The Grand Catastrophe

…

Keno was annoyed. No, scratch that, she was very annoyed. For one thing, there was a rather aggravating amount of animals that had come by and tried to move in for whatever the reason. Sure, she had liked it at first, but they showed up att he most annoying of times.

James’ memories also reminded her of the undead person that would come to her home and take for himself. Though, in truth, she knew nothing of the undead. Other than that he was part of a strange covenant of undead that shared info.

She had pondered it for a while, she didn’t think she wanted to even join. She might let him live in the city if he aids her in her experiments though. He had yet to arrive though.

What was truly peeving her right now was the horse in front of her. The zombies by her side looked down to where she was looking down, and kept trying to pathfind a way down to the skeleton horse. She liked to think that her zombies were smarter than average, but they were acting stupid right now.

The flaming horse neighed, and nearly ran off, if not for the bolt of fire that she launched, corralling it nearer the walls. The Soul-eater stopped, and looked at her straight on. She met its glare with a look that was closer to a pout than anything else.

There were many things she wanted out of the stupid horse thing. One thing was the soul-eater itself, she wanted to own it and ride on its back. Another was the ability it had to eat souls, she could use that to kill any number of enemies. Another what she could gleam from the undead itself. She wished to save herself, the undead horse was just one step forward on that path.

“Give me my halberd!” she demanded in a pouty voice, her thoughts drifting to the obstinate creature down below.

A zombie on the side handed her her weapon with its natural and jerky motions. The undead that had once been her subjects had started to decay slightly more than usual. This was because she kept using them more than she ought to.

“I still can’t believe that I found a Halberd this good here,” she mumbled to herself as she then cast, {Fly,} on herself and leapt from the wall.

As she fell through the air, she thought back to when she had switched to the halberd. It had been when she was fighting a moose that had wandered all the way into her nation, and had tried to slash at its neck. The blade bounced off, and she got kicked in the ribs.

“I like the axe head,” she mumbled to herself as she hit the dirt, and then rushed to the beast.

The soul-eater reared back its front legs, and kicked towards her, the aura that it had active, was ineffectual against her. She dodged the blow by darting to the side, and slashed downward with her halberd. The soul-eater ran forward as a dodge.

She missed, and then struck out with a, {Fireball.} The beast was hit, and rolled to its side as she then struck again with the tip of her halberd. It jabbed the soul-eater in the ribs, but otherwise didn’t do much. She cast, {fireball,} again at it, but the creature dodged it with a buck into the air.

The battle continued on. She kept striking as the soul-eater had little ways to truly attack her but with kicks, and she kept hitting it with fireballs. Sooner, rather than later, the beast was beaten until she stopped, and managed to dominate the thing. She celebrated with a little dance, and a bit of spicy reading from her mom’s library.

…

“Hey!” Keno shouted at the undead man in front of her home.

“I said I was sorry!” shouted back.

“I said it was fine! Just gimme the books I need!” Keno responded, and the Night Lich slumped.

Meeting the undead that she had been dreading to meet had been a lot more casual than she had expected. He was less of a fighter, and more of a thinker. He didn’t have much in terms of good enchanted items. Really, she had no idea why her other self would have run from him.

Sure, he was high level higher than hers of course. Yet, he had no minions. She had an entire city at her beck and call. Sure, he knew more about magic than her, but she could beat his bare skull in with her bare hands. That was how much higher her baseline stats were.

“What do I get in return?” he asked, somewhat quieter than last time.

…

The space was large, with no windows, and a surprisingly low ceiling. The magic circles carved into the ceramic tiles pulsed faintly with ambient mana. Symbols and words were displayed in the floor beneath her feet.

It was a wide space, the room was dark. There was a door on the right side of the room from where she sat in the middle. People and animals that she had traded with the lich were bound and infused with magical arts in the corners of the large ritual circle.

She felt no love for them, they were criminals that had tried to sneak off and hide in her nation. The men, for they were all men of a nation she had never seen or heard of before, lay there. They had long since stopped resisting.

As she sat in the new ritual room, Keno hummed. It was one thing to hear about magic connected to the soul. It was another to truly see and research it. Because of this, she had finally managed to figure out something.

A decade, that was how long she had spent reading and researching the books that the undead she hadn’t ever gotten the name of. She had directed him to move into a city to the west. That was where much of the trade of her nation had taken place, and where much of the resources were when this whole thing went down.

Right now, she was preparing something. She had spent many years of her life simply growing in power and knowledge. She had researched how the soul works. She had researched how liches are made. She had tested how many or the properties of the magics that she was using were used.

That was all to say, she was ready to become something more. She needed to get rid of the spell stuck to her soul. First, she had built a shield around herself so her soul wouldn’t leave her body and dissolve.

