Shortly after Ladon explained to me how to send him back and he went to his Equestria, not wanting to cause a panic among the magi. After that, we began heading back to the library, Golden oaks, I think it was called. Orvok looked uncomfortable as we drew close, I took him aside as Azzy and Maru kept going “What’s wrong, Orvok? You don’t seem… comfortable here.”

Orvok sighed “I had come here to request aide of the local Magi guild, they sent me away with quite a few bruises. I am quite bitter at these Magi for leaving their neighbors to the fate of undead servitude.”

I nodded understandably “In less than three hours, I have seen some serious shit in this town... So, how about this? We go and get my sister, and we leave for the Badlands, post haste?”

“Alright, I’m right behind you.” My sister’s recognisable voice says dully, behind and slightly above.

I smiled and waved to Azzy and Maru “C’mon guys, Roxy was in a tree, no need to have anything more to do with these bastards.”

Azzy and Maru catch back up and sigh in relief, Maru the first to speak “I cannot believe I am saying this, but I am glad to leave this chapter of my life behind.”

Azzy nodded “Terrible Magi...wish could show what doing wrong.”

I sighed “Whelp. Let’s get going, eh? Got a long road ahead of us.”

Orvok cleared his throat “Er… actually, there is an old cullis gate near here that leads right to the border between the Everfree and the Badlands. I can open it up, if you would like.”

Roxy jumps from the tree. “What's this about a Magi guild? Sounds really speciesist. Like, KKK levels of messed up.” She asks, seeming to have just woken up from a nap.

Orvok looked confused “I have no idea what three k’s makes so bad, but the Magi guilds are groupings of the strongest magi in a region. Ponyville has one of the strongest near the Everfree, so I was hoping they could help defend the village before a Lich attacked. Fat lot of good that did.”

Orvok smiled at Roxy and conjured up a rose, before giving it to her “So what brings such a beauty to Equestria? Rare for a beautiful, open minded woman to show up in these lands.”

She raises an eyebrow. “My business, but it's nothing grand.” She says, shifting her weight.

Orvok smiled and nodded “Would you like anything? I can grow nigh anything I wish. Except for Poison joke, I steer far away from that stuff. Even more so the subspecies cruel joke… Stuff makes misery aplenty.”

“I’m fine as of now, but I’ll keep that in mind.” She says with a nod with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

Orvok smiled as he looked to me “So, how about the cullis gate? We should stop by Comraich. Especially if you truly want to be a king to us, it’s the last standing home to the Olog/Uruk people that is independent of Equestrian Rule.”

Azzy smiled “Eager to see home. Been too long.” He then walked with me and whispered so that only I could hear. “[I remember being an odd doll, master. You may not know, but I was a mercenary before then, and that… Hank, individual… he made a deal when my employer left me for dead. I took it, and you were who I was bound to… I just want to say, I am grateful you are not like the other magi...thank you for being a good man.]”

We then drew close to a wooden archway, with crystal hidden within the wood, runes etched into the wood and glowing in many brilliant hues. Orvok aimed his battlestaff at the Portcullis and launched a green fireball at the inside of the archway, creating a sort of thin veil of green flame forming, sort of like a stargate, now that I think of it, but with fire instead of water. “Come on then, let’s go!” Orvok said as he walked through the flame and disappeared.

Azzy grinned and was the next to cross, with a cry of “[Home at last!]”

Roxy glances around the place, admittedly curious but keeping herself in check. Maru looked to Rose and smiled, holding out her hand “Well, since Azzy sees your brother as family… would you like to be sisters? I do not mean to be pushy, I just haven’t had time away from Azzy to ask. You do not have to answer any time soon, just pass me a note when you decide, ok?”

I smiled at this, my heart warming at the kindness that Maru was showing. I had a feeling that Roxy was feeling the same, but kept up her passive facade.

Maru gently patted Roxy’s back, careful not to hurt her, before gently walking through the flames, leaving just me and Roxy, I smiled “We have quite the family now, eh? And i saw how Orvok looks at you, methinks he is smitten.” I chuckled as I walked to the flames and walked through, seeing the Badlands in the distance. “Well, where is this Comraich? I haven’t exactly seen any maps as of late.”

