《The Devil's Chosen》


 1 - Death of a legend

    "Aghahaha... *Coffs hard*, it seems my time is at an end..."


    A terrifying, deep voice resounded within the caves of the Hell''s Dungeon, the single most dangerous and largest dungeon to have ever existed.


    Inside of it, at the last room of the dungeon, a titanic, western style dragon was curled up in a ball, coffing hard every now and then. Near him, a beautiful girl stood with worried eyes.


    "Ashimaar, what are you talking about? Do you need more mana stones? I can get my army to get any amount for you!" She said worriedly, earning a chuckle from the tremendous dragon.


    "Don''t worry... It... It''s nothing major... Age is just being a bitch with me... *Coffs harder*"


    "No! I can obviously see something''s wrong! I''ve known it for the past millenia, but what in Satan''s name is happening to you!?" She screamed at him in a mix of rage and intense worry.


    "Haa... I guess you should know..." Ashimaar sighed and stood up, towering a good hundred meters in height and at least 4milesin lenght.


    "Did you know... why I retired from my duty as the king of dragons?" He asked tiredly as he moved away from his previous spot and slowly walked towards a man-sized crystal ball that seemed to contain all the beauty in the world.


    "Back when the gods created the world, I was the first being they made... They told me these exact words ''Nothing is immortal, no matter how much anybody claims such a thing, and that includes you''. Back then, I couldn''t understand. Beings that seemed eternal roamed around the world like flies. Titans the size of mountains were as common as normal people, and the seas were filled with leviathans whose size you could only ever imagine. Immortal magicians filled cities and undead with the power to bring night to the day lived together with everyone else..." He trailed off, coffing a bit.


    "However, every single one of these legends, very powerful in their own rights, gradually died out, snuffing themselves out in wars where not even the souls of the deceased could pass on due to the damage received. Nowadays, that war has long since been forgotten... Aghaha... I still remember those days where I led legions upon legions of dragons to defend out continent... how futile it was..." His draconic face filled with unbelievable sadness and regret, he lied down, the ground shaking under his weight.


    The girl, confused ask "What does that mean? What does it have to do with how you are now!? I don''t understand!"


    "Damn it you brat... Let this old dragon rest for a bit, will you... *Coffs*" Seeing his already weak demeanor, she realized that it wasn''t like he finished talking, it''s that he even had trouble doing so.


    She had never seen him in such a weak state. Sure, sometimes he would appear weak and damaged, too fatigued to move, but to not even be able to talk? That had never happened to him.


    "*Coff Coff*... As I was saying, during that war, all, and I mean all, creatures of old were wiped out. Only the smallest of the small and weakest of the weakest survived... Except me. I lived, not because I was the strongest, but because I realized in time what the gods meant. That war was meant to bring about a new era, it was not something we could stop nor prevent... To survive, I entered the void for a thousand years. My body received tremendous damage and strain by my stay in that hell... But I lived. When I came out, all that remained of the glorious floating cities, the beaitiful forests, the great mountains... was a mere wasteland. The world was damaged beyond repair, and it would never return to it''s former state..."


    "But, I did not give up... After recovering sufficiently, I helped those creatures that survived prosper. I cared for them like they were my children. I taught them everything I knew, I showed them the powers of magic..." He closed his eyes in mourn for a second at those times. They had been the absolute best times in his life.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "I remember having the would-be kings of the various races clinging to me and saying things like ''Grandpa, can you read us this'' or ''Grandpa, can you show us a magic trick''... Aghahaha..."


    By now, the girl had fallen completely silent. She herself remembered doing such things when she was much younger. After all, Ashimaar just had that friendly grandpa sort of aura, when you ignore his insane size and sharp teeth.


    "And so, slowly, they grew and grew. I watched as generations passed, carefully bringing them up from stone-weilding idiots to the humans of today. I transformedthose savages into the beastmen and I taught the evil spirits love, creating the demons..."


