AN: Just have to point out a short torture session, folks, which is followed by adorable fluff towards the end.
As always, thank you for reading thus far. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know down below.
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A full turn of the day star had passed, as I and the dwarf were busy listening to the screams of random humans within the dungeon proper. I reveled in their screams of pain, and drank from their constant begging for mercy. "Ah," I sighed with contempt, "Such wonderful screams these humans have."
Feiran, on the other hand, had a peculiar expression upon his face, as he looked up from his notes. "You do know you're human, too, right?" Of which, I only replied with a very large grin. This caused him to shiver, as he went back to plying his various poisons to the female human that was strapped to a chair.
She, herself, was naked and covered in sores, blisters, pock marks, and had varying degrees of skin bubbles full of pus. These, of which, I popped with a red hot poker, just to see what colour the pus was, and right next to my person was the dwarf who was busy scribbling his quill full of ink upon the parchment. Every now and again, I would hear him grunt and growl, before setting down his notes to apply a few drops of poison upon the woman's unblemished skin.
Of course, at one point, a few drops of his most potent poisons had fallen onto the hand of my human guise. The dwarf had spilt it upon my person, and watched in utter amazement as the droplets simply pass through my hand as though it was air, and onto the floor. Whereupon it began to sizzle and eat away at the stone and dirt. Afterwards, however, he found himself lifted into the air, with my hand gripped tightly about his neck.
"You should not try that again," I growled into his eyes, as my own flared into a baleful crimson.
"What are you," he choked out, struggling to free himself from my iron grip, whilst shivering in fear.
"I am what I am," my voice grew thunderous, as my entire form was wreathed in shadows until only my eyes were seen, "and what I am is ME." The shadows vanished from my person, as though they were never there in the first place, and I dropped the dwarf unceremoniously onto the ground. "Ah," I said aloud realising something, then advanced upon the dwarf who tried to run away. However, he was barred by a pair of iron-skeleton Undying, who gripped the dwarf by his limbs, lifting him towards my person.
"Monster," he cried out, struggling furiously against their grip, but to no avail.
"Perhaps," my form's lips twitched into a grin, as I placed my right hand in front of his face. "Now hold still. I'm going to rewrite your memories." His eyes grew wide, and his struggling grew fierce. To which I sighed, and had the Undying pair hold him tighter until he could barely move, let alone breathe. "<
'How could your spell cause so much pain?' is what a few of you may ask. To which my reply would be, "Because my magicks are the ones that have entered the person's brain and mind, and as you know, they are of chaotic energies. Therefore, the energies used to alter someone's mind and personality causes a person's own nervous system to electrify. This, in turn, becomes intense as I continue to alter the person to suit my whims, and as such, the electricity of my energies is sent throughout the body. Which becomes more and more intense with each heartbeat." Unfortunately for my victims, they are forced to stay awake throughout the entire process, and when they do pass out, they forget what I had done, and only remember the new memories that are coursing through their little minds.
If you are wondering if there are any side effects to such a spell, the answer will always be a, "Yes." For you see, no spell, incantation, or ritual is ever perfect, and if they claim otherwise, they are ignorant fools. The side effects for this alteration spell lasts for a sennight. Of which, they are constantly questioning themselves if their memories are true or not. Though, of course, the person can break free of the spell in question, but those are rare cases, and I have confidence in my own magicks. However, the dwarf will be journeying with my person, and the army, when we attack the humans on the warfront. Can't have him breaking free and causing chaos whilst I was away, but I digress.
"What sort of poison are you using now," I shouted above the woman's screechings, as we watched her right hand begin to decay in front of our eyes. One of the Undying had to amputate her limb just as the poison began to eat away at the flesh and sinew. As we didn't wish to kill her straight away.
"It's a concentrate of a Night Widow. A highly venomous spider that lives inside caves infested with goblins," he replied quickly, as his quill began to blur upon the parchment. Of course, the language was his native tongue, and therefore, I could not read it. "Their poison is so toxic, it can liquefy the organs of a goblin within a couple of heartbeats. Whereas it takes about ten heartbeats to liquefy the organs of a grown human."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Fascinating," I replied, staring at the little vial in wonderment. "Can arrowheads be coated in this? We have a war to finish, and I desire an end to it all."