Orvak grunted as he held his hand out to the portcullis. His runes were glowing brighter, and his eyes glowing green.“I kinda have to keep the portal open until Foxy Roxy passes through, boss. Don’t wanna strand her across the forest.”

My sister couldn’t quite hide the noise of her choking down her laughter. “Foxy Roxy?” She repeats, trying to compose herself slowly, a clenched hand in her mouth.

Orvok blushes a deep crimson “Err... sorry, didn’t mean to offend, I heard that attractive humans are called Foxy by those who wish to court them…umm… I-I’ll stop.” he then closed the portal and pointed to our right “C-comraich is just a few miles that way, sh-should see it when we break through the t-tree line.”

This time she lets out a small and short amused laugh. “I happen to like Foxes.” She says offhandedly, letting him know it was fine.

Orvok sighed in relief, the worry that he messed up evaporating quickly. He then walked with us as he cleared his throat. “The guy who’s been keeping Comraich standing has probably heard of us, he has dealings with the Changelings, and they spy on the Magi in exchange for medicine, which I have been supplying them in droves.” I looked to him curiously, us breaking the treeline before he caught on “What? Uruks gotta band together, Ologs too, The magi ain’t doing us any favors, and I’ll be damned if my birthplace surrenders to Equestrian rule.”

I nodded as we drew closer. “So, what are the chances of him accepting our idea?”

A loud voice guffawed as we reached the front gate “Oh, I’d say they were bloody fantastic! Avenging my blood brothers tribe, teaching Celestia a lesson, AND saving an Uruk child from a beating? Yer a blessing from Or-Assik hisself fer sure, lad!” he ordered the gates lowered, showing that while the outer walls were fortified to hell and back with steel plating and iron spikes, as well as what looked like fire geysers that reeked of poison, the inside of the fort was definitely in far worse condition, whatever shacks could be built from scrap were being used as homes, craters in the ground from what looked like explosives, there were even rats fighting over what looked like a hunk of jerky.

There was a grunt as the voices owner, a large uruk armed with a brutal looking hatchet and covered in a hooded robe, leapt down from the tall wall, sticking the landing, impressively enough. “A disgrace, is wot it is. The ancestral home of both the Ologs and the Uruks, reduced ta this. Used ta be, we had tha greatest stretch of land and and arny that’d make the dragon lord weep fer ‘is ma… now we can barely defend our arses from ‘bandits’ that we all know work for the sun bitch.” he sighed as he looked to me, looking like he was far older than just a few moments ago. “Ye wanna make us something tae respect again? Than ye have my blade, Grimgor Ironwill, at yer service.” He then ripped off his robe and stuck his hatchet in the ground through it, kneeling to me before standing up again. He had a mechanical look about him, a purple lighted camera lens like thing replacing one of his eyes with metal plating around the skull and some sort of magical-mechanical implants replacing his right limbs.

He had a bronze and black leather gauntlet with some red metal wiring at the back of the hand, the fingers sharpened into cruel, deadly claws. The gauntlets and the gloves are riddled with bronze bolts and had a metal piston connecting from the metal below the elbow and to the metal above, the elbow itself free of anything minus some black cloth. Some black and red straps held it call together but weren't obvious at first glance. The Bronze metal was polished and very well maintained as well, in spite of the scratches, burns, and dents in the metal. Magical lettering and runes were inscribed in the metal along the wrist and up to the elbow in neat order, each glowing a deep blue and humming slightly.

His leg, similar to the arm, had the same construction, yet was inscribed with fiery crimson runes, and his foot was edited into an odd sort of grabbing mechanism, as if made to allow running up steep inclines.

His armor was as close to power armor as one could get in a medieval fantasy world such as this, paired with the intricacy of his implants that I could just feel were his handiwork, what with the care he treated them with.

Orvok frowned as he looked to Grimgors leg “Lost another limb, eh, brother?”

