Lot

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. But with the slow decay of the once mighty civilization, something powerful had to fill the void. A pale full moon lights the midnight sky, illuminating the world below. A soft breeze blows, tickling the tongues of the flames that slowly engulf the village. The warm glow of the flame and the white light of the moon soothes the city into accepting its fate. It’s almost peaceful watching this God forsaken city return to hell where it belongs. Almost.

A piercing scream cuts through the night like a hot knife through butter. As if summoned by the anger and pain behind the scream, the wind and the flames push higher and deeper into the town. As the flames reach the stone castle walls, a second scream tears through the serenity of this night.

On the floor of the throne room, he writhes in pain. He had forgotten. He had forgotten that the longer he stays in one form, the harder and more painful it is to take another. Another wail leaves him as he rips the flesh from his chest with one hand, and the hair from his head with the other. His back and knees bend unnaturally as all of the hollow bones in his body break and begin to reform. With each break the pain crashes down on him like a tsunami wave. If he doesn’t focus, he’s going to lose himself.

He tears at his thighs feeling the pressure build up in them, knowing what comes next. The explosion as his femurs shatter rips him from the world.

***

Suddenly he is a child again sitting on these very floors. “Come Lot, before they find us,” his mother hisses at him almost inaudibly. She is as beautiful as she was on the day he lost her, and he clings to her knowing that she will be gone again in an instant.

He feels his shoulders dislocate; now he sees the village before him. He sees the villagers carrying his mother on a stake. He hears the cold worlds of the King. “We must burn the witch before her curse spreads over the land. There is much unnatural in this world and it is our solemn duty to uphold what is right. She served this kingdom for fifty years, but never did we know that she was an abomination. What other curses has she put on this land and our people? What other unholy creatures will we have to fight because of her treachery? What fate have those who have lived here before us been condemned to because of her?! NO! We must end this now and make an example for all to see. Burn her alive! Let her cries of pain be a constant reminder for any who may challenge my authority!”

***

His own hideous laughter brings him back to reality this time. It drowns out even the worst of the pain. The foolish King. He reaches his hand out, it is broken and disformed, there is no skin left on his last three digits. His skeletal fingers caress the skull at the base of the throne. He pulls the skull toward him, “What do you know of authority now, Johnny boy,” he cackles at the once “holy” King. He feels his spine beginning to squirm. He knows what comes next, but why scream, after all he had won. He lets out another grotesque laugh, but it turns into a low gurgle as his spine snaps, and he is wrenched again from reality.

***

It had taken him almost twenty years to get his revenge. But oh, did he have it now. At ten years old he watched his mother and only caregiver burned alive in front of him. That was the first time he morphed. He knew they would be after him next. He knew he had to survive to right this wrong. So he waited in the shadows of the castle. He waited in the dark, and he let out his whispers. Drawing anyone to him. Any one at all; it didn’t matter. There were no innocent people in Hell. He could take any one of them.

The first to hear the whispers was the Court Jester. He was always roaming the castle after dark, and never where he was supposed to be. Curiosity did kill the cat, or at least in this case, the Jester. Lot leaped from his corner and slit the Jester’s throat without hesitation. He watched the light drain from his eyes. As the final seconds of life were fading, he whispered an old spell his mother had taught him into the Jester’s ear. Fear was the last thing in the eyes of the Jester, as he saw what the afterlife had in store for him. There would be no heaven for this city. They had condemned his mother in this life, Lot would condemn their souls for all of eternity.

***

Long ago, before they were prosecuted, the Doppelgangers were peace bringers. Because they could take the identity of any they saw, including any memories that were offered, they became Sin Eaters. When there were dying people, the Doppelgangers would come, they would hear their last rites, their regrets, and their sins, and they would become them. They would change into the person and take from them all their wrong doings so that they could die in peace and be taken from this life pure. This was a great burden for his race. While the Doppelgangers ate the sins of others, there was no one willing to give the Doppelgangers peace at the end of their life. So they learned and adapted. They learned how to give truly evil men and women all of the sin they had previously eaten, condemning them to the lowest levels of hell and freeing the Doppelgangers of their prison.

However, this new power spread quickly through their ranks, and some did not use it for the good of mankind. War quickly broke out and what followed was the near eradication of Lot’s people. They were hunted and killed like dogs. The few of his kind that remained were all in hiding. None practiced their ancient art. Except his mother. She loved her people. She loved her King. She hated watching people die, condemned to a fate outside of her control. So she helped. She ate the sins of all the dying people in Acadia. For nearly fifty years she protected the Kingdom from the shadows. But of course, nothing lasts forever, and she was caught and burned alive for her good deeds. But before her death, Lot had taken her sins. All fifty years of wrong and evil this kingdom had produced was now inside of him. And it was his turn to give a piece of that evil to every man, woman, and child in this Kingdom so that they could pay for what they had done.

