Holy Blood 20

Hey Everyone! I want to get the last two chapters of Blood up so that we can start the next book of Revenge. Also I am going to stop the tier staggering. With the way I'm uploading it doesn't work very well. I have plans to start Tier exclusive stories, but that is a work in progress.

Chapter 20

The entrance to her throne room towered over me as I walked forward. The doors opened of their own accord this time without a noise. I was grateful for that. Once inside I looked around and saw Otris sitting, or more like lounging, on her throne. She was draped over the edges as she laid with her head on her arm. It looked like a single piece of cloth covered her body. I made my way over to her, doing my best to maintain my calm.

“My Lady,” I called when I stood in front of her.

She laid there without acknowledging me. She couldn’t be giving me the silent treatment, could she? I thought with worry. I decided to call her bluff.

I spread my arms wide and raised my voice taking a dramatic tone. “Oh, Great and Powerful Otris, Wisest of the Gods, Ruler of Passion and Blood. Please be so kind as to speak to me, your lowly Harold.” I dropped to a knee so that I looked up to her even more. “I seek your counsel on matters that are above my mortal mind.”

Otris looked at me as I kneeled there then burst out laughing. I wanted to be mad at her, but it sounded so wonderful that I almost lost myself in it. She sat up on her throne, the cloth morphing to become a dress. 

“My Harold. Only a few days have gone by. I’ve missed you,” Otris said leaning forward. “Pray tell, to what matters do you seek my counsel? Is it that little girl that seeks the warmth of your bed?” 

Her statement caught me off guard. Of course, she would know about that. I shook my head and stood up. “No. A village of people has sought my aid. They seek redemption for past wrongdoings of their people.”

Otris leaned back. “The Dark Elves. The children of my sister,” she said with a frown.

“Is that a… good thing?” I asked.

She smirked then waved her hand. A mist formed above her shoulder that elongated to a plane of glass. An image of Otris and another woman that looked similar to her only with black colors appeared. Images of battlefields played out as various races waged war. Blood flooded like rivers on the field.

“My sister and I were… similar. We both sought war, death, among other things. I knew when to stop, about the balance of life and passion,” Otris said. “I knew that my children could not survive the constant war.”

“Your races?” I asked curiously.

She waved her hand again. A pair of humanoids appeared. One looked like it was part dragon. The other was mostly humanoid only with long horns and fangs. They had pale skin and red eyes. 

“My poor beautiful children. Created in my image and bound to suffer because of it. Only a very few remain that still walk the world. Destroyed by the other races for being… wrong,” Otris said stroking the image. A single bloody tear ran down her cheek. 

“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do,” I said without thinking.

“There is nothing. However, should you find one of them, treat them warmly. They have been wronged for too long,” she said with a sad smile. 

“I’ll do my best. Your sister?” I asked.

“Ah yes. I am not allowed to say her name. She was… twisted. She liked to see the world burn. Quite a bit more literally than I did. She created a few races, the trolls, the dark elves, and the Rasiem. When she was defeated by the other gods, the trolls were taken by Gauil, god of the goblins and orcs. Xermes, god of the other elves did not take the dark elves due to their vile nature. The Rasiem refused any other gods.”

“Why didn’t you take the dark elves?” I asked. Surely, she could have worked with them.

“I wasn’t able to. My priest wasn’t there at the time of judgment, so I didn’t have a say.”

“I’m sure you’re aware, but I’m at a small village of dark elves that seek a new goddess. For my part, I feel it’s worth giving them a chance, but I don’t know the deeper workings of the world.”

My body froze as Otris floated down from her throne. “Oh, my sweet priest. Despite your outer appearance, you have a nice heart. Maybe a bit too large?” She said with a smirk as she traced a hand across my chest. “I am the goddess of passion, so I understand that having a young woman around you is hard. I am great and powerful as you said, so I don’t mind sharing. Just remember.” She bared a pair of surprising large fangs. “You’re mine.”

I found out that I could still gulp at that moment. I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this particular goddess. I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge though. I wouldn’t let this get to me. I fought against the binding holding me and found I could speak. “Only… If… you’re… mine.” The binding snapped back on me stronger than ever.

Otris jerked back and narrowed her eyes at me. She spun around me a few times. “My. My. That is bold of a mortal. You’re lucky I like you,” she said with a voice that seemed to ripple. She reached forward and locked her lips around mine. I actually felt like part of my soul was being pulled out from me. She pulled away and licked her lips. “Delicious.” 

I fell back the bindings holding me falling away. It felt like all the strength was gone from my body. “So, the dark elves?” I asked bringing us back to the topic at hand.

