《Rise of The Immortal Wraith》


 1 Immortals and Gods

    The Immortal Emperor embraced his younger brother, "Do not worry little brother, This Emperor will not fall here, there are many battles left to fight. Those pesky gods and demons will die for letting their war bleed into my domain.


    Once I subjugate the heavens no one will be able to stand before me, and I think we shall start with the gods they are too prideful to believe that us humans would strike at them now that they have the upper hand in their war".


    "Big brother are you sure this is the best path?" walking alongside the Emperor towards the grand formation''s center was a young immortal in black imperial robes with a golden sun decorating his chest, his short black hair, and sharp appearance were only noticed briefly before attention was brought to his eyes.


    They held a pair of suns just beneath their depths. "I''m sure there is a better way to defeat these intruders but subjugating the heavens and sneak attacking the gods surely will just bring about more problems."


    He looked up at his older brother in golden robes, long silver hair, and with the same sharp features, he looked into his eyes that held a nebula of stars that seemed would go on forever.


    "Don''t worry so much little brother by the time they realize what is happening the gods will be weakened enough that they can''t retaliate in a short amount of time and the demons won''t come after us because we could be a potential ally."


    "All we have to do is watch as they tear each other apart until we can eliminate them both, alright that''s enough talk for now you should be prepared for what''s to come I doubt the heavens are going to kneel without a fight".


    Nodding and walking away the Solar Immortal''s eyes flashed briefly with disappointment.


    As the other immortals got into position the Emperor moved to the center of the grand formation his younger brother standing behind him he began to channel his immortal ki into this monstrous formation that spanned one-third of the cultivation worlds.


    As the formations connected the Heavens came to life as a pressure more profound and terrifying than one''s mind could even fathom fell upon the immortals gathered within the emperors'' palace. The world itself began to shake, some of the immortals had blood upon their lips and some knelt upon the ground as cracks began to form around each of them.


    The Emperor looked upon the heavens with disdain, how dare the heavens be above him he would bring the Heavens beneath his feet no matter what price he had to pay.


    On every world connected to the grand formation magic and demon beasts ran and hid the world itself under so much pressure all life even cultivators and normal humans knelt unable to stand and the Heavens themselves sought out the enemy that conspired against its right to be above all. The Seas raged the oceans turned and civilizations knelt before the might of the heavens.


    "Its finally ready" the Emperor grinned, his tattered robes and near broken body still standing, scorch marks and craters all over the palace a quarter of the immortals here were dead with the rest with varying injuries. The Heavens above the Emperor with all their majesty and might almost brought low by this human remained and prepared for a final blow against this usurper.


    As the heavens gathered its might one last time the Emperor''s bloody face revealed glee and madness within his eyes this was the moment that he was waiting for as he moved his hands to trigger the formation.


    Puchi!


    clink clink clink clink


    Blood splashed upon the ground, "AHHHH" the Emperor howled in agony as he saw a spearhead penetrating through his abdomen. The spear blazing with Divine energy, his arms, and legs bound in chains made from the same energy as the spear. The pain brought by these weapons burned not only the flesh but gripped burned and ate at his very soul. As he looked around him there now stood around him five gods covered in armor with divine energy glowing at the seams unable to see their faces a chill went up the Emperors spine.


    "Are you prepared for your punishment human?" the god holding the spear spoke in a deep voice that shook the air around him."For wha-Ahhh!" the Emperor screamed as the spear was savagely turned inside his stomach blood pouring from the from the exit wound on his stomach."Don''t ask stupid questions human," turning to his fellow gods he motioned for them to begin.


    The heavens above starting to dissipate the emperor began to panic, everything was falling apart he would be unable to bring his plan to fruition the only thing he could do was bide his time and destroy these interlopers as soon as they let their guard down.


    "Great lord, we are ready to proceed" a god to the Emperors left reported.


    The Greatlord nodded his ascent just as he was about to speak the Emperor moved his hand towards talisman he kept around his neck dragging the god that had spoken earlier closer to him catching her off guard.


    Crack!


    A fist struck the side of his head and someone snatched the talisman from his neck "Enough older brother this is your punishment for what you planned to do, all those lives that would''ve been lost for your ridiculous plan!"


    His head reeling from the blow and the shock of the one who spoke, he tried to look up at his little brother when the Greatlord spoke again"We take from you your right to reincarnate!" the spear in his stomach and the chains on his body flashed with power a ripping sound came from inside him he felt like he had lost something vital deep in his soul.


    He screamed until he was hoarse he turned to look at his younger brother who had tears streaming down his face "Why?!" he questioned his only brother.


    "Because you do not deserve to be Emperor."

 2 Out of Time

    What? He didn''t deserve to be Emperor?? He was the strongest and most talented immortal in the last ten thousand years in which he was the ruler. All cultivation worlds were under his domain, he had waged war after war to consolidate his throne.


    As he wished to rebuke his brothers'' claims the Greatlord had run out of patience his voice echoing across the planet " We take your name so that none shall speak of your heresy!"


    Another tearing pain deep in his soul, a ripple passed through the cultivation worlds and as the ripple of unseen energy made its way through the cosmos a roaring thunder echoed on each world all anyone heard was the thunder as the formless energy swept by and took a single persons'' name from everyone and everything.


    Books, memory crystals, memories themselves of just a name that could never be spoken or even recalled.


    As the Solar Immortal watched in shame and guilt as the man in front of him raged and screamed from the torture to lose the essence of who you were the Greatlord drew in a ragged breath, the light around him dimming by half and the other gods with hardly any light left, one could tell they were severely weakened by the ritual they had performed.


    "And finally we take your cultivation so that none shall suffer at your hands!" The man covered in blood knew there was no time left as the energy from the chains was gone and all that was left was the spear he wrenched his hand tossing a spatial ring above him the rings spatial laws ruptured creating a tear in space the bloody mans heart exploded inside his chest, preferring a bodily death.


    His soul still had a chance to escape so he can take another body and come back for revenge in the future as his immortal soul shifted towards the spatial crack, " That damned spear!" he thought as his soul pulled against this freakish weapon that was preventing him from leaving.


    He screamed as he pulled and tore himself in half as he slipped into the spatial crack, this took but a moment in time as the gods realized their enemy was escaping, the Greatlord shoved the corpse off his spear and thrust up towards the fleeing soul and half the spear pierced into the void the spatial crack collapsed onto the spears body rending the spear in half.


    Quiet descended into the destroyed palace, the Solar immortal stared and the broken spear and the corpse on the ground, he moved and knelt beside his brother''s body whispering over and over "I am sorry my brother, I''m so sorry."


    The Greatlord looked to his weakened soldiers and took out a crystal from a small cube of light hanging at his waist. He motioned for them to gather around him, looking at the Solar Immortal he said in a softer tone, "The deal is done, you will assist us in eradicating the dark races and you will keep forty percent of their territory for your service to the gods, we are leaving." turning away and crushing the crystal leaving the palace in a beam of light.


    <-Middle Earth->


    On the middle of an anvil, there sat a beautifully made black ring inlaid with an emerald stone that almost made it seem like an eye as if it was staring right at you. As I stared at and listening to my creator I felt shame that I couldn''t live up to his expectations that I wasn''t good enough for his uses.


    Being called a failure after being born was painful and made the room feel quite uncomfortable, though being picked up by the pretty elf girl was significantly more enjoyable until I was placed in a tiny box filled with a bunch of defective scrap metal reminding me of my shame. As we left the room I realized that we were on my way to my destruction at the behest of my creator.


    "This isn''t fair, I don''t want to die....I''m not a failure!" feeling the runes on my body pulsating there was a resonance with a few of the defective pieces "Devour!"A guttural growl escaping my mind and moved through my runes feeling pain run all over my body, and then the pain stopped almost as soon as it began.


    I now felt more, whole and clear-headed I realized I had power no...I was power.


    What I absorbed...no what I ate were the other rings inscribed with time, space, mind, and death.


    See I knew I wasn''t a failure now I just need to show my maker what I can do and he will want me again. Wait why have we stopped?


    "Lord Sauron has ordered these failures to be destroyed immediately." said the female elf carrying a silver box handing it over to the blacksmith. the blacksmith cover in leathers took the box roughly and threw it directly into the forge, closing the forge he motioned for his apprentice to the bellows. "Get the forge as hot as you can if they aren''t destroyed properly or if any of the enchanted rings escape the Lord will be furious."


    "Let me out! I''m not a failure!"damn it why won''t they listen to me? Well, it''s not like this fire can hurt any of the defective pieces much less me we were crafted in a volcano unless that is why he said we were defective.


    Using magic to amplify the heat the small silver box started to fall apart, as the heat intensified most of the defective rings were melting, I felt fear and pain as the heat started to corrode my body. "LET ME OUT!" I screamed as fear overtook my mind, the enchantment on the silver box had broken, all the power I was capable of unleashing exploded out destroying the forge. I was thrown into a dark space I felt weak and then it just went dark.


    <-The Void->


    As the broken soul floated through the void desperately searching for a body to bind to passing through worlds faster than he could make his way out, he saw worlds with machines and strange creatures. He saw flashes of battles with swords and with bare fists with projectiles and explosions there were even some who had harnessed the elements and destroying the great cities in a flash. He tore and clawed against the fabrics of space but his power was quickly fading, a bright green light flashed past and ripped a hole through space and went into another world, he took this chance and dashed through the hole and into another dark world not know what lay beyond but it was better than dying.

 3 Life Within Death

    As soon as he breached the new world he felt....somthings sight upon him gripping him into place.


    "Hmph, barely passable for mid-level cannon fodder now Obey and serve your new master!" dark red tendrils of energy struck and bound his tattered soul.


    A tall skeleton rose from the rocky dark floor beneath him, it was not a humans skeleton it was taller than most humans and the color was a dark gray. The tendrils of energy shoved him towards this wretched thing he found to his horror that he was being absorbed into the skeleton, between the pain and disorientation he wanted to vomit but when he tried all he heard was clack clack clack as his jaw opened and closed.


    "Now that you have a body and can be a little useful, go wait with the others. You will await further orders and you will come if summoned." the disembodied voice commanded him to move and he replied in his mind "yes master" as he turned and walked to what he felt was the right way.


    He realized what he said while chills ran up what he imagined was his new spine. I''m underground he thought to himself, it would seem we are in a deep underground cavern he internalized trying to look for an exit in the vast darkness. When he came upon others he stopped briefly, what lay before him was a vast sea of skeletons with glowing red eye sockets.


    Lifting his skeletal hand to his face he could make out a dim red glow, lowering his hand and moving toward the undead swarm was all he could do not for lack of trying every attempt to move in another direction was thwarted by his own body.


    If he turned away from the correct path his body would halt any and all actions and just stare into the unending dark until he tried to turn towards his new found friends then he could begin moving again. As he was approaching the back of the hoard of skeletons he looked into the distance he saw larger humanoid figures with those familiar red eyes but there was not enough light to make out what they were.


    He shifted his view and saw a group of humans and of varying heights and sizes, one had a massive beard very muscular but only stood around five feet tall, his eyes were red and he had wounds and blood coating his armor there was even an arrow sticking out from his knee. Then he looked at the others to realize they all had wounds that should have been fatal other then the wounds all they had in common were those red eyes, understanding dawned on him that they were just skeletons with flesh on them, he was only going to be seeing undead things no matter where he looked.


    How long have I stood here? Will I ever be rid of this endlessness!! He raged within his mind, he couldn''t speak he couldn''t move away from his position he couldn''t even breathe! The only thing that he could do was inspect his surrounding which had changed from standing at the back of the crowd to being surrounded in a crowd as more skeletons, corpses, and skeleton dogs and other beasts moved to where he stood.


    He had originally thought that he could cultivate to start healing his soul and be able to escape but every time he made an attempt to gather his Ki the presence that forced him into his new body would shift towards his direction ever so slightly so he was forced to stand here and wait for orders that he hoped would give him a chance to escape.


    Two weeks later when he thought that he was going to just stand here until he went mad, he felt it, the order to move forward had arrived and the horde responded. The sound of thousands of bones clacking as they moved for the first time in ages rising and falling onto the ground was much more comforting to him than the sound of silence that had been his only companion.


    As they marched he heard a sound ahead of him a clink clink clink as if a small piece of metal was bouncing off the ground and for some reason it sounded like the most glorious music he had ever heard.


    He pushed forward, searching for it but it always seemed to be one step ahead and then he saw it "Its mine!" he thought and scrambled towards it, pushing and shoving anything that got in his way until it was there resting in his bony hand, a ring so black it would make the darkness jealous with a single emerald stone placed to make it seem as if a cats eye was staring deep into your soul.


    Not noticing as his body continued to move forward he inspected the ring in his hand, touching the runes that he had never seen before, wondering how anything could ever compare to its grandeur he wondered what it would be like to wear it, it was his now this new precious ring so he needed to wear it right away. No, he couldn''t do that but what if it wanted him to he probably should just try it on to see how his precious ring would fit.


    Just as he was about to place it upon his finger he felt a slight sting in his eyes. Looking forward he could see an exit out of the depths of the abyss and he saw the setting sun that was the cause of his minor pain. Looking around he saw a city in the far distance nestled between hills and large mountain "KILL!" came the order that shook his mind, clenching his fist around the ring he ran with the horde in a rush to fulfill his masters wish.

 4 Heat of Battle

    Rushing forward with the horde arrows flew at them once they crested the hill, striking bone, armor and rotting flesh the arrows did little to break the charging legion. Without fear of death, they ran down the hill onto a small plain leading to the cities outer defenses, not tactics no schemes just a swarm of death.


    As they reached the plain giant shadows overhead landed among them crushing skeletons into bone dust and crushing the ghouls and zombies into rotting meat paste. As he charged forward at the behest of his master he looked over his should to the hills behind them to see armored skeletons, ghostly apparitions and a hooded figure mounted upon a massive beast that was similar to a horse. He knew those must have been the undead that was like him that could think and act, except he was enslaved to the orders from that dreadful presence and was just cannon fodder.


    Returning his focus to the front "SHIT!" he cursed jumping to his right and landing on the trampled grass and dirt a massive boulder crashed down where he just stood obliterating the skeletons beneath it and rolling forward with enough momentum to destroy a dozen more."I just have to survive," he thought as he rose from the ground and running towards the walls just a few hundred yards away.


    He ran with all the energy he could muster in his bones, looking at the walls of the city he saw legion smash against the giant wooden gates, the gates creaked and cracked but held the undead at bay, against the walls the masses piled on top of each other to finally reach the top to meet warriors clad in armor.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Looking back to the gate, three massive giants smashed into the gate, they struck again and again and finally, the gate began to break apart. As he made his way towards the gate he heard a strange sound as a massive fireball raced out of the gate as it reached the undead it detonated into a cone of fire turning everything in that cone to charcoal.


    He looked at the gate and then to the wall and made his decision that the wall would be a better asset to take in the battle, making his way to the wall he started to climb up the pile of skeletons. Like riding a giant wave in the sea he shakily got to the top and pulled himself onto the battlements.


    Looking around he saw there was a soldier facing off against three other skeletons, pushing them away with a kite shield and swinging his sword toward there heads in an attempt to destroy their skulls, rushing over he grabbed a dagger at the soldiers'' waist he ripped it out of its sheath and slammed the dagger down into the base of the soldiers neck, dropping him to the ground without ever knowing what how he died.


    "Kyle!"


    Crunch


    After that shout, he felt something slam into him throwing him from the wall and down into the city, and smashing into a cart full of cabbages. Rolling on the ground and trying to get out of the debris of wood and cabbage, standing up and dusting himself off he noticed his hand was still tightly holding onto the ring.


    "The ring! is it safe?" he opened his hand and there it was as if waiting for him to look at it once more."I should put it on, if I don''t it might get lost," moving the ring towards his right index finger he slipped the ring on, nothing happened.


    "That''s odd, why was I so obsessed with this ring moments ago?" looking up at the city he saw the keep in the distance, he heard sounds of battle and explosions and screams that rocked the city coming from the direction of the gate, not paying attention to the ring or the black and green tendrils of energy making there way towards his skull. He was alone in an alley between a building and the wall, looking back at the ring to continue his investigation as to why he was so taken with it.


    "Too late, Your Mine!" came a soft voice from the ring.


    Plunging his energy deep into the skull he found the soul wrapped in red energy, wrapping his own green energy around it he devoured the weakened soul in under a second. Memories of the souls'' life flashing past his mind.


    Images of worlds and wars filled with never-ending slaughter, gaining respect and prestige with what was known as the righteous path only at the height of his power to set up a grand formation that would use the life force of trillions of souls to shackle what it called the heavens to his very soul, only to be taken down by the only person he told his own brother.


    "How foolish to let your ego get the best of you, now your nothing but food hmm those gods took so much from this soul but that was to my benefit, if he had a third of his original strength I would''ve had to encroach on him for years." Looking down at his skeletal body he felt happy he could move. Though a little disappointed, he had seen what his maker looked like, and knew he was not very pleasing to look at. "That will have wait for now," looking up at the sky he spoke softly, "I''ll show my maker that I was not a failure."

 5 New Body New World

    "Took him long enough to put me on, another week and my power would''ve depleted and forced me to hibernate or die, stupid fire almost killed me. My maker was right that my body wasn''t perfect though," looking at his original body he saw a few small holes peppering the outside the largest of which destroyed the Time rune while the other runes were showing varying degrees of damage.


    Knowing his original body couldn''t be repaired without his makers'' knowledge, tools, and magic he took it from his finger placing it on his forehead using the last remaining energy the band melted away into the shape of the remaining runes, the emerald stayed in the center of his forehead, the runes flew into the skull and branded themselves into the floating green orb that was his soul.


    Bang!


    Inside his mind, it sounded as if a large gate had just slammed into his mind, reeling from the disorientation he brought his focus towards this intruder in his mind. In his mental space just like it sounded was a massive black metal gate, of course, the gate was over 400 feet in height with the sigil of a large flaming eye in the center.


    At the base of the gate was an altar, strangely a feeling of longing and grief overcame him, rushing forward he placed his hands upon the altar. "Welcome my decendent and first inheritor, this message was left for any remnant of my forces or bloodline left alive after my destruction during the Battle for Middle Earth."


    Shock and overwhelming loss settled upon him hearing his makers voice once more and learning of his death."Now that you have arrived inheritor the system in place will assist you in your rise to power, but it will only grant you abilities, skills, and knowledge you have earned. You can give copies of information to the system for rewards so long as it is useful and isn''t currently stored within the system.


    As the first to arrive, I will bestow you two gifts, the first will be access to information on smithing and enchanting, it may prove useful for gathering resources and making connections. My second gift is to remake that disgusting thing you call a body, you are my inheritor, not some rouge warrior or cursed reanimated corpse that would be mistaken as a low born piece of filth. When you leave here your body will be remade it will only take around a minute, so I advise you to brace yourself the experience will be...uncomfortable."


    Flinching at the brutal honesty of his maker, he did agree that his body wasn''t the most pleasant but it had been his only option to survive, that small pause escaped his notice as a small spike of pain drove into his mind. Along with information of smithing, forging, runes, and enchanting he was given everything he would need to rival any mortal smith only the dwarves of his same level would have an advantage in the working of metals, shaking off that slight headache he heard the sound of a chain breaking and cold and detached females voice.


    <System Activated>


    "Welcome to the Wraith Lord System, any and all resources of your level will be unlocked and available for purchase through contribution points. Would you like to run a scan of your body?"


    Whats a Wraith Lord or a scan? the points I understand thanks to my makers'' explanation it will depend on my efforts to gain information worthy of the systems standards. With slight hesitation, he confirmed the scan, a screen of dark green light appeared in his vision with words in black slowly populating the surface.


    <Scan commencing>


    <Scan complete>


    Name: n/a


    Race:Undead


    CP: 0000


    Physique:Tier- 0 Stage- 8


    Agility:Tier- 0 Stage- 2


    Intelligence:Tier- 0 Stage-9


    Wisdom:Tier- 1 Stage-3


    Health: Sever Wounds


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb (T-1)


    Mind- Alure(T-0), Mind Control(T-0)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-0), Pocket Dimension(T-0)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-0), Command Undead(T-0), Death Bolt(T-0)


    Looking at the screen confusion over some aspects arose," System can you explain the Tiers and stages portion of this um list?" a slight pause "Of course inheritor, a Tier is a base level of power


    the higher the tier the more powerful that aspect is, stages are sub-levels raising it past the ninth stage will increase the Tier by one, your innate abilities will grow with your own power as well with mastery over the abilities themselves". "What is CP and also what happens after tier nine"?


    Another pause, "CP is your contribution Points, as for your question pertaining to advancement it is either unknown or you have not unlocked that knowledge in the system. Inheritor bringing your attention to your health you have severe wounds on your soul if you cannot halt the essence leaking from your soul you will perish in one year and three months, also you should choose a name for yourself it is unbefitting of your status to remain nameless."


    Nodding to himself he thought in silence "I knew those injuries must have been deep but I didn''t know that they were that severe, no wonder he fell without a fight, looks like when I absorbed him some of the injuries came with him, that spear those gods used must''ve been exceptionally powerful to leave that kind of everlasting damage.


    A name huh I guess the system has a point, ill have to think about this I wouldn''t want to be like that soldier what was his name...kayl no kyle that was it definitely don''t want to end up like him. System, I want to copy my memories of cultivation techniques how do I do that and how much will I be compensated for the information?


    "Place your hand on the altar and will the transfer to happen, what is useful will be taken what is not will be discarded. The calculated value of the information is one million five hundred thousand points. Congratulations you have unlocked Tier(1) and Tier(2) of the Systems Store would you like to examine what is available or receive a recommendation?"


    "Why were the points so low and I''ll take the recommendation, for now, I''m looking forward to my new body," he asked curiously as to how ten thousand years of cultivation knowledge seemed so low. "A vast amount of the knowledge had key components missing or damaged, salvaging what was left to recreate the techniques or making brand new ones will be very useful.


    More testing will take time if something of higher value is created through the system using this knowledge you will be compensated appropriately. Recommending 2 Tier (0) abilities Wraith Armor and Wraith Weapon while recommending a single Tier (1) Soul brand. Each of these skills can be upgraded and supplemented with additional abilities from higher tiers, later on, the total CP cost is one hundred thousand do you accept this price?"


    Feeling a slight pressure as he felt the abilities become one with him, he finally moved away from the black gate and back to the alleyway, there was less light available showing time had passed along with him while inside his mind space, though at a slower rate by about one-third of he had spent inside his mind space, "I wonder when my body will start HMPH!"


    Falling face first paralyzed by the pain he couldn''t scream and couldn''t think, he was just a skeleton laying face down in cabbage.

 6 My Name

    One minute, it was only one minute, and it was hell. If anyone had told him that it was going to be this painful he would have laughed in their face and done it anyway because the pain of turning a skeleton to living flesh was unfathomable.


    In those sixty seconds, he was able to pass out for a brief moment before the intense pain woke him up for another round of suffering, and then it stopped and he felt the pounding of his heart, the pain receded with each beat of his new heart he breathed in for the first time in his existence and the air was sweet no it was glorious he thought.


    He opened his eyes everything was crisp and clear like a filter had been lifted off the world, colors were sharper, his vision strong enough to spy the wings of a fly for six hundred yards away. He breathed in again catching the faint metallic taste in the air on his nose and tongue, closing his eyes he listened he could hear the whimpering of the citizens through the stone walls as if he stood over them. "S-tatus," his first time using his vocal cords came out coarse and unrefined, pulling up his status screen to check on what had changed with his body.


    Name: n/a


    CP: 1.400.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 0 Stage- 9


    Agility:Tier- 0 Stage- 9


    Intelligence:Tier- 1 Stage-1


    Wisdom:Tier- 1 Stage-6


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T1)


    Mind- Alure(T-0), Mind Control(T-0)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-0), Pocket Dimension(T-1)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-0), Command Undead(T-0), Death Bolt(T-0)


    Cough! Cough!


    "System, what is a Void Elf and why is it high?, "Inheritor there was a slight issue with your body, the skeleton came from what is known as a dark elf or a drow though the drow are excellent warriors and can use magic most of the drow, especially males, had lost a great deal of magic affinity in Fire, light, wood, and lightning elements.


    This lead to the decision to give you a drop ofblood from High elf clan that had produced mages with those aspects to offer you a wider variety of paths to choose from, that was not the issue, the crystal in your forehead had the essence blood of void devouring beast that had contaminated your drow bloodline and produced this mutation.


    "Only time will tell if this was a boon or not, as for the other question it is only the rank of your bloodline, making you a noble of your kin. Have you thought of what you wished to be called inheritor?"


    "Not yet, can you show me my reflection?" as he asked the status screen enlarged and showed his reflection. Standing opposite him was a five and a half foot tall youth he had a midnight blue skin tone on the darker side, silver hair that reached the middle of his back, elongated pointy ears.


    Bright green eyes that seemed to faintly glow, stared back at him in the mirror, he took note that there was a bright green gem on his forehead looking almost like a third eye.


    Examining himself in the mirror he was pleased by what he saw, even after death his maker still had a way to create beautiful things."My name will be Salem," he stated with confidence towards his own reflection.


    "Acknowledged Master Salem." The cold voice of the system replied, feeling a slight chill on his skin he realized he was naked, walking towards the end of the alley he noticed a few dead rats, "I need a few scouts," standing over three dead rats, Salem began to focus his mind and energy into his {raising undead} he felt his energy reaching the rat and collapsed on contact.


    Scrunching his eyebrows he tried again, over and over, until ten minutes later he had a single rat standing in front of him with a pale green light in its eyes. Sweat rolling off his forehead he finally began to relax, until the rat started to eat another of the potential scouts, "stop," he said, it didn''t, he focused his energy into his {comand undead} and tried again, "Stop," he said with a little more force.


    It stopped and stood there unmoving "come" he ordered and the rat came to his feet looking up at him, he sat next to the rat for five minutes testing his commands, he found there was a tether like a bond between him and his little minion that he could send commands through silently.


    Another five minutes passed and he had another rat under his control, having his scouts move out of the alley there was an abandoned building not far away.


    Crash!


    Turning to look behind him there was a young man in armor not quite the right size, trying to stand up from what Salem assumed was a fall similar to his own off the top of the wall. A little surprised and the young mans fortitude and unsure of what to do, he stood there until he could hear a whisper on the teens'' lips, "Please help I don''t want to die,"knowing exactly what and how this teen felt he moved forward and started to drag the teen towards the abandoned building just down the street.


    As he entered the building he had a rat stay outside to keep watch, he dragged the teen towards a bed in the corner of the back room, fumbling with the clasps on the armor he finally got off the annoying hunk of metal, no chain mail only leather underneath was much easier to handle.


    He eased the stranger onto the bed, there were no external injuries but there were a few crack ribs and a broken ankle.


    Looking around the house he found a drawer filled with clothes, half of which were woman''s clothing, which he tossed away until he found a white linen cloth shirt, underwear and a pair of leather trousers that were a little long and wide on the waist so he took the soldiers sword belt that was laying on the floor and strapped it on. The sheath and sword were missing but the dagger at the back was still attached giving him a weapon in case his skills he was unable to use with pure confidence of success. Looking around he found a thin leather strap that he used to tie his long silver hair into a ponytail, hearing a groan, he turned to the injured teen on the bed.


    Staring at each other in silence for a few awkward seconds in silence "Hi my name is Salem, what''s yours?"

 7 Race Through the Night Gore

    "Why are you staring at me? Should I not have taken off your armor?" Salem awkwardly asked the teen on the bed who had been staring at him since he had introduced himself. A look of panic flashed across the face of the youth, "Wheres my armor!?," she hissed at him, blushing, "and why were you naked in the middle of the street earlier!?" continued the girl.


    Tilting his head a little to the side, " I didn''t know you were a girl, you hid it very well underneath that ill-fitting armor you had on, why were you hiding it? Oh and because when I got here I wasn''t wearing any clothes, I had to borrow the ones I found in this building and then you woke up and you still haven''t told me your name." He replied staring at her grey eyes, then he pointed to the pile of armor next to the bed and smirked.


    Seeing that smirk her brows creased and followed to where he indicated, lying on the ground was her armor, her clothes were untouched she was a bit relieved that nothing had happened while she was unconscious. She reached for her armor and winced taking a quick gasp of air, " I wouldn''t do that, you have multiple cracked and bruised ribs with what I assume is a broken ankle. You won''t be able to run away much less fight, you should just wait here till the battles over-"


    Dang! Dang! Dang!


    Looking towards the belltower within the keep he was curious, "Whatever could that mean, hey you what does that mean when they ring it like that," looking at her now there was a slight panic in her eyes, walking to her he grabbed her by the shoulder shaking her from the panic, "It means the outer wall is lost and we should retreat to the keep before the gates shut....but I cant walk you should go you can easily make it if you hurry." she said in a quiet voice


    He thought out loud, "I just dragged you here so you wouldn''t die, looks like there is just a little more to go."Putting one arm beneath her legs and one behind her back and lifted her up, catching her off guard she wrapped her arms around his neck, "What do you think you are doing? let me down- "quiet" he interrupted her tantrum.


    "If I leave you here you will die, you asked me for help and that''s what I plan to do, besides if we don''t go now we will both die. There are hundreds of skeletons coming down from the walls as we speak," running barefoot out of the doorway and into the streets, he made a sprint for the keep.


    Passing through the streets he could hear the sounds of battle, especially from the main street that lead to the keep. Explosions, he assumed was a wizard doing, and screams echoed over he could feel the heat as the streets got closer together, as he was passing an alley he slowed down to look inside bile rose to the back of his throat as he saw the massacre that had taken place here, there had only been a few men and women but there were over a dozen tiny bodies scatters about in tiny bloody pools, the most horrifying of all was 3 small wrapped bundles soaked in blood with a small hand poking out of the blanket.


    He stumbled back out of the alley, pushing the girl he was holding onto a crate, he doubled over and puked the bile in his stomach onto the ground. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he was unsure why he felt such disgust at these sights, wiping his mouth, he picked up the girl who was now crying back in his arms.


    He ran, he ran to get away from that disturbing sight. He ran up the street to another alley connecting to the main road coming to the end of the alley, peeking his head out the alley, he saw that the keep was to his right while soldiers and undead fought on the road while citizens were rushing into the gates entering the safety of the castle''s walls.


    He moved from the alley to the road jogging to the gates, two soldiers ran towards him shouting "Lady Renwei!," giving the teary-eyed girl to the guards he spoke in a calm voice, "Shes injured get her to a healer or she might lose the ability to walk if it goes untreated," they looked at each other and nodded and ran back to the gates, with Salem following them through he went without being noticed, he climbed onto the battlements and watched the battle below.


    A large man dueled against and undead covered in plate mail with a huge mace, to the left of the duel, there were two figures standing 20 yards apart, one was in black robes and hunched over with a red and black barrier surrounding him that was being bombarded by explosions of flame. The figure launching the flames was in red and white short robes with a hood covering their face, as time passed in the battle that had become a stalemate the warrior was shoved back by the untiring undead he faced.


    Blow after blow rained down on the humans'' shield the exact reverse of the mages duel was occurring in the melee, Salem could see power gathering into the mace, was from his partner that the mace gained that energy," Watch Out!," he yelled to the human warrior. Hearing the warning and sensing danger, he threw his shield at the oncoming mace which stopped for only a moment before the shield shattered into bits.


    The mace missed the intended target and struck the paved road creating a small crater there in landed, a soldier came from a nearby alley and struck against the massive undead'' neck creating a small fissure in the armor. The undead turned on the young man grabbing his arms, he then pulled those arms out of his sockets and off of his body.


    Screams rang across the battlefield for a brief moment before the undead grabbed the man by his skull and crushed it into pulp, this brutal killing to scare his enemies backfired a moment later, as the human warriors'' sword slashed through the weakened armor at the neck removing a head from its shoulders.


    The undead mage roared from behind his barrier but instead of attacking he fled the battlefield any undead that had a mind of their own fled with him outside the city. The warrior and the mage walked back to the keep with an entourage of soldiers, as they entered the two soldiers that had taken that girl from him reported to the warrior.


    In a loud and gruff voice, he spoke to the crowd, " Which one of you made my daughter cry?!."

 8 Who are you?

    Sitting on top of the wall, Salem watched this strange scene unfold, "Are they not concerned about the undead legion still outside their gates? You would have some kind of mental disease to only be concerned about your own family at a time like this." Salem voiced aloud, without lowering his voice the words carried over the quiet courtyard to the crowd.


    Turning to look up at the young voice, the crowd were stunned to see a beautiful elf sitting on the wall overlooking them. "I am the Lord of this city, who are you to disrespect me in my own home elf!?" the city lord yelled, a little bit of spittle leaving his mouth. Scrunching his brows he thought to himself that he didn''t have much of an identity or connections that his maker had told him to gain so he used his only resource at his disposal.


    "System, what should I do?" He felt the system working in his mind when he heard that cold female voice once again, "Master Salem, we recommend purchasing knowledge on certain subjects to increase your mental acuity for moments like this.


    Okay but I need a solution now, I don''t have time to study on how the Nobility likes to do business!"


    he complained to the cold-hearted system. " Of course Master Salem, there will be a price of ten thousand CP for this plan and you will need to choose a clan name, listen and follow our instructions to the smallest detail, do you accept?"


    "Yes, I accept, can I use my makers'' clan name? To which the system replied "no", without further explanation. Thinking to himself that the system was a bit mean, he asked again, "System what is the elvish word for void?" Out of spite, the system gave him a long list of words with similar meanings and connections to "Void" but the one he chose felt a little grander than the others. He told the system his choice, and the system gave him his desired way out of this sticky situation he had stumbled into.


    He stood up, putting on a look of disdain he spoke down to the human, " I am Salem Belegast, last of my clan, Master of enchantments and Forgelord. If you don''t lower your tone and show some proper respect I will leave you and this city to fall beneath the undead legion that has been slaughtering your people all night, as for your daughter, I''m assuming its the girl whos battered body I dragged here from the outer wall.


    So it is your choice to either to continue this nonsense and let your people die or we can have a nice discussion while we talk about my services" keeping a look of annoyance while looking into the grey eyes of the city lord.


    Standing to the side the mage in red and white robes placed a hand onto the city lords shoulder, turning to the mage they had a quiet but brief conversation, the city lord took a deep breath and turned back to the young elf, "I apologize, lord Belegast, for the misunderstanding when it comes to my daughter I can be a little overprotective, Men! secure the gates any civilians can be brought in if any come forward.


    Drop the portcullis if the enemy charges the gate, everyone else, get into the city. Lord Belegast, if you would please follow my guards they will provide you room, I need to make preparations for the siege and then we can have a proper discussion." Salem nodded and followed the two guards who had reported him to the city lord.


    The keep wasn''t the actual keep of the castle it was only a second wall leading into the inner city that couldn''t be seen from the outer city due to the sheer height of the wall and being twenty feet thick it would hold against any war machines for an extended war without needing repairs. The small gate they had entered had only lead into a small fort to protect the massive iron gates.


    Moving through the inner city gate Salem looked up along the walls and ceiling had holes large enough for spears to be thrust out of sending a small shiver down his spine at the thought of hundreds of spears piercing towards him. Moving into the city proper they boarded a carriage and set off towards the castle, most of the citizens were not panicked or even looked scared that they were essentially surrounded by thousands of enemies.


    The ride from the wall to the castle gates lasted thirty minutes of uninterrupted silence, right up until my escorts explained why we here and moved into a courtyard with a respectively well-sized mansion. "Lord Belegast we hope this is an acceptable residence while you stay here Koftas if there is anything you need just let one of the maids know and we will do our best to accommodate. The city lord will send word when they are ready." Bowing slightly the guards left on foot walking towards the castle proper.


    Walking through the mansions front doors he was greeted by twelve maids, six on each side of the aisle, "Welcome home master!" they called simultaneously. After a moment of shock, he recovered his wits and replied, " Please take me to my room and have a meal prepared also ill need a change of clothes similar to mages with more flexibility. Is there a smithy and enchanting table on the premises? If not I need a set of tools prepared for each" he said walking past a few of the maids.


    One maid walked forward and lead towards the second floor, "There is a smithy connected but to my knowledge, there is no enchanting table in the house but I will send a request to the castle. Clothes and food are being prepared and I will inform them of your desires, "Reaching the second floor and reaching a set of double doors the maid proceeded to open one and held it ajar for him.


    "If there is any else you need master please pull the rope near the bed and someone will come to serve you." She bowed slightly revealing a little cleavage before taking her leave and closing the door behind her.


    Walking forward he sat on the massive bed on the other side of the room, he took in a shaky breath as he remembered the scene from the alley last night, "Its really good to be alive." he said in a shallow voice before passing out on the most comfortable bed he has ever slept on, well the only bed he has ever slept on.

 9 A Nobles Guide: Time to Study

    Waking up on what he believed at first was a cloud, he saw the tall ceiling to his new room, it was still light outside so he hadn''t slept for more than a few hours. There was a tray of fruits, bread, and cheese on the desk with what appeared to be a cream sauce that smelled very sweet.


    Taking a bite out of a grape he dipped into the sauce, the exploding sweetness and juices on his lips were euphoric. He had never tasted anything before and this was definitely something he would never forget, indulging in a few bites of everything on the tray he began to recollect himself.


    Moving the tray he sat at the desk and moved to his mental space where he could concentrate on the task at hand, "System, I need the introductory information you had mentioned before, how should I be training my powers? I don''t think the living look fondly on necromancy, I will have to ask how they feel about it, of course, I''m sure there are ways to use it openly but id rather not fight with anyone right now."


    "Of course Master Salem, the books will appear in a case next to the altar and you may use the introductory books at your leisure, as for training your magical abilities you can purchase meditation techniques that will use your soul as a medium to gather energy. Meditation will rejuvenate your energy after a battle while gathering the energy and using it to nourish your soul daily will help strengthen the soul itself increasing what we have listed as <wisdom>.


    The more energy you contain the longer you can use it for spells or abilities, the power of a spell is dependant on your <Intellect>but that can be broken down into two parts, your knowledge of arcane arts and your mastery over the energy in your body. Having a durable and strong body will assist you in performing more powerful spells, being an elf you are naturally stronger than your human counterparts but since you were just born your innate talents will not come forth for a few more weeks...or months.


    Walking to a bookshelf that had appeared next to the altar he saw a few books, some with strange titles like " A Thousand Riddles to Defeat a Golem" or "Bribery in a Nutshell". Some of them were on ways to think like the nobility of the elves and some like humans, there was even a small book on dwarves though it was only a few pages long and smelled of ale or what he hoped was an ale.


    Picking up a book on Elvin nobility habits and standards he got to work on studying his culture, making it a quarter of the way through the large book, he didn''t feel very knowledgable on the ways of his kin, "I wish it didn''t take so long to read these books." A cold voice inquired, "Master Salem did you wish to read all this information? If you plan to do so it will take you months to learn just one of these books would you not prefer to absorb the knowledge directly from the system?"


    Dropping the book, "I can do that?! why didn''t you tell me this sooner?? he yelled at the system. "I thought it was obvious with some previous knowledge being directly absorbed into your mind before, Master Salem." Replied the system, which he thought sounded like it was smiling down at him. Picking up the book he willed it to him and in a flash, he felt the words melding with him the small moves he should make, the respect he should or shouldn''t show.


    That an elven noble was aloof and kind yet firm in their decisions, Philosophy and some ideals of the elven race were weaved into his mind. Placing the book down he reached for the book on human nobles and he willed the knowledge to him, this was not as intense probably due to him being an else the human knowledge didn''t resonate as deeply with him but he learned much.


