Legends of Forlienne

Chapter VI: The Shapeshifters

 The witches were an anomaly. It was by no means normal for a demon to be born without the blessing of magic. Almost every demon race out there had some natural magical ability. In spite of this, few damon races went on to continue their race.

On the surface of the planet, demons were persecuted and often hunted for their unique characteristic and powerful abilities. Few had the capacity or strength to survive long enough to create a new race. Those that did survive were as ruthless as they had been forced to be.

The shapeshifters were no exception. As a race, they were some of the most ruthless of the demonic races. There were five original shapeshifters, born to Kesani, the goddess of beauty. The identity of their father was never known. At birth, all five of the shapeshifter children were female. Later, they would learn to shift, changing every aspect of their bodies.

Their childhoods were unimpressive. Nothing of note occurred. As was true with many demon children, the young shapeshifters manifested magical abilities at an early age. They demonstrated an ability to manipulate the minds of those around them. They could bend to their wills the minds of their nurses and servants.

When they had fully grown and were sent out to live their lives in the cold, unforgiving world, their powers only grew. Although they could not yet take the forms of others, they found the completeness of their control over other souls growing. They found themselves growing closer and closer to absolute domination of the minds of those they chose as their victims.

They soon found that, although they had control over those around them, they did not fully have control of their abilities. They exercised no caution, used no restraint when burrowing their way into others' minds. Unbeknownst to them, the more they used their abilities, the further the tendrils of their power would reach into the minds of their targets, and the more fully their control extended throughout the very souls of those they possessed.

It was centuries after their birth when the true nature of their abilities came to be known; when one of the demons was finally able to extend her control so fully through the mind and body of the human she had chosen to possess that the human herself simply ceased to exist.

The human's essence became one with that of the shapeshifter, the one known as Ligya. The human's physical form still existed. It could still walk, and speak, and do all the things that give sentient life meaning, but it only did those things at the behest of the demon who had destroyed it. The very essence of its being had vanished. The mind; the conscious; the very soul within the human body, had been devoured.

Even the face the human had once possessed was denied to it. Those features, along with the skin and flesh and all other things which had given her definition, had fallen off and scattered to the wind along with her individuality. The human no longer had a gender, or a race, or an identity, or even its humanity. It was naught but a living shadow, existing solely to do the bidding of its creator; she who had been its destroyer.

The demoness could restore to the once human her features. For a short time the newly formed puppet could wear her old face and walk among her old comrades, but she had no consciousness with which to enjoy her freedom. Ligya reveled in this. She and her sisters were fascinated by their newfound ability, and they resolved to experiment with it further.

Each of the sisters chose a target, and they poured their dark power into their victims. For Ligya, it was easier the second time, and while her sisters struggled, they, too, were able to dominate the very essence of those they had chosen.

As the years passed, the five sisters would come to learn more about their abilities as their army of shadow puppets grew. They found they could wear the face of any one of their victims, as could each of their shadow puppets. Because of this, they came to be known as shapeshifters.

Their legend spread. People came to fear the name of their race, and they terrorized the villages of Forlienne without restraint or abandon. The only being to whom they answered was their mother, Kesani. It was only her commands which could purge their conqueror's appetites, and in the end, it was her rage which forced them to retreat from the world of mortals.

She disapproved of their shadow puppets. As the goddess of beauty, she detested all things she viewed as "unnatural", and her daughters' creations were the epitome of that which she loathed. When she learned of their rampage and their experiments, she commanded them to return to her palace in the demon realm, punishing them for what she viewed as their transgressions.

With reluctance, they obeyed, returning to their places under their mother's wing. Perhaps they are there still, tugging at the reins of their control. Or maybe they have long since been released and continue to prey on the mortals of that world. Or maybe they are, and always have been, naught but a myth. Only the gods may know.