The fearful coward’s soul that flickered with fear and the older soul stood before him. Not running, nor begging as corpses should before the end.
Instead, they yelled words that weren’t worth hearing as he approached to end their babbling. It had to end.
“Kalum, how did you get so strong? Are you ok?” said the coward’s feminine voice.
The older soul stepped forward with its arms wide, “Are you ok son?”
The corpse’s arms never touched him as his body moved, shattering the corpse’s right arm. The corpse could only respond with a shocked scream before he was thrown away in a tumble.
Screams echoed through the courtyard as the coward began to scream. The older soul was apparently more resilient than most. It rolled to its feet breathing hard, “Lillian, Run!”
The coward of course ran, its screams becoming fearful sniveling as it ran into the manor. Its time would come but first, the old corpse would end. He turned towards it as it cradled its broken arm.
“No Kal! Stop! It’s me, your dad. No!” It tried to stand but a swift kick to the chest ended its attempt. He knelt down and held the struggling corpse’s throat.
His neck-
Kal screamed as he writhed on the ground blood from his barely healed nose and eyes, “No! No, no, no no no! I didn’t do it!”
A lance of agony burned through his mind and he screamed as the storm overhead shattered spires and the dome shook.
Bonus Objective Complete!
You have shown the elites what it means to face a slayer.
Bonus Reward!
Due to your performance during the trial, you may choose between any of these rewards. Each reward has been tailored to your current circumstance and path of ascension.
Select One:
The old soul’s light sputtered and died and the slayer turned towards the manor and saw the coward’s soul fluttering pathetically as it ran down the hall, still slick with the blood of the weak. She constantly tripped and scrambled over the corpses.
He followed picking up a more serviceable sword- “Kalum Lesta” The slayer hacked down at a twitching corpse by reflex but its shell held no light. He turned back to watch the coward running but its soul had vanished from his sight.
The slayer seethed as scanned the building, his sight piercing the inanimate materials. He still couldn’t see it but the cries were more than enough to guide him to the coward.
A scream sounded from one of the side rooms so he willed his shell towards the sound and arrived just as the door slammed shut. Still, he could see the light but he could still hear the coward’s pathetic sobs.
He hacked at the door, each blow digging deeply into the wood and eliciting more irritating sniveling and screams. The door shattered inwards and inside the broken soul sat beside a pile of corpses rocking back and forth, holding the hand of one of them babbling pathetic wishes.
It didn’t look at him as he approached, only staring at the pile. The slayer raised his sword- “Listen” The sword froze inches from the broken soul’s neck as the words it had been saying were forcefully registered in his mind.
“Mother… wake up… please… just wake up…”
He sneered and raised his sword again.
Twitch-
“No! Lillian run! No, no nononononono…” Kal kept screaming even after his lungs were empty and his throat had torn. He vomited, blood and bile soaked the ground, and slammed his into the stone of the spire making it crack and his ears bleed.
“It’s not true!” He cried as he slammed his head into the spire again and again. He weakly tried to activate Slayer’s Apathy again but it failed.
Notifications continued to ping in his display as he cried.
Bonus Reward!
Due to your performance during the trial, you may choose between any of these rewards. Each reward has been tailored to your current circumstance and path of ascension.
Select One:
Armor Set [Rare]
Title [Rare]
Weapon [Rare]
….
..
.
His mind exploded again as another fragment sunk into hi-
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Blood dripped from his sword as he glared down at the pile of corpses. He had more to end but something made him stay.
A woman. Without the corruption of their soul to cloud their form he could see the shape of them. But what held him there were her eyes, blue, bright blue marred by the blood of another corpse irritating them.
His eyes caught his reflection in a mirror. They were like his, but within his eyes, he could see something else.
A hand clasped his shoulder-
Kal found himself walking. He didn’t know where all he could do was put one foot after the other as he staggered forward. His mind was clouded with the images of what had happened but as the images grew worse a sharp pain blanked his mind before the process repeated itself.
Notifications continued appearing in his log but he ignored them. “Gods… why? What am I?”
Another lance of agony shattered his fogged-filled mind as he fell to his knees and looked over the edge of the caldera.
“Muuum!” Kalum cried as he stood hanging onto the edge of his cot. Rain pelted the window nearby and the house creaked as powerful winds shook the small house. His lamp had gone out and with the storm raging outside he had awoken to near complete darkness.
“Quiet boy, is that any way for my chosen to behave?” A scary voice said from the darkness. Kalum froze and whimpered, diving beneath his blanket.
Suddenly the rain stopped and the room fell silent. Kal peered out from beneath the blanket and saw a large shiny room. Shocked, he dove back under the blanket.
“Really? This pathetic thing met the requirements?” Said the scary voice.
