Stelimus sat in the swamps and slid his eyes slowly to the borders of his orbits. The sky now had a sickly, yellow palor to it with some bright yello-green added into the mix. The clouds still had a spiral shape, but Mix-Up's 'art' ended up painting the landscape just as much as the clouds. Stelimus really didn't like the colors, but his uncle adored the new surroundings that Mix-Up gave him. They both had...'unique' personalities to say the least. Patient was the deer, to expect something to appear for no reason. Spirit balls would fly around and some of the dead would walk around in their full forms, but not much else was to report. He was at the end of his stay with his uncle, and Stelimus didn't even discover a 'hidden city' in the swamps nor did he have an adventure fighting off some sort of evil ninja-pirate trying to steal his body. He could feel his inner child dying.
"This is no fair. I wanted to see a hidden city or something hidden."
"That's because there were never any cities here...as far as I know. Those that once lived here must've packed their things away," Grimliss said.
Stelimus jumped away in shock. "Stop doing that!"
Grimliss focused the mist around his body into puckered lips in front of his mouth. "Oh, poor wittle Stewimus. He's getting swawed in a pwace with the undead fwoating awound every where."
Stelimus recovered and wiped some mud off his fur. "Oh no! He turned into Elmer Fudd! What are you doing out here, anyways?"
"Well, I'm going to bid you farewell while you go to your...aunt's place." Grimliss looked disgusted.
'What about my stuff?"
"It's all ready and packed onto your 'carriage'."
Stelimus cocked an eyebrow. "Why did you say 'carriage' like you were alluding to something else?"
"For nothing." Grimliss looked away and Stelimus narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"By the way, you told me you were going to tell me how exactly you became...as you are now."
Grimliss sighed. "You know everything now? Even how to free a soul trapped in hatred and fear? One that refuses to pass on?"
"Yes. Stop stalling."
"...Fine." Grimliss sat down next to his nephew and stretched his neck. "I suppose your mother told you about the 'god-kings' and how we were five?"
"Yeah. She wouldn't stop. She was stupid enough to think that a newborn would understand what she was saying, but she kept repeating that story to me like some kind of stalker chanting about how they'll 'get with their beloved' or something."
Grimliss looked down at his nephew with widened eyes. He was freaked out and worried. "Riiiight..."
"And I know that an uncle and aunt died before I was...born? Reborn? How would you say it?"
"Eh. Incarnated. No real term is befitting. Besides that...yes. My brother and sister both perished some time ago, and they're the reason why I am as I am."
"...Their deaths turned you into a lich?"
"What? No! When you lose someone dear to you and you have no one else, don't you wish you could bring them back to life?" Grimliss' expression was that of sadness and desperation.
"I guess, but I learned early on that it's best to leave the dead where they lie."
"Then you were wiser than I. I had thought of that but I ignored it, so I left my brother and sister in the tundra in hopes to find a solution. And so I traveled throughout the world, learning about so many cultures and magics, things I never knew about stuck in the tundra."
"So that's why he likes new things so much and has so many 'subjects' of different species," Stelimus thought.
"Finally, I returned to my home...erm..." Grimilss tapped his head several times but gave up. "A place I can't remember. I used a wide variety of tools and instruments, casting circle and symbols, ingredients and matter. They were used in each individual culture's method of communicating with the dead."
Stelimus looked at his uncle with abrasive look. He might not have believed in the afterlife, but he knew that was something you shouldn't have done. Even if, his beliefs had wavered quite considerably. He was always a man that changed his views when given concrete evidence, and what was more concrete than experiencing everything yourself. But, as he listened on, the young prince noticed his uncle's voice starting to crack and his eyes dimming.
"I thought...if I combined several of the different rituals into one that used all their strengths, I could bring them both back to life. Give them a new breath of fresh air into their lungs and souls, and so I toiled. Toiled day and night to the point of exhaustion. Every day I would hear voices. Inaudible voices, but they were quiet at first. Then, as my experiments were showing fruition, the voices started becoming louder and louder but my grief had me ignore them." Grimliss bent his forwards in imitation of someone grasping their fists tightly.
