Aegis' point of view
I still don't understand what has happened… I called out to Kite several times but the only response I had gotten wasn't from him… As if poking into my brain as it spoke… I heard something far darker than Kite speak. It said.
“Kite isn't here right now. If you leave your name I can take a message and have him get back to you.”
...He… This thing has killed dozens… No, at least a hundred pirates searching for Gold… This thing has sucked up all of my stored resources. Even being indestructible… I feel something I've never felt as I help this man kill all of these people in cold blood. I feel fear… I feel regret… I feel sick… Three feelings I've never felt before in my lifetime I've felt because of this… Thing.
“I can hear you as well. Aegis, you have no reason to be afraid. I see you as a friend of Kite's, so you have nothing to worry about.”
I can feel that feeling again. The fear only gets stronger by the silence… Because my connection with Kite is so strong I could read his body language and feelings… What this person is going to do is… Even though she is so evil… I'm starting to feel sorry for Gold.
He kills more then we stop in the middle of a hallway. He says into my head.
“This… Hmm, there shouldn't be a wall here. There is a giant room on the other side. Lets get rid of this wall.”
With one deft stroke he cleaves an opening in the concrete wall. The moment he does… I realize that he already knew where Gold was… That he was just running around killing people for no reason. I hear him laugh through my telepathy.
“I guess I've been found out. Don't tell Kite about the mess I made… He might not let me out again if you do.”
I look at the blood knight in the room… He has noticed… He has noticed the look in Kite's eyes… The one of blood lust. The panicked man starts tipping over as many blood barrels as he can to make a defensive shield to stop Kite… I already know it wont be enough… Even if he had enough blood to fill this room, it wouldn't be enough.
All I hear through the telepathic link is the sound of him laughing… The look on his face just doesn't match. It is one of no emotion. Why is he doing this?
“You'll see when I smile at Gold. She'll understand why in a second, why I didn't enter the room smiling even though I am so happy I get to kill her. Because I was saving my smile for her.”
He plays with her. Lets her have the feeling of a chance… The chance of winning, finally killing the blood knight she starts to look worried. The monster re-kills all the corpses in the room, he smiles… Smiles should not look like this. I can now see that even the lich is terrified of him. She musters the last bit of power she can to try and stall him. No attempt at killing him anymore, all of her powers are thrown into a single creature… Kite blows it away with a single attack. He speaks out loud now… The voice is similar to the one I heard in my head… I wish it was Kite's voice, please let Kite take back over. He says.
“I still have a minute to play with you.”
He rushes at her… I'm not 100% sure on the time he keeps mentioning… But I think it is when the stat boost he ripped from me will wear off… Speaking of ripping, the first thing he does is rip one of her hands off completely. He actually looks sad at what he has just done and speaks again.
“Aww, I only wanted to rip off a few fingers. Damn your weak body! How am I supposed to have fun with my toys if they break so easily!?”
The skeletal body is now shaking. Making a rattling noise as the magic holding her body together starts to falter. He grabs her remaining hand, more easily this time and proceeds to rip every finger off her hand one by one. She cries out in pain… I'm not even sure she can feel pain as a lich but something terrifying is happening. Bone by bone he pulls her apart. He speaks again.
“You know where you went wrong? You hurt Leaf… If you could have just avoided that. You could have possibly gotten out of this alive. At the very least a new pet of Kite's. I'm not sure but… Because you hurt Kite. Your true enemy has shown himself. One that will not allow you to do as you wish. And that is why you will die right now.”
He stops being delicate with her. Reaching into her body with both hands as he shovels out the bones in her chest. Pushing and breaking them as he rips the top portion apart from her bottom half. He speaks again.
“If I wasn't so disgusted by you, I would fucking eat you alive. Let you live the last few hours in my stomach… I don't have that time either so you'll just have to die… DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT! I really wanted to play with you more but it seems I'm out of time.”
In one quick motion he rips the phylactery off her neck and shatters it between his fingers… Seconds after doing so she collapses into a pile of bones… Seconds after that, Kite's body falls over as well… Nothing… I don't feel anything now… I-is he dead?… No, I feel Kite faintly… I can't just leave him hear but all of the stats I've stored in myself were just stolen from me… I guess I'll have to eat a portion of the metal stored inside myself to restore some mana… I'll use Kite as a puppet again. Damn it Kite! Stop putting me in these situations!
Kite's point of view
I wake up more sore then I ever have been. It feels like an elephant has sat on me and crushed all the bones in my body. I open my eyes and see what I've been using as a pillow is Leaf's lap. She is sleeping right above me as I lay on her… Judging by the roof… We are in a tent near the battlefield… I'm not sure if we have won but… I don't remember what happened at all.