    Humans weren''t always straightforward with deals, not that the elves were any better mind you, they were just more elegant at it, though once an elf struck the deal even if it wasn''t ideally what the buyer or seller wanted the elf would stand by what he promised if he didn''t he would be shunned by the rest of his clan and be punished, depending on the severity of the crime the worst was death or banishment if they were lenient, perhaps being on house arrest for twenty or thirty years for a lighter offense.


    But humans had strange rules, you could lie to another''s face but so long as they got what they needed and so did you they could overlook such unpleasant behavior, of course, they might also kill you and take back what had been promised for the slight. Not all humans were like this, it was just that greed can get the best of some or maybe even the worst to act savagely towards someone they call a friend or ally. As he reached for another book he heard a knocking sound, he moved back to his body and stretched out the stiffness in his arms.


    "Enter," as the maid entered she bowed slightly, "Master a seamstress is here to take your measurements and food will be coming up shortly after your done, would you like to take a bath before she arrives?"


    "No, ill bathe after I have eaten, ah give me a moment before you go," walking to the desk "System that body nourishing you were speaking of how much is the price for that knowledge?"


    "Master Salem, it would be twenty thousand for tiers (0-6), knowledge came from you but was remade for someone of elven blood could use with herbs and ingredients more common to this world, it is believed with the knowledge you brought over body cultivation mages and warriors of this world could see a significant increase in power, would you still like to accept this price?"


    "Yes, I accept," as the knowledge flowed into his mind of how the herbs and other ingredients were mean to cause minor damage but heal right after over and over again until the body became stronger through mild repeated torture. He took some parchment and wrote a list of ingredients which he gave to the maid, "If possible have these herbs brought over to the mansion right away and inform me when you return so I might instruct you on how to add the herbs to the bath."


    Going back to his minds inner space he absorbed book after book on varying subjects, that he had either unlocked or bought with previous purchases and hadn''t had time to go over,as he finished going over the last book had in his mind that didn''t have a strange name he heard another knock on the door, "Come in," a middle-aged woman entered the room with a small bag which she placed on the floor, " Are you the seamstress to assist me in preparing my attire?" she replied with a curtsey and a quiet yes milord that was only just audible.


    Smiling he motioned her to the desk and started to draw with a charcoal pencil, "I would like something like this, with pants and tunic with a belt wrapping the center, special wrappings can be made for the arms and legs to keep the sleeves and pant legs close to the body. The outer coat will be thigh length with a hood. Would this be possible for you?"


    The seamstress thought for a moment before replying, "It shouldn''t be too difficult milord, I just need to get your measurements so if you could please disrobe, also the colors of your clothes you ordered is there a particular color you would like?"


    "Black and green, green and black and a black and silver, cotton for most of the sets and a silk set of each and if there is another color scheme you think would be nice you can add it in as well," he said while disrobing, when the seamstress turned around to see a fully nude elf of quite exotic skin with well-toned muscle, her breath caught and she blushed slightly.


    Moving forward with the measuring tape she placed her hands here and there may be lasting a few minutes longer with a few additional touches than a standard measurement usually has, she moved her hands once more over his abdomen only to here a light laugh.


    "That tickles, are we almost done?" he asked trying to hold back his laughter. Blushing again realizing she was fondling a customer she spoke quickly, "Yes milord we are all done I''ll get to work right away with at least one set that can be sent over this evening," she said as she collected the drawings for reference and made her way to the door.


    "Thank you for your hard work, I look forward to seeing the clothes you are going to make," he said as she bowed and left with a slightly red face. Pulling just his pants on he wondered why every time he was alone with a female they looked him strange and their faces got red, he would definitely have to find out what was going on but before he can look into this mystery, he was going to have some lunch.

 10 Heavenly Body Nourishmen

    After having the most divine meal, a piece of meat wrapped in a thin layer of melted cheese held together by two slices of bread it was to die for, he believed the maid had called it a sandwich.


    Soon after completing his meal the maid he had sent to collect his herbs had returned, "Prepare hot water, as hot as you can get it, and follow these instructions when placing these herbs into the water."


    "Of course, master, once the bath is prepared I will come to find you is there anything else I can do for you while I''m still here master?" she asked as her face turned a little red as she let her eyes roam on his half-naked body. "No that will be all for now, but thank you for your concern I am pleased with all you have done for me." He said with a charming smile, dismissing her to continue her tasks.


    Walking back to the bed, he laid down attempting the meditation technique he had acquired from the system, by the time he started to feel the energy around him the bath must have been prepared because he could hear footsteps coming towards his room once again. He sighed in regret that he had been so close to succeeding in meditation only to have been interrupted at the last moment.


    Luckily there was no chance he would miss his bath, the medicine would only last for three hours after the last herb was added, fortunately, the herbs for increasing his physical body at the lower tiers were not expensive. With his current levels, he could tell he was maybe as strong as your average soldier if he only used his body without any abilities. He also knew any trained warrior would be able to kill him in a direct fight he had no training in martial arts or in the ways of the blade.


    The soul he had absorbed had given him memories and understandings but between the power difference and the utilization of different forms of energy, he would be unable to use the same abilities. He could, however, understand how most weapons were used and that he would need to practice using them just in case someone got to close and he needed to fend off an attack with his body.


    Just as he predicted a maid entered and lead him to a room down the hall filled with steam, walking in there was a very large wooden tub, he could smell the intense medicinal smell coming from the bath. He placed his hand into the water feeling a light sting to the hot water, smiling he removed the leather pants, and climbed into the bath and submerging for a moment before coming up for air.


    He leaned his back against the tub and began to relax as he felt the medicine enter his pores and he enjoyed the slight sting in brought to his body. Getting comfortable, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders pushing and squeezing his taut muscles he smiled at the pleasurable feeling. Just as he was enjoying the massage, he felt another pair of hands moving a soft cloth across his body.


    Holding in his laughter at the tickling sensation, he focussed on the massage to try and prevent moving too often. Once the maid had finished cleaning his body she began massaging his legs and feet to which he let out a small moan of pleasure. Between the maids'' gentle touch and the stinging pleasure of nourishing his body it was unfortunate, he would only be able to enjoy this twice a day.


    After the medicinal properties had soaked into his body for an hour they started losing potency signaling him that it was time to end this most wonderous experience, standing up he stepped off the deep tub to where a maid began to dry him off with a soft towel, the lighting in the room was soft and gave off a tranquil air leading him to not seeing the blush or smiles of the other maids had as he was being dried off from head to toe.


    With a light robe on he walked behind a maid to his room, leading him to a chair facing a mirror with bottles and brushes on the table beside it. She then brushed his long hair and added light scented oils. Moving to the bed he saw the set of clothes he had ordered, the maid got to work redressing him stopping here and there to straighten the clothes until she believed they were perfect.


    "What do you think master, is this what you wanted?" she asked a little bit of worry in her eyes


    "All of you have been perfect, and yes the clothes are exquisite, thank you and your sister maids for the excellent care you have given me, please schedule a meal for later in the evening with another bath afterward, for now, unless its an emergency have no one disturb me." He told the maid with a bright smile and walked her to his door.


    Sitting down on the bed he began his meditation once again, now knowing what it felt like from his first time it was easier to find that energy once again, moving the energy towards him was difficult at first every ounce of will power he had to grasp the energy moving it closer and closer until it touched the gem on his forehead, forming a bridge between him and the energy and it flowed into him he could feel the insurmountable power flooding his veins, unfortunately like a flood it neither stopped or slowed when he felt full and it continued to pour into him, he could feel pain now instead of the might.


    <System Warning>


    "Master Salem cut off the flow of energy!" came the cold voice, " I can''t!" he thought back through the pain, "Master Salem give me permission to halt the flow of energy, I can assist you," the system urged.


    "DO IT!" his mind reeled from the excess energy, "Stopping the flow and siphoning a portion of the energy to the systems'' power reserves, Master Salem I need you to focus and begin to heal your body and soul with all of that energy, it will help your power rise but it will be painful for now since you went too far, I will reconstruct a new method for you to absorb energy through your crystal."


    Feeling a portion of the energy get swept away was a relief but there was still too much in him, he began using the method to nourish and heal his body and soul, every movement of energy was like being bitten by a thousand ants everywhere the energy went his nerves would explode in pain.


    After two hours of continuous pain, all the energy he had absorbed had been used with a larger half going to the system, wiping the sweat from his brow he laid down on the bed and slept, waking up to hear the knocking on his door. "Finally, time for another bath." smiling wide as he made his way to the door.

 11 Forces 18+

    Coming back from his bath with a large smile he finally felt refreshed and healed, the maids had been even more attentive than the last time he had bathed. Replacing his bathrobe for a pair of pants, he sat in the middle of the bed and went to the BlackGate, "How is the new method coming along and can you tell me why that happened?


    "Master Salem, the new method is ready and already in effect. What appears to have happened is what would have taken place once you maximized your <intellect and Wisdom> stats creating a bridge between you and the energy of the world, to cross a threshold that would separate you from a being of flesh to a being of energy which your physical body and soul are not prepared for. This information was unlocked only so as to serve a warning not to force that connection until you are fully prepared.


    Though it was very dangerous the benefit of this minor bridge will mean you won''t run out of energy, but you will still tire out to either mental or physical strain of spellcasting or fighting for extended periods, you are just becoming an adult body, which is hastened by the body nourishment from your baths."


    "Well that''s good it didn''t kill me but still that was a little close, so how much energy am i drawing in from the world around me to keep me at peak capacity and still nourish my body and soul?" wondering just how close he was to use the crystals maximum power, "Passively using .01%, Actively using the energy to heal and nourish and increase your powers is .09% and will remain so until you reach Tier(3) in <intelect, wisdom, and Physique> any more would injure both body and soul leading to death."


    Well, that''s a lot less than expected but also a good thing, right now he couldn''t even use one percent yet he was sure that with what he had, using raw power would be enough to take down multiple normal soldiers which he would''ve struggled against one before this unexpected near death miracle.


    Now he could just patiently train and gather resources so he wouldn''t need to fear death from anyone or thing, be it from a magical fire or the gods he wouldn''t let someone have the power of his life again, for now, he needed to train his abilities to heal his soul and gather knowledge.


    Moving his mind to control his two scouts in the outer city he ordered them to move to him through the sewers and bring other small corpses to him. He would make more scouts that would search for information throughout the city. "System, I have noticed that when females are around me their faces get red and they smile and move closer to me as if they wished to touch me, is there something wrong with them or me?" silence was his answer," System? did you hear me?"


    "Yes. Master Salem, I believe the females wish to mate with you." came the cold voice at a faster pace then he was expecting, " What do you mean by, mate with me, can you explain?" he didn''t understand this topic, it wasn''t in any of the books provided by the system, "No, there is a red book on the altar you will have to read it by hand, there is a green book you should read next to it if you plan to do what is in the red book, if that is all Master Salem I need to check on the energy siphoned from you."


    A little confused by the lack of information the system refused to explain he moved his hand to the altar picking up a small red book the title read "The Birds and The Bees" a strange title he thought and began to read. Fifteen minutes later with a confused look and a little deepening of the color on his face, "Procreation or breeding of a species to increase a population, but why would they choose me to mate with, I do not plan on having any children they wouldn''t be able to survive nor could I protect them from any harm," as he thought to himself he heard a squeakfrom his room.


    Opening his eyes he saw a plethora of tiny corpses lined near him, two rats standing guard near him.


    Moving towards the corpse he saw a few of them were crows or bats though all the pigeons had large chunks of flesh missing, strange that my undead have the need to eat I will have to ask the system why shaking his head he smiled as he began to practice the only skill he had cast so far.


    An hour later he leaned against the bed with sweat dripping from his forehead, he now had ten rats three crows and five bats at his command which push his mind to the limit of his control. Ordering his rats to patrol the grounds and the bats to watch the inside of the mansion with his crows in the air above he would be able to know if anyone or thing came into his territory.


    After resting for a moment he went back to read the green book still on the altar, picking it up he read the title "An Elves Guide to Pleasure" opening the cover it explained the author was an elf that had studied bodily pleasure for two hundred years before writing this self-proclaimed masterpiece.


    The next morning he bathed, ate, meditated and read the green book without interruption repeating the same action in the evening until early in the morning he finally finished the book with a smirk on his face, "It looks like I overlooked another aspect of living, there are a still so many things to try." lying down on the bed, he stared at the ceiling thinking of ways to use this new knowledge to his advantage slowly drifting to sleep.


    Hearing the usual know and the knowledge from a scout that a maid was at his door he called out, "Enter, and come close I have a few questions for you and maybe your fellow sister maids."


    She approached closer standing near the bed he was casually laying on, "what can we do for you master?" she asked with a bright smile. "First what is your name, I haven''t gotten to ask that yet."


    A little surprised she hesitated for a moment before replying, "Jenna, Master."


    "Do you or your sisters have any hand to hand combat training, I noticed the lack of guards and it would be surprising if you didn''t have some skills to guard against outside threats considering my identity.


    Still smiling she nodded, "That is correct master we are servants that are trained in household duties of all kinds including protection, most wouldn''t assume that maids would be the guards, even if there are female soldiers and mages who would suspect a maid?"


    Slightly shocked they had been seen through, she was impressed by the young elf lords perceptive eyes. "Would you like to have us replaced now that you are aware that we aren''t just here to clean and cook?" curious as to why he had brought up the topic.


    "No, in fact, I am very impressed with you and your sisters so much that I would like to ask you something. I am unsure of a gentle way to approach the subject so I will get straight to the point, Would you and your sisters want to work for me and join my royal house?"


    Stopping all of her thoughts, even breathing halted for a moment, a hundred little questions sprouting in her mind though there was one that told her that even though she wanted to accept the city lord may not allow it which she mentioned to him silently.


    "Don''t worry about the city lord, I am High Elf, A king of Elf lords it was only due to injury that I have not awakened my bloodline abilities one of which will be making you and your sisters into elves of a lower class but your bodies will be stronger, faster, and more sensitive to your surroundings. You will even live for a thousand years and longer if we as a clan can find an object to grant our bloodline extended life, now what will you choose, remain human or will you become mine?"


    Listening to the mesmerizing words and promises of life, power, and protection she kneeled and spoke in a solemn tone, "Master I am yours, my sword and life by your command!"


    Lifting her chin he pressed his lips to hers, only letting out a brief noise of surprise, her defenses crumbled. Pulling her into his embrace his tongue met and played with her own, using his hands to search her toned yet sensually pleasing body.


    Pulling the straps of her uniform it began to fall away piece by piece leaving her lightly wrapped chest and silky black underwear. Ripping the straps away from her chest, he pulled her onto his lap kissing her neck, one hand on her firm ass, while the other groped and played with her breasts.


    Wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing against him she could feel him through her only piece of clothing. She felt desire taking control of her senses. She was pushed down onto her back she looked up into his bright green eyes, "Are you prepared, Jenna?"


    She nodded, "Yes master!" She felt him brush against her and slowly parting her and pushing into the depths of her body she moaned louder, feeling his lips on hers she clung to him urging him to continue.


    Moving slowly at first, he started to use his rod to give Jenna, his first woman, as much pleasure as possible. Moving his hips with her rhythm it got faster both rushing towards the pleasure, then it became slow and passionate until she moaned loudly he could feel her body tense up, kissing her and pulling her up onto his lap he placed a hand on her throat and channeled an ability he had yet to try.


    " You are mine!" he thought, meeting no resistance since she had already pledged herself to him her soul would be only his to hold and protect unless he released her from his service,he released in her as she sat atop him releasing and moaning in pleasure she held him closer.


    "I am only yours master," she whispered into his ear before cuddling close to him feeling him hold her in return.

 12 A Nice Cha

    Covering the sleeping Jenna with his sheets he saw the cute smile still on her face, leaning forward he kissed the top of her head. Checking his scouts, nothing was amiss, so he began his day with meditation.


    A week passed quickly and each day he meditated, bathed and seduced one maid after another until they had all sworn an oath to serve him and his house. Being soul branded gave them a tiny version of his system, like a tree they were the roots connected to him, he could feel and know broad details about them. If they were in danger they could draw from his never-ending energy, they also gained weaker versions of his wraith abilities if he granted them that access.


    The kingsized bed had been removed for a large mattress with cushions the maids were his knights and would either be near him protecting him from harm or leading his troops to put down his enemies. Waking up he could feel Jenna hugging onto his torso, moving her arm gently he sat up amid the bodies on the massive cushion.


    <System Activated>


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City->Koftas


    CP: 1.370.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Age:15


    Physique:Tier- 1 Stage- 1


    Agility:Tier- 1 Stage- 1


    Intelligence:Tier- 1 Stage-4


    Wisdom:Tier- 1 Stage-8


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T1)


    Mind- Alure(T-1), Mind Control(T-0)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-0), Pocket Dimension(T-1)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-1), Command Undead(T-1), Death Bolt(T-0)


    Wraith-Armor-0


    Wraith-weapon-0


    Wraith-Soul Brand-1


    <Forces>


    Wraith knights:12


    During this week other than training and seduction, he had practiced hand to hand combat with Jenna and the knights, he was still learning but they had beat him until he had the basics memorized slowly polishing him into a fighter. He didn''t enjoy the idea of swinging a sword, which could take years or decades to master.


    He did surprisingly enjoy the spear, bow, and gauntlets with the last of the three being his main focus since he could use it as his sword and shield. He would build his own once he finally got all the materials gathered but he hadn''t received the tools or enchanting table he had requested over a week ago now and the city lord was probably delayed due to the legion of undead on his doorstep.


    They had been sent servants and regular guards at his request, originally he thought to recruit more knights but they had refused to send more of the outstanding ladies fearing he might take them away too, cheap bastards wouldn''t even give him a few warriors. How was he supposed to survive with only a few knights and scouts he grumbled to himself.


    During breakfast, a servant handed a scroll to Jenna before bowing and making an exit after viewing the scroll she spoke into his ear, " The city lord will be arriving in an hour Master, are there any orders you have for us?" Nodding his head he gave his instructions to bring the city lord to him once he arrived and for them to wear the robes that had been prepared for them.


    Similar to his robes only that they were all black with hood attached with a dark green cloth belt, the robes were form-fitting and stuck close to their bodies to allow a better range of motion during a fight. They were like him not needing to constantly wear armor, with the wraith armor ability they could summon a blackish green armor coating that would perform better than any normal steal.


    Once the city lord approached with his territory his knights summoned their armor and put on the hoods casting their eyes in shadow only showing their mouths, this was an effect of the armor being active and playing with shadows. Approaching the doors of the mansion he saw that the guards on the outside had knocked on the door which opened from the inside, showing two women in armored robes. "Welcome city lord to the house of Belegast, we welcome you on behalf of Master Salem, please enter our master has been expecting you for some time."


    Raising an eyebrow at the female guard he followed her in noticing on the back of her and the other guards'' robes was a house crest, It looked like three green eyes of a beast glowing in the dark, two on the side and one in the center, between and slightly above the others, opening like a third eye of a demon. Feeling a slight chill he turned his site away from the crest and followed them into a large side room that would be used to hold meetings.


    Entering the room he heard the voice of the young elf-lord, "Welcome Lord Nolan, city lord of Koftas. I''m glad you could finally come by and speak with me, it seems a few things have happened since we last met, how goes the battle against the undead?" seeing slight fatigue on the city lords face he motioned to two large chairs with a side table with refreshments.


    "I insist on you drinking this before we start you seem very fatigued this will help you feel refreshed and clear-headed, don''t worry before you ask no it is not magic its just an elven recipe for mages to help them with meditation just regular herbs that can and were purchased from your markets."


    Before he had even asked his questions, or even spoke of the happenings the young elf had guessed that the battles weren''t going as planned, he was tired and wary of the tea, he watched as the elf inhaled and drank the tea to show it wasn''t poisoned.


    Taking the offered drink he smelled it and drank deeply, he felt his mind clear of the fog that had been building up these past few nights, "Thank you, it was a much-needed respite from the worries plaguing me and our city, I see you convinced the guards we had assigned to you to become your retainers though I''m not very happy with you taking them away from us, its better for you to have guards with how the battles are turning out."


    Putting down his cup, "I see, so the losses the city is enduring must be dire if you actually need my assistance. Well, my services as a smith are decent enough to craft fine weapons and light armor, though if I can enchant the blades as well then it would make quite the difference fighting an opponent that doesn''t die from wounds but has to be destroyed."


    Nodding firmly the city lord agreed that even though the mindless undead wasn''t very fast or smart between the numbers and having to destroy the head and body it is unlikely he had enough soldiers to wipe them out without losing all of his own men in the process. Even with the weapons, it may not be a sure fire way to save the inner city from the massacre just beyond the gates.


    "What do you suggest, even with your weapons, it is not a guaranteed path to survival. Do you have a method that will stop or destroy the undead legion? We can hold the gates for another year but holding out that long we would not be able to push out of the siege to escape to another city. So if you have a method please share it or we will evacuate to another city."


    Giving up his pride to plead with the young elf lord was hard but necessary for the survival of the citizens in his care, he wouldn''t be so petty to risk a hundred thousand lives just so he didn''t have to ask for help.


    Seeing the honesty and pleading in the eyes of the middle-aged man who seemed like the weight of the world would crush him. He decided to help him, not for free but he wouldn''t take advantage of him either, "I have a method to halt their advance, and I can make you the weapons you need to bring about their destruction easier."


    "Before you thank me there are conditions to this bargain, the first of which Jenna will recruit nine more warriors from her previous organization. Second, any and all orphans in your lands will be charges of house Belegast, we will care for them and adopt them into our clan. Third, you will provide the materials for the obelisks and swords, for the obelisks you will pay one-quarter of the costs of materials to me as payment while the swords will be sold to you at half the cost of enchanted weapons.


    The catch of the half price for the enchanted weapons is they will be brought back to my clan to remove a tracking enchantment as well as a special enchantment of my own design that will help eradicate the undead quickly, and I do mean ALL of them or the consequences of breaking the contract will be, Severe."


    Salem handed over the proposals with a magical contract to the city lord with a serious expression. "The details of what the obelisks do is included in the proposals and contract, Well this has been a nice chat Lord Nolan. My knights will see you out I have many things to prepare for our partnership, once the contract is signed a duplicate copy will be in my possession. I would have your ministers look it over before signing" he said, standing up and leaving a slightly shocked city lord looking over the details of the proposal.


    Walking up the stairs with Jenna following behind him, they entered the room taking off his boots he moved onto his bed with Jenna holding him from behind, "Master, will he sign the contract?" she asked breaking the silence, "Oh he will sign it if he doesn''t sign it then when I leave I will make an agreement with the undead which I would rather not due.


    This is a low price for his entire cities population, almost no one wants orphans there are not enough charitable people to house clothe or feed them all. Even if they can be conscripted into the military they may not stay there for long choosing to run away or they might live on the streets leading to theft, disease, and possibly violence if the survive to an older age. So we will take them into our home and give them hope to be more than human waste."

 13 Necromancer!? A Contract Signed

    The next day Salem received an unexpected surprise,just finishing his lunch his scouts reported that men and wagons were approaching.


    Taking his nights with him to take a look, they exitedthe mansion,at the head of wagons was the mage and city lord, "Good afternoon, and welcome Lord Nolan, the wagons containingmaterials is a good sign, have you decided on signing the contract?"


    "Not at the moment, I would like to sit down with you to discuss the finer details of your proposal, my advisor also wishes to know more about it and you. Would you invite us in to have this discussion so we can clear up any misunderstandings as to who or what you are."


    A burst of energy exploded out from Jenna and her sisters, their armor coming into existence and stepping forward as one to protect their master, sensing the hostility.


    Before she could speak she heard her masters'' calm voice, "Enough, Jenna the city lord and his mage have confused me with something else it''s alright they are just concerned for their people. Stand down. City lord you are welcome too come in and chat with me, bring your mage along with you so she can ask her questions."


    The hooded figure stood stiffly for a moment before walking toward the mansion,followed closely by the city lord, they trailed after the elf lord and his knights into the meeting room. Sitting in his chair Salem looked at the city lord and mage and motioned them to sit across from him.


    "Let me say this very clearly, so the two of you understand what I am, I am a High Elf what you might call a progenitor. I am a new species of elf that has yet to walk these lands, you would look upon your fellow city lords with either respect or hatred if they had gone against you in some way.


    It is the same with the Elf Lords, with each other they stand as equals but even the elf lords wouldn''t dare show a High Elf disrespect, we don''t need to breed to create more of our kind, though I can''t turn a city of humans in a short period of time given enough years I could turn quite a few of them but I''m not in going to turn your city, I am only going to turn those who are trustworthy.


    As for the orphans, that no doubt is one of your concerns, any infants or toddlers will be turned youths will be trained in wherever their gifts lie be it war or trade. If they train hard they will be given the opportunity to be brought into the main clan, those who are unable to complete the training will still be human unless someone from the main clan convinces me otherwise.


    Do you have any other questions or concerns, please speak freely so we can move on to more pressing concerns." Picking up his tea he sipped it watching the mage and city lord. The mage removed her hood revealing a rather good looking woman in her mid-thirties, though he noticed her ears were tipped up at the ends, a half-elf he thought briefly.


    "With all due respect Lord Belegast, we have never heard of such a station among the elven races the high elves have always said it was because their blood had never been tainted outside of other noble houses. None have claimed what you can do nor that they were the firsts of their kin, even disregarding that how are you going to turn a human? Are their sacrifices involved, how many will die for one human to be reborn as an elf!? she started yelling before she finished asking, her face slightly red from frustration.


    Looking at the woman he glared at her, "Sit down." he could feel his bloodline slightly wake up when she questioned him, though falling dormant a moment later. She sat, "You will be allowed to witness what happens during the ceremony so you can attest that there are no"human sacrifices" and it sounds to me that I''m very far from home. Your versions of high elves are just descendants of a progenitor, with your aversion to the elves it seems they were rather cruel to you.


    He finished speaking with slight sympathy for the half-elf, he turned to the city lord, "I will speak with your mage alone after this has concluded, now let us get to the other issues, as you know time is not on your side nor mine."


    Coughing the city lord took his turn not knowing his mages true background had shocked him a slightly but that could wait, "There are quite a few powers in the city, they will not enjoy a new power coming in at the last moment to take a seat at the table. They will do what they can to interrupt any business you try and bring to your house, of course, they can''t do anything while you are under the care of my house, but in a few years, the great houses of Koftas will have a tournament between the leaders of each house.


    The winner will then take up the position of city lord, once you start collecting power they will view you as a threat and they will either try and use you or try to destroy you, that''s only from the noble houses and some criminal organizations. The people of this city will take up an issue with the turning of the orphans, and possibly you, you are an elf and elves have not been the most kind of neighbors in these lands.


    There are some clans that even hunt humans, orcs, dwarfs even some of their own kind are hunted by these people. I want to know how you feel about these acts, do you hate us will you hunt humans just because they do not know or understand you?" the city lord asked with a firm tone.


    Looking at the serious face of the city lord, Salem stood and moved to the window and looked out towards the city. Would he massacre a city of humans for a genocidal war? No, that''s stupid, without the power to raise a continent it would be a mistake to even consider genocide a solid war tactic. Much less the fact your own people and the land would suffer tragic loss and destruction.


    Looking back towards the city lord, "I wouldn''t slaughter or enslave humans in general if they sought my destruction then I might destroy them to the last man or woman but all children would be saved from death, but I would prefer not seeking a genocidal war. Though it sounds as if I''ll need to teach a few of my cousins a lesson.


    To go a step further I will even promise you that even though some from this city may dislike, disdain or even hate me I will do what I can to keep the populace from any harm from my clan so long as they do not attempt to hurt me or mine, is there anything else you need me to clarify?"


    Relief flashed over the city lords face, "Yes, I assume you would need land and territory in the city for your clan, most of the more populated areas are taken the northern, eastern, and western gates are protected by large families, while the center is in my hands if we move you close into the cent-


    "What about the Southern side of the city?" Salem interrupted, looking at the elf the city lord took a map from a satchel spreading it on the table, there currently isn''t a gate for the south side, it leads into the mountain itself. We are planning to build a tunnel through the mountain to the city on the other side to increase trade with a much safer route.


    That side of the city right now is unpopulated and needs another year before most of the residences are habitable, the tunnel may take longer than planned due to the war otherwise we could have evacuated through it to the city of Idos. You can be thinking of taking control of the entire south side of the city, the other clans would try to murder you in your sleep and say it was a robbery gone wrong.


    Laughing Salem held up his hand, " How about we do it like this, appoint me in charge of the gate during the war. No one would expect my forces to be ready to march against the undead right now and you can use the soldiers on the southern gate at other locations which actually need more manpower. After the war with the undead is halted in a few months and I have gathered enough resources I will be able to protect myself.


    I will complete the tunnel ahead of schedule increasing the trade, as soon as I can gather some free labor from the undead lurking outside your gates, so I will be joining you beyond the wall to collect a few fallen skeletons.


    "Wait you are a necromancer?! Did you cause this undead horde?!" the city lord rose from his seat and reached for his sword.


    "Stop!" yelled Salem in frustration to the turn of events, " Why should I stop? if I destroy you then this whole thing ends and my men can go back to their homes, my people and family will be safe."


    "First of all I don''t practice necromancy, it is more of an innate ability over death, and second I wasn''t talking to you."


    Looking behind him slowly he felt two sharp objects poking his back, and a prick at his neck, seeing three knights with weapons drawn and already poised to take his life, he let go of his half-drawn sword, he sat back in his seat. checking on the mage he noticed she only had on knight behind her but no weapon had been drawn on her.


    "Please explain your connection with the undead outside the city, you can control the undead can''t you just take control of them all and send them away?" Looking at the city lord he felt pity, he truly cared for his people, which made him trustworthy enough to tell him things he might not want to hear.


    "There is a Lich controlling this horde, he is very powerful, right now he isn''t too interested in killing you he is just sending out his fodder with the elites to gain battle experience, the fodder doesn''t matter to him though its the upper undead that is here training and looking for weaknesses, they aren''t the smartest enemies preferring to just send waves of lesser undead at you they will either run out of lesser undead or get bored and take it more seriously.


    Before that happens, I will help you gather power personal or otherwise, I will be trading directly with you for a while. Giving you opportunities to increase your own power along with your soldiers," Salem looked to the mage," you will also have an opportunity to grow in strength but with a cost which we will discuss once the ceremony is ready for the children.


    Now I have told you everything I can about me and your foe, I have even saved you from death.


    I promise you, I could have asked a higher price and chose to limit myself out of kindness, now will you sign the contract, so I can begin my work? Looking into the eyes of the city lord, he watched as the man took out the contract and signed it with a drop of blood sealing the contract.


    A copy appeared in Salems'' hand, which he put away into his


    , now that the contract is signed I can begin my work, I will need a new residence in the southern district I would like it very close to the gate for easier control of the trade entering the city. Other than that i would start preparing the children I will be able to perform the ceremony soon at that time I will call for the mage. I should be able to provide the first two obelisks by the end of next month, any lesser undead will be unable to approach within a mile radius of where its planted.


    Now you must excuse me I have work to do.

 14 Let The Games Begin

    Inside the smithy, Salem stood over an anvil staring at the heated metal taking up the small hammer in his hand, he had a knight with knowledge of smithing holding the red hot metal with a large pair of tongs, he hammered upon the metal sparks and flecks of metal shearing off at the blow.


    Over and over until the blade could slight be made out, with the added swiftness and strength of the elves it would only take him an hour to hammer the outline of a sword. After the blade was forged and doused in water that was kept at ninety-eight degrees and filled with a mixture of herbs and minerals and his own blood, he inspected the blade.


    Noticing small fractures on the blade, he cast it into a pile with similar damage, some of the blades had even cracked in half, "Again, I will get this right, what number was that one? "he turned to the knight, " Two hundred and ninety-four master! Don''t worry, you are making incredible progress, I can tell it is your first time with the hammer,Master who taught you? and would you allow me to learn from you?" The knight asked with an innocent demeanor, even though he knew exactly, that this girl was far from innocent.


    When he had sought her loyalty she had been naked faster than a sword leaving a sheath, she had been able to hop on his lap and swear she would be loyal for all eternity. Shaking his head of the thought he spoke trying not to look at her sweat soaked body, " My father taught me, just before he died, and yes I will teach you after you have been reborn as an elf, the teachings will not leave my clan even though you are an outer member now, you will have to earn it."


    Looking back at the anvil he felt closer to his creator through this work, and it made him smile when he looked up at his assistant she had removed her clothes and bent over a cold anvil facing away from him giving a full view of her back, her voice echoed over, " Can I start earning it now, Master?"


    The sounds of hammering and banging came from the smithy every day for two weeks until the first wagon arrived to drop off the orphans along with any children who had been abandoned and collect the first shipment of swords to the city lords faction. Walking out of the mansion doors for the first time in weeks, he took a breath of fresh air, feeling the serenity of basking in the suns rays he stood there for a moment before collecting himself.


    Walking with Jenna and two other knights flanking them, they watched as servants broughtinfants and toddlers with the oldest being ten down from the wagon, twenty-five children of various ages, in another month he should be able to awaken the bloodline of the high elves fully, allowing him to help these small humans ascend to a new life.


    The children would be staying in the extra rooms of his mansion until the clans'' territory and the estate was finished being built. He knew there were many many more orphans and lost children that were being gathered and being given the name Belegast. Children would be able to enter the main clan easily, those who were in the outer clan would be given the last name Gast until they had earned their place among the main clan.


    Walking forward he looked into the children''s eyes that were able to stand on their own, some holding the hands of siblings, "Hello little ones, I am Salem Belegast, I have asked the city lord if I can adopt each of you among many other children that are on their way here. I cannot take the place of your parents, but I can let you be a part of my family so you don''t have to be hungry or cold, you don''t need to be scared. This is your home now, and these older sisters will keep you safe go with them and get cleaned up for lunch. He smiled as a few knights walked out of the mansion to lead the group of children to the baths.


    Watching the children follow his knights inside, he felt the need for power to protect these soon to be members of his family, he motioned the servants at the house to bring the swords wrapped in animal hide. After loading the weapons onto the wagons he said to the guards while moving onto the wagon, "Let''s take this shipment to the city lord directly, I also have an obelisk ready and it should be planted sooner than later."


    The guards nodded and drove the wagon towards the northern gate, back to the hell they had just left, they thought to themselves.


    Jumping down from the wagon Salem watched as wounded were taken into tents, soldiers taking off armor to hammer out dents and repairing any damage they can find, a large soldier walked over and introduced himself as the quartermaster, "Take me to the center of camp, I will plant the obelisk to give the men here quite a surprise." Only knowing the city lord had left word to accept the elfs commands did the quartermaster hesitatingly lead them to the center of camp, "The city lord has ventured into the city to search for any survivors during the daylight when those undead monsters are at their weakest, at night no one would venture beyond the wall even if the city lord asked," grumbled the quartermaster.


    Ignoring the soldier, he stepped into the center of the small fort, he took out from his sleave what looked like a small silver tree. Placing the small tree down the small roots of the tree grabbed onto the ground, taking a knife he cut his palm open covering the small tree in dark blue blood, he whispered an incantation to activate the runes and magic within this tiny thing.


    After finishing the activation he swiftly backed away the tiny tree stood in the center of camp a few soldiers had stopped and watched Salem do his work wondering what the elf was doing. After a few breaths they thought maybe it was just a tiny strange tree he had wanted to plant, in a weird place, but the elfs weren''t exactly normal or human so it was to be expected they wouldn''t know what the elf had been thinking.


    As they were losing interest, there was the sound of stone being crushed, turning back they saw the small tree start to grow at a visible rate, and it just kept growing, the ground cracked and broke apart, anyone to close scrambled out of the way. The tree didn''t stop growing till it was thirty feet tall, no leaves were on the tree but it slightly swayed in the breeze, after the growth spurt the tree emitted a flash of green light forming the barrier around the fort.


    "That''s one down just a few more to go. Now, let us go have some fun with the undead, we need to tell the city lord it was a success!" Salem smiled and Jenna and the two knights that were with him, it was time he got to test his own weapons and abilities, not to mention the weeks of practice he had with his knights.

 15 A Lords Work Is Never Done

    Moving through the ruined outer city was spine chilling, knowing not long ago that there had been an abundance of life here that had been quickly snuffed out from existence, bones from destroyed skeletons littered the streets an alleyways.


    Salem and his knights had ventured into the dead city to test their abilities on actual targets, Not having the time to test most of his abilities yet he was getting excited at the thought of getting a chance to test his strength.


    Stopping now that they could hear the sounds of battle a few streets away, Salem took out from his pocket dimension his gauntlets he had crafted for himself, along with a silver mask for each of his knights and one for himself.


    The Knights'' masks were flat silver with two tiny horns and the eyes would remain black, but the mouth was absent. His own mask was similar but the horns were larger, and there was a demonic smile carved into the mask, making it seem as if the devil had finally found you.


    Other than horns on each of the masks was the Belegast Clan Crest on the forehead, the masks stayed in place without straps thanks to an enchantment placed on them. They raised their hoods and donned the wraith armor overlapping with the robes.


    Salem could feel the armor overlap with his robes, making a second skin of iron hard scale plate armor, the armor ability even grafted his gauntlets into the ability making it stronger adding power to the enchantments.


    His armor looked like silver in the deep shadow, adding to his look like a nightmare come to life. They walked from an alley almost directly into the fighting, the Knights spread out giving each other room to fight but were close enough if they needed to assist one another.


    They summoned their weapons and cleared a path, Salem activated his but no weapon appeared in his hand. He could feel his weapon, it was a tendril of energy that formed a single tail, he swung it out towards a skeleton, it sent the skeleton flying off into the crowd of undead.


    "Well that was satisfying, I wonder what else I can do with it?"He swiped again this time top to bottom and crushed a skeleton into fragments, then he tried using it like a spear and thrust it into a skull puncturing out of the back. Smiling with surprise he continued to test his new weapon, as he destroyed the skeletons he noticed the leftover soul energy slowly dissipating.


    Moving his tail through one he used <absorb> to bring it into his body, he felt the soul energy strengthen and heal his soul, though it wasn''t by a lot to him this was exactly what he needed.


    There were thousands of the skeletons, he would be able to fully recover with just a few hundred he was so excited he started laughing and moving forward into the crowd of medicine.


    His tail would crush or stab skulls left and right, and he would devour all the soul energy near him like a man who had been in the desert alone and thirsty he found his oasis. He started to let a few skeletons get close so he could use his gauntlets, breaking bones with his hands, he felt the rush of combat enter his veins. He would sweep his tail and take the soul energy that the knights left behind he also watched as they moved together and broke through the enemy line.


    After thirty minutes of continuous destruction and healing, Salem was feeling physically drained, they were almost where the city lord had been fighting since they had arrived. They pushed for another twenty minutes finally breaking out of the encirclement of skeletons, marching toward the humans who backed up with slight apprehension towards the newcomers who didn''t look undead but were definitely not normal.


    Calling out to ease their minds and clear the confusion he yelled, " City lord, are you here it is me Salem Belegast, here to bring good news and a few extra weapons!" looking for the large man he spotted him crushing a skull with the hilt of his weapon. Moving towards the city lord Salem would occasion lash out and destroy an undead absorbing the soul energy he was very close to mending the wounds on his soul and he wouldn''t give you this chance to heal it either.


    "Welcome to the front Lord Belegast!" said the city lord as he broke another skull open releasing more soul energy which Salem had been collecting as much as he could. From the humans'' side of the battle, hundreds of undead had perished and left him a glorious meal.


