David and Niala remained just outside the room, in a low stance and ready to act, staring at the creature. Jordo stood motionless, his eye pinning as he analyzed the scene.

  Geralkko's raspy voice rose up from the entirety of the room. “Aren't you going to step closer, so you can ask your questions?” He said, leaning his head forward.

  David glanced at Niala, who nodded, and triggered all of his imbuements at once, glowing blue as the runes inscribed in his flesh activated. Locking onto Geralkko, he kept feeding mana into his body.

  The undead lordling tilted his head. “Curious. I have seen a similar type of ma-” David kicked forward, crossing the distance in a heartbeat, and landing a cracking fist straight through Geralkko's face and into the headrest of his throne, shearing it clean and sending it flying into a bank of screens at the far back of the room, sparks erupting as they were smashed into junk.

  David himself slid to a halt a few metres past the throne, just as Geralkko's body slumped forward, headless, but remained sitting.

  The courier straightened up and turned around, looking at his handiwork. “That was easier than I thought. Niala, I think you can-” He began to say as he looked at his girlfriend.

  “David. The screens.” Niala pointed his attention at the wall of the room, where Geralkko's face was still visible, if appearing stunned, its eyes wide, the same expression that David's face took on when a pop was heard from the throne, and saw the creature's head expand from nothingness and attach back to its body.

  Geralkko turned his head to look at the missing headrest of his throne, before glaring at David. “You mismanage my property?! Insolence! Barbarism! Inconsequential! Are you unable to converse without your fists?!” He fumed.

  The creature's head exploded once more as David flashed past him, landing another empowered fist through its newly formed skull.

  This time, Geralkko's image spoke first. “Are you even comprehending?! I am seeking to discourse! Inert your actions!” A popping sound followed, as his head reappeared on its body, just to be smashed like an overripe pumpkin once more.

  The images on the screens turned to look at Niala and Jordo. “You! The animal woman! Restrain your gorilla! And you, Curator unit!” Geralkko's head popped into existence, and David's fist popped it out again. “Call to your master! I, Geralkko, search for accord, not destruction!”

  Niala furrowed her brow. “David?”

  Her boyfriend looked at her from his primed position near Geralkko's body. “Yes?”

  “He said Curator. He knows what Jordo is. Maybe we should... listen to him? He hasn't actually hurt any of us, or even really tried to.”

  He looked back at the creature's corpse just as his head popped back and looked at David with a mix of fear and exasperation.

  Hesitating for a moment, David lowered his fist, reducing the amount of mana pouring into his imbuements, his glow lessening. “You have two minutes to explain why I shouldn't smash your body to paste.” He said with a tone that left no room for interpretation.

  Geralkko glowered at the courier before grunting and leaning back into his headless throne. “Aggressiveness will serve you not! I am undying! You will tire yourself, and I will persist!”

  David quirked an eyebrow. “Are you an incarnation?”

  “A what?”

  “Incarnation. A spirit, arcanae, or devil.”

  “... do you speak of manifested soul?”

  “I... what?” David turned to Jordo. “Are they the same thing?”

  Jordo's eye went into a thin line, before reopening. “I believe so, sir. The concepts in both Luminan and Amberan are nearly the same.”

  Nalia spoke up, “Wait! You called me a manifested soul! When we first met!”

  David blinked, remembering as well as Niala jostled his memory.

  Jordo looked at Niala, eye pinning. “That is correct. Are you not a manifested soul? I detected the mana signature of one within you.”

  “You are manifested?!” Geralkko's many faces all said at once, greed seeping into his voices.

  “What? No! I'm a living, breathing catkin!” She defended herself.

  “...But you did have a, huh, manifested in you at some point, and...” David pointed out.

  Niala's ears flattened, eyes widening. “And she said I had a bit of her power in me! Jordo! Is that dangerous?” She exclaimed at the golem, an edge of worry to her voice.

  “Truly? That does not seem possible. Mana usually cannot intermix without grave consequences, unless done in a very controlled or limited manner.”

  “A hybrid soul!? Geralkko has a proposal for you! Experiments to be made, with your contribution! I can offer power! Wealth! Artifacts! Knowledge! Pro-”

  “Not interested.” Niala cut off his spiel with a tone of steel.

  “You must! A hybrid soul is nov-” His head exploded once more, David's fist slowly retracting from the space it had occupied.

