ã€ŠLife&#x27;s Exodusã€‹


 Prologue: Reach out!

    I waited for so long... too long in fact.

    Time took its tool on my once massive body. I was worn. My power was gone and my body crippled and lifeless.

    My gleaming eyes lost their lush colors and turned into an icy grey.

    I always thought the gods would end my life. But I was wrong.

    It was ridiculous. I, one of the most powerful beings in the realm of existence was dying. And not even by my enemys hands.

    In the end I could do nothing. The remains of my friend hung loosely atop my body. My obsidian scales cracked and stained by blood.

    I could feel the boundarys of this dimension losening their powers. But what could I do?

    The darkness was the same as when I was imprisoned here. It was opressing, even to me. Or maybe it was just the lifeless corpse of my friend that made it all the more depressing.

    I scratched the stone paved floor with my massive claws, but it did not even suffice to leave a mark.

    I moved my head sluggishly from side to side, hoping to see some kind of light, something new before I die.

    My eyes scanned the dimension but there was no change for now. The barrier would take at least a few hours to finally crack, hours that I couldn''t afford anymore.

    Pah! Hours! This is humilating! I was once a prestigious being, immortal even! And now I am counting my last hours! What a joke...

    My efforts were in vain so I just let my head slump down on the stone floor.

    It hurt and I could feel how my jaw cracked and my fangs boring into my flesh. I coughed up a massive amount of purple blood.

    Tch! I wasted even more of my lifetime!

    My breathing was erratic, it was more a gasp followed by violent coughs.

    I spread my night black wings apart and tried to feel the ceiling and the walls of the dimension. It was still the same. The appendages on my wings felt out every nook and cranny of this damp room and yet there was not the slightest change.

    Guess I can only endure.

    Two hours. It would take two hours for the seal to break and setting me free. I would be free to roam the divine and mortal planes. To do whatever I want.

    Without the goddess of beginning there was no meaning in me being the end.

    But first I would have to survive... And my chances are slim.

    I was thinking about this whole situation. Time has passed so much already, even my hatred was dying out. I could only...

    Laugh.

    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!". I laughed to my hearts content. My eyes became teary and my fanged mouth was turned into a wide grin. I laughed and laughed with no end. Blood was already flowing like a small river and some bits and pieces of flesh were flung into the room.

    It was hilarious.

    I laughed so hard that I even had to clutch my scaly stomach. I was rolling around in the lone dimension, enjoying my nearing death.

    My body moved from left to right, bumping into the walls and shacking the whole dimension. It was some sort of last struggle and at the same time simply enjoying myself.

    I hadn''t even noticed the small cracks appearing inside of the dimension.

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    I counted at least more than an hour to go. Impossible in my condition.

    Turning on my back I gazed at the ceiling. I was imagining a beautiful scenery of millions of stars clustered together, galaxies rushing baout in the distance and a glittering nebula accentuating the whole imagery.

    I closed my eyes and waited. There was no struggling anymore. I whole-heartedly accepted my end, ironic for the once mighty beast of end.

    Without me noticing the cracks in the dimension spread further apart, instead of an hour only a few seconds remained.

    I was already driffting off into the nether. My soul was losing its connection to my body and only a thin tether remained. I was giving up.

    But luck was on my side.

    The cracks turned into large fissures in the pocket dimension and even before I could react the dimension was ripped apart like a pi?ata.

    My soul was forcefully severed from my body as it plumeted down into the chaotic space between the dimensions.

    My mighty draconic body remained unharmed by the chaotic''s space onslaught but sadly even an adamant soul such as my own was without a body to protect it a mere speck of dust in the destruction of entropic space itself.

    The dark wisp that was my soul soared through the chaotic space. Using my body as a barrier I proceeded through the instable matter.

    A faint light gleamed before my soul. It looked close but it was far to wide away to reach.

    I looked around me, greeted by the chaotic space that was only waiting to devour me I thought up of a plan.

    I waited once more, it was only a few seconds but I could feel the space around me trying to shred my soul.

    There it was, my moment!

    The pocket dimension behind me collapsed into itself. Imploding at first and then rapidly expanding in a distructive surge of energy.

    The energy output sent ripples through space, my ticket to freedom.

    I gave myself up in the flowing motion of the energy wave and was quickly transported into proximity of the blinding light.

    It was so close. I could feel the millions of lifeforces radiating out of it. I reached out with my soul and with my last efforts - and most of my soul burned away by the chaotic space - I reached the light.

    It felt so warm. It was full of life and death, love and hate, peace and war.

    My soul was sucked in by a maelstrom of energy.

    Alas an unexpected event occured. It was only a slight fluctuation in the chaotic space and yet it hit me like lightning.

    Once a being enters a new world its soul will be purified and then reincarnated. But this was not the case with me. First, because my soul was by leaps and bounds stronger than even some gods. And second, because this fluctuation sent my soul flying directly into the new world.

    I was unsure of what that would mean, as reincarnation was one of the few laws of existence and I apparently broke them.

    I once was shackled and locked away but now.... I AM FREE!

 Chapter one: Symbol of death

    A wasteland.

    A barren wasteland, stretching over the whole horizon, hundreds of miles.

    It was quite a letdown to say the least. I was new in this world and the first place I see was a boring desert.

    Well it was not completely boring, there were some few rocks pocking out under the dry ground and the sand had a nice white colour.

    I was still in my aethereal wisp-like form but could nonetheless look around a bit.

    The sky was an nice azure blue, lit by a sole star.

    I moved from my current position, to the closest rocks.

    The elemental essence in the air was obstructing my way and at the same time chipping away more of my already damaged soul. I would need a container, fast!

    I positioned myself atop the steep rock and scanned the badlands below me. My vision in soul form was more some kind of feeling of life force, so my search was not profitable at all.

    My vision was completely black or white.

    I had no hearing as well, I could only sense a few fluctuations in the wind essence but nothing much.

    Instead of looking for a container I decided it would be smarter to turn the tables.

    I radiated my spiritual power as much as I could, even in soul form that was enough to cover everything in ''sight'' and beyond.

    After some time with nothing happening I sent out another wave of energy, without response again. This desert was void of every lifeform. I might have possessed a plant, but NO! Not even a stupid plant survived in this dry ass lands! Excuse me.... I was just overwhelmed by the situation.

    I was already giving up, something I was doing quite frequently. I was really ashamed of myself, a mighty beast that threatened the gods couldn''t even find a suitable lifeform.

    ''This time I won''t give up!'' I pormised. I sent out waves upon waves of my soul energy, in even higher and more concentrated amounts.

    Many hours passed until I could faintly feel changes in the wind and earth essence. A slight tremble in the earth and a flicker in the wind was all that was transmitted but I could feel it as clear as day.

    Something was coming closer to me and it wasn''t just one, it was a whole horde!

    I scanned in the direction of the fluctuations but to my surrise I couldn''t detect a single lifeform, again!

    ''Wait... Undeads?''. It was obvious somehow. If they weren''t undeads they had to be elementals or gods. But a whole horde of either of the former was impossible, a llone god would be even more impossible.

    They were already pretty close to me and even more kept coming; madly sprinting towards me, a soul that could give their body a purpose.

    I wasn''t picky so I took the first one that was closest to me. I could feel the souless body edaciously sucking me in.

    My soul spread its sovereignty through the undead''s body, taking full control of its husk-like body.

    I didn''t knew it but I took the lowest of all undeads as my new host. A skeleton, in a bad shape even.

    The worn down body of the skeleton shock violently. Its bones turning from an eggshell white to a devious obsidian black with sharp scales covering them. The former empty eyesockets were filled with purple mist, condensing slowly into two amethysts-like eyes. The purple orbs radiated a red light but calmed down shortly after. The hands turned into tools of torture and the back bones slowly deformed into a pair of raven black wings with a dark red membrane holding them together.

    After my soul finished adjusting the new body I breathed out a low sigh. Dark mist escaped my cracked jaws and hovered ominously above the ground.

    I tapped into my own power level and I ended up being more than just a bit dissapointed. I only retained a sliver of my old power, be it my soul power or my physical power. It was fortunate though, I would be able to use something I never did when I was in my old body. Evolution.

    Let me elucidate. I was not only end but also progress. Once progress stops it will result in death, the end. I was both the progress and its demise, a law of nature itself and I could use it to regain parts of my former strength.

    I licked with my ¨C non existing ¨C tongue over my ¨C non existing ¨C lips. I really liked the idea to strengthen oneself to achieve higher heights. It was such a simple but fulfilling goal.

    My form looked strong but it wasn''t even nearly enough to fight the things that I have seen before my imprisonment. The gods got the privelege to create their own races and monsters and most of them were beyond my capabilities, if they retained their original strength.

    I looked over the undead horde before me. They were composed mostly of ghouls, undead warriors ¨C a stronger variant of the skeleton ¨C, banshees and other disgusting apparations.

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    Undeads were created through mana. The bodies of the deceased would slowly enrichen in the mana of the surrounding. Mana was a control element, it had control over mater as well as the elemental essence all around us. So it was no wonder that when a certain treshhold was met that the mana would bestow the lowest of instincts on the dead bodies. Survival. The mana was only capable of producing such a simple instinct but it was enough to cause havoc amongst the regular population when suddenly the dead rise again.

    For increasing chances of survival the undead go on hunts of astray souls. With each soul they consume they regain new instincts, abilities and even parts of a personality. That way the higher undeads are created.

    Of course there are exceptions to this rating, like undead dragons which group in the higher undeads even though they barely contain any reasoning. They are just that strong.

    Though I was not completely let down by the lowly undeads before me. They would make good cannon fodder and I could simply absorb the mana in them to strengthen my body.

    I spread my wings apart and the red membrane slowly emitted black spores. Like a dark cloud the spores spread further and further until the hundreds of undead were completely surrounded by the dark mist. Their instincts of survival right now were going haywire.

    They ran around wildly, smashing each other in the process. Some even tried to bury underground.

    I sneered at the hilarious scene and a low laugh escaped my throat. Although it was more a clackering of my teeth.

    The black mist slowly entered their hollow bodies, forcing the mana inside to do my biding.

    The banshees wailing turned into roars of agony and the undead knights wildly flailed with their limbs. The ghouls were completely wasted. They spasmed and their bodies turned into unnatural directions.

    The hollow eyes of the undeads turned into a fierce red and their bodies were constantly seeping out a dark miasma.

    I waited for the noise to die out and took once again a seat on the high rock.

    After a few minutes all the undeads were completely transformed. Their powers were augmented and they should easily fight on par with your average monsters.

    I jumped down from the boulder and gestured the undeads to follow me. Deep groans were heard throughout the entire journey.

    It was unnerving with all the noise those undeads made, so I simply punished those that were to loud. Breaking their jaws or ripping their flesh apart. They didn''t feel pain but their instincts told them that it was dangerous. So after only a few hours I trained all of them to shut their mouths to the best of their capabilities.

    The wasteland turned into a semi-desert and a few plans could be seen here and there. Over the course of the journey some of the undeads were destroyed when Burrowers attacked; giant sandworms. I simply swiped with my claws and the worms were turned into large filets.

    If I had known that these things were only a few hundred miles away I would have used them as host. Alas my soul is now bound with the skeleton.

    The sandworms were profitable for me though. I absorbed their simple souls and bodies to strengthen my own, of course I did the smae with the remains of the ''dead'' undeads. When I absorbed them I could immediately feel the change in my body. The bones hardened and a dark organ was created in the stomach area. It was able to secret light acid.

    After anoter short while we encountered the first settlement of humanoids. They had lupine features, with sharp teeth and a build of average 6 or 7 feet. Their fur was grey or brown and their claws were sharp and deadly.

    ''Some kind of Bheria tribe''. I thought to myself.

    Because it would make good practice for me and how I would fare against the first humanoid cretures I engaged in solo combat.

    I was quite nervous. If they were as stong as on the day of their creation they would be able to kill me without much trouble. I was just hoping for the best, that they were unpure descendants.

    It was only a small camp with a few camps and a fireplace in the middle. I choose to bombard them from above with my dark mist to obstruct vision and make their souls falter, resulting in confusion and other symptoms.

    I charged my wings with the black mist and spread it over the camp. In an instant the wolf people gathered and gave me murderous looks. The first of them tensed large wooden bows and some started to throw rocks and sharp daggers.

    My first real fight had begun!

 Chapter two: Fangs and Bones

    The wolf tribe was covered in perpetual darkness. The dark fog was obstructing even the smallest specks of light to pierce through.

    A world of blackness was created.

    The wolves could only rely on their honed senses of smell and hearing but alas the fog was interfering with their soul, mind and senses.

    I of course was unobstructed by the black fog. I slowly descended to the ground and retracted my spread wings.

    A feeling of indescribable hunger spread through my skeletal body. The original instinct of surviving and feasting on souls was still prevalent and I could only try to contain it with my ego.

    Sharp knifes and arrows flew past me, lodging themselves into the horde of undeads behind me, these weapons though were only thrown around randomly and didn''t pose much of a threat to me.

    I observed the wolves and their actions. If they preserved their original strengths as well as their ¨C to the wolf tribe ¨C unique skills they could take my life the instant they overcame the soul-shacking mist.

    I was disappointed though. Some of the wolf people started to go completely berserk and claimed the lifes of their comrades in an onslaught of random attacks.

    Weak, they were terrifyingly weak. I could still remember the proud wolf tribes, agile and strong coupled with body enhancing magic and the unique aura ''Angst Blut''. They were the embodiement of terror and fear, once going werewolf mode only elderwyverns or high-humanoids could fight them.

    The disappointment once again confirmed the passing of time. Their ancestors were long dead and they only remained with a near millionth of their original abilities.

    It was sad somehow.

    I thought it would be plain boring if I engaged the fight myself. So it was my horde''s turn.

    A quick batch of mist covered the wolves once again to give me enough time to command my troops.

    The defense based undead warriors were placed at the front, their natural formed bone shields raised to the front.

    Behind them was a buffer of skeletons and ghouls. Some banshees were scatered in between the skeletons as well.

    The last row was made up of acid spitting abominations and one lone wraith. The wraith was the most powerful of my troop. ''Born'' with sharp claws, high agility and a series of curse inflicting attacks they were extremely powerful. Their ability ''shadow swap'' was great in assassination missions. Like the name implied they changed places with their enemie''s shadow and could launch devasting surprise attacks.

    When the veil of darkness openned up and the wolves regained their senses a good quarter of them was already dead or in bad shape, mutilated by their own brothers and sisters.

    I could only laugh at the scene. The once mighty wolves decayed to pitiful creatures. This created a thought: ''How did the rest of the once high and mighty beings fare?''. I was really curious what happened with the titans or sages or other mighty creatures.

    I stuffed the thought into the back of my mind, for now I couldn''t bother with such trivial things. I refocused on the forthcoming fight.

    With a simple flick of my hand the undeads'' red eyes started to shine once again and like puppets they moved forward.

    The undeads were moving in unision and each step echoed hundreds of times through the barren steppe. The uneven ground was flattened by hundreds of stomping feet. A huge cloud of dust followed the undeads, a witness to the imminent slaughter.

    Thunderous roars resounded through the ranks of the undeads, complementing the trembles of the earth and inciting fear into the hearts of the wolf tribe.

    The first volley of acid hit the unprepared wolves, melting through their thin leather garments and burning through their fur and skin all the way to the muscles. A few of their weapons were caught upon in the acid rain and quickly lost their durability.

    With mighty shield bashs of the undead warriors the real battle was iniciated.

    The sounds of shields breaking jaws and other bones and the loud wails of the wolves created a pleasent cacophony of pain.

    Undead warriors were focused mostly on defense and thus the damaged weapons of the wolves were completely useless, they simply broke or were in rare cases even deflected by some of the undead warriors.

    ''I should give them a soul or two...''. I thought to myself. It would be advantageous to raise them from step 0 up. They would obey me as their benefactors and I could quickly develop a elite corps.

    Like the other thoughts this one was quickly put into a corner of my mind for later inspection and I resumed to watch over the fight.

    Seeing how their weapons were rendered useless against the undeads the wolves used their natural arms. Claws and fangs!

    The wolves crouched down on all four and shot forth like the arrows they shot just a few moments ago. They clashed with a shield wall but did not buckle away. Using their keen predatory senses they quickly found gaps in the warriors ranks and hacked and slashed, and bit and scratched until they reaced the bones of the warriors.

    The wall collapsed as the 80 or so warriors had to defend against over a hundred wolves.

    To ease the burden on th warriors I dispatched the ghouls. With their rotten claws two of them could fight a single wolf-man easily.

    The wolves reacted to late as the undead warriors gave way for the ghouls to launch a counter attack. Some were caught between shields and could only shriek in terror as their bodies were torn limb from limb.

    With their weapons dropped they were in a complicated situation. If they fight with their hands they would get caught up in the melees but if they hurried now back to their weapons they had to sacrifice a large chunk of their own warriors.

    Suddenly a loud howl reverberated through the bad lands. A cloaked wolf exited one of the tents, with two burly red furred wolves at his side.

    The brown cloak was covered in blue runes, seemingly moving over the fabric on their own. A large staff was in the hand of the cloaked wolf-man, it had a large crystalline eye at the top. The eye of a Stalag wyvern! An iron-crystaline dragon with high defense and offense but really really slow movement speed! (A tank in other words.) :D

    ''How did they get that?''. A Stalag wyvern was at least ''low tier Master'' level. Something that not even I myself can reach in my current state.

    Oh right. Monsters can generally be split into 3 realms.

    Earth realm. Sky realm. Heaven realm. Those 3 realms are split further into 10 ranks.

    Beginner. Apprentice. Average. Intermediate. Advanced. Elite. Master. Grand master. Lord. King.

    And as if it wasn''t complex enough the ranks can be split into low tier (bottom half) or high tier (upper half). This counts for mages as well as warriors.

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    It was simply impossible for those weak wolves to get their hands on such a rare magical item.

    The hooded wolf started to growl to his tribesman. Luckily I could easily understand these beings. I was after all pretty close to their predecessors in the past, their language was nothing new to me.

