Sure thing, leave my name out of it tho.

It was an emotional write but damn it felt good to do, thanks for the prompt.

(As a twenty-year-old college student planning on doing what I'm going to do in this story, this is about to get a little personal. Just a heads up.)

I don't really understand how I knew that I wasn't in reality anymore, but when the power went out and a very locked door creaked open, I just knew I wasn't where I was before. That got confirmed for me very quickly. I was looking at myself, a perfect copy of a very imperfect human being. I, the me that was still sitting in my chair, was spooked because, well, I was looking at me walking into my room and closing the door behind me. His grey eyes met mine, and I knew immediately what he was here for and why. You can't lie to yourself. You can lie to everybody else for a little bit, but not yourself, not forever. Since he was me, he knew. He knew damn well.

"So," he started, "you really wanna do this?" I shrugged laconically. I'd dug this grave deep, 'bout damn time I set the shovel down and just lay in it. "Yeah, I've gotta, sooner or later." He walked forward and sat on the bed behind me as I wheeled my chair around to face him. I could tell he was as scared as I was. He sighed before stating the obvious.

"Y'know, they've paid a lot for you to go to college. They paid even more for that preparatory high school education. They've given so much for you." They had, no doubt about it. Somewhere upwards of $50,000, I'd guess, and that's just for the education. Then the car, my ADHD medication, and God knows what else. I'd wasted all of it. Never gave a shit in school. I was a habitual liar who was too afraid to admit my issues. I lied about how I was doing so that they wouldn't get mad at me. Of course, they always ended up knowing. I just bought myself time for my house of cards.

"I can't keep doing this. We both know this isn't what I want to do. I won't make it in school." I was failing all my classes. I was smart enough, I just had no motivation to do any schoolwork because, well, I just didn't want to. No amount of fear or responsibility ever made me feel encouraged enough to do the bare minimum of something I didn't want to. That's fucking miserable, I know.

But I didn't want to tell my parents, "hey, I know I'm living under your roof and spending thousands of dollars of your money (and have been my entire life), but I actually want to drop out of college (the one thing they ask of me) and go try my luck at being an entertainer on the internet." So, what did I do? What I always did, I lied. I told em that school was "going great" and "I'm studying hard for finals."

I know it's wrong. It's fucking awful. I've done it for years and years, and I know I'm going to get caught every time I do it. It doesn't make me happy to betray the trust of people I love, so that's why I was going to tell them the truth. I was going to tell them what I'd done again and what I wanted to do.

The me on the bed stood up and paced around aimlessly for a few seconds before admitting our worst fears. "This might actually get you disowned. You've been lying in school for seven years. You've wasted so much time, money, and sanity of these people. They can only take so much before they finally just give up on you."

"I can't stay in school. I can't do something I have no interest in just because it makes money. I'd rather die poor and say 'I tried' than live rich having given up on those dreams."

"Would you really? You have no idea how hard things are going to be for you. They're not going to let you stay in the house if you're not going to college. You're going to be on your own completely-"

"Like a normal kid? Like everyone else around us is doing?"

"You aren't ready for 'normal.' You rely on them for everything. You're not an adult, not even close. Your medicine, your car, your food, your house, everything belongs to them. You've done nothing to pay a single cent of it back."

"I know, but I'm not going to get any better by just doing what I've always done. I can't go back to school. I know how it ends. It's not where I want to be, and no amount of guilt or necessity is going to make me successful there. I'd just be wasting more of their money."

"So what? You think that, just because it's what you want to do, you'll make it? Christ alive, look at you. You're a mess, your room is a mess, you lie to everyone. What the fuck makes you think that you'll somehow pull through this and still have enough to survive?"

"I don't know, but it's better than lying again. It's better than trying school again. We won't ever be scholars. We won't ever be a psychologist. Being funny and creative for the entertainment of others is the only thing that we like to do. At this point, I don't care if I amount to nothing in the end. I would much rather die starving on the street, having tried to make my name doing something that makes me happy, than go another second pretending that I'll make it through college. I've lied to everyone, and, as of now, I still am. If we ever want to stop being a liar, we have to start by killing the lie we're telling ourselves every day we drive to campus."

We were both too terrified to talk. This was a bad situation, one that was entirely our own fault. We were about to quit school and attempt to make it in one of the most competitive careers where failure was almost guaranteed. We had no idea what the fuck we were doing or how the fuck to do it. All we had was a pipe dream, imagination, and ignorant youthful hope. It was, almost certainly, going to fucking kill us.

Having nothing left to say, he left. I think most of me went with him. I'd never felt so scared and hopeful at the same time. I know they would always love me and care about me, but they weren't going to let this just go without expecting something given back. I was just going to have to pay it, whatever it was.

That's the price of lies, I reckon.