  “Not interested.” He repeated, turning to Jordo. “You say it's dangerous, but Niala is fine?”

  Jordo nodded. “For all that my sensors can perceive, madam is the epitome of physical and aetheric health!”

  Niala didn't seem quite convinced, her eyebrows lowering.

  David shook his head. “We'll talk about this later, once we get what we want out of this place.”

  Geralkko's head popped back on his body. “Stop beheading me!”

  “Stop talking when we don't want you to,” David replied.

  “Give me a signal to stop!”

  “I am giving you a signal to stop. I'm punching your head.”

  Geralkko's faces went taut with aggravation. “You persist in antagonizing me! I, the one who holds the key to everything you seek! Did you not come here for riches and Power!?”

  David raised his fist, shutting up the creature.

  “I ask, you answer. First, what are you?”

  Geralkko's faces took on a smug expression. “I am what everyone seeks, but the only one to achieve. I am an unbound soul!”

  “Explain.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Ignorant primitive brain! I have refused the great recycling of aether! My soul self-subsists! Living functions are unnecessary!”

  “An undead, then.”

  Geralkko's face contorted in disgust. “You compare my pristine soul to the abomination of the undead?! Witless mammal! Undead are shredded souls, discarded, brought or lost back into the physical world, pieced together by rotting mana, crawling inside useless flesh!”

  He put a desiccated hand on his chest. “I am complete! My soul has never passed the membrane! Never been discombobulated!”

  Jordo piped up. “Oh! You are a Luce! A free light!”

  Niala's ears lopsided. “A Luce? That sounds like...”

  Jordo nodded. “I believe the Amberan word is Lich.”

  David's eyebrows arched, looking at Geralkko. “That explains some. How do you know Jordo is a Curator golem?”

  The lich rolled his eyes. “Are you unable to perform basic logic? I have been infesting this area for ages untold! A repository! Of Knowledge! That I have been absorbing!”

  “A book nerd lich.” David posited, turning to Niala. “Maybe I should let you and him talk instead? Shared interests and all?”

  Niala stuck her tongue out at him.

  He smirked, returning his attention to Geralkko, the levity in his face disappearing. “Tell me how to deal with mana stagnation.”

  The lich leaned toward David, all his representation on the screens doing the same. “Mana stagnation. Mana polarity inversion syndrome. Why would you ask? The only ones truly at risk are those with more mana than the soul-mana barrier can sustain. Hmmm.”

  David remained unprovoked, staring back at the undead, who leaned back into his throne.

  “The method is to empty your mana pool regularly. That is well-known knowledge.” Geralkko said.

  “What if I can't?”

  “Then, you will transform into a corrupted.” The lich replied, peering intently at David.

  “No other ways catalogued in here?”

  “This is valuable knowledge to you. We can barter.”

  “You tell me, I don't turn you into a paste.” David offered.

  “Did you not hear me, insect? I am immortal! This body will never know rest!”

  That was David's cue to punch the lich's head into mush.

  Which he repeated once it popped back on.

  And so on for the next twenty iterations.

  On the twenty-first reforming, the lich recoiled, putting his arms between him and David, the courier staying his arm.

  “Do you accept my deal?” David asked.

  “It is not trade! It is coherci-” Geralkko's head exploded once more.

  Green fire flared over his faces on the display. “CEASE!” The voices shouted.

  David lowered his fist, waiting for the lich's physical head to manifest once more.

  POP

  “Speak,” David commanded.

  Geralkko glared at the man for a few seconds before making a breathless sigh. “Brutish ogre... Listen, receive my succulent knowledge at once! I shall not reiterate! The luminaries knew of two methods. The first is to feed a magivore. Mana consumed within a body does not breach the soul-mana barrier.”

  The lich's mouth turned into a sour smile. “Finding one is a task. Feeding it is folly. How strong a beast that suckles on mana might become, should a scion make avail of their enormous mana teats? Hmm?”

  David's brow rose as he stared at the lich dubiously, long enough for the undead to speak up. “Why are you staring?”

  “Just... What's the second way?”

  Perturbed, Geralkko continued. “The second is a wish. The luminaries theorized that, as how a magivore's consumption of mana bypassed the soul-mana barrier, so would the materialization of one's mana into the physical world.”

  “And how do I do that?”

