Chapter 434 - The Grand Hall of the Lich

Edits now complete. I've made a fairly significant addition. To find it, search for the following line and read the rest of the dialogue:
“Oh, definitely,” Walt said. “It has that feeling to it. Many lives were lived here. But… this was not a place of joy.”

Other than that just some line edits so nothing important.

Hump was alone in his garden when he activated the lich queen’s phylactery, Celaine and Nisha standing by to protect his body while his soul departed. It began with a tug at his core—subtle at first, then a growing pressure in his chest like something gripping his soul and drawing it outward. With a thought, he gave into that force, and then the world shifted.

When his vision cleared, he stood before a looming manor—Lich Queen Irila’s library—as if it had been torn out of the world and placed in this sea of nothing. The manor had changed much since when he had first acquired it. No longer was it the cursed husk it had once been. While he had trickled in what essence he could spare to unlock the first door, Walt had been hard at work.

The oppressive aura of death magic had faded, replaced with something… peaceful. Inviting, even. Windows glowed with warm light. The ivy that once choked the outer walls was now trimmed into decorative lattice. The cracked and broken stones of the stairs had been replaced with smooth slabs. Green grass surrounded it, neatly trimmed and dotted with blooming flowerbeds. Shrubs had been pruned into graceful curves, and the stone path and steps were swept and polished. But beyond this patch of earth, there was only the void. Grey, infinite, and empty, as if the estate had been carved from the world and suspended in this bubble of emptiness.

“Come on kid. Get a move on!” Walt’s voice rang out.

Hump looked up the steps to see the little blue house spirit standing atop the grand staircase. Walt was as round and odd as ever—a squat, one-eyed creature with stubby arms, too long fingers, and a grin of bottomless energy. He tapped his oversized foot impatiently.

“Have you not been inside already?” Hump asked as he ascended the steps.

Walt crossed his arms. “Not a chance. Thought I’d wait for you. Shared adventure and all that.”

Hump grinned. “Appreciate it.”

It was pristine inside. The woodwork had been cleaned, oiled, and polished. The stone floors swept and waxed, gleaming in the golden light of the chandelier above. Books were stacked neatly in newly repaired shelves, and the scent of damp rot had been replaced by the smell of clean wood and oil. Hump’s boots echoed softly as he stepped inside. It looked more like the private study of a noble than the library of a lich now. At least, this room did. They could do with more books. There were only fifty or so on the shelves here, the more important ones likely kept farther inside.

“Got another book for you, by the way,” Hump said, bringing out the tome he’d collected from the petrified village. “This is from another realm, and in a language I don’t recognise. Maybe you can make something of it.”

Walt opened it and gave it a glance. “Can’t say I can right now, but I’ll see what I can do. He snapped the book closed.”

“Now then. Shall we?”

At the far end of the room, a once-locked door now shimmered with life. Its surface was engraved with intricate runes, all of them glowing with vibrant essence, like veins of liquid blue.

“Care to do the honours?” Walt asked, gesturing toward the door with exaggerated flair.

Hump placed a hand on the handle. The moment he turned it, the runes flared brightly, then dimmed as the door clicked open.

The chamber within was a vast grand hall. The ceiling arched high above, supported by dark stone pillars veined with silver stone. A pair of sweeping staircases curled up either side of the room toward two upper floors. The place was swathed in centuries of dust, thick enough that every step left a footprint. It was clear the lich had walked here too. The dust was disturbed, but it seemed she had not cared to clean the place. The air was musty, heavy with the scent of mold and old parchment.

Faint light filtered down from ancient chandeliers overhead, the essence stones dim beneath a blanket of grime. Cobwebs crisscrossed the room like spectral curtains.

“Now this is going to be fun,” Walt said, clapping his hands. “I’ve been needing a new renovation project. One can only oil the same table so many times before losing interest.”

Despite the decay, it was clear this had once been a place of great beauty, rivalling the fancy manors and mansions Hump had seen in Sheercliff City and Elenvine. A massive, cracked mirror loomed over the far wall, its fractured surface distorting their reflections. As Hump drew close, something shifted in the glass. A single eye blinked open—that of a young girl’s—locking onto his.

