《The Alter Race》
Prologue 00 - The Alter Empires Demise
The Alter Empire''s Demise
The tremors of warfare resounds in this massive hall of grandness; sound of eruptions are declaring outside the closed gigantic double-doored gate that leads into this great throne room of marvel; the black surrounding pillars has fierce moving torches hanging towards the direction of the center of the hall which lights it up in flaming brightness.
The hall is completely empty except for two humanoid people, or more like two monsters because of their demon-like appearance. Their skin is of the purest black with different colored crystallized horns that¡¯re sticking out at their shoulders, elbows, knees, spine, heels and other places on their bodies. Their tails that''re in frightening lengths whips side to side, up and down as they¡¯re focusing on one point with their terrifying claws for hands.
The monsters¡¯ hands are glowing with magic energy while they jerk them in different strokes as if they¡¯re writing something in the air in front of them. For every stroke, a shimmer of light follows, leaving only a gleaming rune that disappears in an instant.
A magical portal of unknown power is being set up by the two monstrosities, but the monsters are male and female. The male has dark emerald horns and the female has dark purple horns. The male is two and a half meters tall with such an air of obedience which could make anyone scared by just seeing him, while the female is half a meter shorter than the behemoth.
The female is extraordinarily beautiful even with such horrid features of a demon-like race. She is clad in a special made gown that reaches to the floor and it flutters violently as they continues to fill the portal with their boundless power.
Her amethyst hair moves with the wind that shoots out in quick intervals from the constant formation of the portal. Magic of large quantity is being poured into the creation as the man and woman hears the clattering of magical abilities that explodes and thuds of weapons hitting upon the gigantic gate.
¡°We must hurry!¡± the demonic man shouted with slight worry. ¡°The enemy will soon breach the entrance, I feel the magic in the gate waning!¡±
The winds whooshes even more frighteningly as they pour more magic into the portal to finish it in haste. The portal that they¡¯re making is something that has never been created before. The demonic man has been forming this very portal for a couple of months as a last resort. It is a movable portal but now it¡¯s placed in this throne room of excellence.
The man himself has an armor of pure terror that has holes where his horns sticks out of, and he is a man to fear. With his piercing slit emerald eyes, he can stare people to their deaths from shear frightening emotions. His large crystal horns of emerald obsidian are displayed fully to shake the heart of any man or woman who¡¯d seek to battle him.
But, his expression is extremely dire. His look is not that of a monstrous creature of madness, it¡¯s more of a collected, intelligent, and of a compassionate appearance that displays on his anxious face.
Though, the woman has more of a malicious air about her, for she¡¯s rage incarnate. She has seen her ten cherished daughters¡¯ bodies, which had been sent to her and her husband, one at the time by the enemy since they were the ones who killed them in battle.
Her lovely daughters were surprisingly unsoiled in their magnificent black-blooded armor. Some of the daughters had lost limbs, some without a head, some cut in two, and some unrecognizable by their very own parents by the damaging battle that they had endured against the opponent.
The woman¡¯s fanged teeth clenched to the limit as grinding noises come out of her mouth. Her madness knows no bounds for the ones who killed her daughters. She wants to rip them apart, torture them to insanity, and murder their precious ones in front of them so she can see their agony. If she wasn¡¯t in such madness, she would indeed be a goddess of beauty and perfection among their own race.
¡°Xerzher, my husband!¡± the demonic woman yelled furiously while being out of breath. ¡°It is¡ finished¡ª!¡±
As the woman screams her exhausting words, the giant double-doored gate shatters with such force that the gate¡¯s large fragments flies towards the portal and past the man and woman. The woman shows a sudden alarmed face because the debris is flying towards the throne where her only remaining hope lies sleeping.
She swiftly jumped backwards in the direction of the throne to protect her light of lights of the incoming danger. As the pieces of rubble reached the throne, they hit a hastily put up magic-barrier. The woman sighs out in relief as she hurriedly goes to the throne to pick up her only dazzling ebony star, her infant son.
¡°Quickly, my love! Go into the portal before the enemy comes into the hall!¡± her husband shouted as he pours in more magic to keep it stabilized by the sudden explosion that hit the portal with demolished flying stones, sending them into the beyond.
But it is too late, for his empire¡¯s enemy stands already inside the throne room, gazing with blazing eyes upon them, eyes of pure hatred, eyes of fear, and eyes of neutrality. The men and women of different races stand there by the charged portal while the demonic man just frowns restlessly, because they weren¡¯t fast enough to go into the magical entryway.
His wife comes up beside him while she holds her wrapped up baby boy in a purple embroidered blanket. She looks at the enemy with such hateful resentment, though she is very weak so she can¡¯t really fight. The side-effect of giving birth to her infant son two days ago still weighs heavily on her blackened body. For some reason, when she was bearing her son in her womb, she couldn¡¯t use her own magic.
She was at that time very vulnerable to assassins who had come before and tried to kill her, but she herself has shadows of her own. She stares at the intruders while she begins to silently summon her minions that¡¯re inside her magical domain.
¡°Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai!¡± A middle-aged man yelled with such force which surprisingly interrupted the summoning of her minions. ¡°Your reign has finally come to an end! And your atrocious demonic race is on the verge of extinction! You thought that you could hide inside this walled-in throne room?! Hah! We have come to give justice to the millions of people you have slain with your empire of demonic shapeshifters!¡±
¡°You thought that your disgusting Alter race was invincible only because it had more magical powers at their disposal?! You truly are a foolish tyrant! We of the true races have come to bring your head to the grieving people of the Humans, the Elves, and of every other race!¡±
The shouting middle-aged man then shows a nervous frown upon his bearded face, but he quickly yells out to one of the elven magicians who stands next to him, ¡°NOW, USE IT!¡±
A robed elven man reveals some kind of artifact that he takes out from his robe hastily.
It''s as if time itself stopped spinning its endless wheel. The demonic man is beyond powerful but this kind of magic was new to him.
