Lowering herself down to the first floor, she soon saw what caused the unsettling feeling she was experiencing. Sitting in plain view in her little library was the decrepit being known to her as Khellenduras. In the bright light of day she could see more of him than she ever had before. And that did nothing to settle her. She forced herself to keep her eyes on him, though the urge to flee out her door grew more with each passing moment.

Quietly, she forced out the words; "I... have the information..." her words trailed off. Khellenduras raised a hand expectantly. The wrappings that formerly covered his arms hung in tatters, revealing the dry tight skin of a desiccated corpse. Slowly, she pulled the tome from her pack, which had been sitting in the corner. He sat there, as if waiting.

It's now or never Myra, she thought to herself as she took a deep breath, quickly exhaling it with the words, "...but I don't know if I should give it to you..." Flinching, awaiting his response, she was almost amused at the odd motion which she interpreted to be him tilting his head questioningly.

He lowered his arm, fastening his gaze on her. She glanced around desperately, searching for anything that might be of help. "I mean.. I...uh..."

Khellenduras shuffled towards her. She shrank back against the wall, but he stopped a few paces from her and waited. This time he didn't bother extending his hand. Hesitantly, she loosened her now tight grip on the tome and looked down at its blank cover. And he began moving toward her again. This time, his normally huddled form seemed to grow with each step. He wasn't growing, she finally realized through the haze of fear that threatened to take over her mind, he was simply standing up to his full height. She shrunk down away from him, a small whimper escaping her lips.

Well over six feet tall, he used his bulk to bear down on her. Tearing his headdress from his head, he revealed not the decaying face he once had, but more of a ragged skull. Myra's eyes widened in fear, her fingers gripped tighter to the tome as the horror that was Khellenduras stood nearly on top of her, peering down at her with pure malevolence. A fleeting thought passed through her mind, reminding her of the stories she had managed to research on him... This was once the body of a powerful warrior... who knew what strengths still remained with it, amplified by the lich's power?

As the form lowered it's skeletal face to be level with hers, she forced herself to swallow past the lump in her throat. And from no where, emitting from the lich came a wailing like nothing she'd ever heard before. Just as she was about to drop to her knees and cower on the floor, his arm shot out, his bony hand gripping her forehead, emitting another shriek. This time she matched him with a scream of her own, borne of pure terror.

Again, like before, she could feel him enter her mind, forcibly. The foreign mind and thoughts bored through hers, raping her mind as it went. And again, as before, she heard his voice in her mind, this time full of anger and angst. "I have waited too long fleshling..."

Trying to hold in the tears of fear that threatened in her eyes, she forced words past the terror that constricted her throat. "P..promise me... you won't... hurt me?" The words came out as more of a whimper.

If it is given to me, you will live. If the tome is genuine and functions, serving my purpose... I will watch you as my own.

With trembling hands and arms, she slowly lifted the tome offering it to him, very carefully. His fingers squeezed against her head a bit, then released her just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, taking the tome as she half whimpered the words, "I want to help you... b..but I was afraid..."

With the book in hand, the creature slumped back to his huddled form, sitting motionless.... as if dead. Myra's gaze strayed to his headdress lying on the floor. Slowly, hesitantly, she kneeled down before the lich, lifting the grotesque headdress from the floor carefully, still fighting the trembling in her hands. She lifted it, offering it up to the lich lord.

Just as she did, she felt a twinge in her mind. A sound. Quiet at first, it gained in momentum and volume until all at once her mind was filled with a deafening laughter. It seemed to echo, not only in her mind, but all around her. Almost as if she could reach out and touch it. As it reached it's crescendo, the sound was painful to her delicate ears and she dropped the headdress, clutching her hands over her ears and squeezing her eyes shut.

When the laughter stopped, she opened her eyes and found she was alone. Maybe it was a dream she thought... until she looked on the floor next to her. Khellenduras' headdress. And in her mind, a single thought that was not hers lingered - I have returned...