Assimilating the Queen's Soul

The slowly glowing blood light emitted from the drawn circle Vallynor opened his eyes, which had been closed until then, and looked at his hands holding a green book. The book began to move slightly under his gaze.

Unexpectedly, it opened, revealing pages entirely written in Elvish script. The letters were long and difficult to read, but they looked very beautiful. Vallynor had always wanted to write like that, to later make his teachers and girls try to decipher what he had written, but his handwriting was like a doctor's scribble. He hated those who asked why he didn't become a doctor and even showed his handwriting, saying, "You're the perfect doctor; you've got just 11 years of study left, and you can sit in a room until you die, listening to all the idiots and degenerates."

The book's pages began to shuffle, indicating that they were filled with letters and drawings, until half of the book was left with blank paper.

"Is that all?" Vallynor asked in surprise, thinking that all the pages of the book were filled with letters and drawings, as he had expected to read. But it turned out that more than half of the book was left blank.

"Yes, I recorded everything that was necessary. Unfortunately, I could not study more. So this task will remain in the book and with you. And now you must give it a name. If you don't mind, may I give it a name?" the old woman asked.

"Yes," Vallynor agreed without hesitation, allowing the old woman to name the newly created book.

Thanking him with all her heart, the queen tried to think for a while before decisively saying, "Tremens vitas."

Nodding, Vallynor looked at the open book and, closing it, said, "From now on, your name is Tremens vitas."

In the next moment, the Elvish word "Tremens vitas" appeared on the clean green cover.

Admiring his new grimoire, the book began to emit a dim, familiar light and disappeared. It took Vallynor a few seconds to realize what had happened. Tremens vitas had vanished, just like his grimoire. Looking at his left hand, Vallynor was surprised to see a new tattoo in the form of a ring made of thorny vines, inside of which was the green book. If the Necronomicon, which was previously a tattoo, had been black, Tremens vitas would have been green.

Admiring how the two tattoos sat next to each other, Vallynor suddenly saw Tremens vitas come out, followed by the Necronomicon. They began to fly, spin, and sometimes run away from each other, and then the black book chased the green one. Were they fighting?

All of this happened in no more than 30 seconds. The battered green book returned as a tattoo, and the black book, as the victor, approached and also transformed into a tattoo.

Looking again at his hand, Vallynor saw that the tattoos had disappeared. And then reappeared, but in different places. The Necronomicon, which had been on his hand, disappeared and reappeared right on the inside of his left palm. Tremens Vitas was nowhere to be found, but on the inside of Vallynor's right palm was a tattoo of a vine and a book.

"Mmm?... What...?" Vallynor couldn't even speak before the books came out again and started fighting, the black one flying after the battered green one. Vallynor couldn't understand what was happening until the old woman, laughing, explained:

"They're fighting for supremacy, who will be the main one. This is not something new. So don't be scared, at most they will look battered for a while."

While the old woman explained what had happened to the grimoires, they disappeared again. This time, the green one moved back to Vallynor's left hand, next to the inside of his palm.

Feeling that a new round was about to begin, Vallynor ordered in a commanding tone, "Stop, both of you."

"Well, it's time to say goodbye," said the old woman with a hint of sadness.

"Time goes by so fast. And I don't have that much time. But before I pass on, I have to make my request," she continued, seeing Vallynor nod. "Maybe you already know, or maybe not. But as a mother, I have some eggs that I need to protect. But, unfortunately, I'm falling. When I finally sink into the darkness, I'll lose myself... I'll feel eternal hunger and won't be able to imagine how I could kill my unborn children."

Raising her wing, she showed enormous eggs of different species and colors. Vallynor examined them and felt a shiver when he realized... what was happening here:

"Umm... Old woman... I don't know how to say this, but what I see is not whole eggs. It's..." - The words stuck in his throat, as if he was afraid to say them. - "All the eggs are broken."

The queen opened her eyes in surprise and, raising her head, looked at her treasures. Where there had just been whole, beautiful eggs, she now saw empty, broken shells. Unexpected light faded from her eyes and she screamed:

"No! Noooooo!"

