《Izar》


 Chapter 1

    Orbiting around a large white star was one of the oddest of habitable planets. It was the closest planet to the sun, in this small solar system of only three planets. While most planets this close to a star would quickly have their atmospheres stripped away, this little blue and green planet thrived.


    Even on the dark side of the planet, multicolored lights randomly dances across the atmosphere. Boasting a massive magnetic field, this was not due to some rare element that made up its core, but the planet¡¯s dual rings. These rings not only rotated independently of each other around the planets axis but flipped around like an imbalanced gyroscope. Energy could be seen jumping through the rings as they slowly made their way across the planet¡¯s sky.


    In the shadow of this world a massive creature appeared. There was no flash of light, no wormhole that it floated out of, it just came to be in that location. It quickly moved into geosynchronous orbit around the odd world, making sure to keep itself in the perpetual darkness.


    Inside this creature something vaguely resembling a human stood looking out a side viewing window. This ¡°human¡± was over three meters tall and his flesh seemed composed of a clear glasslike material. This creature was Potentate Erresuma, the ruler of over 30 billion stars and 9 billion planets. He alone controlled the largest percentage of the Milky Way of the Quarum of Potentates.


    His people had traveled from their home planet, called Earth, to explore the galaxy. Only to find it had already been explored and every star, every rock, every stray cluster or gas had been claimed by some other species. They were shown how their world, like countless others, was seeded with life.


    Now that humans had advanced enough to leave their home world they were eligible to participate for galactic advancement. All sentient beings could win the favor of a local lord or potentate and be given the chance to join them.


    That is what brought Potentate Erresuma to this odd world out on the fringe of the small portion of the galaxy he controlled. A candidate for lordship had been chosen by the Keepers of Izar. The Keepers were from an ancient planet in orbit around the supermassive black hole found in the center of the galaxy. The ancient planet of Haurtza was where the Izar were first discovered. Created by the same extinct species that seeded the galaxy with life, the Izar were a microscopic symbiotic species that gave their host unlimited potential for growth.


    This growth was obtained from collecting the genetic material of other species and grafting it to their host. The Izar did not spread outside their chosen host but would allow the host to expand their influence to other creatures. In fact, every being on board, including the space fairing creature they were traveling in, could be considered an extension of the Potentate. That is except for two beings.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Erresuma turned as the two walked into the observation room. The Potentate bowed to the Keeper who nodded in his direction, while the candidate bowed low to the Potentate.


    A millennia of experience allowed Erresuma to keep his true feelings off his face. The keeper was from grotesque species that reminded him of a robbed hunchback. The only difference was that the Keeper was currently not wearing any clothes. A quirk of their kind. He wasn''t even sure if this was a male or female, grateful the term Keeper was gender neutral.


    The candidate, on the other hand, had earned the Potentate¡¯s malice. He had defeated one of Erresuma¡¯s most favored lords. The candidate had risen from a slave world under the lord¡¯s control and defeated the lord in the height of battle. How this pathetic insignificant human offshoot could kill one of his best men, dumbfounded the man.


    Forced to keep the rules of the Izar, the Potentate would bow and smile and send this worthless candidate to the one world no one had survived. Even Erresuma wasn''t foolish enough to attempt visiting this world.


    The first scout ships to explore this system barely had time to transmit a distress signal before the stars violent energies ripped it apart. Even now his own ship, attempting to shield itself with the planet, had little time left before they would have to leave. This ship would more than likely die shortly after. A worthy sacrifice to get rid of this upstart worm.


    This would be the forty second candidate to be disposed of on this world. The Keepers had questioned whether it was possible to survive this world, but like the others, Erresuma had goaded them into choosing his harshest world to prove themselves a galactic lord. Plus, all he had to do was to show the advanced sensors displaying whole cities and communities of peoples living down there.


    The Keeper pulled a lump of flesh from under one of the many voluminous folds of its skin. The lump was pressed into the candidate¡¯s chest, right over his heart. The Izar had been passed on and would begin assimilating itself with its host, one cell at a time.


    The Potentate couldn''t help but regret being part of wasting such a priceless creature.


