“Yes my lord. Food and water will not be a problem, I know the magic "Create Food and Water" and making fire is easy with "Spark", as for clothes, I can use the one from my old body and I think Dazzazn has your size, cleaning them is simple also with magic to.”
We enter the ziggurat and take what we need. She starts to drag one of the bodies. I ask. “What are you going to do with the bodies? Play in the lake?”
“If they were peasants, yes, but they are priestly brothers, they should be burned”
I see her struggle to drag one of the bodies. I help her, the bodies are light as if they were made of Styrofoam.
“Let me take them.” I easily carry 2 bodies at a time, one under each arm.
“My lord is very strong!”
"Why? These bodies weigh nothing!”
“Each of them must weigh between 80-100kg!”
Something clicks in my head! “Do your people use the metric system of measurements?”
“My lord, I don’t know what that means.”
“Hethress, what language am I speaking?”
“Redare Cene, the cultured language of our people.” She looks at me without understanding.
To me, I sound like Portuguese spoken with Parseltongue.
In the face of my silence, she amends. “My lord speaks with an ethereal, whispering voice, very captivating and dignified.”
Before my surprise a window appears.
SPECIAL ABILITIES - Tongues (Su) You understand any spoken language as your native language and when you speak, you are understood by others as if you were speaking in their native language.
I change the subject.
“Where do you want me to take the bodies?”
“I think I saw a staircase leading to the top of the ziggurat.”
After we take the bodies and clean ourselves up again.
She recites a prayer to her Goddess and casts a spell, then an immense column of fire appears and the bodies are consumed instantly, their ashes are carried away by a light breeze before extinguishing.
“What magic was that?” In awe of the size and power of magic.
“Flame Strike". A very strong attack magic, but also used for funeral rituals of the priest caste.”
We return to the body room, now without bodies. And she begins to recite the magic, runes and glyphs begin to appear around her, initially, weak and unclear, but as time passes they become stronger, brighter and clearer until after a long time, they disappear and in front of Hethress appears a complete meal for 2. Meat, 2 types, one cooked and one almost raw, no type of vegetables, and 2 jugs of water with, I would say, 1L for each.
“What meat is this, Hethress?”
“Water buffalo, my lord. My magic cannot produce better cuts of meat, forgive me.”
“No, it’s great.” I don't really feel hungry or thirsty now. We sit on the hard stone floor and I try a piece of each type of meat. Both taste like tofu, the raw one being a little better. Strange, very strange.
“Hethress, tell me about everything you know, starting with this place.”
“Yes my lord. This place where we are is called Ziggurat of Aunnas, or simply, Aunnas. It is an ancient place, full of power, it has existed since the era before the “Tear of the Dream”.
“Tear of the Dream?”
“Local legends speak of a war between Gods or very powerful beings from this world against Gods or very powerful beings from the “Kingdom of Dreaming.”
“Okay, back to ”location".”
“Aunnas is in a swamp called Home of the Crocodiles. My village is 1 hour flying, 4 hours away by boat and 2 days walking from here.”
“Flying? As?"
“Riding Dororos.”
My expression says it all.
“Of course, I’m sorry, I forgot that my lord doesn’t know our lands. Dororos are large winged beasts, used to carry quick messages between towns and villages where there are no roads or rivers within easy reach. But they are expensive beasts to maintain, temperamental and there is always the problem of dragons.”
“DRAGONS???” One side of me is very happy, as a KPOP fan, on the other side, I am very worried.
“Yes, the Blacks, vicious, like to play, torture and eat their prey alive. If you have no way to escape or hide, a knife to the throat is the best option. Green, they like to enslave, until their slaves are no longer useful, then they eat them. And the Shadows always bring a quick death.”
“Dororos are special food for dragons, because they carry the bonus of a Lord of Dororo. Therefore, Dororos are only used in the early hours of the day, when dragons, lazy and indolent creatures that they are, are less active and at short distances, so the Dororo spends a short time in the air, vulnerable.”
“My village is part of a group of towns and villages, 10 in total, in this region, which is part of the Arak of House Verda, ruled by Lord Szuling. My village, Kebury, is led by the pureblood Szeddisosh, with +500 people, it is one of the largest villages in the region, second only to the city of Beymoor, with +5000 people and where Lord Szuling lives. My village is one of the few with a wall and with formics to help against Mantis attacks.”
“Formicos, Mantis, what are they?”
“Formicos are giant insects used for heavy work, combat and food production. Mantis are also giant insects, but with 6 limbs, 2 being powerful scythes used to eviscerate or capture and immobilize their prey, 2 smaller arms used to manipulate objects and 2 powerful legs used to propel these murderous monsters in great leaps. It is on average 2m tall and has a shell as hard as metal.”
“Mantis form nests of 10-100 individuals, when they exceed 20 they form tribes. In the region, there are 3 dominant tribes: Jeri-Kri, Are-Kri, Ume-Kri. But they are commonly known as head-hunters, green and flying.”
“The biggest problem is the head hunters, who during the mating season go out in groups looking for the heads of other tribes and other beings, these heads are used to court their females. The heads of my people are highly valued. Typically this happens twice a year. But this year there were 4 attacks. One of the captured Mantis said this was due to a Lich attacking their breeding and hunting grounds.”
“A LICH!!!! As if we didn't already have a lot of problems. We sent a Dororo asking for help from Beymoor, but there was no response, the Dororo didn't return, so the priests in the region decided to get together and perform a ritual to conjure a champion, with the help of the Goddess hylasis, but something went wrong, I don't know what happened, the chant was performed perfectly, the sacrifice was accepted, the moons were in the correct position...but something went very wrong.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Lich? An undead wizard who creates other undead? You said it's been more than a month, why hasn't anyone come looking for you?"
