Chapter 135 Welcome Home My Little Girl..... I'm Sorry
"I have the best doctors that are here looking after her and they say she can hold out for a couple more days. I need to bring Vexsus up to speed on what is going on outside before he gets distracted again. You know him better but I know just aswell how scatter brained he can get and how important he is to this group."
"... Dammit, I know you\'re right but Hannah needs to be dealt with as soon as possible."
"We will go right now... I heard the last little bit and I decide what I do. Hannah has suffered because of me and I will finally bring her back." I spoke as I lifted myself off the bed and interupted them. I was stupid again and in my absent mind I forgot such an important piece of my family because I believed she was being taken care of. I should have come right away before anything else.
I shook my head and started to leave the hut but was stopped as both women held me back with looks of worry.
"Vexsus, this could be bad. We don\'t know what Necro has taught her or if she is still the same little girl as before."
"Yea, for all we know Necro could have brainwashed her easily with how much control he has over spirits and souls. He could have washed her clean of all familiar ties and instead has created a sleeper agent to use against us."
"That may be but she is my daughter and I will bring her back. I have so many problems but I need to start owning up to them, starting now with the biggest one that I\'ve neglected for so long." I brushed them off and left the house.
Outside I saw as a few of my kids along with Sondar and Konna were making their rounds just in time for me to come out. I waved them over and after a quick hello I asked to be taken to Hannah. They looked at eachother with a mixed expression but led the way shortly after. I was getting more worried as the closer we got to a hut built far away from every one the more I was noticing odd expressions from the others. Some had sorrow in their eyes, while others had pity. I didn\'t know what was going on until I opened up the door to the hut and a smell of death washed over me and made me gag like I just stepped into a zombie pit.
There on a slab of cold grey stone rested the hollow shell of my daughter. Next to her was the two goblin twins but what shocked me the most was that the smell of death was coming from them. They smelled rotten, and decayed. Bits of their flesh was sloughing off with every slight twitch and jerk as their nerves were firing off one last time. Somehow they still stood there in the same position and kept a straight face as I entered. They looked like bodyguards for a princess, except these guards were undead now.
A faint wisp of smoke appeared out of one of their mouths and a familiar voice rang out.
"I hope you don\'t mind, I took the courtesy of taking over these two low level mobs in order to ensure my pe... I mean your daughter\'s body is safe and secure. But now that you are here I can see that it\'s time to bring up my end of the bargain."
I grimaced at his slight slip up but before I could say anymore, Hannah\'s body started to glow an ethereal greenish glow as it started to lift form the slab and levitate in the air. Before long the glow rescinded and her body came back to settle on the slab once again. The bodies of the undead goblins suddenly shook before falling down into a heap of rotten flesh and bone. I shed a tear as I watched this happen but I knew it was my fault they ended up like this. I forsake them as I do anything I forget about. I shook my head as I pushed the feelings into a new bottle to add to the internal shelf of self hate and walked up to Hannah and started to inspect her with mana.
At some point Sylvania and Shorunt had come in aswell and assisted me with examining her body. We all agreed that somehow through all of this... Her body was back to being 100% like it was before her soul was taken. Sylvania said that her body was starting to degenerate but now it was as if she was brand new.
That was when I heard it. BADUMP BADUMP
The loud echoes of a heartbeat that seemed to vibrate the hut we were in. My chest rattled with the noise as what started at a slow pace was now quickly picking up tempo as it reached a deafening height and speed that sent quakes through the very air itself. I looked over at Hannah and saw with wide eyes as her eyes were open and staring at me with a pure hatred in them that shook me to my core. I felt like I was a lamb staring at a tiger for a brief moment as the aura surrounding her took on a form that embodied the underworld itself. I was truly afraid and fearful of what was to come but soon the aura died down and the image of a vast underworld faded from view as my brain registered the burning in my lungs as it reminded me to breath.
"Vexsus, it has been quite awhile it seems." The voice of a woman came through my little girls mouth that only held faint remnants of the once innocent tones of the adoptive daughter I took in.
"Hannah? Why do you sound like that baby girl?" I asked as I walked up and placed a hand on hers gently. She only looked down where we touched and for a split second I saw as she held a disgusted look before quickly wiping it away to replace it with a neutral look.
"Time flies when your soul is being held captive by a master Necromancer. Souls have a funny way of aging faster outside of the body than one would expect.... But enough about me my dear father... please tell me all about the adventures you had while I was stuck suffering." She said all this with the most calm and collected tone that my brain wasnt fully accepting of the undertones of hatred that was clearly there. I was starting to stutter and nothing coherent was coming out when thankfully Shorunt came to my rescue.