Grimgor nodded sadly “Yeah, lost it fighting off the last raid. We know where the buggers are coming from, finally, but there’s bloody little we can do.”

“Do they invade often?” Roxy steps forwards a little bit.

He nodded as Orvok began healing as many of the wounded as he could. “If it weren’t fer the changelings spy network, and Orvoks poisons and medicine? We’d be a smoking crater today.” He sighed “We just sent them packing a few minutes afore ye arrived through the portcullis. Iffin ye went a little further north, ye’d of walked intae them.” He growled with anger “They took our entire mining crew… who knows wot the poor sods are goin threw.”

I thought a moment “We'll need that mining crew, not to mention, I refuse to let celestia hurt any of my people.” My sister openingly smiled in pride at my statement.

Azzy and Maru frowned to each other, before Maru looked to me “We should stay back, defend from any other possible invasions. Who know if Celestia will send more to attack. I mean, we are extremely weakened in a personnel sense.”

I nodded “Smart, we should leave half of us here to defend Comraich, in case if Celestia decides to send another band of raiders.” I looked to Roxy and Orvok, who had just finished his healing “Roxy, Orvok, come with me.”

Orvok nodded, his staff at the ready “Good idea, there is both a healing capable unit, and a brawler unit on each squad.” He then gestured to me and Grimgor “Plus some advanced units.”

“Count me into the brawler route.” My sister says, taking a step forward.

Orvok nodded with a smile.“I pegged you for one, all that muscle would be wasted on another path.” He then nodded to me “I don’t know what your brother would be, maybe a magic-knight/Rogue? Those born into dual classes are rare, but not unheard of. The magics do react oddly though.” He then pointed to Grimgor “I’ll leave it to grimgor to explain his class. Makes my head hurt.”

As he says this, my sister adopts a pondering look. “...Wonder if I count as a berserker class too…” Only I managed to catch it as she examines her bandaged arm.

Orvak smiles as we make our way out the gate “Can’t wait to work my magic on those bastards. Maybe I’ll use them for an herb garden. Some Bloodroot always makes for a good trade with Changelings.” He shrugged after thinking a moment as I looked to him in horror. He eventually caught on “What? Bloodroot makes for a great salve!”

I then lost all my horror. “Oh… I thought… like… you ate it.”

He gagged “Naw, stuff tastes worse than moldy cheese on a soggy cracker.” He then looked to Roxy with concern “You sure you should be going into battle with your arm hurt? I don’t want you to aggravate your wound.”

“It's not a injury.” Roxy clarifies. “Just hiding something.” She tells him.

Orvok looks like he wanted to say something, then mumbled. “If it’s scars, so help me I’ll gut the bugger who gave them.”

“It's more a gift.”She says while surprising him with her hearing, clenching her bandaged hand. “You’ll see, in a fight.”

He nodded slowly as we approached what looked like a massive hole in the ground, the lift to the hideout all the way at the bottom, with no visible way to retrieve it. Orvok rubbed his chin for a moment before he snapped his finger and brought out a single acorn, jamming it into the ground at the edge of the hole before blasting it with his green flame, causing it to grow at an exponential rate, the roots forming a spiral staircase to the hideaway before he stopped, shaky on his feet “Phew… that was… whew… I think I need a mana draught… deeper than I thought...”

He took out a strange amber bottle of what looked like pure liquid light, and drank the whole thing, before the light seemed to pulse through him, visibly rejuvenating his body. He then made a gesture for Roxy to go first into the hideout. “Beauty first, eh? You should get first claim to warriors honor.”

“Might as well...I need some target practise.” She says with a slightly...concerning edge of enthusiasm, clenching her other hand and extending her hidden blade in her gauntlet, its wicked and slightly claw shaped edge gleaming with red and white paint. There was some more clicking a metal against metal, signifying her blades in her boots extending from the bottoms.

Orvok smiled as he cast a strange spell on us, me feeling as if I had just taken ten gallons of coffee made with redbull instead of water! “Dayum! That spell is amazing! What’d it do?!”

