Deathcreator Book One: A Flesh Golem's Ascension Page 7

  I was sure now that it's creator and my elder god were not the same being. I believe it was only wanting to use me to gather more souls to feed me to it's true master later. Fattening the sow before the slaughter.

  I was doing that too, but souls were far too tiny of a meal for me. I would eat worlds, stars, everything, but for now, I would enjoy myself here. I thought about my soul prison. I don't think I would die if it broke. I think I would instead be released. But at that time, this world and my identity would end.

  I felt the souls from the book straining against me, thrashing around aimlessly. Like a snake's body when the head was cut off suddenly.

  I don't know when, but my GUI had disapeared.

  I only saw blackness.

  I reached out to the souls. I felt them cringe and shy away as my hunger sought them out.

  I would remake things. This time, I would do it my way.

  I knew I needed a warden. I had to dedicate a part of myself to controlling the souls.

  I needed a new fairy.

  Some things were still in place. Meaning that not all of my interface was created by the other god. It all came originally from my memories anyway. It was just hastily assembled from vague concepts from old RPGs and MMOs I had played.

  I thought about a character creation screen and one appeared. It had gender. I selected female. I was on a race screen. It displayed every race I had ever seen, played or read about. I selected fairy and on my screen was an iconic green dress wearing fairy from movies I had seen as a child.

  The original fairy's wings were something I liked. I changed the default wings to a grey version of the soul wings. I changed the fairy's skin tone to a pale white. I made her hair a light grey and lengthened it to the small of her back. I bumped up her bust a bit. I gave her a heart shaped face with big glowing purple eyes.

  I gave her a dark, thick coat of eye shadow and long eye lashes. I gave her deep red lipstick. I went to clothing options and clicked through a bit. I selected maid's outfit, it was low cut and short skirted. Nope, I didn't need to get distracted every time I saw the fairy. I selected what looked like a black Victorian dress. I gave her a top hat and an umbrella. Hmm, something looked off. I removed the top hat and gave her a big scarlet bow. I clicked on personality. I had nothing against the fairy's original personality, but it had betrayed me and honestly it was way too dramatic. I selected quiet then serious.

  I clicked done.

  A prompt appeared:

  Would you like to name your fairy?

  I was always terrible at naming. I thought for a while. I would name her Mors, after Pallida Mors meaning the pale god of death. One who comes for beggars and kings equally.

  I clicked done.

  Mors appeared in front of me and gave a humble curtsy. "How can I be of service my master?" Her voice had a tranquility to it like something with the finality of death.

  "Reign in these souls, but know they are mine. You will serve me, being a buffer between them and me. You will channel their knowledge when I need it. You will act at an inhuman speed helping me in all the fleshcrafting calculations that I do. Use the souls as you see fit as long as it is for my benefit and by my will." I said this in a serious tone. Mors smiled again before fading away gradually.

  The rumbling subsided, the souls calmed down. Now they would not overwhelm me or overwrite my memories. I could remain myself and yet still keep their power.

  Time to remake this dumb GUI, it had allot of useless parts.

  I don't need a health bar, as I generally know when something sharp and pointy is sticking out of me.

  I don't need this soul count as I don't intend to convert souls to mana on the fly. I intend to get the most use out of them that I can.

  I don't need this bag icon. At least not for now as I don't have any spacial or dimension magic.

  I'll keep the scroll, but now it is just a log and notepad.

  Hmm, something important is missing.

  I thought about creating a map icon

  I saw a map icon appear, and if I right clicked it, it became a mini-map. I would delve into it more before I left. Right now it only showed the cave, and a little of the clearing beyond.

  "Mors, is there any way to add more to the map?"

  "Of course master! There is a problem however. The last two owners now have their memories in your mana pool. So the info will be over a hundred years old. The owner before that was a hedge witch, she avoided living people like the plague. It might just be better to mark a few of the bigger places she remembers on your map and hope that they are still there." Mors said in an apologetic tone.

  The map now showed a Kingdom named Theross far to the north, and a smaller place called Therograd that was a little closer. But the roads and other small villages were not shown.

  "Well, it's a start. Thank you Mors."

  Okay on to the messed up and over complicated character screen. Yeah that's scrapped.

  Give me a character sheet like old school pen and paper RPGs.

  Name: John Slater

  Race: Flesh Golem

  Skills:

  Soul Steal: Complete

  Feast

  Hide: level 1

  Cooking: level 2.

  Grave Robbing: level 2.

  Ancient Languages Translation: level 2.

  Archery: level 2

  Taylor: level 3.

  Abilities:

  Fleshcrafting level 5

  Soul Control *formerly Soul Infusion

  Night Sight

  Perversion

  Spells:

  Dark Tendrils level 1

  Petrifying Gaze level 1

  Weakness level 1

  Known poisons:

  Goblin Pie

  *All soul management functions have been combined into one ability called Soul Control.

  "When I combined everything for you to make it easier to manage, this happened. It has no level and is thought to be the pinnacle of necromancy. Something I believe only the book itself could do before." Mors said.

