《World Ravaging Serpent》


 The Journey Begins

    "Finally, I''ve created a specimen that can rival the old beasts. With this breakthrough, humanity can overcome beastmen and take back what is ours." Crazy laughter erupted from a man in his thirties. He had a scrawny figure with black circles under his eyes, clearly indicating that he hadn''t slept in a few days. His hair was long and disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot and he held a quill in one hand, furiously scribbling down notes in some kind of tome. With excitement, he looked at the scene in front of him.


    The room was in chaos, all kinds of alchemical reagents were littered over the floor. In a corner was a pile of dead snakes and other animals, all of them drained of their blood. Each of the corpses had some sort of mutation, whether it was an additional limb or a horn growing out of their heads. On the table near the scene of carnage stood a vial rack full with various vials. The liquid inside these vials was clearly blood, though the shades of red were varying between each vial.


    On the ground in front of him was a magical circle drawn in blood. There were thousands of complicated runes that seemed to spin around each other, but as the man shouted about his success, the runes began to flicker and slowly fade. After a few moments, the circle was completely gone and one could make out that in its place stood a small snake.


    The small snake¡¯s mouth was open as it hissed and started thrashing on the ground, clearly in pain. Around him were numerous thick strands, appearing like multiple red ribbons, slowly being drawn into the snake¡¯s body. Moments later, the pain was gone from its eyes, the snake flickered its tongue as if it was content and its eyes started to glow with a shining light before disappearing.


    The snake stared at the shadowy figure in front of it with its blue eyes, showing wisdom and intelligence. Once more, it menacingly hissed at the man and bared its long and sharp fangs, feeling a myriad of expressions it had never felt.


    "My greatest masterpiece, I shall name you Orou!" The man said while looking at Orou. Orou knew that it was pride that the man was feeling, though he didn¡¯t understand what any of this meant. Orou flickered his tongue in response to the man''s words and started shifting about in the man''s palm.


    After the wave of adrenaline had passed, the man carefully examined Orou, observing his behavior, his own two eyes meeting Orou''s. As the man held him up, he coiled up in the man¡¯s palm before all of the sudden, a wave of exhaustion hit Orou. The last thing he felt before he fell unconscious was something warm inside him pulsing, throbbing.


    The man murmured something to himself before going off to a separate room, where he placed Orou down and went off, occasionally chuckling along the way. Days flew by like the wind. The small snake continued to lie there, unaware of the changes his body was experiencing. While unconscious, his body twitched and stilled all throughout the day.


    Orou slumbered through his exhaustion and lifted his small, scaly head up to survey the room he was residing in. He looked around but couldn¡¯t find the man that he had seen last. Orou shook his head and slithered out into the laboratory. When he did, he saw that the room had completely changed. What was once a messy, dirty room was now in pristine condition. After the ritual, Orou didn''t have much time to look around, but now that he did, he saw that the place he was residing in was huge. Slithering over and looking outside the window, he could see that he was high in the air. The ground below him was covered with numerous flowers and herbs, the structure he was in was made of stone and was shaped in a circular fashion, going up a few more floors above him.


    As Orou slowly explored the giant tower, he went into various rooms, only to find most of them empty. Disappointed in the lack of new things, he slithered into a peculiar room. What he saw was a total contrast to the things before. The room was covered with numerous blood-red runes, all pulsing with power. As he approached closer and closer, he could hear faint, ominous chanting coming from the other side of the room.


    In the middle of the room stood a jet black stone the size of a fist raised on a dais. When he slithered around the dais, he saw what would horrify any regular person. There were numerous people tied up and bound by a blue rope that seemed to stretch endlessly, binding all of them in place. Those that weren¡¯t unconscious and still had the courage cursed at the sorcerer, but most of them were crying or screaming, pleading to be released, pleading for their children to be spared.


    In front of them stood the same man from before with a small, jet black dagger in his hands. He sneered at the people in front of him: "You should be thankful that your lives are being used for the greater good, now be quiet and don''t struggle," He forcefully grabbed one of the prisoners, which made the blue rope around him disappear.


