My Life as a Salamander 62 Ashes to Life

I sat there with my back against the wall and slowly looked around at them all, counting as I went. I sighed tiredly. (37 in all eh?) I thought to myself in sadness. I turned to the smallest shadow.

" Arcelus.... Do you want to sleep? Or move on? I suppose that's the better way of saying it."

He slowly looked around at the others. They all nodded at him. " I think my family and I have had enough of being in the dark. I want to get out of here." He said in his small voice. I nodded as I came to understand something. These people had been together so long that they had essentially become family. I was sad but glad at the same time. His real family was gone. But he had made a new one with people who felt the same way he did. People who had gone through the same harrowing experience he had.

I slowly got to my feet and got them to gather together. I did for them what I did for the people of the dwarven village. The pure white circle formed, pulsing with my heartbeat. Light filled the cavern as the circle pulsed and glowed. It was only moments later that the darkness once again filled the cavern and I was left alone. I said a silent prayer for their well being and sat back down. After a moment I reached for my bag that was off to the side. I started pulling out the bones I had found and any fragments I had gotten my hands on. I had gotten ahold of 15 pieces of bone and fragments. I shifted my head into the dragon form and started chowing down. The bones crunched easily under the sheer force of my bite. The system started dinging after a while.

/ Host has consumed Shadow Tyrant Rex ( Familiar of the Mountain Tyrant Toad). Host has acquired skills for the following.

Shapeshift lvl 1: Allows for host to transform into whatever he sees as long as it does not exceed his own weight. The higher the level the better the quality of transformation. Right now transformation is comparable to a blob or slime. Very Poor.

Lulling Voice lvl 1: Being hypnotic in nature this voice can be used to lure in unsuspecting foes or prey. Most songs will now have a calming effect. Depending on the lvl a song can also have a morale boosting effect.

Titanic Head Smash... This will only reduce hosts thinking ability further than his current idiotic level hence system will absorb it and work on evolving to help host.

Shadow Stalker lvl 1: Allows the user to hide in the shadows and at higher levels merge with the shadows. Even using them to appear and disappear as host sees fit. Max Lvl 5. Currently appears as a shadow covered figure. When light is applied the shadows are dispelled easily./

"Wow." I said. ( This guy really was a creep.) I thought feeling extremely creeped out as I was munching on his bones. I continued on chewing but the only thing I really gained was materials for harder bones and scales. My head changed back and I formed a door of earth to cover where I was. This way no animals could attack me in my sleep. I found a descent rock and laid my head down. It wasn't all that comfortable so I shifted to dragon form and slept that way. I used to sleep like this all the time before my humanistic form so it wasn't a problem.

When the morning came the sunlight peaked through a couple holes here and there in the earthen door. One caught my eye and caused me to wake from my groggy slumber. I rolled a little and slowly moved the door back into the ground. I had slept but felt like I hadn't slept in centuries. As I slowly stepped into the morning air I squinted against the light till my eyes adjusted. My stomache growled and I looked around but found nothing was close by for food. I shifted into my human form and started looking through my bags for a piece of jerky or something. I found a piece but it wasn't even close to filling my complaining belly. I hauled up my pack and figured it would be best to find Sam and the group. I opened my heavy wings and flapped into the air. My muscles burned after a bit of flying and after an hour of searching I found Sam and the others at the cliff where we had left them. I landed with a large thud. As dust swept up around me and the rabbit men screamed in fear. Sam rushed up to me as I quickly sat down for a rest.

" Where have you been?! You've been missing for four days!" She exclaimed at me. I simply sat with my head down as legion quickly handed me a goblet of water. I gulped it down like I hadn't drank anything in days. I felt the effects of Titan fortification set in after my second goblet. I felt the warth flow from the ground through my bones and muscles again and really felt the burn of my sore muscles. I sat back some as I breathed out a huff of hot air. I explained what happened. The dragonmen and the ore vein. I went through all of it. I cut out the shadows and said I saw bones and clothes from travelers lying inside the toad. That was just to make people feel less anxious around me. They distrust me enough as it is without knowing I'm a necromancer. I finished telling the story by saying I killed he culprit and the Toad was gone.

The Rabbitmen looked at each other then back at me. "Does this mean we can go home now?" A little girl in rags asked. I nodded. " Yes. You can go home without worries." I patted her head between her fluffy white ears.

"The thugs will leave when you all return. They have nobody leading them now and are heavily disorganized." I said to the rest. They seemed to breath easier. Some even fell to their knees as though they had no more strength left. ( These ones are awefully dramatic.) I thought embarrassed by the divas of the group.

I Shook my head and grabbed my bag.

" Where are you going?" Sam asked. I beckoned as I walked. " We still got a ways to walk and I'd prefer to feel the softness of a bed sooner rather than later." I called back. Sam quickly grabbed her things and Legion picked up their pack nonchalantly. I started humming On The Road Again as I walked. Sam rushed up next to me with some heavy breathing. " You walk really fast. What's the real rush?" I turned my eyes to look at her from the side.