    Pulling out a large bundle of weapons from his pocket dimension he tossed a sword to the city lord who caught it midair and slashed an undead approaching him. The sword''s edge glowed on contact destroying it in a single swing, laughing the city lord kept swinging until the area around him was clear.


    "These blades were meant to destroy the undead, it''s a natural bane to them. Though higher undead won''t suffer as much as these cannon fodder, it can injure them greatly. I planted the first of the obelisks so any undead of these types won''t be able to enter through that safe zone. I would recommend retreating soon it will be nightfall soon Lord Nolan, wouldn''t want to be out here when the elites show up." Salem left with his knights back to the edge of the battlefield.


    " Protect me for a moment," he faced the lesser undead as he attempted to take over a weaker undead, he cast his command undead and felt a struggle of energy like when he ate that first soul, he moved his tail to touch the skeletons forehead and tried to soul brand the creature. Unexpectedly it was easy to brand the weak undead, it must have been its master who did not foresee this as an issue or didn''t care, but that would be my gain he thought.


    He placed a pile of robes he had enchanted on the ground along with boots and gloves that had been prepared in case he had succeeded, only wishing he had brought more.


    An hour passed in a flash he now had sixty skeletons dressed behind him, he would need more robes for later but for now, he was exhausted, and needed rest so they marched to the gate, bringing his undead through the gate went as planned. The robes protected his minions from the obelisks power so that he could achieve having an undead labor force for the tunnel that would not need to eat or rest.


    No one bothered with his forces due to another enchantment on the cloaks, it didn''t make them invisible, it just made them seem normal to be there. They finally reached the mansion, he ordered the skeletons to wait outside and not to move, walking inside he went to the dining room to find the children eating dinner. The room quieted down as he made his way to the head of the table where he and his knights sat and waited for the servants to bring them food.


    They ate in silence, " Good night children, soon I will give you all a gift that will help you throughout the remainder of very long lives." Salem said as he went to bathe and nourish his body, once he and his knights were clean they went to his room to change, entering he stopped briefly as he saw his assistant Sasha who helped him with smithing, except there was another girl with near exact features standing and talking with her.


    Coming to a realization, " Sasha you never said you had a sister, a twin at that, is there a particular reason you brought her to my chambers?" he asked wondering why she would break a rule that only knights were allowed inside this room.


    "Master, this is my sister Sarah, and Jenna brought her here as one of the recruits and she just wanted to ask you if you would accept her into one of your knights along with the others of her team," she nodded and he noticed three other girls on the other side of the room who had been whispering.


    He looked at Jenna who was smiling at him, he smiled back, " I guess a lords work is never done" turning back he saw something he didn''t expect to see within a hundred years, Sasha was on the bed kissing Sarah who had been stripped naked, she broke the kiss and gasped looking over her shoulder she wiggled her butt at him, "Come on Master, make me your knight!"

 16 Birth of the Void Elves 18+

    Waking up the next morning, Salem smiled as he felt refreshed after the long night of work, after Sarah and Sasha there were the other girls Jenna had brought over, including his original twelve, four had joined which was Sarah''s group and after he thought he was done he was given more duties.


    Jenna had brought the remaining candidates to him leading to a very long night of recruiting, bringing his total knights to twenty, though he was going to have to find a new way to make knights, there was no way he would be able to keep up with so many women. Luckily he might just have a way, though it would take longer it wouldn''t be as demanding for him personally.


    Gently moving the girls still clinging to his body, he sat up and meditated and was shocked and excited for two new reasons one his soul was healed of injuries, meaning he didn''t have to die in a year. Though it was healed it wasn''t at full strength yet, but that was still a lot better than death, the other reason he was excited was that his bloodline would awaken in just a day or two he could feel it burning, trying to make itself known to the world.


    He gently nudged Jenna waking her from her dreams and they snuck out of the room, they went to bathe together leaving soft sighs coming from the bathroom until they had both nourished their bodies. Sitting in the dining room he watched as children and knights alike slowly came in to have breakfast, he smiled at the slightly drowsy faces of the twins that leaned on each other and collapsed into a chair beside him while Jenna had sat and served him breakfast.


    After breakfast, he ordered the servants to give the children snacks and candied treats throughout the day, leading a few of his knights and the sixty undead to the tunnel being dug through the mountain he set them to work at breaking through the walls with the pic axeswhile normal workers were in charge of taking away the stone to be used in construction or for the defensive war machines.


    Walking back through the southern gate he gave it a quick inspection, it still needed some work the wall itself was fine but the fort was still being built and the main gate was only made of thick wood which wouldn''t hold long under a siege, he would also need more undead to guard these areas until his people were old enough and strong enough to take care of themselves.


    He left the southern gate towards where he and his clan would reside and grow over the years, finding a mansion with houses and walls around it, looking like a small town by itself, he moved in front of his soon to be new home. He knelt down and planted a tiny black tree, commencing with the ceremony he bled and chanted until the tree grew twice as tall as its silver counterpart. Unlike the silver tree, this one had bright silver leaves swaying in the wind.


    This obelisk would link with the others deep underground which would form a barrier around the entire city once the other gates received theirs, letting him have control of any undead being that may be lurking around him to an extent, it never hurt to take precautions.


    After taking care of his new home and checking the tunnel he went back to his forge, creating the weapons order and crafting a few other trinkets that would help his subordinates, though he would need to keep practicing his success rate may be growing but three out of ten swords were successful while everything new he tried would take hours of experimenting just for a single success.


    Four days passed, his bloodline would awaken soon he could feel it, it was also the day where he would move to their newly renovated home near the southern gate, most of the children had already moved onto wagons. During these four days, he had only been in the forge and on the battlefield collecting more workers and soldiers to watch over the gate, he had planted another obelisk in the western gate making that two he had promised for this month.


    With the weapons on one wagon being sent to the city lord, children on another wagon heading to his territory along with servants food and equipment in a long trail he had his knights escorting him along with fifty undead as an escort, they may be a little stiff but they would be very useful if he was attacked, luckily there was no one that had taken notice of him yet or if they had didn''t feel a threat to themselves.


    Walking into his territory there were crows in the trees and rats in the sewers, keeping watch over his people. He smiled walking toward the black and silver tree, he made his way up the steps into his mansion, he had redesigned the bath to have an outdoor option, his room had been enlarged with twenty rooms attached to his in case he needed privacy from his knights or vice versa.


    He watched as everyone was unloading the luggage and equipment, moving the children into their wing of the house, he motioned a servant over, "Go to the city lords residence and deliver a message to that mage I believe her name was Annah, tell her the ceremony will be happening this evening and she is invited to attend." With the invitation on its way he prepared a bath for himself, sitting in the hot bath watching the sky slowly dim with the setting of the sun, he took a drink of special tea he had prepared.


    Getting out of the bath he had the children brought into a meeting room that had blankets and pillows on every inch of the ground, the children arrived slowly after the had been gathered in front of him the knights walked in with Annah walking beside Jenna he greeted them and turned his focus on the children that were staring at him a little panicked.


    "Don''t worry little ones this is just the ceremony to bring you into my family, it will change what you look like but you will still be you, you will like the same things, laugh and cry just like you did before only you will be a bit faster when you try and take the candies from the kitchen," he laughed and smiled with the children who giggled at the thought of sneaking more candy.


    "Alright children, step forward one at a time and I will give you a gift not many would get a chance at," with a needle hidden in his sleeve he poked his finger the blood that dropped became a hard little pearl in his hand, he let the child swallow the pearl and spoke an incantation to that made the child drowsy. With each child that came up another who had received the pearl would lay down on the pillows and gently fall asleep.


    This process would be uncomfortable, so he had planned for the children to sleep through it, any sibling would be placed together so when they woke up they would first see their family. Any infants were given to the servants to watch after once the ceremony was complete after all of the children lay down and fell into a deeper sleep, he reached for his bloodline and felt that deep and unfathomable magic that made an entire race possible. His eyes glowed bright green as he brought about a change to the children at his feet.


    Watching all this Annah felt drawn to each pearl that went into each child''s mouth, until she could feel the draw coming from its source, with blaring green eyes she watched as Salem Belegast emitted a power that called to her, telling her without it she wouldn''t be whole like she had been fractured and needed this missing piece more than anything. She steeled herself against these thoughts, she still needed to make sure there wasn''t anything wrong with the children then she would ask him if he could help her with whatever was going on with the blood in her veins that seemed to itch and burn and tug on her.


    She saw the children start their change, their skin changing a bluish black, ears elongating with hair being black, grey, or silver starting to grow becoming long enough to braid these children had only rolled or moaned slightly but other than this there was no blood or sacrifice of life which stunned her at this new form of magic, or old magic if what Salem had said was true which she almost believed at this point, never had she heard of a human becoming an elf.


    Letting out a sigh of relief that he had succeeded without harming the children he wiped a little sweat off his brow, "Would you like to watch the knights ceremony?" he spoke to Annah looking into her eyes which he noticed to have a red tint to them like fire on coals. Catching her off guard Annah nodded lightly, following the knights upstairs.


    Entering the spacious room, she saw the large sleeping mattress with blankets an pillows with enough room for twenty people to sleep on it with plenty of room to spare, blushing as she thought of something she shook her head to remove such an absurd idea, no lord would share his bed with his knights or servants.


    "Once the ceremony begins you will have to stay for it all, do you agree to this?" she said yes still distracted at the thought from earlier, "Whos first?" he barely had the chance to ask before a knight stepped forward before the rest got the chance, other then Jenna, Annah and the Twins who didn''t make a move, the other knights wore looks of jealousy for the knight who had anticipated her masters question, "Don''t worry girls you will all get your turn, Master even said the ceremony will keep going until he is finished," Jenna chimed in.


    Realization at their eagerness made some of the knights blush with embarrassment, Watching this Annah didn''t quite understand but watched with fascination as the knight stripped bare and walked to Salem and undressed him, blushing Annah covered her face and peeked through her finger, trying not to look at his lower half she watched as the knight gripped him like a sword and began kissing her lord with fervor, she led him to the bed where she let him lay on top and "oh my" she said in a light whisper as she watched as they played until the knight whispered into his ear.


    Grabbing the knight by the throat he got rougher and rougher until the girl tensed up and moaned loudly, with his tongue Salen slipped a large blue pearl into her mouth exchanging a kiss she had never seen before, the girl swallowed the pearl and collapsed breathing heavily with a smile on her face."Next." was all he had to say before another girl walked up and kissed him, though the way they played on the bed was different from the previous girl who was lying beside them watching.


    After each girl was satisfied he would kiss them the same way with that blue pearl, seventeen girls had gone to him and it was only ever one at a time until the twins'' turn came, one rode his sword while the other his face they were obviously sister but they were kissing and groping each other when the one riding his sword finished she bent towards him for her reward, while the other went to the back of her sister took the sword out of her and cleaned it with her mouth which had elicited a groan from both Salem and Sarah.


    Letting her sister continue to kiss her master Sasha sat reverse on the sword and moved her own body up and down its length, after finishing the kiss with Sarah, he grabbed Sasha''s perfect ass and pushed her face down and finished her off since she had long been waiting. Caressing her body with his she turned and received her reward like the others.


    Annah was still watching but no longer hiding her eyes, she felt desire for both the body and with her blood towards Salem and that blue sphere he gave to his knights, she clenched her hand knowing it might not be possible with all the women here who were already this devoted, what would he want her for, she thought to herself.


    Jenna went next and their dance wasn''t lustful, it was caring, he faced her and loved and took care of Jenna like they were the only two people in the room. Annah felt envious and a little jealous at such care could be given, she hadn''t ever known something like that love or attention they shared.


    She looked down at her feet, thinking it would be nice to have something like that, not paying attention she hadn''t notice Jenna had finished and moved behind her, while Salem fully naked stood in front of her. "Did you want some as well Annah," he said he could smell her arousal still lingering beneath her robes, Blushing she looked up to see his naked body standing less than a foot away.


    Blushing she stepped back only to wind up in Jenna''s embrace who whispered into her ear, "Master would like to make you an offer, you become his knight and he becomes yours, he will protect you and help you become stronger," Jenna said easing the outer garments off of her, "Will he love me like he loves you?" Annah asked back to her, Jennah didn''t hesitate before whispering back, "We both will," kissing Annah and playing with her tongue she welcomed her master to them with a look, Salem approached and kissed Annah then Jennah. He helped Annah out of her clothes, he kissed her and helder close with Jenna helping along the way.


    Annah kissed back until her desire was peaking and her nervousness had melted away, she felt being lifted up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, she felt his sword pushing slightly against the special place she kissed him and nodded and she felt a little pain that seemed to disappear, she realized he had healed her she felt warmth blossom in her heart before she felt a wave of pleasure moving up her body in an all-consuming wave, and it kept crashing into her.


    She also felt someone touching her bodies exit but didn''t care it felt too good being held and loved between these two people, she cried out louder, she could feel her body about to burst and when it did she felt something filling her up and she loved it, she felt a tongue and that blue pearl enter her mouth, not want it to stop she held her breath and kept going until she finally swallowed the pearl.


    <System Activated>


    Partial Bloodline found


    Reconstructing


    Compatible with current bloodline


    Augmentation complete


    Congratulations master Salem, you have gained a new ability and the power of your bloodline has grown, you will now have the power of flames added to the bloodline, along with the Wraith Sun Flames ability thank you for acquiring an ancient bloodline for the System.


    Salem barely heard the system''s message as he had burst inside Annah and moved toward the bed where she kept going until she lay on his chest in wanting more but unable to move due to overexerting herself. He had almost forgotten to brand her soul during the extremely pleasurable moment, though her soul felt brighter and more vibrant then his other knights which he believed was due to her elven heritage.


    After she calmed down, Salem kissed her and rose from the bed letting Jenna take over Annah''s care," Remember that this may hurt a little but once I''m done you will all enjoy a new way of life, a life of an elf, I won''t be doing this ceremony for quite some time besides for the children. Now concentrate and let the power I release inside you and let it do its work or it will hurt more and for longer."


    Having said what was needed he began the final step activating the bloodline inside each of them, with blood in their system and his seed planted into their bodies they wouldn''t have any risk of failure, just a bit of pain during the transformation. He pushed the power into them activating the ancient magic and he heard grunts and moans which only one of them sounded like it was in pleasure and not pain, he ignored it and pressed on. It was time to birth a new elven race, Void Elves.

 17 Mistakes

    The flood of energy started to slow, he could see the transformation nearly complete with his knights, they were sitting on the bed, spread out, covered in sweat with gritted teeth their skin now a bluish blackwhile their hair had turned a silvery steel color just a few shades darker than Salem''s own hair.


    The exceptions were the twins along with Annah and Jennah, theirs was just shy of being identical to his own. The twins'' eyes were once a dark blue, beautiful and calming, now they burned like bright sapphire blue suns in the dark, they now had a cruel cold beauty to them.


    Annah and Jennah were just like the twins, bright silvery hair that reached the small of their backs elongated ears and skin had been normal as to changing their looks which now had more elegance but it was their eyes that experienced a change just like the twins as well. Annah now had scarlet red eyes that seemed like they could burn a hole through any man that tried to match her gaze as if the world would burn just from a simple glance.


    While Jennah who had grey eyes before now had Silver eyes that glowed with a rulers grace as if she saw through what made a man or woman sin and would pass judgment upon them ending any and all should they question her verdict.


    Salem smiled as he thought of how his knights were the most beautiful women to walk this earth, his knights were no longer fragile humans whose lives could be snuffed out, their senses were amplified manyfold the training they had endured before would make them bringers of death on any field of battle. They wouldn''t need to fear mortal death so long as he lived to guard their souls against time, he could far outlive them but he would never net these women who had sworn loyalty first parish, he would find a way to bind his people to the land making their lives hundreds if not thousands of times longer.


    Walking forward he kissed each of his knights with tender affection until he reached his place, laying down he could feel every one of his knights moving closer, he could feel their life energy no longer seemed dull, they each burned brightly without even a flicker of dullness left and with those thoughts he closed his eyes and slept.


    Waking up he smiled as he remembered the events of last night, he tried to move when he realized he was trapped the twins had somehow wrapped themselves around his legs while using his stomach as a pillow, that wouldn''t have been so bad since he could just pick them up normally, but Annah and Jennah it seemed like they had conspired with the twins as they had taken one arm each holding him down, it would be very difficult to escape this heaven.


    "Might as well just enjoy it, he thought to himself, System please show me my stats and did you try and tell me something last night?" A cool voice answered him promptly, "Yes master Salem, I did congratulate you on augmenting your bloodline with that once half-elf, she had an almost direct line of descent to a progenitor and we were able to break it down and add it to your ownstrengthening your own bloodline, body, and increasing some of your affinities while granting you a new ability in the process.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City->Koftas


    CP: 1.370.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 2 Stage- 0


    Agility:Tier- 2 Stage- 0


    Intelligence:Tier- 2 Stage-1


    Wisdom:Tier- 2 Stage-3


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-2)


    Mind- Alure(T-2), Mind Control(T-0)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-0), Pocket Dimension(T-2)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-2), Command Undead(T-2), Death Bolt(T-0)


    Wraith-Armor-1


    Wraith-weapon-1


    Wraith-Soul Brand-2


    Wraith-SolarFlame-1


    <Forces>


    Wraith knights: 21


    Skeletons: 350


    Looking over his stats he was excited that he had finally broken past tier one in all of his attributes, with help of his bloodline getting to tier three was only a matter of time after he broke through, he knew his progress would slow down unless he could draw from a massive amount of energy, his body would soon be getting used to the herbs and he would need to find stronger variations to nourish his growing body.


    He would need to collect more troops as well, inspect the tunnel and gates progress, plant the other obelisks. Once the tunnel was completed he would need to go to the other city on a diplomatic trade mission to notify them of a safer route and possibly request aide for the city lord it if was necessary. There were also more children scheduled to arrive at the end of the month, there were more than double than the first group that came and he knew it would continue to grow as they were found and brought to him.


    He needed to start making his way into the trade within the city before his funds started to become scarce, he could make weapons, trinkets, and enchant thread for clothing with many uses. All of these would be highly sought after but it would be unlikely anyone could match his current skill level other than masters who had honed their skills with decades of practice. With what his creator had given him he had a huge advantage over most craftsmen, and with the twins being adept in smithing he could teach them how to craft like an elf with his techniques and knowledge they would match those masters in no time at all.


    As he was thinking of his plans, the girls clinging to him each woke up and started playing with him to get his attention, feeling the ticklish sensation on his stomach he escaped his thoughts, Jennah and Annah were just being playful, unlike the twins who might be trying to start something else as their kisses were getting lower, "Come here each of you, I have another gift for you that will assist you, in your work and with your apprentices.


    Each of you will receive a ring of power, it will amplify your abilities slightly but the ring will allow you to slowly make an apprentice into a knight by binding their soul closely with your own so they can get accustomed to the powers we share. It will also let you bring weaker undead like the skeletons into our forces though it will drain you slightly for every use, it also is a storage device using your will on the ring you will be able to sense more than see a space within."


    Taking a ring from his pocket dimension to show them, it was black with a silver band going around and meeting the Belegast crest. Taking Jennahs hand he placed the ring on her right hand and kissed her cheek, he did the same for everyone except for the twins who needed more than a peck on the cheek to be satisfied.


    He asked Jennah and Annah to collect more forces from the horde outside now that it was day time, giving them the clothes for what they collected, telling the others that they were free to explore the house and play with the children but to stay within the grounds of the clan and to get used to their new appearances. He had noticed a few of them being distracted with their reflections and each other who hadn''t had a chance to see how they had changed, seeing everything in a new light with heightened senses would take a little getting used to.


    After his meditation and bath he went and had breakfast with the children who were hardly affected by their sudden change, he explained what they were now and that they would get to try new things and learn and become strong so they can protect their new family. Which was met with smiles and laughter, they had finally started to find out that they had a home where they were wanted and loved.


    Smiling as he took the twins to the forges, it was time for their first lesson, which turned out rather well with their foundation being firm they picked up the new techniques and skills quickly. It turns out they had been learning from their parents before they had died in robbery luckily the girls had been out playing in a different part of the smithy or they would''ve been killed or worse.


    Leaving the twins to experiment with the new skills, he ordered a different set of herbs for the baths along with the original so the children and knights would be able to use it, he even sold a portion to the city lord to help him and his men recover quickly. Once his own forces were strong enough he would start selling it as a family specialty to open avenues in trade, at that thought he would go to the tunnel and see how close he was to breaching to the other side.


    Dressed in silver and black robes, he had four knights and twenty skeletons with him as a retinue, they walked to the gate and moved to the tunnel, the inspection showed he was ahead of schedule in a few short weeks he would break through, that was if he didn''t add more workers to the effort, than they could start expansion to widen the tunnel.


    Satisfied with the work he left the tunnel, as he exited the darkened cave he heard screaming from the workers in charge of moving the excess stone to key portions of the city and businesses who needed it for materials. Rushing over he saw a group of men killing his workers, with a mental pull he ordered half of his skeletons in the mine to come to his aid, "Kill these scum!" he ordered his knights who were running alongside him. They summoned armor and weapons and donned their masks as the ran toward and engaged the intruders.


    Raging at the thought of someone wishing his people harm and attempting to take their lives for no reason washed over him, approaching a man dressed as a bandit, he whipped his tail from the side smashing into the man''s head who was unaware of the incoming elf, with a crunch and splatter as the man was killed blood fell onto his silver robes as he watched the mans headless body slowly go limp.


    Feeling disgusted at taking a life he did his best to hold his stomach contents, gritting his teeth, he marched into the skirmish, as a man running towards him with a short sword swung his blade, using his gauntlet to deflect the blade he grabbed the man by the neck and held him there squeezing the life out of him, with a twist he broke the mans sword arm, a muffled cry of pain came from the man. Salem drew on a new ability and sent a death bolt flying into the back of another bandit who was about to kill another worker, taking another life.


    Returning to the man in his hands, he looked him in the eyes and crushed his throat letting him die in the dirt, whipping his tail out he took another life with a sickening crunch. Flinching at the sound he continued to defend his workers knowing it was necessary got him through until he saw a bandit edging away from this lost cause.


    Dodging an incoming blow, Salem shattered his attacker''s knee with a kick and chased the runner, catching him was of no issue with his inhuman speed, grabbing the man by the collar he dragged him back to the where the last of his comrades was just executed by one of his knights.


    "Go ahead of us and prepare an area for the wounded, tie this man up I will interrogate him back at the mansion,"he ordered a knight, nodding her head she ran toward their home, he commanded the skeletons to lift the wounded and take them back under the watch of skeletons he moved his remaining skeletons with them who carried the dead bandits and workers alike.


    He spat out some bile that had made it to his mouth, walking back to his home in this state he felt numb only wanting to sit down and be surrounded by his knights. He was far from being strong enough, he brooded, walking past the others he made his way into the mansion he saw from the corner of his eye the servants rushing to help the wounded.


    He had made a mistake, he didn''t post scouts near the tunnel yet, he may not have done this himself but partial blame was on him for not taking the precaution to guard against it. He entered his room and sat at his desk, looking into the mirror he saw the demonic visage he wore, "They attacked because they thought I was weak, but I am not, I will make them fear me so they will not try to harm my people again."


    Taking a deep breath, he got up and asked a knight where the prisoner was, apparently, there were a few holding cells beneath the mansion in case they needed to hold criminals within their territory, nodding his head he followed the knight and entered the small dungeon.


    He found the man chained to a wall, " Who sent you here?" he asked as the man stayed silent without paying him any attention. Feeling a headache from this nonsense, he thought it would be useful to just read his mind. Wait he didn''t need to read it he had an untested ability that could be used in this situation activating his mind control felt different than most of his abilities.


    He could feel his mind reaching and searching for the target like it was its own self yet it was still him moving in this strange form, the mental form touched the man''s head trying to break into his thoughts and take over, it was a struggle, there was a natural defense around most beings with self-awareness though not impenetrable it was still able to guard against a first attempt.


    Salem''s eyes twitched, the mental struggle had been annoying and drained him of his mental focus all he wanted was to break this man apart for scheming against him, in his anger he summoned his tail which was now three instead of his original one, whipping one forward he broke the man''s knees as the man was in pain the mental energy broke the defense and took the mans mind and held it hostage.


    Success! he thought, " Who sent you to attack my people?" he said holding back his anger, the man looked up with a vacant expression, "It was Lord Madden who ordered us to slow your pace on the tunnel, I don''t know the full reason other than it was to take part in the southern area into his houses territory" the man answered so Salem released the control looking at the mans frightened expression allowed him to know the man remembered the short conversation.


    Turning away from the frightened man he walked to the stairs, his knight following him, "what should we do with him, master?" she asked in a low voice. He kept walking, "Bring him and the dead bodies to the edge of the southern district I will meet you there in a while." He went to the forges for an hour and left to meet up with the knights at the edge of his district.


    He came to his knight and had them line up the bodies he then took a long spear from his pocket dimension, he impaled one of the bodies and lifted it above his head, he heaved the spear up and pierced it in the ground, he repeated this action till only his prisoner was left.


    Taking out a spear with a banner of his family crest attached he approached the prisoner who was being held by two knights, he stared into the man''s eyes and thrust the spear into his chest, but though the wound wouldn''t kill him immediately he would suffer just long enough to let others know his whereabouts, he once again lifted the spear and hung the man up high for all to see, the man screamed from the pain. The spear had a single enchantment, to produce pain, and it did its job very well.


    Walking away from the screaming man he passed his knights which followed behind him, "Master why did we do this? This is something I haven''t seen or heard being done before even for a warning it is a bit extreme don''t you think?" a knight asked quietly.


    "A warning? I am not warning them, my dear, the warning was implied when I killed all of their men," Then what is this for master?" a little confused she asked, he turned he kissed her on the forehead he answered her in a stern voice.


    "For them to feel fear."

 18 Instilling the Fear

    Sitting in the center of his room, his knights standing around him, Salem thought to himself on how he was going to eliminate this ignorant trash who called himself a noble. "Jenna, how many new warriors did you collect today?" , Two hundred master," good. Each day you will take the knights to collect more, two hundred a day will be the minimum, once reaching that many it will be your choice if you gather more or return home.


    We need information on House Madden, from the number of troops to their secret trade routes and exits of their main house. I won''t let them off easy for launching an attack on innocent people, for no other reason to grasp at small gains, I will be increasing the scouts we should also start with any rumors of the Madden family.


    "Anything we can get our hands on will help our chances of making a swift end of these greedy pigs," Salem cursed softly, "Five of you will go to the mine and guard the workers, take one hundred of the undead as additional forces. I will have new scouts in that area by tomorrow morning, the twins will be here with me and three other knights to guard the children during the day.


    Annah I need you to ask the city lord what he knows of the Maddens'' next time you see him beyond the wall, I will be going to the other gates tonight to plant the obelisks and move forward with a part of the plan. We will need to lay low, for now, we don''t need to gather too much attention before we strike," finished giving orders he had everyone start preparing, it would take time to gather more forces and the information to make his enemies bleed.


    A month passed in oppressive tension, servants and workers had been slain in an elven household by bandits who in turn had been wiped out, if that had been all no one would bat an eye at the death of bandits. The display of bodies hanging from the spears with a man screaming for his torture to end had brought what Salem wanted, fear, it had taken hold of many hearts and moved through the commoners like a plague.


    Standing in a meeting hall that had become a war room, with maps and information attached to a large map showing not only Koftas but Idos aswell, on the side of Koftas to the east along the mountain had nine "Ms" which were the Maddens mining operations, three of them were actually in Salem''s own southern district. Looking at the potential targets and times the ores would be moved from each mine and where they would be stored he smiled knowing in just a few hours his knights would strike all the caravans and storage facilities owned by the Maddens.


    During this past month, he had learned the Maddens owned mines and were wealthier than most in their position and were close to rising in rank in the noble houses. They had planned on using the mines in his own territory to elevate their status to push him out of the southern gates command, leaving it open for themselves to take the trade from Idos.


    It was unlikely they would''ve been able to take all the trade with just their house alone, they were working with or even for someone and were just a tool to be used and if they failed their mission, disposed of. He considered them lucky because they would soon know the price of challenging him and he was going to make sure nobody else was going even think of coming at him for a very long time.


    During this month they had collected enough undead forces to guard the children, the tunnel and the gate without any issue, with over six thousand skeletons spread out between the knights he would be able to handle the token forces that held the ores. He had also turned dozens of children who were now learning how to be an elf instead of a human from the previous children.


    With the obelisks planted they had merged with the core tree outside his mansion he had activated a plan he had put into place since he thought of helping the city lord, he no longer needed to go out and collect the souls of the dead, they would be absorbed by the obelisks and sent to his tree, if they were slain with the weapons he provided outside the barrier the energy would follow the weapon until it reached the obelisks range which would absorb the energy and shift it to him.


    This helped increase the strength and heal the wounds on his soul, he could now feel a barrier while meditating which would be a tier three stat which made him excited. Walking towards the gathering spot for when his knights finished their errands he practiced his minor teleportation, flashing from alley to roof and down towards another alley.


    He arrived early so he waited, and explored the ruined house not far from the eastern district, touching walls and stomping floors he searched the house until he found what he wanted. His tails appeared behind him and whipped the ground breaking into a tunnel leading towards the east.


    Inside the Maddens mansion, Rowan Madden heard the reports keep coming as he sat at his desk clenching his teeth, his mines had been hit hard leaving none of the resources behind. "Call everyone back to the mansion, we are under attack by a much bigger threat than any elf and we need all the men to defend just in case we can''t buy our selves out," he ordered the servants to send out a retreat to the main house.


    Night had fallen, the Madden house was a hornets'' nest of activity nearly filled to capacity, whispers of what was happening filled the halls. Then the banging sounded, anyone nearby looked at the main entrance in apprehension. The guards on the walls fell, arrows or spears stuck through them, panic started to blossom among the crowd.


    Bang! the main gate gave under the rapid banging, marching into the home of house Madden hundreds of warriors cloaked in black marched in and began a slaughter with the short blades in their hands reaping lives as they went, the guards put up a resistance but ultimately failed to slow the men in black cloaks.


    Hundreds of guards along with Rowan Madden made their way from the main house towards the intruders engaging them in a struggle of life in death, but even if he stabbed one the most he felt was the penetration and breaking through bones. but they still didn''t fall to his blade, he fought on trying to open a path to the remainder of guards with his clan''smen, turning he realized they had been surrounded, but how did they approach from the rear.


    Then he saw them, knights with black robes and armor, the wore the Belegast, everything in front of them died. He could see one figure being lead forward in the middle of the knights and he had the idea that should they kill that one in the center it would all end.


    So he called for his men and charged, as they ran and engaged the knights, he pushed his way through knowing this would be the only way to save his people. Lunging forward he saw the silver mask of the devil in front of him, he was stopped abruptly and was lifted mid-air, he felt he had been pierced through.


    Glancing at his chest, green tails were stabbed throughout his upper body, "Ah, so I was already dead..." he barely whispered before his death.


    "You have your orders, no survivors, take the children home, loot what we can." Salem walked out of the mansions gates and began instilling fear once again, a spear for everybody that littered the ground, and like this, no one would wonder how this happened Lord Madden was placed at the front of his family.


    On a spear, his body hung high above the ground with the Belegast banner whipping in the wind.

 19 Wisdom

    Early the next day a crowd had gathered around the Madden estate, over a thousand bodies hung on spears, just like the bandits had been killed to the last, so had the Madden family. Guards were moving about inside the estate looking for any survivors but met with nothing other than a forest of death.


    The crowds whispered and pointed at the spear closest to them, it was taller than the rest with a banner flying beneath the corpse still dressed in silk clothing, something no commoner would ever wear indicating he was a noble and most likely it was Lord Madden himself that hung there lifelessly. The rumor was that the Maddens had attacked the tunnel killing the workers hired by the new


    Lord Belegast that had arrived and taken control of the southern portion of the city.


    No formal charges had been taken to the city lord, nor had there been open hostility since the first attack, it seemed to those on the outside that the Maddens may have started a fight only to pay the ultimate price, extinction of their noble house. The Belegast house, it would seem, did not take kindly to the provocation.


    Salem sat down at the dining table, he chatted with the children, smiling and laughing at their antics to garner his attention. He was holding one of the infants playing with her nose and hands eliciting pure laughter that brought him a joy he didn''t expect to have, after playing with the children he spoke with his knights asking them to continue their operations, he gave a report to Annah to give to the city lord once they were beyond the wall to depict what had happened and how he had handled the problematic lord to set an example for the others.


    He was planning on selling the mines that weren''t in his territory to the city lord while keeping the three that had been prepared for him by the Maddens in his own lands, he would need to have the twins gather a few apprentices, they would need the help once he took over the metals and weapons trade. He had already prepared shops and houses in the southern district, now he only needed to get the report to the city lord and his shops and homes would be on the market for purchase.


    He would be selling the herbal powders that helped nourish the body, weapons, and armors any enchanting work would have to be requested and put on a waiting list, he would have magical trinkets being sold that would be similar to his knights'' rings but only having the storage option available in varying degrees of space. Thankfully he had the twins to help him with creating most of the various goods, though they always seemed to need a reward for their hard work from simple kisses to an entire afternoon of attention which leads to a competition of who got it the most.


    Thinking of the twins he smiled at the thought of their playfulness, he walked outside and sat beneath his obelisk putting his back against the warm metal like surface. He began his meditation here now that he had completed the formation of obelisks, all the soul energy absorbed by the smaller versions would pass through the roots and into his body, letting him nourish his soul just like his body in the baths.


    He washed his soul with the vast energy stored within the tree, he could feel the barrier that had stopped him from breaking through had started to weaken, so he kept pouring the energy slowly against himself. There it is, he thought feeling a crack forming on the barrier, so he stopped the flow of energy gathering it for a moment before pushing it towards the cracked layer. After pushing for a time he would regather the energy and shove again breaking off chunks of the barrier. Until the crack became a hole which started to collapse the barrier.


    "Congratulations master Salem, you have broken through into Tier three wisdom."


    He heard the system announcement and smiled, "Only three more to go," he said aloud he knew even with all the soul energy in the tree it wouldn''t be as useful to him, he needed more powerful and complete energy source instead of an army of fractured souls to increase as quickly before.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City->Koftas


    CP: 1.350.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 2 Stage- 4


    Agility:Tier- 2 Stage- 4


    Intelligence:Tier- 2 Stage-4


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-0


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-2)


    Mind- Alure(T-2), Mind Control(T-0)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-1), Pocket Dimension(T-3)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-2), Command Undead(T-2), Death Bolt(T-1)


    Wraith-Armor-2


    Wraith-weapon-2


    Wraith-Soul Brand-2


    Wraith-SolarFlame-1


    <Forces>


    Wraith knights:21


    Skeletons: 6500


    Taking a quick look at his stats, he dismissed the information noting that his other three aspects were lagging behind, though now he would be able to focus on them more now that he broke through one.


    "Master the new arrivals from last night are ready, they have been given the tonic you made and are inside waiting for your arrival." Looking over the twins standing near him, he wondered how long they had quietly waited for him to finish to make their report, he would have to give them a reward for behaving themselves or else in the future they might want to wake him up before he finishes his meditation.


    "Good work Sasha," kissing her for a few moments while she clung to the unexpected gift, " and good work Sarah," giving her a more gentle kiss while fondling her butt she let out a quiet moan though she reached for his crotch he intercepted her soft hand, " Later Sarah, there are still things that must be finished before you get to enjoy the rest." He walked towards where the children were being kept, hearing Sarah whisper to her sister that it was going to be torture waiting that long, "That is part of the reward now let us go see the children," he called back to the twins.


    Stepping into a room filled with human children, he saw their blank faces, though sadness wasn''t what brought this look onto them it was the concoction he had made which helped to dissolve their previous memories allowing them to become influenced by his words, he knew that taking their memories from them wasn''t a good thing but it was necessary for their survival.


    He told them the tale of how their clan had been attacked, his father had made a portal to take away from the impending doom of their clan, they were orphans and he was their protector, and they loved him for it. After he told them their identities, he gave them his blood, turning them into the dark-skinned void elves of the Belegast clan, he repeated these actions in two other rooms one hundred children in each.


    After it was done he felt sadness for the children he had separated from their parents knowing that not all in that house was evil, but they had to pay a price, so that he wouldn''t have to see his own house fall to a similar fate. He kissed the twins on his way to the baths, taking out the new powder for nourishment he knew it was going to get a little uncomfortable for the first use, luckily he had the twins who were more than willing to help distract him by putting on a little show for him.


    Though once he got used to it he had them enter, hissing at the sting and aches as they entered, he massaged and kissed them into forgetting about the pain until all three of them were leaning and cuddling on the edge of the baths looking up towards the stars. Salem looked to the entrance of his home, "Wonder what he wants at this time of night?"

 20 No Deal

    Sitting halfway into the outdoor bath, with the twins cuddling against him, Salem stared at the city lord sitting opposite him, with only a towel wrapped around his waist. The awkward silence persisted, "What brings you to my home at such a late hour, Lord Renwei?" Salem broke the silence, watching the city lord trying to control his anger amused him, why would he be so upset that he rushed over here?


    *cough*


    The city lord cleared his throat and motioned toward the two elves currently attached to Salems''body. Narrowing his eyes to glare at the city lord, he reached into the water, as he gropes both of the twins. They responded with moans and held on tighter to their master, hoping for more attention.


    Taking the hint, the city lord got to the point of this surprise visit, "Lord Belegast, why didn''t you come to me before attacking the Maddens? If you had come to me I would have sought justice for your family''s losses and been able to solve this peaceably. What need was there for so much bloodshed! Many houses have asked for me to either put you in jail or put you down how-"


    Swish!


    Six green tails burst from the beneath the water before the city lord could react to this assault he had his arms and legs bound, stretching the city lord he wrapped another tail about his waist and neck.


    Standing up abruptly water cascaded down from his naked body, Salem turned from calm to furious, "You dare to threaten me? Without my help, you would be serving an undead lich that could wipe out this city in a day, I could leave you, and your people, to rot and die while escaping easily with my own family to Idos.


    If you had a firmer hold on these nobles then my people wouldn''t have been cut down over petty greed!" Salem screamed into the city lords face. "The disrespect I have seen from your, noble, houses have left me with utter disgust and contempt for you, it wasn''t only those of the elven races that had committed atrocities in a racial war.


    My spies found out about how two of the great families in this city had attacked, killed, and captured the elves who were the original inhabitants of this mountain. So you tell me the names of the two lords who would massacre and sell my people into slavery, all for the resources of one mountain."


    Shutting his mouth tight, the city lord refused to speak out against the two families who had taken this land from the elves two centuries ago.


    This conversation had been bound to happen ever since a scout had overheard a conversation between a few nobles. They had been planning to buy some house slaves, mentioning that elves were in high demand now, they had started talking about how the founders of the cities must have had many elf slaves when they took the mountain from them.


    Salem didn''t have access to the records regarding the founding clans or their descendants. He had planned on just asking the city lord for access for records that far back, but seeing him so tight-lipped now, the city lord must know something or someone related to the elves destruction.


    Thinking of how he would have to deal with the city lord, the twins arrived by his side and held him between them while whispering into his ears. Hearing his knights calming voices, he slowly relaxed, he thanked the twins with a kiss and a promise, returning to his usual calm he moved the city lord to kneel before him.


    "Before I rip this meeting out of your mind I''m going to have you answer my original question, it is going to hurt, I didn''t plan on doing this because you might just lose your mind. Consider me not allowing the undead to swarm this city my clans'' mercy, though when I take back this mountain I might just destroy those two clans your so adamant about protecting."


