The Chapter of the Tenth Corrupted

“Please, master. They cannot bear any more work and the speed is killing them by the dozens!” Begged the construction overseer.

He was bowing the whole time as he spoke to me, a tradition I made so that I could easier take their heads if they displeased me. This minion of mine was doing just that, but I needed him so I stayed my hand.

“Please, great lord Gulgas Cargarn. The construction of the citadel would only be postponed for at most century. Surely, that amount of time is nothing for one such as you. I can even guarantee tha… ” The fiend was struggling to breathe as I grabbed its neck.

“Dare to say my name once more. You may be quite old and useful but believe me when I say that you are flawed, enough so as to warrant death. Just do as I command and you may live longer” I dropped the fiend, who was presently struggling to breathe.

Truly pathetic, that the fiend even had to breathe. They were however left over from the first few generations I had corrupted and had gotten quite useful and strong with age. However nearly none had the innate talent or skill that the newer generations have and even though most have died in the wars with the other lords, a few hundred still remain.

Some of those I send away with minions of their own to start their own citadel.

My own was being built against a cliff. I could have built it at its top instead of at its base but since one of the other lords has flying creatures, it would be less effective than having a free impenetrable wall behind me.

Bringing my gaze back to the grovelling fiend from where I was gazing at the rising black citadel, I addressed him once more.

“Work them until they die but try to maintain population levels. I would hate to have to resort to mere imps building my great home. I want the Lesser Demons to be harsher too, for some extra motivation in the case your efforts aren’t satisfactory” Next I called over my advisors and had the demon lord of my army come forth.

“Have the depraved geared and ready for battle with the year. We will try to capture some orcs from great lord Lucan. I have also heard some winged demons have hatched this year? Try to get them to search for great lady Juline as soon as they can or rather as soon as you can make them” The demon lord Iye bowed before speaking as is custom.

“Shall be done my lord. May I also note that some of the depraved and lesser demons are vanishing. We only know this since we have a few eyes witnesses but the main thing is that were they once stood, filth now comes forth. This disgusting air does seem to strengthen us but we also seem to lose our connection to our lord who in this instance would be you” The lord of the army said.

“How many?” I inquired.

“One at first, then a few and soon dozens at a time. Soon it will be a whole hatch that vanishes” I stood there for a minute but then came up with a great idea.

“For now we will do nothing but we should start to think towards getting one of the lords there. They should then try to return here and bring me to where ever my minions are disappearing to. Maybe it is a new realm? After killing these foes, I would love some new lands to conquer” With a wave I send my advisers away again.

I continued my walk, killing the occasional worthless minion here and there. Currently, there was only a massive black tower that connected to the husk of the inner keep, which they were currently working on.

After the inner keep they would start on the outer keep, then the mansions for the demon lords and after that the inner wall. Outside of the inner wall will go the muster field with adjacent barracks, followed by the slave pits.

We may also place something between the slave pits and the outer wall of the citadel but we will have more than a thousand years until we come to that point. That is, if the workers or any battles haven’t slowed them down.

Walking up to the tower, I jump onto the top. Looking out over the hellish plains, riddled with mountains, cliffs and crevasses, I see something in the distance.

“You there, fiend. Stay here and call out the alarm if you see anything suspicious in that direction"

I wasn’t sure what that was, but it seemed to be quite far away. Coming down the tower, I once more call to my advisors.

“Servants, prepare the defensive force. Fetch me my first guard, I think some enemies are coming” The demon lords all smiled a vicious grin and called their own servants to bring them their weapons and to notify my first guard and the defensive force as well. The soldiers and demons eagerly went to where they could set upon any enemies best.

After an hour, a deep horn was sounded from atop the black tower. Among the demons, deprived and corrupted a deep roar came forth as they would have a fight again. All the imps, corrupted sprites and devils either continued working or were cowering somewhere after being beaten away from the lines by the stronger demons.

Then from above, an even loader roar was heard.

Dragons. Fire swept through the ranks and the citadel, blackening and killing my minions further. With my power, I brought the one dragon down after a lot of effort. Keeping it on the ground, it thrashes and crushes many more of my soldiers before being swarmed by them.

A silence permeates the atmosphere as my fiends were gorging on the carcass.

Then from behind above the cliff face, a storm of dragons came forth and burned my demons to ash even further.

I laugh while pulling one dragon down after another, all of them taking a lot of strength and effort while my demon lords all gang up on one, to bring it down. That’s when the orc waves hit.

