Chapter CCCXLIX: Pain, Paint and Precepts ~Lich

Lich grumbled and slowly opened his eyes. After staring through the watery haze at the ceiling for a moment, he blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes with his fingers, groaning softly. He looked up at the ceiling again and studied it – brown, and seeming to be some sort of thatch of tropical leaves.

Tropical leaves?

Lich shut his eyes again and did a double-take. The ceiling had not changed. He closed his eyes again. Wherever he was, it definitely was not home, neither Kippo nor Yoshibane. It wasn’t his room in the Spectrum either. For one thing, mattresses weren’t made from leaves.

He opened them again and stared at the ceiling, frowning in concentration. His eyeballs felt slightly warm and gritty around the edges in their sockets. How long had he gone without natural sleep?

He’d fallen out of the train at some stage, back on Fa’Diel – he cringed as he remembered hitting the ground – and then Ark had revived him…they’d slept at home that night. Lumina had teleported him from the Assembly, and then he’d been anaesthetised so they could perform the operation – that’s right, he could use nuclear radiation attacks now – and then he fell asleep again for what must have been only a few hours or so and got put into the Spectrum and passed out when he saw Kurayami…

Then Ark had almost killed him, and then he…yes, he got some sleep while he was depressed, but it was only short naps, then he didn’t sleep at all until they got to Caelum, though he might have snoozed somewhere along the line…then Eriuch took over Ark and knocked him out until he…woke up…nearby? And then, he…fainted last night?

He let his head roll to his left, and studied at the bark-covered mud walls, painted with swirls and blobs and dots in many colours. He extended his right arm and touched a blue circle-like figure. His thumb was the same colou– his thumb was blue?

Lich raised his hand to his face and turned it over, seeing black jagged lines and their spaces filled with greens, whites and reds. His gaze travelled up his arm, taking in more gaudy patterns, before looking down his technicolour chest to his painted legs.

That’s right; he was now Lord of the A’gul!

His heart sank. He was now Lord of the A’gul.

With great power came great responsibility. All these Yoshies, separated from their Yamauchian counterparts by his ancestor’s wishes for centuries, would now be looking up to him for guidance and placing a tremendous amount of hope in him only because he was Recugrian’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, when he couldn’t even guide his own younger brother who had little, if no hope in him?

Where was Ark, anyway? Wasn’t he…oh, hegeratu…

Lich slapped his painted hand to his face, shook his head and growled in his throat. Ark would either disappear or get taken away from him. It seemed to be some sort of divine being’s game: take Ark away from him to make him sad, then bring him back only to take him away again when the going got good once more.

Well, he’d show him, her or it. He wasn’t going to be sad this time. He’d find Ark.

How, when there was no trace of spacefaring civilisation on this planet?

Lich groaned again. Why couldn’t life be easy and simple and somewhat carefree, like…like how it was for…say, Tehx?

Yeah, Tehx! Everything was simple for him! He didn’t have the weakness of a brother. In fact, didn’t he have any known family at all to take his attention? All he had to do was save his own bacon, and then with a quick riposte, he would be on his way again. He didn’t have to worry about brothers getting mad at him about anything at the drop of a hat, or have the constant fear that someone was going to swing by Kippo and take a potshot at his parents. Sure, there were some real nasty guys out there after his blood, but all Tehx had to care for was himself.

Lich sighed. He could really do with his “other brother” around right now.

He turned his head the other way.

“HEGERARGHGLLSssstkllfmm!” he yelled, slapping his hand across his mouth in surprise.

There was Tehx, prone on the other bed of soft leaves. Lich stared in shocked silence for a few moments, then rubbed his eyes and was greeted with the same vision. He pinched his arm and cringed from the pain. Multehx was still there.

“Tehx?” he called quietly.

The agent didn’t respond.

Lich sat up, and felt the blood drain from his face. Grimacing, he lay down again. He’d have to take this slowly. After a couple of breaths, he raised his head gradually and sat up, then held a hand to his forehead and shut his eyes, letting his blood find a way up there again. When he felt better, he lowered his hand and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He paused, then putting a hand on the bedside he shakily got to his feet.

“Tehx, you awake?” he called again after the wooziness had passed.

Didn’t he only have to sleep once a month or something? It was probably that time again. But, it was Tehx! He hadn’t seen him for, what, five years! His eagerness bubbled over.

He gently shook Multehx. “Teh-ehx, c’mon, wake up…”

No response. This was somewhat unusual. Maybe if he went to the last resort…

He opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it until he turned his head around to his bed, reached behind him and picked up the Boomerang. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, he held it in his right hand, ready to do a counterattack.

“C’mon, you egg, get up!”

He drew a breath sharply and held it in for a few seconds, watching the agent nervously.

“Lich, what are you doing?” asked Naaro from the doorway.

The Yoshi stood absolutely still, the Boomerang raised as if he were an expressive statue in a park; a statue expressing bewilderment.

“He…he’s not waking up….” Lich spoke, relaxing slightly as he turned his head to Naaro, keeping the agent within his vision.

