GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born (24 page)

    
It was a dark night with very minimal stars showing and the moon was engulfed in a thick sheet of clouds. There was fog and it was a grim atmosphere, for the Nephilims were the most persecuted out of all of the kingdoms and only a limited number of them existed now on Thraenus. They were a mighty race and were one of the first races put on Thraenus and were one of the favorites of the gods. One of the other reasons of their persecution was that they were strong and could be used as slaves and could do the work of 32 humans or 7 trolls or 3 vampire or 2 werewolves or 27 goblins or 70 fairies.

    
On average, they were huge, about 19 feet in height and had scaly and pale skin. Their skin was like of a snake and their teeth were like of a troll, dirty and yellow and they only wore loincloths and nothing else. They had thick, shapeless swords but most of them carried clubs. Their hairs were long and scarce and were ugly like goblins and trolls. They were basically a bigger version of trolls but a lot stronger, leaner and intelligent. They thought like humans but because they had been enslaved all of their lives, they had not developed as much as other breeds. They did not pledge their allegiance to any king or queen and therefore were treated badly. They had escaped to the borders of Gelus and Strinthius and did not have any contact with any other being, for they were too “dirty” for humans to talk to. They were so cut off from the rest of the world that they did not even know Geluna had been defeated and did not know Leosher was the new king and neither did they know that Gelus did not exist anymore.

    
Leosher, Urey and Usere slept on their horses while Virgil and Azar guided the men towards the town. They held lanterns in their hands and continued through the misty night and when they finally went through the fields and started entering the town, Leosher and the elf brothers woke up from their slumber. Now, they all stood in the abandoned area of the town where no Nephilim lived.

    
“We should hurry up” Urey quickly looked at Leosher and looked around and soon, Usere gained his consciousness too “We should just sneak around.”

    
Leosher was a little shocked and surprised, for the elf brothers were one of the bravest he knew.

    
“What is the matter?” he asked.

    
Urey smiled and scratched the back of his head “We got in a conflict with the Nephilims once and we are never to go back in there or they will kill us both.”

    
Leosher laughed arrogantly and said “You have me as your king, what shall you fear?” But his arrogance faded away when he looked at them and noticed that their worries were legitimate “Tell me what did you do?”

    
Usere drew his sword out of his sheath and looked around and put his guard up and began explaining “As you know we are bounty hunters, we had a bounty on a Nephilim who had run away from its master in Agnithius. It was a military general who set the bounty for 500 hundred gold coins. We came here to the Nephilims of the west to kill it and take its head back to Agnithius to collect our money but little did we know we attacked the wrong giant. It was the leader of the clan, the head of the group, and we had tried to kill it. Nephilims are usually very calm until they feel threatened and Urey made a cut on the giant’s face while trying to kill it which aggravated all. We were to be killed that instant but we ran away because we were highly outnumbered and overpowered—that is the whole story.”

    Just as he stopped talking,
shadowy figures began emerging from the mist. They were tall and pale and when the mist moved away, they were the Nephilims. These were the warrior Nephilims who protected their community from intruders, which Leosher and his men were considered right now. Leosher saw that the situation was serious therefore he stepped off of his horse and walked ahead to talk to the giants. He was incredibly short compared to the Nephilims. He had to look up and talk but he still kept his pride and arrogance “We wish to pass through your land,” Leosher said with authority “We neither mean any harm nor do we wish to cause any trouble, we come in peace.”

    
The Nephilim smirked and clenched his right fist “That is what they all say but once they get in the town, they drag us out to their lands, pick us apart and make us work.”

    
Leosher smirked and stepped forward a little bit and got closer “I do not wish to harm you, for you have not threatened me. I am the king of The Empire, the ruler of these lands and I do not wish to be restricted from doing what I wish to—you may try to stop me but let me tell you something,” Leosher’s eyebrows cocked and there was a grin on his face “I will bring hell upon whoever touches me.”

   
When he finished he sentence, he took his weapons off of him and hung them on his horse and he was armless now, no protection at all.

    
He looked at Virgil “Brother, stay here and wait for me. I shall go and talk to the leader.”

    
Virgil smiled and encouraged him “Do not go too hard on them brother.”

    
Leosher laughed and walked through the Nephilims who blocked his path. They were shocked, for he did not seem to care if he was alone and without any weapons and he was walking through a huge colony of Nephilims.

    
“You did not ask to go through,” said one Nephilim “You have no right to go through.”

    
Leosher smirked “I do not need permission to go through.”

    
This statement provoked the Nephilim and he moved forward to punch Leosher but his fellow Nephilim stopped him, for he was a little skeptical about a man who decided to walk in without any preparations “We should let him talk to our Leader, after all he is harmless, for he has no weapons.”

    
Leosher now knew that he had gotten in their heads and they were a little intimidated by him. He continued walking inwards with his hands behind his back, with his cloak dragging behind him and soon, the Nephilims followed him too but one of the last one saw Urey and Usere with the corner of his eye and told the rest but they seemed to be calm and did not react to it and escorted Leosher to their leader. This was their plan, to take Leosher and after they were done with him, they were going to come back and take those brothers and kill them.

    
The town was shabby and all of the older Nephilims had abuse and whip marks on their backs and legs and arms. The women of the clan were abused a little more than men, but their children, who looked a lot like human children, just a little bluish pale, did not have any at all, for they were not born into slavery.

