Devourer

Chapter 195: Dreams

On reflex Anya swung her fist at the beast she felt her fist contact the beast’s head. Her fist struck one of it’s teeth and it felt like she was punching a wall of metal. Then Anya blinked, and the creature was gone. She was now standing in a strange black world. She spun around in bewilderment, this world was empty. Just a black void.

Anya reached out into the darkness as if expecting to grasp something. Then she realised that her hand wasn’t in pain. She had just punched that beast at full strength, she was sure she might have broken her hand when she felt the shock of pain. But now? She flexed the fingers of her right hand hand felt nothing, no pain, no discomfort, nothing.

“Huh, this is weird.” a childlike voice said.

Anya spun around in the direction of the voice, and she screamed. From the sound, she was expecting this young boy, but what she saw was this small monster. Its body was covered in a pure white carapace. It had a bulbous, long head and glowing red eyes as it stared at her through the shadows. It had four arms that lay relaxed at its side, each hand tipped with black claws.

It crossed a pair of arms across its chest and cupped his chin with the right hand of another pair of arms.

“You aren’t supposed to be here.” the monster said.

Then Anya felt her blood turn to ice as she felt another presence appear. Anya felt her legs give way as she felt this crushing pressure bear down on her. Her hands hit the floor as she struggled to bear the load on her trembling shoulders.

Then she heard this bestial growl echo out across the dark expanse.

“You think so? Huh, looks like we need to work on this then.” the smaller monster said.

“Really? Hmm, I suppose you are right, she is still intact.” the small monster said as she sensed movement near her. She raised her head and saw that the creature had knelt down in front of her and was examining her, its red eyes narrowed in interest.

“Yes, a strangely well-formed discarded item,” the little monster said, and Anya felt her arms give as she fell face-first into the cold, dark floor. It was only then that she realized that the floor was made of black slime.

She was slowly sinking into it…

There was another growl, its reverberations shook the very world and each tremor sent shockwaves of pain throughout her body. 

“She won’t last much longer in our presence. She has to return or be destroyed,” the little monster said, and somehow, in her delirium, Anaya realised something. She was in the presence of a god, a god so powerful that she couldn’t even survive in its presence. 

“A pity our time together was so short. Farewell.” the little monster said.

Anya gasped for air as the world returned, she was lying on her back, gasping for air. She had a pounding headache and every nerve in her body felt like it was fried. 

She gasped as she rolled over and curled up into a ball. She could feel the cold grey soil beneath her and it was such a blessing. She was alive, she was back, not in whatever that horrible place was. 

Anya heard the sound of running footsteps and saw someone fall to her knees in front of her. She felt a wary hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see the Wrath Demon Regari staring at her in concern.

“What did you do?” Regari demanded at something.

“She triggered one of my defence systems. If I hadn’t reacted fast enough she wouldn’t have a soul right now.” this deep growling voice said.

Anya sat as Regari supported her back, her head still swimming. She looked up, took in the all to familiar giant monster and screamed…

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Hmmm…

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…

That is weird, I put in the [Soul Sunder] defence adaptation on a lark but I didn’t expect it to be tested so quickly. I realised what was going to happen the moment that girl raised her fist so I had enough time to react to sever the connection.

Not sure what she experienced in that fraction of a second but from my testing on some of the other idiots here, they go through this religious experience or something. It usually ends up with the person in question worshipping me. 

I glanced down at the girl has thrown herself into the ground, forehead firmly pressed into the dirt.

“I’ll do anything please…” the girl sobbed as she grasped at the dirt.

And there it is…

Powerful stuff, this Soul Magic thing. It seems all my fancy manipulations of the Faith of Order were just a waste of time. I can easily just use this to create a group of devout followers. Although, the people who receive this do tend to end up as terrified lumps. So I would probably have to tailor it a bit. Make it a bit more holy and shit, maybe throw in some choirs and fancy lighting effects. Give it more pizzazz, as they say. 

“You can start by bringing that one around this town, let him see what your town is. He just might persuade me to spare all of you.” I said as I pointed at Regari. 

Regari just looked up at me blankly before pointing at himself.

“Me? I get to decide?” Regari asked in confusion.

“Yeah of course, why do you think I sent you here? Now go on, shoo.” I said as I waved my hand.

Regari gave me one last look of bewilderment before Anya dragged him away with an almost religious fervour.

“Now then, you and me need to have abit of chat.” I said as I glanced at Belian. 

“You too.” I said as I turned to Serchax, and she gave me a graceful bow.

I cast a quick spell, and the three of us were teleported onto a nearby mountaintop. My evolution granted me some interesting tricks. I could now lay down anchors, which would allow me to teleport instantly between locations. Unfortunately, it was single-use, but the good news is that I could lay one down immediately when I arrived, so it, in theory, has infinite uses. I just needed to get there the first time the old-fashioned way.

“So you two know each other.” I said as I glanced down at Serchax and Belian.

“In a manner of speaking.” Belian said evenly.

“Oh we know each other very well.” Serchax said seductively as she practically purred into Belian’s ear.

“What you get charmed, fucked and then drowned?” I asked as I stared down at Belian.

“There were a few other developments in between and after, but yes that is in essence what happened.” Belian replied stiffly.

“Oh it was exciting, imagine my surprise when Belian here vanished into a hell portal and a demon showed up to negotiate.” Serchax said as she clapped her hands as if recounting a fond memory.

“That was far more entertaining than I could have expected.” Serchax said with a laugh.

“Yes, I suppose that is one way to put it?” Belian said quietly.

