Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Marching their army through the ruined southern reaches of Brightsville towards downtown was quite a novel experience. It appeared there were a lot more undead than before, a LOT more, and there was a crowd of them waiting at the city’s edge when they arrived to wave them in and cheer on their success.

“Scouts were sent ahead to let them know Prophet was killed.” Allie stated with a nod in the direction of the cheering populace to either side of the road they marched down. “Makes you feel good, doesn’t it?”

Riven just took it all in, not knowing what to say in reply while he walked. Most of the undead populace that weren’t mindless minions were the skeletal humanoids called skresh, or the fleshy humanoids called ghouls. They were a step up from zombies or skeletons, which by default were mindless or only involved soul shards instead of true souls. However there were more than a handful of large, brutal-looking golems, both flesh and bone varieties. There were three bone giants, each the size of a three-story building, and there were a couple ethereal ghosts as well that shimmered with dim gray or blue light and flew above the crowd.

There were even a couple of ‘unique’ undead that the system called ‘undead abominations’, which essentially didn’t fit the make or mold of anything else. They were each completely unique, with no abomination fitting the next.

And all of these creatures were starting to cheer out Allie’s name.

“Allie! Allie! Allie! Allie!”

“Long live the queen!”

“Long stand the Thane Necropolis!”

Allie held up a hand for silence and the column stopped. The crowds on either side of the street quickly went silent, completely obedient to the woman who’d kept them protected over the past months, and watched as she drew out a severed and shredded head from a bag on her hip. She held it up from all to see just as four skeleton minions came up from behind to lift her up over their shoulders, and Allie yelled out while gesturing to Riven beneath her:

“Many of you have just been born into this world for the very first time! Others come by happenstance when presented with a way off your own worlds through our bone garden, coming from other worlds where our kind is persecuted just because of what we are! You arrived here, hoping for a chance to find happiness and peace, only to be hunted down like so many other places across the cosmos! BUT THAT ENDS NOW! THIS IS OUR CITY NOW! MY BROTHER HAS KILLED PROPHET! BEHOLD, THE HEAD OF THE MAN WHO TRIED TO PURGE US FROM THESE LANDS!”

In a fraction of an instant the crowd went berserk, and many of Allie’s new citizens rushed forward to try and touch or embrace the two vampires at the front of the army with screams for a job well done, sobs of pent up relief, or outright calls for a holiday to be made in their name.

Allie laughed and reached out to touch many of the crowd, letting herself be swooped away to crowd-surf the wave of undead, while Riven quickly joined her with a shrug at Azmoth before being tugged away amidst the chanting of Allie’s name.

***n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Night was now upon them, and the celebrations were still going on back at the tower downtown. Riven frankly couldn’t believe that the sentient undead here were so… human-like in their emotions. That thought made him quickly realize that he too wasn’t human any longer, yet he still felt ‘human’, so to judge these undead creatures - no, undead ‘people’ otherwise was wrong. They had feelings, emotions, hopes and dreams just like any of the friends he knew growing up.

It was weird to think about. Mara or the more human-like undead were easy to associate with, but some of the abominations really threw Riven off. He’d have to work on that. Not that they scared him or repulsed him, but he had a hard time identifying with them despite them being self-aware creatures with thoughts and feelings just like himself.

The garden was peaceful under the pale moonlight and starry sky, a quiet place on the southern edge of the city. A large willow tree stood in the center of the garden, gently swaying in the gentle night breeze. Its long, slender branches arched outwards and down, providing a canopy that sheltered the tombstone situated underneath it. The crumbling remains of the old stone cathedral behind them would have lent added weight to the fact that this place had not been used in quite some time.

And yet… the flowers of the garden were all well cared for and organized. This was likely due to the single skeletal gardener who’d been posted there, a minion of Allie’s who stood motionless in the shadows of the old cathedral while stoically watching the two vampires.

The tombstone was an old one, probably over a century old, while being chipped and weathered by time and the elements. The inscriptions that had once been there had been smoothed out and replaced before Allie had moved it, with new lettering adorning the front that read: ‘Here lies Jose, a loving friend never forgotten. May you find peace and rest.’

Allie and Riven had both placed bouquets of flowers they’d picked in nearby fields, a testament to the life that’d once been lived by this man, and Riven was laughing while simultaneously crying as they retold stories of their old friend. The man they’d grown up with, a brother to both of them when their parents had vanished one after the other. Jose hadn’t had any real family of his own either, not any that he’d want to openly claim anyway, and they’d all leaned on each other for emotional support throughout the years.

Sniffling but maintaining a smile at the thought of the last time Jose had tried to make cheese-pancakes for the two siblings, Riven rubbed a hand over the tombstone nodded to the ground beneath. “Wherever your soul is now, old friend, I hope beyond measure that you’ve finally learned how to cook.”