After a long scream, she became almost entirely black, with bloody-black eyes, and looked at Vallynor as if he had killed her children. With a threatening and hissing voice, she said:

"I trusted you; I confided in you. But you thanked me so much. You..." She didn't even finish the sentence; she lifted her head slightly and gathered air.

The queen's words immediately made Vallynor realize that trouble was brewing. Moreover, the way she gathered air hinted that she was going to release fire. With sadness, he quickly ran behind a huge column.

When he reached the column, the dragon immediately released a green fire mixed with black-green color, which very quickly began to destroy the column behind which Vallynor had managed to hide.

"I didn't touch your children. I didn't even get close to them. How could I..." Vallynor shouted, trying to prove his innocence. But the old woman seemed not to hear him.

After she finished releasing the fire, she angrily got up and headed toward the almost completely destroyed column. But halfway there, the chains that had wrapped around her remembered themselves and held her back, not allowing her to step forward. Growling angrily, she pounded on the chains.

Vallynor, lifting his head, could see how the old woman tried to free herself from the chains. Closing his eyes, he gathered his thoughts and, making a pitiful face, mourned the old woman and himself inside. He said:

"I'll put an end to your suffering."

Taking the pendant in his hands, Vallynor began to summon the dead, whom he immediately ordered to attack. He did not want to allow the enemy to free herself from the chains, which greatly helped to deprive her of mobility.

The army of the dead, having received the order, pounced on the old woman. The dragon almost destroyed one of the chains when the dead attacked her. Hatred and fury enveloped her, making her fiercely desire their complete destruction.

She immediately slammed her paws down on the dead, turning them into paste. But with every passing second, they only became more numerous. This made the dragon try to retreat and quickly release a weak fire that engulfed most of the dead.

Even if Vallynor had learned what the enemy wanted to do, he wouldn't have had enough time because it was too fast. As a result, he couldn't save most of his dead, who turned to ashes, caught in the flames of steel.

He summoned even more dead and began reciting the spells "Land of the Dead" and "Hands of the Soul". Behind him came dozens of hands, invisible to ordinary eyes, slowly moving from one side to the other. He also felt that the second spell was complete.

But Vallynor began to frown when he tried to summon hands from the ground. Surveying the floor, he immediately realized that the spell was working properly. But the floor on which he was now standing was made not of simple stone but of something resembling marble. This same floor prevented the "Land of the Dead" from lowering its hands and tendrils against the dragon.

"Damn," muttered Vallynor.

One of his trump cards was blocked. Vallynor was already about to annul it but quickly stopped and ran to the wall, seeing how the old woman released a wave of a plant that destroyed the floor and began to conquer the entire room.

The dead caught in the plants were caught, after which they slowly began to decompose. Seeing how they would soon become nutrients for the plant, Vallynor, without hesitation, read a new spell that was taught to him by Experavit.

In a matter of seconds, while he was reciting the spell, Vallynor quickly hid behind a whole column. Fortunately, the Queen of the Forest did not notice him. After finishing the spell, the corpses that were slowly decomposing swelled like balls and exploded.

A red mist enveloped the entire room, which slowly disintegrated like acid, touching everything it touched, even Vallynor. But he quickly created a dome, as Experavit taught him, so the mist could only harm him at the beginning.

While Vallynor waited, he heard a cry of pain. Looking through the column, he could see pieces of bones that destroyed most of the room. These bone pieces were reinforced by a spell, making them sharper and more dangerous than usual.

The queen let out a cry of pain and immediately turned green. Slowly, the bones of hundreds of dead people entered her flesh, and thousands of deadly bone pieces fell to the ground as the Queen of the Forest healed from all wounds and immediately began to strike her paws on the chains that held her.

Vallynor watched all this and realized that killing the old woman would be very difficult if he tried to physically harm her. Quickly thinking, he decided to attack not her body but her soul and, if he was lucky, tear her out of her body.

More than a dozen invisible hands attacked the dragon. While Vallynor summoned the dead, some of them turned into armor. Creating a scythe out of necro-energy, he attacked the enemy.

The dead surrounded the enemy and attacked the wounded plants and the dragon itself, which was still healing.