    Pleasantries out of the way, the candidate moved to a nearby opening and sat down in the chair found inside. The opening in the wall sealed itself shut and the Potentate and Keeper turned to watch the drop pod separate and descend to the planet below.


    Erresuma turned to find the Keeper watching him. Then without another word the creature turned and left the room. That was probably as much warning as the Potentate was going to get.


    A chill ran down the great leader¡¯s spine as he remembered the rumors he heard ever since the first meeting of the Quorum he attended. Rumors of entire galaxy sectors going dark as their potentate or lord was suddenly no more. Rumors that the planet Haurtza held not just the Keepers of Izar but the true ruler of this galaxy. One who secretly controlled all of the Izar and directed the constantly shifting power struggle between the potentates.


    Erresuma knew that his own Izar could communicate with those under his influence regardless of distance. He once found it comforting that there was nowhere could his people hide from his ever watching presence.


    Turning to the world below him, he couldn''t wonder if there was one place even the Izar¡¯s limitless sight might not be able to reach.

 Chapter 2

    I wasn''t always a slave. I never used to almost freeze to death on winter nights trying to keep in the warmth from my body with a collection of animal furs too damaged to use for crafting. I didn''t used to eat, work, and sleep in the corner of this pathetic excuse for a workshop attached the back of the store my master owned. My misfortunes all started with a little bit of competition between a bowyer and fletcher in the trader¡¯s district.


    I used to live with my mother, father, and three younger brothers. My father was a renowned bowyer and fletcher, and as the oldest son I was expected to follow in my father¡¯s profession. I was lucky because I found not only did I enjoy the work but I was very good at it. My father would claim I would soon learn everything he could teach me and then it would be my turn to start teaching him. My parents paid to have me sent to a local school to learn my letters and numbers, so I could keep track of the family¡¯s finances and read the special orders left by patrons.


    I soaked up my schooling like I did bowmaking and fletching. At the age of fifteen, I had learned everything someone in my family¡¯s profession would need to know from the school and worked with my father in his workshop. My very own creations were put on display and were bringing in money to support my family.


    All was well until that evening¡­


    I sat down at the dinner table where my brothers were already fighting over the last roll. I quickly ended their squabble by taking it for myself.


    My mother came over with another bowl of rolls, hot from the oven, ¡°You headed out to go hunting again this afternoon, Larkin?¡±


    I choked down the piece of roll in my mouth, ¡°Yes, mother. I was hoping to get a hog I spotted over near the river.¡±


    My mother frowned as she sat down next to me, ¡°Please be careful and come back before it gets too dark. This town is just as dangerous at night as the woods by the river.¡±


    I smiled at her, ¡°Yes mom. I am just doing as father taught me. ¡®A good bowyer or fletcher knows his craft is of worth¡¯.¡±


    ¡°When he can use it to put supper on the table,¡± my father finished. He kissed my mother before sitting down at the head of the table.


    My father pointed his fork in my direction, a slice of meat already on it, ¡°Larkin, I want you to be extra careful. There have been reports of orcs skirmishes on the border and the duke¡¯s men are hard pressed to keep them in the western grasslands. It¡¯s not unheard of for a few to slip by the patrols.¡±


    My mother looked worried, ¡°Maybe you shouldn''t go today.¡±


    His father raised his hand and waved her suggestion away.


    My youngest brother excitedly asked, ¡°Can I got too!¡±


    My father frowned, ¡°No, eat.¡±


    My other two brothers also tried their luck only to be rejected as well.


    ¡°Last I checked, the three of you have unfinished chores. No one¡¯s doing anything else until they are done.¡±


    My father¡¯s words laid a pall upon my three siblings¡¯ side of the table.


    After supper, I grabbed my things and ran out into the busy street.


    Flodby¡¯s trade district was always busy, but the shops were all closing up and everyone was heading home for the afternoon. I ran through the town gate and past the guards who didn''t even bother to notice me. Past the farms that surrounded the town was the forests.