    "I''m sorry I never told you all of this, but I didn''t want you to ask questions... Knowledge is a curse sometimes... Anyways, to cut it short, when the races had regained a portion of their former glory, I stopped helping them. I didn''t want to bring back the immortals, as another war would surely accour otherwise. Then, after a couple million years of my retirement, the gods suddently reappeared. They made churches and helped the populace, or at least on the surface. In reality, they limited their powers... And I was thankful. I didn''t want another war to accour..." The dragon said with a heaved breath, obviously tired at having talked this much.


    "I... Then why?... Why did... Why did you help me?" The girl asked with tears in her eyes. Her intuition was telling her that something was severely wrong with Ashimaar. And her intuition rarely failed her.


    "Aghahaha... Well brat, I wanted to feel what it felt like being a father for real... at least once. I still remember that day I picked up that random rock from an a absolutely random mountain, you were so pitiful... and look at you now, the greatest dungeon to have ever existed... It''s a shame I won''t be able to see how much more you can grow..."


    "No! What are you talking about!? You old fart! What the hell!! Get up!" She screamed as his head fell on the floor with a huge thump, shaking the entire dungeon.


    She was the only being whom had ever shown her, a treacherous dungeon core, love. Although it could be argued that he was the one to make her, and thus also his responsability, one also couldn''t argue that he may very well have simply treated her as a slave. Dungeon cores were valuable, especially ones as advanced as her, whom were even able to obtain a flesh avatar.


    Seeing him not moving, she rushed at him and hugged his huge head, desperately calling out to him. She could feel him getting weaker by the second, his heartbeat slowing down and his never-closing eyes, slowly closing down.


    "What happened!? I can fix it! Just tell me what happened!" She screamed, crying and sobbing pathetically as she held him for dear life. This was way too sudden and quick for her. It made no sense that he would just suddently fall over and die.


    "Aghaha... It seems I can''t hide this anymore... A shame... Argh..." He groaned painfully as he tried shifting a bit. Even just moving by now hurt.


    "When I hidinto the void... it caused great damage... I never said it healed... in fact, it never did... and never will..." He slowly said, struggling to move one of his huge front leg in front and bringing the crying girl close to him with it.


    "I''m on my last hold here... Don''t cry, girl... It doesn''t fit you... Where''s my hard-headed brat that never listened to my suggestions for her dungeon... He said, a lonely, giant tear slowly falling from his almost-closed eyes.


    "Here... Take this... I made this as a last gift for you... Hold on it, as it may help you one day..." He said as a small necklace that resembled a great dragon coiling around itself.


    He softly put it on the girl''s neck, and smiled when he saw how well it fit her. "Don''t waste your life over mine... live nicely, explore the world and grow beyond your race''s constraints... Remember, I loved, love and will always love you, my dear... Sarah..." He said as his eyes finally closed.


    Sarah. A name she hadn''t heard for a long, long time. It was the name she had once called ''cute''. Dungeons didn''t have proper names after all.


    As if ignoring her cries and pleas, Ashimaar''s body slowly began glowing, turning into many, many light particles that filled the dungeon and rose up in the skies.


    Eventhe dungeon town could see this. Millions of lights slowly rising up from the dungeon into the skies, and although it sounded impossible, it was as if the dungeon was crying, an aura of dispair and sadness suddently flooded the surroundings of the dungeon.


    Meanwhile, 3 figures were watching from the skies.


    "So he finally died, huh..."


    "Yeah, that guy was seriously though. Even I wouldn''t have survived this long with those kind of injuries."


    "Jeez, well, we best get ready. The others surely noticed, and I''m sure they''re going to want his soul for themselves."


    As if they were never there, the figures suddently disappeared, leaving the few whom had noticed them to scratch their heads in confusion.


