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Excerpt taken from, "The Fall of New Wair; The Rise of The Necropolis".

XVIII-

Thus Our Great God did convert the sheep of the human gods into warriors under his feet. And they did raise a great shout in worship for their new God that did awaken them from the dreams of their mortal coil.

Our Great God did cast his gaze upon those that did send these awakened warriors, and sent them to do his works. "Let there be a great and mighty purge," He did bellow to those beneath his feet, and sent his new warriors' gazes upon those who did worship the false and unholy gods.

These new and awakened warriors did launch their bodies onto the swords of those who worshiped the false and unholy gods with glee. And they did so willingly, until all had been slain before them.

Human, Kin, and Beast did bow their heads in worship, as Our Great God descended upon the stones of blood and bone. He sighed a great and saddeningly sigh, as he did kneel and lift a head from amongst the stones of blood and bone.

"Brutus," His voice echoed throughout the heavens with great anger, as He stared upon the head of His first follower. And His voice did rumble and roar, as the First's head was engulfed in His holy magicks. It began to construct the First's body anew, until it did kneel before Our Great God with humble reverence at the body it was now given.

"Rise," He did command, and it rose with a rattle of bones.

"Lead My warriors," He commanded to the First, "and purge the city of those that worship the humans' gods."

Our Great God did watch as the First howl with a thunderous cry, as he did lead the warriors deeper into the city that once was New Wair to purge the unbelievers. "I will not suffer this world's gods from taking what is mine," He did utter quietly, before turning His back upon the city, and vanished from sight.

*****

It had been almost a sennight since the purging of the city's temples had begun, and I had been forced to make an appearance with my skeletal body only two other times since the beginning. The first was three days after the first of many fires had been set, and a few were placed within a small dwelling where Kin and Beastmen would congregate in worship their tribal gods. I was not in that great a mood once I heard this, and forbade any more attempts upon those few dwellings that housed images of tribal deities. This was done so because I did not care enough about them to warrant a purge. No, but I would keep an eye on them, though.

The second time I needed to make an appearance was around the sixth evening since it all began. There were reports about the remaining worshipers of the humans' gods holed up in the southern part of the city's slums. The only reason why we knew where they were was because of a defector. This defector claimed their gods had abandoned them in their time of need, and instead, focused more on the war with the demons.

This human then went into greater detail, after being welcomed into the ranks of my many thralls, that the war was not currently in their favour. No, they were, in fact, losing greatly. Hence the reason for the summoning of heroes, but after I had turned away from their cries and pleas for help, they decided to summon up a new hero. However, in order to make sure the hero helps them fight the demons, they are going to enslave this newly summoned hero. Thus, preventing him, or her, from rebelling as I had.

"Such a pain," I mumbled whilst reclining upon my gilded, iron throne. My current form was human, and I was wearing another faded, blue robe. Although the throne was larger than my current form, it didn't stop me from seeking it out to relax in. "Has the city been purged of those that would worship the human gods?" I asked aloud, as many humans, and their families, began to shuffle into my cathedral.

They had begun to gather because I had invited them to partake in the drinking of my "blood". Of course, it's not my real blood, as I do not have any, but the vials of viscous mana I had been mass producing for several days. Each adult human, male and female alike, were required to drink it whether they want to, or not. The children, on the other hand, were offered a choice between taking it, or living with the other children of the castle.

However, there was an exception, and one that I had enforced after an unforeseen occurrence. If a woman is nursing, pregnant, or believed to be pregnant, they are not allowed to drink from the vials. For you see, one unfortunate human female, who didn't know she was pregnant, had to be killed after drinking from one.

Her body had begun to change, as my physical energies ran rampant throughout her system, changing her blood, flesh, organ, and bone. Her frame became lithe, tall, and transparent, while the hair upon her head became as white as snow. The toes upon her feet merged and formed into two large claws, whilst a third appeared upon her heel. Sharp, bone-like claws had extended from her fingers, and stretched to about half the length of her forearm. Her own eyes merged into one, that then stretched until her entire face was just one, large eye. What is more, a small infant's face appeared upon her belly, that grew large and round with every heartbeat, until it was a fully developed young boy-child's head. This head's eyes had disappeared when it grew, and instead became a large mouth that continued to wail until even I grew quite annoyed with it.

