Chapter 1 Chosen

In my experience when people picture themselves reincarnating into a fantasy setting they usually think of it in terms of still being human. After all being human is all we know. It's normal to be comfortable with what they're familiar with.

Even when they aren't human they aren't too far removed. A near human race that emphasizes a trait or quality they prefer is chosen. Stout and hearty dwarves, wise and graceful elves, merry hobbits. Well halflings. A primordial scaled horror that was barely bipedal was not even on the list as far as I knew.

Of course it wasn't exactly my choice either.

I don't know how exactly Essylliss managed to get ahold of my soul. But the proof was in front of me. A massive lizard man sitting atop a circular ziggurat with countless worshipers surrounding it. While that would normally just convince me he was charismatic or delusional, I could literally feel the divinity radiating off of him.

And then of course there was the fact of my current form. While my head was sort of intact, well at least my face, the rest of me wasn't. My face was currently protruding from two foot yellow body that looked like a cross between a maggot and a caterpillar. A soul larva. I played and ran dnd games on a planar level way too often not to recognize the form.

Which didn't detract from the utter impossibility of my current circumstances. Dead, in front of a fictional deity.

In some ways I was disappointed. After all if I was Essylliss isn't even a human deity. What did the god of lizardfolk want with me? And then he told me.

Not with words. Images, thoughts, commands. Like burning needles stabbing into my brain.

In agony, I passed out.

Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO

When I woke I found myself trapped. Confined inside a tiny space that seemed to be filling up with water.

Screaming was the wrong response. I choked and thrashed. I had already breathed in some water.

Desperate I strained until I felt something give. Frantically I kicked over and over trying to break free.

Darkness was filling my vision when my foot smashed through. I clawed at the sides until I could twist around and shove my face through the hole. I rested a bit now that I wasn't drowning.

I was still trapped. And it wasn't water either. It was slimy and thick enough I couldn't see through it.

Taking a deep breath I twisted again and started clawing at the edges of the hole. Breaking pieces off to widen it. When my arms tired I turned so I could kick.

It was grueling. The container seemed to be made from some kind of reinforced ceramic. Something like adobe, but as smooth and even as porcelain. The walls were also over an inch thick.

It felt like hours. Breath. Rest. Claw. Kick.

When I finally broke free I was exhausted. I could barely muster the energy to swipe the film from my eyes. As I lay there I took in my surroundings.

Big.

It was like I was in Gulliver's travels. I was inside some kind of scaled up hut and everything was sized for beings dozens of times larger than I was.

A cooing sound drew my attention. A massive lizard woman was reaching towards me. I'm actually not sure how I know it's female. None of them have obvious sexual characteristics. Maybe souls are more attuned to gender.

Does that mean gender is as much a spiritual matter as physical?

I wonder if it's another god. It didn't radiate power the way Essyllis had.

Hands gentle despite their claws cradled and lifted me up. Maybe the lizardfolk gods are taking turns talking to me?

It wasn't until I was placed in her lap that I realized what was going on. Oh. Now I feel dumb.

As she fed me bits of fish I stare in fascination at the remains of the egg I had been inside. The nest was large and held dozens of eggs within. I was just the first to have hatched.

Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO

Over the next few days the female lizardfolk took care of me. Her name was Yesk and she was my mother. She was also one of the few remaining priests of Errylliss. And had been tasked to watch over me.

She was also the only surviving member of her tribe.

When the tribe had prayed to Essylliss for aid to make them flourish, I bet they didn't expect to be overrun by ogres. And definitely not to be raped by them.

Essylliss really is a bastard, cold-blooded in every sense of the word.

Sure they're going to get their wish. At least if I don't die in the attempt. But none of them will be around to see it. Yesk is the last survivor. The others didn't live long after laying the oversized eggs.

The first few months we actually ate the pickled remains of the rest of the tribe. Yesk talked about communal sharing and giving back to the community. All I could think about was prion poisoning though. Hopefully with magic it doesn't become an issue.

