Liam reclined on the driver’s bench, sore, stiff, but well adjusted to life on the road. Month old blisters had hardened into callouses that now protected his rear, and the other magi had leveled up enough that he no longer needed to transfer mana. A welcome repast from the constant drain. Except, he was getting bored.

Nyota, I’ll see you soon. Will you be the same woman I left behind? Family is all you have, and humans can’t hybridize with felinids… Did you really find someone else to have kids with? Or will you have moved on, become something else. Someone else.

His thoughts were interrupted by Karnak jogging alongside the wagon, carrying what appeared to be a gray yarnball on a stick. Liam blinked, eyes focusing on the comically oversized boulder, lashed to a particularly rough stick.

“Karnak… That’s the jankiest warhammer I've ever seen. It must weigh at least four thousand pounds! Why do you have that?” Asked Liam.

The lycanthrope grinned, “Ah, I'm glad you asked! My claws can puncture armor with a thrust, or they can slash through flesh, but what if we face an enemy that needs to be smashed?” Asked Karnak.

“Hhmmm.” Said Liam, trying not to roll his eyes or laugh.

“Have you considered using your cock?” Asked Owen, his suggestion only half more serious than the werewolf’s improvised weapon.

Velena shot the old man a scowl, making Liam and Owen burst out into laughter.

“Don’t act like you think his rock is a better choice!” Cried Liam, laughing so hard that tears began to sparkle in his eyes.

“Well, no,” Admitted Velena, “But a sticky rock is better than always grabbing his enemies! Really! It’s gross when a hellhound burns off half his skin and he regrows it all! Nearly lost my rations when he did that last night. Keep the stick Karnak, don’t listen to these apes.”

Her jab only heightened their laughter, carrying them down the road. Eventually their laughter died, partly due to the thought of previous battles, Karnak’s healing was remarkable, it was as if he had a healer perpetually casting within him, and while it was unbelievably strong, watching burned flesh fall off his bones only for that same flesh to be replaced in seconds was a level of revulsion that even Liam –who’d worked in a mortuary– could not withstand.

Karnak took their jeers on the chin, jogging alongside the caravan as only the enormous man could. His newfound stoicism lifted Liam’s soul, a far cry from the pathetic dog he’d been. Now Karnak embodied the warrior ethos, on guard, ready for violence in a second. Yet open hearted to his own.

Liam shook his head, slipping into the back of the wagon before taking up his meditations. In the weeks since leaving Khereshatal, the magi had exploded in power, and now the caravan could maintain a trot as the magi cast, forming a stone road with two retaining walls to protect it. Some magi had even begun shifting the earth beneath the road as they went, moving gravel and sand underneath the stone road, creating a permanent underbase that would help protect the road from movements of nature and acts of god. Earthquakes or the occasional root. Things that might crack the road. With their engineering improvements the sandstone pieces would remain in position, even if broken. Perpetually carrying merchants and people across the country. Just as it conveyed the paladins now. Hours passed as the caravan traveled, giving Liam time to sculpt his physique. His height was beginning to stall, and would likely cap out at seven feet, whilst his body was finally beginning to thicken. Muscles covered his back and chest, far greater than anything he’d been able to attain in either of his previous lives, and lastly, his balls had dropped. Making several of the female paladins look at him with new eyes. The sort of longing gazes that made him wish for Nyota every hour.

A Lightning Lord made laws, so they knew he could do as he pleased, and several were overly game for it. Temptations his growing body was eager to indulge in, while his mind abhorred the notion.

But hadn’t Nyota found another lover? Would it be wrong for him to enjoy a woman’s company? His current body wasn’t promised to Nyota, there was no bond she was aware of between their current existences. To her, I’m dead…

Liam shook the thought out of his mind, returning to the wagon’s forefront. Being a horny teenager was putting odd thoughts into his head. He needed Owen’s boomer stoicism to keep him on the straight and narrow. But as he reached the driver a dozen new sights confounded him.

