• Chapter 11
    Resurrection
    Kasäsh arose from the throne and walked down the long silver colored carpet in a long, gold trimmed, green robe. Today the guards were given the rest of the day off so they could rest during this time of peace throughout the land of Arwhelîx. She leaned on the window sill of an open window and let the wind caress her long brown, highlighted hair. Kasäsh heard a noise behind her and she promptly turned. Standing there was her father, Heîrok; only now his face was gaunt and looked stricken with pain and agony. He seemed to be talking to her but Kasäsh could not hear him. Tears flowed from her eyes as she began to run towards her father. She finally was able to embrace her father.
    She looked up into his face to see that Heîrok’s face had changed. The face of the man she was embracing was the face of the being she had killed no more than five years ago. The man raises his bladed arm and swings downward at Kasäsh. She sat upright in her bed with beads of sweat rolling down her face. Kasäsh got up and closed the curtains on the windows, closing off the sunlight and plunging her room into a dim light.

    Gíroún had brought Aster’s body back only to find that his friend was long gone. Gíroún simply gave Aster’s body to the currents of the underground rivers and let it float away.

    The Orc, Parel, had found that the sword he had found near the decomposing corpse was more than just a sword; it was a fountain of riches. He found this out one while dragging the sword about when he wished he had the strength to carry this heavy weapon. The sword gave a great glow and sudden strength began to flow through Parel’s body, enabling him to lift the sword. He rejoiced in this new found ability and soon began to brag to his friends about it.

    Gíroún returned from scavenging to find that Aster’s body was in a cocoon of black and dark purple threads. He poked at the cocoon and found that had been ruptured somehow. A small drip of water makes him turn his head upwards as a great beast lands atop of him and rips him apart.
    The beast soon finishes feeding on Gíroún and stomps off into the shadows as a sac with another beast pulses upon his back.

    Kasäsh pulls out a small golden necklace that has small emeralds and rubies incrusted into its links. She places it around her slender neck and remembers the day her father gave it to her soon after the death of her mother. He had said that her mother would have wanted her to have it and to cherish it. Her mother had only died when she was only two years old.
    She walks down the emerald green colored halls of the Grass Tribe temple and enters the kitchens. All the chefs and cooks stop their frantic bustling and bow down to their queen.
    “For the last time, I am not to be bowed down to for I’m the same as all of you,” Kasäsh speaks softly with a slight edge to her voice.
    One of the chefs speak of, “But, Milady, if we were to do so that would be of great disrespect to your father and your lineage.”
    “So what if my great grandfather stopped the Orc invasion, that doesn’t mean I am above all others,” Kasäsh replies with a slight smile flirting about her lips. The chef gives up and returns to work. Kasäsh continues on into the next room, the dining hall. The few servants present are bustling about, doing their respective jobs.

    The beast soon went to rest after much traveling in the caves and laid down to rest in a small puddle of cool water. The sac upon his back begins to shake and jiggle as the thing inside began to move and grow. By morning the sac carrying beast was dead and the sac was burst. A wide trail of green slime and blue flood was trailed behind the newly hatched beast. That beast was Aster.

    If the Aster were to somehow be “killed”, the Aster’s essence will enter an unseen realm and eventually inhabit another being. Eventually the essence will take form within that being and burst from the being, killing it.















    Chapter 12
    The Town Bazaar

    Aster hauled himself over a ledge in the cave and plummeted to the shallow water below. There were two humans gathering water here and were taken back at the sudden, unexplained splash. One of them waded out to Aster, seeing that he was not moving and began to drag the beast to the shore. There, under candlelight, they found themselves in the grip of Aster’s new tentacles, numbering eight, and were soon crushed. Aster lifted himself up with his muscular back ligaments and headed towards the light at the end of the tunnel and found his face could not bear the light of the sun. He crawled back into the cave and waited for darkness to settle.