    
Nephilims had big, almond shaped, blue eyes and had big and sharp yet yellow teeth and pointy ears just like the elves. Their main diet was raw, rotten meat but they cooked it over fire on certain occasions. The town was very shabby with broken down houses and rotten fruits and vegetables on the ground which the children picked up and ate at any time they wanted. There was poverty all around and the atmosphere of the town was sad and grim. The roads were gravelly and there were no other creatures except the Nephilims, for none could cope with the harsh conditions except them. They were probably the only creatures who might survive in the northern mountains if introduced there.

    
Leosher walked with his cloak dragging on the gravel and the Nephilims walked with their bare feet on the gravel, behind him and soon, they reached a dead end “Where is the leader?” Leosher asked and out of a house made of wood and straw, just like the others, out came the leader.

    
He was wearing a loincloth just like the others but there was something different about him. He had small, thumb-like horns on the sides of his chin because of old age. They were black and contrasted with his bluish pale skin. His eyes were also fully black and no other color and he was about 300 years old.

    
“What brings you here?” He asked.

    
Leosher saw himself surrounded with many Nephilims and when he looked back, there were even more. The entire road was now filled with them, for they were ready to fight against any threat.

    
Leosher stayed calm and did not get intimidated “I come in peace, I only command you to let my men and I to pass through your town. There will be no harm done as long as you do not attack my men first.”

     The old man growled
“Who are you to command? You have no authority here.”

    
Leosher was now a little annoyed “I am tired of explaining, but I will do it this one more time, I am the king of The Empire, the kingdom whose lands you all live on.”

     When the old man heard Leosher say that, he began paying more attention
“You have no proof—and Geluna is the queen of Gelus.”

   
“She’s dead, and Gelus no longer exists.” Leosher moved his hand forward to shake the leader’s hand and to give him a vision with the help of his godly powers, but just when he moved his hand forward, a protector of the leader grabbed it, which gave Leosher a reason to get mad about.

   
“Let go of my hand!” Leosher said furiously, “Do it or I will rip that arm right off.”

    
The Nephilim still did not let go and finally ended up losing his hand. Leosher had warned him. Leosher swung his other hand and grabbed the arm. He crushed it and ripped it off, in front of everyone, as a lesson so they knew not to stand up or act up against him. The Nephilim cried in pain but none helped him, for they were too scared of Leosher.

    
Finally, Leosher brushed his anger off and moved forward to show the vision but he no longer required a proof, for he had seen Leosher’s audacity and power, which made the leader believe that he was the king. The leader kneeled before him and let him stand in front of the crowd and stepped down from the high chair.

    
Leosher, who was now acknowledged in the town, addressed to the people “Do not go against or rise against The Empire, for you will end up just like your brother did when he touched me. I do not wish to do any harm and my intent is to pass through this land with peace. I do not plan to take over you all, for you all are worthless peasants, slaves, who have no purpose but to serve greater people.”

    
He was a bit offensive and some were offended by the way he talked about them but they let it go because Nephilims were humble people.

    
Just as he was done talking, some of the Nephilims brought Usere and Urey from outside the town. Their hands were tied behind their backs with vines and strips of clothes.

    
“Hello!” Urey yelled out joyfully when he saw Leosher standing in front of everyone “Looks like they are still angry at us.”

    
Usere pushed him with his shoulder “Shut up, are you trying to get us killed?”

     “Relax, brother, our
king sits above them. There is no way they can harm us.”

    
Just as he said that, the Nephilim who was walking behind him kicked him in his back. He fell in the garbage on the ground with his face in rotten fruit. His brother tried to help him but the Nephilim did not let him, and instead, all laughed at them. They all laughed in their heavy voices and soon, Urey lifted his head up and laughed with them sarcastically. He got back up on his feet and started walking again and when they finally reached Leosher through the crowd, Leosher freed their hands

    
“What is the meaning of this?” The old Nephilim asked “Why did you free them?”

     Urey looked at him
and laughed “Because he is our friend—that is why.”

    
Leosher pulled the leader back, aside from the crowd and confronted him “They are no longer to be hunted by your kind,” He then turned to the tall crowd “They were only bounty hunting and according to the Empirion law, bounty hunters shall not be persecuted.”

    
After he finished, there was a prolonged silence, but then soon, that was broken when his brother, Virgil came in the town too. He had all the soldiers behind him, ready to fight. The archers had their arrows in their bows and were ready. The spear men had their spears above their shoulders, ready to shoot and the swordsmen and horsemen were in the front, ready to fight.

    
They did not know that the Nephilims did not mean any harm but instead were only after Usere and Urey.

    
Virgil yelled at them “Surrender the men or perish!”

    
There was a huge laugh from behind the tall Nephilims and when they moved apart to let Virgil see who it was, it was Leosher laughing at his brother,

    
“Brother,” he said while swaggering forward towards him “Brother, I have got everything under control. I do not need your help.”

    
Virgil was relieved to see his brother, even though he was a little disappointed for his brother’s tone was a little off “I thought you might need help, after all they had outnumbered you and would have out powered you.”

   
Leosher finally reached him and looked at Azar who was standing right beside him “Get me some rum.” Azar handed him a leather bottle, a pouch rather and he took a big gulp out of it and wiped his face with his sleeve “Brother, let me tell you something,” He put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder and moved closer “I am a god, I give help, I do not need help—I was sent from Aseroth to this mundane planet, to provide help, not receive help.”