First, there were armed guards stepping off the road to salute the paladins, patrols of chainmail clad soldiers. Far too many for the region’s agrarian nature. Secondly, the fields were being farmed, by living farmers and what appeared to be reanimated corpses. Dark mana flowed around the undead, yet their bones were covered with clay and stone, materials that should have been immalleable, yet bent and flexed. As if bewitched to act like true living flesh did.

“What the hell?” Gasped Liam, mouth open as he saw undead workers farm alongside their former families.

His elven eyes and knowledge of anatomy told him everything. Though Owen failed to notice until they passed the chainmail wearing guards and caught a wiff.

“Oi! You men smell like week old fish! What’ve you lot been… up to–” Called Owen, now seeing the blank stare of the guards.

He whirled, mouth agape.

“Owen, shush. Say nothing.” Ordered Liam, watching the farmers with a keen interest.

Men and women, parents and grandparents, even the occasional dog or horse worked the fields. Undead plowhorses tilled new fields, guided by living farmers. They were slower than living beings, but relentless, plodding along.

“I sense it as well my lord. Not just the farmers, but the guards. They’re, they’re all–” Began Owen, voice trailing off as a new squad of a dozen guards formed a half circle in the road.

The armored men weren’t facing the caravan, instead establishing their cordon perpendicular to the road, but their stances impeded the caravan’s advance. Certainly in the way of the caravan’s path. One of the undead guards held up a hand and halted the lead wagon, stepping in front of the horses. Owen’s knuckles twitched, as if he wanted to whip the reins and spur the horse forward, trampling the undead abominations.

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“Hold. We will kill the danger. Wait.” Said the man, his face completely blank.

No emotion showed in his dull lifeless eyes.

“Tell me, what power animated you?” Asked Liam.

-no response-

The man’s foggy eyes looked at Liam, unblinking. Eerie in the daylight, and confusingly docile. A tail flicked out from the ditch running along the road, lashing across two of the men and sending them flying. One crashed into a wooden fence, breaking it as well as his arm. He gave no scream, nor shout, only rising to his feet as the dozen guards closed in on the creature.

“I am needed. Wait here or your safety is not in our hands.” Warned the guardsman, turning and jogging towards the fray.

Ahead of them the cordon was broken by another tail slash, revealing an enormous serpent. Dark emerald scales and a python’s head rose above the irrigation ditch. It was similar in shape to a python, except for being in excess of twenty feet long, and thicker than a man’s shoulders.

Heat spread across Liam’s gut, emanating from Medusa’s heartscale. The pouch where he kept it was so hot he leapt onto his feet.

“Why the hell–” Snapped Liam, suddenly realizing the serpent looked familiar, as if he’d seen it when standing alongside Medusa.

‘Quetz, can you intervene? Go say hi to the Euryalemorph?’ Said Liam.

‘Eh, I guess.’ Answered Quetz, already floating off his perch atop the wagon.

“Hey, wait! That uhm, that snake is our friend!” Called Liam, leaping from the wagon and jogging past the guards.

They made no response, leveling steel tipped spears at the gorgon infant.

Oh man, I hope that snake is smart enough to talk! Prayed Liam, retrieving the gorgon’s scale and holding it aloft. And to his surprise, he was ignored for the second time in an hour.

“Step aside! All of you! Give me some space.” Ordered Liam.

Every undead guard advanced on the snake, taking another step towards her. None of them seemed to hear him, and that was really beginning to irk Liam. Another tail flick sent three guards sailing, with Liam having to duck and roll to avoid getting closelined by a dead man’s bullocks.

“Oh hell no.” Grumbled Liam.

He planted his free hand on the ground, channeling mana into shaping the earth. Quartz walls rose, displacing dirt into tidal waves, flowing outward from the serpent’s coiled form to push the men backwards, sliding them back until the road was obstructed by the quartz hemisphere. The sudden barrier seemed to calm the serpent, and she spread out, laying flat to absorb the sunshine. Or maybe it was the presence of Quetzalcoatl atop the glass walls that calmed her. Either way, Liam found his feet, brushing himself off and retrieving the heartscale.

“Alright, take a look at this, Medusa, I think she’s your mom, or -uhm, aunt. Take a look at this scale and come with me.” Said Liam, peeking around the crystal wall.

