A Flesh Golem's Ascension

by John Domus Cruo

  I sighed to myself. I bet it's those damn goblins again.

  I walked out of my tent to see Thads dragging a bloodied goblin towards the fire. Ah, I'd seen this before. He will roast and heal it until it stops resisting, then throw its corpse into the latrine.

  I didn't care about the lives of lesser beings, but Thads’ cruelty rubs me the wrong way.

  I walked up to the goblin who was being tied to a pole. I drew my axe and gave it a good solid hit to the neck. Its head tilted off to the side, hanging on by some skin for a moment before hitting the ground.

  "How do you expect me to think with all this screaming? Get back to work!" I yelled.

  I turned my back to leave and noticed Thads standing in front of me.

  He leaned in close to me, putting his head not far from my ear, and whispered.

  "You're spoiling my fun, old man. If I say even one unkind thing about you to the Duke, you'll be right back in the dungeon."

  I shoved the disgusting pipsqueak aside.

  He let out his annoying high-pitched laugh.

  "All right boss, were going back to work now.” he said.

  His face was smiling but his eyes looked like they could kill.

  Chapter 10: Reboot — John

  Mana 10,070/10,070

  That seems like a lot of mana. I brought my emotions under control. I seemed to be able to use the calming effect myself now, naturally.

  The elder god seemed to have regained some of its memories from the feast it had just had. We seemed to understand each other more now that our emotions were in sync.

  I was sure now that the fairy’s creator and my elder god were not the same being. I believe it had only wanted to use me to gather more souls to feed me to its true master later. Fattening the sow before the slaughter.

  I was doing that, too, but souls were far too tiny of a meal for me. I would eat worlds, stars, everything, but for now, I would enjoy myself here. I thought about my soul prison. I didn’t think I would die if it broke. I think I would instead be released. But at that time, this world and my identity would end.

  I felt the souls from the book straining against me, thrashing around aimlessly like a snake's body when the head was cut off suddenly.

  I don't know when, but my GUI had disappeared.

  I only saw blackness.

  I reached out to the souls. I felt them cringe and shy away as my hunger sought them out.

  I would remake things. This time, I would do it my way.

  I knew I needed a warden. I had to dedicate a part of myself to controlling the souls.

  I needed a new fairy.

  Some things were still in place, which meant not all of my interface was created by the other god. It all came originally from my memories anyway. It was just hastily assembled from vague concepts from old RPGs and MMOs I had played.

  I thought about a character-creation screen and one appeared. It had gender. I selected female. I was on a race screen. It displayed every race I had ever seen, played, or read about. I selected Fairy and on my screen appeared an iconic green-dress-wearing fairy from movies I had seen as a child.

  The original fairy's wings were something I liked. I changed the default wings to a grey version of the soul wings. I changed the fairy's skin tone to a pale white. I made her hair a light grey and lengthened it to the small of her back. I bumped up her bust a bit. I gave her a heart shaped face with big, glowing, purple eyes.

  I gave her a dark, thick coat of eyeshadow and long eyelashes. I gave her deep red lipstick. I went to clothing options and clicked through a bit. I selected a maid's outfit, low-cut and short-skirted. Nope, I didn't need to get distracted every time I saw the fairy. I selected what looked like a black Victorian dress. I gave her a top hat and an umbrella. Hmm, something looked off. I removed the top hat and gave her a big scarlet bow. I clicked on personality. I had nothing against the fairy's original personality, but it had betrayed me, and honestly it was way too dramatic. I selected Quiet then Serious.

  I clicked Done.

  A prompt appeared:

  Would you like to name your fairy?

  I was always terrible at naming. I thought for a while. I would name her Mors, after Pallida Mors, meaning the pale god of death. One who comes for beggars and kings equally. Though she was beautiful, I needed the souls to know what awaited them if they crossed her.

  I clicked Done.

  Mors appeared in front of me and gave a humble curtsy. "How can I be of service, my Master?" Her voice had a tranquility to it like something with the finality of death.

  "Rein in these souls, but know they are mine. You will serve me, being a buffer between them and me. You will channel their knowledge when I need it. You will act at an inhuman speed to help me in all the Fleshcrafting calculations I do. Use the souls as you see fit as long as it is for my benefit and by my will." I said this in a serious tone. Mors smiled again before fading away gradually.

  The rumbling subsided as the souls calmed down. Now they would not overwhelm me or overwrite my memories. I could remain myself and yet still keep their power.

  Time to redesign this dumb GUI. It had a lot of useless parts.

  I don't need a health bar, as I generally know when something sharp and pointy is sticking out of me.

  I don't need this soul count as I don't intend to convert souls to mana on the fly. I intend to get the most use out of them that I can.

  I don't need this bag icon, at least not for now, as I don't have any spatial or dimensional magic.

  I'll keep the scroll, but now it is just a log and notepad.

  Hmm, something important is missing.

  I thought about creating a map icon.

  I saw a map icon appear, and if I right-clicked it, it became a mini-map. I would delve into it more before I left. Right now it only showed the cave, and a little of the clearing beyond.

