A King's Legacy Ch. 35-36

"Now, where were we..."

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Cortist came barreling through his portal, calling out desperately to a beast far too consumed by sorrow to ever hear him. The young panther was hysterical and petrified at the very sight at first... His brother lay slain, a glistening sword forced through his back. The ashen wolf was cradling his brother so closely in mourning. Cortist didn't know what to do when he was suddenly thrown into such a situation, so the panther froze for a moment. That is, until he witnessed the change begin...

From the place where the sword pierced him, a shadowy darkness flowed from his brother's fresh corpse. This darkness crawled over the boy's skin like a fog, slowly encompassing the soft flesh as it grew more and more over his form. Where the fog passed over, spiky armor of the blackest obsidian began to rise in its wake, growing to consume his human brother rapidly. Stahl just kept holding on, keeping his eyes closed at he clung to Aster through it all. Eventually, the shadows had no other choice but to take the wolf as well.

A writhing black mass remained, shifting, growing, and shaping itself from the essence that it combined to give it life. The body of a young shield bearer, the soul of an ancient demon bearing the sword, the heart of a king who would risk everything for his children, the dying curses and pain of all the humans killed by King Alocer's genocide... all of these things made for quite a powerful base as it was, consuming the despair and regret of the crushed noble wolf only made the demon that much more impossibly destructive in the end.

The demon was huge, towering nearly twenty feet high as it raised itself up on two legs. There was a large and familiar shadowy sword sticking through the front of this demon's chest, mimicking its host's death with Calium's own sword. The creature's head took on a ghastly semblance, a dark and feral wolf-like face complete with spiraling and jagged horns of blackened stone erupting from the brow. The wispy and unmistakable red eyes of a demon formed in this twisted likeness, and the demon bared it's razor fangs sharply in a snarl as it truly became as alive as you can call such a creature.

The monster raised its right hand up, and called into being a golden shield freshly pilfered from the corpse of the stolen human king himself. It snatched a hold of the larger, golden disk with its clawed right hand, and slammed the edge of the shield into the earth before it in challenge of the young mage. The demon did something after that would forever haunt Cortist's nightmares from that day on.

It roared... The most ear-splitting, hair-raising, and hope desecrating sound that Cortist would ever hear, was the sound of his brother's broken heart crying out in anguish after death. The demon's howl was a vengeful pledge to burn the unfair world which had scorned so many lost souls so thoroughly in life.

The panther nearly wept in defeat at the monster such hatred had given birth to standing before him, standing where his brother had been mere seconds after they were finally reunited. Cortist Venatus truly had an unthinkable opponent to fend off, one carrying more combined and unresolved darkness than any demon that ever came before it. The young panther just didn't think he stood a chance against such a cruel fated abomination... He just didn't see how he could fight Aster, no matter how badly the shadow that remained hungered for the young panther's tantalizing warmth... It attacked.

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The reborn humans were far more successful with the vessels in place for the new world order, possibly due to absorbing and fusing with more tranquil souls when they were all still part of that first fiend. These humans went far, their ancestors branching out all over the world. All seemed to progress naturally from there, the humans established themselves at the top of the life on earth, and the hunters ruled their prey, as was the basic right of life. The prey certainly fought back, however.

A great war broke out, the ferals and humans battled for supremacy. This war waged on for centuries, the gods themselves growing weary of such endless struggle between their children. Just before they intervened, just before the gods themselves redefined their lost world yet again, a human was born that would soon change everything.

He was a simple boy, holding no real title among mankind, but bearing an unshakeable charisma. The boy looked around his war-torn world, and saw that fighting was all that anyone ever seemed to have time for. He saw that this endless cycle had consumed both his people, and the ferals alike. He decided he would fix it.

The human boy made a bold declaration before his people.

"I will travel to the lands of beasts, I will speak to the dragons that lead the ferals, and I will broker peace between our kinds." The boy was laughed out of his town, but he set out with his heart of gold all the same on his admirable quest. He traveled a long while for great distances, far beyond the lands of men, and well into the domain of beasts. His journey weathered him, and it broke him, and it cost him nearly everything by the end, but the boy arrived at the mountains of the dragons by the end of his long journey with his golden heart somehow still shining. The dragons swarmed this seemingly lost boy immediately when he stepped right into their home.

"Why have you come here? What can a mere human have to say to us dragons? What makes you even believe we want peace?" Their questions seemed as if they would never end, the dragons poking and prodding the boy as much as his own people had, that is, until their young queen came forth.

She was breathtaking, a long body with scales darker than the night. Her eyes were a brilliant silver, and her horns and claws were dipped in the purest white color the human had ever seen in nature before. Her grand wings unfurled behind her, the shadow of the majestic creature engulfing the boy entirely. He could only stare at such beauty in a dumbfounded state. She asked her own question then.

"Do you truly believe we may have peace between our kinds after so many years of irreparable resentment and injustice between us?" The boy smiled his charming smile, and spoke in that dazzling and optimistic tone of his.

