Sarah shivered as she snuggled into her mountain of pillows whilst turning the page of the book before her. The reason for her shivering was due to the torture scene; one of many which her husband was noted for. For he had built his empire on the bodies and backs of those who had dared to oppose his will, and though he was kind to the children of the Pantheon, that kindness faded when they became adults with the belief that they could get away with anything.

Such a delusion had costed more than one family of Gods and Immortals their lives, especially when they tried to rise up against him. When this occurred, the Judges were called in to assess the situation and cull those who still had “hope” to change. Whilst the rest were subsequently removed, tortured, and erased from existence.

Although she had grown numb to it some time ago, reading his earlier deeds brought back her unease for some odd reason. 'Perhaps reading about a firsthand account is worse than hearing about it through the rumor mill?' she thought to herself, shivering once more before scrunching up her facial features with some confusion clouding her eyes, 'All for a bat, though? Really?' Of which resulted in a sigh as she turned back towards the book in her hands.

*****

“Captain!” howled a fancily dressed Human woman with sharp features and auburn colored hair, who barged into the office of Captain Helgana as she was directing her people on where best to patrol via a large map pinned to an equally large table,. Looking up with some annoyance at the disturbance, the captain growled something under her breath which caused those gathered, five sergeants in total, to snicker.

“What do you want, Sharon?” she growled, her attention turned back towards the map.

“That's Mistress Nuv'Haal to you,” barked an armoured Dwarf who was half the height of the woman, and only a quarter of the size of the Goliaths in the room.

“Did Sharon get a kid?” grinned Suun to the left of his boss, “If so, he's an ugly one.” This statement resulted in the other four to laugh at the small joke, and a smirk to appear and vanish quickly upon the captain's face.

Whereas the Dwarf simmered, his face glowing red beneath the bushy, fire-orange coloured beard. Who then stepped forward with as much menace as he could muster, before the woman's hand flew out in front of his enraged face to stop his advance. He then turned towards herself, and immediately bowed his head before taking up a solemn stance at the door. However, he soon flinched with anger when his ears picked up soft barking from the giants on the other side of the room, and flexed the muscles in his hands and arms to calm down somewhat.

“Well? What do you want, Sharon?” came the annoyed and tired voice of Helgana.

“I want you to send a team to find my missing Herb Gatherers,” she huffed as her arms crossed over her non-existent bosom.

“Bah,” growled another next to Suun, “More li'e uh Poppy Runner 'eam.” To which the others agreed with a nod.

“Ya, and them's wha' keeps em 'venturers happy an doped up on Heal Pots,” came the gruff voice of another to the immediate left of their captain.

“We're not sending anyone to find your pets, Sharon.”

“Yes you are,” shouted the woman, who slammed her fists onto the map then pointed an accusing finger towards the Goliath Captain, “You have a duty to protect this community-”

“-and it's residents, yes,” she agreed, but held up a single digit to forestall the woman's next words, “but only to the Goliaths and the farmers who work and live here.” After which she pointed said digit towards the Human woman, growling, “Herb gathering is well and good, but wild poppy gathering is against the laws placed upon we who live here by the Human monarchy. Are you stating that these people in your employ live within this region and actively gather said poppies?” Suun and the others grinned as they withdrew their weapons, whilst one called out from a nearby window. Of which summoned four others who peered inside, and after a quick glance, also drew their swords and barred the entryway with their steel and large bodies.

“Well, Sharon?” she asked slowly, the Dwarf becoming even more nervous from the amount of soldiers present with naked steel exposed, “Are they breaking the law?” The other growled with clenched hands as her teeth ground up against one another. After which she turned around and tried to storm past the four at the door, each glancing towards their captain for directions whilst still barring the door.

“Move,” growled the woman, her expression dangerous.

“Suun,” Helgana motioned towards the fanciful woman and her Dwarven bodyguard, “Arrest the pair.”