    The man stared into the prisoner''s eyes, his eyes becoming bloodshot. The prisoner screamed in terror before suddenly becoming quiet, bowing to the man and speaking to him in a mechanical voice: ¡°Master.¡± The sorcerer brandished the dagger and stabbed it into the prisoner¡¯s chest, quickly carving out the prisoner''s heart with seemingly practiced ease. He took the still beating and fresh heart out of the man¡¯s body, before placing it next to the stone. The heart dissipated without leaving a single trace of blood behind as the rest of the prisoners watched in horror. Some fell silent and accepted their fate, while others screamed even louder.


    The man proceeded to offer up every single prisoner and stacked the bodies onto a pile. With every heart offered, the stone became darker and darker until Orou could practically hear screams from the stone. The stone itself looked like the abyss with dark mist swirling in it. Orou found himself staring at the stone and before he noticed, he was entranced by it and couldn''t take his eyes off the scene. The man finally finished the process. He wiped the blood from his dagger, put it down near the stone and slowly walked towards Orou.


    ¡°Good, you¡¯ve finally woken from your slumber. Right now you might be weak, but in the future, you¡¯ll be the king of them all.¡± The bloodied man whispered to Orou in a sweet tone, while laughing in a diabolical way. As the man walked forward, Orou couldn¡¯t resist but to follow him, charmed by him. They quickly made their way to the laboratory, where the man previously conducted various experiments before creating Orou. He went into a separate room where he took a small needle and returned back to Orou.


    ¡°This won¡¯t hurt at all,¡± saying that, he took the needle and skillfully extracted some of Orou¡¯s blood into a vial. The blood in the vial was the deepest shade of red imaginable. The man left the room after looking at Orou for a few seconds and showing an emotion foreign to Orou.


    Orou stood there like a statue for a few moments before regaining his previous vitality and activity. He quickly chased the man, and with his two blue eyes, he stared at everything in sight with renewed curiosity. Even though he had been here before, everything still seemed so new and fresh to him.


    As the man resumed his experiments, Orou slithered up to a window and looked outside, wondering if he could discover something new. He saw the boundless blue sky and a sea of green surrounding the tower. Further in the horizon, he saw the land extending endlessly.


    ¡°Dun, Dun, Dun, Dun.¡± While Orou listened carefully, he could hear some kind of thumping. It sounded like the beat of a heart, steady and unshakable, like the pulse of earth¡¯s core, ever penetrating.


    Gradually, Orou began to see men appearing in the distance. Every single one of them was clad in steel armor from head to toe. The front lines held purely longswords, all made out of high-quality steel. Some of the men at the back had exquisitely made wooden bows with quivers of arrows on their backs. Soldiers that were marching in the front all held steel shields with the image of a black, coiled dragon on it. The image looked fierce, giving one the impression that the dragon could leap out of the shield and attack their enemy at any given moment.


    At the very back of the army, Orou saw soldiers that were dressed strangely, each wearing white robes, inscribed with various runes, similar to the ones in the sacrifice room earlier. They held wooden staves with glowing crystals on the top in their arms. There were hundreds of these men and the crystals in their hands were radiating a light which made one¡¯s soul feel comfortable and peaceful.


    The man performing the experiment also perked up but didn¡¯t stop what he was doing. He murmured to himself, ¡°I don''t believe that those lousy fools can break my Blood Barrier. I spent countless days and sacrificed thousands of people to create that barrier. Not to mention this army of ten thousand, even if the court mage came out here from the capital, he would be unable to break it.¡±


    Once the man finished talking, he went back to his experiments. Although he said all of that, his actions betrayed him. He immediately quickened his work and finished it within a minute. It ended with him letting the blood he had taken from Orou fade. The man then hurried down the tower, with Orou following on his heels.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    After a quick jog, they arrived at a room similar to the sacrifice room. The room was covered from the ceiling to the floor with various runes that sucked one¡¯s soul in. At the middle of the room was a levitating orb, emitting all kinds of lights. It looked very chaotic and disorganized, but within that chaos, Orou could sense boundless power.


    The robed man walked briskly to the orb and only stopped only when he arrived right next to it. He slowly touched the orb, chanted words in an unknown language and traced various symbols on the orb, while slowly sinking into the orb.