I go to move but I can't, my body is in so much pain just moving hurts me all over… Except my right arm. Forcing myself to look, I see Aegis has been removed from me… My entire arm is bandaged but… It is still their… It doesn't feel like it is though… Like I've lost all of the feeling to my right arm… My movement was enough to wake Leaf up. She looks down at me and starts to cry. Her tears drip down onto my face as a look of relief and happiness comes over hers. She speaks.
“I thought I was going to lose you. Just after we…”
She goes to hit me but manages to stop herself… Her clenched fist changes into an open one as she palms the side of my face gently and kisses me. She must have stopped herself from striking me because of the condition I'm in. I force myself into a kneeling position. Leaf has to help me into a sitting position…
She starts to explain what has happened… How she had been struck with a boulder… I can vaguely remember that but everything after is just not a part of my memories. She explains how we had managed to do well against the pirates until the ghouls had shown up. We were pushed back and… Some of my men had died, she wont go over the casualties with me no matter how much I ask… That isn't good.
She explains from there that the ghouls started acting strange, a giant pink monster appeared out of the main building and was burned alive… Seconds after that, the ghouls went crazy and tried attacking the pirates. Leaf and the rest of the army helped defeat them and the pirates have all been calm if not a little scared by everything that has happened… She said that Aegis had seen everything but didn't want to tell anyone besides me what had happened…
“Where is Aegis?”
“He… Didn't want to be on your arm any longer than he had too… I guess something you had done scared him tremendously… Kite… You said something to me when I was struck. You said forgive Kite for what I'm about to do… Who, what was talking at that time?”
“I… I'm not sure myself… I can't remember much after you had been hit… I just remember being scared, happy you were safe… I looked at the doll… All the cuts and damage that would have happened to you!”
Shit… I can remember slightly more… I think a trait activated in me when I saw Leaf get struck… Wrath activated… I need to check my stats… I've most likely gained many new skills and levels as well while I was unconscious… Right now I need to see how everyone is doing. I go to stand up and nearly fall over but Leaf helps me to my feet.
We go through the tent flap and I can now see that it is already dark. Men still rush around fixing things. A huge amount of fish has been brought through the portal and has been made into a stew of some kind for the pirates… They must have been starving… I'm glad we could save them before they all starved to death.
I look around… None of my generals are here… I need to speak with someone… What has happened? I see Lance running passed who looks in my direction and stops in his tracks. He yells out.
“Ah, good to see you're awake… We all thought it would be days before you would wake up.”
“I should really be sleeping my entire body aches... I can't move without Leaf's help.”
He looks at my hand… Because of the bandages, I haven't gotten to see the extent of the damage… It couldn't be healed with regenerate… So it is a fairly bad wound… Beyond muscle fatigue from constant work like the rest of my body… I can't feel it, or move it… It is as if my hand isn't even their… I ask.
“Where is Aegis? What has happened?”
“Shortly after the ghouls went berserk and started attacking everyone, you came walking out… It wasn't you though, it was Aegis pretending to be you. After a short speech stating their leader was dead, anyone who would attempt to fight would be killed mercilessly, the fighting stopped. We have their surrender right now and are feeding them so they don't fall over dead. The corpses were counted on both sides…”
He starts to lose his work tired face for one of sadness… Looking down he continues.
“We lost 65 men in battle. 2 griffon riders were struck down during the constant raiding from them. The kobolds had no where to go, since they were split into the groups, their coordination wasn't as good as if they were a different group… Because of this, we lost 10 more kobolds to constant attacks… They need a leader or they will continue to have no place as a set of troops. One of them took several kobolds from the battle and brought one of the black turtles to the battlefield… If it wasn't for him, the casualties would have been much higher. The bulk of the deaths were from the ghouls though… The main forces and the two side wings for holding back the enemies suffered the biggest casualties… Of those, Tough and Brick are now dead...”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
...I expected some of my troops to die… If I'm thinking honestly… The casualties of my army are smaller than I thought they would be… I bring this up, there has to be a reason we fared so well against them. He answers that question.
“Well… Including everyone, I would say the main reason is because of Green's bouncing around the battlefield constantly engaging each enemy. She has a very strong attack that could actually throw the ghouls off… She was in bad shape because of this though. She lost both her arms and a leg to them being amputated from ghoul attacks. Methodis had to drag her off the battlefield to keep her alive. Gobber also made a very good leader of the main forces... Then Leaf making calls to retreat to fight the ghouls on a unified front saved many of our troops too.”