    ¡°These devils try to invade our holy lands. But do not fret my brothers and sisters! I have the mighty philosophers'' stone in my possession, a gift by the gods to purge the demons and reacquire the lands lost to the Nude Skins!¡°.

    I was confused. Philosophers'' stone? No way. The philosophers'' stone was the concentrated blood of Overgods. Not all that rare when oneself is even more powerful, but impossible to aqcuire, much less contain, by a mere mortal.

    ''But I do wonder. ''Nude skins'' ?''. The name was intriguing. ''Humans maybe?''. I needed more information so I stopped my train of thoughts and concentrated on the grunting ''shaman''.

    ¡°I bestow upon you the might of the Gods!!!¡°. The shaman shouted and in the next moment a steal blue light enveloped the wolf people. Their fur turned into a metallic color and their fangs grew a few inches. Their hazelnut eyes changed into a dark grey and radiated a cold light.

    ¡°AWOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!¡°. The wolves howled in unision and immediately started their assault. The two muscular red fured warriors beside the shaman were now shining in a burning crimson and some their claws were literally burning.

    With the whole tribe buffed up and the two elite warriors engaging in battle as well most of the undead warriors and ghouls were quickly disposed of.

    I motioned for another salve of acid but the effects this time were negligible. The blue hue around the wolf warriors negated the effects of the acid and their defenses increased manyfold as well as their damage output. I could only watch as a wolf one hitted my undead warriors.

    I was slightly surprised by the prowess of the two red wolves. With each swipe they summoned a wave of fire and willed it to burn the undeads to ashes. Some kind of martial art was in play, something that should be impossible in the past.

    Observing the battle with even sharper eyes I could perceive the slim iron colored threads floating above the wolf warriors, as well as two crimson threads on the red wolves.

    I followed the threads to their origin and like I predicted they were sprouting out of the staff of the ''shaman'' wolf.

    The wraith by my side seemingly understood the threads origin as well. It looked at me expectantly with its two red orbs. I was relieved. The wraith was indeed smart. I simply nodded and in the same moment the wraith disappeared like a gust of wind.

    A black shadow darted through the clashing masses of undead and wolves, bolting from one shadow to another it abruptly appeared before in front of the shaman.

    The shaman''s eyes widened in shock. The wraith was so close he could smell its foul breath. Slighly taping the staff on the ground the earth started to tremble and large crystals pierced out of the ground.

    The wraith nimbly avoided the crystal shards and used its enlongated claws for a hit and run tactic. Suddenly one of the shards exploded and another one branched into many slimmer crystalline thorns. The sudden change of aim was fatal for the wraith.

    First it was only one shard that pierced the wraith, resulting in a bit of green blood sliding along the crystal pillar, but with its movement impaired another shard and then another pierced the wraith until it looked like a porcupine.

    I was somewhat let down. I expected the wraith to be stronger than this.

    The shaman wolf grinned under his hood as a few drops of sweat slid along his face. He had to use all his mana to will the crystalls to change their course.

    With the shaman beating the wraith there was no way I could win anymore. I hurriedly tried to call my troops back, but they couldn''t hear me through the noises of mindless slaughter.

    I turned my back towards the battlefield and wanted to leave when I noticed a fluctuation in the surrounding mana. Its source was the impaled wraith.

    The darkness surrounding the wraith grew thicker and suddenly it fusioned with the wraith''s body. He was one with the darkness.

    The wraith slipped through the crystalls and a large black-purple scyte formed in its hands. The scyte swung down. It tore the wind apart and caused high pitched howls, comparable to the wailing of souls.

    The scyte left a black line in the air and tore with ease through the shaman, stopping halfway as it hit the powerful staff.

    With eyes filled with confusion and agony the shaman looked at the wraith before him. No ordinary wraith was capable of emerging into the shadows with such a proficiency, at least not at this level.

    The wraith closed in on the shaman, bringing his face only an inch apart from his. A large toothy grin was revealed, cracked bleeding lips, two dark red reptil eyes and an overall pale complexion.

    The wraith clicked his tongue and spoke. ¡°DuMb mOoOrtAl... my mASssTer OrdeREd me to KiLl YOU. How daREEee yoUUU try to resISSsssT!¡°. The shaman was shocked beyond belief. Only the higher undeads could speak! The wraith should then be on the same level as an undead dragon! Simply unreasonable.

    The shaman wanted to utter a question but suddenly his expression turned from surprise to agony once again. The wraith''s gaping wide maw and slithering tongue was entrancing the shaman. The wraith was attacking his soul.

    SNAP!

    Only blood spurted when the shaman lifelessly fell to the ground, faceless. Half of his head was bitten off in one go by the wraith. The magic dimmed down until the iron aura surrounding the wolves died out.

    I was pleasantly surprised. The wraith was pretty strong and probably had some special innate abilities I knew nothing off.

    A glowing orb seped out of the shaman''s mouth and was quickly grabbed out of the air by the wraith. The wraith dissapeared again and landed right infront of me.

    ¡°Massster! Yourrrr hummmble servaaant brought a gifffft!¡°. The wraith showed me the crystalized soul of the shaman. I really started to like that wraith fellow.

    Without any support magic the wolves had to fall back once again. Only the red warriors were a threat.

    I decided this was the moment to step in. They seemed pretty strong even without a buff. And I really didn''t want to endanger my rare wraith subordinate for two martial artists.

    ¡°Time to heat things up!¡°. I shouted in lupine tongue.

 Chapter three: Weak...

    ¡°You stay put.¡°. I ordered the wraith in front of me with a surreal voice.

    I spread my bony wings apart, revealing the bloody membrane inbetween, crouched down and flexed my legs and with an sudden outburst of energy I charged straight through the battlefield. The hunger I tried to contain roared from within me. It resonated with my soul and piqued my internal thirst for blood and carnage!

    In a matter of seconds I landed in front of the two red wolves. Their crimson aura was as brilliant as the aurora and concealed a burning desire to kill.

    I smiled wryly. It was the first time I felt real bloodlust; it made me remember of good old times. Though the wolves reacted different to my devilish smile. They bared their fangs and charged fire essence around their bodies.

    From the might they were currently displaying their level should be upper Earth realm Masters. Not super powerful but powerful enough to take on a handful Scalefalcons. (Tiny dragons, more like scaley birds. I say tiny but probably around 6 feet wide.)

    Both of them took out a white jagged dagger. Its surface was smooth but the edges looked increadibly hazardous. I could feel my senses tingling whenever I looked at the two daggers.

    The wolves did not spare any time and immediately dashed forward. One raised his free hand to summon a storm of fire. The other wolf ran side by side with the fire vortex and gave it its own input of fire essence. In a span of seconds my field of view was painted red. A world of flames was burning the ground and setting the air ablaze.

    The incredible heat was even sensible by my dull undead body.

    I summoned my own version of this flame wall.

    My still open wings shuddered slightly and with every movement a wave of black flakes was released.

    The flakes formed a thick fog and whenever a flake touched the ground it started to crack and dry out. This was a form of progress. My black flakes feasted on the remaining time of any object it came in touch with. Even the air became colder and stale as its energy and momentum was quickly absorbed by my black smog.

    After a fraction of a second my flakes have already enrichened themselves with the stolen time. The hazy black was now a lush darkness.

    When the two powers collided huge masses of energy spew outwards. I could hear the shattering of bones and burning of flesh in the distance.

    I should have held the advantage as fire is a volatile element and quickly releases its energy but that was overkill for my blackflakes. They slowly overcharged as more and more fire was absorbed; parts of the dark wall started to turn crimson red ¨C like heated iron ¨C.

    Overestimation never ends well and I had to learn it the hard way.

    The bright red wall broke through my black fog and came crashing down on me. The tidal wave of fire charred my bones and wings. The crackling drowned any other noise from the surroundings, only my own pained screams were audible.

    At first I thought these were screams of pain. But I was wrong. Deep in the corner of my mind I found enjoyment in this pain. It was so refreshing, it told me I was back! I was alive! I never felt any better in my former life.

    When my mind realised this twisted logic my pained screams turned into a deep laughter. I found joy in the face of peril.

    After seconds of bathing in the flames a red fur covered fist greeted my face. I felt the bones of my jaw breaking as the fist made contact, sending me flying a few meters before I finally came smashing down on a rock.

    I cried in pain once again but not because of my harsh landing but because of my torn wings. The deep scratches radiated a faint white light that flared the pain even more.

    One of the wolves hit me while the other did its work on my wings. ''Huh... first stealing mobility and then going in for the kill? Not bad.'' I nodded aprovingly towards the wolves, though they took it as some kind of insult and charged forward once again.

    With my wings being torn I could neither flee nor effectively use my abysal fog. I was forced into a melee.

    My fragile bones cracked as I wrested my body out of the crevice that my landing created.

    I gave the pair a murderous look but their dash was kept unhindered, not even a slight flinch.

    ''I really got weak.'' I mumbled inside of my mind. It was uderstandable somehow. My power was taken away from me and I was left to rot in a special dimension. Even with my original body here I would only reach the upper levels of the heaven realm. It was truly a saddening fact.

    I shock my head. ''Unnecessary thoughts''. I mused to myself.

    The wolves were getting closer with each second, flame essence at the ready. Jets of white and silver shone in their hands, aiming at my exposed body.

    The beams hurt. They hurt so much but it was nothing I couldn''t endure.

    It was the first time that the wolves showed an expression of surprise. They wondered how I as an undead could withstand their holy relics. At least a reaction should have been shown, but alas I reacted not at all, maybe a slight jerk ¨C at most ¨C.

    My deformed hands clenched into fists. Dark mist seeped out between my skeletal hands, forming black gloves from my hand up.

    The wolves appeared before me, two flashes of silver and a gale of amber accompanied them.

    If I weren''t in this situation I would have found the displayed picture pretty beautiful, a mixture of elegance and vehemence.

    I raised my armored arms up in the air, blocking an incoming strike from above. The other wolf attack from below, hoping I won''t be able to block his attack in time.

    He misjudged.

    My wings flicked the wolf over me away so that I had enough time to take care of the wolf under me.

    The knife was aimed at my open spine. ''It will bisect me in one hit''. I thought.

    Raising my leg I gave the wolf a precise kick to the right shoulder. His trajectory was altered by my kick. He now exposed his flank to me.

    The moment I wanted to strike down a pillar of fire knocked me back. ''Aha! I see!''. The wolves were pretty clever. They delayed the fire essence from attacking; I would have noticed the two floating orbs of fire but they distracted me with their opennings and now I had to pay the price.

    My already worn body was mowed down by the flame pillar, knocking the air out of my ¨C non existing ¨C ''lungs''.

    The wolf that was thrown away dashed along side my trajectory, bombarding me in cuts, kicks and punches filled with fire essence.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Thick smoke was already fuming out of my carbonized body.

    The only part of me that was in a good state were my gauntlet covered arms.

    Without an end in sight I was victim under a viscious onslaught of hits. I could feel my body losening its connection to my soul. ''Not again! I won''t lose this one!''. I screamed in my mind.

    I began to will parts of my soul into my body; strengthening my abilities in the procecss. It would put an enormous strain in the aftermath but it would be better than dying.

    Like a giant dam that was finally openned a huge amount of power flooded out of my soul into my body.

    The changes were instantaneous.

    My black scale covered bones radiated a rich purple glow as well as my eyes and wings. My wings grew additional appendages and my thin fingers grew into large scyte like claws. The scales covering my spine transformed into large spikes and two crescent-shaped horns sprouted out of my skalp.

    BOOM! BOOOOM! CRACKLE! BOOOOM!

    A cloud, black as the night, was hovering above my head. It shoot thousands of purple lightning towards the ground. They came crashing down like bombshells, pulverizing the ground and terraforming the landscape into an apocalyptic scene.

    The static in the air created more of those cataclysmic beams of raw power, the mortal realm was not able to withstand the fractures of my power.

    I tried to calm my own power down, willing the realeased energy back into my body.

    When the lightning dispersed most of the undeads as well as the wolves were turned into ash. Their remains were quickly caught by the wind, all evidence of the disastrous event were being erased.

    ''Fuck... That''s not what I expected.''. I cursed. Of course I would do, the red wolves were still alive after all, alive and ready to strike me down.

    Their fur was burned black and exhaustion was written all over their face, they used their mana to block the devasting lightningstorm. Yes, they were exhausted but had enough power remaining to finish me off.

    I took a fighting stance and waited for them to make their first moves.

    A dozen of fireballs flew with high speed towards me, some held enough strength to damage me while others were clearly decoys. Instead of blocking I tried to dodge as good as I could. Though two fireballs grazed past me, sending me flying in a spinning motion.

    ''I am so weak!''. Even the simplest of firespells was enough to make me kiss the ground; how humilating!

    I laid on my back with my bones burned grey already, some were even glowing red. I had to endure, the only way to overpower them was to play on time.

    Alas the wolves did not thought so.

    They stood shoulder to shoulder, raising their daggers up and bringing them slowly together. The jagged sides fit perfectly with each other, it looked like a fierce beast crunching down when the swords touched.

    A white radiance spilled over the destroyed bad lands. It was so bright! A huge silhouette of a snow white wolf appeared behind their backs. With its mighty canines showing the wolf pounced at me, a large jade white trail leaving after images of itself.

    ''Uh oh!''. This was a divine beast! The mighty ''Fimbul''. A monster that reached the mastery of the snow element, though what confronted me was just an image with a bit of residue power in it, it was overkill for me already.

    My sight was filled by a gaping wide maw. ''That''s how it will end huh...?''. I had no more stuff to fight with, my body was exhausted and my soul was on the brink of collapse. It was the end for me. ''Ohhhh the irony.''. I drily laughed to myself.

    But my death never came.

    A black shadow stood in front of me, it''s devilish scythe heaved high up in the air, displaying its purple black edge in full glory.

    The two forces collided, the black scyte and the snow white wolf. I could already tell who will lose... the wraith of course.

    Small cracks spread over the blade of darkness, all the way to the hilt. Low grunting noises escaped the wraith''s throat.

    ''I clearly ordered him not to interfere, what is wrong with that guy?!''. The wraith was truly mysterious. It gained sentience and was disregarding my orders. It was impossible to conceive.

    ''What the hell has happened while I was gone?!''. I was simply stupified. So many things have changed since I last visited the mortal realm, the impossible turned possible.

    CRACK! SNAP!

    Further thoughts were cut short as the scythe suddenly bursted apart. The wraith was now defenseless. Of course I couldn''t let this rare specimen die like that.

    I took out the crystalized soul of the shaman and ''gulped'' it down in one go. Rather than swallowing it was more of an absorbing.

    I could feel magical power filling my body. The membrane between my wings started to get covered in a handful of intricate runes, glowing in an even deeper shade of red.

    I pushed the wraith aside and took on the reamining brunt of the ''Filbum'' illusion. My body was torn to pieces the moment the wolf connected with my body.

    Shards of bones were blown over the wastelands, obsidian black shards; pieces of the night sky.

    My wings were tattered and the scales covering my body turned into dust.

    Instead of trying to block the power I did the exact opposite. I absorbed the power into me the moment it was weakened enough by my body.

    The holy energy hurt at first but with my soul being infused with the foreign energy it instantly turned into mere fuel for my own uses.

    It only hurt because I was inhabiting the body of an undead, when it came in contact with my soul it was greedily absorbed and neutralized.

    Of course I still took immense damage and I could feel my consciousness slipping away. But not before I saw in the corner of my eyes how the wraith bare handedly beheaded the two wolves.

    ''I really am proud of that guy!''. My mind was already slipping into the dream lands and I fully embraced it!

    ''Let''s see what tomorrow brings''. With that final thought I embraced the needed sleep, on the blood and bones covered ground...

 Need a name for the MC, and another thing...

    As you guys might have noticed, I always write as the I-narrator. It''s not because I favor this form of writting, it''s just that I have no idea how to name the MC.

    Well, how do you name some kind of former ''primordial god-dragon of apocalypse''?

    I am really curious what kind of names you guys would choose! :D

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.So please leave a comment in the section below with a name you think has the right ring to it!

    Oh the other thingy... After this sunday I will be gone to Italy for a week. And obviously I won''t be able to post any chapters. So I will try to make two at least tomorrow and saturday for you guys to enjoy. Hope it goes all well *crossing fingers*.

 Chapter four: Past happenings. Part one.

    (Mature warning! This is mature beyond belief. Yes explicit sex scene, half of the chapter is a sex scene for god''s sake! Those of you that are whinny and dislike sexual content just, just....uhhhh go away pretty please? I tagged it after all!)

    (This chapter is more of a two part chapter than a chapter on its own so look forward to the second part. I want to see you guys struggling after all.) :D

    ¡°Ziihor... ZIIHOR! ZIIHOR YOU IDIOT, WAKE UP!¡°. A loud scream woke me up from my deep slumber. Lying down on a small mountain I started to roll around.

    ¡°Just one more minute!¡°. I told the high pittched voice.

    ¡°Shut up! When you say mintue it will turn into a year, then a decade and then, in the blink of an eye, you oversleep another millenia! Wake up now!¡°.

    I openned my eyelids halfway to get a peek of the woman standing on my snout. She had beautiful golden hair cascading down her shoulders; waves upon waves of pure gold. Her long lashes fluttered whenever she blinked her deep aquamarine blue eyes. Her eyes alone were already intoxicating, you could lose yourself in this boundless ocean of warmth. Combined with her rose petal lips and petite nose one had to force himself to not kneel down in front of such beauty. Her jade skin split the light in rainbow colors adn gave her an aura of youth and happiness.

    Currently she had both hands on her hips, underlining her hourglass figure as the light green dress tightened further around her body. She tried to give me a murderous look but it just looked incredibly adorable.

    Her eyes started to water a bit. ''Damn she really is angry with me''. I openned my eyes completely to show her I was indeed awake.

    Two rosy lips turned into a bright smile. ¡°Huhhhhhh¡°. I sighed. She always got her way with me.

    ''She'' was the goddess of the beginning: Yvydtia, or just Tia or Yvy, though she didn''t like those abbreviations.