‘You’re talking to a one year old.”’ said Quetz, sounding far too entertained for Liam’s liking. A thought popped into his head, an image of Quetzalcoatl chomping on a bucket of popcorn as he watched Agatha Christie's latest romcom.

“A one year old? Jesus, how big do Euryale’s girls get!” Said Liam, wondering what Jenkins would do if Phaedra had a euryalemorph. Probably joke about having mountains for tits. Thought Liam, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Fine! Let’s say hi.” Grumbled Liam, scooching closer to the snake that could swallow him twice over. Up close everything seemed larger. Even her head was huge, like a fifty five gallon drum of petroleum, round, oblong, and preposterously too large for him to handle alone. Though the serpent didn’t react to his presence, permitting him closer. And closer. Until Liam placed one hand upon her scales.

“Cmon girl, you don’t want to be stuck in a field with a bunch of undead do you?” Said Liam.

At his words the snake slithered forward, casually moving in a circle around him. Scales rubbed against scales, sparks popping into life from friction. She coiled, wrapping Liam’s feet and waist in her length, emotionlessly trapping the elf until Quetz slithered forward, and booping her nose with his own.

Like a puppy confronted with a fresh dogshit on the carpet, the gorgon wilted. Coils loosened, she turned aside, and went limp before Quetz’s gaze.

“What did you say? It looks like you slapped her.” Asked Liam.

‘I told her that I'd have to eat her if she ate you. Why did you go and walk into her coils like an idiot mouse would?!’ Snapped Quetz, mentally berating the Lightning Lord.

“I was being friendly! She wasn’t… She wasn’t actually going to eat me right?”

‘She laid in wait, then trapped your legs? What do you think? You practically crawled into her mouth and rang the dinner bell! Or is that too much for a mammal to comprehend?’

“Whatever, help me get her into one of the rear wagons.” Said Liam, trying to pick up the serpent’s head.

Inaudible words passed between Quetz and the infant, evidenced by several hissing sounds and a pause with both serpents appraising the other. Then she began to raise her trunk. Her head rose above Liam’s shoulder, rising above him and floating over the crystal wall, with Quetz lingering above her, as if the miniature snake god was tractor-beaming an oversized baby gorgon through the sky.

Ya know, catgirls are the good kind of weird, but i’m not sure I like how much weirder this world is getting. Thought Liam, going to the crystal wall and reforming it to line the road.

The task was completed within moments and the undead guards resumed their patrol as if nothing had happened, though a squad of four began to perpetually shadow the paladins. Never speaking, nor approaching, simply shadowing the caravan. A quartet of silent marchers. Owen and Velena kept a watchful eye on the undead guards, mean-mugging the walking corpses until Liam ordered them onward.

“Look, we intervened in their home, and are now carrying a baby gorgon through their front yard. It would be weirder if they did not follow us than if they allowed us to galavant across town!” Snapped Liam.

“It’s still creepy.” Muttered Owen, returning to his roadbuilding as the caravan proceeded into town.

More living people appeared, with the undead guards quickly being replaced by intact guards, though several dozen undead were busy digging trenches and trimming lumber. Ultimately creating the groundwork for walling the town. A dozen citizens stood around a cloaked woman, one whose eyes had been clawed out. As evidenced by the gouges running across her face. While her skin was ghastly pale, and in the eye sockets two gems sat. Practically blazing with the mana of a thousand suns. Despite the woman keeping one eye fastened shut, observing the word through what appeared to be a silver eye, complete with a hole for a pupil. She spoke with a raspy voice, her mouth covered by bandages. In fact, her entire body was covered in bandages or fabric, as if she were a recovering burn victim.

But Liam could feel the truth. His sense of mana told him the woman was more violent than the sun’s surface. Nuclear hellfire of ten billion years was like a candle to this woman’s wrath.

Her silver eye rose from the people, looking directly into Liam’s face. The hustle and bustle of the town vanished along with every trace of her power, as if she’d sucked all strength into herself. Then she called out to Liam.

“Your soul… Is not that of an elf’s. What exactly are you?” Asked the revenant.