  "What happened to Soul Steal?" I asked

  "Well when you converted the fragment of a god's soul that was in the book of souls into mana it kinda maxed out. It's way beyond level 10. Now if you can see a soul, it's yours." Mors replied.

  Wow, it seems like I leveled up quite a bit there!

  I wanted to check out the other stuff I got as well.

  Dark Tendrils level 1:

  Mana cost: 5

  Tentacles from the abyssal plains will shoot up from the ground in front of you, rooting all enemies who are touching the ground for a small amount of time.

  Petrifying Gaze level 1:

  Mana cost: 10

  You channel the abyss directly into the mind on an oponent who is looking you directly in the eyes, leaving them frozen in horror for a short while.

  "Hmm, something about the abyss looking back should be said here I think." I joked.

  I heard a forced chuckle from Mors.

  Weakness level 1:

  Mana cost: 5

  A foe is beset by a feeling of utter hopelessness and dread, robbing them of their willpower to fight.

  This power lasts as long as it is maintained but will reduce the mana pool by 5 every 10 seconds.

  So, these are Bob's spells. They seem familiar somehow. Was Bob a follower of mine? Was he the one who found the elder god ichor that became my soul prison? Am I from the abyss? Is the abyss a part of me?

  Goblin Pie:

  Poison

  Induces vomiting, diarhea and can transfer parasites.

  Ingredients:

  Goblin fecal matter patted into a pie shape then cooked over a fire.

  Okay then, I'm definitely not going to any goblin cookouts any time soon.

  I was okay with the old souls screen. But really, now I didn't need the breakdown as the options were too numerous to list.

  I focused again on the timid goblin soul.

  "Mors, give it english."

  I
clicked talk.

  The soul was now displayed as a humanoid similar to a goblin, but made of green energy.

  It once again looked down at the nonexistent floor.

  "Sorry about before. A few things happened. How are you?"

  The soul looked up and replied evenly in english. "I am a little scared. I saw a blackness as far as I could see. I could not escape, there was nothing there. I was lost." It looked back down again it's eyes closing as if in pain.

  "Don't worry I don't intend to consume you. I have a gift for you in fact. Something to make up for all that." It looked up again

  I still noticed the darkness all around. I focused and opened my eyes.

  I heard a loud munching noise and looked over to it's source.

  Bob was chomping away happily on a huge white bird with multicolored wings.

  Well, best not to disturb him.

  I looked down to the female figure in my hands. I had aparently crushed it at some point. I returned it to form with fleshcrafting.

  I dragged the timid goblin soul over to the female construct.

  The female construct opened her eyes. She looked at her hands in wonder. She then looked at the light coming from the far away tunnel entrance and seemed to relax in my hand. She stretched her massive wings out as if yawning and clasped them around herself.

  She then sat up and looked me directly in the eyes and smiled a soft smile.

  "Thank you." It said in a gentle voice.

  I heard the munching stop.

  Bob came running over, his claws making a clack clack noise as he hurried.

  "BOSS!" He screamed with tears streaming down his little eyes.

  "Boss, do you even know how long you've been like that! Your eyes were closed, black stuff started oozing out of them. You crushed your own creation. Then you just sat there like a statue for days!" Bob sat on the floor wiping his eyes.

  I brought my hand up to my face rubbing under my eyes. Sure enough there was some black oily stuff. Was it maybe remnants of the book's god. Was it part of me? I had no idea.

  I placed the female construct on the ground. She and Bob looked up at me and at each other.

  I guess I should name her. Dammit! Always with the names. Well, she was a goblin. What is a female goblin. Goblette... No that's a cup. Goblina? No that's just stupid. Wait if I take the gob off I'm left with Lina, okay, that will do.

  "Bob, I introduce you to Lina." I pointed at the female creature.

  Lina looked up at me and smiled again.

  "Thank you... Boss?" She said

  "Yeah, that's fine. You and Bob can call me boss." I replied smiling back.

  Bob looked over Lina admiring her from head to toe. He seemed dismayed that she was still covering herself with her wings wrapped around her.

  I looked around the room. There were several rodent bodies a few crows, and that huge white bird laying around.

  I used soul steal. My eyes lit up in green flame, everything turned green and several tiny soul fragments flew into me.

  Bob and Lina backed off a bit.

  I blinked. The flames went away and the world returned to normal.

  Yes, that was far more convenient.

  "Wow Bob! You really seem to have mastered your skills with that body." I said admiringly.

  Bob pushed out his chest. "This thing is great, and these arm spikes are never boring." Bob Popped out an arm spike while smiling broadly. Lina looked over at Bob, then brought out her arm shooting her spike out. She kinda jumped back a little after she did it but then she giggled.

  I also raised a hand shooting mine out. Come to think of it, I guess I kinda made tiny winged me's.

  We all retracted our spikes.

  "How's flying going Bob?"

  "I can't really take off from the ground. But if I climb someplace high, I can glide for a while. When I'm hunting I just climb a tall tree and look around for something to swoop down on, then skewer them on the spikes." Bob said while awkwardly trying to wrap himself in his wings as Lina had done.

  "Alright, why don't you go show Lina how to hunt. I've got a few more things to do in here. Oh, and no doing to this one what you did to my last female construct, at least not if she's not willing." I warned.

