Fomoria awoke with a yawn, a bad dream weighed heavy on his mind.

Panic rushed over him and he looked for any signs that this was real.

He looked behind all of the dressers and other furniture, he tested the physics, he tried to find something that was wrong.

Anon heard him tearing his room apart; she was checking on him every hour through the night, waiting for him to wake up.

“Honey?”

“Honey?”

“Yes, I thought that a cute name would be endearing.”

He just narrowed her eyes at her, but he did appreciate the effort.

“But back to this, what are you doing?”

“Am I awake?”

“Of course.”

“Tell me something that I don’t already know about you.”

He gripped her shoulders.

“You’re hurting me.”

He took his hands off of her and looked at himself.

He was back to his normal form, but when he clinched his hand, he couldn’t see white bone under his skin.

“What happened to me? Where is Xol? What-”

She ran her hand down his arms and interlocked her fingers with his.

“Shh shh shh. The Others spared no effort in making sure that your body wasn’t overly harmed by what happened. Xol made sure that you were safe, and then he left, saying he had something better to do.”

“My skeleton isn’t the same. Are my teeth black? No, they aren’t bones, they are made up of-”

“You are fine, but yes, Xol said that you conquered your sigil, whatever that means, and that changed its nature.”

“Get it out, get it out, I don’t want-”

She pulled him when he started to reach for a sword, and he looked at her again, deep bruises had formed and were barely visible under the short sleeves of her dress.

He healed her and tried to calm down, he was awake, this wasn’t a dream, the simple mind inside of the sigil was gone, dead, he was his own master again.

Once they were done, Anon laid in bed.

“Come, sleep with me, rest.”

He hesitated, his hands were shaking still, but he resolved himself, he tried to close his eyes and willingly sleep.

Fomoria woke up with his hands around Anon’s throat, Micheal’s voice ringing in his ears and trying to usurp control of his hands so he didn’t crush her neck.

“Anon? Are you… are you-”

She coughed and turned over, even in the dim light his eyes let him see how terrible she looked.

Her neck was purple, her eyes were reddened by the bursting of capillaries, he could hear how rough her breathing was.

He healed her and she coughed again as she tried to get rid of the memories of his hands squeezing her neck; he tried to forget his hands on her soft, supple throat.

He was still on top of her, towering over her and silhouetted by the moonlight

“I’m sorry.”

She cowered, genuine fear in her voice.

“No no no, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Why then? I don’t understand.”

“I… I don’t know when I’m sleeping.”

He flopped beside her in bed, and she hesitated to ask him more about what had happened.

Anon looked in his eyes and saw a fear and rage that couldn’t be ignored, that had no focus.

Anon got out of the bed and left the room, he didn’t have the strength to stop her.

“Mindkiller, are you there?”

“Call me Micheal.”

“Right, sorry.”

“I feel more… normal, with a human name.”

“Can you help me?”

“I will watch you when you sleep.”

“Thank you.”

Fomoria ceded some control over his body to the other mind.

Fomoria couldn’t sleep, he had been lying in bed for an hour already, he was too focused on Anon, whose room was close enough that he could still feel her emotions.

She was hurt, afraid.

“Do you sleep? My brother, he lived inside of a ring, and he didn’t sleep until he got a body.”

“I don’t dream on my own, but I can see your dreams. Sometimes time passes without me realizing it, I think that might be sleeping.”

“Have you decided what you are? What do you want to be?”

“I wish to be helpful. I saw more memories from who I was before I was Mindkiller, and I liked helping people.”

“If you showed them to me, I might be able to find your family.”

Micheal went silent for a few minutes.

“I am not that man, they are not my family. Please, try to sleep, I want to dream.”

Fomoria woke again inside one of the craters born of his rage, snow piling up on his bare skin.

He hadn’t been laying down, he was kneeling.

He stood up and looked around, his clothes were folded next to him.

“Micheal, did you see how I got here?”

“You went through a gate in your sleep. I didn’t wake you because I didn’t feel aggression in your actions.

You seemed sad, and guilty.”

“This place, it’s broken, dead, all because of me.”

“Yes, it is. But this is not the first place that knows death from you. What will you do?”

“I will make this place a monument.”

“Oh? I thought this would be more upsetting for you.”

“You have been with me for some time, I am past breaking down over these kinds of things.”

“Very good.”

