The Growing Shadow.

Ianmey7

TNPer
My head is killing me. The damn fools must have knocked me out, I better get up and fight before my demons are overrun. Hopefully the fighting isn’t completely lost so I can destroy the old man.

As I looked up I saw a crater, it went out in all directions from where I was laying down. The warm air felt good on my skin, but I had no clue where I was. I had to get a feeling of my surroundings, where were the demons who brought me away from the fighting? The horn of Teufelreich! Hopefully there are some close enough to summon and take me back to base.

I blew the horn, its sound sent winds in all directions. I heard trees shake and shudder as the shock wave went out, the ground shook like an earthquake. An earthquake? This was impossible in heaven, that could only mean that I had been sent to Sorras. I was in the material realm. Before I could finish processing where I was, my advisor Galmash stepped through a portal.

The portal was purple with black streaks in the swirling matter. His armored hoof was the first thing to step out, his black skin was covered by armor and black linen. The crown of serpents looked glorious as it entered the light, Galmash bowed as he finally reached the outside world. His horned head looked down as he started to speak.

“Oh Great Dark one, I regret to inform you that your rival Alcalish has started to hunt our forces down. His fury has reduced our numbers to so few, your host can not respond at this time. I beseech you, conquer this world, make it your new fortress as we prepare to conquer heaven. The unworthy enemies can not look into this world. There are too many intervening interests for them to step onto Sorras.”

Galmash looked up, he was still armed. His staff allowed him to summon magic that these primitives on sorras would never be able to imagine. The two of us would not be enough though, and I needed more time to create new demons. I need an army if I want to conquer this world. First, I needed to figure out where I was and who I was around.

In order to blend in I transformed myself and Galmash into the race of men. I gave myself long flowing black hair, with piercing blue eyes. I wanted to make myself someone that would be admired and trusted by these primitives. Galmash and I set out to find some of the creations as they were called in the ethereal world. The land was wooded, the impact that I made when I was cast from the ethereal world cleared some of the thickest of the woods but outside of that area the trees went on for many miles.

As we wandered I noticed that animals would run away. Perhaps they could sense the death, and despair or perhaps they just ran in a mindless animalistic way. It would be a gift to not think, thinking got me into the position that I am in now. I had the idea of a future without the domination of the old man. What do I get as a thank you for the risk I took to give all beings true free will? I am now an outlaw, they say that I want to become the god but they shall see. The future I shall bring will be a glorious utopia. I wish my brothers could think, I wish that they could see as I do. I cannot however allow them to stand in my way to achieve my goals.

This world will serve as a perfect base to move forward and carry out the final plan, however this world confuses me. I have never seen such expanses of trees, nor have I seen mountain ranges that stretch on and on like the ones around me. Rivers flowed over the landscape, the old man's handiwork was all over. His artistic eye clearly sculpted this part of the world. It disgusted me.

My anger kept swirling until I heard Galmash say:

“My lord, look! There is a city of humans, this is our chance to begin phase one of your glorious plan.”

Galmash rushed forward and came to the city palisade, a feeble wooden structure that couldn't stop even the weakest demonling. He looked up at the guards and yelled:

“Open thy gate for I am the harbinger of the greatest sorcerer this world has ever seen! Thy lord will have at his disposal the power of the gods himself!”

The guards looked down from their post, the midday sky was blue and clear. I laughed to myself about this irony. Two demons come to these people's town and the old man blesses them with a beautiful sky. There were even children playing in the river, this was someone's perfect day. These guards had no clue who they were letting into the city when the gate came down. Galmash was having the time of his life as he shouted my praises. The people in the streets were asking me to do tricks. I made fire appear, I summoned snakes and made gold appear in my hands.

These people begged me to come to their castle, calling this crude stone structure a castle is a bit of an insult to what I have seen. The king of this city welcomed me by saying:

“Hello good sir, I am Hermann der Drachen. I serve this town as Stadtmeister, I have heard quite the buzz about you. I would love for you to join the city court, this town could use someone of your great talent.”

I stood there, hiding deep inside me a rage that could burn this whole town to the ground. This little man thinks that I need to be in his court. I could just conquer this town right now, but that would prevent the stable servant base that I need. Eventually I was able to answer the question.

“Yes my lord, I would love to join your court and bring your city to glory and prominence.”

I bowed to him, like he was the old man. This made me shudder inside, however I needed to play the role of the loyal servant. I needed to get his trust, these people would serve as a wonderful force to build my fortress.

As the months went by Hermann began to let me get more freedom. A wing of his castle was dedicated for me to better my studies of magic. I played along and every so often I would use a mear fraction more of my power. Hermann was elated by this, I would conjure gold and other precious metals for him. Eventually he promoted me to his second in command, and then I was able to formulate a plan. This Stadtmeister would abdicate to me, I just needed to take his life force to make him my servant.

In my tower I began to work on an invention that would turn the feeble mind of a human into something more. I took a stone mask and embedded some of my power in it, with a bit of blood spikes that would shoot out and awaken something more in these mortals.

That night I turned myself into a half bat, half man creature and flew into his window. While he and his wife were sleeping I placed the mask on his face and cut his finger, as he woke up I smeared the blood on The mask. His body twitched as it was reanimated into my loyal undead puppet.He threw himself onto his wife, he bit her neck and looked up at me. His eyes were wide when he gazed upon me, he fell to his knees.

“You will abdicate to Salroth. He is now your master.”

“I will abdicate to Salroth. He is my master.”

After the macabre ceremony, I flew back to my tower. Galmash was waiting for me. He kneeled as I entered the room and asked if the job was done. I told him that it was, and that we could move forward with the beginnings of our new empire. The black drapes fluttered behind me as I transformed back into my human form. As the bat-like features switched back to a humans, I began to think about how funny it was that humans were willing to trust anyone who they thought had a friendly face. Their quick judgment would bring them a new master. This one would not be as kind as the last.

Galmash started preparations for the entrance to the throne room tomorrow, his flare for grandeur came flowing out as he prepared a triumph fit for a god. The announcement tomorrow would send the world into its final age,the plan to get revenge on the old mad would begin in earnest. I woke up the next day to the sounds of trumpets, soldiers stood at the foot of my tower and made a path to the main hall. Instead of the banner of house Der Drachen they waved my black banner. Galmash walked ahead of me the entire time he was shouting my praises to the sky. He was no longer in his fair form, he showed himself as the demon he was:

“Look upon Salroth, Emperor of the world, King of Kings, Master of the land and seas, Lord of the void, Lord of the Shadows, the Prince of demons, Emperor of the Universe!”

I thought it was time to show these mortals their new god and revealed myself in my angelic form. The villagers stood shocked for a moment, they could not comprehend what had truly happened, though their awe overrode their fear and cheers began. Der Drachen was already kneeling, waiting for me in his keep. The quick rise to power allowed me to run unnoticed by the old man. The mortals cheered, and cheered but my gifts come with a price, absolute subservience. Der Drachen handed me his royal regalia and scepter as he brought his head to the ground.

I grabbed the gold scepter and raised it over my head. Galmash turned to the crowd and shouted:

“Hail your new emperor!”
 
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