"Maybe if we start trying today." The queen of the dragons laughed at such enthusiasm, but believe it or not, the war really did come to an end by their united efforts in changing their own people's hearts. Many years passed, and the boy grew into a man, who in turn grew into an old man. He had spent a lifetime beside the dragon queen, dedicating his shorter lifespan to ensuring peace would remain between their species long after his time had ended in that realm. The young dragon queen would never say such a thing out loud, but she had truly come to love that human with the golden heart. He passed away in the mountains of the dragons, and she never truly stopped mourning his loss for the many years of her long life to come. The memory of that man was carried forth for centuries.

When that human died, and when the beast of Death carried his soul into the afterworld, the soul of that man did something the gods had grown used to; he chose to wait for someone before moving on to the next life together. Ten years passed. One hundred years passed... Nearly a thousand years passed, but that soul with the warm heart only kept on waiting patiently for the one he wanted to reincarnate beside. The gods were stumped, knowing any other human soul from his time had reincarnated multiple times over by that point. The man wouldn't budge though, not until the day that other soul he had waited centuries for finally joined him in the afterworld.

She was as beautiful as ever, she had aged gracefully over the last millennia, only growing more incredibly breathtaking since the last he had laid weary eyes on her all those centuries before. She was so happy he had waited for her, and she had never once forgotten what that boy with the big heart had shown her about the way life should be for all who called the earth their home.

The gods could only watch on in utter astonishment as those two souls started to merge. They did not separate after, choosing instead to retain the very essence of both before being reborn as one. The souls of the boy and the dragon melded together to create something entirely new. The goddess of life smiled blissfully at the result as she breathed her life around the dawn of a new age. The beastmen were born from the joining of those two souls, and the black and golden dragon resulting from that union became the first of his kind to walk the earth. He became a king among men and ferals alike, but there was one major problem with new life blooming at this point in the evolutionary stage... The beastman was all alone.

The goddess of life intervened, desperate to ensure the most beautiful union of her children could find some way to persevere in a world he was unique to. The goddess of life bestowed the first gift to the word in centuries; the goddess gave the dragon the means to create life from any such love he may find. The gift of magical birth allowed the first beastman's bloodline to continue well into the current age, but that is mostly a tale for another time...

What you need to know, is that the humans quickly grew jealous of the favor the goddess of life held for the new species, they were growing weary of the leaps in strength the beastmen possessed over them. The moon goddess intervened with her solution just in time.

She used her power, the power to mirror and replicate other abilities. She copied the gifts and abilities of the gods on varying scales, loosely capturing tiny fragments of their powers. She scattered these fragments of power across the life of the land, fusing them with different spirits of beastmen, humans, and even some of the other species born after the souls began joining in more unpredictable ways.

Bloodskills were gifted of the moon's grace by fusing the power of gods with the spirits of mortals, and as a result, the fears and worries over the gaps of power between species began to fade entirely over time with the balance restored. These fragments of power would often replicate themselves further when an offspring was born of a soul bearing the gift.

Many more years passed, and the species became more and more various in some ways, yet defined and united in others. Settlements shifted from majority human to beastman countless times over as the world grew, changed, and evolved, but eventually, tensions arose once more.

It was long after the spirits choosing to remain feral created a language different from that used by the beastmen and humans. It was long after the orcs emerged and established their place among the other more prevalent kinds of children. It was long after the feral dragons decided to slumber together as a species for a few millennia. It was long after the gods had grown comfortable in their power, that the humans did what they tended to do best; They created a conflict, and they started a war.

Mankind marched against the beastmen without mercy, without provocation, and without dignity. It was sudden, bloody, and brutal. The humans gained the advantage through unthinkably sinister tactics, and the gods of the earth, the sky, and the ocean finally intervened with gifts of their own, taking pity on the beasts attacked so unprovoked.

The sky imbued the magic of healing in the beast children he deemed worthy, giving them the means to preserve the lives of their loved ones in the face of such cruelty. The earth gifted the secrets of the runes to the beasts, so they could protect their homes and their children with barriers of power to ward away those seeking harm. The ocean gifted pieces of the very language of the gods to the beasts, giving them the means to control the basic elements and forces of nature on smaller scales. The gifts turned the tides a little too well in the beastmen's favor....

The humans had fallen on their last leg a few generations later, but the beastmen only kept the pressure on, pushing until fewer and fewer humans remained in the world. The sun goddess heard the pleas of mercy from young human children that never even started such a war, and she begged the other gods to retract their gifts, to return the balance to the way it should have stayed, to broker peace between the species once more.

Her pleading fell on deaf ears, and all of the gods except Life refused to hear her any further. The humans had made their own bed. The beastmen had established themselves at the top of the life on earth, and the hunters ruled their prey, as was the basic right of life...

Five gods voted as a whole that they would not intervene this time, overruling the remaining two. Life reached out to console her oldest daughter when their voices were outweighed, but the sun goddess shunned her, and fled from the garden of life in determination.

The sun goddess was angered the other gods had turned their backs on humanity, and pulled her heart and soul from her celestial form before she placed them into her vessel. The beast of the sun changed when the goddess took control, her power and will completely overtaking the body she had created as the feral's form shifted to better accommodate her intentions. What remained as the last of the feral's wings were tucked away appeared to be your average feline beastman. The sun goddess took up arms in secret to aid the remaining humans in their fight as she held her disguise so expertly. The humans had regained their footing, but the gods were not pleased at her interference.