His whole world stopped, the portal of oozing magic stands there silent in front of him, no wind, nothing, only the stillness of a terrifying ability dawns anxiously inside his mind. But he can¡¯t feel or sense anything since... time is everything.
It slowly starts to move again and the portal begins its terrifying ooze of magic that swirls towards the roof of this throne room. The demonic man looks in front of him as the time-stop ended. Xerzher sees his wife and infant son, they¡¯re not beside him, but in front of him.
He quickly turns his head to see the empty spot where they were supposed to be. He hastily turns back and scowls at the man and woman who forcibly restrains his wife with magic, while an elven woman holds his baby with a rather disgusting look upon her gorgeous impeccable face.
¡°Hahahaha, it worked! Demon! Are you so surprised that someone caught your tongue?!¡± the bearded man shouted out in exhilaration. ¡°Look upon your wife, demon! And see her distorted face of fear for your disgusting child! We have them at our beck and call, so be still, Demon of Darkness!¡±
¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s the demon, human!¡± Xerzher roared angrily while grasping his hands.
¡°Careful now¡ Xerzher! Your disgusting infant son might die if you raise your voice again!¡± the elven woman yelled with a soothing voice as she threatens him while holding the baby with a dagger looming above.
He just stands there on the other side of the portal. The portal itself is like a round well, one just needs to jump into it to make it work, but because of the sudden explosion, they couldn¡¯t escape in time.
Xerzher curses inwardly at their dire predicament.
His wife struggles immensely under the magic which holds her down. Even she¡¯s powerful, but through her weakened state she just can¡¯t bring out her magic abilities as if something is draining her of her powers. She looks with desperate eyes upon her son, she feels her own fear and anguish.
Is she going to lose her only remaining child, her first and only son? Her face shows no anger now, only dread that shakes her heart brutally, her emotional heart, the feeling of pure misery.
The elven man who casted the time-stop spell steps suddenly forward with elegance of old age flowing with every step.
¡°Emperor Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai. You have lost almost everything important to you. Will you let your wife and child die too, or will you let them live? The choice is yours to choose,¡± the elven man said calmly without any hint of hatred.
Xerzher glares gravely at those words.
¡°I¡¯ll take your silence as a response for me to continue, and please¡ do not interrupt,¡± the elven man said as he bows slightly with respect to such a being of power. ¡°Emperor Xer¡¯Hai, you can only blame yourself for your transactions. You rose up and took your supremacy among your own kind with force, and we, the other races watched as you built up your empire in these lands where none other than your own kind lives.¡±
¡°As the years went by, your empire grew and grew until you waged war on the smaller races, and you annihilated them without mercy,¡± the elven man said as he shows a pained face. ¡°Some just stood by and some resisted as you raged on with your power-hungry mind, but you stopped. We may not know why you did stop, but you have done too much damage to ever repent for your hideous deeds. The remaining races banded together for this very reason: to destroy you, the evil of the world¡ the Demonic Emperor: Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai!¡±
¡°But, we know your power, so we had to come up with a way to¡dismantle you. Your daughters did die with their hearts at home, the battlefield. We sent them to you untouched because we wanted you to see the horrors of what your own warmongering actions had caused. And when we knew that you have a newborn son¡we could resort to a more devious, yet desperate method, to get you on your knees, as you can see,¡± the elderly elven man said with a saddening frown while looking at the elven woman who holds the infant baby.
¡°As I previously said, it is your choice of how this will turn out¡ Vengeance is not so easily put away, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai. Those who gained your ire was snuffed out of existence, and through that very reason is why we¡¯re here. You must die, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai, and your two remaining family members will be spared. Or they¡¯ll join your daughters in death,¡± the elven man said as he finished.
Xerzher¡¯s wife just looks at him with newly teary eyes running down her blackened face, down her deep colored scarlet lips, and down to the floor, splashing it with droplets of moisture¡ She knows what he¡¯ll do, even without saying it, since she¡¯s his wife. For a thousand years they¡¯ve been lovers, and for a thousand years they¡¯ve truly loved each other with every quantity of their long lived being.
¡°I have always wondered why you attacked my domain all of a sudden. Now I know why,¡± Xerzher said with an aggrieved expression. ¡°In a short half a year you managed to break through to my capital city, it¡¯s highly impressive. You took us by complete surprise by mobilizing such a great number of soldiers so quick. But I guess it was inevitable for the confrontation to reach the capital. I myself should have joined the battle, but my generals were overambitious with greed and power. They told me that they would handle everything, but regrettably I was na?ve to think that they could force such an army to fall back to their own countries.¡±
Xerzher gazes at the people in front of him. He recognizes an elderly elven woman who stands glaring at him with such hatred, her slight wrinkled face is the epitome of anger. He opens his mouth to speak to her, ¡°Is your daughter well, elf?¡±
¡°How dare you¡ fiend. How dare you speak of her after what you did?!¡± she shouted out poison at him. ¡°She has not yet recovered from her horrifying ordeal that you put her through that century ago!¡±
¡°For that¡ I will eternally be sorry,¡± Xerzher said as he bowed with his towering horned-armored body, while his two tails sinks to the floor gloomily. He¡¯s at his wit¡¯s end. ¡°I was beyond childish, cruel, and unwise back then¡ but it doesn¡¯t matter now. Though, tell her that I am sorry for what I did to her.¡±
¡°Be silent, you horrid creature of darkness! You shall not speak of my mentally ill daugh¡ª!¡± she yelled even fiercer. ¡°SILENCE, DEMON!¡±
¡°Xerzher,¡± the elven man then interrupted with a grimace. ¡°Choose the fate of your wife and son. Either sacrifice them and battle us or destroy yourself to let your wife and son live. I promise you that, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai, as my position as High-Archmage of the wizards, that your family will live.¡±
Xerzher looks into his wife¡¯s teary eyes as he thinks out what he¡¯ll do. He gives out a sudden sigh.
