Seeing Victory in front of their eyes the Elves split into two Armies and tried to pincer the Army between them. The true reason was no one wanted to step on the center after seeing what this sacrificial place does to the Sacrifices, making them fear repercussions after the effect, so they rather made the long route around the obsidian floor.
While the Armies moved they saw how still the Creatures the Unbeing brought were and got more and more sure about their victory.
Meanwhile on the Side where the Monster Army resided a frantic rat girl bit through the chains with her bare teeth to free Spot and carefully applied salve on the body with tears in her eyes.
“Spot, I am so sorry! I am sorry, am sorry, am sorry! If I had known I would have been here earlier. Please don’t hate me!”
While Snow is apologizing in rapid succession, Hoof on the other hand finally fell to his knees through relief and remorse. Relief of his Daughter being alive, remorse of her state.
“They said they wanted to use her as bait to fight Monsters, but who other than Monsters would do such things to an innocent child!”
Not only those two were incensed, Prime and Esther were angry too and would have started the eradication if not for Null telling them to look headless for a while to lure them closer. At the same time the slightly exhausted Baphomet pulled his powers together again for a long range rift. As Null said they could take their time to not exhaust themselves too much, Baphomet took it and carefully created the rift. Taking someone in a blink of an eye used much concentration and Mana, as congregation, manifestation, creation, instant transportation and closure had to be made at the same time. It was exhausting but the best way to rescue Spot in a moment of inattention.
Seeing the Beastmen getting closer everyone got ready to strike when the time was right. A Rift slowly opened and out came Null in his new Body looking the same as he did earlier.
“Snow, how is Spot?”
“She is exhausted, but stopped bleeding. I bandaged what I could and put salve on everything that looked bad. Null… I am angry.”
“Me too, Snow. Me too. Do you want the left or the right side?”
“Both.”
“Don’t be greedy, I want to vent too, you know?”
“...Left.”
“Then I take the right. Get ready.”
The Armies got closer and closer. Seeing the Monsters not move made them certain of their victory and before the last 100 Meter were breached Null gave the Order.
“Wreak Chaos.”
— Null POV
Weak… I really thought they would be stronger, but somehow I was mistaken. Maybe it was because I created them, I thought they were better than they are?
The Brutes have the advantage in strength but are rather clumsy in strategy. Butcher and Brutus make up for that in their ways but seriously the only one who racks up the fallen enemies is Berserker. That lazy bastard would not even move if lured by food, we needed to chain him and drag him to the battlefield. The only thing he does is fight and I made it too permeated. The second the Enemies were in his rather small visual perimeter, he got excited and now he even uses his Chains as weapons like whips.
The Battle on the left side would have been longer if not for Snow. She was with the brutes and I can understand her anger, I am angry myself. She mutated rather strangely. Three tails and two heads? I need to ask her what is going on, but her true form has speed, power and brutality in excess. One Tail, a spiked club crushes the hardest shields with ease. The sharp tipped one on the right seems to slice and dice nearly autonomously but never an ally, luckily. The fleshy one is more like a whip, elongating and shrinking out of the chaos, grabbing someone and using him like a throwing weapon or just whipping like a thunderclap into a group. While one head fights the other vomits shadow rats, sometimes exchanging roles and making the Battlefield a total chaos for the enemies.
Dagon is praying? He is strange and I named him on a whim, but he might be worth his name somehow. All the water in the surroundings began to get cold and made a Mist on the right side. And when I said all water I mean it, as people got sick right afterwards when their blood ran cold and started to squirm. Dagon can not make people explode or move them but this is a definite plus. The Fishmen use the fog as cover to make ambushes but they are so weak and fragile. While they use tools their tools are not the most sophisticated and while they are rather smart in comparison to the brutes they have way less strength. Luckily their water spit attack can punch a hole into a skull at point blank, but not much else.
I myself try out Overlord and its intrinsic powers I put into this body.
Seeing how some groups start to attack their friends, it works as planned. How would it work if I was in its true form? Would it have different effects?
No, putting your hands over your ears and shouting will not stop it after you once heard it. While I thought it might just be a distraction, hearing the vilest things in the voices of their friends and family members being whispered right into their head might be worse than just a distraction, noted.
Not understanding Orders or telling Orders must be frustrating, no? When “retreat” sounds like “attack” or “I will protect you” suddenly turns into “Die for me I wanna live” makes it even worse. There was an old story of a Tower in Babel which made it clear people need to be able to communicate to create great things, otherwise they are only a bunch of fools not knowing what to do. No Racoon Man, finger signs do not work either as you see how he greets you back with his middle finger as speaking is not only voice.
