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Inhuman - Chapter 1
Synopsis: Murdered by his wife, a man meets Peyra, the goddess of mischief and lust, who saves his soul. While her motives remain unclear, the murdered man becomes her pet, a ghoul called Grym the Faceless. Grym carries the insatiable appetite for human flesh, but he also carries the frightening power of a dark sorcerer.
Chapter 3
Flicking a piece of flint across a steel starter inside a shallow pit, Grym worked hard to light a campfire. The woman watched him with growing interest. She wondered why the need for such technology when he could create a fire spell. Just as she was about to ask, the pine needles flamed up and he diligently added sticks to the growing flames.
Perhaps he’s saving his aether?
Valary worked for years to become a mage. She understood the limits of her craft. One thing she knew for certain was the nature of aether, which created magical spells. No human, or creature for that matter, carried the ability to store or push aether beyond a few feet. It was the reason magic maintained the status of powerful mages. Spells still prevailed as a tool for assassination and close combat, but spells could not overcome the speed and long range of the bullet.
Magic once ruled their world long before cannons and rifles. Spells were powerful enough to destroy people, animals, and equipment when fighting with small armies equipped with swords and spears. However, human ingenuity eventually discovered ways for commoners to overwhelm the forces controlled by mages. Even the capabilities of sorcerers who carried even more powerful magic failed to overpower modern armies. It was a simple problem of scale. Magic users were rare, while kingdoms and empires could easily make large standing armies. Many people believed that magic would soon become a lost art.
At one time, Valary cared little for such ideas. She basked in the spotlight of a hero until her life changed after the bloody campaign waged during her time with the Musketry Cavaliers. Yet, during her time, she recognized the changes in a world moving with vast technological advancement. In her short lifetime, railroads, steam-powered ships, and airships came into existence. The empire even strung up telegraph communication wires between the major cities. Yet, the underlying corruption and tyranny of the empire turned even more insidious. However, her status as a hero failed to save her downfall. As she wasted away in that dark tomb, Valary recognized her plight came because they feared her ability. Immortality took away some of the emperor’s control. Still, despite the technologies available, she believed the idea that magic would fade away was nothing more than a fool’s dream.
The world’s natural order might allow science to keep a lid on sorcery, but its useful nature still held the interest of many people. After all, the world still held lands filled with monsters like those in her tomb. Other dark creatures walked the planet as part of the dark gods’ plans. Only magic would defeat such creatures, since guns alone failed at the job. The rumors of scientists who joined with mages to create even more powerful weapons based upon magic told her as much.
Grym’s movement brought the woman out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the night sky and frowned. Her time in her tomb meant she still could only see two fuzzy white orbs for the moons above. She turned her attention back to the ghoul as he scanned the darkness outside of the campfire light. She assumed he could see into the shadows by his expression.
Nodding to himself, Grym pulled a bag of oats from the saddle bag hanging on a nearby limp. He partially filled the wooden bucket sitting by the horse before he grabbed his rifle. Without a word, he left the camp.
As she lay on the ground, Valary kept replaying the man’s words over in her mind as hunger suddenly overcame her. It was a sensation she had not experienced for many months. After the monsters filled themselves on her aether, the woman’s body used the same substance to sustain her. Now outside of the aether-less tomb, the hunger started to overwhelm her thoughts. Her body rebuilding itself required food.
When Grym returned with the bucket filled with water, she asked him a question about food, but he ignored her. Instead, he bent over next to her after pulling a knife from his belt and dug into the soil. He created two rows in the dirt about the width of his hand before going to the closest pine tree. After hacking off several branches, he placed on top of the rows of turned earth. Finally, Grym picked up the bucket and poured the water over the branches.
Valary could not understand what Grym hoped to achieve by his actions. The man dropped to his knees and held his hands over the clayish mud and bare tree pieces while chanting an ancient verse. Valary recognized some words. She used another Summara dialect in her healing spells. Some of those words she recognized from his chant shocked her. They came from an illegal tome called Manteía. The priests described it as an evil book for its obscene spells involving death and resurrection. Having a book suppressed during the Great Awakening in your possession meant death.