“What?!” Sharon whirled towards the captain, eyes wide stunned as the Goliaths converged on the pair, detaining then shackling them in irons. “You can't do this to me, Helgana! When Father hears of this, he'll-”

“-have to pay a fine while answering to the Lawmen of New Wair as to why his daughter actively broke a law,” finished the other with a bored expression as she watched the woman be dragged away, quite literally, by her shackles whilst the Dwarf cursed and sputtered in his own language.

“Think it was wise, Cap? Ta anger her pa li'e that?” wondered aloud one of her sergeants.

“Don't know, and don't care,” she shrugged, “If someone breaks the law, then they're sent to the stockade. Besides, she didn't deny the claim brought against her, which means she's at least guilty of the knowledge of what they were doing out in the woods.

“Now, you're all dismissed, so go about your patrols while I draw up a letter to the Lawmen of New Wair.” After which the group exited the building, speaking of what had just occurred whilst speculating what the price was for gathering wild poppies. She, on the other hand, massaged her temples slowly, muttering, “The headaches keep getting bigger and bigger, but at least one will disappear after we hunt down the pale bastard.”

*****

“So, just to recap, speaking a phrase or string of words is stronger than just preforming the spell without?” asked Karastak as he moved as silently as he could through the endarkened forest and towards his spot towards the west at the fringes of the collection of houses. By the internal clock set by Azazel, he knew it was almost time to watch the sun rise above the western horizon. Of which was one of the many delights which had the power to calm his mind to some degree, with another be the little white bat which was currently nestled inside his hair, asleep.

“[Yep,]” chimed in the little girl in his head as she sat on his left shoulder, “[The reason being is that it was actually the opposite in the beginning. Where , as it's called, was too strong of a passive for Mages and other casters. It caused a lot of mayhem once upon a time, so it was reduced to half its effectiveness and caused everyone to focus more on speaking a phrase or incantation.]”

“Huh... So why is it that the spell is stronger when you shout it out?”

“[You're putting more energy for each level of sound you achieve, and the cost of the spell goes up, too. However, with your Subclass of Wordsmith-]”

“My what now?” he paused in order to stare up at her with an eyebrow raised.

To which she sighed and tried to bonk his head, but stopped when she noticed the small body of Little Mother sleeping amongst his strands, “[Everyone here has a Class and Subclass, with the former denoting their primary ability in the world, and the latter granting them various advantages and disadvantages.]

“[If you were just a regular Enchanter, you'd be stuck with a stylus and had to write your magicks into items, clothing, and weapons like the others. With Wordsmith, you don't have to do that, and are free to project your magicks upon the world through the use of your knowledge of . However, you still have the standard abilities of a regular Enchanter, but instead of writing runes and letters onto everything, you have the skill so you can just write them out that way.]”

“Huh,” he drew out the word as his mind digested everything spoken, “So why can't I just shout out 'Firebolt', and conjure up the fast moving mote of flame? Why do I have to start with the phrase ?”

“[That's where your disadvantage comes into play, Karastak. In order for you to cast a spell, you're forced to use the phrase then add the word or words. Otherwise it won't work.]”

“And with ?” he wondered aloud, moving once again so he wouldn't miss the beginning of the day.

“[That one is a bit different. Although you could speak the phrase and word or words, once written down you just need to supply it with some mana and it'll go off. Though if too much is added it'll detonate in an unforeseen way.]”

“Like blowing up in my face and blinding my eyes,” he sighed as he felt her grinning in bemusement.

After appearing within the same area as the days previous, he turned to await the sun which brightened the world called Terra, but just before the first rays appeared, another thought formed within his mind. Turning towards the little girl, he asked, “What about that string of words which I spoke to summon up a stone staff?”

“[Hmm?]” she thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers, which caused Little Mother to awaken with a startled squeak, “[Sorry Little Mother,]” her fingers lightly stroked the bat's back fur slowly, calming her down somewhat, “[Anyways, that string of words allowed you the use of the phrase Creation, which will give you the ability to create weapons and items made out of whatever is around. You also had to do this for a couple of others until you gained enough INT and WIS points to figure it out without speaking or writing a bunch of sentences.]”