    As the sounds of the marching army became louder, the actions of the man become quicker. Orou could feel the ground trembling, almost resembling a solemn song. Finally, the man finished tracing the last rune and let out a huge sigh of accomplishment. Following that, the earth began to shake even more and the world around Orou turned blood red. With each second, the world around them glowed with a deeper shade of red. Orou looked at the man responsible for this and saw him acting as if he was intoxicated with power. His wrinkles disappeared and he changed, looking younger and healthier each second, his face flush with blood.


    The man looked outside the window and cast a spell on himself, grew blood-red wings and took flight, heading outside the tower. Orou surveyed the situation and only now noticed that the tower was pulsating, sending out red waves to the edge of a barrier. The barrier extended a few hundred feet around the tower and it resembled a huge dome surrounding the tower.


    The man began to take on a demonic appearance, growing more sinister by the second, ¡°YOU FOOLS, YOU SHOULDN¡¯T HAVE COME HERE. BOW DOWN AND OFFER YOUR SOULS TO THE ALTAR,¡± an imposing voice resounded through the area, chilling the souls of everyone who heard it. His voice was like the voice of devil itself, crushing all opposition and hopes of winning just by speaking.


    The army stopped dead in its tracks as some of the soldiers started to tremble, an unnatural fear gripped their heart as the idea of fleeing became more appealing. Just as they started to turn around, a wave of light washed over them. The chanting of the men at the back grew louder and the staves in their hands shone with a bright light. The wave carried with it a soothing effect, washing away the fear in the hearts of the soldiers.


    ¡°This cannot continue any longer you fiend! We¡¯ve come to stop your tyranny and to put an end to your meaningless bloodshed!¡± these words came from a woman standing at the front of the army. She had flowing blonde hair and the appearance of a saint, inspiring courage and bravery into everyone who saw her. She wore plate mail made out of adamantine and held a sword forged out of mithril. Her voice was amplified to a deafening extent, but it only boosted the courage of the men.


    ¡°What you¡¯ve done can¡¯t be forgiven you blood fiend, prepare to face your doom!¡± While the woman was addressing the man, the Blood Fiend was soaring through the air, looking with contempt at her and chanting to himself.


    ¡°Face your end, demon!¡± with these last words, she held up her longsword, which was like a shining beacon in the darkness for the soldiers. The front line raised their shields and started to march forwards with unyielding determination. The archers in the back notched their arrows, drew their bows and pointed them at the fiend.


    As the hand of the woman fell, countless arrows were unleashed at the same time, flying into the barrier like a raging bull that was planning to take this fiend¡¯s life. The men at the back held up and thumped their staves to the ground, while the light of the crystals on top of them dimmed.


    The woman at the very front held a crystal in her hands. If one could make out her expression from the distance, it would be one of melancholy and sadness, as well as resolution. ¡°Let the light flow through my veins, let me power in me consume me from within to allow for the last burst of a radiant light.¡±


    Following the woman¡¯s chanting, her body began to shine. One by one, beams of light broke out from her body, seemingly shattering her body before reforming once more. The light crashed into the barrier with boundless majesty, but as it did, the impact made no sound, not even ripples in the air. After a moment of standstill, the entire barrier cracked and broke into countless pieces. It shattered just like a glass dome and dissipated in the air.


    The light itself continued to shine down and instantly arrived before the fiend. Just as it was about to hit him, the tower sent out a pulse of red. This wave, however, wasn¡¯t normal. For a moment, it turned the world back to normal, the light was pushed back for just a split second before the sky was soaked in red and the earth started to charge outwards with the wave, making it denser and bigger. It clashed with the light with an earth-shattering explosion that shattered everything aside of the fiend in front of it, including the light.


    The arrows were just like sticks in the wind, breaking under the red glow and slowly crumbling apart, disintegrating. Every single front line warrior held up their shields, calmly looking at the scene in front of them, having faith in their commander. If one could look down on the shield formation, their shields formed an enormous black, coiled dragon. What covered them was a black barrier, which resembled the scales of a dragon.