Feiran paused with his note takings, and became thoughtful. "Don't know," he muttered with a shrug, "but we can always find out."
In a few moments, a four-armed Undying came down to the dungeon with a quiver of twenty arrows, and a strung up short bow. We then carefully applied the poison to five arrows, and watched as they sizzled for a time, but didn't melt. "Can you procure more of the venom?"
His head nodded once, then his body shook as I clapped his shoulder with a hand. "Good. Then do so. Others need my attention, so get back to work." One four-armed iron-skeleton was left to watch him, as my body left the dungeon, and stalked towards the queen's garden, where the children were playing.
Along the way, my form gradually changed into that of my kobold self, and upon entering the garden, was surrounded by several Kin. These Kin were children with wolf and feline ears and tails, each desiring the attention of my person by way of hugs, pets, and scratches. To which, I obliged with a slight smile.
My body sat upon the only spare patch of grass that was not occupied by a variety of playful children, and it was here that many tried to sit in my lap, or lean against my person for more head pets and scratches. They each mewed, purred, and growled beneath my techniques, before leaving to resume their play, or scamper off towards the kitchens for a meal. When most left, however, I found the kobold pair snuggling against my inner thighs. Their backs were towards the ground, as their chests and bellies were exposed to my person. Of course, they wore a pair of small trousers each, but had emulated my person in removing their small tunics because I, myself, only wore a pair of trousers as a kobold.
My eyes warmed slightly, as I stared down upon pair who began to bark and whine up at my person. They desired scratches, and I gave into their little demands by gently running the backs of my clawed fingers against their chests. To which they sighed in bliss, and for a time, they stayed this way, until deciding to gnaw on my fingers. The left side of my lips twitched into a slight smirk, as I continued to watch their movements.
It was the little things in life that kept me from treading too far down the path of madness. Of which, I was thankful for.
A small, wolf-like muzzle appeared over my left shoulder, which caused the young kobolds to stop their gnawing of my fingers, and stare with widened eyes up at the intruder. My left eye moved to see Lupa in a grass stained, white dress peering down at them, and her expression was one of adorable wonderment. "Lupa," my voice rumbled softly, "have you not met the kobold pups, yet?"
"Kobold?" She moved from my shoulder to my left thigh, and peered down upon the fire-like furred pup, whose eyes continued to stare wide up at her form. The other pup, a dark furred with green tips began to whine at the lack of attention, but calmed down once I began to lightly scratch his neck. This caused the other to whine until he, too, began to enjoy the little scratching session.
"Yes, kobold. My form right now is of an adult kobold male, as you know. They are your distant cousins, but are considered to be dog-men and women."
"Cuh-zins?" She tried to sound out the unfamiliar word, tilting her head to the left.
"These two are family," she understood that word, and I introduced them to her, "The one with flame coloured fur is Igne Comas, and the other is Puer Veneni. Be sure to not allow yourself to be scratched by Puer, as his little green claws carries a small amount of poison, which causes a lingering, stinging pain."
Lupa merely nodded, not really understanding completely, "Can I hold one?" Her small paws reached out to touch Igne, who happened to be closest. However, he became aware of the intruding appendage, and began to whine and cry at it. This caused his brother, Puer, to whine and cry in response, to which her eyes became moist and threatened to release several tears. I sighed at this, and gave her small form a quick hug, then settled her in between the two pups.
The pair stopped their whining and crying, and instead began to sniff her body slowly. Igne was the first to take the initiative, and began to crawl onto her lap very slowly. Not to be out done by his brother, Puer began to crawl onto her lap from the other side, albeit with more haste. Upon reaching the centre of her lap, the pair began to play-fight, but was stopped when my clawed fingers began to scratch the back of their necks slowly.
"Adorable, aren't they?" My voice rumbled softly above Lupa's head, who tilted it back to stare up at my face.
"Uh-dor-bol," she smiled, turning her attention back towards the pups.