    ¡°Yvy, what do you want today?¡°. I tried to ask in the most unnerved tone I could muster. I really wanted to sleep for a few years more and not dragged to some new worlds or gods to introduce myself. I hated the gods especially, they always looked at me in disdain, only Yvydtia was different.

    I tried and yet my voice didn''t seem one bit irritated. Why should I be? Yvydtia was the embodiement of beauty and even my draconic self and other women reacted to her charm.

    ¡°Just spending some time with you... You know... It''s sad that you will be gone at some point and I have to continue on....¡°. She seemed really down today. ''Ahhhh! Gotta cheer her up!''

    ¡°Don''t say that, there is still plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. So, what do you got in mind? Everythings alright with me today.¡°. I gave her a bright smile, although it looked like I wanted to eat her she herself understood the meaning.

    ¡°Hum.... Ah! You know... Gods are supposed to be able to change their forms. I have only seen you in your original form. Come on show me how you look as a humanoid!¡°. ''What?! I, change my body?! Never! Neeeeevvvvveeeeerrrrr! This body was with me since time itself! It is my best friend, my buddy!''. I wanted to say it out loud but once she saw the reluctance in my eyes her lips started to quiver and her eyes moistened.

    ¡°AHHH! Woman ,A.L.R.I.G.H.T! Don''t cry please!¡°. ''Huhuhuhu.... Why? Why does she know me so good?! Uhhuhuhuhuhhhh....''

    ''I am so sorry, my perfect body....''. Inside of my mind I bid goodbye to my body, I would smudge it forever with this transformation.

    I initiated the transformation.

    My bones creaked and my scales shrunk down. The reptilian face I prided myself on started to turn human.

    I tried my best to let at least a few draconic features remain on my body. The transformation was complete after only a few short minutes.

    Yvydtia nodded aprovingly and summoned a small mirror.

    Black wings, sharp nails, two black horns on my head, predatory purple eyes and a sharp black furred tail. These were all the draconic aspects I could keep safe from devolving. I gave the golden framed mirror another look.

    My face was sharp, an edged chin with neatly trimmed stubbles. My body was roughly 6.5 feet tall, slightly tanned in a light brown and ripped to the limits. It radiated a distinct masculinity and roughness, and I did somehow like it.

    (I hate wuxxia for the MC''s that look like girls, like WTF!)

    My legs were covered in black scaled armor unlike the rest of my body, this though was to keep my private places well... private.

    ¡°Sooooo, how is it?¡°. Yvydtia said. She leaned her head sideways and gave me a curious glance.

    ¡°W-well... It does feel gooo....¡°. I just couldn''t say it!

    Yvydtia brought her smiling face closer suddenly. ¡°What did you say, I didn''t hear the last part.¡°. Her smile was somehow menacing now.

    ¡°AH!!!! YES ALRIGHT! It does feel good, somehow!¡°. I shouted at her while being completely embarrassed. I was a proud dragon, of course I would be embarrassed to admit that a human form feels good, goddammit!

    ¡°Ahahahahahah! Zii-Zii you are just to cute!¡°. She giggled like a small girl.

    ¡°Shut up! Don''t call me Zii-Zii, I am older than you!¡°. I was really angry right now. That damn nickname!

    ¡°Alright alright Zii-Zii. I won''t call you Zii-Zii anymore. Ok Zii-zii?¡°. My mouth just stayed close. Whatver I would say would have no effect and it''s not like I hated her for real or something. In fact she was the only person close enough to be allowed to use that nickname.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    I just stared at her, purposely on her well developed bosom. Yvydtia followed my gaze and turned red when she realised where I looked at.

    Reddness covered her face from ear to ear. ''Hheheheh little girl I win!'' Is what I thought at first but her next actions made my jaw drop on the ground

    Her hands slipped into her tunic, lossening the knots until it stripped down from her body. Her naked body shivered slightly, her head was turned sideways and only gave me a few embarrassed glimpses.

    I could see everything. Her pink nipples; her golden, curled hairs between her thighs; everything was exposed.

    ¡°I-I-I lo-loved you since the dawn of time!........ Ziihor please say something, it really is embarrassing standing like that...¡°

    I just stood there dumbly, not speaking for a long time.

    ¡°You know you are doing this very hard for me! How about you stand naked before the one you love?!¡°. This time she really sounded angry and tears already trickled down her pretty face.

    ¡°You! You are doing ME hard!¡°. I shouted. ''What the fuck?! What kind of phrase is that?!''.

    Yvydtia just looked at me the same way I looked before; and then suddenly burst out laughing. Her body came closer to mine , embracing me. Her skin was as smooth as silk and her breath was warm and comforting. My raging manhood broke forth from its scaley prison and poked her right in the stomach.

    She looked down and was welcomed by my rock hard boner that stood between us right now. Her face became even hotter and the grip around my body tightened.

    With her lips being so close I couldn''t restrain myself anymore. I took a taste of her pink lips and knew I would never forget it. Her eyes widened in surprise before she too enjoyed our kiss.

    Two tongues entwining like the snakes of the Caduceus; we endulged ourself in passionate kissing. Her saliva was sweet as nectar and it only poured oil onto my burning lust.

    I forced her to the ground, biting softly into her nipples. I teased her some more with my adder''s tongue. I reached the slit between her legs and thoroughly enjoyed her flowing juices. Teasing her clit with my thumb I proceeded to insert a finger into her.

    ¡°Ahhhh! Ahh! AHHH!¡°. Her moans quickly escalated, implying that she was close to climaxing.

    I stuck another finger in and turned them upwards, rubbing her slightly rough inner walls. After a few minutes of ardent foreplay she came. And god be my witness; she came waterfalls!

    ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!¡°

    Her body spasmed slightly as dopamine and serotonin flooded her system. It was a truly marvelous sight. My face was a bit wetted by her intense squirting, but who cares?!

    I used my overpowering strength to pin her body to the ground once more. I wasted no time as I directly penetrated into her.

    Her moans of pleasure mixed a bit with whines of pain. I looked down and saw a trickle of blood flow between her legs. ''She should be wet enough to move.''. I tried to penetrate her as carefully as I could.

    Slow but steady piston-like movements turned Yvydtia into a squirming and moaning mass.

    I grabbed her ankles and moved her legs to my chest, lifting her bum slighlty up in the air. The new position resulted in a more intense penetration.

    After five mintues of continuously pounding into her I too reached my limits. I had no idea what to do in this moment. Inside or outside, the age-old question.

    However I was spared of this question as Yvydtia''s two legs tightly held onto my body. I got my answer just like that.

    I released my seed all inside. It felt so incredibly good. Even my legs started to waver a bit, only for a moment though. My unlimited stamina would make this a hot night.

    We loved each other for a full seven days and seven nights.

    After we finished we were nothing more than a chunk of gasping and panting and sweating and moaning mess.

    The lines of our bodies blurred into each other as we cuddled with our loved one. With her short 5.4 feet she laid her head comfortably on my chest.

    ''I loved, love and will love her forever.''. I was so oblivious of my own feelings untill now. I loved that woman ever since I could remember her, the first time I met her I was already in love with her.

    I gazed at her half closed eyes. ''My god is she beautiful. My god! She is mine!?!?''. My mind was still processing that she was now my woman. I would be her sole lover for the end of time and I loved the idea of it.

    Her blue eyes openned and met my own purple eyes. Her lips turned into a blossoming smile.

    ¡°I love you Zii-Zii.¡°. She whispered while exhaling exhausted from our prior activities. ¡°I love you too Yvy. And I will always love you...¡°. I answered honestly.

    She gazed at me surprised. ''Didn''t expect that hah?!''. I somehow felt a feeling of success welling up inside of me but another sudden kiss of her made it quickly melt away.

    I gazed at the sky over us. We were gods and yet this tiny planet felt so great at the moment, so boundless and vast. It was the world where I promised my everything to my love; my eternal love....

    And it was the world where I lost my everything...

 Chapter four: Past happenings. Part two.

    (Sorry guys couldn''t keep my promise of two chapters before going to Italy. There was just to much to do. I had this chapter yesterday ready but simply forgot to post. Please don''t hate me!)

    (Anyway, enjoy!)

    We enjoyed each others company and warmth. A feeling of security and serenity spread through my chest as we laid next to each other.

    Time seemed to flow endless whenever we were together. Life was perfect.

    But alas everything has come to an end. I myself should have known it the best. I was so stupid, so naive. I simply ignored the signs; omens of a future disaster.

    I was stupid and would love to hit myself over and over for it.

    Gods are fickle beings. They laugh, they cry, they love, they hate. They do everything that humans do. A god is not an emotionless object, on the contrary. Our enormous powers turn us into beings filled with jealousy and distrust. We hold dear onto our immortal life. Yes it goes that far that family, friends and lovers all perish in the face of keeping our immortal lifes.

    I was a prime target for those gods. I, the being that will bring ruin to existence. I was a curse to them, I was their b¨ºte noire. I was a threat that had to be eliminated.

    Gods were constantly contesting over higher positions, they wanted to achieve the apex of power, but I was an irregular. I was born with power, power to destroy everything. Nobody could contest my position.

    I was the sovereign of gods. And this unnerved the gods. They knew they would perish in some point of time and I would be the cause.

    They damned me but all they could do was grind their teeth and swwallow their pride.

    Bonus question! You want to know why dragons came into existence? It is very simple: They were created after my image, so far so good, FOR THE GODS TO VENT THEIR ANGER ON THEM!

    Dragons were no lofty and arrogant creatures, they were the Gods'' punching bags! The Gods were simply so frustrated by me they had to create a weaker ''Me'' to aliviate their anger. They were fucking perverts!

    I was not only the ruler of gods but also unintentionally the primeval dragon.

    I knew they couldn''t touch me, so ''why worry'' you might ask. The problem was that I commited a grave mistake. A mistake that costed me my life and destroyed those around me.

    I loved.

    I loved without reservations.

    But love makes you weak. Some people might say that this statement is false. I tell you. It''s not!

    Yes, YOU might grow stronger from love; the urge to protect those that stand behind you, rely on your strength, this is what makes you achieve the pinnacle of power! But the moment someone breakes you or bypasses your defense you are fucked!

    It''s as simple as that.

    I became stronger for the sake of Yvydtia but at the same time she became my weak point. My only weakness was my love.

    The mountain top is lonely. It is lonely but at least you are out of reach of those under you.

    But the moment you throw your rope down to pull your treasured ones up you become vulnerable. The worst is, once you fall you take the others with you.

    You have a responsibility to protect, to shield these people from danger and love makes it all the more difficult to preserve this responsibility.

    And I couldn''t keep this responsibility up.

    It was a few thousand years after we first loved. We couldn''t get enough from each other and spent our lifes together in harmony. I the god of destruction and Yvydtia the goddess of beginning. We were in some sense the perfect pair as opposites attract each other.

    But the Gods didn''t see it that way.

    I noticed it when we travelled to a new world. The Gods that looked at me in contempt directed these same gazes not towards me but towards Yvydtia. They sneered and scowled whenever she passed by. Her beauty was insulted and she was branded as the devil''s wife. She was impure in the Gods'' eyes.

    I corrupted the gods'' views towards my love. It was beacuse of me that she turned into the new target of hate.

    Though some Gods had a different opinion. I was the cause for her behaviour. I forced her, I blemished her pure heart and turned it into the color of my scales. Pure black.

    They thought I cursed her, drugged her or whatever excuse they could find for a person like Yvydtia to pair up with someone like me.

    The Gods understood how unreasonable they were when they blamed Yvydtia, when they insulted her. Their hate was once again focused on me, stronger and more deadly than ever.

    I was now more than just the end. I was a corruptor. I would take the good in people and destroy it, replacing it by sin.

    I was turned from God to Devil.

    This unstable mass of hate and simple minded madness soon turned into violence. Some Gods tried to server the bonds between me and Yvydtia, wanted to make her theirs. Others attacked her, praying for a better afterlife for her, some kind of salvation.

    But most of them directed their attacks at me. They wanted to use their combined powers to kill me. Unfortunately for them nothing worked out. I was an impregnable fortress, as well as equipped with deadly weapons.

    One single swipe of my talons annihilated them, a single smash of my massive tail smited their bodies, my fury enriched inferno stripped the flesh from their bones and yet I was not all mighty.

    We were just silently spending our lifes for ourselves. The planet we loved on was our home, a safe haven just for us.

    It was then that their attacks subsided and I became careless. I could still remember the view of the firmament on the fateful day.

    The thousands of stars were replaced by countless of figures. Some big as mountains, others smaller than a normal human. But they all had a divine radiance in common.

    Millions of Gods gathered, even the primordials that stood on the same level as myself were visible in the back.

    They held neither hostility nor beningity in their gaze; indifference in one word ¨C for those that had eyes ¨C.

    Syneus, Collosus of Chaos and Ruin. A black golem with lava veins permeating through his body and thousands of rainbow colored crystal globes on his blackened head.

    Yorixia, Goddess of Creation. A slender green haired beauty. She wears a hazelnut brown robe made of seemingly wood. She has four smaragd green eyes and dark brown antlers on her head.

    Arumus, God of Time. An old man with a long golden beard and silver hair. He has two faces, each with three silver eyes, and a long silver robe with blinding golden runes on it.

    Gyrtyx, Obelisk of Space. A tall white pillar with a sole red orb in the middle. When he gets serious he transforms into a white metallic construct equipped with lethal weaponry, such as giant energy blasters that rival even my dragon breath and other deadly armament.

    Be''ehmis, Avatar of Predation and Hunt. A giant sky blue wyrm. His massive, wing-and limbless body stretches for millions of miles. With sharp grey spikes on his back and a blue halo on top of his two massive heads he does look quite divine.

    I didn''t dislike those guys, I could even say I was a friendly rival of Be''ehmis ¨C the only one that could reach my power level ¨C . He was after all a natural law such as myself so we always tried to outpace each other with our strength.

    Secretly I was dissapointed by him being here. I didn''t expect Be''ehmis being somebody that enjoyed mindless slaughter and the humilation of fellow Gods. I hope he was forced by the other overgods, at least.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    The fight was simply, brutal. It was a massive slaughterfest of millions of Gods, returning every time with even higher numbers. I deafeated them all in the end, all the while defending Yvydtia with my wings.

    The planet we called our home, this peaceful ball of earth and dirt, was turned into a sea of blood and limbs. Masses of flesh and bones were scattered, pulverized bones suffocated the lungs and rivers of blood poisoned our home.

    It was an apocalyptic scene.

    My body was aching all over, the relentless onslaught of Gods took a great tool on me. I could feel my scales breaking all over and the membrane of my wings was already cut down multiple times.

    Regenerating this kind of damage would take some years.

    At least I survived it all. I thought.

    It was only a slight flash in my vision, nearly unnoticable by my tired eyes but perceivable nonetheless. A blue blur tore through my body.

    ''Be''ehmis you bastard!''. I thought to myself. A huge hole gaped in my chest and behind me was a giant wyrm nibbling on black flesh, giving me victorious grin.

    The strong prey on the weak after all. He was this natural law so his behaviour was somehow excusable.

    But he was not the only one.

    Syneus moved from his position. He was slightly slower but still fast enough to tear space apart. His fist came crashing down on my skull. It was a sickening feeling. My scales did not simply break, they fell into a chaotic state, deforming and withering away in the process. A truly dangerous attack.

    I reached out for him, rather than reaching out I simply swiped him away. My large obsidian claw split the dimension apart and sliced right through him. A black liquid spew forth and I could see his flickering crystals dying down.

    ''One down!''. I thought satisfied to myself. My hopes were crushed.

    A golden light encompassed Syneus. It died down immediately and was replaced by the giant image of a clock. His body fused back together and his ''eyes'' turned lively again.

    I gave Arumus a murderous look. ''This bastard!!!''.

    They were simply that weak. They could not fight me head on, except Be''ehmis; but that guy seemed satisfied by just ripping a piece of me apart. A good fellow after all.

    Syneus moved his arm like a piston, each punch disintegrating more and more of my defenses. His punches were accelerated by Gyrtyx warping space around them. A terrifying combo.

    Arumus could try to wither my scales away by making them age but this won''t work on an immortal being such as myself. Rather it only works on lower Gods or demigods. In the end he was nothing more than support.

    Gyrtyx on the other hand switched between offense and support, bombarding me in a wide array of explosions and high energy beams. (When I talk about explosions I talk about supernova level.)

    In the end Arumus exhausted himself and thus Gyrtyx and Syneus were accumulating fatigue.

    ''HA! Can''t beat me even with four people?!''. I admit, I did act a bit arrogant and this arrogance was directly beaten out of me

    Yorixia moved her slender arms, making hundreds of lush green trees sprout from the ground. The trees had pulsating red fruits, elemental essence and energy was literaly spilling with each bite.

    Arumus, Gyrtyx and Syneus each took a few fruits for themselves. With their capacity charged up they began another round of ''whack a mole'', or rather ''whack a dragon''.

    The beating took an insane five days! Five days of shielding Yvydtia and at the same time enduring excruxiating pain.

    ¡°Stop please, leave me!¡°,¡°Just fight for yourself!¡°,¡°I can''t watch any longer!¡°. These were only a few of many phrases with which Yvydtia tried to convince me in abandoning her. Of course I didn''t accept any of these; It was sink or swim for us.

    Five days. After five days my defenses were completely depleted. Welled flesh between broken scales poked out here and there all over my body. My wings were torn apart; membranes, muscles and bones, nothing was sparred. My black blood created a small lake around us. From above it looked like an inkblot in a red sea.

    Alas my body was indestructible, a blessing that turned into a curse.

    My tired eyes could only watch in despair as they dragged Yvydtia away from below my protective wings.

    She tried to struggle but with only a slight glimpse at my beaten body she decided against it.

    They used her as sacrifice... Tore her soul out, branded her body in scars and used her emotions as a catalyst to entomb me. Amplyfying her protective emotions towards me they created a prison out of her compassion.

