Kitsoma and Mara stood there watching me as I carried the man named Robert in my arms. By now I had stopped his body from bleeding anymore, not from the fact that he was bleeding on me but from the fact that... his body just had so little left to bleed and his body was already looking shriveled up... I used some of my magic to imitate life and bring his body back to looking normal but it wont last long.
I looked over at Sondar with a serious glare. "You heard him say where his family lived correct? Go and get them and hurry up. meet me in the open field outside. This man may have been used to distract us but he did it because his family was at risk. Any man worth his weight would do the exact same thing...." and without another word I sprouted wings and jumped into the air and flew off towards the open field. Everyone knew where it was since it was the only place that wasn't covered by either woods or farmland. I planned on holding a funeral pyre for this man but I wanted the family to be there so that I could give my condolences aswell as tell them who really killed him.... me.
I landed in the field shortly after and with quick work using the few trees I could find I quickly chopped them down and set up a short pyre. I set the man atop it and then I sat and waited for the family to come.
I heard them before I saw them as the wails of the wife echoed across the open air long before I saw her running towards her husband. I stepped aside quickly as a mother and two children, a boy that judging by his aura to be 17 bordering on 18, and a girl who was maybe a few years younger, perhaps 15. They all stepped up to the pyre and held the hand of the man while tears rolled down their faces and sobs rang out from their mouths. This went on for what seemed like hours but I just stood their stoically because this is what I deserved as the mans killer. I deserved to see the aftermath that I caused.
The woman sniffled before turning to me. "Who did this to my husband? He said he had taken a job with a friend a few days ago and left. He didn't come home or send a letter, he just left and never came back! And now I find out he's Dead!? WHAT HAPPENED!?" She screamed at me hysterically. Sondar took a step forward towards her but I simply raised a hand towards him.
I looked at the kids for a split second before speaking. "Ma'am maybe it would be better if the children don't hear what I have to say? It could be somewhat traumatic?"
"I am an adult you scaled freak! Tell me what happened to my Father!" The son said with anger clear in his eyes.
"I want to know what happened aswell... b-b-but I do not consider you a freak sir." The daughter said with a slight blush as she looked away. I just ignored that before looking back at the mother.
"Ma'am, in this territory right now there are a group of slavers, and they had taken your husband and used him as a distraction to take my attention away while a group of them had tried to kidnap the lady Mara and Lady Kitsoma, along with my daughters. We know now that they have been kidnapping and selling the poor and homeless in this territory for quite some time until recently. We caught your husband and after a quick questioning I found out that they made him wear a set of cursed armor from the neck down that melded into his skin and was slowly consuming him and killing him."
They gasped with shock and looks of horror as they looked back at the man.
"But in my Hubris I thought I had an answer for everything and so I tried to remove the armor... and ended up killing him, I tried to remove it the as fast and as best as I could but in the end I just made him suffer more without realizing it."
The son whipped his head around in a frenzy as he walked up to me. "Who the fuck do you think you are to make that decision? Who gave you the right to play with our lives like that? If the armor was killing him slowly we could have just kept healing him over and over again until we found a safer option! YOU BASTARD!!!" He yelled in rage and threw a punch at me. I didn't dodge it even as his mother and sister screamed at him to stop.
His fist connected with my bottom jaw but I head did not move a single inch. His punch was filled with rage yes, but that was all it was filled with. No power, no resolve to kill, all this young man wanted was to vent the anger that he couldn't control and who better than the man that willingly admitted to killing his father.
I looked down at the boy as he held his hand in pain. I leaned down and I raised my hand to his swollen and bloody fist and a magical circle soon appeared that cast a healing light over it.
"If you're angry, good. If you're pissed off at me, good. But if that's all you are, than give it up. However if you truly want to avenge your father and end me than come with me. I will train you to be the best damn fighter this world has ever seen. This world is suffering just as you are, exactly as you are, from being worse than me, far worse than me. I am looking for people who are willing to fight and protect the weak while at the same time destroy and annihilate the creatures and vile things that cause the pain you are feeling right now."
