(Book 1) The malediction of the Undertaker

Chapter 59: Friends

Taker must round up the survivors, whether human or creature, and he recovers the body of his soldier who sacrificed himself to save his life. Taker helps Pat to walk, he was impressed that he is still alive with a amputated arm  and a severe wound in the abdomen. Diana is near Tigress, healing from her injuries while Taker goes to see the wounded soldiers. As a soldier finishes bandaging Pat's amputated arm, Pat looks for Asgoth among the survivors, but doesn't see him, he goes to see Taker and Markus who are in front of something, and Pat gets closer and realizes it's Asgoth ...dead... Pat falls to his knees next to his lifeless creature. he touches his cold body.

"We found him in a crevasse I think he fell from that tower..." Taker said to Pat who was still staring at his dead creature. He feels a hand, feels a hand on his shoulder, sees who that hand belongs to, and it belongs to Taker. "I'm sorry Pat." Said Taker sympathetically, Pat gets up then walks away to be a bit alone, kicks against the stones in anger. He doesn't want anyone to see his sadness at tragically losing his creature. Taker asks Markus to follow him and nods slowly to let him know he's sorry. Pat looks at him realizing that Markus has molted, his legs are back and his purple chelicerae are back too. "You are an extraordinary creature Markus, Asgoth loved you very much. you were friends, weren't you? a spider friend with a scorpion, we don't see much of that but we could see how good your friendship was strong." Said Pat sincerely to Markus who was looking at Pat while he cleaned his chelicerae, Pat smiled.

~!~

"...No, this land belongs to the Cassiopeia.." "No to the Calaways because the father of the Majesty belonged to this land.." The soldiers on both sides argue over who should own the fortress of Mendal. Taker looks at Pat who is with Markus at the lake and then looks at Mendal Castle. He looks away from a room that was destroyed and sees Diana who is still with Tigress who is seriously injured. "Taker...?" A weak voice calls him and sees Anastasia against the wall, her neck bleeding, breathing weakly, he walks towards her and helps her to stand. "No..no..leave me..I..I'm going to die.." She said smiling, she looked at Taker who had his eyes full of sadness, she suddenly touched Taker's face who was looking at her. "Protect my daughter.." Anastasia says then Anastasia's hand falls, she is dead, Taker places a kiss on her hand and closes her eyes.

"Taker, haven't you seen my..." Diana's words evaporate when she sees her mother's lifeless body in front of Taker, she begins to cry as she realizes that she arrived too late. She fell to her knees and held her mother's hand, passing her other hand over Anastasia's face and to her wound that cost her life. "Mom.." She said, crying, regretting not having time to talk to her, or to tell her how much she loved her. Dried bloody arms wrap around her trying to comfort her. Taker knows the pain of losing his mother in front of his eyes, it's very hard especially when you have regrets behind. "She's no longer in pain.." Taker said looking at Anastasia's lifeless body. "You can be proud of your mother." He added, Diana sniffed, stayed a few minutes in Taker's arms before looking at him, realizing now that he was back to normal, his beautiful green eyes that she was charmed with were back, the purple eyes that were wet with tears. "I wish mom was with dad..." she says in a small voice, Taker takes her hands then kisses them. "She will have a funeral like your father...a funeral like she deserves" he said calmly.

~!~

When they returned to the castle, everyone in the castle considered them heroes, everyone was happy to see them again, but also sad to see that not everyone had survived. Taker decided to hold a banquet for the dead who sacrificed their lives for the freedom to live. "Pat! Come here please!" Taker ordered his frowning friend to move closer to Taker's throne. "Listen to me everyone! You are beaten like a true warrior and I would like to give a gift to my..." Taker stopped talking as he looked at Pat, he put his arm around the neck of his friend, beer in hand. "To my friend, Pat Cassiopeia. Our families had a beautiful friendship despite the betrayals, you never turned your back on me even when I reacted like a vulnerable person.." Said Taker, everyone is attentive, listening to the majesty make a declaration to his friend. "That is why...the fortress and lands of Mendal, my father Lucius, belong to you. I want you to take them. Your family deserves to be recognized." Said Taker smiling looking at his friend who is surprised by this gift, he slams his glass against his friend's. "All have a friend like a Cassiopeia, have a friendship like Calaway and Cassiopeia." Says Taker smiling and Pat smiles what his friend just said.

~!~

While people are eating and drinking, Taker went to the forest with Markus after giving his little speech, wanting to see if his curse gives him new skills, he looked at his reflection in the water, his sight is smoother, his muscles a little bigger and his senses are sharper, his eyes are black, his fake left eye has also turned black, he opened his mouth, ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. he has a lot of assets to control his curse, he can control his legs by thoughts, he can see a few miles away, he has incredible strength and he jumps higher than usual. Markus watches his master discover his form of curse, he is happy that Mark was able to control his curse, now he can activate it whenever he wants, wherever he wants. "Look at this Markus!" Said Taker before jumping but Markus sees he doesn't land, he looks over him and sees Taker against a tree, he wrapped his paws around the tree to be restrained. He presses his right foot against the tree and looks at the view from above, the moon is here tonight and he no longer feels any pain, he is proud to finally be able to control it.

Taker looks down and falls, lands on his feet, he looks at Markus, realizing Markus misses Asgoth, they were friends, trained together, played together, shared meals. Markus regrets his death, he wishes to return and tried to save Asgoth.

Markus looks at Taker who places his hand on his purple chelicerae, he knows what Markus is thinking. "it's not your fault what happened to Asgoth, if he should die, it's that the spirits have decided, the spirit of Asgoth will be remembered, don't worry." Reassuring his creature, Markus nodded towards Taker who is on his dark form. "play with the bodies of the enemies." Said Taker before jumping from tree to tree using his paws and heading towards the castle.