Yew, and the End of the Beginning [2/2]

Yew ignored it, since nothing moved under her or flew at her.

She did not recognize the spell it was using, but there were plenty of chant based spells she did not know. It was not especially useful to her when she was so much better with runes. However, when the ugly cackling cut off, Yew could only assume the spell had not done whatever it was that the lich had wanted it to do. It tried another spell, then another, then another, but none of them seemed to be working as intended. Only when she was done drawing did she look up at the state of lich. It was more confused and angry than she had ever seen it within their admittedly few interactions.

“No, why aren’t they coming? Where are my minions? Where is my army? What happened to them? What did you do to me?!” Yew did not know why the lich assumed it was her fault the spells were not working. Her restraint magic did not affect summoning abilities, although that may have been an oversight on her part.

“How should I know? I didn’t even know you had minions,” Yew defended her good name from the lich.

“My minions. My swarm of mummies, my hordes of skeletons, my scourge of rot-wolves! Where are they? I have created so many through the years. Even my dark chalice of unimaginable power! Gone, all gone. The only one left that I can feel is you. So where are they?” The lich cried out in fury and betrayal. “They should have heeded my summons! Come to my aid!” It shouted in a voice that reverberated across the lands through the sky. Its volume nearly burst Yew’s eardrums.

She was so focused on that she nearly missed what it had said. Oh. Oh. It was her fault, mostly.

“Whoops,” she said with a shrug. “I guess I did do that. At least the mummies and wolves, I don’t know about the other stuff. I don’t really pay attention to how many of those I take down you know.” She laughed at the baffled anger on the lich’s face; it came through so clearly in the glow of the eyes. She could not find it in herself to feel sorry about that fact, however. If the lich didn’t want its army single handedly dismantled, then it shouldn’t have left it scattered all over the place in easily purified chunks. And before she forgot she added, “I destroyed the chalice too, although the king did most of the sabotage on that one. Guess he didn’t want what you were selling anymore, huh?”

The lich screamed into the sky. “No! All my plans, the work of centuries, ruined! Aghh!”

“Okay, well, while you’re doing that I’m just gonna get on with the purification okay?” Yew went to activate the spell.

“Wait! Wait!” She paused. The lich suddenly took on a coy appearance, “don’t you want to know why I did it? Even a little? Won’t you listen to my story?” It tried to entice her. She did not know if it was an attempt to distract her or not. But she did wonder if this lich’s seeming desire to chat with her had rubbed off on the chalice it made, affecting all the undead that had touched it with an unusual verbosity.

“No,” Yew spoke honestly. She had been inspired by Astilbe’s story; there was no need to engage with the lich further just because it did a bunch of bad things and was making an army for some reason. Yew found that she didn’t particularly need to know why. There was no point in understanding actions that she had no intention to forgive.

Yew activated the purification spell and the arch-lich was no more. It burst apart into a swarm of butterflies made of light, it may have been a more beautiful end than the creature deserved.

She felt the brand unwind from her soul, finally free of it. It was unfamiliar, but it felt right.

Yew looked up to the sky and wondered if Ulma was there in the heavens amongst the stars, or somewhere else entirely. “I did it, sis,” she whispered.

***

Yew looked around at the aftermath of their fight; the terrain was super messed up. They had knocked over a few trees, and even damaged on of the ruin tiles. She grimaced at that; if anyone asks it definitely wasn’t her fault. Hunks of grass were ripped up and smoldering in several places. Some sort of jagged rock spell was still sticking out of the dirt; that was likely permanent. If anyone found out she was here, she would blame it all on the lich. Yew had only done her absolute best to avoid damaging anything else.

She brushed the dirt off her clothes as best she could, and polished off the last of her emergency jerky. She had seared a nice chain shape into her arm that would need more food to heal when she got back home.

She set off towards Oakwood, tired, but lighter on her feet than she had ever been. For the first time since Ulma disappeared, Yew sang her song quietly as she walked home. No longer denying herself the peace and comfort it brought her.

It was time to go home; back to her friends and family and all the people worth caring about in her life.

She would never ever forget her sister, but maybe it was time to move on. Carry her memory forwards, but do not dwell and do not linger. There is no need to let her heart rot, stagnating in the past, when her future promises to be so very full. She wondered if they would call her stupid, for only just realizing it all. She thought Ulma might at least tease her, and for once, the thought brought more fondness than pain.