“Do what you will. I will support you, my priest,” she said tapping my nose with her finger. “Those children need a mother’s touch. I’m willing to be their mother.”

“Sounds good. I’m sure they will be excited to hear this,” I said standing up.

“You will have to erect a temple to me,” Otris said. Her form suddenly expanded until she was twenty meters larger. She sat on her throne that matched her. “I am excited to see how you do.” 

“As you command, my Lady,” I said with a bow. The ground suddenly dropped out from under me. I fell through the air then slammed into my body. I couldn’t control myself and fell forward breathing heavily.

“That’s always fun,” I said rolling over to stare at the sky.

“Are you finally back?” I heard Lulu’s voice ask.

I looked up and saw her standing at the edge of the cemetery with a worried expression. “What’s wrong?”

“You know that pregnant lady. She’s giving birth. The Dark Elf Elders said that we should leave the valley before the demon raid happens.” 

“They want us to leave?” I asked. Wouldn’t they want all the help they could get? 

“They said they don’t want to drag us into their mess,” Lulu said walking over and holding out a hand.

I took it and she helped me up. I still felt weak from whatever Otris did to me. “What do you want to do?” I asked while stretching.

“I want to help. I know I said the Dark Elves usually can’t be trusted. This… village is way too much work to just trick a few people. They seem like… normal people that just want to make it day to day.”

“Sounds like a plan. Otris is on board with bringing in the Dark Elves.”

“Great! What do we need to do?” Lulu asked bouncing on her feet.

“Nothing that we can do quickly. At least for this first wave, we’ll have to it the old fashion way,” I said spinning my staff. “Mohr, Kano, let’s go!”

We rushed to the village, where a group of people surrounded one of the tents. Sounds of pain and yelling came from inside. When we got to the group, we heard that the woman was close to giving birth.

“How long does it usually take for the demons to attack?” I asked a stranger at the back of the group. 

“Sir Priest! You stayed! Usually within the hour. Sometimes it might take a little longer but usually within an hour.”

“What do we have to work with?” I asked.

“A hundred soldiers and fifty mages. The rest are hunters that we’ve sent out to protect the lively hood of the village and elderly that are too old to fight.”

“Healers?”

“Only a few transmitters in the mages' ranks. They use potions and materials that can give healing benefits for a short time,” he replied with a shake of his head.

“You got me,” I said with a grin.

“Thank you, Sir Priest!”

The sounds in the tent grew louder as the birth got closer. Heavy storm clouds formed over the valley and peals of thunder echoed through the air. Lulu and I looked around nervously.

“That’s not ominous at all,” I said with a small chuckle.

Lulu came up and whispered, “is this something we can handle?”

“We can only wait and see,” I said with a shrug. I pulled the bowl from my inventory. “Everyone that is going to be part of the defense, please come forward and offer some blood up to the Goddess.” 

“Yes, Sir Priest,” a guard said before he spread the word. The bowl did its dimensional thing and even after fifty people had put blood in, it still took more. Finally, when all the people had offered blood up to Otris, I held up the bowl to the sky. The rain seemed to avoid the bowl. 

“For you Otris! Help us in the coming battle. These people offer themselves up to you,” I shouted over the wind. A bolt of red lightning crashed down on the bowl, pushing my legs into the ground several centimeters. The usual smoke didn’t come from the bowl, but a red aura wrapped around everyone present.

The weather grew worse as the woman screamed. A ray of light burst through the clouds as the sounds of crying came from the tent. It only lasted a split second though. Sheets of rain started to fall which made it nearly impossible to see more than a few meters in front of you. The ground shuddered as something massive collided with the ground in the distance. 

“It’s here! Everyone prepare to fight!” someone shouted. 

“A rare delicacy, I found!” a voice came from the dark of the rain.

The ground shook as something walked forward. A… thing emerged from the rains. It reminded me of an ape, at least that was the closest thing for the torso. A maw of fangs that looked large enough to swallow a man whole, a dozen eyes and a flat snot made up its head. Its arms were a mass of tentacles that ended with hands and mouths. 

“This is going to be fun,” Lulu said with a step back.

“At least we have an army of Dark Elves to help,” I said checking out the demon to see if I could spot any obvious weak points. 

“Dark Elves, I thought, all dead,” the demon said, a random mouth speaking.

The dark elves formed a shield wall and several groups of mages made what looked like ritual circles. The soldiers started to bang their weapons on their shields. While the mages began chanting spells. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t know what level these people were. I cracked my knuckles, time for some fun.