  “I said so already! It is a wish! It was attempted, but never performed!”

  “I need to know what they tried.”

  “Thousands of permutations! To tell you would rot your ears off!”

  “I still need that information.”

  “Interminable pest! Feast your brain, if you so wish!” The lich waved a hand toward a screen, where his face was replaced by scrolling text that went by without end.

  David approached, frowning, turning toward Niala. With her superb memory, maybe she...

  “Sir, I believe I can be of help,” Jordo spoke up.

  “Yes?”

  “Indeed, Sir. As a Curator unit, I should be able to interface with the workstation and take an imprint of the knowledge.”

  David nodded and stepped back from the workstation, as Jordo walked into the room and up to the post, before pressing his hand on a flat section of the wall, just below the display. A soft white light emanated from the rectangular stone, and Jordo's eye displayed red lines flying vertically across it. After a minute, the golem's eye returned to normal, and he decoupled from the interface. He nodded at David. “I have the information, sir. It will take a while to parse through it all, as the Luce said. The Luminaries really did attempt thousands of iterations.”

  “Hmm. Well, we have everything we wanted, then?”

  “I believe so, sir.”

  David looked at Niala, who had been listening and observing the entire exchange from the start with an attentive glint in her eyes. “Did you want anything, Niala?” He asked.

  “I mean, yes? Geralkko, give Jordo all you have on herbalism and alchemy!”

  David nodded appreciatively. That would certainly be useful knowledge. He looked at the lich, who was staring back at him.

  “If I do not confess, you will initiate destruction of my cranium again, will you not?”

  “I think we're getting to know each other pretty well,” David said.

  The lich slumped and waved a hand at the display, more text appearing, which Jordo downloaded dutifully.

  “We're done, then. Let's go.” David declared, stepping towards the door.

  Geralkko straightened on his throne. “Wait!”

  Everyone stopped and turned toward the lich.

  “I will give you two things,” Geralkko said.

  David narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

  “Because I have to! Uncooperative as you were, I nonetheless gathered splendid data from your actions! I am compelled to reward you!”

  “Why?” David repeated.

  “If I do not, the other one will not shut up, and I will truly be without rest!” Geralkko begged.

  “Explain. What other one?”

  “The... voice that was here, before me. The one that reigned over this facility.”

  Seeing David's confusion, Jordo spoke up. “Sir, I believe the Luce is referring to the central consciousness of this repository.”

  “You're saying the lich has, what, eaten the mind that ran this place?” David asked.

  “In a manner of speaking. The possibility is very intriguing.” Jordo admitted, before continuing. “If it is true, then what the Luce has said would be true as well. Repositories were transactional in nature, and one of their currencies was always knowledge, either given or taken. If we have given the Luce knowledge, the central consciousness would want us repaid.”

  “Didn't it repay us with knowledge already?” David pointed out, motioning at the workstation that Jordo had connected to.

  The golem's eye zoomed in and out. “The unique nature of your and madam's mana and abilities would be greatly valued by the consciousness, especially madam's hybrid nature.”

  David spotted Niala puffing her chest at Jordo's words. He ignored her for now, turning toward Geralkko. “Give us the two things, and we're gone.”

  The lich grimaced. “It is a desire shared. First, as the woman alluded to, an alchemical marvel.” He waved at another workstation, and a small compartment opened. Within was a small package. Geralkko motioned at it. “A formula that will grant the greatest gift.”

  He then directed his attention to Jordo. “And for your Curator, a limb, to fill the void.” He turned his eyes toward another screen, and a schema of the facility appeared, with a flashing path leading to a room. “At the destination, you will find a deactivated Curator unit. Salvage from it what you need.”

  He then slumped into his throne. “Now go. The voice is satisfied, and I am dissatisfied to still see you here.”

  And on that, the trio left, not particularly enthused at staying in this place any longer than they needed to.

  They retrieved the small package, then tracked down the broken Curator unit, which David stored within one of his cargo cloths.

  Geralkko had said to take what they needed. It turned out that they needed the whole thing.

  Using the grasping vine, David swung his way back up to the top, back to the walkway they had arrived from, while Jordo displayed how he had reached the bottom floor, as he magnetized his feet and walked up the metallic outer wall at his usual unhurried pace.

  Back within the central room, once he was certain the three interlopers had left the facility, Geralkko allowed himself a small, triumphant smile.