Would he be fast enough to overcome these heroes that have come to kill him? Those who proclaimed him, The Demon Emperor of the Alters? Has he the power to save his remaining family? No, he couldn¡¯t take that risk because he knows some of these people who stands in front of him. They¡¯re weaker than him, yet many in number. They could easily keep him in check while they murder his wife and son.
¡°I will¡ submit to death,¡± Xerzher said with pain behind every word. ¡°But¡ I will not let you have possession of my family.¡±
The elven man frowns questionably, ¡°What are you asking for then?¡±
¡°As you can see in front of you, heroes, this is a portal. It will teleport my son and wife to a safe location. I will only submit if they can go through the portal. And if I can say goodbye to my wife; I won¡¯t go back on my word and attack you, I give you my word as Emperor of my people,¡± Xerzher said with convictions eyes.
¡°He¡¯ll betray his words! It is in his nature as a demon of the abyss to be a betrayer!¡± someone yelled in disagreement.
¡°Silence!¡± the elderly elven man¡¯s voice boomed throughout the throne room, giving no one time to retort. ¡°I will hold you to your word, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai, that you won¡¯t attack us after they go through the portal.¡±
The elven High-Archmage is rather curious about how powerful this portal really is, because it radiates immense magical power. When he first came into the throne room, he had assessed the situation quickly and ultimately thought that it was a regular teleportation devise, but still, it chills his bones greatly.
¡°No, I can¡¯t let this happen! I want every single one of them dead!¡± A human male roared. "Xerzher! Did you enjoy seeing your daughters in their deadened state?! Good, because I slew three of them! Do you want to know of their last words?!¡±
¡°It was: ¡®Papa, save me¡¯, ¡®Father will take revenge upon you!¡¯ and last but not least was, ¡®I don¡¯t want to die!¡¯¡± he said humorously with his full gleaming silver armor displaying on his tall and broad body. ¡°For someone so powerful, you do have extremely weak children, pathetic really.¡±
¡°I WILL SLAUGHTER YOUR ENTIRE RACE! AHH! LET GO OF ME, YOU INSECTS!¡± Xerzher¡¯s wife growled with maddening rage upon hearing such heartbreaking words. ¡°Your human race¡ I¡¯ll feed them to the chasm!¡±
¡°Enough Ce¡¯er!¡± the High-Archmage shouted, but the human man shows no stopping in his use of bad language.
¡°Ah yes, you are the mother of the litter, the bitch. I can see the resemblance, it truly is disgusting to even recognize your race as something equal to us. You¡¯re nothing but simple mutated animals with slight intellect. It is sad really, though the greater mind always conquers the weaker. Heh.¡±
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¡°Are you done, Slayer of Alters?¡± Xerzher said with a displeasing yet calm tone. ¡°I wish to say goodbye to my wife before the portal deactivates, otherwise I won¡¯t show any restraint.¡±
The people manage to calm down Ce¡¯er while others are preparing for the worst, if Xerzher were to go back on his promised words. The two magicians that hold Xerzher¡¯s wife with powerful magic suddenly relaxes their minds on her.
¡°Do not try anything, Empress! I still have your son, but¡ I still dare you to try something¡¡± the elven woman said grinning with a dagger dangling closely beside the infant¡¯s body.
¡°I will remember you, you impish whore,¡± the wife said with massive hate directed towards the elven woman. ¡°I¡¯ll make you scream in such terror that you¡¯ll beg for mercy, I promise you that, imp.¡±
The elven woman just scoffs at her with a slight smile on her lips.
¡°Go now, Empress,¡± the High-Archmage said, ¡°Say your goodbyes to your mate.¡±
She turns her head and gives him a deathlike stare with her purple slit eyes, ¡°You¡ You¡¯re responsible for our parting. Elves¡ yes, your race will also be destined to die like everyone else, I¡¯ll have your entire race burn in agonizing suffering for eternity¡ on spikes!¡±
¡°Only empty words,¡± the High-Archmage said calmly. ¡°Your pain has been great Empress, now go to your mate.¡±
She voluntarily begins to walk around the well portal to Xerzher while snarling at the people behind her, especially at the elven woman who holds her black diamond, her son. As she comes closer to Xerzher, her tears begin to flow once again as Xerzher looks upon her with such a comforting smile, even though the situation is grim.
¡°Our son is truly a heavy sleeper,¡± Xerzher said as he sees his son not making any sound at all while a small tail tip is being sucked on automatically.
His wife can¡¯t even control her emotions anymore and begins to sob silently as she embraces her large oaf of a man. She has kept in all of her emotions this past half a year; her precious daughters are dead and their empire has been destroyed in such short time.
Outside their citadel, the swarm of different races are brandishing their weapons on the remaining Alters. The men, the women, and the innocent Alter children. They¡¯re purging the demon-like race out of existence.
Only because of her pregnancy, she couldn¡¯t take charge of her minions to target the leaders of the races. She was so weak while she bore her son. Her innate magical abilities were locked away for those six agonizing months of labor that she had to endure while her empire began to disappear.
Through her locked magic, she couldn¡¯t bring out her minions from her own domain.
Her son was also born premature by the strain of endless anxiety, so she had to fixate all of her energy in keeping him alive, these past two days he has grown rather rapidly because of her healing magic, it is strange she had thought. But then the races came with such terrifying numbers to storm the capital.
The Alter race, her race, had tried to keep them from coming near the capital, but one after the other fell to their own death in the field of battle, even her strong daughters and their own children. As their race is very aggressive, no one wants to hide away while endless battles can be fought. The capital city of the Alters was pretty much empty except for those who hasn¡¯t that much lust for battle.
The entire Alter army was crushed by the sheer number of enemy soldiers under those six months of war. And now in this huge throne room they are holding each other in sorrow.
Xerzher and his wife, the Emperor and Empress of the Alter race has reached their unforeseen doom.