Orvok chuckled “I basically enhanced all your abilities for the next hour, it’s going to take awhile to get all these bandits cleared out, but with the three of us, we should manage. Let’s just hope the spell doesn’t wear off when we are in a tough fight… I don’t know if I can keep casting huge spells like this in rapid succession...” He then mumbled quietly, almost as if he was embarrassed. “Anything to keep you two safe though…”

My sister hums in amusement, catching it again. “Then we better not waste it.” She told us, seeming to be getting impatient despite the facade she was trying to hold up. A second later, she starts the descent, a small eager grin on her face.

I was the next to descend, with Orvok covering the rear as he made sure that the spiral tree staircase...spiral treecase? Anyway, he made sure what we were walking down stayed steady and strong. When we eventually reached the base, what I saw invoked a feeling in me that I could not give justice with the title of rage.

I saw the miners of Comraich, yes, but humanoid dogs and odd, masked people as well, them all working on the mines, digging with bloodied hands and beaten bodies, their backs raw from their magi taskmasters whips, some of the younger of the canines were laying dead in the far corners of the mine, their scent of rot filling my nose... The sheer amount of negative intent I had for these Magi… it defied words. I did not want them to die, to meet a quick, painless end… I wanted them to suffer... “New plan, guys. Knock them out. I have plans for this scum.”

“No promises.” My sister replies bluntly, her bandaged hand twitching almost ferally, yet with a certain subtly.

Orvok grunted as he snarled at the Magi now surrounding us “I wondered where the Masked and the Diamond dogs went off to… Grimgor had been worried they got wiped out, but it seems that the magi put them to work.” he quickly took out what looked like seeds and tossed them at the feet of the Magi, disappearing in a swirl of leaves before green fireballs fired from a stalactite at the ceiling landed at their feet, causing vines to hold them in place as he appeared at the roof of the cave, hanging from the same stalactite that the fireballs came from before he leapt past them “I’ll free the slaves, get them to Comraich, you take care of the trash!”

“Don’t need to tell me!” Roxina yells, launching forward and immediately striking down four and three quick moves, two were kicks and one was a stab.

The two kicks struck home, knocking the wind out of one bandit and crushing the jewels of another, with the stab piercing the third bandits chest and ripping out his heart, I then grabbed the two that were… indisposed, and threw them over my shoulders, I felt something rip out of my back and tie down the two of them so that they couldn’t move. I looked behind me and saw SIVA chords were responsible, I’d of questioned why my SIVA was just now helping, but this was not the time. I nodded to Roxy, sending some SIVA out to form ropes “Tie em up, we’ll get some use out of these bastards yet!”

Orvok, who had a child in his arms and was leading the last of the canines and masked people out, quickly handed the child to the canine before leaping behind Roxy, right as one of the bandits let fly with a spear, him catching it and sending it back after sprinkling it with seeds and dirt, letting a green fireball follow, the despicable bastard getting absorbed by plants that grew from inside him before he took out a familiar looking wicker ball with a fuse, it was a firebomb. “Get away from my new family! No one will hurt them, not this time!” He then lit the fuse and threw it at the vile tree like body of the still living bandit, the bandit screaming in agony as he burned away to nothing.

“Out of my way!” Roxian says as she viciously knocks over and kills a few bandits that try to pincer attack her. “Orvok, you alright?” She asks, easily parrying and striking down a larger bandit.

He grunts as he launches some twigs at the last two bandits on their side, crippling their knees, me knocking out my last two as well.“Who gives a shit about me?! Are you okay?!” He looked to me and I could tell in that moment that we were irreplaceable to him, and that I would never have to worry about his loyalty.

“I’ll be fine!” Roxy says, kicking another bandit away as some more start to surround her. “Move, or I’ll eat you!” She roars to them. “BreakSoul: DEVOUR!” She swings her bandaged arm at the group, her daemon arm unleashing and cleaving one into four pieces while knocking the rest away.