“Does it have a limit?” His mind whirled with many images and thoughts of what he could do with his Creation ability. Whereas the little white bat shook herself free of his hair, and took off in search of a meal. She wouldn't stray too far this time, as she was almost captured by a group who wanted to sell her just for having white fur and skin.

“[Currently, yes. You can only create tools and simple weapons like staves, spears, and swords. The tools are utensils, hammers, saws, and the like. When you become stronger, you can add designs, attributes, and the like. For now, though, you're stuck with simple ones.]” Her eyes tracked the little bat, and smirked as she witnessed her capture a rabbit almost three times her size, and gobbled it up within moments.

Karastak, on the other hand, had his attention fixated on the multiple colours within the sky high above just as the first rays of the sun breached the western horizon. So much so, his eyes sparkled and his lips parted a few centimetres in wonder at the blues, violets, oranges, and reds which chased the endarkened sky away so that the golden orb may take up its throne once more before sleeping upon the eve.

“It's so beautiful,” the pale man muttered as he always did each morning.

“[You don't have this view in your old life?]”

To which he shook his head slowly just as Little Mother alighted herself atop his head with a small, but satisfied squeak. “No. At least, not where I was before I was taken here,” his shoulders shrugged slowly, “You had to go outside the city in order to find a sight like this.”

“[Huh,]” Azazel's gaze then turned westward, and she repeated the same word along with, “[Looks like you're going to have some company soon.]”

“What?” Turning in the same direction of her eyes, he noted five large bodies wearing heavy leathers and chain hauberks jogging towards his position.

There was also one lagging behind the five, but he paid little attention to that one as the leader of the five drew out a heavy axe from behind his back, and charged forward whilst howling, “!”

After which the group moved at double the speed, causing Karastak to frown as he lifted both his hands and enacted one of his own spells, “.” A torrent of frost billowed out of the centre of both his palms, coating the ground and causing it to become very slick. Of which caused the group to slip and slide past his body where one even crashed into a nearby tree.

Whereupon the little girl in his head giggled herself off of his shoulder, and rolled around upon the ground as he turned towards the last one who moved away from the slick, ice blue ground. Of which led to him raising an eyebrow as his eyes lit up in recognition, “Brutus?”

“Majeek man,” called out the simple brute of a Goliath, who then frowned when he peered around Karastak and looked at the fallen five who were trying to disentangle themselves from one another, “Why brudher fall?” He moved over to the group, and helped a brown and blonde haired Goliath to his feet.

It was the same one who held the axe and caused the group to double their speed, and once he was back on his feet, his enraged voice filled the air as he leapt at the pale man with fire in his eyes. “This is for Jeffery and Donovan!” he howled as he swung, but the pale man leapt back, and noted a thin red line where the blade had scraped across his chest.

“Well now,” Karastak growled, his eyes changing from black pinpricks in a sea of white to bright and deadly crimson orbs, “that was just rude,” and pointed whilst barking, “!” A mote of flame darted out from his fingertip, moving far too fast than the enraged Suun could spy. Of whom tried to move his body, but found that he was a little too late as the mote scraped across his left shoulder and exploded to life.

A bright orange-red flame erupted all over his body, threatening to consume his very being, and he ran around screaming for a few moments before falling to the ground, rolling about in order to douse his body with the earth and dew coated foliage below. After the flames were put out, he lay there, smoking with a bright red skin and blackened armour.

“Brudher!” shouted Brutus with a great fear and anger tinged in his voice.

“Lieutenant!” called out the other four.

“Get him!” commanded one of the four, and, as one, surged forward in order to either detain or slaughter the pale giant who dared to harm their boss.

Karastak, on the other hand, leapt backwards and behind one of the many trees. Whereupon he held up his right hand and shouted, “!” An orb the size of his head quickly formed a few centimetres from his palm, and launched itself forward towards the rushing party. Of whom each grinned at the weak spell, and moved to either side of its trajectory so that it may pass by them safely. However, what they didn't realise, until too late, was that he could cause the water to explode, and did so when he believed it to be within the centre of the four. Unfortunately, only the back pair were completely doused, with only the pair in front to suffer with only their backs becoming wet.

