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The One Within the Ice

I awakened in a room littered with dust and bones, the once brilliant murals on the walls now faded and dull. I sense only death, the killing intent of an angel, and urine. Before my feet is the unconscious body of an Elf girl covered with bruises, scratches, a broken rib or two, and piss. What an unsightly sight, but what is more unsightly is the being standing before the two of us.

"You... are one ugly god damned bastard."

I said as I stared it down. Its wings flapped furiously while it charged its attack.

"Begone from my sight... Mhun' Ragath!"

Its body slumped immediately. A sleep-like death. Do Angels even sleep? I scoffed at the creature for it is far too weak for me and it has now become an abomination of the natural order. I approached its body and stared at it for a while. With a grunt, I cut off some of its talons and took out its eye. It still glowed a bright red and felt hot to the touch. With the amount of magic within, of course, it would be hot. These items will be good materials for weapons and potions. I went back to the spot where I froze myself and gathered the chains that bound me to the spot.

"Thoruin... Your chains were no match for MY strength after all... Oh wait, you can't hear me. You're dead."

I chuckled as I gathered the pieces of his chain with my magic.

I was about to take my leave when I heard the elf groan in pain. I wanted to leave the girl to her fate when I saw the spark of magic within her soul. I paused for a moment, a glance at the world outside showed me that the world has changed drastically during the years I spent trapped in the ice. I found not the bright, lush, and overgrown kingdom of the Elves that I had spent years to conquer but a harsher, empty, dead world before me. I looked down at her yellow hair, covered in dirt and dust, her skin caked in dirt and covered with scars tells stories of a life filled with struggles.

I approach her and tapped her lightly with one of my tendrils. No response. I nudge her lightly with my foot and only a faint whimper came out of her mouth. I sigh as I unbutton my coat and bare my chest. It has been a while since I showed a part of this form to the world. As the numerous black tendrils covered her body and snatched her up, a large maw opened on my chest and revealed more tendrils and limbs that grabbed hold of the cocoon and pulled it closer to the gaping jaw oozing with black liquid and miasma.

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Two figures flew at me. If their rage-filled eyes could kill, they would've killed armies already. Yet I am no army of mere mortals. Their wings stirred up the dust and ash that poisoned the earth and choked the life out of whatever tried to grow here. A red beam shot from their eyes, leaving not even dust as it cut through the ground, the air, and the ruins that it passed through. Crack. I cocked my head back as I swallow their attacks. My back remained open as a pair of long arms shot forward and speared the two through their head. Snap, snap, snap, crunch. The two tasted horrible, but they were the first meals I had in a looooooooong while. I left a mess behind me as I pulled my arms back into my body. Everything cracked and snapped in place as it all folded into place. I looked down at my hands. With great effort, I strained as I forced back the claws, the scales, and the fur and quills that covered them to take the form of Human hands.

After a while, I stumbled into this cave. It is... a suitable place to make camp for the two of us. There were Bugbears. A family of the things, a horrible looking one at that but they have been consumed and dealt with quickly. I sat down in silence as I adjusted my position to be more comfortable. Then, I opened my mouth. A part of my true form showed itself once more to the world while tentacles as big as a man's thigh waited eagerly by my side. It was still weird seeing how a Human's chest and torso crack open to reveal not ribs, but an eternity of teeth and chaos within such a frail body. Tenderly, I spat her out and pulled and took great care as not to harm her. Miasma and black ooze leaked from my mouth and dripped from the protective cocoon I wrapped her in but I have already injected her with the antidotes to resist the myriad of toxins that enveloped her while she was in me.

Like a disgusting present wrapped in the innards of an animal, I ripped apart the living cocoon and absorbed it back into myself to look at the girl's damage. Bad, but not as bad as I thought. A hand slipped into her bag and pulled out the strange medicinal herbs I tasted in there. I stuck out my tongue and dripped my saliva all over it before I mushed it into a paste within my many hands. A smaller, more nimble tentacle swallowed the paste and moved towards the girl's mouth while I dug my hand deep into my "clothes" to grab something from my own treasury. I stuck my tentacle deep into her throat and past her windpipe, I force-fed her the medicine and I pulled out the Greater Health Potion from my vast treasury. I gulped it down greedily and wasted not a drop so that I could feed it to her as well to help her heal faster. But as I pulled away the empty bottle, I once again notice the smell of her soiled garments.

