《Inhuman》 Prologue: Delicacies Prologue: Delicacies A woman of more than forty springs sat on her knees and prayed. Prayed like she never did before in her life, she cried, she wailed, she filled her ragged dress with tears and snot, but so far, her prayers proved to be as useful as bards on a deer hunt. Hordes of undead came knocking on the small village¡¯s door after the last drunk was passed out in the tavern, not even giving a chance for the guards to ring the alarm bells. She watched in horror from her window what made her bowels lose control, people were dying in the most terrifying of ways, buildings were on fire, even cattle didn¡¯t survive the ordeal, the undead did not spare a single soul, be it a child, an elder or even a dog, nothing was spared, nothing. She plunged back under her window and continued her prayer even louder, she didn¡¯t even dare to open the door to check on her son in the adjacent room, fear just froze her in the moonlit patch under the wooden window. The wooden door of the room bursted open in a splintry explosion, and undead poured in like the river flood, some were even stepping on each in a race to reach her first like she was some kind of luscious undead treat. The elderly woman covered her entire head with her hands like it was a divine form of protection. She kept screaming hysterically until strings of blood slid down from the corner of her mouth, she didn¡¯t even stop even when her screams became hoarse and blood gushed out like fish dancing in a pond. Surprisingly it worked, the undead stood as they were in their graves, they completely stopped moving after backing off to the corners of the room and not even a clank of a single bone was heard. Moments after she realized that an axe didn¡¯t split her face open yet, she slowly withdrew the meat barrier of arms away from her front, only to find a dozen of skeletons and ghouls standing in the corners of the room, making way for the person responsible for reaping the lives of her entire village. Under the moonlight her face shone brightly as she gazed at a naked boy not older than fifteen cycles, looking at her with eyes full of unquenched thirst yet somehow lifeless. his black long hair falling down to his bottom, nearly touching the back of his knees.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The moist cleared from her eyes as the tears dried out, and she saw what drove away the last of her supper away from her stomach, then moved on to her bladder and kicked out whatever resided there as well She recognized the boy, if not from the tail swaying like a charmed snake behind him, or the pair of horns that were curved on his forehead like an alpha bull, it was from his bulging belly, with an opening the shape of a cross going down from his chest to where his pubic hair should be, full of razor teeth sharper than a butcher¡¯s knife and bigger than an archdevil claws. A pair of feet were being grinded down the maw in his middle, she recognized the feet, she used to wash them, take care of the cut on one of their ankles, she breastfed the owner of these feet, she raised him to be a fine young man. The woman finally gave up, she stopped hoping, she stopped praying, she stopped believing that anything could save her from the monstrosity standing before her old creased face. The boy stepped forward, moving up to the woman whose eyes stopped reflecting light the moment she saw him, he extended his long clawed hand and reached out for her face, he brushed across her face until he reached her nose, and softly plucked out a strand of hair with his thin yet slender fingers. He lifted the gray strand to his deep blue eyes, looking at it like it was a long-sought achievement, tilting his head slowly left and right as if he was watching a masterpiece by a long dead artist, then he threw it away with a slight look of disgust. The boy focused back on the woman looking at nothing in particular and slowly wrapped his long tail around her, lifting her up and looking her in the eye. She still had a grain of sense left inside her and looked back at him, her tears have long stopped pouring. She moved her wrinkled lips, revealing lines of a few old crooked teeth and started to speak. ¡°I-I I¡¯m sorr-¡± The boy didn¡¯t want to hear something of it, and shoved her in his bottomless belly, which gladly accepted her and started crushing the old bones of hers. Muffled, hoarse screams of agony could be heard coming out from the room, the undead watching the woman intestines nearly dropping out of the mouth, but a huge bristly tongue came out and saved it from spilling, licking the mouth clean,but in reality smudging it with more blood. The boy didn¡¯t mind the blood, in fact, his mouth opened up in a subtle smile of satisfaction, revealing a pair of sharp fangs that no being should have, he looked down to the mouth and quietly said: ¡°Slower, I want to savor every bit¡± 01: Innocence Lost 01: Innocence Lost One day old Boy It was the year 1990, in a dark corner of a town with a population slightly higher than the hairs on a bald man. In a country that just gave birth to its fifth war in the past twenty years. Drops of heavy rain crashed down on a face that was still pale from its arrival, a baby that whoever delivered it did not bother even biting off the blue umbilical cord. The torn carton of a royal crib did not emit a sound as if its king was dead inside. A nut-sized palm twitched, a golden gleam reflecting the dancing lighting shone momentarily, as a pair of hands plucked out the king away from his damp throne. ¡°Merciful God, how could anyone have the heart to throw away a newborn like that?¡± the old hands held the dripping cloth and held it to her heart, sharing some of its owner''s caring warmth. On a squat ancient building, a rusty bell rang loudly and a worn-out door opened with a creaklouder than the thundering skies. The old hands handed out the cloth as the wrinkled lips spoke and the gray eyes shed tears. Two days old Boy ¡°Is it alive?¡± asked a malnourished man with glasses thicker than his skinny face, sitting behind a decayed iron desk. ¡°Barely! Fever, jaundice, body full of bruises, I give it a week at most¡± replied a man in filthy white coat one could mistake him for a butcher. ¡°And this?¡± the man behind the desk held an object of pure gold in his hand, a coin far from a being a mere coin, like it was minted in heavens, with an opened eye on one side and a sealed one for tails. ¡°No idea, Martha found it in its hand, it took some time to free it from the surprisingly tight grip¡± ¡°I see, you may go¡± grumbled the thin man, rolling the coin between his bony fingers. ¡°Yes Director, have a good day¡± Four years old Boy ¡°Hey Roach, catch!¡± yelled a double-chinned youngster as the yolk of an egg bathed in tufts of a smaller boy dark hair. The boy did not even turn to see who wasted the minutes he spent washing up this morning, all he cared about is the handful of books he was carrying. He ignored¡­ No, he even forgot the bully¡¯s actions, it was a common practice in this shithole anyway, all he wanted is to fly to his flea-ridden mattress and open the gates to magical worlds. It was fortunate that the director of this sorry excuse of an orphanage was an ex-librarian who barely benn able to save a few dozens of books after the public library was bombed years ago. The boy found his only joy in books, after finding out that whoever was young teased or ignored him, and whoever was old feared his terrifying intelligence. He finally went back to his inner sanctum, not even resting from his pilgrimage to the rat-infested shelf that they called a library. With a piece of cloth, he wiped the yolk and with alacrity opened the half-eaten leather cover. His eyes devoured the fantasy, the fantasy of a Hero in shining armor, saving a doomed world from an endless darkness, he rode the light, stroke with justice, and fell in love with the goddess. His blue eyes shone, his lips parted apart, sometimes his skin shuddered, he was in his own perfect world. Then suddenly, the books were no more. Five years old Boy The Boy strolled outside the building, away from whoever compared him to an insect, behind a destroyed building not far from the orphanage, he found a dead mother. His eyes caught movement under the maggots next meal, he extended his small hand and picked a pup of pitch black fur, snatching him away from the dead bitch. The pup lost its energy to even squeak, its belly fat replaced with patterned lines of bones, two tiny white dots indicated that the pup lost the light of his eyes. He raised the sickly pup to his eye level and tilted his head as if he was studying it, awarding himself a lick from a tongue that didn¡¯t taste milk for days. For the first time in his life, the boy fell in love.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He turned away to leave with his new pup, only to find two emerald green eyes peering at what was in his hand. ¡°Can I hold him?¡± A girl with two brown braids swaying around a freckled face beamed with a wide grin, minus a tooth. The boy innocently handed the flea nest to her, spreading her curled lips even wider. ¡°Let¡¯s go find him some milk¡± she cheered energetically, pointing back at their unwelcoming home. Under a faint ray of the setting sun, two small silhouettes crawled under the windows, on their way to a fridge conquered by brown six footed invaders. The two sat down, leaning on the cracked wall, watching as the blind creature use the last of its power to keep clinging to this world. Six years old Boy The boy woke up in a good mood, it was the day he turned six. He strode to get his dose of morning licks of affection from the next building. He was stopped by his only friend in this wretched dwelling, asking him to follow her into her room. Her small freckled arms barely held his present, and with considerable effort, she handed him what was left of the family she never knew. The boy¡¯s eyes widened as they froze at what the girl just passed to him. ¡°Martha said that it was found inside my crib when they picked me up from the rubble¡± her beaming smile filled the boy¡¯s view as he kept switching his eyeballs between her and the book in his hand. And the boy fell in love for the second time They walked back holding hands, and the boy never wanted the moment to end, but winds do not always blow as the ship''s wish. ¡°Hoo?! If it isn¡¯t the cockroach and his girl, come here roach!¡± a voice the boy hoped he¡¯d never hear echoed across the dusty hall. Double the boy¡¯s age, double his size. The leader of the tiny gangsters of the orphanage called out to the boy, and as always, the boy ignored, waiting for the egg to find its target and get on with it. The egg didn¡¯t come, but the leader himself, his stinking breath could be heard as he dragged his lumps of fat across the hall. He towered three heads above the boy, staring him down and ready to strike him at moment¡¯s notice. ¡°You¡¯re deaf Roach? Here, let me fix your ears¡± the boy lifted his arm to smack the boy, but the boy wasn¡¯t alone anymore. ¡°Hey fatty, take your bunch of losers and go elsewhere, it¡¯s his birthday, and you¡¯re ruining it¡± the girl bellowed, her thick brown brows furrowing. ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you, I think your ears needs fixing as well¡± The fat arm jiggled as it flew towards the girl, only to find itself held back by a smaller hand gripping its wrist with strange force. ¡°Why you, let me g- ARGH!¡± the grip tightened like a vice, and the sound of a bone cracking was getting louder, even the boy itself found the strange, his strength wasn¡¯t one of a child¡¯s. The boy let go of the fatty, snatched the girl and fled, he ran away from six pairs of legs trailing them with anger across the empty halls. The pair found a proper hideout, a den with its bear absent, the director¡¯s office, they stayed for hours waiting for the youth storm to calm, until they got bored. A pair of what used to be leather chairs, a desk that used to be green, but now it looked like world map from the rust, and a big framed picture on the wall, of the tyrant ruling this dying country. Curiosity led the boy by the hand to the back of the desk, guiding his blue eyes to a glint coming out of a hole in one of the rust-eaten drawers. He extended his fingers and picked up a golden coin, pocketed it for a reason he could not explain, the boy was not a thief, but he felt like the coin itself refusing to leave his hand. Six years, one day old Boy The boy woke up late after he spent the night submerged in his precious present from a precious person. He quickly washed and opened the door, ready to fight the day, but. The world stopped The heart froze The eyes bulged The knees gave up The blood rushed up The skin went on fire The bowels went out of control Someone left another present on his doorsteps, but this time it was from someone at the end of the long hallway, licking his lips and clapping on his hand with a cleaver, surrounded by eyes glowing in the dark, eyes of devils, devils who didn¡¯t even experience puberty. The boy picked up his present, turned around and closed the door, every cell of his body shaking, his eyes nailed to the head of a friend who wasn¡¯t even a year old. Then the boy was not the boy anymore. Six years, one day, eleven hours old Boy A silhouette one easily could mistake for a ghost. Dead eyes flaring a blue glimmer danced in the darkness. The moon did not even dare to shine that night, tucking itself under the clouds, hiding from the monster in the hallway. The monster entered a room and came out with a canister half its size, it dragged it like predator hiding a prey¡¯s carcass for later use. In a larger room, a fat ridden chest barely moved up and down with a wheeze found itself drenched under a shower of a smelly liquid, it started moving