Crashing into my minions, some are eaten, others are decapitated but most are surprised as they just appeared there. Behind this new hoard, stands a lonely figure.

“Lucan! I will feast on you once more!” I shout as I bathe my way through any that stand between him and me, crushing both demon and orc.

While the orcs and demons savage each other, the dragons retreat, having lost many of their kin. Lucan laughs at me while shaking his head.

“Building your home this close to our border isn’t wise, you demon” As my will clashes against his barrier of influence around his troops, I slowly continue on towards him.

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“This was very foolish of you. Who knows how many orcs will be my slaves hence forth, not to mention how many shall be dead” The first guard came rushing to me, after finally having formed up and are trying to keep everything out of my path. Them, I put a barrier on myself but it wasn’t as strong as Lucan’s is.

Gleefully slaughtering my men with enormous earthen spikes, explosion that tremble the ground and forces that crush them, I see Lucan not a day’s time away from me.

When I neared Lucan, it got to the point where my first guard was nearly decimated. I couldn’t go any further because of Lucan’s shields but Lucan had very little to gain anymore. His objective most likely was to stop the construction of the citadel, if not to take my live in the process.

That’s were a giant flash broke the stalemate. Around a whole legion of my minions had suddenly vanished and at least three whole tribes of orcs where gone, and it their place were mostly untainted rocks and air that slightly reminded me of chaos.

Seeing that Lucan lost more troops in relation to mine, I pressed the advantage. Lucan looked a bit pale at the sudden shift and when he looked at me again, as some of that old fear came forth again.

“Men! Finish your slaughters! We are returning!” He hastily shouted before holding his arms up. His troops slowly started to disappear back to where Lucan’s influence was the most concentrated.

The barrier broke down with every disappearance and when there was only a thousand left, I stopped my killing of them to proceed with breaking what was left of his barrier. It broke quickly and the remaining orcs were stuck here and savaged by my demons. Lucan was still untouchable though and left.

“Don’t kill all of them! Some must live or you will all be punished!” my voice boomed over the battlefield. The minions of mine all heard it and didn’t dare defy me.

A day later, overlooking the battle report, more than half of my soldiers had died, even a demon lord who was crushed by a dragon in the beginning was dead.

Among the workers, only a few hundred remain, setting the construction of the citadel back a few thousand years, not to mention the damage.

In my rage, I slaughtered the remains of the first guard and fed them to the surviving minions and slaves. Yet, I keep thinking, what was that flash?...

--- On the plane of Unrec ---

With a deep inhale Gerren came to consciousness again.

For some time he felt nothing but that lasted only for a second. Pain wracks my body the moment I opened my eyes. Then a burning sensation drowns out the pain and I start to be able to move again.

When I was finally able to stand, I could see a gigantic carcass of a wyvern nearby. Surely I killed it right? The last thing I can remember was… That thrice cursed bastard! He was in control of my body the whole time!

I will make Jurak pay for the indignities he had me do. The burning in chest increases with every though about his dreadful demise. Going over to the carcass with a painful limp, I found a sword embedded in its chest. It most likely hit something vital and killed the monster. I took the blade and left the corpse behind as I walked through the valley until even the limp was gone. I stumbled into a cave as night started to fall once more.

Has it truly been that short since I was freed? I can't know as everything around me feels a bit different than before.

I went deeper and deeper into the cave but as it got warmer and darker, doubt started to set in. Yet going back would mean to subject myself to him again and I would NOT do that! I will never again go near to a temple of Jurak’s influence except to raise it. I will burn all the souls that follow him still!

In a flash of uncontrollable rage he shattered the remaining pieces of the once glorious armour and as he calmed down, he saw it fall and tumble further down into the depths. Step by careful step, I descend.

I saw a few bits and pieces from my armour along the way but the rest must have gone even further.

When it started to get harder to breathe, the cave once more levelled out but this time it did not go down any further. Yet at the very end, a kind of satisfaction came to me, for no reason I could discern. Standing in the near total darkness, with only a small flame of mine to guide me, my mind started to lose its coherency as something else moves my hands, like it was trying to reach something.

Thinking it was once more Jurak I shook with anger. You will not live my life anymore! I yelled at it, only for it to be ignored.

