Born Anew

Born Anew X

 "Gentlemen. This one is the guy you need!" The masked man yelled, and five dark figures appeared.

"You brought Hammerfist as agreed. Thank you."

"I came here to get Shana Swiftleap back." The ogre approached.

"Yes. We know. We watch over the dead, and she prayed for your success."

"I promised my wife I would bring her sister back to her. We will be a family. But my hands are tainted with blood. How will I face her that way?"

"You won't. You need to die to bring her back. Unfortunately for you, the sacrifice must be pure. A life as pure as hers, for her life." I felt the unpleasant breath of one of the creatures as it caressed Rhuk's face.

"This is preposterous! You are supposed to help!" Lowri yelled. She found herself insulted by the dark decree.

"Stay calm. Orobas said I would die."

"But your soul must be cleansed first. And to make it pure, another sacrifice must be made." The entities responded.

"This was not part of the plan! This is unacceptable! We are friends with the gods!" Marinette yelled. "You won't take my friends away!"

"Silence, mortal!"

"I will be that sacrifice." Remembering the wisdom Orobas shared with us, I decided to take a leap of faith.

"What? No! That's not how it was supposed to be. We were meant to take you back to your world!" Kraid protested.

"You were supposed to marry me!"

"And I will. Rhuk is supposed to die, and return. That doesn't mean I wouldn't do the same."

"A sacrifice of soul to cleanse Hammerfist's soul. So be it." The Necromancer stabbed my heart with a scythe. The mourning mask he wore seemed to display his regret.

I fell to the floor as my life faded, and then felt a strange tug. My soul was being dragged by one of the death gods, its hand pulling me through ethereal tethers. Before its hands could reach me, the masked man threw a censer at me, and then I was inside of it, looking at the events unfolding.

"What have you done, Necromancer?" One of the gods yelled.

"The sacrifice was completed, and you gave me the right to take a soul for my thurible as reward for this contract."

"We shall allow this one. But if you dare doing that again, you will face our wrath."

"Whatever! Let's move on. Rhuk, your sin is washed now. And this time you will die." The Necromancer used his tool on the ogre, and as he fell to the ground the masked man used his censer on him.

"How dare you! We agreed you could take only one soul."

"This one is not for me. This one is part of my contract." The man unrolled a parchment. "See this here? Rhuk Hammerfist was my target as commanded by a higher order. You have no right to defy my boss!"

"We shall abide her command. However if this turns out to be a forgery you shall be punished by her own hands."

"I follow the plan. Hammerfist paid his part, so did Peterson. Shirke you bring Shana back from the dead, I shall handle these two."

Everyone else just looked in pure awe as the ritual continued. Marinette fell to the ground, crying in despair because of our death. I had no means to help her.

"This is not what Sitri planned." I heard the construct said as he produced a censer of his own. "He never informed me I was required to perform funerary rites."

"Don't worry, kitty. Your husband will be back soon. I'm following the real plan." The masked man spoke to Marinette and changed his mask for a smiling one.

Our bodies were placed on an altar of sorts and the Necromancer approached. While he prepared his ritual the death gods formed a circle, preparing a ritual of their own making.

"How much will it cost?" The masked man said while looking at his censer. "That much? Well. I guess these guys are really that important. Alright, mistress, time to play our role in this journey."

He placed the censer next to our bodies and began to whisper words in an unknown language. A large shadow formed above us as he spoke, and from it arrived a pale woman with dark hair and clad in enchanted clothes. She pulled our souls from the censer back into our bodies, and all our wounds healed.

"Now, let's see the progress of the Dark Ones." Said the woman.

We all walked to the circle formed by the death gods. A beautiful woman with brown skin rested in the middle of a circle.

"Fascinating. Brown is an uncommon tone in ogres. Considered one of the most beautiful, second only to jet black." Kraid stated. "And she is truly as beautiful as Rhuk said. I didn't know female ogres looked that way."

"Are you implying I'm ugly? I might be burly, but not ugly! We value beauty. Even Orcs do, despite being inferior to us in that regard." Rhuk stated with pride.

The woman woke up and jumped right to the ogre's arms. "Rhuk! I waited so long for you! Your voice brought me here."

"I would never break a promise, and if I did, your sister would have me killed. Now we are free to return to Moira."

"Not so fast! We shall keep her until we are given Hammerfist's soul!" The tallest of the Dark Ones demanded.

The mysterious woman called by the Necromancer walked to the Dark One and pulled something out of its cloak. "In that case I shall bring this to Kraset and inform him his Dark Ones have broken his rules. He and the other higher death gods await a feast of souls, and this is the right spice for it."

"I told you she would be mad at you." The Necromancer replied, his smiling mask seemed to mock them.

"Enough! Give that back, guest!"

"Kraset will probably call his relatives to punish me if I let you break the rules. Or maybe you want to talk to the puppy eyed boy."

"We understand!" The smallest of the Dark Ones yelled, taking its hood off to reveal a raven face. "Let brother go. The ogres and the outsider are yours now. Just forgive him!"

"I hoped I would require no pressure to get you to reason. Here, take your vessel. Remember you are meant to play by our rules."

"Well. With that solved, I am looking for a spirit that could open a portal to my world. Maybe you could help us with that." I asked, surprised by the firm, yet kind behavior of the death goddess.

"Mistress, this part is no longer our duty. But maybe we should help."

"I am unable to guide you to such being. But you will find what you seek here. Just reach one of the Fae villages and ask for Ro'jhané." The goddess replied.

"Well. We helped. Now I bid farewell to you. We shall meet again." The Necromancer walked into a dark cloud, followed by his mistress.

"What should we do about Rhuk's new wife?" Lowri asked, still upset about how ogre marriages worked.

"I will stay by Rhuk's side, no matter where he goes." Shana replied with a smile. She seemed quite youthful and energetic.

"I said I can't afford new recruits." Kraid complained.

"I will pay for her stay. She's family to my big brother." Marinette responded. "I have made quite a lot of money looting on our way here.

"It is settled then! I intended to see the end of this, and now that Shana is back, our journey is about to end." Rhuk smiled. "Peterson, lead the way. Despite Kraids protests, you are our leader."

"No. I'm not. We are a family." I replied with a smile. "And I know the end of this quest now."