In my prime, I was the thing that went bump in the night. I was a conqueror and the right hand of the lord of the abyss. I obeyed my master, shattering the world’s armies and bending them to my will. Mortals viewed me as the grim reaper, a plague unleashed according to my master’s will. I was a faithful servant and sundered the mortal realm for centuries. Yet, one day, my master sent me on an expedition to the new world. The mortals managed to cross the great seas and reach new lands, so my master wished to devour this new realm. Despite my protests, I was sent out on a merchant ship, inhabiting the hideous body of an oarsman. The mortal husk I commanded was near combusting despite my meticulous spell weaving.
“Aye, matey. Get rowing! The port be twelve hours out! I better not see ye slackin off,” the captain bellowed.
It took every ounce of my restraint to resist destroying the mortal outright. Instead, I rowed, sending lurching forward cutting through the waves. Everyone stopped rowing at once, glaring at me while I accelerated the vessel alone. The usual hustle and bustle grew silent minus the rain pouring onto the ship’s deck. Lightning flashed in the charcoal grey sky above, illuminating the crew’s faces in the darkness of night. The captain glowered at me, except the shadowed man held a glimmer in his eye. The air was filled with static as the storm raged on.
“What are ye doing? Get back on yer oars ye lousy piles of shite!” the captain roared, waving his cutlass as the ship listed.
Sea spray rose above the side of the ship, drenching all of us. Yet the water hissed upon hitting my flesh, leaving salt crystals behind. The animosity was palpable, so much so I couldn’t help but feast. I released the oars and snapped my fingers. Smoke billowed from my eyes, flowing down my borrowed form. I reached out my hand, snatching the upper deck and tearing it open. Even drawing that much power, my vessel damn near ignited as sweat poured out of the fleshy frame. I levitated into the sky, a trail of darkness rising in my wake. The dense fog drank the vestiges of daylight, leaving only the lanterns on the ship. The mortal husk quivered, blood trickling out my mouth.
“Who are ye, matey? And what did ye do with me crew member? How did I invite yer unholy wrath upon me vessel?” the captain said.
“Misfortune, captain. That’s all.”
I unleashed another flare of darkness, shattering the entire upper deck. All the oarsmen crashed into the lower deck, blood splattering all over the various crates and boxes. In the blink of an eye, half the ship was mine. I snapped my fingers and let out a demented cackle. As the remaining breathing crewmates rose from their stupor, fingers twitched among their dead. Some crewmates prayed to their sea gods, while others drew their cutlasses. Electricity rushed through me at the sight of such desperation. The sweet scent of misery flooded my nostrils, sending chills down my spine. Mortal emotions paled in comparison to the ecstasy found when a demon lays waste to everything in sight. Yet here I stood on the precipice of that same indulgence, salivating as the moment came ever closer. With a wave of my hands the dead marched towards their former comrades. High-pitched wails echoed all throughout the broken ship as steel clashed against steel. The black-bearded captain gave his best to keep the ship on course while the commotion unfolded below him. Several shipmates came to his defense, their blades deflecting the oncoming assault. Yet for every undead they slaughtered, another rose in his place. Even those devout sailors spat curses and vitriol at me as their comrades pushed them further back. The crew dwindled to no more than a handful of fighters aside from the captain. The old man ripped his hands from the helm, drawing his trusty blades. For all his bravado, the captain managed to hold his own, even as the rest of his crew fell one by one.
My minions shambled forward, pushing the captain to the back of the stern. The captain kept swinging, but his attacks were slowing. One minion pierced the captain’s ribs, blood pouring out the wound. As soon as I saw his blood, I reached out my hands, wrenching the crimson river into my palms. The captain collapsed, his flesh flushed to a dismal pale. I’ll admit took longer to kill the captain than I expected. Without anything to oppose me, I flared my power once more, smashing the ship’s lower deck. The vessel cracked in two, chests and riches spilling out into the sea. Large stores of precious gold and silver shimmering against the endless expanse of dark blue that swallowed everything within its reach. I suppose the ocean and I are one in the same. Unfortunately, the mortal my master shoved me in has proven more resilient than I anticipated. Leave it to that petulant bastard to choose a special prison for me. Every time my vessel died, my master swore he would free me, but he trapped me within a new husk. Yet today I would break this cycle once and for all. My prison scorched hotter than the hottest summer day as my vessel’s heart sputtered to a stop. I clawed at my vessel’s chest, tearing flesh from bone and rending open his ribcage. I stepped out the squishy jail cell, a shadowy silhouette leaking out into the humid maelstrom. My feet descended onto the broken stern, the wood splintering all around where I landed.
“Ah yes, I’m free from mortal shells. I’m finally free!!!!”
