It was not light, it was not darkness, it was nothingness, it was empty, and he felt nothing, just for a moment, then, he heard something, distant and slight, then he heard it anew, dull and monotone, not understandable in the slightest, then, he heard a voice talking to him as he was unable to understand anything, a voice he knew too well, a voice he had always talked with.
Then it was there, clear as day, he was in the nothing, and he could think, he had no body but he was, and he heard the voice of Cades, speaking in no language, simply talking, simply being in his heart, translated, his mind catching it, his ears, well, he had no ears, without use for this conversation, unable to catch anything, having become a flattened peace of splattered blood on the ground, pulverized and perhaps already having been boiled off by the endless ocean that had once been so calm and now turned into a storm, raging far above, though he could not see anything as to confirm that theory.
Then, still unable to wholly understand what Cades was saying, everything became clear, he might not have a body, but he was standing above an infinite mirror, no blood in sight, the ground reflecting the world itself, hidden, beyond, incomprehensible, the ground showing Cades, the true him, something he was never meant to lay his eyes upon, something he just perceived as a normal mirror, lightly glowing as he felt the infinite cold material of unknown origin, though he had nothing to feel with.
"What do you want, Lich?"
Everything became nothing once more, and he felt the truth, he felt that he would have to quickly speak, for the consciousness, he, was powerful in this realm, for it was clear he couldn't die, but he did not understand anything, the most powerful being in the subconsciousness was the subconsciousness after all, the most powerful being within the soul was the subconsciousness.
Cades didn't know why everything had vanished once more, perhaps it had been Cades himself, trying to show off his power in this place or something of that nature, perhaps it was something he simply couldn't understand yet, something he simply shouldn't see yet, still, that didn't matter.
Neither did he know why he had been called a lich, a corpse animated through magic, a being grasping to live by containing their won soul within a dead body, though he admitted that he did slightly like the sound of that name, the lich, it did sound quite imposing and free, easy to remember, and in a fight the shout would easily reach him.. but that's for later, he would keep that in mind, for now he would have to answer Cades question, for now he would have to try to not be ripped into pieces within this mental domain.
"I want to know why you are attacking me, even though we were once the same person."
"You have given up on our goal, it's as simple as that, just as we have sworn, hidden from even our own mind, I will kill everyone that had given up, I will kill you, even if that means I will have to end my own existence."
"But I did not give up on the goal, I still yearn for revenge, I'm sure you can at least understand that the goal became secondary to others, such as escaping, right ?"
"Perhaps it is true that the goal has become secondary, not completely out of the light, but how do you even intent to escape, and even then, you do not seem as if you would go out of your way to finally get revenge, at least not right now, Lich."
"But if we try to get revenge right now, we will only die, so wouldn't it be best to wait a bit?"
"Indeed, but still, I have sworn an oath, and you have broken our oath, for you are no longer Cades, Lich, you are simply a soul inhabiting a dead body, holding me here as a kind of prisoner."
"...what?"
"So you don't know? Well, I guess this is the better part of being a subconscious, we have quite a few privileges, though we can not interact with the world outside easily, we are that which makes the heart beat, we are that which allows the mind to walk forward, we are that which orders the muscles to grip, we are that which makes you breathe silently, we are those that work while you live, and perhaps because of that, no, certainly because of that, I know, the body we are in, is dead."
".....hahahahhhahahha"
"Indeed, you are a Lich, you are currently inside the corpse of another, not even the corpse of Cades Kirgun, we are gone, taken away, so you are even less Cades than you imagined yourself, you are even less me, even less us, than ever before, you are even less part of us."
"...."
"Tell me, why should I let a dead corpse live, why should I reside within a body that doesn't belong to me, without anything to do, stuck watching, why should I wait and watch while you will most likely never even get closer to the goal, to getting revenge?"
"Because we'll never succeed if we don't try..."
"Don't come at me with that overdone bookish quote, you know very well that trying such a thing can easily lead to death, and in death we will not be able to gain revenge, we will never be able to win, we will fail, and we will never try again... you have two more tries, use them wisely."
"If I get out, no matter what, isn't it better to sharpen a clunk of metal into a sharp sword, as to face the enemy with a blade instead of a chunk of ore, should it not be in our interest to grow stronger, to explore, to understand, even if it means our death, to forget and remember, to gain revenge, instead of being stupidly obsessed with only one thing and forgetting the need for power while undergoing that task, should it not be in both of our interests, in Cades interest, to be free of the desire, if only to fulfill the desire, just as a child is free of money but will one day have money when he needs it, just as a fish doesn't yearn for air but will get it from the water itself..."