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It was here that I noticed a few humans had been rapidly aging from the constant wailing, which caused me to intone my own magicks upon it. Although my "Mana of Chaos" was ineffective to such a creature, my acidic breath was not. Once it became a pool of flesh, I had the Undying find out whether or not it had a suitor, of which it did. It was a male human, who had aged rather quickly under its terrible wailing, and claimed they were trying to have a baby.

"Congratulations," I growled down at the old human, "You got your wish," and breathed another breath of poison upon him. Thus came the decree of any female who is nursing, pregnant, or is believed to be pregnant is barred from drinking until they are not.

"Ah, such a pain," I muttered to myself once more, after someone assured me those who worshiped the gods of humans had been purged.

The line of humans had dwindled somewhat, as I continued to stare up at the ceiling. From what I had seen, those who are pure of mind, of body, or both, physically changed into a creature of nightmares. However, those who are tainted, or had been exposed to the horrors of life in some way, only changed mentally. Those that fell into the latter category are your thieves, ruffians, and murderers. These humans' minds seemed to have been rewritten, removing their intellect, and replacing them with something more animalistic. While their bodies seemed to have changed into a shadow-like creature much like a Shadow's Reaper, but still not.

On the other hand, those that were more pure, such as the regular merchants, farmers, and defected priests, became something akin to my Undying, albeit without the metallic skin and bones. However, each of them retained their intellect, but had more instincts than normal. This seemed to confuse them, especially when they gave into such instincts.

This conversion would take another week, and by then word had reached us of another Hero Summoning that was going to take place within a fortnight. Which is fourteen days, if you do not know what that is.

I was in my kobold body when this piece of information reached my ears, watching over the children who were mingling amongst the humans' offspring. There were many tails pulled, and faces scratched, but otherwise it was peaceful. Lupa and Puella were sitting upon my lap, resting against my chest, as an Undying in the shape of an iron, four-armed bear approached where I sat. "My Lord," it knelt before my person, and was now being stared at by dozens of eyes. Perhaps it was within my own mind, but I believe I saw this iron bear shake a little under their gazes.

"Rise and report," my voice rumbled low, and watched as it stood up slowly.

All eyes were now turned towards it, and although many were frightened by its appearance, the rest were very curious. "My Lord," it began, "Reports from the warfront state they will be summoning another hero to aid them in their battle against the demons."

My body gave a slow and heavy sigh, whilst lightly scratching Puella and Lupa's head. The pair closed their eyes in bliss, and pushed up against my scratchings, causing my lips to twitch upwards. "Gather up half the populace, and begin preparations for a long march." A thought suddenly occurred to me, to which I asked the Undying, "How long will it take us to reach the warfront from here?"

The iron-bear Undying folded its lower arms against its body, and scratched its muzzle in thought. "With little to no rest, and at a steady march, perhaps a sennight if you're lucky." it shook its head quickly, then looked down as though it were about to be berated for speaking out.

"Hmm," I hummed slowly, "Use four day-cycles to gather up enough supplies. We'll set out upon the fifth day, and reach the front a few day-cycles before they summon their new hero." The Undying seemed relieved I didn't retaliate against it speaking out, as I knew most of their leaders would. Instead, the iron-bear saluted once, then turned around, and left to begin spreading my orders.

"Are you leaving us?" Came a small voice below my right clawed hand. It was Lupa who spoke out, and her eyes were wide and tearful as she stared up into my own.

"For a time, yes, but I will return." My hand continued to scratch her head, and, even though she wanted to continue to use her "puppy-dog eyes" upon my person, couldn't due to my head scratching technique. She sighed in bliss, as I scratched behind her large ears, and even growled happily when I focused upon the back of her neck.

"Me too, me too," cried out Puella, who was pulling on my left arm, then placed its clawed hand upon her head. She, too, began to sigh happily as I continued to scratch her head slowly.