I learn at a voracious rate. While my clutch mates are learning their first words I start on my second language. Draconic was as easy to grasp as breathing. A half dozen languages soon follow.

I can tell I've been enhanced. Learning everything is just so much easier. I also seem to just be more. Faster. Stronger. Smarter. In all ways better than any of my siblings.

I also seemed to possess supernatural luck. A dire rat ambushed us once and it slipped just as it was lunging. My fumbling counter met it's swinging head to take out an eye. My next attack struck a weak spot, breaking it's spine.

I'm a bit ashamed it took me so long to realize what Essylliss had done. It just seemed so implausible that I kept looking for alternative explanations. In the end though Yesk confirmed it.

While Essylliss isn't powerful enough to create Chosen he does have the domain of lizardfolk. With such focused divine authority he had given me something better. He had refined me. Made me the epitome of my kind. He had made me a Paragon.

Sure it didn't have the nifty array of divine bonuses, but the overall template was much more powerful. In game terms I had massive boosts to pretty much everything. And I mean everything. The only real thing lacking is immortality. Which is actually good since being stuck as a newborn would have been horrible.

Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO

Yesk grinned in satisfaction as she watched her brood settle in for the night. She had been honored with just how much her deity had trusted her.

The future of lizardfolk.

Seducing the ogre and laying the resulting egg had been an ordeal. She had taken great delight in cutting his throat afterwards. And when she had been guided to the remains of a tribe conquered by ogres she had wasted no time in wiping them all out.

And now she was raising the offspring. She didn't hate them. She understood what Essylliss was attempting. Stealing the strength of other races to augment their own. It was a terrible gamble. But a necessary one.

The deity Semuanya had been gaining ground for generations. Worse Semuanya only advocated survival. He didn't care for making them better. As long as they existed he was satisfied. Under his rule lizardfolk were little better than particularly clever beasts.

Worse was it left her kind vulnerable to Sess'inek. Not even a god, but a greater demon. He had been converting lizardfolk with the same message. Strength and numbers. Nothing else matters. By breeding in the blood of demons he was tainting her entire race. Already it had started. Lizardkings ruled over her homeland of Kethid.

If she was successful that would all change. She was one of the most powerful servants of Essylliss in Faerun. As such she was able to summon other servants. With their aid she had been preparations to further augment her brood.

Materials weren't the only thing the servants were used for. Their other main use was tutoring. With nine hatchlings to take care of their aid was very useful. She was getting old and keeping up with them all took too much energy.

Of course little Adask had the opposite problem. He never ran off and had to be chased down. No he stayed nearby and absorbed everything she could teach him. He was frighteningly intelligent. Yesk was old for a lizardfolk, well past her fifth decade. A lifetime of experiences and she had largely exhausted it all weeks ago.

Now she left the tutoring to the servants and the occasional use of a divination spell. Many times it was like she wasn't even teaching him anything new, just reminding him and adding in a few extra details.

He was clearly meant to lead. Despite being born weeks early, he was already stronger and faster than his clutch mates. He had also given her suggestions that her god had agreed with if the spells she received were any indication.

Under his influence they had even left the swamp!

True they hadn't gone far, only a few miles south in the middle of nowhere. But they very safe. Not completely though as an alarm spell going off indicated.

Yesk made her way over to the gate. The walls were designed to funnel attacking creatures into a series of increasingly strong doors to buy time. She took the secret passage to get a look and laughed when she saw it was only a handful of hobgolbins along with a troll.

She carefully reached out with her magic and carved runes lit up along the walls. Lightning bolts lashed out, bouncing between the walls to strike through the entire group.

Smiling she made her way over to collect the troll. Since it was killed without using fire or acid it'd regenerate. And it'd make a nice change from the hydra meat they usually ate.

As Yesk dragged the body through the maze of stone walls she realized she could finally start building an actual castle. With a troll to provide an endless supply of skeletons she could properly staff the entire structure. Sure she couldn't control them all, but Adask had mentioned something about living turrets and isolated garrisons before. She should probably talk to him before she started building.