Aurelius’s heart collapsed upon hearing Her name.

  She was known to possibly be the most dangerous being in Teotlcan.

  Aurelius felt himself trembling, his stomach churn and his nether regions freeze over in fear. His throat constricted and attempted to heave out his lunch. Yet, Aurelius forced it down.

  He could not offend the Queen. He should not make noise. He should not move. He should not even breathe.

  “Hohoho. Smart boy! I’ll probably give you a less… painful death…” She mused, her raised foot bobbing up and down in amusement.

  “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What use does the Q-Queen have for this lowly m-ma-mage.” Aurelius managed.

  The queen waved her hand dismissively.

  “You know why.” She replied with a casual smile on her face.

  Aurelius’s body grew colder.

  He knew why. He knew what she wanted. He knew why he was summoned.

  Quetzalcoatl.

  Information tumbled through his head. He tried desperately to find a way out of Her grasp. However, all possibilities blinked out within the second it crossed his mind.

  Monsters were common all across the world. Dragons, murlocs, vampires and many more strange species. Each were dangerous disasters within themselves, but rarely intelligent. On the other hand, there were only 3 kinds of demi-humans.

  Of the three, the fae lived in secret, appearing all over the world on occasion. They were terrifying creatures who were known for how they stole names.

  The powerful fae could steal your name the moment you declared it. The lesser fairies could steal your name slowly, insidiously and cunningly.

  To have a stolen name was worse than a death sentence. The fae was essentially enslaving you, with your body becoming nothing more than a husk, devoid of soul.

  However, rumours had it that some of the more radical fae enjoyed leaving the consciousnesses alive within the body, allowing the Nameless to struggle to regain control of themselves. The successful find themselves without souls, and become undead.

  One must never, ever speak their name in the presence of a fae.

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  However, this rule was useless for Aurelius. He was graced by the aura of The Queen. She was a transcendent being. A god who walked Teotlcan itself.

  The ground that she walked worshipped her being. The winds themselves bent to herald her arrival. A fragile, useless human soul like that of his couldn’t hope to withstand such divinity.

  Aurelius lamented his life. He had been much much too careless in imagining that he would even have the chance to escape his curse as a "blessed” of Quetzalcoatl.

  For The Queen herself to have summoned him personally, meant that he had been far, far too unique to be spared from scrutiny, discovery or capture.

  He was dead. He would not struggle to regain his body when She eventually took him. He knew better. Life as an undead was a horror beyond imagination.

  Aurelius mustered all of his strength to glance at the two individuals staring down at him.

  His eyes caught Dr. Varian’s. He had been staring at Aurelius with a cold, emotionless gaze, still knelt in reverence of the Fae Queen.

  Aurelius felt a question blow past his mind, and the hope for the tiniest bit of resistance surfaced in his mind.

  “Wh-What is he?” Managed Aurelius.

  He would at least try to make an effort to live a little longer. Perhaps Quetzalcoatl would save him! He was technically His blessed after all.

  It was the archmage that replied.

  “Child, even He could not save you.” He stated coldly.

  Aurelius felt despair once more as realisation struck him. They were isolated, probably in Her divine kingdom. Nothing could find them, much less affect them.

  “I will, however, answer your question. A courtesy for a student of the Academy.” He continued sympathetically.

  He tapped his staff on the ground, an old tradition meant to signal introduction.

  “I am the Great Lich, Varian Greenwich. Former Duke, servant of the Blood Emporer, Manus Greenwich.”

  Holy Terravex. He’s a lich.

  Aurelius almost fainted. What the fuck was a lich of the Greenwich lineage doing at his Academy? Were they not wiped out 300 years ago? This was beyond insanity. It was utter madness.

  Had life always been so horribly exciting? Life was not some… NOVEL!

  “Fun’s over. Please kill the little being.” Commanded The Queen.

  Without hesitation, Dr. Varian stood up and swung his staff in a swift, precise motion. The pearls on his staff caught a glint of the sunlight, giving it a sinister splendor and elegance.

  Simultaneously, cold and oppressive metallic chains shot out of the ground, locking Aurelius in place. Rather useless, given that he would not even have attempted to move. To be perfectly honest, he was actually a little less tense after The Queen’s words.

  He was only going to die! Much better than having his soul twisted by fae magic, or having his consciousness toyed with. From an objective perspective, in context of Aurelius’s impending doom, the slight joy that this thought gave was absolutely pathetic.

  With a tap of his staff, a magic circle materialised on the soil around Aurelius, flattening all the grass in the way.

  Mana pulled themselves into the grooves of the circle viciously, glowing a deep blue. The mana rippled and whirled about like the crushing riptides of the sea.

  The Queen watched with a relaxed expression, as if she had all the time in the world.

  With another twist of his staff, Aurelius felt the boundaries of his body and soul disappear. His wrists cut open obediently, and blood streamed out of them into the grooves, mixing with the mana.

  He felt an intense pain as his veins were exposed to air. The cut was deep, the gash cutting through his tendons and scarring his bones.

  Consciousness faded away as blood continued to flow. As the ritual continued, his soul was ripped from his body, its shape perfectly preserved under the influence of the magic circle.

  The last thing he saw was the look of sheer delight on The Queen and Her face. A strangely comforting sight, given her sheer beauty.

  Then, he died.