Fomoria began to shape the lands for his needs.

In the morning, Mercedes went to check on Fomoria, as she did every day since he started to sleep, but found his room empty.

Her natural next choice was to check Anon’s room.

“Have you seen Fomoria?”

She didn’t roll over to face her.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have any idea about-”

“Leave me alone.”

“What happened?”

“Leave me be.”

“Fine, but if it was Fomoria who did something, I am sure he didn’t intend any offense or harm.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I have known him for longer than you. He has said cruel things to me, but rarely without reason, and in times when he is without reason, he has felt poorly about these things.”

Mercedes sat on the edge of her bed and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Tell me, what happened?”

“He almost killed me. He choked me and he didn’t stop until he woke up.”

“He did this in his sleep? Then surely he had no idea. Did he try to talk with you?”

Anon rubbed her throat and began to tear up, she didn’t even understand it herself.

She was cold, she knew of brutality and violence and death, so why did this hurt her so much?

“I don’t want to continue this. I think I will leave.”

“Do you always flee from what you fear?”

“Yes. One should always seek to preserve their own life at all costs.

If Fomoria is a danger to me, I should run away.”

“And where would you go that would be safer?”

“I have lived in the woods for much of my life, I would have little issue doing so again.”

“But would you not be lonely?”

“A good assassin shouldn’t ever be lonely, it would interfere with my work.”

“What is your favorite part about being here? The food? The bath?”

Anon thought about it, but didn’t have a clear answer.

“Or is it Fomoria? His strength? His face? His warmth? His unrelenting desire and sheer force of will?

The way he is so gentle when… Do you love him?”

“Under what my understanding of love is, I believe that is how I feel towards him.”

“So, what is it that you love about him?”

She thought long and hard about her answer.

“He makes me feel safe.”

“But now he has broken that. Before him, who made you feel safe?”

“My mother.”

“Has she ever harmed you?”

“She always taught me as she needed to teach me.”

“He taught you to fear him now, is that it?”

“I was powerless to stop him from hurting me.”

“Talk to him, explain how you feel. Fomoria is dumb sometimes, but I think that when it comes to making others feel better, he is greater than any person I have ever met.”

“Do you ever think about his empathic abilities? That perhaps we are all under his spell? Or does he have a magnetic charisma?”

“I have seen him use that power, but I know how he hates it. I don’t believe he would intentionally use it against us.”

“What if he thought it was for us?”

Mercedes got up from the bed.

“Talk to him before you leave, he wouldn’t stop you from doing what you want if you still decide to do so.”

When the sun began to rise, a new tower could be seen in the dead lands where Fomoria had raged.

It gleamed with bone, rising a hundred feet into the air, the start of something new.

He returned to his home and went to Mercedes.

She noticed that he wore gloves of what seemed to be black leather, but were really just another part of his shifting suit.

“Decided to change up your look?”

“I find my black bones unsightly.”

His face was darker where they were most visible, his cheeks and forehead, making it seem as if he was under constant shadow and accenting his sharp features.

“Has there been anything more from the merchants?”

“Not yet. D’if’s Others have been following them, trying to find where the ships dock and where the higher ranking individuals report to. But so far, it is dead drop after dead drop, so we’ve yet to see exactly where they are from.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“What about the Fomorian Trading Company?”

“The FTC has been… successful, but, we haven’t found enough trustworthy people to actually run it when it expands beyond just this stripe. Do you have anyone you can think of inside the veil who would be well suited?”

“I will ask around, I have some ideas. Why did you hesitate?”

“We have an issue of not enough people on the top end, yes, but we’ve also suffered losses, warehouses have been ransacked and the traders have suffered some attacks.”

“Assign golems to every trader.”

“Should we really-”

“We have an excess of troops. Put Ned in charge of the security of my caravans.”

“Is that the right move? He doesn’t speak.”

“Tell him to pick someone under him to interpret for him, but most of his orders can be written. In the UT bandits were their largest issue, not beasts, he has experience, and my gut tells me he is well suited.”

“He is presently acting as a-”

“I know what he does, but his position can be filled by someone else. Put out the word that any officers can apply for enhancement. I can feel it inside myself, my sigil is far more controllable, I will be able to give it to others without risking their lives now. Would you like it right now?”

Mercedes blinked a few times.