The dragon angrily raised its paws and even attacked with its tail these worthless beetles that had wounded it with a scratch. It quickly healed its unharmed skin and scales, even if they flew off the flesh. It quickly regenerated, growing new scales.

The dragon, raising its wings and fully opening them, angrily roared. Vines emerged from the ground, attacking the dead and Vallynor. Vallynor, wielding a scythe made of energy, cut every vine that came in his way.

While he fought and cut these nasty vines with their newly appearing thorns, he realized that his dead were losing. They did not have enough strength to completely cut these vines.

Taking a deep breath, he directed his necro-energy into his army of dead. This energy enveloped them, made them stronger, and made their weapons sharper. Because of this, with one swing, they cut these vines.

Feeling that he would lose his advantage, the dragon quickly lowered its head, growled, and released a green cloud. The vines that were under this growing cloud became larger and stronger. And the dead themselves fell to the ground, turning into nutrient-rich soil for plants. Trees began to grow behind the vines, quickly taking up a huge space in the room.

Vallynor, who always watched the enemy, was able to immediately see and understand the meaning of the mist. Quickly understanding the nature of the cloud, he jumped back and began to chant a spell. After a long five or six seconds of jumping, he released a black cloud, which, like the green one, helped the dead and caused damage to the plants. But this cloud was even more destructive and dangerous.

Upon contact, there was a strong explosion that injured Vallynor and the old woman, as well as damaging all the vines with the dead.

Vallynor, being injured, caught some of his undead and, using their nutrients, restored his body. During this time, he watched as the old lady healed from her wounds, enveloped in green.

While Vallynor was thinking about what to do, he couldn't help but think that everything he knew, he learned from Eksp'eravit. Would he have foreseen her fall?

The queen raised her paws and forcefully slammed them onto the ground, creating two holes in the floor. Roots began to grow from these holes, latching onto the undead and Vallynor.

Realizing that these roots could be too dangerous for him, he quickly enveloped himself in necroenergy and increased his necrotic power. Upon first contact, the roots quickly began to rot, while those that tried to kill Vallynor latched onto the undead, catching them like prey and pulling them into the ground.

The Queen herself collected air and released a green mist that quickly destroyed everything but also helped plants grow and reproduce faster. When this mist was supposed to pass halfway to Vallynor, a huge tentacle emerged from the ground, wrapping around the old lady's throat. The end of the tentacle entered her open mouth. The mist began to destroy this tentacle until it was enveloped in necroenergy. The risen tentacles entered her throat more forcefully and released thorns. These were Vallynor's twisted tentacles, which still had thorns and could penetrate flesh. Completely hidden, the tentacle was less harmful.

The Queen felt herself being cut from the inside and wanted to scream in pain, but couldn't. Raising her paws, she attacked the tentacles and turned 90 degrees, trying to tear them apart, while the green aura enveloped her and restored her damage.

Vallynor, while releasing hundreds of undead, ran as hard as he could towards the dragon, and all his invisible hands reached forward. But when they reached her scales, they flew off to the side.

The hands of the soul could no longer pass through material objects like they used to, which greatly shocked Vallynor. He had always thought that the hands of the soul could penetrate all material things. But now it turns out that it was not so. Of course, it has not yet been proven that the hands of the soul cannot pass through the scales and flesh of a dragon due to its special density. Perhaps it was enveloped in some kind of spiritual shield.

The queen almost broke free from the tentacles that had caught her paws, but then two more tentacles and four hands met her. The floor began to crack, and from the cracks, dead hands and roots started to emerge, fighting each other.

Vallynor looked at the queen and tried to see some weakness. Examining her, he was able to notice something strange on her chest for a split second.

Straining his mind, he directed even more huge hands and tentacles at the queen. Some of them tried to harm her, but all the wounds were instantly healed, and her expended powers were restored.

Vallynor looked very closely at her chest and noticed the trace of a palm on it. Without hesitation, he directed one tentacle with a sharp bony tip to this spot.

The bone easily penetrated the dragon's flesh, as if there were no scales on it. Then Vallynor directed one hand of the soul straight into the wound, trying to penetrate inside. This time, the hand of the soul passed without problems. Then Vallynor realized that he had a chance.