rapidly in a panic, trying its best to wake its owner up, and it surprisingly succeeded. The fat boy rose up like a professional athlete, only to find the monster standing there, motionless, waiting for him to throw the rest of sand away. The monster wanted him fully awake. He wanted to scream but couldn¡¯t. He was choking. He was suffocating. Then a match lit. Then the fat boy finally saw it. He was the true form of the monster. He looked up to see a giant with blue glowing eyes, sharp teeth, claws larger than the cleaver he was holding this morning. The monster¡¯s left hand breathed fire, the right one held the head of a growling beast of nightmares. Fatty didn¡¯t have a chance. Fatty knew, that he will be eaten. He knew he will die. The monster suddenly tilted his head, and with a swipe, the room was lit in a fiery hell, the smell of grilled meat entered the monster¡¯s nostrils, lifting the corners of its mouth up in a twisted smile of satisfaction. Six years, one day, eleven hours, forty-three minutes old Boy The boy walked the burning hallways, paying no mind to the echoing screams or the crumbling building. He simply did not care anymore. The building decided that its time has finally come and started dancing, the choking smoke erupted from the rooms and the flames ran like hungry hounds, biting off whatever survived its brethren. A scream the boy recognized found its way to his ears, he raised his head to see his second love trapped behind a piece of the building. Without giving it much thought, he sprinted, still holding onto the head. He saw the window behind her, he knew that there is a slim chance she¡¯ll survive the fall, but a chance nonetheless. The flames clung to him, he was its creator after all, but he gave it the same treatment as the yolk. He ignored the pain, he ignored his wailing lungs, he only wanted to push his love away from the hell he forged. The building shook more as if it wasn''t entertaining the audience enough with its dance, and a pillar came off the ceiling doing its best to stand between the hero and the goddess, but like the darkness, it failed. The boy put everything he has in his short legs, bringing his burning arm in front of him and jumped forward, he rode the light, he struck with justice, he loved the Goddess who was looking at the incoming ball of fire with eyes of disbelief. With the sound of glass shattering followed by the childish screech, the boy was in peace, he knew his mission was accomplished, for a price. The boy hugged the head, refusing to let go of it as his small body turned into charcoal, smiling as if he was finally¡­ Free. A Dead Boy 02: Welcome to Hell 02: Welcome to Hell. On the shore of a wailing river, a person wearing a black tuxedo sat down behind a desk made of bones, scribbling down with long bone disguising itself as a pen, on a page made from some unfortunate creature''s skin. The red-skinned leaned down to the river and scooped up with his clawed hands, throwing what he fished out in front of the desk. He scrambled his red, vertical pupils in excitement, examining the charred body of a boy standing in front of his desk. ¡°Oho! How long has it been since I had a visit from a child, today is a good day indeed¡±he bleated with excitement before he turned a page and started scribbling. ¡°So, you took out eighty-four lives, including yours. Kiddo, that¡¯s ballsy, I like it¡± The man closed the book with a bang before continuing. ¡°Welcome to hell kid, I hope you find the place to your liking. As for you, heavens are this way, take the second right after the women with burning tits at the end of this road, a ferryman will take you to the silver gates¡± the man¡¯s eyes twitched as he pointed out in the opposite direction. ¡°What?¡± the boy questioned in confusion. ¡°I wasn¡¯t speaking to you, kiddo¡± The man pointed with his crimson goatee, and from behind the boy, a majestic huge Wolf with black shining fur emerged. The boy¡¯s eyes widened as his words held prisoners behind the bars of his burnt mouth. A growl found itself shielding the boy from the devil in style behind the desk, who¡¯s, in turn, let out a defeated sigh, red smoke coming out from behind his sharp teeth. He scratched his horns and fixed his small round glasses, he looked back at the wolf towering above the boy with a twisted smirk. ¡°Suite yourself, hell won¡¯t say no, hell is very, very generous¡± spat the man with a devilish chuckle.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°However, this is a ticket for one, have fun there you both¡± the devil took out a worn-out piece of bloody cloth and tossed it to the boy who picked it up with his one good arm. "Go, this way, right behind that black tree, you will find a boat waiting for you" the devil gave instruction and went back to his busy work, but the boy didn''t move. "What?" the devil jeered. "The girl!" the boy asked with defiance. "You are going to hell boy, and you''re asking about some girl?, you have way more thn a girl to worry about now, go away you little shit, shoo, shoo!" But the boy didn''t move "Why the fuck are you still standing for?" the devil barked, veins of anger popping out under his horns like popcorn. "The girl!" the boy repeated. the devil roared in anger, a pair of red wings spread across his back, his horns grew as his voice echoed across the palce, muting the wailing river of souls for a few good moments. But the boy didn''t move, his eyes fixed on the devils''s mouth, waiting patiently for an answer. "She lives!" the devil let out a sigh of defeat, taking back his original form of a well dressed man. "Thank you" the boy mumbled, his blood shot eyes shaking from joy, not even thinking about the upcoming eternal agony. ¡°Now scam!¡± the devil snapped his fingers, and went back to his ledgers, adding the soul he just fused to the list.
A lone decaying boat floated above a river of boiling blood, at one end of the boat stood a small boy holding his open guts, staring down the faceless ferryman slowly rowing, masterfully avoiding the floating skulls in the river. ¡°Stop!¡± the boy ordered, but the faceless one paid no mind. ¡°Stop!¡± the boy repeated, but the captain of the small ship had the higher authority. ¡°STOP!¡± the boy snapped, extending his shining palm, finally pulling the featureless head in his direction. The boat paused its journey, resting beside a red skull twice its size, and the ferryman jerked himself to the golden shine and gesture to the boy to hand him the coin. The man took the coin and studied it with his eyeless face. A rotten thumb flung the coin up with an uppercut, allowing the final spin of its golden life. The coin flip ended between the man¡¯s palms, he removed the upper palm to reveal ashining eye gazing upon his faceless figure, ordering him to obey the rule set since the beginning of creation. The man nodded to the boy, a whirlpool developed beside the boat, the boy looked at the Whirlpool in confusion, then at the incoming hand pushing him away from the from the boat into the bottomless bloody pit. Our boy fell off, our boy disappeared under the whirling blood. The ferryman opened his palm, watching the coin disintegrate into golden particles, then took out the bloodied cloth he took earlier from the boy, a cloth used as an entrance ticket to fiery gates of hell, and tossed it in the river. He went back to his bony oar, wondering why the boy did not want to go back home. 03: The Hunger 03: The Hunger A rogue weed perished as it left the only home it knew, joining its dead brethren in an old basket as a young widow wiped the last droplet on her forehead. ¡°Lea, let''s go wash up¡± her friend and senior called out. The old friends left the fields, taking their usual route to the lake, where they washed up and emptied their bowls in the privacy of the bushes, a lake that was the resting stop before the next round of fieldwork. Leanora lost her husband to a monster attack a few years ago, not long after losing her unborn child to the cruelty of fate. She worked in one of the fields of a local noble, barely able toput food on her table and cloth on her voluptuousbody. Many men approached her afterthe husband departed, drooling over the alluring beauty of their small village, but she turned every single one down, even her friend''s husband, who wanted to warm both sides of his bed. Polygamy was as common as dirt in this world. Men lost their lives every day, either from their forced conscription into a neverending war or the lack of medicine and healing in a life of severe poverty. Lea and her friend Mona strolled the road made by their daily visits, and it wasn¡¯t long until the lake filled their views, welcoming them like a royal inn. The butler of a tree branch held their dirty gowns as the two naked women dipped into the refreshingly cool water ¡°Lea, look! Something¡¯s floating over there!¡± The older woman called out to the beautiful green eyes to follow her thirty-sixyears old finger. Under the playful sun beams, the woman swam to the middle of the lake, curious about the small figure floating on its back. ¡°Mona, it¡¯s a boy!¡± clamored Lea in disbelief, gazing upon a small child not older than six gawking at the sky. Blue eyes deeper than the oceans, hair darker than the night sky, skin fairer than a newborn. A beautiful boy floated gracefully above the crystal waters of the lake. ¡°Lea, something wrong with hi-, LEA RUN!, THAT¡¯S NO BOY, IT¡¯S A DEMON¡± the older woman backed off with a panic after studying the boy for a few seconds, but she stopped as she noticed her friend not moving, mesmerized by the boy, her eyes not leaving his small body. But the green eyes left out the boy¡¯s barely noticeable features, she missed the small bones popping out above his eyebrows, his small wiggling tail swaying slowly underwater, she missed the thin, jagged lines, the shape of a cross decorating his small belly. ¡°Lea? ¡­ LEA?¡± Mona cried at the hypnotized Lea, begging her to leave the water and run away as far as possible and never come back. She carefully lifted the boy between her arms, indicating that the creature was as harmless as a, little boy.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Lea, what are you doing? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to¡­¡± ¡°Noa¡± she exhaled, granting him the name that belonged to the lifeless chunk of meat she once bore. ¡°Have you lost you mind Leanora, can''t you see him? He looks like an imp¡± the shocked woman hissed, trying to bring her friend back to her senses. The boy filtered the name out of the language he didn¡¯t comprehend, his wondering blue eyes moved to meet the warm green ones.
It was minutes past midnight, in a ruined shack of wood and straw, a woman sat with unparalleled joy as she watched a small boy devour her tasteless vegetable soup like it was his last meal. She did not speak, she just kept smiling at him. Her throat was still sore from spending the last few hours snatching away a promise of secrecy from an old friend. A large woolen hat covered the boy¡¯s head, a loose old gown of hers hid his small tail and the outlandish lines on his abdomen. The boy finished his long feast, she held him and tucked him into her warm chest, covered him with her long, blond hair. And hugged him tightly on a bed that barely could fit a goat. The woman finally closed her eyes finally calling it a night after planting a motherly kiss on his forehead. ¡°Good night, dear Noa¡± she murmured before delving into the vast lands of dreams. The boy raised his head and looked at the sleeping face, the motherly smile, the unconditional love. The boy fell in love for the third time, and the last time.
Days passed, and Lea found herself some extra shifts to keep up with the unusual appetite of the boy, who¡¯s strangely was getting thinner with every passing day. The boy quickly picked up the language, able to understand even the most complex of sentences. Leanora was amazed at her son¡¯s astonishing intelligence. Not a word left the boy¡¯s mouth for a year until the fateful day came,when Lea saved enough coppers to pay a passing caravan for something she didn¡¯t imagine to change her own life. She darted to her shack and approached her boy, hands behind her back. ¡°Noa, close your eyes¡± and the boy obeyed. ¡°Now, open them¡± and the boy''s heart shone like the north star, he saw adventure, he saw knowledge, he saw happiness, he saw a book. Like most peasants, Leanora could not read, but she had immense faith in her son, his understanding, his acumen, his intelligence. She wanted him to read, she wanted him to learn and grow to be the best man he can, she wanted him out of this small village into the heart of the kingdom, and maybe, just maybe, drag her old body along with him. What she didn¡¯t know, that the boy, still frozen in place before her, cherished what she just gave him above everything in the world, with the exception of herself. The boy finally put down his treasure, spread his arms and squeezed his mother, his lips parted into the first words he spoke in this world. ¡°Thanks Mama¡± the words quickly left his mouth, before he turned around and picked his book, leaving the woman with two lines of tears running down her red cheeks, salting out her red lips like seawater. The boy ran to the small bed and opened the book, but all he saw was symbols he didn¡¯t understand, written with fading ink on decayed paper, but the boy relented not, and over the span of a few weeks, he took notes, he separated, he compared, he learned the language. The boy could write. Too bad no one in this remote village could do the same. The boy grew, so did the work shifts. Lea hardly could keep up with the boy''s appetite, resulting in leaving the boy in the shack from dusk till dawn, but she left him with his friend, a friend he told her his name was ¡°An intro to the inner flow of mana¡±.