Fomoria seemed to have a lot of ideas on his mind, and he was moving quickly.

“I will decline for now.”

“You want to see it used on another person before you to know it is safe.”

“I don’t mean to say that-”

“It is the right call. Implement what I’ve told you, I will be back. Unless I am needed for something else?”

“No, you had something, but I’ve canceled it.”

“What was it?”

“When you went to a childrens magic class once, you said that the top five would be given the chance to meet with you for an afternoon. But I’ve already-”

“Three days, tell them to be ready.”

“Is that a wise use of-”

“Of course it is, or I wouldn’t do it. An empire is useless if I fail to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation. I will be a father to my people, absence reflects poorly, and breaking promises would be a failure to them and to myself.”

She did what was asked of her, but she thought he was in a manic state.

This had been the first time she ever heard him say he wanted to build an empire openly, but clearly by his charter and the way he forced nations to join, his ascension to emperor would be just a matter of time.

If he had even realized this or not before now, she wasn’t sure.

Fomoria dropped out of a void gate into the middle of Luth and stepped inside the Couriers office.

The woman at the front desk recognized him.

“Sir Fomoria-”

She reacted quickly, but with a second glance she knew that he wasn’t who she thought.

The horns could be looked past, everyone knew that Harlan was a shapeshifter, but she could smell something different, suspicious.

“Is Zach in?”

“He is currently away.”

“Please don’t lie to me.”

He went behind the counter and upstairs.

“Sir, you can’t-”

He skipped to her and stared into her eyes.

It wasn’t quite the same as the mesmerize which vampires used, but she felt her body tense up as he heightened her fear and let out some of his contained magical power.

Fomoria barged into his office.

“Harlan-”

“I am not that man. I am King Fomoria. I take it that you understand me?”

He leaned back in his seat.

“I have heard of you. Are you really Harlan?”

“I leave that name for him, call me Fomoria. I want men and women, those who can run a trading company and who can be trusted. I don’t promise safety, the lands outside the veil are dangerous, but you will have my might behind anyone who you send.”

“You know me, I’m just a regional manager, I don’t have the pull to-”

“But you are someone I trust. Compile a list, I will speak with your masters.”

“Ah, sure, I can do that.”

“Thank you, Zach, it has been too long. Perhaps a visit to Redhaven would be good for you.”

“I don’t recognize the name.”

“Outside the veil is a nation with a vampire queen. Though I do wonder, how will she react to male vampires.”

“I’m sorry, but this is moving pretty quickly, why would she have an issue with male vampires?”

“I haven’t figured out her history just yet, but she dislikes and distrusts men. Prioritize females, what kind of False Undead doesn’t matter, I just need people who can be trusted.”

“Sure, I’ll-”

Fomoria walked through a void gate before he could even reply.

“Sure, see you too then.”

Zach started on his list of people, but he kept it in his mind, writing down names could be seen as a sign of betrayal if Fomoria was rejected by the higher ups.

Fomoria tracked Carden through his amulet by sending a small signal, not a call that could be answered, but a call nonetheless.

From there, it wasn’t hard to find the castle where the elders of the Nightwaters convened.

When he came out of the gate, the guards assembled.

“Lower your weapons.”

The guards neither replied nor did they back down.

When one of them tried to step closer, Fomoria jabbed the air and with an aura technique the man was hit by a wave of light force.

His intent wasn’t to hurt anyone, but he wanted them to know that he could if he wanted to.

Half an hour passed before Carden arrived, but under a veil of invisibility that Fomoria easily saw through.

“Carden, I have come to speak.”

The man uncloaked himself.

“This is a poor entrance. Harlan, I thought that you had calmed down.”

“The one who is allowed claim over that name has become weak, I have grown stronger.”

Carden hadn’t seen Harlan in person for a long while, but he had heard the rumors.

“Then you are the so-called King Fomoria?”

“I am. I would like to bring some Nightwatchers outside the veil to run a trading company, I figured that there would be no better way than to go straight to the top.”

“And what payment would you negotiate?”

“A nation where False Undead may live openly. There is already one which is allied to me, but I would cede 500 miles, coastal or inland to the Nightwatchers. So long as trust is maintained and my charter is upheld, you may run your lands as you like under my banner.”

“I don’t think a vassal nation is worth much, we already have more than enough land here under those terms.”

