Chapter 14: Meeting…

(Phil’s POV)

I continued to eat and devour the plethora of Orc and High Orc corpses around me. As I chewed through the carnage I finally arrived at the leftovers of the High Orc King. The High Orc Kings body was still intact, so I went to town and ate what little was left of him after ripping him apart during the battle.

As I finished eating the High Orc King I felt the empty pit in my stomach fade away. Since the pain had subsided I sat down and started to look around while rubbing my bulging stomach. I noticed that the wolves continued to eat and did not look as though they would let up in eating at this all you can eat Orc buffet anytime soon.

I thought I was probably about time to talk Amir after getting my fill, so I stood up and walked towards him. I soon noticed that Amir had a look of intrigue upon his ghostly pale mug.

“What with the look Amir?” I asked

“You really can eat a lot… Feeling better now?” Amir said as he stroked his chin.

“Yup, don’t know why but my appetite has only grown since I got here” I answered.

“I would likely bet it has something to do with your Class, but I cannot be certain. I would like to study you once we have the time your abilities are very interesting, to say the least. Especially the fact that you can eat the magic tainted monsters without any negative effects.” Amir continued

“All of that will have to wait though, we need to get back to the King. We also need to stop at Keenheim to gather those that were with you on this little excursion. Are you ready to leave now?”

“Not yet, unfortunately, I would like to gather the Orc horns or whatever they're called, then go see my companion before I set off and I would preferably like to go see my companion alone,” I stated, trying to get my point across without sounding like too much of an ass.

“If that’s what you need to do so be it, but we need to move out sooner than later,” Amir stated as he walked away.

I watched Amir walk away from me over to a tree he had been sitting down at earlier waiting for me to wake up. As he sat down I turned around to the carnage behind me, as I looked upon the sight I was slightly awestruck.

I thought to myself that it was a gruesome sight to see, but it was necessary for my survival. I was in a world where everything struggles to survive, I would need to adapt to it or die a painful death. I needed to come to terms with what I needed to do to survive, I wouldn’t let the animals or people I killed go to waste. Everything has a purpose even in death…

As these thoughts ran throughout my head I moved forward to the Orc corpses and began my work harvesting the Orc horns. This continued for about an hour after I had gotten into a rhythm I moved quickly cutting the horns off each Orc. As I moved through the clearing full of corpses my vision would alternate from my task to the wolves that continued to eat.

By the time I had gotten to the last corpse I notice that almost half the corpses had been stripped clean by the wolves. They ate ravenously, I guessed this fact was similar to my world where wolves didn’t know when they would get their next meal.

Since the wolves were finished I thought that it would be wasteful to just leave all these corpses, so I figured that I should make use of them somehow. A devious smile crossed my face as an idea crept into my mind.

“Amir, I have a couple of questions for you,” I shouted across the clearing.

A flash of light and a moment later Amir was standing in front me and replied “Ask away Phil”

“First how many objects can you teleport at a time? Second, did you and the king manage to get the piece of land I requested for my experiment?”

I was met with a long pause and a bewildered look from Amir, but he finally sighed and let out his response. “hmm, in response to your first question, I can teleport about 50 to 60 people depending on the distance if its shorter distances I can do up to 100. In response to your second question, we have acquired the land, but we haven’t been able to do anything else beyond just purchasing it.”

“Perfect, one last question how many trips could, you make from our current position to the site I requested within a day?” I asked as my smile continued to grow.

“…. I would say about 50 times back and forth, but it would be extremely taxing for me to do so. Why are you so curious about my ability?” Amir asked

“Let’s just say I’ll be starting my experiment sooner than later.” I said with a huge grin as I continued, “Don’t worry about that for now as I said earlier as soon as I finish up here will go back to the capital. I’ll need your assistance after we’ve met up with King Conrad if you don’t mind.”

“Thank you for sticking to your word, being quick is within the utmost importance. If I can help you once we’ve talked with the King I would be more than happy to, as long as you’re willing to help me out as well.” Amir replied with a devious smile.

“Good sounds like we have an arrangement, ill head off to meet my companion now, please don’t follow me. I’ll be back in four hours max.” I replied somewhat curious about what Amir had planned for me

Amir’s eyebrows raised but he merely nodded and went back to his spot by the tree he had been sitting at earlier.

I noticed that I had forgotten my clothes and other belongs on top of the mountain, so I shifted my form.

As soon as I started shifting I now noticed the process hurt significantly more my bones started to snap and my body grew vastly larger. I tried to hold in my scream as the pain washed over me but failed.

“AHHHHHHH”

I fell onto my knees as my body, fangs, claws continued to grow. As I finished shifting I looked at my new form, my body was the same size as it was during the battle with the Orcs. My fur was now completely black. My claws and fangs were significantly bigger than my original shifted form as well. Overall, I was about 10 ½ feet tall, with 3-foot claws, and 8-inch fangs.

As I finished shifting I pushed myself off the ground and started to run up the mountain. I made it up into the summit of the small mountain in less than 5 mins. I grabbed my belongings and headed back down the hill, as I came to the clearing I dropped them off close to Amir and howled as I headed off to the east in search of Olden.

The wolves followed me as soon as I had left the clearing and we ran through the forest as a pack. We rushed through the trees and moved forward pressing onwards towards Oldens lake.