Should I try the last one? Whatever, it is already over, so better using something I wanted to try. Magic is so convoluted but should I not be able to use my own laws in Magic too?
Yup, it works. A black sphere reminiscent of my Portal is spewing black tendrils and I can control them. The World is NOT happy, as it rejects the way I use Magic. I understand, don’t worry World. I will stop using it right after… and that was the last on my side.
Prime is still hovering over the camps raining down spears like a hailstorm. Should they not all be dead already? No, they can dodge rather well, not their effort but Prime still has problems with her aim. Even the Claws just watch and do not let anyone out.
Maybe I should rename the claws? Since they found their own way their transformations are not were-rats anymore. They got into their animalistic shape but kept their human structure. If I were to describe them I would say: Skaven like? I still think they are cute and to be honest they are the one faction which came out with the best results. Where Brutes struggled with two enemies at the same time one of the Claw made easy of a group of five in passing. Yup, they are on the travel list. Sorry Fishmen and Brutes, but you would just die on the other side without being useful. Please have a relaxed life when I am gone. I might take your big brothers with me but you should settle down here.
—
{We got news of the scouts high Mothers. The warriors of Null made contact with their destination and attacked the people of the Grasslands.}
{And what was their goal? Why would they suddenly wage war with the Grasslander, just because a Bullhead came?}
{This…}
{Out with it!}
{He came to rescue a Bullheaded Woman, better said a Girl from what the Scouts could identify.}
{One Person?! Do not mock us!}
{The Message was clear. One Person was in Danger and he fought with four hundred against Five thousand.}
{Insane as always. How are the casualties?}
{On the side of Null, around Eighty Creatures died, this Includes the large Fish Person eating his own on the trip for some reason. The Aggressors… They lost… everyone.}
{What?!}
{No one was left alive. They scoured the tall grass and made sure no one survived. The Scouts wanted to extract one, but a Rat creature killed him before they could extract him for questioning. There were definite differences in the strength of Null’s Creatures. While the more scary looking ones were weaker than imagined, the group made of Rat Women were thorough. The Rat girl that was here with Null could transform into a Demon and expel thousands of rats in seconds without Stop. Null himself somehow was destroyed by an old contraption of the Forgotten Kingdom but came back as if nothing happened. His fight could not really be seen as he was in a kind of Mist but the cries of Agony could be heard and black tendrils were spotted on the edges of the Mist.}
{This is Insanity. Not only did he attack because of one person, he eradicated them without a chance of retreat. What did you find out about this person?}
{Not much, the scouts made sure to ask some of the Animal heads not affiliated with the Army, but needed to be thorough with their questioning to get a few hints. The Bull tribe was at first friendly with Null but the death of their original Chief made the relationship complicated as the new Chief does not favour Null. Branched Elves made their attack on them with two other Races to capture the Girl named Spot, as she was the most intimate with not only Null but the Rat girl Snow. The Chief of the Bull Tribe ordered a quick surrender and gave her away, while he told his Brother Hoof to lure Null to their destined Battleground.}
{Is she Null’s Wife?}
{No, only friends to the Family. This is the most strange part, as they have no real relation anywhere. We tried to find something we might have missed in the reports but there was nothing.}
A High Mother being silent all the time commented right afterwards.
{Yeah, this is his Style. He does not care about anything and makes total Chaos over a single person.}
{Do you know anything about it, Dancing Mist?}
{Do I know anything? Of course I do! Don’t you remember he changed my Granddaughter into a literal Flower to protect her and her true love from being forced apart? Have you forgotten how he made Falling Leaf into a Woodwalker and we even made the Falling tree into the Fallen Tree? I am sure he is insane enough to erase a Continent if someone makes a slight against one of his friends.}
{Then we are in way too much danger! We must find a way to erase this danger.}
At those Words Dancing Mist goes ballistic with her words.
