A King

To the west and not so far from Salems' mountain, was a land without water and life, and beneath this land were tunnels beyond count. The wind here was foul with the stench of rotted meat clinging to the air, deep inside these tunnels was a hall carved from stone with six thrones made of black glass.

The thrones were empty, save one, in it sat a large skeleton with red flames for eyes, horns grew from the sides like a ram. If it stood would be six and a half feet tall, donned in black plate armor marked with a red hand for a coat of arms, "A shadow realm door was opened, how interesting!"

The large skeleton grabbed the war hammer leaning against his throne and rose from his seat, "Gather the commanders and all recent reports from the battlefields, there are wraiths amongst the living."

~Minas Lusta mil Luna~

Salem watched the large cocoon shake and crack, slowly exposing part of its carapace, a black metallic leg ripped through another section of the cocoon, releasing a clear liquid that spilled upon the ground.

He had entered the warren beneath his palace only a few minutes ago when he saw the cocoon that was now being torn to pieces, he was excited to see his silver demon and find out how strong it would be after the first evolution.

This wouldn't be the day he got to experience his new mount however, after its rebirth, the demon gave birth to just over five hundred eggs. The eggs were black with a single silver dot on them, the eggs were round and the size of a small fist, they were placed in the nest of the queen who proceeded to rest after the ordeals of rebirth and giving birth to its young.

Salem was slightly disappointed but he would rather his demon recover and not be in danger of overexertion, he stayed with his demon for a while patting it near its large silver plated head. The demon had grown bulkier and seemed that it wouldn't even fear a ballista should it come under such extreme firepower.

It hadn't grown much in length but the black legs looked powerful enough to break a man with ease, the mandibles were pitch black like the legs and looked sharp enough to bite through iron like butter, the cage it had been brought in would now be torn to pieces before you even closed the door.

Salem turned to leave when he noticed one of the eggs was different than the rest of the cohort, it was still black like the others, but it didn't have the dot like the others. This egg had a jagged silver line wrapping around its center, "System, scan this egg and the others and let me know if there is a difference between them."

"Right away master Salem!"

Analyzing

Analysis complete

"Master Salem, it would appear you are quite lucky this egg will most likely hatch a king of these demons its power would be similar to the queen. Though the males will be significantly larger after a few more evolutions they will pale in comparison to the queen, while the king will dominate all.

The queen must have invested a lot of energy into making a king rule over the hive before the transformation, there is no telling how powerful it will be once it hatches, I would advise keeping the queen safe while the brood is growing.

If your queen were to perish before a new one is born, it would be difficult to keep the brood growing without a queen. They might find a wild centipede but it would take time for the offspring to become demonized naturally, and using the same method as before will leave you drained and vulnerable."

The system explained that if he used the method to turn a second species, even if it was a centipede, it may not become a silver demon or it might die in the process and leave him once again vulnerable and weak.

Keeping this in mind he decided to take the king for his mount, though it would take a while for it to grow, the system had made them able to grow very fast. It would be a month after hatching before it would be the size of a pony, another month before it was rideable and a third month from reaching full size as the queen had.

The next time it would evolve would be in two years, and that was with the systems guiding hand, otherwise, it would've taken five to ten years just to reach full maturity. Salem replaced his egg with the others before he started to chant, he cast a spell to protect the nest before he headed for the study.

The two ambassadors were waiting for him, their clothes looked disheveled and there was a smile on their faces. They greeted each other and handed him the contracts immediately, taking a look they were signed and sealed with blood and ink, "Well that is interesting, I expected significant push back from the noble houses, the undead must be pressing against your cities harder then I thought."

Looking at the sheepish grins on their faces, he knew that they were worried had they not signed it now then he could've increased the price another fold and they would still have to pay it.

"Alright since everything is signed I assume you are gathering the elves and abolishing you elven slave trade policies. When should I expect the elves to be brought over? Before you ask the trees have been planted in Idos and both cities are receiving my aid as we speak."

"One week, two at most Lord Belegast," Forsa answered the question for them both.

Ambassadors Dalen and Forsa nodded in excitement, knowing they had convinced their lords of the right choice, Dalen more so then Forsa as the leader of Koftas was more than willing to give up on slaves for the lives of his citizens.

While Dalen had seen little luck convincing his own lord until the undead had nearly breached their main gate, killing thousands of soldiers in a mad rush to the gate that was closing.

Luckily they had pushed the undead back for now, but if the undead had just been a little faster, tens of thousands of lives would've been lost along with the western gate and district. The city lord of Idos had finally seen reason and signed the contract which saved his city and people and maybe his position as city lord.

Salem sent the ambassadors to rest and recover for their journey home after they left he took out a map of each city and marked a few buildings and secret entrances on each map. Taking note of who owned which building and where he could find them. Only a few came from Koftas while Idos had over a dozen.

He sighed as he sat down, taking a sip of tea, this was going to be very bloody and he would need evidence if he was going to void his current contracts.