AN: So, last night around 2115 (11:15pm) pacific, this story was rank #98 on the "Popular This Week" tab. Of course, as of right now it's at 103, but that's not the point. The point is I was happy, and as a reward for all of my readers, there will be an extra chapter today. A third chapter will be released, too, as soon as I finish my buffer, and edit the chapter a bit.
Also, there's a bit of the kitsune today, pushing the word count close to 3k.
As always, folks, thank you for reading thus far. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know down below.
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"Did you truly have them all killed?" Whispered the hooded bright elf, who stared dumbfounded at the kitsune before it. "Not only that, but to go into so much detail of the events... Please excuse me," the body of the elf stood up, and left their small room in a hurry. From outside, the sounds of a stomach pushing its contents up and out of the elf's mouth reached their ears, even going so far as to attract the children. Of whom scrunched their noses at the smell, and swiftly left the scene.
Many near the kitsune found him to be staring into an empty cup, as it refilled itself with an unknown liquid that appeared from its base. Such was a common occurrence for those who are older, and know more about the Ageless's gifts, but the younger generations always seemed impressed and awed by such displays. "How do you do that?" Asked a small voice, of which belonged to one of the Nekotar race. Which is a race of quadruped felines that hold enough intelligence to speak a multitude of languages, but do not end their sentences with "-Nya".
"How do I do what, young Nekotar?" The Ageless's head slowly lifted to stare upon the one who asked the question, whilst the other noticed his eyes seemed to hold a few tears that would not fall.
"Why are you so sad?" It asked, not explaining its first question, and made its way over to the kitsune slowly with its tail somewhat high in the air. This one seemed to be of the common variety, which have the soft, somewhat puffy cheeks, and long whiskers extending from a slightly protruding muzzle attached to its face. There was also a pair of sapphire blue eyes with widened slits in the middle, and atop its head were a pair of iconic, pointed cat ears. The fur, on the other hand, was an orange base, ending in white tips along its body, as well as stripes running perpendicular to the single stripe along its back.
It paused in front of the kitsune, staring into the tear filled eyes with curiosity, and cocked its head to listen to the explanation given, "I have made many mistakes with my past self. Ones that are unforgivable, and others that are best left forgotten. However, I still must tell all, so that you, all of you," he waved a forepaw over all present, encompassing everyone to be included, "might learn and grow from my mistakes and sins."
"We must tell the High Queen," muttered the bright elf from the doorway, who was then pushed inside to allow a wizened, old feline beastman to enter. This one looked much like that of a tiger, if it were standing tall on its hind legs, but was missing half its right ear, and much of its left face held long healed burn scars across its left face. The only sort of clothing it wore was a vest and loin cloth, one that revealed far too much.
"Still telling the same stories, Old One?" it grumbled, pushing itself into the small room, "Don't you have any others to tell?"
"They still need to hear it, Riorn, as did you when you were younger; as did all of your generation," replied the kitsune with a smirk upon his lips. Gone from his eyes were the tears that threatened to break free, and in their place was warmth for the old beastman.
"Bah," turning to the bright elf, the old tiger glared fiercely, but calmed once he felt the Ageless's right paw upon his shoulder. "Look here, elf. Our Ageless has been telling this tale to every generation since he took over governing our world. That means your 'Queen'," two claws hooked themselves in front of his visage, flexing twice around the word queen, "has already heard the tale. Hell, if you were as bright as your race should be, you would have known his tales are in every library across our world.
"He has not hidden anything from us, elf, so just sit down, relax, and listen to someone far older than either of us."
*****
"Thank you, Riorn," smiled the kitsune, "Now where was I... Ah, yes."
Within a full turn of the day-star, the drake had returned to us, and brought with it a cadre of dragon-men. These creatures desired to know if what the little dragon had said was true, that I was coming to the aid of their All Mother. "Does it look like we're humans, or their allies?" I asked in a blunt manner, waving a clawed hand at the horde of thousands of monsters. To which they replied with a shake of their scaled heads.
