For the past fifteen years before the cataclysm, all I had done with my life was wake up, go to work, and go home. Occasionally, I would do something fun on the weekend; go see a movie, go out to eat, drink a beer with some pals. This is all to say, there are barren moons that are more bountiful than my love life.

How do I act? Are we a thing now? Is she simply attracted to me or is it something more? All these questions and more flitted through my head as I numbly ate breakfast the next morning. I'm nearly 30 years old and I'm acting like a teenager with a crush. I jolted when I felt a nudge to my ribs. "You good my Lord?" I blinked at Asha who wore an odd mix between concern and a knowing grin.

The grin widened when she caught me flick my gaze to Eliara unintentionally. "How can you always act so cheeky why calling me Lord. I poked her back."

She slapped my hand away and shrugged, "It's a talent." The others at the table were chatting about the upcoming attack while Asha leaned in and whispered, "So?"

"So what?"

"You know what. What happened last night?" she teased.

"Nothing happened." I denied.

"Bull. I saw Eliara leave her room and just so happen to head in your direction. Now she can't stop blushing and you're in Lala-Land."

I muttered something under my breath. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

I sighed and whispered, "We kissed." A glance to Eli revealed the red faced Half-Elf was getting interrogated by Fionna.

With a small false gasp, Asha whispered, "How scandalous! The adoptive daughter of a Duke and a foreign Lord having a tryst by night?"

I summoned a tendril of blood that slithered along the ground before wrapping itself around the leg of her chair, I winced at the pain that minor amount of magic caused. With a sharp tug, the chair was pulled from underneath the sassy woman. I continued to eat innocently as she fell on her rump with a loud yelp. "Really Asha, you must sit properly. Are you okay?" I asked.

She grumbled something about payback as she righted herself. "I hoped that hurt, bastard."

I chuckled, "Worth it." As we finished up breakfast, the Duke's steward approached with the Bishop and said that he requested an audience. The Duke nodded and bid us farewell to attend to the Bishop. He seemed different from last I saw the Dwarf. He was harsher, glaring around at the others in the room as if they were reeking garbage. That was nothing compared to the scathing glare he sent me. I had the feeling he didn't appreciate me too much when we first met, but this was next level. "Jeeze, what's up his ass?" I asked after they left.

Fionna shook her head, a worried look on her face, "He's just stressed. Uncle B has a lot going on and I hear the Gods slumber weighs heavily on him."

Asha raised a brow, "Uncle B?"

"Ah, yes. Even before he became the Bishop, he was a close family friend. I only knew him as the Bishop, but he always treated me like his favorite niece. He's been a bit cold lately, but I don't blame him. He and mother have been fighting more frequently."

Levi snorted, "That zealous fool needs to pull his own head out of—"

"Father!" Fionna interrupted. The rest of the meal was mostly silent with minor chatter. Days passed like this as I healed up. I was occaisionally asked about my spells, but I wanted to test them out before I told them about it. I'd hate to tell them something and it turns out to be different in practice; especially to those who will be by my side on the battlefield.

Finally, the day came when I could cast a spell without pain. I was walking into a sitting room which became our go-to hangout spot. Elizabeth and Fionna were having an animated discussion on the best way to take out a monster when Eliza spread her arms wide and knocked off a ceramic plate. I flicked my hand and in the blink of an eye, a red and black tendril appeared above my head and was wrapped around the plate ten feet away. I had it place the plate gently on the coffee table and it retracted before disappearing.

Eliara, who was sitting next to Fionna smiled, "It appears you are all healed up yes? Or did you just shatter your Foundation to show off?" We finally managed to stop acting awkward around each other though we didn't sojourn away to kiss or anything like that. We did find ourselves smiling whenever our eyes met.

"If I wanted to go out with a bang, it wouldn't be with Blood Tendril. Nope, I'm all ready to go. We should head out pretty soon. I'm itching for a fight." Eliara nodded and squeezed Fionna's hand before leading me out of the room after we bid our friends farewell. We let the Duke we were ready to leave and we departed.

