I inhaled again. Yep, that's the smell of death. Home sweet ho... Wait, what's that? I took several more deep breaths. I smelled something different. It smelled of dust and leather. There was also something familiar about it. A hint of rot?
I used Life Sense and saw two blobs making their way through the trees across from the clearing. I released the corpses.
I activated the Dark Shroud spell that I had gotten from the Sha'Dwarg and watched my vast manapool decrease slightly. With my current mana regen, this wasn't a problem — even if it depleted halfway, I would be fine in a week or after a big meal.
I Stalked my prey, careful of my steps and avoiding anything that may be noisy. I deactivated Life Sense.
I could see them now. One was wearing a red cloak and matching crimson robes. The other was a masked figure with robes similar to Dipshit's. I'll call them Red Guy and Masked Man.
I Stalked closer to them and stopped when I was about ten feet behind. The one in red seemed to be winded and was resting on his staff. The other one had their arms crossed and seemed to be looking around impatiently.
I drew my weapon and squatted down.
"Damn that wretch Harolf for making us chase him all the way to the mountains!" Red Guy spat.
Masked Man responded, "I still can't believe an idiot like that was actually able to steal the book."
They were speaking Therossian.
"Well, if he was foolish enough to actually try to read it, I'm sure that it already sucked his soul out, and all we'll find here is a corpse holding a book." Red Guy responded between labored breaths.
"Just how the hell did he even join our order in the first place? Don't we have high requirements for intelligence and magical aptitude?" Masked Man said while stifling a yawn.
"It was all Eunice's idea. That man had been her tailor for years, and you know how she is about fashion. I was fine with my regular brown hemp and burlap, but no, now I'm the red guy just because I don't animate corpses anymore,” Red Guy responded.
Was he a psychic? I worried for a second, but he didn't turn my way.
The masked figure spoke up. "You should get back into it, it can be a lot of fun. Every now and then the initiates will make zombies and flesh golems then fight them against each other to see who wins. They're always coming down to the parts room and buying different stuff from me to try out. I actually remember hearing a story about Harolf taking on a few of these fights."
"You know I'm too old to be interested in trends. In my day, a zombie was just for terrorizing your foes and maybe the occasional manual labor, not for some trashy blood sport. I mean, initiates these days just have no respect for the dark arts." Red Guy feebly held his fist in the air and looked like he was about to start rambling when Masked Man cleared his throat, interrupting him.
"I mean, Harolf actually picked a fight with one of the adepts. Can you imagine that? An aged tailor picking a fight with someone who was born, bred, and raised for necromancy. They say that when the adept won he had his flesh golem dry-hump Harolf for more than an hour while people just laughed. I mean, when the Masters were called, instead of breaking it up they just joined in festivities and sent some of the initiates to fetch wine. There was food served and it actually became a pretty fun party,” Masked Man said, then laughed as if imagining it.
Yep, that sounded like Dipshit. That had to be who they were talking about. His real name was Harolf, huh? It kind of reminded me of a friend of mine from my world, Harold Faulkner. We would play a popular card fighting game from time to time, and he went by Haroldf.
"The Masters actually did that?" Red Guy said, absolutely flabbergasted.
"Ah, it's just a story, so it was probably exaggerated. My only question is how he actually managed to get the book. It's no easy task. Someone had to have been helping him."
Red Guy seemed to finally catch his breath and spoke. "At least he was foolish enough to brag about this cave he used way up in the mountains and how perfect it is for private experiments." He began coughing again.
"Yeah, I heard he had plans to take his woman up here until that story got around and she dumped him."
"Who do you think told us where to find him?" Red Guy spoke between coughs.
My thoughts raced.
It looks like these guys are about ready to move. What should I do? If they get to my cave, they'll find Lina and Leera. Neither of them are helpless, but these guys are definitely magic users, and it's highly likely that the girls are still asleep.
I could try to talk to them, however they are both tied to necromancy and would probably just see me as a flesh golem and attack. Although, I don't really look like a cobbled together undead anymore, and I do have a pulse. I might just fool them.
I could go to the cave, grab the girls and flee, but they are too close now for that to work. I could also just ambush them here; surprise may give me an advantage. I'm more than certain that I could kill them both in one swing.
From the conversation they were having, I felt like these guys weren't that bad. They just sounded like coworkers around the water cooler. It didn't hurt my opinion of them that their subject of choice was Dipshit's stupidity.
I decided I would go with a combination strategy. I would come out to talk, then if they attacked I would run in the opposite direction to pull them away from the cave.
I canceled Dark Shroud.
I stood up and placed my weapon back on my back.
I yelled in Therossian, "Hey, is there anything I can help the two of you with?"
They both jumped at the sudden sound. The Red Guy clasped at his chest for a moment before they both turned slowly to face me. They stared at me with dumb expressions as if trying to figure me out.
The one in the red seemed to be appraising me. His eyes stopped on my harness and he spoke. "Where did you get that, um, fine garment you're wearing?"
"Off a guy I killed in that cave over there." I responded honestly.
His eyes went wide at my admission. Yeah, I probably should've known that murder was frowned upon here.