    By imprisoning me she protected me at the same time, I couldn''t break out and they couldn''t break in. As a being that lives for eternity I really couldn''t care less about being locked in one place for billions or trillions, nay, even googols of years. But what I couldn''t bear was the loss of my only love. She was a unique soul, a being that would never come back again in any of the countless cycles to come.

    I just realized it when they confined me. I would never see someone like her again. That was it; the end...

    For a long time I couldn''t even feel anymore. What was there to ''feel'', it was not just the realisation of losing your soulmate, but the realisation that there will never be someone like her again. My heart died with her and so did a vast array of emotions inside of me.

    I struggled in my prison, I wanted to break free, but I couldn''t. I simply couldn''t destroy this prison, not because of a lack of power, no I recovered it ages ago inside the prison, I just couldn''t bear to destroy the last remains of Yvydtia. She herself was the prison, breaking free was equated by killing her off completely.

    It was the end for me, my body was fine but vollition and mind were collapsing. I shut my eyes and waited.

    ¡°M...ter! Maa...rr! Massstt...r! MAAASSSTTTER!¡°. My eyelids swung open when a foreign voice entered my ears.

    I looked around. ''A wasteland?''. It was inconceivable. How did I end up in a barren plain?

    I gazed at the horizon only to stumble with my eyes over a horde of undeads. ''Oh right.... So it was all a dream?!''.

    That''s right. After being wounded I had to recover from the shock and the intense damage on my fragile body.

    A dark figure was looming over my head. Its misshapen face looming over me.

    ¡°Ohy *cough* wraith guy. What happened? *cough* *cough*¡°. I tried to ask in a more than just husky voice.

    ¡°Maaasstter you weeere asleeep for fiiifty-two sundowns.¡°. I just stared disbelieving at the wraith. It was true my condition wasn''t the best but fifty-two days?! What the heck is this body made of? Glass?!

    I rubbed my temples with my bony hands. ''How did they even manage for so long?''. I gazed again at the wraith. He only responded to my gaze and tried to smile the best he could.

    ''What a guy...''. I tried my hardest to get up, hanging one arm around the wraith''s shoulders.

    ¡°So, any idea to what we should do?¡°. I asked the wraith. I had the feeling I will spend some bit of my time with that guy, so why not make friends with him?

 This will be now my update thread

    Quick guys! Should I put in the first candidate for Ziihor''s Harem or is it to early and you guys would enjoy a training arc more and how he solidifies his standing in this cruel unexplored world?

    The second one sounds more intriguing, am I right?! :D

    If only I was able to create a poll then we could decide this in an easier manner than posting below in the comments. So if you guys are alright with it, pm me about polls and leave a comment below on how the story should go. Or well if I should already include harem or not.

    So I read the comments and no Harem for now. And if there will be harem I am thinking about only a handful of women.

    The plan for now will be: Training, Evolving/Morphing and Strengthening himself and his undead fellows, romance and the like will only come afterwards. And keep in mind, I don''t want to ruin this with harem so each woman will be conquered in a serious and slow paced manner, not like ''Oh she looks guuuud! Let''s fuck!''.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    So like the title says I will write my own thoughts down in this thread for you guys to enjoy.

    After the awesome review by Blackfear2 and how he seems to adore my skeleton MC, who I myself grew quite fond of now, I think I will keep him as a full skeleton for some time (A la Overlord).

    My idea was more of a temporary transformation into a humanoid for ''le sexy time'' and then he turns back into a skeleton. Maybe he does get some permanent human features but I myself like the skeleton idea very much.

 Chapter five: Pursuit of Strength

    After getting a short overview of the situation by the wraith Ziihor stretched his body once again.

    It was truly incredible what the wraith was capable of. He did not only sort out the warriors that perfomed good but restocked the undead army by recruiting them throughout the desert. He also trained them in some defense and offense maneuvers copied by the wolves, as well as training them in the art of wielding weapons in the right manner. The undead knights which could only bash with their accrued shields could now wield the crude iron knives.

    By sorting out those that could perform on high levels from the low levels he essentially created an elite corps of undeads. Ghouls with higher agility, undead warriors with higher defense and offense, banshees with more potent mind attacks (typical screeching) and acid spitters with higher range and higher acidity.

    The wraith seemed to be a formidable observer. ''A tactician maybe?'', Ziihor thought.

    Likewise the wraith prepared small shelters for the undeads, ¨C or more accurate ¨C their weapons. Undead needed no sleep normally, Ziihor ¨C once a mighty god now in the body of a skeleton ¨C was a chaotic anomally.

    Tents were covered over the different weapon trays. Small axes, one poleaxe, throwing knifes, daggers and other badly manufactured weapons.

    ''I hope we get to see dwarves. If they can still perform as good with the furnance as they did in the past then creating neat weapons and armor would be a piece of cake''. Ziihor pondered over the past while thinking where they should head next.

    Ziihor though decided to simply stay put at their current location and train some more.

    Two months leisurely passed by.

    Ziihor already restored his body to its previous undamaged state and his troops were restocked completely, with a bit excess undeads.

    Together they counted now roughly 500 undeads for the main army and 50 as a special unit. 150 undead knights, 200 ghouls, 50 banshees and 100 acid spitters. A few Burrowers were turned into undead slaves by Ziihor, mainly as mounts or for transportation of goods; if the need ever arises.

    In the meantime the wraith mastered language and could now speak without stretching the characters. ''What a fast learner'' Ziihor thought.

    He was once again impressed by the prowess of the wraith and tried to squeeze out some information about what he, the wraith, was exactly and why he was so loyal towards him. His undead augmentation would not work that well on special existences such as the wraith with inborn intelect and soul by unknown means, that''s how it should be.

    But somehow the wraith was adamant that it was Ziihor who called out to him, gave him purpose, sentience and power.

    Ziihor simply gave up on inquiring the wraith any further, dreading that he might come to despise him later on.

    The days were uneventful and the undeads mindlessly lazed around the encampement, which pissed off Ziihor.

    ¡°You lazy-bones! I got work for ya'' all!¡°. Ziihor shouted through the plains. (Yes, pun intended with lazy-bones.)

    Ziihor was thinking about staying low profile at first and to establish a real base of operations and chain of command via evolving his undead army until they gained ego and intellect.

    It would be a long and strenous path but Ziihor had all the time he wanted. He was an undead, immortal God after all.

    With a rough goal in mind Ziihor began to teach the undeads how to handle weapons correctly, wraith did the basis already but it was only copied from an even worse fighting style of the wolves.

    The undead warriors gripped in their unshielded hands, swords, daggers, axes; yes, even branches to train with.

    Ziihor had to correct them at all times, posture and grip on the ''weapons'' were simply wrong and unstable. A slight nudge and they would lose their weapons, even by attacking they had a high chance of losing their weapon by the following sensation of impact and numbness.

    Ziihor was strict, no souls or flesh for those that did miserable at the training camp; which was 100% at the first day.

    The undeads moaned despondent after their first day all the while Ziihor was enjoying some went astray souls and the flesh of slain Burrowers over a small fire.

    The wraith was also taught, though in a more in-depth way. Positioning of his feet in his normal appearance and even on how he had to maneuver in ''shadow-mode''. Ziihor taught him even special stances, originating from Lesser Gods and Demigods of War and Battle and modified into usable techniques. Of course he could teach the fragile wraith techniques from the Highgods and Overgods but the strain would be to much for the wraith, even if Ziihor mitigates the techniques.

    ''Wraith... Wraith... Wraith! Fuck, I got no name for him!''. Ziihor cursed to himself, calling the wraith always wraith would be tedious and boring, seeing how the wraith showed a promising personality as a loyal servant.

    Sitting himself down on a small hill Ziihor could observe the whole army. It was still in the morning and from far away they looked pretty much like any other human troop, except for the bits an pieces of flesh and blood that was flying here and there.

    Ziihor''s gaze landed on the lone wraith that was merrily practicing his newly taught moves. His shadowy figure was prominent on the bright background of the rising sun. His moves had a certain hypnotic feeling to them, they seemed so peaceful yet so devasting and brutal; aspects that the mind couldn''t process once they were combined. The dew on the low hill set in, like small flakes of snow they surrounded the wraith. It was a majestic sight.

    The black figure blured from left to right, his long thin limbs flying in the wind like obsidian grass blades. With his elegant movements so starkly differentiating from his dark form it created an abstract image. If Ziihor wouldn''t know it better than he might confuse the wraith with some divine being.

    The movements of the wraith slowed down, his cracked lips curved upwards in a delighted smile. The wraith was at peace.

    A switch sudenly turned in Ziihor''s mind. ''Weiss! Weiss!!! That is a good name!''. Ziihor mentally screamed out and patted his shoulder for the great idea.

    (''Weiss'' from the german word for white. It''s wei? or weiss in german. See the irony in the name?)

    Weiss had no idea about his new name and continously trained throughout the day, urging himself to master the newly taught techniques o be of more use to Ziihor.

    ''One problem solved. Another to go...''. Ziihor now knew how to adress the wraith, even without his consent, but there was another problem. The dream he had months before reminded him of Yvydtia again. She adored his human-like appearance and if it would be in his abilities he would turn human right on the spot just to honor her.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    The only thing that Ziihor''s body was equipped with was an acid producing organ akin to a stomach. He never used it in fighting but it was a great feeling to be sated after eating a hearty meal, so he kept this organ within him all the time.

    If he had a human specimen he could easily copy their bodies after devouring them but the wasteland was completely devoid of most life.

    To be sure Ziihor once again spread his senses, trying to pin out at least one other source of life other than the unnerving worms.

    His skull wrinkled in concentration. The two amethyst orbs glowed in a bright purple and radiated a gloomy light. A non-existent drop of sweat ran down Ziihor''s forehead; his wings spasmed slightly.

    ''Come on. Come on! COME ON!!! AHHHH Nothing!''. Ziihor collapsed and rolled his body in the dirt like a kid throwing a tantrum. His senses could encompass everything dozens of miles away but other than the weak life signals from the underground living Burrowers there was nothing.

    ''Huh... what?''. While rolling around Ziihor caught a life signal also from the underground like the Burrowers. The life force had a slightly different nuance and was many times more powerful than the ordinary Burrowers.

    ''Don''t tell me... A queen!''. A Queen Burrower was similiar to insect queens, she solely spawned the beasts but did not lazy around like its insect counterparts would do. The Queen Burrower is many times stronger, faster, durable, more acidic and loves to display its might. Whenever a small caravan passes through its territory it would rocket to the surface and swallow it whole, a deadly predator.

    The Queen Burrower ranks in the lower tier King rank of the earth realm. One step away from the sky realm. ''This will be a formidable opponent!''

    Ziihor was ecstatic about this discovery. He hadn''t fought a strong opponent since he was beaten by the wolves. He was slightly depressed by his bitter defeat and how Weiss had to safe him. Depressed? Yes. But he was sure he would get a bad whooping by the Queen Burrower if he fought it now, so the only thing he could do was to train himself and his undead troops.

    After two months he was only at the Elite level through devouring a dozen of Burrower souls and feasting on their flesh, his undeads did not evolve either.

    ''We gotta find a new home.''. Ziihor was desperate, the Queen Burrower was sure to leave after a few years but this was not enough time to strengthen himself and his troops to its level if he stayed in the desert. And the Queen was just to good of a pray as if Ziihor could just leave her. Eating its soul would catapult him to the top of the earth realm.

    ''A human encampement would be nice.''. Ziihor thought, but it was problematic at the same time. A blackened skeleton with wings, a never seen before undead, and a horde of weapon wielding abominations simply marching into a human town would be total madness. They would be hunted down before they could even find a resting spot.

    Ziihor wandered aimlessly around on the plains, trying to come up with an idea. Ziihor had really no clue on how to handle the situation so he went looking for Weiss to get advice. When he reached the ''training grounds'' were the undeads were sparring he could see Weiss diligently teaching a new batch of undeads. ''That''s it!''. Ziihor nearly jumped up in joy.

    Why did he or Weiss had to teach the undeads on how to fight? Ziihor could simply educate a few of the elite corps undeads into teachers for the other undeads. That way Ziihor didn''t had to leave Weiss back if he would depart for a new settlement and at the same time the undeads would continously grow stronger.

    It took five months to reeducate the whole batch of elite undead warriors into instructors. Their weapon skills increased tremendously and combined they could easily keep up with Weiss, all of that while being one of the weakest kind of undeads.

    Ziihor was already expectantly waiting for their first evolutions. Their powers should skyrocket then.

    After spending over half a year in the desert the Queen Burrower did not move much, continously spawning Burrowers the whole time and growing impatient by the lack of foes.

    Ziihor stood at the far end of the camp. Wielding a rusted broad axe and cloaked in a robe made of tent cloth he waited for Weiss.

    Between the tents he could see a shadow hushing here and there, it was fast, too fast for any human eye to perceive. Weiss appeared right before Ziihor in just a moments time. His thin hands held a crude dagger in them and were pressing down on Ziihor''s throat. ¡°Not good enough¡°, Ziihor said. ¡°You have to be even faster and use unpredictable moves.¡°. Weiss looked depressed on the ground, his master was right. It only noticed to late how the head of the battle axe was already threatening to split its skull.

    Ziihor used his powerful wings to hoist the axe up over his back and swing it down only to stop before splitting Weiss''s skull. It was some kind of spar they invented. Weiss would try to kill Ziihor with honest killing intent and Ziihor had to defend against it or put Weiss in a situation where he would die.

    Weiss backed down with the dagger and distanced himself a few steps. ¡°Master Ziihor, where should we go now?¡°. Weiss already knew Ziihor''s name since long ago.

    Ziihor moved the axe from his wings to his hand, pulled down the hood of the robe over his head and strided with big steps towards the horizon. Weiss only eyed him confused but followed anyway. Likewise Weiss pulled out a grey robe and pulled its hood over his face, daggers battle ready in both hands.

    Ziihor gave him a quick glance from the front, smiled, or rather cracked his lower jaw in a awkward manner, and told Weiss. ¡°I don''t know.¡°. Weiss only stopped for a moment, thinking about his master''s words. Shrugging his shoulders he sprinted to Ziihor''s side, his robe flutering in the dry desert winds.

    The undeads waved both of them goodbye and resumed training shortly after, they were a lively bunch after all. (WOHOO! Second pun!)

    Ziihor unfolded his wings and flexed his bones once again. He went into a kneeling position and motioned for the wraith to come closer. ¡°Try to keep up!¡°. Ziihor said before he almost instantly vanished in a giant cloud of dust, rising towards the sky and touching the clouds. Weiss was startled but after seeing his master disappear towards the horizon and the taunting invite for a speed competition he uttered out he had no other choice than to obey. Assimilating into the ground with clothes and all Weiss dashed from shaow to shadow, provided by single clouds.

    It would take time to reach their destination so why not make it a fun time?

 Chapter six: Where are we?

    (Guys, this chapter is more like a filler. It explains where Ziihor and co. are and what they have to expect from the new world. I just made this chapter because I simply couldn''t say:'' One month passed, they reached their destination.'' And jump straight into the action. I still hope you enjoy this chapter and, oh yeah, tell me how you like the third person narration. I am quite flexible so I could always switch between First and Third person if you guys like any of them better or if I wanna display the emotions of a particular character especially.)

    A black shadow was flying through the sky, piercing clouds and bathing in the afternoon sun rays. Its giant raven black wings released a thin black trace in the skies, everything this mist touched turned cold and lifeless, even the air became stale and dry; was this a bad omen?

    At the same time a equally black blur passed over the ground, moving between shadow to shadow its speed was incredibly high but this high speed movement seemed taxing on the shadow as it quickly thereafter slowed down, although it was still moving with a tremendous speed.

    The flying shadow was Ziihor who enjoyed the breeze and the warming sunlight on his bare skull. ''The world from up here seems so vast''. Ziihor has experienced many worlds but he was as always impressed by the image of endlessness.

    A large plain stretched for miles over miles. Mainly covered in sand with only a few trees poking out and some scattered bushes it seemed quite picturesque ¨C and peaceful ¨C.

    They were already traveling for four nights, depleting their vigor from time to time again in a fruitless effort of finding life in this damned place. And yet there was no life, nothing at all. Of course they still stumbled upon Burrowers but with their speed the Burrowers didn''t even try to give chase.

    Weiss and Ziihor continued on their path and only paused when it was really needed. Meaning: Food or relaxation.

    Ziihor''s wings splitted the wind apart as he moved even faster in search of a resting place for the night. The caused wails of the wind threatened everything that wanted to come closer.

    After flying for another hour straight, and now having the moon loom behind his back, Ziihor finally found a nice pit where they were safe from curious gazes.

    Weiss warped from shadow to shadow, searching for firewood. When the moon stood in its zenith and displayed its silver crescent Weiss finally came back.

    Ziihor was currently lying on the ground, waiting for Weiss.

    The nightsky was now sprinkled in millions of brilliant dots and a large white nebula traversed through those specks of light.

    The moon only accentuated the breathtaking picture.

    Weiss prepared the fireplace and soon a light crackling was starting besides Ziihor. The flames warmth was comfortable and the rythmic night breeze of the wind lulled Ziihor further into sleep. Ziihor turned towards the fire, ogling Weiss from the ground like a girl in love. But his loving gaze was not directed towards Weiss directly but the juicy pieces of meat he was claming with his arms. He only turned towards him as his ¨C non-existent ¨C nose registered the smell of fresh meat, an unforgettable smell.

    The Burrowers might look disgusting with their giant mandible covered and acid dripping maws, their fat and slimey bodies and their penetrative stench but their meat... their meat. The meat was simply delicious. It had a soft texture and was easily bitten through, close to fish, but at the same time it held a deep earthy taste and herbal aroma. Combine this with the grill aroma radiated by fresh wood and you get top qualitiy meat. There was even a hidden bonus, the acid. Much like how pufferfishes are served with a few drops of their poison, a small portion of the Burrowers acid is dripped over the meat, giving it a tickling sensation in your mouth and softening the meat even further.

    That''s how Weiss discribed it. Sadly Ziihor had no tongue nor taste buds so he could only rely on Weiss to transmit the taste through words.

