Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan held out his hand, a little brown mouse started to take form.

"Here, posses my familiar. Little brown, you will have to share your body for a bit, but I will make it up to you."

"You can't be serious." The Ghost King balked.

"Of course, why not. He is my familiar. With a thought, ethereal mana will flow through his body and allow you to exit your prison. If you chose not to take the route I am offering, you can't say that I am breaking the deal." Lucan said with a satisfied smile. "Either you posses the mouse, or you can stay here."

Dejected, the Ghost King moved towards the mouse. His figure turned blurry and he started to disappear while he squeezed into Little Brown.

"Who would have thought that there would be a day when this grand king takes the form of a rat?"

"Hey, he is a mouse." Silent said, chastising the Ghost King, then turning to Lucan. "We now have a plan to get out of the prison, but how do we get out of the Depths of Despair, how did you do it last time?"

The warlock scratched his head. "Uhh, I sank completely into insanity and when I became sane again, I was out. But there has to be another way."

"How the heck did you guys get here, didn't you come through the mine?"

"No, we jumped in." Said Silent.

"Then let this king show you the way out." He said scurrying up Silent's leg, aiming to perch on her shoulder.

A telekinetic hand scooped up the Ghost King. "Keep your grubby little mouse paws off my woman." Lucan said before shoving the mouse into one of his pockets.

"Gentle, gentle, ah, my tail."

"That's what you get." Lucan said.

"He, he, he." Silent covered her mouth as she chuckled.

With the plan set, Lucan cast ethereal step on himself and through his familiar and stepped through the door while Silent followed behind. The journey to the mine took several hours. Not because it was far but because there was something lurking in the dark. Its heat signature was massive, the size of a sky scrapper, and Lucan didn't dare try to distract it so they could sneak by. Instead, they back tracked and found another way around it.

"It's just over there." The ghost King said, directing Lucan forward.

He and Silent went towards the chasm wall.

"I don't see anything." The warlock said.

"That is dwarven architecture for you. Seamless and perfectly hidden. That is where I came out when I first came down here. But how to open the door, I couldn't tell you."

Lucan and Silent scoured the surface of the chasm wall, looking for anything that could be used as a handle.

"What about this, don't you think it looks kind of like a keyhole." Silent said, pointing to a small crack in the rock wall. "Do you think you can pick it open?"

"I have something better." Lucan said, fishing out a small key from his bag. He had held onto the overseer's master key for a long time, and finally it was being put to use.

He stuck the key into the hole and turned it. With a faint click, a door slowly opened, and Lucan withdrew the key. Using his full strength, Lucan pulled the massive rock slab open as it pivoted on its hinges. Silent, Lucan, and the Ghost King entered before closing the door behind them.

[You have entered the Mine of Despair.]

They were in an old storeroom filled with pickaxes and pushcarts. Lucan peeped his head out of the door and saw a level 95 Boss dwarf yelling at his workers to mine faster. They were using their pickaxes on a large black crystal that was over 100 feet wide. The surroundings had been excavated and the dwarves were hauling the chunks that they had chipped off to the pushcarts that were on tracks.

Lucan quietly shut the door before whispering to Silent. "It looks like we are running this dungeon in reverse. Even though the Ghost King is currently useless, we shouldn't have to much difficulty. The boss is only level 95. If we go all out, I think we will be fine. Give me some time to make a couple champions and we will hit him with everything we got."

Silent nodded and started to prep her gear while Lucan used illusions to create a model of everything he saw. The two took some time come up with a plan while the Ghost King just silently listened. He wanted to find out how capable his two rescuers really were.

Lucan set Little Brown in the corner of the storeroom. If the familiar died it wouldn't be the end of the Ghost King, but it would still do a great deal of damage to his soul. To be safe, he was going to stay out of the way during the boss fight.

Lucan slowly opened the door and slipped out with Silent. He began to cast his shadow domain spell, even with practice it still took 20 seconds to cast.

He started out well, but the Boss, Mine Master, noticed him before he could finish.

"INTRUDERS!!!"

The corrupted dwarves stopped their mining and charged towards Lucan.

Silent was ready and let loose her first arrow. Piercing straight through the leg of a dwarf, the miner was pinned to the ground. Her butterflies took to the air, led by their queen.