I stood up and walked over to the mother. "I promised your husband that you will be well taken care of for the rest of your life. My wife Mara will take you in and if you want you can life the rest of your life in luxury as a guest in a personal chamber in her house. Or we can rebuild your current house so that you can live where you and your husband stayed together. The choice is up to you, I have to go now and we will be back in a weeks time. I hope you and your son have made a decision by then."
"Sondar, will you stay here and look after them and help them when it's time?" I looked over at Sondar and asked and he nodded with eyes that showed he knew what I was feeling inside but couldn't show. He was probably the only one that had access to the shelf inside myself filled with the corked bottles of emotions but I was thankful he himself knew what that felt like.
I nodded in thanks and soon took off towards the manor to pick up the ones who were coming with me and to finally set off on my journey, I had wasted 2 days by now and the wedding is only 3 days away. I would need to use all my energy in my true form to get there as quickly as possible. I landed in the front lawn of the manor and in front waiting was my wives, my 4 children, Gaia, the racoon twins, Patricia the maid, Donna and Tamachi Shogai.
"Well it looks like everyones ready? Let me just get to it then." I said as I took a good leap backwards to get some room and I transformed into my real dragon from. Going from 6 ft. to 9 ft. was easy since it was just a little jump and my regen factor can heal my bones easily. Sprouting wings to fly is simple because well same thing... But when you go from bipedal to quadrapedal ontop of multiple changes to your very skeletal structure aswell? That is a whole new ball game.
I started groaning as sweat and blood poured and burst out as my arms and legs broke and lengthened. My wings spread out to grow longer and my entire skeleton seemed to break apart to handle the muscles and flesh that started to unravel and reveal themselves like some kind of pop up tent that had been pressurized for to long. It took a few minutes but the agony of transforming fully was a memory I had forgotten about and afterwards I was left panting and drooling as my body started to mend itself as I stabilized and the others just stood in horror.
"Ha,ha,ha... Been. awhile.since.I did. that. sorry." I said after a few moments and then shook my body and stretched out the muscles flapped my wings a couple times and looked down to realize that I was now towering over everone at my full height. I would say I was easily 5 times my humanoid height if not a little taller.
"Ok everybody, hop on."
"Are you sure? A second ago you were barely standing honey?" Kitsoma said as she walked up to me nervously.
"Baby, it's ok I promise, it has just been a good minute since I took this form and I've powered up since then so ofcourse my true form would be a bit different aswell."
"Ok I get that but what about the armor that is covering your body and it looks like it's alive?"
"Huh?" I craned my neck and took a look at my body to discover that covering from the bottom of my long neck down was a purple armor that looked like it was made for battle. Then I remembered the armor I absorbed earlier today, I guess with everything that happened I pushed that to the back of my mind as I dealt with Roberts family.
"This is what I took of Robert before I killed him... I don't feel pain but I think I'm cursed to wear this armor now? Still not sure. But hey atleast it looks cool as shit right!" I said with a deep chuckle as I hurried everyone to get on my back. As Kitsoma nervously got on the armor shivered in reaction before amazingly it formed a seat for her to sit in, almost like a carriage space.
"Well that's something." Mara said as she looked at me with a smile before hopping on herself and joining Kitsoma. The rest of them seeing this no longer had any nervousness and quickly hopped on. I however was a little weirded out by this because the way the armor moved and the body structure suggested that the carriage spaces were actually situated deep within my back... But I didn't feel anything? But just the thought that the armor was my body now below my neck was a panic inducing thing.... LIke what about my sexy time with my wives!!!!
"LET'S GO VEXSUS, MY DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW ISN'T GOING TO WAIT TO GET MARRIED MUCH LONGER YOU KNOW!" Mara yelled out from the carriage and shook me from my thoughts. I chuckled with a shake of my head and started to flap my wings before flexing my legs and with a grunt I jumped into the air and off towards the land of Necro.