Children of a Lesser God

"Hi to you too. Been a long time. You've been well?" Laz said, not answering her questions right away.

"Did you not hear me? Of have you gone stupid since the last time we met?" A'ruya was annoyed that he wasn't answering her question.

"You said, in fact everyone said, there was something I needed from that realm. Why was that?" Laz had never forgotten what she had told him or what the strange creatures in the grey forest had said to him back when he left Tyr. Although his encounters were many and his gains plentiful, he felt like he was missing something.

"I don't know. I read you karmic line and that's what it said. Destiny and fate are two sides of the same coin, but they are not the same thing. Destany leads you to where you need to be while Fate drags you there kicking and screaming like an child. I was able to piece together that destiny and fate both wanted you to enter that gate.. Of course neither of them were able to tell me if you were going to be coming out again. But that's just what it is."

"I could have died?" Laz understood this for the first time. He figured since everyone was sending him there, they knew he would get out alive. But now it seems like he was just being stupid.

"Nothing is set in stone. Your life is nothing like it would have been if not for me. I tied you to my fate in the same why I tied myself to your fate. And yes. In that world, I wasn't sure I would have been able to reach you if you encountered a life threatening attack. But because you are still this weak, I was not only able to find you, but help you while I was able to look into a few of the secrets of that world. Now that I've explained this, tell me what happened and leave nothing out."

Laz couldn't help but notice how serious A'ruya was being. And also how patient. This was unlike her enough to make Laz understand that she really needed to know what had happened.

As Laz brought A'ruya through what happened, he noticed that she seemed disinterested. In fact, it almost seemed like she was bored. The look on her heart-rendingly beautiful face was one that he had seen countless times back in his school days when the students were tuning out the teacher. And this continued all the way until he got to the point about hearing a voice and going into the lab. Once he spoke of all of the strange creatures in there, including the ones that ended up with Ruby, Laz saw A'ruya focused very closely on every word Laz said. She even interrupted him several times as though she was confirming exactly what the creatures looked like.

Laz then spoke of finding the Asura restrained on the wall and he felt A'ruya's body tensed up before she struck, grabbing Laz's shirt and bringing him to just within inches of her face.

If this was any other time, Laz might had mistaken her gesture as wanting to kiss him, but he could see from her face that her eyes were moist while her face looked like she was in pain.

"Did... did he.... did you get a name?" She asked, trembling.

Before Laz could even respond, he noticed that in the large, open courtyard of wood where she had always met him was suddenly filled with dozens of people who looked very similar to A'ruya, although not as strikingly gorgeous. They all held white, spear like weapons in their hands while wearing matching clothing, something that appeared to be a hardened wood-like black armor.

They stood around and didn't say a word as they looked on. If Laz had been closer to them, he would have seen a bit of moistness in their eyes as well.

"He said his name was Rak'sha..." After having said this, it seemed as though a sad lament echoed through the group, as though everyone was about to break down at once, but no one did.

Laz was able to connect some dots seeing this. Apparently, these people knew his master.

As Laz looked on, these warrior type beings all dropped to one knee, holding their spears up straight and banged their chests three times with their fists. Even A'ruya followed along, although her chest banging was a lot more muffled due to the epic sized mounds on her chest.

After having done this, they stayed in this position, as though they would remain there for all of time like statues. Laz could tell that there was a profound pain within their actions, even if he didn't recognize the ritual.

A sudden vision hit him as he watched this, something from deep inside and before he could stop himself, his deep blue eyes suddenly took on their golden hue as light spilled out, engulfing everyone gathered. Shocked, they could only raise their heads and see Laz staring at them with a face that didn't belong to himself.

It held anger and fury, but also a horrible sadness and look of regret.

"Rise. And be free." The voice wasn't Laz's, it was far deeper and more powerful than Laz was capable of. But with that, the golden light faded once again as Laz regained his young, human like form.

He had no idea what had just happened, minus that he blanked out for a few seconds..

But now, he saw their shocked faces, full of tears while even the ever godly A'ruya couldn't help but cover her mouth while fighting back the tears.

"What?" Laz asked, clearly confused.

A'ruya didn't answer. Nor did she ask anything else from him. Instead, she just walked forward, put a hand on his cheek in a manor that was way to gentle for someone like her and simply said,

"Thank you."

With that, Laz felt the world spin as he slipped into the darkness once again.

With Laz gone, those that had knelt stood up, but unlike when they had knelt down, being almost completely silent, there was a lot more noise as they rose. This wasn't from the ones that had gather around A'ruya, her personal body guards, but from the hundreds of thousands of those gathered all over the massive tree that all stood at the same time. Before, only those around were visible to Laz. But now, there was nothing blocking the direct view into A'ruya's personal courtyard, the protections have been removed back when Laz had first mentioned meeting an Asura restrained on a wall.

While A'ruya was focusing on calming down her heart, several other women and men appeared beside her with many complicated expressions on their faces. Of the group, one of them looked just like A'ruya, only with a much more mature air to her.

"Grandmother..."

"I know. We... Don't deserve to be rid of that burden."

"But he said..."

"He is nothing but a human with a bit of blood inside of him. That's all."

"Grandmother..."

"I know. I know... perhaps this can be considered the first step. But if we don't succeed, then all of us and them...."