We soon found ourselves in a garrison where, among other soldiers who were training or performing daily tasks, a group of twenty Dwarves in high quality armor waited. Two of them, a man and a woman stood and greeted us. The man spoke, "'Ello, you must be this Lord Sanguine I've been told to expect. Helfist, it's damn good to have you by our side. I am Captain Bogerd and this is my Sergeant Stalder."

The female Dwarf who's form was covered in plate armor nodded. She was pretty, but was slightly marred by the stout face of a boxer. A strong jawline, a snub nose, and fierce eyes. Her blonde hair was buzzed to a pixie cut. I smiled and nodded back, "Hello Captain, Sergeant. As you guessed, I am the Sanguine Lord Victor Gale. This is Asha Qi, my advisor and close friend."

After greetings were finished the captain shouted without looking back, "Rock Drakes, attention!" The squad behind him immediately stood ramrod straight. "We're heading out."

"AYE SIR!" they shouted in unison.

"Rock Drakes?" I asked.

"The name of our squad. Good for public reception if the famous squads have names," the captain shrugged. As we walked to the "transit hub", which apparently is the teleport system for the city, we chatted.

"How come we had to walk to the Duke's house if this was an option?" I asked.

"Not sure why you didn't. Sure it's expensive, but a Lord surely could afford the cost," the captain replied, "We have special circumstances, so the city is paying the fee."

I nodded thinking of ways to increase our funds. Veru used a coin system for their currency. It was the same everywhere that had a currency based economy. The only difference was the style of the coin, for example, Mithra'Vheen belonged to the Ice-axe kingdom and their gold coin was imprinted with a frozen axe. The typical tradition for coin designs is gold coins bear the country's symbol, the silver bears the city's symbol, and copper is engraved with the country's official animal. There is also the coveted platinum coins. These are the highest value coin and bears the mark of the country's primary deity. Veru's currency system is based on one hundred. A hundred copper is a silver and so on.

Thankfully, their sense of value is pretty easy to understand; you purchase meals with copper, you can stay a few nights at a nice inn with silver, you buy property, valuable materials, and equipment with gold, and you conduct intercountry trade with platinum. As of now I had exactly jack squat to my name. I think I can safely say I am the poorest Lord in Midgard. My contemplation of what my country's coins would be decorated with was interrupted as the gut twisting sensation of being teleported to the city gates made me wobble. I cleared my throat, repressing the nausea and said, "Oh boy, that really gets ya when you aren't paying attention. So, Captain, how far away is the encampment anyway? I have a rough estimate, but you would know more exactly."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"If we don't rush, we'll get there right at sunset," he answered.

I nodded and we made our way out the gate. I glanced at Eli who was looking a bit green. "Are you okay?" I placed my hand on her shoulder and she shook her head.

"Yeah," she replied tightly, "it's just that I'm getting a really bad feeling. I don't know why." Her demonic arm twitched slightly, though it seemed she didn't notice.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and I said, "Don't worry, we'll be careful. No stupid risks."

She simply nodded and we departed. Thankfully, she seemed to relax as we got farther from the city and nothing bad happened. We walked for several hours without rest. The Dwarves, all early to high silver rank, were able to keep up with our longer strides. Sooner than I realized, we reached our destination as the sun was just reaching the horizon.

I frowned and glanced at the Captain and he nodded, knowing exactly what I was about to say, "I noticed it too. No scouts at all. This is strange as Gnolls typically have bands out looking for quick raids while scouting."

I shook my head, "Not just that, but listen," I paused and pointed up, "There's no sounds, no birds chirping, no insects buzzing. Nothing."

His eyes widened, too focused on the lookout for Gnolls, he hadn't realized. My frown deepened, "What's worse is that just over those hills, I'm sensing a worryingly high amount of void mana. It's like a choking miasma."

Along with his eyes, his brows rose, "Is that what that is? It feels like worms of ice are creeping up my back. I thought it felt familiar, its the same as what's left in the wounds those beasties inflict."