What does he think he’s doing?
Valary believed Grym used the combination of healing and alchemy chants to create a covering for wounds. But when Grym laid his hands upon the branches, she saw the pine needles instantly dry up and fall away. At the same time, the sticks moved like snakes and wound together into something like an inner core. The moist ground lifted under his hands and bubbled through the sticks, gradually covering the long mound with a clay-like material. Gradually, the mound elevated under his hand until two long tubes formed where branches once lay.
The smell of Sulfur filled the air as Grym stopped his work. He picked up the clay cylinders in each hand and dragged them over to Valary. Pulling away his long coat which covered her body, the woman suddenly gasped at her vulnerable exposure. She began to wriggle around like a worm.
“Calm down, I’ve already seen your naked body. I need to put these on your stumps,” he glared at her. “You should know a ghoul only fucks you to make you suffer before he eats you. Didn’t they teach you anything?”
Valary returned his glare, but she quit moving. He positioned his creations around Valary’s lower body, then pushed one of her exposed leg stumps into the clay.
“What are you doing?”
“Quiet and learn.” he placed his hands on her pelvis.
She felt the burning sensation coming from one leg as the clay-like tube melted into the raw stump of her thigh. Valary screamed out in anguish as the mud burned into her flesh.
“Bit down and endure it.” Grym stuffed the edge of his filth covered cape into her mouth. “I have to attach the other.”
The next tube of clay pushed into her other limb with the same effect. Again, a muffled cry erupted from Valary.
After a while, an eerie quiet settled over the campsite as the woman slowly recovered from the torturous events. Her breathing finally calmed and she watched Grym step over to the ends of her earthen legs. He quickly cut off the excess with a knife before he molded the moist ends into rudimentary feet.
When he finished, the inhuman placed a hand on each foot and looked up at the sky. After a couple of deep breaths, Grym lowered his head, and a strange red and yellow glow gradually filled his hands.
Immediately, Valary sensed her lower stubs quivering. A strange warmth flowed into her flesh and into her hips. She arched back at the almost orgasmic sensation.
Suddenly embarrassed, Valary lifted her head to look down at her body. She could only see the sorcerer’s upper body with his head dropped. However, His arms trembled like the man was pushing his entire weight into the soil. The campfire light showed glimpses of his exposed chest, where open flesh revealed his gray rib bones. Horrifying as the sight was to her, Valary could only stare in wonder while the sensations from his magic swept into her.
Suddenly, a flash of searing pain made her think her flesh was burning. Valary’s lower body moved on its own as her muscles, flesh, and nerves melding together with the golem legs. As a healer, Valary understood the idea behind using a golem structure for legs and arms. But she knew such the underlying magic remained weak and nearly useless since flesh and muscle would never remain attached for long.
When Grym finally finished. He stood, teetering slightly from a lightheaded feeling. Shaking his head, the ghoul went behind Valary to lift her to a sitting position. Her new legs did not impress her.
“Yeah, brown muck you’ve changed into a form of a golem. The magic will last a few hours. You spent all your aether and mine won’t work with your spell.”
He released the woman, and she fell back. Her reaction caused her strange limbs to kick up in the air.
“You learned little for a mage,” he scoffed at her. “You did not recognize the spell, or you would not say such nonsense.”
Valary wanted to retort but she realized he was correct.
“Anyway, you must relearn your walk,” he continued. “I embedded the casts into your muscle and bone. With work, you’ll feel these legs.”
“Impossible,” she replied.
“Right, everything is impossible until you try,” he mocked her with a glare. “Those limbs will do until we reach the next place. You’re nothing more than a burden at this point. Your first step is to learn to stand.”
He walked to the horse and untied a pan and a bag from the back of the tall saddle. Valary frowned, then rolled over to her side. With difficulty, the woman focused her mind on her lower extremities. At first, she simply tried to move her rudimentary feet. The feeling shifted from pain to numbness. She frowned again at the fact that the inhuman was correct. She could feel the foreign limbs. After a while, the woman finally made a foot jerk at the end of one leg.
