Master Of None

”I mentioned before we came here to take a test this is to rank up to a higher tier adventurer party. However we also came here because the monsters here can be defeated in groups making us stronger. We have goals and dreams to pursue so we must become stronger.” The answer was fairly cliche but walker felt it was right for the moment.

The immortal king cocked his head to the side ”I’ve met one other who tried to do the same...hmmm since you all have come to see me I will gift you with some history.” immortal king brought its hand to its jaw and the patterns on its bones glowed slightly.

”In its prime this great city was magnificent, the people such as I strived for the immortal god’s attention. We followed strict religious beliefs and life was harmonious. Often the outside rabble would be brought in to gain a chance to join us or be used as part of our learning. Most higher ups would experiment with magic, if we could learn more we could garner the gods attention and gain its blessings. To become an immortal is the Pinnacle of life. You understand the undying faith is one that strives to stand above death. Look at this body before you it’s looking dead yet the souls within me brim with power and life.” Immortal king laughed as he praised himself.

”One such rabble was brought in, a child with a mother. Something happened to the father but that’s not important. Without names they were subject 912 and 913. The overseer made many notes that the mother 912 would fake courage in front of 913 while the testing occurred. For rabble such as them it was impressive. The system she possessed was one of a healer so she was perfect for discovering certain intricacies of life power. Sadly 913 had yet to show his system so all that was left was to let it watch and hope it unlocked something useful. This went on for many a month until one day the mother fell from life and became a low level undead. Didn’t retain her soul or consciousness a complete failure.” Immortal king shook his head still remembering reading the reports of a promising experiment failure.

”That instant the boy 913 unlocked its system. The overseer didn’t even have a chance to react as 913 acted above a normal expected level one’s power and escaped. This led to the overseer losing his position and a search for the missing subject. Unfortunately there was no evidence found. But that was not the end of it.” The flow of the patterns seemed to radiate a bit almost as if the anger from years past was fresh.

”Some time later rumors of someone with a hero system trying to obtain the hero title spread. This naturally enticed our great undying cities hunters because a rare specimen as such would give them a life of ease when captured and turned if for a reward. The disgusting part was this hero was said to reside with the vampire trash! Those royal vampires hated the results of our experiments and religion. They thought themselves high and mighty for worshiping that god of blood. To think they were conditionally immortal as long as they fed on blood. Pathetic. What a half assed form of immortality,  an insult to the great god of immortality.” Waves of shadow and anger came from immortal king, it truly hated vampires to its very core.

”Our great city waged many a war against them to no end. We would never convince them of the pure immortality gained through the soul. I digress. This hero gained popularity over the years. Slaying our hunters and showing up to battles against the vampires. Soon we found ourselves in turmoil. No new subjects, along with unrest pushed us to full blown war. The vampires lead their strongest to our city and tried to take our undying life from us. We were able to cut the numbers down significantly but needed to resort to our last untested trump card. We fused all of our souls in to one body. My body” immortal king grasped at his throne with his free hand making the party wonder if it would shatter under its grip.

” The city was designed for this purpose, we would commit the greatest act, to fuse our souls and accept the blessing of the immortal god. The soul spire in the center of the city would attract the souls pulled from their mortal bodies and begin the fusion in to one body. However, since testing was not complete it left us all trapped and bound in the spire. Each of us our souls bound together became one, we had left mortal death behind and gained immortal life as a soul bound to bones. Our mortal bodies became playthings for us, skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and so forth. Our experiments through the years became different....” trailing off it had realized it was getting in a tangent and returned to the main story.

”The vampire royalty was faced with our undead army and was forced to retreat. They had almost completely lost their species in this battle alone. Sadly we couldn’t follow them to destroy the few remaining. But since they went to slumber and lick their wounds for a few hundred years it was not a loss.” The immortal king paused a moment then continued. ”Once the two sides had fallen in to ruin a young man walked down our streets. It was subject 913. He held a curved sword made by the vampires and slew undead left and right. Upon reaching the spire he had one demand, the undead that was his mother. Naturally we did not allow this but we were uncomfortable we were one now not many and lacked control of the powers from our souls. 913 slashed at us causing a few souls to be freed and fade away but he realized there would be no end. We told him we would use him as our prime experimental subject causing him to become enraged. To control him we forced the undead mother 912 to come. The reaction was not as good as we’d hoped 913 stated that he, Cosmos, had returned to rescue her. It appeared 913 was very broken in the mind. Seeing no proper response pushed 913 farther causing him to slay 912’s undead body.” The party was stunned immortal king was telling them the one and only person they heard about now to be a hero had lost his mind and slain his own mother. Would they be able to do the same if their family had lost their soul leaving behind a monster? Would they be able to remain sane?