    <hr>


    Wow, that came out really fucking sad. Hopefully it''ll get happier, though I''m not sure since I''m not sure how to write down the next parts... Oh well  ¦à?¦à(¡ä ??? ?? ??? `)¦à?¦à

 2 - Birth of a Legend

    Inside of a court-like room, 7 figures devided in three groups stood. Each one of them glaring at each other.


    "Alright guys, as the goddess of light, I cannot take non-human servants anyway, so I''m going to be the judge here. Objections?" There were none. As the goddess of light, and by association also justice and life, she was more often then not appointed as the judge.


    "Good. Now, since the start of this whole waste of time, we have come to three conclusions. We can keep the soul and make a servant, just drop it in the reincarnation cycle or destroy it."


    A man dressed in black robes with equally black hair and a face that shouted ''I''m an emo kid'' called up "Destroying it? Pfft, don''t make me laugh. You may be able to destroy a normal human''s soul, but that thing? You couldn''t even kill it when it was already half-dead, how do you expect to be able to hurt it''s soul?" He said, clearly not amused.


    The light goddess'' face crunched up and as she was about to speak again, the man next to the emo guy spoke up "Kekeke, it seems that little Light and little Dark want to fight... I have a proposal..." He said, eyeing the nearby gods.


    Since this evil-sounding man rarely, if ever, spoke up, nobody objected. "We could hold a tournament, and by choosing a person each, we can then make them fight to the death and give all rights on the soul to the winner... Kekeke, of course, we can set rules and whatnot..." He trailed off, laughing evilly at his idea.


    Light''s already crunched up face turned into a full-blown frown, but was stopped by the other god "I agree with his proposal. Who else is with it?"


    As two men and onewomen nodded and only a girlseemed unsure, Dark smiled "Alright... Fire, Wind and water are with me. Death''s with me, right?" He turned to the evil-looking guy: Death.


    "Kekeke, of course. I suggested it after all..."


    Smiling sadly, the unsure woman, Earth, looked back at Light and whispered in her ear "Don''t bother yourselves with these maniacs, just make sure to win and help that poor soul..."


    Nodding, Light reminisced the first time they had met the soul. When they first found this world, they had unconsciously ignited it''s mana, sparking a revolution of life. Right as they were leaving, the ground had split open and a huge dragon rose up.


    She had talked to him about this and that, explaining some things. They then had to leave, and only returned when they heard that the planet had finally given birth to humans.


    Imagine her suprise when she discovered that once young and innocent dragon, now turned senile and filled with tremendous injuries, albeit hidden. He had told a tale that even they, as ancient gods, listened with bright eyes to.


    Although a soul in one life could be the exact opposite on the other, she still thought that if she birthed the dragon''s soul in a human, an A+ priestcould be born, orr at the very least, a B+ priest. (Ranks go from F to X with X only being gods and blablabla... You should know this stuff really if you read like, what? Any of the novels on this site?)


    Unfortunately, nobody saw the huge grin on Death''s face, otherwise, they would have thought otherwise about this whole tournament.


    But, alas, as fate (The author) wills it, the plot must continue moving. Each of the gods picked a hero from one of their followers and pit them against one another.


    The reason for Death''s grin was made painfully obvious when a giant xenomorph specimen appeared as his chosen. And despite all the protests from Light, the xenomorph brutally massacred all the other heroes. It wasn''t much of a wonder why, as a human, no matter how strong, is still just a human. It could never beat a being armed with all sorts of natural and magical weapons from tail to teeth.


    Of course, the only human in the fight was Light''s chosen. Other then that, there was a fishman (Water), a demon (Darkness), Avian (Air), a beastman (Earth) and a Drakekin (Fire).


    Since Death''s worshippers were, essentially, all the monsters in the world, he could, according tothe agreement, choose any one of them. Therefore, the xenomorph was technically speaking, allowed.


    Still, Light made it pretty clear point that she was not at all happy at what happened, but she couldn''t go back on her words. Like this, the dragon soul was given to Death, and the other gods could only wait and see what sort of things he would do with the soul.