Like a squadron of fighter jets, they split into several small groups and dove towards the rushing dwarves. Their razor-sharp wings, cut at the tendons in their legs, halting their advance.

Shadows rolled out from Lucan as his domain took form. 2 shadow skeletons, a flaming shadow skull, and a shadow zombie formed to serve their master. Leading the group was Lucan's biggest catch, a shadow of a death knight charged out first, slicing into the dwarves with its black greatsword. The warlock called upon his shadow beast before pointing his scepter at the Mine Master and starting a new chant.

A green beam of energy ripped through the air and targeted the boss, cutting his speed in half while doing constant damage.

Four phantom champions that Lucan had summoned earlier, rose from beneath the ground and joined the fray.

While Lucan channeled his spell, any dwarf that broke past his shadow creatures was met with an arrow to the chest. Silent stayed by his side and fired with her unwavering precision while giving orders to the queen butterfly.

The small swarms of blue sliced at the dwarves that began to pick up crossbows. Following the lead of their queen, the butterflies formed a single file line in the air and pursed in formation. The queen flew close to a dwarf, causing a small cut on his side. The butterfly behind her came and sliced at the same place, cutting a little deeper. Then another came, followed by another, and another.

The butterflies acted as if each one was a tooth on a saw. With their rapid speed the weaved in and out of the dwarves, following their queen as she led the charge. When the train of flying insects cleared the crowd of dwarves. Each had a large gapping slash on their side, blood poured, and they fell as Silent finished them off with her arrows.

The Mine Master was furious when he saw all his workers dying off. He wanted to drive his pickaxe through Lucan's head so bad, but the green beam known as soulfire was cutting his speed in half while numerous shadows kept him from getting any closer.

With no more dwarven workers, the butterflies circled around the boss, waiting for orders from their queen. The small blue butterfly let out a barely audible chirp. Her body transformed into bright blue flames as she lost her physical form. She dove towards the Mine Master and flew straight through his chest, burning him as she exited his back. The blue swarm did not turn into pure fire, but their sturdy wings were tinged with small flames as they went in to shred the boss.

Regaining her physical form and exhausted, the queen flew back to Silent and landed on the side of her head to rest.

When Mine Master's health dropped down to 10% he let out an angry roar before rearing back and tossing his pickaxe straight at Lucan.

His constant channeling of his spell caused his own movement speed to slow down. He wouldn't be able to cancel the spell and start another in order to avoid the pickaxe in time.

*Screech*

Adrestia swooped down, throwing herself in front of the pickaxe. Her small body was not enough to stop the weapon, but she managed to alter its trajectory before she died. It flew over Lucan's shoulder and struck deeply into the rock wall.

"YOU BASTARD!!" The warlock yelled, finishing his spell and activating the last part of soulfire. He pointed his scepter at the boss and a green ball of fire launched straight towards the Mine Master.

*Bang*

An explosion of emerald flames consumed the area, the boss was turned into ashes and destroyed.

When the boss died, Lucan and Silent received a few pieces of level 95 gear and several of the black crystals. They weren't able to identify them, as they were labeled, "Mysterious crystal." With the fact that the Burning Mast guild sent people 2 hours from Garth to come here on the regular. Lucan guessed that these crystals were the true treasure of the mine. He put them away and began to summon Adrestia back to life.

"Thank you, I am sorry you had to die for me."

"Chirp, chirp." She said, trying to cheer Lucan up.

"No, I haven't done right by you. After all this time you are still level one. From now on, I won't buy anything for myself for a while. I will devote all my banked experience to making you stronger. You are a part of my strength, a part I have been neglecting for a long time."

"Chirp, Chirp."

"There is no point trying to talk me out of it. Here have a couple dabs of honey, you earned it."

"Hey, stop, what are you doing?" Unable to control his mouse body's instinctual movements, the Ghost King rushed out towards the dabs of honey. "Oh my god, this honey is divine. It must have been taken from a hive on Mt. Olympiad. It has been so many years since I last tasted something. I regret nothing." He said, while trying to kick the shadow drake away.

*Whap*

Adrestia's tail sent the Ghost King rolling away.

"Hey, don't take her treat." Lucan said. "You can have your own." He said, putting a small dab on a wooden plate for the Ghost King.