Chapter 1: Regaining Control
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Standing in the doorway was a figure I recognized.

It was Nicole, my best friend since coming to this world. Her pure blonde hair and normally fluffy fox ears were shining under the moonlight from the window. It would have been a beautiful sight if not for her eyes. Her once golden sparkling eyes were now a dull yellow, almost as if she was in a trance. Her fluffy ears and tail seemed matted and in her hand was the staff that she found months ago. The ends seemed to be flashing a bright white light, almost as if it was trying to get someone’s attention.

 

I was watching her from my bed, seemingly the only one still awake as I could hear the snores of all the kids around me. She was supposed to be in bed too as the orphanage had the lights off for a couple hours now. 

 

I stayed in my cot, watching her slowly shamble out of the room like a zombie. Something screamed at me to follow her, to see whoever or whatever she was walking towards. I felt as though if I stayed in the room I would regret it for the rest of my life. Slowly getting out of my bed, I began to follow her.

 

 

“Get up Praetorian”

 

“Yes my Princess?”

 

I could feel the presence of my Princess in front of me. While I could not see her due to not having eyes, the horns that replaced them let me sense her. It also let me sense the dozens of bodies that surrounded me. Dozens of trash that I had personally killed.

 

“Did any of them pass?” I heard her ask.

 

“No. None of these insects were worthy of assimilation. They should be happy they got a quick death.”

 

I was sent by my princess to destroy some of the last remaining human and demon settlements. She told me to convert anyone that could put up a fight, but as expected none of these things were worth more than a passing glance. Still, why did any of them even bother trying to do anything? We have already killed and converted every single dwarf, elf, and beastman. all that was left was just a handful of humans and demons. They should just give up already and join us. Serving under the Empress is better than whatever future they think they have. 

 

Wait, that’s not right. Why am I here? Why did my Princess refer to me as a praetorian? If I remember correctly, that was a type of abyssal. Wait, why am I referring to my Princess as my Princess? The abyss was our enemy right?

 

“Praetorian. We are going back. Seems this wasn’t worth our time. Call the others back as well”

 

“Ugh.. understood, my Princess”

 

Snapping out of whatever I was thinking about, I responded to my Princess. As I was a control type praetorian I was able to sense the location of all the nearby soldiers, and if I wanted to I could control them as extensions of my own body. That was thanks to the horns that my form provided me with. Using them, I sent a recall order and within minutes I began to hear the shuffling sound of feet approaching me. I could sense close to fifty soldiers standing in front of me. With everyone here, my Princess opened a portal that we all walked through. As soon as I emerged on the other side I could feel the air change. I knew where we were now. We were in the abyss, the place that I.. no, the place that the abyssals call home. 

 

My Princess dismissed us and we all returned to our rooms. Well, more like my Princess went to her room while I went to my bed in the barracks. I knew the soldiers would go to some shed and enter dormancy as they were not currently in use. I guess this gives me some time to think.

 

Who exactly am I? I am a control type Praetorian, an entity of the abyss and a servant of the Empress, right? No, that's wrong. Aghhhhhhh, think think think. No, I am not a member of the abyss, I was converted.. I think. Yeah… I remember now. I was originally a human, when the entities of the abyss invaded our world seemingly out of nowhere. Ok, I need to get my thoughts in order so I remember, lest I forget and become a thrall once again.

 

I was a human originally. I lived as a merc, I think, going around from place to place and fighting for money. And when the abyss invaded I joined the one of the human empire’s military as a hero, whichever empire I cannot remember for the life of me. Doesn’t really matter much though, nearly everyone was killed within a week of the invasion. Humans, demons, beastmen, dwarves, and elves alike were powerless to stop them. The demons fared the best due to their powerful magic and the humans survived due to sheer numbers, but all the others died out. And then the converts, those of us they deemed “worthy” they brainwashed and transformed into their soldiers. I guess that explains why I cannot see and why I was enthralled the way I was. I remember there were some other people that I was friends with. I can only worry about what happened to them.

 

Ok, so what do I know about the abyss then. They think I am one of them so maybe I could try to take this down from the inside. I already know that it's useless, but I can only hope. I know that the entities of the abyss are sorted into ranks depending on their strength. There was fodder at the bottom, being composed of weak animals and beings that surrendered so they have very little strength and are worth nothing more than numbers. At least, that's how they are from an abyssal’s point of view. I can still remember it taking over ten men just to slay a handful of these “fodder”. Above that was the drone rank. Those were converted adventurers and footsoldiers, they gained a massive amount of strength compared to the uncorrupted counterparts. When it came to drones it took a squad of elite soldiers just to slay a couple. Anything above that like the soldiers, knights, and bishops it took practically an entire army to defeat a squad of them. I know the ranks above those, that being Praetorian, Princess, Queen, and then the Empress. To think we had so much trouble killing what the abyssals consider to be basic units… I can only wonder what would happen if the old me was to ever fight one. Outside of that I remember there being monsters that were nicknamed abominations, being that either could not survive the assimilation process or were converted after death. Their strength varies widely based on the amount of matter used to make them. 

 

I can feel a memory of the abominations surface. I let one loose on a stronghold of humans. At the time the smell of the blood and the noise of the screams made me laugh. What… What have I done? I wonder what else I did while under their control…

 

No no no, worry about that later. Worry about that after you slay The Empress. Alright, what else do I remember?

 

Ummmm… Ah, initially we had a big issue with fighting the abyssals. While fodder and drones died to regular swords and spells, anything above seemed to heal rapidly from the wounds we inflicted. Now I know why. Stronger abyssals are immune to weapons and spells that do not have an alignment. The only way to damage them for real is to hit them with something light or dark aligned, and even then the wounds would still heal within a day or two. While every being in the world is either light, dark, or unaligned, abyssals seem to have their own alignment. I wonder if the abyss alignment would be effective against another abyssal. I sure hope it is seeing as how I currently seem unable to use any magic and any weapons that I could scavenge nearby are all abyss aligned.

 

Alright, now that I have my thoughts in order, I need to figure out what to do. I want to get revenge on this place for destroying my world, even if I can barely remember anything about it. And with that though I began to head out. 

 

Just as I began walking toward the door to exit the barracks, I was hit with a headache.

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