AN: Wow... The story dropped down to #115 on the "Popular This Week" tab. I am in awe, and humbled that you guys have kept up with the story thus far. So thank you for that! Also, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, be sure to let me know down below.
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Those that had participated in the killing of their "Magister" offered only vague explanations as to why they did as they did. What I was able to extradite from their lips was something of a cliché. The woman had, at one point, come to them during a time of need. They were at their lowest point, after running and hiding for so long, just for worshiping a long dead god. This woman then took them in, gave them succor, then entrapped them with her magicks. She then forced them to do her bidding, until she was as we saw now. Old and dying.
She then heard from the one called 'Brother of Blood', who was my favourite torturer, of a new 'god' that resided within the castle. However, after my little show of transforming the unfortunate butler into Child, he ran back to the group, claiming it was foolhardy to attempt her scheme. Which was to try and bind my person to do her bidding by any means necessary.
Oh the clichés this woman exuded, and how I desired to burn the world for it all. The old woman desired power, prestige, and immortality. Thus, she sought to try and find a way to exert her will upon my person and, after learning of a forbidden spell to make her young forevermore, use it to drain everything that I was to fuel her desires. Although some may not find such things agreeable within clichés, to me it was, and the woman was now gone.
There was no originality with her thought process, nothing to make me say or think, 'Wow. That's a new one.'. No, the woman had been draining the life force out of her victims, and after enslaving this group, she began to expand her net even farther. At least now, she won't be a bother to anyone anymore. Well, until someone said, "Her sisters are going to be angry."
"Lovely," my voice shook the citadel once more, and my imaginary lips pulled themselves into a sneer. "Pray tell, do you know where her sisters might be?"
The one who spoke was a young female of about seventeen cycles, and yelped as my eyes focused solely on her person. "Yes," she quivered under my gaze, then sighed in relief as it turned towards Child. He stared up towards my skull with expectation, which became elation when I spoke.
"Bring out a map," I commanded towards my Undying, and watched a few leap to obey. Upon their return, they laid it out upon the alter near my person, "Mark every location of where they might be. Child," my voice became a low rumble as my eyes glared balefully in his general direction, "You are to take the mages, a contingent of Undying, and Alpha and his pack with you to exterminate everyone and everything you find. I will not have thorns appearing within my sides."
My eyes then turned towards the group as Child left us, and I stretched two arms in their direction, "<
"You cannot do this," shouted one, who desperately tried to flee after witnessing the first of many within their group to fall victim to my spells. They were welcomed into the ranks of my thralls, and leapt onto those who had not been swayed. These people were then forced into servitude by way of my magicks, and the one that had shouted was captured and withheld from the spell.
Once the spell took hold of the others, they removed their hoods to reveal their races, which amused me to no end. For you see, there were a few elves among the group, but they were woodland elves. Many among the Undying commented with the belief that they had all been wiped out a dozen cycles ago. I asked the elves if this was true, and a female replied saying, "Yes, My Lord, it is true to an extent. We have many cities throughout the continent, and the humans destroyed all, but one. This city is a shared city of races where no humans have ever set foot."
I silenced her speech with a wave of a hand, and would address it at a later date. For now, though, I turned towards the ones who were called "demons", and found that they did not have the standard attributes of one. No, they had scales of various hues, clawed hands and feet, as well as a serpent-like, scaled tail. The heads of such "demons" was that of a small drake's, and while the one before me had said it was common enough to look as this one did, there are a few species that had beaks instead of draconic maws.
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Ah, you may be wondering what the creature is, if you hadn't already guessed. This world's "demons" are none other than Draconians, or Dragon-men and women. This revelation pleased my past self, as I had heard of such tales from stories, plays, and books upon my first world.
I descended from my throne, my body shaping itself with every muscle movement, until I, too, had become something akin to a Draconian. The spell I used was another of my many illusion spells, but this one was called "Illusion: Vishan". The body I now wore had many features much like a Draconian's, but with more human-like features.
A Vishan, by the by, are humans with the souls and essences of dragons, and are a rarity among this world's people. In this body, I had the appearance of my human self, but with hard scales covering my chest, arms, neck, and legs. This was so, whilst all other parts of my body, below the neck, had soft scales covering it. My head was still a human's head, but the only differences were my eyes that had become slits, and my teeth had become sharpened points. I did not have an illusion to become a Darconian at that time, but would after a few more had died from my doings.
"My Lord, Vishan," said the Draconian, whose scales were of blue and green hues, knelt down in front of my person.
"Rise," my voice, once again, rumbled, and it did so. My body then began to pass through the group, becoming two other races as I did so, which were Wood Elf and Human. They all witnessed this, and turned their eyes towards a struggling individual who had been hoisted off the ground by a pair of undead four-armed Undying. This individual was shouting obscenities towards all near it, and as I drew closer, I noticed it was a female adult human.
Although her body was covered in a tattered robe, her face and hair were exposed to the world. Perhaps if she did not have such a mouth on her, she would have been considered beautiful. What with her fair, peach coloured skin, long auburn hair, hazel brown eyes, and a light splattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Yes, her appearance did mark her as beautiful, but her mind was a venomous pit of vipers. Those sorts of people, to my past and current mind, are ugly.
"You're all just trading one collar for another," she cried out to the group as she continued to struggle against the iron-like hands that gripped her body. "You don't know what he'll do to you, but it won't be better than what we had to endure under that," she nods her head towards the crushed woman's body, "thing's hands."
The guards had let her go at this point, and she stood there, dazed for a moment before turning around to run off. However, just as she placed one foot in front of her, she was lifted into the air by way of a large, clawed skeletal hand. Mine, to be precise, and I pulled her body towards my skull. She shrieked at my visage, to which I replied with, "You are being rude."
"What?" She stared with a dumbfounded expression towards my person.
"Certainly, they have new collars upon their necks," my voice was lighter than usual, and one of my hands was waiving towards the group of newly enthralled beings, "but they still have their freedoms. This also allows them to walk freely amongst those that live within the castle.
"However," my voice deepened and shook the cathedral once more. "You are not needed, nor are your poisonous thoughts." She shrieked as my claws sank into her flesh, crushing bone and organ. What is more, the acidic poisons within my own claws had been injected into the female's flesh, which caused her to melt into a puddle beneath my clawed feet.
I continued to watch as her body melted, and even then, stared at my clawed hand until Death perched himself upon my shoulders. With a mental sigh, my body turned towards the group, of which many had passed out from the day's events. "Come. You must be hungry. We shall give you food, drink, and a bed. For in the morning, there is work to be done."