Allie let out a sputtering, sobbing laugh, and the two of them hugged while staring at the ground below. “Who knows… his soul might awaken in some far off part of the cosmos one day. Maybe he’ll be cast adrift into a mindless sleep, forever, like so many others… but maybe not.”

“If that day ever comes I’ll have him cook those damnable cheesy pancakes for us again so he can make up for the last failure.” Riven sniffed, wiping away a tear with his hand and letting go of Allie. “Wow. That hit harder than I thought it would. I’d thought I’d been able to cope, but we’re both a mess.”

He cleared his throat, then looked out over the rolling fields on Brightsville’s southern side just where the city ended into sprawling plains. The forests to the southwest and west climbed up the mountainsides, and the changing colors of their leaves promised a change in the seasons coming soon.

“So how’d you do it?” Allie asked hesitantly, standing beside him to look over the countryside. “I’m still curious.”

Riven continued staring ahead, hands shoved into his pockets. “You’re talking about what happened with the elves and Prophet?”

Allie nodded. “Yes.”

He paused, noticing Athela on the sidelines and giving them a wide space for privacy, then smiled and waved at her. The demoness gave him a brilliant grin, a heartfelt wave of her own, then disappeared into the shadows with Fay. “Well, there were a couple things.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Riven held up a finger, then started counting his fingers one by one as he mentally checked off the list. “First, the orc cheiftan’s words of warning caught me off guard. I’d just found out they hadn’t been the aggressors and the elves were still adamant that the orcs leave without being willing to compromise, at least that’s how Senna’s father Ren put it. It rubbed me the wrong way, and shed the elves in a different light than the one I’d garnered from fantasy novels as a kid. I realized I was just desperate for acceptance from people like me, but at the same time realized that the elves weren’t anything like me anymore. The way they looked at me when walking through their village was only barely polite, if that, and thinking about it made me wary. That’s when you mentioned in one of our communications that Prophet got away from your forces and was looping southwest according to your scouts, but you didn’t know where his destination was and they were traveling fast. After that I sent Fay to scout it out from above, confirmed Prophet’s trajectory as a straight shot for Greenstalk, with a single elf leading the way. I sent Fay back to negotiate with the orcs after that, and according to Gurth’Rok - their chieftain, many orc tribes change leaders through military domination or duels. He considered my battle at Greenstalk as symbolic of my victory over him, and pledged to me if we took his people under my wing. Then, lastly, was Ren. Senna’s father. I baited him into admitting a couple things one night around a campfire heading back to the elf village, one of which really caught my attention. I’d asked him if Ethel had told Ren about the recent battle concerning Prophet and my sister - or you. Again it was a bait, I never told Ethel anything about that battle, but Ren at the fireplace confirmed he’d been told - so there was a good chance he was either lying or he’d been told by someone else. Coincidence, when Prophet’s forces were headed directly for the elves and being led by an elf? I thought not.”

Riven gestured up to the stone church where Fay and Athela were now sitting cross legged, having a soft chat that the vampires could barely make out. “When I bonded with Fay, she gave me a trait called ‘Silvertongue’. Well, it’s actually a spell now because my physiology won’t consider it a trait, but it does the same thing just at a higher mana cost.”

“Fay is the succubus, right?”

“Right. Athela is the other one. You haven’t met them yet on a personal level, have you?”

“No, just in passing.”

“We’ll change that soon, I’m sure you’ll love them. Azmoth too. Anyways, Silvertongue is an unholy ability that allows me to infuse words with unholy mana. It allows me to ‘capture the minds of lesser beings’ with lesser willpower than myself, but even people who have less of a Willpower stat can still resist it if they try hard enough. Let’s just say Ren’s mind wasn’t very resistant… and it was easy to make him talk.”

He pulled up the status page for his Silvertongue ability and shifted the screen over to Allie so she could get a look.

[Silvertongue (Unholy): Soak your words with unholy mana to briefly capture the minds of lesser beings, allowing only those with a less Willpower than you to be affected and enabling you to persuade them more easily. This spell scales with both Willpower and Negative Charisma, as well as the amount of mana you put into it. This spell may be developed into a better version of itself by acquiring the 'Depravity' subpillar. Extremely high mana cost, low cooldown.]

Allie’s eyes lifted. “Whoa. That’s really useful, especially given our negative charisma.”

Riven nodded. “Yeah. My ability is alright, but it’s only a shadow of Fay’s own version. Hers is even better because it is inherent to her species and she also has the correct subpillar. Whereas I was able to hold Ren’s mind captive for a very short time, maybe thirty seconds, Fay can do it for minutes at a time. After Ren realized what I’d done in forcing him to admit the situation, he tried to run - but we tied him down in Athela’s webbing and contacted you for a meetup. Azmoth volunteered to bring in barrels supplied by the orcs, using the barrels as a trojan horse for the bombs I made, and Ren was dressed up in Fay’s hallucinations to be sent down in my place when meeting the elves. The rest is history.”

