AN: Two chapters today, folks. Just trying to get through most of the fluff.

As always, thank you for reading. If there's any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know.

Thank you.

______________________________________________

Instead of rushing off to a healer, I decided to return to my temporary home near the castle. It was a small cathedral that was left in disrepair. The building was condemned for years, until I moved in, and I felt at home while in it. The place reminded me of the ruined cathedral back on Azzarath, but was missing a few things. Such as the tattered tapestries and the old, gilded throne. At the time, I wondered what ever happened to it.

The cathedral, itself, only had one room available. This was the chapel, as all else had been torn down in the past couple of years. In the corner, near a rotted out pedestal, was a small bed. It was there because every now and again, I would receive a "guest" in the form of a middle man for the acquisition of poison for my "business partner", and they sometimes needed a place to sleep while I collected about a small vial of poison scrapings.

Currently, the bed was empty, so I laid the unconscious children down upon it. I ensured they would be comfortable, as I went in search of a few medicinal potions that I had created. I am not saying I am the best, but I do know how to make basic healing potions and salves well enough. I placed the potions off to the side of the bed, and retrieved a small container of the salve. Whereupon, I gently took of the boy-child's shirt to better assess the damage.

It wasn't pretty. He was covered in black, blue, and yellow bruises, and looked as though he became a punching bag for someone, who then used a cane after a time. These marks caused me to snarl, and I could feel a few cracks begin to spread out from my lips. Just as I was about to apply the salve, I noticed something odd about the two. Instead of little hands and feet, they were paws of a small canine. This was odd, and I wondered why I didn't see it before.

The pair didn't have a tail sticking out, but that could mean anything. Such as it could be tucked into their shorts, or worse. Someone could have removed them. I quivered in anger, but became relieved as I found the boy-child's tale, and pulled it out of his pants. The girl-child's, on the other hand, I decided to not search for. I didn't feel comfortable touching her, even if I acquired her permission at a later date. Although I had no issues lifting them up, petting their heads, and the like, actually touching a child made me feel ill.

Children, by themselves, are innocent creatures we should all cherish and protect. However, there are exceptions to this rule, and it is only ONE. If they are mentally unstable, psychotic killing machines, then I had no issues with putting them down. Although it pains me to say it, I have killed children who were this way. Always, after they died, I wanted to shed a waterfall of tears at their passing.

The boy-child's fur, I guess you can call it, was a matted dark brown. It was matted only around the back of his skull, which was caked with clotted blood. He fell hard, probably trying to protect the girl-child. His face was dirty, and after cleaning off as much as I could, I saw he had purple bruises on the right side of his face. I wanted to kill something when I saw this, and began to ply the salve to his bruised body and face. He was adorable, in his own right, and would be again once he healed up. His eyes were large, round spheres of blue and gold, and the lower part of his face was a small muzzle of a pup.

I had the desire to hug his small frame, and pet his head slowly, but refrained from doing so. Yes, I have a soft spot for small, adorable creatures. I am not a completely heartless creature, as some of you believe my past self was. One of my core tenants is to do no harm to children, unless they were the sole exception. However, the universe is a cruel, and terrible place. So much so, it doesn't allow you to protect those you wish to protect, but I digress.

The girl-child did have bruises, too, but they seemed to be centered along her arms. I still wasn't allowing myself to remove her dress, not because of what I feared was under there, but because, as I said before, I was not comfortable in doing so. No, instead, I found a female Undying, and instructed her to remove the girl-child's clothing, ply the salve wherever there was bruising, then let me know what was found.

I had stepped out of the cathedral, and stood there fuming for a time. I was did my best to reign in my rage, but was slowly losing my grip on it. Destroying the city below would ease some of my anger, but would have to settle on destroying a few random boulders that littered the ground around the small cathedral. As I was turning the third boulder to gravel, the female Undying saluted in front of my cracking human form.

"Well?" I growled down at her, who shook in fear for a moment, took a few breaths to calm herself, then began to report.