"Did... did..." His speech was interrupted by another coughing fit. I wonder, do they know about allergies here?
It finally looked as if he had finished as he took a long inhale, but then the coughing resumed as Masked Man and I just stared at him, waiting patiently.
"So, how are you doing?" I asked the masked guy while we waited.
"Not too bad, how about yourself?" he responded.
"You know, just killing Sha'Dwargs and pissing off dryads, normal stuff." I said.
He gave a hearty laugh unbefitting of his frightening appearance and nodded knowingly. I noticed a strange quality to his voice, something I couldn't identify.
Finally the guy in red seemed to calm down. He spoke. "Did he perchance have a book with him?"
I crossed my arms and nodded. This is probably where things get ugly. He looked feeble, but the two of them had made it through these woods and up this mountain just fine in the dark. They even had the confidence to stop to have casual conversations. They definitely weren't weak.
He locked eyes with me and spoke. "Do you have it?"
I debated lying and saying I sold it or that I never saw one, but I've always been an honest guy — well, mostly.
"Funny story about that. I kinda absorbed it, then pushed back out the remains later when I converted its god fragment into mana." I said as I gave an awkward, forced smile.
The old man went pale. He had an expression of utter disbelief, like when you tell a child that Santa isn't real. Not that I had done that. Well, maybe once or twice, but they had deserved it.
The masked guy pinched the bridge of the nose on his mask and hung his head.
The man in red spoke again in a voice that sounded like he was fighting the urge to yell. "We now know that you know what it is, but to make up such a preposterous story like that..." He appeared to calm himself down a little before resuming. "Are you trying to provoke us?"
It was true, thou
gh. How do I convince them? I remembered what Mors had told me about Soul Steal complete.
I activated Soul Steal. Green flames shot from my eyes and a few random souls in the area flew into me.
The guy in red grabbed his chest again and fell to his knees. The guy in the mask moved over to him and knelt beside him; the whole time he never took his eyes off of mine.
I canceled Soul Steal.
The old guy pulsed with a green light before falling forward. The masked man took several hurried steps back as the red guy erupted in green flames.
His cloak and robes quickly burned off, followed by his skin, muscles, and organs. The green flame was sucked violently into his eye sockets and finally seemed to be satisfied as the remaining flames diminished, leaving only his skeleton. The guy in the mask took off his cloak and laid it on top of the skeleton as if covering the dead.
I started to ask him what the hell that was when the skeleton moved its arms, pushing itself up to its knees. Its bones were singed and the remaining tendons had fused to them in a strange way that held the bones together.
It spoke in an ethereal voice. "So, it finally happened, huh?"
"Yeah, it looks like you were successful. Congratulations." Masked Man replied flatly before helping the skeleton to its feet.
"Wow, I feel a lot lighter on my feet now," the skeleton mused to no one in particular.
I let out a forced laugh.
"Just what the hell is going on here?" I asked.
The masked guy replied, "Oh, he's a Lich now. That was what his goal was. Basically he forged a soul prison inside himself as he died and bound his own soul to himself."
"Oh yeah, that." I replied in mock understanding.
"Still, I just don't know that I could go down that path. I mean, you lose the ability to enjoy food, drink, and, most importantly, ladies and lady zombies." Masked Man said as his eyes glazed over momentarily.
The skeleton stared up at the masked guy with its jaw open for a second before speaking.
"Your bizarre preferences aside, I gave up on most of that at least twenty years ago. I'm an academic. I will be fine with just my books."
It looked back over to me and brought its bony finger up to its chin. "So, I guess you may have been telling the truth after all. I have only read about that level of skill in books far older than any of the kingdoms today. How did you obtain it?"
"I'm a fellow selfbound undead, though I've gotten past that limitation as well." I replied.
"Ah, then you must have had a few millennia to master it," the Lich said while nodding as if it had reached its own conclusions. It moved its hands from its chin and continued. "That book, however, was one of our most sacred relics. It was only ever entrusted to the current heads of our order, and most of them were still not a fan of using it, what with the soul-eating and all."
"Do you know what god it was that inhabited or created it?" I asked.
The Lich laughed as it spoke. "Oh, no, there's no way to tell that. It's just always sort of been here." It stopped chuckling and turned deadly serious. "I do know one thing about it, though. If we don't have the book, then we need to have at least something to show for it."
I turned on Life Sense, Soul Steal and Dark Shroud as I cast Weakness on them.
I drew my weapon slowly and exhaled fog as I spoke in the most sinister tone I could muster. "Are you two sure you can harm something that can absorb the Book of Souls?"
It was a strong bluff on my part, but I hoped they would take it.
The Lich's mouth dropped open as the masked man stepped to get in front of him, his eyes wild with panic. The Lich spoke hastily. "Of course we didn't mean you!" It started waving its hands in a placating gesture.
The masked man relaxed and stepped back to the side of the lich.
I think I won that power play. I deactivated everything once more.
The lich spoke again. "We mean Harolf's body — at the very least we need to show proof that he's dead, and barring that, we need his soul."