She begins to cling to him for her dear life as she begins to give him long, deep kisses as he leans forward. Their four tails coils around each other¡¯s, while disgusting complaints comes from the other people in the room, but she just ignores the voices of the insects.
Her darling husband has changed so much these past hundred years, so much that he¡¯s a completely different man.
Before he was cruel and aggressive, but she loved him for who he¡¯s. He is power incarnate. She¡¯s drawn to that power inside of him. He has had many lovers under their years as being mates, though she didn¡¯t really mind because it was tiring to satisfy his sudden thirst for lust. She had gotten women who she herself picked, though there were some other races that she had brought in for¡ curiosity¡¯s sake since she too does enjoy her lustful times with her husband.
But something came to her husband¡¯s realization, he was a very cruel man, he only did things he enjoyed, but when he thought about it¡ it was already too late to change. He had done his damage, to women, to his people, to the other races, and to his own Empire.
Under the last hundred years to date, he released the captives who were slaves, but his damage to certain ones were already done. He changed his role as a ruler to a much more considerate one, so his people could live much easier. And he began to spend all his time with his family, only his family. His ten daughters saw him as a role model, some were older daughters with their own children and husbands. Some were younger, inexperienced in the act of loving another.
Xerzher stands there with his wife who¡¯s embracing him with all her might and emotions. He stares intently at the well portal, but he gazes towards his son while getting a deep troubled expression. He doesn¡¯t need to say goodbye to his son because such a small baby wouldn¡¯t even remember anything, so it comes down to his wife, of how he¡¯ll be raised. But knowing her scheming sinister mind, he can only worry about how he¡¯ll grow up.
¡°Xe¡¯Harin, my lovely Empress,¡± he said with a sudden stern voice. ¡°Raise our son with love, and do not let him be like me. And Xe''Harin, nothing good comes from revenge which you¡¯re thinking of at this moment. I know you all too well, my very own amethyst star who guided me back from the darkness and into the light. My children¡¯s mother, my wife of beauty, and my dark goddess. This is where we shall part ways, but I¡¯ll always be with you in your heart and in our son¡¯s heart.¡±
¡°I bestow him with my first and last name, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai, may he live under your affectionate eyes, forever,¡± he said with her desperate eyes upon him.
¡°Nooo, we can still kill them¡ª.¡±
¡°No Xe¡¯Harin, I will keep my promise to not attack them. And when you two have gone into the portal, I will¡ willingly die.¡± Xerzher said with no hint of fear upon his face.
¡°Aw, no¡ please, no, no, I don¡¯t want you to!¡± she wailed childishly as she begins to cry even more, while becoming weak in her legs. ¡°You, you can¡¯t leave us¡ I need you, our son needs you! I demand you to not die! I demand you! I¡ demand¡ you¡¡±
His large clawed hands hold her head like a bowl while he looks directly into her swollen eyes, ¡°Go now, and live only for our son¡¯s sake.¡±
He gives her one last affectionate kiss.
Xe¡¯Harin who¡¯s filled with sorrow, goes back to the side where her son is in the midst of enemies while she snivels like a little girl. She wipes off her tears that have run down her cheeks as she looks at the elven woman with a new hatred growing even more fiercely inside her heartbroken chest.
¡°Give my son to me, you imp,¡± she said with newly venomous eyes staring at the elven woman whose having a rather troubled expression. The elf looks down at the baby that she¡¯s holding, her face becomes distorted with disgust.
¡°Take¡ it, I don¡¯t want to hold such a monster,¡± the elf said with such an appalling tone as she hands over the creature of darkness.
But as Xe¡¯Harin gets her infant son, she asks, "Imp, what is your name?"
"Erillin Raidueil," she replied with proudness filling her smug smiling face.
"Good," Xe''Harin hastily strikes forth with one amethyst-clawed hand towards the elven woman¡¯s throat. The elf just becomes wide-eyed in surprise, not expecting such a fierce attack. Though as Xe¡¯Harin¡¯s claw reaches her throat, it gets blocked off by a magical shield made by the High-Archmage himself, making her clawed hand grind at the shield.
¡°Empress Xe¡¯Harin, it¡¯s time for you to go into the portal,¡± the High-Archmage said strictly. ¡°Go, now.¡±
Xe¡¯Harin gazes at the people as she sneers angrily at them while she turns around and walks in front of the portal. She cuddles her son while she looks across the portal to see her Emperor, her lover, having his eyes closed, not wanting to see her damaged expression that¡¯s so distraught on her beautiful ebony face.
Her lower lip shakes as she¡¯s trying to hold back her tears.
¡°My Emperor, my love¡ I will immortally love you¡ only you as a lover.¡±
Xe¡¯Harin then disappeared into the portal, leaving Xerzher all alone with enemies in this grand throne room. But this just makes the races nervous beyond words, because he can now go back on his word, to wreak havoc upon them without having any fear of hurting his son or wife.
Xerzher opens his closed eyes slowly, which makes the people brace themselves for the upcoming betrayer of words. However, he just stands there doing nothing at all, he has a painful grimace on his face as he looks at the portal.
Xerzher raises his hands suddenly while he directs them to the well portal. His magical essence spikes in the whole throne room, making those who aren¡¯t that gifted in the arts of magic scowl in worry. The well portal then with a loud sizzling noise, too, disappeared, leaving only a flat circle in the middle of the room where the portal was.
¡°So, this is where it ends, my journey in life,¡± Xerzher sighs out in relief as his face gradually becomes darker and colder. ¡°You, the heroes, the representatives of your own race¡ have made a dreadful mistake.¡±
Xerzher moves his hands towards them in a motion that makes every single one of them tense up in concern. With a pressure so vast and so damaging, some of the people fell to the ground in exhaustion by the raw power Xerzher holds.
