AN: There's a part in this chapter I am unsure how to address properly. It's pretty much a filler with a minor explanation to allow me to use it. So I'm not entirely sure how people will take it, seeing how I do plan to use it to create Terra's (name of the world our MC is on) first necromancer later down the line.
Anyways, thank you all for reading thus far. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know down below.
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No, I did not revel in playing as a god, but I did need to scare them all into not abusing each other. Especially when they practiced the same abuse they, themselves, had endured not too long ago. It was enough, yes, but I now had a large gathering of very frightened children clustered around my kobold self. As I said before, hindsight is twenty-twenty.
"There, there," I whispered to Puella, Lupa, the two kobold children, and, much to my surprise, Nox. Once everyone had relatively calmed down, and given some sort of drink to further calm their bodies and minds enough to cause them to sleep, the wolf-bear hybrid appeared before my self. He then rushed my body, clinging to it whilst wetting my form's fur with his tears. I had forgotten of his true age, despite him performing the tasks of an adult.
You see, despite his rapid aging to sixteen cycles, he is still very much a child. "There, there," I repeated, petting his head and back slowly.
"I was so scared, Father," he whispered shakily, "and you weren't there. Where were you?" I said nothing in response, and instead, continued to hold him close as he cried.
It was evening by the time he was asleep in my arms, and I continued to rock his body slowly. The thoughts that passed through my head are my own, but rest assured, I was berating myself for my actions. Perhaps I should not have done what I did, but it was too late to change anything. So I simply placed Nox upon an empty bed, and left the room full of sleeping children. Upon exiting, however, I found a small group of horse beastmen staring at my person. It seems they had waited long enough, so I directed them towards the dimly lit cathedral.
The cathedral, by the by, was remodeled to resemble a crypt of bones. Rather than hanging and mounting a variety of skulls and bones, artists and sculptors throughout the city were tasked with creating the artwork by stone and metal. These were then placed and hung within my new home, even going as far as to have depictions of great scenes I had never done before. One of which was my skeletal form pointing one clawed hand towards the humans' gods. Below my form was a host of Undying and shadow-like creatures running towards an unknown army that was clearly terrified. Some of that army had dropped their weapons in fear, fleeing from the monsters the me in the artwork commanded.
Another was of my kobold self, with a silhouette of my skeletal body in the background. This one depicted my kobold body as though it were teaching children and adults. Its muzzle was even opened, and one hand was pointing behind it, towards a group of starving kin and beastmen. I had asked what the significance of this was, as it was being drawn out and plied to stone. One of the artists, of whom I had enthralled, said it was my kobold self trying to teach the humans to help the kin and beastmen, not harm them. It was acceptable to myself, and had let it pass.
A third had been left alone, unfinished, as the artists had gone home for the day. This one had my human self being molded onto stone and iron. From what I could see, it had a half formed human male, who seemed to have spread out his arms to bless two small children. It would be a mystery to others, but to myself, they were Lupa and Puella. Nox and I would be on a different piece of artwork. This would depict myself, in human guise, watching his own training with spears in a practice yard full of four-armed Undying.
"This is where you live?" Asked one of the horse beastmen, as all had stared agape at the insides of my home.
"Yes," I replied slowly, motioning for them all to enter. "Beware the scaffolding," my voice called out to a young male, who was making his way towards a wooden structure that stretched to the high ceiling. He jumped when I called out, and others hurried him over to the main group.
Within the centre of the group was an old, silver-grey horse beastman with an odd nub of bone upon the centre of his forehead. He was being led towards a raised, circular stone slab, and was asked to lay down on it. "On his back, if you would," my voice rumbled, as they complied to the best of their ability.
It was at this time, six robed individuals appeared from a room near the altar of the cathedral. These individuals wore a dark, hooded robe that covered their forms entirely. Upon their hands were a pair of white gloves, and their feet were inside a pair of white slippers. The faces of each were hidden by a solid, white mask with only slits where their eyes reside. One of them carried a wooden box that had been painted alabaster white, and something within clinked with the sounds of glass.
Four others carried carved staves depicting symbols that were supposedly holy in nature, but in other cultures, they were curses. The last, however, wielded a white scythe with a wickedly carved blade that had silvery inlay. If you hadn't already guessed, these individuals were 'Child', and the transformed rapists that were whipped earlier that day.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The one with the box knelt down to my left, holding the box high above its head. It was here that I reached in, and pulled out a vial of viscous mana. "What is that?" One of the beastmen asked, as all of them were staring at it with mixed feelings.