"I kind of absorbed that, too — well, absorbed some, used some for material, and I might have eaten some at one point. I also converted his soul to mana, so there may be an odd bit of him here and there, but nothing I can give you really." I replied.
I couldn't see an expression from either one of them for obvious reasons, but if I had to guess I would say they were wincing.
"I can give you one thing, however. Wait right there." I walked off to the corpses I had left in the bushes. I separated the small bear's remains and dragged it out to them.
The masked man looked at me quizzically.
"Masked Man, you may want to go grab a snack or something because we're going to be here for a while." I said.
"It's Ralphus," he responded.
"What is?" I asked
"I am. I'm Ralphus," he said.
For some reason I feel like that name should belong to an old guy with his belly hanging out.
"Okay, Ralphus, I'm John." I replied.
Ralphus burst out in a laugh.
"You have such a strange name."
I stared at him blinking for a minute and decided to just move on.
"Alright, my fellow selfbound, I'm about to give you a treat." I said as I gestured for the Lich to come over to the bear corpse.
"You may call me Barzealis. May I ask what we're about to do here?" he said.
Damn people and their names here; why can't it be Steve or Josh?
"Sure, we're about to make you a body to go over that skeleton." I said with a reassuring smile.
The Lich's jawbone once again hung open before it replied, "We've tried flesh constructs before, and not only are they ugly, they all rot after a while."
"I assure you, mine are top-notch. Worst case scenario, you'll just have to shed the flesh suit and return to what you currently have." I replied.
It tapped the side of its skull with its finger for a while as if contemplating.
"I'll even let you pick how you want it. Any preferences?" I asked, trying to hurry this along. The girls would be missing me soon.
The Lich shook its head as if to start to say no, but then thought better of it. "Do you have any examples of your work?"
I wasn't about to let them ogle Leera and Lina. I pulled a fair sized chunk out of the meaty part on my arm. Then I separated an equal amount of flesh from the bear and Fleshcrafted it to my arm. I then sealed and Blended it. I showed him my blemish-free arm.
He nodded approvingly.
"Okay, now that that's settled, any requests? I could even turn you into a woman if you wanted." I told him.
Ralphus seemed to be looking on with interest.
"Gods no, who would want that? No, just make me average build, nothing fancy, and give me black curly hair with an impressive beard." He lay down next to the small bear.
I began immediately. I melded him with the bear, stripping off the hair from the skin and grafting the muscles on top of his bones. I did a minimum amount of sculpting, just keeping him human. I gave him an average face and normal brown eyes. I evened everything out and melded my finger on to use Blend.
Yep, that's a normal guy. I might have embellished a bit here and there. Let's just say he might give dating another try now. I started the heart I gave him. It had moderate mana regen at around 5 per hour.
Mors sent me an alert.
Fleshcrafting Level 6:
All Fleshcrafting speed is increased.
You may now unlock the potential of a flesh construct’s brain when Fleshcrafting to learn mental abilities.
Well, that was awesome. I wished I’d had that before I remade Lina and Leera, but I didn't exactly know how to make use of it yet.
I disconnected my finger and gestured for him to sit up.
He sat up and examined his hands, flexing them as he got used to everything. He felt his face and his nethers and smiled.
"Great job! I would call this an astonishing success. Quite speedy as well," he said, now speaking in a s
trange mix of normal and ethereal voices.
He felt his chest for a moment before looking up at me as if afraid to believe what he was feeling. "My heart — I think it's actually beating. I never would have believed that this was possible."
"Yep, welcome to the start of your living-undead life." I said with a smile.
He rose to his feet, stepping around carefully as if feeling the ground for the first time. Ralphus once again placed the cloak around Barzealis.
Barzealis looked at me and smiled. He held out his hand and I shook it, being careful not to squeeze too hard.
"The book was indeed a one-of-a-kind rarity. However, there are several other god-artifacts and ancient tomes in the world. One thing is certain, though. In all my studies and in all the history of my order, there has never been a living undead before. The idea of it is simply too preposterous to ever work, but here I stand: the realized goal of necromancy. We may not have found the book, but we did find something that wasn't written in it." He broke off the hand shake and turned to walk away as if afraid I would change my mind and try to take his body back.
"I don't have the words to thank you enough for what you've done today. In a week's time I will send Ralphus back with whatever I can find for you from my personal items, along with some parts you may find useful." He started walking back through the trees in a mix of eagerness and disbelief, as if the world was new to him once more.
Ralphus approached me and whispered, "When I come back, I have a request for you. I also run the parts-supply depot, so maybe we can work something out." He handed me a fair sized piece of amber then ran after Barzealis.
Given what he had said about zombie girls earlier, I was frankly a little worried about what his request might be. I tucked the amber into my harness.
I looked up at the sky. It was now early morning. I had apparently worked on Barzealis all through sunrise.
I gathered the diminished remains of the small bear and dragged them to the Sha'Dwarg. I threw them on top and hauled it all back into the cave. Leera and Lina were sitting across from each other eating some of the bobcat and chatting happily with one another.
A Flesh Golem's Ascension Page 15