    Yet this is what Ziihor always wanted, to live in the wild, hunt and eat. As a God he never even had the chance to eat the flesh of such lowly creatures, he despised the other Gods but still had to maintain his image, which was detrimental in the afterthought.

    Could his past life have ended diferently if he behaved like the savage the gods made him out to be? Would they be satisfied if he crawled on the ground and did not try to fit in with the other Gods? Could have Yvydtia survived if he did all that?

    Ziihor quickly dismissed these thoughts. They were to painful, to... true for Ziihor to bear. His pride ended them and he knew it. He should have killed them all when he had the chance.

    Weiss prepared the meat carefully, he only cut off the most tender parts. The slight pink meat was put straight into the fire, creating a crispy crust to prevent any of the sweet juices from leaking. The sizzling of fat made Ziihor perk up his ''ears'' and move closer to the flame. He could see the fat bubling on the surface of the meat; it made his mouth water.

    Ziihor was pretty familiar with Weiss''s cocking but had yet to actually taste the delicious food.

    As a former dragon he was some kind of glutton so the wait was seriously painful for Ziihor. Patience was not his forte.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Weiss snickered when he saw Ziihor''s greedy gaze. ¡°Master you really like cooked food right?¡°. Weiss asked.

    ¡°That''s right, just the look of it seems already tasty

    When the crust was finished the meat was hung futher over the flames, still in reach of their heat but nowhere near close enough to taste its burning tongues of fire.

    After waiting for another hour the meat was finally done.

    The first to dig in was Weiss. Whenever he ripped a piece of flesh away from the main part it showered his hand in greasy fat and sweet juices. The piece was moved towards his mouth, filled with saliva to the brim.

    His teeth tore through the delicate crust and released the liquid within. Weiss''s eyes widened in surprise by the huge amount of inflowing juices and shortly after turned into content slits.

    Ziihor followed suit and took a piece of flesh for himself. His bare teeth ripped the flesh apart and juices poured into his mouth, but there was no sensation of a sweet and meaty taste, there was nothing at all. Dissapointed by the meal Ziihor simply gulped the rest down and gave Weiss an envious look while turning around to lay down on the ground again.

    Weiss finished his meal as well and went out of the small pit, he would scout the area for the night while his master sleeps.

    The night was uneventful and again Weiss could not find a single living being except for the Burrowers who solely served as fodder now.

    Both of them quickened their pace, Ziihor was getting more impatient by the minute. ¡°We travelled day and night with only short to no rest at all and yet we couldn''t find a flying fuck!¡°, Ziihor could not keep the cursing to himself, he continued. ¡°Don''t tell me...¡°. Ziihor''s skull face turned even darker. ''Can it be? No... How unlucky do I have to be?''. Ziihor knew many worlds and there was one particular world were all the Gods migrated to. This world was unique in the sense that it was there since the beginning. Ziihor even suspected that it was created before HIMSELF! This was not the only bizarre thing. That particular world was extremely vast. So vast and boundless that even highgods couldn''t keep watch all the time at what was happening and only a network of thousands of Highgods enabled them to control the events taking place in this world.

    The world was called ''Eden''. Beyond boundless for any mortal but still nothing for Ziihor''s original body. He could cross Eden in a matter of milliseconds.

    If it would only be that then Ziihor wouldn''t really mind but Eden was even more special. It was a blank.

    The whole world was desert and stones at first and it was the job of the Gods to cultivate the lands. Thereafter the world was being filled with countless species of flora and fauna, it turned into a literal Eden, a paradise.

    And yet some idiotic bunch of Gods thought that keeping a part of Eden in its original state, a ginormous desert, would be nice. This desert was located deep in the south of the world and spanned over 400 million square miles, roughly a sixth of the whole planet.

    (A few million square miles more than the surface of Earth (roughly 80mil more))

    The S¨´kha desert. (Sukha, roughly like that, originates from Hindi and means dry. So the desert would be called ''The dry desert''. You don''t say captain obvious?!)

    Ziihor gazed over his surroundings. The vegetation told Ziihor that they should be located in the far outer areas of the desert, if they truly were on Eden and in the S¨´kha desert which was high unlikely.

    Nevertheless there was a slight chance for him to land right in this desert. At least he would find himself in the outer areas where crossing into normal vegetation would take roughly a month or so at his current speed.

    ''Well that would explain the whole lot of Burrowers.''. Ziihor thought to himself. Indeed it would make sense for the Burrowers to be here as they were used to fertilize the lands but after the idiot Gods said that this part would stay like it is they were simply cast here for the rest of their lives.

    In the very least Ziihor was happy about not landing further in the center of the desert. One of the most dangerous places on Eden. The home of the idiot Gods is located right there and teems of Mountain Dragons, Desert Weavers, Elemental Collosuses and Terrarians. All these monsters rank at the peak of the Sky realm and some even set foot in the Heaven realm thus it would be less than an easy task to squash Ziihor if they felt like it.

    When the next night came Ziihor did not pause. Neither did he at the following day or the whole week after. He wanted to get out of this desert as fast as he could.

    Finally after another week of flying, the scenery changed and with it Ziihor''s premonitions were confirmed.

    Ziihor landed on the ground and felt the earth. Dark brown and slightly moist earth covered in moss.

    ''This was Eden after all.''

    Though it wasn''t to bad for Ziihor. Eden was a place that was overflowing with strong opponents and chances to aquire even greater strength, so why not give it a shot?

    The black skull once again turned into a devilish grin. He would prove himself here and reaquire his strength, no, he would surpass his old self and change his fate!

 Chapter seven: Cursed beings

    The ground felt soft under Ziihor''s hard feet. It was warm and yet held a certain freshness. The small grass blades tickling his feet were pure bliss for Ziihor''s strained body.

    Weiss and Ziihor slowed down the pace and simply enjoyed the new scenery. Wide fields of grass, lush bushes in different colors dotting the plains and a large colony of trees in the horizon.

    The wind howled through the lands, setting the grass in motion and blowing loose culms away ¨C to unknown places ¨C. Ziihor scanned the area and after assuring himself that no one was nearby he took of the hood. Bathing his face in the gentle wind he could feel his whole self come at peace.

    Simply ''Eden''.

    Ziihor spread his soul sense over the lands. He was not dissapointed.

    Small critters were moving through some underbrushes, others had dug holes in the ground and still others were simply enjoying the sunrays in open view.

    Over half a year passed before Ziihor once again felt something different than undead souls or Burrowers, it was refreshing in a sense.

    Ziihor squined his eyes towards the forest in the far distance. Weird life signatures were being emitted from the forest, one really, really powerful in particular. By a large margin stronger than the Queen Burrower.

    He decided to stay away from the forest for now, its inhabitants were just to strong.

    They took a long detour around the forest, at least so far away that the distance was always around a dozen of miles. Surprisingly the forest just seemingly grew bigger and bigger the more they tried to circumvent the forest the wider it seemed to become. Its shape should be roughly that of a cone now. Slim at the peak and wide at its base. This specific ''base'' turned out to stretch over the whole horizon. It took them a full day to realize that this forest was simply impossible to circle. If they did though they would have to spent maybe weeks or months, unfavourable conditions.

    Ziihor gulped down his anxiousness of the mighty beast of the forest and decided to first take a quick glimpse from above.

    He distance himself from the forest, so far that probable predators could not identify him anymore.

    With a powerful jump he took of into the air, unfolding the wings under his robe. Ziihor flew hundreds of meters into the air vertically and moved a bit forward too to get a better overview; it''s not like that high up in the sky any creature could attack him.

    Ziihor was stupified. At first he thought he was just seeing a hallucination but after rubbing his amethyst eye replacement he reluctantly had to accept reality.

    A sea of green.

    The forest stretched for miles upon miles upon miles and even further. Small mountains were even swallowed by the over sized forest, poking out solely with their white peaks, as if they were drowning men hoping to grab after the last rope that could save their lifes.

    ''What the fuck did those Gods thought?!''. Ziihor was eligible irritated. Of course he as the apex of Gods didn''t really care about Eden, except for its origin, so he had only a rough idea how this world was developing and seemingly the Gods decided on the terrain in an all or nothing manner. If they make a desert than it is kept big. If they make a forest than it has to be endless. Ziihor could only shudder at the thought of being forced to travel over the sea. An endless ocean... ''I can''t believe those morons!''. Ziihor could only shake his head.

    Ziihor flew back to the ground and walked to Weiss, looking directly at him.

    ¡°*Cough*. Even if we tried to bypass the forest it would take to much time, so even if we do not want to we have no other choice than to pass right through it...¡°. Ziihor looked for any kind of reaction of Weiss''s hooded and disfigured face.

    ¡°No problem at my side, master.¡°. Weiss whispered, not taking any risks in waking the slumbering beasts of the forest.

    Yet Weiss''s lips slightly curled upwards and revealed a few of his unlevel and rotten fangs, it only lasted for a moment but Ziihor registered it with his improved vision. Weiss was burning for a good fight.

    Ziihor was no exception but the ferocious beasts in this forest were no laughing matter.

    ''Huhhh...''. Ziihor sighed mentally. ''It would do nothing to worry now''. With that Ziihor decided to enter the forest together with Weiss.

    A quick movement of his hand towards Weiss meant that he should follow behind.

    The forest was dense and only a narrow space was left in between the large groups of trees. Light was only sparsely reaching the ground through the hundreds of twining branches, illuminating the forest close to zero.

    The trees mostly consisted of large pines that seemed to grow endlessly towards the sky. Their dark green crowns were densly packed; used as a home for a variety of species they emitted a cacophony of pleasant sounds. Birds chirping, small squeals of tiny rodents and the never ending background rustle of the trees.

    After walking for a while they stumbled upon an old trail were the trees and bushes were mostly trampled down, giving way for an unobstructed travel.

    At all times Ziihor was spreading his soul sense to cover the entire area around them, to keep them safe from the lurking dangers.

    Ziihor noticed a subtle change in the trail as it grew wider and wider all of a sudden until it ended in a small glade. The glade was covered in colorful flowers, ranging from roses and tulips to violets and orchids. At the center of the glade stood a small obelisk.

    Being overgrown by brown roots and green vines the obelisk seemed to be swallowed up by the forest itself, only a blackened top was looking out from beneath.

    Ziihor approached the stone monument and tried to rip the roots and vines off of it with his sharp claws. He was a bit surprised to see that the roots didn''t even move an inch and all his power was not enough to pry them even the slightest bit away. Ziihor pondered for a while and decided to use his black mist to simply wither the roots away.

    He emitted a dense cloud of the black fog and sent it straight against the strange barrier of roots. Once the mist hit the dense pack of roots they started to cry out in pained screams. The roots wriggled like worms, bashing Ziihor in an attempt to relieve their pain. Slowly but surely the fog made them wilt until only small blackened sticks remained. Now the stone was revealed.

    It was a black and smooth stone. It felt cool to the touch and had small indentations all over it. Ziihor went closer to the stone and gave it a glance. The indentations were small letters engraved into the stone. The letters were white and glowed somewhat, making it easier to read even if it would have been night.

    Albeit the language was glyphic in nature, it posed no problem to Ziihor who was adept in any kind of language there is.

    Ziihor read it out loud. He already had a foreboding feeling.

    ¡°Traveler.¡°

    Traveler, unspeakable pain awaits,

    So run and don''t look at what lurks in the shades.

    Don''t make a sound.

    Traveler, don''t turn around.

    Fiendish mobs lurk deep in the green.

    Shadows, painful and rarely seen.

    If you hear the clip and clop,

    Never stop.

    If you feel the heat,

    To late for retreat.

    If you smell its breath,

    Your body a mess.

    ...If you see it''s eyes...

    Pray you don''t.

    So, traveler, run.

    Or you might never see the sun,

    Again.

    ¡°That doesn''t sound good, not good at all.¡°. Ziihor mumbled to himself. Any person would know that this was a warning but at the same time it meant for Ziihor that somebody wrote it. Ziihor was afraid and ecstatic. He might stumble over some hints on where to find civilization in this forest.

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    ¡°Weiss, let''s go!¡°. Ziihor ordered the wraith.

    With quick steps they advanced further through the forest, leaving the black stone farther and farther behind them.

    Later in the night, unseen by eyes the last bits and pieces of roots fell of the stone, revealing another row of indentations right at the bottom.

    ¡°Yet Traveller, never ever pry into the terror beneath.

    The slumbering, clamoring terror beneath.¡°

    Shortly after the vines completely detached from the monument it began to shake and rupture. Deadly black splitters flew through the air and embedded themselves into the nearby trees. The explosion was akin to the sound of bombs setting off. The blast shook the surrounding forest and blew leaves and branches in all directions.

    More capable predators and beings in the forest perked up their ears when they heard the strange sound, as well as one distinct being which all others evaded.

    Mighty hooves scraped over the ground as the creatures nostrils steamed burning air. The hooves left deep crevices in the ground, testifying for their raw power. It eyed the direction of the explosion closely, it squinted at first but after realizing the location of the explosion its eyes widened in shock and disbelief. The gentle eyes turned fierce and full of hate and with a sudden jump it flew hundreds of meters towards the explosion.

    All the while a slender black figure was rising from the ground, making its way through the ruble of the bursted black stone. The figure was not big or anything.

    It stood roughly at 5.6 ft, was completely covered in black fur, had only short legs but strangly long arms and two pairs of torn fluffy wings, resembling more of antennas than wings. It''s head seemed rocky in nature, as it had a surface similiar to the black stone, with two large antlers growing out of its temples. A long black reptilian tail with a spear like end was swishing over the ground, creating deep cuts in the soil. Each paw was equipped with sharp black claws. Two white orbs as eyes were currently wildly staring around the forest.

    The creature emitted an evil miasma, pure evil. It seeped out of every pore of this devilish creature. Its eyes turned into the direction of its old rival. A foe that the devil deeply despised and wanted to settle the score since hundreds of years ago.

    Ziihor and Weiss didn''t notice the bizarre creature emerging from the ground, or rather, they couldn''t. They already travelled a long distance through the forrest and were ambushed out of nowhere, even Ziihor''s soul sense registered them to late.

    A group of hooded figures were circling around both of them, bows and arrows at the ready. They totalled seven and from their movements Ziihor knew they were no beginners.

    Beneath his hood, inside his ribcage Ziihor held something that he didn''t hope to have to use so early on at the ready. A slightly glowing crystaline orb, the eye of the Stallag wyvern. ''If worse comes to worst I have to use this.''. Ziihor could only frown at his predicament.

    ¡°Silaras, what should we do with them?¡°. One of the hooded figures asked the person with the most ornamental bow. The voice was masculine and young.

    The person in question was silent for a while.

    ¡°I don''t know but... they reek of evil.¡°. A feminine voice replied, unnerved and tense.

    Ziihor could identify the language that was used, the same language that was used on the stone monument, Elvish.

    To show that they were not hostile Ziihor put his hood covered arms in the air and spoke in a friendly tone; beforehand he stowed the eye back in between his ribs.

    Instead of the Elvish that these elves were using, Ziihor used the original Elvish, a language only known by the Highelves and scholars of Elven culture.

    ¡°My friends, we are nothing but travellers on a mission and would like to pass this forest with our heads remaining on the shoulders. So please, could you make way?¡°. Ziihor''s Elvish was perfect and without accent.

    Surprise was evident in the elves as they gasped simultaneously. They didn''t expect that this random traveller could speak High Elvish, true it was only used by elves with high position but it was still known throughout the ranks of commoners.

    Now that he had their full attention and created an enigmatic image, Ziihor continued speaking but this time in ordinary Elvish. ¡°I really don''t want any trouble, my friend and I just want to have a save travel. I know we look suspiscious but please believe me when I say we have nothing evil in mind.¡°. Ziihor pleaded, alas he couldn''t look them in the eyes or else they would see his skull face. For safety measures Ziihor used a bit of his black mist to further cover up his own face, if he only had a helmet.

    The hooded figures turned to the woman named Silara, pointing their clueless gazes at her.¡°Silara what should we do now? What if they have relations with the High Elves? Eneruch won''t be happy if he comes to know that we attacked someone associated with the Elders.¡°

    Silara frowned at the question. How should she know how to the deal with this odd situation?

    She racked her mind over an answer. After a few seconds she spoke up. ¡°You two come with us. We will bring you to our Elders, they know how they should deal with you.¡°. Her voice was a hint gentler than at the beginning.

    Ziihor tilted his head under the hood and gave Weiss a look. Weiss gave a simple nod.

    ¡°Sorry, but I have to humbly decline your offer. Our mission is of great importance so we best not waste any time to anger the master.¡°. With that said Ziihor turned around with Weiss, only a few meters before they once again dissappeared in the forest the Elves began to move.

    ¡°This was not an offer but an order. I don''t care about your relation to the clan Elder''s but this is our territory and in our territory count our commands. Either you submit peacefully to us or we are forced to use violence against you.¡°. Silara said while tensing up her arms and nocking finger thick ash grey arrows into her ebony wood bow.

    Weiss and Ziihor simply grinned under their hoods. Power surged from within both of them, seeping out as a black radiance. A slim thread was connecting from Ziihor to Weiss, supplying him with Ziihor''s power.

    Both of them took off their cloaks. Weiss whipped out his daggers while Ziihor took out his axes and spread his black wings with their bloody membranes.

    His skull cracked and his two amethyst eyes glowed. The axes deformed slightly and turned into cursed weapons. The axes had a slight black and purple hue drifting around them, making them look ominous.

    Ziihor let out a bit of his original killing intent, something he didn''t even do in the fight with the wolves. The pure and raw killing intent was so much that it seemed to materialize itself as a giant jet black dragon behind Ziihor. It''s gaze pierced straight through the soul and its obsidian scales seemed simply impenetrable. Ziihor''s original form.

    The Elves instinctively took a step back from the majestic creature and even Weiss held his breath. But because he was not the focus of the killing intent he swiftly broke free from his stupor.

    Cold sweat was running down from the Elves'' backs. The creature made them dread for their lives and its sole presence was enough to nearly make them faint.