    The only thing Flodby had other than the forests was a river, that ran along the West side of the town. Since Flodby was a border town, the river doubled as a defensive barrier. The town was the first defense against the orcs of the western grasslands. The town had survived numerous sieges by the large green skinned monsters. Those had been before my time and I had yet to see an orc myself.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Noticing the sun getting lower, I quickly made my way towards where I had last seen the hog.


    That evening I returned late with a small hog on my back. Of course the guards gave me a hard time for waking them up to open the gates. I had just turned into the trade district when I noticed something was off. I noticed a bright light up ahead and that''s when I smelled the smoke.


    Rushing down the street my family¡¯s home and shop was on I could see my house was on fire. Dropping the pig, I ran over to the burning building. Not seeing my family anywhere and I tried to enter the raging inferno. Someone grabbed me from behind and held me back.


    ¡°No Larkin, it¡¯s too far gone now. There is nothing you can do.¡±


    Turning I saw Mr. Fletcher, who lived on the other side of the trade district, had been the one to stop me.


    ¡°I don''t see them, did they make it out!¡±


    Mr. Fletcher shook his head, ¡°No boy, no one has seen anyone in your family until you got back from hunting.¡±


    Looking back, I turned in time to watch the roof collapse. Our home was built far enough away from the other buildings for the fire to spread. One of our neighbors still threw water on the roof of his home.


    With the house smoldering I laid there curled up on the ground crying. Mr. Fletcher seemed to have taken it upon himself to watch over me. I was confused as I always thought he hated my father.


    It hadn''t even been an hour when an official from the city came by to inspect the damage. He began speaking with Mr. Fletcher and that''s when someone else showed up.


    The man was dressed expensively, but his rough features and sour demeanor told me more about who he was, ¡°Excuse me, are you the official of the city in charge of the Bowyer¡¯s estate?¡±


    The official turned around from where he was speaking with Mr. Fletcher, ¡°Yes, I am the constable in charge tonight.¡±


    The finely dressed rat smiled, ¡°I am Mr. Bates with the Lender¡¯s Guild. I am here about unpaid debts owed by Mr. Bowyer and his family.¡±


    The constable of Flodby looked confused as why a representative of the Lender¡¯s Guild would already be present so soon.


    Even in my grief I couldn''t remember my father mentioning taking out debts. I had even looked over the family¡¯s finances. It was not just the store¡¯s but the family¡¯s as well. There were no mentions of debts.


    I tried protesting it but Mr. Bates moved between myself and the constable and handed the official a stack of papers. From the light of my still burning house, I saw the glint of gold be passed along with the papers.


    The official looked over the forms while surreptitiously putting his hand in his pocket, ¡°Seems like everything is here. Does the family have collateral to pay for the debt?¡±


    Mr. Bates shook his head, ¡°There is items to be sold in the shop but they are of such low quality that it is still far from enough.¡±


    I got up and started objecting to calling my father¡¯s work anything less than excellent quality when two men came from behind me and held me to the ground with my hands behind my back. One of them found a dirty rag and shoved it in my mouth so I would quit screaming


    Mr. Bates frowned, ¡°Unfortunately, Mr. Bowyer¡¯s son is not old enough to be a recognized craftsman yet, so he can only be expected to provide the most basic of labors. It is my guilds belief he will never be able to pay back his father¡¯s debts as an indentured servant and should be immediately branded as a slave.


    The Lender¡¯s Guild was the other arm of the Slaver¡¯s Guild. When someone committed a petty crime, they became an indentured servant of the Duke and served until their sentence was over. When someone committed a serious offense, like murder, they became a slave. The same was with debts. If a man could expect to pay back what was owed through labor, they only became an indentured servant. If the debts were too great then the person became a slave. The difference between a servant and a slave was the difference between a metal collar and two slave marks branded into their cheeks. A servant was temporary while a slave was for life.


    The constable looked uncomfortable with this statement but then his hand reached into his pocket, ¡°So be it, Larkin son of Larkin Bowyer, you are unable to pay the debts acquired by your family. As you are unable to be expected to pay back those debts with labor you will here and forever be a slave. You will be immediately branded and sold to the highest bidder to recoup the costs of your debt.¡±


    I remember not believing what I was hearing. I looked around for someone, a neighbor, to come to my defense.