"I was so close!...Then I started having terrifying nightmares. These things...they were telling me to stop, but like any fantasy book will tell you, I didn't listen. The heroes of fantasy stories always hesitate and start to mull over what they're being told, but I cut clean through and executed the ritual, and I saw them." Grimliss stretched his arm out towards nothing. "They were right there, coming back down from a tunnel of pure, silvery light...Then the ritual backfired. I don't know why. Perhaps I didn't have enough catalysts? Maybe I hadn't allowed the energy to flow naturally well enough and it blocked? Whatever the case, my body became overwhelmed by death energies. They flew from the land and into my body, casting the work of death itself across time and space into me. I would have died if your aunt and uncle hadn't intervened before returning to the afterdeath."
Stelimus saw his uncle nearly collapse into the swamp. He looked like he was losing his grip on his body.
"They were right there. Even when they were dead they saved me, but, as a consequence, I became undead. My body hadn't changed at first, but I it started to rot. It was terrifying. Horrible. It took a year for it all to fall off my body and, during that time, I started uncovering latent abilities linked to spirit essence and started to see the spirits of those that had not moved on."
"So I take it you learned from them and, because you were still a god-king, your frost essence was replaced by--"
"Spirit essence, yes. I became the god-king of the dead. I moved to this swamp where a great deal of the dead reside and where I rule over those that are still trapped on this plane. Granted, many of them simply stay here because they want to, but that's kind of a small number."
"I didn't know you would actually do something like that."
"The ending isn't as bad as you think. I had done all of that through grief. I never got over their deaths, but I saw them both one last time and learned about the greatness of life." Grimliss chuckled. "Funny, isn't it? To appreciate life you must die, but when you die, there's no going back, but I don't regret what I did."
Stelimus reared his head back. "You don't?!"
"Of course not! I loved my siblings and got to see them one more time. Plus, without doing what I did, I would never have learned about the worlds outside of your father's comfort zone. I help those trapped on this side to move on when they need to and have great power associated to it." Grimliss cautiously looked around for any eavesdroppers and even looked under a tiny stone next to the two. He leaned close to Stelimus' ear and started to whisper. "Between you and me, I can also keep people from dying with this magic, but I don't do that unless there's a doctor around that will immediately take care of that."
"Why not?"
"Can't mess with nature. You see what happened last time." Grimliss passed a rock through an orbit and let it fall onto the swamp. "See?"
"Right. That's true. Hmm. If you don't regret what happened, why were you crying?"
"Oh, you saw through that? Well, let's just say it's residual emotions that cause that when I think about that event."
"I see."
The two said nothing for a long time, basking in the silence and sounds of the swamp, then Grimliss broke the silence.
"Before you, leave, I'm quite curious; How old are you, exactly?"
"Forty-Seven."
"Oh." The god-king looked away. "So you were about to die anyway."
"Dear God. I hope not. I'm only middle-aged?"
"Wait, what?"
"What, you thought my species had the equine lifespan? Pfff. Humans live way longer than that. Our average lifespan goes well into the nineties, nowadays, and it keeps raising every year."
"Quite impressive. I know many who would wish for that."
"Many of us wish for that, but it's the decay that goes with it that's the problem with such age."
"Ah. The body giving out again." Grimliss nodded to himself. "Well!" He clapped his hooves loudly together. "I think its time for you to leave and see your aunt."
"Okay, so where's my carriage?" Stelimus looked around.
Grimliss blankly stared at his nephew. "Carriage?"
The roar that Stelimus heard when he first arrived in the swamp resonated again, but much louder. A lengthy form started rising out of the swamp lands and two sets of wings erupted forth from even that body.The body was, at least in length, if comparing with height, was equal to a twenty-story building. Its height was merely that of a two story building. In essence, it was akin to a Chinese dragon, what with so many limbs along the body, but a sixth of it, starting from the head, was horrifying to look at. It had seven, randomly placed eyes on its face. They most likely couldn't hold in place due to all the rot this thing was suffering. It was completely blackened and the eyes were just white orbs. The throat of the creature was slightly paler than the rest of its body and there were pieces of flesh rotted off to show the muscle hidden behind.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
"A Yemrin. A far-flung ancestor of sea-monsters like the kraken and mer-auder."
"Mer-auder?"
"It will take you to my sister's kingdom."
"So I ride on its back or something?"
Grimliss stared blankly at his nephew again. "No."
The creature barreled towards Stelimus who barely had any time to react before being eaten.
"It'll store you in its neck pouch and fly you there. See you later, Stelimus!" Grimliss waved goodbye.