The chance to finally defeat the old woman and set her free was small. With great effort, he directed his soul straight at the old woman's soul, trying to tear it out. However, no matter how much effort he possessed, he could not even move her soul by a centimeter. It was like trying to move a mountain all at once.

This disappointed him a little, and at that moment, Vallynor suddenly dodged the queen's tail, which attacked him.

While Vallynor tried to tear out the soul, she quietly broke one of the chains and, using all her strength, broke free from the tentacles that had entered her mouth. Then she attacked him, hiding in the shadows.

"If I can't tear out your soul completely, I'll take it in pieces," said the Hand of the Soul, taking the form of a demon hand with sharp claws. He clutched the old woman's soul and tore it out, even if it was just a small piece. The dragon castle screamed in pain.

Vallynor himself decided to attack her again. Falling to the ground, he felt the pain intensify tenfold. His wounded soul reminded him of itself at the least appropriate moment.

Falling to the ground, he was seized by unbearable pain that increased with each passing second. Entering his inner world, he saw how fragments of children tried to stop the growing wounds. But he didn't have time to assess the situation well before the painful sensation returned him to the real world. The pain was so strong that he couldn't even take a step.

The Queen, in turn, began to recover from the damage inflicted on her and screamed fiercely, "I must avenge my lost children!" She began attacking the hands and tentacles emerging from the ground as she approached Vallynor.

Seeing the Queen approaching him, Vallynor realized that he was now her target. In this dire situation, he was only glad that the Queen was not attacking from a distance, as her mind was clouded and she did not think to attack. But even if she did not harm him while he was at a distance, the situation would quickly change when he approached her. Clenching his teeth, Vallynor dared to undertake a very dangerous venture.

He tore a piece of the Queen's soul and, without slowing down, threw it into his wound, reciting a spell with his last bit of strength. The piece of the queen's soul quickly turned into liquid and entered his wound. Immediately, everything disappeared, and only darkness remained. After a few long seconds, Vallynor heard almost a whisper:

"Mummy... Mom. Let's fly!" a child's voice cried and begged to fly. And after her joyful laughter, it was clear that she got what she wanted.

The darkness quickly crept in and covered the cloud they had entered. When Vallynor emerged from it, he noticed that there was nothing under his feet. They were flying... Oh God, I'm afraid of heights... No, I should not be distracted by such trifles.

Vallynor fiercely tried to erase memories of the Queen from his mind. But at that moment, he noticed a small dragon flying next to him, happily swirling in the air. However, Vallynor was not a dragon expert and could not determine if it was a boy or a girl.

The dragon continued to happily circle back and forth while the queen smiled and watched over her child, making sure no enemies crept up on them unnoticed. When Vallynor had almost forgotten the memories, he saw the Tiny Dragon pierced by a huge iron shard that went through it. When everything disappeared, he only heard a heartbreaking scream.

He woke up when he noticed that the shadows that were falling on him had grown larger. Quickly jumping aside, he saw that the huge root that was next to him fell where he had just been and created a huge hole in the floor.

"Damn, Eksperavit, if I meet you again, I'll give you a hundred fresh corpses of beauties adorned with flowers and chocolate," he muttered.

The pain he had recently felt was unbearable. But he knew it was temporary until the pain returned. Closing his eyes, Vallynor took several unnecessary breaths and hit his face.

Opening his eyes, determination was visible in them. Dozens of soul hands penetrated the queen's wound in the form of palms as she tried to approach him.

Entering the queen's soul, he tore it into pieces and quickly assimilated them with his own. But because he assimilated pieces of the queen's soul without prior purification, it was very unpleasant and dangerous.

It was unpleasant because during assimilation he saw parts of the victim's memories, and it was dangerous because every reasonable soul has an intrinsic will that will fight against him. And the more soul pieces he assimilates, the stronger the enemy's will becomes.

If you play with someone else's will, it can eat the will of the loser and take all of their memories with it. A new personality will be born in place of the former owner, which will take away most of the personality of the winning will. This essentially penetrates and kills the personality, taking its place.

So now Vallynor is dancing on the edge of a knife. It's interesting how he hasn't cut his own legs or his little dead friend yet.