"Are we to truly ally with the demons, My Lord God?" Brutus appeared to the right of my person, a sneer plastered upon what flesh remains of his face.
"Yes, Brutus, we are."
"But why, My Lord God? Why would we ally with them, when we could simply destroy what's left of them, and rule the world?" The dragon-men began to withdraw their weapons at this point, and readied themselves for a fight, as my fist came down hard upon the Lich's skull. It did not kill him, but it did serve its purpose of rendering him incapacitated for a moment. "God?" His voice quivered, as the pinpoints in his sockets turned towards my person with terror.
"Do you know why I was summoned to this world, Brutus?" One of my lesser clawed hands gripped the Lich's body, hoisting it up to my eye level, "The humans desired my person, and those summoned with me, to kill the Demon Lord. I rebelled, and slew the other 'heroes' soon after," my hand released him, then watched as he floated to the ground in a graceful manner.
"Those humans," another of my clawed hands waved in the direction of the humans' armies, "have learned a terrible secret. For as long as the Demon Lord is alive, I shall remain upon this land to cause as much havoc and chaos as I please.
"So to answer your question, Brutus, yes. We will ally with the dragon-men, if only to ensure my time upon this world is absolute." My skeletal head shifted towards the 'demons' of the land, as my clawed hands gently waved them down as though trying to calm the their tension. "Peace. My desire remains the same."
"It's a trick," spouted one of the dragon-men, preparing itself to flee.
"We must warn the All Mother," stated another, as the group began to agree.
"You will not leave, little dragon-men," my own voice rumbled towards them, and each turned to see a multitude of sparks flying around my body. "<
No, it is not the same as the other alteration spell called "Memories". That one rewrites the brain by force, and allows my person to implant and remove the memories of my target in a painful manner. If you are wondering why I did not use it on others, instead of using the memory alterations, it is because the knowledge of this spell did not appear to me until after the night of rape and torture my being had feasted upon. There were a few other spells that came with the knowledge, but I would not use them just yet.
"Forgive our impertinence," one of the dragon-men spoke up, as all began to sheathe their weapons, settling down nearest my position. "We spoke in great haste, but still desire an alliance with one such as yourself."
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My own head bobbed once, then turned to look upon a disgusted Lich, who retreated once he realised I was staring upon himself. In his place came my newest daughter, Silvana, who was now being ogled by the dragon-men. "This is my daughter, Silvana," my voice rumbled, as my eyes became crimson as I glared down upon them.
"Forgive us," spoke another, "We cannot help, but notice her beauty." This one removed its eyes from my daughter with great reluctance, to stare upon my person. It sighed once, then asked, "Are you truly coming to our aid?"
"Yes," was my answer, to which caused the creature to sigh with grateful relief.
"You do not know how happy this makes us. For now, we shall return to our All Mother, who will then call upon the elders. They will discuss for a time, then speak of their demands. We ask for your patience in this."
One of my clawed hands was held up, causing its maw to snap shut, "I control the city of New Wair, one of the humans' main capitals upon this country. I have no wish for land, jewels, or the like, only to see your 'All Mother' survives the battle with the humans. If this does not suffice, then we shall enact a trade agreement between our people."
"As we see it, our people would gain all the benefits, whereas you would not," voiced another dragon-man, "What would you gain from all this?"
"Survival," was my reply, "For as long as your 'All Mother' is alive, then I shall remain upon this land. Which is probably their main reason for summoning another batch of heroes-"
"What?" The entire group of dragon-men erupted into demands as to how I know of such things, and if it were true.
"Along with the city," I began slowly, "we had captured and converted many of the humans' main god's followers. They each spoke of a human general's desire to end the war quickly, and would do so by summoning another batch of heroes to do so. After your 'All Mother' had been slain, they would then turn their attentions upon my city, and purge it completely.
"All would die under their hands," the rumbling of my voice grew into thunder, as shadows began to condense about my being, "Males, females, young, old, and yes, even those who are naught, but children. I will not stand idly by, as they take what is mine, and slaughter my children." Rage, although brief, engulfed my entirety, causing a variety of dark coloured lightnings to crackle around my body, and scorch the earth nearest my feet.
