《Ghoul Rebirth》


 prologue - Reborn

    Not even ten minutes ago, Tassia, ¡®Dragonborn¡¯ the Wizard, one of the legendary heroes of the forces of Order, was standing together with her closest compatriots, the Ranger-Smith Alvrik the Eagle-Eyed, the Saintess Mari Gold-Hart, and the Lion-Prince Issandar. Before the Demon Lord of Terrors castle, ready to finally end the catastrophe that had nearly brought an end to the known world.


    Yet now¡­


    Now she was lying naked tied to a stone table, in some kind of cellar, having no clue even where she was.


    ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± Was all her parched throat was able to sigh.


    Tassia was only capable of frowning as she had spent the last ten minutes trying to organise her fractured mind. Or rather, minds. Tassia ¡®Dragonborn¡¯, and Anastasia de Voyant, following a dry chuckle she could only lament that both sets of her memories were incomplete. The honourable Anastasia was the heiress-apparent of a Baron in the middle of some kingdom that eluded her current memories, this was also the body that the dual minds of each Tassia was currently occupying, however Tassia Dragonborn was the dominant personality.


    Not much of a surprise considering there was roughly two decades of an age gap between them, and that Tess was a Wizard who trained her mind to the extremes, whilst Anna was a mere Baron-heiress who had barely reached puberty.


    Regardless that was all unimportant, instead what Tess needed to do was escape, and to do that, Tess needed to warm up her vocal cords.


    ¡°Hello, my name i-¡± Tess started to speak, trying out her brand-new vocal cords, before frowning at just how young she sounded, whilst she understood her current body was not the nearly Forty years of her past life, it was still produced cognitive-dissonance that was not easy to overcome.


    ¡°Hello¡­ Hello?¡± She tried a few more times, ¡°Hello, name¡­ Hello, my?¡±


    ¡°Hello, my name is Tess!¡± she eventually managed to settle the words in her throat, it still felt unusual at how high-pitched it was, but that was just something she would have to bear with. All that mattered, was that she could still speak, and thereby was capable of weaving her ancient arts of Magic.


    ¡°Knock¡± As Tess spoke, a single ethereal wooden knock echoed out with Tess in the centre, suddenly all the shackles that were tying her down shattered in an instant.


    Finally, she was no longer bound down at the mercy of her unseen partner, and although she didn¡¯t mind doing some S+M play, it was very frustrating playing solo, and having been left out for¡­ Twelve minutes now? It all still seemed too blurry for her.


    Now sitting up, and no longer being quite literally ¨C pulled apart, she could feel that what she was strapped to, was some sort of stone table, a bit bigger than her in length, though she was already able to pick that up, instead what she did learn is that she was almost certainly smaller in her current life as compared to the nearly 4 cubits of her past life, having stumbled down the table after having become too used to being larger than almost all furniture in her past.


    The room around her was basically pitch black, and her former memories provided no explanation to how this room was situated, nor where it even was. Looking through her mental-spell-list she could only lament the fact that she didn¡¯t have her trusty Book with her, which certainly hurt considering the only spell she could recall of the top of her head that wasn¡¯t ¡®teleport¡¯, did in fact require a focus, unless there were ingredients nearby, which might actually be a possibility?


    ¡°Carrots huh?¡± Tess muttered to no one in particular, in all honesty it felt nice being young again.


    Well, if we did consider this to be a cellar of sorts, it¡¯s not preposterous to have carrots down here, right? But to find a carrot she would need to find a forked twig. Tess had completely forgotten just how painful it was to use components, not that a Spell Focus would completely negate the need for certain components, but it certainly helped with not having to carry around a million trinkets, some blades of grass and whatever else a spell had called for.


    So that¡¯s what she did, for the next few minutes, she spent crawling around, naked, in an ice-cold cellar looking for the hint of a twig or a carrot. Tess had never before suffered such humiliation, and she swore deep in her heart that she would make sure, whoever it was that locked her down here, would suffer a million times this indignancy¡­


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she found a twig that had a distinct split in it!


    ¡°Locate, Carrot¡±


    Then as the range spread itself out, she actually found some carrots down here.


    Slowly, crawling her way towards the direction she sensed the carrots at, she came to a wall, slowly she stood up, careful not to hit her head on anything, she finally felt something that was sticking out from the stone wall. Pulling it open, and feeling inside she felt several semi-hardened objects, which gave of the feeling of old vegetables, instantly she retracted her hands and felt bile rushing to escape her mouth. But the carrots were there, closing her eyes, as though that would provide some solace, Tess reached into the draw of rotten vegetables, and rummaged around until she felt something that felt long and hard.


    Pulling it out, she fell to the floor, and let her stomach contents loose. Instantly cancelling the Location spell.


    It was not a pretty sight.


    Blood and guts were something that was easy to deal with. Rotting food and maggots, were just in many ways far, far worse.


    As a minute passed, and Tess feeling far worse than ever before, she once more grabbed the half rotten carrot.


    It was dried enough to count, and even if it wasn¡¯t Tess would make it count. Breaking off the front of the carrot, just enough to be a pinch, she lifted it up to her right temple, and moved her empty hand up to her other temple.


    ¡°D-dar-huh¡­ Dark¡­ Darkvision¡± She managed to spit out, after much trouble.