    "Wait."


    Before he had even begun trying to break into the city lords mind, he heard the city lords voice, curious as to why the man so adamant before would ask for him to wait he looked at the man. Though he had a little fear and panic on his face it didn''t seem all there was to it, "Why should I wait you have answers I want, regarding a rather serious matter, tell me why I should wait to flay your mind until all you can do is drool?"


    The city lord looked at Salem, "I will tell you everything you want to know but there is a price, protect my daughter, should they find out I spoke about them they might kill her. So that my price for the information on which clans took the mountain do you agree?"


    Seeing the city lord begging for his daughters'' sake, Salem kept his face with as little emotion as possible, thinking it over he pulled a ring from thin air, "I will agree to it, but you and your daughter will bend the knee, becoming vassals to my family you will remain in charge of your forces and will march to battle should I call."


    Dispersing his tails Salem waited for the city lords response. He watched the city lord bowing his head, Lord Renwei took a deep breath and lunged at Salem, who was standing close to him so he might brand his soul. A blow landed on his stomach forcing him to bend forward slightly he felt another blow land against the side of his face turning his vision black.


    Coming back to himself beneath the water, Salem could feel the turbulence in the water, the fight hadn''t ended yet. Shaking away the dizziness he stood up to see that the twins had wounded the city lord, though they had small wounds themselves and were bleeding from their noses. He quickly summoned his tails and pierced them through the city lords limbs and lifted the bleeding man into the air.


    He wrapped the city lord with his tails and covered his mouth, "That was an unwise decision, and here I thought you were respectable among the humans, but it must have been your acting and willingness to betray others that got you this far."


    Salem motioned for the twins to follow him as he exited the bath with the floating city lord. He made his way through the mansion, some knights followed while some servant closed doors to prevent the children from watching this strange site.


    Making it into the smithy he gave the city lord to his knights, taking a hammer and chisel from the rack of tools and a knights ring from a storage container. Reheating the ring, the runes lit up for all to see, though no one knew exactly what they meant. The twins stepped forward seeing their master was going work, they held the ring firmly with tongs, Salem began to etch and scrape away runes replacing them so it was no longer a lord and his knights'' connection.


    This ring would make the human a slave, the power of the ring would burrow into the bearers mind forcing them to obey, should they choose to disobey the master it would start to pull their mind into pieces.


    <System warning>


    "Master Salem, I would advise not going through with this plan of action, similar actions have been tried but an unwilling ringbearer will die quickly and will become a dull and stupid tool not bringing any benefit. I would advise however that your previous plan may not be perfect, it would suit your needs, besides you could always kill him later master Salem."


    Hearing the cold voice of the system, he pulled back from his anger, looking at the ring he saw no beauty in it, so he threw it into the forge and watched it melt into molten metal.


    Turning to his beautiful knights he saw them looking at him with curiosity and affection, he preferred his followers to want to be with him, "Go to the battlefield find Jennah and Annah, tell them to grab as many undead as you can in the next week. Sarrah, Sasha after we take care of him and we are clean, I''m all yours."


    With the knights leaving, the twins watched their master as he tore into the city lord, they smiled and held each other''s hands knowing that he was being extra cruel to the man on the floor because he wounded them. After a few minutes, they had forgotten about the city lord and his cries of pain, they were more interested in how long they would have to wait for their master to look at them.

 21 New Plan: A Spark of War

    Laying in her own sweat, Sasha watched as her master gave his full attention to her sister, she still felt the pleasure inside her from when it was her turn. Feeling an ache start to build again as she watched her master teasing her sister before starting again. He had bound her hands with his tail. Gripping her waist with his hands and thrusting from behind, he kept going until her sister started to moan and move on her own.


    She let out a final moan and collapsed back onto the bed looking up at Sasha. Seeing her worn out sister lying next to her, she brought Sarah into her embrace and kissed her. Lifting Sarah''s ass up a little she made eye contact with her master, "Master, my sister still has another hole you need to fill, so you can''t rest yet." she said, spreading her sisters'' cheeks for her master to see.


    As if in agreement, Sarah wiggled her firm ass in his direction, and returned the kiss to Sasha. Letting out a moan she felt her master preparing to do something to her, something that excited her in a brand new way. Letting out a moan she held onto her sister tightly once she felt her master giving her what she wanted.


    Wiping the sweat from his brow, Salem kissed the twins sweetly, taking a blanket he covered their naked bodies. The twins quickly fell asleep holding hands while remembering the sweet moments with their master.


    Taking a quick bath, Salem thought back about the city lord, he had wiped the man''s memories. He had even gained the names of the clans that had taken the mountain from the elves. When he found that it was the mountain was taken by Koftas Renwei and his friend Idos Loren, he nearly killed the man under his whip. The humans not been honorable, they had become allies with the elves and then poisoned them, leaving them weak and vulnerable to their schemes.


    With the city lord no longer aware that their crimes against the elves was brought to light, it allowed Salem time to amass his troops and search for allies outside the city. He would not so easily trust the word of a human again, he wouldn''t let an outsider in his home just for a few small benefits either.


    The tunnel had been completed this week, meaning he needed to go to Idos and secure trade there between the two cities. As the thought crossed his mind he stopped mid-stride, why did he need to secure the trade routes for this city when there was only one route in between.


    This was an ancestral home of elves, by right he could lay claim to it on behalf of the elven kingdoms. He would need to build a city of elves between these to cities and slowly absorb them over time, he smiled at this new plan.


    Ordering a servant to find the best architect and stone mason in the city and invite them to have a meal with him. Walking into his war room he began to look over the maps containing information about the local mines and where they were located, he was going to need all the resources at his disposal.


    With the plan to create a city inside the mountain itself he was going to need more undead, a lot more, he would need to pay huge sums of money and manpower for the home he wished to build, he would also need to learn things about protecting such a city, which meant he would need to speak with the dwarves.


    He had no personal bias for the short yet incredibly strong mountain folk, they had smiths that could make him seem like a child holding his fathers'' hammer. Their enchantments were also different than his own, they worked the magic from the metals themselves to create something that enhanced previous qualities of the materials.


    While he spoke and wrote words of power, changing the metal to his needs, and now he would need to seek them out and ask for help. If its the worst case, weapons might be drawn while the best case would be having to pay their weight in gold. Putting the dwarves aside till he was closer to his goal, he wrote orders for materials food and other essentials.


    He took note he would need to turn the tunnel into a city-sized cavern in the middle, with tunnels for the elves to escape should that need ever arise, he would also need to cast grand magic on the cavern either to see the skies. He could also take away the roof but that may take too long and lessen his defenses so he would make that decision later as well.


    Drafting plans and producing work orders to be sent to trades and businesses throughout the night and into the morning. He was still setting everything in motion when a report from Jennah and Annah, they requested more clothing for the undead as well as provisions for another week, he arranged it quickly. He sent them a letter expressing how much they all were appreciated and they should come home soon.


    He would have everything set into place so he could focus on his own training during the early phase of constructing the cavern where he would build the city. The meeting with the architects and masons would happen after Annah and Jennah had come home with the other knights, bringing with them a large number of undead forces.


    Finished with the paperwork, Salem walked outside into the early morning air, he breathed in deeply. He could smell the soil still wet from the dew, he took this moment in as he walked to his tree. Sitting in his favorite spot he began his meditation, opening the connection wider he absorbed the energy greedily.


    Hours later he bathed, absorbing more information on the about the laws and languages of magic, he then ate and returned to his meditation. He continued this training every day, a knight would arrive in the evening with more undead and a report from the battlefield which he would read during the evening bath.


    Taking breaks from his meditation only to enchant any custom equipment he personally needed to attend to, the twins had learned the basics of enchanting helping decrease his workload and were teaching their apprentices.


    Annah and Jennah stayed on the battlefield for two weeks, one longer than originally planned. He had met the architects and masons with the twins instead. They had given him estimates of certain parts of his plan, and just like he thought it was going to be an astronomical amount of gold and materials for the construction. He had the stone and the gold would come in time, but he would need to extradite the process.


    "System, can you formulate a plan based on my current strengths and assets to increase my wealth quickly within a year?"


    "Of course master, I will calculate a plan that should suit your needs, even though it will be something of higher value so you may have to pay a higher price than before." Nodding his head Salem waited patiently for five minutes until the system came back to him.


    He paid one hundred thousand (CP) for the nefarious plans it had created, looking through them he picked two that had higher success rates than most, they were not too dangerous as they focussed on only bringing an issue that was already here to others, though thousands would be in danger he would be able to prevent larger casualties by profiting from their fear.


    He quickly sent Jennah on a mission, with ten knights to guard her, she was only going to deliver a message. A message that would start a war on a grand scale.

 22 Six Months: Plans In Motion

    It had been six months since he sent Annah and Jennah on their mission, he had grown taller and stronger. He had reached tier three in his physique and agility only lacking a final step to break through for his intellect.


    Many times over this half a year, his knights beyond the wall had been in danger requesting large amounts of power, either to slay their enemies or to heal from grievous wounds. He felt that Jennah had been heavily wounded and near death weeks ago, he had opened his full power to heal her, the power he could contain couldn''t compare to Grand wizard or Magus but he had for just an instant opened the connection to the energy of the world to ten percent.


    Having flooded himself with all of that energy, he had healed Jennah quickly but only enough to keep her far enough away from deaths grasp. She healed in the following weeks and was currently heading back from their mission. He was worried about reports being intercepted if he sent them by his scouts, so he would need to wait for the report from Jenna and Annah until they came home.


    Standing in the practice grounds, Salem stood facing two of his knights with a practice spear in his hands. Smiling he readied his stance, waiting for the fight to begin, the Knights ran towards him. He thrust towards the knight on his left, she sidestepped his blow, it was a feint. Lowering his body he swept the spear into the side of the knight on his right, she had barely blocked the blow with her sword and was sent rolling on the ground.


    He felt a sting on his ribs, a kiss landed on his cheek, "You are getting better, master!" she giggled and danced away from him. Sighing he lowered his spear, he had taken to long to recover leaving his left side open, stepping forward he picked the knight up from the ground in a princess carry.


    She kissed him sweetly and pouted, "Master don''t be so rough next time!"


    Laughing aloud he took her to the baths, they washed off the dirt from their morning practice and went to get dressed. Staring at himself in the mirror he was excited, his body had started growing after his bloodline had awakened, and now he was only a couple inches shy of six feet tall. His body had filled out in a lean muscular fashion, which pleased him more than the thick muscles on most warriors.


    Dressing in white robes accented by dark green cloth belt and bindings he looked himself over in the mirror while his knights fussed over his long silver hair. They had braided it along the sides and connected the braids in the back, smiling at the girls having fun he stood slowly and made his way to the smithy.


    Inside the smithy, the twins were hard at work, teaching their apprentices about the metals and how some of them could be mixed to create new alloys which made the weapons stronger and was then amplified through magic to last for far longer in battle than a human-made weapon. This was their family''s trade, and how they could help protect the family in the future.


    Watching from the side, he saw smiles and interest on the young faces of the children, he quietly walked to his weapons rack and pulled down the spear he was crafting for his own use. He placed it on his enchanters'' table and looked it over. It was longer than he was tall, not quite a long spear but it still had enough reach to push back an approaching enemy.


    The spearhead was more like four blades on each side, nearly forming a pyramid, while the center was empty. He rubbed the silver spear with a clean cloth, adding the final touches to the runes while wrapping the handle in black leather bindings for the grip.


    The final enchantments would allow him to change the length of the spear, though he could only slightly increase the length, he could decrease it to the size of a large mace should he need such a weapon.


    Putting his new weapon away, he snuck by the children once again, making his way to his war room.He planned to read over any reports that may have come in the night or earlier that morning, looking over the reports he nodded in satisfaction, there was a wave of undead moving towards the city of Idos. It was almost double the size of the current wave that Koftas was facing, the lich lord must have read the false report of a Grand wizard coming to these cities within two years to purge the land of the undead.


    The false rumor had been part of the system''s plan, once Idos came under siege he would open the pass allowing trade to begin. He was the only one with the means to create the obelisks and he could name any price for them, he had created two forts inside the tunnel, he decided to name them Ko and Id for the cities they would protect him from.


    He had gone to the tunnel once a week to enchant the ceiling and walls, it would show the cycle of the days and night as if there was no barrier. You would be able to feel the suns mighty rays or the cool wind on a moonlit night.


    Trees and grass had begun to grow quickly after he planted a very large obelisk similar to the one in his mansions grounds. Though this one reached the caverns ceiling hundred of yards from the ground, its roots already connected to the other obelisks so it could use the leftover energy to promote plant growth.


    The city in the cavern would be hidden for at least another six months to a year, he would slowly move his family and any servants who wished to be a part his faction into the city during the next month. His undead had grown and was steadily being brought in and protecting his project, during this time he had encountered a few elite undead. Turning them was exceedingly harder than the mindless skeletons, they were just as strong as one of his knights while being self-aware made branding them take longer.


    Luckily for him they only acted in pairs or even by themselves, being isolated this way gave him a chance to capture five of these elites to lead his massive amounts of troops. Thinking of his progress he wondered if there was anything in the systems abilities he could learn not that he was nearly tier three.


    "System, is there any new abilities I can purchase?" waiting for a few moments before he heard that familiar voice. "Of course master Salem, I will compile a list for you to choose from though I would suggest a support ability that can grow, just like the in the previous selection I brought to you."


    A small list of abilities appeared in front of his eyes, looking over he noticed that the system had brought more supportive abilities to the top while the rest were concentrated at the bottom. He saw a few that were interesting but were not needed, he did however come across two new abilities one would be very useful while the other would take a while to use fully.


    Paying fifty thousand (CP) each, he absorbed the energy into his body learning and expanding his knowledge.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City->Koftas


    CP: 1.150.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 3 Stage- 0


    Agility:Tier- 3 Stage- 0


    Intelligence:Tier- 2 Stage-9


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-2)


    Mind- Alure(T-3), Mind Control(T-2)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-2), Pocket Dimension(T-4)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-3), Command Undead(T-3), Death Bolt(T-2) , Promote Undead (T-0)


    Wraith-Wings-0


    Wraith-Armor-3


    Wraith-weapon-3


    Wraith-Soul Brand-2


    Wraith-SolarFlame-2


    <Forces>


    Wraith knights:21


    Skeletons: 48.100


    Undead captains:5


    His new


    would be the most useful ability at this moment and it had been on top of the list the system had provided him. It would allow him to sacrifice soul energy to an undead allowing it to form a consciousness, allowing him to create more captains for his knights to command. They were stretched thin commanding such a large horde, they would be unable to command such a large force by themselves.


    He quickly made for his hidden city, ordering twenty-one hundred skeletons to the massive obelisk. There would be one hundred captains for each knight to command, placing his hand on the tree he connected to the massive amounts of soul energy. He then ordered an undead to him and followed the energy path of the


    ability.


    After he began he felt the change to the skeleton, he also knew that the skeleton had just turned to dust because he got distracted. Opening his eyes he saw a pile of bone dust with robes about the ground. He knew it was because he was new to this ability, even knowing that he was about to spend the rest of the day figuring out how to not make a pile of dust. Letting out a sigh he spent the next two days in the city trying to promote his undead.


    After washing off the last of the bone dust he went to put on a new set of clothes this time he chose the black and green, letting his knights dress him and play with his hair, he thought about the promotion process and how it had not gone as expected.


    He hadn''t just promoted the undead to captains, they had become wraiths, it had turned out he misread the abilities use. It wasn''t for making undead higher undead, it was for promoting undead to a different race of undead, the wraiths were between lesser and upper undead. He was going to have to turn the entire force from undead to wraiths, it was another huge project piled onto his desk.


    He felt at that moment his knights had returned before he could get excited he felt their anxiety and distress. Walking towards the door, he summoned the knights that were about the mansion, they met him at the doors serious looks upon there faces. He pointed at the twins and three other knights who followed him towards the stables, the rest donned their masks and armor ready to defend the mansion.


    He called a legion of wraiths to follow him, donning his mask and armor he mounted the horse and galloped towards the gate knights and wraiths following at his heels.

 23 Minas Lusta mil Luna

    Salem rode through the city at a dead gallop, he knew at this pace the horse would die before he reached his knights yet he rode the horse harder. Behind him rode his personal guard along with the legion of wraiths, barely keeping pace with their commanders. With Salem riding in front, the citizens in the roads moved from his path scared of being trampled.


    As they saw the masked warrior rushing past them they had glimpsed the army following him and screamed for others to make way. It took ten minutes for him to rush from his home to the northern gate, he swore that he would fix the issue of a proper mount once he returned.


    Rushing past the guards and thankful the gates were still open, he moved into the outer city ruins with scattered undead moving through the streets. He summoned his spear along with his tails, whipping these weapons about, he cleared a path towards the wall.


    He could feel them just beyond the wall, the sounds of battle rang in the air. His horse faltered beneath him, he quickly resurrected the poor beast as an undead. It quickly got up and raced headlong into the undead in its path, like a raging bull it crushed everything that stood in its path.


    He pushed his new steed up the stair to mount the outer wall, taking him another ten minutes of precious time, reaching the top of the wall he saw a large group of elves fighting against the undead but there were hundreds of elves. Most of them had the look of women and children, who were being protected, though the women held bows and shot with such accuracy none even came close to touching the children.


    His troops behind him started to arrive, he ordered the twins to secure the west gate to his left, he ran and summoned his wings for the first time. They were made of black light with a dark green film of light surrounding them, with not a lot of time to inspect them he dove off the wall and glided haphazardly to the ground.


    Landing hard on the bare soil he rolled and coming back to his feet he ran, he could see Annah and Jennah fighting off three elite undead by them selfs, the rest of the knights were fighting in various locations to protect more of the people. Pointing his spear forward he blasted green flames into the assaulting undead, using his tails to whip away would be attackers.


    He shrunk his spear into a mace and began crushing skeletons to bits, he would occasionally brand a skeleton with a tail he then ordered it to guard his back. Coming up behind an elite undead his tails wrapped about its body and branded its soul while it had been distracted by his knights. Once he had converted it over it, he had it take control of his small undead forces he was collecting, this allowed him to focus on the battle at hand.


    Crushing a skeleton, he looked up to see Jennah taking a shield blow knocking her from her feet. Instead of pursuing Jennah, the undead rushed towards Annah, who had pinned down another elite and was about to incinerate her target. Salem turned the mace back into a spear, he took aim, hoisting the spear he threw it letting out a small grunt.


    The spear was off course but still slammed into its back, knocking the undead over from the unexpected blow.Annah finished casting her spell destroying her target, Salem charged towards the undead with his spear still lodged in its back, getting close enough Salem grabbed the feet and pulled it towards him.


    Salem held the creature still with his tails and began branding its soul, his new recruits stalled the surrounding skeletons while he gained a new minion. Standing up, Salem ripped his spear from his new minion''s body, Annah and Jenna ran towards him and leaped into his embrace. He held them for a short moment when he pulled away he saw pointed to the western gate.


    "Let us make for the gates, reinforcements are already there and we need to get these people into a safe zone." Jenna nodded and called to the elves still battling the undead, hearing the shout and looking to the gate she had pointed at they made a dash towards the gates.


    Salem continued to battle alongside his knights, retreating slowly, letting the women and children get closer before they broke ranks. They had finally bought enough time and followed after the first group, as they approached the gate that had its doors destroyed in the first attack. He saw the twins standing there waiting for him to arrive, the other knights were grouping the women and children into the middle of the wraiths and preparing to leave.


    Before they set off towards the fort, he took out some black robes and had his new recruits wear them. He had gained a squad of two upper undead and twenty skeletons, though it wasn''t going to mean a huge difference, it was better than nothing.


    Moving quickly they arrived at the fort without incident, moving into the fort they were stared at by all the guards. He could hear whispers about the elves, some even implying the slave trade, he held an indifferent look on his face as he rode past the guards and through the city.


    Mounted on his undead horse at the head of the precession, Salem split the crowds for those following behind him. Before they could enter his territory a squad of guards stood in his way, he grabbed his spear holding it over his shoulder, "Why do you stand in my path? Do you know who I am?" Salem spoke to the guards


    Their captain stood forward, "Of course, you are Lord Belegast, we know you are new to the city so you may be unaware that elves are not allowed to congregate in such large numbers, doing so will violate the law which is punishable by two hundred years of slavery for all adults and all of the children will be sold."


    Salem pointed his spear at the man and sent a blast of green flames at him, he was incinerated leaving only charred bones on the ground, " How do the rest of you feel about elves?" Salem asked in a voice so cold that everyone watching stopped breathing. No one dared to answer him, "You have violated my contract with the city lord, my protection against the undead forces will cease immediately. Good luck."


    Moving forward Salem remembered one last thing, "If your city lord needs to talk he can find me in my city, Minas Lusta mil Luna, you can call it Void city for short!" Leading the elves forward Salem had a smile on his face, it felt good defending his kin.

 24 Heading Home

    Arriving back at his mansion he ordered all the servants to quickly gather their families and belongings, he summoned his knights with their apprentices having them pack up the tools and equipment. The smaller children were moved onto wagons and sent ahead under the guard of the wraiths, more had been summoned and would arrive soon to assist in protecting the new elven tribe that Jennah had brought to him.


    Though it was strange, he was feeling a pull towards something or someone amongst them, there was this desire to become whole in that crowd. Shaking his head to shake the feeling, he didn''t have time for this, he rode his horse to the black tree he had planted only a little more than half a year ago.


    Touching the tree he began chanting, this spell would turn off the other obelisks and this one would return to its smaller form, able to be replanted should he choose to. Though he was going to give it to the tree in Void city to absorb any remnant energy, that tree was also connected to the silver trees and could be used to control them as well.


    The tree slowly reverted to a tiny version of itself, putting the obelisk away he turned to the large group of elves that were being loaded onto the wagons for easier transport. They looked nearly defeated, ragged even, as though they had nearly lost everything. He had misjudged the number of his pale skinned kin, they were easily over a thousand not including their children.


    He would hear the report as soon as they made it into his city, his undead minions had secured the southern gate with ten thousand undead prepared to defend him if need be. His ravens let him know that there was a large formation of guards leaving from many of the noble houses, most likely in an effort to subjugate his people once again.


    Giving the command he began the evacuation to the southern gate, the guards would not be able to catch them even if they were on steeds. This time at the back of the crowd with his knights, Salem watched as the elves moved on foot, most of the wagons had been occupied by children or tools and some clothes.


    Most of the assets he had were already within his new home, within a few minutes they arrived at the gates exiting Koftas, the crowd moved forward while Salem sat and waited on his horse for the nobles to arrive. He had left a small surprise for this city that dared to threaten him and he wanted to deliver it personally.


    He had summoned all of his wraiths and even began to make more, he was becoming rather adept at this strange spell, he could now convert eight out of ten tries, a huge increase from his appalling three out of ten success rate after trying it out in the beginning.


    Using the miniature tree as a source of power, he could cover hundreds of skeletons at a time, converting most of them in just a few moments while others became dust in the wind. During his spellcasting, Salem felt the barrier holding his power back finally weaken, he finished the spell quickly and disregarded the new wraiths.


    He began meditating on his horse putting the world out of his mind, he absorbed the power of the worlds beyond his sight, it gathered until he felt nearly bloated and slammed it into the barrier, immediately there was a cracking sound and he repeated the action shattering the barrier with only his second blow.


    "Congratulations master Salem, your energy levels are rising rapidly and should stabilize in a few minutes, your new power has increased your spells tiers by one. For being the first to reach this tier you will be granted a gift, a suitable mount to be specific as I have taken notice that you do not possess one capable of flight.


    As you know the wraith wings ability won''t have flight abilities until you reach beyond tier six, making long distance travel a burden on you and your knights. I have the means to take the wildlife of your choosing and design an evolutionary path for it to follow. Though it will take time for it to evolve into its final evolutionary stage and become very powerful, it will still be very useful in combat compared to any mortal mount."


    He thought to himself the system was right, like usual, it had foreseen an issue and was prepared to assist him in becoming stronger in an indirect way, it never offered anything for free. Well, only those two books about mating had been given to him without charge.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City-> Minas Lusta mil Luna


    CP: 1.150.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 3 Stage- 0


    Agility:Tier- 3 Stage- 0


    Intelligence:Tier- 3 Stage-0


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-3)


    Mind- Alure(T-4), Mind Control(T-3)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-3), Pocket Dimension(T-5)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-4), Command Undead(T-4), Death Bolt(T-3) , Promote Undead (T-2)


    Wraith-Wings-1


    Wraith-Armor-4


    Wraith-weapon-4


    Wraith-Soul Brand-3


    Wraith-SolarFlame-3


    <Forces>


    Wraith knights:21


    Wraiths: 10.000


    Skeletons: 30.100


    Undead captains:7


    He was quite pleased with his current numbers, though he had lost quite a few skeletons it wouldn''t be detrimental to his plans. All of his abilities had risen a tier and he would be able to use more power now that he had climbed the ranks, all of his spell work would also gain from the enhanced strength.


    Taking his eyes away from the information due to the guards finally arriving, Salem motioned for his troops to slowly head to Fort Ko, the nobles and guards followed from a distance. Once he arrived at the fort guarding the entrance to the tunnel Salem mounted the tall stone wall waiting for his audience to appear.


    Lord Renwei rode towards the wall with his retinue, Salem looked down on the foolish city lord, there were a few other older nobles with him he assumed they were the city lords competition. Smiling Salem was going to enjoy letting them know that he would not be bullied into a trade, nor would he submit to slavery. If that was on the table he would unleash a massacre on Koftas and just turn them all to wraiths.


    "What brings you to elven lands Lord Renwei?" Salem called down to the city lord.


    A noble riding next to the city lord had lines across his face, "These aren''t elven lands! How dare you claim what is ours, you filthy slave!"


    "Oh? Before your pathetic clans could even walk, this was the land of the elves so I would argue that you are on my land, but I won''t argue with you over it. This fort is the border between your lands and mine, is there anything else I can clarify for you human?" Salem called down disgust and anger clearly in his voice.


    Lord Renwei motioned for the noble to step back anger at having his authority being undermined, "Lord Belegast, we had an agreement that you would offer us aid against the undead for coin and materials, we held up our end of the bargain. Why have you declared that you would bring down the barrier protecting Koftas?" the city lord asked keeping his anger in check.


    "The contract was violated when that guard captain attempted to arrest, defame, and threaten me with slavery. When you go over the contract you will find a clause that no charges or arrests can be made towards me or those under my protection for two years, it hasn''t even been a full year since it was signed so I have canceled the agreement."


    "If there is nothing else I need to tend to my refugees, you are always welcome in Void city, however." Salem tuned and walked a few feet before stopping to look at the stunned faces of the nobles, "I almost forgot to mention, the barrier is already been lowered, you should return quickly to your posts.


    Wouldnt want anything to breach the forts, who knows what might get into the city"


    Salem left the nobles to enjoy the run all the way back to the battlefield.

 25 Meeting In The Palace part 1

    Salem rode with along the tunnel his knights keeping up with him, "Jennah, what happened out there I felt you were severely wounded and why did you bring back our kin? If I had known, I could have met you along the way with a larger force." Salem asked in a worried tone.


    Jenna took away her mask and kissed the side of his mask, "Thank you for caring about me master," she said letting out a giggle, "We had distributed news that you were on the mountain, with a city in its depths, to as many elven villages as we could. The last village we found was under siege from the undead, there were too many to destroy so I did what I thought you would do. We also let those false rumors about there being a magus coming to these lands, I hope we succeded master."


    Putting away his own mask he smiled at her, "I am just glad you made it back alive, though I''m sure you are happy to hear that your mission was very successful, the refugees have even allowed me to break terms with Koftas. That is good so that I can rename terms for the use of my obelisks, and it will be less fair of an offer then what I had given them."


    Riding along he enjoyed the scenery, it was no longer a tunnel, there were silver trees with many colors of bright leaves upon their crown, each tree had a single color which glowed in the dark. The path slowly opened into a cavern that went into deepest parts of the dark, moving along the came to a wall.


    This wall was not built, it was carved from the mountain itself, it rose to the heights of the caver where even the sharpest of eyesight would fail to see the roof. Outside of a very large stone gate was the refugees and wraiths that had been sent ahead, they watched as Salem rode past them, they had never seen an elf with such dark skin, or with a jewel embedded in their forehead.


    The gate slowly opened as he approached, looking back at the elves he turned to face them, "I welcome you to Minas Lusta mil Luna, you can refer to it as Void city in the common tongue, I am aware of saying "The void city that loves the dark" would be a little long winded.


    I am Salem Belegast, lord of this mountain and I offer you shelter in my city I would ask that after you settle into your lodgings that your leader come to see me, now any questions can wait till later please follow closely."


    Salem brought his horse around and entered the gate, he heard the crowd following him in, looking forward to the view he moved swiftly to the end of the tunnel. The outer wall was one hundred feet thick, the pure stone had runes carved into it, compressing and hardening the stone.


    Making it to the end of the tunnel Salem saw the sunlight that shone upon his mountain, the enchantment was under his control and he could always make a fake image to occupy the sky. Though he was more fond of what it looked like currently than a what had already come before.


    The warmth of the sun greeted him, in front of him lay a city with high walls a waterfall from far into the distance spilling into the cavern and filled a lake, it then swept down a river creating a small moat in front of the city. Silver trees were everywhere stretching for miles, past the wall there was a massive black tree the size of a palace, it reached all the way into the clouds.


    There were only a few other large building inside the city, the rest was still being built or grown by magic, the crowd behind him slowly spread out taking in the view of a place that shouldn''t exist inside of a mountain, it was so grand they could hardly believe it was real.


    Even Annah and Jenna stopped and took in a quick breath, looking at their new home, and it had all been made by their master. Salem looked over his handy work, with a pleased smile spreading on his face he nudged his horse forward.


    After entering the city Salem took everyone to the large tree, he designated the large buildings to his left for the refugees to use, he would set up a feast later that evening for his new guests. He walked toward the tree, now that they were closer they could see that there were a black wall and gate around the tree, but it was made of the roots of the tree.


    The wall was twenty feet high and twenty feet thick, much smaller compared to the great wall that guarded the entire lands of the Salem now owned. The gates parted at his advance sliding into the wall and ground, Salem enjoyed this scene every time he saw it, his knights followed him in with the twins having seen it before they held their chest out proudly leading the way for the others.


    Walking up to the tree the twins showed their rings to the wall, and a doorway opened for them, they explained to the others that the rings could be used as a pass to the palace. Floor one through twenty is for servants and other staff, while twenty-one to twenty-five would be for any crafting materials and work related to them.


    The remaining floors would be for inner clansmen or potential knights and apprentices, with the top two floors being for him and his personal guard. Walking into his palace Salem went to the center, there were no stairs, only platforms of silver metal.


    Standing on one of the platforms he willed it to rise to the top, moving quickly he arrived a the top of his palace where his chambers were located. Exiting the lifts and walking through another sealed doorway he entered his chambers, the room went all around the tree. It was sectioned off into different halls and chambers for his knights and guards so that they might have a home of their own.


    His knights walked in and looked around the hall, "Find your rooms, and settle in, this is our home now and no one can take it from us." Salem spoke gently to his most faithful of followers, they had chosen to follow him for their own reasons when he had no factions or power, he could only make each of them a simple promise. He would never abandon them, for they were his and he was theirs, he had made this oath to each one of them and transcribed it and their names into the rings he crafted for them.


    Each of his knights approached and gave him a kiss or a hug with sweet and caring smiles before they left to claim their rooms. Jenna, Annah, and the twins stayed with him, the twins kept the other knights busy with orders and tasks getting ready for the feast in the evening. Jennah and Annah, on the other hand, had missed their master dearly so they took a bath. Cleaning each other quickly turned to play and in turn, came to sweet and tender kisses and lovemaking.


    Though Annah had intended to let Jennah and her master have their moments alone, she had watched for a while longer than planned, Jenna had taken her hand and invited her into the bed.


    Unable to refuse this tempting offer she once again embraced her master, though this time she knew that she wanted to experience what Jennah had, all of his attention alone, and this time she got exactly what she wanted.


    As dusk approached, Salem was once again in the bath, though the twins were behaving and only wanted to be close with him he could never know when they might want just a little more, after finishing cleaning themselves he redressed in his silver robes and walked to his study. He had asked a knight to find the representative of the elf clan they had rescued, and invite them to have a discussion on what he could do for them.


    He did not have to wait very long before he could sense them coming, and once again he felt that pulling sensation. Entering his chamber he had his back to them, pouring himself some tea to hopefully calm this sensation.


    Turning around the cup in his hand hit the floor smashing into small fragments of glass.

 26 Meeting In The Palace part 2

    After his eyes landed on her it took all of Salem''s will to not move towards her, his bloodline burned in his veins to move him forward, the glass shattering helped him reclaim a moment of clarity. This girl in front of him had pale grey hair that reached nearly to the floor, it matched her pale grey eyes in shade.


    Like a dim moon that hung in the nights'' sky, she seemed desolate and alone, she moved towards him taking a slight bow, "I am Railia Curon, the high priestess of the Curon clan which your clansmensaved from annihilation, thank you for the grace of offering us aid Lord Belegast."


    Something was off, though she was elegant, it appeared she was stiff or restraining herself in some way, he motioned for the knight at the door to leave, the door closed behind her and Salem returned his gaze to the priestess. Their eyes met, longing and desire whipped through them, "You feel it too?" he asked through gritted teeth, blushing she nodded and took a few steps towards him.


    Her trembling hand touched his face, feeling his smooth skin her breathing caught as her heart started to pound quickly in her chest, her blood felt like it was on fire and the only way to put it out was the elf in front of her.


    Salem pushed his cheek into her palm and closed his eyes relishing in the sweet sensation of her touch, he felt her pushing her body against him, opening his eyes he looked down into her silvery pools that were looking back at him.


    Leaning forward their lips met and separated, they tasted each other and slowly increased their new found passion, the desire to merge growing with every touch Salem could take no more of the heat and desire consuming his mind.


    Ripping at each other''s clothes to get closer to one another, anything that got stuck or a hassle was ripped away by brute strength. Finally, both of them had stripped each other bare and they stared at one another for a brief moment before she turned around and bent over on hand and knees.


    He mounted her straight away, they were long past reason and their instincts to mate had overtaken them both. Pushing into her it was an extremely tight fit, pushing harder he broke past a barrier of flesh, a small shout of pain came and small drops of blood coated him and landed on the floor.


    He began thrusting and she backed toward him disregarding any pain she had felt before, soon each of them was smiling, grunting, and moaning trying to reach that final step when they could be free of the fire in their veins. They had lost their sense of time, Railia turned her head back she felt a tongue enter her mouth and moaned, a blue pearl sliding down her throat as she enjoyed his taste.


    Feeling a spiritual bond erupt between them they both climaxed, she was spun around slowly and received another passionate kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck they sat together as she slowly transformed into a void elf.


    Long white hair draped down her back and over her shoulders, contrasting against her now dark skin, the whites of her eyes had turned black while the iris had turned bright white. Like a bright moon in the void casting its cold light for all to see.


    "Well master Salem, this was unexpected, your beast bloodline has taken more of a forward stance in your bloodline traits than earlier speculated. It had determined itself imperfect, upon finding a piece that would bring itself balance it aggravated you and used your alure ability to seduce her bloodline bringing you a new ability and strength to your physical being.


    The rest of your clansmen will enjoy these as well, though, to a lesser degree, you will all have the same features in your clans case the sclera, or whites of the eyes seemed to have turned completely black while the iris of your eyes glows brightly."


    Listening to the system''s announcement, Salem was conflicted over his bloodline having enough control of him to force this situation, though he was glad that he had gained an ability and he along with his clansmen would be stronger, wait what did it say about his eyes?


    The rest of your clansmen will enjoy these as well, though, to a lesser degree, you will all have the same features in your clans case the sclera, or whites of the eyes seemed to have turned completely black while the iris of your eyes glows brightly."


    Quickly willing the systems mirror function to appear he looked in shock and fascination at his glowing green iris on a field of darkness. This change was not very drastic compared to the girl who was still clinging to his chest, she had changed from a fair skinned elf maiden into a dark skinned to a Void elf.


    He could feel the bond between them, she had submitted willingly to the brand during their carnal lust and now it seemed she was once again in control of herself, there was no anger on her face only a smile. Peaking up at him she spoke in a quiet voice, "For the last three hundred years I have been the high priestess of the Curon clan, I wasn''t allowed to speak with any man directly or touch them.


    I had to cut off all desire for the flesh and companionship, only allowed to send messages through maidens and letters per the rules of the clan I was stuck in a tower as an immortal sacrifice to the moon," tears welled in the woman''s eyes. "Most of the elders died when the undead came upon our village, setting me free from the confines of that tower, I am the eldest surviving member of the clan and have claimed leadership of them.


    Though there are some who will challenge me for that right soon, I want to thank you for this wonderful evening if I''m not killed for breaking the rules of the clan by having my purity taken they will put me back into the tower," lowering her head she whispered something he did not expect.


    "Save me?"


    He only heard a part of the whisper but he understood her plea, she neither wished for death or slavery to an old custom that had far outlived its use. He grabbed her by her waist and moved her to his lips, kissing her passionately, breaking from the kiss he stared into her white eyes.


    "You are mine now, as the leader of your people just tell them by the old rights your people owed an unpayable debt, you have sworn your clan to mine and they will join under my bloodline."


    Looking back into his eyes she knew he meant it, the resolve he showed towards her and her pleas for mercy from her fate made tears appear in her eyes. She leaned forward and nodded in agreement kissing him again. Breaking the kiss she sat up from his chest, she found herself straddling him, she blushed once more and spoke in a quiet voice, "Can we do it again?"


    She could feel his hardness suddenly rise from beneath her and knew the answer was a yes. Moans and cries of pleasure could be heard if one was standing right next to the doorway that had been sealed.


    There were four knights standing next to this doorway, listening in on the conversation and everything else that had transpired within, looking at one another with a similar glint in each other''s eyes they came to a silent agreement, they would also need to talk to this new sister of theirs once their master was finished comforting her.

 27 A Step Back

    Walking out from the study Railia held onto his arm wearing a spare robe he had given her, clinging to him as if he might disappear should she let go. Salem noticed the odd glance his knights shared before Jennah stepped in front of him, "Master may I speak with you privately?" raising an eyebrow at the strange behavior she was showing he thought it could be something had happened.


    "Of course, Annah would you please show Railia to the baths to get freshened up? Right, this way Jennah." moving back into the office. Jennah followed behind him, noticing the tattered clothes on the floor she smirked, seeing her master sit, she sat in his lap wrapping her arms around his neck.


    "Master, me and a few of the other personal guard would like it if you wouldn''t change any more knights, we want to train them ourselves. We feel special being so few of a race to be turned by you personally but if you continue doing it then it will cheapen our worth," she looked into his glowing green eyes and saw understanding and compassion.


    Salem kissed her gently, holding her by the waist, breaking away from the sweet moment he looked back into her eyes, "I understand, though this was not a planned incident, our bloodlines demanded the merger. Look at your eyes and you will see something interesting," he smirked, picking her up he took her to a mirror on the wall.


    Looking into it was her silver eyes glowing brightly, like stars far off in the void of the blackened sky, she gasped at the sight. Realizing something she looked back to her masters'' eyes, she now noticed his emerald eyes were starting to blaze, "You only now noticed? Well that''s alright, everyone in the clan will start changing soon the iris will glow and the sclera will turn black it will be a signature of our clan, separating us from any other clan."


    Nodding her head slowly she kissed him and left to check on the new knight before the twins try and corrupt her.


