The leaves upon bushes rustled, twigs and sticks below snapped, as a pair of girls ran in ragged clothing through a thicket of pine trees. Behind them, back in the darkness, shouts were heard as many others searched for the girls with raging sneers stretched upon their faces. Torchlight soon erupted into being, as these others continued their search, whilst the pair continued to flee.

“Hurry Puella,” whispered the leading girl, as her hand clasped the other, much smaller hand tightly within her own.

“I'm trying, Lupa,” softly cried the other, as they continued to hurry onward.

“We have to keep moving before they catch up!”

“I know!”

The pair were dirty, their hair matted, as tears flowed down to run a few trails down towards the ground, and still they moved. Though occasionally tripping over fallen logs and exposed roots, they made sure to keep as quiet as they could. That is, until the pair fell down a short slope, splashing into the cold water of an invisible creek. Whereupon they cried out in both surprise and shock, slapping their mouths as they did so.

Each waited, stretching their senses outwards with the belief that they had been heard, but there weren't any shouts of surprise, nor excitement coming from behind. Instead, they quivered in the water, more so when the echoing howls of the Blood Hounds flittered through the area. To which the girls' hairs stood straight up, and Puella cried harder.

“It's okay, Puella,” Lupa tried her best to console the terrified girl with a wet hug as they exited the water, despite being equally as such, “We have to keep going, okay?”

The smaller girl nodded, sniffing as small trails of snot ran away from her nose, “Okay,” she released a small voice as her hand was clasped, moving with her friend back into the trees.

Crying as quiet as they could, the pair moved forward, sometimes running, other times limping as they fell over more logs or tripped over more exposed roots. Until, at last, they came upon an open road which stretched in an unseen direction to their left and right. “Come on,” smiled Lupa down upon her friend, who also tried to smile despite the pain and cold wetness their bodies shivered from.

However, just as they were about to fully cross the road, the pair's hair stood on end as their ears twitched. Turning to their left, they could see a small, white light bobbing in time to someone's walk as they heard an annoyed voice which was light and inviting speak, “... and another thing, Command, if you so much as touch anything that is mine again, without explicit instructions to do so, I will not speak to you for a month. Do you understand?”

The voice of this unknown person paused for a time, then continued just as a soft squeak of a tiny something reached out to them, “Oh, I know it's your job to 'help me', Command, but you're still an asshole... Why? Because you sent me through a torture session when I decided to become a... What? ...Oh, I know they're their. You were generous with your gifts, remember? But don't change the subject, Command. You fucked up, you know you fucked up, and now you're trying to...”

The voice continued to come closer, and stopped right nearby the girls who had ducked under a berry bush that was missing its outer layer of red berries. Both would have enjoyed the snack after such a find, but they were too afraid of this unknown factor who had stopped in the middle of the road, almost directly in their path. All they could see, when they chose to do so, was a pair of boots that was mostly hidden by a faded blue something which fluttered around them. To the left of them, was part of a thick stick that reminded the pair too much of a cane which was used to beat them back in their “village”.

“Command,” the voice was now too close, and the pair of girls tensed up, their hands over their small mouths so that they could keep this unknown from hearing their hyperventilating breaths, “you've back-talked to me yet again, and that earned you another hour of silence from me... I don't care, now go away!”

After which the unknown source of light vanished, leaving the girls in darkness once more. There was nothing in front of them, nothing which denoted a presence anyway, and the unknown squeaking wasn't there. Therefore, the children waited for a few more heartbeats, believing they had to still be there. Upon poking their heads out from under the bushes, and finding nothing, the girls sighed with relief as they removed themselves from their hiding place.

However, the sound of a ragged dress tearing behind the younger Puella caused their little hearts to beat wildly. For the noise was too loud in their ears, but nothing happened. Therefore, they sighed with some relief, turned back towards the road, and ran right into the being who was talking to himself.

The world around them erupted into light, causing the girls to jump as they slowly turned their gaze up towards a confused Elf in a faded blue robe. One that appeared to be a young man of their race, but with a calloused hand which gripped firmly upon a staff with a crystalline spike gleaming wickedly on top. However, the eyes of this one did not appear to be full of hatred, as he stared upon them. Instead, it was something which they had not seen since their birth, and felt their hearts beat wildly with hope.

That feeling, by the by, was warmth, and the pair openly sobbed as they rushed to his legs, hugging them as he stared with a perplexed emotion.

To which he did nothing else, but pet their heads one at a time, whilst his mind seethed with hatred, with rage, at an unknown enemy who dared to cause these children pain. If they were to glance up upon his features at this time, they would have no doubt ran screaming back into the darkness.

For his visage cracked with red lines spreading away from his eyes, each painting the world before him in blood red.

*****

Karastak

{Race: Foxman (Demon Lord)}

{Age: 25}

{Level: 1} {STR: 30; DEX: 30; CON: 37; INT:34; WIS: 40; CHA: 60}

{Health: 174/174} {Mana: 220/220}

{Class: Illusionist} {Subclass: N/A}

{Skills: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; }

{Passive Skills: ; ; ; }

{Titles: Soul Bound; Tamer of the Unknown; Indomitable Will}

{Titles Equipped: Indomitable Will}

Karastak sighed as he stared at the hovering placard in front of his eyes, frowning yet grinning at the same time as he stared at it. Behind the placard was a small fire which was warming the pair of children as they huddled together against one another for warm. He had given them one of his extra robes to use as a blanket, and had begun to undress in front of himself, but flinched when he demanded to know what they were doing.