    The carrot that was held up to her temple disappeared in an instant, and the darkness that was once surrounding her retreated in an instant, and she finally felt the slightest bit better about her situation.


    Then of course she realised that she had already used up all her second-tier spells. Whilst lesser Wizards will tell you ¡°You can cast 15 more spells just like that, and they are stronger!¡± All that Tess felt was that it was a waste she had to use all 3 second-tier spells! Tess was naturally born in an era of Demon-kind invading the world, and they didn¡¯t care about Humans only being capable of casting 22 spells total, no they were like Dragons who were made of magic and could always cast spells as they chose.


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    Those 3 spells she had used, could have been used to reduce several lesser Demons to nothingness, and thus removing at least 3 magic casters who could endlessly use magics!


    Regardless of Magical efficiency, it wasn¡¯t like Tess could just not use magic to help her escape this¡­ Kitchen? Is honestly what it looked like to Tess, a large table in the middle, cabinets to side, which probably used to be filled with fresh ingredients ready to be prepared, there however didn¡¯t seem to be any tools or pots around, but she didn¡¯t doubt that if she actually looked closer, she could find them.


    ¡°Wait¡­ Shit.¡± Tess cursed suddenly as she realised that the former owner was probably prepared by some cannibalistic cult who wanted to feast on virgin girls! How horrible¡­ And strangely erotic. This all became to much for Tess, as the feeling of being dirty was taking a toll on her mental state.


    ¡°Prestidigitation¡± Tess rubbed her hands together, and cast a Cantrip, which removed any of the grubs and rotten vegetable flesh which had found themselves stuck on her hands.


    ¡°Prestidigitation¡± She once again cast, and exaggeratedly moved her hands towards her head, and the lingering taste of Bile was washed away, and finally she felt about as clean as she could be, having been locked in a dusty cellar, that has long since been forgotten about, writhing away with god knows what kinds of horrid maggots and rats.


    Looking at the height of the cabinets, and using the table as a reference, Tess figured she was probably below average height, which felt unusual, as in her past life she was known as a Titanic Woman who towered over all her compatriots, even above Issandar, only losing to that Barbarian Orc-kin.


    Honestly it was a strange feeling not being able to even reach a counter-top, but that all went to show at how incompetent that Baron was, having his own eldest daughter be malnourished¡­ Though now that she was looking through Anna¡¯s memories, weren¡¯t all her siblings much more filled out than her?


    Wait, was that Baron actually incompetent, or did he just not like Anna?


    It gave her a headache, thinking about things like this was to much for poor old Tess, she was never interested in politicking with people she didn¡¯t like, Issandar was much better when it came to showing false pleasantries, Tess had most of the time just cast ¡®Charm Person¡¯ on people she needed to do certain things, and she went on her merry way, not caring particularly about the feelings of the pigs who could only stuff themselves full of the peasantries money.


    In the midst of her thoughts, she made her way to the entrance of her little resurrection room. Reaching for the door, she gave it a slight yank, noticing that it was never locked to begin with.


    ¡°Fuck¡± If she had just looked around the room to begin with and found the door, she wouldn¡¯t have had to use two extra Spells¡­ She also wouldn¡¯t have disgraced herself with the rotting vegetables either¡­ ¡°Fuck¡±


    Without much ceremony she yanked the door open, unlike the glorious sunlight she was expecting, instead she was greeted by a long stairway up.


    Dragging her way up through the stairs she could only mutter curses that she didn¡¯t have any spells like Good Berry or literally any Clerical spell. Although Wizards are often considered the most powerful and versatile of all magic casters, even the Core hero party required a Cleric to help keep everyone in tip-top shape. Though Tess could use a Wish to restore her energy, that was the equivalent of trading a solid-gold palace for a bit of kindling, because you were hungry. It was a waste of the highest degree, and something Tess would never endorse, no matter how desperate her situation would become. Never!


    Nearing the top of the two dozen or so large steps she was crawling up, Tess came across another door, this time it looked very much more like a cellar door, so her expectations instantly shot up.


    Quickly moving her hands up she grabbed the trapdoor handles and tried pushing up.


    ¡°Oh, for fucks sakes¡± It honestly started feeling like these curses were the only thing Tass could say ever since she was reborn.


    The trapdoor was locked, and she didn¡¯t want to waste high level spells, but she couldn¡¯t do the thing that sorcerers could and combine some lower-level spells into higher level spells, so she was forced to do one of her personal cardinal sins.


    ¡°Knock¡±, She cast a Second-Tier spell, as a Third-Tier Spell, despite it not providing any additional effects.


    Once again, an ethereal knocking sound echoed outwards, and the Trapdoor which led outwards had whatever was blocking it ¨C shatter.


    She only had 18 Spells left for today, and considering her unclothed state, unless the current world was more liberal than the past, she would have to use another spell to use an illusion on herself.


    5 Spells, and it had barely been an hour? Maybe barely two. It didn¡¯t matter, at this rate she would have used up all her magic before dinner time. Speaking of dinner¡­


    Looking up into the sky above her, Tess saw the glittering stars, like thousands of tiny particulates of sand spread across the heavens. Tess reminisced to when she was far, far younger, Mother had always been talking about how each of them was like a Sun which had planets ¨C just like this world ¨C surrounding them.