    The soldiers holding the front line took their swords in hand and swung them out simultaneously. The light that was covering them dimmed as each of the swords absorbed a bit of it, launching countless crescents of light towards the man. Joining them was another volley of arrows, this time, each of the arrow was brightly scintillating. The men in the back chanted ceaselessly, while the archers were constantly firing volleys of arrows that struck the waves of blood that were coming in their direction, which grew weaker with each pulse.


    For once, the fiend felt as if he has underestimated his opponents, especially the woman that created the light. He pointed all ten of his fingers in the direction of the army, having finally finished chanting his spell. Blood red strings came out of his fingers and shot out towards the army. After finishing the spell, he immediately began to chant another one, this time while holding the sacrificial dagger in his hand and pricking his thumb.


    The ten seemingly harmless strings approached the barrier of the soldiers. They seemed to possess a mind of their own as they weaved themselves together and coiled around the entire army. The strings started to tighten themselves tried to bind the army but were stopped by the barrier that was holding on with all of its might. The phantom image of the dragon felt the threat of these strings, roaring before sending out a shockwave in hopes of stopping these strings dead in their tracks.


    While this deadlock continued, the endless barrage never stopped assaulting the fiend while he was chanting some unknown spell. The shining knight at the front let out a howl. Her armor began to change in a mysterious way, she grew wings and the sword in her hand was replaced with a golden one, radiating an intense and blinding light.


    She didn¡¯t waste any words and charged towards the fiend, leaving behind a shockwave simply by flapping her wings. The fiend was forced to stop his spell half way and defend by crossing his arms. The sword arrived in a flash and chopped downwards, trying to cleave the fiend in two.


    The demonic figure simply stood there, receiving the blow in full force. No metal could resist this strike, but the fiend¡¯s arms were harder than any metal could ever hope to be. The sound of clashing overpowered even the roars of the dragon. The woman didn¡¯t retreat in the slightest and continued to strike the fiend with the reinforcement of the sword lights and arrows behind her. Although the fiend blocked every single attack thrown at him, sword bit deeper into his flesh with every strike.


    Knowing that his life might end if he didn¡¯t do anything, he retreated while a wave of blood held the woman at bay for a moment. He took out the athame and pierced his heart, screaming out in pain, ¡°You forced me to do this.¡±


    His screeches assaulted the army and served as a distraction for the fiend¡¯s last move. The woman immediately recognized the danger she was in and took out a scroll, coughing up blood on it. The scroll melted in her arms and from it came an enormous white-striped tiger. It made no noise as it pounced towards the fiend, hoping to end him for good.


    Seeing the woman¡¯s desperate attempts, the fiend pushed his dagger all the way through his still beating heart. He focused on his hands, seemingly forgetting about the battle unfolding. His hands were emitted a dark light, one which was only found in the deepest layer of hell.


    He knelt mid-air and from his back emerged a phoenix. It wasn¡¯t one made out of flames, but one that was clad in blood and covered with darkness. It saw the tiger, but looked towards the women, not putting the tiger in its sight. The phoenix flapped its wings and crashed into the white-striped tiger. Time almost seemed to freeze as the two figures started to melt together into a strange abomination. Before it could completely fuse, something cracked and running down the middle of this creature was a crack. Following that was an earth-shaking explosion, in almost an instant, the surrounding features were erased, leaving behind a huge crater.


    The shockwave from the explosion arrived soon after and hit the tower with full force, shattering its foundations and toppling the entire structure. Orou pried himself away from the gory sight and quickly fled out of the collapsing tower. As the dust settled, he could only see a single person in the distance. It was the fiend, which had turned back into his human form and was lying on the ground. He was the only person in sight, as everything that was once here got turned into a barren wasteland.


    The man looked at Orou and squeezed out a few last words, his eyes looking at Orou with love. ¡°Come here. Even though I won¡¯t be able to help you on your journey, I know you¡¯ll do just fine. My life is going to end right here, so I hope you can preserve my legacy.¡± The man said these words as he mercilessly ripped out his own heart and presented it to the snake.


    ¡°With this, I can die happy, knowing that all of my effort wasn¡¯t for naught,¡± he said those words and took his last breath and closed his eyes with a smile on his face. Behind them, the tower crumbled down fully, turning into nothing more than rubble. The body of the man melted into the earth, not leaving behind a single trace.

