Space Wizards

4. The Lich's Dagger

Melock sat crosslegged on the floor next to Kulju's body. He rolled him from being twisted to laying on his side facing him. He pulled a small vial from a pouch on his belt and held it under Kulju's nose. 

"If I may have a moment of your time before you go."

Kulju's black eyes opened looking deader than ever. 

"Each level must be passed before entering the next," said Kulju in a sluggish voice.

"So you haven't been to the lower level?" said Melock. 

"I was not ready, yet. The instructions for the potion and ritual must be copied into your spellbook before entering."

His gaze looked up at the writing on the walls. 

"The potion must be added to the lake of souls and you must drink from the lake. Then, and only then, may you take the dagger," said Kulju closing his eyes. 

"One more thing, my firend. Do you have another body waiting?" said Melock. 

Kulju opened his eyes, flashed a wicked smile, and closed them again holding a death mask expression with a smug grin. Murphy smashed him in the chest to make sure he was dead; he didn't move. Melock stood up and brushed the dust from his robe. 

"Well, he'll be alright. Hopefully, smart enough to stay away from here in the future. Let me just..."

Melock rummaged around in his pack and pulled out a reflective rectangular object about the size of his hand. It looked like a dark flattened piece of blown glass. He tapped its surface and it became transparent. He spun around passing the glass over each wall of writing. He tapped the surface again and an image of the entire room including a tiny Sister Murphy appeared.

"Stop!" she demanded.

"I'm finished. I've copied the instructions into my spellbook." 

"That's no book."

"Well, not exactly. It's what they call a universal mobile device. It's a computer, a communication device, it has a camera that takes pictures."

"Did you just imprison my soul in that device?" 

Murphy's look of anger was mixed confusion and true fear. 

"Why, no. It's perfectly harmless. It's a digital image. Think of it as a tiny very quick painting." He slipped the mobile back into his pack. "Would you like to see the last room?" 

"A painting?" 

The old man still registered as trustworthy to her but she felt uncertain and scared. She trusted her gut. 

"Show me this tiny painting again, first." 

Melock reached back into his pack and pulled out the device. He tapped the glass causing little flat images of sparkling jewels to appear. He seemed to move the jewels around causing an explosion of images to appear. He tapped his finger on the last one, it opened, and he held it out for her to see. It was a perfectly realistic painting of the entire room that showed every detail including the bodies on the floor and herself, only Melock was missing from the image. 

"I see you are not in this painting," said Murphy. 

"When the artist includes themselves it's called a self-portrait. Here watch."

Melock tapped the device, aimed the glass at his face, tapped it again, and showed her. 

On the glass was the spitting image of Melock just a second ago; long white hair, topknot, ridiculous mustache, even his friendly smile.