    When she was younger, she was always filled with dread, at the infiniteness of the sky, and a sense of hopelessness at how small the world was, that if there were endless amounts of worlds that were just like the world they currently lived on, wouldn¡¯t it all just be truly meaningless?


    Yet Mother always spoke about how despite everything being endless, even the tiniest butterfly mattered, that with the mere flap of their wings, a butterfly on the other side of the world would cause hurricanes, and if you took it onto the cosmic scale, then it would cause untold effects upon the rest of the universe.


    It was always a funny thought seeing a butterfly twirling a stringy moustache and talking about how with the flap of it¡¯s wings it would erase all the stars in the skies!


    Even now, however, the stars were the same as those from 700 years ago. Mari always talked about how the endless and infinite god held dominion over the stars, and how it was by his grace that life on the world would exist at all, although none of the three of them were particularly religious, Mari was just so charismatic with her words, and that even though the world felt so endless and uncaring, she made it seem just a little less empty.


    Issandar would only ever talk about the future, and how someday he wished to be immortalised as someone who was above average, and that he would know that his life, and all his achievements would matter more than just satisfaction for his family to add onto their achievements. He wanted to become one of the constellations which helped light up the night sky, and in a way his wish was fulfilled, for the brightest star in the night was named after him. Issandar¡¯s Blade, a constellation in which the tip of this supposed blade, is the brightest star in all the heavens.


    Whilst the Half-Elf, Half-Dwarf Alvrik would only ever talk about how she¡­ He? Tess was never really sure, Alvrik would only ever talk about how they wanted to forge a bow which would be used to bring down a star, so that they could then forge that star into an even more legendary bow. Issandar would always ask what they would do with the bow after making it from a star, to which Alvrik would simply reply with a sly smile, as though it was a joke only, they understood¡­


    It wasn¡¯t long before Tess felt a tear crawling down her cheek.


    To her, it wasn¡¯t even a day ago when she and her closest friends had sat under the night sky, surrounding a fire, and talked about their future, if they would even have a future, after facing the Demon Lord.


    Before facing the Demon Lord, Tess had never taken him seriously, after all her Mother was essentially like a god in comparison.


    But¡­


    Had she died?


    Did Tess actually make it to the end?


    Did Tess and someone else fall, and force Mari chose to ¡®True Revive¡¯ the other person over her? Were all her other resurrection spells used up?


    Or?...


    Did Tess refuse to be revived?


    She didn¡¯t know¡­ No, she would probably never know, all she knew is that her last moments were filled with fear and¡­ so completely lonely.


    All her friends have passed away.


    And she crumbled to her knees.


    All her friends had passed away, and she was living a half-life.


    The past decade of her life was constant war, she never knew anything beyond that, over a third of her life was dedicated to warfare against an unbeatable horde, and many of her friends had died. But not them¡­


    They were together from the start to end.


    Everyone could die, but not them.


    Tess curled into a ball; she could not prevent the flood of tears that left her eyes.


    Everyone could die, but not them.


    After closing her eyes, Tess¡¯s world fell black.

 chapter 1 - Shimmer

    It was a long and painful night for Tassia, she had only been only able to function through sheer adrenalin, which had kept her mind preoccupied from the overwhelming tiredness that threatened her body. There had only been one time prior that Tess had ever felt so vulnerable, and exhausted. But that was a memory that she would rather never have to live out again.


    However, Tess was a seasoned bushman ¨C by necessity rather than any actual willingness, so despite the uncomfortable sleeping conditions she was in, it was still enough for her to sleep relatively soundly.


    It was only when she awoke, that Tess began lamenting her lack of sleeping preparations during the night. No fire, no cleared area, she hadn¡¯t even cast an alarm spell of any kind, it was like she was begging to be assaulted in the night. Though looking back on Anna¡¯s memories, it seemed as though Demons no longer lurked every corner of the night like they had during Tess¡¯s time, which was a solace of some kind.


    As Tess scratched of the dirt, grass, and morning dew that clung to her skin, she had a realisation that beyond a rough estimation of her height, she had literally no idea how the current her looked like. Though Tess was never particularly fond of how she looked, nor how she presented herself, the curiosity was biting her¡­ Or that might just be the insects that crawled upon her during the night, but that was irrelevant.


    Besides, it was only a first level slot, so it wasn¡¯t too much of a waste to spend it on her own vanity, right?


    It hurt her that she didn¡¯t have her spell book with her, if she did, she wouldn¡¯t need to worry about mere first level spells.


    The next ten seconds went excruciatingly slow for Tess, before eventually she caved.


    ¡°Silent Image¡± Tess waved her hands in front of her.


    Invisible mists weaved around her, as eventually a figure took form before her.


    The women, no girl, in front of her, she instinctively realised was around 2 and a half cubits in height. Which was a depressing shrinkage of her almost 4 cubits in height of her previous life.


    A mane made of strawberry-blonde fluffy hair exploded out from the forming figures head, stretching all the way down towards her legs, conveniently covering her breasts, and other more important parts.


    ¡®Had mother called her Lady Godgifu?¡¯


    Her eyes were a sapphire blue, and she was nearly as pale as snow.


    Were it not for one other thing about Anna, Tess would¡¯ve found her to be an attractive young woman.