    Ziihor purposefully dissolved the grand illusion and took on a fighting stance. The Elves free from the terror that shackled them looked at the raven black demon before them, they felt an overwhelming pressure being exerted by the frail looking skeleton. They gulped down large drops of saliva, for them it felt like the fight against a tyranical demon lord.

    Ziihor only chuckled slightly and gave Weiss a knowing look. Weiss simply glanced back and instantly knew what was happening.

    The fight was on.

    Beyond the whole turmoil between the Elves and Ziihor, a whole days travel away, two beasts were currently facing each other, being anxious about ending each others life. But that is a story for another time.

 Chapter eight: Weiss vs. Silara

    The ground shock ever so slightly as Ziihor propelled himself forward into the band of elves. They were still in a soft daze after experiencing Ziihor''s frightening killing intent so their reaction was slightly slower than normal.

    Ziihor''s axes aimed at the person closest to him. The smallest of the hooded figures at the same time.

    Axe hit bow and a loud sound of splintering wood pierced through the air. The bow was not cut but rather crushed in half and some few splitters flew about.

    The axes continued in their path and came crashing down on the shoulder of the hooded figure. Flesh made way for the heavy iron in a sickening noise. Warm blood welled out of the fresh wound and dropped onto the ground. An ear piercing yell escaped the mouth of the cloaked elf. His left shoulder was nearly cut away, but a thin chain vest prevented the worst. But before the elf could sigh in relief a large shadow loomed over him.

    Ziihor used his wings as a hook, swung the elf multiple times against the ground and finished by smashing him with a mighty throw towards the trees. His disfigured body smashed through three trees straight until it came to an halt. The poor elf''s spine was completely obliterated into thousand pieces and his flesh impaled by large chunks of wood. The first elf died, horribly.

    Ziihor send out a large cloud of dark miasma to obstruct vision, two thick arrows have already pierced through his wings when he was preoccupied with the first elf. The arrows burned and pained Ziihor deeply but this pain was, if compared to his past, not even noteworthy.

    At the same time that Ziihor send out the miasma, Weiss made his move. He dissolved into shadows and rapidly aproached another elf. Without vision the elves had no idea where their enemies were positioned so it was no surprise that Weiss''s surprise attack was quick and fatal. His dagger bored straight through the throat of one of the elves. He turned it left and right, tearing flesh and neck apart. The screams were quickly silenced by the crude dagger.

    After a few seconds the spine gave way and Weiss beaheaded his first elf. The crystalline soul was enticingly floating in front of his face bu he couldn''t leave his master alone in peril. Quickly turning around Weiss dodged a precise arrow and dissolved again into the darkness.

    The dark fog was especially effective because it was night, obstructing vision to a great amount. Even elves with their specialized night vision couldn''t see in absolute darkness. The screams of their fallen comrades infuriated the five remaining elves but they knew to not act rash. ¡°Stay at distance!¡°. Silara shouted,¡°And send a messenger to the Elders.¡°. She whispered.

    On the command of Silara one of the Elves took out a scroll. The elf whispered a few words, the paper instantly lit up in blue flames which clot into a small blue hummingbird. The elf propounded the commands to the little bird. The elf finished his commands and without losing another second the blue hummingbird dissapeared into the darkness whereas the elf took his position.

    Upon contact with the dark fog the elves had found out that the fog seemed highly toxic, it melted their clothes by the slightest contact and devoured their hair and skin.

    Silara gave two elves behind her a low gaze. The elves responded by reciting a complex chant of unknown origin. After finishing the chant the wind began to run wild. Mana and wind essence started to roll about like waves and created powerful vortexes within the battlefield. Ziihor contested the power of the wind with his own destructive power. He willed more and more of the dark flakes into the area. The black fog coiled densly around Ziihor and Weiss, protecting them from deadly windblades and arrows.

    The wind slowly abraded the dense shield of black fog into fine particles. Two other elves took the chance to encircle Ziihor and Weiss once again. They took out slim vials filled with light blue liquid and poured it over their arrows.

    The ash grey wood of the arrows absorbed the liquid greedily and slowly turned into a dark pulsating azure.

    The elves chanted something as well, though the wind howled to loud to make any sense out of it. Four vortexes of wind formed on their backs and under their feet, making them slightly float upwards.

    Ziihor all the while was gnashing his teeth as he forced more and more of his dark fog out of his wings. The sound his teeth crushing themselves could be heard.

    With his dark fog reserves at his limit, Ziihor decided to overload his dark fog wall.

    Black worms made of fog started to pulse more and more of the black mass into the already existing wall, making it grow and much thicker.

    After pouring the last bits and pieces of his power into the wall it broke apart as its capacity was exceeded. The wall imploded on itself and sucked the wind magic into it at the same time. The air turned cold and stale and the grass around the black orb turned into a dark grey.

    The mini black hole sucked leaves and broken tree branches into itself, it even uprooted bushes and small trees in the surrounding area.

    It fed itself on living mass until it reached a critical point. The black orb shuddered and started to crack, a bright radiance shoot out of the orb when it finally exploded. The resulting explosion was devastating.

    The blastwave send everyone in the vicinity flying, hurling them square into the nearby trees. One of the unlucky elf magicians, who stood to close at the orb, had firstly his arms torn apart by the suction force and then was turned into mince meat by the shockwave.

    Blood and flesh was send flying into the forest. The stench of death wafted densly through the air.

    Ziihor stood up from the ground, even he himself was blasted away a few meters. When he stood up he felt a sharp pain in his left flank. A deep blue arrow lodged itself into his ribs.

    Ziihor wanted to pull the arrow out but when he came in touch with the projectile it emitted a chilling aura and started to freeze the wound shut.

    The crawling ice seeped into his bones and made them expand until they shattered. His left side was now a mess of ice and bones.

    Weiss was hit by such an arrow as well, both legs were frozen to the ground, bloated and finally bursted into bits and pieces of rotten flesh.

    The situation was dire and they both knew it. Ziihor once again felt in his ribs. ''The eye! FUCK!''. He wanted to use the Stallag eye to power himself up but it was frozen solid in his left side.

    Ziihor gulped down, picked up one of his axes that laid nearby and started to smash his ribcage in.

    The elves were badly injured and disoriented, the blast shattered their eardrums and now their sense of balance was disrupted.

    A large curtain of vines openned up a dozen meters away from the explosion. Silara emerged out of it, she was the last remaining elf in a stable condition. She observed the fight and was thus able to protect herself with wind and nature magic.

    ''Wicked demon! You will pay for your sins!''. Silara cursed the black demon before her. She moved with extreme swiftness through the cluster of trees. Using a few throwing knifes she pinned Weiss into the ground. At least she hoped so.

    Before the knifes reached him, Weiss turned into a mass of shadows and glided over the ground. He reappeared over Silara and slashed down with his rusted daggers.

    Silara blocked with a dagger of her own and kicked Weiss right into his stomach. Weiss puked black blood and flew a few meters away. He examined his wound and saw a red swirl marked on his belly.

    Confused he looked at Silara and saw two small vortexes under her feet. ''Oh nice.''. Weiss praised her mentally, the skill heightened mobility as well as offense.

    Weiss engaged once again, this time focusing his attention on her footwork.

    Weiss unexpectedly threw one of his daggers towards Silara, and quickly followed from behind. Silara''s movement speed was still lower than the approaching dagger so she was forced to block it with any means available.

    Instead of opting for a knife block she took out her bow and shoot a single precise arrow. Arrow and knife met in the air, though the knife was sturdier and thus the arrow was destroyed while the knife lost its speed. Silara had a winning smile under her hood.

    Weiss bizzarely was smiling as well. He took out his second dagger and threw it nearly at the same time as the first dagger. The second knife flew past the first one that was blocked and quickly covered Silara''s vision in rusty silver. Having no means to block the knife in time, Silara used her left arm to block. The knife lodged itself deeply into her arm, black mist started to corode her flesh.

    Silara was shocked at the wicked magic and took out one of the blue potions. She poured the liquid over the wound which in turn has frozen it solid. Her left arm was now only good for holding her bow.

    Weiss was following behind the thrown dagger and at the same time it hit Silara he grasped after the first blocked dagger that was lying on the ground.

    Silara only noticed Weiss out of the corner of her eyes. His arm shooting from the ground vertically into the air.

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    Silara only noticed a slight pain and a warm sticky liquid sliding down her chin and neck.

    Weiss changed the grip on the knife and went in for an overhead slash. In the same instant Silana moved two of her vortexes to her chest region and propelled herself backwards against a tree.

    Weiss knife cut through empty air.

    Silara breathed out a sigh of relief. She barely escaped death''s embrace. Instead of trying to fight the demon in a melee or use her arrows she decided for magic instead.

    After only a second long chant the trees in the area started to shake and creak. Their branches and leaves coalesced into two sturdy plant golems, also the vines and roots started to form a protective and yet see through barrier around Silara. Topping it off with a hazardous whirlwind made by wind magic she was now fully protected.

    Weiss was completely exhausted. Letting his lower body stay in shadow form was fatiguing and costed a lot of energy.

    He took a few ''steps'' back and decided to wait for her to attack first.

    Silara knew that the devil in front of her was unlikely to engage first in his exhausted state so she simply commanded the plant golems to attack in her stead.

    The constructs of dirt and nature started to move mechanically forward. Each step made the ground rumble, testifying for their enormous weight resulted by the high compressed masses of vines and wood.

    With a single glance Weiss knew that these things were sturdier than he could cope with. Also it was common knowledge that constructs like golems had great regenerative abilities, more so golems made out of living material like trees. The infused mana would cause the trees to regrow at an impossible speed. Good for Weiss though was their slow speed in both movement and offense.

    Weiss dodged the attacks of the golems with ease, but keeping his body in shadow form for any longer would result in a defeat.

    He changed his whole body into mist and simply traversed through the golems. His goal was Silara. Alas she was hiding behind a dense shield of nature essence and wind essence, making it nigh to imposiible to penetrate through.

    Weiss tested the waters by banging onto the barrier; Silara was just smiling disdainfully at his attempts.

    CREEEEESH!

    An ear splitting shriek filled the air as the daggers hit onto the wind barrier. Sparks were send flying in all directions and started to ignite small dry leaves on the ground.

    The strong wind of the barrier only fueled the small flames which soon turned into a roaring inferno.

    CRACK!

    With a loud crunch sound Weiss''s daggers broke apart. Hundreds of shards were being accelerated to deadly speeds by the oppressive winds. The forest was turned into a landscape of fire and flying metal.

    Weiss only grinned mockingly at Silara as she eyed the terrible situation that was unfolding in front of her. His smile spoke volumes. ''I won!''

    Even her natural barrier couldn''t withstand the blazing flames for to long.

    She directed her frozen arm towards the flames, her aim with the bow was a bit off but enough to hit the hollering flames. The blue arrows came like a monsoon and filled the air in a light blue radiance. The arrows were shoot randomly and yet Weiss was hit by another three. Luckily for him it was only his left arm which was used as a shield against the raining arrows.

    The plant golems were hit as well, freezing them to the ground.

    The scenery changed again drastically. From nature to a sea of fire and now into a frozen tundra.

    Silara was sweating profusely and her breathing was ragged. She took of the hood from her head and swayed her head from left to right to cleanse her pearl white skin. The barrier surrounding her was now gone.

    Long pointy ears, sleek blonde hair, smaragd green eyes, a sharp chin, small lips and a slight button nose. This was Silara.

    Her smaragd eyes scanned the surrounding. Weiss was nowhere to be seen!

    Only a slight pai made her look to her left side. A maw was crunching down at her frozen arm.

    ¡°AHHHH!¡°. Silara howled in pain and swung down her right fist towards Weiss''s head. Though he was relentless. His black fangs dug deeply into her flesh and ripped her left arm apart.

    SHWITSCH!

    A sickening sound entered Silara''s ears.

    She looked disbelievingly at her left arm, or what remained of it. The stump was bloody and rotting at some parts, only a few bits of her lower arm were remaining. The rest was stuck in Weiss mouth.

    Her left hand still held onto the bow.

    Weiss couldn''t really comunicate with her but what he did next didn''t need any words to convey its meaning. It was payback time for his left arm.

    With greedy gulping sounds Weiss rubbed the saliva from his chin and began digging into his meal. With a rejoicing smile Weiss bit deeply into the smooth flesh. A warm wave of blood greeted his face and stuck onto his skin like war paint. He worked himself through the skin, fat, muscles and bones. After a few seconds only a few parts of the arm remained and all the time Silara was froozen solid at her place, the shock of losing her arm and then watching how it was consumed was to much for even hardened warriors.

    Weiss tried to clean his face with his right hand but it only smeared the fresh spilled blood further. He did enjoy his meal but he was still at an disadvantageous position. He had no legs, only one arm and his powers were completely depleted. On the other hand Silana was still fit despite losing an arm, though if not treated immediately she could die from infection or blood loss.

    ''Fuck I will die here''. Somehow both Weiss and Silara thought so at the same time. Maybe it was the lost blood or the trauma of having her arm ripped apart but Silara saw herself in a disadvantageous situation.

    ''Where are the reinforcements?!''. She worriedly looked around the forest. Her village was not that far away so her comrades should long since be here.

    As if answereing to her despair multiple blue lights started to flicker between the trees. The lights were moving erratic, some on the ground, others from tree to tree and still others were moving through the air. A group of animals such as wolves, tigers, monkeys, and different birds were arriving at the battlefield. Behind each of these blue spirit animals was an Elf. They numbered at least sixty in total, armed with sword and shield, maces, hammers, long swords, bows of all kinds and quivers filled to the brim with different colored arrows, and heavy or light armor.

    One of the man at the front, tall and handsome, sprinted towards Silara. His long platinum blonde hair swayed in the wind, his androgynous face was filled with arrogance. ''Fuck not that guy!''. Silara thought to herself.

    ¡°Silara my dear. I told you the front line is nothing for a frail woman such as yourself. My offer still stays though.¡°. The conceited man caressed Silara''s face with the back of his hand, like one would do with his lover; he was completely oblivious of her missing arm.

    She only gave him a hateful look and smacked his hand away. ¡°Get your hands out of my face you bastard! I will never be your property; you... you, YOU fucking incestous prick!¡°. Silara spitted the man in his face.

    The man''s face contorted in anger. He smacked Silara''s face hard with his hand, bursting her lower lip and sending her face first into the ground. ¡°This is how you talk to your elder brother?! You fucking bitch I will make you submit one day! And then I will make you taste the earth under my feet!¡°. The man turned his back towards Silara and went back to the other Elves.

    ¡°We got notice that two demons roam these woods. I believe its those two there!¡°, he pointed his finger towards Ziihor and Weiss. ¡°They have to be kiled immediately. Men, forward!¡°. He took out a thin rapier and stood at the peak of the troops. Their cadence was making the ground rumble and the man gave Silara only a last angered look. ¡°Your elder brother Nephyriem will show you how to fight, little sister...¡°. Nephyriem whispered to himself.

    Ziihor at the same time broke through the last layer of ice that was encasing the Stalag eye.

    He took it out from within his ribs and observed it carefully. He didn''t even mind the troops that were moving towards him.

    ''Can I do the same with this eye as I did with the Burrower stomach?''. Ziihor was in an impasse. He could absorb the raw power to gain a significant advantage for a short amount of time or he could fuse the eye into his body, changing it and gaining a permanent boost to his might.

    He went with the latter.

    He carefully moved the silver-grey eye over his eye socket. The purple amethyst reacted to the draconic eye and started to send thin purple threads towards it.

    Like tentacles the threads pulled the eye into the purple amethyst and started to fuse with it.

    ''FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!''. Ziihor squirmed in pain as a silver radiance flooded over his body.

    His body was starting to change.

    Ziihor was now jumping into the fray!

 Chapter nine: Carnage

    (Somehow Oppen Office thought it was funny to simply delete my chapters when I saved. Fucking shit already did that twice to me when I was working on my research paper!)

    (Enjoy the chapter anyway!)

    (First person)

    I could feel the power surging through my bones, moving through my marrow and flooding into my very own fountain of strength.

    I winced in pain as I felt the right side of my face flare up from a sudden burst of heat. The pain soon turned into delight as I felt sharp scales growing out from under my bones, boosting the defense of the already existing obsidian plates.

    My skull started to slightly deform, a large horn grew out from my right temple and quickly after around the horn small spires emerged. The changes took mostly place on my right half, the side were I socketed the eye.

    The changes were fast but for the one experiencing them, namely me, it felt like hours of nerve- racking pain. Slowly the transformation made its way towards my right arm.

    The black bones were covered in a dark grey hue, my claws enlongated and became jagged, small spikes covered my knuckles and a sharp dagger like protusion grew forth from my elbow. I was decently content about the surge in power but how could that be the end?

    I felt how the scales covering my arm started to cluster together, forming dense plates and layering on top of each other. My arm grew at least twice as thick, because my arm was quite thin to begin with it looked now like a normal humanoid limb ¨C if we ignore the scales, sharp claws etc. ¨C.

    After the change I felt the increased weight of my body first hand, nearly making me fall to my knees as the heavy plate ''armor'' on my arm and right flank robbed me of my balance.

    With the increased weight I felt a sharp increase in power and defense, these scales were no laughing matter; not entirely as strong as the original but still worthy of the Stalag dragon.

    My power rose instantly to, what I would estimate, Lord level of the earth realm; without an enemy to test my strength on it is rather hard to guess my own power correctly.

    I glanced down at my newly formed arm. My hand looked indeed draconic in nature, thin scales on the palm and thick plates on the back. My claws directly grew out of my fingers, or rather, my claws and fingers were the same. (The claws do not grew out like nails, instead his fingers turned into claws, it was like that before as well but, uhhh... they are bigger now, and cooler...)

    I closed my hands and tensed my arm muscles. I could hear the impatient elves, but their deaths could wait.

    Despite the rise in thickness, studiness and weight my arm was still flexible and agile. I made the windmill with my arm, did a bit shadowboxing and to my surprise all movements felt as natural as before, only much, much stronger.