    Then, I watched as they heated a branding iron in the still smoldering ruins of my family¡¯s home. I struggled, but the two men held me down. Mr. Bates did the honors and smiled as I screamed through the dirty rag. Intense heat and the smell of burning flesh, two marks now adorned my cheeks. A testament to all of what I now was.


    The constable, having witnessed the branding, walked off.


    I was still being supported by the two men, when I came too. I had fainted from the pain, yet it was the pain that quickly brought me back.


    Looking up, I watched Mr. Fletcher shake hands with Mr. Bates as papers and coin exchanged hands.


    ¡°Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Fletcher.¡±


    Mr. Fletcher smiled and turned to look down at me, ¡°Thanks fellas, I will take the slave from here.¡±

 Chapter 3

    ¡°Get up and get to work, or you won''t get fed till this evening!¡±


    I twisted my upper body as if that would somehow lessen the pain from getting kicked in the back. Looking over my shoulder, Mr. Flet¡­ no my Master walked away to go back to the storefront.


    The whole reason I was still asleep was because I stayed up late finishing orders from the day before. Orders he could have helped finish but instead left to go drinking.


    I realized after coming to live, and work, here for the last four years, that my father didn''t have to really try to be a better craftsman than this drunkard. While my father made works of art, Fletcher spit out barely usable bows and half decent arrows, in bulk. His main customers were the duchy¡¯s army and the poor. Anyone else would go to my father.


    I got started on the orders that had already arrived, knowing the threat of no lunch being one I had suffered before.


    I had resisted my change in social status at first. I was pretty certain Fletcher had something to do with the fire, my family¡¯s deaths, and my enslavement. After a month of very little food and daily beatings I finally gave up.


    My nose is now horribly crooked as it healed wrong. Oh, and I also have a slight limp in my left leg after it was broken when I refused to work that first week. I would probably have been considered handsome before, but now I am just broken.


    Fletcher didn''t come back to the workshop until early that afternoon. His daughter had come by at noon to toss my food on one of the tables before quickly leaving. Half of it spilling into the floor.


    Fletcher looked over my work and then threw a mass of furs and a backpack at me, ¡°We are having my son¡¯s fianc¨¦ and her family over for dinner tomorrow night. Go get a deer big enough to feed all of us. If there is any leftover you might get some.¡±


    I couldn''t help but wonder if he really though I would believe that lie, but I had other problems, ¡°It''s the middle of winter and everyone has been hunting the forests nearby. I probably would have to go pretty far just to find anything.¡±


    Fletcher slapped me across the face, and the blow took me to the floor, ¡°I don''t care how far you have to go. Don''t come back until you have that deer. Here is a writ letting you out for the night until tomorrow afternoon. Don''t forget what the guard does to slaves outside without permission. When you get back, make sure to catch up on the work you missed.¡±


    Fletcher had made sure I remembered the nearest town or village was weeks away, before I first left to hunt for his family. This close to the border, only large towns like Flodby, with its high walls, could survive. He knew I would have to return if I wanted to be somewhere safe.


    With that he turned and left without another word.


    I gathered my things and stepped out into the biting wind. Everyone outside was bundled up with as many clothes as they could wear. While I could wear a hood, slaves were required to always keep their faces uncovered while in the city. The wind soon burned my face and I moved as fast as I dared towards the city gates.


    I hadn''t realized how many slaves there were until I became one. After my first year as one I was trusted to leave the workshop to go hunting. Apparently it was a skill Fletcher knew I had. In this kind of weather, only the slaves kept their faces bare. Since no one would willingly want to be out in this, about a third of the people I saw were slaves. Some weren''t even wearing something warm to cover themselves. For all he knew the rest were probably indentured servants. Indentured servants could cover as much as they wanted as their situation was only temporary.


    Even in this weather the city guards stopped me from leaving. They checked over my writ and, even though it was listed, gave me trouble for the bow and knife I had on me.


