely are things ever so simple. No doubt they’ll have an agenda of their own. I’m interested in finding out what that agenda is, and how it will inevitably interfere with our plans.”

Drayya shifted restlessly on the uncomfortable bench, “What are we going to do if they’re planning to usurp our efforts? Forgive me for being a little pessimistic, but I don’t fancy our chances against a heavenly conglomerate of the world’s greatest sorcerers and alchemists.”

A pause. Lieze couldn’t quite find the answer she was looking for, “...That is the question.”

Suddenly, donning the cowl of an omnicidal cult leader seemed like more effort than it was worth. Just once, Lieze would have liked to find an ally that didn’t take months to recruit or who didn’t have a hidden agenda to consider. But Drayya’s worries rang true in her ears - she would need a failsafe to fall back on if the Sages turned out to be not quite as honest as they seemed at first glance.

But what could possibly defend against a deathly gambit that had been left to simmer for so long? Lieze was powerful, certainly, but she could only accomplish so much with her own two hands. There had to be some exploitable condition in her skillset that would allow her to turn the tables at the drop of a pin.

Thoughts like those would dominate her dreams over the nights to come. While her subordinates slumbered within the mountains’ luxurious tents, while Lüngen helped himself to the wine and ale liberated from its depths, while Roland snored loudly enough to (literally) wake the dead, Lieze laid with her hands folded neatly at her waist, watching the fabric of her tent billowing in the northern winds, dredging answers out from her exhausted brain.

Then, as if possessed, she shot up with a start, “That’s it!”

“Ugh!” Drayya’s voice leaked out gracelessly. She masked her fatigue with mock panic, rising with eyes half-lidded and liable to droop at a moment’s notice “W-What is it…? Are we under attack?”

“I have it. I know what to do…” Lieze smirked, “If the Sages try something, I know exactly what to do! The answer was right in front of me the whole time! I just need to tweak the spell a little and it will work perfectly!”

“Yeah… mm…” Drayya nodded, already melting back into her bedroll, “That’s nice… that’s really nice, Lieze…”

There was no time to sleep. Her epiphany would disappear into the ephemeral mist of dreams. Drayya grabbed her half-stuffed pillow and pressed it into her face as Lieze rummaged around for her Portable Home. A minute later, she was back in her comfortable office filled with the ripe stench of paper and ink. The grimoires called her name - spurred her towards a sleepless night filled with dark experimentation.

A spell which - used properly - could subvert any gamble levied against her in pursuit of the Light-in-Chain’s power. A final act of rebellion against the Gods, constructed to ensure her victory in the event of a last-minute betrayal. By the time her plotting had come to an end, the result was exactly as she’d hoped - a few samples of flesh, both of the living and undead - confirmed the spell’s effectiveness.

“All that remains now is to kill the Scion among the Elves…” Her fingers were wrinkled with blood, “I’m almost hopeful that the Sages will betray me. Just the thought of their trembling reactions fills me with anticipation.”