“Don’t worry about him,” said the Karmali. “He’ll be fine.”

Lich turned his head towards Multehx again and looked at him up and down. “It’s almost as if he’s been…deactivated, or something…”

He closed his eyes and focused in on the Mana Field; he could see the plain of translucent yet slightly grey goo stretching out towards infinity. A thin pulsating column was nearby – a tree, pumping Mana out of the soil into the air. Columns were dotted about the landscape far into the distance, like a sea of anemones that had lost their tentacles. The Mana shifted as a hill lumbered towards him – it was oddly shaped and seemed to be rocky and pimply; it was coming closer now as the columns changed direction, becoming increasingly diagonal…

Naaro grabbed Lich’s shoulders firmly and steadied him. “Hey, hey, hey, you just woke up from a good bit of exhaustion,” he cautioned Lich. “Don’t go exerting yourself, okay?”

The world regained its colouration as the Yoshi’s tired eyes refocused. Lich nodded, biting his lip. He turned his head to look out the hut’s rather crude window, blinking as he saw everything bathed in golden sunlight. “How long have I been out?” he asked.

“A bit over twelve hours,” said Naaro, shrugging slightly.

Lich drew a breath. “Feels only like two,” he sniffed. “I feel like I’m too tired to sleep…brothers and tribes and ceremonies and…”

“It’s an exhaustive life,” Naaro replied knowingly.

Lich nodded slightly as he gently eased himself onto the bedside. Was he going to feel like this every single day? Elementals, hopefully not! He stared blankly before him, taking in Tehx once more. The agent only had to sleep once a month!

If only I could be like you, he thought.

Lich moved to put the Boomerang away in his belt, but found himself without it, so he laid his weapon on the bed beside him. Naaro put his hands on his hips. His amulet swung around his neck, catching Lich’s eye.

“I don’t think I’ve asked you what that’s for, before,” said Lich, nodding at it.

“This?” Naaro answered, scooping it up in a hand. “I got it before I left on the Spectrum. It’s a sign of me being the new leader of the Karmali tribe.”

Lich nodded that he understood and smirked. “You’re like me then.”

“Yeah.”

There was a silent pause.

Lich shot to his feet and grabbed Naaro’s shoulders. “You gotta help me! Argh…”

The blood drained from his head again and he sat down slowly, clutching his face in his hands.

“Err…alright…” Naaro spoke warily as Lich took a few breaths to settle his body down again. “What do you need help with first?”

“I dunno, I dunno,” Lich replied, sighing and shaking his head. “I don’t know how to lead…”

“Well,” the Karmali started, pausing a moment for thought, “first of all, adapt yourself to their culture. Talk like them, follow their customs–”

“I canst not speaketh liketh themst,” Lich replied, his intonation and pitch all wrong. “I can understand Old Yoshian; I can read it, but I can’t write nor speak it.”

He rubbed his face with the palms of his hands – This is a hard ask…

“Hmm…well, then you’ll need to learn,” Naaro said matter-of-factly. “Do your best to start, and listen to how they do it. Try to match how they do it.”

Lich paused with his fingers over his eyes and smirked. He lowered his hands to the bedside, raised his head and leaned back slightly. “Tumo geralo e undamala undo, no tumolo tanono.”

Naaro raised an eyebrow.

“‘Time flows like a river, and history repeats’,” Lich translated. “My mother and father arrived in Kippo, and the first thing my dad said was ‘Hello, I am a piece of grilled fish’. Sure, my father might only be an innkeeper, but as for me…well, you could prod the hope they had last night with a stick.” He saw Naaro nod in agreement. “I’m gonna make a fool of myself if I speaketh liketh themst.”

“Heh,” Naaro smirked. “It’s not as hard as you make it out to be. I didn’t even know I was a Karmali until I was twelve.”

Lich blinked and stopped himself from opening his mouth in surprise. He took a good look at his friend. “Why not?”

“Well, when I was born, Diablos Obsidian, dictator of South Yoshin, sensed that I would be his undoing. He sent his troops to kill me…he only succeeded in killing my mother and supposedly my father. They got me away in a space pod.”

Now Lich’s mouth opened. He twitched his head back. “Whoo…I…I didn’t know that…” he said with some sympathy.

“Yeah. I spent the first ten years of my life growing up as a Demon-Mage.”

Lich tensed. His hand automatically went to the Boomerang; his thumb began to stroke one of its boxes idly. “Demon…Mage?” he asked warily.

“Yes, a mage trained in the use of demonic magic,” Naaro replied.

“Such as stuff like demon raising and things like that?”

“Yes.”

“Gee…”

Lich gulped. Was Naaro going to pull something on him? Don’t be stupid…

“So…so how did you find out?”

“Well, I came to the Nsider community after becoming a Demon-Mage. I wreaked havoc…eventually, the people there stopped me and told me the wrongs of my ways.”

“Must have taken a lot to put down powers like that,” said Lich, half-awed.

“It did.”

“So what happened next?”

“My old master, Uzelon, found out and came to bring me back to the darkness. I defeated him…a month later came the force behind our powers, Deth.”