  "Mors, is there any way to add more to the map?"

  "Of course, Master! There is a problem, however. The last two owners now have their memories in your mana pool. So the info will be over a hundred years old. The owner before that was a hedge witch who avoided living people like the plague. It might just be better to mark a few of the bigger places she remembers on your map and hope that they are still there." Mors said in an apologetic tone.

  The map now showed a kingdom named Theross far to the north, and a smaller place called Therograd that was a little closer. But the roads and other small villages were not shown.

  "Well, it's a start. Thank you, Mors."

  Okay, on to the messed-up and over-complicated character screen. Yeah, that's scrapped.

  Give me a character sheet like old-school pen and paper RPGs.

  Name: John Slater

  Race: Flesh Golem

  SKILLS:

  Soul Steal: Complete

  Feast

  Hide: level 1

  Cooking: level 2.

  Grave Robbing: level 2.

  Ancient Languages Translation: level 2.

  Archery: level 2

  Tailor: level 3.

  ABILITIES:

  Fleshcrafting: level 5

  Soul Control *formerly Soul Infusion

  Night Sight

  Perversion

  SPELLS:

  Dark Tendrils: level 1

  Petrifying Gaze: level 1

  Weakness: level 1

  KNOWN POISONS:

  Goblin Pie

  *All soul management functions have been combined into one ability called Soul Control.

  "When I combined everything for you to make it easier to manage, this happened. It has no level and is thought to be the pinnacle of necromancy. Something I believe only the book itself could do before." Mors said.

  "What happened to Soul Steal?" I asked

  "Well, when you converted the fragment of a god's soul that was in the book of souls into mana it kind of maxed out. It's way beyond level 10. Now if you can see a soul, it's yours." Mors replied.

  Wow, it seemed like I
leveled up quite a bit there!

  I wanted to check out the other stuff I got, as well.

  Dark Tendrils level 1:

  Mana cost: 5

  Tentacles from the abyssal plains will shoot up from the ground in front of you, rooting all enemies who are touching the ground for a small amount of time.

  Petrifying Gaze level 1:

  Mana cost: 10

  Channel the abyss directly into the mind of an opponent who is looking you directly in the eyes, leaving them frozen in horror for a short while.

  "Hmm, something about the abyss looking back should be said here I think." I joked.

  I heard a forced chuckle from Mors.

  Weakness level 1:

  Mana cost: 5

  A foe is beset by a feeling of utter hopelessness and dread, robbing them of their willpower to fight.

  This power lasts as long as it is maintained but will reduce the mana pool by 5 every 10 seconds.

  So, these are Bob's spells. They seem familiar somehow. Was Bob a follower of mine? Was he the one who found the elder-god ichor that became my soul prison? Am I from the abyss? Is the abyss a part of me?

  Goblin Pie:

  Poison

  Induces vomiting, diarrhea and can transfer parasites.

  Ingredients:

  Goblin fecal matter patted into a pie shape then cooked over a fire.

  Okay then, I'm definitely not going to any goblin cookouts any time soon.

  I was okay with the old souls screen. But now I didn't need the breakdown, as the options were too numerous to list.

  I focused again on the timid goblin soul.

  "Mors, give it English."

  I clicked talk.

  The soul was now displayed as a humanoid similar to a goblin but made of green energy.

  It once again looked down at the nonexistent floor.

  "Sorry about before. A few things happened. How are you?"

  The soul looked up and replied evenly in English. "I am a little scared. I saw a blackness as far as I could see. I could not escape; there was nothing there. I was lost." It looked back down again, its eyes closing as if in pain.

  "Don't worry, I don't intend to consume you. I have a gift for you in fact. Something to make up for all that." It looked up again.

  I still noticed the darkness all around. I focused and opened my eyes.

  I heard a loud munching noise and looked over to its source.

  Bob was chomping away happily on a huge white bird with multicolored wings.

  Well, best not to disturb him.

  I looked down to the female figure in my hands. I had apparently crushed it at some point. I returned it to form with Fleshcrafting .

  I dragged the timid goblin soul over to the female construct.

  The female construct opened her eyes. She looked at her hands in wonder. She then looked at the light coming from the faraway tunnel entrance and seemed to relax in my hand. She stretched her massive wings out as if yawning and clasped them around herself.

  She then sat up and looked me directly in the eyes and smiled a soft smile.

  "Thank you.” she said in a gentle voice.

  I heard the munching stop.

  Bob came running over, his claws making a clack-clack noise as he hurried.

  "BOSS!" He screamed with tears streaming down from his little eyes.

  "Boss, do you even know how long you've been like that! Your eyes were closed; black stuff started oozing out of them. You crushed your own creation. Then you just sat there like a statue for days!" Bob sat on the floor wiping his eyes.

  I brought my hand up to my face rubbing under my eyes. Sure enough, there was some black oily stuff. Was it maybe remnants of the book's god? Was it part of me? I had no idea.

  I placed the female construct on the ground. She and Bob looked up at me and at each other.

