On a dirt road in the middle of the forest a group of people walked, the leader was walking at an impatient pace while the handful behind was keeping pace, clearly submissive.
This was Loyd and the five subjects under his command, the other seven subjects followed Thorn.
Loyd turned his head to the right and said in a loud and annoyed tone "Hurry up, we need to arrive at the next town before lunch tomorrow."
Loyd's already impatient pace sped up, his face showing even more annoyance.
Two nights ago in a dream the lord had approached him and expressed his satisfaction with the work they did in the last town. But Loyd felt bad, he had barely done a thing yet he was claiming the lord's gift. This annoyed him to no end.
He felt that in the next town he needed to show his usefulness to the lord so he could feel worthy of the lord's praise.
The gift the lord had given was a generous one at that, stronger physique, faster healing, and something the lord called telekinesis: it was the power to move objects with your mind.
He immediately felt the novelty of it, and once again marveled upon the power of the lord to give such things so easily.
On the other side in the dimension.
Malrik was floating peacefully before he sneezed.
"How can I even sneeze?" he thought aloud, his face showing how puzzled he was.
"Someone must be thinking about me." he thought narcissistically with a wide grin.
"It's probably Loyd or Thorn. They were very grateful for the gifts I gave them." He had previously a day or so ago rewarded his two most loyal subjects with some gifts.
Stronger physique, faster healing, and TK. The strength they possessed now was incredible and the human sea tactic no longer works… at least not unless a REALLY huge amount of people come since the people now only had cold weapons.
As he thought of that he reached out and grabbed a soul with his TK, then started to sip it like it was some pina colada on the beach.
On the other side, Loyd had arrived at the next town.
As he spotted the town a wide grin broke out on his face. He sped up once again while hurrying his subordinates.
"Finally." Loyd exclaimed as he was nearing town, but as he was getting closer he couldn't help but think of his peer Thorn, and his slow, boring, lame plan that was… weirdly effective.
But then he smiled mockingly, such manipulation tactics are for the weak.
He grabbed his ax that was hanging around his waist and confidently walked into town. His subjects showed nervousness but also excitement. As Loyd entered the town, the people eyed him, his grin and his ax showing fearful expressions.
Then a group of people approached as Loyd had merely taken a handful of steps inside the city.
They yelled "Who are you!? What are your intentions with that ax?"
Loyd turned and looked at them, his grin widening as he eyed them, thinking `Perfect targets to try my new powers`.
He raised his hand at the guy in front and then activated his TK, nearly immediately the man then started to fly towards him at rapid speeds, Loyd chuckled as he raised his ax and swung it at the nearing man. The man's head split open like watermelon and white brainmatter combined with blood stained the ground along with Loyd's robe and ax.
Then he raised his hands and started to absorb the man's soul with practiced ease.
The onlookers all showed the same scared shitless expression, they went pale with fear and shock.
The men who had previously approached with such confidence, the men who were most likely this town's little "guard" force were now shivering, faces pale and bloodless.
Loyd raised his arm again and aimed it at one of the men, but right before he as able to activate his TK the man pissed himself and fell to his knees. All he could say was "Please, please… don't kill me please, I…I…I got wife and kids, t-they need me."
Loyd showed a disgusted expression and said "Your soul will serve a greater purpose as food for our lord." Then he turned his head and glanced at one of his subordinates and said "You take the pisser, and I will take the rest."
The man who was pleading showed a look of despair as the stranger approached, not giving up he kept begging to his last moments "Please, please… I beg yo…" before he could finish his sentence the strange man shoved his hand through his chest cavity.
Loyd not sparing the spectacle another glance got himself occupied with the rest of the "guards". He got into position and launched himself at the nearest man and swung the ax, the ax moved at speeds that were barely even a blur to the human eye. The "guard" didn't even have time to raise his guard before his head flew and blood sprayed everywhere.
The other "guards" looked in horror as the stranger with the ax started to cut them all down, while chuckling, moving at speeds that were not something humans could react to.
As the last of the "guards" fell, Loyd showed a satisfied expression and then raised his hand and six white mist-like substances flew out of the men's bodies and into the black mist on his hand.
After enjoying the warmth of the souls passing through him and the slight increase in strength, as he got a small tithe of the soul he ate but the majority went to his lord, of course.
He then turned his head and glanced at a bystander woman and moved his hand, the woman let out a scream as she flew over.
Loyd grabbed her hair and dragged her towards the city center, with his subordinates in tow.
Upon arriving in the city center, most of the inhabitants of the town had arrived as well.
Then Loyd said "I was never much for the theatrical stuff, but a friend of mine showed me that it can be quite effective to put on a show." he said with a slight chuckle.
