A Skull Full of Souls

Borbigmos booming chuckles finally die as Julius settles down next to him on the cart. “It’shs not that funny!” Julius tries to growl. Borbigmos stifles his last few chuckles with some pretend coughs.

“Hmm. Well then, why don’t you get to the part of the story where you come in then? No more of this ‘ancient knowledge’ mince. I wanna hear about you.”

Julius smiles. “But I wash in that lasht part.”

Borbigmos scoffs. “Yer bum’s oot the mineshaft, ye fuckin’ bampot! Ye weren't anywhere near that story.”

Julius grins. “That’sh a good one! Wash that from your mom’sh shide or your dad’sh?”

Big Moe grunts. “Da’s.”

Julius nods, then holds up a finger. “Sho you didn’t find it weird that there wash an orc with a lishp dying in that shtory? Or an elf with one of my namesh?” Julius somehow smiles even wider, the points of his tusks jutting merrily. “In fact. You could even shay that bits of me showed up with Bob!” Big Moe inhales, preparing a retort. So Julius holds up a finger. “Hush now. I hear you. I wash going to take you through the tale of Andendor crafting me. But you want it fashter. Sho, let’s shtart right around the time I woke up.”

***

The skeleton screamed. It was an unnatural, terrified, shriek of horror. Worse yet, it had harmonized with itself. A deep rumbled basso released a clarion call of agony and outrage that was somehow perfectly and horrifically paired with a high feminine caterwaul of terror and despair, Both harmonized by a slithering mental chorus of confused thoughts sensations, and urges broadcasted themselves at an intensity strong enough to make a mortal’s brain melt. Andendor growled in displeasure and renewed his spell of silence on the skeleton. “What a colossal failure, Vinny. I just can’t. Failure isn’t near ‘fail’ enough to fit such a waste. It’s a Flailure. Yes. Two incredible gems, An empty soul coin—melted down and mixed with a still living Mind Eater larva, Two high-level adventurers' souls and corpses, and years-YEARS of painstakingly fine enchanting and inlay work of the bones. And all we get is a weak, mad, and creepy screamer.” He sighed, looking closely at the tusked jaw that opened and closed in the now silent scream. “I’d name it Andendor’s Folly if I thought I’d keep it. But even for a villain, there are some acts I won’t commit. I’ll have to put it down.

Vinny’s vine fell gently on the shoulder of the restrained body. The bones darkened wherever the black limb touched “It’s not mad Andy, it’s confused. It has senses that shouldn’t exist. It has multiple minds fighting for controls they’ve never used before, and they can’t even control their volume. Every attempt to organize hurts all of them. They also don’t seem to be able to control their mana system yet. Parts of its astral construct anatomy seem to be phasing in and out. Causing twitches and spasms. You know that with how you crafted your mind construct, they can probably feel it like nerves, right?”

Andendor’s glowing eyes regarded the tentacle for a second, and he blinked. “It’s been a decade since you consumed that vial and yet, I’m still stunned that such a sharp and deep intellect hid behind the plant that spoke only in shouted monosyllables and infantile sentences.” He shook his head. I always thought I’d be the smartest one in my land, but you truly are formidable, my friend. Nineteen lesser minds do have significantly more processing power and storage than one great mind.

“Thirty-eight.” The vine rumbled.

“Mmh?”

“Each Dwarf body had an Elvin soul tree planted inside. During the time of blight, each seedling, resisted by the Dwarven souls they were meant to claim, ended up harvesting a nearby elf when they died. Thus thirty-eight, not nineteen, minds reside within me.”

Andendor froze, having realized how much more complex his friend was than he’d thought. 50 years and this plant was still a cornucopia of delightful surprises. Then he shrugged. “As illuminating as that is, diagnosing what’s wrong with it doesn’t seem to be a good reason to keep it needlessly suffering a torment that appears to me to be more effective than what the demons come up with.” He readied his hands, preparing to destroy his most expensive project.

Vinny held up a tendril. Gesturing that he wanted Andendor to wait. “What I meant was that all of its torments are because it is a newborn entity made from parts that weren’t entirely compatible. It reminds me of when I first woke up. You only met me years afterward. Truly, I think you should consider this pain merely trauma from a difficult birth. Don’t all babies scream when they are born? It’s a traumatic experience.” Andendor nodded and indicated to continue. “I can see that you are ill-equipped to aid this newborn. I understand your desire to end its suffering, but could you give me some time with it?”