    Finally far enough away from Flodby, I pulled up a piece of cloth over my face and headed out south along the river. While I was normally glad to get away from the city and the workshop, I didn''t particularly want to this day. Suddenly the very air seemed to freeze, along with the river. Still, even with the wind stopping, not many deer would come out in this and were probably bedded down in whatever copse they found that could provide enough shelter. The trees were all bare, not a leaf to be found.


    Traveling for hours through the forests, my limp started to get worse. Every step sent a small jolt of pain that I could still endure. How I was going to make it back carrying or dragging a large deer would remain to be seen.


    I finally made it to a spot my dad had found and brought me to when the deer got scarce. The little valley along the river was where the land dropped and a large waterfall could be found here. The weather had had just turned for the worst this past week so the waterfall wasn''t completely frozen over. I hoped a few animals, not hibernating, had braved the weather to drink the near freezing waters.


    I quickly pulled out my bow and made sure my quiver of arrows was in a good position to reach. I became frustrated as the extra clothing I was wearing was making things difficult, so I reluctantly laid these over a nearby branch, along with my gloves and pack. Preparing an arrow, I laid it across the arrow shelf on my bow.


    Stalking forward slowly, the frozen and calm air would help hide his smell, but only from a certain distance. There were tracks scattered all over the base of the waterfall but no critters in sight.


    I walked back up to where I left my things and prepared to set up camp. Moving around, I was able to keep relatively warm, but with this weather I was quickly freezing over.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Setting up the camp didn''t take long as I was only given enough food to last me the night and more furs to use as a pallet. I set everything up behind a cluster of trees far enough away to not deter animals from approaching the waterfall. I soon had a small fire going. Warming myself, I would venture over to check the falls a couple times every hour.


    As it started to get dark, it was apparent nothing was coming to drink the water so I worked to gather as much firewood as I could to last through the night. Once satisfied with my gathered pile of sticks and logs, I laid back in my stack of furs and stared up at the night sky.


    The two arms of the goddess Jivana were bursting with life and blessings this night. Jivana had many different names amongst the different races and people''s, but all knew how her holy lights guided and protected her children below. They were an example of how we should all strive to great strength and power.


    I had always enjoyed sleeping nearest the window at night, the bright flash of lights seemed to calm me and helped me sleep peacefully. Well, that was till that night. Even now, out here all alone and under the full display of my goddess¡¯ power, sleep eluded me.


    A streak of light, different that those from the goddess¡¯ arms, seemed to fall from the sky. Sitting up, I recalled tales of these gifts of the goddess. These tales always cautioned that one man¡¯s gift could be another''s curse.


    I watched as the streak of light turned into a ball of fire. Gone was the tail that followed behind the goddess¡¯ gift, and I became alarmed as it seemed to get larger and closer.


    Jumping up in alarm, I could only watch as the ball of fire passed right over my camp and towards the forest behind me, back in the direction of Flodby.


    The ball of fire must not have traveled very far from me as there was loud noise. Immediately after that a great wind swept past me and I was flung high into the air. The trees bent and cracked as they broke, flying in the air around me.


    Pushing off a few limbs that had fallen on me, I stood to check myself for damage. In the dim light I was able to make out a few bumps, bruises, and cuts. Looking around I realized how lucky I was to still be alive.


    Dust and dirt was still flying and falling through the air. I could still see something burning far into the distance but it was like looking through a thin fog. Where I was standing, a few trees still stood, but past that the area looked completely flattened. As I walked closer I could see the flattened area was comprised of fallen trees that seemed to radiate outwards from a glowing object that was now embedded into the earth.


    I warred with what to do next but looked down to find myself already moving towards the center and mysterious object. If it was a gift from the goddess then I would be a fool not to embrace it for myself. If it was a curse, then how much worse could it be than my current predicament?


    In the dark it took me a good half hour to climb over the fallen logs and disturbed ground. My hip was screaming in pain by the time I reached the center of the destruction, but I ignored it and moved on.