¡°Xerzher..! Are you going back on your words?!¡± the High-Archmage demanded to know as he himself clings to his own vast magic, trying to help his fellow comrades by putting out a large magical field to ease the dreadful ambience that seeps out of Xerzher.
¡°You¡ come into my dominion, you have destroyed my cities, slaughtered my people, killed my dear daughters, and took my son and wife as hostages to put me in place,¡± Xerzher said with such anger which¡¯s literally seeping out of him. ¡°Do you, heroes, honestly think you don¡¯t need to pay for your horrible crimes?¡±
¡°Yes¡ your corruption must be met in full,¡± he said as he put more power into his magic, making the High-Archmage himself feel dazed by such pressure of dread and malice which in turn made his magical barrier disappear.
¡°I shackle you and your wretched bloodlines! They will be forever bound to mine. You will become slaves to my bloodline¡¯s will. You may not be the ones who will be the slaves, but your descendants will feel their agony as I have just felt mine.¡±
¡°They will not be able to escape their tormented fates, they will not be able to help themselves other than serve the higher entity among them. You, heroes, will never be able to lay a hand on my only descendant, my son, the new Alter Emperor!¡±
With his heart-gripping hands, he closes them so fast that a tremor shoots out by the sheer power of such terrifying grasps. The heroes who has gathered here in this throne room begin to feel their hearts being locked away forever into servitude.
¡°No¡¡± the High-Archmage said in complete dismay. ¡°You are a complete demon, Xerzher. To actually be bound to yo¡ª.¡±
¡°Silence, elf,¡± Xerzher said with disdain as he frowns, and the elf¡¯s voice stopped coming out from his mouth upon hearing such words. ¡°Now, as I¡¯ve promised, I will perish.¡±
¡°AND I WILL BE THE ONE WHO SLAYS YOU! DEMON SPAWN!¡± Ce¡¯er yelled furiously because he didn¡¯t know what just happened, but nonetheless he charges forward while the others who¡¯re specialized in melee combat does the same.
They scream war-cries as they come closer and closer to the giant in front of them. That towering demonic creature who willingly awaits for his death with open arms. The heroes drive their weapons through Xerzher¡¯s chest while he groans painfully. The heroes¡¯ pulls out their weapons from his chest, thinking that he would die from the blood loss, Xerzher though, surprisingly doesn¡¯t fall to the floor.
He stands there with black ebony blood seeping out from his gushing wounds which he got from the different weapons, both small and large. He coughs up blood, but he stands there proudly and says, ¡°Is that the worst you can do? Let me, Xerzher Xer¡¯Hai, the Emperor of the Alter race, show you what true death looks like.
Xerzher raises his right hand forward, he forms an opened claw and drives it straight through his chest. He groans painfully while nausea forms inside his head as he feels the pumping of his own heart that he has in his emerald clawed hand.
¡°¡My¡love¡¡± he said as he rips out his own heart.
Blood comes spouting out like a fountain, covering the heroes in ebony. Xerzher stumbles around for a couple of seconds, after those few seconds, he falls to his knees in a dejected way. He takes his last and single destroying breath, then he breathes out his deathly air that is filled with all of his emotional worries while having a smile on his lips.
He didn¡¯t fall, he just froze in place on his knees¡ His eyes are completely lifeless.
As a couple of minutes went by, one of the heroes kicked him so he fell backwards to see if he''s really dead.
¡°He¡ He is dead¡ Heh, we have slain the demon spawn!¡± Ce¡¯er bellowed in joy. ¡°He has finally payed for his evils, rejoice!¡±
The heroes begin to cry out their feelings of victory by overcoming such a monster. Their voice resounds throughout the throne room as more and more people starts to come in through the destroyed gate who¡¯re covered in black blood.
As the newcomers see the terrifying creature on the floor, they too howls out their emotion of happiness.
But¡ the heroes who¡¯re gifted in the magic arts, has troubling expressions on them, especially the High-Archmage. One of the elves places a hand on the High-Archmage¡¯s shoulder and says, ¡°Father, what did the Emperor mean by what he said?¡±
He didn¡¯t answer, instead he put magic into his voice to make it so loud that every single being in this Alter Empire hears what he says:
¡°MEN AND WOMEN, HEAR ME! THE DEMON¡¯S SON HAS ESCAPED FROM OUR CLUTCHES! WE MUST FIND AND KILL THE SON OF DARKNESS, BEFORE HE CAN RISE UP TO TAKE THE MANTLE OF HIS FATHER¡¯S, THE ALTER EMPEROR!¡±
¡°I, THE HIGH-ARCHMAGE OF THE WIZARDS DEMANDS HIM TO BE FOUND! GO NOW, FIND HIM!¡±
As such a voice boomed out to the empire, the search for the demonic son ensued. Though no matter how long they searched for Xerzher and his mother, no sign of them were ever found.
The years began to flow its eternal cycle. As the years went by, the different races soon began to end their hunt for him and his mother. The humans were the first who stopped, then the other races soon followed their lead in ceasing the pursuit.
Though, the elves still held onto their search with undying conviction, a never-ending chase.
The Alter race flowed into history and the reign of the Alter Emperor, the demon, became stories, legends, myths, and a very interesting study for scholars, because such a glorious empire who could held back every race in the world for half a year, became the greatest known evil.
The Alters, the shapeshifters were called demons, yet no demons were the Alters. They were a race that only looked different than the others, like elves has longer ears than humans. But through their evil-looking race, they were made into the enemy of the world. The darkness, the abyss, the void is where they¡¯re from, but that was just made up by the races as propaganda so they could get rid of such a powerful race of pure evil.
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Time flowed on with its endless spin of the wheel of time.
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Chapter 01 - The Killing of Insects
The Killing of Insects
The silence, that silence of quietness in an emerald forest with only the soothing winds and trees that makes slight noise when the air current pushes them in one direction, and the uncountable flakes of whiteness are raining down slowly onto the land, where a woman of the blackest of skins lies imprinted onto the snow. Her gown of purple material displays her terrifyingly bold body.