“What terms? That you must hide who you are? What you are? I am building an empire to oppose an empire, read my charter, decide if you wish for a nation, or if you would let me take anyone for my uses.

There will be no hard feelings either way. If you consider it possible, then I would like to have another conversation, and if that goes well, my head advisor will speak with yours and iron out the details.”

Fomoria left tossed a vial of blood and his charter at the vampire elder, then disappeared through a void gate.

His next appearance was the Redwall mansion.

He instantly recognized the golems that pointed their guns at him, a mass production Black Sentinel, but he felt no commander units near him that contained a real mind.

Where had Red gone?; he could feel the tinge of Balor in them.

They recognized Harlan, but Fomoria was too different for them to consider him the same person, the difference in both soul and appearance made the golems enter high alert; they were guarding the mansion from Nulson.

“Guard, I am here to visit my sister.”

“You may be in the wrong place…”

He didn’t even know what to call what he was seeing in front of him.

“Sir.”

“Autumn, my eldest sister. She would recognize me in this form.”

“Sir Fomoria?”

“King Fomoria.”

He called in someone else to confirm what he was seeing.

“Breken, it has been quite some time.”

“Harlan, is that you?”

“Hmm… I tire of explaining the difference between he and I.”

“Just try it.”

“Harlan is the one who lives in this place, who is married to Adina, I, am not that man.”

“Well, you sound as ominous as him.”

“I just came here to thank Autumn for helping me.”

“And what is it that she helped you with?”

“She came outside the veil and calmed my mind when I lost myself.”

Breken waved him through, Autumn hadn’t told many people of why she left, that he looked like a stranger Harlan and knew about it was good enough for him, that and his sixth sense told him that he wasn’t dangerous to him; a half truth at best.

When he sat down in the tea room, Alana and Jarrik were also there.

“Uncle Harlan?”

“Call me Uncle Fomoria.”

“Why?”

“Because you have two Uncle Harlans, and it would be very confusing if I didn’t call myself something else.”

“WE HAVE TWO?”

The adults all laughed.

“So, Har- Fomoria, Autumn has been pretty tight lipped about you, and everything we hear from other nobles is just rumor. What exactly are you?”

Jaramis seemed warmer than the last time they met.

“After Haldren, I split, the one that stayed behind is Harlan, but since I can come and go, I decided that Fomoria should be my name. I’m not the farmer's son anymore, I’m a king, and that title is more important than what I used to be.”

The children seemed enamored.

“Where is your crown then?”

“Right here.”

He pointed at his horns that were now black; under mana sight motes of dark mana were drawn to them like fireflies.

“Can you take them off?”

“Nope. Wanna hang on them?”

“YEAH.”

Answered the children.

They tried as best they could, but they weren’t very strong.

“Gods, what are you, almost five now?”

“FOUR.”

“And a half. You remember, don’t you? They were born in the summer, not long after you got back from… that place.”

“I do, it was a rhetorical question.”

After the children got to play a little more, Autumn sent them away.

“Mom said that you had a son. And that you lost him. Is that what happened? Why you-”

“Darrath is still alive, but he’s living with my Dawn on an island. It was too dangerous to let him stay.

What happened before was just that I abused a power and it abused me. Magic at a higher level is more like a semi-living being than just energy.”

He took off one of his gloves, showing the black lines where one could faintly see his bones.

“I am stronger because of it, I’ve changed because of it.”

He slipped the glove back on.

“But I hurt someone last night, and I can’t hurt her again, I can’t do that to her.

My memories are fuzzy, but how did you save me?”

“Xol got me close, and I cast ring of light on your wrist, just like before I left for the maiden festival.

He said that I needed a magical effect that you would have a deep personal connection too, because my words wouldn’t reach you in your mind, that you were too far gone, but you were still feeding on outside mana. Does that make sense to you?”

“It does.”

He snapped his fingers, and the tips lit with a small amount of void fire.

It should’ve burned him to the bone in just a few seconds, but instead it just sat on his skin, moving in slow motion.

“A flame more avaricious I’ve never seen. If I had a mane of this, perhaps my body was pulling in everything that it could to prevent me from burning up entirely, and your ring of light would’ve been absorbed into my body, where Micheal then attached to memories of it.”

“Micheal?”

“The fragment of an Ascended. It was left behind when he tried to kill me. But he didn’t retain all of his memories, so he mellowed out.”

