"God damnit!" Emopa kicked some random rocks lying on the ground, his facial expression one of slight anger.
"Woah, calm down there, my son." The Father's voice pierced his thoughts, as if they were his own.
"Gah! What the hell?!" He looked around for the source of the voice, not realizing it was coming from his own head. "Where are you?"
"Jeez, for an Abomination, you aren't the smartest, huh?" The Father spoke, his tone sounding indifferent, and a little bit disappointed.
"Okay, enough with this bullshit." Emopa checked his location on the map. Luckily, he was only a few hours away from... Vintara? "What the hell? Why isn't it named New York? What happened while I was in the Undergarden?"
"So, do you want to know about your family lineage or not? I don't know a lot, as even I was kept on the dark about them. Not like the others tell me anything anyway." The Father said, his voice echoing in Emopa's head.
"I'll take whatever I can get." Emopa said, beginning to walk toward the capital of Vintara, Vineyard.
"Alright, then, let's start with this. First of all, Abominations all strictly have no mana, you being the exception from what it seems like." The Father spoke as Emopa moves through the the forest, a small path starting to form as it seemed like he was heading onto a road.
"No magic? Well, I mean prior to all of this happening, I loved a normal life." Emopa said, watching his step.
"You... Gained mana towards your adulthood? You seem to grow stranger and stranger every time." The Father's form began to manifest into that of a ghastly skeleton. "Abominations are also known for their aggression, violence, and all that stuff. Hence why they're hated by Pure Gods."
"So, what does that say about me? Am I different?" Emopa asked, looking at the etheral skeleton.
"Of course you are." The skeleton floated on its back, it's jaw opening up. "You're a non-aggressive Abomination with no real motivation, and you have magic? This is gold."
"Why are Abominations so hated by gods? Is there like, something I should know about?" Emopa asked, walking against the rough dirt road beneath his feet.
"I can't tell you that, my child. Aggression is only a small part of it. Even some Corrupt Gods hate them."
Before Emopa could say anything in response, he heard screaming in the distance. Immediately, he turned from his path and began to run toward the source of the scream. As he maneuvered through the trees, he eventually came across a mage, sitting against a tree and clutching her staff.
In front of her stood two large orcs, both carrying spiked clubs that were dripping blood.
In front of him laid 4 mangled corpses that seemed like they had been crushed by the weight of the large clubs. Normally, something like this would make Emopa sick, but he felt normal.
"Damn, tough luck..." He mumbled, drawing out his odachi.
The two orcs, both being about 7 feet tall and quite big stared at each other. One had dark blue skin while the other had dark green skin. They laughed, the dark green one stepping back as the blue one stepped forward. Emopa staring up at them.
"A rare sense of compassion to help a damsel in distress? You may be quite the ladies man, Emopa." The Father chuckled inside of Emopa's head, the skeleton sitting on a tree branch.
The orc raised it's crude weapon in the air, slamming it down with surprising speed. The collision made a small dust cloud, Emopa hung from a tree branch with his free hand, his left.
"Bring it." Emopa dropped down, dashing forward and swinging his odachi. The orc twisted its wrist and blocked the strike, balling up its fist and attempting to strike Emopa.
Almost immediately after, Emopa twisted his wrist, making the blade's black edge face upward. He then swung the blade, splitting the orc's arm in two. Blood sprayed, which Emopa dutifully avoid, with only some of it spraying his hair.
The orc raised it's club, ready to swing again, but Emopa was quicker. He quickly got into a stance, his legs spread apart. The left leg was slightly in front of the right, and his torso facing to the right. He held the odachi to where it was slightly under his chin, the edge facing upward once more.
Instantly, he was behind the orc, a large hole in it's chest. It shook slightly before falling over and dying.
"Weaker than I thought." He said, facing the orc's body as the dark green one appeared behind Emopa, swinging its club. Emopa caught it however, his hand being pierced by one of the spikes. "Ow."
Emopa swung the odachi with much more force this time, causing a large cloud of dust to kick into the air, as well as the ground to shake slightly. Birds flew away at the fear of a predator, or to simply get away from danger.