“Yes Brother Dhinir, I wouldn’t cross you on this. We had a bargain, didn't we? I get you a shell that can contain your divine mana and you’ll leave my followers alone when your little war kicks off.” This man sounded funny but also like a liar, mother warned Kalum about people like that.
“Fine, and what of Quotz? I know you are still allied with her. I hope her unwillingness to do what needs to be done hasn’t biased your decision as well.”
“What?! Of course not Brother. You know me, I'll do whatever it takes to save my skin. But I do wonder why the cleansing is necessary. It has been millennia since his betrayal. If there are any followers still around they couldn’t possibly know him well enough to provide a path to allow his return, assuming he even still lives. If you're seriously worried about that, we should go back to the Celendri gods and get a refund for their dud ritual.” The liar chuckled.
The two scary men kept talking but Kalum stopped listening and tried to make himself really small hoping they would forget about him. He yelped as the cot vanished beneath him and he floated through the air towards the two men.
Neither of them looked at him while they continued talking, “You inspected his core?”
“Obviously. And I’ve gotta say this one was almost disgustingly perfect. I didn’t know the forge had it in her. The kid’s core would likely let him reach one fifty, perhaps even two hundred if he got lucky with his class. With some modifications he should make a perfect little puppet, shell, or whatever it is you have planned for him, “ the liar flicked one of Kalum’s feet making him spin in a circle. Kalum did his best not to cry but he couldn’t help but shake, “What are your plans for him Brother?”
The scary man didn’t respond straight away but after a moment he flicked his hand and Kalum flew across the room into a small glass box, “Perhaps Dhoerin once you have proven your loyalties and separated yourself from Quotz I will tell you.”
The two started walking together before suddenly vanishing leaving Kalum alone. His brave face vanished and he started crying but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and looked over his shoulder. There was no one there but he heard a deep voice, “Don’t worry Kal. Man is not so easily bound.”
Kalum took a deep breath and his tears stopped-
Kal awakened with a gasp, his mind still under assault but the horrors of the first two memories were numbed slightly by last. The violent storm above detonated almost every second sending bolts of destruction down all across the dome.
Many of the spires were now rubble making the dome more closely resemble how it was when he first arrived.
Kal didn’t care. What had he done? The memories were now clear in his mind and more still tried to return but he held them at bay, “I was supposed to save them!” He screamed into the caldera and his soul roared with him. It sickened him. Even now he could feel the urge to kill, to join in pointless slaughter for some purpose that he didn’t even understand.
The thought made him flinch as his will faltered and his mind burned once more but this was different. The hairs on his neck stood up and his soul raged into an inferno-
The churning sea of blood parted a ~~~~~~~~ arrived. The sky writhed in exquisite agony as it fled her presence. The small glimpse of her form made his mind revolt and he tried to look away but he couldn’t.
His soul roared with such savagery within him he felt his core shudder under the strain. More of the viscera parted and he saw her eyes.
Her void black eyes were oceans of their own and they knew him like they knew the innards of a dissected vermin. He started laughing as the eyes focused on him and the gore-filled sea spun around him in a vortex of viscera.
“Welcome Ender… Welcome, He Who Kills… Welcome Soul Smith…I have awaited your return.”
He wanted to run, No joi-, no he wanted to end the thing before him…
The vortex around him shuddered and the black eyes flashed as something touched his shoulder. Suddenly he could look away to turn and see what had touched him.
It was Fyborh, his jet-black hair hung strangely still in the chaos of the gore sea and his eyes shined with white-purple power. His clothes were simple garments of black and red frayed with age, “You have done well my friend. But now you must run,” Kal tried to speak but Fyborh turned away, “Jump Kal, you need to jump.”
The shuddering vortex of gore fell and Kal fell with it but as he moved away he could see Fyborh step into the open air and face the thing that knew him.
The sea churned with resonant anger as the eyes shifted from Kal to Fyborh, “You have no power here Forgotten One. You are a husk!”
Fyborh smiled sadly, “Perhaps, but your weak attempt to turn him ends here.” A flash of white-crimson in his right hand warped into a black blade, its edge jagged, and even without activating his killing sight Kal could feel the insane blood lust radiating from every inch of its length.
Kal fell beyond sight as he felt his perception twist-
Kal awoke again, kneeling at the edge of the caldera. His mind burned and his eyes, ears, and nose bleed steadily as the mental load easily dominated the will he had remaining.
The storm continued to rage, reaching even further heights above him. An almost constant series of detonations tore the dome apart. Tears still mixed with the blood pouring from his eyes as looked across the caldera. The storm had torn apart the caldera as well and the chasm he had fought the bonedrinker had been exposed.
“Jump? Maybe he’s right.”
“Jump!”
Kal didn’t bother standing up, instead, he simply leaned forward and let gravity take him.