I nodded and glanced at the now faded sunlight. By the time we crest the hill, it will be dark. I whispered, "Eli, come with me. I got a new trick I wanna try. You're the best at stealth so you and I will scout out the camp." She nodded and activated a spell that caused the shadows to seemingly wrap around her. It wasn't that she was darker or harder to see, but my eyes wanted to slide off her.

I smiled and dissolved into a mist of blood. Before, my blood step allowed me to glide or hover. Now, I could fly high into the sky and stay in this form for a lot longer. I was also limited to a humanoid silhouette with glowing red spots for eyes. Now I was just a formless cloud of scarlet mist that could creep low to the ground. Another change was that before, anyone nearby could smell me as easily as they could standing next to a bucket of blood. Now that I had access to the Dao of blood, I had enough control to prevent the scent from escaping.

Like shadow of an owl on a moonless night, Eliara flew across the hill as I followed. She went to the right, and I to the left. Eliara would circle around the perimeter of the camp while I would carefully slither through the camp. As I wove between the tents, I noticed the tents were all empty. There were easily over two hundred tents that spread out from the central tent of the Matriarch. I heard something as I crept closer to the center of the camp. It was rhythmic chanting. As I got near, I began to make out a chant in a language I've never heard before.

I finally found the Gnolls. So many, what had to be the entire camp, were bowed before an effigy that hurt to look at. It was a wooden carving of a feminine eye. The pupil was that of a black sun and three tendrils, two on top and one on bottom protruding from the eyelids. It was the symbol of the cult. An eerie black flame that was sickeningly thick oozed from a bonfire below the effigy. Despite the flames licking the wooden idol, it didn't even char. I was glad I currently lacked a body as I would have gagged. The fuel for the flames weren't logs, but human and dwarven bodies.

The Gnolls were worshipping this effigy. Though I couldn't understand the language of the chants, their burbling, growling voices didn't help, I did make out 'Vacuolentia' every now and then. If the bonfire's fuel wasn't disgusting enough, the Gnolls were worse. They were twisted monstrosities now. They weren't exactly lookers before, but at least they were clearly humanoid hyenas. Now, many were hairless with bulging with muscles that looked more like tumors. Spikes erupted from their spines, dragging twisting flesh with it. Some were missing lower jaws, longue tongues dangling and twisting like a dying snake. Easily four feet long, they were tipped with barbed bone. Several had black tendrils that replaced arms or legs.

I thought this couldn't get any worse, then the largest Gnoll stood and faced the crowd. She had to be the Matriarch. She was missing her skin from the shoulders up, revealing a muscular skull. She was huge, nearly twelve feet tall and four feet wide from shoulder to shoulder. Her chest was ripped open, black ichor dripping like tar from her sharpened ribs that twitched hungrily like the maw of a starving beast. Instead of bare innards, inside her abdomen was a black abyss. Then, a monstrous eye opened in the abyss and blinked.

'Nope', I thought and zipped out of there. Moments later bot Eliara and I were back at our group. I reformed and as Asha opened her mouth to ask a question, I raised a finger to cut her off and held my fist to my mouth, trying not to vomit. Once I got myself under control I took a shuddering breath and asked, "Captain, how many people do you have?"

Immediately, he replied, "Including me and my sergeant, fifty that the best had to offer. We would have less, but the Bishop convinced us that this was too important to leave some to assist the city."

"Thank God for the Bishop," I grinned morbidly, "Because, that is some fucked up shit back there."

Asha, no longer able to keep quiet asked, "What? What happened? What did you see?"

I told them about what I saw, everyone paling as I went on. Eliara added, "And I didn't see any manticores. Which is odd. Were there any in the attacks on the city?"

The Captain shook his head, "At the beginning sure, but now that you mention it, I don't think there were any once we began to notice the deformities. Though the last time they attacked, they weren't nearly as monstrous as you described Lord Sanguine." He then shuddered, "And the Matriarch; they are usually among the largest, sure, but only by a head at best."

