AN: 2200 words, and it's my longest yet. From here on out, I plan to have each chapter above 1500 word. Will it work? Who knows! As always, folks, be sure to comment whether or not you liked it, and voice any questions you might have to what's going on thus far.

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"Time for bed," the kitsune exclaimed, clapping his forepaws together. Many, if not all, who were in attendance blinked, and a few of them yawned sleepily. "The children must sleep, for the night has neared its zenith. Come, I will help put them to bed." The golden kitsune stood up whilst carrying the sleeping blue kitsune and blonde haired elf. A few children moved about, trying to follow him, but ultimately had to be carried.

He paused for a moment, then turned to the others, said, "You may stay. My story is not over quite yet, just not for the ears of the younglings." The kitsune exited the room, and moved towards a much larger building that housed most of the families in attendance.

"What aren't you telling us?" Kara came up behind him, her arms carrying three children of the lizardmen, and entered the same building as he.

"There are some things in this world that would take the purity of children away, Kara. Words are, but one of these ways, and my words could very well do so."

"What do-" She became silent as he laid the blue kitsune and elven child to bed.

"In a moment, Kara. Let us help the others to bed, and see about the elders if they desire sleep, or can endure a few more hours of stories." The elders he had spoken of, who showed their age well, as only their hair was white, and only desired to stay and listen to the Ageless's story.

To those who were left, he stood in front of the stone chair, beckoning them forward so that he need not repeat himself further. "To you who are in attendance, and to those who believe me good and righteous. I say unto you, you are wrong. Being an Ageless has indeed made me good and righteous, but I was not always thusly. No, if I were to speak more truthfully, my alignment would be towards those who are of the Neutral-Evil sort."

The eyes of the kitsune grew colder, causing many to look upon him with surprise. "To those who may believe I speak of falsehoods, know that you are wrong. My life has been filled with darkness, and I have reveled in it with joy." His eyes grew darker still as he recalled what he did, then shook his head to clear the visions that haunt him still. "I will not apologise for my actions. Looking back, if I had a choice, I would have done so all over again. Perhaps, even more so."

*****

Within an hour of leaving the cathedral, we had entered a large forest, and spied what looked like an annoyance that would have ended my existence right then and there. There was a sea of people wearing naught, but white robes or white and gold armour. I would later come to find that they are the land's holy men and women, who try to "cleanse" the world of the Undead such as myself at the time. Yes, I would run into them on occasion, but this was not one of those cases.

No, I fled with Zabartik deeper into the forest, where we sat resting upon dead trees and rotten brush. The forest near the cathedral was, for the most part, a dead place. It was said that only the unliving thrived in such an environment, and we were no exception. Though I had a pair of pseudo-lungs, my heart was did not beat even once since the illusion was cast. It seems that, unless I willed it, it would not mimick the heartbeat of a living human. Truly, it was an oversight I would correct on other occasions, but for now, I left it be.

While we, or rather I, rested, I began to tinker with Zabartik's ruined gauntlet. It was cracked, smashed, and fell apart so much so, it would be best to melt it in a forge somewhere for scrap. No, instead, I used it along with other pieces from the strange armour we found lying in one of the rooms of the cathedral. The piece in question seemed to be armour for a foreleg of the beast in question, and helped with the process of combining the two together. However, this wasn't all that I did to it. No, I began to stretch and mold the pieces with my magicks until it resembled a combination between a katar and a shortened lance. I wasn't done with it, however, and after exhausting and recovering my magick, I once again set about the shaping what was in my mind.

In short, it still resembled a combination between a shortened lance and katar, but it now how three blades that was able to extend outward and snap back into its former position. Truth be told, it reminded me of a parrying dagger that became a trident-swordbreaker, and that was what I was going for. It would be effective against swords and spears, but greatswords and axes would still be a problem. Hopefully the need for those sorts of countermeasures would not arise soon.

Once done, I leaned back against a large, dead tree to recover the rest of my depleted energy. It was exhausting, and my work was only sub-par. Maybe I should pick up skills from a blacksmith at a later day. When I was sure I regained enough energy, I tried attaching the new weapon to Zabartik, but to my surprise, it kept falling off. This frustrated me until an idea flitted through my skull. ">," I intoned at it, and it fell into a pile of discarded armour. This allowed me to place the weapon onto the pile, and, willing it to attach to it, I said, ">."

More silver magick flowed out of my body, wrapping more securely around the armour. It rapidly pieced together what was Zabartik, but created something else. It seemed my magicks removed the armour pieces from within the backpack, and combined them with the armour that made up Zabartik. I sighed heavily, as I collapsed onto the ground. It seemed to me I had created a hollowed centaur, and I was not at all amused.

Ah well. What's done is done, and it at least had the weapon attached to its left arm, while it carried the large tower shield on its right. If worse came to worse, half of its horse-like body could detach itself. Although, that would leave a gaping hole in its back. "So much trouble," I muttered as an imaginary headache formed in the center of my skull. Closing my pseudo-eyes, I calmed myself and tried to sleep, but sleep never comes to the unliving. Thus, I simply rested while my energy recovered slowly.