Hump startled and stumbled back a step. The eye vanished a heartbeat later, as if it had never been there.

“Did you see that?” Hump asked.

“Yep,” Walt said, sounding far too casual. “Looks like this lich had some rubbish spirits working for her. This place is a mess and that girl’s just wasting time away in the mirror. I’ll sort her out for you, don’t you worry about that.”

“How do you know that was a spirit?”

Walt’s single eye narrowed at him. “What else could it be?”

Hump frowned. “No idea. If you’re confident, go for it. Just don’t get getting hurt.”

Walt waved a dismissive had at him, his usual energy undiminished. “Don’t you worry about ol’ Walt. I’ve dealt with far worse than some creepy spirit in my time. Trust me kid, leave it to me and I’ll have this place looking as nice as everything else in no time.”

Around the mirror hung a gallery of portraits, painted in lifelike detail. Some shifted subtly as Hump passed. One of a young woman with severe eyes and regal features. Hump paused, struck by a sense of familiarity. After a few moments, he realised it was a younger and more human Lich Queen Irila he was staring at. Beautiful, but cold. The kind of noble Hump would try to stay very far away from. Another figure in gilded robes posed nearby—her father, the god Hump had seen killed by Owalyn in his vision of the past.

“I think this was once the lich’s family home,” Hump said. “It must be well over a thousand years old.”

“Oh, definitely,” Walt said. “It has that feeling to it. Many lives were lived here. But… this was not a place of joy.”

“You can tell?”

Walt nodded. “Every home has a spirit. Very few ever awaken, but they hold the feelings of those that dwelled in its walls. The spirit of this one is grim, I’ll tell you that much. This was not a happy home.”

“Not surprised, all things considered,” Hump said. “I imagine unhappy homes are fairly common for liches.”

“Not too late for us to change that though,” Walt said. “This is our place now. Sure, we’ve got a few doors that we need to unlock but just imagine it once everything’s finished. A grand manor right in your pocket.”

Hump grinned at the sound of that. “Do you think others could access it?”

“Oh, for sure,” Walt said. “Just need me to let them through. You say the word and I’ll give them a pass.”

“Then you might just be into something,” Hump said. “If only my physical body wasn’t left behind in my realm.”

“Hmm. Weird, isn’t it?” Walt said. “Your equipment manifests itself here, and the books you bring me, so that fact your body is a physical object isn’t the problem. There might be some other restriction in place.”

“You think you can change it?” Hump asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not sure. You need to understand, kid, this place… it’s complicated. Irila’s power was vast, and all of that strength was housed in here. The phylactery took the shape that she gave it, but now that she’s gone, I’m the one shaping it. No idea if I can change it this much, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“It would be a true asset if you could figure it out,” Hump said. “No more camping outside in the cold and rain for a start.”

“Hah! Very true. I’ll make a start on that then. Would be nice to have a few more faces in here, if I’m honest. Homes are best when they’re full.”

Hump gazed around the dusty old hall, trying to see it for what it could be—a grand entryway. A place that was his very own domain. One where nobody could find him or his friends. It reminded him of Karlac’s domain, full of treasures and demons. This was far smaller than that, but if Hump could find a way to harness it with Walt’s help, perhaps the books and artifacts the lich left behind would pale in comparison to the true value.

The stronger Hump became, the more he was coming to realise the power of personal dimensions. The Three Eyes had their hidden achieve, demon lords created their own domains where they alone could rule, and even the old gods were sealed away in another realm.

Hump suddenly frowned, a thought occurring to him.

“Something wrong?” Walt asked.

Hump shook his head. “No, I just realised I may have figured out the answer to a question I have often wondered on.”

“What’s that?”

“Where are the gods?” Hump said. “I wonder if they are in their own dimension like this one—separate from the world. It would explain their absence.”

Walt wrinkled his face. “So long as they stay away from this one. I’ve had about enough of your gods and Chosen. Not that lass of yours, mind you, she’s nice.”

Hump laughed and continued to explore the hall, passing many closed doors. He tried a few of them, but just like the first door, they would require time and essence to unlock. It would take time, and there was no telling what lay behind each of them.

