2013.10.06 - Feast of Madness

Russia 1448 ADE

She ate the demons and the devils and the spirits and everything else she summoned. They wanted her soul, but she took theirs instead. She excised their minds from their essences, eliminating them as beings that existed and leaving behind only their power. Then she wielded that power as her own. Though they did not take her soul, this act of crushing the very psyches of other beings -- no matter how twisted they might be -- darkened Sasha's own spirit.

She once more become cold, and detached. But she also became unstable. More than just grandiose delusions or a solipsist-like disinterest in other people except as tools and obstacles, she was becoming more twisted and cruel. And those who kept following her anyway became more fervent, more deluded. They strained themselves to the utmost to please their goddess. But Sasha was not a goddess. Not yet. All the power she had gained, and she still felt her life fleeing her.

So she devised a new way to reach her goal. Ruling a couple hundred fanatics would not be her end. No matter how greater her magic, no matter how much forbidden knowledge she held in her head, the true solution was to leave mortality behind. So she devised a ritual -- one that would make her immortal and allow her to take her rightful place as god-empress. She called it the Feast of Madness.

The coven of mages watched as their empress -- their proto-goddess -- shuddered upon her throne. She shuddered as the magic took hold. She shuddered... And then ceased to move. The air left her, and her body moved no more. There was much misery, screaming, and despair from her followers.

But then they heard her voice. And they saw her in all her glory. In the form she had in her youth, with angelic wings, an unearthly glow, and eyes that belonged to no human, Sasha floated above them all in her new body. She looked down upon them all and smiled as she said, "I have succeeded. I am now your empress for all eternity. And now it is time for your reward." The followers cried with happiness, cheered for their goddess, and the newborn lich squinted her eyes as her smile spread wider and wider. Then she said, "You may all die for me."

Sasha's first act as Empress Necro was to turn her loyal coven into the undead, just like her.

They were the first.

They would not be the last.