“If the demon owned your soul why the hell would the demon even negotiate?” I asked, and Serchax responded with a sly smile. Belian physically shivered at those words, his complexion going from pale to corpse like.

“Oh you see, if I did something for that demon, which has already been done. I would get to keep Belian’s soul after the demon was done with him.” Serchax said.

“Ah so the demon tossed him here to spite you.” I replied and Serchax shrugged in response.

“It seems so, but it’s a minor thing. The task the demon gave to was to drown a specific noble. That one was drowned centuries ago.” Serchax said, not at all concerned or offended by how things played out.

“Hmm…” I said as I snapped my fingers and channeled some magic. 

I told Regari earlier that I couldn’t remove the contracts unless I owned the contract. It was technically a lie but it was practicaly true. I tried severing some contract but those demons just instantly expired. It seems the contract was the only thing keeping them alive. It made sense to an extent, for all intents and purposes these demons died once and were brought back to serve.

But for this case… there was a conditional transfer… or at least a link to another.

Huh…

The spell I cast entered Belian’s soul and severed his initial contract he gasped for a moment but I sensed ownership instantly transfer to Serchax. Belian’s eyes widened when he realised what had happened and he immediately looked at Serchax in panic.

“NO!” Belian howled as he tried to back away.

“Serchax transfer the contract to me.”  I said and Serchax just nodded nonchalantly and did exactly that.

Then I severed the contract linking me to Belian and as I expected Belian was still here.

“Interesting… it seems only the owner can sever the link for a contracted demon.” I mused as Belian stood there in shock.

“You can go, you are free.” I said.

Belian just looked up at me for a moment before running off. We were on a mountain so I had no idea where he was going. But oh well, I’ll just ask one of my hive soldiers to drag him back to the town.

“Sorry about that, I’ll get you a new one.” I said to Serchax and she just shook her head pleasantly.

“Oh no there is nothing to forgive, he is inconsequential.” Serchax replied with a graceful smile.

“Well I don’t like my subordinates getting burned by me, tends to court disloyalty. So tell you what, I’ll give you the demon that made the deal with you.” I said and Serchax nodded with a mischievous grin.

“If he is still alive.” Serchax replied.

“Well yeah, if not just… I don’t know pick one from the Lust Ring or something.” I said and Serchax just nodded in assent.

I am grateful…

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“So how exactly did all of you survive here?” Regari asked as he sat next to Anya. They were both by the lake as she gazed hollow eyed at the eerily still waters.

“Because of this.” Anya said as she listlessly stared at the water.

“So water is important, but I assume there is something else to it.” Regari stated.

“Its magic, if fills the soul and the body. But if you use it too much you could lose yourself. We call it the Lake of Dreams.” Anya replied that her mind was barely in the conversation.

“Lake of Dreams? So what you get trapped in a dream if you go down there?” Regari asked.

“Yes, some do take it. They say it’s beautiful but you eventually die. The Lake can nourish our crops, heal our bodies but if we abuse it, the lake destroys us.” Anya replied.

“How is it beautiful?” Regari asked as he leaned towards the water.

“It shows you a better world, or so the madmen say. It also apparently gives wisdom and visions. Those who succumb to the lake become great leaders for a time. But eventually the dreams grow corrupted, they grow paranoid, start seeing horror in every shadow. The only notice what is wrong and they do everything in their power to destroy it. In the end we have no choice by to put them down.” Anya replied.

“So I supposed drinking it is out of the question.” Regari said as he tossed a rock into the lake. The rock went in without so much as a splash. It just seemed to slide under the mirror like surface not even creating a ripple.

“You can drink it, in fact I think I need one now.” Anya said as she leaned in and used her hands to scoop out a handful of water. She hungrily drank it and her eyes visibly cleared slightly.

“Feeling better?” Regari asked cautiously.

“Yes, as long as I don’t drink much more I will be fine.” Anya replied.

“The Great Beast, that ancient from before. He wanted to find out how this place has become so calm, so developed. I assumed its this lake?” Regari asked.

“Yes it fights back despair, but use it too much and you will find yourself even worse off.” Anya said as she shook her head rather violently as if to clear her head.

“Sounds like something really useful, any idea how it got here?” Regari asked and Anya just shook her head.

“They did say an Angel once drank from it’s waters, but we don’t know which Angel.” Anya replied.

“An Angel? I suppose a story like that would stick around.” Regari said.

“It's a very old story, no one knows if its true.” Anya replied with a shrug.

“Yeah I suppose you never really know with some things.” Regari mused.

“So what happens now?” Anya asked despondently. Regari knew that feeling of whatever control of your life you thought you had was just a giant lie. 

Lies do not save, faith does not preserve.

Such is the nature of this world. Deny the cold logic of reality at your peril.

“What always happens, the ancient and powerful will decide your fate.” Regari replied with a sigh.

“We never have a choice do we?” Anya said.

“No, not really. The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.” Regari said and Anya could only nod despondently.

“Is it cruel? That ancient I mean.” Anya asked warily.

“He calls himself the Great Beast, or at least that was the title he was given.” Regari said.

“Title?” Anya asked.

“Yes title, another member of his group said the ancients rarely used names. They were all so singular that names were unnecessary, so they used titles.” Regari explained and Anya nodded in understanding.

“Makes them feel like gods…” Anya muttered and Regari nodded.

“Yes, they tend to seem like that.” Regari replied with a sigh.

Then he turned and saw the Great Beast at the edge of the lake, curiously peering at the water.

*Splash*

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