Three years went by like a breeze, the mother couldn¡¯t keep up, and the child didn¡¯t mind the slightest, despite his constant unquenched hunger. The boy was now nothing but skin and bone despite eating as much as five grown men, the wool on his head pierced by two small horns, his ever growing tail slithering under his gown, but the boy hid well from eyes. Lea was in the fields, and the boy woke up to a whimper coming out of him, at first he thought it was his usual grumbling belly, but the whimpering grew louder. Noa lifted the gown, and the shock wasn¡¯t little, the cross was open, revealing four sets of toothless baby gums. The boy panicked but steeled himself, trying to touch whatever was inside of him. A small but long tongue shot forth at his hand, giving him a lick that was forgotten, the boy lifted his hand, the boy smelled the familiar saliva, the boy recognized the long lost love. 04: Flames of Jealousy 04: Flames of Jealousy The sun ran away quickly, the boy, along with the reason he turned as thin as a twig waited patiently for the tired mother, and the mother finally knocked. On their table the family of two sat, eating their usual tasteless vegetable soup that the boy loved. The boy hid his secret well, as well as the smart maw in his torso. Lea was tired from working all day long, so she hastily finished her small bowl and braced herself to hug her boy to sleep which somehow eased her physical pain. The door knocked furiously. Lea hid the boy under the small bed. The weak wood eventually gave up and the door busted open. Revealing a staggering man reeking of liquor. A man who openly liked the mother for years, a drunk who intentionally lost the way home to his wife and son. It was Mona¡¯s husband, a jobless man with a severe ale addiction. ¡°H-h-hey beautiful *hic*, you look a-ammm-a-zing *hic* ttonnight, C-come hheerree¡± the man staggered to the shocked widow, flailing the hand that wasn¡¯t holding the wooden bottle, trying to grab whatever his dirty paw found on the shaking Lea. The boy started moving, waving the small sharp bone on the tip of his tail rapidly, but the mother turned her head, gesturing that the boy stays where he was. The man stumbled on his own foot, trying his best to balance his heavy legs, the man fell, under him, a whimpering widow still refusing to make a scene, still protecting what¡¯s under her bed. A filthy breath that reeked of alcohol entered her nostrils, tears flowed on her rose burning cheeks, and the boy could watch no more. ¡°Noa, no¡± she whimpered but the boy ignored. The boy moved, tail forward pointing like a dagger, aiming for the neck, knowledge of anatomy still resided in the vast brain of his, the mother begged the man with tears, begged the man to preserve his own life. ¡°GET UP, AWAY FROM THAT SKUNK YOU FILTHY BASTARD!¡± a cry that stopped the movement of everyone present in the shack echoed, the boy looked up to see the older woman. A mole the size of his thumb decorated her large nose, and a lonely, ugly black hair strand sat on top, giving her an impression of the evil witches he once read about. ¡°GET UP!¡± The woman grabbed the drunk by the collar, nearly choking him, then dragged him with great strength toward the exit. ¡°And you, you husband-thieving whore, I will deal with you later, along with that d-demon you¡¯re calling a son¡± the woman spat and gave the boy a look of disgust before slamming what remained of the door, making it completely crumble. Lea went back up on her knees, shivering like a wet animal, her eyes tearing like a waterfall. Her face suddenly hit a warm chest, the maw was considerate enough to seal off completely, and Leaora finally let it go, easing her pain on the boy''s beating heart. That night, loud sobbing could be heard coming out of a small shack in the middle of a small village, the sobs that washed away her sadness. From the night on, old friends, were not friends anymore.
Days passed, Lea got better, Noa got thinner. It was a day the whole village waited for years, it was the only form of festivity this small community had. The harvest day, a celebration that happened every five years, where the woman covered themselves with cheap, handmade accessories, children wore colorful cloth and the men bathed in ale. A gesture of kindness from the local slavers, or Barons as the peasants called them, they spent a few scraps of gold to allow their peasants a few hours of joy every five years, celebrating the harvest, sharing stories, and trading their goods for a few coppers. Leanora made the decision, the boy had to see the world, the boy had to be happy. Her heart was torn for the imprisoned Noa. she saved and saved, and bought a beautiful, colorful gown with a large head cover to keep her boy¡¯s identity a secret, under the excuse that the boy was sick. Lea truly loved the boy and wanted him happy. The boy, however, didn¡¯t mind anything, he didn¡¯t mind staying home, even if he died from starvation, he fed on her love to him, love of a mother that he never experienced before, but he didn¡¯t mind seeing the world either. Lea and small collection of the colorful clothes holding her hand walked the muddy streets, their heads turning left and right with beaming smiles, this year¡¯s festival was almost the same as the previous one with the exception of a new guest, a guest Lea never expected to show up in this far corner of the continent. She saw the holy man in his luxurious white robe with lines made of pure gold, followed by an entire battalion of guards in plate armor.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Lea held the boy¡¯s hand tighter and turned around to leave, only to see the last person she wanted to meet at this moment, Mona¡¯s man. ¡°H-hey beaattttffu-. Where you g-goin *hic* ?¡± She hastily turned and chose another route, a more crowded one but safer, away from troubles, not aware of a pair of furious eyes, burning under an ugly mole on a large nose. She finally was away enough to start enjoying the festival with her boy, they joined a circle of people dancing and singing, the boy was happy, the mother was happy, until an ugly, wrinkled hand landed on her shoulder. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to stay away from my husband, you fucking whore?¡± *SLAP* The green eyes widened as the hand held the reddening cheeks, the boy hissed in anger, followed by a growl from an unknown source inside him. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that I will pay you back, along with the demon you''re living with?¡± the poisonous tongue of Mona spat. ¡°My son is no demon¡± Lea defended as she wiped her tears, steeling herself and spat back at the old hag. ¡°Yea? Then what is this?¡± said Mona as she grabbed the boy and started taking off the happy colors. ¡°GET YOUR HAND OFF OF HIM¡± Lea jumped her ex-friend, grabbing her by the hair, both fell down, but the hag finished the job and fell down with the cloth in her hand. Eyes stared as a pair of curved horns emerged under the deadly silence, which in turn, like the boy¡¯s happiness, did not last long. ¡°What do we have here¡± a calm yet imposing voice echoed, everyone made way to reveal a blond man so pale one would think he was made of wax. The man approached, looked down the boy, and smiled. ¡°Demon you say, interesting¡± the man calmly stated as he made a finger gesture, a second later a guard was holding the screaming boy looking at his mother kissing the inquisitors feet, begging him to believe that his body is a mere birth defection. The guard stripped the boy clean, and the maw was smart enough to keep shut, but it was in vain. ¡°Horns and a tail, if that¡¯s not a demon then what?¡± the inquisitor joyfully spoke before kicking the peasant dirtying his shiny boot with her muddy tears. The pale inquisitor cried with a mad laugh. Then his face changed quickly as it twisted. ¡°DEAREST VILLAGERS, DO YOU! BY ANY CHANCE! ALSO, THINK THAT THIS BOY IS NOT A SPAWN OF HELL?¡± his eye widened unnaturally, his irises diluted, giving him a look that made some of the present children run to their mothers crying. ¡°No¡± ¡°Demon¡± ¡°Kill the demon¡± ¡°Save us, great lord¡± The man¡¯s face returned to normal, he looked down the weeping woman under his feet then at the so called, demon, then at the surrounding peasants. ¡°The night is nigh! Don¡¯t you all think it is a bit cold here? Why don¡¯t we have a ¡­ little heat¡± ¡°YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!¡± the crowd cheered, not minding some tiny action in their dull lives. The boy¡¯s heart sank to his legs and started beating like a broken pendulum. On a wooden stake, a naked woman was tied, hands behind a fair piece of pine, tied to her was a small demon, his tail swiping furiously, try to cut anyone who entered its premises The woman¡¯s face was swollen blue from the hard beating she just received, her tear ducts stopped working a while ago, her eyes locked to the demon tied to her chest with a look of pure sorrow. Men and women looked in awe as the demon kept screaming and wiggling, the inquisitor watching with a mad gleam in his eyes. Then the wax man nodded, and suddenly¡­ warmth. The mother and child were surrounded by fire, the boy looked down and saw the flames open its mouth and eat his dazed mother¡¯s feet. And the flames went up Then the boy grimaced Then the fire was at her waist Then the woman went conscious Then the fire went up Then the woman looked her son in the eyes ¡°I¡¯m sorry Noa, I love you, my baby¡± Then the fire went up Then the boy looked at his mother in the eyes ¡°I love you too mom¡± Then the boy hugged her tight, he didn;t know what to do, after all, the boy was just, a boy Then her tears fell on the boy¡¯s face Then the fire went up Then her soul left the charred body Then for the first time in the boy¡¯s life, in fact, in both his lives,The boy shed tears, he cried from the bottom of his soul. The boy''s heart died The boy¡¯s soul tainted The boy¡¯s light perished The boy¡¯s innocence, again, was lost for a last and final time. The boy expected to open his eyes to the stylish devil, but all he got was a voice ringing in his head ¡°The fires likes, the fires wrong you no more, for you are now a friend of the fires¡± And the boy''s vision went dark
The moon wiped its tears and went to bed, and the shy sun slowly knocked on the world¡¯s door. In the large black patch in the middle of the village, from under the ashes, a hand emerged, the black burnt skin covering the untouched meat. A black figure silently stood up monotonously, looking down beneath its feet. The figure moved a few steps beside the ashes, up to a guard who lost his battle with ale, a small hand of black and red reached out for the guard¡¯s coin pouch, alerting the sleeping man. The guard¡¯s eyes shot open, only to lose its light as a sharp bone installed itself inside the guard¡¯s throat. A boy with charcoal skin stood up from a crouching position, cleaning the blood on his tail with a quick lash to the air. The boy emptied the already empty pouch, and walked back to the black patch and bent down, collecting ashes in his newly acclaimed pouch, ashes, of his last love. The sun finally had permission drop the first of its rays on the land, as the shaking forest welcomed its newcomer with fear. On that day, the boy died again, and a true monster was born, a monster that eventually engulfed the entire world in fire, all for the sake of one dead peasant widow in some remote village. 05: Whispers of Change 05: Whispers of Power The twigs crushed under his bare feet, the leaves spread out, making way for his royal entrance, the birds stopped singing, the beasts daren¡¯t howl in his presence. The boy entered the forest, aimlessly wandering between the trees, his mind was as healthy as his charred skin. His steps getting heavier, the boy was tired, the boy was hungry. Hunger won over the boy, and the boy closed his eyes and surrendered himself to the land of dreams. A growl followed by a whimper woke the boy up, his stomach tearing itself up from hunger. He groggily walked to a nearby pond, cupping water with his hand, gulping like a cactus in the rain, the long tongue of the maw also helped itself, a tongue came out from inside the boy and started picking up water like a dog, giving them a surreal image that could drive a man to madness. Beneath the boy, A croak caught his attention, the boy looked down to see a green frog with a spotted tail, not minding anything around it, croaking loudly, probably looking for a mate. The boy picked up the frog to his eye level, carrying it like a precious pet, or a burger. In one bite, the frog¡¯s head found itself crushed between the boy¡¯s molars. So bitter the boy tasted, so better that he couldn¡¯t finish the creature, but the maw happily accepted the rest of the cat-sized toad. The boy kept wandering, trying to find a source of food to quench his ever-growing hunger, but suddenly he found himself on his knees, the flesh under his burnt skin more painful than the last two times, yet the flames were innocent, nowhere to be found. Droplets of sweat formed on every inch of the boy body, he felt hot as a cinder yet cold as an iceberg. The boy shivered as pain soared all over his body, blood pouring out of his mouth, ears, and even eyes. What the boy didn¡¯t know, is that he just ingested the entire poison gland of a Kurshi Toad, one of the most poisonous creatures of this forsaken forest. His eyes were closing slowly, the boy knew he was dying, the boy knew he made a mistake, but the eyes shut to a whisper the boy thought it was just a death hallucination ¡°The poisons were curious, the poisons shall not harm, but make a home out of its curiosity¡±.