    As for Death, he was elated beyond words. That xenomorph specimen was a monster that, oddly enough, had fallen from space and landed there. He had found it and healed it for the fight, knowing that the thing''s lifespan was only a couple years anyway. And this was Death''s real problem.


    All of his worshippers, monstrous or not, either lacked intelligence, tolerable lifespans or decent reasoning. Sure, they could be used in wars across the mortal realm, but they were painfully hard to control, and he couldn''t even intervene himself since no God could interfere with mortals.


    However, now, he had a solution to this problem. No longer would he be left out of the big game. Although he could use this soul to make an extremely powerful monster, even capable of rivaling himself, he opted not to, but rather, he figured that he would leave things to fate and only give some basic requirements.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    There was a method which allowed a soul to be directly incarnated without the need of parents. As long as enough mana was nearby, the soul could take the perfect shape for itself.


    However, this carried threemajor problems. One, the perfect shape of a soul is not truly perfect. It''s not ''perfect'' as in ''invincible'', it''s ''perfect'' as in ''the perfect bodyfor the soul to reside in''. The second glaring problem was that the soul needed to be really, but really fucking strong to survive the attempt. And the third problem, also the most obvious, was the necessity of an extreme amount of mana. Death could provide the latter with some effort.


    As for the second problem, he was confident in the dragon''s strenght. After all, that thing at it''s peak could even hold them all back if it wanted, and it could surely defeat one god, perhaps two. And although now injured, it''s soul had already recovered when it died, leaving it nice and healthy.


    Although Death was, by name, the god of Death, he was also known as the god of Monsters due to his church. He basically only accepted non-humanoids as servants, and more often then not, was also shunned and treated as the ''Evil God'' by all other god''s churches.


    This was because of a single reason: He lacked any sort of power in the mortal world! Sure, his worshippers could wipe out a city, but to get that to happend, he would need to rally them. And how to do that, when they are constantly being suppressed by all the other churches and adventurers? Becausethe ''rightful'' subjugation requests, his people were constantly either hiding or running.


    He didn''t really care though, and neither did they. It''s not like his followers could actually understand anything other then ''hungry'' or ''kill that thing''. If his people were actually intelligent, he might actually actively help them, but as things stood, he had thrice the amount of followers of the other gods, albeit all of them idiots, weaklings or unfaithful. He could survive on that faith alone, so why bother?


    Now, however, he could make himself a figurehead for his people. A chosen, so to speak. It wasn''t uncommon for the other 6 gods to often pick chosen, and sometimes he did as well, but those died rather quickly due to the very limited protection.


    However, if his chosen was strong from the start, smart, well-taught and loyal, forget surviving, he could even go on the offensive! Although he and his siblings had good relationships, they still fought tooth and nail within the mortal world. Should one god''s faith be completely elimited, he/she would just have to suck it up and enter deep sleep until all the others would chooseto leave that particularworld.


    Grinning happily inside of his divine space, which although close, didn''t quite resemble hell. A silence unbecoming of a place of torment for as long as one could see stood, and instead of being a burning hell, this was a cold, silent hell. This was Death in it''s truest form: Cold and silent, all-embracing.


    Death arrived inside of a completely black room with small candles on the walls, resembling very much a ritual room. Placing the bluish soul at the center of the room, he began flooding the surroundings with his mana,


    As time went on, the soul slowly started glowing more and more, absorbing the mana Death released. Then, all of a sudden, a transformation accoured.


    The once blue ball that was the soul began to take shape, slowly forming into a strange, prolungated form. Death grinned happily, but that grin faded when the soul began screaming in pain. Yes, souls could scream, albeit only gods or exorcists could hear them.


    Panicking, Death began releasing even more mana. However, the screams didn''t stop, The soul looked as though it was getting weaker, making Death grit his teeth and whisper"cmon, you can do it... I believe in you..."