  I guess I should name her. Damnit! Always with the names. Well, she was a goblin. What is a female goblin? Goblette... No, that's a cup. Goblina? No, that's just stupid. Wait, if I take the gob off I'm left with Lina. Okay, that will do.

  "Bob, I introduce you to Lina." I pointed at the female creature.

  Lina looked up at me and smiled again.

  "Thank you... Boss?" she said.

  "Yeah, that's fine. You and Bob can call me boss." I replied smiling back.

  Bob looked over Lina, admiring her from head to toe. He seemed dismayed that she was still covering herself with her wings wrapped around her.

  I looked around the room. There were several rodent bodies, a few crows, and that huge white bird lying around.

  I used Soul Steal. My eyes lit up in green flame, everything turned green, and several tiny soul fragments flew into me.

  Bob and Lina backed off a bit.

  I blinked. The flames went away and the world returned to normal.

  Yes, that was far more convenient.

  "Wow, Bob! You really seem to have mastered your skills with that body." I said admiringly.

  Bob pushed out his chest. "This thing is great, and these arm spikes are never boring." He popped out an arm spike while smiling broadly. Lina looked over at Bob, then brought out her arm, shooting her spike out. She kinda jumped back a little after she did it, but then she giggled.

  I also raised a hand, shooting mine out. Come to think of it, I guess I kind of made tiny winged me's.

  We all retracted our spikes.

  "How's flying going, Bob?"

  "I can't really take off from the ground. But if I climb someplace high, I can glide for a while. When I'm hunting I just climb a tall tree and look around for something to swoop down on, then skewer it on the spikes." Bob said while awkwardly trying to wrap himself in his wings as Lina had done.

  "Alright, why don't you go show Lina how to hunt? I've got a few more things to do in here. Oh, and no doing to this one what you did to my last female construct, at least not if she's not willing." I warned.

  "Sure thing, Boss," he replied as he and Lina walked towards the cave opening. Lina had an excited expression on her face as she peered into the outside light.

  I decided that it probably wasn't right to let them walk around with everything just hanging out.

  I wanted to try out my tailoring skill, but I didn't have any supplies. Maybe I could Fleshcraft something?

  I gathered the rodent carcasses in a pile and began to peel their skin off. I thought about how hides are converted to leather. I stripped off the fat and dried the skin. I knew with the way their wings were connected with their legs, pants were a no-go. I joined the skin carefully, making something like a toga with tie-offs at the shoulder for Bob. I made something like a one-piece fur swimsuit with tie-ups so Lina could adjust the size.

  I retrieved my weapon and took off what was left of my harness.

  I tore the rest of Dipshit's robes into strips and braided them together to make a more solid harness. I shaped some rodent bone to make a catch for my weapon, so I wouldn't have to rip it off each time.

  I looked at my available souls.

  Soul of a Lusty Goblin: 40%

  Soul of a Rodent x4

  Soul of a crow x2

  Soul of a Paradise Falcon 100%

  Just out of curiosity I tried to speak with a rodent soul.

  A large rat shaped soul appeared. It just kinda skittered around sniffing at nothing in particular.

  "Hello there." I said.

  It briefly looked up at me, then continued to run around.

  All right, that was as pointless as I’d thought it would be.

  "Mors, what is a paradise falcon?"

  She showed herself and began explaining. "A paradise falcon is a rare bird said to be sentient. Their feathers are very sought-after by shamans and nobles alike because of their beauty and mystical properties. It is believed that if you see one in your lifetime you will be forever blessed with good fortune."

  "Thank you Mors." I said.

  She demurely curtsied and disappeared again.

  Acco
rding to Bob's earlier chomping, they must be tasty, as well.

  I had a weird idea.

  "Mors, teach the paradise falcon soul English."

  I selected Talk on the paradise falcon.

  A radiant bird appeared in front of me. It looked me in the eyes as if waiting.

  "Hello there, I'm John."

  The bird replied in an ethereal voice. "Hello John, I'm Etreona." It tilted its head, seeming to be amused by something.

  "Etreona, what's your most recent memory?"

  "I was making my thirty-year migration when I saw a tasty mouse and swooped down to capture it. Right after I caught it, something painful hit me in the back. I can still remember the laughing as it kept stabbing me." She shivered, ruffling her feathers.

  She really was a sentient bird! And Bob is still a little demented.

  She looked right at me again.

  "This really is strange, you know. I've never been able to speak to a person before. I've tried a few times, but they only stared. I've had arrows shot at me, traps set for me and nets thrown at me, but none have ever spoken to me." Her last words trailed off a bit and she seemed a little sad. Maybe she was lonely.

  "Your feathers are a sought-after item. They were probably more interested in them than you." I said with a shrug. "Look, I have to go soon. I still have some things to do, but we will talk again later."

  Etreona held out a wing as if inviting me to touch it. I held out my hand and was surprised I could almost feel the soft feathers in it.

  "It was a pleasure meeting you, John. Until next time.” Etreona said happily as she faded away.

  Time to try out some new stuff. I decided I would try to fill my map a bit.

  "Mors, I want you to try to absorb the memories from the rodents and the crows and add them to my map."