{Are you all rotten in your Brains?! Did I not say earlier he would fight the World for his friends?! And guess who his Friend includes; QUEEN MOTHER! If we attack, he will retaliate but in a way to not harm her. We will be eradicated but the World Tree will grow. Is that what you want?}
{Wait, how is that the outcome? I think you yourself are starting to rot, old hag!}
{His Friendship with our Queen Mother is already fact. He said he would go to War against us if we dethrone her, and you thought he was just trying to intimidate us. I told you, he is insane enough to do it! He will help his Friends unconditionally and anyone who is against him will be trampled. He is that insane!}
{What Dancing Mist said has reasoning. It is a gamble, but he will not be here for much longer. After he is gone the people in the Crater will be way weaker, and I think it would be good for our roots to keep them allies afterwards. They are shut off from most other people and might be a good way to let our saplings learn to relate and understand other Races. Our way too delayed goal is so close, a promise to help innocent people to a being of the Void might be our best hope.}
{This is a dangerous Gamble…}
{This will be one of our last chances. The World was already close to shedding their Mana. A creature of the Void reversed it, so what can we really say about this? It made something possible we could not and while we know most invaders destroy, it heals.}
{He is like us.}
{Mist!}
{Don’t shout at me! You know I am right. We are invaders too, but have a goal to nourish. I do not know if he does it out of some agenda, but as long as he helps we should see him as an asset and not an enemy.}
{Do not like us with that thing! But you have a point, as it is an asset we will accept the Alliance completely. Better be on its good side. How is our Queen Mother?}
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
{Germinating. It is beautiful and in just a hundred Years our World Tree will be stable. Every time I see her I can not believe it happening in such an instant!}
{A hundred years are not much for us, but we need to keep a good eye on everything. Right now we are in a dangerous situation, better be ready for more Danger to come.}
{Do you think someone will attack us for the World tree?}
{There might be, but I am more worried about our new Ally. It… He brings many problems. I am sure of it, we will be needing to mobilize the High Mothers at least once.}
—
In the Steppe Null is traveling way easier to the South East as many tribes scout the battle side. It was no secret to the tribes for the Elves had announced the strategy of fighting him at that place before. Their true goal, they did not explain but many Tribes thought it wrong to band together to such a small enemy. The Angry Metal was on the way and if they wanted to hone their skills, they needed not overwhelm a small group, but train their true strength of ambush tactics.
While some thought of stealing the glory before Null came into contact with the large Army of Beastmen and Grass elves, now the order was to not even be in sight of them. Every Tribe finally understood what it meant to fight against the Unbeing. Had they thought of him rather passive before, now they knew the Visions to be not only true but even too tame for reality.
On this trip the Brutes got a bit grumpy as their Food got a bit scarce. They had ripped out a bit of rations to make it easier, but now they noticed how empty the Steppe could be. As they finally found their Destination a small Building was seen.
“This must be the place. Esther, could you please look into how the doors work? I will talk to the People inside.”
“Okay, but how are you talking to them? They are in a sealed space, no?”
“Oh, they have repaired the communication array. Not fully, but it was enough to make them able to see who is on the Gate.”
“Would this technology not be good for us too?”
“Not really, I can talk to everyone who is connected to me anyhow.”
“But what about not connected?”
“Not worth the effort for now. I am not here for long anyhow.”
Moving closer Esther got to work and touched the Gate while Null got in front of the crystal and the black slab below it.
“Test, test! *ahem* Hello Grass Elves and my other enemies. As you can see I am here.”
Silence was the only answer.
“I know you can see and hear me. This Device is of ancient creation and should be operational. You had seen me come here from afar, no?”
Still Silence as answer.
“Not that it matters. You will not escape anyway. I will go after a bit, so I hope you have fun down there shivering in fear of me.”
This time the black slab started to glow and an Elven woman was visible.
“We do not shiver and you will not escape the collective might of our Army. I do not know how you found this place before going to battle, but it does not matter. If you want to see your Spy again, you should better go where they are and do not mess around. She is precious to you, no?”
“Of course she is precious. I do not understand how you know I would come… Someone dreamt of me coming to rescue her, right? These abilities are annoying somehow, but whatever.”
“If you know, then you should know this battle is inevitable.”
“So you also saw the outcome, right?”
“Changing the outcome is possible, when you know the events. Many things dreamt by the tribes were changed by their will alone. Famine stopped by preparing, Battles stopped by knowing both sides would lose too much, Sicknesses cured before they could spread. You are just another change we will do with our own hands.”
“Not really your hands as first you are Elves without dreaming abilities and second you are under the earth entombed in multiple meters of rock.”
“And you can not harm us in any way. We will not be your hostages.”
“...Wait a second, I know you! You were the snotty Elven Woman who did not even want to talk about peaceful negotiations.”
“And I was right, wasn’t I? You are just a blight. A creature from somewhere, that is not this World. If you had gone back to where you came from, you would not be in this hopeless situation!”