    Watching Jennah leave his office he admired the view of her back moving side too side,shaking his head he called for servants to clean the study while preparing orders for his soldiers to be on the lookout for any wildlife in the mines and tunnels.


    He also needed to have his undead remade into wraiths, his upper undead captains needed to be turned as well though he was unsure of the difficulty for an upper undead, meaning it was possible that might accidentally destroy his captains.


    Putting that thought aside, he tossed a small black tree onto the floor, small roots appeared and dragged it down and absorbed it into the main structure of the palace. After the obelisk had been fully absorbed he started to summon the skeletons to the palace and started to replace them with the wraiths.


    He became more practiced with his spellwork as he repeatedly changed thousands of skeletons until the spell easily flowed from him, he had finally mastered this spell after thousands of attempts and he could transform hundreds at a time now.


    He now had seven undead that stood before him, these were the undead captains he had conquered on the battlefield, he did not want to lose them but an attempt needed to be made so he would know if it was possible to change them now or if he needed to wait.


    Picking one of the warriors he gave it his full concentration when he began using the ability and spell framework to remake this creature. All went well, until the at the last moment before it was complete he relaxed and the captain burst into bone dust. Salem watched as all his hard work for a new wraith had been destroyed by just a moment of carelessness.


    It had not been as difficult as he had expected, but he would have to slowly change them one at a time one mistake is all it would take to waste these warriors. He began again on another warrior and failed when a drop of sweat landed in his eye breaking his concentration.


    He shouted in frustration when the second wraith covered him in bone dust, taking a few minutes he drank some of his special tea to help him relax, he was able to change the third undead and so he continued with a break between each captain from then on.


    He had two failures and five successes which he could count as acceptable losses, these captains had intelligence and could report to him in raspy voices making them capable of giving commands, unlike his standard troops who could only understand, obey and fight as ordered.


    Looking up he saw the sun had set not long ago, the feast would be starting and he would need to announce the merger of the clans. He was not looking forward to changing so many adult male elves, he would need a drop of marrow to change ten adult males.


    Females, on the other hand, would only need to place his seed inside them which he would leave that task to Railia to give them the blue pearl inside of them. He could have them swallow it and see if that would work instead of the method he had used on his own knights, but this would take time and he would need his knights to assist him in collecting both ingredients for the pills.


    He quickly washed off in the baths, donning black and green robes, he went to look for Railia and the rest of the personal guards. He found them all in a practice room having a spar it seemed, going further in he noticed a crowd, in the center of the crowd, was the twins who had light wounds while their opponent was Railia who had a slightly worse wound.


    Blood had gathered on their lips and a small puddle of it had been left on the ground, indicating it wasn''t a friendly match, Jennah was at the side trying to get them to stand down though not very successfully.


    Anger. They were family now, there was no reason to injure each other no matter what the argument was about. He unleashed his tails, and cracked one against the ground like a whip, at the loud crack in the air all the knights turned to see their master, anger on his face.


    This had never happened, he was always happy and smiling with them, they stared down at their feet like naughty children caught red-handed. "What are you all doing?" no answer came from the crowd. "Jennah, would you care to enlighten me as to what is going on?" he spoke through gritted teeth, he was livid, his knights refused to answer his questions.


    Jennah could feel her masters anger, bowing her head she refused to answer his call, the raw energy at his fingertips started to bend the world slightly around him. She had forgotten in her absence he was training in the arcane more than his martial studies. He was a being of magic and he could bend the world at his will, the more he learned and trained the more control he had.


    He was still young, his emotions influenced his powers when they ran high, the room had grown cold, frost started gathering at his feet while his eyes began to blaze while the shadows gathered around him.


    "Well since none of you have anything to say, it seems that you do not care that your master just asked you a question."


    "Kneel."


    The command was soft and gentle and it grabbed them all by the throat and choked them into submission. "You all have sworn an oath, I suppose half of you ventured away for half a year making it seem that we did nothing while you were away. While your sisters who stayed worked to gather troops and build a home for you to return to, they protected your kin and apprentices so I would hope that you could bond over such hard work and dedication to one another."


    The knights glanced at each other, feeling warmth in their hearts for having such a family, and shame for letting this incident happen.


    Walking through his kneeling knights he stepped past them entering the crowds center where even the Twins, Jennah, Annah, and Railia were kneeling. "You are all family, my family, and you can argue, you can even compete with each other but if you willingly hurt your family again, I will not be lenient in your punishment.


    "As for you five, he said staring at the five girls who had sworn their lives to him, I am disappointed." The Twins had tears in their eyes, Annah''s face was red, while Railia kneeled in shock. Jennah knelt at his feet, under the pressure he put on them they were no longer able to speak, she wished she had just answered such an easy question.


    After he finished talking, he could feel his anger was still high so he used his teleport ability to flash away, leaving the girls alone on the practice ring. He appeared in the hall and swiftly made his way to his study, sitting in his chair he stared into the fire that was in the hearth, he picked up a small silver flask he had in his desk and drank the sweet liquor inside.


    This magical brew was a recent creation that he had planned to sell to the humans, it was nearly addictive to them, for him, it refreshed and eased his mind like a cold wave rushing over the flames in his heart.


    Sitting in his chair he felt the five arrive outside his study, he opened the doorway with his mind, he had made it impossible for anyone else to enter without his permission. "Railia there is the plan for this evening on the table, read it and prepare yourself.


    "Master I want to-"


    Salem glared at Jennah who was trying to speak, "You, of all people, refused to answer me. Do not think that just because I am new to the world that I enjoy being treated as a child, I am well aware my emotions get the best of me especially when it comes to all of you.


    You showed me very little respect in front of all of your peers, and I''m unsure as to why you think it was acceptable to behave this way, I rely on you and the rest of my personal guard to protect and advise me in times of war, to lead my troops and protect our kin.


    This matter will end, there is no excuse for fighting amongst each other, the punishment will be one thousand years of imprisonment or you can suffer banishment in a world that thinks elves should be beasts of burden and slaves, let the rest of your sisters know it. I will be down in an hour, I need to prepare the ingredients for the ceremony.


    Annah I will need your help, the rest of you are dismissed.

 28 The Feas

    Annah was still blushing from helping her master gather the ingredients for the pearls that would be given to the female elves, she closed and opened her hand remembering the warmth and excitement she got from help, it didn''t seem her master was as angry with her as she had initially thought.


    This made her glad, but she wondered why he wasn''t angry, it seemed after the others left he looked more sad than angry. His anger in the practice arena had been very real, she could feel it through her bond but now it was as if that anger had been washed away. She watched as he had drifted off in his own thoughts, she latched onto him, gently cuddling into his arms.


    Without the anger fueling him it only sadness he felt, his knights thought so little of him due to their age difference that he couldn''t handle their dispute, he felt uncomfortable in his own skin thinking that it was only the age of his body that was young, he had the memories of that soul he devoured, he just wasn''t used to being alive. Everything influenced you when you can breathe and feel for those that get close to you, as a ring he wouldn''t have needed to know why he was doing anything.


    Now he had his own soul, he could think and act freely, he had a body that enjoyed everything he did. The only drawback was the emotions, sometimes they felt great and other times they were too strong and negative that he just wanted to scream and break something, which made him feel worse because he knew that behavior was childish.


    He shook himself free from these distracting thoughts, noticing someone was holding onto him, he bent over and kissed the top of her head. "Alright Annah, I''m going start the next step so I''m going to need you to hold this needle here on my pelvic bone and just let the enchantment do its work."


    He pulled out a long needle with a container on one end with a very sharp point on the other, the needle was hollow and she wondered what it was supposed to do, "Annah just don''t make any movements when it begins or it is going to hurt a lot more than I would like it to."


    Taking off his shirt, he stepped up to the desk and cleared away everything on its top, laying face down he readied himself, he felt Annah place the needle against him. He took in a quick breath before the needle extended so fast it was already penetrating his bone before he clenched his teeth and groaned.


    Annah didn''t dare move even though her master was in pain, she was shocked that her master wanted to go through something so painful for strangers.


    The procedure continued until the last drop was extracted and stored, the needle retracted from Salem''s hip, making him release his breath and tensed muscles. He took a few minutes to recover himself and start healing his body, he stood from the desk and his head swam.


    Annah moved to him and steadied him, once the dizziness wore off he redressed himself with Annah''s help. They met with the other knights at the entrance to the palace, they had downcast expressions and slightly drooping shoulders, the Twins had reddened eyes from crying and Railia and Jennah were comforting them.


    "Alright that''s enough moping about, you all know that what happened wasn''t your fault, emotions aren''t easy for any of us. That includes me as well, I am sorry I lost my temper and shouted at you all, will you all forgive me for being heavy-handed?"


    Each knight saw his sincerity and walked over to him, they each whispered something private into his ear, though most were similar in nature some were rather unique by asking him for a private meeting with him after the feast was over. Whispering back that he would make time to visit each of them once his tasks were completed, smiles and blushing faces walked away in happiness.


    Jennah stole a long and deep kiss, which received excited shouts from the other knights, what he whispered to her set her face red but with her eyes shining with excitement. The Twins approached and stood still in front of him glancing at him with worried looks, he took them both into a hug and just held them, he could feel their shivering and knew they were worried he was still upset with them. They soon began to cry and then hung upon him whispering how it was them who threw the first punch and began the fight, he whispered into their ears, telling them it was ok and they need not worry over it any longer.


    After the twins calmed down they took their usual positions directly behind him. Annah had already known his anger had faded and he was just upset at their behavior, so when she reached him, she gave him a kiss and stood with Jennah.


    Railia was the last one remaining and she blushed knowing it was supposed to be her turn, slowly she walked up to the man who would protect her from now on. She was lost and didn''t know what to say, she was about to say sorry when a pair of soft lips embraced her own robbing her of the breath in her lungs, she grabbed onto him as if she wouldn''t ever let go.


    When she ran out of breath, she finally broke the kiss and took in a breath. She heard chuckling from him so she hid her face against his chest.


    Stroking her hair Salem spoke softly into her ear, " Are you ready to merge our clans? Don''t worry I will be right beside you, they won''t ever be able to lock you up again. I promise."


    She held onto him, leading her from the palace to the feast, they arrived at the feast area and mounted the stage where they would be eating and making the announcement. There were elves everywhere getting comfortable and mingling with each other, discussing the events of the past few weeks, they finally had a chance to relax and feel safe once again.


    After everyone had arrived and got settled Salem stood before them with Railia clinging to his arm, "Good evening, I am glad to see so many of you enjoying yourselves, I and your high priestess have come to terms regarding your clans'' fate. We will be merging the clans, I will adopt your clan into mine if you have any questions regarding such an agreement you may ask. I will remind you however that this is my city, you will show me the proper respect."


    A young elf stood and looked at Salem with a conflicted look of irritation he spoke, "Lord Belegast, why should our ancient clan be adopted into your small new clan? Shouldn''t you be willing to join with our heritage?" the elf had failed in keeping his arrogant tone under control.


    Salem smiled and replied to the question, "That is an excellent question, its because my clan and its bloodline are strong, while yours is dying. Your primogenitor is dead, you have lost the one being that would grant you near immortal lives. Myself, on the other hand, am very much alive and my clan will not fall to unless I do."


    The young elf frowned, connecting the dots his jaw fell open with shock left in his eyes, along with many other elves who had not expected such news. A Primogenitor had been born and walked the earth once more.


    "So you see, this would be the second time that my clan saves your clan, if you don''t believe me just look at Railia, I absorbed your bloodline from her and integrated it with my own. Now if you don''t want to become an immediate inner clansman that is fine but this is a one time offer, though all children under ten will become inner clansmen at the behest of their parents."


    "Oh and any orphans among the children will be sent to the palace, without question, this is the law within my territory. The servants will be coming around to each of you, eat the pill and endure a little pain."


    The servants started moving about the tables, some took the pill some argues with one another, by the time the servants had passed around hundreds of pills a good half had taken them, while the lesser half who had not taken them moved away from the others to stand with their fellow believers.


    He watched as the transformation took place, he used his bloodline to guide theirs on the path to completion, it took two hours from ingestion to completion but his clansmen had increased by several hundred members.


    He looked at them as they were getting used to the changes of there new bodies and senses, his bloodline was unique and very powerful, he was curious how many of them would ask for their children to be turned in the coming days. Realizing between his knights and the children who would drain him of blood, it was going to be an exhausting week.

 29 The Children

    Sitting on his bed, Salem finally had a chance to rest. After comforting the knights, turning the children, while healing from the blood marrow procedure this past two weeks had been excruciatingly busy.


    Most of the children were turned even some of the parents who had decided to not to embrace the change had brought them to the palace. There were also the orphans of those who had perished fighting the undead, there were about a hundred who had lost either parents or guardians in the attacks and so they were adopted into directly into his house.


    He suspected there were more orphans amongst the elves, there were several hundred children that had arrived while there were just over a thousand adults. Unless most of the elves that came here were very lustful people it would appear that someone is going against him. He currently had his scouts watching for whoever was hiding the children from him and he would make an extreme example of this person who broke the law.


    Waking up with a start, Salem looked about the room, he must have fallen asleep while planning his next step. He could sense the twins nearby watching over him while he took a nap, getting up from his comfortable bed he walked out of the bedroom to see the twins talking with their apprentices.


    Before they could react, he reached them and gave them each a hug and a kiss, making the children giggle at their respected masters."I will be going to my study, please come keep me company and bring the apprentices so you can keep teaching them, they have a lot to learn from such great teachers," he winked at the kids, gaining another round of laughter.


    The Twins smiled at the teasing and followed him to his study, they motioned for their students to follow them, moving quickly they caught up to Salem. He walked along the corridor until he reached his study surprisingly he found Railia outside of it. He stepped forward and opened the door for them all, while Railia walked over to him and clung to him.


    Laughing in his mind, Salem couldn''t believe she was three hundred years old, she seemed to have a mixed personality of a leader and a young girl who had never gotten her first love. He hugged her and gave her a kiss, he led her into his study while the twins taught there apprentices battle tactics and taught them elvish with the help of the system.


    Once they could speak it, they would start learning magic, the knights themselves were learning magic from a simplified version of the system through him. Though it would take them longer to learn, they would be able to pass on the knowledge to their apprentices and gain the respect they deserved for being masters in their crafts.


    Grabbing a list of reports that had been brought by one of the knights, he looked over the results of his search for local wild, the reports showed rats, various birds, a few deer had managed to sneak into the forest which made him smile that life was coming to his lands.


    There were herbivores and predators abound in his lands and each one had pros and cons to selecting one as the mount he and his kin would use. He had originally thought to choose either the deer or one of the predators but there was one that had been on the bottom of the list. It was a centipede about the height of a horse and being twice as long.


    It was currently being held by a wraith captain and he was unsure of what to do with it, once the order for wildlife came it was sent back with the centipede and would be arriving in a few hours. He was curious if the centipede could be tamed and ridden.


    A question he asked the system, which he was told it was possible but he was going to need to use the remaining marrow and seed pills left over from the feast for it to receive his bloodline as the bonding agent. Then the system would act through his bloodline to remake the centipedes'' bloodline and plot out a new path of evolution for it and any of its spawn.


    The only issue was that he would need to be in physical contact with the beast while the system did its work, which wouldn''t be a problem except it was extremely poisonous, and that factor had drawn him into wanting it. It would be fast, armored, and lethal and with the system designing its future it would become a mount worthy of him and his knights.


    Smiling he looked over at the girl who had moved her chair right next to his, Railia was shoulder to shoulder with him. She was playing with the ring he made her, turning it and taking it off to inspect it and the runes etched into it, always with a cute smile on her face.


    A raven with green eyes watched what appeared to be a couple, but they had several children of the same age with them as they moved about the buildings until they reached a newly built one that had yet to be furnished due to the breakdown between Koftas and Void city. The man and woman walked to the door where a female elder of the Curon tribe stood waiting, the couple bowed and moved the children into the house and left a few minutes later without the children.


    They didn''t notice the rats that were keeping an eye on them, they were followed all over the city leading the furry menace to several safe houses where children who had not been reported as orphans were huddled into groups.


    "Found you," Salem said aloud, standing up he summoned the remaining knights to gather some troops, he then drew pictures of the culprits and their current locations, once the guards arrived he handed out the pictures and any info he had on them, courtesy of Railia.


    "You have your orders, find and arrest these individuals, and bring those children home," Salem looked upon the twelve knights in front of him, they matched his gaze before nodding in confirmation. They donned their masks and armor and left, each taking two hundred wraiths as their forces, any more and it would draw too much attention.


    These elves must think so very little of me to directly challenge the law of their benefactor and city lord. Sitting at his desk watching the twins and secretly teasing Railia under her robes he wondered to himself what would the best punishment be for these outlaws.

 30 The Law

    Standing on a balcony overlooking the city, Salem watched his knights with not only his eyes but with those of his scouts. He had reinforcements ready to be deployed should there be any unexpected trouble.


    The first house was surrounded silently, the knight took fifty guards to the door and knocked loudly, and it was answered by the female elder described in the papers given to her by her master. The elder who opened the door stopped moving once she saw it was a knight, her face paled seeing the troops that had arrived she came back to her self when she noticed the knight started talking.


    "You are hereby charged with kidnapping and have been summoned to the palace, take her." the wraiths grabbed the elder before she knew what was happening and held her firmly before dragging her away from the house, the knight moved into the house where she saw the children.


    They were huddled together, they were still in the clothes they had been wearing when they first arrived at the city which made the knight wish that elder had fought back so she could beat her half to death. Moving forward, she took away her mask revealing her pretty face and smile, she coaxed the children out of the house and made their way to the palace.


    Similar scenes happened at each of the safe houses, only a few of the culprits ran or fought back but in the end, they were all captured and brought back to the palace, there would be no trial. He did not need any evidence, though he had that in spades with the children being found without any parents.


    The other elders and adults of the old Curon clan were summoned to the sentencing to show them exactly what it means to break a law he had personally warned them of. They arrived quickly enough once they heard it was going to likely be an execution due to the hostility and nature of the crime.


    Salem watched them arrive as he stood on the walls with the criminals, the children were next to the gate showing that there had been over two hundred other elven children that were hidden from the palace. He looked at all the young elves and knew he needed more servants to watch over and teach them, so many orphans in this cruel world and hardly anyone cared for their treatment or how bright they would shine in the future.


    All they needed was a family who cared about them, and a place where they could grow and learn. His knights wouldn''t be able to take in all of them as apprentices, with all of their duties having too many to teach at once would hinder them. He himself was thinking of taking on a few apprentices himself, other than the twins, he had magical knowledge even the knights had yet to even touch and it would be a waste if he didn''t pass it on to the next generation.


    This was a problem for later however, he had already seen the report that both Idos and Koftas had sent ambassadors to the forts and would arrive late in the evening, and at this moment he needed access to their populations and many other resources, food stores had been completed and filled long before he had moved in to the city, though it could maybe last them two years without rationing.


    His mines that he had excavated would be able to supply all three cities and still have enough to store for later, food could be grown but he had no fields or farmers to take care of the crops, animals could be raised as well but he needed men and women to look after them just like the farms he was lacking in labor.


    The undead can fill the mines, but they would never be able to care for plants and animals.


    Seeing the last elder arrive and his troops in position, he motioned for the knights to move the children into the palace, showing them to all of the Curon elders and the rest of his new clansmen.


    Turning to the criminals Salem spoke loudly for all to hear, "I specifically told you, all orphans in the land are mine, they are adopted directly into my family.


    By taking and hiding them from me, you have shown ill will towards my family, your punishment would normally have been banishment since no one died due to your stupidity. Unfortunately, you are the first to commit such heavy a crime in my city."


    He spread his wings and unleashed his tails, looking like a dark god had descended upon the earth, he thrust his tails into their stomachs. Shouts of pain came from the criminals while shock spread through those watching from below, he had not killed them outright due to the system telling him that these souls could increase his power through absorption.


    They had lived longer than most of the elves here including one who was near a thousand years in age which would be a great boon to him and his own recovering soul. They screamed as he began to draw out their souls one after another, this was a very large meal but it was definitely worth gorging himself. The last elf to fall was the eldest, who had put up quite the resistance if he hadn''t just been wounded he might have stood a chance, but that wasn''t the case and his body slumped to the ground with a dull thud.


    The crowd was deathly silent until an elder stepped forward with his hands shaking from shock before he could even ask Salem sent a blast of flame at the elders'' feet. "Shut up, I do not remember giving you permission to speak," he glared at the frightened elder as the fight left his eyes. "I am very sure that law was very straightforward, either you thought I was stupid, or were plotting against me from the beginning. I have no issue with killing those who have ill intent towards my family."


    Taking a deep breath to steady his emotions he spoke to the crowd, "This is what happens when you plot against my clan. I understand if you don''t want to join my family, but in my city attacking them without reason is going to be a mistake that you can''t recover from, the next time this happens the ones you love most will take your spot on the executioners'' block, you are all dismissed."


    Tuning his back on the crowd, Salem pulled the dead bodies of the elves to towards him. They would be a good meal for the giant centipede, he thought, a cold smile creeping onto his face.

 31 I Hate Mandibles

    The crowd slowly dispersed, whispers of the days'' events would be passed on to anyone who had not come to the execution. Salem held the bodies behind him, they would soon begin to stink from voiding their bowels once the major organs began to fail, he walked quickly towards the animal pens and stables.


    He had the cage placed away from the horses and other beasts, there was no point in frightening them and creating a fuss for the servants who would have to keep them calm so as not to injure themselves.


    He moved past the barn and into an open field, the cage at its center shook and rattled, it was definitely not pleased with its current treatment. Approaching the cage, Salem saw the massive centipede within writing and slamming into the metal bars, bite marks had bitten through some of the thick iron bars.


    Impressed with his chosen mount, he looked upon its massive body covered in a thick black carapace that would easily withstand blows from his knights, its mandibles looked strong enough to bite at the bars for days without breaking. He noticed the dark liquid that coated the bite marked bars, taking one of his tails he wiped a little away and asked the system if it was poisonous.


    The response the system gave was that there were two poisons on the bar, one was a slow-acting lethal poison while the other was neuro toxin that would paralyze the victim, but it suspected that the neurotoxin was produced in very small amounts, it was extremely potent but there was very little of it near the bite marks.


    Though the system would do what it could to make the neurotoxin stronger and produce more at a time, it would be after it had evolved once or twice before a noticeable change started occurring in its production, but the strength of it should increase gradually.


    Hearing this wonderful news Salem was excited to begin, he chucked a body into the cage, he had placed a few blue pearls inside the elder''s body so that the centipede would grow accustomed to the bloodline gradually.


    The body landed near the side of the cage, just enough room to be pulled through if you got too close, seeing the prey the centipede caught hold of the dying body and pulled it through the bars.


    The bones broke with the rough treatment until it was ripped into pieces and devoured quickly, it seemed this beast craved flesh, he hadn''t expected it to finish its first meal so soon.


    Throwing more bodies to the hungry beast, Salem watched as it devoured each one until he only had the body of that very old elder left, he cut open the body and stuffed it full of the remaining pearls. Tossing the last body to the beast he watched as it slowly devoured this last remaining meal, it was getting full and seemed a bit sluggish from eating so many nutritious meals in a row.


    It finished the last meal and curled up on itself, making it near impervious with its carapace facing outwards. Salem moved forwards, summoning his armor and keeping his tails at the ready he moved to the bars of the cage, taking a deep breath he unlatched the door slowly, once it was open he moved silently forward till he could feel the heavy breathing of the creature.


    Its breath so sickly sweet smelling it was no wonder it had gotten so large, able to attract other prey with such a smell, they would fall right into its jaws before they knew what had happened. He could feel the heart beating slowly, he reached his hand forward, his guard on high he let his tails encircle the centipede.


    Prepared he placed his hand on the carapace, feeling a slight shudder from it he nearly jumped back, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he began to chant and activated his bloodline. He felt the reaction to all the pearls placed in its body, they burst open and began to spread, like an invading force, a battle waged against the centipedes'' natural defenses.


    <System Activated>


    Analyzing the foreign creature. Estimated time of completion: Five minutes.


    After the system began, the beast awoke, before it could thrash about Salem bound it with his tails keeping it as still as possible. The beast, however, would not just give up it started to move its legs and spitting out a cloud of poison to deter whatever was attacking it. Holding his breath Salem conjured his green flames around his face, burning the poison before it reached his orifices.


    Shreiking in anger the beast pushed against the tails, Salem grabbed onto the carapace harder to steady himself. This was a mistake, it found his location through the pressure of his hands and started to push him against the bars of the cage trying to crush him under its massive weight.


    Moving a few tails from the coiled body to the bars, lessening the pressure on his body and onto the bars giving him some relief. The beast finally freed its head from its coiled massive body and lunged towards him, two wings appeared and block the blow, shoving him hard against the bars. The air in his lungs fled his body, the unexpected blow dizzying him for a second while he gasped for air.


    Coughing and trying to refill his lungs he heard the system count down telling him he only needed just a few more seconds till the connection would be complete. He gritted his teeth and prepared to grab ahold of it again. He felt the chill again.


    The head of the beast lurked above him and prepared to strike again, feeling a chill on his spine Salem pulled his remaining tails away from the beast and made a quick net around himself. He felt a massive pressure slam onto him making him lose contact with the carapace, he rolled over, seeing the mandibles of the beast coming towards his face.

 32 Peace Treaty

    Salem kicked against the carapace, sliding away from the beast, yet not quick enough as it bit into his side. The sudden pain and the jarring stop made him scream aloud.


    "Fuck you!"


    He wrapped his tails around the beasts long head and punched it in one of its eyes, the pain made the beast released him just enough for him to come away from the bite. He put his hands against the head of the beast regaining the connection, the beast slammed him into the bars and floor of the cage.


    Bones cracked, the roars of elf and beast came from the cage, "Submit!" metal hit carapace while mandibles cut into his flesh. Salem kept one hand on the beast while the other slammed repeatedly against the plates of armor near the beasts face.


    <Analysis complete!>


    Beginning the bonding process.


    Bonding complete.


    Beginning bloodline restructuring. Estimated time till completion: forty-eight hours.


    <Anomaly detected!>


    "Master Salem, this centipede was just a week shy of laying eggs, the count of eggs will number in the hundreds and will require a massive amount of food, primarily meat. Maturation of the eggs will only take an additional three weeks after being lain, it can be sped up or even slowed down with tweaking the bloodline but I would need to make the change now."


    Thinking on it briefly Salem chose to speed up the process, he would be meeting with the ambassadors that evening which he could add more livestock in the contracts he would hand to them for review.


    Falling over, Salem was still bleeding and had been poisoned by the bite of the centipede, he summoned his knights and pulled out two flasks. One was for healing his wounds and stopping the poison, which he drank in seconds, while the other was his wine flask which he sipped on until his knights arrived on horseback.


    Jennah, Annah, the Twins arrived quickly but it was Railia who jumped off her horse, with the grace of a long-lived elf she landed close to the cage and ran inside, she paid no attention to centipede. Arriving in front of him she placed her hands over the wound on his side and began chanting, pulling herbs and bandaged from her ring she administered to him quickly yet smooth like water.


    Salem let out a small moan when the pain disappeared, looking at the woman who had cleaned his wound and was healing him he felt warm knowing she cared this much for him. The other knights crowded around, watching as she worked while they tried to comfort him.


    The other knights put together a stretcher and lifted him on it, and moved him out of the cage, his centipede followed him out and lay beside him while they waited for a carriage for him, checking his wounds, he had a broken leg and fractured ribs.


    He also couldn''t feel his right hand from when he punched the face plates of his new mount, healing all this wouldn''t take too long with magic. He could heal himself with the herb baths as well which at this moment sounded like heaven, they reset his leg in the field, making him yell aloud.


    Removing his gauntlet he saw his swollen hand, it may not be broken, but it was bruised and fractured along his knuckles. He closed his eye, and whispered to Jennah to prepare an underground warren for the mounts, he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.


    Waking up in his bed Salem didn''t move, he could still feel the pain from his wounds and preferred not to aggravate them, lest he has to remain in bed longer. Through a window, he watched the sunrise, he had slept through the meeting with the ambassadors he thought. His mind still sluggish from the blood loss, he started to look around the room he saw the five girls all talking to each other while the rest of the room was empty.


    He cleared his throat to gain their attention, though his first attempt was only a squeak, he blushed and tried again. Thankfully his skin was dark and it would be difficult to see, they all turned when they heard him, seeing him smiling at them they quickly came to his side.


    "I am alright, now tell me where are the ambassadors, I also would like to be moved to my study after a hot bath."


    Following his command, the girls smiled and stripped him bare causing him to blush at being handled in such a way. They were gentle with him, they washed his body and fed him, they re-wrapped his bandages and carried him to his study.


    They sat him in his chair, he was dressed in clean white robes and was preparing the contracts for the ambassadors while his knights sat around him speaking to their apprentices.


    Reminding him he needed to set things in place for the children to learn, and not just about war but what it took to become anything they wished.


    Not all the children would be suitable for killing or leading troops, some would have sharp minds of business or scholarly minds to teach and guide others in the future, he would set up a grand academy for all children in his city.


    They could be taught and trained in both mind and body and once they were mature enough, they would decide if they wished to join the school of War or the school of Wisdom.


    He began drafting his plan, consulting with his knights and the system about what should be taught before and after their choosing day, the age for choosing would be sixteen marking them for adulthood among the human race.


    A knight walked into the study, two middle-aged men followed her in, she introduced the men as the ambassadors as Forsa of Koftas, and Dalen of Idos. They bowed slightly and spoke at the same time, "Greeting Lord Belegast, we come in search of an audience in the name of peace and fair trade between our three cities."


    Salem smiled at the warm greeting, these two seemed sincere and untainted by greed or lust for power, which he thought strange but maybe that is why they were sent. They were probably both members of the human race that believed and thought of the good of all and not of their own houses.


    "Welcome, both of you please sit and enjoy some refreshments." he motioned them to sit opposite of his own chair and with their own smiles they took the seats while a servant poured them all tea.


    Salem waited a moment before tasting this sweet beverage, he nodded his approval to the servant who curtsied and left to stand in the hall should they require anything else.


    They took their time with the tea enjoying watching the knights teaching the children, Salem cleared his throat and pushed the contracts over to the ambassadors, "Now on to business, I am sure we all can agree that until the undead have been defeated or pushed back, there should be no war or other forms of sabotage between us for at least the next fifty years, that includes myself in the agreement."


    "Agreed." both ambassadors accented to the first term.


    "Excellent!" Salem smiled at them both, "there are details in the contract you will need to take to your city lords, like the enslavement laws will not pertain to anyone under my charge, any and all elves have a right to seek asylum in my city and will not be barred entry. Such things will not be tolerated any longer on this mountain or I will start enslaving the humans to work in the mines for the very short lives that you do have."


    Salem had gone from a smile to a stern frown in the blink of an eye, both of the ambassadors nodded and agreed to take this to their lords once the contracts had been refined to the best conditions for all parties.


    They moved on to other not so awkward topics, food, and medicine likewise with weapons and armor. Enchantments like before would be requested and required a high price only the old noble houses could afford, everything went well for all sides until it came time for the main event.


    The obelisks.


    The trees that held the minor undead at bay, and protecting the cities gates from being overrun by the hordes once the undead commanders had their fill of trial and error.


    Reading over the terms of the contract, Dalen and Forsa froze when they saw the price for the trees that could save thousands of lives. The materials could be gathered, the gold compensation for the creation was not a big deal, Dalen had heard the condition for the orphans from Forsa yesterday when the first meeting was canceled.


    The last condition was the harshest, all elves were to be set free if any of the elves had been harmed, killed, or moved out of the cities during the talks of this contract they would only be able to use the obelisks purchased for one week a month before he turned off their effects.


    This would be a large issue, but there was another half to the condition, for every elf that died in slavery in the last two hundred years, would require a ten thousand gold fine, and if a noble house did not turn over the records of the slaves they owned in that time frame or records went missing.


    They would be massacred and a fine of three hundred thousand gold would be required to reactivate the obelisks after the eradication of that family.


    Looking at the two men who had gone from smiles to fear he decided to help them, not all humans were evil after all.


    "Now I''m aware of what will happen if the obelisks are shut down for a long time, your defenses will crumble and your cities will fall, what is a little gold for the lives of all of your citizens. I am aware your city lords will not want to pay, and may even try to use force against me, but that would be a problem for all of us."


    You wouldn''t be able to penetrate the outer forts for the next five years, another ten years for the Mountain gate. If you managed to get past that you would need to siege elves in their own forests after you make it past there, would be the city. Now, this is still assuming you are all alive because I doubt the undead are going to wait fifteen years for you to finally reach my city before they have had their fun with you.


    I would urge you to tell your city lords of this, I can wait you out, but you don''t have the luxury of time on your side."

 33 Shadow Realm part 1

    The ambassadors left with an escort and rode directly to the forts where their city lords would hear about any terms that would need to be approved of, what they didn''t know was their feathered spies all around them, always watching and listening.


    Salem stayed in his study for the rest of the day, he had asked for a large amount of the children to attend a lecture about magic, he kept it very simple explaining magic could work in many ways. Once you become adept enough you would no longer need chants.


    You could use your will to bend the world around you, he showed them very simple magic most of the children became excited and asked questions of when could they try. He smiled at their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, though there were a few who didn''t become enamored by magic, he asked them why and was surprised to learn that some just wanted to wield swords and bows.


    Thankfully the academy could start in a few months once the trade had been established and he could hire teachers, and if plans went according to plan the other clans would be arriving in just a few weeks.


    The secret entrance he was carving through the mountain would allow his kin to move in and out of his city during emergencies, it would also provide a means for his knights to recruit more undead and train their apprentices in combat. The apprentices were going to become knights in a few short years, once they had touched upon their powers they would officially become Squires.


    They would then look after the apprentices, teaching them the basics in their masters'' stead, solidifying the bond between each other, while giving them a chance to gain a firmer foundation in their own skills.


    Thinking back over his own skills, Salem brought up his stats page to see his progress.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Location:Country->??? City-> Minas Lusta mil Luna


    CP: 1.025.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Agility:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Intelligence:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-4


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-3)


    Mind- Alure(T-4), Mind Control(T-3)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-3), Pocket Dimension(T-5)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-4), Command Undead(T-4), Death Bolt(T-3) , Promote Undead (T-3)


    Wraith-Wings-1


    Wraith-Armor-4


    Wraith-weapon-4


    Wraith-Soul Brand-3


    Wraith-SolarFlame-3


    <Forces>


    Wraith <knights>: 22 <Squires>:0


    Wraiths:


    Tier(1)- 37.000


    tier(2)- 5


    Tier(3)- 0


    Helh Rauku {Silver Demons} :<Queens-1> <Spawn-0>


    Skeletons: 0


    Undead captains:0


    Mixed emotions were all he felt looking at his stats, his abilities and spells were climbing with study and practice, but his attributes hardly moved. He would need more potent herbs for the body, and stronger souls for his own, while he searched for more information regarding magic.


    If he could find information on magic the system didn''t possess, he could turn it over for analyses to find new understandings of the universe, and the many worlds that fill it. Doing so would benefit his intelligence greatly but finding that information would be difficult, he didn''t even know the name of the continent he was standing upon.


    Pulling his mind from these distractions, he took out his flask and sipped at the sweet taste and gazed into the fire. With the stats page still in his sight, he noticed that a few additions in his forces section were flashing, "System what are these flashing lights over the squires, and I assume these Helh Rauku would be my mounts correct?"


    "Correct master Salem, using information on various beasts and the structures of their bloodlines, we have created this Helh Rauku or Silver Demons. The flashing lights indicate that someone is advancing into this classification, one of the apprentices have found their way onto the wraith lords path, I would suggest guiding them personally. It may prove beneficial for you to see the beginning of the road you were born on."


    Wondering why the system was being a bit cryptic he decided to watch, using his spear as a staff and following the system''s directions, he came upon the soon to be Squire in a practice room. He watched the young boy meditate, but he could feel the world around him slightly opening and closing.


    Like small invisible windows that held the truth about what he was, just beyond his reach, they would come and go. This was an amazing phenomenon, the road was still forming, though it would arrive in a little over an hour.


    He summoned his knights to watch this along with him and witness the road they hadn''t found naturally, like him they were brought onto the road by the system, and wouldn''t know what the road looked or felt like for themselves.


    If they could finally see the road and feel it for themselves they could guide the children onto this path with much greater ease, with the Squires coming into their powers so soon, he would be able to have them take on the management of the apprentices.


    The knights arrived outside the practice room, seeing their master shushing them and motioning them to walk quietly. Once they had all arrived he slowly walked back into the room with his knights tailing behind him, they spread out the room keeping as quiet as possible, they noticed the young boy meditating in the center of the room.


    Annah let out a slight gasp, this must be one of her apprentices, Salem thought while placing a finger over her lips. After calming her down, Salem watched on feeling the road getting closer to completion.


    He did what he could for the boy, gently, he let his connection to the Knights'' envelope the child while watching for the road. The knights followed his example and let their power slowly fill up the room. Sensing a change over the whole room and the boy, Salem and the Knights kept their senses on high, waiting for the moment when they could see the road.


    There it was, Salem could hardly breathe when he felt the road enter into his mind, he saw it stretch out into the void. It stood by itself alone in the dark, it called him over sweetly, stepping onto the road he felt like he had returned home after a long journey.


    Taking another step he moved forward, he wanted to explore this new world and so he did. He moved swiftly, rushing past everything like a flooded river, he moved past his knights which seemed to be having trouble moving further upon the road until he came to a gate made from a stone so black it would make obsidian pale by comparison.


    There were runes carved along the outside of the gate, he could hear whispers from the runes but he couldn''t make out what they were saying. He touched the gate.


    The runes grew bright red in color. A phantom appeared in the gate, hooded with bright red eyes staring into him, Salem was forced to his knees just by the presence of the monster.


    Looming over him, the figure spoke in a few languages before stopping on the common tongue.


    "A newborn squire summoned me? Speak newborn why did you summon a knight to such a distant and small plane?"


    He was what? a squire? how is that possible the system declared him a lord, and a small plane what did it mean by that?


    The questions fired rapidly in his mind, he spoke hoping he wouldn''t anger what he believed was a powerful wraith in front of him, "Lor-


    "Stop! I am not a Lord I am a Knight, who taught you when you became a wraith? The lack of discipline and your location do not seem to be the work of one of us, how did you come to be young squire?"


    Thinking quickly Salem spun a tale of how he had been dead, there was going to be a war against the living, during the attack he had become how he was with no knowledge of how he was alive again or where his new power came from.


    He had knowledge of his name and that his people were attacked before he died and wiped out to the last. Noticing he was the only one of his kind, he had tasked himself with procreation, he had found through experimenting he was adept at death magic. While new abilities came with time which he had no knowledge of receiving.


    The being listened to him, he felt the will of the being in front of him inspect his soul, it was extremely uncomfortable. "Your soul was damaged, there will be massive gaps in your memory and it may take decades to remember it all while you heal."


    "I believe you had been dead a very long time and through magic you can''t remember reformed a body, in doing so you trespassed onto the road for a moment granting yourself the title of shade, the weakest of the wraiths."


    Salem''s eyes briefly twitched hearing that, he listened on while the Knight explained the basics of how the wraiths worked and increased their power.


    He was also told of the hierarchy of the wraiths and that anyone above you in the hierarchy could give you pressure, or even command you into battle if they were two ranks above you. So most wraiths would not join ranks unless it was with those at the same level.


    The hierarchy was rather straightforward beginning with the weakest were Shades, Squires, knights, witch kings, Minor Lord, High Lord, Wraith Lord.


