BornAndTorn 92 The Scapegoat 1

" Help, someone is rebel.." he could not speak anything more than those words as his throat had been slit by my nail. Keeping my hand on his mouth I prevented any unnecessary noise escaping from his lips. This extortion failed horribly and now there is a new corpse that had to be resurrected. I was just lucky, that he had yet to see my face.

I fell back and escaped into another direction to move away from the body and to try my luck elsewhere. After successfully apprehending the next target, I began to switch my approach and started with stabbing my target numerous times to not leave any room for thoughts of betrayal. This was another blunder from my side, as this NPC had a very low pain tolerance and started to scream b.l.o.o.d.y murder forcing me to end its life sooner than expected.

I was left with no other choice than running away yet again to search for more potential captives. This time I decided to act more thoughtful, using violence might not be the best approach. Instead of brutal force, I decided to implore my soft skills.

I decided to speak loud and clear while standing amid the resurrected NPCs. If those NPCs were still deeply troubled with the nightmare they had yet to escape from, then it might work if I work with it not against it.

With their freedom lost, they are forced to obey every of their master. They are likely to put their master above all else, at least that is what they are programmed for. It is quite hard to have any form of pity for them, knowing that their entire existence can change by any second without them noticing it.

Looking at my surrounding I saw the fear deeply ingrained in their faces and their covering stature. This behaviour was lifelike, I do not doubt that the humans from Earth would have reacted any different. But alas, this minor detail did not make any difference to me. If things like these would deter my judgement than I might as well just join them and listen to their orders.

One glance at the players and I still could see them resurrecting one NPC after another. With the window of time closing in, I had no time to waste.

" Just look at you people. Our new masters are standing in front of us and yet you ungrateful bunch just stand here and do absolutely nothing. Do you think you can be of any use whatsoever acting so timid and cowardly? "

These words caught everyone attention and their eyes began to try and locate the voice that had just scolded the NPCs. But they had no chance to find me as I had switched my location.

" Absolute pathetic. Sc.u.m shall not serve, sc.u.m should die. "

The people were dazed trying to rationalize the meaning of those words. They could not fathom what words had just been spoken.

" But yet this sc.u.m was given a chance. A chance to become something different. A chance to have a purpose and do something meaningful. And yet you waste, do not grovel and thank your new lords or do your best to repay them. No, you just stand there, as if you are something better. You deserve death."

The players surrounding the crowd were confused at first and some of them began to order their NPCs, only to be stopped by their leader, whose attention was currently pinned entirely on searching for the NPC. Behaviour like these was uncommon and not something he had expected from such pitiful creatures.

" With nothing to offer us, the only way to repay this enormous debt is to offer up our entire selves. We have to give them our everything, nothing less is acceptable. "

The players could not help but nod at these words. This treatment was something they deserved by being forced to spend so much of their time on these NPCs.

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" So go on your knees and grovel. Do it for your Master"

The NPCs fell to their knees with great reluctance, but they could not do anything else because it was for the sake of their masters. Whether they were still petrified and haunted by their torture was negligible.

Silence filled the place as all of their eyes focussed on their masters waiting for them to speak, before lowering their head on the ground where they remained without moving. The players were not awestruck by the spectacle that had currently unfolded right in front of their eyes. It was beneath them to ponder too deeply about it. After all, they were dealing with fictional beings.

First and foremost they would not pay any more attention than necessary to those who were just kneeling. They were neither special no had the qualifications that would warrant that. Far more interesting was the NPC that caused this occasion but he was nowhere to be found in the crowd of kneeling slaves.

Even after multiple orders, not one person had moved forward. They all remained kneeling, with their heads facing downwards not daring to look at their masters directly. A great deal of confusion was caused by this event.

Why did the NPC did not step forward after hearing order? Could he refuse to do so, even after being a slave? But this can not be possible, because every individuum in front of them was enslaved and listened to their every order. So what exactly was going on? Was a dead person responsible for this?

This idiotic thought was directly erased from their brains, because how could something like this possibly happen. Logic still applies, even in this fabricated world and dead bodies suddenly starting to talk about honour is not common sense.

They went forward and demanded that every single NPC speak to them and pledge their alliance. That way, they wanted to find the NPC, but even after this procedure their target was still not found. Its voice was heard by player and NPC alike, so why had no one ever seen it. It can not be a product of their imagination, they wholeheartedly refused to believe such a thing.

Still, they were running out ideas and likely explanations, while the mystery remained unsolved. The perpetrator had removed himself from the crowd and found shelter in the shrunken pile of dead bodies.

I have bought enough time for myself and I could confirm that these fools would do everything for the sake of their masters. This distraction was a big success although it may seem like my accomplishments lead to the exact opposite of my intended results.

Why would I draw attention to my existence, if I do want to escape unnoticed? It is quite simple, the attention is not gathered at me directly but on the mysterious NPC, that gave this speech to the rest of the NPCs. At the moment they are looking for that NPC not for me the young boy with burning hair.

