Traveling through the unspace was like having your skin turned inside out and tickled with butterfly kisses, all while you were unassembled, stretched out, and then shoved into a cosmic whirlwind before being reassembled, to then zip through wherever it decided to show you. Did it hurt? No. Well, not physically. Mentally it wasn't fantastic to be confronted with physical manifestations of dreams that died and Monsters in some strange form of purgatory, all with the possibility of the (living?) undead being able to happen upon your journey. Alex, however, typically enjoyed the rides.

He soared around a planet covered in lush fauna and yellow smog that might have been pollen. Giant trees speckled the surface, with roots so dense he could feel the Essence pouring through them. The Essence collected as a bright Core at the center of the planet and shined through the miles of cracks up to the surface. Next up was a symphony cloud of brass instruments dancing to a waltz from a single, giant, golden harp. It was these types of trips that Alex relished.

The black monolith was always there, in the distance, just out of his peripheral vision, awaiting some undead on the real side of reality to use it. But it wasn't throbbing and trying to push up into his brain. Since the whole Britanii smack down within the Leather Spires, Alex was pleased that he hadn't had any run-ins with Mr. Mystical.

He liked the ghost on some level, but being badgered by readings and forced to accomplice casual murder wasn't something he particularly wanted on a regular cadence. The big bad in his life was no longer trying to rip his head off, and if his reading stooped at him following his gut, that was all fine and well. The last thing you wanted was a Ghost up in your business all the time.

It did make him wonder though, when would he see the mouse next? Wasn't his, and Harold the book's life, tied to their little ghost System quest? He just couldn't imagine Mr. Mystical being gone because the Cursed Bracelet was missing from Snu's dresser. Surely not.

Alex's delightful rip through the unspace was coming to an end, noted by his body being pulled back to appropriate, non stretchy putty proportions, as well as the cluster of candy warbling near him darting away. And unbeknownst to him, a little taxidermized mouse in a fez on a mini persian rug, who was dead, but also not banished to permanent death by the System, let out a deep sigh of relief as he finally left the cover of some sleeping monstrosity.

"Deary me, there is too much work to do. I don't know why I want to avoid him, but we should. For now at least, until he is useful again," Mr. Mystical tutted to Harold the book, who grunted and jangled the Cursed Bracelet. The two ghouls had a Quest to complete, and time was running out. So they got moving.

Alex landed on the tiled floor of Nino's Pizzeria back kitchen in a fantastic mood. The front of the house was dark, with drawn blinds, and the pans were scrubbing themselves with scalding water. Looking around, Alex didn't spot Nina or Nino, but the back door to the mudroom being open let him know where they were. Since placing their trust in him, Alex had learned that much of the maintenance was handled by their Skills, allowing them to enjoy what truly mattered. If they wanted to wash dishes, they could, or they could set off them to clean themselves.

He took off his red polo with the handstitched Nino's logo on it, and tossed it on the stool, as Nina always wanted it freshly washed and starched by her hand, and only her hand, at the start of every new shift. Sliding into his band t-shirt, he looked around for a sneaky little snack and was momentarily distraught at the lack of carbs available for pilfering before checking in on his stuffed loot bag. Then, he walked towards the back door of the mudroom towards his boss's secret garden.

Light was trickling in from the windowed door to the garden, while the front of the shop was the dark, bustling night of a Toronto Saturday. Alex shut the door to the behind him that led to the shop, looked up the dark stairs to Nino and Nina's apartment, and opened the door to their secret garden graveyard place.

An early sunrise crested the rolling hillside straight ahead, with the strange birds not from Toronto swooping and chirping, and fresh dew covered the plants. Rows of tomatoes tied to hockey sticks, pots of herbs, and beds of peppers filled every nook and cranny. Bloated, overflowing fruit trees wrapped everything, and down deeper beyond where the vegetation blocked his view, pigs and chickens scampered and clomped around. Rising above it all, was the [Grand Tomato Plant] waving in the light wind. That wasn't everything, though.

Off to the side, sitting at an iron table with a red-tiled mosaic top, sat Nino and Nina sipping their espresso.

"Alex! Buongiorno, or buona notte! Whatever work for you. How does time work anyways?" Nino said, sporting a well-fitting flannel and slacks, while waving him over. "Is done, then. Another week," he slurped loudly while somehow puffing on a cigarette before he gestured at the landscape. "Vienni qua, come sit a second. Relax a moment."

Alex walked over, breathing in the fresh air. Nina, who no longer looked like a hunched nonna due to their age regression, with long ember hair and light wrinkles, smiled over her coffee, dunked the cookie shaped like an 's', and snapped her fingers. A matching chair popped into existence between her and Nino, and Alex sat on it to join his employers. Or employer friends.

"Ahhhhhh," Alex exhaled a breath from finally being off his feet and sitting after a long shift. Sure, he was sitting in a magical garden in Italy, somewhere named Bari, in a Lich couple's domain, flanked by said couple, but it was nice.

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"Garden," Nina said while looking over her garden. "Pizza shop is nice. Appartamento? He snore, and fart. But here? Here it feels like I never want to leave. Not ever. I can always be in garden." She finished her thought by crunching through the cookie.

"Ah caman, Tesoro," My Treasure, Nino argued. "It is nice, of course. You say that, but you get bored just sit here. And when you bored, you make me fix thing that no need fix. You give up cooking, hmm?"

