Kyle dropped the skull and looked around the lab to check for other threats. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that raspy voice behind him again.

  “*kaff*…*kaff*… You didn’t think that would *kaff*… kill me, did you?” Kyle spun back around fast enough that the resulting wind would have killed a human within 10 feet of him.

  “Of course. Why would beheading kill you? Wait… why are you coughing? You don’t have lungs or a diaphragm!” Kyle was getting a little annoyed at the constant violations of physics, biology, and thermodynamics at every turn in this world.

  “You know, I don’t actually know why I can cough. Instincts left over from my… *kaff*… mortal days I suppose.”

  Kyle bent over and picked up the skull. “Tell me why I shouldn’t grind you to a fine powder right now.” The lich panickedly responded, “I’m 700 years old! I can teach you much yet… I’ll do anything! The only thing I fear is death!”

  Kyle considered it for a second. “Fine. I’ll let you live. Any attempts to hurt me, and I’ll smash you against the nearest hard surface. Probably myself, actually.”

  It was times like these that he regretted not installing the risk analysis system for his onboard AI. He personally felt that it took the independence away from those who used it, but it didn’t really matter.

  Kyle grabbed a loop of rope from a pile of trash in one corner and tied the lich's skull around his waist like a belt. “This is so demeaning… I was the source of a whole continent's fear! Now, I’m some oaf’s belt buckle…” Kyle sighed.

  “So. Tell me, who are you?” Kyle began his questioning while he ran a few samples of the lab through his Nanofactory. “I was known as Bariyon, the Deathless. I know, a rather boring moniker for a lich, but the classics never fail. I was once a minor noble for some kingdom-the details of my mortal life elude me. I found a Grimoire in the haul of some adventurers I taxed, and thus began my ascent into the art of necromancy. Eventually, I became immortal myself, and you heard the next part earlier. Tell me a little about yourself. What is this armor you wear? I’ve never seen anything remotely like it.”

  Kyle decided there was little harm in telling the lich about himself. “I’m Kyle Arthur Jessek III, Scion of the great House Jessek. Fleet Lieutenant of the Grand Navy of Humanity. I had my own ship, but when I died, it exploded. I was fighting a battle against some religious fanatics alongside my fleet, and a lucky shot killed me and destroyed my ship. Not much else to tell, you have no context anyway.”

  The lich was silent for a moment. “You… died? What do you mean?” Kyle decided a second opinion on his situation would be valuable, and spilled the beans.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “After my ship was destroyed, a voice spoke to me in the void. It told me it would transmigrate me into another, more fantastical world, and it seems to have been truthful. So far, I’ve only seen a cave and your ugly mug.”

  Bariyon was shocked. “A real transmigrator? Do you come from, how is it pronounced… Hurth? Urth? No, it’s Earth! Is that where you came from?” It was Kyle's turn to be shocked.

  “Have there been others like me in the past? Admittedly, we stopped calling it Earth centuries ago, but that’s still insane.” The lich responded quickly, “Yes! A king of some other kingdom was a transmigrator. I fail to recall the specifics again, though.” Kyle considered that.

  “What’s that thing in the middle of the room?” The lich shifted using its jaw to look at it. “Ah, a cave troll I killed many years ago. I was going to turn it into another Dullahan, but you would have killed it just as easily.” Kyle nodded and headed for the doorway.

  “How do we reach the surface?” The lich struggled to recall for a moment. “Ah, yes. My patron god also told me of the way to the surface when he first saved the city from the zealots. There’s a specific tunnel that takes only an hour of walking to reach the surface. I doubt it’s caved in, it was quite small and stable when I first saw it.” Kyle nodded and turned to leave. “Wait! Grab my staff and spellbook, they’re incredibly valuable!” Quickly doing so, Kyle resumed his jog, bodiless passenger in tow.

  On the way out of the city, nothing bothered them. The ghouls, or forgotten, or whatever they were called, ignored him. With Bariyon guiding him, he rapidly moved towards the egress tunnel.

  Again, the denizens of The Depths had enough common sense to avoid him. Now and then, the ashen black skull tied to his waist would call out a direction or redirect him. They made quick progress until they reached the climb.

  Kyle’s PAST armor could climb better than the average human, but it was miles slower than its pace on flat ground. It took them nearly an hour to reach the cave opening.

  It was a hit bigger than Kyle was wide and tall. The walls were a slightly yellowish smooth stone, and the ground had a small stream of water running through it. Kyle quickly deployed a small swarm of nanobots to harvest some, for easy access to hydrogen and many trace elements.

  Moving through the tunnel rapidly, they came upon the exit after about 45 minutes. It opened up into a mineshaft, and ancient rusted pickaxes and crumbling wooden support beams abounded.

  Stepping out of the tunnel, he slowly marched uphill following a minecart rail on the ground. After a bit more walking, he came across the entrance of the mine-a landslide had happened in recent years and blocked the entrance.

  Kyle spent nearly half an hour picking up rubble and clearing the entrance. Soon enough, he saw the first sunlight he had had in almost a day underground at this point. Frantically digging a little more, he punched through the last of the rubble and found himself outside.

  A verdant old-growth taiga surrounded him, with sparser temperate forests in the distance and plains as well. “Well, is this a sight for sore eyes…” Kyle again felt the urge to facepalm. “How are you even seeing? You’re just a skull!” Bariyon chuckled. “I see greatness in our collective future, young man. I’ve decided, at least until you prove otherwise, that sticking with you will be more productive than sitting in that ruin.” “You know, maybe sparing you wasn’t such a good idea…”