Chapter 337: Kindred Spirits

William hesitated, uncertain if the shadowy figure was really Brian. Yet Nina’s description of his build echoed in his mind, and the resemblance was uncanny.

The figure lurking in the darkness wore a cloak, its face hidden from view. Still, the familiar height and the way it moved convinced William it could only be Brian.

Acting on impulse, William slipped out of his room. As a teacher, he could roam the halls at night without question, unlike the students. Still, he preferred to move unseen, wary of the ever-watchful guards.

His motive was simple: he needed to avoid attention. If the guards spotted him, word would spread, and that could only spell trouble.

If Brian turned up dead and people learned William had wandered out that night, suspicion would fall squarely on him.

Not that William had any intention of harming Brian. He still needed to uncover more about the man before making any decisions.

After slipping out of his dorm, William melted into the shadows, weaving between the courtyard’s trees to stay hidden from the watchful eyes of the guards.

Few guards patrolled the academy halls, which played perfectly into William’s hands.

The academy had a protective barrier around it, making it hard for outsiders to enter. So, they only needed a certain number of guards roaming, just to make sure the students wouldn’t do anything funny during the night.

Thanks to that, slipping past detection was a breeze for William. The real challenge was keeping up with the shadowy figure he had glimpsed!

The figure strode purposefully toward the academy’s main building, the most daunting place to sneak into since it bristled with vigilant guards.

Yet, despite the heavy security, William slipped inside with ease. His strength and agility let him glide silently, his presence undetected by the far weaker guards.

Inside, William shadowed the figure down empty corridors. With no guards in sight, this part of the pursuit felt almost effortless.

The principal remained in his office on the top floor. William wondered if the man might sense his presence, but he pressed on, unconcerned.

“Even if he senses me, I can always give some excuse as to why I am here!” thought William.

The mysterious figure walked through the halls, going into the far end of the main building, still on the first floor.

As they moved deeper, William noticed he had never set foot in this part of the building before. Dust and thick spider webs revealed how rarely anyone ventured here.

A sense of unease crept over William as he stepped into the unknown, the question echoing in his mind: what kind of place was this?

Despite being a teacher, William rarely set foot inside the academy’s main building. His domain was the gymnasium, set apart from the heart of the school, and so there were entire wings he had never explored.

There were corridors and chambers within these walls that remained strangers to him, and this shadowed hallway was one of them. The mysterious figure ahead produced a rusty key, its metallic scrape unnervingly loud in the silence, and unlocked a door that, William suspected, few—if any—ever dared to enter.

Watching the figure slip through, William found himself silently hoping the door would remain unlocked. He lingered in the gloom, counting the seconds, then reached for the handle, careful to move without a whisper of sound.

Fortune favored him—the door yielded beneath his touch. It seemed the figure had grown careless from repetition, never expecting another soul to follow this secret path.

What awaited him beyond that door was a staircase leading down. It was completely dark, and even more abandoned than the other areas he had seen.

William found himself wondering what business anyone could possibly have down there, especially someone who seemed determined to avoid being seen.

Even if the figure wasn’t Brian, it was odd enough to find anyone lurking in a place like this. Driven by curiosity, William kept to the shadows and followed, careful to leave enough space between them that he wouldn’t be noticed.

He knew better than to get too close this time. The corridor was narrow, with nowhere to duck out of sight if the figure turned around, so William kept his pace slow and his footsteps quiet, relying on the darkness to hide him.

William could feel his pulse quicken as he moved further into the tunnels, each step echoing in the close darkness. He tried not to dwell on what might be waiting for him below, but his imagination was already hard at work, conjuring up a series of increasingly unlikely possibilities.

A faint creak echoed ahead, the unmistakable sound of a door opening somewhere in the darkness. William paused, listening, and decided it must be the mysterious figure moving further in. He followed, careful to keep his footsteps quiet, and reached the same door a moment later.

This time, William eased the door open just enough to peer through the gap. What he saw inside caught him off guard, and suddenly, the necromancer cult’s determination to see that man dead made a lot more sense.

What he saw was a creature locked in chains. The creature before him was nothing but bones, its empty eye sockets staring out from a skull that looked as if it had never known flesh. It dragged its long, dark nails along the length of the chains, the steady clinking echoing through the room and making it clear that it had no intention of stopping any time soon.

Even stripped down to bare bones, the creature towered over the figure in front of it, easily twice his height and giving the impression that it had been built for intimidation rather than subtlety.

As for the mysterious figure he had been following, well, it turned out to be Brian. Thanks to the details Nina had shared about the man’s features, William recognized him immediately now that the hood was gone. Seeing Brian’s face out in the open left no room for doubt.

“Won’t you tell me where the treasure is?” Brian said, “I’ve come here weekly, and you know this will hurt.”

With Brian’s back turned to the door, he remained oblivious to William’s silent presence in the hallway, watching the scene unfold from the threshold.

The Lich, however, bound in heavy chains, was another matter entirely. Its gaze found William immediately, eyes boring into him with an intensity that left no doubt it recognized a kindred spirit.

There was an unmistakable sense of connection between them, a resonance in the air that came from the same type of mana flowing through William’s veins. He was a necromancer as well, and the Lich could sense it as easily as breathing.

The Lich remained silent, but William could almost feel the unspoken plea radiating from it. Freedom was what it desired, and the weight of that longing pressed against William’s mind.

“I won’t tell you anything, Brian,” the Lich said, “you know that, yet you ask it every time.”

“Eventually I’ll break you,” Brian said, “my divine magic is strong.”

Brian Cesar was an unusual mage, one of the few capable of wielding divine magic—a force particularly effective against the undead, though equally adept at healing wounds and strengthening allies.

That talent was the reason he had been selected to interrogate the Lich, in hopes of prying answers from it. Yet, even with divine magic at his disposal, the Lich’s resilience was remarkable, enduring pain that would have broken lesser beings.

“Maybe,” the Lich said, “but it will take a long time. Aren’t you afraid my followers will find me?”

“Find you?” Brian laughed, “They’ll never find you. This place will be your grave.”

As Brian began to turn, William eased the door shut, careful not to draw attention to his presence in the corridor.

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