Nina took a slurp of her espresso, thinking, before saying seriously. "No one ever take my cooking from me," she looked over seriously at Nino. "And if I say is broken, is broken."

"Aha!" Nino clapped Alex on the back. "And you? You happy? Enjoy few last day before Francesca come?"

"That's right, I almost forgot," Alex watched the hummingbirds take their nectar from the budding pear tree flowers. "She's supposed to come…soon? Wait, when is she supposed to come?"

"Lunedì sera, eh--Monday night," Nino answered, disappearing his spent cigarette only to sprout a new, lit one that he lobbed into his mouth. He looked at Alex questioningly. "You want to meet before Tuesday shift? Come to shop? No too much trouble?"

"Oh yeah, sure," Alex answered. He was quite looking forward to meeting one of their nieces. "Give her the ol' Toronto welcome. Excited to get some more help around here?"

"Mmmm," Nina said, nodding. "Very polite boy. Good. And yes, we can always make more food, deliver more pizza."

"You not worry about losing tips?" Nino added with a grin, already laughing at his own joke.

"Eh." Alex shrugged, fishing around in his pocket. "It'll be fine. You keep me busy enough. And like you said, just make more pizza."

"More pizza is always the answer!" Nino clapped him on the shoulder, then squinted at what Alex was pulling free. "Ma--what is that? A feather?"

"Yeah," Alex said while holding it up. "Craig? That last customer? Who, by the way, is a parrot, you could have told me that, you know, it doesn't always have to be a surprise. He gave this to me, to…uh," he held it towards Nino. "To give to you. I think?"

Nino suddenly got much more serious, and Alex swore he heard Nina choke a bit on her espresso. The old man reached out and took the green feather with the utmost care.

"Something given," Nino finally said after a few seconds before looking up at Nina. Alex guessed he identified it either through his Lich Domain powers, or by some other means. "Then it is time." His wife just sipped her coffee, and through the corner of his vision, Alex saw her give the smallest of nods.

"We know it was coming," Nina said. "And if Craig can feel it and has offered, that means many of the others know too." Nino started to reply, but Alex cut in first.

"Hold on," Alex interrupted. "Wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about? What is coming?"

The old couple shared something between themselves, before Nino let out a long sigh and turned to Alex.

"We are Lich, yes?" Nino asked and Alex nodded. "Me, Nina, Garden, Shop. You understand Lich Domain, at least little bit?"

Alex nodded again. He did understand, kind of. Far as he knew, a Lich occupied a space and were bound to its confines. He didn't know how they created, heck, he wasn't sure there were more than a thousand people on Earth that knew how they were created, and he didn't believe the countless internet forums he'd read late into the night trying to understand his employers. What he did know was that they were bound to their Domain, undead, and had powers much more potent than even the strongest Adventurers. Beyond that? He knew they could kick some serious ass if need be.

"Craig is special kind of bird," Nino continued. "He know thing. Can tell thing. Century of world's best live music will do that. Maybe when he call to order, he feel we are ready?" He finished his question with a shrug towards Nina.

"Bah," Nina sucked her teeth. "I know too. Or part of me. Maybe that is why I get you to fix so many thing recently. Maybe my Core want to make the base strong."

"Still not understanding," Alex added. "What does the feather have to do with your…Domain?"

"It is not a feather, Alex," Nino answered. "Ok it is a feather. But it is more than a feather. It is Something Given."

"That's…yeah, that's what it reads as when I [Investigate] it…" Alex looked back and forth between the two.

"Yes," Nino said seriously, looking over his garden. "Yes it do."

"AND!?"

That was when Nina spoke. It didn't sound like her normal sour but loving self, though. She was reciting something, something deep inside her, right down to the very center of her being. And when it got right down to it, Nina was the heart of the Lich that was Nino's Pizzeria. So the heart of the Lich spoke, and it was a poem that chilled Alex despite the warm morning air.

"Something given, something taken.

Something broken, something forsaken.

Hands to tend, and hearts to dare

Will wake the root of power there."

Several seconds of silence followed as Nino nodded gravely. Alex had never seen him like this. Sad, lost in thought, as if chewing on something too heavy to speak aloud. His shoulders were shaking, and his knuckles were white, even though the feather was unmarred from his strength.

Nina floated off her seat, gliding around Alex until she stopped before her husband. Nino just stared at the green feather in his hand. The feather that was so much more. She laid one small hand over his restless fingers, and with the other, gently lifted his chin until his eyes met hers.

"Mi amore," My love she said in the nicest voice Alex had ever heard from her. "This time, I am here. You won't be alone. Together, and with our friends, we do it together."

Nino's serious face broke into a teary-eyed grin, with Alex just looking between the two of them. The heart of the Lich turned her face and smiled at Alex. It was a smile that physically radiated warmth, patience, home, fortitude, and most importantly, love. The raw, potent, upfront, no bullshit love that all people are capable of, but few ever allow.

"Alex," Nina said as she snapped a finger. "It is time for you to go home. Me and Nino need to talk."

A stuffed brown paper bag with Alex's name dropped onto the garden table from nowhere. The smell of home cooking in olive oil filling the small circle of their conversation. But Nina wasn't done, finally telling him what Nino was so serious about.

"Those things? Given, taken, broken, forsaken? That is how we expand our Lich Domain. And Alex…we may need your help."

"Ah," Alex responded nervously, knowing that of course, yes, he would help them with whatever they needed. "Shit."

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