    The object was as big as a small house and covered in a rocky looking surface that no longer glowed. Reaching out slowly I was surprised to find it only warm to the touch. As if responding to my touch part of the craft opened and expelled a rancid smelling fluid. Covering my nose as best I could, I did my best not to vomit right there.


    I was shocked when I heard a moan from the craft and an arm covered in a dark metal material fell out of the hole. Running over I could just barely make out a man lying right inside in a pool of the foul smelling liquid.


    Not wanting to offend a possible emissary of the goddess I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him out. While the man was easily over twice my height he was easy to move thanks to the liquid and slope he was laying on.


    Taking shallow breaths the man looked around as if blind.


    The air was cold, and I went to give the man my fur cloak, only to realize I had been using it as part of my bedding. It must be somewhere over where my camp had been. I had chosen to wear my gloves to bed, as my hands and feet were usually the first things to freeze.


    I took off one of my gloves and tried my best to remove the slimy substance from the man¡¯s eyes and nose. I realized then that the man wasn''t wearing anything and it was in fact his flesh that I had mistaken for a dark metallic material. The flesh was stiff and hot to the touch. What I had done to clear his face seemed to help the man as he coughed up some of the foul liquid, but there was a darker color too what came out of him.


    The man seemed to finally see me and I could see only confusion n in his eyes. Reaching up, he touched my face with his bare hands and he immediately passed out.


    The emissary¡¯s hand strangely stayed on my face and when I went to move it followed me. Tugging on the hand, I was confused to discover it caused me great pain when I attempted to remove it. Tracing the hand and my face I could not find where his hand ended and my face began. It was like his hand had grown from my face.


    Freaking out, was I now trapped and could only imagine others would eventually come to accuse me of his murder? Worse yet, what if no one came and I would be stuck here attached to this man forever.


    A few minutes passed and the man suddenly opened his eyes. Great sadness and frustration could be seen warring for dominance over his features. Then a look of fierce determination settled into place. He spoke a few words to me, but they meant nothing to me. Then he pushed his hand against my face and a weird sensation slowly spread over my entire body. Like stepping into the warm sunny day after swimming in the shadow of a tree in a cold river.


    The man''s hand peeled off my face and fell to the ground. I stare down to find his vacant eyes only to realize he was dead. Already his skin took on an ash like color. Then his body began to come apart. Liquids poured out of every orifice and his flesh began to cave in.


    I stumbled backwards and fell, scrambling in the various fluids now coating the ground. Managing to finally stand up, my feet constantly wanted to slip out from under me.


    I jerked my head around as in the distance I heard a horn blare. The duke¡¯s men were on their way. A scout must have spotted the location of the goddess¡¯ gift. If they found me¡­ I couldn''t think of anyway it could go well for me.


    Scrambling over the fallen trees I tried my best to get as far as possible. A sound, not unlike flatulence, echoed across the now empty space.


    Turning back, I watched as the object began to unevenly shrink and leak even more fluids.


    It was lucky I had turned around when I did, as the torch light of a dozen men on horses came out of the woods on the opposite side. Quickly ducking in amongst the fallen trees I hid. The men dismounted and made their way over the debris to the remains of the emissary and the object he had been inside.


    Why the goddess would send the emissary to die here confused me. Had he displeased the goddess and was cast out from the heavens?


    The men that had arrived finally made it to the center and were cautiously looking over the remains. After they had set up a number of bonfires, one of the men was sent back and soon rode off back towards the city.


    I wanted to leave, but I still had a ways before I could reach the safety of the still standing trees. I was pretty sure they would instantly see me if I tried to travel any further. Seeing they had no plans to leave anytime soon, I hunkered down, doing my best to get comfortable. Hugging myself, the air wasn''t so cold down under the fallen logs.

 Chapter 4

    It had barely been thirty minutes since the duke''s men had arrived, when there was a large commotion coming from the direction of the river. From the light of the bonfires, I could see something moving. Out of the tree line stepped a massive man with bulging muscles, green skin, and he was almost as large as the emissary had been.


    The orc looked around before raising a crude metal club and yelled at the duke¡¯s men in challenge. The duke''s men turned and seemed to come to the same decision as the all drew their weapons and didn''t move.


