The clinking of silverware could be heard around me as I looked around vaguely confused, this happened every night and I didn’t understand if this was magic, or something more. Food slowly disappeared, the wines draining, refilling, and then repeating the process with sounds that you’d expect in that area. Various conversations filled the outdoors as mugs slammed against each other cheerfully as laughing broke out, along with loud shouts of praise over the day’s hunt. Phantom smells lingered all around me as I stared at my plate, trying to avoid Bear’s pained eyes as he spoke to one of the other druids that had a very loud rumbling voice like a large drum. My plate didn’t have food on it, instead it held two monster cores of the creatures we killed earlier as someone near me spoke my name. Nodding along with the conversation, I let the person speak, I never knew which of the druids were speaking to me but they were all friendly.
Excusing myself once the cores were drained of the small amount of energy that they held, I motioned for my brothers to follow. Not knowing human tongue was an advantage in this case as they didn’t have to hold awkward conversations. Bear didn’t speak of our dinners even though he knew I had questions, his original delusions weren’t as easy to pass off as I had first thought. He wasn’t alone, but surrounded by what was the question was since we knew who they were. They were his brothers, fellow druids of the Bear tribe, which referred to Bear affectionately as a Cub. A druid who had yet to earn his name was named after the children of the animal they follow.
“They’re probably dead.” Red sighed beside me, the gem-like eyes burned with a red light behind them giving my brother that name. He seemed to like it, he was rather simple, discussing his overall effectiveness he seems to follow a warrior. Very little mana flowed out of him, tightening hard against his bones to make him seem even skinnier but far stronger than me.
“You think it’s a Soul Well?” Purple let a ball of light flow through his fingers. I didn’t want to question yet, but Purple now had a light voice that was very feminine maybe Purple was a sister instead of a brother like I thought.
“A Soul Well?” I looked to Purple surprised, and he seemed just as surprised, and vaguely confused.
“I always knew you were unique Brother, but to think you lacked a brain bothers me quite a bit. Did you not receive any information of our necrotic nature when you were born? I wanted to question this when you showed confusion over our duration.” Purple moved forward a bit, putting a bony finger to my chest to make it a point that I couldn’t just weasel my way out of this topic.
“No, I do not.” I tried to leave it at that, but even without eyelids I could tell that Purple was glaring at me, pressing me for more. “I have only the memories from before I died, nothing more.”
Purple’s expression turned shocked from the way he held himself it’s hard to describe to non-skeletons the subtleties of body language. “I have never heard of a skeleton keeping his memories from before death.” The finger at my chest softened, and he moved away to examine me a bit. “Like I said, you’ve always been a special case.”
“Enough of me, what is a Soul Well?” I waved my hand through the air, trying to avoid Purple’s examining gaze and looking to Red who didn’t seem to be interested in the fact that I could remember my past.
“It’s like the place we were born, if there was enough bones here skeletons would rise. A place where death came so swiftly, and to so many people that the dead refuse to believe that they are dead.” Red said taking out a knife to further make himself a shield out of a piece of wood that he had, there were five already scattered throughout the area we slept but he continued to make more.
“Then if we gave them skeletons to take over then this will all end, he’d have his friends back wouldn’t he?” I asked.
“No, to control a skeleton you need to give up on your humanity, your past. You can’t have lingering feelings of wanting to be human anymore, but you have to have a deep desire to live.” Purple sighed, knowing that I sounded hopeful.
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“That’s the real reason why Bear is having you hunt with him, you’re making a domain, only strong beasts would dare walk into your domain after how much you’ve killed.” Red seemed rather annoyed at the battles they’ve been missing.
Purple cut off my question by explaining before I could open my mouth, “Look at the auras around this place, not the physical. You’ve been neglecting your magic since you’ve been here, turning you into a muscle head like Red, and Bear.”
“Bear is a Druid, Druids are…”
“Muscle heads, that reflect nature of the animal they project. Have you seen him do anything magical?” Purple retorted.
My sight had evolved further even though I wasn’t paying much attention to the magical side of things as Purple said, and the skill had evolved into ‘Astral Sensory’ which allowed all of my senses take in magic. I ignored him as I let my senses drift into the Astral, everything was tinged with a hint of black that hissed off of it like smoke, the scent was very calming almost like some kind of sweet baking in the oven. “What’s this?”
“You’ve made this whole area into an undead domain, a place where undead will become more powerful. When you take energy from other beasts, a bit of it escapes becoming a domain. Most domains are small, and are washed away by the next predator that comes through, but if you kill enough and turn enough into a fuel to make you more powerful, you leave a domain.” Purple seemed to be looking at the auras of the trees, with a pitying look on his face. “It’s to keep the dead from passing onto skeletons of Bear’s hunts.”
“And everything in my domain? What will happen to the things tainted by my aura?”
“They’ll become more like you, the trees will become carnivorous, the beasts will start to take more skeletal features until they are undead, everything will strive to be like you.” Purple still stared at the trees.
“I don’t like it.” Red spoke up suddenly. “How does a human know about domains, and how to use them to his advantage.”
“He’s a Druid. God this is why I don’t want Mr. Skeleton to get influenced by your kind, you muscle brains can’t come to a logical conclusion. How do Druids keep their forests living, and always brimming with life?” Red stared at Purple, as Purple faced him crossing his arms. The blank look on Red’s face led Purple to give out an exasperated sigh, “They find a Dryad and give it a domain. I’m surprised that this Druid doesn’t have a Dryad was powered by his Clan members.”
I touched my chest at that comment, looking to the stars, “Man, the sky is so beautiful tonight.” Purple paused, looking at me oddly as a box appeared.
Ding!!Negotiation Leveled Up!
Surprised by its sudden appearance, Purple took a step back making him tumble over the smaller figure that had appeared behind him. The muscular looking insect didn’t seem to mind as Purple toppled to the ground, it continuing to walk over to me. Taking a knee, he bowed his head respectfully, making me wonder who taught him such things. Looking to Purple, whose only injury was bruised pride, I looked back to Mr. Fly.
“We have a problem Lord, there are two that have entered your domain. They look to be Demon, maybe Devil, or Hellion in origin. If they are Demon, we should be careful not to invoke the wrath of the Demon King at all costs.” He said not daring to look up, as if afraid that telling me to be cautious was questioning my power.
“Thank you for warning me.” Brushing my fingers along my chest, a drop of orange liquid beaded at my finger tips, and I placed it into one of his outstretched hands. This was the things that bugs craved about my body, giving some to Mr. Fly every now and again seemed to provide him enjoyment even if it sickened me a little at be honest.