Gold coins jingled in harmony as they hit a table, it was a large sum, large enough for the old couple sitting across the table to buy themselves a horse cart, maybe a tiny piece of land from the Baron or a new house. The couple weren¡¯t happy, their faces blackened with regret and sorrow. The husband looked at his wife barely holding her tears, then back at where their son slept, reminding her of the reason they agreed to do what they did few days ago. Across the table, a man of otherworldly business attire sat, holding the ornamented coin pouch with two fingers, slowly pouring out the promised sum, humming a song in a language unknown to the peasants before his black eyes. The man looked happy, way too happy for the death of a mere peasant. He finished counting the gold with joyful spin. ¡°Fifty shiny gold, as promised, thank you for your business Mona, Hurmad. Now, excuse me, I have other matters to attend to¡± The man fixed his small glasses ¡°don¡¯t be so grim, you can now buy the horse cart, a new house instead of this shitty cottage? Maybe move out to the city? You two should be happy, you just gave your son a brighter future ¡°The man cheered as he walked up to the door and disappeared in the shadow of the night, leaving the speechless couple staring at the small mound of gold on their worn-out table. As soon as the man left the premises of the village unseen. The joy on his face did not change as his bones started to crack, a pair of black wings sprouted out of his back. The man, still humming, jumped and pushed back with his large wings, heading towards a volcano in the far horizon. A grin of satisfaction spread across his face, he had the right to be happy, the first phase of his plan worked out flawlessly.
Under racing clouds on a starry night, the blue eyes opened, and the boy found himself lying down under the shade of tree so large it covered tens of meters wide with its trunk.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Groggily the boy stood, subconsciously heading towards where his ears picked the faint sound of water. Beside silvery running river under the moonlight, the boy mindlessly killed his thirst, fed on wild berries, and wandered more until he found a small caving in a small pocket inside a hill near the river. And the days passed For a year, the cavern was the boy¡¯s home. The boy grew, living on fruits and small game, even dead ones which the jaw certainly did not mind. The boy learned more about his unnatural body, his tail grew even longer than meter and a half self, his horns turned thicker, and the jaws inside his torso also grew, its teeth became sharper and more intimidating, A day came when the boy was taking a stroll after hunting a deer twice his size, dragging it on a wooden sledge, one of many primitive tools the boy created over the past few months. The boy stopped at the sight of men, human beings that were lying motionlessly on the dead leaves, their bodies were void of any sort of liquids and covered in some slimy substance as if something just spat them out. He crouched down and scooped some of the sticky goo on one of the corpses, he smelled it and instantly knew what it belonged to, he stood up fully prepared to run away from this scene as far as possible, but it was too late. The boy, Noa as his mother named him, turned around to see the creature that just spat out a dozen of men behind him, the Maoa Crusher Python. Noa¡¯s eyes darted to its surroundings, looking for a way out, the creature slithering closer and closer after sensing his heat. Big as a horse, long as nine of them back to back, the Python slid to the boy as a speed the boy barely could react to, he jumped away from the pile of muscles wanting to coil around his tiny body. The boy ran at full speed, using his tail to balance his sharp turns. He didn¡¯t sense the snake behind him anymore. He stopped to catch his breath. Feeling somehow safe as he ran a great distance away from the monster, but the boy forgot something important, the reason why the Maoa Crusher Python was one of the few apex predators of this forest, the creature could burrow and move beneath the land. Under the boy¡¯s feet, the earth split open, revealing a jawless, fangless mouth larger than the small town¡¯s gate, and in one single gulp, the boy disappeared.
The boy slid down into the abyss of the snake''s body and stuck between walls of muscles. His bones cracked, his skin tore, making way for his blood to gush out, feeding the creature along with his bodily fluids. ¡°Whoever dares to attack the home of the Poisons shall be punished¡± ¡°Resilience is a virtue, and thus, you shall be awarded¡± Near a small hillside, far away from the boy¡¯s home, a dust storm settled, revealing a python twitching it¡¯s last before stopping completely, its eyes nothing but bloody marbles, its large mouth served as the base of a blood valve, gushing out the red liquid in all directions before it settled. A bulge in the python¡¯s mid-section twitched, then the skin started to peel, revealing dagger-like teeth tearing its way out of the body. The boy emerged, unmoving, bloody, near-death, most of his bones crushed, but the light in his eyes shining brightly, as if he was defying the will of the god of death himself. In a few hours, the snake was no more, the last piece of it being grinded inside the maw, the boy¡¯s wounds were closing, his bones mending. "The Mother said. Eat¡­ Eat and grow my dear child ¡­ and the child ate, and the child grew, grew to devour the world itself" The boy stood, bulkier, his muscles bigger and more defined, but what stood out the most was his tail, it was thicker and full of pure muscle, the bone at its tip constantly dripping purple liquid that hissed whenever it touched something. He shook off the confusion and moved on, thinking about what saved him from certain death inside the monster, thinking that the voice he keeps hearing whispering inside is head is somehow relative to him still breathing, relative to him feeling immense power coming out from his five limbs. A cave entrance filled the boy''s vision after several hours of walking. Hiding inside a large bush, the boy watched as two carriages pulled by some skeletal monster stopped at the entrance, five robed figures came out of the first one. The uncovered second carriage was filled with sacks that contained something that Noa identified as humanoid beings, some were wiggling while some remained motionless as some people came out of the cave and carried them inside. Rancid smell hit the boy¡¯s nostrils as he snuck into the cave, torches barely lighting the rocky hallways as the boy crawled in the dark, his endless hunger driving him to find whatever these hooded men used for nourishment, but the boy stopped! Stopped at a scene that instantly made him decide that this cave, has to be his new home.
In one of the rooms past the hallways, a robed man peeled his sleeves and dipped his hand in an open stomach of a corpse, taking out whatever his palm caught and carefully dipping it in some yellowish transparent liquid, and neatly putting the jar near its brethren, under a large shelf of books the boy''s eyes didn''t leave for a while. The man took off his thin leather gloves and gently swatted away his sweat, admiring his nearly perfect work. He called it a day and turned away to leave the room, it was a long day and he needed much rest for the ritual tomorrow. As soon as he turned, his eyes met with another deep blue pair, the man opened his mouth to chant a spell, but words stubbornly refused to come out, his vocal cords were swiftly sliced with a tail swipe from the demon standing before him. The man fell on his knees, his eyes still locked to the demon¡¯s, and before his soul leave its body, a tail coiled around the man and shoved it inside the demon¡¯s body. Only crunching sounds could be heard coming out of the room. A sound that everybody in the cavern was used to from their daily necromantic experiments. 06: Grimoire 06: The Grimoire ¡°What do you mean they didn¡¯t return yet? I was told that they were sent on an easy mission, just a fool of a Necromancer raising a couple of skeletons in the Maoa forest¡± A tall, well-built man with an eyepatch spoke to a dwarf half his size standing behind a counter, a silver plate hung on his wide chest with ¡°Hunters guild representative¡± engraved. ¡°The forest is a two-week trip from here Mr. Shnoot, and I¡¯m pretty sure they will be fine, they were accompanied by Zyona Redmane after all, she one of the top B grade adventurers in the city, you know her well, right?¡± the dwarf jokingly winked at the man, who in turn, actually knew Zyona very well, she was the reason he stormed into the guild in the first place. ¡°Two more days, if they do not show up, I will be going there myself,¡± the big man palms slapped the wood of the counter. ¡°And if something happened to her, if you gave her false information, I swear by the gods of the light, this guild will burn¡± The old dwarf just snorted and turned back to some desk work, ignoring the ex-silver A rank red-haired adventurer bawling before him. ¡°Mary, take my place for a second¡± the dwarf shouted at a backroom, not bothering to look at the fuming Redmane before him. The back door of the guild opened and the dwarf emerged with quick, stumpy steps, covering himself completely with a cape, like he was hiding from the air itself, or maybe just hiding the numerous tattoos that started to glow on his chest and arms, tattoos of pickaxes that was dormant for hundreds of years he forgot he even had them.
He stroked his long gray beard as he put down a book back on its pedestal with utmost care, he just received a whisper in the wind from one of his apprentices, their lair was under attack by a demon. The man clenched his fist then released it, revealing a tiny eyeball emitting black smoke. ¡°Go, show me what happened¡± the man calmly ordered the eyeball, releasing it to float out of the room that hosted the cult¡¯s ultimate treasure. He sat back in his wooden chair which he didn¡¯t leave for months, the man¡¯s legs gave up on him decades ago. Nearby, muffled screams could be heard every few minutes, one by one, the necromancers were ambushed by a small demon who just finished off his twelfth victim
The demon snuffed the last of the torches as he entered a room with a rancid smell that would put a manure to shame, it was the necromancers warehouse, where they stored raw materials, be it fresh or rotten, moving or not, everything was stored here for later use. The warehouse was empty of the robed men, the two who were guarding it laid with holes in the back of their brains. Tens of corpses hung from the ceiling, some were so fresh their muscles were still twitching, the demon walked, his feet leading him to the nearest living thing, he wanted the place for himself, so he needed to clean up the owners. ¡°Please!¡± A faint wheeze found its way the boy¡¯s ears. The demon followed the sound, and turned to find a woman, bruised from her missing toes to the tips of her red hair, she was hung upside down, her eye sockets still bleeding, it seemed that someone forcefully took the eyes out in a hurry. He looked at her body, under the numerous cuts and dark patches, layers of lean muscles and old scars could be found, the woman was some sort of a warrior before. ¡°Pleasss..¡± the little power she had escaped before she finished her sentence.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Two naked bodies started to one another, one belonged to a woman few breaths away from death, the other belonged to the young demon who brutally killed most of the dwellers of this lair. The boy stepped closer to the woman curious about the cuts on her body, few rot marks caught his attention, the skin was black as if that this particular patch belonged to a mummy. ¡°Please¡± she found some energy to repeat the plea, only to find total ignorance from the demon, who just poked her body, trying to figure out what kind of magic was able to wither the flesh like that. He just read one book about basic magic, he had little understanding of how it works, and this piece of flesh before him was clearly touched by magic. The demon took his time despite the woman pleas, clearly urging him to save her from the slow death, asking for a faster one, she tried to find any kindness in the heart of figure she sensed entering the room, but his heart was nothing but a pile of ash in a small pouch on his neck. He turned to leave, the woman gave up with her pleas, but his feet stopped to a sound of a whimpering animal. ¡°You hungry?¡± he asked and got another disagreeing whimper as an answer. ¡°Fine¡± he annoyingly sighed, and without looking back at the woman hanging upside down behind him, swiped his tail. Her head fell off with a clean cut, that only an enchanted sword could make, agony left her face, leaving only a featureless yet relaxed face. ¡°Happy now?¡± The demon shrugged with raised eyebrows, looking down at the midsection of his own body. ¡°Woof!¡± He got half a reply, the other half was in the form of a tongue shooting out from where his abdomen should be and licking his face profusely, of which the demon didn¡¯t seem to mind.