    Behind the orc the forest got brighter, like it was on fire. Then out of the forest more orcs came, carrying torches, they rushed past the first orc as they charged the waiting humans.


    I ducked further into the confines of my hiding spot as the orcs ran past. The sounds of fighting could be heard echoing throughout the clearing. The screams of men died out and only the guttural language of the orcs remained.


    I thought about taking a peek when shouting began, followed by the sounds of metal on flesh. The orcs began speaking quietly again and then I heard the tell-tail noises of them departing.


    Carefully looking out from my hiding spot, I didn''t see anyone around. Well anyone alive. The firelight revealed the corpses of the duke¡¯s men that had chosen to stay and fight.


    I climbed out and against my better judgement ran over to the bodies. The humans had been ripped to pieces and there was no signs of their weapons. Holding back the rising bile in my throat, I had to hope to find something better than my skinning knife to defend myself with.


    I almost missed the body of an orc was laying there where it fell down between a number of fallen trees. It didn''t take a physician to see its head had been caved in. Through the destruction to its face, I could only make out a single large tusk like tooth protruding from its lower jaw. Obviously one of the other orcs had killed it and not the humans.


    I was about to turn and leave when I felt an uncontrollable urge to see if the orcs skin was as tough as the emissaries felt. The orcs had only been a head or two shorter than the emissary. Were they just as tough?


    Crawling down into the crevice of trees the orc had fallen into, I reached over and pushed in on the skin of the orc''s arm with one finger. Surprised, their skin wasn''t that much different from a humans, maybe slightly tougher. Nowhere near as tough as the emissary''s skin. Grabbing its arm I started to lift it when my hand seemed to sink into...


    I came to floating in blackness, except for two bright orange lights that slowly made their way towards me. Once the two lights came to hover right in front of me they began to drop even smaller lights that floated down to slowly form into two completely naked individuals. One light formed an image of myself while the other formed into and image of an orc.


    I couldn''t help frowning over the difference between myself and the orc. I was pathetically small and weak looking. While I was well below two meters tall, the orc easily reached three meters.


    Moving closer I was shocked to find I could look into and through their bodies. As I did this, different parts of their bodies lit up with different colors. While the image of my body always lit up in orange colors, I found the colors in the orc body varied between red, orange, and yellow.


    I noticed that the brain of the orc was mostly different shades of red while its muscles and bones were all yellow. Like my image, it also had orange blood and a single portion of the brain that was orange. Lastly both our bodies were surrounded by an orange aura that held no meaning or significance to me.


    I was very confused and since no one else was volunteering to assist me I decided to try something. Reaching out I touched the muscles of the orc and quickly moved away as they glowed and rushed over into the image of myself.


    As this happened, the bright light above the image of myself split into two and now in the center stood another me but with increasing muscles.


    I stood in awe as the new Larkin''s muscles swelled to unbelievable proportions. It was almost comical how large they were. I looked up to see that the light above the new version of myself had turned a slightly lighter shade of orange. How I could tell this confused me, but it was easy for me to discern here.


    Next I reached out and touched part of the orcs brain that was red and as it flowed and changed the new Larkin, I saw the light above him turn a darker shade of orange.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I thought, "Is darker orange or lighter orange better, or did neither really have any purpose?"


    Orcs were known to be very stupid and slow creatures, but that didn''t stop them from being able to single handedly kill multiple humans on their own. If the duke''s men had been able to take on a single orc they could have easily had a chance of surviving, unfortunately for them that hadn''t been the case.


    I decided that since orcs are dumber than humans the colors were a ranking red worse than orange. Since orcs were stronger than humans, then yellow must be better than orange.


    Using that reasoning, I started selecting everything that was yellow on the orc. I also made sure to go back and change the red part of the brain back to orange, by selecting it from the original Larkin.


    I ended up selecting the orc''s muscles, bones, skin, lungs, heart, stomach, intestines... testicles? I really didn''t understand the last choice I made, but I figured yellow was yellow. There wasn''t anything different looking about them, as they were proportionally similarly sized. Also, nothing else down there was yellow, so I figured it must be something internal.