“Gah!” called out the pair in the back, causing the front pair to turn their heads with some confusion, which turned out to be a costly mistake.

“,” he grinned with his enlarged fangs, appearing around the tree with both hands outstretched, “!” A great torrent of ice and frost erupted from his palms, attaching themselves to the bodies of the four. Of which caused them to become frozen, though only two of the four were completely encased in ice, the remaining two had just enough on them to topple them to the ground whilst their teeth chattered.

“YOU HURT BRUDHER!” howled Brutus as his meaty fist collided with the pale man's side, flinging him a few metres against a large tree. Of which cracked and groaned from the sudden appearance of a bloodied body that had a branch sticking out of its abdomen.

“Urgh,” he groaned, touching the branch whilst a small stream of blood flowed down the left corner of his mouth just as another stream poured out of the wound. “,” he managed to gasp out, “.”

Soft squeaking was heard atop his head, and a concerned Little Mother peered down at the bloodied branch with widened eyes. Of which seemed to grow larger as her master growled whilst pushing himself off of the tree whilst the wood entered through the abdomen and out his back, just missing the spine by a few millimetres. “Ugh,” he groaned, falling to his hands and knees, his wounds closing quickly.

Glancing up, he noted an enraged Brutus was advancing with his supposed brother's axe, and grimaced. “,” he whispered as the axe was raised above the simple brute's head, “,” the letters appeared upon his flesh, and burned with a bright white light, startling the man enough to have the axe slide to the ground as he stared with wonder. However, he soon howled with pain as the pale giant howled, “!” Once spoken, Karastak closed his eyes, keeping them shut tight as he mentally commanded his minion to do the same just as the world flared with a bright light, blinding Brutus and causing the residents of the forest to shriek from the suddenness of the light.

Standing up as slowly and as carefully as he could, he stumbled forward, moving out of the way of a thrashing Brutus who had fallen to his back and was flailing three of his limbs whilst one of the meaty hands covered his face. He then moved over to an undamaged tree, which was nearby the frozen quartet. Each then stared with widened eyes as he opened an elongated jaw and bit down into the bark of the tree. Whereupon he gulped down the sweet energy-like sap until nothing was left, reducing the tree to ash and dust.

Afterwards he stood tall, and with a steady hand, retrieved a shaking and terrified Little Mother. Of whom squeaked pitifully after the battle, and snuggled up to his left cheek after he brought her small body to it to give her a small kiss on the head. “Sorry Little Mother,” his voice cooed softly, “I didn't know these idiots were going to appear, let alone attack me.”

“Y-y-y-you baaassst-t-t-t-ard,” chattered one of the half frozen brutes, “Y-y-y-yoooou woooon't-t-t ge-ge-get aw-w-way wiiith thi-ssss.”

“Yes I will,” Karastak gave them a lidded gaze, “Because you'll never find me. .” His body bent down as lines of dark, vermilion energy wrapped themselves around his legs and feet. After which he bent downwards to take up a runner's pose, and dashed off into the forest with an impossible speed.

Thus leaving the group of guards alone to thaw and heal up, desiring not to speak of what just happened, especially to their captain who desired the pale bastard's head on a spike. That is, until Suun let loose of what had occurred during a meeting with a Wolfman Tracker later that day.

*****

Karastak

{Race: Goliath (Vampire; Energy)}

{Age: 25 (>1 month)} {Soul Age: ∞ Potential}

{Level: 12} {STR: 22; DEX: 20; CON: 22; INT:35; WIS: 35; CHA: 30}

{Health: 144/144} {Mana: 160/160}

{Class: Enchanter} {Subclass: Wordsmith}

{Skills: ; ; ; ; ; ; }

{Passive Skills: ; ; }

{Titles: Immovable Object; One Who Seeks Knowledge; Vampire Lord; Soul Bound}

{Titles Equipped: Vampire Lord}