    Before Salem could digest or ask any more questions, his thoughts were interrupted.


    "While it is uncommon it is not impossible to come upon a natural born shade though in your case it was a miracle in defiance of nature."


    "I, Knight Heidon, welcome you to the Wraiths of the shadow realm."

 34 Shadow Realm part 2

    Salem listened to Knight Heidon explain the discipline of the wraiths. Unless one was of higher position most of the wraiths would use each other''s names or titles if you were the same rank or position you could ignore any requests unless a strategic asset of the wraiths was in danger.


    If you ignored such a call and everything turned out fine then there would be no punishment, if the asset was lost or destroyed and someone of higher rank found out, you would face their judgment, most often the case was death.


    It was unlikely anyone would pay attention to Salem until he became a knight, with the new information provided by Heidon, the system had told him there was an issue and would rectify any misunderstandings once he had returned to the land of the living.


    Coming to the end of his explanation Heidon announced his departure, "Knight Heidon, I know I have no right to ask, but I would be eternally grateful if you would grant me knowledge of any magic you might be able to spare." Salem stopped and bowed to the knight of his own will.


    "I don''t have much in the ways of magical tomes, but I did find a journal on a desolate world, it may be of use to you but I have tried to sell it before and no one could read it. It would be useless to hold onto it so I don''t mind gifting it to you, but if you find its worth I hope you can repay me with favor in the future, deal?"


    "Deal!" Salem agreed and bowed again, Heidon passed him two books, one on knowledge of how wraiths advance more quickly, while the other was a tiny black book the size of his palm, even the pages were black.


    Heidon left right after he passed the books over, disappearing in a blast of red light.


    Taking a moment to soak in the display of power, he looked about the shadow realm or what he was told was just a port that knights could use to travel between worlds via the shadow realm, the true shadow realm would only be open to him if he was brought there by a knight or if he became one himself.


    He turned and walked back along the road whenever he passed a guard he would motion for them to follow him back home. Arriving back where the road and his palace met he looked at the small boy who had only moved forward a few feet.


    Salem now knew that the boy wasn''t a Squire but a shade, along with his own personal guards. The undead he had turned would become shades themselves after decades of service and would be a strong fighting force for this small plane, but there would be a few knight class existences here as well.


    For now, he would find out what the system needed, then he would explain the situation to his guards, he was very curious as to how the system had been so ill-informed.


    His five commanders noticed the strange mood he was in and followed behind him, he walked up to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder, "Welcome to the wraiths," he told him with a warm smile on his face, the boy smiled back and Annah kissed the top of his head.


    The heartwarming scene was witnessed by the others. Anticipation filled their hearts, they couldn''t wait to guide their own apprentices to the road and watch them become like them. Salem let them talk with each other about the road and left with his five advisors, they reached his study and had servants bring them a meal.


    Staring at the fire, surrounded by his most devout followers, he finally asked the system for an explanation. "Master Salem, it would appear I was severely damaged when you absorbed that first soul. There was a piece of energy lodged in it, and when you devoured it, the energy must have gone through you and destroyed parts of the system."


    "The more surprising aspect would be that it did the damage undetected, the power to infiltrate and destroy key information would mean the energy would''ve had to come from something high above the knight class. I am just a tool to give information and a path to the wraiths of the shadow realm if a being of high enough power found my roots they could destroy me with ease."


    A little shocked that the system was so weak and he had damaged it to such an extent that it hadn''t even known something was wrong, he realized the system may not always be by his side. He had a large cache of points available and he was going to spend as much as he could so that the information the system had left wouldn''t be at risk of being lost.


    Formulating the plan was simple, buy as much as he could when he could, he asked the system how much would it cost to take the remaining knowledge it had stored. He didn''t even respond when he heard the price, it was astronomically high it made his current points look like a child receiving a weekly allowance.


    Now he would need to search the small plain for any information the system had no knowledge of that would reward him with points. He turned to the girls around him and he told them what he had learned, at first there was shock and dejection, though that didn''t last long as he told them that they could become stronger and become Squires soon.


    Though the path to becoming a knight would take a long time, they were elves and had near endless lives to study and gain power. By the end of the explanation, there was a fire in their eyes, their new goal was to become Knights and serve their master until the end of time, and if so willing go beyond knight class along with him.


    Noticing the gleam in their eye, he kissed each one sweetly, he wouldn''t be able to serve their other needs but he would give them sweet moments like this. The twins like always were friskier than the others but they stopped when Railia coughed to signal it was enough, surprisingly the Twins listened to her.


    He smiled and told them he was proud of all three of them for moving past the incident when they first met, causing them to blush with embarrassment at the memory, he laughed aloud at the three bright red faces.


    After that adorable scene, Salem thought now was a good time to start his plan.


    "System begin purchasing all knowledge and skills available and prepare them to be moved to books and memory crystals. What can you do with these two books Knight Heidon passed onto me?" Salem thought to the system who had gone quiet during the explanation. He had not told his advisors about the system yet, a secret never spoken aloud could not be exposed easily.


    "Right away master Salem, conversion and purchase will begin immediately, the two books will be scanned and integrated with the system and anything of use will be reported and placed into manuals to absorb at your leisure."


    Thinking over the recent information Knight Heidon gave him, he pulled up his stats page to see if anything had changed.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Class:<Squire>


    Location:Country->??? City-> Minas Lusta mil Luna


    CP: 8.000.000


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Agility:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Intelligence:Tier- 3 Stage-1


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-4


    <Abilities/Powers>


    Devour- Absorb(T-3)


    Mind- Alure(T-4), Mind Control(T-3)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-3), Pocket Dimension(T-5)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-4), Command Undead(T-4), Death Bolt(T-3) , Promote Undead (T-3)


    Wraith-Wings-1


    Wraith-Armor-4


    Wraith-weapon-4


    Wraith-Soul Brand-3


    Wraith-SolarFlame-3


    Wraith-Shadow Realm


    <Forces>


    Wraith <knights>:0 <Squires>:0 <Shades>:23


    Wraiths:


    Tier(1)- 37.000


    Tier(2)- 5


    Tier(3)- 0


    Helh Rauku(Silver Demons):<Queens-1> <Spawn-0>


    Skeletons: 0


    Undead captains:0


    His knights were no more, they had been classed as Shades, only a step higher than the near-mindless servants he had fighting on his behalf.


    And so Salem continued to wait for any news from the system, a few more days before it was time to go and watch his mount be reborn from a monstrous insect to reaper of death.

 35 A King

    To the west and not so far from Salems'' mountain, was a land without water and life, and beneath this land were tunnels beyond count. The wind here was foul with the stench of rotted meat clinging to the air, deep inside these tunnels was a hall carved from stone with six thrones made of black glass.


    The thrones were empty, save one, in it sat a large skeleton with red flames for eyes, horns grew from the sides like a ram. If it stood would be six and a half feet tall, donned in black plate armor marked with a red hand for a coat of arms, "A shadow realm door was opened, how interesting!"


    The large skeleton grabbed the war hammer leaning against his throne and rose from his seat, "Gather the commanders and all recent reports from the battlefields, there are wraiths amongst the living."


    ~Minas Lusta mil Luna~


    Salem watched the large cocoon shake and crack, slowly exposing part of its carapace, a black metallic leg ripped through another section of the cocoon, releasing a clear liquid that spilled upon the ground.


    He had entered the warren beneath his palace only a few minutes ago when he saw the cocoon that was now being torn to pieces, he was excited to see his silver demon and find out how strong it would be after the first evolution.


    This wouldn''t be the day he got to experience his new mount however, after its rebirth, the demon gave birth to just over five hundred eggs. The eggs were black with a single silver dot on them, the eggs were round and the size of a small fist, they were placed in the nest of the queen who proceeded to rest after the ordeals of rebirth and giving birth to its young.


    Salem was slightly disappointed but he would rather his demon recover and not be in danger of overexertion, he stayed with his demon for a while patting it near its large silver plated head. The demon had grown bulkier and seemed that it wouldn''t even fear a ballista should it come under such extreme firepower.


    It hadn''t grown much in length but the black legs looked powerful enough to break a man with ease, the mandibles were pitch black like the legs and looked sharp enough to bite through iron like butter, the cage it had been brought in would now be torn to pieces before you even closed the door.


    Salem turned to leave when he noticed one of the eggs was different than the rest of the cohort, it was still black like the others, but it didn''t have the dot like the others. This egg had a jagged silver line wrapping around its center, "System, scan this egg and the others and let me know if there is a difference between them."


    "Right away master Salem!"


    Analyzing


    Analysis complete


    "Master Salem, it would appear you are quite lucky this egg will most likely hatch a king of these demons its power would be similar to the queen. Though the males will be significantly larger after a few more evolutions they will pale in comparison to the queen, while the king will dominate all.


    The queen must have invested a lot of energy into making a king rule over the hive before the transformation, there is no telling how powerful it will be once it hatches, I would advise keeping the queen safe while the brood is growing.


    If your queen were to perish before a new one is born, it would be difficult to keep the brood growing without a queen. They might find a wild centipede but it would take time for the offspring to become demonized naturally, and using the same method as before will leave you drained and vulnerable."


    The system explained that if he used the method to turn a second species, even if it was a centipede, it may not become a silver demon or it might die in the process and leave him once again vulnerable and weak.


    Keeping this in mind he decided to take the king for his mount, though it would take a while for it to grow, the system had made them able to grow very fast. It would be a month after hatching before it would be the size of a pony, another month before it was rideable and a third month from reaching full size as the queen had.


    The next time it would evolve would be in two years, and that was with the systems guiding hand, otherwise, it would''ve taken five to ten years just to reach full maturity. Salem replaced his egg with the others before he started to chant, he cast a spell to protect the nest before he headed for the study.


    The two ambassadors were waiting for him, their clothes looked disheveled and there was a smile on their faces. They greeted each other and handed him the contracts immediately, taking a look they were signed and sealed with blood and ink, "Well that is interesting, I expected significant push back from the noble houses, the undead must be pressing against your cities harder then I thought."


    Looking at the sheepish grins on their faces, he knew that they were worried had they not signed it now then he could''ve increased the price another fold and they would still have to pay it.


    "Alright since everything is signed I assume you are gathering the elves and abolishing you elven slave trade policies. When should I expect the elves to be brought over? Before you ask the trees have been planted in Idos and both cities are receiving my aid as we speak."


    "One week, two at most Lord Belegast," Forsa answered the question for them both.


    Ambassadors Dalen and Forsa nodded in excitement, knowing they had convinced their lords of the right choice, Dalen more so then Forsa as the leader of Koftas was more than willing to give up on slaves for the lives of his citizens.


    While Dalen had seen little luck convincing his own lord until the undead had nearly breached their main gate, killing thousands of soldiers in a mad rush to the gate that was closing.


    Luckily they had pushed the undead back for now, but if the undead had just been a little faster, tens of thousands of lives would''ve been lost along with the western gate and district. The city lord of Idos had finally seen reason and signed the contract which saved his city and people and maybe his position as city lord.


    Salem sent the ambassadors to rest and recover for their journey home after they left he took out a map of each city and marked a few buildings and secret entrances on each map. Taking note of who owned which building and where he could find them. Only a few came from Koftas while Idos had over a dozen.


    He sighed as he sat down, taking a sip of tea, this was going to be very bloody and he would need evidence if he was going to void his current contracts.

 36 Place Holder

    Salem decided he would only punish those who went back on their word, it was time to start recruiting those from the dying Curon clan into his own forces. He had consulted the system on mounts for them and it was relatively easy to make a simplified version of what he had done for the centipedes.


    Taking six wild elks they had found, two male and four female, he changed them with his bloodline. This method wouldn''t be as intense, all he needed to do was change and breed them, the elves would be able to tame and train them on their own.


    The change to the elks was the opposite of the silver demons, the elks had black fur with silver horns, eyes, and hooves. They looked elegant in their new form until one stumbled, it would take them a few days to get used to the enhanced body senses and slightly larger size, the change to their size wasn''t as explosive which would be a good thing.


    No one needed giant elks walking about the mountains, shaking his head, Salem let out the notice that he needed beast tamers, archery masters, and many other masters of all crafts to come to the palace.


    The meeting of these masters was quick and to the point, they would be working in the academy that would be built once the materials were purchased from their neighbors. They were actually quite willing to teach the future generation, they would also be compensated for their services quite handsomely which would be needed to help their own families find a footing.


    The next group arrived after the craftsman and teachers of the academy left, these were the warriors who had survived the assault from the undead. They bent the knee as soon as the words, "I need an army," left his lips. A young commander stood at the front, he was taller than Salem by a head and quite robust for an elf, this elf was Udein and he was to be named general of the elven armies.


    Salem reached out his arm which Udein grasped with his own arm and looked into the bright green eyes that seemed to peer into his very soul, "I Salem Belegast hereby grant you the title, General Udein, and charge you with protecting our kin. What say you?"


    Salem''s voice echoed in the hall with power that seemed to shake the fabric of space.


    "I Udein, son of Ulein, accept this responsibility and swear to defend our people and destroy our enemies. Living or Dead, they will fall beneath our feet!"


    Salem nodded and smiled, the warriors behind Udein slammed their spears down in salute of their leaders'' promotion. "Your first order will be to get trained, any weapons and armor will be provided by the palace. Find all the elks you can and feed them these blue pearls, take them to the stables first though and have them trained for your mounts.


    There will be clans arriving at an entrance at the base of the mountains to the southeast, your first mission will be to ride out and bring them home, you have a week to prepare your mounts and arms for war.


    My personal guards will meet you at the entrance with the wraith army to reinforce you. If you need aid before you get there, send back one of my crows, it will let me know if anything is wrong. Too long have our people been divided, I will make them whole once more."


    Udein nodded and received the orders, it explained where the barracks was, along with certain secret tunnels that made their way in and out of the mountain. He ordered the men to go hunt the elk while passing out the blue pearls and the instructions to bring them home before feeding them.


    Seeing everything was on schedule Salem summoned Jennah to the study room, he showed her the secret entrances and told her to take the other shades to collect more undead along with their apprentices, once they returned, they would begin using the soul energy in the tree to help advance them to the rank of squire.


    She kissed him lightly on the cheek and ran out the door, excited to get back to work, the guards were warriors after all and they longed to hone their skills.


    During the next week, all anyone could see from the palace were guards coming and going with thousands of hooded warriors arriving, no one knew who they were but once they left the palace there would be the Belegast crest upon their weapons and armors.


    Most believed them to be hidden warriors that Lord Belegast had summoned from afar, and in a way, he had pulled these warriors to his side. They were timeless, they would be the cannon fodder for this small plane, and being undead he could use the corpses of his enemies to bolster his own armies. With the influx of undead, his skill in the


    ability grew to the next level, making it extremely easy to turn thousands of lesser undead at a time.


    The upper undead was still difficult to change, having to go one at a time with each one, luckily his guards were now targeting the upper undead. They were shades, stronger and faster than before they were easily on par with the upper undead, the hunters had become the prey and the shades were ravenous.


    Looking from the balcony of the palace Salem watched Udein gather his troops, he had spoken with the elf at length over the week, asking him questions about himself and why he wanted to be a warrior.


    Udein had answered that he would always protect his kin, he knew not every elf was a warrior by nature, and that they would need protecting. Before he had become a warrior like his father before him, he had been fascinated with winemaking and would''ve pursued it if not for the undead coming to their lands.


    His father had taught him how to be a warrior and leader, he was leading his troops when he saw an undead pushing his fathers'' skills to the limit when another undead came from the side and wounded him, his father fell before he could get to him. He swore he would crush the undead commander, he wouldn''t be able to forget that undead, it stood seven feet tall and wore red armor with a black hand imprinted on the chest.


    Elves riding large black elks rode for one of the city gates, the force was twenty-five hundred strong, and a notice had been sent to Koftas that his army was going out to investigate where the undead was coming from, that was obviously a lie, but it served its purpose as Koftas wouldn''t be able to hinder his armies movements.


    Coming back from the memory of the talks Salem went to the warren, taking another glance at his elven warriors before he descended to his hatching mount.


    The warren was cool and damp, a small stream had been made to pass through the center, Salem walked across the hard stone ground until he came to the nest, the guards and their apprentices were all here.


    Today they would be picking their own mounts from the hatchlings, they all had a small basket of freshly killed rodents and other small livestock. The hatchlings would need to eat, meat being the mainstay of their diet. Coming up to the eggs, Salem took away the magic barrier and picked up the egg he had set aside from himself.


    The guards followed his example and picked up the eggs they had selected earlier in the week, next came the apprentices, the first to choose out of them was the young boy who had been the first to advance into a shade.


    Salem sat against the queen''s carapace, with his full attention on the small egg in his hands, it shook a little here and there, he waited until finally a little silver and black head pierced the shell and let out a little, "Mew," cry as it had finally broken free.

 36 Mew!

    Salem decided he would only punish those who went back on their word, it was time to start recruiting those from the dying Curon clan into his own forces. He had consulted the system on mounts for them and it was relatively easy to make a simplified version of what he had done for the centipedes.


    Taking six wild elks they had found, two male and four female, he changed them with his bloodline. This method wouldn''t be as intense, all he needed to do was change and breed them, the elves would be able to tame and train them on their own.


    The change to the elks was the opposite of the silver demons, the elks had black fur with silver horns, eyes, and hooves. They looked elegant in their new form until one stumbled, it would take them a few days to get used to the enhanced body senses and slightly larger size, the change to their size wasn''t as explosive which would be a good thing.


    No one needed giant elks walking about the mountains, shaking his head, Salem let out the notice that he needed beast tamers, archery masters, and many other masters of all crafts to come to the palace.


    The meeting of these masters was quick and to the point, they would be working in the academy that would be built once the materials were purchased from their neighbors. They were actually quite willing to teach the future generation, they would also be compensated for their services quite handsomely which would be needed to help their own families find a footing.


    The next group arrived after the craftsman and teachers of the academy left, these were the warriors who had survived the assault from the undead. They bent the knee as soon as the words, "I need an army," left his lips. A young commander stood at the front, he was taller than Salem by a head and quite robust for an elf, this elf was Udein and he was to be named general of the elven armies.


    Salem reached out his arm which Udein grasped with his own arm and looked into the bright green eyes that seemed to peer into his very soul, "I Salem Belegast hereby grant you the title, General Udein, and charge you with protecting our kin. What say you?"


    Salem''s voice echoed in the hall with power that seemed to shake the fabric of space.


    "I Udein, son of Ulein, accept this responsibility and swear to defend our people and destroy our enemies. Living or Dead, they will fall beneath our feet!"


    Salem nodded and smiled, the warriors behind Udein slammed their spears down in salute of their leaders'' promotion. "Your first order will be to get trained, any weapons and armor will be provided by the palace. Find all the elks you can and feed them these blue pearls, take them to the stables first though and have them trained for your mounts.


    There will be clans arriving at an entrance at the base of the mountains to the southeast, your first mission will be to ride out and bring them home, you have a week to prepare your mounts and arms for war.


    My personal guards will meet you at the entrance with the wraith army to reinforce you. If you need aid before you get there, send back one of my crows, it will let me know if anything is wrong. Too long have our people been divided, I will make them whole once more."


    Udein nodded and received the orders, it explained where the barracks was, along with certain secret tunnels that made their way in and out of the mountain. He ordered the men to go hunt the elk while passing out the blue pearls and the instructions to bring them home before feeding them.


    Seeing everything was on schedule Salem summoned Jennah to the study room, he showed her the secret entrances and told her to take the other shades to collect more undead along with their apprentices, once they returned, they would begin using the soul energy in the tree to help advance them to the rank of squire.


    She kissed him lightly on the cheek and ran out the door, excited to get back to work, the guards were warriors after all and they longed to hone their skills.


    During the next week, all anyone could see from the palace were guards coming and going with thousands of hooded warriors arriving, no one knew who they were but once they left the palace there would be the Belegast crest upon their weapons and armors.


    Most believed them to be hidden warriors that Lord Belegast had summoned from afar, and in a way, he had pulled these warriors to his side. They were timeless, they would be the cannon fodder for this small plane, and being undead he could use the corpses of his enemies to bolster his own armies. With the influx of undead, his skill in the


    ability grew to the next level, making it extremely easy to turn thousands of lesser undead at a time.


    The upper undead was still difficult to change, having to go one at a time with each one, luckily his guards were now targeting the upper undead. They were shades, stronger and faster than before they were easily on par with the upper undead, the hunters had become the prey and the shades were ravenous.


    Looking from the balcony of the palace Salem watched Udein gather his troops, he had spoken with the elf at length over the week, asking him questions about himself and why he wanted to be a warrior.


    Udein had answered that he would always protect his kin, he knew not every elf was a warrior by nature, and that they would need protecting. Before he had become a warrior like his father before him, he had been fascinated with winemaking and would''ve pursued it if not for the undead coming to their lands.


    His father had taught him how to be a warrior and leader, he was leading his troops when he saw an undead pushing his fathers'' skills to the limit when another undead came from the side and wounded him, his father fell before he could get to him. He swore he would crush the undead commander, he wouldn''t be able to forget that undead, it stood seven feet tall and wore red armor with a black hand imprinted on the chest.


    Elves riding large black elks rode for one of the city gates, the force was twenty-five hundred strong, and a notice had been sent to Koftas that his army was going out to investigate where the undead was coming from, that was obviously a lie, but it served its purpose as Koftas wouldn''t be able to hinder his armies movements.


    Coming back from the memory of the talks Salem went to the warren, taking another glance at his elven warriors before he descended to his hatching mount.


    The warren was cool and damp, a small stream had been made to pass through the center, Salem walked across the hard stone ground until he came to the nest, the guards and their apprentices were all here.


    Today they would be picking their own mounts from the hatchlings, they all had a small basket of freshly killed rodents and other small livestock. The hatchlings would need to eat, meat being the mainstay of their diet. Coming up to the eggs, Salem took away the magic barrier and picked up the egg he had set aside from himself.


    The guards followed his example and picked up the eggs they had selected earlier in the week, next came the apprentices, the first to choose out of them was the young boy who had been the first to advance into a shade.


    Salem sat against the queen''s carapace, with his full attention on the small egg in his hands, it shook a little here and there, he waited until finally a little silver and black head pierced the shell and let out a little, "Mew," cry as it had finally broken free.

 37 How Cute

    Looking down at the mewling little demon Salem could not help but think it was quite adorable, its tiny double set of eyes were trying to open while its head moved from side to side looking for food. He took out a corpse of a wolf he had hunted just for this little king.


    He gave the little king a blue pearl, and showed the wriggling head the bloody wolf, "Go on little one, if you can break free from that little cage this wolf is all yours."


    The small demon stopped moving at the sound of his voice, it smelled the offered pearl and ate it quickly, it could smell the blood from the wolf. It got agitated that it couldn''t escape the egg, and started to scratch and bite at it, the struggle lasted for a few minutes before it freed the remainder of its tiny body.


    It cried in joy, it looked at the corpse and back up at Salem, "Go on you earned it," hearing the command it jumped onto the corpse and dove into a wound, the sounds of chewing and ripping of flesh came from the wolf.


    Salem watched as similar scenes were happening for every Shade and apprentice, the queen was with the remaining eggs and a large pile of meat and corpses for her and the rest of the hatchlings.


    There were over four hundred remaining hatchlings, one hundred and ten apprentices, with each guard taking five apprentices until they advanced to shades. The guards would then allow an advanced apprentice to take on a teaching role to the new batch of apprentices.


    They would all get to choose a partner from the hatchlings, though there would be some hatchlings that would grow up before they were chosen, Salem had a use for those who didn''t get chosen.


    Salem drank some tea while watching the hatchlings bond with their partners, his own partner was currently eating the brain of the wolf, he could feel its strength growing with every bite it swallowed. The system explained in the first week they would eat and grow very quickly.


    "Master Salem, I have good news, the two books you have given me are ready for you to look over and absorb them, both books were in the wraiths own language which was a mixture of demon speech and a few ancient magical languages that we don''t have a record of.


    There is one other things master that I noticed the demons cocoons, eggshells, and similar refuse have high amounts of energy made for the body, if you were to grind it to power and add it to the body nourishing powders it is estimated you will increase the potency by five times. That is only of the infants, any ingredients gained by the queen will be significantly stronger, estimated and ten times the potency."


    Salem choked on his tea when he heard about the new ingredient that would boost his physical body, it was easily obtainable and would be perfect for helping his guards'' progress to Squires quickly. He could then sell his body nourishing powder without worrying about the other cities catching up to him in physical strength.


    He could now use Koftas and Idos as shields and deploy his own troops through his secret exits, he should have enough time to gather the elven clans before the undead marched full force. They were currently gathering as many supplies and any resources they could find before heading to the meeting location where Udein would take them into the mountains.


    Jennah and Annah would be waiting with an army ten thousand strong at the hidden gates, more and more undead were being brought in, they would know soon that someone was challenging their claim if they didn''t already.


    He would be prepared for the war to come, he knew he wasn''t the intended target, Koftas and Idos were just meant to be used at whetstones and a source to bolster the cannon fodder. That would change once they realized he had interfered in their plans, he did wonder who their true enemy was, they weren''t exactly enemies, him being a wraith made him on the opposite side of the Gods that emperor had been wanting to fight against.


    Placing him and his people in the dark races camp, who by default was placed with the demons, he had no allegiance with any of them besides the wraiths and that was only because he would always be a wraith and if he was commanded by a higher ranked member he would have to obey, or perish.


    His elven army should be meeting with the other tribes and would be arriving in a few days, he had already been preparing farms, food, and shelter for all of the elves. Humans were being permitted to move into his lands as well, he had even spoken with the dwarves about purchasing land on the far side of the valley to build a small village.


    He had told them that he would let them build a town, but the price of it was their allegiance, should his land come under attack he would be able to call upon them for war. They agreed after holding a council of elders, they had planned a feast once everything was settled, he was looking forward to becoming friends with the dwarves they were, for the most part, a happy people.


    His little king "mewd" from inside the skull, and popped out an eye, it then crawled over to him and wrapped around his arm before falling asleep. Looking at the slightly bloated creature Salem smiled and thought aloud, "What a cute little thing, though that last display was quite frightening, hope the children''s partners are better behaved."


    He ordered a few servants to collect the eggshells and any other refuse from the warren and have it ground to powder, it would then be delivered to the palace, the powder would be separated from what it came from so as not to mix the highly potent powder of the queen with those of the hatchlings.


    That night he and his guards took a bath they would never forget, screams of pain lasted for fifteen minutes before their bodies adjusted and began to heal. Even Salem had to grit his teeth and endure his body screaming at him.


    This was just the hatchlings powder, he would need to get used to this before he tried the queens'' powder but this first session advance greatly, the first use would be the equivalent of five months of training with what he was using before.


    He could feel the power of his guards growing, with the nourishment they had gained from the bath and the soul being nourished by the palace itself, they would become squires much sooner then he had thought, though it would still be a couple of months before then.


    After the bath and meditation, they all slept on the giant mattress, exhausted from the day of hard work and the pain from the nourishment powder. Salem fell asleep with his five girls surrounding him, he was glad Jennah had talked with him about turning too many women, he could barely give them all the attention and time they deserve.


    He pulled Jennah close to him and kissed her on the cheek before falling asleep.


    Salem woke the next morning to find a shocking report that was delivered to him in the middle of the night, both Koftas and Idos had been under heavy siege from the upper undead, their own forces were still fine but if this continued they wouldn''t be able to hold for another three months.


    Once the undead broke past the two cities they would flood his mountain in full force, he had not expected the undead to move this quickly, he would now need to support the two cities war efforts and that meant putting his own people at risk.


    Should he seal off the mountain?

 38 Suffer as They Have Suffered Part 1

    Salem was surrounded by his advisors, he looked at the map, Idons to the south and Koftas to the north. There was a scar of death to the east of the mountains, his crows had brought back information about the surrounding area.


    Hundreds of miles of forest and hills surrounded the mountain, towns, and villages were scattered about the lands to the west, north, and south. Everything to the east was dying, the people either ran away or were devoured by the undead horde, Salem could tell there was something else causing the death of the land.


    tracing his finger across the map, still mostly dark, his crows were fast and agile but could only remember so much. There were no maps that covered great distances if anyone had one they were being very stingy and hiding it away.


    There was only one other large city he had heard about but it was farther to the east, settled along the coastline, and he had sent letters to both Koftas and Idos asking if they had sent for aid. The response they had gotten was proof that they were not welcomed in other human cities, the letter they received only asked one question, were elves still being enslaved by both cities.


    At the time the answer was yes, so they had not sent back a response, they had sent a rider for aid declaring that the elves were to be freed and placed under the elven house Belegast for protection once they reached an agreement.


    Salem''s eyes burned bright as he remembered how elves who had been slaves were brought to him, weak and tired, some out of their minds from working as a toy for so long, and there were more slaves they were hiding from him.


    His little spies had already crept into the cracks of homes and watched from above as they tried to smuggle his kin away. He had marked down every safe house in both cities and the vile scum who had assisted them in hiding them. This would be the second time he had given them a chance to survival yet they threw it in his face!


    No more, if they wished to go to war with the Belegast clan, then they would have their war.


    The guards within the palace could feel the rage just beneath the surface of their bond. Salem felt a slight shiver on his arm, coming back to himself he comforted the little creature wrapped around his arm him.


    Calming down, Salem looked over the reports and started issuing orders, he would need to rescue his kind first before he would strike a blow against these traitorous dogs. They had never given him proper respect, nor had they taken his warnings to heart.


    Salem headed to his mind space and looked upon the two volumes laying upon the altar, the first was the wraiths codex which held information about their language and ways to cast spells by integrating spells through their wraith weapons for a greater impact. He absorbed the book quickly and gained insights into his meditation technique.


    The language he was forcibly learning was, intense to say the least, it would not need to be spoken like most languages. Thinking in this language would help his intellect grow, even when he spoke the language he could make it seem as if it were the human tongue with a little spell he had just learned.


    "Master Salem, this next book will be very painful to absorb. It contains vast knowledge on gravity magic and methods to combine conflicting energies, both of these tomes brought great amounts of knowledge and research material for me so your reward will be added to your current balance of points. Be careful master, it will take ten minutes of pain similar to what you went through to absorb all the knowledge of that tiny book."


    After leaving that daunting message Salem looked at the little book, how much knowledge was stored in such a tiny thing to make it that painful, remembering the pain from when he gained his previous body he could feel the sweat on his back.


    ten times longer, he thought, he could handle that. Right? he was much stronger than before and he knew the system wouldn''t give him something that would kill him, he hoped.


    Nope, it was definitely trying to kill him. Was the last thought he had while his mind shook from the overwhelming pain. He passed out, woke up and screamed until blood came from his eyes, mouth, and ears before passing out once again.


    Waking up in his bed, he felt bandages around his eyes and other parts of his body, he began to remember what he had learned, and what he had done. He had clawed at his own head and body from instinct trying to get away from the pain.


    Thankful that his girls had restrained him until he had passed out from the pain, they cleaned and bandaged him and watched over him. This was becoming a bad habit of his, those he wished to protect were still taking care of him, from self-inflicted wounds no less. Taking off the bandage on his eyes and looked at his girls.


    The girls were asleep around him, he woke them up and brought them in front of him, "I am sorry


    for not telling you about what was going to happen. If I had known that it would get that bad I would have warned you. I let the arrogance of my success and small strength blind me, and I am sorry for making you go through that."


    Salem bowed to the five girls in front of him, hoping they would forgive him.


    Five pairs of arms embraced him, he could hear quiet sobs and feel the light shaking from the latent fear from that horrid scene of him clawing his own flesh and screaming in madness. He hugged and kissed them, telling them he was fine and that he would tell them if anything like that was remotely possible of happening again.


    They stayed together comforting one another for the entire morning, Salem hugged them once again whispering that he would be more careful in the future. They bathed and ate breakfast together trying to remain as close to one another as possible.


    After breakfast it was time to get everyone back to work, even he was wishing to just let the world pass them by while they enjoyed themselves. He gritted his teeth and passed out the orders he had been able to make yesterday before he went and touched that little beast of a book.


    He finished giving the orders to his five girls and took the twins and their apprentices with him into the forges, they began forging weapons and armors. Salem was standing over dozens of gold rings, each had a gemstone of similar size and were covered in runes.


    These gifts were for all those who had refused his warnings, they were "thank you gifts" for releasing his kin. each and every one of the clans would be getting one. Once they wore the ring it would gift them power, but it would also give him access to their minds and souls.


    He would brand them and turn these men into slaves, just like how they turned his own into mindless servants. Let them suffer, as my kinsman has suffered.

 39 Suffer as They Have Suffered part 2

    Salem had invited the ambassadors back to the palace for an early lunch, he spoke and ate with them. He smiled and thanked them for their hard work, he even invited them to bring their families to the palace for a celebratory feast, they accepted his invitation and would return with their families once they had conveyed his thanks to their lords.


    Before they left, he stopped them saying he had made a gift for the city lords and the families who had assisted him in regaining the elves freedom. They would receive their own gifts once they returned with their families, he wanted to award them in front of his guests.


    He took out two small wooden chests, each carved with vines that interlinked between each chest, "These rings will allow whoever wears them a strength three times more than their peak state, though the cost would be drained stamina, it could easily save your life."


    Opening the chests, he showed them the rings, their eyes lit up at the sight of such powerful enchanted objects, these rings alone would easily buy all the slaves on the market. Their lords would have been more willing if they had known about this reward, though this might have been given as a sign of gratitude and not payment.


    He gave each one a chest, they bowed and thanked him for the gift and hurried back to the forts, they needed to oversee the shipments of weapons and armor that were heading back to their cities, and bring these rings back to their city lords immediately. They could make quite the difference in the war on the undead.


    Salem''s smile faded once the ambassadors left the palace, his girls stood behind him, "Ready your troops, you will take two shades each, infiltrate and free our kin. Get back to the city quickly, once the ambassadors and the others that we invited arrive seal the mountain."


    Jennah stepped forward with concern in her eyes, "Master, must you go to them? I don''t think they will let you leave should you enter their territory."


    Salem walked over and pulled her close to him, he kissed her till she was out of breath, after breaking the kiss he smiled at her blushing face, "Don''t worry, I will stay at the edge of their territory and will only be there to talk. I still have a few tricks to escape if they try to pin me down.


    Once I return, if they accept the terms, then we can take care of the noble houses in one go. Citizens will be allowed to evacuate into my domain, though the cost will be exceptionally high to take refuge within my city, it is better than death and eternal enslavement."


    They donned their armor and raised their hoods to cover their masks, Salem gave each of them a hug telling them to be safe with a whisper. He teleported from the palace to the warren, he took half of the little demons with him before teleporting back up to the ground floor.


    He took a breath before he teleported multiple times to reach a crevice against the side of the cavern, he leaned against the wall taking deep breaths and trying to clear his head, repeated use of the ability was still disorienting for him.


    He looked around him making sure he was alone, he chanted and placed a palm on the wall, the crevice began to break apart. The stones that fell landed on one another until a stone gateway had assembled in front of him.


    The gateway led down into a dark tunnel, the tunnel was small only one person at a time could march into the darkness that awaited them. Salem ran forward into that darkness, his eyes glowed brightly, he had no issues traveling in the dark places of the world.


    The gateway closed behind him like the mountain had swallowed him whole.


    Jennah and Annah went to Koftas while the Twins went to Idos, they only took two hundred wraiths to each city. They had reinforcements at the ready but it would be best if they could sneak into the holding cells and rescue their remaining kin as quietly as possible.


    The Twins made their way through the secret tunnels to Idos, they arrived an hour before dawn the next day, the tunnel let out next to a sewer. Green eyed rats awaited them at the entrance to the foul tunnels that went below Idos.


    Taking another fifteen minutes to sprint through the sewers they arrived at the first location of their enslaved kin. They crept out of the sewer and eased through the alley, they arrived outside a large warehouse, two guards stood on a small balcony overlooking the street.


    Sarah and Sasha took their bows and silenced them from the shadows before they rushed the warehouse doors, wraiths flooding the streets behind them moving quickly into the shadows of the building.


    The Twins entered the warehouse, luckily there were no more guards, but what was in front of them was shocking. There were only female elves here, each one pregnant and all near the same stage of their pregnancies.


    Sasha went to the nearest elf, she looked as if she had fight left in her eyes as she flinched away from her touch, " It is alright, we are your kin, we have come for you and the others." she held both her hands up and took away her mask and hood, revealing her elven appearance.


    The pregnant elf let out a sob and her face held such sorrow Sasha pulled her into an embrace.


    "Easy sister, what happened here, why are you all pregnant? There is no way they would allow your population to grow so fast as to have you all give birth like this, I assume the others that were taken away are like you. Our Master will need to know what is going on here, please tell me it will be over soon I promise."


    Sasha lifted up a flask of her masters'' liquor to the girl''s mouth, she had taken it from his desk when he was busy with her sister, the girl took a sip and her body shivered at the cold and sharp feeling that went through her.


    Looking up at Sasha, there was no clarity in her eyes, something that she lacked for a very long time, she took another mouthful before clearing her throat.


    "They either have our men mate with us or they do it themselves, but your right, they don''t allow us to keep our young. There is a wizard here who uses magic to make sure we get pregnant, and then they." She sobbed before finishing, tears streamed down her face with sorrow and anger replacing one another.


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    "They sell them, they sell our babies! To slave traders that come through here once a year, they take our young down the river and that is the last we see of them." the young elf broke down into Sasha''s arms, Sasha did her best to calm her while Sarah wrote down a report and gave it to a crow who flew to the east.


    Sasha whispered into the young elfs ear, "Don''t worry, we will find them, and we will make these scum pay dearly for touching our kin!" the last was half a snarl as rage made her sapphire eyes burn bright in the dark.


    Salem sat in the middle of a clearing, it looked as if the earth had ruptured with fire and ice, trees and rocks had been thrown about destroying all plants and animals with thirty yards of him. In his hands were three reports.


    The first two were similar, describing what his girls had found, the third was confirmation they had been successful in retrieving their kin. There was an injury on his side, during the evacuation a crossbowman let an arrow fly right before his death, and by sheer luck, it shot Sarah in the shoulder.


    The bolt didn''t pierce the armor but it had fractured a rib, hearing how one of his girls had been shot while he was away frustrated him even further.


    This was the final straw, he got up and headed back to his city, he didn''t need help from the undead. That would just risk the lives of his people to an ally he couldn''t even trust, might as well do it his way.


    When he got back to the palace he hurried to check in with Sarah and helping her heal the wounds, with Railias'' help it would only be a few days before she made a full recovery. After he finished on making sure that she was fine he sat and talked with the other girls.


    They proposed to incorporate the females into his guards, which shocked him slightly, Jennah had spoken with the other personal guards and they were sorely lacking in numbers. With the addition of just the females that were mentally stable, there would be an additional two hundred guards, which for his station as the leader of a city was lacking with just twenty-two guards.


    He nodded and told them to begin having them enter the nourishing baths, they were three months shy of giving birth and he would make sure their bodies were healed and in peak condition before they went through the ordeal.


    He ordered for his own baths to be prepared, he added a tiny amount of the queen powder and experienced a new flavor of hell. for two weeks he adjusted his body to more and more of the mixture of hatchling powder and queen powder. He was at eight parts hatchling and two parts queen, he was very close to a breakthrough in his body nourishment.


    With him meditating with soul energy and using the wraiths language he was advancing quickly to tier four, though his body was far ahead with plenty of materials to push him to tier six. With a thought, he looked at his stats page to look over his progress.