I suddenly feel a stabbing pain in my chest, I look down and see no damage done, but the pain still grows. “G-guys! I th-think something’s going on! Go get the others to safety! I th-think The SIVA’s waking up!” I then looked to the bandit to my right, who was charging at me. I quickly raised my arm and there was a swarm of red dots as he was quickly consumed, becoming naught but more of the swarm as I felt the pain spread when the SIVA entered my body. “G-Gaugh! Guys… RUN! C-can’t... HOLD IT!”

I saw some sort of code flashing before my eyes, a text filling my vision as a voice filled my head.

Consume…

Enhance…

Replicate…

Override orders? Y/N…..Y...

...Additional orders included...

Consume...

Enhance…

Replicate…

Embody…

I looked to my sister with my now glowing red eyes as Orvok led her up the stairs, practically dragging her the whole way.

“Follow..sister...not… abandon...never...alone…”

[Orvok POV]

“Whats going on, what happened to Simon?!” Roxy demands, unaware of her Daemon arm still active and unleashed.

I looked to her “We need to get to Comraich, and get Grimgor, he’s the only one who knows how to deal with Godsblood when it’s that concentrated! We need to try to get him over here, we gotta help him, he’s not in control of the swarm like that, and I refuse to repay my debt to him by letting him live with the guilt of eating you!” I then felt the ground shake as I heard a voice that shook me to my core “Oh, Or-Assik...please, help my friend…”

“Siiiiiis….teeeeeeerrrrr…. Nooooooot…. Aloooooone…..Faaaamiiiily” He then appeared at the top of the spiral staircase, looking to her and smiling weakly, his right arm much larger and made into a sickly set of claws that he clutched at his head with, while his left was shriveled and small. “ Noooo…. Nooooot… consuuuuume….Proootect…. ”

“Uhm…” Roxy says with interest. “I think I got that.” She says, crossing her arms before noticing her daemon arm and deactivating it, the bandages seeming like nothing just exploded from them.

Right as she deactivated her arm, Simon roared in pain, clutching at his head until Blood seeped from his head “N-noooooo…. Consuuuuume…. Noooooooo….. Ruuuuun…. Awaaaaaay…… run awaaaaay…. RUN AWAY!” He then made to slap her away, only for me to take her place, shoving her to safety as he backhanded me clear across the wastes and straight into the walls of Comraich, only surviving due to my bond to the land.

She quickly reactivates her gauntlet, grabbing me and jumping a few feet away, a large ball of fire collecting in her palm.

As I looked to Simon I desperately offered prayer after prayer to the one god that could help us, hoping against hope that my friend… my brother would be saved… Roxy keeps a close eye on him, snarling a little in frustration as she places me down, drawing her gauntlet blade and boot blades.

And then everything stopped… I looked from my frozen body towards where Simon was… and so was he… Or-Assik has answered my prayer.

[Simon POV]

What… what’s happening? The pain stopped, but… so did I…

“I heard you needed help. My SIVA was causing you trouble, hmm? Seems the pain of shifting got you a little unhinged. Don’t worry, You’re going to be fine.” I looked to the voice’s source and saw a Golem like creature with metal textured to be like rocks with a red flag with a golden shield crest with some sort of plant acting as a loincloth. He has armor plating on his shoulders, almost thin and alien like, made of some kind of Bronze or bronze like in texture and hued with matching gauntlets that do not go pass the back of the hand. A red crystal could be seen through the hole just in the middle of his rib cage, if he had bones, and had gear like devices close to the collarbone. Metal bolts seemed to act as joints for him, and he had a sash on his torso that held various tools, as well as what looked like a red hot anvil tied to his hip. The only weapon he seemed to have was a hammer, made similar to elvish smiths hammers from Lord of the Rings, but with the metal pure red, and crackling with energy. He reached out with his hand, and my pain became a distant memory…

He smiled “Your body has become pure SIVA, modified to accommodate your unique powers, of course. And, be careful… You will gradually generate SIVA with your powers overtime. I left a gift at Comraich to help you make the most of this… I must say, I am quite proud of my handiwork.”

Everything unfroze, and I collapsed, not just with my body to the floor, my body became a puddle on the floor. I slowly tried to get up after a few moments, only to find myself reform into my full body, but with only the sword Ladon gave me laying on the ground, I grabbed it, feeling myself spread around the handle it before I realized that he was right… I was SIVA.