But Hump didn’t mind. This was a good find already. There were walls of artifacts—weapons and relics mounted like museum pieces. Glittering daggers, ceremonial blades, masks of bone and silver. Most had lost their magic, but a few still hummed with essence. He would need to inspect each of them carefully with his spellbook and see if there was anything useful, but for the most part it seemed unlikely.

One wall in particularly stopped him cold. Hundreds of skulls were embedded in the stone, arranged seemingly randomly. Some where human, but many were other creatures. Some were inert, nothing more than bone, while others clung to slivers of essence, faint as candlelight.

He didn’t need to touch them to know they had once belonged to beings of terrifying power. Even the faint remnants of it were enough for a chill to pass through Hump. Not for the first time, he questioned exactly what he had taken from Irila.

On the second floor, a wide wooden table dominated the central balcony. Its surface was etched in deep, curling runes—some glowing faintly with dormant energy. The wood shimmered with enchantment, and Hump could feel the presence of magic pulsing faintly beneath its surface.

His spellbook stirred in his bag, vibrating insistently. He pulled it free, opening to find a new entry already written.

ITEM INDEX
Enchantment Table
Tier: Gold
A table inscribed with runes to aid in the delicate process of enchanting items and creating magical artifacts. The table is imbued with the following enchantments.

Stabilisation Field – Projects an aura that helps to stabilise essence, reducing the chance of enchantment failure or backlash.
Essence Efficiency – Increase the efficiency of essence transfer.
Essence Well – Acts as a store of essence that can be used as part of the enchantment process.
Material Attunement – When materials are placed upon its surface, it manifests their innate magical properties.

“You look happy,” Walt called up from below. “Find something good?”

Hump grinned. “Better than good. This is a gold-tier enchantment table. They’re worth a small fortune and almost impossible to acquire without powerful connections.”

“Oh yeah? Are you any good at enchanting?”

Hump tilted his head from side to side. “I’ve dabbled. Nothing beyond basic rune inscription. But this—this might let me go further.”

He placed his staff gently on the table’s surface, activating the attunement function. Runes along the table flared to life. For a moment, the room seemed to hum in resonance. Essence rose from the staff like vapour—twisting streams of gold and red light that coiled together. At first, Hump sensed divinity—the power of Loften no doubt, whose Chosen had crafted the staff. Then, behind the radiance lurked something else. A darker hunger, like roots through a corpse—the Tree of Damnation from which the core had been taken.

Hump removed the staff as the light dimmed.

“What was that?” Walt asked.

“Material Attunement,” Hump said. “A function of the table. What you just saw was the magic of my staff made manifest.”

Walt stared, expression unreadable. “That’s a mean staff.”

Hump exhaled. “Only to those I use it against.”

Nearby, something tugged at his senses. He turned toward a high shelf, where an hourglass rested atop a cabinet of scrolls. Its sands shimmered faintly—essence, not sand. Like beads of light formed into tiny particles. Curious, Hump activated Spirit Sight. The glow intensified, each grain blazing with compressed magical energy.

He picked it up carefully. The glass was etched with golden runes, its frame forged from enchanted brass.

ITEM INDEX
Time Stop Hourglass
Tier: Gold
An hourglass that uses essence for sand. When full, flipping the hourglass activates a field that accelerates the passage of time within the space that it is bound.

Hump read the description to Walt.

“You’re saying you can spend a couple of hours in here and time will barely pass outside?” Walt said. “Doesn’t sound like much.”

“An extra two hours of training each day could make a world of difference for me,” Hump said. “Or it will give me time to work on enchanting. Now, let’s see how long this lasts.”

Hump turned the hourglass upside down. The effect was immediate. A low pulse rippled outward—silent, but unmistakeable. The air shimmered, and for a heartbeat, the realm held its breath. And then the very air shuddered around him.

Roughly two hours later, when the hourglass had emptied, Hump stepped out of the library doors and awakened back in his world.

“Done already?” Celaine asked.

“How long has it been?”

She shrugged. “Ten minutes maybe. Not long. What’s in the second room then?”