Wandering Eastward - Taoten

Wandering Eastward - Taoten

                "My own story begins a long time ago, in a different universe," began Taoten.

                "Really?" asked Soff. That meant Taoten was very, very ancient.

                "I am not one of those who survived the portal era. I am one of those released from the Forest of the Caged, along with the dread-wyrm and many others. The excursions made into the forest are probably not known to you? How much of that period is common knowledge?" asked Taoten.

                "A little. I've heard of the dread-wyrm, and how it gobbled up the emperor, empress, and all their cronies. It was a cataclysmic event in the empire, because it was afterwards an empire only in name. I knew he came from the forest, but I don't think it's known why he disappeared," replied Soff.

                "I'll tell you when my tale reaches that time. But good, good. Perhaps we can have some back and forth when I cover the history of the Empire. That aside I shall begin my story. My original world was one with many great and powerful gods; arrogant and proud. I was an ordinary man in my late twenties, working as an engineer on various civic works. We - all the people of the world - lived well, so long as we did not raise the ire of the gods. Since all had been as it was for an age, we were very prosperous.

                "One evening, while celebrating the construction of a temple, I got very drunk. Still, my companions were wise (and some not as drunk) so we did nothing too foolish. Nothing that we thought would raise the ire of the gods. Yet I, at one point, decided to urinate off the pub roof.

                "Somehow - through sheer chance - I pissed just as the water bearers were passing. I couldn't tell I'd hit their open vats, since I couldn't see where I was aiming. A few days later, the water was used to water the sacred plants. The plants all died; they needed the purest of pure water. The god in question - a minor god of life - was furious, and immediately used the 'trace of life' to track me down.

                "He was beyond reason, and didn't listen to my pleas for mercy (and questions of what I had done). He cursed me then - as I had taken life from the flowers I would forever take life from others. He turned my life into 'unlife', ensuring an eternal punishment. Then, with his 'justice' done, he disappeared.

                "I spent some time piecing together exactly what had happened, then fled that reality completely. My hunger, back then, was far greater; and I could not control my power. I made... others like myself; my unlife spreading. I moved between realities that supported my existence; unlike this one or many others, the one I am originally from and many linked to it are quite highly interconnected. Eventually I wound up at a peaceful, accepting nexus reality - a small, contained universe that connected to trillions of realities. It had - quite pleasantly - a source of inexhaustible life, from which I could feed without harming others.

                "There I spent a couple of hundred years studying. My primary focus was the strange effects moving from reality to reality - experiencing completely different rules of existence - had on various creatures. Through my understanding of those rules, I was eventually able to change my very existence to that I have today. I gained control over my life-draining, and then greatly lessened my hunger.

                "Doing this is why I was caged. The nexal realities frown upon such experiments; but they are especially angered when one does so to escape the curse of a powerful being. My research had proven that the gods of my home would be nigh powerless in the nexus I chose, yet... They did not know them, and they could not take the risk. So, to prevent news of my meddling spreading and to punish me in case it had, I was captured and locked up 'forever'.

                "Being caged was an unusual experience. It felt like nearly no time at all, yet I know it was at least ten thousand years. It may have been a lot longer - I have no information on how long I was still in the nexal reality. I... slept, and drifted. No dreams, just peace and inactivity. I possessed then no skills to limit the stasis I was put into. Others who were stronger have told me that the experience was torturous. Luckily, it was not so for I.

                "After what I remembered as moments but still felt like an age, I was awoken. The cage was not unlocked; it was torn apart with great magic. I was highly disoriented at first - the cage had acted as a bubble of the nexal reality, keeping my existence stable, but destruction of the cage and exposure to the world struck me hard. Yet, strangely, I have never found any difference between my capabilities before and after my release (beyond my later learning of magic).

                "I allowed myself to be tested and analysed. It was nine hundred years ago that the Empire sent the expedition to the forest to find and free all undead within it; or at least those it was safe to free. The greatest mages in the empire had been sent to break the cages and analyse those inside carefully. I was easy to uncage and classified as 'non-dangerous', they were unsure if I could make more of my kind (as was I, after my meddling) but the possibility and 'mission to free all caged undead' ensured my release.

                "I was thankful - very thankful. I expected to be woken when the nexal reality came under attack to defend my very existence, or for a terrified flash as reality was unwoven, or to be executed by or incorporated into some strange regime. Awakening to freedom in a world where I was an honoured guest (at least initially)? Beyond any expectation. I swore to protect the Empire then, until it or I fell, like most of the others. I... perhaps wouldn't have if I had understood it was optional, or had a better grasp on the details of how humanity was treated.

                "After the initial welcome, and return to the Empire (a triumphant return; Garamjar was released in the same expedition, and that is how it and I became acquainted), I spent some time travelling and learning. What I saw done to humans horrified me - as it did some others. But always ever so few; undead who feed but need not on humans are rare, and those who do not feed are often either mindless or greatly desire to increase their number. Most of those who objected left, and I... found my rationale.