It was here that he had to control his rage, as Lupa, a white wolf eared girl explained that it was to “service him”. Horrified by the thought, he told them, in a barely controlled rage, to use the robe as a blanket. “You're both cold, your clothes are soaked and in shreds, so use this to cover yourselves while I prepare you something to eat.”

They both widened their eyes at this whilst Puella, a dark haired and pale skinned girl, broke down into tears. She even flinched when he approached them, but held up his hands to show he would do nothing of the sort. Instead, he reached into a small pouch at his hip, and pulled out two dried fish for them to snack on. Whereupon they each widened their eyes, looked at one another, and quickly snatched the offering out of his hands.

Once again, he frowned at their persons, watching the frightened children eat. After which, a pair of wooden mugs were pulled out along with a pitcher full of an herbal tea. This was then offered to them, and he warned them to sip it slowly, as it was still quite hot.

Of course, they didn't heed his warning, and dropped the mugs onto the ground as the tea scalded their tongues. Believing a beating was coming, Puella hid and shivered behind her friend who also shivered, but nothing came. Instead, the mugs were brushed free of dirt and refilled with the hot liquid once more.

“Carefully this time,” he showed his patience, handing them each a mug before sitting down in front of the fire. Whereupon the other two, not knowing what to do, clutched at the heated mug whilst enjoy the warmth. Within no time, he heard the pair drink the liquid, and nodded slowly as they shuffled over to himself, the robe draped over their shoulders.

“Um...” came the hesitant voice of the wolf-eared girl, whose ears twitched softly whilst laid back. From his gaze, he gave a mental frown as he noted that one of them was missing half of its shape, whilst the other had a fresh bite mark upon it.

“Go to sleep, children,” his voice was calm as he hid his animosity toward the unknown perpetrators from the pair, “I'll have clothing for you in the morning.” Not knowing what to do, then children huddled up against the side of a tree closest to the flames, bringing the robe up around their shoulders as they fell into a dreamless slumber.

Thus leading to Karastak, in the guise of an Elf, to fume over this new found truth with a mental growl of, 'Someone needs to pay for harming these children,' as he bit his thumb nail, 'Children should not know the term “service”, unless they chose to follow that path when they became of age.'

*

This soon led him to stare upon his placard where some new spells and abilities lay. Ones which were gained after his little “talk” with Command. Though he called it a talk, it was anything but. However, he did learn some new truths.

Such as him being in charge of Command and the System he had inadvertently created after summoning up his status screen. After which, it was the System's voice to try and have him become a God, as others did with their creators. This was due to the fact that a God was easier to deal with than someone who was mortal, as they with a great asset as Command would be too much of a strain on any conflicting Systems they were want to find.

Therefore, a God or Goddess was easier to manage. For when two meet, they would be easier to mesh and meld the Systems together if they so desired. With him being a mortal, such a thing would not come to pass so easily. Therefore, Command offered him two other alternatives: The Hero path, or the Demon Lord path.

The former was rather easy to achieve Godhood, as all they had to do was survive, stay down the path of a hero, and defeat some great evil in the world. After which the path would open up, and Command and the System would be easier to deal with.

Unfortunately, he chose the hardest of the two, the Demon Lord. For this one had ten paths it must cross in order to become a Devil King. After which they would be incompatible with any other Gods' System, thus making it nearly impossible to control.

Thus, the System and its Command decided to punish Karastak by throwing him through a torture session after choosing his race. One which, he soon found out, caused the session to stretch out far faster than he initially thought, as his entire body had to be remade into the likeness of a Foxman. This was to try and make him learn that he should choose to be a God or a Hero, but he was far too stubborn for his own good. Thus giving him the title of 'Indomitable Will', granting him a bonus to any and all resistances he might have.

This then, after learning that it was called a Kitsune, and were primarily female, tried to make his body as such, but failed when it accidentally revealed a weakness. If he did not speak to Command, then nothing would happen until he called it back. Of whom then threatened it with silence until it finally gave in, granting him the ability to create skills, but with the stipulation that his skills had to match the Leveling Algorithm the Systems had set up. Unfortunately for it, it was laughed at as he circumvented past the restrictions and created a pair of high level skills under the Creation Skill Tree.

allowed him to summon up any sort of weapon he could think of, but the cost was all of his mana. Whereas had the same drain, but allowed him to create any sort of clothing he could think of. Therefore, he used both to bring back his favoured robe and staff that had been with him since his time in Orley.

Now, the skill called was a little different. It was changed as such from his silent to this one, and was technically a Heal spell, but only affected himself. The total mana cost for it was 25 points, dealt 25 points of damage, and effectively devoured whatever it was that the spell landed upon. Thus, healing him for 25 points of health. However, if he was missing a limb, and used it on a target's limb, then he would be able to regrow said limb back, but it would look more like the target's for a durational period of 24 hours. After which it would be expunged, allowing him to regrow is own.

It was, to his own mind, a cheater's ability, but he would still use it if he needed to.

As for his passives, it came to him that Divine Magicks were used by Command and the System whilst he was being tortured. For they were beings above mortals and their struggles, so it was a “no brainer” for himself, but the was a demand from himself after Karastak found out about Command's weakness. This was then maxed out so that he would be able to not only see who was friendly, neutrals, and who was not within 100 metres around his position, but also their names, levels, and classes. Quite useful if he wanted to go on a leveling spree later, or to lead others to or away from something.

The last new truth, a title called 'Tamer of the Unknown', came when Command relented to his demands, granting himself a pouch where he would be able to summon up food and drink whenever he so chose. This, as well as being at Karastak's every beck and call led himself to be free from Command's attempts to make him into something he was not.

Or so he hoped, anyways.