“You didn’t kill it?”

“Him, and I thought about it, but I instead decided to study him, and then I came to enjoy his company.

What he was born from isn’t important, but what he is now is.”

“Like you?”

“He’s another who I can find kinship in.”

“Are you going to stay for lunch? The kids would love to-”

“No. Staying away for more than an hour makes me anxious. If the communicator that I use to contact Harlan is broken, I would be unable to answer any calls until I return back outside the veil. Thank you though, for the offer, and for coming to help me.”

Fomoria stood up.

“Your birthday, you should come, we can have a party, you can tell everyone about your life out there.

And Adina mentioned that-”

“Thank you.”

He stepped back into his void gate and arrived in Kor.

Fomoria felt some manner of peace, he felt like he had some idea about what he wanted to say, but standing in front of her door, his body froze, his mind raced.

She cracked open the door and invited him in before he could knock.

“Why did you do what you did?”

“I was scared, I didn’t know if I was awake or not, I didn’t know what my body was doing.”

“You were only gone for roughly two hours, I hadn’t expected you to have such a strong reaction.”

“On the outside, yes, it may have been just a few hours, but I remember everything else.

I nearly broke out hundreds of times, but every single time, it stopped me, and it restarted the world, trying to change things, to find out how to make me stop resisting.”

His hands began to shake and his eyes moved rapidly, just talking about it brought him back, making him question if even this was real, or if it made him think he was awake just to keep him asleep.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Her words were sensible, but they felt cold, detached, like she didn’t really care, she was just going through the motions of what was supposed to be said to someone who is upset.

He was angry at her, but just for a moment.

The way she spoke was exactly what it sounded like, she genuinely didn’t know how to talk to him about this, so she gave a canned response.

“The way you talk, it will upset people more than help them.”

“I’m sorry. I can fake being kind, but trying it for real, it feels different, my mind locks up, I fall back on what I was taught. I want you to apologize for what happened this morning.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t promise that it won’t happen again though, and you should sleep in your room instead of next to me.”

“I can’t sleep without you. What if…”

She cast ring of light and placed it on his wrist.

“Autumn, she told me about this, that it helped you. When you were young, you were upset about her leaving, so she gave you one of these.”

He could feel the magic on him when he closed his eyes, he was certain that he was awake when he did, because this magic wasn’t his, it carried some of her warmth.

Suddenly he felt tired again and his eyes began to droop as his mind slowed down, as he let himself be calm.

“Would you like to take a nap? Lay your head on my chest.”

“No, you can lay your head on mine, since you like hearing my heart.”

They moved back to his room and laid on the bed.

“You are very warm, more than before.”

In his dreams, he made sure to look down often to make sure that the ring was still there.

When he woke in the evening, Anon had rested peacefully alongside him, he wasn’t sleep walking anymore.

----------------------------------------

Xol knew exactly what was waiting for him.

“Now, why would you do something like that?”

“I thought that-”

The Darkness covered every inch of the room.

“You thought that you had the right to interfere with my plan.”

“If I had known what exactly would happen, I wouldn’t have gone along with it in the first place.

You may be called a god, but don’t get so high and mighty, witch.”

“He would’ve learned more if you let it happen as it would.”

“Autumn would be dead.”

“I guess we will never know now if a lesson could be learned.”

He recoiled in shock.

“No no no, that isn’t an answer. Do you-”

“I know exactly what would’ve happened. I never expected a pile of bones to be so soft hearted.

If he knew what you did, do you think that he could still be your friend? You lonely old Lich.

Don’t think that I don’t see you for what you are. You just want another immortal to sit around and shoot the shit with, right? Did I use the expression correctly?”

“You know that you did.”

“Oh? I’m sorry, I thought that I knew nothing for a moment there. Oh, wait, that’s right, I’m a god who has been alive almost as long as Aarde, and I’ve seen things that your mind couldn’t even fathom.

Next time you think about thinking, stop.”

“Lux.”

The word flooded the small world with light, chasing the god from every corner of it.

He knew that all he had done was piss her off even more, but he didn’t care.

Scolding was needed from time to time, to keep his ego in check, but if he thought that he was really right, then he would react the same way even if Life herself came down on him.

He wasn’t blameless is what nearly happened, but he found the idea of following orders without question reprehensible, he wouldn’t let that happen again.