Of Chosen and Fallen

“WELCOME BACK, MY LITTLE ANGEL!” I greeted Lilith.

I quasi-telepathically ordered my minions to bring the ****, well fucked girls somewhere else. They picked them up quickly and efficiently, holding them against their chests and turning their backs to Lilith so that she couldn’t see the naked, cum filled ex-village girls.

Not that Lilith showed any interest in what was happening. Her eyes were fixed to me, making a beeline for my throne with the quick, light steps of a happy child.

“Little Angel?” she giggled “Do you mean me?”

“OF COURSE. YOU SURE LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL TO ME” I said teasingly. “LOOK WHO’S HERE!” I added, pointing to Larell.

“Larell!” Lilith exclaimed happily, apparently only now noticing the older girl. She ran towards her and threw her arms around her waist. “You are still here! Does that mean you are going to stay with us?”

“I… yes, I think, I will.” Said Larell, a little hesitant at first but ending on a smile. She hugged Lilith as well.

“Yay!” cheered the little girl. “But…” she seemed to reconsider, looking up at Larell with wide eyes. “Won’t you miss everybody from Amberdew?”

“Oh silly, of course, I won’t!” the older girl laughed. It didn’t sound fake or ****, but not exactly joyful either. “Since my mom died, I don’t have any family left, and I never liked the other girls to begin with” she shot me a glance. “And besides, I have you here sweetie! I wouldn’t ever feel lonely with you around!”

My thoughts halted for a second. Larell was also an orphan? And didn’t get along with the other villagers? That explained a *lot*!

“I’ll never leave you alone! I promise!” Lilith exclaimed quickly, concerned for her friend.

“Naw, I know you never would, sweetie.” Larell’s smile became one of genuine joy. She patted Lilith’s head. Then, she took the little girl by her shoulders and pushed her away a little. “But look at you! You are all dirty, and your dress is in tatters! Come, let’s go and fix that.” She offered Lilith her hand.

“But I don’t wanna! I wanna play more!” the younger girl complained, refusing to take the hand.

“You will catch a cold if you play like this.” Larell explained, sounding surprisingly motherly. “That nice minotaur gave me lots of stuff to work with, so let’s not disappoint him and make you a cute new dress, okay?” She added with a smile, gesturing at me.

“…okay. But you need to make it really cute!” Lilith relented and took the older girl’s hand.

Larell laughed. “Of course.”

And with that, I was left to my own devices again.

I spent my time without the girls around doing various things. First, I picked up where I had left off when Lilith wandered in here: Organizing my dungeon! The first order of business was selecting and preparing a location to house my harem. My choice fell on one of the big halls next to my throne room, on the far side of the dungeon entrance. This way, my harem would be kept safe, but also be within easy reach.

On the other side of my throne room, a little deeper into the dungeon and therefore hopefully safer as well as farther away from all my dark and depraved shenanigans, I planned for Lilith’s and Larell’s rooms. They were located on opposite sides of the same corridor so that they would each have their privacy (especially once Lilith got older) but still close so that they had each other.

Then, I tackled one of the more pressing and harder-to-solve problems: Food and furniture! Or at least, beds! I wasn’t too concerned about my harem, as long as they were kept warm, everything should be fine. If necessary, I would just have my minions warm them with their bodies (much to the girls’ dismay, probably). But Larell and Lilith were a different matter. I wanted them to have proper beds or at least something like a soft cushion to sleep on!

In the end, I had my minions bring in moss from the outside and puffed it up greatly by use of my life magic and told Larell to cut up the skirts of some of the dresses into blankets. There was enough of the moss that even my harem didn’t need to sleep on the ground, but only Lilith and Larell got blankets.

Food was a different kind of problem: I had food in abundance, from roots over berries and herbs to meat from forest animals, all neatly stored in the coolest corners of my dungeon. The problem was, I had no way to cook it or otherwise prepare it, I had just eaten everything raw. My monster physique coped with that excellently. After examining the rocks my minions had excavated closer, I made a lucky discovery: Flintstone! Not much, but enough to shape into a few makeshift blades and to start a fire. I had my minions grind them until they were sharp and brought in brushwood as well as dry branches from the outside.