  "Sure thing Boss." he replied as he and Lina walked towards the cave opening. Lina had an excited expression on her face as she peered into the outside light.

  I decided that it probably wasn't right to let them walk around with everything just hanging out.

  I wanted to try out my tailoring skill, but I didn't have any supplies. Maybe I could fleshcraft something?

  I gathered the rodent carcasses in a pile and began to peel their skin off. I thought about how hides are converted to leather. I stripped off the fat, and dried the skin. I knew with where their wings were connected with their legs pants where a no go. I joined the skin carefully, making something like a toga with tie-offs at the shoulder for Bob. I made something like a one piece fur swimsuit with tie-ups so Lina could adjust the size.

  I retrieved my weapon and took off what was left of my harness.

  I tore the rest of Dipshit's robes into strips and braided them together making a more solid harness. I shaped some rodent bone to make a catch for my weapon, so I wouldn't have to rip it off each time.

  I looked at my available souls.

  Soul of a Lusty Goblin: 40%

  Soul of a Rodent x4

  Soul of a crow x2

  Soul of a Paradise Falcon 100%

  Just out of curiosity I tried to speak with a rodent soul.

  A large rat shaped soul appeared. It just kinda skittered around sniffing at nothing in particular.

  "Hello there." I said.

  It briefly looked up at me, then continued to run around.

  Alright, that was as pointless as I thought it would be.

  "Mors, what is a paradise falcon?"

  She showed herself and began explaining. "A paradise falcon is a rare bird said to be sentient. Their feathers are very sought after by shamans and nobles alike because of their beauty and mystical properties. It is believed that if you see one in your lifetime that you will be forever blessed with good fortune."

  "Thank you Mors." I said.

  She demurely curtsied and disappeared again.

  According to Bob's earlier chomping they must be tasty as well.

  I had a weird idea.

  "Mors, teach the paradise falcon soul english."

  I selected talk on the paradise falcon.

  A radiant bird showed in front of me. It looked me in the eyes as if waiting.

  "Hello there, I'm John."

  The bird replied in an ethereal voice. "Hello John, I'm Etreona." It tilted it's head seeming to be amused by something.

  "Etreona, what's your most recent memory?"

  "I was making my thirty year migration, when I saw a tasty mouse and swooped down to capture it. Right after I caught it, something painful hit me in the back. I can still remember the laughing, as it kept stabbing me." She shivered, ruffling her feathers.

  She really was a sentient bird! And Bob is still a little demented.

  She looked right at me again.

  "This really is strange you know. I've never been able to speak to a person before. I've tried a few times, but they only stared. I've had arrows shot at me, traps set for me and nets thrown at me, but none have ever spoken to me." Her last words trailed off a bit and she seemed a little sad. Maybe she was lonely.

  "Your feathers are a sought after item. They were probably more interested in them than you." I said with a shrug.

  "Look, I have to go soon. I still have some things to do, but we will talk again later." I said

  Etreona held out a wing as if inviting me to touch it. I held out my hand and was surprised I could almost feel the soft feathers in it.

  "It was a pleasure meeting you John, until next time."

  Etreona said happily as she faded away.

  Alright, time to try out some new stuff. I
decided I would try to fill my map a bit.

  "Mors, I want you to try to absorb the memories from the rodents and the crows and add that to my map."

  I opened my map. I now a a view of everything around my cave including a goblin village a few miles away.

  I combined the remaining rodent souls into one, then combined the crow souls into that.

  I now had

  Soul of a lusty goblin: 40%

  Soul amalgimation: ??

  Soul of a paradise falcon 100%

  I split the soul amalgimation into catagories:

  Skills

  Personality

  I checked out it's skills.

  No skills transferable.

  Now that I think about I guess most of what an animal does would be an ability. There's nothing else to transfer that I can't already do or think of doing.

  I tried to talk to it.

  A large freaky looking furry bird with a fleshy tail showed up. I tried saying hello, but it didn't even really acknowledge my existence.

  Since I couldn't burn it with fire, I converted it to mana.

  Mana 10,076/10,076

  I decided to see what the paradise falcon had.

  Skills

  Magic

  Memories

  Personality

  I chose to look at magic

  Self heal level 1

  I knew better than to take that. Fleshcrafting was already far superior, and healing magic could actually hurt me in undead mode.

  Still this means that it had mana.

  I opened my eyes. Bob and Lina were coming back dragging in something heavy while giggling at each other.

  I looked at the majestic corpse of the paradise falcon. I had a strange thought. In most early cultures it was always believed that the heart was where the soul's power. So then what if I used it's heart.

  I removed it's heart with fleshcrafting and opened my chest attaching it to my own.

  Minor mana regeneration ability added. You will now regenerate mana at a rate of 1 mana per hour.

  WooHoo! I can't exactly be a mage with this, but now I can use a few spells a day.

  I stopped fleshcrafting.

  Bob and Lina where now eating something that I could only describe as a large groundhog.

  Soul Steal.

  Soul of a rodent added

  I just converted it to mana

  Mana 10,077/10,077

  "Hey guys, get over here." I said.