    That was, Anna¡¯s ribs seemed to be unhealthily jutting out from her body, and her arms were skinny beyond belief. This was not the body of a healthy 16-something year old.


    No, Anastasia was likely starved, and thereby had become severely malnourished. Were it not for the supernatural constitution that Wizards provided their bodies, Tess didn¡¯t believe that she would¡¯ve been able to escape the cellar during the night.


    It was sadly not a new situation to Tess. No, she had seen various children starved beyond belief, refugees who were forced to resort to cannibalism, even those who ate dirt to try and survive. It was the only thing that would ever make Tess regret being a Wizard, was the fact that she wasn¡¯t able to provide them the help they needed. She was only glad that Alvrik, was able to magically create food for the hungry.


    Yet even then, as they had wandered the old-world, they still encountered the Pigs, known as ¡°Nobility¡±, it made her disgusted whenever she saw some inbred fool who only knew how to gorge themselves fat, whilst their people suffered in pain.


    Maybe¡­


    Maybe if she had never met Issandar, she would¡¯ve never helped the Mortal World?


    It was a strange thing to think about, especially since near two-decades of her life was spent wandering the vast plains, and forests; jungles, and marshes; deserts and mountains.


    Regardless, seeing Anna¡¯s current body, Tess couldn¡¯t help but imagine that there was fowl play involved, especially if Anastasia was a first born as Tess recalled.


    Premonitions were often times accurate whenever it concerned a wizard, as they read the Weave that made up the world, so they couldn¡¯t help but have accurate feelings even if they didn¡¯t want to.


    And this certainly was a time that Tess didn¡¯t want to have one.


    Tess let out a deep sigh. For nearly three decades of her previous life, had she been exempt from the exhausting politics that made up nobility, and classism, now it seemed whoever had inserted her mind into poor Anna, had a different thought in mind.


    With a wave of her hand, the Silent Image shattered back into the aether.


    Tess was left alone once more, there was only the wind, which played softly with her hair.


    ¡®This isn¡¯t good¡¯


    If Tess didn¡¯t keep her mind occupied, she might start remembering her past once more, and that would only make her sad.


    Reaching out her hand, she started making a weaving motion, ¡°Fabricate¡±, she spoke softly.


    The wind, which was once caressing her, now started circling around her, picking up any leaves, twigs, and grass in the vicinity, and gently depositing them in Tess¡¯s hair.


    It was a trick that she picked up, whenever she walked whilst casting a spell.


    Surrounding her was nothing but trees, and shrub land for as far as her eyes could see.


    Only the nearby cellar gave any indication of their being life here.


    Even the birds which normally chirped outrageously seemed to stay unnaturally silent. Regardless, it didn¡¯t matter whether bird songs were being sung in her ears or not.


    So, she started walking.


    The winds whispered quietly, as the worked to create an item for Tess.


    Flapping wings of Birds echoed from the distance and rustling of small rodents.


    It was actually nice.


    There were no infernal screeches in the distance, nor any ever-present pitch smog.


    No low rumbles of Dragon fight.


    Nor marching drums of war.


    It was actually a world of peace. One which Tassia and her companions had long fought for.


    But why did she not remember anything?


    It was painful, she knew she had nearly sixty collective years of memory, and she could perfectly recite every single Arcane spell. But for some reason, it was just simply not there.


    It was probably not some memory editing spell, seeing as she had quite literally reincarnated. Maybe it was a side effect of it?


    But she knew that her memories, even if they were complete, ended at standing before the Demon Lord¡¯s castle.


    Unlike the rest of her hard to remember memories, her waking up felt more like opening a door and walking through it, as opposed to looking through a series of shattered windows.


    So, for the next few minutes, Tess walked in silence thinking about various topics, mathematics, how this tree looked odd, or the linguistic humour of Anna¡¯s name.


    Finally, she felt that the spell she was working on had finished. Reaching up to tap her head she felt something there now, unlike the leaves and twigs which were sticking inside. Picking it up and bringing it before her.


    A beautifully crafted witches¡¯ hat was before her. Even its texture felt completely unlike the Grass and leaves that it was made from. A level four spell would produce brilliant results, regardless of what the material was.


    Yep, a level four spell. Unlike all the previous times, her heart didn¡¯t ache from using this spell. Making this hat could never be considered a waste. Although it wasn¡¯t inherently magical, objects such as these were beyond powerful in the hands of an Arcane caster.


    Unlike Divine, and Primal casters, Arcane casters only required something they were familiar with, in order to use their spells freely.


    She didn¡¯t need to desperately conserve her lower-level spells anymore.


    Touching her hat, she spoke with a slight smile ¡°Fly¡±


    Spells like this would no longer require obscure materials that were often required by high level spells, so she could be a bit more wasteful¡­


    Her legs hurting from walking for over ten minutes, had absolutely nothing to do with it¡­


    Floating in the sky, she couldn¡¯t help but look around for a very particular object.


    Which didn¡¯t take to long to find, grabbing a loose branch, which was slightly above her height, she quickly cast ¡®Prestidigitation¡¯ on it, to clean it of its dirt and grime, and any loose insects that might¡¯ve been crawling along it.


    Bringing it between her legs, a smile touched her face.


    ¡°Kyahaha¡± A soft cackle left her mouth.