The demon kept wandering into the lair, stealthy killing weak men in tattered robes, he wanted to clean up his new home as soon as possible, then sit down and flip the pages his spoils in peace. He finally found the last of the rooms after sweeping the whole cavern system, a short, hooded man stood at the end of the room, his back to the demon, begging to join his colleagues, at least that was what tickled the demon¡¯s mind. ¡°Thirty-one men, years of research, a home of knowledge, and you just stepped on that like you have no care in the world¡± the figure spoke as he turned around to face the demon, but in fact, this was no demon, he was but a mere boy, who just tilted his head at the babbling ancient man. ¡°Tell me you piece of filth, which level of hell spewed you? Who made a contract with you?¡± the man calmly spat at the boy for an answer he didn¡¯t expect to get, and the boy wasn¡¯t interested in a chatter anyway. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s send you back to where you belong¡± the man raised his arm and started chanting, but the boy wasted no time and darted at the man. Before he could reach him, the man finished his incantation, a fifty or so arms sprouted beneath the boy, grabbing his legs like a child holding his mother¡¯s. The hands were black from rot, a rot that started touching the boy, spreading slowly from his feet to the shins. ¡°Now, what¡¯s that on your neck? A talisman?¡± the man asked as he approached the squirming boy, a longer hand emerged from below and snatched away the pouch from the boy¡¯s neck, which seemed to have enraged him, indicated by his tail swinging at the old man. ¡°I sense no mana from this ash, why would I demon carry some ash?¡± the man asked as he sprinkled the boy¡¯s mother in the air, which made the boy stop completely, his blue eyes darkened, and the maw opened to the maximum, revealing an endless hell decorated by countless teeth,even the necromancer took back a few steps, droplets of cold sweat forming all over his old body. ¡°Be careful not to stir the ashes, a lid to the seven hells below¡± *ROOOOOOOAAAAARRRR* A deafening roar shook the cave throwing the man back into the pedestal, his knees nearly gave up from fear, but years of experience helped it back up. ¡°T-Time to throw you back at the hell that bore you, you f-filth¡± the man nervously waved his hand, and the rot started moving rapidly, reaching the boy¡¯s knees without any signs of stopping. What the man didn¡¯t know, is what stood before him, unmoving, blackening legs, an open hell mouth with an ear shattering roar, was someone who already rejected hell, and that ash he just wasted, was the only and the most precious item the boy had on him. *ROOOOOOOAAAAARRRR* The man fell on his knees, directing all his mana to the hands grabbing the boy, his instinct screamed to run, but the man was a prisoner of his own crippled legs. ¡°Marvelous¡± ¡°Truly marvelous¡± ¡°What a beautiful smell¡± ¡°Yes, this mana smells so nice¡± ¡°Shut up you all, let me enjoy¡± ¡°Come here boy...¡± ¡°You shut up!¡± ¡°I¡¯m thirsty.¡± ¡°Look the boy is cutting his own legs¡± ¡°Hahaha, what a funny boy¡± ¡°Who¡¯s that boy?¡± ¡°He looks exactly like...¡± Voices came from behind the man, Voices the man and his cult worked day and night for thousands of years to hear a word from, but every single attempt to please the book made from what seemed to be human skin, failed. The leather on the book twisted and turned, forming faces, tens, hundreds, thousands of faces, appearing and disappearing, smiling, frowning, moving under the skin of the book. The gray eyes of the old necromancer bulged as utter shock took over him, looking at the babbling book, and the faces moving about under its covers with dropped jaw, not sure if he¡¯s dreaming or this is his reality, his goal in life was finally achived, the book awakened. ¡°F-finally.¡± The man hissed as tears flowed from his eyes before calling out the book¡¯s name. ¡°The Necronomicon¡± 07: Birth of War 07: Birth of War Commandment One: No matter the sacrifice, you are to fill it with enough souls in hope for its awakening. Commandment Two: if it did not awaken in your time, you are to pass these commandments to next keeper. Commandment Three: you are not to leave the sanctuary as long as it stays dormant. Commandment Four: when it awakens, you are to work from the shadows, Hades would not treat whoever stole one of his toys kindly. Commandment Five: when it awakens, whatever the cost, you will never open it. Commandment Six: When it awakens, your life, our lives, is finally complete.
His thin, old fingers folded the ancient paper and placed it back into the folds of some old dusty books. He read the paper every day to remind himself of what was passed for hundreds of generations. The leader of the Koravh¡¯a cult, an ancient covenant that its founder was able to venture to the underworld and boldly steal from its king, some dark wind entered his room, where he kept the pillar of which his forefather¡¯s lives were spent guarding it, the book of souls, the Necronomicon. Air entered his large ears and whispered of an intruder, a small demon that was probably the result of a failed summoning ritual, the old man didn¡¯t care, he was strong enough even to take on an adult demon. He summoned the [Eye of the watcher] a basic necromancy skill that temporarily shut off one of his eyes, sending it a few hundred meters for scouting purposes. He saw his students, his acolytes murdered one by one, the demon was as stealthy as a rat, snuffing the lives of the unsuspecting cultists like fire from candles. The small demon was finally here, naked as the day whatever hell spew him out, except for a pouch he wore as a necklace. He looked exactly like a human child, but the horns and tail gave him away, it made the old necromancer wonder if he was a hybrid or even a new form of infiltration demons. His old lips parted to speak to the demon, but the demon kept quiet, so the man just moved on the undo the abomination that killed all his fellows. A simple [Dark binding] did the trick and the demon was bound, decay moving slowly but surely from his feet on to his heart. The man just moved to his and snatched the pouch from his neck only to find some ash of which he threw like it¡¯s nothing, having no idea what it represented to the small demon. And then, the gates of hell opened. The boy¡¯s torso split open, revealing a cross of teeth the size of small swords, decorating a bottomless maw leading into an endless void. The demon¡¯s mouth opened wide, screaming like the old man just murdered his parents, and the maw inside did the same, letting out a long, ear piercing roar that shook the entire cave system. Beatings started pounding in the man¡¯s chest as fear started to crawl into him, the scene was enough to stop a grown man¡¯s heart, but the old necromancer wasn¡¯t just any man, he was the leader of the thousand years Koravh¡¯a cult, a lineage of powerful necromancers. His bad legs gave up, bending him to his knees, but his experience stood strong. With one hand, he poured more mana into the [Dark binding], and the hands grabbing the demon bulked up, tightening its grip on his legs, the rot went on faster as well. ¡°Bone Javelin¡± the man muttered raising his other hand, and his mana started forming into a large bone the size of demon itself, but in an instant, he stopped casting as heard it, his mind went from intense focus into shock then pure ecstasy as the voices echoed. He totally forgot about the demon roaring before him and turned to his life¡¯s work. ¡°Marvelous¡± ¡°Truly marvelous¡± ¡°What a beautiful smell¡± ¡°Yes, this mana smells so nice¡± ¡°Shut up you all, let me enjoy¡± ¡°Come here, boy...¡± ¡°You shut up!¡± ¡°I¡¯m thirsty.¡± ¡°Look! the boy is cutting his own legs¡± ¡°Hahaha, what a funny boy¡± ¡°Who¡¯s that boy?¡± ¡°He looks exactly like...¡± ¡°F-finally¡± the man whispered in extreme joy, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, not even thinking about the bone grinding sounds coming from behind him.
He didn¡¯t feel a thing, he didn¡¯t care about a thing, other than the man sobbing in joy, looking at an old book made from human skin and emitting noises, like a crowd of people speaking at the same time inside it. His legs finally came off, he mustered the little remaining power he had and stepped at the bare bone that used to be his shin, launching himself at the man who just killed his love for the second time. The boy latched into the old man in a piggyback, looking at him with eyes full of pure hatred, the necromancer finally came to his senses, his head turning slowly to the growing duo on his back, but the boy wouldn¡¯t allow him the look. ¡°Eat¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. *Crunch* And the man screamed as teeth dug into his back. *Crunch* The man fell on his belly, turning around like he was on fire, trying to shake off the boy, but the boy clung on like a tick on an old dog. *Crunch* And the man screams were no more. The boy¡¯s vision started to dim, he lost too much blood to his madness, the last he saw was the bloody ashes, the last he heard was the bones grinding inside him, the last he spoke was a command he strictly spat. ¡°Leave the head¡± he wanted to vent some anger later, or maybe wanted to hand it like a trophy.
boy¡¯s eyes slowly opened, the burning sensation in his feet but gone. He found himself in a pool of blood, both his and the man which head is the only thing that remained. He looked down to see his feet whole again, but there was no time to wonder as his anger flared again as he remembered the lost ashes. He got up, walked to the head and kicked it as hard as he can. The head hit the cave¡¯s wall with a splat, the kick was hard enough to shatter it into little pieces. ¡°GOAAAAAAAL!¡± ¡°Hahaha¡± ¡°So, funny¡± ¡°Hey boy, do a cartwheel¡± ¡°Impressive regeneration kiddo¡± ¡°...¡± His attention was caught, the boy turned to the annoying piece of skin, held it and slammed it into the wall, whoever resided in the book, they picked a bad time to let go of their thoughts. ¡°Ouch!¡± ¡°Owww!¡± ¡°Argh!¡± ¡°Aaaah! my head!¡± ¡°Ooooh! So rough¡± ¡°Hehe, just kidding¡± ¡°SILENCE, ALL OF YOU¡± the voice of an elderly man stood above all others as large mustached mouth appeared on the book¡¯s cover, replacing the hundreds of shifting faces that littered the book. ¡°I¡¯m sorry child, these ashes must¡¯ve been precious to you¡± the voice called out in a sympathetic manner, clearing some of the anger boiling inside the boy and allowing the voice to continue. ¡°Please excuse them, they¡¯ve been trapped here for more than ten thousand years after all¡± The boy held the book and put it back on the pedestal, tilting his head in question, as if asking for more information, and the elder in the book perfectly understood. ¡°We are the resident of the Necronomicon, a relic forged way before the world itself was created. It¡¯s a book that stores souls and uses them as a fuel for the strongest of animations, but there¡¯s a catch¡± The boy tilted his head the other way, he knew there¡¯s always a catch. ¡°If you open the book, which awakens every few hundred thousand years, all the souls stored inside would be free to leave to where it belongs. But you¡¯ll be able to learn about what¡¯s inside. And what¡¯s inside, my dear boy is the origin of necromancy, created by an unknown being even the gods himself wouldn¡¯t dare to even look at¡± The old voice kept explaining to the boy what the book way, giving him a choice between keeping the book and using it as undead fuel from the souls stored inside, or open it and gain the knowledge long lost to the world, written by a being even greater than the gods themselves. ¡°Now, your choice my child. Boy, where are you going? Boy? ...BOY?¡± the voice kept calling the boy walking out of the room, but he paid no mind, he had to do something more fundamental to him than thinking about what to do with the book. For two days, the room was in complete silence, except the meat grinding sounds and the occasional burping. I a mere two days, the entire cave system was scraped clean, the only thing was left was the corpse of the young red haired young woman of which the maw did not want to eat for some reason. He devoured everything, even the rotten corpses, and for that, the boy was rewarded. ¡°And he wasted not. he, Who knew the value of even the rot¡± [Minor decay resistance] The door to the book room creaked, indicating that the boy¡¯s hunger subsided, along with his anger over the ashes. The boy entered the room and walked up to the book with steady steps. ¡°Child, you¡¯re back, what are you do-, AHHH!. Thank you, my child, may you be blessed for eternity¡± The boy opened the cover, revealing a number carved in blood on a piece of skin, a number beyond the boy¡¯s comprehension. 9999999999999999999999999999¡­¡­.99999999999 9999999999999999999999999999¡­¡­.99999999998 9999999999999999999999999999¡­¡­.99999999997 9999999999999999999999999999¡­¡­.99999999984 9999999999999999999999999999¡­¡­.9999999940 The number kept rapidly decreasing as wisps of light bursted out of the book into the world. Laughs, giggles, sighs of relief, thanks, men, women, children, elders, humans, non-humans immense amount of souls shot forth into wherever they belonged, some even twirled around the boy in joy, hugging him for releasing them from their eternal prison. A few hours have passed and the last of the souls left, the boy looked at the page, expecting a zero, but he actually found a positive number. Two Two souls willingly refused to leave the book, feeling comfortable where they are, or maybe, maybe, they just wanted to stay with the book¡¯s new owner. The boy held the book, raising it to his eye level. ¡°Why?¡± he asked, but no answers were given, so he paid no mind, his seed of happiness sown, a new home, a plethora of books, and a forest for a food source. Under the dancing fire of a wooden torch, the boy opened up the Necronomicon once more, and to his surprise, other than a single spell, the pages were blank. The spell was nothing like a spell, it was more of a ritual, a chant and a good chunk of mana, the catch was that the caster had to sacrifice a part of his soul to be able to reanimate an immensely powerful undead with a soul to serve its master for eternity. [Absolute Reanimation], a spell this world probably never seen before. He looked at the place where the ashes were, a hint of sadness on his face, he closed the book and asked again. ¡°Why?¡± And as he predicted, nothing. The next morning the boy left his new home on the hunt for food, even creatures twice his size proved to be a somewhat easy prey, and the boy was full, at dawn, he was back under the torch, learning more about [Absolute animation] The scent of rot entered his nostrils once more, coming from the room where he left the corpse of the woman, so the boy closed the boy and stood up to leave the room, he wanted to at least bury the body. A face formed on the cover as soon as he closed the book, a pair of red eyes peering at him, so the boy tried asking for a final time. ¡°Why?¡± And the face spoke. ¡°Unfinished business¡± a cold, lifeless voice of a woman echoed out from the book. ¡°Name?¡± the boy asked the face he recognized, the face of the corpse rotting at the end of the hall. ¡°Was Zyona Redmane, now nothing¡± ¡°Tell me more¡± ¡°I used to be the eldest daughter of the main Redmane family, a large family of adventurers that owns large patches of land in the Arud Kingdom, we were on a job to finish a necromancer abducting lone travelers in the Maoa forest, but we were ambushed and brought here, I was killed by you as an act of mercy¡± The boy looked down to the maw, the one who actually was merciful with her and patted it, a woof of happiness came out as an answer. ¡°What do you want?¡± the boy went to the point; the unfinished business part didn¡¯t make sense to him. ¡°To Serve¡± The boy put the Necronomicon back on its pedestal, drowning in his thoughts. It took some time, but he finally made up his mind.