    Kasäsh was walking through the town bazaar and found two small children fighting over a hardened loaf of bread. Eventually they dropped the bread and began to beat on one another with extreme anger and soon fell to the ground, still fighting. Kasäsh strode towards them and pried them apart and had them sit down.
    “Now what’s the problem you two?” she calmly asked the two squabbling children. They both started to talk at the same time and the ensuing ruckus made it impossible to tell what either of them was saying. Sighing, she covered their mouths and said, “One at a time so I can understand what you are saying.” Pointing to the boy on the left, she continued, “Please speak.”
    “He wouldn’t share the bread momma gave us to eat and he says I don’t get any cause I’m bad but he’s the bad one!” the boy cried, wiping his eyes with his dirty hands.
    The presumably older boy spoke, “Well if he wasn’t such a poopy head than maybe he would of gotted some!”
    Kasäsh took the bread and broke it into halves. Giving one half to each boy and she then explained something to them, “Now you both have bread and you both should know that no matter how much of a ‘poopy head’ someone is, they still deserve to be treated kindly. Understand?” The boys nodded their heads and run off, eating their halves of bread.

    Finally darkness had come and Aster was hungry to the point of salivation. Aster knew the people were ripe for the picking. The shadows hid his mass well as he crawled through the sparse trees along his back tentacles. His senses were overwhelmed by the smell of living beings and his new mouth on his chest salivated at the anticipation of food. His upper mouth had fused shut with a few serrated teeth jutting out like a jagged spine. As the forest became denser, his hunger grew deeper until he let out mighty roar of pain and knocked trees aside in his thrashing. Quickly fatiguing himself, he fell asleep and his torment ended… for now.

    Kasäsh returned to the palace shortly before nightfall and found a man in a black trench coat with his face covered by a black veil. As she entered her throne room the man stood up from her throne and watched her steps as she approached. The man raised his hand and stopped her advance with powers unknown.
    Thrashing to break free, Kasäsh spoke to the man, “Who are you and why are you here?”
    The man kept his hand raised and slowly replied in a deep grating voice, “I am what you could call Death. I have come here to tell you that your bitter nightmares will soon show you what is about to be played out in front of you.”
    Kasäsh is let out of the grip and falls to the ground, panting, “What do you mean?”
    The man, Death, turns away and answers as he fades away, “The beast within.” With that he fades away completely. Kasäsh, shaken, hauls herself into her chair and rests.

    Asters are made up of their own personal fears. Resist as they might, becoming the personification of their fears is unstoppable.




















    Chapter 13
    Trials of the Dead Men

    Aster woke and began to crash through the forest again, toppling trees and causing a great disturbance. The disturbance and noise he created were so great that the nearby village sent out a trio of their best men to find the cause of disturbance. Aster froze as the men slowly crept by, not noticing the red eyes watching them. Soon they split and one came towards Aster, unaware of the danger before him.
    The man was grabbed by his head by one of Aster’s chest tentacles and bashed against a tree. Ever hungry, Aster fed on the remains and moved out to hunt the other men…
    The leader of the trio, Môltan, heard the commotion of the man being killed by Aster and shortly found the bloody skeleton of Jolken. Seeing that his assailant was not here he called out to his last remaining partner, Nezzrus. Soon enough they were tracking down Aster with haste and unbridled anger. They came to the forest edge where the trail ended in shallow valley, only to find that the beast was not in sight. Turning around, they were both decapitated by a single hard blow to the heads.

    Kasäsh twists and turns in her sleep, in the grips of yet another nightmare with Aster in it. Only now he does not appear in the guise of Heîrok, her deceased father. In this new nightmare she sees Aster destroying village after village while she is kept immobile by some unseen force. Soon enough Aster comes towards her and turns into his first original form, that of a human.
    Staring her in the face with his red slit eyes he speaks, “You thought you could kill me, didn’t you!? Well, I got news for you! I am indestructible and immortal!” And starts to laugh insanely and fades away, as does everything when Kasäsh wakes up in a cold sweat.

    Aster throws the remainder of the carcasses aside and dons Môltan’s skull as a shield from the burning rays of the sun. Crawling out of the forest, Aster begins his new reign over mortals.

    Having spoken to one of the seers, Kasäsh begins to prepare for the strife that is come to come to the Land of War, Arwhelîx.

    Parel was murdered in his sleep one night for his powerful sword by a samsk named Hîklut. Like many samsk would do, he absorbed the sword into his purple gelatin body and returned to the hive cluster.
    Back at the cluster, his queen, the mighty Lamnîa, demanded that he hand the sword over to her. Under the threat of death he did so and was promptly killed. Lamnîa gave this new sword to one of her favorite warriors, Zakrîos the Vile.

    The Aster will forever burn in Hell and never move on to the Abyss to have their soul recycled like the others do that come to Hell.