"Look at me, princess."
The pup looked up at Jolly, quickly realised what he wanted and let his mouth drop open.
Jolly spat into it. "Good dog."
"Thank you, sir."
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"Look at me, princess."
The pup looked up at Jolly, quickly realised what he wanted and let his mouth drop open.
Jolly spat into it. "Good dog."
"Thank you, sir."
Graphic violence, mutilation, cannibalism, werewolves
Jolly pulled his sword out of the last survivor's body with a boot to his chest, lip curling. The fort settled into a deathly silence as he died coughing and crying.
Contains: death threats
"Genuine question," Noah begun.
Fuck. He was looking at Joakim. Nick shared a glance with Folio, bracing himself.
"Why do you hate us so much?"
"You as in the undead?" Joakim asked.
Noah nodded. "You make being undead sound like some terrible fate, but come on. We can live forever."
"It's wrong," Joakim said simply, "Mortals are meant to die, it gives our lives meaning."
"If you wanna die so bad, I can give you a hand."
"Noah," Nick warned.
"I'll be happy to take you with me."
"Jolly," Folio said sharply. A smile pulled at his lips when he looked back at Nick.
"There's also the whole King of the Dead thing. He's the one who raises most undead, am I wrong."
"He does," Noah confirmed, "What about it?"
"The dead should have no king. They should be free of worldly concerns like that."
"What about your oh-so-righteous king?" Noah asked with an eyeroll, "I'm guessing he could rule the dead, right?"
"No. Nobody should rule us after we die."
Noah sniffed and looked away. "My king is good. I'm honoured to serve him for as long as we both exist."
Joakim scoffed, but paused a moment. "Well. Might as well, right? Not much else to do since he destroyed the world."
"Come on," Folio cut in, "You knight types might not see any purpose outside the King of the Dead, but us normal people have plenty to live for."
When Noah was young, the king discovered that he was a god reborn. Hrao-viig, slayer of elven armies, reincarnated as a humble servant's son. Even then, he'd had memories that weren't his own, of places he'd never seen and things he'd never done.
The king, of course, had been eager to claim Noah as his son and Noah's father had disappeared. His mother had refused to play along with the lie despite offers of wealth and she'd been branded a blasphemer and disappeared too. Few risked closeness with Noah now.
Nicholas had gathered that Noah's only friend was a bodyguard, Joakim. He was more relaxed than others, Noah felt comfortable talking to him. Nicholas hoped Joakim was a better friend than bodyguard. He'd never been able to protect Noah from Nicholas and he certainly didn't protect him from the king's physician when he came for his holy blood.
Well, to be fair to Joakim, he could probably protect Noah from Nicholas if Noah would just ask him to. Nicholas had expected him to, but apparently he felt that he deserved to be punished. Maybe he couldn't clearly remember Hrao-viig's crimes, but he did know that every day he sat in his temple being prayed to and given offerings while doing nothing to help the people asking for it. He told Nicholas that maybe his divinity was real, but he felt like an imposter, being worshipped like that. He was powerless. If he wasn't, he swore he'd free Nicholas. Nicholas told him that freedom wouldn't un-burn his village or un-slaughter his people. He had nowhere to go and here he could at least offer his ancestors rest.
Well. He hoped they could rest. Noah, their ancient human enemy reborn, was unfortunately endearing, sadly likeable, and Nicholas was very lonely.