I brought the materials, tools, and fuel into the largest hall which was still being worked on) and used them to make a rudimentary roast from as much meat and edible roots as I could, seasoning them with herbs. Larell was apprehensive at first, but when Lilith was eager to try the food and I didn’t stop her, she relented. Her verdict was ‘good, but strange’ and I decided that this was a big win, considering the adverse circumstance. My harem got the same food, and everyone had fresh water from the river to drink.

In the evening, after she had tugged in Lilith, I had Larell come to me again.

“Well? What did you call me for?” Wanna go back on our deal and ravish me, now that Lilith is asleep?” she half-joked, obviously tired and a little annoyed.

I sighed and shook my head. “YOU ARE AN ORPHAN, LIKE LILITH.” I stated.

“What of it?” Larell replied defensively.

“THERE ARE… SURPRISINGLY MANY ORPHANS AROUND.” I said thoughtfully.

“Yeah… Now a few more, thanks to you.” She accused me. I raised a few eyebrows.

“MY MINIONS WERE ORDERED TO DO AS LITTLE HARM AS POSSIBLE. NO CHILD WAS HURT.” I defended myself.

“I noticed, how kind of you. But many children lost their fathers, brothers, and sisters in your raid. Are you going to take them all in, as you took in Lilith?” she argued.

“IF THEY ENCOUNTER MY MINIONS IN THE WOODS OR FIND THEIR WAY INTO MY DUNGEON, I WILL. BUT I CAN’T REVEAL MYSELF, AND I CAN’T GO AROUND STEALING CHILDREN FROM VILLAGES EITHER… IF I HAD THE CHANCE, I WOULD BUILD AN ORPHANAGE. MAYBE I WILL, SOMEDAY.” I thought aloud.

Larell laughed. “When you talk like that, you don’t sound all that bad. A massive, perverted minotaur with a soft heart for orphans.”

“NOT JUST FOR ORPHANS, FOR ALL CHILDREN. I’D NEVER HURT A CHILD IF I CAN AVOID IT.” I explained. “IT’S JUST… WHERE I COME FROM, THERE WEREN’T HALF AS MANY ORPHANS AROUND.”

“Oh? Must have been quite a nice place then” she mused.

I slowly nodded my head. “I WOULD SAY SO. OTHERS WOULD DISAGREE.”

Larell raised an eyebrow at my ambiguous statement. “Well, where are you from?”.

“A PLACE QUITE FAR AWAY. YOU WOULDN’T KNOW IT; IT CANNOT BE REACHED FROM HERE.” I answered.

“If it cannot be reached, how did you come here?” she wanted to know.

I grinned. “TWO GODS INVITED ME, MELANOCHE AND CARNACHIAS, TO BE PRECISE."

"You serve the Dark Twins?!" exclaimed Larell dumbfounded.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM?" I asked.

"What everybody knows... Melanoche is the god of the Black Night, Carnachias of depravity. They say that Melanoche is responsive for the cruelty and callousness of monsters, while Carnachias makes them want for excess and depravity, mostly sexual..." She was quiet for a moment. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a rapey minotaur serves them."

"NOT REALLY" I admitted.

"But if you serve the Twins, why would you have pity for Lilith? She is a Chosen!"

"WHAT ARE 'CHOSEN'?" I asked her. I had never heard that term before.

"You don't know what chosen are?!" Larell was flabbergasted.

"I TOLD YOU, I COME FROM FAR AWAY. I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT THIS WORLD." I said, slightly annoyed.

"Well.. Chosen are..." She stumbled over her words as she searched for a way to explain the term.

"Okay, look: In this world, there is a great variety of different species. Many of these possess what we call a soul. Some creatures have a greater soul, some creatures have a lesser soul, roughly corresponding to their sentience." She explained.