As long as my face is not a.s.sociated with this mysterious ent.i.ty, it could be anyone else. The more time pa.s.ses the more details will be lost and they will likely not even see the difference between my voice and another one especially after hearing so many voices.

The only thing I still need is to find a suitable scapegoat. This NPC should be easily identifiable compared to the other NPCs and my choice has to be part of the corpses that are currently surrounding me.

it would be foolish to just search and pick one of them. It is far easier to create the "special" NPC myself, all I have to do is to add or change some minor details on its body. Partic.i.p.ation is not mandatory, just speak up if you do not want to be chosen. I mumbled softly and to no one surprise, no answer came back.

It is always great to see this level of dedication to help for a truly great cause. Picking the body of women was not an option, as the voice, I had used as belonging to a male. The voice I had used was vigorous, so I should avoid the person that look meekly or frail eliminating elderly and children as suitable choices.

The att.i.tude of the mysterious NPC, would likely not be a.s.sociated with a youth that had just grown up and neither with an adult, whose children are still small yet. What I am looking for is a middle-aged man in great shape, that should carry a feeling of great wisdom with him.

With so many restrictions and criteria to look out for the potential choices had diminished and I could only choose between 3 corpses in my surroundings. The dim light would make this selection impossible if not for the faint ray of light, that came out of the lines carved into my forehead. The splitting headache aside, it was a wonderful tool for situations like this. Though it drained a lot of the residue mana inside of my body.

My first option would be to pick a man who had a lot of grey hair, that never had to worry about the food shortage in his prior life. At least his physical body did not suffer from malnutrition. His expression was pained, but there was a certain level of spite and stubbornness etched into it. Even in death, his eyes appeared to be full of conviction.

Another suitable candidate had a face full of wrinkles. Looking at him conveyed a n.o.ble charm and a feeling of authority. This face had seen every aspect that life has to offer. His body was nothing out of the ordinary but it still underlined his inherent traits. His brown hair was disappearing leaving behind many bald spots. It would not take long before the rest of it would vanish as well leaving behind no trace of its former glory.

The last choice would be a man full of scars. His pitch-black hair and ferocious eyes were a telltale sign of his lifestyle. His aura was aggressive and overbearing, there was no room for complaining in his presence. Well toned muscles could be found on his body, further underlined by the scar tissue that had developed after this person had sustained this many injuries. IF he did not die at this place, then his end would have come soon regardless. This person is the easiest one to distinguish out of those 3 given the state of his body and the unique aura emitted by his corpse.

I could not decide on one of them, they all had their advantages but none of them was fitting the image I was going for. The perfect fit would be a combination of those 3, with only the best attributes being used to accomplish this instinctive impression, that my scapegoat is supposed to have.

What I want is an impressive figure, that looks old but wise with sharp eyes. Just one look at him would be enough to know that he stands above his peers. He should be a role model for those NPCs and his bearing should be reliable because everybody has to entrust their worries and burdens onto him. His entire person should emit authority and his iron-heart will not be broken. He should be able to see the big picture and should stay calm while everyone else has lost their mind.

This person should be fat, nor should his eyes invoke fear in every onlooker just because they are in his presence. A b.l.o.o.d.y tyrant is not my aim, I do not want him to be feared or loathed. I want a person, that can represent the small and pitiful NPCs. Not someone who rules over them.

It might seem like my choice of words was poor if I wanted to find a person like that. But a good leader would a.n.a.lyze this situation and recognize, that the only choice, their only path to life was to serve their new masters with everything they have. They had no other chance. Fighting or discussing the situation, nothing other than a foolish delusion.

But looking at the 3 possibilities n.o.body invoked that kind of image. They all had some characteristics that did not fit. Whichever option I pick, some disadvantages would come with them.

Well as a person of great ethics I would not dare to desecrate the body of a living person. But since they are currently dead, I am not bound by my morals. And people say that I am not mindful of those around me.

It was time to put my extensive knowledge collected by dissecting players to good use. If n.o.body is suitable for my tastes, then I just have to make it into one. I can't be too picky about the quality of my specimen, I will just use whatever I can get my hands on at this point.

I have no use for the body fat, so I am just going to remove his eyes and use them as a replacement for the eyes of the wise and calm man. They have a much bigger impact if I combine those 2 a.s.sets and bring them together.

While the face was no imposing enough the rest of his body was entirely disappointing. I just had to remove the newly created head and put them on the body of the well-trained man. This entire construction was only held together by the magical slime, that was inside of my body.

This expenditure needed to be compensated by the intake of all the byproducts resulting out of my little operation. It was a convenient way to dispose of the remaining evidence as well. Although it took a lot of work to convince to get it in the first place. Cutting open my own body was not an option.