In the room where the boy left the corpse, he stood holding the book in one hand and drawing symbols with his blood with the other. He drew a circle under the woman¡¯s swollen corpse. He started chanting, and the blood started glowing. The boy finished the chant, and the body started to twist and turn, the muscles started repairing, the tissues became stronger, the red hair became twice as long, the only thing left to do is to allow the soul to leave the book. He commanded, and opened the book to find the number turn into a one, he turned his head as the woman rose up, black smoke emitting from every pore of it. ¡°Master¡± The woman kneeled and bowed her head. The boy felt pride in his own creation and decided to give his new servant a name, a name that he intended to do to find a single inquisitor. ¡°I name you, War¡± 08: Skeletal Tryouts *Woof* ¡°You too?¡± The boy looked down raising an eyebrow, the corners of his lips slightly curved in a faint smile. *Ruff* He scratched his chin, deep in his thoughts, going through the few hundreds of books he read at the orphanage. The languages he learned, the stories he once rode his imagination through. Then it came to him, an ancient northern European history book flashed in his mind, the packs hunting together on wide icy fields. ¡°Varg¡± he muttered, and his second soul could not be happier. The boy looked down to the kneeling red head he just named and issued his first order. ¡°Rise!¡± ¡°Yes master¡± The little Noa was surprised, her voice echoed in his head, but at the same time, the excitement came holding hands with the surprise, he could communicate with her without speaking, which was something he wasn¡¯t very good at. ¡°Find some clothe, it¡¯s getting cold¡± ¡°Yes¡± The following weeks that followed were almost the same, the boy wakes up early morning to read and learn more about this world, most of the books were about necromancy and curses, but there were several books and maps mentioning kingdoms, races, magic theory, guilds ...etc. And the boy started devouring knowledge like a desert devouring rain. War took care of his nearly endless hunger, going out into the forest and coming back with a prey thrice her size, her strength multiplied a hundredfold after her reanimation, the boys also noticed that she always, unlike most undead, liked fire and hung around it most of the time. The boy asked Varg not to eat the bones this meal, he wanted to apply the first spell he learned and memorized well. Bleached white bones came out from Varg, different sizes, and shapes, and as white as the teeth that spat them, they belonged to many species War brought over the several past weeks. And the boy chanted his first spell in this world. [Raise Skeleton] a spell of which the necromancer commands his mana to animate the bones into a skeleton and bind it to the necromancer, a beginner spell most novice necromancers learn early. Bones started to float, twisting, reshaping itself into a humanoid skeleton the height of an average man, the boy grew excited and chanted again, and again and again, until he stood before five skeletons staring at him, clanking sounds filled the cave. ¡°Left¡± or ordered and the skeletons moved in unison, ¡°Right¡± and they obeyed, ¡°Scatter¡± and they scrambled, moving into each other and falling down like ragdolls, it seemed that more complex commands required more mana to control them. Noa felt light headed, and he knew that was an indication of his mana pool in near depletion, so he stopped creating more and threw back the bone into Varg for later use. He also noted that he can store things in the maw and retrieve them later, a little happy he found more use for the jaws in his belly other than chomping.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Another book was opened and another day passed, until a day he opened the Necronomicon after he felt some strange energy coming out of it. He flipped the first page only to find the soul count the same, one soul, accompanied by a message. ¡°The bearer be the jailer no more, but mercy shall be granted for mercy, we keep, but not imprison, we end, but not trap, the patient soul shall rule¡± Under the message was something similar to an empty pot, the boy didn¡¯t understand what the message meant or what the pot was, so he flipped several pages and discovered that another spell was being carved into the skin of the page, he grew excited but he was patient, an incomplete spell was a useless spell after all. And finally, the boy almost finished every single book he found and learned several useful spells in the process. [Animation Mastery] [Raise Skeleton] An animated skeletal frame with many uses, with a severe weakness to blunt weapons but high resistance to slashing and total immunity to piercing weapons. Requires any form of bones. [Raise Zombie] a weak, slow, but sturdy undead, capable of taking heavy damage before. Perishing, severe weakness to fire and holy elements. requires a corpse. [Raise Ghoul] A fast, agile undead, heavy damage and ability to scale walls with its long claws. Vulnerable to fire and holy damage. Requires a fresh corpse. [Affliction Mastery] [Dark Binding] A holding spells that roots its victim in place while slowly spreading [Rot] into its body. [Rot] A vitality eating plague that sucks the life out of flesh. [Agony] Amplifies the pain of the victim by several times, even the lightest of would feel like a dragon¡¯s bite.
The Maoa forest proved to be an unforgiving place, Shnoot Redmane and twenty-five of his men ventured in search for the missing party that took off a few months ago into the forest on a mission to subdue some crazed necromancer abducting travelers. That party was led by his niece, Zyona Redmane a B ranked warrior and one of the most promising adventurers in the kingdom of Arud. Shnoot expected his two-week trip to the forest to be easy, he didn¡¯t keep in mind the dangers of deadly creatures of the forest, the bandits or the increasing orc attacks on the nearby settlements on the forest¡¯s borders, the two weeks turned into months, but they were finally here. A band of twenty-five strong men, standing in front of a masterfully hidden cave. At the cave¡¯s entrance, stood two robed figures behind fifteen white skeletons. Shnoot Identified one of the figures, the one who didn¡¯t bother to wear the hood, the one with red, flowing hair. The man froze when he saw her skin, pale as the moon, he knew that the little girl he once held, trained, and loved as his own daughter, was dead. He took out the large warhammer on his back, and every soldier behind him unsheathed his weapon at the hooded figure next to her. ¡°YOU, YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS YOU BASTARD!¡± the elderly Redmane howled at the figure, and the warhammer¡¯s enchantment instantly activated, engulfing the hammer with fire. The men charged, led by Shnoot who¡¯s with one swing, took down five of the skeletons, which scattered into lifeless pieces of bones on the ground. The men engaged the rest of the skeletons while Shnoot charged the hooded figure near his niece, and with one heavy swing, the flaming warhammer went flying to his face. *BANG* Shnoot¡¯s unpatched eye widened as the hammer was met with a palm, stopping it completely several inches from the hooded figure¡¯s face, his now-dead niece stopped his attack with one hand like she was stopping a tiny stack of hay. ¡°What?¡± A kick to the gut sent him flying back to his men, who nearly finished off the rest of the weak skeletons, his hair¡¯s dirt white, his mouth full of blood rust. In his blurry vision, he saw her approaching, naked as the day she was born, the robe was hindering her movement, the men joined their leader in the shiver, wondering how exactly powerful is this ¡­ ¡°thing¡± before their eyes. ¡°Kill¡± A voice came from under the hood, and the next thing the men saw is their leader¡¯s squished head under his niece¡¯s foot. ¡°R-RUNNNN¡± one of the terrified men shouted, and the men didn¡¯t care if he was in charge or not, they immediately turned around and moved their legs as hard as it could carry them, but their feet didn¡¯t move. The hooded figure unveiled itself, revealing a demon with a face of a young boy, moving his hand palms down, the ground under them shook and black hands sprouted like flowers of death, shackling the screaming men, spreading death slowly across their bodies. Several minutes later, the forest went completely silent, not even a bird dared to chirp. In Front of a cave, there was a boy with a devilish smile on his face, behind him, a woman holding a warhammer as tall as she was wearing an armor that hardly was a fit for her, followed by a small army of skeletons with swords and axes, and ghouls with milky white eyes and sharp claws. ¡°It¡¯s time¡± the Boy in the front muttered, walking towards a small village at the edge of the forest, and his small army following in complete silence. 09: A Dish served Slow 09: A Dish served Slow The small army marched across the forest, for several days they hunted, clanked, rattled, read, and barked. A pillar of smoke revealed itself on the horizon, indicating that the incoming area is in fact inhibited by intelligent life. The boy signaled his band to stop and hide themselves into the nearby bushes, and went on to meet whoever was camping there. ¡°Oh, what do we have here?¡± The sentry greeted the short, hooded person approaching the camp. A grin written on his face, the man in leather armor approached the figure and spoke after peeking into the hood. ¡°A kid? Are you lost?¡± he said licking his tongue at the sight of the wide pair of blue eyes, he just finished raping the owner of one a while ago. ¡°No¡± the childish voice answered him after a few seconds. ¡°Is that so? Come; let me introduce you to my¡­ friends¡± Clamored the man with a friendly smile. The boy under the hood walked into the camp, followed by the sentry scratching his already-sore member. Getting ready for another round of screaming blue eyes. Noa read about bandits before, both in his previous life and this one, he knew they were cruel, merciless and worships only the clinking of the coin purse. Cages were stacked on each other across the camp, full of women and children, a hole in the middle that was the source of the smoke the boy saw, full of tens of corpses. The boy did not care the slightest, in fact he was happy he found a new source of bones and corpses, he just wanted an excuse to end these bandits, he didn¡¯t waste any time and sent the signal to his minions. ¡°Broga, this kid showed up and the gate, i think he¡¯s ¡­ lost¡± the man winked at his boss sitting on a comfy chair in one of the tents ¡°can i go show him around?¡± he continued, barely able to contain his visible erection. ¡°Wait a second you son of a whore, I¡¯ll let you ¡­ show him around later, you always damage the goods you sick bastard¡± the boss calmly said with a chuckle, standing up from his chair and approaching the boy under the hood. ¡°But Broga, I¡¯m feeling sooooooo~¡± he stood behind the boy and extended his hand, grabbing the boy¡¯s genitals ¡°ooo, you¡¯re big for your age boy, this is gonna be fu-¡± The boss fell on his back, his eyes at it¡¯s widest, fixed at his spasming underling behind the boy, he looked down where the blood started dripping to see a long limb of muscle in the form of a tail coming from under the boy¡¯s robes, piercing the now-dead bandit from his anus coming out of his head. The boy took out his tail and swiped the filth out of it; he lifted the hood to show Broga his face, the man behind him fell with a thud after spilling some of his innards, his corpse still spasming. ¡°D-D-DEEEEEEEEEEMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN!¡± Broga screamed on top of his lungs, and all men took up arms after a few seconds of confusion, but it was already too late. A dust explosion boomed in the middle of the camp, revealing an armored red hair holding a giant, flaming warhammer. Under her, the mushed remains of three of the bandits. Broga went speechless, he went for his weapon but froze as the boy took off his clothes. Four crossed lines of huge teeth yawned like a dog before a tongue went out and licked the boy¡¯s face. The last thing Broga saw is the stream of undead pouring into the camp, joining the redhead in the massacre of his men.