I will say this much, the female Undying in front of me was thorough. She began with the boy-child, and believed he was a Beastman of the Tundra Wolf tribe. The girl-child was believed to be a Beastwoman of the Night Stalker tribe. This tribe was feline in nature, as her dark fur, hair, long ears, slitted irises, and small whiskers upon her equally small muzzle gave her away. How the two ended up together was beyond her, but she did say that the Tundra Wolf tribe were incredibly stubborn in their ways, and always stood up for any females. Especially if that female was being attacked. It was entirely possible he rushed off to her aid, not caring what happened to himself.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"They'll need clothing and food," I began, but was stopped when the Undying had more to say.

She was quivering once she saw my visage as she said, "The girl looked to have been raped -"

My own silver magicks began to crackle about my form, as the hold on my rage was gone. Violet and crimson lightning formed itself around my body, as the human illusion shattered once more. No words were said, but a silent scream could be heard from my open maw. Madness had taken over my mind, and I desired naught, but the destruction of others. I knew my thralls could feel my anger, and those close came running towards me. There was a madness in their eyes, as well, as more of my magicks leapt from my bones, destroying the ground about my body.

The thralls stayed away from my erratic magicks, but calmed down once an ocean blue light began to shine from my bones. Gone was the madness that sought to claim me, and in its place was serenity. This caused my bones to shake, and I quickly applied various armor enchantments to it, before collapsing onto my hands and knees.

"Master!" Came shouts, as several four-armed Undying steadied me to my feet.

"The girl-child," I pointed towards the cathedral, "Have an artist create an image of her head, and search for where she came from. Once you do, gather up a squadron. We have some child rapists to hunt down."

*****

The children had, since then, moved to the castle after my explosion the day before. Not because of any danger perceived by my person, but to have access to the healers present within the castle. Turns out, the boy-child had a few punctured organs and internal bleeding. It's too bad the thug, who was most likely the culprit, died when he did. I would have enjoyed his screams for a long time.

This caused me to sigh, as I mentally scrolled through the various spells in my arsenal. I wanted to not appear as a giant skeleton to the children, but something else so as to not scare them once they've awoken. I had a variety of illusion spells to choose from, but I did notice another that was not an illusion. This was called "Gift of the Wolf", and permanently turned a being's race into a beastman of a random wolf tribe. I would hold off on that one for now. Probably use it on others, but who knows? Maybe I would use it on myself.

"<>," I intoned, as my silvery magick began to spread out in front of my person, forming the body. The illusion I had chosen wasn't a beastman in the least. No, these were considered to be anthromorphic hounds; distant relatives of the wolf tribes. The one my body would fit into was not all that tall, when comparing it to my skeletal frame. It stood at a height of 202 centimetres, had lean muscles, and three jointed legs. This was so that they could run faster when hunting. It had standard clawed hands and feet, like any other anthromorphs and beastmen, as well as a small, wolf-like head. The fur I chose was of the fluffier sort, which gave off a soft feel. The colour of the fur, however, was a midnight black with specks of silver throughout it. This was made to look like the stars in the dark ocean known as the night's sky. The eyes of my new illusion were of the same colour as my fur, black with silver specks in it.

Once the body was created, my own skeletal frame began to shrink in on itself, as I stepped into the Kobold shell for the first time. It was an odd feeling, to be sure, as I was used to being in a human shell for so long, and fell multiple times. It was slow going, and I struggled even as I tried to don some clothing a few Undying had gotten for me. It didn't bothered me as they chuckled softly at my failure. No, for I would have laughed along with them, and did so several times. Eventually, and with the help those in attendance, I was able to get into the pants. Everything else I shrugged off, and walked into the room.

Everyone stared at my Kobold self, but only a few went back to what they were doing. I could see the healers, who wore simple white robes, were still healing the boy-child, and that the girl-child was awake and eating a little. She looked scared, as her large, slitted eyes darted around the room. Her eyes seemed to grow even larger, once they landed on my body. What surprised me most was her next action, which was her scampering over to me, and hiding behind my legs. I was curious, truth be told, and looked down at her.

She squeezed her eyes shut, shivered for a few heart beats, then raised up her arms as though she wanted a hug. I obliged her, and she clung to my fur whilst crying softly. At that point, I was stunned, and could do nothing except try to comfort her with head pets and back pats.

It seems she had endured far too much in her short life, and was just glad to find something to cling to.