By the time the dust cleared, the dark green orc was sliced in half, it's upper body nowhere to be seen. Emopa kicked off the club from his palm, the wound healing almost immediately.
"Ahh, there you go my child. Mastering the art of regeneration so soon?" The Father spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You'll do just fine in the real world. Once I'm done guiding you, you'll be a fully fledged Lich in no time flat. Now, call out to the two dead orcs. Command the dead."
"Uhm..." He looked down at the dark green orc. "Get up..." The orc's body began to twitch a little. Soon, it's lower half stood up, regenerating the upper half. The orc didn't seem fat anymore, in fact it actually was quite muscular.
"What the hell?" Emopa tilted his head, realizing the the scleras of the orc were pitch black, but it had green irises and black pupils.
It kneeled before Emopa, growing a cascade of short black hair, and his tusks disappeared. "Hm? You were strong enough to maintain your form. Interesting." Emopa narrowed his eyes, grinning.
"Your words are much appreciated master." The orc spoke fluently, surprising Emopa a little.
"You can speak English too? Interesting." Emopa said, turning to the other dead orc, extending his hand. "Hmmm... Return to Life."
The orc's body stood up, parts of it starting to decompose and shrink. By the time the transformation had finished, the now part skeletal orc stood at 5'7. The bones around the center of it's chest, left cheek, left leg, right arm, and back left of the neck were visible. It had brown hair that reached its upper back, it being curly. It was also much more skinny than Morgul, but something about it seemed off, like it retained the strength.
"Wow. Okay, drastically different than your friend here. Perhaps different lengths of death effect what you come out as?" Emopa rubbed his chin as the dark blue orc kneels to him as well. Remaining silent.
"Alright. He turned to the dark green orc, "Your name with be Morgul. You seem more like the warrior type, so that'll be your name. As for you..." He turned to the other orc, "You seem like a mage..."
The orc nodded. "I do have magic, My Lord, and I have the ability to raise the dead such as you, but to a lesser extent. I can command lesser monsters such as goblins, skeletons, zombies, and the such..."
Emopa nodded. "Intriguing. In that case, you need less of a warrior name and more of a simple yet cool sounding name... How about Skarlok?"
Skarlok bowed deeply. "I thank you fully my Lord. It rings with power and intimidation!" It raised it's head, the eyes the exact same as Morgul's.
"Great." A black book with a red glowing outline appeared in front of him. The face reading out 'Book of Souls'. Emopa turned the book around, the back of it just a black cover.
He turned the book back to its face and opened it up, Morgul and Skarlok starting to become mist. Their bodies then turned to orbs of their respective colors, green and blue. They entered the book, their names being displayed on the yellowish page side by side.
[Two new summons obtained. Morgul and Skarlok have been added to the Book of Souls.]
"I'll read their overview later." Emopa said, looking at the female mage who watched the entire ordeal, seeming slightly less afraid.
"Sorry to scare ya." Emopa said, walking away to continue back to his path to Vintara. After a few long hours of walking, he finally reached Vintara.
He noticed that wasn't labeled New York anymore, which he found odd. He was greeted by the sprawling city scape he had always been used to, finding it nostalgic since he had been surrounded by nothing but aggressive nature for the past few years.
"Well, now I have to find Vatel and the rest." Emopa noticed a diner, his stomach grumbling just by looking at it.
He walked in, seeing casual individuals eating at filled tables. They didn't seem like adventurers or hunters or any kind of special person. Just normal people. Above each table hung a lamp of the same circular design with a small, yellow glow.
In front of him sat a desk with glass in the front, displaying a variety of treats and desserts. Slightly to the right of that, a woman stood behind a counter and a register. "Hello! Welcome to Fred's Diner, are you here for a table or did you make a reservation?"
"Oh- uhm, I'm looking for a table." Emopa said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Alright! Will these two be joining you?" She pointed to someone behind him.
Emopa turned around, his eyes widening as he saw Vatel and a young boy next to him.
"Vatel?!"