The ant queen was strangely calm and did not hesitate to bring me the precious substance. This detail alone should have convinced me that something was up, but those worries were part of a future where I was not enslaved or found myself an early grave.

What is one more thing on my huge piles of regrets anyway?

While I was looking at him I noticed several things that needed to be changed. His teeth were rotten to the core. Those had to go, I decided to insert the teeth of a young woman in their stead., This way his smile could look genuine. I also found replacements for his ears that were too pointy, for a finger that was abnormally large in comparison to the rest of his hand. His lip tissue, that was plastered by small blisters and scares due to his not so promiscuous lifestyle. His eyebrows that were too thin and his facial hair or the lack of it that was reminding me of prep.u.b.escent boys.

All of these had to be changed, to make him look the exact way I wanted him to appear. While I was busy working on accomplis.h.i.+ng my scapegoat the surrounding crowd had undergone a subtle but alarming change. The devotion shown to those players has turned into fanaticism.

This detail did not go unnoticed to my ears, as I could hear sounds of their faint mumbling. Speaking directly to them served to confirm that they can understand English. As I was buried underneath the mountain of bodies, I heard snippets of English and I wondered why the tenant inside of me ignored those pleas and their conversation, in his detailed description of the ongoing results.

Though I had no idea, why those players were capable of understanding English as well. This development was alarming, as there might be more chances that I do not know off. How much time had pa.s.sed? Why exactly was I transported to this place along with this very common NPCs? Was this part of the event the Observer had spoken about?

My pile of regrets and worries seems to be growing by the seconds. I could only sigh thinking about the trouble looming at every corner. It is not like I have made many friends for life in this world. A lot of folks would love to meet me though I am quite sure about that. On top of that, I am still perceived as an NPC and looking at the fate of those poor souls, I do not like my chances.

Future me surely will have a lot of things to complain about and I would like to apologize about the future trouble right at this moment. I might not have the time left to do so in whatever f.u.c.ked-up future I find myself in.

" The players have stopped questioning the NPCs and start to resume their activity."

Seems like the small ruse did not keep them busy long enough. I have barely finished my scapegoat and these players are already threatening to discover me again. Seems like I was fortunate enough to buy at least 5 minutes to create this lovable person.

I might not have more than a minute until every last NPC has been resurrected. My cover was getting narrower as I was still contemplating my actions.

I could not solely rely on the scapegoat. I needed some sort of insurance, another diversion that could captivate their attention for a moment. Seems like I need an eye-catcher. A smirk crossed over my lips. This could more than work.

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The leader was quite displeased after they had wasted so much time on finding something that does appear to not even exist. Outwards it may appear as if he was not affected and still calm and composed but on the inside, a fierce volcano was currently threatening to break out at any second.

The members of his groups had known their boss for a long time and they knew that they had to hurry up to avoid a disaster. Much was at stake for their group and they could not afford to waste their time anymore.

They had split their group and tasked their NPCs to kill each other. The killed NPCs were then revived by another person before returning into combat. They had to hurry up to compensate for the time they had pointlessly spent. The rest of the group was searching for and hiring every NPC they could get their hands on. Only a single player was tasked with reviving the rest of those corpses that had yet to be revived.

Those freshly revived NPCs were then sent to join the fray. This way the could ensure, that their NPCs were trained the fastest way possible. The sounds of battle were appeasing their leader little by little, as their progress could be watched by the naked eye.

The mountain of corpses had disappeared and only a few bodies were left. After reviving yet another body. he stopped for a split second and admired the handsome and n.o.ble NPC he just recruited. , but this restoration did not last long and he was back to reviving yet another person. He did not notice that this person was missing something important and just revived the next person.

It was not until he had revived the last corpse that he realized that something was amiss. While the last NPC was currently standing up with his back facing him, he saw the empty eye sockets of those NPCs he had revived prior. Only after the NPC had turned around did he notice where all those eyes had gone to. His gaze was greeted by a mult.i.tude of eyes staring at him simultaneously.

He was caught off guard by this situation and wanted to usher a scream, but before he could he felt a sudden impact on his right knee cap. His body ached backwards and a small hand pressed onto his mouth preventing any sound escaping from his lips. Then he heard the voice they had spent so much time searching for without any success.

" All this effort for just one measly guy. I should not complain, it makes the following part a lot easier. Sorry buddy, you are just unlucky that it had to be this way I had something else planned but this way it is a lot more convenient"

Though he could not reply as his life came to an abrupt end as his throat was slashed. His body dropped to the ground as his life was slowly fading out of his body. Mustering the last remnants of his strength he tried to turn around to see the face of his attacker. Yet the only thing that greeted him was the body of the strange NPC will all of these eyes still staring at him.

" Please don't try to sneak a peek. It is better for both of us."

As the light of his eyes extinguished, he swore to get revenge when he resp.a.w.ned. But it was too late by then...