The necromancer sucked his gray teeth. “Perhaps, how long will it take to be sure it can recover?”

“I’m sure now. But proof would take two to ten years to develop. Depending on its aptitude and learning speed. And the…difficulty of establishing communications.”

Andendor winced. “I can’t knowingly put someone through-” He gestured at the silenced ongoing tribute to true agony. “-that for ten years with no proof. Even my withered conscience writhes at the thought of doing that for more than a day, let alone years.

“Eight then. I can show results in eight.”

“Hmph, only if you can get it to voluntarily stop screaming in a single year. If you don’t: fwoosh. It’s the only mercy I have left to give.”

Two vines sprouted from the ground holding skeletal hands. They rubbed their hands together and Vinny spoke. “Deal.”

***

Andendor paused outside the chambers of the being he still thought might have been his cruelest mistake. He’d promised Vinny a year. Every day had eaten at him. He cared nothing for good and evil. Many thought that having their souls bound and bodies forced into servitude after death was heinous enough. Andendor supposed that was fair. But he hated suffering. He wasn’t cruel or sadistic. He never raided innocent neighbors for fresh materials. He harvested from those who wanted to destroy him and his home. He was, in essence, a man who dove into the taboo magics in order to continue his research much further than any mortal could before.

He’d accepted the hatred and murderous actions of others as a natural way to gain superior ingredients. And (being truly honest with himself) took comfort that if he ever became truly evil, there would be a host of heroes that would band together and take him down. He loved these lands, in his own way. He did his work with several goals in mind. But he wasn’t without mercy or restraint. This particular bargain ate at him, though. Those souls had made the tortured screams of a torment far beyond imagining. He’d put two of them in one singular prison. He considered it the cruelest thing he’d ever done. Deep inside himself, he couldn’t tell if he was more afraid of having to murder the poor thing and realizing he’d let it suffer for a year, or if he’d be forced to spare it because it had stopped screaming and—in doing so—damn the wretch to an eternity of such a hellish existence.

So, on the final day of the time allotment, Andendor stepped into the chamber and passed the silencing wards that hid the noise within. He was hit with a wall of screaming…laughter? Andendor blinked and looked around. On the ground, sprawled in a very…compromising position, was a skeleton convulsing as it laughed in multiple voices. Its legs were spread in a perfect horizontal split, and the right leg had detached from the body a few inches. The torso had fallen forward and lay on the ground. The head had rotated itself completely backward and stared at the ceiling. The lights of its eyes rapidly shifted colors as three distinct voices all laughed at once. One of Vinny’s tendrils hung from the ceiling also rumbling in amusement.

Andendor cleared his ancient, dusty throat. “Ah-hem.”

The skeleton twitched in surprise, then tried to turn its head towards Andendor. But it used too much force, and the skull was outlined in translucent muscles before the ghostly tissue shattered and the head popped loose and clattered across the floor. “oh-oow-urrg!” The skeleton groaned in its dual-toned and mentally harmonized voice, as its skull spun and clattered. Then the howls of laughter intensified.

Andendor ran his hands across the lank, withered remains of his hair, and tried again. “Vinny, please. While I admit, they aren’t screaming the same way, I’d really appreciate some actual help understanding what’s going on.”

The tip of Vinny’s tendril morphed into an obsidian hand, holding up a finger asking for a moment. Slowly, he regained his composure and began to speak. “The youngster got impatient with their lessons and insisted that they wanted to skip ahead straight from mapping out and learning to control individual limb motions all the way to walking in one go.”

“It’sh boring!” The skull spoke. Its glowing eye sockets went completely blue, and Andendor noticed that only the male voice had spoken. Suddenly, the blue lights became red and the feminine tones spoke “You have to let him off the leash every so often, or else nothing gets done.” The blue flared again as the skeleton tried to raise and shake a fist. “Oh, eat my hammer El! That’sh not fun–oouch!” The arm spastically jerked and the ethereal muscles torqued, shattering and flinging the shaking fist past Andendor’s foot. “Shorry.” The eye lights flared red again and the feminine voice resumed. “Oh come now Org. Even Voracity knows how you are by now.” The eyes glow a deep eldritch violet and a mental wave of hunger, curiosity, and enthusiastic greed blasted Andedor. Impressions and emotions crashed into his mental defenses. There were no words, but if he had to translate them it would be something like: “The new wrinkle-dry-dead skin mind’s brain smell-taste is strong, ripe, and tasty. We want to eat it. Orgthar dumb-dumb mind, not tasty. El’s mind tasty, can’t eat, is welcome.”

