Chapter 2: Awakening

*** Elsewhere ***

*** I ***

"PAIN!"

This agony! Why does it hurt so much? I open my eyes. My eye? Why do I have only one eye? Damn! It feels like something is crushing my body and rebuilding it from the ground up!

From afar I hear a scream. But then I realize it's my own. It doesn't sound like a voice that belongs to a living being.

Finally, the pain subsides and leaves me lying on a hard stone floor, while I'm gasping for breath. It feels like I'm in a dark room. The oil lamps on the walls provide enough light for me to take a look around me.

There's something like a magic circle on the ground next to me. I'm in the center of a hexagon about ten feet in size. At each end of the summoning circle is a person with their throats slit. What a waste! Which butcher orchestrated this ritual?

I turn my attention to myself. Two chubby arms and legs. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears! At least I'm symmetrical. Although the gun between my chubby legs looks a bit small.

There's blood everywhere, but my skin isn't bruised, but it's soft. Do I look like a child? Yes, I think I remember now, little children must be like that. But, why the hell am I a child?

A small crying voice catches my attention and I turn around.

I'm greeted by a guy in a black cape. Its eyes are completely black and a single feathered black wing sprouts from its right shoulder. Great, another freak!

He has a bloody dagger in his right hand and a gleaming amulet in his left. The lines and circles of the amulet are forming the same magic circle as the one I'm sitting on. I'm going to call this guy Mr. Black for now.

Behind it is a dirty altar with a weeping woman on top. She is crying and tries to run away, but invisible shackles hold her in place. There are cuts all over his body and his belly is a bloody mess. Did Mr. Black hide it? What strikes me as stranger, though, is the spinning tail that is attached to it and the black horns that crown its head. The odd dark metallic hair color is only a small bonus compared to its other features. I'm sorry, Mrs. Sacrifice. I don't think you're going to survive.

Little Black moves forward as he looks confused to me. Probably he was expecting something big, red, and clawed? Oh... I think I killed what Mr. Black wanted to invoke.

He shakes his amulet at me.

"What's that!? Such a failure! Many sacrifices! For a small child!?"

His face turns red as he's yelling at me, but I don't understand his language. That's a problem. Or not? I'm not sure I want to understand it.

My eyes go to another pile of bodies as Mr. Black continues screaming. It seems that this is the reason why the summoning ritual proved to be so full of life. Many people were used for the ritual.

Well, I don't care. There are real people around me at least. I don't remember how long it's been since I've had company. It doesn't matter if they're alive or dead. People are people.

"Do yourself at least something useful and clean it all up!"

Little Black speaks in a commanding voice and his amulet pulses red.

I feel something tugging in my mind. Bondage magic? I don't even understand what he wants. Is this guy an idiot? Now I feel lucky that I don't understand your language. No commands, no enslavement. I smile at him in the stupidest way I'm capable of.

He steps on the ground.

"Graaah! It's stupid too! This means that only simple commands work. GET UP!"

He raises his arms in tandem with the command.

Unfortunately, the gesture alone isn't hard to understand and I start moving before I can do anything against it. Rubbish!

Just at this moment the heavy wooden door leading to this room explodes and opens and several people rush in. They all carry weapons and have the same foreign bodies as Mrs. Sacrifice. Although I do notice that men don't have tails.

Mr. Black shakes his hand and the first group of attackers is thrown backwards by a telekinetic power pulse.

"Kill!"

Little Black points to the newcomers and looks at me as the amulet glows.

I hesitated for a second about what to do. It's obvious that he wants me to do something with them. It's been a long time since I've forgotten the feelings of hatred, but something inside me pulses as I look at the newcomers. Probably the amulet is the reason for these feelings.

For a moment I falter. But then I raise my hand and infuse my mana into the blood around the room. Another wave of my hand forces blood under my will and a thin red mist forms between us and the newcomers. It then solidifies into a transparent, shimmering red barrier.

Somehow I don't like being ordered around by Little Black, so I intentionally barely understand him.

On the other hand, my hesitation allowed three attackers to pass through the barrier before it was fully formed. There is an old woman with a staff and a younger woman who looks similar to Mrs. Sacrifice.

A man with a spear also managed to pass my barrier in time.

"Walter!"