It is Xe¡¯Harin, the Empress of the Alters. She¡¯s currently unconscious as the snow slowly begins to cover her whole blackened body that has protruding amethyst horns sticking out of her.
Her body twitches slightly as she begins to wake up from her slumbering while she lies there on her bed of whiteness. She opens her amethyst slit eyes as she flickers with them in bafflement, then she sees the snow in front of her which makes her eyes become wide in astonishment because this is the first time she actually witnesses the frozen water flakes, called snow.
¡°Cough, cough,¡± her hand goes to her throat, she touches it as the cold air seeps into her mouth, making her breathe out smoke.
She feels the icy ground beneath her as she tries to stand up by supporting herself with her arms, but Xe¡¯Harin¡¯s strength doesn¡¯t let her, her arms buckles and she falls face first into the snowdrift beside her. She coughs again to get out the snow from her mouth while she tries yet again with all her might and glory to stand up.
She succeeds while feeling her endurance come back to her, slowly.
¡°Where are we?¡± Xe¡¯Harin asked as she squints to look around the area.
It¡¯s a thick forest with different kinds of trees which she have never seen before. One of the trees has branches with small deep green needles sticking out in the thousands, covering it like leaves, but yet, still not like leaves, and some strange brown fruit that hangs on the green covered branches.
The needle tree is in the majority so Xe¡¯Harin doesn¡¯t even pay attention to the other ones.
As Xe¡¯Harin stands there in the middle of the snow-covered dale of open wilderness, her eyes becomes wide in concern. She looks at her hands, then quickly around her. She begins to shake with her whole body as she desperately looks around the area to find what she¡¯s searching for, though no matter where she looks, Xe¡¯Harin doesn¡¯t find her target of affection.
Her son isn¡¯t here.
She covers her face with her hands while she begins to breathe heavily as all her memories comes flooding back to her. She falls to the ground where she had laid slumbering and begins to furiously search the ground for any sign of her son, but she doesn¡¯t find anything.
Then as if a blow suddenly struck her face of utter despair, she begins to use her boundless magic which she has inside of her. Her amethyst eyes flickered slightly as her pupils grows slightly bigger, and her hearing becomes that of a royal Alter owl.
She hears a baby¡¯s cry for help.
¡°Brother, should you really be holding the animal by its tail?¡± a man¡¯s voice resounded inside Xe¡¯Harin¡¯s ears and she quickly begins to dash with new life put into her legs, not even feeling the fatigue anymore.
¡°What does it matter? Though¡ doesn¡¯t it look like a human baby? I mean, except the two tails and its skin colour, it kind of looks like an infant baby, doesn¡¯t it?¡± the other man said with one hand on his chin while the other hand is holding onto Xerzher¡¯s tail, making him dangle in the air as he cries loudly.
¡°For crying out loud brother, please quiet that monstrosity, I am trying to focus on skinning this deer,¡± another man said with a bloody knife in his hands.
¡°Yes honey, please quiet that¡ thing. It is making us very uncomfortable, dear,¡± a women said while cringing with her eyebrows. The woman is sitting inside a carriage with an opened door. She can scarcely see the creature in her husband¡¯s hand, but the baby¡¯s cry she can her loud and clear.
A little girl is also sitting next to the woman inside the carriage, gazing out nervously at Xerzher as he cries.
All of the people outside by the carriage is wearing thick leather clothes of fur, though the females inside the carriage is wearing fabric-like dresses with caps on their heads. The men are very burly men, thick with muscles and beards to help fight the coldness of the snow.
A pair of horses neighs in intervals in front of the carriage as they await obediently to begin to move again. The deer that the man is currently skinning had jumped straight out onto the road, so the skinning man couldn¡¯t help himself than to shoot it with his shortbow, to take it as a trophy.
That¡¯s why they stopped moving, but they had never expected that a creature of darkness would come climbing up from the ditch beside the road, all nonchalantly while gurgling in happiness as it filled Xerzher¡¯s face.
But now, only tears are running down his forehead to drip onto the snow, like a flood. The man who¡¯s holding Xerzher by one tail just looks at him with such a frown imbedded onto his face.
¡°What should we do with this, this¡ thing?¡± the bearded man asked as he lifts Xerzher to stare squinting into his dark moistened amethyst eyes.
¡°Mama, I want it as a pet, please?¡± the cute little girl said with slight red cheeks that the cold air has given her.
¡°Better be done with it, no need to keep such a creature, here, catch,¡± the skinner said while tossing the bloody knife to his brother. As he holds Xerzher he catches the knife, but it slips off of his hand and hit the ground.
Everyone feels a sudden growing chill. It is more chilling than the cold air that¡¯s currently circulating here in this forest. It is as if the air is trying to escape to another direction.
A deafening roar sounds out in the nearby trees.
¡°What in the¡¡± the man¡¯s mouth is stuck open upon seeing a distant silhouette coming towards them in fast speed. ¡°Oh, my glass Goddess, give me strength.¡±
¡°Quick, grab your weapons! A monster is¡ª,¡± he gasped with an open mouth while his wide eyes almost pops out of his head in utter terror upon seeing the horror in front of them.
Xe¡¯Harin sees the bearded man who holds her son, but Xerzher has stopped crying because he sees his mother which he naturally feels a bond to. He gurgles happily as he swings back and forth while being held by the¡ human¡ A human? A human is touching her son with their tainted hands?
Like a beast, she begins to growl in a deep terrifying tone that sends shivers down the men who now has their weapons at hand, but this beast of a woman stands taller than anyone here, while her two tails shakes violently side to side like a rattling snake¡¯s, getting ready for slaughter.
The two females stare in complete silence, their eyes doesn¡¯t even blink as they see the monster watching the now giggling baby boy with such affectionate eyes, though that happiness is short lived.