Allie shot the blue-skinned succubus a wary look. “Those are some pretty formidable powers she has.”

“Formidable if used right. She’s more utility than anything else, even though she does damage it isn’t as direct as what Athela or Azmoth can produce. She also has a trait that gives her bonuses while using curses, and although curses cause her pain when used she’s gotten accustomed to the backlash. Eventually she wants to pick up a curse-related class, and I’ve also been trying to teach her one of my own utility spells. It’s called ‘ Wretched Snare’, but she doesn’t learn as fast as we do. It appears you and I, Allie, have rather unusual affinities and abilities to learn than other people or creatures do.”

Allie flippantly tossed her hair to the side. “I only learn Death magic at an extraordinary rate, apparently. The others I pick up on somewhat, but the Death subpillar is what I focus on because I’m able to gain insights and learn those kinds of abilities thrice as fast as anything else.”

“That’s how I feel about my blood subpillar. What’s your affinity for Death?”

“100%.”

“Ah. My Blood subpillar is 100%, which is probably why I oriented to it so fast. My Death subpillar is 95% and I haven’t learned a single spell related to death yet.”

Allie grinned. “I can teach you! But your soul fractals are almost halfway used up in terms of space.”

There was a long pause, and Riven’s gaze slowly focused on his smaller sister. “Say what? What the hell are soul fractals?”

Allie raised her eyebrows in surprise and began to laugh. “You really didn’t know!? Riven, you’re telling me that you’ve come all this way only to just now learn about soul fractals?! What the heck were you doing that entire time in hell!?”

“Surviving.” Riven muttered with a scowl, only getting another and louder laugh from Allie.

She held up a hand when he was about to protest. “Sorry! Sorry, I just think it’s hilarious that you’re so strong and have no idea. Have you at least seen your internal soul structure yet?”

Riven flatly stared, but nodded. “Yeah, I can see my soul complex rather easily. Whenever I want to actually.”

“Good. Now focus on your core, the one that your pillars are attached to. And… Wait, what the hell is that!?”

Riven inwardly directed his thoughts towards his soul complex. Allie’s exclamation was no doubt directed towards the other, black, orbiting core that the shard of Gluttony was forming in his periphery. “That’s Gluttony. Remember I told you about it last week?”

Allie gawked at the rotating ball of sinister soul energy, and slowly nodded. She blinked, rubbing her eyes and redirecting her focus onto Riven’s main core again with a shake of her head. “With necromancy I am able to see most others’ soul structures… and I’ve never seen anything that malevolent. Riven, be very careful when interacting with Gluttony after it finally forms. Whatever it is, it’s very sick and twisted… even for us.”

Riven frowned at her comment. Gluttony had saved his life once, and it’d never felt ‘sick or twisted’ to him. It felt right at home, but he disregarded her comment and moved on. That wasn’t important right now. “So tell me about these soul fractals already.”

Allie huffed. “Alright, take a look at your pillars. Look at how your blood pillar has tiny etchings inscribed into the surface?”

Riven paused, then nodded. “Yeah I see them.”

“Ok good. Well whenever you utilize a spell, the system recognizes that spell and your pure energy erupts from your soul and into the pillar. These fractals orient the spells you create and are why only parts of your pillar can freeze up at a time, directly correlating with cooldowns when they happen. But do you see how the Blood Sub-pillar you have in particular has far more etchings or patterns in it than the rest of your pillars? After that, your Unholy Foundational Pillar has the second most. To be exact, your Blood Subpillar has 4 fractal patterns, two of which are larger than the others which correlate with your tier 2 and tier 3 spells. Then your Unholy Foundational Pillar has 3 fractal patterns to correlate with your 3 unholy spells. You have 3 unholy spells, I assume?”

“Correct.”

“Yeah, as I thought. After that you have 1 fractal pattern in your infernal pillar and 1 fractal pattern in your shadow pillar. Each fractal pattern takes up space along their individual pillars, but soon they start to spill out into your main core. If you look closely, your blood and unholy pillars have their fractals starting to trickle into the white center of your soul space, but though they can go into your core they can’t traverse into other pillars. This means that you and I and everyone else only have limited amounts of space to create spells that we can command. More pillars means more space as well, lower tiered spells mean they take up less space, and every spell or ability is different in how much space they take up. Even though I am wary of your gluttony core, it also means that you’ll likely be able to create more spells on the separate core too - allowing you to learn more abilities than what is normal.”

Huh.

Riven rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then shook his head and frazzled Allie’s hair with one hand despite her grunt of discontentment when she swat at him. He smiled her way. “I think I’ll take you up on that, but I only want to learn enough that can be kept within the Death Supillar itself. I’ll be saving all my core space for blood. Is it possible to erase old spells to make room for new fractals?”

“Yes, yes, it is certainly possible NOW STOP MESSING UP MY HAIR!”