Second, she had rebuilt the ritual that turned magic casters into liches into a ritual that would bind her soul, and keep it, to her body. If not for this first foundation, she would most assuredly die. She was confident it would work.

Third, was a part of the ritual that would connect itself to the spell that her talent had locked into it. This would then mesh with the fourth, and second most important part of the thing. She wasn’t totally sure this would function as intended, as wild magic was rather wild. As the name suggested.

Fourth was the eating of the souls of the captured men. Her spell and soul would eat them, her soul would be grown, and she would gain in power. She had already reached level 15 in Vampire Princess. She hoped that this unlocked the part of her vampiric life.

She opened her eyes, and looked to the four humans trapped and bound to the four corners of her spell. Animals with strong souls were also bound, like wolves and other intelligent fauna. Really, she was shocked she had managed to find this much.

“I cast, {Greater Draconic Lord Ascension,}” she intoned, and watched as the shield around her brightened into visibility.

Then she was baptised in pain. There was no word for the pain that bathed her in its want. Every nerve, strand of soul magic, and ounce of blood, lit aflame in pain.

“W⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⎓⚍ᓵꖌ╎リ⊣ ⍑ᒷꖎꖎ ╎ᓭ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎ᓭ?!,” was the only sentence that came from her mouth as she went fetal.

First her soul was separated and then stitched back onto herself, using the souls of those in the ritual. The lines, symbols, and letters lit up on the floor. The humans and animals that were trapped with her screamed in tandem. The blood from their bodies was drained.

Every pore, orifice, and thin portion of skin on their bodies bleed freshly, and traveled down the lengths of the circle. They filled the glowing grooves in the ground, and glowed red from the light. When they reached her, and entered her body through her mouth, nose and every other orifice that they could, bliss hit her reconstructing mind.

Pain and bliss mixed in her soul, in her spirit and mind and body. The bodies of the sacrifices broke down, the spell taking all of what they were. Their skin became blood, their flesh became blood, and all of what else they were became blood to feed her.

“AAAHHH!!” she screamed still, her waking mind unable to comprehend what she had started as the pain and bliss assailed her.

Her bones shifted. Her spine cracked as it lengthened. Her ribs broke and rebuilt themselves as she screamed and pleaded for it all to end. Her flash ate itself and resculpted itself into something truly gorgeous. Life was pain for a second and an eternity.

Her blood boiled and froze. Her skin shifted and paled even more so than it had. Her heart started to beat once more in unlife, now and forevermore. Then, orange-gold dragon scales appeared upon her face, forearms and shins. Her hair grew in length. All of what she was, and could ever be, was grown and enriched. Not that she could think about that. She was in pain.

As soon as it started, it stopped, and she fell asleep curled up upon herself, like a bebe being birthed anew. The sounds of her heartbeat could be heard throughout the room. The light from the spells dimmed until as that was left of the light were her closed eyes through their lids.

…

“Food,” was all that she could say as she got up, and ran from the room.

She ignored the zombies around her. She ignored the light of the sun above her. She ignored the ruined streets around her as she looked for food. She was so hungry, that was the only thing rolling around her skull. That and her newly acquired figure. Yet that could be thought about later.

“Food,” she said as she leapt from the roofs of the buildings near the walls, and pounced on a stray beast that had gotten too close to her home city.

As she ate the elk that had wandered into her homeland, her mind came back together. Sensations came and went for breath moments, before she blinked. She blinked to herself, and looked down at the animal she had stuffed her face into.

There, on the dark and dead plains she sat, eating the dead body of an elk while completely naked. She sucked in a breath, and continued to eat, this time in a lot more polite and orderly fashion. While she did so, she looked down at herself.

She had grown, not just in size, but in maturity. Her chest was much larger than she had realized at first. Maybe a nice medium, with a good deal of perkyness, the James’ side of herself noted.

Her body seemed to be in its early 20s now. Her belly had a six pack now. Her hair went down to the top of her rear now. She also seemed to have mucked up on the ritual.

“I guess I’m part Dragon Lord now? That’s cool,” she spoke to herself.

Her shins, and forearms were covered in elegant orange-gold scales. Her face had also grown some around her eyes in a tasteful amount and arrangement. Her face was also more sculpted than before. Her cheekbones were still rounded, but also sharp and elegant. Her jaw shape had grown stronger, a yet even more elegant, same as with her cheekbones. Her eyes had tilted more, and she looked much more like a femme fatal.

All in all, it was a success. Her talent was free, and she no longer had a live grenade strapped to her soul. She was happy. She had a chance of victory over her foe now.

“Now, I only need to find a renewable source of meat? Hm…” she sighed, and continued eating, her new seductive voice not even registering.

…