***

On the castle floor, Lot regained consciousness. The worst was over. He was in his true form. His skin was grey, slimy, and cool. Perfect for changing shape. His bones were all hollow. Perfect for breaking and reconstructing. Lot had also learned that his hollow bones were useful for resonating sound. It made him an untouchable bard. He didn’t need an instrument to channel his powers. His own bones gave him the power to cast his spells and manipulate the world around him. He stood tall, almost 6’ 4. His head was bald, and almost alien in its perfectly round shape. Standing long, unnaturally thin, and demonically grey, it is no surprise the people of this world feared and hated his kind.

With the King’s skull still in his hand, Lot got to work. He had to become a new identity, but everyone in the kingdom was dead. Quickly, he went to the King’s chambers. He knew the King kept detailed books on the races around the kingdom so that he was always prepared for war if it broke out with any neighboring clan. He found the book on the Wood Elves to the north. An intelligent and resourceful people, Lot had always loved the Wood Elves. Any time they sent a delegation to the kingdom, he was front and center. Their grace was unmatched. Their love of nature and all things alive was uncanny. With revenge no longer the only thing keeping Lot alive, Wood Elf seemed a good place to start over. Using the pictures in the book, and his memories of those delegations, Lot began to transform. He had never changed into something without it present, so he knew this would not be a perfect transformation, but he didn’t have a ton of options.

He began to tear at his flesh, this time it peeled easily with almost no resistance or pain. He began shaping his bones, and the pain began. It had been far too long in that last body to get out without more pain. Again, as his femurs exploded, he fell to the ground and was snapped out of reality.

***

Once he had become the Jester, Lot moved slowly. He knew there was zero room for error. If he failed there was no one left to carry out his mission. If he wanted revenge, he was the only one who could take it. He worked his way through the castle. Using the cover of the Jester to learn the secrets of everyone living there. He became their friend and confidante. He learned their secrets and made them forget them with laughter. He slowly acquired power and the faith of the King. Five years in, the King’s most trusted Advisor fell gravely ill. It was the opportunity Lot had so patiently waited for. He used his powers of deception to convince the King that he knew a spell to save the Advisor’s life at the cost of his own. The King hesitated, because he had grown to love his Jester, but he knew the kingdom would not survive without the Advisor he so relied on. With a heavy heart, the King agreed to Lot’s terms and sent him, alone, to the Advisor’s room with the supplies he needed. Lot took the Advisor’s secrets and took his life, condemning him to hell, just as he had done to the Jester years prior. He transformed into the Advisor. The guards at the door had been instructed to open for none except for the Advisor, no matter what they heard coming from inside the room. Lot’s screams of agony as he transformed made the guards uncomfortable, but they did not yield from their position. Done with his task, Lot dressed the Advisor in the clothes of the Jester and lit both the bed and the body on fire. He had told the King that his own body would be consumed by hellfire as he gave his life fdragone to save the Advisor.

For ten years, Lot stayed as the Advisor to the King. He corrupted and manipulated him. He convinced him to start unnecessary wars, to destroy “poisoned food” that was perfectly fine, to over-tax and starve his own people. In ten years, Acadia went from an all-powerful and respected Kingdom to a forgotten village with a foolish King. Lot watched as finally the dragons to the South burned what was left of the rotting Kingdom. He hid in the shadows, making sure to give everyone their “last rites” before they died. He condemned every single person in Acadia to an eternity in the depths of hell for their treachery. They had killed the only person saving their souls, and now Lot had taken them all. Save for the King.

The King sat on his throne and watched in horror as the dragons took everything he had built. Every ounce of wealth and food stripped from his kingdom. Everything else burned. He did not move, for Lot would not allow him to move. Nor would he allow any dragon to approach the King’s throne. No, the King was his and no one else’s. Lot’s spells of manipulation had become powerful over his years. At this point he could almost bend reality itself with his words. He could make anyone believe anything. Years of deception and manipulation had made him a perfect weapon for sabotaging a Kingdom.

After the dragons had left, the King sat, for fourteen days and fourteen nights. Unable to eat. Unable to drink. Unable to move. Famished, withered, and quite frankly soiled by his own filth, the King sat waiting for a mercy that would never come. As the final seconds of light faded from the Kings eyes, Lot gave him every sin he had left. All fifty years his mother had eaten. All fifteen years of sins Lot had done. Everything he had, Lot gave the King. He would not be a sinner. He would be THE sinner. He would burn in the darkest part of Hell for all of eternity. And he would know what he had done to get there.

For five more years, Lot remained in Acadia. Even with his revenge complete, his anger was not sated. He picked every bone in the Kingdom clean. He ate every ounce of flesh and food that remained in Acadia. He gathered every last coin and valuable item, burning most and keeping a few for himself. As the wild began to take back over the town below the castle, Lot’s rage began to diminish. Peace slowly began to return to his life. But with it, purpose did not come. Lot had gotten his revenge but he had failed to live is own life. It was time to do that now. So he crept to the outskirts of town on this full moon night, and lit the fire that would baptize him and this kingdom, giving him new life and a fresh start. The Valley belonged solely to the dragons now.

***