    It was just like the stories that Mother had read her when she was younger. Although she was not particularly fond of seducing men, she did enjoy tales of witchcraft, and pact-making with ancient fiends. As such, it was almost irresistible for her to take the opportunity.


    Although she had once owned a proper Witches¡¯ broom, it was frustratingly locked away within her Bag of Holding, that she clearly no longer had.


    ¡®How lamentable¡¯


    Although it was not difficult for her to fashion a new one from scratch, the issue lied in getting the funds and having the time necessary to actually create it.


    It was an issue that plagued all the wizards of her generation, flare versus utility. Whilst Tess firmly found herself in the latter category, it wasn¡¯t as though she could forsake flare entirely, it was something that was etched deeply into her blood. Even the most hard-line wizard didn¡¯t become one because of how much they loved studying, no at first everyone wanted to fly around and reign fireballs down on their enemies.


    It was a simpler time.


    ¡­


    However, that time had passed her.


    She flew on in silence.


    Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you view it, it didn¡¯t take long for her to find something that was definitely not normal.


    It was a clearing. Nearly 20 Cubits in width, it stretched into the horizon of either side of her.


    Raising up her caution, Tess lowered herself towards the ground, hovering only a mere foot above it, careful not to go over, nor touch whatever it was that was within this clearing.


    Numerous, tiny runes decorated the ground. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t made from something like powder or blood, as that would¡¯ve only been eroded by the winds of time. Instead, it was a method that Tess was quite familiar with, if only for its extravagance, and having been encountered only once in her past.


    Back then, the Demon Lord¡¯s castle was surrounded by a titanic antimagic field.


    It was why, even with the whole world against them, Demon kind was able to continuously oppress human civilisation, without regard for their head being cut off by an elite force.


    It was only after dozens of foolish mages had fallen victim to it, that humanity had realised that assassinating the Demon Lord was an impossibility.


    Eventually Issandar and his party had come across the runes which produced the antimagic. Deep within the ground, at some point, Demon kind had created complex runes in the ground, and then poured in molten adamantine, causing a terrifyingly large and expensive magic circle.


    Of course, Tess doubted that anyone other than the Demon Lord was capable of using adamantine for the runes, it was likely that they were at most silver. It lacked the distinctive hue that an adamantine creation would have.


    Regardless of whatever this was, it definitely wasn¡¯t producing an antimagic field. Seeing as she was still floating in the air.


    Using the branch in her hand, she gently started to move it above the circle. Nothing immediately happened, which only made her more nervous. She continued by prodding the circle, and again nothing was happening.


    Seeing that her flight was going to run out soon, she gently lowered herself to the ground, dispersing her concentration of the spell, before she brought a hand up to her breast, and the other touched her hand.


    ¡°False Life¡±


    She spoke, as she pushed down her hand where her heart was. An unusual sensation overcame her entire body, listening to her own heartbeat, it felt as if it beat twice, one only half a second after the other.


    And she took a step onto the circle.


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    The sensation was indescribable.


    She held her breath instinctively, as though her head was shoved into water. But she could still breath. Her movements were half-slowed, and she felt less weight than usual.


    It was as though she was underwater, yet her movements were unrestricted.


    Just a heavy, and oppressive weight was pushing down on her very existence.


    However, her fa?ade of life had not crumbled yet, so she felt confident in continuing forward, although her mind was focused on the scene behind her, ready to cast a Teleportation spell, if the fa?ade did fall.


    With each step, the dissonance of her mind and her body was only increasing, as she started squinting, wading through the air. But every wade she took it only caused her to stumble. She felt taller than before, weightless, and powerful.


    She had returned to right before she had entered the Demon Lord¡¯s castle. Numerous black dragons, their forms bastardised from the corruption of demonic energies, were shackled to the ground, forced to bow to their new master. Demons were laid slain around them, forced to battle their undead comrades. The antimagic field was broken, and the righteous fury of the ascended and angels bore down on the ashen lands.


    It was a terrifying sight, and the original four comrades were the only ones who could push onwards into the near-dead castle.


    The door had opened, a horrific screech, the comrades stood in anticipation, Alvrik had his bow taught, Issandar wielding his great-sword, Mari spoke in a low and continuous hum of prayers. Tassia herself pulled her scarf over her mouth.


    She felt anxious.


    It wasn¡¯t anxiety from facing the ¡°Final Boss¡±.


    Tess couldn¡¯t describe the anxiety.


    However as quickly as the vivid memory had come, she returned back into the body of Anastasia.


    She now stood on the other side of the magic circle, surrounded by figures in blackened-red robes.


    The power of Warlock-pact radiated off of them. The smell of Demon clung to them. She scrounged up her nose, as she realised.


    The trash needed to be thrown out.


    There were five figures, all of them were far too weak to pose any real threat to her. There were two of the worshipers on both sides of her, all four had their staves in a readied position, probably ready to cast any spell which their leaders, the singular figure before her, command.


    After five seconds, Tess realised that none of the figures were really moving, they stood as still as statues, with only their eyes darting to each other, and vaguely mouthing something.


    Tess realised instantly that they were communicating with each other using the ¡®Message¡¯ cantrip, the most basic of coordination spells.


    Raising her hand to her hat, she spoke softly to the figure who seemed to be in charge.


