Chapter one: Saint of Death

  Shasuryu Shasha looked at the human next to him. She leaned on railing of the hut that they had rented out to her. She paid for it with food, bought in the Kingdom of Re-Estize. He didn’t know much about human kingdoms, yet he also did know that the gold cons that she used to pay for the food were rare.

  The girl, that was what she was in the end. After all he didn’t know how to tell the women apart from the men that well. Though, he could say that they kind of looked like lizardmen women.

  Valencia was her name. Why was she named after some fruit? He had asked her that, she simply told him that it was the name that her master had given her after she had repented for her sins.

  The response both impressed him and spooked him. He knew a good bit about her master. He knew that she was a goddess of death and the end times. He also knew that her master was powerful.

  He looked down in front of him. The fish farm that his brother had made with the help of the religious woman was rather well put together. The nets were made of better things than the tribe could have made by themselves.

  Though, the nets themselves were the brainchild of his younger brother, as he had gotten the inspiration from the dwarves that he visited when he was a traveler. The simple fact that farms such as these were common in the world around them was amazing to him.

  “Hey, Valencia, what is it like to live compared to your home in the kingdom?” Shasuryu asked, earning a smirk from the woman.

  “Well, the buildings are more sturdy, that’s one thing. Another is that the air is less clean; you’ll get bck nose gunk all the time,” she said, and the lizardman looked at her funny.

  “What do you mean? The air being less clean? Like, there’s smoke in the air all the time?” he asked, and she sighed.

  “Partially, the air is filled with a lot more smoke,” she paused, “Then there’s the shit in the roads. The horses that pull all the carts and such don’t have anywhere specialized to go, so they just shit while walking in the road,” she said, and the lizardman grimaced.

  “Can you two talk about crap some other time? I’m kind of feeding the fish?” His brother, Zaryusu, spoke.

  The two others broke off their conversation with twin nods. The chief looked behind his brother. Peering at the fish farm, he licked his lips and thumped his tail. The religious nut smirked at him in response, her face practically screaming smugness over his reaction.

  He stopped his tail with a hand and hummed in slight annoyance. Zaryusu looked at the interaction with slightly exasperated sigh. The two of them had become, what one could call friends right away. It was slightly shocking, in all honesty.

  After all, she was human. The tribe, when it did interact with humans, had very few good interactions with them. So, when one showed up to the vilge, the tribe was awfully distrustful of the orange-haired newcomer. It didn’t help that she had an air of bloodlust about her.

  “Alright, I am going to go to my hut and have my midday prayers. If you need me, I will be unavaible as usual,” she said, then smirked as she straightened up, and peered at the lizardman right next to her.

  He liked and disliked whenever she did this. This aura of death and despair she had. It made sense for her. She was a priestess of death, and of the end, after all. It simply showed that she lived up to her role, and that was rather good.

  Yet, she still scared the both of them. She was strong, stronger than himself, chief of the vilge. Though, He and his brother would probably win against her if push came to shove.

  “If any of you guys want to join in on the prayers. On the removal of greed and envy, then simply come. I’ll be waiting as always,” she said, her voice filled with both emotion, and apathy.

  Shasuryu Shasha nodded his head. It was strange at first, talking to the woman who had seemed so recently put back together. Yet, she was still fun to talk to. After all, she had a rather unique perspective on life. It was good to get her perspective on things.

  It was his brother who pulled his own mind from itself. His voice was like an anchor in that moment. He had a habit of thinking to himself sometimes. He had to, in order to think clearly.

  “Brother, the fish are nearly grown,” Zaryusu Shasha spoke, “In about a week, we can pull them out and debone them. Then we’ll have more food for the winter.”

  “That’s good,” he said, salivating suddenly, “those fish are so good. When the fat hits your mouth, you can’t help but salivate at the taste,” he said, looking towards the fish farm itself.

  “Keep your hands to yourself. The fish aren’t done growing yet. You need to wait like the rest of us,” he said, getting up on the porch of the hut that served as a storage area for the fish.

  The building had been Valencia’s idea. A pce to dry, salt, and smoke the fish. It was a solid idea, that his brother backed up with his traveler knowledge. In the end, he had built it, and it paid off. They could store more food for longer now, and it was a game changer in some ways.

  He was about to retort, wanting to bring up the ck of waiting his hydra had to do to get the food he wanted, but then the sky cracked. The sky darkened; the clouds dispersed. It was such a casual thing.

  The sky was devoid of most of the light from the sun soon after this had happened. The clouds stopped moving in the air, and then dissipated. His mind didn’t quite catch up with his body as his body seemed to pick up on the danger.

  A thing then flew through the air. It came from the edge of the swamp area around the vilge proper. As fast as an arrow, it flew. It crashed into the ke. fear washed over him as it stood. His people stood frozen as well. Some of the hunters and warriors standing in front of the women and children that were there.

  He, and his brother, rushed to the scene. It was a simple enough scene to take in. Somehow, it had crashed there at the perfect timing for Velencia to be out and about right before her midday prayers.

  It stood there. The thing that spread fear throughout his people now. It looked like a tree, yet it was filled with the most vileness one could imagine. Old and withered it appeared, with a human severed head dangling from one of its branches.

  “Ah!” the thing spoke, no demon, for this thing could only be a demon, “we meet again, my old foe! To what name to you bare this time, hm?” it spoke with the vocal cords of the human head.

  “I owe you no words, leave demon of Jaldabaoth,” Valencia soke simply, and the demon seemed to disagree.

  “Now, now,” it voices its words, “Let’s not be hasty. I have come here not for you, though I hadn’t the faintest idea that you were here! I just came to say, that I wish for your cooperation,” the thing said, now turning to Shasuryu, “bend the knee, and your people will be spared from my wrath.”

  “Who just starts a conversation like that?! I just got here!” he retorted, the demon thing obviously finding this response, repulsive.

  “Well then, I’ve never been so insulted!” it huffed, “Prepare to die in five days, for they are numbered, tata!” it shouted in sarcastic rage.

  It then jumped, and flew off with a fly spell that it muttered soon after jumping. Valencia was the first to speak. Her words reaching the ears of all who were there.

  “I am sorry everyone, I believe my past has come to haunt me,” she spoke in a solemn voice, he had never heard this tone from her before.

  “Valencia, expin,” he ordered, his tone nonetheless harsh despite her current disposition.

  …