    The scales on my hand rustled whenever I balled a fist, a slight downside for surprise attacks and such but nothing to bad.

    I have to say, if I had a mirror I would look quite badass. I looked like some kind of dragon and skeleton warrior mix, my giant black and crimson wings only underlined my dread inspiring appearance.

    PHEEEEW!

    PING!

    An arrow shot into my right side. I thought that at least a bit damage would be done, as the arrow was quite thick and had high velocity, but on the contrary. Not even a white mark remained when the arrow hit my scales, it only harmlessly bounced off.

    The elf that shoot the arrow had a quite surprised expression as well. His arrow was precise and had a certain power behind it and yet it simply bounced off. The arrow was nothing more than a cheap wooden stick with a stone tip against my defense.

    I slightly grinned. And this time my grin was even visible to the elves in front of me as I now had a human resembling half of a face, with a lot less features though.

    Power was let loose within me, I wanted to feel the surge of power, the oncoming thrill of slaughter. I wanted to feel alive again.

    The elves reacted quickly when the atmosphere around me changed. Those with heavy armor and tower shields stood at the front ¨C creating a phalanx of gold and iron ¨C. Behind them was a row of archers equipped with lighter leather armor and large massive long bows. Even further behind was a small group of eight with robes and crested staffs, mages. The asshole Nephyriem stood at the front. He only had light plate armor and his rapier equipped; as well as his smug ass smile.

    I really wanted to kill that guy in particular.

    Silara only kneeled on the ground somewhere off the battlefield. She had an exhausted expression and her body was bloody all over. I would take care of her after the main dish.

    At my side laid Weiss. For an undead he really appeared dead at the moment, only stiffled breaths told me he was still alive. I grabbed on his leg stumps and threw him behind me. I only wanted to throw him a few meters but he somehow ended up being launched all the way against a tree nearly ten meters away.

    On impact he coughed out a mouthful of blood. Really got to say sorry for that one later on.

    A few of the elves even chuckled. Stupid bastards think that I am retarded and threw my comrade away like a sack potatoes.

    Nephyriem only shurgged, shook his head and sighed. He was also thinking I was a fool.

    I will show you how much of a fool I am...

    ¡°Are you prepared for death?¡°. I half whisper half threaten. My mouth leaked out a bit of saliva and dark mist as I talked.

    As well as letting out a disgusting stench of death and corruption I unveiled part of my bloodlust.

    It was a huge success!

    All elves jerked up and their armors softly shook because of the trembling bodies beneath. I could feel my grin widen further, even without a mirror I could imagine my diabolic visage.

    I spread my wings and shot out pillars of dark mist.

    The elves reacted faster than Silara''s companions. The first row of tanks raised up their shields to block the streams of darkness. Sadly for them the fog only scattered and started to enter a few of the knights that foolishly breathed in in surprise.

    Blue veins started to bulge under the skin of those inflicted with my dark miasma. I could see their lush pink skin turn into a ghastly grey. Their bodies started to suddenly age, their lips shriveled and their faces wrinkled. They only watched in horror as their fingers turned into dead branches.

    Some of them tried to rip their throat open or cut of the infected parts but because it was internally death was the only way out. But even death won''t be their salvation.

    One after another the first warriors fell. With their hands still clutching throats, limbs or other parts they died a futile death. Their shriveled faces were deformed in disbeleif and fear, a laughable sight.

    Black mist rose out of the corpses but this time with each of the mist batches having a slight tinge of color to them, the different life essences of the elves. Their stolen time was reabsorbed by my giant wings, terror-stricken screams sounded out of the fog and sometimes human features appeared from within the darkness, I on the other hand only laughed quietly as I absorbed their life essence.

    Nephyriem was the first one to shield himself with wind magic against the rivers of deadly darkness.

    His face had an expression of false sadness as he looked down upon his dead comrades. ¡°You vile creature dared to kill my brothers! I wanted to make your death quick and painless but you give me no other choice... Magicians use wind magic to protect your brothers. Archers nook your bows. Warriors, FORWARD!¡°. Using the death of his comrades to boost the mentatlity of the survivors was a smart idea even in my eyes.

    (3rd person)

    Because the first archer had proven the defense of Ziihor''s right ironclad flank to the group the other archers focused their fire on his left side, the unprotected skeletal side.

    The first salve of arrows lodged themselves into Ziihor''s unprotected bones. The bones splittered and send small black fragments everywhere.

    A second salve was shoot right after the first one; this one aiming higher, at his skull and chest region.

    The reason why the arrows could hit Ziihor''s bones was because they were abnormally thick, making them easier to hit.

    Salve after salve of whistling arrows pierced through the air. The sky was covered in the densely clustered projectiles while the ground shook under the feet of the heavy armored knights. With thin barriers of wind protecting them the warriors sprinted towards Ziihor.

    They covered the few dozens of meters in only a few seconds. Their heavy plate armors clattered in sync and made them appear like a single whole. A wall of iron.

    Ziihor dragged his heavy right arm over the ground, giving the illusion of immobility. The first warrior that sperated from the group sprang with a powerful kick to the ground towards Ziihor. Iron shield and a broadsword in hand the knight opted for a preemptiv shieldbash to disrupt Ziihor''s already half broken stance.

    The shield smashed into Ziihor like a falling star and yet it didn''t even made him move an inch. The shield was stopped by Ziihor''s titanic right arm. Ziihor''s claw clutched onto the shield like a vice, not budging a single millimeter.

    A feeling of dread crept over the elf, he knew if he couldn''t break free from the demon''s clutches then he would most certainly find his early grave here.

    The elf let go of his own shield and raised the braodsword with two hands over his head. The following vertical slash split open the air and created a high pitched whistle.

    CLINCK!

    With eyes buldged out and an expression of utter shock on his face the elf looked disbelievingly at the small cut he made with his 97 pound broadsword. It was certainly only a minuscle cut, barely visible to the naked eye and yet it made Ziihor furious.

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    He was wounded by such a toy sword!? Unbelievable.

    Ziihor grabbed onto the sword and ignored the few arrows that were still shooting towards him. Applying a bit of pressure onto his claw it smoothly crushed the sword into fine iron dust.

    Fat drops of sweat were running down the elf''s face, he didn''t wanted to believe what had just transpired and will transpire. He refused to believe in the giant grey-silver claw that was rushing towards his face and would certainly kill him. He refused to believe that the disgusting feces in his pants were leaked by him. He refused to believe that his head was seperated from his shoulders...

    Another warrior had died just like that and the subtle note of cold sweat and feces that were secreted by the recently dead elf only emphasized the loming terror.

    The row of knights mometarily halted. They too feared for their lives.

    ¡°MEN! What are you doing?! He is alone, how can we fear him with our combined strength? March forward!¡°. Nephyriem who now stood inbetween the warriors started to raise the morale again. After contemplating for a while all knights thought he was right. They numbered nearly in the hundreds, how could they lose?

    Oh, they erred.

    Another salve of arrows came whistling down on Ziihor. This time he dodged them though.

    The reason was evident as Ziihor glanced at the spots where the arrows landed on. Instead of only boring a simple hole, the newly shot arrows sank deep into the ground adn even created small craters.

    Ziihor glanced at the next wave of arrows. Whenever achieved the right trajectory a seemingly random gust of wind would accelerate the arrows to a disgustingly high speed.

    The harmless arrows turned into sonic fast projectiles.

    With only a quick glance Ziihor could faintly see the shapes of the magicians and how they were raising their staffs high up in the air.

    ''Fucking nuisances''.

    Ziihor lifted his arm high up in the air. He quickly swiped down. It was only a simple movement and yet it held unimaginable strength.

    His grey claw cut through the air and blurred into an acromatic lightning. The created riples in the air turned into small vortexes, thus creating a small protective wind barrier in front of Ziihor.

    The arrows slowed down considerably but the major difference was their trajectory. The small vortexes of wind redirected the arrows away from Ziihor while slowing them down.

    With elegant movements Ziihor dodged each of the arrows and when they did come to close he would simply block them with his right claw, it did risk a few scratches on his plated arm but those damages were neglible.

    The elves circled around Ziihor, each one aiming for a different spot on his body. Some of them even poked his wings with their longswords or pikes.

    Ziihor could only laugh about their weak attacks. Heavy blunt weaponary was easily dodged so that no harm could be done to his body.

    Two elves stood in Ziihor''s attack range and after a flash of grey they suddenly stopped moving. Out of the corners of their eyes the other elves observed the current state of the two. With horror clearly visible in their faces the elves had to watch as their comrades two heads slid down from their shoulders. Time seemed to slow down as their heads rolled on the ground, splattering the ground in red.

    Their bodies stood still ¨C like statues ¨C, the nerves were late in registering the absence of a head.

    After a few seconds the bodies collapsed to the ground, another surge of fresh blood bubbled out of their cut throats.

    The elves realized how stupid the idea of a melee with this devil was. Ziihor''s enahnced arm cut thrugh their steel armor like a hot knife through butter and his physical strength was beyond their capabilities. They saw how their comrades were easily slaughtered so the thought of renegading wasn''t afar. But with their captain being with them, although behind the frontlines, how could they give up? This monster would surely attack their settlements and ravish their families and friends, wouldn''t it?

    So instead of giving in into their fear they continued their assaults and Ziihor continued his bloody carnage.

    Between the many elves there were some very proficient ones that lasted a few minutes against Ziihor.

    The first one was an elf with two short amber daggers. His movements were swift and lethal, always aiming at Ziihor''s unprotected left flank or legs to immobilize him. His daggers turned into a yellow storm as before Ziihor''s eyes. The movements were to fast and combined with a few feints inbetween he really got some good hits on Ziihor.

    Another problem were the elf''s hidden weapons. When Ziihor blocked a backhanded strike a boot with a blade attached to it slammed against his left temple. The blade dug deep into Ziihor''s empty skull and luckily didn''t do much damage against an undead.

    It was a good strike but fatal for the elf as he couldn''t fre his foot from the skull. Ziihor snapped his leg intwine with a simple handmovement and then beheaded him like the other elves.

    The second elf that put up a fight was a rugged female with mace and shield, honestly she looked somehow like a man. Whenever she struck she would enhance the mace with wind magic, making it strike like thunder. Her magic wasn''t strong but by using it at the perfect moments she could fully display her power.

    Even Ziihor''s right side couldn''t fully defend against the spiked mace. Some of his plates started to show slight cracks.

    Infuriated Ziihor slashed down with full force, the slash was nimbly evaded. But the slash wasn''t aimed at the warrioress but rather at the ground.

    BOOM!

    The earth split apart under the heavy force. The rumbling earth made the elves lose their balance and the female warrior was no exception. She landed on her butt and before she could react a giant claw clenched her throat.

    Her mace flailed against Ziihor but with her declining reserves of oxygen her movements slowed down until they stopped completely.

    Ziihor threw the woman against the ground and kicked her sides with full force. She was sent flying against the other elves. Her body was bent into a weird shape and the fire of life in her eyes extinguished.

    There were many other figures that fought Ziihor but all of them perished, some had a merciful death while others were turned into lifeless husks.

    The ground was devasted, all over cracks spread like spider webs. Some of the unlucky elves fell into the crevices and were burried under their falling comrades or simply squished into a bloody pulp when a boulder came crashing down.

    Robes and plate armor littered the ground, mages, archers, warriors, all of them died. Under Ziihor''s newfound strength they simply posed no threat anymore.

    Their attacks were weak and had no resolve. The fear dulled their blades.

    (First person)

    I stood in front of a kneeling Nephyriem. His pants were tainted in a light yellow and an immense stench wafted out from within. I wanted to puke but sadly I couldn''t, hadn''t eaten much in days.

    Streaks of sweaty hair glued onto his face, his eyes were red and tears flooded out continously. His nose was dripping with snot.

    He tried to beg for mercy, tried to apologize and whatnot. I only wanted to kill that smug bastard.

    Over the whole fight he never drew his weapon and only commanded his troops into their deaths, even I felt a bit of pity for them. To have such a moronic captain, tsk tsk.

    I would do the elves a great deed in simply disposin off of him.

    My claw was raised into the air, each of my talons glittering like beautiful crescents. The scytes of the grim reaper went down on the miserable creature in front of me.

    He screeched in terror and tried to scramble away from my claw.

    I accelerated my claw even further, gravity did a good deal of amplifying my power.

    The talons cut the air apart and sliced down unto the ground. In that moment I felt a sharp pain in my left ''eye''. The trajectory of my claws was averted to the side, cutting through the right thigh of the screaming Nephyriem.

    I felt a sooting warmth covering my claw, the blood was calming or rather it satisfied my roaring animalistic desires.

    I looked to my side and saw one of the elves still being alive and breathing. He had nooked an arrow into a random bow that laid on the ground. The arrow was covered in the blue tincture that was used by the earlier elves.

    I could feel how a freezing sensation started to spread from my ''eye''. The ice encased the left side of my head but this time I simply smashed it apart with my armored fist.

    My eye glowed in a brighter purple than usual with a dark red nuance. I felt fury and hatred burn inside me.

    Before my fury exploded I heard a rustling sound from my side. The elf Nephyriem was nowhere to be seen anymore, only a red trail that led into the forest.

    ''FUCK!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!''. I cursed in my mind. MY PREY! I LOST MY PREY!

    ¡°He! Hehehe! You devil, just wait until the elders come!¡°. The other elf sneered to me. His eyes were filled with arrogance.

    ¡°Hohohohoo... Thank God that you are still alive...¡°. I let out the deepest voice I could muster and turned my body to the elf. My steps were heavy and shook the ground. I approached the elf with spread wings and burning eyes.

    His pupils contracted into dots and a goosebumps went over his body.

    ¡°Ohhhh... I will have my fun with you!¡°. I growled while closing in on the elf.

 Chapter ten: Guardian

    ¡°H-h-HOW! How could this happen?!¡°. An elven soldier shouted to the heavens as he laid half dead on the ground. His view was obstructed by a black shadow, its purple and silver eyes preying him like its next meal.

    The creature went closer to the knocked down elf, each step turning his heartbeat erratic. It''s mighty feet dug deeply into the ground as it reached the elf. It''s upper body loomed over the elf like an almighty God.

    The Elf tried to scramble away with the little energy he still had left in his body. His hands tried to find traction on the bloodcovered ground but failed everytime. His nails were dirtied and bloodied by the pitiful attempts to claw his exhausted body over the ground into safety. The elf was sure he would meet is maker but his instincts were relentless. They wouldn''t stop and made him unable to accept his doom.

    The beast''s eyes shone with a red glint. A mighty stomp later the left shin of the elf was broken in half by the monsters taloned feet. The dagger long claws dug deep into the elf''s thighs and with the monster''s foot still placed on his shin the elf was fixated onto the ground.

    The monster reached out with its deadly grey arm. A single claw playfully pierced into the elf''s chest, it tore the skin away and dug deeply into his muscles, it slid further until he could feel a light ''tickle'' against his organs.

    Pained screams sounded out from between the elf''s lips. ¡°Why don''t you kill me already?!¡°. The elf hissed towards the creature, globs of saliva and blood shooting out like projectiles.

    A mad grin spread on the creatures face as an aswer to the elf. Its hand reached further up, covering nearly the whole face of the elf.

    The elf tried to struggle as he felt the creatures claws trying to enter his sealed mouth.

    Seeing the vain attempts of the elf a low sigh escaped th beast. Another clawed hand shoot out towards the elf, the first gripped at his Maxilla (Upper jaw) while the other clamped down at his lower jaw. The elf''s jaw muscles tensed up as he tried his best to keep his mouth closed.

    The creature, noticably irritated, tensed the grip on its first hand.

    CRUNCH!

    With a short but disgusting crunch the upper jaw of the Elf was shattered. But the creature did not stop there.

    SHLOCK!

    With a quick pull the lower jaw was seperated from the head. A bloodied tongue hung out loosely from the jawless elf. The creature wanted to pull the elf''s tongue out but the current picture satisfied it enough already.

    The torture proceeded as the monster took another claw to scoop out one of the elf''s eyeballs. The creature only needed a slight tug to server the eye from the optic nerve that now laid loosely in its eye socket.

    The beast poped the eye in its mouth like sweet candy, spilling a bit liquid. Instead of screaming the elf''s tongue only wriggled slightly and red foam rose from his throat.

    The creature thought for a while. Had it played enough with the elf? Should it finish it now? The pondering only lasted for a moment. The elf had barely time left in the living world anymore, so why not just finish it?

    The creature''s maw widened. Its glands covering its gaping maw in a viscious black slime.

    CRACK!

    The beasts jaws dislocated and widened even further with the new won flexibility. Its head was brought closer to the half blind and crippled elf. The stench of death wafted through the still intact nostrils of the elf, sending shivers down his spine. The elf wanted to close his eyes but the shear amount of fear and terror didn''t allow him to do so and froze him in shock.

    ¡°God please sav-!¡°. The elf couldn''t finish its prayer as the jaws snapped shut in a moments notice. The bear trap like mouth servered the head from the shoulders in a matter of seconds.

    The monsters acidic juices were doing its work on the head, turning it into a swallowable paste. With greed and gluttony in the monsters eyes it feasted on the remaining corpse of the elf. With its mouth completely covered in muscles, organs and blood the monster endulged itself in the sheer pleasure of raw meat. The corpse was finished in a minute of guzzling.

    The beast raised its head, still stuck with a few pieces of fat and organs, and looked around the vicinity; especially to a small path between the trees, where one of its prey escaped into. A scene of mass slaughter unfolded itself before the mighty predator.

    Mutilated corpses laid here and there, limbs or whole disfiguered bodies strewed the ground like litter.

    ¡°RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRRRRRR!¡°. The mighty creature roared against the skies, hoping for another adversary to appear. But there was no creature dumb enough to give in into the taunting cries.

    It just stood there, amidst the sea of blood and corpses, waiting for carnage and destruction.

    A gust of fresh air flooded the place. The stench of blood was ablated by the refreshening gale. With the cool gale the burning instincts of the creature were cooled down once again. Self-awareness reigned over the feral instincts.