    ¡°Friends,¡± The spell was cast successfully, ¡°Might I ask your names?¡±


    ¡°I am, Katharine, oh esteemed one¡± The leading person, Katharine, spoke almost subconsciously.


    ¡°Esteemed one?¡±


    ¡°Yes, esteemed one, we are your humble servant!¡± Katharine spoke with a strange piety.


    ¡°Mine? Anastasia?¡±


    ¡°No, you who occupies those lowly mortals form!¡± Katharine yelled out her eyes took a strange appearance.


    The figures who were surrounding Tess, started to exchange more glances with each other, they spoke far more quickly, likely in a panic over their leader¡¯s sudden change in actions.


    ¡°What do you know of my occupation of this girl?¡±


    ¡°We are the ones who offered you this child, mighty esteemed one. The ancient pact has been fulfilled!¡± Katharine finally took a step back, and got on her knees, her eyes signalled for the others in her party to do the same.


    Tess likely was only able to ask one more question, before Katharine figured out what she was doing, so she asked:


    ¡°Say my name, and your mission is fulfilled¡±, it was easier to play along with whatever the raving lunatics said.


    ¡°Oh, I dare not!¡±


    ¡°Speak!¡± Tess yelled out.


    ¡°Lord Gallu Mar, the True Dragon-Wizard!¡±


    ¡®The fuck was a Mar?¡¯


    With that thought, clarity filled Katharine¡¯s eyes, as she realised what had happened. Her mind had been corrupted to become a ¡®Friend¡¯, she had been filled with artificial piety and reverence. Now only hatred filled her mind, she loathed the figure before her, just as she was going to call out to her comrades so that they could attack.


    ¡°Die¡± Tess spoke out, and an explosion of violent thunder, exploded with Tess in the middle. Instantly the cultists around her had blood explode from out of their ears. Before a second passed, and they collapsed to the ground.


    Even a cantrip, when cast by someone of sufficient level, was capable of being fatal to even an intermediate warrior.


    All five figures had become brain-dead without even being capable of processing what had happened.


    It was sadly the major issue of cantrips like ¡®Friends¡¯, regardless of what their attitude would¡¯ve been, only resentment and hatred would fill their mind whenever they thought of the caster. Tess had never thought of sparing demon worshiping scum, so they would¡¯ve ended up dead, regardless of how good their answers had been.


    Demon kind had brought the world to the bring of destruction, and she could never forgive them for it, no matter how many millennia would pass.


    Now she had a target in mind.


    Whatever the fuck a Bakru was, and why people were trying to revive them.


    Though, as she exited the giant magic circle, some memories of Anastasia¡¯s life had returned to her, and Tess now knew the direction towards Anastasia¡¯s domain.


    But before all that,


    Necrotic energies gathered at the fingertips of Tess, bringing one hand up to her hat, and the other waving across the corpses, a sudden low growl came across three of the corpses.


    Slowly they stood themselves up.


    Using the corpses of three of the cultists, Tess had turned them into the lowest tier of undead, Zombies, a foe that beginner warriors are more than capable of slaying. However, fighting wasn¡¯t the purpose of these corpses.


    Instead, Tess walked up the closest zombie, who knelt down, allowing Tess to climb onto its shoulders.


    Looking at the other two zombies, she mentally commanded them to pick up the corpses of Katharine, and the last unnamed cultist.


    As all the zombies were carrying their respective corpses, and Tess herself, she commanded them forward towards Castle Voyant.


    Tess needed information, and the dead could not disobey.


    <hr>


    Augustus-Frederick Ladislaw-Francis Otto-Karl Julian III Alexander von Alpert-Hohen af Ligura-Ravskogen d¡¯Leonherz, King d¡¯Oc Akes, prince of Mekduna, Palatine of the Eastern Marches, Warden of the Northlands, Grand-Duke Lawren, and heir of the Lion Throne.


    Or as his friends call him, Imperial Prince Julian.


    Julian was however exhausted, despite him having done nothing to earn his numerous titles, as the heir of the Lion Throne he had granted them regardless, along with all the ¡°privileges¡± it ensued. Not even eighteen summers of age, and he had no time to himself. Whom-so-ever thought that being a Prince meant endless luxury, and debauchery was entirely wrong. Well to a degree, but Julian had been raised with a strict discipline thanks to the expectations put upon him by his Great-Grandfather.


    Imperator Alexander XVII Julian, former King of the Lion Throne, and the greatest ruler seen in the past century. It was thanks to that, that the current King of the Lion Throne had named his first-born child after him, and had all the expectations that that entailed, weighing down on the child¡¯s shoulders.


    From day one of Julian¡¯s life, he had been surrounded by tutors, nobles, politics, and court-life. It was tiring.


    But what made it worse, was the fact that the current king could not even hold a candle to his own son.


    It felt that everything Imperator Louis VIII Francis, King of the Lion Throne, was designed to undo the absolutist rule held by Alexander XVII Julian, and his own son. Just to make Julian¡¯s own life, and future rule, miserable.


    It certainly didn¡¯t help that thanks to the rapid boom of industry, that the Lion Throne¡¯s strength had become a fa?ade. It was old fashioned, and could only hold on, thanks to the prestige of its few great rulers. Merchants were the ones who held onto the true power of the Empire, Money, and People.


    Which is what brought Julian to his woes of this day.


