A wasteland.

A barren wasteland, stretching over the whole horizon, hundreds of miles.

It was quite a letdown to say the least. I was new in this world and the first place I see was a boring desert.

Well it was not completely boring, there were some few rocks pocking out under the dry ground and the sand had a nice white colour.

I was still in my aethereal wisp-like form but could nonetheless look around a bit.

The sky was an nice azure blue, lit by a sole star.

I moved from my current position, to the closest rocks.

The elemental essence in the air was obstructing my way and at the same time chipping away more of my already damaged soul. I would need a container, fast!

I positioned myself atop the steep rock and scanned the badlands below me. My vision in soul form was more some kind of feeling of life force, so my search was not profitable at all.

My vision was completely black or white.

I had no hearing as well, I could only sense a few fluctuations in the wind essence but nothing much.

Instead of looking for a container I decided it would be smarter to turn the tables.

I radiated my spiritual power as much as I could, even in soul form that was enough to cover everything in 'sight' and beyond.

After some time with nothing happening I sent out another wave of energy, without response again. This desert was void of every lifeform. I might have possessed a plant, but NO! Not even a stupid plant survived in this dry ass lands! Excuse me.... I was just overwhelmed by the situation.

I was already giving up, something I was doing quite frequently. I was really ashamed of myself, a mighty beast that threatened the gods couldn't even find a suitable lifeform.

'This time I won't give up!' I pormised. I sent out waves upon waves of my soul energy, in even higher and more concentrated amounts.

Many hours passed until I could faintly feel changes in the wind and earth essence. A slight tremble in the earth and a flicker in the wind was all that was transmitted but I could feel it as clear as day.

Something was coming closer to me and it wasn't just one, it was a whole horde!

I scanned in the direction of the fluctuations but to my surrise I couldn't detect a single lifeform, again!

'Wait... Undeads?'. It was obvious somehow. If they weren't undeads they had to be elementals or gods. But a whole horde of either of the former was impossible, a llone god would be even more impossible.

They were already pretty close to me and even more kept coming; madly sprinting towards me, a soul that could give their body a purpose.

I wasn't picky so I took the first one that was closest to me. I could feel the souless body edaciously sucking me in.

My soul spread its sovereignty through the undead's body, taking full control of its husk-like body.

I didn't knew it but I took the lowest of all undeads as my new host. A skeleton, in a bad shape even.

The worn down body of the skeleton shock violently. Its bones turning from an eggshell white to a devious obsidian black with sharp scales covering them. The former empty eyesockets were filled with purple mist, condensing slowly into two amethysts-like eyes. The purple orbs radiated a red light but calmed down shortly after. The hands turned into tools of torture and the back bones slowly deformed into a pair of raven black wings with a dark red membrane holding them together.

After my soul finished adjusting the new body I breathed out a low sigh. Dark mist escaped my cracked jaws and hovered ominously above the ground.

I tapped into my own power level and I ended up being more than just a bit dissapointed. I only retained a sliver of my old power, be it my soul power or my physical power. It was fortunate though, I would be able to use something I never did when I was in my old body. Evolution.

Let me elucidate. I was not only end but also progress. Once progress stops it will result in death, the end. I was both the progress and its demise, a law of nature itself and I could use it to regain parts of my former strength.

I licked with my – non existing – tongue over my – non existing – lips. I really liked the idea to strengthen oneself to achieve higher heights. It was such a simple but fulfilling goal.

My form looked strong but it wasn't even nearly enough to fight the things that I have seen before my imprisonment. The gods got the privelege to create their own races and monsters and most of them were beyond my capabilities, if they retained their original strength.

I looked over the undead horde before me. They were composed mostly of ghouls, undead warriors – a stronger variant of the skeleton –, banshees and other disgusting apparations.

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Undeads were created through mana. The bodies of the deceased would slowly enrichen in the mana of the surrounding. Mana was a control element, it had control over mater as well as the elemental essence all around us. So it was no wonder that when a certain treshhold was met that the mana would bestow the lowest of instincts on the dead bodies. Survival. The mana was only capable of producing such a simple instinct but it was enough to cause havoc amongst the regular population when suddenly the dead rise again.

For increasing chances of survival the undead go on hunts of astray souls. With each soul they consume they regain new instincts, abilities and even parts of a personality. That way the higher undeads are created.

Of course there are exceptions to this rating, like undead dragons which group in the higher undeads even though they barely contain any reasoning. They are just that strong.

Though I was not completely let down by the lowly undeads before me. They would make good cannon fodder and I could simply absorb the mana in them to strengthen my body.

I spread my wings apart and the red membrane slowly emitted black spores. Like a dark cloud the spores spread further and further until the hundreds of undead were completely surrounded by the dark mist. Their instincts of survival right now were going haywire.

They ran around wildly, smashing each other in the process. Some even tried to bury underground.

I sneered at the hilarious scene and a low laugh escaped my throat. Although it was more a clackering of my teeth.

The black mist slowly entered their hollow bodies, forcing the mana inside to do my biding.

The banshees wailing turned into roars of agony and the undead knights wildly flailed with their limbs. The ghouls were completely wasted. They spasmed and their bodies turned into unnatural directions.

The hollow eyes of the undeads turned into a fierce red and their bodies were constantly seeping out a dark miasma.

I waited for the noise to die out and took once again a seat on the high rock.

After a few minutes all the undeads were completely transformed. Their powers were augmented and they should easily fight on par with your average monsters.

I jumped down from the boulder and gestured the undeads to follow me. Deep groans were heard throughout the entire journey.

It was unnerving with all the noise those undeads made, so I simply punished those that were to loud. Breaking their jaws or ripping their flesh apart. They didn't feel pain but their instincts told them that it was dangerous. So after only a few hours I trained all of them to shut their mouths to the best of their capabilities.

The wasteland turned into a semi-desert and a few plans could be seen here and there. Over the course of the journey some of the undeads were destroyed when Burrowers attacked; giant sandworms. I simply swiped with my claws and the worms were turned into large filets.

If I had known that these things were only a few hundred miles away I would have used them as host. Alas my soul is now bound with the skeleton.

The sandworms were profitable for me though. I absorbed their simple souls and bodies to strengthen my own, of course I did the smae with the remains of the 'dead' undeads. When I absorbed them I could immediately feel the change in my body. The bones hardened and a dark organ was created in the stomach area. It was able to secret light acid.

After anoter short while we encountered the first settlement of humanoids. They had lupine features, with sharp teeth and a build of average 6 or 7 feet. Their fur was grey or brown and their claws were sharp and deadly.

'Some kind of Bheria tribe'. I thought to myself.

Because it would make good practice for me and how I would fare against the first humanoid cretures I engaged in solo combat.

I was quite nervous. If they were as stong as on the day of their creation they would be able to kill me without much trouble. I was just hoping for the best, that they were unpure descendants.

It was only a small camp with a few camps and a fireplace in the middle. I choose to bombard them from above with my dark mist to obstruct vision and make their souls falter, resulting in confusion and other symptoms.

I charged my wings with the black mist and spread it over the camp. In an instant the wolf people gathered and gave me murderous looks. The first of them tensed large wooden bows and some started to throw rocks and sharp daggers.

My first real fight had begun!