Born a Monster

Violet complained.

I asked the children, again.

And no, they are nowhere near as cold as the Twelve Daggers.

Pink had grown a layer of fur, Blue had some kind of mucus thing going on, and Violet was doing something to make herself [Feverish], but all of them radiated the same cold that I myself was feeling, if to a lesser degree.

In any event, there are very few ogres left in the Ogre’s Teeth, or there were when I passed through them. I also saw only traces of the Aries Ram, a large beast that was used as a sheep by both the ogres and the cyclopses.

Crap.

I took cover behind a boulder. Not that I’d seen anything; I’d come over the crest between two peaks, and seen what had once been a woodland.

The remaining trees were in thickets; most were shattered or on the ground. From their coloration and decay, it had been several months.

.....

Toward one side of this, there were three blackened areas, each with a pile of white near it.

Ogre bones.

Pink asked.

I said, sending them images of the shattered foliage and piles of bones.

So I set a fifteen minute timer, and sat down to watch. Seeing nothing more formidable than mountain rabbits and a family of rams, I descended into the valley.

Blue asked.

It was a nutritional resource needed for bones, shells, and hair. I scrolled my reticule over the pile of bones, and pulled the children out to feast on the best of them.

My own growth under Eihtfuhr had been greater, in large part because he ensured I hit my breakthrough early.

Well, that and I had the Insight that the children seemed universally to lack. Mind you, none of them would be running from a small hawk or fear the bombardment of squirrels. But only Violet showed any leanings toward hunting her own food.

The others had their own advantages, specifically they seemed more communicative. But every day, as I scrolled my reticule over them, every day they lacked that spark that meant they were truly thinking.

Oh, I fed myself as well. My skin was peeling, and the cold swept through the new, soft skin as though it wasn’t even there. Skin and scales both needed Ossuary, and I filled my stomachs.

complained Pink.

I agreed. Picky, picky eaters. How to explain to them the hunger of winter? Well, that could wait a few months. For now, they were slightly mindful eating machines, especially Blue.

Remember that he had once been Glutton? He was the first to discover System stomachs, and within a day all of them were trying to keep those full as well. It had prompted me to look into my own Omnivore method, and the abilities it unlocked.

So it was that I was looking inward, while the rams closed on us.

the eldest among them proclaimed.

I said.

Tribute turned out to be three hours of foraging, providing them with flowers and berries. During this time, my skin split even further, and scratching accidentally pulled the first patch of skin free. Again, I lamented that I couldn’t unlock the simple ability to pass on to my siblings all the abilities that I had acquired through my years of eating various animals.

The second valley was scarier, a woodlands with a scruffy ziggurat, one of those pyramids made of steps. Seeing even from the top of the ridge that there were cyclopses and ogres there, I gave it a wide berth, descending into the forest (which had signs of cougars, wolves, and large rodents) with haste.

Pink asked.

I said.

I found a small pool, and began setting up camp near it.

With a whiff of ozone (I know to call it ozone now), she was there. A luminous being of yellow light with blue micro-lightning fuzzing over her.

“Woe unto you, mortals, for this pool you have partaken of is mine. For I am Harkira, the Storm. I claim one of your children for my own. This is my cost for your affront, to partake of what is not yours without asking.”

“Partake?” I asked. “None of us...”

There was an unmistakable gulp from behind me. I turned, to see not one, but all three of the children, indulging from the lake. They looked at me, but none of them stopped gulping down water.

“Come now,” I said, “Is there not some other arrangement we can come to? I offer service.”

The crack of lightning came from above the trees. “No. Water is life, I require life in exchange.”

[You have 66/80 health remaining.]

I sighed. “Let us be reasonable.” I said.

With a gesture of a limb downward, she called lightning from the sky. Thin, yes. Weak, yes. But still lightning. Not upon me, but on the lake. I watched as the health meters for all my siblings flipped from green to red to black.

[You have taken 12 points of emotional damage; after abilities, you have received nine damage. 21/30 Serenity... 12/30 Serenity... 3/30 Serenity remain. Serious injury – Familial Despair... Serious injury – Family Avenger suffered.]

I didn’t even notice that none of their meters vanished, the timer icons to the side of their meters. With a mindless scream, I jumped upon her, lashing out with the Jaws of Wrath.

Her scream split the heavens, her lightning strikes savaging trees, leaving the ground around me black and savaged. Damage messages popped up, and I dismissed them.

Effortlessly, she stepped into the spirit realm. “Fool!” she proclaimed. From here, I can strike at you, and you cannot strike me.”

I struck at her, and her scream rattled reality. There was something about an emotional incident, and I slapped Stalwart Spirit on it without reading it.

Before I could strike at her again, a thing of thought and fury had me by my neck, pulled me away from her.

she shrieked, holding the left side of her face. I... had not been kind to her.

Rayne asked.

I replied.

My words dissolved into gibberish as he shook me idly, the way a child might shake their doll, or a dog its favorite toy.

he soothed.

Rayne cleared his mind-throat.

She shot me a glare that I could feel across the veil between worlds.

Incidentally, never damage a spirit’s face and think that things are over.

Unable to bind Healing mana together, I decided on the other path to progress. I removed Stalwart Spirit, and let myself into emotional overload. I coddled their smoking forms, trying to bind their wounds with nothing more than my tears. I tried feeding them my own blood to replace theirs. I tried desperate and stupid and unwise things, all of them failures.

Somehow, when the morning came, there were still one, two, three siblings. Stabilized, but none of them conscious.

I broke my fast on shattered tree limbs, and was gone shortly after dawn. Garlic. Ginseng. Ginkobaloba. Salt. Boiled in a pot of water...

“Oho! That looks like it might be the woodsman’s healing potion, or my name isn’t Thorngrim Grapeberry.” came a squeaky voice.

At first, I thought it was the bobcat which had spoken to me, but then I saw him, perched on a saddle on the head of the animal. A short gnome, yellow conical hat bedecked with the symbols of...

[Heraldry Unknown.] my System provided.

Yeah, thanks, System. Just about as helpful as I expected it to be.

“It is indeed.” I said. “Are you in need of a dose? I am enchanting six, and need only three of them in the immediate now.”

“Oh, most obliged.” Thorngrim said, “Though on behalf of Hermance here, rather than myself.”

I asked.

In response, Hermance advanced, licked my face hard enough to peel back a patch of scales. He looked startled for a moment, but then tackled me, holding me helpless as he pulled off every square inch of exposed skin.

It endangered, but did not ruin the brewing,

After asking telepathically if anyone was using it as a home. I may not be living a fairy tale, but I listen and learn where I can.