He then looked out over the crowd of people, they numbered in the hundreds, maybe 150-200 or so people were here, all gathered.
Loyd smiled as he loudly announced "You now belong to the hollow lord, and 10 lucky people here can get to become the lords subjects."
The people who were not amused said "Who do you think you are? Do you want us to hang you?"
Loyds smile faded and his face became stoic.
He raised his hand and the woman floated from behind him to in front of him.
Loyd said in a monotonous voice "I didn't want to do this but you forced me."
Under the shocked, marveling and confused eyes Loyd moved his finger and with it came a guttural scream, the woman who had previously been floating just fine, now screamed, her arms bent in an unnatural twist backwards. Blood flowed as her fragmented bones pierced her skin.
Before anyone could say anything her legs twisted in the same unnatural position, making her dwindling screaming pick up again, louder than before, louder than ever.
Loyd let go of the woman and she fell among the crowd, they parted like fish seeing a shark. No one helped the woman in fact they were still processing what had just happened.
Loyd now impatient said "Either you yield, and 10 of you choose to become the lords subjects, or you all end up like that… also heads up, you who don't choose to become the lords subjects or you who aren't in the lucky 10 will all end up like that."
The people looked scared, angry, and they felt humiliated. Some took steps forward as if to challenge Loyd, but he simply glanced at the stupid idiots and they backed off into the crowd again… like good dogs.
Loyd felt proud, Thorn wasn't the only one who could spread fear. He could too, and it looked like they were even more scared of him than the previous batch had been of Thorn.
As Loyd was in a daze, 10 people had chosen to serve the lord. They were immediately shunned by the people. But some eyed them enviously, they had been one step too slow.
Loyd smiled and told them to come up, and they did. As the first one approached, Loyd flipped his hand in a theatrical way and then told the soon to be subject to drop some blood on the paper and push his finger in the blood.
The soon to be subject did just that, and then came the 9 others all repeating the same ritual.
Afterwards Loyd smiled, feeling real proud of himself.
On the other side in the dimension.
Malrik was sipping a soul… again.
When he felt a connection to another 10 subjects. He took a peak and realised that Loyd had been working hard, 10 new subjects, perfect.
Malrik chuckled to himself and then took another sip of the soul in his grasp.
As Malrik was enjoying himself Loyd on the other hand, was telling the 10 new subjects to kill their once fellow villagers. They hesitated, and that annoyed Loyd to no end. It seems subjects forced into contracts like this with brute force, is… not ideal.
But under Loyd's unwavering gaze the group soon moved. They launched themselves into the crowd and started to kill wantonly.
"NO, NO please not my child." A woman begged one of the new subjects, he hesitated, before stealing his resolve and cracked her child's neck, then moved on to her.
The woman stared at the scene in disbelief, her child, her child was dead, lifeless, his corpse lay lifeless in front of her, his unmoving eyes stared daggers into hers as she let out a scream.
The new subject who had killed her son, had now gotten the taste of souls and without much hesitation and even some excitement he stepped forward and cracked her neck.
"DEVILS, YOU ARE THE DEVILS SPAWN." One of the villagers screamed before getting his throat slit.
Their previous friends, neighbors and even family begged them to stop. But it was to no avail, had it been before they killed someone, it might have worked, but now, after the taste of soul? There is no way, they are already loyal to the lord and his will.
"Son, you can't. I'm your father, please" a father pleaded with his son who had now become a subject of the hollow lord. But… it was too late, he had already gotten the taste of souls, after that there is no going back.
They simply didn't recognize family as their family anymore, they were just like the ones who had shunned their decision to join the lord, the best decision of their lives… they now believed.
Loyd upon seeing this scene laughed and decided to join in the fun along with his five subordinates, who were excited to now finally get to absorb some souls.
It was a blood bath, heads were rolling, blood covering the ground like small rivers, screams drowning out the low chuckle of the lord's subjects as they devoured souls.
It was hell on earth, truly.
But all must come to an end, Loyd soon absorbed the soul of the last victim. Then he sighed in relief, relief to have made a considerable contribution to his lord, at last.
Soon his subordinates gathered around him, now a whopping 15. He smiled proudly, then said "Gather valuables and your essentials we're leaving." His subordinates moved fast and soon disappeared from his sight.
Loyd started to walk around and set the houses on fire, cause why not?
Soon they gathered at the entrance of the town and all 15 of the subordinates were present.
They then left, starting to head to a meet up point previously discussed with Thorn before the separation.
Behind them the town burned, the flames seemed to flicker with crimson light as if trying to tell the story of what had transpired there.
CHAPTER END.