    They were two letters written by Julian¡¯s father. Which any lesser man might believe they were merely friendly correspondence between a father and his son. No, instead they were Imperial orders.


    The first one, was substantially less concerning than the second.


    But it didn¡¯t make it any easier to read.


    ¡®King Julian III Akes, we are here to congratulate your engagement to the honourable Duchess Simone de Chatres.¡±


    There were only two lines, and a wax stamp at the bottom.


    They made Julian only feel worse.


    Julian was never one who cared for marrying, or true love or believed in any of those fairy-tale stories. Instead, Julian recognised that he was likely going to be married of for the sake of empowering the ever-weakening might of the Lion Throne.


    However, his father couldn¡¯t even do that right.


    Grand-Duke, Eugene de Chatres. The current Prime-Minister, and right hand of the Lion Throne, and also a member of the nobility faction. Julian could never understand what possessed his father to make him into the strongest figure of the whole Empire, second only to his father himself.


    Now suddenly, the next King of the Lion Throne, had been married into the Noble faction, whilst it a smart move if the Lion Throne had wanted power, money or even to maintain the bloodline, as Nobles had all that. It was instead an issue politically, as the Nobility had always been the ones who want to weaken the power of the Imperator and strengthen their own. This was even more frustrating as the Noble faction had been on the constant decline, with the rise of Merchants, and even ideas of nationalism which was slowly spreading throughout the empire.


    The next letter was far more exhausting in length, but it detailed how little Imperator Louis VIII Francis understood how to play the political game. It was proposal of Duke Friedrich II van Lehrberg, a man of the progressive¡¯s faction, which was to make it such that the commoners, and especially the merchant¡¯s children, would be granted permission to attend the Royal Academia. Alongside this there was a secondary proposal, this time created by Chancellor Ludwig von Uthburg, a militant figure for the soldier¡¯s faction, which would force Prince Julian, and his siblings to also attend the Royal Academia.


    Julian rubbed his temples.


    It seemed that Julian would never live to be the Imperator, his father was beset on all sides by the various factions of the empire to continuously weaken his position, and grant power to various castes.


    One might wonder where a centralisation, or royalty faction was. Well, there existed both, however the centralisation faction was made up of the weaker viceroyalties who often times would not be able to create enough of a powerbase within one lifetime, before it returned to the crown. Which then in turn turned into expenditures of the Royalty faction.


    The Royalty faction was made up mainly of the Kings and Princes, similar to Julian himself, however they were selfish and greedy, they paid few taxes thanks to their privileges, and would demand pay from the Lion Throne, so they could keep up their exorbitant lifestyles.


    It was truly a wonder why the Empire hadn¡¯t collapsed already¡­


    Well, it already had, there were many across the empire, especially in the Far North, and South, who had declared their independence, only a handful of them were left, along with Julian¡¯s own Kingdom d¡¯Oc.


    Of course, the empire refused to acknowledge most of their declarations of independence, but could not do much about it, especially since the independence factions were propped up by the states outside the Imperial Basin of the Eastern World.


    It was all a mess, and Julian was half tempted to bail on the empire just like many of the other kings during his grandfather and father¡¯s reign.


    But alas his sense of duty and pride outweighed his want to leave. He was still a young man after all, so he had plenty of time to attempt to reform the Empire. Maybe he could even attempt to form a faction within the Royal Academia, in order to gather a power base which was loyal to him, even if he never truly inherited the Lion Throne?


    It was all wishful thinking.


    Not that he¡¯d even met the Duchess de Chatres, so he couldn¡¯t guess how useful she would be as a political tool. Maybe if he tried looking optimistically, something good would come up?


    These thoughts of optimism were quickly shattered.


    A knocking came from the door,


    ¡°Come in.¡± Julian tried to look happy in front of his visitor. However, his half-placated smile would¡¯ve crumbled instantly, if he hadn¡¯t had better control of his facial expressions.


    It was a young man of similar age to Julian.


    ¡°Your Majesty, King d¡¯Oc¡± The young man bowed deeply, his voice was like a silken song, soft and harmonic.


    The young man nodded his head up, to stare directly at Julian, his eyes were a piercing coal, a twinge of blue within an abyss, which seemed to look right through Julian.


    The young main took a step forward, and raised himself straight, his posture was like that of a well-disciplined soldier.


    His long-black hair was glittering an ashen grey, in the oil-light, short all around his head, with a long ponytail tied up at his back, which reached all the way down to his waste.


    ¡°This one is here to inquire of you, a question¡±, the man continued, unperturbed of Julian¡¯s own scrutinising gaze.


    This man before Julian was Auguste-Charles de Renard, Heir to the throne of Foxes. A noble man who could make even the most hard-hearted women swoon with a single glance, competent beyond belief, and one of the most powerful bachelors of the empire.


    ¡°We shall hear your inquisition.¡± Julian spoke.


    ¡°This one has been informed that his majesty shall be attending the Academia within the spring. This one would inquire upon his majesties escort.¡±


    ¡°We are not assigned an escort.¡±


    ¡°Then this humble servant of his majesty shall further inquire, should his majesty be willing to accept this lowly one as his majesties escort towards the capital within the coming week?¡±


    Julian hesitated for a second, and then two. Before a full ten seconds had passed.