    Then, as if it heard him, the soul suddently started regaining strenght, but this time, it wasn''t concentrating in one location, no. It was actually in two locations.


    As the two points grew and grew, the soul matter began disappearing. Death could only scratch his head in confusion, but didn''t stop.


    Finally, flesh slowly started appearing around the two parts of the soul. Flesh, blood, tissues and bones all formed and strengthened thanks to the pure mana Death released.


    Finally, 10 hours later, the process was finally done. Death observed his creation as it slowly got up and looked around, confused.


    Strangely enough, the soul had not become one body, but two. One was a beautiful girl that even by Death''s standard, could be considered top-grade, albeit his tastes were strange. The other was a titanic snake that could rival the old dragon''s size.


    The girl had long black hair and snake-like eyes, with her left eye being green and the other eye red. She was around 165cm tall, so not too tall nor too short. Her skin was extremely pale, as though it never saw the sun before.


    And the snake looked even hotter in Death''s opinion! A long serpentine body finishing with a mouth filled with very, very sharp teeth. It''s underside was a copper-like red, whilst it''s upper scaled were a beautiful green.


    Looking at the two, God could feel their connection. They were one and they were the same, but they were different somehow, albeit he couldn''t quite pinpoint how or what.


    Then, the girl fell over. It was simply as though her legs gave out, and the snake''s eyes opened wide too, however, it just rushed in another direction. Then another. And another. It was simply going around blindly, smashing into walls without care.


    Death pursued his lips in confusion and spoke up "Hello, dear. Tell me, what do you remember?"


    The girl looked at him and the snake stopped. Her legs were by her sides, and she didn''t look like she wanted to move, nor could. Death sighed and walked towards the girl, who at first looked confused, then scared.


    She tried backing away with only her hands, as her legs didn''t seem to funtion very well. The snake once again began smashing randomly, albeit much more violently then before.


    Death crouched down in front of the girl and slowly put his hand on her head, trying to calm her. She was obviously frantic, but after seeing his friendly intentions, she calmed down and so did the snake.


    "So, do you remember anything?" Death asked once again, only to be answered with a nod.


    "That''s good, what do you remember?" She nodded once again.


    "That''s not very helpeful. Seriously, what do you remember? Death asked once again, starting to get exasperated. She simply nodded again.


    Death''s eyes widened at an idea "You... You can''t speak?" She nodded much more heavily then before.


    "Well, fuck me. A paralized, mute girl and a blind snake. What more could I ever ask for?" Death asked to no one in particular, feeling a strange sort of deja vu. Fate was truly a bitch, but maybe karma would be nice to him? Wasn''t it the other way around, though?

 3 - Legends are often stupid

    Inside of a black, cold room, layed a girl around 20 years old with long black hair and snake-like pupils. Next to her laid a giant snake, whom was currently coiled around her and glaring at the third being in the room, a creepy demon-like guy with shining red pupils and an aura that reeked of evil.


    Death, the evil man, shook his head and sighed heavily. "For my own sake, can you even understand me?"


    The girl nodded, making Death raise an eyebrow and say "Shake your head if you understand."


    The girl shook her head. Death smiled faintly at that and suddently, a blackboard appeared in his hand along with some chalk.


    "Here, write here what you remember." Taking the board, the girl thought for a bit before scribbling on said board.


    [Remember fighting strange things. Remember strange words. Remember strange people. Remember hurting a lot.]


    Death nodded in understanding. Although the dragon/girl had been reborn, some memories could only be washed away by the reincarnation cycle. Some memories would naturally stick around, especially on a strong soul. Things like special people, languages and special events that came naturally to anybody would remain, albeit sometimes twisted.


    "Alright. You can ask questions later. For now, I will introduce myself. I am the god of Death and Monsters. I created you in order to be theChosen for my church."