Andendor stumbled backward. Burning fire formed in his hand as he instinctively prepared to blast the hungry thing attacking his mind. “Andy wait!” the vines rumble as one grabs his wrist and diverts the gout of flame harmlessly against the far wall.

“What the hell was that?” Andendor asked.

“That was Voracity. It’s the mind of the Eater Larva.” Vinny said.

“The larva survived the process intact?”

The vines bobbed in assent. “Indeed, it appears that the soul coin anchored the Eater’s soul intact.”

“That’s…alarming,” Andendor said. “Why is it called Voracity?”

Once again that hungry childlike mental presence blasted over him. “We are wrong, we understand little. We knew nothing but our instincts. We sense the place where the us of ours should be. but there are only scars. That and the two that we feel should be food, be hosts. We cannot eat, cannot consume. But we are hungry, our instincts are hungry. Voracity is a good description. It is what we are. So, we like it.”

Andendor worked his throat, his old instincts telling him his desiccated throat was dry. That thing was disturbing. “Well. It, ah. It appears that you did, in fact, convince the subject to stop screaming in agony within the year.”

“Julius.” Vinny said.

“Hmm? What?” Andendor asked, momentarily distracted.

“That’s their name. Julius Willowbloom Skullreaver.” Vinny said.

Andendor blinked. “That's…” He was lost in a forest of confusion. The path of his thoughts had been so overgrown and a new question had bloomed over it. “What is with that weird name?”

The eyes of the skeleton glowed in dual tones. One red, one blue. “It wash a compromishe.”

“A compromise?” Andendor asked.

The eyes glowed fully red. “My name was Eletheria Harnarathianel Willowbloom.” The eyes returned to full bloom. “My name wash Orgthar Shkullreaver of the Blue Shky Territoriesh.”

Andendor waited for a beat. when no further elaboration ensued he asked: “And Julius?”

The eyes washed violet and Andendor forced himself not to flinch as the hungry voice spoke again. “We like it.”

Andendor’s foot tapped in irritation. He felt like they were being purposely vague and obtuse with malicious compliance and enigmatic nonsense. “Explain fully.”

Vinny stepped in—well, butted his vine in. “Orgthar and Willow seldom can agree on any given path. Willow is thoughtful, methodical, and patient while Orgthar is decisive, instinctive, and aggressive. Also, both have a history of having clashing opinions. Meanwhile, Voracity is curious and attentive. It enjoys hearing both sides of the argument and rarely takes action unless they can’t agree.”

The skeleton’s three minds project agreement at this assessment.

“Thus neither Orgthar nor Willow would be comfortable admitting the dominance of the other in the name. Thus, they let Voracity pick the first name of the entity that they reside in. They did not want to use their names for their gestalt form as calling them Willow, Orgthar, or Voracity partially forces the named soul into prominence and can cause control to slip. Voracity’s chosen name being first is also a quiet declaration to let it control the body as default because the other two just can’t help resisting the other. Lastly, Willow claimed the second name because she likes the position of balance and thinks of herself as the conscience and wisdom of the group. Orgthar gleefully took the last name as he wanted the entity to end on a note of strength. He thinks of himself as the pillar of courage that supports the others. He is the call of action and glory. Voracity just enjoys the company as it can’t feel the overmind that eaters usually connect to. It seems to find other minds soothing. Though it still kinda wants to eat them. That hunger is soul deep.”

Andendor felt at a loss for words. He paced back and forth while he considered this new information and what he wanted to do. “Julius, do you remember when you first awakened?”