                "The Empire had done great good as well as sickening evil, and I knew that though they claimed 'undead' were different in mind as well as body I saw no evidence of such. Great hungers, different desires, but the same actions driven by greed, cruelty or the views they espoused. For me, this understanding let me know that humans would be just as terrible in the reversed situation. The minor uprisings did little to quell my view.

                "My travels, and the knowledge I had amassed, led to me being one of those called when Garamjar ate the emperor. The dread-wyrm refused the crown, having no interest in it; though it threatened to eat any who dare claimed the crown of emperor. A compromise was drafted by the greatest minds of the empire: a republic bearing the empire's name. Those with knowledge of the many kinds and ways of the undead within the empire were called and consulted with.

                "I was of... little use, compared to many, but I helped where I could. Few had spent much time amongst the blackwings, for example. During this time, Garamjar found itself impressed by some amongst us, and offered them the wyrm-gift. They died, bar two. I was... not informed of the risks before I was 'selected' due to my similarity to those who had survived the giving so far. In truth, I was given the wyrm-gift as an experiment.

                "Luckily I survived - and, unlike the rest, unscathed. Later on, they learnt that the gift could be fully given only to those who bore both true 'unlife' when they or their forebears came to this world, and that only those who came from the same nexal reality as Garamjar could be given it without harm. After the success, I somehow impressed Garamjar (and several other mighty undead).

                "It took me on as an apprentice, teaching me how to use the wyrm-gift. As Garamjar's only apprentice (though he gave others the wyrm-gift) I gained significant respect. I used it to acquire tutelage in the shared magic of the undead lords, and to get myself appointed as a lesser roaming-lord. After Garamjar's teaching ended, I continued to adapt the power it had given me to varying uses - though the wyrm used it to tunnel, I use it to fight. During the time up until Garamjar's death I was asked to make more of my kind, so they could be given the wyrm-gift. This is how the inheritance was discovered.

                "After Garamjar's death, and following reforms to prevent the numerous roaming-lords from draining the coffers and resources of the empire, I settled down in the fifth province as a lord-protector. I hope the stories of our bravery, and the slaying of countless monsters including rogue undead have survived to this age. We did not have the job of... Dealing with humans. That was the lord-retrievers (and the more prominent retrievers).

                "Up until the great revolt began, I held to my duty. Then, one day, the revolts began. Well armed humans, in large numbers, everywhere. Greedy desires for more to consume, policies to curb the great population growth of some undead kinds that affected all, and the fears of the many other countries on this continent combined to create a war that would have given the portal era a run for its money.

                "The machines of Mekanis, knights from the Kingdom, the fearful kingdoms of Merisomet and Dafer, the dread armies of the Lady of the Dead and even soldiers from the far off Star Led and Sand Given Empires came. Over the sea came the psionise, united for once to see the empire ended.

                "It was hoped that we could fight them off, turn their dead into our own, and to an extent we did. But it was not enough. We were lost in the east, Mekanis' force small but far more than the forces there could handle. The psionise were trouble, but the worst was the Lady. Her army could not be turned, answered to none but her, and had limitless stamina.

                "I don't know how it ended, but when the battle was fought near the Graveyard of the Lost and Brave it was already well known that we had lost. I fell in that battle, but luckily the means of detecting our kind's death in that damnable manual expect our aura to never cease. So I tricked them, became lumped in with the countless truly dead, and was buried in a pit. I think it was a nod to our bravery, and a lack of full blown hatred towards us - we were a force of lord-protectors and protectors, not retrievers or even the common undead.

                "I think it took me a few decades, but I eventually regained enough strength from the little deaths I caused to claw my way free. Only three times in my life have I felt as relieved as I felt when I reached the surface; the other two being when I lost my great hunger, and when I was uncaged. Once on the surface, I fully drained any small creature I could get my hands on. The plants had all long since died, and my aura had prevented new life from taking hold. Keeping myself from draining too far beyond the edge of the graveyard was a chore - but I believed it would draw far too much attention.

                "Through the years since I have slowly healed myself. Until very recently, I have not had the strength to even consider attacking one of the very rare visitors. You likely remember my condition when I grabbed your ankle - until twenty years ago, even that much would have been beyond me.

                "With the worst of the damage mostly healed, draining you allowed me to reach a state where I can walk. But my body is still a mess. If I was not wearing these clothes, I would be impossible to mistake me for one of the living, I'm afraid. There is some power left in me, but it is what I need to move, and to fight if I need to.

                "And that brings us up to the present, at least so far as my life is concerned. Do you have any questions? I feel like detailing the exploits of the undead empire, before and during my time."

                "I - would prefer it if you simply said that you killed me," Soff said.

                "Oh," said Taoten. "Perhaps. Perhaps I should have ended the story with my escape from the damn burial pit. I am sorry."

                They continued to walk in silence for a while, then Soff said, "It's getting dark."

                "We shouldn't stop. You aren't feeling tired, are you?" asked Taoten.

                "No." Soff sighed. "Just tell me about the undead empire."

                Taoten nodded. "Well, the Undead Empire began around fifteen hundred years ago..."