(??? POV)
Another creature entered the so-called holy grounds of the ancient shrine. Its steps echoed through the withered, moss filled stairs.
Undoubtedly a goblin, but with many markings engraved onto its body resembling the creature on the bridge.
One hand wielded a sphere while the other carried another one of those lumps of flesh, the abominations, the disgusting mismatch of human parts.
It continued walking until its footsteps resolutely arrived in front of a old wooden gate.
*Creak*
The worn gates dragged open. Pale light spilled into the room. Hundreds, no thousands of white flames scattered across the room carelessly came into view.
And at the end of the room through all the flames sat a hooded silhouette, engrossed in its craft, not even sparing a glance.
Its eyes narrowed.
???: "Tch."
The sphere shot across the room, zipping past the hooded goblin barely missing by an inch.
The hooded creature turned, looking right into its eyes without a shred of fear or hesitation.
Hooded goblin: "Alas the child returns to her roots."
A faint smile appeared beneath the hood. Its words held a hint of familiarity.
Hooded goblin: "And the first thing you do is destroy my workshop?"
???: "....?"
Hooded goblin: "Not going to answer or has simple words become beneath you, now."
The hooded goblin's smile disappeared.
The tattooed goblin tilted its head in confusion, as if the other spoke gibberish.
Hooded goblin: "Wait youu... It's been damn near a month and you haven't even bothered to learn the LOCAL TOUNGE!"
It abruptly rose up from its seat.
Hooded goblin: "Of course, why would you."
With a wave of its hand a small flame drifted through the room, stopping right in front of the tattooed goblin.
Hooded goblin: "Take it."
The tattooed goblin grabbed the flame and looked at the hooded goblin. As if already knowing what to do, it opened its jaws wide and swallowed the flame whole.
*Throb*
A sharp pain shot through its skull. The tattooed goblin staggered, dropping to one knee.
Flashes of memory flooded into its mind, words, sounds, images. It grabbed its head with one hand.
The foreign language that had once sounded like meaningless noise started making sense.
It slowly steadied itself. The new memories began to settle in, pain naturally vanishing.
Hooded goblin: "The language you just learnt is called English. The tongue of the monkeys. It has a nice ring to it."
???: "Mother, what is this, what is going on?"
'Mother': "Vera my child, take a look around yourself?"
Vera's eyes wandered across the room, noticing the bountiful flames littered across. Its numbers in the thousands.
But Vera was still confused, she still couldn't understand the importance of the flames.
'Mother': "This is a blessing, an opportunity granted to us, with all these souls we can easily realiase the great miracle."
Vera's eyes widened.
Vera: "Wait, all these souls are compatible with our own?!"
'Mother': "Just compatible?"
She let out a quiet laugh.
'Mother': "Look closer, their souls are nearly indistinguishable from yours or mine, but unfortunately they're being wasted on these primal sacks of flesh."
Vera: "But if brother had agreed to this, cursing us wouldn't have been required."
'Mother': "Your brother IS A FOOL!"
Spit flew across the room, again. Carrying her anger with it.
'Mother': "Trying to ally with those monkeys. And those blind idots, following his words without a second of doubt."
Vera: "But we require him and his 'Ruler's stigma' to realiase the great miracle. And as it currently stands, even in his weakened state, capturing him will be difficult."
'Mother': "You don't worry about that. I will drag him back. It doesn't matter whether he is willing or not, as long as he is alive we can proceed with the next steps. For now we need to gather more souls."
Vera: "Right..."
She didn't fully believe her mother's word. She had her doubts, especially about her motives.
Vera: "And you are planning to do it with this?"
*Thud*
She threw the grotesque abomination right in front of 'Mother's' feet.
Vera: "I have to say this is crude work, even for an amateur."
'Mother': "This, my work?
She just laughed off Vera's insult.
'Mother': "This is merely an experiment, something I made on a whim. In order to create something decent I need to know how these monkeys operate."
She picked up the abomination off the ground.
'Mother': (I can't wait for much longer, the curse has begun wearing off. Vera is the living proof of that I need more souls quickly, I need a hunter.)
Her bony fingers tightened around the abomination, crushing its arm.
She handed Vera a piece of paper, filled with various numbers.
'Mother': "Vera, gather these corpses from the basement. I will show you why I was given the title of Shaman."
Vera: "All of these!"
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Vera: "Making a creature of this scale will require a lot of souls."
'Shaman': "Don't worry about the souls, I have been collecting the souls of the lesser beings for this exact purpose."
Vera: "Lesser, beings?"
'Shaman': "Dogs, cats, rodents, etc etc."
Vera: "There were other creatures besides these monkeys."
'Shaman': "Of course. Their souls are deeply flawed but have I stored them within my crystals nonetheless. We won't need to burn any of the useful souls as long as we link the crystal to the creature."