“Yes, that is a good description of a Lich. This place is dangerous, the travel here is difficult and with the Mantis attacks, it has become even more difficult. To get here, we lost 4 escort warriors to the Mantis and monsters in the region. Legends say that this place is cursed and during the tide, it is a place where monsters come from. Our people don’t come here without a good reason, for fear of bringing curses to the region.”
"Tide?"
“Tide is the 5th season, a time where magic becomes wild, violent and unstable, during this season, the use of magic that is not divine is prohibited and everyone is locked within the walls of the nearest city or shut up in protected caves . During this period, certain locations become points from which monsters come out and destroy everything in front of them, strangely they don't attack animals, only buildings and people.”
“They don’t attack the Mantis or the Formicos?”
“Attack!”
“So the Formicos and Mantis are people?”
“My lord, this is heresy, Mantis are monsters and Formicos are less than slaves.”
“Slaves? Explain this better.”
“Does my master not know what a slave is?” She looks at me in surprise.
“I know what slaves are, and how slavery works. I want to know who these slaves are, and if it works the same way I know it.”
“Slaves normally come from inferior races: rabbit people, sweets, they reproduce quickly and have delicious meat, but very expensive, with a high selling price, especially if they are matrices or breeders. Catfolk, good hunters, the females make great dancers, the meat is not good, very tough, but they are difficult to train and expensive to keep to. Bee people, very difficult to raise, mainly because Queens only mate in flight, and when a queen dies, her hive dies together, if another queen doesn't take her place, but normally they flee during flight. Lizardfolk, only good for games in the arena, very stupid and stubborn. Giant, expensive, violent and prone to madness, normally used in mines or arenas, only nobles can keep them. Elves are the most common in cities, in our region it is not viable, it attracts many groups of Elves who attack to free their race.” She says all this in a very didactic way, like explaining the various breeds of cattle and their breeding.”
“There are also legal slaves, sentenced criminals, these have 3 possible destinations; mines, arena, shock troops on the border, against the fire giants. Debtors can only be used for domestic services and have a deadline to be released.”
“You said that the meat of the rabbit people is good and the meat of the cat people is bad. Do these people talk?”
“Of course, if not, they would be mere animals, slaves are more useful because in addition to serving as food, they can learn manual labor.”
They eat sentient beings!!! FRAK!
Lawfull Evil...I got it because all the priests were of that alignment.
“Are there slaves in the villages in the region?” I ask with a bitter taste in my “mouth.”
"No. The villages in the region are unable to keep slaves. Once a year, Szeddisosh buys a good female from the rabbit people, but he never shares it, nor makes any offerings to the temple. Damn selfish.”
She continues to explain the region.
“In the most northwestern part is the capital, Rashakn. Every great house has a castle there and the royal family, who rules the Valley of Shadows, also lives there. The Valley is surrounded by the Valkar mountain range. Where there are 5 volcanoes, Belor, Nesius, Sekan, Lex and Roch. Each of these volcanoes is the territory of a tribe of fire giants that have the same name as the volcanoes. The mountain range is also home to the bee people. Beyond the Mountain Range lies a green expanse, beyond the Raging Sea, lies our homeland from which my people fled, 1000 years ago, Slavash.”
“Hethress, from today onwards, you will never again eat the flesh of speaking beings or slaves!”
“I'm sorry if I displeased you, my lord. Yes, I won’t eat those things anymore.”
“Enough for today, you must be tired and tomorrow we will go to your village.” I'm not sleepy or tired but the subject left me depressed. Lying on the cold stone floor is not very encouraging. What I wouldn’t give for a King bed with pocket springs.”
Fabricate
School: transmutation
Level: 5
Casting Time: see text
Components: V, S
Range: close (7m. + 1.5m/2 levels)
Target: up to 3 cu. m./level; see text
Duration: instantaneous
Saving Throw: none; Spell Resistance: no
You, through the concentrated flow of mana create a pattern that through your will, power and knowledge comes into existence in physical form. Creatures or magic items cannot be created by the fabricate spell. The quality of items made by this spell is commensurate with the knowledge and skill of the spell caster. If you work with a mineral, the target is reduced to 33cm cubic per level instead of 1,5m cubic.
You must make an appropriate Craft check to fabricate articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.
Casting requires 1 round per 3m cubic of material to be affected by the spell.
Blueprint: king bed, pocket spring.
Created.
Produce: y/no
Psy Power Slot 5: 6/6 =>5/6
"Yes?"
I am astonished when my mouth begins to recite a chant while my hands draw symbols in the air, leaving a bluish trail of light, in a few seconds everything is over and in front of us a 3x3x0.6m bed appears out of nowhere.
“My lord, what is this?” Hethress, looks at me and the bed with wide eyes.
“A bed?!”
Hethress, puts his hand on the bed, passes it lightly and then squeezes.
“So soft. What a strange fabric. What magic did my lord use?”
“Frabicate, I guess.”
“It can’t be, Fabricate needs materials, it doesn’t create things from nothing.”
I look at her and the bed.
“As expected of my lord. Incredible"
I lay down on the bed and invite her to come along.
She gracefully reads herself and sticks to my body. Through the link I know what she wants. Marriage Mark, a mark left by the male's bite on the female's shoulder. This mark will be left on display by any married female. Leaving the shoulder uncovered without a mark is a sign of courtesans.
When in Rome…
I sink my fangs. And I take possession of my “wife”.