When she had returned to her home, leaving her vessel behind, her family confronted her over her foolish decision to spare the humans and to meddle even after the vote was cast. The sun goddess tried to make her reasoning heard, but the other gods would not hear it. Their disagreement only escalated further and further, until finally, the ocean, the sky, and the earth found themselves at odds with the sun goddess. They finally came to a decision between the three of them; Were she to meddle in such a way, then they would also. Without ever truly knowing why, mankind incurred the wrath of the gods.

The three gods rallied their feral beasts, the phoenix, the hydra, and the dragon rained down destruction upon the last human stronghold mercilessly. The sun goddess barely made it in time, choosing to inhabit her beast rather than merely command it as the others had. The sun goddess fought bravely with her grand control of magic, but the three gods defeated her in the end with their combined efforts, and humans were nearly wiped from existence as the gods themselves led a crusade in favor of the beastmen.

The sun goddess wept at such firsthand destruction, and in the physical form borrowed from her vessel, the goddess felt her very heart break into many pieces. She saved what human life she still could as she cradled her broken heart in mourning of her failure. She fled with the last of man.

The humans turned to her as their last ray of hope after witnessing her grand control over magic far beyond their reach. It was then that the sun goddess made a decision that has left the world broken ever since... It was then that she created the legendary bloodskills from the pieces of her own shattered heart.

The idea was simple, using a piece of her heart for each, she would craft a set number of bloodskills, ones designed to allow the humans to stand up to the power of the god's vessels themselves, to stand up the legendary feral beasts. She truly had no idea what she was doing, and none of the other gods were ever any the wiser, but she only wanted the humans to have a means to survive.

To stave off the beast of the ocean, she granted one of the remaining humans a trident capable of parting and freezing the waves, and of commanding the stormy heart of the silver Hydra.

To battle the beast of the sky, she crafted a grand bow able to tame the air currents, and shoot down even the crimson phoenix from afar.

To assist with the vessel of the earth, she forged a sword for one of the humans capable of commanding even the most stubborn stone, a sword that could cut its way anywhere. It was a weapon that could bury even the great amber dragon.

Should life and death ride into battle, she prepared two more gifts, a golden shield capable of repelling even the beast of Death's severing assault, and an all consuming breath of vast destruction designed to mimic the one based in creation that Life herself brandished... However...

"The sun goddess had one final measure to take to ensure the humans could survive; a sixth legendary bloodskill designed to counter the beast of the moon." Aster was doing his best to refrain from interrupting, but he couldn't help himself at such a revelation.

"WAIT, THERE ARE SIX? THE STORIES ALWAYS SAID THERE WERE ONLY FIVE!" Calium looked to his enthusiastic son with a smile as he answered that astute observation.

"That is correct, but that's more or less to be expected considering the fate of the sixth..." Aster wasn't sure what his father meant by that, but the boy got the idea, he spoke it so his father wouldn't need to.

"I know... You're getting there, right?" Calium only smiled as he picked back up.

"There was a sixth bloodskill designed to counter the powers of the moon, just in case she decided to step in also, but I can't tell you much about that one, and I'll tell you why shortly."

The sun goddess was exhausted, she had lent out almost all of her heart to craft those living weapons so that mankind may stand a chance, It didn't take long for the other gods to realize what she had done. A final assault was led against the humans of the world, and the results were worse than anyone was prepared for.

The gods vessels were losing, badly. The beasts of the sky, the earth, and the ocean were bested quickly, pinned down by the unexpected and far too powerful abilities wielded by the mortals. The sun goddess could only watch helplessly in her exhausted state.

The bearer of the sword forced open the jaws of the earth by the command of his power. Her mouth was shut around her vessel as she was forced to swallow, and the amber dragon fell into the depths of their master's own stomach.

The beast of the sky was shot down where it crashed into the desert a ways off, the arrows finding their mark no matter how fast or how far the beast had tried traveling to escape. It was swallowed by the raging sandstorms within the day.

The beast of the ocean tried to flee at such displays of strength far too great for mortal hands, but the trident bearer would not allow it. The oceans receded into a large wall, and were frozen in place with a single gesture, barring the hydra's path before encasing it inside of the frozen prison at the bottom of the very seafloor it had once ruled over.

The sun goddess begged for the humans to stop, to know that they had gone too far. The shield bearer tapped against the golden gift made from her own heart in response, and commanded the sun goddess to kneel. She fell to her knees just as the beast of Death finally showed himself on that battlefield, prepared to put a stop to all of this once and for all. He was joined by the beast of life a moment later, who was determined to stop all of this without anymore bloodshed. Both Life and Death had chosen to inhabit their beasts for that final clash with man.

Death stood down as his beloved spoke to all of her children, the mortal and the immortal alike in effort of finding peace. The gods of the earth, the sky, and the ocean listened nearby, their own vessels still badly wounded. The goddess of the sun was still at the mercy of the humans she had tried so desperately to save, but the human children were all well passed the point of caring about what the biased gods that had abandoned them had to say anymore.