    In all truth, it''s not like the girl had a choice. Death had given her mana to be incarnated, but that mana was still once full of Death''s attribute. Being a god, Death naturally could easily control her should he want to, making her loyal forcefully. However, that would be less efficient then if she was naturally loyal.


    The girl thought for a bit before scribbling on her board[What is Chosen?]


    Death facepalmed at his mistake.Of courseshe wouldn''t know what a Chosen is. Sure, she remembered some stuff, but not everything.


    He sighed and began narrating in a monotone "A Chosen is a being hand-picked by me, the god of Death that has been granted control over all monsters, they have the absolute highest authority inside of my church and they are often tasked with conquering the world for me. They naturally are the strongest of the monster race, as should be expected. The term changesbetween races, rangingfrom Chosen, Hero, Demon Lord, Fish King, Magma Child and other weird names."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    She kept nodding every now and then whilst half-heartidly listening and petting her snake body. Death could only sigh at his new Chosen. It seemed as if the dragon''s soul wasn''t quite as intelligent as it seemed to be.


    [Snake/Girl Pov''s]


    I listened to the creepy man as I touched all around my body. It felt very weird, all scaly and hard. Very different from my other body, which felt soft and smooth. I don''t mind it though.


    When I fist woke up, I remember feeling a lot of pain, like really a lot. Then, when it stopped, I opened my eyes and saw a strange man looking at me with a smile.


    I was scared at first, but the creepy man was actually a nice man. He asked me if I understood him and I nodded, then he asked again and I nodded, then again and again until he gave me something to write on. I tried speaking to him, but I couldn''t.


    Ah, he''s sighing again. What was he saying? Something about Chosens? I got the gist of it, I''m his Chosen and Chosen are people who do what he wants. Kind of like pets, I think.


    Hm? Isn''t that supposed to be disturbing? How do I even know what a pet is anyways? Aaaaah, sooo many queeestioooonsssssss!!!!


    I hug myself a bit tighter to fight off the unease that began flooding into me. Who am I? What am I? Why doesn''t the evil man have a snake body too? How do I know I have two bodies? What will he do to me? What will I do?


    "... And that is why you will be studying here for a bit in order to remember the essentials... Hey, you okay?" He asked me, but I wasn''t even looking at him anymore. I was too scared to do anything, an extreme unease had been taking roots in me for a while, but now I was in a self-battle. Who am I?


    [3rd Person''s Pov]


    Death looked at the girl whom had hidden inside her snake''s body by now, and even the snake itself looked afraid. He had no idea of what was going on, but had a hunch that incarnating a soul like this might have been a bad idea.


    All he could do was stay frozen in place, countless ideas racing through his mind. None of those were feasible, however.


    He could comfort her, but that might just creep her out. He wasn''t called The Creepy Uncle for nothing.


    But! He could use someone else to comfort her! The idea suddently appearing in his mind like a lightbulb prompted him to act.


    Using his divine force, he reached down into the mortal world and grabbed a small, newborn kitten from a pet shop. A second later, it was craddled in his arms, the little cutie still asleep.


    Reaching in a gap between the snake''s coiled body, he shoved the cat in the girl''s arms, and she looked at him in suprise. He smiled back although inside he was screaming ''pet him! do something!''.


    Thankfully, the girl smiled back, albeit faintly, and hugged the little kitten in her arms, falling asleep. Even the snake probably fell asleep, albeit it would be hard to tell, since it''s eyes were always closed, but since it looked much more relaxed now, it probably did.


    Grabbing both of them with his divine force, Deathbrought the two out of the dimension and into his mansion before plopping one on a bed and the other besides her. It was a close fit with how huge the snake was, but the mansion wouldn''t be called a Godly Homewithout at least being gigantic.


    Now, Deathcould only hope she had resolved her inner conflicts and pray to a higher existance that his Chosen wouldn''t just break down. After all, he had high hopes for them? her? it? Eh, he wasn''t very sure.