"Your hope," was my reply. "Hold your elder down. I do not know what will happen, as he will have to drink this." They complied, albeit with great reluctance, as I opened the elder's mouth, and poured the tincture of mana down his throat.
While he was being led in, and laid down upon the stone, his eyes and form were submissive and dead. It seems his mind had given up on life, and wanted to embrace death, despite his duty to his people. Now, however, his entire body bucked under the group, as the essences within the mana solution was being absorbed into his body. The eyes, however, were what struck me as odd. When I first saw them, their colour was of fresh hay and straw, but as the essences were being absorbed, they had become solid darkness. Everything, pupil, iris, even the whites, were now the colour of blackest night. They even began to leak a shadowy, dark substance upon the floor. This was so, because the elder was now screaming in pain.
For you see, the bones of the creature began to snap and pop, and I could see all of them rearranging themselves under his flesh. This caused the bucking of his body to increase, and it even thrashed and flailed around as though no one was holding him, it, down. The beastmen had let go by then, and were now huddled together in a corner, watching their elder as his body was slowly turning black, and shadows seem to flow out of his endarkened body. It was at this time I had 'Child' and the others surround the shadowed elder, and cast their binding magicks to contain him.
I see some confusion, so allow me to iterate. You see, though I can create new races from simple spells, each race of creature becomes something liken unto their caster creator, albeit with a very low chance. Alpha and Child, once turned, did not receive anything, whereas the others became something akin to my own profession, called Mage. These mages are able to utilise the energies about them to a different degree than my own. They are able to use the four basic elements, while I can only use chaotic and illusion based elements.
Child stood watching with its scythed raised to kill, if necessary, whilst the others each raised a carved staff, and began chanting in an unknown dialect. Their voices were hauntingly melodious, and one would have enjoyed listening to it forever, if they didn't know how deadly the chants could be. Once they were finished, however, their staves pointed in the direction of the bucking elder, and watched as vines of stone, iron, and wood erupted around them, binding the body of the elder to the stone table.
This action caused the beastmen to cry out in terror, and a few rushed to stop the undead mages. However, each were cut in half horizontally from the waist. The action was blindingly fast, so much so, even I was barely able to follow it. Standing in the middle of the fallen horse beastmen, however, was an individual similar to Child, but wore a white, hooded robe with black gloves, boots, and mask with slits for eyes. This one's own scythe was black, including the blade, but it had gold inlay etched along its face. The individual was my new favourite human, Death, and was now staring at the tied up elder with great curiosity.
He sauntered over to my person, and knelt down before me just as it stopped screaming and writhing. After acknowledging his presence, he stood up, and took his place next to Child, and also poised his scythe ready to strike down upon the creature bound to the table. They each turned to look at one another for a brief moment, then turned back towards it just as I ordered the mages to release the creature.
They did so, and we watched as the vines of stone, iron, and wood began to slide away from an odd creature. The creature then jumped to its feet, screaming and screeching towards the ceiling, as it looked around frantically. Gone from its hide were the colours of silver and grey, and in its place was shadows and flame. Its own mane and eyes were of endarkened flames, as was its tail, while the rest of its body was wreathed in the shadows of darkest night. It had once been old and frail, but now stood young, strong, and fierce.
This creature then whirled to stare at my person, and I noticed an odd silver-gold horn upon its forehead. It seems most of the shadows were condensing upon the tip the moment it stared at my body. I noticed it gathering its power much faster than the others, who reacted the moment it took a breath, and breathed out a black and red flame upon my person. You may be wondering if it hurt, and my answer would be a 'No. It tickled.'
I began to laugh as my minions leapt up, intending to kill the creature before us, but were easily swatted away. They continued to dance a deadly dance that even included a few unfortunate horse beastmen. This would continue until it leapt towards my person, and I had grasped its neck as my skeletal self. "<
In the end, it fell victim to my spell, joining the ranks of my many, many thralls. "Capture the others," my voice rumbled, as I turned my body towards the remaining horse beastmen, "I am curious to know what will happen to them when they drink the tinctures as well."