Paying no attention to his slave, Grym worked on a simple meal. He put dried meat and dry beans with water in the pan and brought it to a boil next to the fire. Using his knife, he stirred the mixture around occasionally while staring at the fire. A moment later, the ghoul appeared lost in a meditative trance.
Valary’s struggle to gain control of her legs continued. Sweat covered her face as the noise of her gasping finally brought Grym out of his daze.
“When you can stand, you can eat,” he advised.
“Curse you! You could help.”
“Why? Are you not the mystic healer trained by the Priestess of Eternal Knowledge? I’ve seen children do a better job of learning. Focus some of your aether into your new legs to help you.”
“That’s imp…” she stopped when she saw his fed up expression.
Grym went back into his trance as Valary stared daggers at him. After a moment, she finally realized what he meant. Her power came from the flow of her aether, most often using healing spells that went into the bodies of the injured. Her role in the Musketry Cavaliers required incantations to counter magical spells of the enemy. Also, she could stop bleeding or lessening traumatic injuries using her aether. Grym’s announcement to change her thinking about sending aether into an inanimate object made no sense.
The whole idea goes against everything she knew!
Healing magic worked on living tissue, but only to a limited degree. Her training and experience made it clear that aether ran over the body like an invisible force. A sword blade run through the heart or a bullet that blasted into the brain killed. No amount of aether or training prevented that. Even more, healers could not rebuild bones or regrow limbs. Such things were impossible. Yet Grym wanted her to flow her aether into the golem-like legs.
It’s crazy, adding aether to his dark spell to make her body control her legs.
She glanced over at the man again. She noticed he was carving on a piece of wood with his knife now. Frustrated, Valary bit her lip as her stomach growled again. She took a deep breath.
What choice do I have?
The woman cleared her mind and gradually focused her thoughts on a small spark glowing like a candlelight that always came to her. Instantly, she calmed down and felt the glow disperse as she looked down on her body from above. In her vision, the flow of the aether moved to the strange limbs attached to her body.
Valary suddenly felt the twitch. She opened her eyes and looked down to see her one foot like an appendage move. At first, the action seemed to be a fluke. Then, using her will, the other limb moved. It took several more tries before the woman’s new golem legs finally understood the commands. By the time she got to her knees, Grym came out of his trance.
“I’m tired of this. You need to crawl over by the fire, and I’ll feed you. Then, you can use the tree to stand and learn to walk again. In the morning, we’ll be riding to the next destination.”
“What about my arms?”
Only one leg bent at the knee when she lost her focus, causing her to fall back to the ground.
“You get arms when I trust you. We both know that a healer, especially a hero with some luck, can still overcome a standard slave spell. Besides, giving you arms wouldn’t do much good now if you can’t even stand yet.”
His condescending tone made her glare at him, but she went back to learning to use her legs. After a while, Valary finally got her legs under her, and she awkwardly crawled over by the fire. Grym put the knife into his belt, then walked over to pull the bubbling bucket away from the fire. In his other hand, he stirred the contents with a crude wooden spoon he made from his carving.
“Alright, open up!”
The hot liquid immediately burned her mouth, and she turned her head, spitting out the contents.
“Cursed idiot, that hurt!”
His face drew close.
“Do you want to do it yourself?” He growled.
“Try burning yourself or give me arms and hands,” she shot back.
He remained close, his glare chilling her. Still, she remained defiant even as her stomach growled. Grym pulled back, and she expected the man to leave her. Instead, he stirred the liquid in the pail.
“I’ll let it cool first,” he told her. “You are human, I guess.”
She watched him for a moment, trying to get a read on his impassive masked face.
“You can always taste it yourself,” she replied.
He shook his head and continued stirring. Valary watched him for a while, growing hungrier at the smell filling the surrounding air.
“That should be fine now,” she stated.
The next spoonful was too hot, but Valary refused to react as she gulped down the salty broth and beans. The woman nodded for more while trying to speak between bites. A few minutes later, she looked down at a nearly empty bucket.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“That’s a ridiculous question,” he stated as he rose.
She waited for a more, but Grym picked up his rifled musket and walked away from the camp.
What is he doing now?