The skeleton’s eyes became balanced. One was filled with a glowing red orb and a violet pupil, the other blue with a violet pupil. The bones were still partially scattered about but it carefully raised its intact arm and waggled its wrist back and forth. “Kind of. I remember everything with perfect recall. But I alsho washn’t…fully able to track time or interactshionsh. I remember your voicshe, I remember the dishcomfort, and everything I shaw. But sho much conflicting informashion wash happening inshide my shoul that I can’t sheparate and isholate the reality from the internal noishe. It washn’t until my minds partitshioned and gave eachother shpace that we could undershtand thoshe memoriesh. Even now, the whole memory occursh and your wordsh shpoken during that time are largely gibberish. Thoshe memoriesh are alsho very unpleashant to recall. Like three nonshenshical nightmaresh overlaid onto eachother all at onche.”

Andendor felt the confusion close to breaking his path again and filed all of his new questions into the Big Book of Later and asked the question he’d come to ask. “Julius, you were screaming endlessly. You seemed to be suffering such torment that I’d never have wished upon another. Vinny wanted time to help you adapt. I trusted him and had to let him try. Even though I hated myself for letting you suffer like that. Originally, I was planning on just choosing for you based on how miserable you appeared. But, you’ve become so cognizant. I will ask the only entity that knows for sure. You. Do you wish to continue existing? Is your existence worth pursuing to you? Or is your existence intolerable and would you like me to free you from it? Your component souls have performed service enough. I’ll allow them to pass beyond my reach. I’ve caused enough pain for them.”

The glowing eyes of the skull crossed. It was like the souls inside were looking at each other and trying to gauge their thoughts. “We… We want to shee what thish body can do. We thank you for the offer. though we dishlike the magical locksh on our free will. We will grow to reshent being a shlave.”

Andendor frowned in thought. His tight flesh pulled against his bones. “That’s…sensible—if troublesome.” He resumed his pacing and wrung his hands. “Let’s begin by pointing out that two of you came here to kill me. The last of you is an unrepentant predator that would eat me if it could. I’ll not hold that against you for eternity but it does require an answer. Both adventurers and monsters operate by law of sword and claw. You agreed to a winner-take-all social contract coming here and I won. I’ll not just free you and let you be. So, here is my proposal: I’m setting a price. The cost of making you, the cost of crossing me, and the price for mercy from a villain with no need to give any. This number is going to be steep and it’s going to be unfair. Secondly, I’m setting you a wage. You are my slaves. You have no rights but what I give you. So it will be unreasonably low.”

The skull broadcasted a sullen feeling. like the words weren’t great but they were heard.

Andendor raised a hand asking for them to wait till he’d finished. “In exchange for such unfair terms. I will grant most of the rewards early. I will rewrite your geas. I will grant you what will be essentially free will. The new structure will be a contract. Written in detail. You won’t be forced into feeling or thinking in a specific way. How you accomplish tasks will be entirely up to you. The loyalty compulsion will be lifted. Instead, your geas will read along the lines that: So long as both your soul and mine believe that you are fulfilling your obligations to me in good faith and you do not conspire to do me or my operations harm either through direct or indirect means during the time of your contract you are entirely free of any compulsion or coercion.

Andendor turned. Raising a finger to emphasize his next statement. “This will free you of all of my control so long as you work with me while paying the price off. Once paid off ALL of my control will be gone. At that moment, If you decide to try to take my head, only my own skills and defenses will stop you. I will have forsaken any claim to you and you will be free to leave, keep working for me, become my peer, or attempt to usurp me. Your life will be yours. Actually, aid me in good faith. Serve above and beyond the contract and I’ll put a small percentage of the price down as a bonus to give you at the end of your service. Here is an example: Perform five deeds above and beyond my demands and five of every hundred gold you owed me will be given to you as a parting bonus upon full payment.

The skull blinked, the eyes shrinking to slits of light then expanding again. “We agree to shuch a contract. Provided we have a chance to review and requesht alterationsh that you will try to meet until we reach agreement. Thank you. We feared you didn’t care. It wash Vinny’sh shuggeshtion that we be honesht. We thought you were an uncaring monshter.

Andendor laughed. “People are people. Even the monsters. Mostly, I’m just willing to pay any price to achieve my dream. I knew I didn’t have the time or resources to achieve my dreams as I was. Plus, I realized that I’d find no better components for my project than freshly killed heroes.

Julius grinned. “What ish your dream?”

Andendor smiled back. “All in good time. How about you learn to walk before trying to tackle legendary potentiation theory and bottleneck subversion methodology?”