    ¡°Very well¡± Julian sighed, unable to come up with a solid reason to deny Charles¡¯ request ¡°We shall permit your escort of our journey.¡±


    ¡°This humble servant is ecstatic¡± Charles¡¯ face had not shifted once during this conversation ¡°This one shall be preparing, such that his majesty shall not be disappointed¡±


    He bowed once more, before exiting the room, leaving Julian alone in his thoughts once more.


    Auguste-Charles de Renard, or simply Charles de Renard. His father, Louis-Auguste de Renard, the previous Prince of the Throne of Foxes, had died when Charles was young, which had enabled Charles to utilise the de facto power of the Throne of Foxes, without the consequences that a true Prince would bring. Charles de Renard was known to the nobility of the kingdom d¡¯Oc, as the black-hearted tyrant.


    He seized land without reason, beyond his Imperial right, as the Regent of the Throne of Foxes, he would seize wealth from all those who broke imperial law, without worry for retribution, nor had he cared for the traditions which were not law, that the Nobility worshipped so very much.


    In short, in only 9 winters, he had taken the already powerful Throne of Foxes, and made it completely uncontested under the King d¡¯Oc. Even the nobility from other regions were careful when it came to his dealings.


    He was also the number one headache for Julian¡¯s two years as the King d¡¯Oc. As numerous petitions, and complaints from the lesser nobilities about the actions of Charles, was what made up the majority of his paperwork. Which he could do little about, as by technicality Charles wasn¡¯t breaking any Imperial laws, nor had he done anything which could be considered treason. Instead, he had always been courteous to the Monarchy, but heartless to the nobility. He would¡¯ve been an ideal member for the Centralisation faction, as the Lion Throne certainly could use the Throne of Foxes support once more. However, Charles had been distinctly neutral up unto this point. He had never made any marriage proposals, nor had he made any official alliances with any factions.


    He was equally hostile with everyone, he took money from the Merchants, he had his own military, he seized land from the nobles, and only performed the bare minimum to not be convicted for treason by the state.


    Along with this, there was the fact that he refused all marriage proposals that came his way. Without question, even those from the other Royalists were rejected. Which would¡¯ve been fine if it ended at that, but when Julian became King d¡¯Oc, he had become a sort of matchmaker according to the many houses, where they were attempting to have Julian introduce their daughters to Charles. Of course, for a not-so-small fee.


    Of course, if he took the money, and failed the matchmaking, he would bear the consequences, which was not something Julian could do at the moment.


    It was all a constant headache, one after the other, Julian could only lament on how things had reached this headache inducing point.


    Standing up, he lightly rung a bell that was to the side of his desk.


    He proceeded to turn around, and pull open a pair of giant curtains, which blocked the sunlight.


    Squinting slightly as the room became far brighter, than what it was for the past few hours.


    A slight cracking sound echoed, coming from his back, as he stretched his arms.


    Behind him the door opened, turning around he held out his hand expectantly.


    A cup of tea was carefully placed in it by a butler.


    Several maids ran around, putting out the oil lamps, and cleaned up the various papers.


    Turning back around he held his tea, and pushed opened the window-door, and stepped onto a balcony.


    The sunlight was gradually retreating behind the mountains in the distance.


    It was the very same sunset that he had fallen asleep to back at the Lions Throne.


    It had been two years since he was sent to the Palace d¡¯Oc, to serve as its king.


    ¡°Learning how to rule¡± was what it was called, The first Three children of the Lion Throne, were granted one Kingdom each once they reached age. The Kingdom d¡¯Oc, Kingdom d¡¯Oui, and Kingdom d¡¯Och.


    Until now, the titles had been entirely titular, where even Julian¡¯s father, the former King d¡¯Oui, had lived at the Lion¡¯s Throne, until he ascended the throne.


    But for some reason, Julian, his younger brother, and sister had each been given a title, and sent of to their respective Palaces. Julian could only pray silently in his heart that his siblings had been given a competent regent, as they were two and five years younger than him, respectively.


    Looking down, Julian saw the various gardeners working about, ensuring that the garden of the Palace d¡¯Oc was as well maintained as possible. Various maids and butlers were rushing about, even at night, the life of the palace would continue.


    Julian took a sip of his tea, frowning slightly, realising that he had left it for so long, that it went cold.


    A shiver suddenly went down Julian¡¯s back.


    He instinctively looked west, away from the sunset.


    He took a few steps back into the Palace.


    Placing down his tea, he continued walking westwards throughout the Palace.


    Eventually he came across another balcony.


    The moon was rising.


    ¡®What had¡­¡¯


    Julian started to think. Suddenly the sky had seemed to disappear.


    A blackened void was all that hung above him.


    His entire body felt submerged in liquid, as a rising heat overcame him.


    The outside was cold. Maybe he could find a torch. After all he was only allowed to explode.


    There was a blade in his hands, and his hair burned like the sun itself.


    Tears fell down his eyes, what did it mean?


    A warm embrace came across him. It was his wife.


    After all, it had become a forest of tombs.


    But why was the train chugging?


    So, he did the only thing he could do.


    It was time he learned how to rest, after all 3155695197 was a big number.


    8.


    9.


    3155695200.


    Then the void had left.


    The moon kept climbing upwards.


    Voices of concern echoed.


    Julian could only blink a few times.


    Everything returned to how it was.


    But everything was a millimetre too far left.