The snake made a head swipe to the left, and Edwin dodged to the right. He touched the tail of the snake and attempted to pull something out of it, but heard only the heartbeat of the creature.
“We need to get down the grate!” Yelled Sebastian.
“The water smells foul down there!” Yelled back Edwin. Sebastian charged towards the healer and snatched him. He half-carried him, half-dragged him towards the crate and then pushed him in the water before jumping down.
Small snakes followed them, but Sebastian made quick work of them.
“You are the most useless Lich I have ever met,” snapped Sebastian, and Edwin scoffed.
“I just found out that I could be a Lich…”
“Not could be, you are one!” Sebastian grabbed Edwin’s cloak and began dragging him through the stinking water. A dead rat floated pass them, and Edwin scrunched up his nose.
“You do know that we are incredibly susceptible to diseases, do you not?” Still, he followed Sebastian deeper into the sewage.
“It was either the chance to get sick, with a healer close by, might I add, or waiting until you figured out how to eat souls. Which is something you will train in, or so help me,” Sebastian reached a new grate that was letting some light through, and he turned towards Edwin.
“How good are you at augmenting your limbs with mana?” He asked and Edwin shook his head.
“Harry was supposed to teach me, but then, you happened,” Sebastian griped Edwin by the arm and tugged him towards the grate.
“Hold still,” and then Sebastian proceeded to use Edwin like a ladder. When the man stepped on Edwin’s shoulders, the healer swayed to the side, nearly forcing him back in the water. “Hold still, darn you!”
“You are heavy! How are you so heavy when your diet consists of blood?” Edwin gripped Sebastian’s feet and attempted to anchor him, but it was hard.
“Pure muscles, healer. Something you will have if you follow the regiment I will make up for you,” Edwin already dreaded these words.
Then, he heard a clang and something passed millimeters next to his head and splashed into the water. Sebastian heaved himself up and then reached a hand back in to pull up Edwin.
Edwin jumped and snatched the hand, worrying all the while that Sebastian would topple down in the water, but then his feet found the wall of the sewer, and he was raised.
“Thanks,” Sebastian nodded, and then he pointed at a palm shaped mosaic on the wall. There was a door to the left of it.
“Do you still think I should have left the first cavern be?” Asked Edwin smugly. Sebastian snorted and pushed Edwin towards the door. Edwin unlocked the door, and they were both faced with a glowing crystal that had some sort of pentagram shaped barrier around it.
“I thought this place was supposed to be holy?” Sebastian began to circle the pulsing core. “Why are there no snakes here?”
“Probably everyone died when they faced the giant snake in the herbal room,” Edwin was looking at the walls. There were murals around them. They depicted vines, snakes, and herbs.
“Why is it called the Asylum of Blood?” That was something Edwin couldn’t understand. He’d call it the Garden Dungeon, Snake Nest, or something similar. But not an asylum, much of least one made up of blood.
“I think I have the answer to that,” Edwin turned to Sebastian, who pointed at the base of the barrier. “See this?”
There were bones on the ground. They were all bloody.
“Do you think this is a body dumping ground?” Edwin could believe it, but, then, why not Graveyard Dungeon?
“Of the mentally ill. This barrier is brittle. Now, you have to figure out how to eat it,” Edwin send Sebastian an incredulous look. Eating barriers was something Liches could do, provided the barriers were made up of souls, but even then, it was a long process.
“Well, here goes,” Edwin touched the barrier and began tugging at it. It didn’t harm him, yet, it refused to let him just take out the core. Deciding that there was nothing to be done but bite down, he did just that.
Then, the whispering and screams began. The barrier pulsed a bright red color, yet, it still didn’t harm Edwin. This was all the proof the healer needed to know that Sebastian had not lied to him. Edwin was a Lich and there was no going back.
His foot brushed sluggishly against one of the bones, and he kicked it to the side. The barrier wavered and he stared at the bones.
“They are anchors,” he looked to the side to see Sebastian snickering.
“I could have told you that,” Edwin send Sebastian a dirty look and began to do his best to kick the bones away from the core. The barrier shivered as if it was a life person and then shattered in a million pieces.
“Let me,” Sebastian gently moved Edwin to the side and snatched the core. Then, he smashed it in the pedestal that it had floated over just moments ago. They heard a scream, and then the air became less heavy around them.
“And that’s that,” Sebastian patted Edwin’s back and then frog marched the healer back to the entrance.
“I can walk; you know?” Snapped Edwin, and he righted himself and walked to the door. “We will need to fight the snake.”
Sebastian looked at him with disbelief.
“Have you forgotten your shadows?” Edwin had. He chuckled uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his head.
“I’ll call them, wait, there is something up ahead. A tunnel,” Sebastian looked and marched with sure steps towards it.
“It leads up. We may bypass the snake entirely,” that gave hope to Edwin that, when he lets the shadows back in, he would be able to harvest more of the plants.
“Sebastian!” Called out Edwin and the vampire turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Thank you, I couldn’t have done this without you,” Sebastian smiled and shook his head. Murmuring something about softy healers as he began to climb the stairs that did, indeed, let them bypass the snake.
