I kept crying for a long while.

As the time passed I decided that it was the man, and not my wife, who was the real criminal. Most likely he had initiated everything. My wife and I were a childless couple, even though as far as we were aware both of us were ‘normal’ when it came to reproductive health. Maybe the blacksmith told her that he could secretly give her a child without my knowing?

I didn’t have the heart to vilify my wife, and I declared the man the main offender, though a small rational part of me knew the blacksmith would never have the stones to lay bare assed on my bed, if only my wife had said ‘no’.

But I just couldn’t bring myself to hate my wife. Despite what she had done to me, I still loved her. The result was all my wrath was channeled to the blacksmith. I imagined him burning in hell fire, tortured like no one had ever been.

“Rise Mimti, stand up!”

The words tore me out of my thoughts. It was a female voice. Had some village woman followed me to the cave? I looked around but there was nobody.

“Who is it?” I asked. I was somewhat angry at this person too, secretly watching me cry. A gossip queen no doubt, who else had the time to meddle in others’ affairs?

“I am the goddess… that you created.”

“What?” I said. Goddess? That was the most absurd thing I had heard in my life. In fact it was so ridiculous that for a moment I forgot all about what had transpired that morning.

“I can’t see you,” I said to her, turning my head this way and that.

“Look below,” the voice said. Why, the voice was really coming from underneath me. I looked down.

The ground was glowing! Different colours of light frolicked about it. A dancing rainbow of sorts. Even as I watched, the colours brightened incredibly.

“I am all about this cave,” the magical voice continued. “I have been the sole witness to your endless hours of laboring at your sculptures. I was born from the love between you and the very art of sculpting. I am your child. I am your daughter. All these years, I have been growing, all thanks to the love that you have been pouring on your sculptures. I have never revealed myself to you, however, today, I must let you know of my existence. You are not alone in this world. You never were. Today a grave misfortune has befallen you. Ask me for any wish, and it shall be fulfilled. Ask me to vanquish those who have wronged you and they shall be destroyed! What do you want, just tell me!”

This sudden turn of events left me dumbstruck. But if life was offering me justice, then why should I turn it down? I cleared my throat, collecting my thoughts on what I should ask from this benevolent supernatural being.

“I do not want you to harm my wife, or the man whom she loves,” I said, despite my previous yearning to make the blacksmith pay for what he had done. “All the same I want to punish all those who cast their eye of lust on the wife of another. I want them to suffer. Suffer from the body and from the soul. And… and I want freedom too. I do not want death, all the same I want to be free from all the sins that this body indulges in. I want to be free!”

“Then you shall be free!” the goddess replied. “But before that you must give me material form. Chop down your body and let your blood drench the sculpture that lies on the ground! I shall materialize in it and I shall forever continue to punish all those who cast their eye of lust on a woman! Scatter the parts of your body in all corners of this vast world, and become forever free! Forever formless!”

A great sword was fashioned out of thin air in front of me. I picked up the sword and the moment I did so something slumped to the ground. My astonishment was beyond measure for that ‘something’ was none other than my body. Somehow, merely touching the stylish sword had separated my body and my soul.

As per the instruction, I began to hack at my body, converting it into innumerable pieces. A pool of blood formed which bathed the sculpture.

The solid stone body of the sculpture turned into living flesh. The eye balls shifted and looked at me, and the ends of the lips were pulled up in a smile.

However, the statue had only been half completed. It had possessed no legs, just an incomplete mass of stone, and this was now converted to something that strongly resembled a fish tail, complete with scales and fins.

“I am the first of the sirens,” the goddess spoke to me. “Whenever a man shall look at a siren, a test will be put on him. An intense desire will overcome him which will draw him to the siren. And if he is unable to overcome his own lust, then the siren shall kill and eat him.”

“Daughter, I am sorry that I was not able to make legs for you,” I said to the siren.

“That is not a problem, father,” the siren replied. “We will still be able to move on land, but it will be in water where we will be the fastest. Our tails will help us reach speeds that no human swimmer can even dream of. Now, father, you are formless, but in order to be truly free, you must scatter the parts of your body in different nooks of this great world. And to accomplish that, you will need a body. A body that can traverse great distances without showing the smallest signs of wear. A body that can adapt easily to a range of environments. For this, only the body of a dragon will suffice. A dragon can fly to the greatest of heights. It can swim in the challenging depths of seas. It can endure the heat of the desert and it can survive in the coldest of mountains.”

“Then make me a dragon, daughter,” I said.

If I was my old self, the very thought of doing any of the things that my daughter had mentioned would have given me goosebumps.

However, I no longer was attached to a body. I was a naked soul and hence free from extreme emotions. I was neither excited nor depressed about the prospect of delivering the parts of my body to different corners of the world. It was just a task that needed to be done and I would do it.

A new form materialized in the cave. Large, huge and gigantic were apt words to describe it. It was covered with thick scales that could withstand all extremities of heat and cold. A pair of massive wings was attached to its sides, enabling the super lizard to fly to the ends of the world.

Soon I was breathing fire and flapping my wings. A skin fold on my back allowed me to carry the remains of my human body. I bid adieu to my daughter, the first of the sirens, and off I took to the sky.

***

I opened my eyes to find myself back in the mist. I was no longer Mimti. What I thought to be a boulder turned out to be Fono, kneeling beside me.

“My king,” he said, when he saw that I was awake.

King?

I remembered the notification that I had received before I had blacked out and before I had seen the new dream revolving around Mimti.

I checked my stats. Why I was the king of the Eviluns all over again! No wonder Fono was calling me so. Ecstatic to have my old powers back, I pushed myself up to a sitting position with a grin playing on my lips. I had been concerned about not getting the evilese to sustain my neutrality, yet it had only worked in my favor. However, it couldn’t be denied that my brief acquisition of neutral status had helped me to deal with the sirens.

My thoughts centered on Mimti. It had been the first time in my life that I had experienced the continuation of a dream. The dream had resumed exactly from the part where it had left off the last time. This dream showed me some important stuff: The first siren and how she came to be; and Mimti, who became a dragon.

I had come across two dragons in my time in the game world. In truth there had been only one. The black dragon was merely a shadow of the old dragon.

***

General Information:

Name: Vicky

Affinity/Inclination: Evilun

Honors: King of all Eviluns

Level: 5

2(Health/Strength): 4890/5000

Stamina:493/500

Mana: 458/500

Spells/Abilities: Merge, Transform, Change, Messaging followers