I generated a new sword and dagger from my SIVA, having spare from absorbing the bandits I had tried to capture. I then walked unsteadily on my new legs towards Roxy.

“Simon?” I heard my sister say cautiously.

I looked to her and nodded before I opened my mouth to speak, only… nothing came, I had forgotten to make myself vocal chords. After a quick runthrough of everything I now needed, I looked back to her and smiled “Yeah, it… it’s me.” I looked to Orvok and frowned “Are… Are you ok?”

Orvok grinned “Meh, who gives two craps about a busted rib? All that matters is that You have been saved!” He then took out a bit of salve and rubbed it into his ribcage before wincing “Ahhh… yup… burning means it’s working… pain is a good thing here… ahhh… ok, rib’s fixed.”

“Saved from what is what I want to know.” Roxy says with a look of impatience.

I shrugged “Who knows? I thought I was a goner, once the SIVA swarm takes you over like that, you're usually a dead thing walking.”

Orvok sighed “You should of told me the God's Blood was inside you, brother… I could of slowed it, maybe even reversed it. You are very lucky that Or-assik decided you were worthy of his blessing.” He shuddered “I would hate to think of what I’d of had to do otherwise…”

Grimgor quickly ran out to us, his face one of absolute awe. “DID YOU SEE THAT?! Hahaha! First time in centuries he’s shown up, and it’s fer our newest leader! Atsa great sign!”

“Ehm.” My sister tries to play it off, but everyone could she her relief. I do, I also see her bandaged arm bleeding a little bit, yet she doesn’t notice.

Orvok responds before I could “Hey, Roxy, how about we take a look at you? Your arm is bleeding, can’t be good.”

I looked to the center of town to see that it now has a strange platform, with what looks like a chair with various syringes hooked up to it and feeding into various tubes, which in turn attached to three machines in the town square. I wonder what they did?

“Its fine, its not a injur- well, technically, but its unavoidable.” Roxy says, activating her daemon arm and letting them see it for a few seconds before deactivating it.

Orvok looked doubtful, showing great concern for her health “Most transformation magics come at some cost… Are you sure you are ok?”

Grimgor grunted “Yeah, it’s ok to lean on yer comrades, lass.”

“It’ll heal and trust me, I’ve already paid the price for my Beastclaw.” She assures them calmingly, the blood flow stopping. “...I need to get a test subject…” She mumbles to herself quietly.

Orvok hears this and smiles “If you want, I could catch you an animal, i really don’t mind!” He blushed and rubbed the back of his head “I just want to help you smile… you’re pretty when you smile…”

As they spoke, I walked to the three machines, reading their plaques from left to right. “Weapons, Structures, Armor…”

I walked to the chair and sat in it before I felt three large pinches, the SIVA in me flowing through the tubes and into the machine, the Armor and weapon machines making some armor for Az-Barko, as well as a mace he walked over to it and grabbed the mace, smiling as he seemed to jolt upwards “Feel stronger! New weapon is good!” he then replaced his previous armor for armor similar to that of a SIVA corrupted Titans.

Roxy just follows behind, watching our backs.

Az-Barko looks at me after putting on his new armor. “Feel much stronger master! Thanks!”

I nodded as I got up from the chair, right as the Siva machine labeled ‘Structures’ fired an orb at the rubble that looked to be a living quarters at one point, the SIVA constructing an entire new Residential District.

I was suddenly giddy as I smiled feeling some sort of a pull, I quickly remembered that this was quite similar to the feeling I got when calling Ladon, but sort of... reversed “Be right back, I think… I think I need to help someone.”

“What are you talking about?” Roxy asks me, stepping up to me.

I chuckle “I’ll explain later, seeya soon!” And like that, I was gone.

“Simon!” I hear her yelling, only for me to chuckle with worry. Seems I was getting an earful when I got home.

Author's Notes:

Az-Barko's armor is based off of this

Simons sword

His dagger