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More hands appeared from underneath my skin and they began to weave. From my own fur and the silk I made, they weaved black pants and a coat that is not just more durable than even Dwarven Steel but would be as light, maybe even lighter, as cotton. I looked out of the cave while my hands began to undress and tend to her wounds. My eyes do not care for such an underdeveloped body. No, what lay before me is something that transfixed my many and all-seeing eyes. Alfheim. The first and greatest of the Elvish cities. It was the Jewel of the Southern Forest, Pride of the Great Races, the last bastion of the Free Races and the gem that was supposed to adorn my long list of conquests. My final triumph, my greatest victory. A ruin. A city, a grand city, reduced to dust and ashes and stones that are slowly being swallowed by a desert of soot. One of my many hearts twinged and I winced at not just the physical pain of seeing the destruction of Alfheim, but at the thought that I have wasted centuries upon centuries with the conquest of the Eternal City only for it to be snatched away from my fingertips at the end by my enemies.

All around it, I could see the forest that once served as its shield and lifeline turned to stone and ash. Even the mountains that were hidden by the forest lay shattered and broken. Some were even flattened. The life and greenery that once prospered here, fed by the mana that gathered in this place of magic, lay dead or twisted all around me. Despite looking like my brother's realm, the land was not dead although most of it is. I could sense the creatures that hide in every nook and cranny, prey and predator alike as the land around them slowly decayed. But besides the natural world, the magic and ley lines of the world are in anarchy and I found it difficult to use most of my spells. The air itself is teeming with magic, a bad sign. There are barely any living organisms left in the world and the mutated beings I found while finding this location means that the excess magic is causing some beings to absorb too much of it. I noted this on a page of one of my notebooks before I stored it away into the abyss within one of my numerous mouths.

I will need to research this world if I were to conquer it.

A tendril started a fire earlier while I simply sat across from it. Staring. Letting my mind delve into the voices and the twisting thoughts within. The flames danced, crackled, and taunted me. A memory flashed within it. A memory of flames, all consuming ones that burned brighter and hotter than stars. The very same ones that raged and raged all around me on that fateful day of battle. It made me tremble at the thought of it and I decided to sit a little bit further from the flame. I still carry the scar of when Thoruin, the Blacksmith God, thrashed me about as we battled. Urk! My head throbbed a bit at the pieces of the memory. The only thing I could still piece together was when the Wrath of Heaven blasted this world into oblivion, I managed to kill Thoruin. Yes I— No! Wrong. I simply dealt him a mortal blow while he bound me with chains to seal me in place. There were also screams. Voices, as they cried in unison for mercy from the Gods. Dead gods now. Voices that became nothing more but muffled noises that were drowned out when I encased myself in ice and drifted into my slumber. The rumbling and howls of the world echoed even then in my sleep as the Gods scorched it with their power.

Such an attack was foolish. It would've killed them all. It would be a suicide attack just to destroy me.

A desperate attack.

I gazed far across the horizon with my ability of Clairvoyance and noted the region. The desert stretches hundreds of miles Southward for the Northern winds carried the ashes with it. On its Northern frontier is an Oasis town with a mixed population of various races. A good start for my kingdom. The once Great Plains are now a barren wasteland but a small tribe of Beastmen seems to have taken control of vast swaths of the waste. In the mountains East of the desert, I could see tribes, no, a great Warband of monsters lead by a Black Dragon waging war with Dwarven armies. Demons also inhabit the region, but their mind seems broken. Weakened as well by the shifting magic in the world and driven now only by instinct. Animals. I sighed as I watched one a few miles away as it drank the poisoned waters that could be found in the deset.

"W-water..."

I heard a faint whisper from the girl while she rolled on her mat. The water she carried is now empty, so I began to pump my saliva into her mouth. with the help of a tendril.

"You should be honored... To drink the waters of the Former God of Healing is a blessing bestowed only to those I have favored."

I said with a smirk at the unconscious girl, expecting no reply.

"It tastes like crap."

She spat out the words as I pulled the tendril from her mouth.

I noticed a trail of saliva followed from her lips to what amounted to my finger. A shiver rand down my numerous spines as I wrestled my hearts to stop beating so fast. Lewd! A lewd scenario! It was only then that I came to the realization that what I have been doing could've been misinterpreted by the idiots and the feeble-minded if they were present. I felt my cheeks redden and flush while a tentacle tried to hide my now obvious blush. It was a first time for me. Interacting with a girl in such a way that is. I recoiled instinctively and tossed the clothes I made her to her face while I sat down and wrapped myself in my tentacles. Sleep would calm me down. It always did back then after I met with Succubi and slaves in my empire.