The men looks nervously at each other while they signal with their eyes to get ready for the worst which they¡¯ve done many times before, because they¡¯re hunters, the slayers of beasts. How can this monst¡ª.
*Slash*
Xe¡¯Harin just smiles sinisterly as one tail goes to catch the baby that¡¯ll fall in about one second. Then as she swirls her one tail around her baby which has surprisingly grown into a disturbing length, she jerks him to her own side. And as she jerked him, the husband of the woman in the carriage split in two, right in the middle.
Blood comes pouring out as intestines spills onto the drenched snowy ground.
¡°What¡¡± one of his brother said with a gaping mouth as he stares in disbelief at the pile of his mutilated big brother¡¯s corpse. The blood starts to seep outwards slowly in the snow, making a beautiful cherry coloured ground.
The two brothers can¡¯t even move, they just stand with a dumbfounded expression on them. That gaping mouth, those wide-eyed balls of more white than brown. But one of the brothers manages to turn his head to stare at the now widowed woman.
With all his courage he gets out one single loud word, ¡°RUN!¡±
The woman, without thinking, grabs a hold of her daughter and opens the other door that leads away from the monster. Her eyes only now realizes what happened, they begin to form tears as she drags her daughter into the snow-covered forest.
A loud gurgling scream shot through the mother like an arrow, then moments later another cry of pain comes from the direction where her husband and his two brothers are. She doesn¡¯t stop dragging her daughter through the snow, she can¡¯t stop, because otherwise they too will die a horrible death.
Her daughter has a stunned face of confusion, her little mind can¡¯t even comprehend what just happened to her father¡ he just sank to the ground in a large pile. Her scarlet cheeks displays brilliantly, though no tears has started to run down from her eyes yet.
As the mother and daughter stumbles through the snow-covered forest with all their running power, they just can¡¯t keep going. They stop running as they reach an opening in the forest, farm fields the mother noticed with relief as she puffs air in and out rather heavily, so does her small daughter.
She moves her daughter in front of her and grabs a hold of her shoulders as she kneels down on one knee, she says with such a damaged voice, ¡°M-my dear Celina, run towards the other side of the field, go now, and don¡¯t turn back, run with haste, run now.¡±
The little girl obeyed with a blank face as she pulls up her dress to make it easier to run through the thick snow. She doesn¡¯t even know why she runs, but as she suddenly remembers the animals that her father had come home with from his hunting journeys, she begins to snivel as she breathes heavily.
She remembered the dead animals that lied there motionless, to never move again. Her father lay on the ground just like those animals, but her father was cut in two¡ Her cry didn¡¯t come out right away, it gradually starts as she runs across the field towards the farm houses that has snow covering the roofs, making it hard to see them, but her mother saw and directed her towards the smoke chimneys which she now notices in front of her.
As the mother sees her daughter becoming smaller and smaller, she smiles as she sighs in relief, though her whole body is shaking nervously, because she began to feel that something was breathing on her neck right after her daughter started to run, and that breath is still breathing behind her. But she has been too scared to turn around until her daughter was beyond the field.
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As the mother¡¯s tears flows down her face, she turns around while she closes her eyes in fear of what she¡¯ll see. Her body shrieks in fear as she feels the air from the breath which¡¯s hitting her face. Her hands shakes in such fright, but she clenches them hard.
She gathers up her last will and strength.
The mother opens her eyes¡
She actually sees herself, no, more of a younger version of herself in front of her.
But¡ coming out from behind her younger self, are two black tails of terror rattling upwards into the air. Then with a last look upon the image of herself, the younger self smiles sinisterly with every intent to mock her upcoming demise.
¡°If¡ If you can understand me¡ Please spare my daughter¡ Please¡ P-Please,¡± she pleaded as she looks down at the dark baby boy that her other self is holding ever so casually. ¡°As a mother¡ to¡ a mother.¡±
¡°No witnesses¡ human, but, I will not slay your child. I¡¯ll let her live as an orphan, as punishment for treating my son like an animal,¡± Xe¡¯Harin said with a different voice, sounding exactly like the mother.
Without even reacting, the tails shot downwards and stabbed mother, making her go limp while hanging on the tails. She didn¡¯t even see them coming, because Xe¡¯Harin¡¯s tails stretched so long into the air that they went up, then forward and stabbed her back first, right into her heart, while her other tail went straight into the mother¡¯s spine, which made her lose the capability to move.
With a ripping sound, Xe¡¯Harin teared her into two parts. The mother¡¯s upper body and lower body falls to the ground separately while it begins to spew out the blood and entrails, only leaving a ghastly look of surprise upon the mother¡¯s face.
--
Xe¡¯Harin is by the carriage while she holds her son in her embrace, she has changed her appearance yet again into a fair skinned human woman that has long dark brown hair and purple eyes. She herself feels disgusting being in the shell of a human, but she doesn¡¯t want to fall into her rage again.
Why she changed into her human form is because she wants to keep a low profile, and not reveal herself to be an Alter to the world. A very beautiful human is what she has transformed into, rather a motherly woman, not to slim and not to plump, though her breasts are larger than average.
Her clothes has also changed, it is like the mother¡¯s clothes, but with a little more design put into it. Xe¡¯Harin¡¯s conjuration of clothes are one of the redeeming qualities. The dress is in a dark brown fabric, though the fabric is made of pure magic. Her sleeves are long, so long that they cover her hands completely. Her lower dress piece isn¡¯t standing out like the mother¡¯s, instead it smoothly goes down her legs until it reaches her ankles.
It is a warm dress with dark fluffy fur that starts at her collarbone, then goes around her head to the other collarbone, like a scarf that one warps around ones neck. She also have a hood that hangs down her back.
She made a bed for her son to sleep in, though it is a simple bed that she has in front of her chest. He lies sleeping there in the curtain-like bed which she has tied so it won¡¯t fall off. But Xerzher too has changed into a human baby. He has the same features that his mother has, brown hair, purple eyes and fair skin.