The Elven Woman was looking like she was gloating. In her mind she had the upper hand but Null was just calm and did not much.
“Esther, how long do you need?”
“I am already working on some gears, but it will take a bit. You want it thorough, right?”
“Sure!”
Laughter came out of the Slab.
“You can try as much as you want. This is Ancient technology, you can not break in. It will take you years to do that!”
“Who is talking about breaking in?”
“Another ruse? You really are pathetic!”
“What ruse are you talking about? I do not want to go inside. It would be way too much hassle. By the way I came from the Waste disposal site you called ‘Sacrificial Hills’, the Fight is already over.”
“Don’t mock me. You would not be standing here if that was the case.”
“For a long lived Elf you are rather dumb, are you not?”
“Such low insults can only come form such a lowly creature like you.”
“I mean it! At first you answered me instead of playing dead. Minor mistake but whatever. Second, you are telling me how dangerous that place we travel to is. Why not tell me they want to start the magical Runes and use them to eradicate me and my army completely when I step on the stones?”
“Wait, what do you-”
“Third! You still are thinking so high and mighty but never understood what is happening. You are inside a Bunker. You might not know what this means but it is a shelter against World ending events. This means they are made to hold for generations!”
“So you know you never can-”
“Generations living inside until the damage outside is ended. From the thoughts of that heroic Idiot I know this place might be made for a thousand people. How Many are inside? Eight thousand right now?”
“How do you know so much, creature?!”
“Isn’t it obvious, I know it from the one you sent to kill me. He died while I read his mind.”
“You despicable-”
“Get out of the way Youngling!”
A more aged voice came from the Slab. The picture of the Elven Woman vanished and an older Elven Woman was seen.
“My name is Silveana. I am right now the Matriarch of the Grass elves. You must be the being that endangers us all, no?”
“I never did endanger you, but you just said I do, so we are at war.”
“I see, but if what you say is true, there can never be peace between us.”
“You mean me killing your Army?”
“Yes. This is an attack we can not overlook. If you killed half of the Army it will never be a reconciliation between us.”
“Just half?”
“If more than half could escape, we might be able to at least find a ground to negotiate.”
“No one escaped.”
“...Pardon me?”
“Everyone died, as they attacked me. No one escaped the Area.”
“Then there will never be peace between us. I am sorry, but you went too far.”
“I would rather say, you went too far. You never heard me out, made a mockery out of me, created an army to kill me and tortured one of my friends half to death.”
“We might have sinned, but this is no reason for such a retaliation, creature. There are things we need to do in reason, and this is way out of reason!”
“Sure, I never said I was right. I am rather vindictive and I noticed that quite early in my unnatural life. But so what? I do what I am doing and if someone attacks I retaliate. If it is within reason or not, the attacker made me move and it is their fault.”
“We tried to negotiate-”
“You mean the one who did not even want to talk with something as disgusting as me? I remember her holier than thou image she made. The man you sent was more reasonable, but was overruled by her.”
Looking questioningly to her side Null thought about how she might look at the female Elf which was once an ambassador.
“I heard something different. But no matter what, you have too much blood on your hands now. While I do not believe you killed everyone, we will look into it after you are gone. If you tell the truth we will find a way to bring all the tribes under one banner to bring justice to the dead.”
“I do not think you have the chance for it. Esther?”
“I am finished. I mark the places you can melt to make it even more secure.”
Shaking her head on the slab the elven Woman spoke again.
“Do not waste your time Unbeing. This Place is one of the most secure in all the Steppe. There is no way you can break the seals and enter, we studied these mechanisms for Centuries.”
“Who wants in? I just want nothing to come out ever again.”
“...Wait, what did you say?”
Null was grinning and looking right into the crystal.
“I want to seal this place up. Esther put seals into the Cogs which makes them not work anymore. I myself will now weld the doors shut and make sure they will not move in a thousand years.”
“Wait, here are children inside! You can not just-”
“And Spot is a teenager in their tribe! You tortured her like she did something horrible, just because she was called our friend!”
“We can talk about this. You do not need to-”
“You said there is no way back. Now there is really no way back. I would better think about who you are culling as the place is only made for a thousand. I bet the people are even staying in the storage rooms meant for the rations they need for a hundred years underground.”
“Please listen! We can always talk about it! There are always ways, I just wanted you to try a little before giving you grace! I promise, that was my intention!”