An hour passed and the boy was a few meters away from the cages, women and children holding each other, shivering like death was standing before their own eyes. ¡°Open¡± the boy ordered, and one of the ghouls darted to the cages, breaking the locks with minimal effort. The boy expected the prisoners to leave their cages and flee as soon as it opens, but to his surprise, no one moved an inch, staring at every little movement he makes, the boy didn¡¯t know that these women and children just saw the bandits die a worse death than their loved ones in the pit of fire, they were absolutely terrified of the demon silently staring at them, his undead army motionlessly waiting for his command, including the woman who took out more than half of the bandits all by herself. It took a while, but a small green skinned boy with small fangs came out of one of the cages despite his mother¡¯s screams and walked straight to Noa. Unlike the others the boy had little fear from the horned demon. ¡°Thank you mister¡± the small orc boy bowed down as hard as he could, which drew a smile on Noa¡¯s face, he slowly extended his hand, increasing the volume of screams from the boy¡¯s mother and ruffled the boys black hair.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The boy straightened back up and looked into the burning pit in the middle of the camp, his eyes fixed on a half burnt orc at the corner with teary eyes before darting back to his mother. She hugged her child, looking at the demon commanding the undead army, which in turn gave her a gentle nod, signaling her of his approval of them leaving, and both scurried into the woods, followed by the other prisoners who immediately left their cages into freedom after the orc duo, completely disappearing in the vast Maoa forest. The camp went quiet again, except for the crackling of cinders in the pit, the chomping and crunching of Varg, and the chants of the boy adding more troops to his small army.
On a fairly moonlit night, a couple of men people identified as guards from their worn out leather vests and rusty pikes sat under a crumbling wooden gate. Surrounded by some broken bricks of a wall that only suited a thousand years old ruin. The village of Kh¡¯onafa. Population: 277 ¡°Oi, I¡¯m headin¡¯ off for a piss¡± one of the guards bellowed to the other. ¡°Make it quick, don¡¯t let the forest eat ya¡¯¡± waved the other, poking the ground with the pike. The first guard went off to the nearby trees, and after a few minutes, the other guard on duty was staring into the sky at an incoming piece of metal spinning in the air into his direction like a great eagle charging its prey. Several seconds later, a hooded figure approached the village as a red haired woman took out a warhammer from a squashed head.
He just left the tavern, far from just tipsy, he strolled down the road to his home, humming a song he heard several days ago at the tavern and didn''t understand a word from it. Hurmad the drunk they called him, stopped by a half dozen of what he identified as drunk companions, not even comprehending that he was surrounded by six ghouls blocking his way home. ¡°Oi, out of ma way ya bastards¡± he swinged his empty wooden mug and hit only air, the milky eyes staring him down under strict orders not harm him. The ghouls didn¡¯t move an inch, still awaiting orders from their master, who was walking slowly on the road, his tail swaying behind him, his eyes full of justified hatred. The man looked back and saw the incoming demon, and in less than a second he went sober. ¡°You, but, but I saw you burn. H-Ho-¡± A growl coming from the demon''s belly stopped him, the hairs on his body went as sober as he became, like a crop waiting for harvest. The man turned tail and tried to run, pushing away the ghouls that multiplied his horror. The ghouls didn''t resist, allowing the man to escape, but them man suddenly fell down, and in his adrenaline rush, he started crawling. After a few meters of progress, the man looked back to see how far he escaped the demon child of Lea, only to see his legs, up to his knees sitting a few meters back, connecting to his thighs via a thick trail of blood. His heart started pounding even harder at the sight of his lost legs of which the approaching demon kicked away like garbage, his tail bloody, an ornamented dagger in his hand. He turned on his back, using his elbows to back down in a panic, his stump spurting blood like a valve. ¡°S-Stay away,d-d-d-d-on¡¯t come here¡± The naked demon paid no mind, he stood above him and sat on his chest no long before speaking, a feat he never saw him do before, he always thought the boy was mute. ¡°You wanted her to ride you like this?¡± the boy whispered, his hateful eyes fixed to Hurmad. ¡°N-No, I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I ARGHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!¡± The howled in pain as the dagger pierced his penis, the boy slowly turned and twisted until he took out the whole genital. ¡°You wanted to be inside her?¡± His childish voice became louder and sharper as he held the Hurmad manhood in disgust. ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, PLEASE! AAAAHHAHAHAH!, PLEASE IT-IT WAS A MAN, MAN IN BLACK CLOTH, H-HE-HE PROMISED US G-GOLD AND TOLD US TO RE- OMPH!¡± The boy wouldn''t take it anymore, he shoved the meat in his hand into the man¡¯s mouth, cutting off the airway to the man¡¯s vocal cords, his pleading sounds were starting to add to his annoyance. He grew bored as life started to seep out of Hurmad, he got off and gave him the last look he didn''t deserve before walking away. ¡°Eat!¡± he ordered the six eager ghouls surrounding the man. ¡°Keep him alive as long as possible¡± and the ghouls jumped the man like a murder of hungry crows, his muffled screams echoed in the darkness and entered the boys ears like tunes of pleasure. The village of Kh¡¯onafa. Population: 119 A naked boy walked the same road in the stead of the mushed Hurmad, the person he wanted to see the most was just across the street, praying to whatever could save her from his wrath, but even the strongest of whoever she prayed to, could not change her fate, for the boy would burn the universe to get to her. The sound of axes breaking the door like war drums echoed throughout the village, the door fell off with little resistance and a dozen of undead poured in, paving the way for their master to get to his prize. On the first room, the boy watched the sleeping young man, another boy three or four cycles older than he was, the son of the couple who drowned his world into nothingness. In an act of mercy, the boy slit his throat swiftly, he had a use for him after all, and the condition of being alive wasn¡¯t necessary. He finally reached her room, his troops sticking to their orders and making way for him without touching her. The woman sat in a uselessly defensive position, but with the silence of the room, she finally met his piercing gaze, and not long before she recognized him, she started at him, stupefied as the maw slowly opened, revealing her son¡¯s bones grinded into a mincemeat before her eyes. He slowly walked and coiled his tail around her, raising her for a closer look, her look fed the boy¡¯s anger even more. For a minute he started, sucking out the perplexed expression of his mother¡¯s best friend, until she finally opened his mouth to speak, a voice the boy swore not to let her have the luxury of letting out, except for agony. ¡°I-I I¡¯m sorr-¡± The boy raised his hand and cast [Agony], and Mona''s body went on fire, every nerve in her body, waiting to give her the most painful experience in her life. Instantly she was shoved in Varg. ¡°Eat¡± And the teeth slowly closed, piercing her old wrinkled skin. ¡°Eat¡± And her muscles slowly tore out. ¡°Eat¡± And the teeth reached the bones, the organs, and started the slowest chew it ever it. The woman screamed with every inch the teeth moved, it kept away from her vital organs, the boy wanted to chew for a while. ¡°Slower, I want to savor every bit¡± And the endeavor continued until the sun decided to wake up, finally allowing Mona¡¯s soul to leave her body, the last gasp of pain got out as the first sun ray hit the window. The village of Kh¡¯onafa. Population: 1 Noa got out of the house in a satisfied manner, an unexplainable mixture of anger and joy across his face. ¡°Master, we found him, shall we bring him to you?¡± War¡¯s voice rang in his mind. 10: Memories 10: Memories Two pairs of eyes locked in a one-sided brawl, the first belonged to an old, half dead elder that was known as this village¡¯s chief, beaten so a bad his face was barely recognized, Noa''s orders to War were clear, bring him alive and able to speak, in what other state he did not really care. The elder stared down the vengeful blue-eyed boy who just exterminated his entire village, they stayed like that for several long minutes before the man finally broke the silence. ¡°You didn¡¯t even spare the children¡± The elder¡¯s cold voice barely came out, like he already lost interest in life. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t have survived¡± the boy countered, matching the coldness with even greater degree than the old man¡¯s, as if he already anticipated what the village chief before him would say. The only reason the pile of old bones were temporarily spared because Noa needed information, a place where he could find the person who turned his peaceful world into ashes. ¡°I believe you¡¯re looking for the inquisitor, boy¡± The man grimaced with pain, his feet trying to unload his light body, but two of the larger ghouls held them in place, supporting him from crumbling down. The chief went straight to the point, he knew what Lea¡¯s monster wanted, he knew why his breath came and went as it pleased so far. Noa stood unmoving with an anticipating silence, his eyes flaring hateful eagerness for knowledge of the man¡¯s whereabouts. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± the elder sighed in defeat, making the boy¡¯s tail sway like a lion ready to devour its prey, an indication of Noa¡¯s bloodlust, but the man quickly added ¡°But I know who does¡±, extending the few seconds he had in life by a little more. ¡°Baron Abnos, the map in my house¡± he monotonously said, his injuries winding his ability to speak properly, and the boy simply nodded in acknowledgement, satisfied with the little information he got, he knew there was little to know chance the beaten husk in rags before him knew anything, but gave it a shot anyway. ¡°Do not be mistaken , fiend. I despise you from the bottom of my soul, and I pray that the baron tear you to shreds¡± the elder gritted his teeth and bellowed, his eyes momentarily went back to life, bloodshot with hatred the boy already accepted and took the daggers the man¡¯s eyes without complaining. ¡°This is for Lea, she was a good woman, a good woman who died because of you, FILTH. I never liked how the world worked, the nonexistent justice that was long forgotten, overshadowed by the iron rule of the churches of light. Ugh! It¡¯s no use speaking to a monster anyway,¡± His wrinkled eyelids slowly closed. ¡°Do it!¡± he calmly said like he just made peace with himself and the world, he believed his place in this life was no more. He already knew that the vengeful demon, spared none. ¡°Thank you¡± the words left the boy¡¯s mouth slowly, and the elder head flew in one swift swipe. The boy made it as quick and painless as he could, the ghouls let the headless body go, his knees fell cracking on the sun hardened mud, joining the head with two muffled thuds. The boy turned to leave towards an old, abandoned shack that only ghosts could live inside. ¡°Pile the corpses, pillage everything, I leave tomorrow¡± a clear command echoed inside the undead¡¯s magically fueled minds, making them scramble like a colony of ants fulfilling their creator¡¯s command with utmost detail.
Muddy floor, broken ceiling, reeking rotten wood and straw, the boy lied down where she once hugged him to sleep, where she gave him her unconditional motherly love, her smell, her happy sleepy face, her hair that tickled his face, her refreshing breath, her compassion, her kindness, her ¡­ screams. He felt tears he never willed slide down his face, his heart started to ache, his breath went uneven as if the air in his lungs started a rebellion against him. A colorful dress, a wooden stake, voices of the populous he just slew, cursing, stones hurling, oil spilling, fire rising, hugs tightening, mournful apologies, laughters, tears, tears that died before even the mouth tasted its salt. And the flood couldn¡¯t be held anymore ¡°WAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA¡± ¡°AAAAAAAAAAaaaahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡± ¡°MOTHERAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAahahHAHahaH¡± ¡°ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR¡± Agnozed wails came out from the shack, making the undead stop what they were doing for a moment, their empty minds wondered why their master was loudly crying. From the ruined old shack, the boy couldn¡¯t hold it and let his feeling take over, he cried like he never did before, and not long before his second soul joined him.