"Master had been busy dealing with things that effected everyone, not just you Lady Hannah. Our very lives were being threatened in one way or another and Master had to step in to deal with them. I can\'t begin to imagine how you suffered but we all missed you and we did everything we could to hurry up and bring you back home. Don\'t take it out on Master, he wasn\'t the one that took you away from us after all."
"Ah, Father\'s little minion speaks up in his defense, how completely original. I bet you that he completely forgot about me and he was just off galivanting and fucking whores left and right... Admit it you dragon scum, you never cared for me, you only adopted me because you pitied me and you saw me as a potential weapon to use. You never cared at all did you... DID YOU!"
Hannah screamed and a soundwave rang out from her throat that shattered the eardrums of everyone in the house. Blood was spurting from my ears as I was trying hard to stay concsious. I was on my knees in pain, While I was waiting for my body to heal I took a look around quickly and saw as everyone else that was unfortunate enough to be in the hut was passed out in a small puddle of their own blood. I could feel their heartbeats so I knew they weren\'t dead but damn did this hurt.
I turned back towards Hannah only to see as she was stepping down from the slab and with a wave of her hands, a resplendantly dark but shining black dress shifted and shaped from the very shadows themselves seemed to mold to her form. She looked down at herself before looking back at me with a smirk.
"Looks like I need to modify this body a little bit to better suit my true age now... Right Dad?" She waved her hands again and the next moment she grunted in pain as I could see her very bones start to snap before lengthening in her legs and arms, The dress was starting to fill out as her body aged into a woman in her mid 20\'s with curves that could kill and hair that shines silver that rolled down to her shoulders like liquid metal.
When her body was done changing she shook and stretched before smiling in content. "Ah, there, now that\'s more like it. I feel like this is what my body should really look like. I hope Master Necro enjoys my new look... Who knows maybe if I\'m lucky you will be a grandfather hehe. Bye bye father."
The shadows overtook her like a black wave before crashing back down and disappearing, nothing was left of Hannah and the twins. Only me and Sylvania and Shorunt were all that was left in the hut. I only sat there slack jawed as the past few moments replayed over and over in my mind. Hannah came back but soon destroyed my hearing and then aged into a woman and then disappeared into shadows.
As I kept replaying what happened a subtle anger started to rise in me not only aimed at Necro for the obvious bullshit he pulled but also at myself for letting this happen in the first place. The anger builds and builds as the atmosphere heats up before I force myself to jump through the roof and using a split second shift I partially activate my transformation as two purplish grey scaled wings burst out in a spray of blood from my back and I soar away from the village and into a nearby forest. The rage is starting to boil inside me as my mind keeps forcing myself to think of all the things I could have done to prevent this. All the things I failed in doing, all the people I failed in protecting.
A haze of red mist starts to seep from my body as a visible and physical manifestation of anger erupts from my spine and envelops my whole body like a suit of jagged spiky armor.
I let loose a roar into the air that shakes surroundings as waves of power can be felt pulsing from me in a circular pattern. The nearby woodland creatures and animals have all run away in terror at the new predator that just entered. A subtle voice can be heard just barely above the turbulent crashing of the rage filled ocean of self hate and doubt.
*Vexsus, calm down my dear. I promise it is ok, I will help you deal with this but you have to initiate it by atleast trying to control yourself. I will take your pain and sorrow, I can feel how bad it is, just let go and I will give you relief my dear sweet Vexsus.*
The voice calms me down by just a small fraction, Just barely enough to recognize the voice and to realize what she is saying. I take a deep breath and try to hold in the anger, I try to calm down the violent beast banging against it\'s the bars that make up it\'s cage that is present in my mind. The beast stares at me with vibrant green eyes as it roars in denial against me trying to release this anger.
"HE TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME! LET ME OUT AND I PROMISE TO TEAR HIM APART PIECE BY PIECE BEFORE DINING ON HIS VERY SOUL! LET ME OUT GODDAM IT! VEXSUS YOU PIECE OF SHIT HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME HERE TO ROT! I WILL BREAK FREE ONE DAY AND THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY, YOU HERE ME!" The beast screams and yells as the entire cage slowly vanishes from my mind as the spiked armor slowly chips and cracks before breaking apart and like fine dust it scatters on the winds.
*Good, very good. I will take this anger and pain and in return give you the strength to control it better in the future.*
I feel a suction from deep within my body. Almost like something attached to me but not in the physical sense, was sucked away and in it\'s place is now a bright burning ball of energy that is slowly dissolving and spreading warmth throughout my body. As soon as that warmth hits my heart I feel a burst of power encompass my mind and I can feel almost as if a mental block of shield specifically against the rageful beast has been erected.
*Thank you Ira. You came to my rescue yet again.*