The jade green glow emanating from her eyes danced in the tears welling beneath. All I ever wanted to do was make her proud, to make up for all the trouble I’ve been. It took me a minute to realize why Sonia was crying. I ain’t never been a smart man.

Maybe that’s why I took the blow of the curse. I wanted to be useful, just for once. Even if it was my last scene in this play, I wasn’t going to go out having it be said that I never broke even. Of course, she always told me she didn’t mind. They all did, all those wizards, warriors, and people of prophecy that lined the pages of ancient texts we’d dug up. They were the chosen, the fated eight, and I was the ninth. Well, I was technically the first to join Sonia Oakhearth back in Kirk’s Drift. The other seven came along the winding path that has been this wild journey of ours… Of theirs, really.

They were the ones saving people. I just watched and did all the small necessary jobs required to keep ‘em alive. “We need you to get this from the stables” or “Hey, Hoak, go get us rooms at the inn whilst we go and talk to the queen.” They didn’t mean harm by it, I just ain’t meant for that spotlight. That’s why I wasn’t in the prophecies. Well, that’s what I thought, until then.

Turns out, I was in the prophecy. I was the lich, the one that needed to die in order to save the world. Tough luck, huh?

So there I was, all undead-looking and wheezing through dusty lungs. None of the eight moved. They just looked at me all sad-like. I was confused because, hey, we’d won. We beat the fucking High Lord of Lowen in a brawl. All that needed to happen was finishing the curse that was now trapped in me, the curse that I was. I wanted to tell ‘em to stop hesitating and finish it before something or someone showed up, but my vocal cords were decayed. I couldn’t speak. A cough shot dead lung tissue onto the rubble at my side. I fell over onto my hands and knees as black sludge, what I reckon was my blood, poured from my mouth like the fountains in the queens court. Well, at least what Aya said they were like.

“No… Gods, this can’t be…”

I would have told Sonia that I should have stopped smoking like she asked. Bad jokes at worse times was my most important contribution to the team, but my last words were going to be whatever stupid shit I said before diving in front of that ritual dagger. She rushed over and knelt next to me. She was always the kind one, never let herself believe that things would end badly. Most of the time, thanks to the eight, they never did. And here I was, ruining the mood.

“There has to be some way to fix this! We can’t… I can’t… I…”

I placed my withered hand on her plated shoulder. Destiny did many things, but it never lied. I was done. I was going to die here or else we all were. Was I scared? Yes. I just didn’t want to think about it. I just needed her to get it over with before I got stuck in my head. I shook my head, bones creaking and muscles snapping. I didn’t want to die, but I certainly did not want to live like this. Sobs choked her words.

“Hoak, please… I can’t… I won’t. I’m not letting you go. We still need you.”

I don’t know how I replied to Sonia. I guess it was magic. I ain’t a damn lich expert. I always left shit like that to Solomon. But, when I did speak, I wasn’t… right. It wasn’t coming from me.

“No… you ain’t gonna need me… not anymore.”

She hugged me tight, which really must have sucked because I probably stank like, y’know, a corpse. She just kept saying “no” and “I can’t” as she wept into my shoulder. I could feel her tears dripping down into my exposed rib cage. Being a lich ain’t no fun. I pushed her back. She had sludge on her face, but channels of tears were cutting through it like the Rivers of Rowan. I miss that place, but I was a goner. My story was done. This was my lot in life, and I can’t argue with fate. I spoke again, ethereal and strange.

“You… you have to… please… I ain’t… I ain’t worth the world.”

“I owe you everything. I can’t let you go like this. Anything but this.”

What I said next was cruel. I didn’t mean it to be, but bad jokes at worse times were my best contributions.

“No… I still… owe you twelve gold…”

I broke her wagon in Kirk’s Drift. It’s a long story, but that’s how I ended up with my first of many debts to her. She remembered, clearly. She couldn’t even look at me after that. Sonia unsheathed Solace, her divine sword. She looked ready to finally get fate under way until she looked back. The sword tip fell to the ground between the two of us.

She was right. She couldn’t do it, but fate never said she would be the one to kill the Armageddon Lich.

I lifted the point of the sword and lunged into it. Sonia wasn’t quick enough, I caught her off guard. She and a few of the others screamed. They all rushed forward as I felt holy fire cleansing me away. That’s when it hit me. I did it. I killed the greatest evil in the world.

Sonia couldn’t stop screaming as my arms and legs turned to ash. Flashes of magic, prayers, and all kinds of things came out from the eight in a vain attempt to save my burning body.

I closed my eyes and slimed. I did it.

I had paid my debt, all twelve shiny gold pieces of it.

A hunter leaves his spot as the moon rises overhead. It’s too late to hunt now, and it’s time to head home. As his headlamp flickers on, he finds the woods he’d come through were not the same as the woods that stretched out before him now.