Xe¡¯Harin doesn¡¯t know where they were teleported to, but she has already killed four people out of blind rage, because she feels such pain and hatred for such a disgusting race, though when she killed the woman, she was thinking clearer, but not clear enough to forgive simple insects.
The horses had ran off when the last two brothers died, one of the younger brothers lies in the snow with a large line that has been imprinted on his body, for Xe¡¯Harin whipped her tail so it came from above, then ran down his body, crushing his skull and ribcage.
The other brother was quickly disposed of by a simple forward thrust into his throat, making him gurgle in his own blood.
Xe¡¯Harin, her son, and her husband was supposed to be teleported together, but now¡ she is alone with her baby. Alone in this strange place, not knowing what to do next. She begin to scavenge the corpses of the brothers to find anything that can indicate where she is, but what she found are only pouches of silver crowns, displaying some woman engraved onto them.
Xerzher is sleeping ever so soundly while a thumb is stuck in his mouth, probably a replacement for his tail tip. He is wrapped in fur, only making it so one hand is free, because he started to cry as soon as he couldn¡¯t suck on something.
It has gone thirty minutes since the little girl ran over the field, suddenly Xe¡¯Harin hears a shout in the distance, where she killed the mother.
¡°Hmm, I should¡¯ve killed that little bug too,¡± Xe¡¯Harin said as she shows her fanged teeth, but she looks down at her son. ¡°Let us be off, my love.¡±
Xe¡¯Harin started to travel on one of the roads casually, not having any haste at all. Her conjured fur boots stomps in the snow, making crushing sounds for every step she takes. As she journeyed for one hour, her eyebrows pops up in surprise, the carriage is there on the road in front of her.
The horses has stopped because they found something to eat, red barriers of some kind.
Xe¡¯Harin walks up to the horses, they doesn¡¯t even notice her until she begin to unfasten one of them from the carriage, though the horses just looks at her questionably, then begins to eat the barriers again.
--
A horse comes strutting on the snow road going to an unknown location with a woman sitting on a saddle while she cries in her sorrows in silence, her tears runs down her face in an emotionless way, she doesn¡¯t even bother to wipe them off, so the tears turn to ice since the air is extremely cold.
She just suffers in complete silence with slight snivels, for she doesn¡¯t want to wake her slumbering child which she¡¯s looking at with lovingly eyes.
Her daughters are gone, her husband is gone, and she knows her race is gone, because the portal she jumped into teleported her into the future, though she doesn¡¯t know how far into the future she went, but she is most certain that she and her son is more than a thousand years forward in time.
She can¡¯t act rash anymore, she must be careful to not endanger her son.
Her eyes goes suddenly wide as she remembers her followers, her sisterhood of spies, assassins, and guardians that does her every bidding to the finest detail.
She hastily jerks the reins to turn the horse to gallop into the thick forest. Xe¡¯Harin has never ridden a horse before, so this new experience is very refreshing, it gets her to think about something else than her hunger for revenge which she¡¯ll so enjoy when the time comes.
She rides for a couple of minutes until she couldn¡¯t see the road anymore, but Xerzher woke up from all the bumping the horse gave, so she slowed down to easy the load of movement, though what he cries about isn¡¯t the bumping she notices as he keeps on crying rather loudly. She takes Xerzher out of the wrap that hangs on her chest, to rock him affectionately while Xerzher pulls her dark brown hair, as if he wants something.
Xe¡¯Harin jumps off the horse as she pulls it to a low tree where she can keep it tied to one of the branches with the reins.
¡°Are you hungry, my love?¡± she asked Xerzher as she holds him up in front of her face while she smiles with such eyes of warmth. ¡°Better be done with it before I put up the summoning circle to go to my domain, right?¡±
Xerzher just keeps crying as she talks to him, not even minding how loud his cry sounds throughout the forest.
She found a spot to sit down upon as she does a simple hand motion for the snow blow away, revealing a grey stone. She unties her upper dress to show her bare bosoms. She simply places his mouth on her nipple, then the sucking commenced.
After time went on, the hungry creature burped a couple of times, so she decided to stop feeding him, and to begin to form the summoning circle into her own domain.
Putting out a summoning circle that goes to a domain is very difficult, though it is easier to summon those who¡¯re already inside her domain to her side, but she didn¡¯t manage it when she needed them the most, the ten sisters. Her faithful servants.
After she has cleared all the snow from the ground to only leave a flat trampled surface, she begins to write her inscription on the ground with ease. The writing shows a huge circle with many different weird letters that¡¯re being engraved onto the earth. She is standing as she writes, only her one hand and mind are at work in forming the rune that is now beginning to glow in an amethyst colour.
As she finished the shell of the writing, she kneels down with her son to touch the rune formation that has been written to perfection.
She starts to pour in her magic that has returned to her under these two horrifying days of pure sorrow.
She was very surprised that her son didn¡¯t really act like a new-born baby, maybe it is because of her healing when he was born premature. He can see things and react to them faster than her daughters could. Though, he has tendencies like any other infant, it is only normal, but yet it is not normal for him to crawl like a bigger baby. It is very weird, though it is her first son, so she doesn¡¯t mind if he¡¯s different in his growth.
Xe¡¯Harin frowns as she feels the power draining from her, though her face returns to peace in a split second.
With a whoosh the summoning circle lights up to show an oval gateway that leads into her domain. Xe¡¯Harin frowns again as she looks around the forest to see if something saw what just happened, but she puffs out air in relief.
She turns her head to look at the horse rather troublingly with a raised eyebrow. With a swish of her hand, the horse becomes calm as the cold breezing winds.
Xerzher stares with glittering eyes at the portal, he reaches forth with his hands, but those short hands doesn¡¯t really do him any favours. Xe¡¯Harin laughs as she sees her son wanting to go into the portal, so she does as her little Emperor commands.
She disappeared into the portal with her son, leaving it widely opened in the green thick woodlands.
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