" We're still being hunted. I'd prefer to be in a heavily populated place with laws to help keep the hunters in check." She nodded with a saddened expression as we walked. I started experimenting with the abilities I got from Rex as we walked. I pictured changing the tip of my tail into a blade but it only changed into a long scaley blob. As I worked on it for a few hours my shaping got a little better and it became more like a blade. The level rose to level 2 after that. It took alot out of me to concentrate and form it the way I wanted. As soon as I stopped focusing on the image my tail would change back. Needless to say, I have to improve my will power and mental strength.
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At one point we came to the top of a rocky hill and got a better view of the capital in the distance. It was still small seeing as we were still far away. But seeing it gave me a bit of energy. We stopped and set up camp for the night. I went hunting while Legion and Sam got the campsite prepared. I had my bow out with my eyes looking around for prey. I used the Shadow Stalker skill and found that my vision stayed the same but the shadows hid me well in the tree tops. It took me a while to hunt for something. I managed to find a couple hedgehogs that had metallic spikes. My arrows bounced off with little effect. Seeing that my arrows weren't effective I used the earth to smash their heads. ( Sorry!) I thought apologetically. I put them in my bag quickly. I started my way back to the camp and suddenly smelt smoke. Not normal smoke. It smelt like burning cloth and blood. I shot forward with renewed vigor and fear. I screeched to a halt next to a blazing campsite and Legion and Sam fighting off shadows.

" Ignis! A little Help!?" A shadow darted forward toward Sam and brought a dagger around to strike her. The earth suddenly rose and the dagger missed her head by a foot as the assailant went tumbling with a "Oof". I placed my bags down and shifted. My head whipped over and snapped up a shadow with a disgruntling crunch and a scream. I threw it into the ground with a smash. One down, seven left. 3 of the assailants went for me as the others went for Sam and Legion. The shadows hacked and slashed at me. Though it was very amusing to see their astonishment as their blades bounced off my scales. My tail smashed one into the ground with a squelching sound. ( 2) I thought as I grew more excited. Last one hit me in the back of the head with something that crackled with electricity. It zinged through me but it only served to energize my slightly tired mind. I focused and found them standing a few feet behind me. They found the earth up to their head so they couldn't move. I heard a feminine scream and turned only to find Sam had killed 2 of the shadows and legion was comically backhanding the remaining shadow repeatedly. As I looked I saw one shadow was behind Sam and about to stab her. My tongue lashed out and smacked the shadow square in the face with a splat. I retracted the tongue and the person was in my mouth the next second I spat them into an open hole in the ground that closed around them till only the head was visible. Legion finished up slapping the one in front of him. The mans face resembled a pig with how swollen it had become from the beating. The ones that Sam had dealt with were wounded and one seemed to be dead.

"Hmph." A small smoke cloud of contempt came out of my nose as I huffed at the assailants. " Amateurs". After checking to make sure everybody was alright I made the ground cluster all of our hostages together. They all were buried up to their necks in dirt. The three that were dead were stacked nicely next to my massive dragon form. I had plans for them. That left four still alive. THe pig face was on the far left with the two I had bearied in the middle and Sams injured one on the right. They all wore black shawls and bandanas over their mouths. Very assassin like. Sam and legion quickly undid the bandanas and flipped back the shawls. Two of the assailants were beast men. A male brown bear and a female Grey fox by the looks of them. The middle one on the right was an elf with pointy but short ears. Her hair was silver ( Typical of elves I know) With green eyes. The one that on the right was a human man with dark red hair and hazel eyes. Sam remained quiet and Legion wasn't talking either. It was slightly awkward to say the least. I stepped forward a little and sniffed them all.

They smelled similar to the tanuki. A dark misty smell clung to their clothes despite being covered in dirt and sweat.

" I take it the tanuki delivered the message?" The fox's right eyebrow twitched a little when I mentioned her. " It appears I was correct. What happened to her?" I questioned. I was answered with only silence. I slowly moved a body from the pile next to me and set it ablaze. The foxes eyes went wide with horror as I set the body down. "You can smell the meat right. I only eat my meals cooked." His face paled slightly along with the others as I threw the burnt thing into my mouth and swallowed. The system chimed but I ignored it. I breathed on them, letting the smell of sulfur and burnt things fill the air between them. I was trying to intimidate them a little as I asked my next question. " Who sent you? Or should I start adding a live kill to my meal list ?" They all quivered as the elf started to talk. Her voice was like wind in reeds or a tiny creek. It flowed smoothly and showed practice with her speech. " If you let us bury the others I'll talk." I looked at her without any emotion in my eyes. " How about this? I bury them and you talk. I'm not letting you out until you're no longer a threat." She hung her head a little and looked at the others. They slowly nodded. She looked at me. " Deal"

Chapter end