I rested for what seemed like an age, but it was a short lived age, because a scream penetrated the still air. This caused me to growl angrily at being disturbed, and I wondered whose it was, and where they were at. Unfortunately for me, it seems, the owner ran straight into me as I stood up. The creature fell onto its back, as I grunted from the impact. It felt as though the creature's speed would have scattered my bones, if it weren't for the fact that I had strengthened them several times over.

Looking down, I could see it had human features, but was something else entirely. The only similarities it had to a human, was its body shape, and golden blonde hair. Everything else seemed to scream "MONSTER". Its skin was an alabaster white, and blood red eyes. I could see a few chipped claws it probably called fingers, and there seemed to be a twitching tail behind it. The tail itself seemed to be serpent in origin, and it ended in what looked like a heart shaped spike at the end.

This creature was a female child of some sort of monster race, if its frilly black and white dress gave any indication. It was also smaller than normal, and still had some innocence left in its eyes. However, I could tell it had seen some horrors of the world, because there was a slight chill coming from those eyes. "Ow," it muttered, rubbing its, her, head slowly with a less damaged hand. It was then that she realised someone in a faded robe was standing in front of her, causing her to be frightened as she slowly looked up.

She wasn't as afraid as she was when she ran into me. Quite the contrary, I was an unknown element, and appeared to be human as well. These facts caused her to tremble, as her eyes began to spill its fluids, and she clung to the hem of my robe. "Save me," she cried up at me, willing me to save her, "They're after me!" She pointed towards the thicket of dead trees, and my enhanced vision could pick up a few warm bodies coming towards us.

"Who might you be, that would ask me to save you?" My question was cold, yes, but it was necessary because I was in an unknown territory with unknown dangers heading my way. I did not wish to be in any danger, unless the reward outweighed the risk.

She opened her mouth, when someone shouted, "Princess!" A male of the same race as she appeared in a strange silvered armour with an even stranger metallic whip in his hand. However, the difference between her and him was not the genders, nor its outfit. No, it was the fact that he lacked a tail. "You must come with me. They are almost..." It was then that he noticed myself and Zabartik, and became frantic. "That's a human, Princess. Step away from it quickly. Its kind is almost upon us." He suddenly screamed, as an arrow shot through his right arm, causing him to collapse.

"Found you at last," came a cruel sneer of a rugged and dirty human. This human, along with about a dozen others, surrounded us with drawn swords and a few bows that targeted my body. I was not afraid of them, but I was curious. These humans that surrounded us all wore the same tattered, brown leather jerkins and trousers. They each had a variety of boots in various states of repair, and only a few had on what looked to be a metal cap upon their heads. The one who sneered at us had so much dirt and grime clinging to its face, all I could definitively see were its iron-blue eyes.

"Please," she muttered, clinging to the back of my robe.

"Will there be a reward?"

"What?"

"Will there be a reward for helping you?" I asked as my head turned 180 degrees around to stare at her. Her eyes grew wide, and I could see liquid flowing down her leg as she gave the smallest of nods.

My head righted its position, and I sighed saying, "Looks like my illusion is just about done." I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck, as cracks began to appear all over the skin of my human form. ">," I intoned, and the illusion shattered. Where once was an old, wiry human, was my skeleton form in all its glory. However, much to my amazement, the old robe had stretched itself to accommodate my new size.

This caused me to chuckle, just as there were screams of, "Monster" and "Hell Beast" among the humans. An arrow loosed from somewhere bounced off my skull, and only caused me to sigh at such stupidity. Zabartik, who was standing still, suddenly reared into life and charged at the direction the arrow came from. Screams of the dying could be heard in its direction, and it charged back covered in blood and gore from its victim. Several more arrows flew, but not towards myself. No, they flew at the hollowed centaur, who then reared and charged in the direction those arrows had come from.

It was at this time I noticed several swordsmen were creeping up behind me, and, extending two of my arms, I roared, ">!" My hands mimicked someone choking another as the spell was cast, giving me the appearance of a cloaked figure from a movie I once saw. Two individuals could be seen clawing at non-existent hands that began to choke the life out of them. Their suffering ended, however, when I balled my clawed hands into fists, and heard a snap coming from their necks.

I kept myself rooted into the ground, as I continued to intone the same spell over and over, while Zabartik continued to chase and impale the stragglers. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the carnage I and my hollowed armour had caused, and gleefully searched for more living bodies to snuff out of existence. Unfortunately, there was only the bleeding male, and the thoroughly terrified princess of an unknown nation.

This caused me to sigh unhappily, and, placing my clawed hands upon the portion of the robe that covered my breastbone, I intone the spell, ">." Once I became a human, and Zabartik rejoined us, covered in blood and a few pieces of gore, I squatted down in front of the princess who pissed herself scared. "Now then," my hauntingly deep voice seemed to snap her awake, and she stared in fear at my visage, "Who are you, and where do I take you to collect my reward?"