"Yes Grandmother."

"Never tell him. Anything. There are many secrets that are not meant to be known. And even if he brings the message, he is still human. He can only be trusted if he can be controlled."

"Yes Grandmother."

"Good. Still..."

"Yes Grandmother?"

"Keep an eye on this boy. He may prove very useful in the future." And before A'ruya could say anything else, the green haired, mature beauty that is her grandmother disappeared in a flash of light, followed closely by those who had come with her. Including A'ruya's parents who didn't bother saying a word to her.

Once she was alone again, A'ruya couldn't help but smile. Her choice had been approved by her grandmother, something that rarely if ever happened.

"I wonder if I should reward him for this?" A'ruya asked herself quietly while thinking.

Laz, unaware of what he had just missed, awoke to find he was still on the red silk bed, but all of his clothes had been removed. On the bed on his right were two very fleshy mounds that had curled up next to him, on rest her head against his chest while the other was rest her head against his tight. And on his left side were two more fleshy mounds, resting in the same way on his other side.

Laz blanked out and sort of twitched at the same time, causing the four mounds to rise up.

It was all four of the Ivy sisters, dressed in black nighties with corresponding black panties. If not for the fact that the scars on their bodies were very different from each other, Laz wouldn't even be able to tell them apart.

"You're awake?" They asked, seeing his open eyes.

"Yes.... Ummm....??" Laz was at a loss for words.

"Sorry. You have been the first male to have come into this room and we couldn't decide who should keep you company," Death said, or the one that Laz recognized as Death Ivy.

"Honestly, we had almost fought over it, but decided to let you choose who you wanted to keep you company," Pestilence Ivy added on.

"And so when we came in to ask and saw you asleep, we couldn't help ourselves," War Ivy explained.

"And before we knew it, we all fell asleep," Famine Ivy finished up the explanation.

"Ah. How long was I out for?" Laz asked, sitting up a bit.

"A few hours. It felt like..." Death answered.

"You weren't really here. And we didn't want you to leave..." Famine finished.

"You all... seem to want something?" Laz felt there to be a longing in the girls eyes, one that seemed sad and excited at the same time.

"Only you can help us," War said with pleading written on her flawless face.

"We have waited... and hoped... but it seemed to be for nothing...." Pestilence commented.

"How can I help?" Laz asked, wondering what the problem was.

"We..." The girls all hesitated.

"It's ok. We are... all of us, rather similar in a way. Perhaps you girls wear your scars on the outside, but mine are within and hidden. This makes us close. If there is something I can do, let me know?" Even if the girls bodies looked rather grotesque and mutilated, that didn't mean Laz was adverse to them as people. If anything, it made him feel bad for them. So if he could do something, he would.

"The daughter of the goddess and even the goddess herself said that you could save us. But we have no idea the price you would have to pay for it." Death admitted.

"What price? And what do I need to do to 'save' you?" Laz wondered, with all of this talk, what hell he was going to have to go through to help them.

"We..." Famine hesitated.

"We need your blood. Within it lies the power to regenerate our bodies and renew our flesh." War finally admitted, although she looked away as she said it.

Asking someone to feast on their blood, how was one suppose to do that in this day and age. How could the girls not be embarrassed.

"Oh? Is that all?" Laz asked, surprised. He knew his blood was special and full of life. But could it really restore their bodies from all of the scars that they had received? Even their private parts couldn't be considered whole or even usable. The memento of their long gone master.

If loosing a bit of blood could fix that, he was fine with it. Besides which, Laz had started looking at the long term. He already had relations with four girls who seemed to care for him deeply, but he didn't have much else besides that in terms of actual companions. With the strength these girls possessed, they would be a big help in the future. So what did loosing a little blood mean to him now?

"You're... not opposed?" Famine asked, her words reflecting all of their thoughts. Maybe to Laz it was just a little blood. But to them, it was giving them their lives back by healing their shattered bodies and damaged souls.

"If I need you in the future, I will expect you to help me and therefore you will need to keep getting stronger. As long as you can promise me this, I don't mind at all," Laz spoke his true feelings.

The sisters couldn't help but tear up at his words.

"We promise. From this day forth, we shall be your loyal servants. Until the day of our deaths!" As the girls swore an oath that Laz didn't intend for them to swear, as strange hum filled the room, one that was very light and hard to even notice.

Without even waiting to explain the process, the girls all bit down at the same time, two on both of his shoulders and one on the thigh of each leg. Their sharp teeth took several moments before they were able to penetrate his skin, but they finally managed. His body was amazingly tough, but so were their teeth. Especially because he didn't try to resist.

Laz had to admit at this point that he felt kind of weird. Having four girls bite him at once was... stimulating, to say the least. On top of that, as they gently took a bit of his blood, slightly at first but a bit more forcefully after, Laz's body started to respond.

His eyes turned gold, his hair grew out, long and white while his skin turned a slightly grey color. Not only that, but his blood flow became stronger as his heart beat like a drum.

The strong energy and life in his blood became almost one hundred times stronger, causing the four girls to moan in pŀeasure as they tried to slow down..

But this last bit was far stronger than what they had taken before and they couldn't continue.

But it seemed like enough as the girl's bodies began to glow.