After about 1 hour 45 min I was close enough to the lake that I could smell the water. I continued running through the trees with the pack close behind. I dodged left and right avoiding the trees that were now in abundance.

As I passed the last tree into Olden's clearing I saw the same sight I had when I had first come into this clearing in the Forbidden Forest, a serene lake in a fairly large clearing. I continued forward until I was near Olden’s lake then let myself shift back into my human form.

I let out a tired sigh, then spoke towards the water. “Hey Olden, you still here?”

The water began to vibrate and churn as something moved beneath it. A familiar voice echoed within my skull, “Hello my young friend, I did not expect to see you so soon.”

“Me either, I just wanted to come and tell you that I was leaving this area and didn’t know when I would be back,” I replied within my mind.

“Thank you for informing me, I have a question for you myself so it’s good you came back.” Olden's voice echoed in my skull

“No worries, go ahead, what’s your questions?” I think across the mental link

“Hmm, what happened yesterday? The entire forest went silent, the gods seemed to be in an uproar, strange colors were floating across the sky, and a strange noise emanated from the west….” Olden asked through the mental link.

“haha, well a lot happened as you already know. The forest was probably silent because I fought an Orc horde to the west of here. As for the gods, who knows why they were in an uproar, maybe it was because of the tavern wench. The strange colors in sky I have no idea, I’m guessing it was some type of Arora, but I have no idea why it was in the sky, I did not have too much time to look up yesterday during the battle… The noise I have an idea of why it was floating about but no concrete proof to prove my theory.” I replied through the mental link

“Interesting, but who’s the tavern wench? I'd also be interested to hear your theory on the music.” Olden answered back

“Illengard is the tavern wench. OH, I forgot to tell you, the tavern wench descended into Keenheim when I was meeting with the King of the Animal-kin Kingdom. She tried to kill me but was stopped by Death, Death didn’t seem to like that she was trying to destroy my soul and I’m guessing he punished her for trying to take my soul since it doesn’t belong to this world. It was pretty nice to see the wench get punished like the newborn babe she is. Death also gave me a quest or task of sorts to accomplish after that incident. My theory about the music is it’s happened because of death, I don’t know why but I’d be willing to bet it has something to do with him. If I had to guess I’d say it might be the underworld or hell the place where he keeps all the souls he has collected but that’s just a guess…” I spewed out over the mental link

“….”

A long silence is what I was met with, then a cacophony of laughter from two individuals.

“HAHAHAHHA”

“HAHAHA”

“Good job Phillip, you’ve made this conversation all the more interesting to listen to. I had been wondering why Illengard has been not showing herself even after last night’s incident but to think she was injured and had descended is very useful information.” Advinia voice echoed with enthusiasm across the mental link.

“Wow Phillip, to think you’d call a god a tavern wench is too much. On top of that, you managed to indirectly hurt a god! You’ve come a long way from when we first met. Your theory is interesting but I’m more interested in the quest you were given please explain…” Olden said through the mental link

“Happy to hear Advinia, keep the pressure on the tavern wench! It’s not that impressive Olden, I didn’t do anything, to be honest. I was merely talking with the King about how I got here excluding my encounter with you and she descended saying I’d gone too far or something like that and attacked me. Death intervened and saved me injuring her in the process, I think he stole something from her’s in the process, she seemed pretty pissed about it… My theory is just a theory so who knows if its right.” I continued rambling

“My quest was to make the gods understand what they did and why they need to fear Death, so I’m going to kill Illengard and destroy her kingdom, I’ll probably have it be absorbed by the surrounding kingdoms if all goes to plan. Death also wants me to find Necrosis and make him understand whose domain he is meddling.” I replied through the mental link with a grin on my face as I looked into Oldens lake.

“AHAHAHA, this keeps getting better. I can’t believe you’re going after Illengard Phillip, she’s a pompous god but she has more control over the world than the rest of the gods because of how many humans that worship her. Hopefully, you can change that, I wish you the best of luck just be careful because she is crafty! That’s how she’s maintained herself this long so don’t take her lightly.” Advinia buzzed with enthusiasm over the mental link

“That’s a difficult quest young friend I would ask you to rethink it, but I doubt you would… In any case, if someone could kill a god I guess it would be you, one who’s not affiliated with any of them.” Olden responded through the mental link with a heavy tone.

As Olden finished talking a flash of light snapped my attention to behind me. I Immediately thought that Amir had followed me!

I was met with a Male figure shrouded in darkness who I had already met once before Death. Death was accompanied by a woman radiating green light the both stood directly behind me several paces away. Death walked forward first and stood right in front of me, his steps left the vegetation underneath his feet completely black and devoid of any life. The woman followed suit, but I was surprised to see that the vegetation in entire clearing started growing even completely reviving the dead vegetation where Death had walked.

The wolves walked forward and bathed in the glowing light letting out excited howls as the laid on the ground around the woman. She bent down and scratched one of the wolf’s stomachs and it caused the color of the fur to change from dark grey to green. The wolf wiggled on its back in utter excitement and pleasure.

She stopped scratching the wolf's stomach and looked up and me, then at death, and back at me.

“Gregory what did you do to my child!” were the first words out of her mouth.