"THEN, A TREE WOULD HAVE NO SOUL, A COCKROACH WOULD HAVE A VERY SMALL SOUL AND A HUMAN WOULD HAVE A STRONGER SOUL?"

"You could put it that way..." Larell nodded thoughtfully. "But it doesn't end there: Souls are either light or dark, depending on the patron god of the species. Creatures with a light soul have a heart, while creatures with a dark soul have a monster core. Hence, we call them monsters, although it can also mean non-intelligent creatures with a dark soul."

"WHAT IF THERE WAS A CREATURE THAT HAD BOTH A LIGHT SOUL AND A MONSTER CORE?" I asked.

"I don't know, I have never heard of that occurring... It could be pretty dangerous, considering that it should be able to draw in the gifts of both the light and the dark gods." She replied, "But I am pretty sure it's impossible anyways, so don't think too much about it."

I grinned internally. Her 'impossibility' was right here!

"THANKS FOR THE EXPLANATION. BUT YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD ME WHAT 'CHOSEN' ARE." I pointed out.

"Oh! Well, you see... There are two other distinctions between the races of this world: Their intelligence and whether they are humanoid or not. The more humanoid a race is, the more intelligent it is usually, although there are exceptions. Like zombies, who are fully humanoid but barely intelligent, or dragons who are absolutely not humanoid, but very intelligent. The most intelligent humanoid races that possess light souls call themselves the 'Chosen', because they believe that they were chosen by the gods to subjugate the world with their vast empires." Larell explained.

“SOUNDS RATHER EGOCENTRIC TO ME” I told her.

“That’s because it is. Most of the continent is quite human-centric because we are by far the most numerous intelligent race. I am already being as objective as I can.” She defended herself.

“WHAT ABOUT THE INTELLIGENT MONSTER RACES? DO THEY HAVE A NAME?” I wanted to know.

She twisted nervously. “We call them… the Fallen.”

I looked at her questioningly.

“It’s an old legend, okay?!” she said defensively. “They say, the gods were once all on the same side. But then, war broke out and the Dark Twins split off, forming their own dark, twisted pantheon. They ‘fell from grace’, so to speak. And their servants fell with them. Hence the name.”

“SOUNDS LIKE AN INTERESTING TALE. WHAT DO THEY CALL THEMSELVES? I wanted to know.

“I honestly don’t know. There’s many terms, like demon, greater demon, devil, fiend, … but I don’t know which means what. Not many people do. You should ask a Fallen, I bet you’d get along well.”

“I ASSUME CHOSEN DON’T GET ALONG WELL WITH FALLEN NORMALLY?” I asked.

“That would be an understatement… We Chosen are almost constantly at war with the Fallen, and our relationship with monsters is very much a kill-or-be-killed one.” Larell answered.

“I SEE.” I mumbled, without really listening anymore. Something she said didn’t make sense. “IF THERE ARE SO MANY CHOSEN RACES, HOW COME THERE ARE ONLY HUMANS LIVING IN AMBERDEW VILLAGE?” This really bugged me.

Larell yawned. “Oh, that’s easy to answer. The Chosen races don’t trust each other very much. Travelers like faring minstrels, merchants, and such are welcome, permanent residents, not so much. There was once an elf living here that got killed by bandits…” her voice trailed off. Was there something she didn’t want to tell me?

“Anyways, Fallen are much better at cooperating. Or rather, they hate everyone equally, no matter their race, as long as they can use them to reach their goals. The only thing keeping the elves from slaughtering us humans is that they need us to keep the Fallen at bay.” She said and yawned again.

“YOU LOOK TIRED. YOU SHOULD GO AND GET SOME REST.” I told the girl.

“…yeah.” She said with another yawn. “Good night.”

“SLEEP WELL. AND THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION.” I said in my gruff voice, making a mental note to acquire more information and especially a map as quickly as possible.