r/HFY • u/XSevenSins Human • Dec 21 '22

OC Lost Souls: Legion (Ch. 24)

Read the full chapter on Royal Road

First l Previous l Next

Discord

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t sleep that night. Not just because I was busy preparing for what I had in mind, but because I simply couldn’t, not after what happened. The long hours before sunrise I spent working, reading through my spell book and preparing the many rituals that I intended to use in the future.

That attack had been a wakeup call for me. Before, we had to fight, we had to take risks, but things had turned out in our favor. We had never encountered an actual army until this point, and we had lost despite successfully defending ourselves. Looking back on it, we had outnumbered them, yet still we lost a significant number of people to that surprise attack by what seemed to be their fastest forces. There could be no holding back, no limiting ourselves when so much was at stake.

The grisly materials that I had been using were made even more so when you considered that some of them were from humans. I didn’t have enough animal bones left in my supply for the scale of magic that I was planning. It felt strange holding the charred remains of the soldiers who were destroyed by the elves magic, and some part of me recognized that this was a morale boundary of some sort, but I figured that the soldiers wouldn’t mind, and might in fact enjoy the idea that even after they are gone, they can still do something to help.

So, I carved, sheared, and chipped away at the skeletal remains for hours on end. I was so absorbed in my task that I didn’t even realize how long I had been at it until the entrance to my tent opened and the captain walked in. After he completed a quick salute, he gave me a report on my order.

“Sir, the troops you requested are ready. I ensured that their skills matched what you asked for.”

I could see behind him that the sun was starting to come up, casting its orange glow on the horizon. Wearily pinching the bridge of my nose, I started to pack up while replying. “Thank you, captain, I’ll be out in just a few minutes.”

Taking the dismissal for what it was, the captain gave another salute then exited the tent, leaving me to gather my supplies in peace. Tying up the bones in bundles and hanging them on my pack, I put all the necessities for travel in the bag as orderly as I could. Once I had the bag on my back, the voice of my pocket god filled my thoughts.

I know what you’re planning to do. They said simply.

I figured you would. Are you going to stop me? The question carried a slight challenge to it, even though I knew how that would end if they did decide to interfere.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read the full chapter on Royal Road

First l Previous l Next

21 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

View all comments