“What’d he do?” Lich asked, nodding.

“Well, Deth was more of a challenge than Uzelon, and I almost didn’t win…with a little help, though, Deth was defeated and the Demon-Mage inside me vanished forever.

“After that, I talked to a few of the Yoshies and found out about Yoshin. I went there and discovered the Karmali.”

“And then you realised, ‘Hey, they’re like me, I must be one of them’, right?” Lich guessed.

“Initially. Hajir, the old leader, recognised me…at first he called me Alexander.”

“Alexander?”

“Upon asking who Alexander was,” Naaro continued his train of thought regardless of Lich’s interruption, “he told me of two Karmali who had used enchantments to turn their skin white so they could live among normal Yoshies instead of being banished in the Forsaken Lands. Their names were Alexander and Ella Karukylis.”

“Your parents,” stated Lich, recognising the surname.

“Yes. And since that time, I’ve lived among the Karmali, fighting battles when needs be. Shortly after my arrival they were allowed to return to their homeland of Karmalia.

“Anyway…I learned the language well enough to speak with them on even terms in a week.”

“A week?” Lich gasped. “It took my parents two years to get their heads around Pandoran – two Fa’Dieli ones, at that!”

“It’s much easier when you’re the only one who doesn’t know…you get a sense of urgency. Your father still had family to talk to, so it wasn’t quite the same thing. For you, though, it should be very easy…”

“I guess…” Lich said, unsurely

“Not only do you understand the language, as far as reading it goes – and hearing – you also have much more pressure on you to learn it. You’re the tribe leader; I was only tribe member when I learned.”

“Hmm. That’s gonna be my first project, I guess.”

Lich closed his eyes briefly. He’d have to get out there and make a fool of himself. Surely they would understand…wouldn’t they?

“Yes. The culture may be harder or easier depending on how you take it. The Karmali culture is based around the concept of maintaining our old ways of instinct and controlled rage while still being able to remain a part of the Yoshin public.”

“Right,” Lich nodded. “But I’ve gotta get these guys to interact with Yamauchi…and they’ve got spacecraft and mechas!”

“Well, don’t worry about that just yet. You’re already very well-adjusted to that kinda culture. Now you need to adjust to A’gul culture…but you also need to maintain your understanding of Yamauchian culture.

Lich blinked. “Maintain?”

“You have to pull off a balancing act similar to the one the Karmali do,” Naaro answered. “You have to balance the cultured, traditional past with the free-minded, high-technology future. It's like having a 'work face' and a 'home face'...at work you act differently than you do at home. Work is professional, courteous; home is however you want…well, however you want within household restrictions, but you understand.”

“Yeah, I think so…” Lich said, biting his lip again.

Naaro nodded. “Good.”

Lich sighed. “That is…if I can get to Yamauchi. We might be stuck here forever.”

No word or sign from any of the other Wanderers had been received, to his knowledge. Given that it was only thirty-six-or-its-equivalent hours since they had arrived on G’lirer, there may have been more pressing issues at hand, or they were unable to get in touch. Or, maybe the replosion had sent them off into deep space...Lich shook his head, getting rid of the horrible thought.

“Heh…you’re a gloomy one, aren’t ya?” Naaro joked.

“Not as much as Ark…thankfully…” Lich sighed again.

It was because of Ark’s kidnapping that he was gloomy again, after all. He was already wishing that he wouldn’t have to spend another decade or so without his younger brother, even with all of his faults.

“Let me tell you something,” Naaro spoke sternly.

Lich gave him a stare in return, just as stern.

“Hope is how we survive on this world,” he told him. “I’m nineteen; I’ve faced down some very bad people in my life and been in some very bad situations. I’ve even died once.”

Lich shrugged. “I’ve lost count.”

“Well then…what got you through all that? Strength? Skill?”

“A Cup of Wishes in my pocket,” the Yoshi answered truthfully.

“Ah. Items. Well, I may not have gone through what you have, but that Cup of Wishes played a small part, if any. It’s the hope you have for getting out of the terrible mess you’ve gotten yourself into that gets you through it.”

There was a sudden polite cough at the door, making both the occupants jump slightly. “Excuse me…”

Naaro turned around. “Yeah?”

Lich looked towards the voice. It belonged to what seemed to be a walking safari suit – tan and khaki all over. What wasn’t its clothing seemed to be blonde curly hair that its pith helmet crowned, a pair of red spectacles and a mouth; apart from those features, its face was completely invisible.

“What the?!” Lich yelped, shooting to his feet again with the Boomerang clutched in his hand. A second later, he collapsed backwards onto the bed as his legs gave way. “Ouch,” he moaned quietly.

“Are you the invisible man or something?” Naaro asked, tensing, glancing at Lich.

“I’m looking for a Mister Lich Yoshi von Kippo,” said the safari suit.

“He’s the fellow over there on the bed,” Naaro pointed, turning to him.

Lich’s eyes glazed and he slumped on his side with a groan, dead to the world once again.

Naaro turned to the newcomer. “Hoo boy…”