“And my Intention is to stop you from ever hurting a person I care for again. You might survive with a thousand people if you make seven thousand into food. Otherwise I think the gardens might give right now enough food for two hundred? I saw the place in that guy’s thoughts, better start culling.”
“Do not do this! This is inhumane!”
“Snow?”
“Yes!”
“Break that mesh thing there, where the sound comes out, the black slab with the hologram of the Elven woman and the crystal which is embedded there.”
“Okay!”
“Sir Null, we might have started in the wrong direc-” *tzzz*
After destroying the Communication system Null got onto the parts he needs to melt to make sure the Door does not open that quickly. As the Rock was especially made to be resistant against Magic it took half an hour to melt the walls into the door on one spot. For all places he needed a whole day to make sure all places were sealed.
“I found some shafts, shall we seal them too?”
“Oh these? They are air ducts. Way too small for people to escape from, but if we close them, they might suffocate. Let them open, we do not want them to die, Esther.”
“Somehow I think death would be better for them.”
“You think? Well I do not want to kill, so I just sealed them up. Would have been annoying to kill them all anyways.”
“Null, you are scary. It never gets boring if you go out, right? Can I come with you next time?”
“I will think about it Esther.”
“Yay! Another one who will partake in eating all the delicacies we find!”
“Um, Snow? I want to go around, find entertainment and knowledge. I am not such a glutton like you.”
“More for me to eat! I will still bring something back for you to taste if I find something particularly good!”
“Snow, I bet this will never happen”, Null interjected. “If it is really good, you will eat all of it right away, like always.”
“I will try!”, Snow pouted.
—
Entering the Misty Forest the Group of Mercenaries are led by an elven Woman. After a small trek she stopped and gave the signal to rest.
{Lilliana Alura Questa requests an audience with the protectors of this Forest. Our question is if the Person Named Null is back and we are allowed to visit his Domain!}
Silence for a while. While everyone else was rather stressed, they were chewing on rations to look as harmless as possible. All were veterans in most Woods but knew the original Dark woods were a restricted area. Now suddenly the restriction was not only ignored, the whole Forest has changed into something even more mysterious.
While Lyra was waiting for an answer, she noticed the whispers of the Forest being rather heated. As a Wood Elf she could hear some whispers but had a hard time to fully understand full sentences. She could more feel the intent and right now the intent was convoluted. It had happiness, hope and freedom inside of it but also protectiveness and readiness to fight for something.
‘It feels like a new era is starting but something is different.’
After half an hour two Root came out of the Mist and greeted Lyra.
{We greet you Woodelf. Sadly the Person you are searching for is still not back, but we have good news. The Lord of the Starfall Crater is on his way back.}
{This is good to hear. When can we expect him to be back?}
{Right now he makes a small detour, but we believe he will be back in another week. We asked his retainers and they said you can visit after he is back. We will show you the way, but we will not tolerate people going deeper into the woods without permission.}
{Can I ask why you are protecting this Lord Null?}
{You can ask, but there will be no answer.}
{Understood. Might I be able to later visit the great City of the Root?}
{Right now is a bad time. If it is necessary you need to make an oath on your blood.}
{That severe?}
{Right now we are serious about security, in a few decades or maybe one Century we will have everything back under control.}
‘What could make the Root that paranoid? If I prod I might die, but there might be something I need to tell my Clan, what to do?’
{If there is anything I can do, we Wood Elves would be lending a hand.}
{Only with an oath. I am sorry, but right now is a bad time.}
{I understand. I will see if my Clan allows me to make an oath.}
{Take your time.}
Unlike short lived creatures Elves are more reserved with oaths and take their time. Pondering for the worth of an Oath for a visit can sometimes take years.
Ending the Discussion Lyra came back to her group to explain the Discussion.
“So we can go next week?”
“It will be possible. If they say he will maybe be back means they are 90% sure.”
“And the 10%?”
“Means he might be back earlier. If they have talked about it with the People in the Crater, they must be sure in some way.”
“Now that we have even guides through the Forest we might even be get our pay for close to no work. This will be great. How about we look around for more details in the Forest?”
“If you want to die, do it. They will shoot people who fray of the group.”
“Seriously?! How paranoid are they?”
Lyra sighed: “Root protect their Forest with utmost aggression. Unlike us Wood elves who capture invaders they eliminate them directly.”
“Such a stuck up-”
Seeing the glare of Lyra the words of her Companion were stuck in his throat.
“Nevermind, sorry Lyra.”