    Now before me stood a green skinned, heavily muscled version of myself, with tusk like teeth sticking out of my mouth. Frowning, I wondered if it was possible to change the skin color and tusks. Also, this new me was also still my original height. I didn''t see anything on the orc to suggest an option to change height.


    That was when the new Larkin started growing taller and the rest of my body grew to match this new size. The image reached the height of the orc next to it, but I didn''t like that either. I didn''t want to be potentially confused with an orc. The new Larkin shrunk down to a height somewhere in between the orc and the original. I could only guess it must be a little over two meters tall. Changing my height did seem to affect the color of the light above my new form, but not by much.


    Against my better judgement, I reduced the amount of muscle slightly, as it looked absurd on my shorter frame. If I wanted to be mistaken for a monster, leaving all this unnatural amount of muscle would be the best way. The color of the light above the new Larkin seemed to change back to the same hue it was before I increased the height.


    Then continuing to focus, I removed the strange teeth and returned the skin color to my original color. I was grateful when this had not resulted in any color changes to the orange light.


    There before me stood a version of myself that was larger and more heavily muscled. That was when I noticed the slave marks were missing and the crooked nose was fixed. Smiling, I couldn''t help but think this version of myself handsome.


    That seemed to be the trigger for me to leave.


    Opening my eyes, everything was tinted in a red light. Moving was difficult and I felt constrained by something clinging all over my body. As I opened my mouth liquid rushed in and I began to choke and gag. I immediately began to panic and thrash around.


    Getting my feet below me, I stood up stretching my arms as high as they would go. My hands broke free as I frantically tore at the substance that seemed to be loosely attached to the skin on my face.


    The red tinted light broke and I was greeted with the sun. My body was covered in this fleshy substance that had to be torn off. Rubbing my naked body, I had no clue where my clothes had gone. Despite my efforts, pieces of skin and viscera still clung to me in places.


    Looking down I shifted to see what it was that I just emerged from, only to see the remnants of the dead orcs face stretched out along one large strip of flesh I had just removed. Gagging I threw up whatever remained in my stomach until I began to dry heave.


    I scrambled for answers and began mumbling to myself, ¡°How in Jivana''s arms did I get into that... thing? Did it try and eat me? Did it have something to do with that dream?¡±


    Looking around, I realized it was noon. It had been the middle of the night when the emissary had first fallen. How long had I been in there?


    Easily pulling myself out of the cluster of fallen trees, I paused to look down at the remains of the duke''s men. Something had come by and had taken bits of flesh from some of them. I found it odd that these men looked smaller for some reason. More the size of teenage boys than grown men.


    Looking down at myself I discovered why. I was huge. Muscles bulged all over my body and my hands were massive. It was bizarre, like waking up in someone else''s body. Realizing something else from my dream, I reached up to touch my nose and cheeks. Gone was my crooked nose and slave brands. The dream hadn''t been a dream.


    I sat down on the earth next to the remains of the men, to stunned to move away.


    Would I be able to go back into town? Surely someone would recognize me¡­ Wait, how would they? Yes, my face was the same, but I was almost a meter taller and grown my previous weight in muscle. Getting up I decided to head back to town.


    Stopping myself again, I realized that was the directions the orcs went. Looking down I also remembered that I wasn''t wearing anything. The air was still freezing, I just didn''t feel it as I used to.


    Unfortunately, that wouldn''t stop the town guards for arresting me for walking around without a stitch on. That would be exactly what I needed. Escaping slavery only to be arrested and branded again.


    Running back to where my camp used to be, I hunted around and was able to find a few of my furs and my fur cloak. It hung on my like a short cape. My most important bits still hung freely in the wind. I also found my backpack and bow. Unfortunately the bow was broken.


    Using my knife and rope, meant for stringing up the deer, I fashioned a fur skirt out of the scraps. The skirt wouldn''t be showing up in any of the local stores, but it should get him back into the town till he could find something more presentable.


    Tossing his bow into the brush he pulled on his pack and headed back towards town.