    Name:Salem Belegast


    Class:


    Location:Country->??? City-> Minas Lusta mil Luna


    CP: 1.999.925


    Race: (High) Void Elf


    Physique:Tier- 3 Stage-9


    Agility:Tier- 3 Stage-9


    Intelligence:Tier- 3 Stage-5


    Wisdom:Tier- 3 Stage-7


    Devour- Absorb(T-3)


    Mind- Alure(T-4), Mind Control(T-4)


    Space- Short range teleport(T-3), Pocket Dimension(T-5)


    Death- Raise Undead(T-4), Command Undead(T-4), Death Bolt(T-3) , Promote Undead (T-4)


    Wraith-Wings-2


    Wraith-Armor-5


    Wraith-weapon-5


    Wraith-Soul Brand-3


    Wraith-SolarFlame-3


    Wraith-LunarFrost-2


    Wraith-Shadow Realm


    Wraith-Slumber


    Wraith :0 :0 :23 (Transforming-200) (Apprentices-110)


    Wraiths:


    Tier(1)- 57.000


    Tier(2)- 275


    Tier(3)- 0


    Helh Rauku(Silver Demons):


    Elven Warriors: 2500


    Skeletons: 3.000


    Undead captains:100


    He was finally getting further in his training, though far from knight class which was tier eight according to the system. Once he started the change from just a flesh and blood being to one of energy that he would advance once again.


    The elven clans should be arriving at the secret entrance to the mountain within a few hours, Jennah had left yesterday with a host of fifteen thousand wraiths with Annah and Railia going with her.


    He had noticed a change in the girls ever since they had rescued the elven mothers. He could sense anger from them directed to the human cities whenever he mentioned them when he went over plans with them.


    He and the Twins were in his office with the door sealed shut, he would be advancing his plan, he would sow chaos amongst the humans today and show the elven clans who arrived that there was king on this mountain, one who would protect them all.


    His spear appeared in his hands, and his tails came into being and touched the walls and floor. He raised the spear and began chanting in wraith speech, a cold whisper that would occasionally turn guttural and harsh echoed about the palace slowly filling the city.


    His palace began to grow, the branches of this massive tree dug into the ceiling of the cavern, they carved a way through the rock without destroying the rest of the ceiling. To those in the city, they only saw the tree growing until it passed the peak of the mountain.


    Its branches began to spread over the entire mountain until they were above Koftas and Idos, the silver trees blossomed and launched beams of green light that connected to the massive tree. The energy formed a barrier around the entire mountain, the undead horde was being forced back from each city the ones who were too slow turned to ash and were absorbed by the barrier.


    Once the tree stopped growing Salem continued his chanting, his eyes and the gem in his forehead glowed bright enough to blind anyone who looked directly into them.


    Within the cities of Koftas and Idos, the large families were given orders from the leaders, now that the undead was fleeing, it was time for new leadership. A civil war was declared in both cities and every faction attacked one another in the streets.


    The leader of Each faction was sitting in their homes wearing similar rings, their only focus was on the rings while a sinister voice sounded in their minds, only fear and regret could be seen in the depths of their eyes as they listened to the voice of the devil.


    "You enslaved and murdered my kin, so that''s exactly what I will have you do to your own people, and once your done killing one another, your souls will be mine forever!"

 40 Be My Gues

    Salem sat in a throne of metallic roots from his new throne room that overlooked the three cities below, his palace had expanded beyond the confines of the cavern. It had linked with the other obelisks to form a barrier against the undead, upper undead would be heavily weakened within its borders.


    Undead on his level would be at a disadvantage, but if they were much stronger than him, even his barrier wouldn''t be able to hold them back. As his forest of obelisks grew, the barrier would grow stronger and be able to hold off stronger foes from entering his domain.


    He watched as both cities went to war with themselves, the orders he had given through his rings to each family leader he had branded and then controlled to send their forces out and to conquer the city.


    The dead warriors were dumped near his forts, the excuse used was to send him a message that his people would be next, he smiled as his girls were using these "messages" to add more soldiers to his own army of wraiths.


    He was waiting for the leaders of the elven clans to join him in the throne room, he would offer them seats on the council of his city, some had vast amounts of experience and he would need guidance in areas not pertaining to war.


    He had noticed that most of the knowledge his creator left was of conquest, he didn''t want war for his people but he knew it would be necessary to protect them. Not everyone was willing to trade with you peacefully, some would look at his lands and desire what was his.


    The predecessors of this mountain had learned that the hard way.


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    He had received a report during breakfast that most of the guests he had invited had arrived, at both forts, most were family members of the humans and dwarves who had taken up residence within his city, while many others were like the ambassadors and many other noble families that had displayed the better qualities of mankind.


    He had invited the dwarf clan that he had granted a township too, he would not ignore them over old hatreds that made little sense to him, this invitation to the council of elders was met with a gift of beer and dwarven made weapons.


    The weapons were intriguing to him as a smith and enchanter, he had looked through the weapons and he found a set of black tomahawks which he enjoyed playing with. They might come in handy on the battlefield so he kept them for his own personal collection.


    The enchantment on them was the common penetration, he would be able to pierce through any unenchanted armor, against the undead it would be useful if he could hit them in the head otherwise, he would only use them on heavily armored living targets. He kept one on his hip and three more in his pocket dimension.


    He was wearing his silk, black and green, robes to this formal gathering, he was actually getting excited, seeing so many of his kin alive and well. He was happy that he had managed to warn them before the undead had encircled them, he didn''t hate the undead for what they were, only the methods which they used to fill their armies.


    Sitting up straight Salem felt as his honored guests arrive one by one, arriving first were the ambassadors from the human cities, they had all arrived before the fighting had started so they didn''t know that their cities were in a state of war.


    As they entered the hall they saw the view of the mountain and cities below and gasped in shock and delight, smiles blossoming on their faces, though they couldn''t make out what was happening from this view unless they had an elfs eyesight.


    He welcomed them all with a smile and toasted each family, he had the ambassadors sit close to him after the humans took their seats the dwarven clan was welcomed, Ohren Bolgerish walked in with his retinue, he was broad and tall for a dwarf. He stood at five feet tall, even with the formal wear on him, you could see the fabric cling to the large arms that they failed to hide.


    Toasting Ohren took twice as long, he took the toast as a small competition to who could drink longer, luckily for Salem, the glasses were not that large. Ohren sat with the ambassadors on his left, while there were four chairs on his right, left for the elven lords.


    The first to arrive was the forest elves, the Tavari clan lead by a female elf named Yana, she had brown hair and eyes, a little short but she carried herself with pride. She took the first seat to his right, giving him a smile and nod after she sat, he returned the gesture and welcomed her to his hall and city.


    Next came the river elves, clan Sindi, lead by Phaen Sindi a tall and kind looking elf. He had black hair and blue eyes, he walked forward and gave a gentle smile and sat beside Yana. The Talath clan came next, these elves were from the plains and migrated often, the Talath clan lead by an older elf, Aeleth Talath, he was about a few inches short of six foot. He had white hair and like most elves have sharp features, though his eyes were a light green color, like dry grass.


    He walked forward with a stern look on his face, his eyes watching the corners of the room, he took his seat and gave a quick nod to his host. Salem returned the greeting with a smile and nod of his own, he was interested in this elf who seemed ready for an ambush even within his palace.


    The last to come in was actually a drow clan, the Skal clan, lead by Navi Skal. She was taller than most humans, only slightly shorter than Salem was now, she had dusky skin, black hair, and gray eyes. Her ears were long like his own, unlike the other clans who had short pointed ears. She felt aloof like she wasn''t quite there, she didn''t have a smile on her cold face, but it did not take away from the attractive body that she wasn''t trying to conceal.


    Her bountiful breasts pushed against her tight robes while her pants were like a second layer of skin, showing off her toned legs and curves. He watched the cold beauty the only emotion he could see from her was agitation, as she glared at him.


    Not so surprised at the glare she cast his way when she sat to his right, the drow were mostly ruled by matriarchs while males would be trained as warriors, or slaves depending on the clan. He noticed the glare wasn''t for him only, the other elf clans were not as hospitable to the drow which he should be too surprised about, though he hoped he could end these hostile relations.


    There was also tension between the dwarves and the Talath clansmen, he wondered what could''ve sparked a feud between them, though he was sure he would know soon enough.


    "Welcome, all of you to my city, thank you all for coming here my neighbors from Koftas and Idos, though it pains me to say this. Your cities have started a civil war, each clan vying for power, and I am glad you and your families could escape such a bloody war."


    The ambassadors on his left stood abruptly, along with several other noble Lords who had frustration and worry written on their faces. Salem stood and raised his hands to calm them and motioned for them to sit.


    "I know each of you wishes nothing more than to return to your homes and help, but I am also aware that your forces even combined together would not be able to push back the larger noble clans who have an interest in taking the cities for themselves.


    Try to relax after we finish up here I will work with each of you to relocate the citizens to my city if that is what they wish, you all will be granted asylum from the two warring cities. You can even come to me with your skills and specialties, you will be granted the same titles in my lands and will be allowed to reclaim your own lands once the civil war has ended.


    I will do my best to keep the casualties to a minimum during these trying times, Forsa. Dalen. I would like for you two to join me and my counsel, you are both hardworking and you care for the people it would be best if they had someone they trusted letting them know it was safe here. I can make them all the promises in the world but without your support, many of them will die and possibly starve to death if they are not killed outright."


    "Do not worry about the undead, for now, I have strengthened the barrier so that even the upper undead would hate fighting here. Only the very best of them could march through and still be a threat so put those worries aside while you make your decision."


    Salem walked down to them and assured them that he would do everything he could for the people trapped in the cities.


    Both Forsa and Dalen took a moment and talked with one another, Salem didn''t rush them, he had seen the shock on their faces when he had asked them.


    The food was served while everyone waited, Salem offered each clan leader a spot on the council which he got two immediate affirmations, one from Yana and Navi. The later was a surprise to him considering the glare and that he was a male, Ohren was only slightly behind Navi in confirming his seat on the council.


    The rest slowly gave their answers during the meal, Dalen and Forsa had agreed to join him and swore their fealty. Which lead to the remaining elf clans to join the council as well, they would be a little stubborn to the way things worked but he hoped he could tame the hostility between them.


    There was still hostile stares between a few of them once the meal ended, he wasn''t looking forward to the coming struggle but all of them were needed to make his city stronger.


    He sat in his study with Railia clinging to him, he drank from his flask and thought of how he would take control of the entire mountain.

 41 Invasion

    Salem stepped onto the road leading to Koftas, behind him were his girls and an army of thirty thousand wraiths. With him was also two legions of archers from the elf clans, the elves had been more than willing to assault the human cities when they learned of the slavery and trafficking of their kins children.


    He looked to the sky as the sun began to rise as he remembered his first council meeting. The leader of the Skal clan, Navi, had the most emotional reaction as she had tried to blast a hole through one of the palace walls when he had told the council why he was marching to war.


    Apparently, he wasn''t the only one prone to emotional outbursts. She ranted and swore in several languages for ten minutes before she finally calmed down. Salem swore he had heard goblin and orc in the colorful speech, he couldn''t speak every language and there were a few terms he couldn''t quite place.


    It would seem she wanted to flay them alive and rip the muscles and tendons from their bodies. She would then heal the external wounds and let them rot in a dungeon which would sustain their needs, unable to move, forever trapped in their own bodies until the magic failed to sustain them.


    The throne room had been a little chilly after that, the rest of the meeting went as to be expected, the dwarves argued against everything the elves from the plains had brought up.


    The river elves, humans, and drow each fought one another over land distribution, luckily he had given the dwarves their own lands beforehand or it could have become a bloodbath.


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    The river elves requested to be near the small lake and waterfall, the drow chose to stay within the shadow of his tree while the forest elves naturally took to the forest surrounding the city.


    The humans preferred the city and chose to stay within it just like the drow had, the elves from the plains chose to stay in the fertile lands that were being cleared for more stables and other herds that were being raised.


    Luckily no one had come to blows, though he was sure if he wasn''t there the dwarves might have started a brawl with the Talath clansmen.


    Salem didn''t want to bring up their disputes during the meeting and he frankly didn''t have the patience to find out what had happened with them. Time wasn''t on their side and he needed to take control over the rest of the mountain.


    The undead had begun their assault on the barrier, though the first few waves were cannon fodder, thousands of undead were rushing into the barrier hoping to drain the energy source through sheer numbers. Fortunately, they were only feeding the barrier soul energy, instead of draining it, though eventually someone would notice this and halt the waves of nourishment.


    Salem watched the sunrise before giving the order to move forward, they approached the southern gate to Koftas, it had been heavily fortified since his last visit. The guards on the walls spotted the approaching army and raised the alarm, arrows rained down upon the guards without warning, Salem had had enough of playing nice.


    The guards closed the gates and dropped the portcullis, stopping any chance to assault the gate without war machines.


    The wraiths charged forwards, Salem ordered them to scale the walls and slaughter anyone who got in the way. Navi and Annah stepped forward and began casting their spells, the world bending to their wills. Navi sent a black sphere hurtling towards the gates, it didn''t destroy the gate but corroded it.


    Anna finished her spell soon after and launched a fireball the size of a head at the gate, the fireball grew and grew until it was the size of a large carriage by the time it impacted the gate.


    It exploded on contact, melting the portcullis and turning the gate, and any nearby guards into charcoal.


    Wraiths ran towards the blackened gate like a flooding black river, a loud crack sounded as they slammed their shoulders against the charred wood.


    Salem teleported to the top of the gate, his mace in one hand and a tomahawk in the other, his sudden appearance lead to chaos as he unleashed his fury upon the guards.


    His tails and wings whipped about the guards tossing them from the walls, anyone who got into a melee with him would be cut by his ax or crushed under the powerful mace.


    Blood had splashed upon his silver horned mask, he stood alone but the guards were paralyzed by fear looking at the demon before them, they had stopped their assault realizing they didn''t stand a chance.


    "Surrender or Die!" Salem roared over the battlefield, his wraiths took two steps back and raised their weapons at the guards, ready to resume the battle.


    A guard swiftly threw his weapon to the ground and raised his hands, the other guardsmen followed his example. There were a few who ran at the wraiths having lost their minds during the slaughter. They were restrained quickly, they had been on the edge of mental collapse and were easily subdued.


    Salem had them sent back to the fort, they had surrendered and he would not let his grudges make him dishonor himself. They deconstructed the gate and began making a fort inside the southern entrance of the city.


    He had his commanders move slowly through the southern district, coming through every house to evacuate the citizens. Salem had given an order that if any children were found they were to immediately move them back to Void City and be taken directly to the palace.


    If he found their families then he would return them, if not then he would adopt them, they were innocent and deserved a family, he would provide them with a home and protect them, growing up without hunger or fear.


    It took six hours before his troops ran into enemy forces, the chaos in the city had deteriorated any chance of a unified defense. Most of the largest factions had their leaders following his orders, so he was not too surprised at the lack of resistance.


    The enemy surrendered quickly after they were surrounded, they saw the Belegast crest on the weapons and knew the elves had invaded, a few scouts had managed to get away but no one was concerned, they had invaded openly by request of noble houses to end the madness and slaughter of their people.

 42 Plans Coming Together

    Salem examined the war table in his makeshift command center, the reports that had come to him in the last few hours were surprisingly positive. The citizens of Koftas were actually fleeing towards him and his army and seeking refuge from the noble houses that had gone mad at the thought of controlling the entire city and the many lands it owned, even if those lands were currently occupied by an undead horde. He had commanded those foolish lords to fight amongst one another and in their now broken minds, they had unleashed their pent up desires and frustrations during the civil war.


    With the support of the nobles he had invited to dine with him before the civil war had been unleashed the citizens were reaffirmed that it was safe to trust the elves and that they were only here to protect them and end the civil war swiftly and remind them that there was a true enemy at the gate who did not come to conquer them or the land but to destroy them as species or in this case because they were alive.


    Turning away from the maps he gave the order to march upon the city to his commanders, after they left the tent he sent a mental command to his newest subordinates and ordered them to launch a full-scale attack against one another. The city began to stir as the larger forces began to move their troops into position, their main target was the city lords faction at the center of the city.


    Unbeknownst to Salem, as the sunset upon Koftas, a massive Skeleton rose from his throne and as he moved so did the massive horde of undead begin to stir.


    Salem mounted his risen horse and rode at the front of his legion of wraiths, turning to his girls he gave out the command to stay hidden until the final battle had begun, they would surround the human forces and give them the opportunity surrender, of course if they didn''t give a prompt answer he had no issue with destroying them outright. He took his time getting into position as they rode through the streets, as they made their way into the depths of the city they passed by corpses and the destitute citizens, he stopped and gave each of them the news that the southern wall was safe with food and shelter available to them.


    He received their gratitude and tear-stained faces at the relief he had brought, looking away from the most recent citizen he heard shouting and banging coming from a house not far from his main path, making his way to the house he heard the shouting suddenly stop, but he heard quiet sobbing. Salem frowned and kicked the door in and looked about the small house, in a moment he took in the scene of the entire house, a dead man lay next to the entrance not far from him was a woman her clothes had been torn away leaving her mostly bare. If she was still alive she would have been quite beautiful but the look of pain sadness and fear stained her face in death, she had been pinned to the floor with a broadsword through her chest, by the expanding pool of blood he could tell she had died only a few moments ago. Looking past her he saw a naked man, a young boy who had his face beaten and a young girl whom the naked man was approaching her. Not giving it a second thought Salem threw his spear.


    It struck the man in the stomach and swept him forward past the two youths, he didn''t stop moving till he was pinned against the wall, he grunted in pain and tried to remove himself from the spear. Salem summoned a few wraiths into the house and had them removed the children from the house, he approached the pinned man the anger rising in his chest as he remembered the quiet sobs of the children. He reached forward and pinned the mans face against the wall and whispered into the man''s ear, "I do not know what motivated you to destroy this family but I am going to hurt you in a similar fashion luckily for you I don''t have a lot of time for this."


    Salem summoned his tails and used them to spread the man against the wall, grabbing his spear he twisted and pulled it out of the man, the man looked back and began to beg for his life and gave apologies and promises of wealth and repentance and other nonsense. More tails began forming as the man''s manic rambles became more annoying Salem burrowed his tails through the man''s back and into his soft flesh.


    "In your next life, you should behave yourself." Salem then tighten his grip on the man''s legs and arms and pulled him in four different directions, the man squealed like the pig he was until arms and legs ripped away from his torso, in disgust Salem flung the body away, he made his way back to his horse and sent the children to his home, he would remove their memories of this tragedy after he was done dealing with the humans.


    He remounted his horse and picked up the pace towards the city''s center, closing his eyes he watched through the eyes of his newest wraiths as they waged war on each other. There was no strategy as they ran through the streets, killing anyone who didn''t have the same crest or colors of their family. Arriving halfway through the battle he gave the order for archers to take to the rooftops, he sent word to his commanders to begin moving forward to box in the human armies. He summoned his armor and wore his mask, riding his horse slowly towards the humans, it only took a few minutes before he caught up with them, he drew his spear and brought his mount to a stop.


    Taking a moment to look over the battlefield he channeled his energy and spoke, his voice was neither loud or soft but it was heard by everyone in the chaos, "Lords of Koftas, by invitation of the noble houses of your city I, Salem Beleghast, Lord of the Mountain have come to mediate an end to this civil war. The ruler of your city should be determined after the undead threat has been dealt with, this slaughter of one another only weakens your defenses and will lead you and your clans into destruction. So I urge you now to lay down your arms and return to your homes."


    The soldiers looked about the field of battle in slight shock as the voice faded, as they looked around they saw the large army surrounding them, they looked to the lords of their houses waiting for orders. A quiet stillness crept over the soldiers, they saw the thousands of lances pointed toward them. "How dare an elf scum command us! Men, kill these interlopers!"


    Many of the lords of mid-sized houses and all of the larger houses voiced similar lines of racism and orders, the soldiers briefly hesitated before turning towards the elven army. Salem smiled under his mask, he didn''t even plan for that first outburst but otherwise it had gone according to plan. He raised his hand, his commanders surrounding the battlefield followed his action, moments after there was a hissing sound in the air. Looking up the soldiers saw the horrific sight of thousands of arrows raining towards them, "Shields!" came an abrupt shout but it was too late. The arrows arrived in waves, the deadly swarm did not stop for five minutes straight and by the time it did the human armies were decimated.


    "Move forward, collect the bodies and have them sent back to Void city arrest the living and kill anyone who resists!" Turning his head away from the battlefield he looked toward the gates of Koftas. He could feel a surge of energy flowing into his trees as undead rushed into his forcefields, they kept coming and pushing deeper into the fields it would only be a few hours before they broke through to the trees and destroyed them. The most surprising thing was that it wasn''t just Koftas that was under full assault but Idos was under assault as well, though they were going to fare far better than Koftas who had a large portion of their forces decimated.


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    "Let''s go home, we need to warn Idos and the remaining nobles here that the undead are making a move.

 43 In the Face Of Death.

    Riding back towards the southern gate Salem saw large streams of citizens moving towards the evacuation sites, as he rode passed they would bow and resume traveling after they lost sight of him. The massive amount of people would be a challenge to feed and house but not impossible, the food stored within the city needed to be moved quickly otherwise it would rot under the undead'' management.


    After arriving back at his command tent he sent a summons to the nobles who had come with him, they had spread out amongst the camp or were even in the city and it took over an hour for them to return and learn of the impending doom, he gave them as much support as he could to move the citizens and food towards Void city. He advised them to leave the city quickly and if they had any friends or family still with the city, now was the time to leave. After giving each of them the news he departed his tent and mounted his horse and rode through the gates, he would watch over the citizens until the last moment.


    Though it was not out of caring for their lives as much as it was for showing them who was the true protector in their hour of need. Time slowly crawled by as the citizens moved towards the entrance to his domain. Less than half of the citizens had passed into the safety of the mountain when he felt the first of the trees shudder, he closed his eyes and saw through the eyes of his scouts that a massive skeletal warrior stood at the edge of his barrier.


    The new enemy had placed its hand on the barrier, where the undead and the barrier touched flames and dark smoke would appear, the flames tried to purge the undead and absorb his soul while the black smoke was a miasma that quenched the flames before it could touch the massive undead. It pulled its hand back and roared towards the sky before marching through the barrier. A black miasma cloud was unleashed and covered any undead that was within its range, the crow scout flew higher into the air to move away from the miasma and circled above.


    From this new vantage point, Salem saw two more clouds of miasma coursing through the barrier, the outer city would be filled with that deadly poison in just a few minutes and the wards would be destroyed soon after, opening his eyes he sent word for the nobles to retreat immediately. Five minutes passed and the trees fell simultaneously, through the city thunderous banging could be heard from the massive gates. The undead had finally arrived with an invitation for all to join them. The citizens began to push and shove their way towards the southern half of the city, even those who had been adamant not to leave during the civil war made for the elven fortress.


    The Twins, Jenna, and Annah rode up to Salem they had felt the barrier fall away from Koftas, they were no longer human but they did care for the innocent and came to ask him to protect the people of Koftas.


    He looked away from the dark clouds of miasma towards them, he could feel their compassion and knew what they had in mind. "Don''t worry, I will give them as much time as I can without putting our home in jeopardy. Bring the troops into a defensive formation around the southern gate and let all the citizens through but you are not allowed to move into the city, our noble allies will do what they can but-


    Crack!*


    The three massive gates broke away from the walls, they fell back into the city, destroying many homes and businesses close by. A massive cloud of dust rose up and silence fell over the city, soon black wisps of miasma blew into the city, at first it was a single skeletal soldier that came out of the dust, then ten then a thousand, an endless sea of skeletons, ghouls, and horrors of the undead marched past the gates. A scream was heard shortly after and the undead charged in all directions to snuff out all life they came across.


    Lurking within the sea of undead were three large skeletal warriors, each had black armor with the trim matching the livery that hung from their mounts. The warrior from the east had black and purple trim while from the west had black and gold, directly across from their defensive position was the largest of the three who had black and red armor. The black and red warrior pushed forward and his legions swarmed towards the southern half of the city, watching the undead charge Salem ordered for the wraiths to man the front lines while moving the human and elven troops to the rear.


    With the troops moving into position Salem summoned his commanders to his side where they could watch over the battle, the citizens had mostly moved beyond his defensive line and were heading toward the entrance of the mountain. Loud drumming could be heard but it wasn''t from the elves or the undead, shortly after a loud horn was blown that made the air tremble. The undead armies from the east and west turned back and charged back towards the outer city, yet the army from the north kept with their charge.


    Curious as to what was happening outside the city he ordered his crows to head back over the walls before he could sate his curiosity however the undead slammed into his wraiths pulling his attention back to the threat at hand. His forces were sorely outnumbered but a single wraith would take dozens of undead down before their bodies were finally destroyed, after the initial collision the undead were like animals only attacking out of instinct, yet the number advantage was showing as slowly his wraiths fell one by one.


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    The battle was about even, for the time being, he could hold this position for hours without the undead''s other armies lending a hand, he had the thought to peek at what was happening outside the walls while there was no immediate threat to his girls. He closed his eyes and connected to one of his scouts, from a bird''s eye view he could see the undead under siege surprising it wasn''t a human or elven army it was an army of bare-chested, red-skinned orcs. Their warriors were covered in tribal tattoos, no warrior among them was less than six feet tall, their weapons ranged from stone, metal, and bone. There were maces, axes, and gauntlets most of which could pulverize the undead into dust.


    He had only looked over the battlefield for a few moments before a wave of lightning destroyed his scouts, the backlash from the sudden destruction stung his mind leaving him in a daze for a moment, blinking away the sharp pain he tried to focus on this new development. Shaking his head and the discomfort he spoke to his girls and the human commanders.


    "Orcs have invaded the undead from behind, now is the time for a counterattack, if we can reseal the gates before the orcs and the undead have finished killing each other, then we can retake Koftas. Prepare your troops for an assault if we take out that thing," he pointed at the mounted warrior surrounded by hundreds of elite undead, "Than the rest of the undead in the city will be destroyed by the sun."


    Pulling his mask over his face he brought his girls and the remaining wraiths to the rear of the army, the humans and elves parted slowly while he waited till everyone was in position. The enemy he needed to destroy was deep within the undead sea and he would not be able to ride through them all, unfortunately, his true mount wasn''t ready for this kind of battle otherwise he could ride straight to his enemy.


    He felt a few hands lightly land on his body, he was surrounded by his girls, each one with determination in their eyes and a radiant smile on their faces. The lowered their masks and drew their weapons, from beautiful elven maidens to invokers of fear in but a moment. He could not have been more proud of these women who were so strong and caring that they would risk their lives for those who were innocent and even those who might harbor ill will towards them because they were no longer human.


    Drawing his spear he began the charge, the wraiths in front of him parted when he was but a few feet away, a hole was made in the formation until he could see the undead. He smelled the stench of rotting flesh first then the crunch of bone beneath his horses'' hooves, they pushed through the undead until they began to slow a quarter of the way to their target, " Push forward from here, I''ll be waiting for you at the front!" Salem shouted as he stood on his saddle and leaped towards the elite undead, he swept his spear from east to west decapitating a group of undead. He unleashed tendrils of energy and destroyed the fragmented souls in the undead that had him surrounded.


    Dozens of the lesser undead fell at a time, his slaughter had gained him the attention of the elite undead in a matter of seconds. They broke ranks in an attempt to be the first to kill a high-level target. Seeing the elites rushing towards him he raised his spear and let the tendrils of energy wreak havoc on the lesser undead. The first elite tried to deflect the spear, having no thought to the possibility that its enemy was physically on par with a high-level undead. The deflection failed and the spear pierced through its skull, eliminating its soul before it knew what had happened.


    Salem shortened the spear to its mace form and stepped past the poor wretch as its body fell to the ground, the remaining elites paid no heed to the threat or their fallen comrade and lunged forward. Salem sidestepped and swung the mace, the skull turned into dust, and another elite hit the floor. -This is going to take too long if I have to kill them a few at a time- He thought to himself. Raising his free hand an emerald flame began to burn, beneath his mask in the depths of his eyes an emerald green sun blazed in their depths.


    Channeling his energy he let loose a raging inferno that swallowed up dozens of the elites turning their bones and flesh into char and their souls devoured as they fled.


    The undead commander saw the flames and felt the undead elites disappear from its command, it knew that it had come across an opponent that its master would give him great rewards if he were to capture this being, he dismounted and picked up its battle ax. Even all the elites swarming this new enemy wouldn''t be able to bring it down, he moved forward while the elites in his way scattered away from the aura he gave off.


    Salem saw the massive undead push his way to the front lines, it stared at him while he unleashed a blast of flames towards the commander. As the flames stuck the undead commander a black miasma seeped from the armor and kept the flames at bay. Under the mask he raised an eyebrow surprised he couldn''t break the miasma. The elite undead retreated as their commander stepped forward, Salem held his mace and gripped it tight.


    The commander raised his ax and let loose a raspy roar, the visor of his helmet was filled with the red glow of his corrupted soul. Salem dodged the ax when it hit the ground gave way leaving a massive crater where it had landed. Dust and debris launched into the air, taking advantage of the moment Salem rushed forward and swung his mace only to have it blacked by the massive ax. His hand went numb from the impact, he retreated quickly and elongated his mace back to a spear. He wouldn''t be able best this undead in a contest of strength and he would be matched in skill, he would have to rely on speed and wit if he wanted to win but if he could tell than so would his enemy.


    He gripped the spear and stabbed towards those glowing red eyes, he was blocked over and over, the undead had near unlimited stamina, even as a wraith Salem wouldn''t be able to fight forever so he left a small opening and took a slash from the ax, at the moment where the ax broke through his armor he jabbed the spear up under the chin on the helmet, the helmet broke apart revealing a black skull. Cracks had formed from where the spear had pierced through, the red light had yet to vanish, the commander spoke before the last of its soul was destroyed.


    "My master U''thein will wipe you off this small rock sooner or later, oh and you better duck." The undead then latched onto him, before he had digested the full message he felt something penetrate his back, and then half a dozen more slammed into him he coughed up a mouthful of blood and broke away from the corpse that still gripped him.


    He moved into the crowd of the undead, using them as shields, his vision started to blur as he stumbled towards his forces, a blast of lightning ripped into him before he got very far and threw him forward crashing through the undead. He hit the ground and rolled to a stop, barely conscious he crawled toward his forces, a large orc pushed through the crowd of undead and chanted in an ancient dialect of orcish, lightning began to jump from his fingers as he took aim.


    "This is where we say goodbye master, I''m leaving all my remaining knowledge with you, and good luck finding your little sister!"


    The system''s voice echoed in his head, he could feel the system building up all of his and its own power. He could see it take the form of the elf girl who had taken him to forge to be destroyed, the last thing he saw was her pale green form slamming into the orc and a bright light before it all went dark.


    -End Volume One

 44 Chapter 44: Slumber

    The sounds of battle were all around him, he could taste dirt in his mouth, he felt a jolt as someone started dragging him away. He heard shouting, a spell exploded nearby and his vision dimmed for a moment before rocks pelted his armor.


    "Retreat! Fall back to Void City!" The retreat was sounded by a sonorous voice, one he recognized. Jenna must be the one dragging him away, why was she dragging me? Opening his eyes Salem''s vision swam bringing on a wave of nausea, fighting back the urge to see his last meal he fought to examine his surroundings.


    They were currently surrounded by a sea of wraiths they stood tall against arrows and spells that devastated their formations, he could hear guttural chanting which came from the orc casters. The battle had turned into a free for all between the undead, orcs, and elves. Both the elves and undead had their forces breached by the ambush the orcs unleashed, luckily the undead had moved forces to halt the remaining orcs from arriving in full force.


    There was no point in keeping Koftas, even if he could retake the city the price would be far too much just for an extra layer of protection for the forts. Taking in a ragged breath he grabbed Jennas'' hand, she looked down at the sudden touch.


    "Master!" She kneeled down and placed his head onto her knees, "Don''t worry master, we will have you back in Void city soon." Through their bond he could feel her panic and worry, as his senses were coming back to him he saw her armour was rent in many places, what happened when he lost consciousness earlier? He felt out through his bond to check on the rest of his girls only to feel five small flames while the rest were cold and very dim to his senses.


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    He opened his eyes to see Annah, Sarah, and Sasha arriving with Railia leading a group of armoured mounts. They rushed forward and knelt beside him, out of the five only Railia didn''t have a scratch on her, she must have rushed here from the castle when she felt his connection with them wavering. They grabbed ahold of his armour and put him onto a mount, they rode close together as they left the battlefield.


    After they made it to the entrance to the fort they stopped and looked back towards Koftas, "Burn it to the ground!" Salem growled before he turned towards the mountain. Jenna gave the command to an elven archer, an arrow was lit and released back towards the city gates. It struck a barrel on the ramparts, it quickly caught fire and spread to the rest of the wall and nearby buildings. They had been doused in oil and caught fire quickly and soon spread to the rest of the city.


    He passed through the gates and saw the long procession of human refugees, some cried while others held their families close. The worst of them looked upon the other families with grief and envy, they had lost everything in the battle their friends, family, and homes. He rode past them slowly, the arrows still stuck in his armor and blood still dripping from his wounds. "Get them settled in the city and get a headcount of the refugees, send a force to check on Idos'' situation and seal all entrances to the mountain."


    Jenna nodded at the command, "All the children who have lost their families have been taken to the castle already. When should we commence with the ceremony?"


    "Immediately."


    After returning to the castle Salem had the twins help him remove the arrows, he circulated his energy and began to heal quickly, while he had been unconscious he had been in real danger luckily Jenna had led the others in a courageous if not risky rescue. He changed his clothes quickly and rushed to the ones who had saved him, he pushed the door open and made for the first person he saw. She was covered in bandages, even her face had been covered, he placed a hand on her forehead and he felt her pain. A broken jaw, twenty different cuts and lacerations, three broken ribs and her left arm had been dislocated. He choked back a sob and took a deep breath, now wasn''t the time they may be stable for now but they could still slip away if he didn''t hurry.


    He began infusing his energy in them all at once through their bond, he took all of their pain through the bond and nearly fainted from the excruciating pain. The healing couldnt be rushed, he had to go extremely slow as he let his energy permeate through their bodies, once they were full he would circulate the energy until it had either been absorbed or dissipated then he would do it again. The twins who had accompanied him had summoned other healers though they were only their to reset broken limbs before they had been told to leave. It took seventy two hours of healing before they were all completely out of danger, Salem slowly got up from where he had sat on the floor and went to each of them he thanked them for their sacrifice, loyalty, and love they had shown him. Some had still been asleep while others feigned consciousness, after he had left a few cried silently relieved they had lived and joyous over the overwhelming love their master had for each one of them.


    Leaving the girls Salem went and performed the ceremony for the children, this took several hours as there were hundreds of them. His family grew now by the hundreds and he was excited to see each of them grow into unique individuals, he ruffled the hair of a very cute pair of siblings before he went to a private chamber that held a pool that was currently absorbing the moonlight, he summoned the Twins, Jennah, Annah, and Raillia. Once they arrived he could feel their worry, he chuckled he felt slight excitement from Annah. The laughter from him lightened the mood a little, "Don''t worry im not dying or anything, though I am severely wounded and overdrafting my energy has left me wakened for the foreseeable future." He saw each of them frown at the news.


    "I will be using a technique to help me recover but I''m unsure how long it will take and I will be relying on you and the others to take care of our home. Sarah and Sasha you will be taking care of inducting any children that come to our home while I am asleep,Raillia you will govern domestic affairs while Jenna and Annah will handle the military operations. We should focus on defending what we have for now. If you need to bolster our troops with more undead you will find all the dead we have collected beneath the warren." He stepped forward and held each of them for a few minutes, they talked softly together with him about their worries. He took off his clothes and placed them on a nearby bench, the twins whistled at his naked body, he glared at them before letting out a smirk as he thought of how he will punish them once he woke up.


    He gave Jenna a slip of paper before he laid down in the shallow water and used the ability Slumber, the ability didn''t actually cause sleep but a forced state of meditation, paralyses, and healing. It also blocked out the majority of his senses to the outside world, including pain, he was still having a difficult time remembering what had happened when he fell unconscious so the first thing he did was move his mind to the system. When he arrived he realized the place had changed significantly it had used to be a large gate with a pedestal where he could access the information he had unlocked, now it was a circular room that had bookshelves for walls that rose up toward the ceiling, the walls were black and the floor was white. There was a large black chair in the middle of the room with a side table next to it. What caught his attention were the bright red letters that read "To Master Salem" in an elegant and old elven language that no one other than the system and him might know in this world.


    He picked up the letter and read the first paragraph, it was what the system told him right before she sacrificed herself for him.

 45 Chapter 45

    After reading the letter he dropped into the chair resting in the center of the room, he read the letter over again before he folded it and gently put it back into the envelope and placed it back onto the side table. The spirit that had managed the systems information and tasks had been an apprentice and she was also the one to find the crystal of the void beast and present it to be made with one of the rings, his original body in this case, her cousin had snuck into the smithy when she had gone to get her master and sabotaged his schematic by removing a part of the runes for his durability. This had led him to being a flawed magical ring, but in the end he had awakened a consciousness and escaped death.


    The letter had explained the changes to the system after the spirit had sacrificed itself, with a fraction of the remaining energy it had left it took the most vital information and moved it into this library. She had attached the system to his soul so it would draw power from him and reflect the strength of his soul. Compared to the vast expanse that had resembled the system before it was quite pitiful, he would be able to access all the information at a thought, though anything new he wanted to add to the library would require energy corresponding to the complexity of the material.


    He could still rely on the system to judge and calculate power levels and his progress but it would be restricted to the strength of his soul to gauge things. If his opponent had a way to shield themselves from his probing or had the ability to counterattack then without a proper method to protect himself he would face threats that he couldn''t perceive.


    "Best to get to work than." He willed for anything related to souls and how to strengthen and use them and the library delivered a stack of books, he assumed they came from somewhere on the shelves he picked up the first one and began to absorb the knowledge.


    Standing over the pool of water the girls read over the note, it listed a long list of ingredients and steps to take as well as instructions for important matters during his absence, the first of which was to start using the medicinal power for his body to heal and become stronger. That wasn''t so shocking, as for the medicinal powder he wanted used, he specified the ones produced by the queen''s carapace. Within the room were shelves that had the powders and other ingredients listed on the note, they were to begin the body refinement immediately, luckily they only needed to use a small amount of the medicine until his body got used to the radical effects.


    The twins started to collect the ingredients, they walked to the edge of the pool and slowly poured the powder in. As the powder dissolved they watched as the quiet lord within the pool, his skin began to darken but the pool began to steam around him, his veins pushed to the surface of his skin and in the quiet room they could hear the sound of his heart as worked to push the medicine through his system. Beneath him an array slowly began to light up, they could feel the temperature begin drop with frost beginning to form at the edges of the pool. The girls let out a sigh of relief as his body began to relax, they had been worried that the medicine would cause severe damage to his body, but it seemed that their young lord had taken precautions before he went to sleep.


    The girls lingered for a while longer before going about their duties, they each had been assigned with important roles, they needed to go about the training of apprentices and the conversion of the newly arrived children. They first had to inform the council members of the orc invasion as well as send forces to reinforce the outer defenses. The twins left to the forges, their task was to prepare enchanted weapons that would be more effective against the orcish horde. Railia, Jenna, and Anna went to check on the rest of their sisters while they waited for the council members to arrive. Most of them were awake, though their injuries would still take a while to heal, they would be able to instruct their forces. Two of the least of the injured left for Idos, they would reinforce the fortress and lend aid if they could to the humans.