I can feel Leaf grab me a little tighter as she was being praised. I almost laugh at how little Green can change… I can't laugh right now though, so many of my men are dead because of this… Tough was a stalwart protector, even until the end… Brick the same… Both of their sacrifices will not go unnoticed or unrewarded… I've been thinking of making a memorial to those who have died during this war… The three generals who sacrificed their lives to save many more of my men will not go unrewarded. I ask if there is anything else he would like to mention about the war.
“Y-yea… The losses from the pirates were far higher than us. Even without trying to kill them, we still killed quite a few in the process. Not only that but… Those ghouls just didn't appear out of thin air… After doing a head count. Their are only 2650 pirates left alive… Around 1000 were turned into ghouls which we had to kill… A large portion was also killed by Gold herself to feed the ghouls and most likely use to protect herself… With the loss of almost half of their men… The pirates already know they are beyond defeated… Most are very cooperative… Some not so much but none have openly tried to attack any of our men yet… Without a leader, I don't expect them to continue to behave like this...”
He is right. They are behaving right now because they are scared… They aren't going to be scared forever… Without a leader, someone might try to become a leader… If the wrong person becomes the leader, this war will continue. Before I can finish that thought, a giant monster flies over my head. What the hell is that? The monster is a giant, I can't tell what it is in this darkness… I should still be able to see it though! It must have camouflage that makes it harder to see in the dark. It's huge! I go to take a battle stance but am too sore to move. Leaf must have noticed my fumbling and whispered into my ear.
“That is Darkclaw.”
...WHAT!? He slowly approaches us… He is easily 2… No, 3 times the size her was before. A normal sized dragon now, taking up the size of a house. He takes his human form and approaches us.
“Ah! It is good to see master is awake.”
“Wow Darkclaw! You got big.”
“Heh, yea.”
We stop talking, I am too tired to hold a conversation right now... I wonder if my other pets have also changed… I should look at my stats before I go to bed. I talk for a few more minutes with everyone… I'm not sure why my body had told me to wake up because I am beyond tired still. I head back to bed with Leaf… I realize how unfair those beds in the castle are now compared to the few blankets thrown down inside a tent…
Trait Wrath now dormant
Hero 76 to 78
Champion 75 to 76
Bandit 57 to 60
Pirate 51 to 64
Illusionist 57 to 58
Summoner 58 to 59
White mage 67 to 69
Blood knight 1 to 15
Master of Learning 44 to 56
Level 10 Blood knight skill Vampire strikes- attacks that draw the blood of enemies can be used to restore lost health (combines with Drink blood to make Blood tap)
Class learned Necromancer- passive skill gained Blood magic- Can use health as a resource for casting magic, passive stat increase charisma
Level 1 skill Reanimate dead- Turn a corpse into a controllable puppet
Level 10 skill Mana leech- Slowly absorb the mana of an enemy
Secret Necromancer skill Speak with the dead- Can communicate with the corpse of a creature and ask it questions
Title learned Tactician- Able to think farther ahead, able to devise more elaborate battle plans
Title learned Commander- Able to more easily lead larger amounts of troops
Job learned Strategist- Skillfully manipulate the troops on the battlefield to your advantage, able to make more politically sound decisions
Job learned Topographer- Knowledge of land for the creation of maps and strategic placement of troops on the battlefield
Achievement gained War veteran- Have completed a war in your favor, potential bonuses for future achievements
Achievement upgraded War veteran--> War leader- Have commanded an army in war to your favor, small stat boost to all men under your leadership
Achievement upgraded War leader--> War hero- Single handedly save thousands of lives during a war, stat boost to all men under your leadership
Achievement gained Vino- Cover yourself in the blood of your enemies, passively drink the blood through your skin granting a very small health regen bonus
Secret Druid skill Lich form- shape shift form to that of a lich (upgrades necromancer skills)
Druid skill created Transform small creature- Because of your proficiency with shape shifting into creatures, you can now shape shift into any small creature
Blue mage passive skill Weapon of war- Gain movement speed, attack speed and resource regen during huge scale battles
Stats increased by at least 100 each
Unknown skills have been gained but blocked by Wrath becoming dormant again
That is all I had noticed changed… Something odd sticks out to me… I've noticed it before but, the charisma stat is very undefined as a stat… I'm not even sure what it does… I should really try to figure out more about it… I know that isn't all I had gained… I will have to go speak with each pet as they may have evolved… Because I was unconscious, I didn't get the notification of it… I'm just so tired right now… Even on this uncomfortable bed I snuggle up closely to Leaf and fall asleep quickly.