The zombified giant was the first creature to step past where the walls had once been. It did so with happiness, and I momentarily wondered if I should awaken the thing. I knew that that would increase its potential and turn the monster into a real beast, but I knew that such an activity would force Nivar to try and control it, which might not work. I mulled it over, and after a second or two of internal debating decided to hold off on awakening the giant. For now. Right now was Nivar"s chance to shine. I wanted to see if she could.
The area the pair had just reached were the town"s outskirts. In front of the pair stood a number of small houses, houses I knew contained life. But here"s the thing: the noise of the wall falling had alerted the town"s guards, a small number of men who were on their way to see what had caused the collapse of the wall. Nivar had a few moments to decide how to proceed.
I knew that the grave giant instinctually knew that her enemies were approaching. It was both logical to a.s.sume that, and also something that should have been within the realm of possibility as a sensory thing for a worm that walks, the particular type of undead that Nivar was.
Nivar spent a moment or two being as still as a worm that walks could be. There was no movement from her actual form, though the tiny swarm that made up her body was constantly in motion. But then she tilted her head and turned to face the nearest, tiny hovel in front of her. And with a grim smirk she pointed at it. This time she didn"t even need to speak. Her pet lumbered forward, ready for more destruction.
Not far behind her there were more undead. It wouldn"t take them long to get to her, and she was confident. She didn"t doubt that she could hold off any guards who might actually reach her before her allies backed her up. So she opted to begin to fulfill her objectives. It was a wise choice.
"So she"s mission-oriented huh? A real "get the job done" type of creature..." I muttered, grinning wryly.
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The giant"s pet closed in on the house in a few steps, and swung one of its arms at the tiny building. The house was a simple building, a tiny square made of wood with just enough for two rooms, an all-purpose room, and a bedroom. It was occupied by a single, sleeping person.
The giant was still blessed by me, and I watched, satisfied, as the monster"s untrained arm crashed into one of the walls of the house and smashed through it. The noise this produced was incredible and inflicted lasting harm on the house. Nivar"s excitement spiked, and the truth was, so did mine.
The wooden house"s wall broke apart against the overwhelming power of the giant"s fist. It stood no chance against the beast, and the zombie swiftly retracted its fist, all while inadvertently doing more damage to the house. The loud noise had awoken the mortal within the house, who was a single, human, woman. The woman leaped out of her bed, and opened the door that separated her from the destroyed wall and the rest of her home.
I "heard" her gasp, thanks to my sensory powers and the proximity of my worshipers to her. And I heard the harsh laughter Nivar emitted when the grave giant heard her too. Nivar rose a single hand and pointed it at the house"s door. The giant somehow understood her intentions and aimed its other hand at the door.
A single violent thrust of the beast"s limb was all it took for the ma.s.sive monster to blow through the door. The monster"s limb was a blur of movement and the thing slammed through the object that protected the house"s inhabitant, prompting her to scream in terror. And that was a mistake.
The fear-filled sound was heard by Nivar and Nivar"s pet. It was a fascinating sound that clearly communicated the horror she felt as a ma.s.sive limb broke apart her house. I liked the way it sounded, and I recognized the... eerieness of that. But the problem wasn"t that I heard it, the problem was that Nivar and her pet heard it.
Nivar was radiating bloodl.u.s.t. I sensed it wafting off of her, and wondered how long it"d take her to act on it. She was perfectly still, and I had a theory that she was actually a bit overwhelmed by the emotions she was feeling at this moment. Her pet, a much simpler creature, was not.
The giant"s thick hand was momentarily still just inside of the house. The woman who lived in it could see that it was still, and even in her dark, unlit house, she could see the pallid skin tone of the hand. It made the hand"s appearance stand out against the dark, and also filled her with fear.
She was overwhelmed by fear and paralyzed because of it, as she frantically studied the hand. The hand abruptly shot forward, easily crossing the distance that separated the woman from the monster and grabbing her.
The hand was larger than she was, and also easily strong enough to wrap around her and drag her out of the house. It was only when she began to be dragged closer to the undead monsters that I had ordered to exterminate her village that she began to scream again.
Nivar would finally come to her senses right as other undead crossed the threshold into the town behind her. It was the sounds of their footfalls, the creaks and groans of their bones, and the occasional sounds they made that allowed her to snap back to reality. She hopped off of her pet to move closer to the woman it had captured.
The grave-giant looked down at the woman and studied her. She had an olive skin tone and was wearing a light outfit meant for sleep. The woman gasped when she first laid eyes on Nivar. She was utterly petrified, especially of Nivar.
I knew enough about mortals to know that her reaction was a reasonable one. It made sense for her to be afraid of a ma.s.s of writhing worms in the loose shape of a ma.s.sive creature.
Nivar towered above the woman, standing entire meters taller than her. The woman was a human, after all, she stood a measly meter and a half tall. There was a hopelessness to her, almost auric in nature, but a part of me wondered if that was new or if it had always been there.
Nivar studied her for a few moments, even as other undead surged into the community and began to break into houses. The next screams to fill the night were heard, and they were close. After a few moments, Nivar had had enough and moved with a swiftness that belied the large nature of her form.
One of Nivar"s hands shot out and grabbed the woman"s chin. She applied a bit of force to forcibly open the woman"s mouth. The woman feebly resisted, but even with adrenaline aiding her was no match for her opponent. Nivar"s other hand shot forward but didn"t stop at the woman"s open mouth. It entered it. Her prisoner"s eyes shot open, even more fear filling them as she realized what was going on.
Nivar was silent but was enjoying this. Her hand that was inside of the woman"s mouth was purposefully made up of the filthiest worms that comprised her form. Nivar let go out of the woman"s face, and reflexively the woman closed her mouth. She was able to bite partway through the giant"s hand, an impressive feat all things considered. Sadly, that was what Nivar wanted.
The limb the human damaged was made up of living worms. Worms she had just freed from their partially psychic and partially magical prison, a prison that made them controllable by Nivar. Those freed worms showed their grat.i.tude by writhing around the woman"s mouth and a few, the ones furthest in, even tried to go into her throat. This caused her to begin choking. I had watched this whole gruesome display and quietly healed Nivar.
The giantess sighed in delight, almost purring at the sensations of worms sp.a.w.ning spontaneously within her and crawling over to her damaged hand, to remake it and heal her. Nivar watched as the woman she had attacked collapsed into a choking heap, her face turning red, even as the worms inside of her tried to explore their new home. I quietly sent her a new message. It was simple.
"Kill." I commanded her, having enjoyed the brutality of what I had just witnessed. The woman was still alive, and in considerable pain. Nivar turned to her pet, and relayed my order. The giant"s response was simple. It closed its hand, lifted it above the woman, and then brought it crashing down on top of her. There was a sickening crunch as the giant"s fist crushed the woman, but it was at least a swift end.
Nivar seemed to melt into a swarm of worms, worms which crawled onto and then on top of her pet. It was when they were all squarely a.s.sembled on the giant"s back that they got back together and formed the strange vaguely humanoid ma.s.s that was more properly recognizable as Nivar. The process took about fifteen seconds, as the worms were supernaturally fast and collaborative.
Another scream filled the air, and the first airborne undead, monsters like shadows and wraiths, began to descend on the town. The carnage was about to begin in full.