    Salem sat within his library books surrounded by open tomes that covered a single subject, the soul, a flood of knowledge raced through him. At first the knowledge came easy is was smooth yet quick like a small stream but not long after that he tried to quicken the pace and he succeeded, of course the pace only quickened and he couldn''t slow it down, as the speed increased, the flow went from smooth and calm stream to a maelstrom of agony, he clenched his teeth and bore through it. If anyone was with his body they would see streams of blood coming from his eyes, ears, and nose.


    Within the council chamber the elves and dwarfs were in heated discussions, each of them had received word that the orcs had ambushed their troops during the undeads'' invasion. It was bad enough fighting the undead that cared only for slaughter, now they had to deal with orcs. The orcs would not be content with slaughter, they were cruel and vicious but they would kill their warriors and enslave the survivors, and be subjected for an assortment of cruelties.


    Jennah, Anna, and Railia walked into the council chambers and sat with grace upon their designated seats. The council members quieted themselves and waited anxiously for their city lord to arrive, after a few minutes of waiting, the absence of their leader and the implications of not showing himself heavily impacted their morale. Not waiting any longer for the council to present their question, Railia looked them in the eyes and spoke in a solemn tone, "During the battle for Koftas our lord was ambushed by an orcish horde as you well know by now, luckily we were able to escape back to the mountain without any loss of life, we have been ordered to seal the mountain and fortify our defenses and if possible aid Idos in its defense against the undead forces."


    She watched the councillors as they heard the official report, luckily there was no apparent dissension in the ranks, yet. "Now that you all are caught up on the situation we need to get on with our lords'' missions, mine is to gather any information on four primary parties of interest. First, are there any other elf clans that can either be assimilated or allied with? Second, where did our friends the orcs and undead come from? The third order is where are the humans during this upheaval? One human city was sacked and another under siege, I can understand elves not coming to this regions rescue due to the past wars and racism but," she glared at the human members of the council who returned the stare with saddened expressions, "I haven''t even heard a rumor about calling for help."


    Forsa stood up and unrolled the map laying on the table, "I know that what our ancestors did was wrong and that there were a few noble houses that continued in such heinous practices but not everyone is so mentally warped, though you make a valid point that there hasn''t been any word on reinforcements from the rest of the human kingdom, but that is more of a problem dealing with getting a message from this mountain back to the rest of humanity, this particular part of the continent is about six months of hard travel due east to reach the nearest human settlement that isnt a small village or bandits." He slowly outlined a path from the furthest western landmass to the east, he drew a symbol for a castle and wrote a name underneath, "Fort Galing."


    Forsa drew another line to the southeast to the coast from the fort and drew a castle, he began to draw a crest that resembled a broadsword, as he drew he started explaining the original route from the human capitol to the mountain.


    Our ancestors were not the highest ranked nor the most reputable in the kingdom so they came to these lands to make their fortunes and glory, from what was left of our houses records is that the journey started out fine but after they had crossed the river it was one problem after another, from several monster attacks to food shortages, all of which eventually lead us to the elves and the unfortunate events that followed." Letting out a sigh Forsa continued his report, "If a messenger got through the undead, he would need to survive six months of hard travel, most likely alone, through the wilderness and any orc scouting parties that may or may not have been in place. What I do know is that both Koftas and Idos sent ten teams each with news of the undead about eight months ago. So best case scenario one of the teams made it and reinforcements will arrive in four to eight months. There is also the possibilities noe one made it, or they haven''t reached Fort Galing yet, without knowing if someone made contact with the fort I would suggest assuming that they don''t know our troubles and no one is coming." Forsa sat back into his seat and stared at the map.


    Railia studied the map and digested the tale of the humans pasts, though it absolved them of any crimes it never hurt to know more about potential threats and the difficulties of the terrain. "Alright, here is what we are going to do." She leaned forward and began marking the map as she explained the goals of the council for the foreseeable future.


    Within the deepest parts of Salems'' mind, knowledge flooded into his being without end, unfortunately this blessing had put a great strain on his mind and soul. Large red letters came across his vision it felt like ages before he could finally focus on something other than the river of data, he couldn''t stay focussed long enough to form the message in a single thought so he would read and repeat a single word several times before moving onto the next. "Huh, ''Warning: power draw critical. Host unresponsive, initiate emergency protocols. Warning: library subsystem failure; unable to stop data flow.


    Attempting to re allocate soul energy resources.


    -Access Denied--Access Denied--Access Denied--Access Denied-


    ...


    -Access Granted- Host Permission Received: Distribution of Resources: Adequate.


    Ejecting Host: 3, 2, 1.


    Salems'' eyes shot open, a plethora of sensations hit him all at once including a headache that felt as if he was once again struck by that orc. As his mind was assaulted he slipped beneath the water and sucked in a mouthful of water, slight panic kept him paralyzed until his back touched the bottom of the pool. Getting a grip over himself he pushed against the floor and rose above the water, where he coughed up the water he had swallowed, shaking his head to rid himself of the disorientation nearly caused him to vomit. He wretched and dry heaved for a few minutes, thankfully his stomach was empty of any solid food.


    He tried to summon his status screen but when it popped into focus his headache increased in intensity, he dismissed it as quickly as it arrived, the pain receded back to a more tolerable level allowing him to move to the edge of the pool. He clambered out of the pool and made his way to the exit, he had tried to call Railia and the other but every attempt to reach out felt like someone had put a hot poker into his brain. He couldn''t remember anything after he had picked up that book.


    He managed to get the door open and stumble into the hallway, he made it a few feet before he was stopped by a sharp pull to his hair, turning around cause his vision to swim slightly but he focused on the fact that his hair had been trapped in the door as it closed behind him. ''What the hell? How had my hair gotten so long?'' he thought, he wobbled back to the door and freed himself from its evil clutches. Resuming his journey through the halls till he made it to the councils'' meeting room. No one was there, ''nothing too strange about that'' he thought, ''though that chair looks extremely comfortable''. He sat at the chair closest to him, ''huh why is the chair so cold...oh, im naked''. His thoughts seemed a bit sluggish but even as he realised it there was nothing he could do so he just sat there and waited, after waiting what he thought was five minutes someone entered the room, he didn''t recognize the young woman but she was dressed in maid attire so she was probably here to prepare the council chambers.


    She stopped and looked at him, he returned the stare that lead into an awkward silence until the maid finally decided to speak up, "Who are you and why are you naked?"


    Well that seems easy enough to answer he thought and replied with a charming smile "Because I''m not wearing any clothes."


    The maid continued to stare and so did Salem, another awkward silence.


    Vexxed at such an unreasonable fellow the maid moved forward to shoo him out of the council chambers when foot and chattering came from the hallway, Salem sat and waited while the maid screamed internally, she went and stood by the stranger in an attempt to remove him from his seat. Just as she reached his side some the group had come to the door.


    "Bloody hell, I didn''t realize we could be using this room for pleasure as well, I never knew you elves could let loose like this!" A loud and cheerful voice came from the door, standing in the doorway were the council members, in front of the group was a pair of dwarves a human and a drow. The maid turned to the group and curtsied, "Excuse me my lords and ladies, but I found this gentleman a few minutes ago when I came in to check the chambers, if you will pardon us I will take him to the infirmary-"


    "Stop." A soft and elegant voice commanded, it came from the back of the group that slowly parted to reveal Railia who moved quickly through the other councillors. As soon as her eyes landed on Salem she lost all decorum and ran to his side and embraced him.


    After a few minutes of crying and clinging did Railia finally put a complete sentence, "Master y-you said you would only be gone for a short while! What took you so long?"


    Salem smiled at her "I wasn''t gone that long, there''s no reason to fret like this is there?"


    The room became quiet, the touching scene had ended and everyone had a confused look on their faces. A dwarf stood forward after the quiet became unbearable for him, "Since you all are so chicken I will tell him, my lord no one has seen or heard from you in the last ten years..."


    Salem frowned at first but after a moment smiled at the dwarf, "That is impossible I would remember if I had been away for so long." he began to play with Railias hair, it was so soft!


    Railia watched her masters reactions, the rest of the council looked at one another and began whispering amongst themselves, she looked into his eyes and noticed they were misted over as if he were half awake still in the midst of his dreams. She placed both her hands on his face and looked him in the eye. "Master, what do you remember? What happened after you went to sleep?"


    Salem tried to look away, but she held him firm forcing him to stare back at her, "I read my books while I waited, there wasn''t anything else to do not even snacks." He tried to turn away again only to be firmly gripped by Railia, "Master! Remember what happened, please it''s time to wake up."


    He frowned as he tried to remember, but his head started to hurt again, he didn''t want to remember it was easier to not think about it, but she really wanted him to remember and he didn''t want to disappoint her , but it hurt so bad! He closed his eyes shut and tried to remember, he remembers opening the first book and that wasn''t so bad but there was something right after that felt like he was splitting in two.


    Even though that was how he felt, he didn''t know just how right that train of thought was, as he tried to push past that last barrier to remember he started holding his head and letting out small gasps of pain. The spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak and at this moment his own body was making him suffer.


    Railia tried calming him down but it was no use, though she felt through her bond that she had stimulated him, though his suffering made her feel guilty it was necessary for him to recover his mental acuity, by the way he had been acting it seemed as if he was either drunk or under an enchantment. Soon after he started screaming, they had to restrain him just in case he tried to hurt himself. Railia had summoned her sisters through their connection and they ushered the council leaders outside.


    There were only a few of her sisters in the city at the moment the rest had gone on their own missions, messages would have to be sent later, as of now they were doing their best to comfort their master. A few hours of screaming had left his body exhausted until he finally fainted, they carried him to his bed and stayed with him. At first they thought the danger had past but three days passed in a similar fashion, he would sleep and wake up late into the morning and begin the torture of remembering what took place over the last decade.


    Slowly the memories came back, along with a torrent of information he could barely grasp the majority of which was beyond his understanding and as more knowledge came to him the more pain he received. On the fifth day the pain increased by threefold, he believed he would go insane before he could adapt to the flood of knowledge that assaulted him repeatedly. If he wanted to remain sane and escape this never ending torment he needed help, but the only being that could help him was in the shadow realm, he would need to get back to the gate of the shadow realm before the pain began again he summoned as many of his guards back to his chambers. There were thirteen present, the twins had come back from Idos during the night, they had been overseeing the training of apprentices as well as a shipment of weapons that went to both forts and to the front line of defence.


    The Twins and Railia stood around him, each of them placed their hand on him and opened the link between them, they gave him warmth and comfort and brought him peace. They brought him to the path, they had all gone through the crucible of war, through the cycle of life and death they had reaped the latent soul energy from their enemies and even their supposed allies. They had all been absorbing the soul energy to strengthen themselves and during their lords sleep they had walked the path until each of them had become squires in their own right, their apprentices had become shades and now lead the younger generation along the path.


    It was the same path he found himself on now, he moved forward he could feel the torment rising once again and he quickened his pace, his guards had not followed him along the path they had stayed behind to keep his pain at bay for as long as they could. As the pain grew he could feel himself fragmenting one moment and being whole the next.


    He kept to the path until he was once more at the gate where he had met his mentor Knight Heidon. He placed his hand upon the gate and the runes began to glow with power, a moment later a slim red figure appeared on the other side of the gate, the figure gave off a similar feel to knight Heidon but it wasn''t quite the same, the figure looked him over before speaking to him, "Who are you young squire, what purpose brought you here?"


    Surprised at the enchanting voice that welcomed him, this knight that was before him was female, he coughed to cover for himself before taking a knee. "Reporting, I am Salem Beleghast, I seek aid from knight Heidon my mentor. I have suffered an injury and seek his aid, none on this plane will know how to heal me, I believe if this continues I risk a broken mind."


    The figure stared at him for a moment before responding to him, "Hmm I understand and I have good news, our teacher has just broken through to the Witch King rank, but it will take some time before I can get an audience with him. I can feel the instability within you, unfortunately I am not as precise as our teacher is when it comes to mending souls and I would not want to accidentally cause you more harm. I will return as soon as I can squire, stay here and pray that I can get an audience."


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    Before he could respond to her presence vanished, well that increases my chance of survival, he thought to himself. He leaned against the gate, the pain had returned so he could only hope that Heidon wasn''t too busy.

 46 Chapter 46

    "Wake up young squire, time to get back in the fight." A noble voice shook him from the sweet relief of unconsciousness. The first sensation to greet his awakening was his new companion, pain, the second was the firm grip that held his shoulder. Looking up he saw his first mentor, the Witch King Heidon, who had brought him into the fold of the shadow realms wraith'' faction.


    "Glad you made it back in time, I really didn''t want to die." Salem forced a smile up at the Witch King before giving him a short explanation of his current ailment. The Witch King gave him his full attention, as he explained the Witch King didn''t give away his thoughts, his expression was steady as a mountain.


    "Okay, I have a theory as well as a cure for your current ailment but I can''t help you here at the edge of my seat of power. This might be disorienting," before he could ready himself they were swallowed by a beam of light, disorienting was not the word he would use to describe the vomit inducing inter dimensional travel. He felt as if his organs had been pushed into his spine, a few moments later the sensation came to an immediate stop, falling to his hands and knees he wretched till his stomach was empty.


    The Witch King chuckled and pulled him up from the floor, "Don''t worry about the mess some one will clean that up, for now I am going to take a closer look at your soul since that seems to be the root of your problem. So hold still, relax, and don''t resist otherwise you could wind up as the village idiot instead of a warrior, understand?" Salem wiped his mouth and nodded. He was brought to an intricately designed chair that had been carved from a wood so red that if you were to cut it he believed it might bleed. As he relaxed he could feel warmth come from this strange seat, Heidon moved behind him and placed his hands upon his shoulders.


    He felt a prickling sensation moving throughout his body, once it saturated his entirety it seeped into his mind and soul. His first instinct was to remove the intrusion, but he remembered that if he fought back he would most likely wind up a drooling idiot. Letting his barriers down he allowed the energy to flow into the deepest part of his mind, "Aha, just as I thought when you were unconscious and absorbed all of that information your own power couldn''t keep up with the cost to fuel your expansion so your own seat of power came to your assistance, not an uncommon occurrence, but in its act to save you it overcompensated because you began to stabilise. Then as you grew you absorbed more information and it fueled your abnormal growth instead of trying to disconnect you from the flow of information. I assume it''s because your seat of power is inexperienced but don''t worry it will learn over time, well in the long run this is now a blessing all you have to do is digest all of that soul energy, every twenty-four hours when the moon shines brightest you will break one of the seals I am placing on that energy. Usually you would at most consume a few hundred units of soul power per week, and that is if you are a well fed wraith from a noble house with boundless resources, you were eating thousands a day for ten years. A bad diet for a squire, a knight would be severely jealous and some Witch Kings would be willing to take your plane so they might raise a thousand knights every other century."


    Heidon chuckled before continuing, the deep voice was a pleasant distraction to the stinging sensations, "Lucky for me, I found you first! Those old bastards have constantly asked for my ''assistance'' when they were invading other planes and had me and my soldiers take the front line in their formations. So I know it is not the best time to mention it but would you like to join my coalition? There are many knights and squires that lose their masters in some way and we try to give them a place that gives them a fair chance at survival instead of just putting them on the front line or suicide missions. So what do you think?"


    Salem mulled it over for a moment before agreeing to join the coalition, Heidon laughed and told him the rules of the coalition which were rather simple. Rule number one, fellow members are brothers and sisters and infighting was forbidden, rule two was that if you received a call for aid from your brothers and sisters that you will do all within your power to protect, hide, or rescue them. The coalition had at first wanted to name themselves something that would frighten their enemies.


    After much deliberation the elders decided on what felt true to their cause, the translation in most human languages was ''The Family'' and in elvish ''The Clans'' the first came out as more of a single entity while the second was slightly more true in that it was a gathering of many clans that were joined in spirit. Heidon didn''t disagree and only smiled warmly at his ward and new little brother, he went on to talk about a few current events within the Family and how he would open up a permanent path to his territory for Salem and his clan. He gave his advice about war and strategy that had worked for him in moments of siege and he also gave him an invitation to a tournament between squires that would be held in two years time, he didn''t give him a direct answer about the rewards for the tournament but hinted that they would be helpful in the future.


    After a few more hours of small talk the procedure was complete and Heidon bid him farewell, the ride out was easier to bare than the first one. This time it was only disorienting, no both times were only disorienting, taking his thoughts away from that fact he pulled a glowing red gem from his storage ring. This was the key to opening a path to Heidons territory and linking his people to power, he made his way back to his home not a moment after his return he was pounced upon and pushed down on the bed, soon his tongue and body were occupied, the twins had ganged up on him. They were very determined to make sure every part of him had returned in perfect condition, their inspection was quite thorough but it was more than welcome.


    After their love making, Salem held them close, he comforted them and told them he had recovered and that there was nothing fear. The others had left him with the twins of course before they left, they had coaxed a sensual promise from him in between thrusts and moans.


    Well all except Railia, she had stayed and watched, now she massaged his shoulders as they sat beneath the moonlight. It was time to break a seal, there would be an hour where he would have to focus only on the seal and assimilate with it. Railia and the twins would protect him, well once the twins recovered he thought with a smirk. He focused on the moons that bathed his body in their serene light, he located the first seal, it was actually all the seals. Each seal was a red tree, and he stood within a forest of such seals, he placed his hand upon the red tree and he could sense the thrum of power. Like water deep beneath the earth he drew it from the tree and into himself, at first the going was slow and required meticulous concentrated effort.


    As time passed he was able to increase the pace of assimilation and the tree withered and after the hour it had become fine dust that scattered into the forest. He left the forest within his soul, once again he was with those he loved though some were not at home they would be back soon enough. He turned and passionately kissed Railia, "Thank you", he stood and stretched a light popping sounds echoed through the quiet room. "I have slept for too long, also my hair...it is quite ridiculous." Salem frowned as long hair fell upon the floor.


    Railia and the twins let out a faint giggle before coming towards him, they each took out a small knife, they gently cut away the excess hair until it was at the middle of his back, they told him they liked it long. Which elicited a giggle from the twins, after they helped him dress with much fanfare they walked to the war room. The first thing that caught his attention were the pins on the map, they were still surrounded, but no longer was it just orcs.


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    To the far north was a large stretch of forests and it belonged to a host of elven clans and kingdoms, to the east of the forest were hills and mountains host to the dwarf lords. To the far east beyond a massive forest was the human empire, the southern portion of the map was deserts both highland and lowland with mesas and mountains to a host of different peoples, but most importantly two major forces were now in constant state of war for the deserts the orcs were battling now on two fronts the void elfs and the catfolk demihumans, the undead faced both the dwarves and elves from the north and void elves and humans from the south, pincered yet their lines held firm. The human empire in the far east had yet to take part in this war, looking at the map and reading the reports he felt mischief at hand.


    No this was deeper than just being an overcautious empire, or an rude neighbor, from the reports it would seem that the human empire had strengthened their borders. On the surface this would be normal, except six battalions had been re-assigned to the north and south, they were preparing to attack the catfolk and the dwarf lords while they were engaged with the undead and orcs forces.


    "Summon the council immediately, prepare envoys to be sent to the dwarf lords of the north and the catfolk of the southern desert." The dwarves were closer to the human empire than the catfolk, but our own mountain was much further from the catfolk than the dwarves. Fifteen minutes passed as he went through more reports, the undead were not an issue for the moment they had been pushed back to a small region that lead to their caves beneath the earth. The orcs held the inner city of Koftas and they had attempted to breach the fort, but even with their ambush, their army broke repeatedly against the stronghold and every attack brought the wraith army strength, replenishing their forces and taking in the soul energy into his seat of power.


    There was a knock at the door, Railia had an attendant open the door and let in a flow of council members. Railia motioned for them to sit and not to speak, Salem kept his back to them until they were all settled before addressing them. "The orcs are a nuisance, the undead are a cancer, and the human empire is a snake; I am aware of a potential threat to the catfolk and dwarves" he motioned to the map and indicated the restructured military and the hidden patterns of supply chains moving towards the closest strongholds to their potential targets.


    "Our scouting methods don''t rely only on our people, but on the various creatures we bring back, from what information they brought back it would appear that the supplies are weapons and the equipment needed for cavalry and infantry. While this may not be proof as of yet, I will be prudent and inform the dwarves and catfolk once the morning arrives I will expect the majority of our forces at the fort leading to Koftas. I have had enough of their presence near my city and it is time that they were removed, you are all dismissed."


    This was not a discussion or deliberation, it was a call to arms and though some felt anxious, they couldn''t agree more that they were tired of being trapped within the mountain and that the orcs and undead pillaged their former homes. It was time to take back their land.

 47 Chapter 47

    Salem walked with Railia, she shared with him all the happenings while he had slept, they had brought several smaller clans of elves into the fold. They had rescued dwarves and human villages along the way, they had met ambassadors from the dwarves, catfolk, and the elven empire. They had also completed the list of missions within the first year since then they had become the best in the business when it came to the creation of weapons and medicine. They had also finished the foundations for the next step for the fortification of Void City, to make sure there were no unexpected accidents he would need to unify the entire mountain. Both koftas and Idos would need to be vacated of any living being if they were to accomplish this next step.


    They arrived at the gates to find the twins in full armor with their mounts beside them, the helh rauku were now the height of large wolves, they could be ridden for hundreds of miles before they tired, he was glad they were thriving but regretted missing the first decade of their growth. He felt his connection to the queen and king of the nest, the queen like always was taking care of the eggs as there had yet to be a replacement born for that role. The little king, on the other hand, felt the call and it raced to its master, as he felt the beast move through the castle ground he also heard a few shouts of surprise. The twins smiled mischievously at the ruckus he had caused, Railia stood beside him but he caught a wisp of a smile before it vanished, he sighed on the inside as he thought of how great the day had started.


    Moments later his mount came hurtling through the gates, like the others it had armored plates like a centipede though they had fewer legs now that were much thicker their heads were triangular similar to a shark or lizard. It would seem they had gone through a few changes since their pure insect bodies had mutated, from what he could tell they were going to eventually be similar to the dragons of the immortal world, longer in form than the dragons of myth from his birth world and the current plane he was on now. Though he had not heard of any clans or tribes of dragon kind, they had been mentioned in old texts of the human and elven clans that had been gathered. Thinking to this point he was curious what their wings were going to look like, his mount nuzzled into him letting out growls and clicks from his throat, he chuckled at the affection and pet the demons head to reward him for coming so quickly. He noticed the black saddles attached to the mounts and got acquainted with the firm leather before climbing onto the demons back.


    He shifted in the saddle until he was comfortable before leading the others towards the exit of the city, they traveled through the streets at a steady pace. Salem examined his city for the first time in a decade, and he was happy with what he saw, a sea of people went about their day some would bow or salute in their direction as they passed but before they noticed the riders he saw signs of happiness and unity. Salem was wholeheartedly impressed with the way they had ruled the city in his absence with a lightened heart he set out at a faster pace, with their mounts it took half an hour to reach the city gates. A few squads joined them at the gates some rode giant elk and some rode demons, once they fell into rank they made for the fort. Even on mounts, it took a few hours to reach the fort, once they came around the last bend there was a sea of armored shades waiting for them with a path that leads directly to the forts'' gate.


    Dawn was fast approaching and they needed to make sure their forces were prepared to dig out the pests in one fell swoop. Salem dismounted and led the others inside the fort to the war room, a few of the council members had already arrived and they were only waiting on a few stragglers and any auxiliary troops they had brought. Salem started the meeting not wanting to waste time, "Welcome everyone, from the reports there are roughly one hundred thousand orcs in Koftas'' inner city, our goal is to eliminate them. If they choose to run then let them but we will push them all the way out. The first to enter the city will be the shades, once they flood into the city you have permission to do whatever you see fit to destroy them. I am not concerned with the state of the city, except for the walls do what you can to preserve them."


    The dwarf captains began giggling and whispering to each other which had Salem wonder what new toy they had, the rest of his forces had slipped in during the briefing to hear the plan, which really wasn''t a plan at all other than to roll over the enemy by using overwhelming numbers. Though that was what the shades were for to serve as cannon fodder so none were to upset with the ''plan''. The human ambassadors stood to ready their forces, Salem motioned for them to sit while the rest of the council went their separate ways.


    They looked at one another quizzically before speaking, "What need do you have of us our liege?" They had assumed they would be joining the battle and had brought their forces with them as well.


    "Don''t worry, you have a different mission, but a battle that might be exceedingly more complicated than war. I need you to take your forces to Idos and persuade the city lord and elders to surrender." The ambassadors paled slightly at the thought, luckily their lord hadn''t left them with only those orders. "You can use whichever methods you want, two squires are already at the fort on that side with their armies ready to assist you. First approach your contacts and friends, after that you can purchase the greedy ones and threaten the cowardly ones. You have one week to get all of your pawns before we will march on them next. Oh, and if they surrender, have the citizens evacuated to Void city, I want Idos to be empty as fast as possible, go now everything you need has already been taken to the other fort."


    Salem did not spare them another thought before he walked through the fort till he reached the wall overlooking Koftas, laid before him was the first city that he had arrived at since coming to this world and though it no longer burned it was still reduced to near ruins from the battles that had been waged within its'' walls. As the sun rose over the walls he gave the order for the shades to march upon the land of the living. Large horns were blown and the gates creaked open with the rattling of chains, he could hear the armor of thousands of shades moving as one, Railia and the Twins joined him on the parapets to watch the shades as they became an ocean once they spread into formation beyond the fort.


    The ground shook slightly from the sheer number of them, once they reached one hundred meters beyond the gate they broke into a full charge towards Koftas. They made no noise besides that of their boots hitting the ground, Salem smirked as he watched them move to conquer his enemies at command, there was something so satisfying watching your armies move at your command, not wanting to miss out on the battle he leaped from the wall to land directly into the saddle of his demon, it screeched in surprise and bolted after the shades. Salem looked over his shoulder to see Railia shake her head at him only to jump from the walls a moment later and land on her own mount followed shortly after by the Twins.


    He laughed aloud and enjoyed their antics, it had been too long since he had truly lived in the moment. He summoned his armor as there was no need to risk assassination on a battlefield, again, he thought to himself. He had caught up to the back of the shades before he got much further he heard the sounds of battle, the loud sound of cracking wood pierced over the sound of roaring orcs. He led his mount to a small hill that would give him a better view, he had just gotten comfortable when the shades had already broken through the defenses.


    Railia and the Twins arrived moments later, Sarah pulled up beside him exclaiming at the battle, "Well that was even faster than the last time we conquered the city."


    "Wish he would conquer us more often!" came the voice of the other twin, Sasha winked at them as she rode toward the city. Salem thought to himself before agreeing with that statement and rode after her, once they reached the city gates of Koftas, what was left of them, they started to smell the tang of blood in the air. Past the gates were piles of green bodies, the wraiths had piled the bodies high while a few apprentices would pull some aside for the squires or their own to practice their skills at creating shades. Once the apprentices could create their own and had reached a certain level in their training they could now form a group and be assigned missions either during the battle, or on trade routes and the missions would grow in difficulty as the empire expanded.


    Salem knew eventually that some of his progeny would perish, as he grew stronger his territory would grow and they would be sent to conquer lands at his behest. They needed to be strong of mind and body, he could not coddle them, those who sought to be warriors would be given the best training and equipment, but only after they had proved themselves.


    He would only take to the frontlines when opponents similar to his own strength would be available if he destroyed everything his people would lose an important whetstone to sharpen themselves with. As they traveled through the ruined city a group of dwarves was snickering among one another, curious as to what they were up to they stopped their mounts and watched the show. A short time later a young void elf sprinted around the corner, hot on his heels was a Warband of orcs that would rip him and the dwarves to pieces. Seeing the smiles on the dwarves'' faces he knew things were not as serious as they appeared. The young elf in the lead the orcs for another thirty meters before he dived into an open grate that led to the sewers, as soon as he was out of site the dwarves had lit something on fire, the sparks traveled quickly before splitting off into the shops that were around the orcs. After the sparks disappeared a massive explosion rocked the entire street, shrapnel shredded the orc war party into minced meat, the young elf crawled out from a grate next to the dwarves and received cheers from all around the party.


    "That was quite impressive, find out who they are and give them the resources they need to create a division in the army, explosives, and traps of various kinds could be very advantageous in future battles!" Salem exclaimed to Railia and the Twins. He hoped to see the inventiveness of this interesting party on a much grander scale. Railia sent one of the apprentices following them to collect the information while they resumed their journey to the front lines.


    After getting closer to the front lines they noticed that the fighting had mostly come to an end, their shades massively outnumbered the orcs, forcing them out at this point was a mere formality of ordering the shades to attack.


    Strangely enough, there was a group of Squires with their apprentices, a squire noticed them passing by and ran over to report the situation. There was a group of women and children among the orcs, some humans and elves but they were led by an orc woman, she was quite tall with long raven black hair that fell to her waist. She wore a robe made of beast hides that stuck close to her toned body, she only had a ceremonial bone dagger on her waist, so she wasn''t a warrior. Curious about the orc and her followers he pushed through the small crowd until he came face to face with her.


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    "Who are you and what brings you and your kin to my lands?" she gave no response so he repeated the question in her native tongue. This elicited a look of surprise on her face so he continued in Orcish, "I see, you only speak in your mother tongue, tell me why have you and your tribes invaded my home and for what purpose are you keeping those women and children?"


    ''I so very much hate Orcish, finding ways to be civil with it is ridiculous, everything could come out as either a threat or a challenge'' he thought to himself. Her reply to his question was shocking, she knelt to the ground and averted her eyes and proclaimed her intentions, "Oh God of the Void we have been sent by the Goddess of the Crimson Dawn with a message, one that only you will know the meaning, she has instructed me and my former tribe to come and ally ourselves with you and spread you name to the furthest reaches of the land!"


    Salem stood silently, he watched the orc pull a small ornate box from a pouch and held it out to him, waiting for him to accept it. ''I don''t know a goddess by that name, strange how did one of the gods even find this tiny realm. There is no way that they tracked the emperor''s soul through time and space right? If they did then we have to make preparations to leave, but first, let us see what this goddess has to say.''


    He gently took the box from the orc woman and examined it, it was made from gold with red runes beautifully etched onto its surface, the runes were so tightly packed they looked like a bright red sun with brilliant crimson rays shifting along its surface. He opened the box to find a ring within, a delicate gold band inlaid with a stunning red gem, tiny crimson runes gliding across the surface. It was a treasure beyond compare, he felt that it was familiar to him he caressed the side of the ring, as soon as he made contact with it he heard the message begin to play.


    "At long last big brother I have finally found you!"

 48 Chapter 48

    The message was straight to the point when the system spirit or the architect that had designed both him and his sister was destroyed the fate that bound them together was shaken. Being a goddess, she felt the tremors and quickly sent him a message. Though it hadn''t gotten to him directly she gained a small tribes faith and ordered the tribe to seek out her brother, her consciousness only maintained a stable connection on their plane for a few days before she had to withdraw back to her own realm otherwise she would have been drained dry by the power needs to keep the connection from such a far distance.


    In the message she explained how their birth world was destroyed from a battle between the gods and a group of dark races that had been escaping from them, a god had taken her from the wreckage as just a magic ring and sent it home, eventually, his youngest daughter took the ring as her own only to be replaced by the spirit within in similar fashion as the immortal emperor had been devoured by him.


    She confided in him how the power of faith worked as well as the plane she was on. She now knew the general vicinity where he was but not the specific plane.


    The power of faith, it was derived from a collective of souls giving a very small portion of their soul energy every time they pray, give praise, and preach of their lord, deity, or object they give it to. A single village may not grant godhood to an individual, but a small plane filled with a single deity would have a chance to become stronger than any mortal produced naturally by the plane itself.


    Salem was curious however if he could integrate faith into his own being, technically his foundation was of the wraiths which came from the current enemy of the gods, while he used immortal techniques to refine and nourish his body and bloodline. Though to be fair he wouldn''t be using the faith energy to do either of those things, he would tread lightly as he developed his own way forward. The last of the message was a little...odd to say the least, she asked him to wear her on his left hand''s fourth finger and that she had left him a small surprise with the priestess.


    Though the news of his sibling being alive and well was a shock at first he did believe that the message was real, he could feel a familiarity with the materials and the craftsmanship of the ring, it was only a small request and wouldn''t be of any consequence so he slid the ring on without hesitation. Looking down at the ring he wondered what his little sister looked like, his sister. He smiled at the thought of having a family member that understood him, he couldn''t wait to meet her.


    He fingered the ring and whispered her name for the first time, "Tsura."


    -Eternal Dawn Plane-


    A vase flew across the room and shattered against the wall. "Those filthy creatures, how dare they attack my darling older brother!" Tsura slumped back into her chair and seethed at the thought of someone attacking her long lost brother.


    As she calmed down she thought of her message, ''Hopefully, he got it by now, he was probably putting his finger inside her and playing with her body already'', she thought. Letting her imagination run wild. Her face began to redden and her breathing quickened as her thoughts went to her more carnal desires, before she could entertain these ideas further a light knock came from her door before it was opened without her consent.


    A tall maid walked into the room holding a tray filled to the edges with ambrosia, "Here is your meal, my goddess. Is there anything else you require?"


    Tsura cleared her throat before waving the maid away, before the maid left the room Tsura called after her, "Bring me all the latest movements from the front lines, I might be inclined to go there and help the war effort, planets ruled by the Orcs and Undead have a higher priority!" the maid turned and bowed to acknowledge the order and shut the door behind her.


    "Filthy little beasts", Tsura cursed before taking a bite of the ambrosia.


    -Koftas-


    "See them to the palace, we will continue on with our plans and push the orcs from the city, once we have secured the walls you will seal the gates. Send a rider to Idos and check up on the progress of the negotiations, we are ahead of schedule on our side, once we completely seal the city come find me at the command tent." He was given a light bow before the orc priestess and her entourage were taken away.


    Returning to the command tent Salem sat in a high backed chair and watched through the eyes of his scouts, the increased strength of his soul made the splitting of his consciousness a negligible task.


    The shades fearlessly dived into the ranks of the orcs, within three hours the fighting had pushed into the outer city, another four hours, and the orcs fled for their lives. For every orc that was slain a shade had risen in his place and turned his blade on his past brethren, with the shade legion swelling with new recruits the entirety of Koftas had been retaken.


    Salem pulled his mind from the eyes in the sky and sat back into the chair and breathed a sigh of relief. There were reports strewn all over the desk in front of him, they listed injuries and losses as well as anything recovered from the ruins of Koftas. None of the wraiths had been killed but there were injuries abound, but nothing that couldn''t be healed either with time or magic.


    Though there was a report of a dwarf losing a toe from each foot, he chuckled at the thought of how that could have come about. He could feel the wraiths moving about the tents as they issued orders and oversaw the reclamation of Koftas, the orcs had kept quite a bit of loot and piled it high in their tents.


    There were so many squires under his command now he could see them in his mind like tiny motes of light, their presence was comforting. He could feel a spec of light rapidly approaching, a young apprentice came into the tent and bowed before offering up a report.


    Salem thanked the young apprentice before opening the report, it had come from Idos, the news was less than pleasant. Though the majority of nobles and high ranked families had been persuaded to join his cause there was a group that refused to give up their power. The city lord even ordered the city guards to arrest my ambassadors, crumpling the report Salem took a deep breath.


    "Fine if you don''t want the carrot, you can have the stick." He wrote down an order and sent a dozen squires to purge Idos of its idiocy. I felt a portion of our moving from Koftas, that should be enough to put down any resistance.


    The rest of the day was making sure everything had been set into place, the shades were currently excavating large caverns beneath the walls, they would serve as a type of barracks for the shades all that we were waiting on was the fall of Idos.


    The night arrived swiftly and another session beneath the moon came and went.


    With everything settled in Koftas, it was time to check on Idos, though the plans had changed from politics to outright warfare, in the long run, it mattered little, the lands were the ancestral homes of the elves and though he had only been reborn into an elf it was his duty to reclaim and guard them regardless of his previous body.


    As the sun rose the mounts waited for them outside the tent, they left a squire in charge of keeping Koftas free of orc activity and departed with thousand shades as an escort.


    We made it to the gate of Void city before a messenger approached and handed the Twins a report, they read it quickly and gave me the good news.


    "The insurrection was put down, it seemed that as soon as our troops came into view they surrendered. That was one hell of a bluff."


    The fact they surrendered was good news, though with that being said it either meant the rulers of Idos were either disliked or their troops were so spread thin that they were only a sparse amount of guards within the city, which did not bode well for the frontlines against the undead.


    I gave the twins the task of reinforcing Idos and retaking the outermost walls, with them leading the charge to push back the legions of the damned I could prepare for the upcoming show.


    I returned back to my palace, with nothing to do other than reading reports, bathe in medicine, and watch the apprentices train a week slowly passed by before the twins came home triumphant, the outer walls had been secured and like the orcs, we had bolstered our troops with the undead''s demise.


    The human forces were being retained and resigned while the scouting teams made sure everything was in place. The night of their return I sat upon my throne and let myself fade into my seat of power, I could feel all the nodes that had been placed not only within the cities but around the entirety of the mountain.


    It was a decade long plan that had been in motion ever since my accidental hibernation. I refocused on the task at hand and let the vast ocean of soul energy flow from my palace, it connected with the nodes one by one until thousands of nodes had been connected to the palace.


    Once they were connected to the palace I needed to connect them to one another, I focused on the outer ring first. As the nodes were connected to the palace large trees began to grow as they were nurtured by the vast soul energy, once they had grown fifty feet they stopped growing vertically.


    The trees were a glossy black with bright silver striations and silvery white leaves, the branches and roots were growing towards the other nodes and began to intertwine. They formed a thick and sturdy wall, once the nodes reached the outermost walls of the cities the trees erupted from the walls themselves and formed new ones with pieces of stone stuck deep within the new walls.


    These changes occurred all over the mountain, large trees began to sprout up within the old human cities, anything that had been left by the evacuated citizens was destroyed and replaced by a vast forest of silver and black trees.


    First, the outer walls fell and were regrown, next came the inner grand walls of both Koftas and Idos, several trees grew along the inner and outer walls until they grew above the massive stone behemoths.


    Over time the trees would break down the stone but for now, they would use it as a brace, as the trees grew all over the mountains the energy field that dissuaded the undead expanded until the entire mountain was under the protection of his palace.


    The roots of the palace itself began to stretch and grown as they replaced the old tunnels that led to the city, four roots became hollow highways that led to the palace to each cardinal direction Idos and Koftas each had their own highway for the east and west while the other to roots carve through the mountain to the north and south.


    They would each lead to cities of their own once the population of Void city could sustain them, for now, they would have outposts for training squires and apprentices and priests of the Church of Night that he planned to raise.


    Salem opened his eyes as he drew away from the ocean of soul energy, it had been drastically depleted though it would replenish over time he wouldn''t be able to do anything on such a level for quite some time unless he could lure the undead into the territory though he was sure they would try to invade again and that was just fine. Walking little sacs of soul energy that they were probably would try and invade just to test the limits of the barrier.


    Walking to the lift I rode all the way to the top of the palace, after exiting the palace I walked to the balcony that overlooked my lands. A sea of silver stretched all around the mountain, this forest was shrouded in magic, anyone who passed into these lands who harbored malice or ill will to its people would be hindered.


    Undead would have the soul energy sucked from their bones, only being near the knight level would be able to walk through the lands without having their energies drained.


    The Railia and the Twins joined him and were slowly followed by the rest of the original maids that had sworn into his service and family over a decade ago, they huddled together and watched the sunrise.