Metal hit metal with a loud clunk, waking up the owner of the rusty armor from his nightly drowsiness, he adjusted his pike and lifted up his helmet, but he stopped midway, frozen like a statue, his eyes as wide as his gaping mouth. The guard rushed to the bell, trying to wake up the whole castle, not just the barracks. He looked back at the five hundred or so incoming undead, led by two hooded figures walking in front of the stenching small army under the faint moonlight. Marching on the vast grassy plains that led to the Baron¡¯s small castle. From his watch tower he watched as the dead marched in total sync, even more organized than the king¡¯s army. A head emerged from the barracks, a round face with two side by side trees of a mustache, the experienced guard commander did not waste a single moment. ¡°EVERYONE TO THEIR WEAPONS. ARCHERS, MAN THE WALLS¡± he kept shouting orders non stop, and the soldiers, who mostly knew what they should do with due to years of training and experience got into formations after mere minutes, weapons in hand, battle formations in head, determination in heart. ¡°SOMEONE GO WAKE THE GUARDIANS RIGHT NOW!¡± ¡°We¡¯re already here¡± A voice that managed to startle the commander¡¯s fifty years of battle awareness passed his ears, he turned back to see the three adventures Baron Abnos hired years ago to act as his bodyguards, the soldiers nicknamed them, the Guardians. The first was a three meters tall muscular woman in scaly green leather, the same color as her shaggy hair. On her armor, a dozen or so throwing knives lined up near the string of her oversized bow on her back, near the quiver full of unrealistically large arrows. Andoraphia of the Zar¡¯a highlands, a famed adventurer with her rare [Arblaster] class, a rare upgrade class of the [Archer] that needed enough strength, stamina, concentration and years of training to be able to fire arrows the size of a man¡¯s leg, basically, Andoraphia was a walking ballista, capable of even shooting an adult wyvern down. The second was the leader of the three bodyguard, a middle aged man with a small beard with a hint of gray, much like his short badly cut hair. ¡°Hello commander, a fine night this one is, right?¡± He waved one of his two sabres, a small chainmail protecting his average figure, [Pirate] was his first class, [Sword Dancer] was the other,and it was very rare to find a dual class adventurer in this world, and tri classes were ones of legends only. The man known as Garrett fame in the castle was only second to his hefty paycheck. He looked down to Androphia¡¯s shadow with his hawk-like orange eyes and spoke ¡°So, what do we have on our hands?¡± A head emerged from her large shadow, announcing the arrival of the third bodyguard, Xefan, a [Ninja], the hidden upgrade from the [Thief] class, a man fully wrapped in black cloth, not even his eyes visible, as if his body was molded from the thin leather he wore. He was barely recognizable as he emerged from Androphia¡¯s shadow under the torches. A man with unknown past but a very well known feats of strength, earning him an A1 rank adventure, the peak of his tier, only behind the few, legendary S ranked ones.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Three hundred skeletons, a hundred a fifty ghouls and seventy zombies, led by a human woman, Zyona redmane and probably a conjured demon¡± Xefan¡¯s raspy, barely audible voice echoed with little to no concern of the incoming waves of undead. The guardians leader scratched his chin, Garrett was his name, a former captain of the infamous Black Naga, a ship that ended the lives of countless pirates before Garrett decided it was time for an early retirement from the salty seas. ¡°Wasn''t she supposed to be KIA? Also, and she a necromancer now? I heard she was a warrior or something¡± Garrett raised an eyebrow, ¡°doesn¡¯t matter, lets deal with this mess and head back to our beds, tomorrow is one hell of a long day¡± he paused for a moment before asking another. ¡°Any Spectres?¡± . ¡°None¡± Replied Xefan as the last of his body was fully emerged from Androphia¡¯s shadow. ¡°Garrett, let''s make this quick, I¡¯m really tired from today¡¯s escort¡± Androphia playfully stated as she took out the huge bow from her back and picked up a spear of an arrow from the quiver. ¡°Let¡¯s go then Andy¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that!¡± ¡°Kehehe!¡± The trio walked up the walls, wonder how could one young lady like Zyona could have the mana and skill to control that many undead, a feat so hard even for an [Arch Necromancer] to accomplish. ¡°Why would a necromancer ever carry a huge warhammer like that in the first place¡± Asked Androphia nocking an arrow and getting ready to fire. ¡°Look who¡¯s talking about siz- wait!¡± it was a bit late for Garrett to stop her, as the large arrow flew directly into Zyona, who¡¯s in turn, saw it coming hundreds of meters away. She held her hammer with one hand and skillfully whirled it, deflecting the oversized arrow away from her, the arrow continued past her into the undead lines, skewering two ghouls and one zombie into a serving of undead shish kebab. ¡°Tch! Lucky bitch?¡± Androphia spat as the red headed supposed necromancer swatted away her arrow, already nocking out the next one ¡°what¡¯s she doing?¡± Zyona turned to the small hooded figure beside her, the demon that was supposed to be her familiar and gave it an apologetic bow, the demon simply extended his hand and ruffled her hair, making her return to place with a small, barely recognizable smile on her expressionless pale dollface. ¡°She¡¯s one of them¡± Garrett blurted ¡°he¡¯s the necromancer, not her¡± ¡°WHAT!?¡± Androphia gasped ¡°seriously?¡± And she was ignored by the leader scanning every bit of their surroundings. ¡°Shoot this one, light enchantment¡± he pointed at the smaller figure of the demon ¡° He¡¯s the one controlling the horde¡± Another arrow found itself in her man-sized bow, her eye gleamed as she chanted a small incantation, and the tip of the arrow shimmered golden. She released with a force double of the previous one, and the arrow flew with a terrifying screech toward the demon. ¡°What the fuc-¡± her eyes widened as two dozens of ghouls rushed in front of the demon, piling up in an unnatural mound of moving corpses to protect their master. ¡°They respond so fast for an undead, doesn''t matter, the aim is true¡± she emphasized at her arrow piercing the mound without slowing down, making a large hole and hitting the demon. As the arrow touched the undead, they screech and disintegrated in golden particles. ¡°Huh?¡± Androphia and Garrett said at the same time, the arrow hit the demon right in the center and disappeared inside his body without him lifting a finger, their endeavour ended with just a large hole in his already tattered robes. ¡°INCOMING!¡± the horde started to move like cockroaches with alarming speed, even the usually slow zombies running even faster than a living human could. Then it was the guard commanders time to make his move. ¡°ARCHES! ARM¡± and the archeres filled the oily tips of their arrows with the flames on the walls. ¡°FIRE!¡± A carpet of flame descended down on the horde, turning the dark night into day, setting the running undead on fire, but surprisingly, they didnt stop and kept advancing in a mesmerising show of fireballs with feet. The horde finally slowed down as the flames ate their rotten bodies, the last of first wave fell directly in front of the iron gates. ¡°Too easy¡± Garrett uttered, ¡°something¡¯s up!¡± He looked down to see one of the flaming corpses rise again, taking out a badly hidden warhammer from under its robes. The flames subsided, revealing a naked, half-burned woman who still retained the majority of her red hair,and with lightning speed, she reached the gates and raised her hammer. ¡°Oh shit!¡± *BANG* The earth shook under the archer¡¯s feet as the metal cried and dented. *BANG* ¡°SHOOT HER, SHOOOT HEEER!¡± the commander roared, the archers quickly came back to their senses and approached the edges, firing inaccurately hundreds of flaming arrows at the rampaging Redmane. The scene was surreal, a flaming hedgehog of a naked woman full of arrows relentlessly banging on the castle doors, not minding the hail of arrows or the large stones descending on her. ¡°Garrett! Look, the demon is gone!¡± He quickly shifted his eyes in a panic to where the small demon was, only to find an empty patch of land, he disappeared, along with a small company of ghouls, the second wave started moving to the monster banging on their door, throwing the archers on the walls into a state of fear and confusion. ¡°Xefan¡± yelled Garrett, and without a word, the Ninja disappeared into shadows. She finally fell under the nearly endless attacks, but her mission was already accomplished, the gates were down, allowing the rest of the undead to pour through into the awaiting, half a sleep guards. ¡°It¡¯s done, Master¡± War¡¯s voice echoed in Noa¡¯s head, who in turn felt that her life force was depleted, she was on the edge of earning her second death. He walked the halls into the baron¡¯s room, leaving a trail of dead guards who were replaced by new milky-eyed ones.
¡°That''s the last of them¡± Panted Garrett as the last of the zombies split into half, followed by an entire, specialized squad of guards with the sole mission of burning the corpses of the downed enemies. Less than quarter of soldiers died, and their corpses were instantly incinerated. He then rush with Androphia into the Baron¡¯s quarters, only to find the now-naked, fully revealed demon with a cross shape across his belly behind the fat baron, a large leathery book dangling on his side with a small chain, his tail coiled around the Baron¡¯s fat body and the tip bone kissing a vein on his neck. ¡°Put the wea-... tail down¡± Garrett warned, putting down his swords on the floor as a gesture of him being not hostile ¡°Andy, your bow and quiver too¡±. The giantess bend down and carefully put her weapons down. ¡°Now, what do you want?¡± questioned Garrett, his eyes fixed at the sword shaped tail on his employer¡¯s throat. But the demon didn¡¯t even bother looking at him. ¡°Listen buddy, you know you¡¯re not getting out of here alive, we already eliminated your undead, including the woman. So please don¡¯t complicate things and put the tail down, you have my word that you will keep your life, after you get just punishment for the mess you did¡± The boy finally looked at him, and with a snort, he stated what he wanted. ¡°Location¡± ¡°I-I told you I d-don¡¯t k-kno ACK!¡± the Baron hissed as the tail moved a millimeter deeper,nearly severing the vein. ¡°WHOA whoa, calm down buddy, what location are you speaking of?¡± garrett raised both his palms in defensive to calm the demon down. ¡°The inquisitor¡± the demon spate the word out, it came out full of malice and hatred. ¡°Which one?¡± garrett twisted his palm in question, still trying his best to get on the demon¡¯s good side, after all, nothing more precious to him in this room more than the day¡¯s paycheck, and for the look of things, no baron, no paycheck. ¡°Five years ago, Kh¡¯onafa, harvest festival¡± the demon uttered,a hint of sorrow and pain hiding beneath his words. ¡°Yes, yes i remember, you mean the day they burned down the witch of Kh¡¯onafa and her dem- ¡­¡± the man paused, hid mind racing to correct what he just said, he was intelligent enough to know that the woman they burned and this demon were related. ¡°The innocent woman and her child, yes i know which inquisitor visited the village that day, but you have to promise me that you will let the Baron free after i tell you, unharmed¡± ¡°GARRETT DON-¡± the Baron tried to silence his bodyguard but he felt a new set of daggers touch his back, accompanied by an otherworldly growl of some beast. The demon looked garrett in the eyes and slowly nodded, making the leader of the guardian sigh in relief. ¡°You can find this inquisitor at¡­¡± and he paused, making the demon squint his eyes, his blue pupils running across the room for anything that posed a threat. ¡°NOW!¡± Behind the boy, a figure materialized from his shadow, and before the boy could take an action, a blunt, hard object found itself to the back of his head. The boy fell in daze, but before his vision goes completely dark, he saw whoever downed him, a man in complete black attire, not even a shred of skin visible. He fell at the man¡¯s feet, his tail uncoiling from the Baron who immediately ran to his bodyguards. ¡°Sorry buddy, it¡¯s just business¡± The leader of the three guardians looked down the unconscious body of the boy, his belly split open, revealing a horrifying maw with enormous jagged teeth that seemed like it had a mind of its own, and right now, it was the same as the boy,in the land of dreams, or nightmares. ¡°Throw him down the dungeons until we see what are we going to do with this mess¡± Ordered Garrett, and a trio of castle guards reluctantly approached the body, carefully picking him up and heading down into the dark dungeons of Baron Abnos.