I became a legion lich

85 A strange phenomenon

Athos quickly cast the undead raiser on Treevor, being surprised at the result. Treevor’s body required twice the life force of Athos, something that had never happened before. His body tried to reject the darkness, but that was to be expected thanks to his affinity for light. What was a surprise was what happened next.

The extra life force moved into the amber eye, restoring the spherical shape of the cracked eye perfectly. As the corpse turned purely into bones, Athos’ attention was on the plant side of Treevor.

His plant arm has turned into bone just like the rest, but the bark has darkened to ebony, covering his forearm, shoulder, and right ribs like partial armor. The vine leaves that replaced her hair turned black with dark green tips, while her amber eye darkened.

The elven skeleton was just like a human skeleton, except there was a bony tip sticking out of the side of the skull where the ear should have been. The difference between the elven and plant sides was even more stark now than when he was alive. Its plant side has preserved most of its characteristics, suffering only minor changes in tone, at least externally.

The skeleton began to tremble and Athos felt the connection with him forming, as well as the incoming life force. The life force coming from the core was like any other, but the life force coming from the amber eye was unlike anything he had ever felt before. The moment she infiltrated her core, her core became visible to anyone around.

A black glow appeared all over his body, even where his missing limbs should have been. A white mask appeared on his face, while two black chains appeared in his right hand, linked to Sevenus and Emilia, while a bloodied sword appeared in his left hand. His soul briefly overlapped his physical body, something that should have been impossible.

The phenomenon was so strange that Athos froze in place, unable to react. And just as quickly as it appeared, it all disappeared again. Athos fell back in shock, looking at the members as if they could spring to life at any moment and turn on him.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked shocked.

“My lord/Master!” Sevenus and Emilia said at the same time, running to Athos and helping him back to the rock bear.

.....

“Did you guys see that too?” Athos on the other hand, was more concerned about the phenomenon that just happened than getting off the dirty floor.

“Yes, we have seen it too and we are as confused as you are, my lord.” Sevenus said.

Athos was about to babble and theory like a mad scientist, when Treevor’s skeleton began to shake and twist as if it was having spasms.

“Stop it and get up.” Athos ordered, but the skeleton ignored him and continued to tremble. Athos tilted his head in confusion, curiously watching the skeleton convulse. After a few seconds, a translucent Treevor leapt from the skeleton and only then did it obey Athos’ order and stop convulsing before standing up.

Treevor looked exactly the same as when he was still alive, except for his ghostly color and a black chain wrapped around his neck. He tried to get away from his own skeleton, but the chain pulled him back into his own body. Treevor tried to tug at the chains with his hands, but the chain tightened around his neck and pulled him harder toward his body.

In a last desperate move, Treevor tried to cling to the ground, but he only left a finger print on the ground, being dragged back to his body. As soon as Treevor returned to his own body, the skeleton fell to the ground, before convulsing again.

This was repeated three times and showed no signs of ending.

“What the fuck was that?” Athos asked shocked. He looked into Emilia and Sevenus’ eyes, only to realize that they were just as shocked as he was. He looked more than once at the fingerprints on the floor to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

At that moment, Treevor came out for the 4th time and looked at Athos menacingly before screaming.

“You bony motherfucker! Stop that shit at once!!”

“No, I’m not doing anything.” Athos looked stupidly as he raised his remaining hand, as if to prove he was innocent.

“Stop holding me to my body! Let me out!” Treevor screamed desperately.

“Okay, you can leave.” Athos easily agreed, after using death vision on Treevor. Surprisingly, his skeleton was only in the 5th layer of death, while his amber eye had the same energy as a newly formed core. The translucent body looked exactly the same, with or without death vision.

Athos only agreed to let him out, as he felt they were connected by the chains around Treevor’s neck.

“Finally that thing stopped squeezing me. Hey, you bony bastard, I swear if you don’t let go of me now, I- Gahh!” Treevor tried to threaten him to be freed, but Athos cut him off.

“Arrest him.” Athos spoke, causing the chain to tighten again and drag Treevor back to the body. Treevor had relaxed, so he was dragged along without resistance.

A few seconds later, Treevor came out of the skeleton again annoyed. “Why did you do that??”

“To let you know your place. I don’t know why you managed to get out of your own body like this, but I killed you and now you belong to me, so lower your voice when talking to me.” Athos glared at Treevor as he spoke.

“Who do you think you are-” Treevor was irritated by his arrogance, but Athos tightened the chain again forcing him back into his own body. This exchange continued for nearly half an hour, with Treevor cursing all of Athos’ ancestry for raising a bastard like him. but he was forced to give in in the end.

“Huff huff, okay, this isn’t getting you anywhere.” Treevor said as he panted heavily, though a soul doesn’t feel tired.

“Ready to talk now?” Athos asked, after returning from the forest. He had left Treevor struggling while Emilia watched over him and went to absorb the nutrients from the trees that hadn’t been destroyed to heal his legs and arms, as well as restore the skin all over his body. It might sound strange to someone who had gotten his skin less than a day ago, but Athos felt naked without it.

“Your...no, it’s nothing.” Treevor tried to curse him, but held back.

‘I gain nothing by fighting now. I need time to understand what this current is and how to remove it.’ That’s what he thought.

“Fine. I give you command of the entire army.” said Athos, forcing the thick chains that bound him to Emilia and Sevenus to Treevor’s body.

They curled around both of his arms, but it didn’t look like he’d surrendered.

“What the fuck is this? You didn’t want to talk?” Treevor asked irritably, seeing the new chains holding him even tighter than before.

“I’m sorry about that. I thought I might force you into submission, but it seems like that’s impossible. Let’s continue our conversation.” Athos spoke, not the least bit sorry for what he had done.

“You-” Treevor needed sheer willpower not to curse him. He took a few deep breaths before looking coldly at Athos. “What you want?”

“For starters, I want to know who you are and what you are, but we don’t need to talk in this wasteland. Let’s go to town.” Athos spoke and turned before he heard her answer. All the skeletons followed him, including his own body. Treevor tried to stay still and resist, but as soon as his body pulled away enough, he was forcibly dragged into the city.

Upon arriving in town, Treevor was disgusted by what he saw. Athos had taken a little over half of the undead, but all the rest were working incessantly. The main street was crowded with carriages and carts and the skeletons were loading it with all sorts of items.

“I am glad that...you are back safely...my lord.” A mage skeleton greeted them as they reached the town square. Like Emilia, Sevenus divided the skeletons he received from Athos among the Skeleton Mages and made them his direct subordinates.

“Keep up the good work. I’m having an important conversation with new guy, so don’t let anyone bother me. Also, make a count of how many undead were destroyed and how many alchemical and slime acid items were left.” Athos spoke as he patted him on the shoulder, before entering the house of some random wealthy merchant.

He entered what appeared to be the merchant’s office before sitting down on a couch and beckoning Treevor’s body to do the same. Emilia and Sevenus stood behind him, watching vigilantly into Treevor’s soul.

The soul sat beside the body, looking strangely at the situation.

“So start introducing yourself.” Athos ordered.

Treevor looked around as if looking for a way out before sighing and saying, “My full name is Treevor Evergreen Yggdrasil Elven, the exiled prince of the elven realm of Evergreen.”

It took some time for Athos to process this information. When he finally understood what Treevor said, he had only one reaction.

“...EH?”