A tendril suddenly appeared at the edge of my burning soul. This was not Jurak… No, this thing was invading my very soul. As more appeared, it collected itself only for then to encircle my light. It felt similar yet was not me, as it seemed… twisted and malformed. Fear comes forth as it starts to come closer to the last vestige I can control. Once more I looked into its chaos and then I just knew that this thing is not my friend. Then it beset itself on me.

I, known to others as Asen or Jurak, brought down the hammer with astounding force, crushing the metal into my anvil.

I worked out my rage as I always do, when I am so. This was more something Solhok would do but then again, I created him too. This betrayal, while not surprising, ruined most of the plans I had.

I tried and failed to make a new champion with my only priest and while I would rather not use him like that, it didn’t matter anyway as I failed. While I could lend him some amount of power, I couldn’t actually control him like I could Gerren, most likely because there was already some influence of mine on that planet. Seems like Gerren did not die.

I doubt I would be able to recollect his light anytime soon since the newest generation hasn’t ever done their rituals for me and I don’t think he would do or know it anyway. The channeling of power between Berren and I has been open near continuously so I will have to limit that soon.

With a sigh, I drop the hammer and leave the chamber we had built into the moon Lucais. The others were nearby, watching and sometimes slightly guiding our people.

“I can’t believe a mortal managed to evict you, a god” said Valtr as I walked to the pavilion and sat upon one of the thrones we placed there.

“It was not himself that did it, it was a corruption which he allowed in himself that did it. How else can one guarded by a god's influence get so easily corrupted? The fact that there was a corrupted creature nearby is also quite suspicious” Harkness was barely listening as always but for some reason still decided to throw a comment in there.

“Maybe the corrupted creature emitted the corruption?” He said uncaringly. I might have made some mistakes in his creation, such as mentally having him go through human puberty, just for fun you know, but even if he can be an annoyingly uncaring jerk, he is still quite powerful and suitable for this role as a god.

“No, corruption doesn’t work that way. In my studies for the creation of the magic corruption, I found that corruption cannot pas through a realm, only if it’s using the transparent pieces of reality that are in a realm. Since all realms are within the Abyss, transparent pieces where the Corruptions can go through are more numerous while on the plane, which is merely surrounded by the abyss, there are by far less of them present. There must have been a transparent piece nearby though as that is the only explanation, unless a god has been involved. I hope it remains with only corruption passing through it though” I answered him.

“It wouldn’t matter if the other pure gods access the planet through it, right?” Asked Sellese.

“That close to my people? Let’s just say I would rather not want to deal with that right now” As once more silence reigned, I looked from atop of my throne onto the planet. I sat there for days until I once more felt that spark.

Latching onto to it, I again found Gerren.

I could see him making weird gestures in the air and sometimes drawing runes on the ground.

These runes were the most interesting, as I had never felt something like it before. It gave off a red glow and seemed to encompass out of Chaos Corruption while mana kept it together in this shape.

Then a flash came forth and a few of the runes just evaporated or disappeared. When the light subsided, some creature that I could only describe as a demon stood there. The demon looked around itself in confusion before noticing Gerren and then charged at him.

As he got more than a meter away from where he first appeared, another set of runes started to glow faintly and restricted the demon’s movements, holding it still. As the demon seemed to put more power his attack, the runes glowed more brightly for a second and even if it was miniscule in both time and difference, I think that they too would evaporate when pressured enough.

Gerren made some more gestures and a different set of runes disappeared, after which the demon stopped struggling at all and stood there meekly. Gerren appeared to stutter a bit when he finished before he went still again. Then he slowly turned his head and looked at where I was seeing all this.

Yet, his eyes, they were not his.

The light that burned behind it was hardly a living thing. Undaunted by his impossible feat, I looked closer at the being inside my old champion. What I found there was what truly shocked me.

The actual Gerren who was my champion was missing rents and bites in his light while the unliving’s creature possessed the bits Gerren had lost. Interwoven in this creature where parts of other lights, Lights and even that of a god. They were all damaged and broken but bound together by the Corruption, it once more came to life.

Because of the influence of mine that it had eaten from Gerren, I would not be able to subdue this thing. The only thing I could do was to break its hold over Gerren, temporarily of course but that was still quite damaging for it in the future. While Gerren will one day feel my wrath, until then the greater threat deserves their death more.

For good measure, I also cursed them both and then left as the being of Chaos lost control of its power. On the white moon of Lucais, a god of creation could be seen smiling. If you were to know this Lord, then you could see that his anger had lessened somewhat.