He screams in rage as he meets Mrs. Sacrifice at the altar.

The trapped people are knocking in vain on my blood barrier. Although each of his blows creates small openings in the transparent blood barrier. Holes close immediately after they are created. Strange. I seem to be very weak. They shouldn't be able to do anything against my barrier.

Little Black forces back with another wave of power the three people who managed to pass through the barrier without hesitation.

Little Black lifts the amulet again.

"K… Aargh!"

The spear guy threw his spear at Mr. Black and slammed it in the middle of his hand. The amulet flies around the room and near the Altar.

I try to move to destroy the cursed object, but I'm stuck in my position. The previous order is still in effect and retrieving the amulet for me has nothing to do with keeping the attackers at bay.

The spear guy attacks us along with the younger woman, but a swing from Mr. Black's wing clears him like an annoying fly.

"Yoran!"

The woman shouts to the spear bearer. Then Mr. Black rips the younger woman out of thin air like a toy. A wave of life force forces back and forth between them. But the woman is being carried with ease.

The girl screams as she is being held by her throat and Mr. Black is sucking something like a green mist out of her with his wing as a conduit. I shudder. Little Black seems to be a soul wizard and I can't oppose him while I'm under the influence of this damn amulet!

I scan the room and find the old stop again.

"Demon! Sum!"

She raises her staff and a beam of light shoots towards Little Black. He dodges it with ease and sends his grandmother to the ground with another pulse of power. I suppose he didn't use all the sacrifices for my summoning ceremony. He used at least some of them to strengthen himself.

Mr. Black drops the girl to the ground and mocks the corpse.

Then, something pulls my mind and I get attention. Turning to the altar, I find Mrs. Sacrifice on the floor. She is holding the amulet that flew earlier to the ground with both hands. Her expression is desperate as she looks at me.

"Save us. Save us. Please!"

I don't understand what she wants, but I can guess.

Mr. Black's attention turns to Mrs. Sacrifice.

"No!"

He moves forward, but I pull him in with telekinesis and walk over to him.

The blood on the ground is still infused with my mana and a mere thought is enough to form a long peak where Little Black lands on the ground. The spike penetrates his chest and exits on his back. He looks at me with shocked eyes as I advance towards him and touch his cheek, making contact with his mind.

A scream comes out of him as I begin to drain his life force. Finally his controller slips and all the souls that were contained within him escape. Dozens of lights come out of it and I grab one of them. It has the right feeling to it and is in tune with the corpse of the young woman.

The soul is in turmoil, so I force my own sense of calm upon it. I try, with difficulty, to slowly absorb the soul so as not to overwhelm it. After all, it's a young soul.

It's been a long time since I've done this, but I think I'm on the right track. I walk with my chubby feet to the young woman's corpse and sit down next to her. The soul enters her body with ease and I electrocute the woman. She gasps and opens her eyes.

Well, it didn't take long for his soul to be taken. As long as it is returned in a certain period of time, there should be no problems.

I stroke her forehead to reassure her, leaving a bloody hand imprinted there. Oh, I forgot I'm still dirty. She's just staring at me, amazed.

This is done. One more attempt to get out of here... But the strength of the amulet doesn't let me go, and I turn back to Mrs. Sacrifice when the young woman gets down on her knees.

The man with the spear is holding it with tears in his eyes. She's whispering a few words to him. Probably your last. I take her hand and begin to pour the life force I stole from Mr. Black into it.

It sucks to do that, but I keep it that way. The wound on his belly closes and the cuts disappear. Finally some color returns to your face. Oh, I feel dizzy. This way of healing is cumbersome, but it's the most effective one I know of.

Both Mrs. Sacrifice and the man with the spear look at me in amazement.

"No!"

Suddenly, Mrs. Sacrifice shoots forward and grabs me, shielding me with her body against something.

"Get out of my way! We've got to deal with this monster!"

The old woman's voice speaks, but I'm too tired to hear it. She looks angry and is dangerous. I've had a hard time staying awake since I've killed the reaper of two lives.

"My son is not a monster!"

The woman is crying above me. I reach out and wipe away tears, not understanding what's wrong. Didn't I save her? There is no need to shed tears. That's a waste of resources. I close my eyes to finally sleep…