I nodded, "Thankfully, I believe she's in the Pillar stage, if not early Bastion. She's powerful, but it might be doable."

The Sergeant snorted, "That's putting it lightly. We'd need every soldier in the city to face down a Pavilion stage."

I asked, "Is the power disparity that great between Bastion and Pavilion?"

Asha replied, "It's harder to judge with monsters since it can vary wildly, but a good rule of thumb is a squad of five average Foundation cultivators can take down a monster in the Pillar stage with minimal risk. However, it takes a squad of ten early Pillar cultivators to take down a Bastion. Thankfully, at that point, the power begins to even out between Pavilion and Palace where one or two Pavilion can take down a Palace cultivator. However, even Palace cultivators would balk at facing a monster who reached the Summit."

"Jesus." I shook my head. "Well, in any case, they're all grouped together in their little bible study. Let's get this operation started." They nodded, I had briefed the elites on the way here. I dissolved into mist once again and shot to the sky. A few seconds later, I was past the crest of the hill and hovering a hundred feet above the worship circle. My timing had to be perfect. I mentally took a deep, calming breath on account of my lack of lungs before shifting back to my corporeal form.

Large wings burst from my back that kept me in the air as I summoned not only several oil drums of gasoline, but an entire fuel transport truck. It took up nearly all of my storage, but it was worth it. As it fell, growls and cries of shock sounded below me. I waited a few heart beats as the truck fell before shooting out a small fireball. I was slightly shocked at its red tinge, I suppose the blood Dao affects me more than I thought. I then beat my wings as fiercely as I could towards my group. That much fuel was going to be loud.

There was the sound of impact and cries of fury and pain before a huge Wumph! Even with silver backed durability, I still felt my eardrums burst as a shockwave of burning compressed air hit my back. I tumbled out of the air, several yards away from the others. My world consisted of stars and ringing as I stared into the bright sky. The light was rapidly fading from the explosion, leaving only the glow of a large fire.

A couple of figures looked down at me with concern. I blinked dazedly at them watching with distant amusement at the moving lips of Asha and Eliara. I dismissed my armor, feeling hot. A wet, hot sensation came from my ears, but I hardly noticed it. I reached up and booped Eli's nose. I tried to say, "I like your cute freckles," But I frowned because I couldn't hear myself. Her concern turned to an exasperated smile and a slight blush while Asha rolled her eyes. She pulled out a piece of paper and pen out of nowhere and scribbled something on it. That was a neat trick. I didn't know she was a magician. Maybe she can do some tricks for Ashley's birthday. I frowned deeper as I realized I didn't know the little girl's birthday.

Asha then turned the paper towards me. I blinked owlishly at the words as it took me a couple of tries to understand it. She wrote, "Heal yourself, dumbass."

I believe I said, "Takes one to know one," but I couldn't hear myself. I decided to heal myself, not because she told me to, but it was annoying not being able to hear myself. Using more instinct than coherent will, my body healed itself. With an audible pop I could hear again and the fog over my thoughts cleared. I shook my head and sat up. "That sucked. Can't remember the last time I was concussed that badly." I was happy to hear my voice, or anything for that matter.

Asha said, "Well get up. Your plan worked, blowing yourself up aside."

Eli glanced at the flames, "Well, for the most part. Some survived. The Rock Drakes have began to battle the Gnolls. They still outnumber us but only by about a dozen or two Gnolls. Thankfully they're mostly bronze with a couple of low silver. The real issue is the Matriarch. She somehow defended herself and is nearly unharmed, but rather furious. The Captain said they'd handle the warriors but we'll have to deal with the Matriarch and her shamans."

I groaned, "Some shamans survived?"

Asha nodded, "Yep. Only three though."

With a sigh and groan of pain I stood, "Silver linings, I guess. Okay, you two work together and take out the shamans. Stop them from assisting the Matriarch. I'll deal with her."

Asha nodded but Eli asked, "Are you sure Victor?" I grinned viciously in response.