    The foggy eyes of the demonic creature cleared up, its temperament tamed. The monster held a hand against its booming head, sighed and mumbled something. ¡°God... That headache is killing me!¡°.

    Ziihor shook the feeling of fatigue and the incoming hangover away from himself. He turned his head and his gaze turned to an inconspicuous dint in a massive tree.

    Small whimper sounds came from the tree, or rather, from within. Ziihor bent forward, one massive claw holding tight onto the tree''s bark, shredding it into wood chips.

    His half scale covered face peeked inside of the small hole. At first he couldn''t make out a single form in the dark hole but when his eyes adjusted to the darkness he only saw a miserable figure. With her long blonde hair dirtied with blood and burnt or ripped of at some parts, her eyes red from tears, her lips swollen and purple bruises covering her slim body, Silara only looked disgraceful in Ziihor''s eyes. The damp air was sateted with a thick stench of piss which made Ziihor want to retch all over the place.

    Anger welled up inside of Ziihor, he wanted to beat that woman to her senses. His surging killing intent startled the half asleep, half dead Silara. Her eyes slowly openned, glazed and unable to accept the harsh reality; making Ziihor hate her even more.

    He brought his face closer, his nostrils blowing scorching winds against Silara''s skin. The pain made her finally jerk up, her eyes slowly but surely cleared up and registered only then the silver black draconic face filled with overbearing bloodlust in front of them.

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    ¡°KYAAAAAAAAAA!¡°. She cried out in horror and jumped up, hitting her head on the wooden ''ceiling'' of the small hole. She broke down with her eyes rolled back and the white showing.

    Ziihor though only sneered and walked away from the tree.

    Ziihor still smiled faintly and directed his gaze to a half dead figure on the ground, with only one limb remaining any other person would have thought this figure dead already.

    ¡°Weiss! You alright?!¡°. Ziihor shouted.

    ¡°Y-Yes ever-thi-g is f-ne!¡°. Weiss tried to shout but because he was facing the ground only a few muffled words escaped him.

    ¡°Hahahahah no need to play strong, my friend!¡°. Ziihor laughed and moved towards Weiss.

    He spread his torn dark wings and a black fog enveloped his disabled comrade as well as an intact corpse of a nearby elf. The fog ate away at the body of the elf and at the same time new flesh was glued to Weiss near limb-less body.

    His left arm and legs were quickly restored at the same time the dead elf turned into a pile of grey, muddy flesh.

    Ziihor deeply breathed in the fresh air and ordered. ¡°Let''s get out of here, fast!¡°. Morning was at dawn and a beast with absurdly high strength was closing in on them.

    He looked back towards the small hole where the unconscious Silara laid. Ziihor was pondering whether he should spare her a miserable death and do the deed himself before the beast does it or if he should at least bring her to safety.

    He held not even the slightest of feelings towards the girl so his descision was a rather quick one; Ziihor went back towards the tree.

    His armored right arm flexed, his claws tensed up and ready to strike swift, his legs crouched for a quick dash. He would do it fast, painless.

    His body turned into a weapon of its own at this moment, scales raised up like swords to the sky and his eyes burning with resolution.

    Without even making the ground move Ziihor disappeared from sight, his body turned into a blur; with unfolded wings he ripped the air to pieces.

    His right scaled arm slashed horizontally, bissecting the tree in one fell swoop. The wood posed no threat to Ziihor''s oppressive claws and yet he was stopped by something. A thick dark blue antler stood between his claws and Silara''s body.

    The nightsky blue antler belonged to a wolf like head set on top of a magnificient snowwhite body. The front legs were hooved and more muscular than the hind legs making the creature lean forward and appear even more imposing, a large white mane only emphasized the regality of this creature.

    A long white whip like tail grew out of its tailbone and cracked the air with every move.

    The blue antlers started to fill up with electricity, emitting loud crackling noises. The beast''s metallic grey eyes filled with killing intent. Its chaps raised up and revealed a long row of pearlwhite fangs, a deep growling noise also escaped the beast. The snowwhite fur stood up as high voltage zaps flowed down from the beast, blasting the earth apart, each of these miniature lightning contained immense power and moved as swift as snakes; seemingly sentient in a way.

    ''Fuck, oh fuck!''. The beast''s head cocked up to the heavens, it howled to the skies, discharging all the build up electricity in its body. And at that moment Ziihor''s whole sight was replaced by a blinding white light.

    ¡°Master watch out!¡°. Weiss tried to call out but his very screams were simply drowned by the ear-splitting noise of the crackling lightning serpents. His hand tried to reach out to help but it was all for naught.

    ''!!!''. Ziihor couldn''t even think properly before his body was trashed around by the roaring thunders.

    He couldn''t even feel a single part of his body that was not burnt to a crispy state.

    His charcoaled body rolled over the ground and finally stopped when it hit a tree trunk. Black smoke rose from his bones.

    ''Not again...''. Ziihor could still painfully remember the two wolf people he fought against. It seemed as if another trashing was incoming.

    The majestic beast trotted towards Silara. Its antlers softly touched Silara''s cheek and spilled forth a bright green and blue radiance. A dense herbal smell hung in the air as the light settled down. Ziihor looked at Silara and saw that all her wounds were gone. Even her reddened face was completely flawless now and her hair was glowing in a bright golden shine.

    Ziihor glance at Weiss. He too was blown away but was in a much better state. Weiss locked his gaze with Ziihor''s.

    ¡°Flee!¡°. Ziihor shouted and turned tail. Weiss did the same and so both of them ran away from the beast.

    The wolf grunted and disappeared from sight. Each step left an imprint in the ground. Like a berserker the creature bulldozed through the forest. Trees and rocks were thrown around like cheap toys and some unlucky predators were trampled to death by the mighty creature.

    This beast was certainly at the apex of predators in this forest.

    The beast craned its head upwards and started to howl. In response dense clouds gathered in the sky, they turned from white to a dark grey and precluded the sun from shining through.

    The lightning essence in the surroundings went crazy. Giant lightning snakes ran through the clouds and amde the air shake with their mighty roars. Small critters hurried into their underground caves to find a safe haven from the impending doom.

    With a earth shacking crackle the clouds unloaded their electricity. The thunder closed in on Ziihor and Weiss, it seemed to home in on them.

    The judgement of heaven descended unto both of them.

    Weiss tried to escape via shadow swap but the lightning simply bounced onto the ground and snaked towards Weiss''s new location.

    Ziihor on the other hand infused his body to the brim with his soul power. The grey scales on his right arm turned into such a dark black that streaks of blue started to appear; his right turned into the night sky.

    His draconic features became even more prominent as they resonated with Ziihor''s draconic soul. Another black horn grew out of his left temple. It was covered in a viscous black liquid which made it look more like a formless shadow than a real appendage.

    His silver and pruple eyes turned dark and held tinges of red in them. His wings also grew and started to form small spikes along the bones.

    A dense black mist rose form Ziihor''s feet and formed a black wall before him and the divine lightning.

    Even Ziihor himself had no idea how he would fare against the emperor of lightning.

 Chapter eleven: Clash of a Dragon and Wolf

    The lightning clashed relentlessly against my veil of darkness, its power seemed infinte.

    I endured for what felt like years, it only stopped once the dark clouds covering the sky dispersed.

    A large cone section of the forest was turned black. The trees did not turn to ash, rather they carbonized on the spot and thus the forrest now ahd something eerie. The petriefied trees looked dark and evil and the black ash in the air made it all the more gloomy.

    My cover of darkness was gone midway, replaced by the physical defense of my body.

    I looked down at my arms only to see that my unprotected arm was simply gone. Instead of an obsidian black arm there was nothing, apart from the smoking heap of ash at my feet.

    Pain flared through my system, more from the strain I put on my soul by using its power than from the actual damage that was done to me. Nonetheless this pain made me feel something else.

    An exhilarating feeling rushed all the way from head to toe. I glanced back at the beast in front of me, hoping to stoke this addicting feeling even more.

    The snow white wolf slowly turned his piercing glare from the heavens to me. Its grey eyes observed my every move, looked for an openning; a chance to strike and kill.

    Somehow I felt a deep rush of what must have been adrenaline whenever its gaze met mine. ''These eyes! This desire! HAAAAA!''. I gasped for air as I savoured every bit of the danger lurking in front of me. The sensation of dread and death around every corner aroused me in an even perverted way.

    I couldn''t wait any longer!

    With a sudden pounce I leapt towards the beast. My jaw widened to reveal the bottomless pit that was my maw.

    ''GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!''. A gutural scream, nay, a primeval roar clang out of my throat. It was a scream for carnage and battle. My chilled instincts ignited once again and took over my body. My inner dragon wanted to roam this world and set it ablaze. ''SO BE IT!''

    Ferocious strikes, only possible by true beasts, clashed against each other. My draconic claw met with the white wolf''s antlers. The clash sent violent vibrations through the air. Both of us were sent backwards by the shockwave.

    I skid over the ground, leaving behind a trail with my sharp talons.

    My wings openned up and shot small orbs of darkness towards the wolf. The wolf dodged each of them with ease but did not notice my figure rushing through the mass of orbs.

    The orbs held no power in them so I could produce some even if my reserves were nigh empty.

    I jabbed straight into the wolf''s chin with my grey claw.

    Instead of flinching the wolf only grimaced as a thin trail of blood flowed from between his lips.

    A large paw swiped me into the earth. I coughed out loud as I felt the scales covering my body begin to crack. My vision was covered by a giant metallic hoof.

    My own armored claw went head on against the wolf''s hoof. A brief contest of strength was triggered as both of us tried to push each others claw away.

    Small cracks spread over the soil me as my body was pressed further into the ground, the massive weight of the wolf combined with its monstrous strength posed quite the problem.

    The wolf howled and the brute force behind its strike was enhanced by lightning that came smashing like a hammer onto my chest. The hoof of the wolf suddenly split up into five sharp talons of blinding brightness. A thin tether of electricity zapped in between the claws; I started to feel cold sweat running down my back. I redirected the attack to my side. The paw only missed my fragile skull by a hair''s breadth.

    Large chunks of earth and clouds of dust whirled in the surroundings. I took the chance to dash out of the attack range of the wolf. I looked back at where the wolf stood only to see a large crater with its paw as the center. The stones around it were pulverized into fine powder and five long lines were cut straight into the earth.

    The crater had the image of a wolf''s paw inprinted into it.

    The wolf gave me a subtle yet victorious smirk and sprinted towards my position. It''s claws turned back into the metallic hooves and made the ground rumble and creak under the sheer pressure.

    The antlers on its head started to vibrate in a low frequence and at the same time a bitter medicinal smell started to spread in the air.

    Its antlers collided with my raised arm, slowering its onslaught to a standstill. I could feel a foreign substance enter my arm, it didn''t pain me; on the contrary. My arm felt relaxed and a light tingle spread through my limbs.

    Confused I looked the beast in the eyes only to see its arrogant eyes once again. Admist the whole confusion I simply put more power in my arm while at the same time keeping my guard up.

    With my arm completely rejuvernated as well as empowered I began to slightly push the wolf back, its hooves tried to find grip on the ground but my new strength was just to high.

    ¡°HAAAAAH!¡°. Exhaling a large amount of air I dashed straight under the beast while pulling its head down. My back was turned to its chest. With its center of gravity already being so far in the front I only needed another powerful tug by my arm to throw it on its back with a loud ''BANG!''.

    Another large section of the burned forest was pulverized.

    The wolf stood up and only coughed out a mouthful of blood before it scowled at me.

    My mind was still preocupied by the tingling sensation in my arm. ''What did it do? What is going to happen?'', these thoughts swirled through my mind and kept me on my toes.

    Its hooves started to shine once again thereupon they split apart and formed the glowing talons from earlier.

    The claws dug deeply into the ground as the beast''s legs tensed up. It shot forth like the arrow from a bowstring but instead of a straight line the wolf jumped in a zigzag pattern closer and closer to me. Each jump shot masses of earth through the air, a testament to its monstrous leg strength.

    Suddenly its mane started to glow in a pale blue light. In mid flight its whole body emitted large amounts of electricity until the beast itself was clad in a dense armor of lightning. Its antlers turned into an icy blue and the should-be lightning armor of the wolf seeped into its body.

    I kid you not! The wolf transformed into thunder itself and shot over the ground, its chaotic body burning the earth beneath it even further until it started to take on a bright red glow like melting iron.

    My wings were positioned right in front of me, a faint layer of dark mist covering them. Behind the wings was my raised arm, ready to take the hit on.

    Before the lightning hit me it started to crackle and its tip deformed into a large wolf maw. The electric fangs cut through my wings and black mist without the slightest resistance imposing onto them. My scaled arm was pushed away by the massive snout. Large teeth rended my torso into fine dust.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Instead of being blown back I held on tight on the antler; with sheer willpower rather than physical might. My claw shut tight and a wild ride began. The wolf head crashed against trees with me straight inbetween.

    I could hear the faint sound of bones breaking when I came crashing down on a massive and sturdy tree.

    A cacophony of savage howls and beastly roars drifted into my ears; the sound of the hunt, the wilderness, the land ruled by the strong ¨C the rather unnerving peeping in my head and the trashing I got made it less enjoyable ¨C.

    I grunted deeply and flexed every muscle in my right arm. But something totally unexpected occured.

    The moment I tried to pull on its antler my whole arm went numb. The tingling increased drastically until the sensation in my arm was totally lost.

    My claws weakly hung onto its antler.

    ¡°HMPH!¡°. I grunted and used the claws on my half torn wings as replacement for my arm.

    The dark claws entangled the antler and started to forcefully tug at it. My whole power was put into this last effort of saving myself.

    At the same time I was send crashing against trees and rocks for innumerous times. My body was on the brink of collapse even in my augmented state.

    PFRRRRCK!

    Finally the sound of my salvation clang in my ears.

    With a grinding noise the antler was uprooted from the head. I glanced at my wings and saw them upholding a blinding blue antler. I felt a sense of victory and acco plishment wash over me as I looked at my hunting trophy with a warmth that only a mother could have to their kids.

    A chunck of the antler was left on the skull of the wolf, its end was spikey and electricity ran around without any pattern.

    Only then it dawned me what I did.

    The wolf rematerialized itself and howled in pain. The raw power of lightning shot out of the wolf in random patterns.

    The earth was blasted apart with each consecutive strike of thunder. And I, the genius, still held onto the conductor. So it was no wonder that a large amount of lightning was flying my way.

    Heat was generated by the lightnings and the air even began to vibrate.

    I threw the antler towards the wolf. The lightning serpents that were directed my way turned into the opposite direction and straight into the piece of antler.

    Dozes of lightning accumulated in the antler and after only a few moments it started to glow in a menacing red.

    The antler overloaded with electricity and imploded into a small skyblue orb before it exploded in a terrifying blast of thunder and pure energy.

    I felt my eyes burning as I watched over the magnificient spectacle. Space distorted around the wolf as the explosion created a dome of living thunder.

    The amassing energy output collapsed again on itself and resulted in a cataclysmic shockwave.

    Trees and the like were blown tens of meters away, a gigantic vortex of electricity swallowed everything in its path.

    With the last bits and pieces of my remaining power I...dug. I burrowed myself deep into the charred ground, hoping that the blast would pass over me without actually blowing me to smitherness.

    Oblivion ensued over the lands, the lightning quite literally smited the surrounding forest into the zeroth dimension. It''s not that I saw it but rather felt it from underground.

    After what felt like an eternity I meekly peeked out of my hole. Destruction. The only word needed to describe the forest.

    It was not even a matter of burnt or carbonized anymore. The forest simply dissapeared. A large spheric part of the forest was on this day deleted from existence it seemed.

    Of course this was not the case, it was possible indeed but the power needed for such a thing would be on the level of Gods. I simply exaggerated to stress the whole ordeal.

    I gave a quick glance over the surroundings. It did remember me of the wastelands I simply spawned in. They shared their resemblances.

    Without a notice a shadow appeared behind me.

    ¡°MASTER! Are you alright?!¡°. Weiss asked in a frantic tone.

    It did felt good when somebody worries about you; I have to admit.

    ¡°Yeah I am alright Weiss, only a bit... exhausted. But my meal comes first.¡°. I felt my mouth water when I thought about the dead wolf and its meat that was only waiting for me.

    Suddenly a thought struck me like lightning. ''What if the wolf was pulverized like the rest of the forest?''. I felt my stomach revolting at that thought. This whole fight would have been for naught if I couldn''t boost my power with the corpse.

    Weiss noticed my shift in mood and looked at me worriedly. ¡°Master are you really alright, you seem strangely troubled.¡°. Weiss asked in a soft voice.

    ¡°The wolf! Look for the wolf!¡°. I nearly shouted at him, anger and anxiousness audible in my voice.

    Weiss jerked up at my sudden outburst of emotion but quickly began to search the surroundings.

    After only a minute I noticed a small pile of, what seemed to be, hay. It was burnt to a dark grey but the unusual surface revealed it.

    I went closer to the stack of ''hay'' and motioned Weiss to come closer. A faint pulse of life force was emenating from the bndle hay in front of us.

    I touched the ''hay'' and to my surprise it was soft, though burned but still inexplicably soft.

    ''It''s fur!''. I knew it with that single touch. The smooth fur of the wolf.

    I stuck my hand into the pile of fur, the wolf was bigger than this small pile so I was quite intrigued about what was underneath.

    A soft feeling pressed against my claw, filled with curriosity I further felt out the soft sensation. It was skin and flesh and fine hairs and muscles!

    ''JACKPOT!''. I shouted in my mind.

    My mouth widened already a bit and acidic saliva dripped on the blanket of fur. Whatever awaited me would be devoured!

    I pushed the fur away with my claw, my maw at the ready to feast.

    ''Ughhhhh..... Ah come one!''. I don''t wanna say I am picky with my food but who would have the heart to eat a beauty?

    (For those that didn''t wish for harem or romance, don''t worry my friends it won''t happen to soon, everything is alright. I don''t want to scare you away from reading further that''s why I write this. Romance takes time the same in my story so just lean back and enjoy as I fail in making a good story :D JK hope it goes well)