Another lightning bolt struck the mast, splitting it into two large pieces. The wind howled as it blew sea spray all over the wreckage, salt stinging my new physical form. I basked in the glory of my accolades, drinking the metallic scent that mixed with the ocean water. The rain quieted to a soft patter against the remnants of the ship, yet a presence darted on my right. I caught sight of a golden light, its radiance bursting through the storm. I leapt into the air, sealing more power into my physical form. Yet the golden light rocketed towards me at an even faster pace, I tore the corpses from their watery tombs, limbs and bones sinking into a mass of meat. The golden light emerged, standing on the half-floating bow of the ship. Despite fighting divine beings often, I didn’t recognize this one. His form was lean and muscular, yet his presence here sent a chill down my spine. The deity glared at me, his azure eyes burning bright as he dove straight towards me. Blood sprayed into a mist as the deity smashed through the husks, bringing a radiant blade hurtling toward my head. I ducked below the blade, pulling the blood from the air into crimson strands.
“Your battle intuition is quite powerful, though you should watch yourself,” I hissed.
“So, your true form is that of a baroness. I’ll take great pleasure in ridding this world of your presence,” the deity sneered.
I tethered the deity’s blade in my web, each strand tightening around the blade as the deity struggled to break the weapon free. I snapped my fingers, black fog condensing around the stern. The deity stared at me, his blade illuminating the small patch of the stern he stood upon. Not even the blinding lightning bolts could reach through the darkness, yet something was amiss.
“You’re a young upstart, aren’t you? Where is your master hiding? I know you’re not the only person who answered that young man’s prayer, right?”
The young deity grimaced, his sword erupting in a golden flash. The hideous light blinded me for but a brief moment, yet that moment was enough. The deity wrenched his blade from my bloody strands, charging towards me once again. He raised his blade, yet I condensed the blood into a ruby shield. The strike ricocheted off the construct, then I dissolved the shield, slamming the combined mass into the young upstart’s stomach.
“I thought you would’ve learned your lesson dear. The least you could do is tell me your name that way I can—”
A sharp pain flared in my chest, spreading like a river through my veins. A silver and gold ritual circle illuminated the wood below my feet as another figure emerged from the veil. A priestess clad in white and silver robes stalked into view, her staff glittering in the darkness. I collapsed to my knees, pushing my hands out as the spell tightened around me. The priestess smiled as I held back her spell, sweating trickling along my chin.
“I heard you were looking for me doll. Well, here I am. I must say, I didn’t expect the Grim Reaper to be so easily sealed. I mean I know I’m one of the most powerful conjurers in the heavenly realms, but I expected more,” the priestess scoffed.
The ritual circle crept closer and closer to me despite my best efforts. Every second I spent in this circle was another step closer to annihilation. The younger deity rose to his feet, drawing his blade and pointing the thing towards my head.
“Shall I slay this foul cretin, master?”
“No, I doubt cutting off her head would kill her. Only lesser demons can be culled at your current strength.”
“I won’t be so easily killed, you self-righteous bastards!” I shouted, pressing my entire magic arsenal against the spell.
Cracks formed on the outer rim of the spell circle. The priestess’ eyes widened as a bead of sweat dripped along her brow. Another ritual circle forms within the second, pain surging up my legs. However, I managed to rise to my feet, darkness coalescing within my palms. Both deities glared at me, yet the younger one took a step back while the older one held her grip tight on her staff. It took everything ounce of energy I could muster to retain my current position, but my muscles grew heavier by the minute. While the deities could not kill me, there were fates worse than death. My body grew lighter as if I had become the air itself. As the circles tightened and my limbs turned hard as stone, I closed my eyes as my body dissolved.
When I opened my eyes once more, I found myself sitting in a fireplace. Something warm and soft pressed against my back as laughter erupted behind me. I raised my gaze to see a young woman looking down at me with a jubilant smile. I clenched my fists as tight as I could, but something was different. My spells were still there, but they were just out of reach almost as if there was a wall between us. My temper flared as a cold wave of impotence washed over me. I huffed and puffed but despite everything only hot wet streaks ran down my face. The young woman looked down upon me, her bright smile contorting to something more pitiful.
“Aww, what’s wrong, Victoria? You were just smiling a moment ago. Did mommy say something to scare you?” the young woman whispered.
In the end, I did what any sentient being would do in my case. I wailed as loud as I could, thrashing my feeble limbs back and forth. The young woman lifted me into the air, staring me in my eyes before she placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. When that didn’t stop me, the woman rocked me back and forth in her arms and my eyes grew heavy. In this quiet moment, a thought floated across my mind. In a sick twist of fate, the deities had given me exactly what I wanted. Sealed as I am, my master would be unable to track this body. I was free.
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