I say it was brief, because something within my being forcibly calmed my person down, removing the condensed shadows and lightnings. It left my entire being feeling hollow, as I mentally sighed, then turned to spy upon a comical scene. The dragon-men, so terrified of my display of power, had all clumped together in a pile of bodies with sword and spear points sticking out. When they realised I was not about to attack their persons, they disengaged from one another, and wearily returned in front of my being.
"Will this truly occur?" Asked the Lich, who became dejected at such a thought.
"Yes, Brutus, it will. For I fear all humans, and their allies, would come down upon our city and people. They would do all this, and more, all because I decided to go against the grain, and become a ruler."
Turning my attention back towards the dragon-men, my voice was about to begin to speak, when my eyes spied a fast moving object coming towards us. "<
"What?" Asked one of the dragon-men, who squinted towards the distance where I was now pointing. "Oh my. That looks like the Royal Guard, but why are they here? Unless..."
"Unless a direct descendent of the All Mother was with them," replied a new being, whose scales shined brightly under the day-star. It's body was covered in gold and fire-red scales, with a pair of large, white-gold wings protruding from its back. Its head was that of your standard dragon, save for a pair of small, brown antlers upon its head, and thin tendrils stretching back from the tip of its snout. It wore no real armour or clothing upon its body, but had a shimmering, transparent, and clearly magical, red-orange armour around its entire being. Within its right clawed hand, however, was a plain wooden scepter with a large golden orb upon its point, whilst the other held nothing.
"Second Son," they exclaimed, "Why are you here?" Each knelt upon the ground, as the golden dragon-man floated onto the ground between them and myself.
"Why?" He exclaimed, "Why not? It's rather boring where Mother is, and this creature," he eyed my skeletal body up and down quickly, "is a rather odd one, wouldn't you say?"
"We wouldn't know, Lord, as we just arrived," the reply came, not from those that had knelt, but from a pair of emerald scaled dragon-men. This pair, one male, and the other was clearly a female, if the mounds on her scaled chest were any indication, alighted next to the 'Second Son'. Both wore what seemed to be a light plate armour of mithril, which covered their chest, abdomen, and limbs surprisingly well. There didn't seem to be any fault in their armour, that I could see, but their heads were bereft of any sort of outerwear.
"Who is that?" Asked the golden dragon-man, pointing at Silvana who yelped and hid around my left leg.
"My daughter," was my only reply.
"She's beautiful," his eyes became filled with wonderment, but there was not a hint of lust within them. Perhaps this was one of those instances of "love at first sight". It was here that my mind began to think of a way to have her leave my side, as well as a use for her once the war was finished, as I do not believe others would survive for very long once we returned to the city.
However, "Yes, but the last male she attacked was drained of his blood and essence, until he became a mummified husk." This reply came not from my person, but from a female from within the horde. This female had become a very large, eight armed black bear that was well over three metres in length, and could stand just as tall when upon her hind legs. She had appeared from somewhere within the horde, and was now curled up around Silvana in a protective, and motherly, way. Of whom had vanished within the ball of fur, hiding herself from the gaze of the love stricken dragon-man.
The entire demeanour of this "Second Son" was of disappointment, which was now etched upon his facial features. With a dejected sigh, he waved for the royal guard to journey to his side, whereupon he spoke, "It's been decided that I will trust in your words, for now. You say you wish to kill off the humans plaguing this land, then we shall see once you attack the humans' armies. However, we would like something, or someone, to ensure you keep your word."
"Very well," my voice was a low rumble once more, "Then I shall gift your 'All Mother' with one of my daughters and the she-bear."
"One of your daughters?" The emerald coloured dragon-woman tilted her head toward her left shoulder.
"Yes. This is Silvana, one of my many children."
"How many do you have, and how can you have any?" The creature, now creatures, were perplexed as to how I, of that time, would be able to create offspring, when it appeared that my body did not have any organs to do so.
"They are adopted," replied the Lich, whose expression was that of boredom at this turn of event.
"Ah, then that should enough."