 The Blood-Flower

    Menacing, blue eyes carefully observed a rabbit hopping from one place to another, slowly approaching a thicket of leaves. The prey hopped once, twice, thrice and landed right next to the hunter, unaware that something was stalking it from behind. It stopped right before the thicket, finding something off about it, but it couldn''t tell what. As it moved its eyes up and down, from the thicket sprung up a snake, launching itself towards the frightened rabbit like a flash of lightning. The snake quickly constricted the rabbit, obstructing its blood flow. As much as the rabbit tried to struggle, it couldn''t escape the snake''s grasp. The rabbit drew its last, short breath, stopping its frantic resistance, laying limp, bound by the snake. The snake opened up its mouth and devoured the rabbit whole, not leaving behind a single drop of blood.


    The snake, of course, was Orou. He has lived the past month here in the forest, hunting small critters to fill his stomach, trying his best to survive. Orou had changed unnaturally growing both bigger and taller, enough to prey on a rabbit. His daily routine consisted of eating and sleeping. Even if he wanted to do something else, once he saw prey, his instinct would take over. As for the incident a month back, he had thrown to the back of his head, forgetting it entirely.


    As Orou was slithering around, digesting his meal, he felt something inside of him growing, slowly awakening bit by bit. Right after the incident, Orou wandered about, looking for food. When he first saw a rat scurrying out of its hiding place, he spiraled out of control. He lost control of his body as he instinctively shot towards the rat, eating it alive. The rampage went on for a whole day, devouring everything he could fit in his mouth, almost losing his life many times in the process thanks to some bigger animals in the forest that went after him, but thanks to his small size he could escape unscathed.


    After Orou was done rampaging, he felt drowsy. He wanted nothing more than to lay down and slumber for eternity, but he knew that if he dropped to the ground right here, he would never wake up. He slithered over to a suitable hiding spot and dropped dead, no sound in the world could wake him up out of his sleep. He dreamt of soaring through the sky, overseeing the world from up above. He felt like a god, capable of observing every living being on this earth. His whole being was filled with boundless power. If he felt like it, he could destroy this world without much effort. This feeling was intoxicating, but just as Orou was starting to get used to omnipotence, he was snapped back from his dream, returning to his mortal form. He noticed that he had grown substantially, both physically and in appearance.


    Orou continued to live like this, lurking in the shadows and preying on small animals. He had to learn how to hold himself back from charging straight towards his potential doom. Just because he had been lucky to not die during his rampage doesn''t mean that he had nothing to fear in this forest. He vaguely remembered that he was attacked by a giant hawk with more than a 5-meter wingspan. He was truly horrified at that moment, but his body kept going on without the hint of fear.


    Just as the hawk was about to swoop down and grab him, something in him seemingly exploded, his speed reaching a whole new level for a split second as he slithered away from the grasp of the hawk. Both parties were surprised by this outburst before the hawk decided that hunting Orou wouldn''t be worth it and flew away.


    At the current moment, Orou was still residing on the outskirts of the forest, fearing to go deeper inside. During this month, he saw a battle between a bear and wolf for a deer carcass. The bear was about 4 meters tall, it''s body resembling a small mountain. The wolf on the other hand was much smaller than the bear, but the wolf''s fur stood up as if a hedgehog''s. They moved so fast that Orou could only see phantoms. He watched the battle in awe from the distance. Eventually, the bear inflicted a grievous wound on the wolf''s abdomen. The wolf decided that it wasn''t worth risking its life for a mere deer carcass and retreated deeper into the shadows, disappearing from view. Orou was shocked and he only regained his bearing a few seconds after the end of the battle, swearing to never provoke those kinds of creatures.


    This cycle of eating and sleeping continued for two more months.. Today, Orou was stalking a bird, seeing if the bird would lead him to its eggs. The bird was being uncooperative, looking for his own meal. After several minutes of no success, Orou flickered his tongue and picked up on a scent. He picked up a scent he had not sensed in a while, the scent of humans. Staying still for a few seconds, he felt the vibration of movement and battle in the distance. Even though his instinct was warning him to run away and find a place to hide, his curiosity got the better part of him. Orou quickly lunged towards the bird and made short work of the bird, killing it with no problems.


    Orou traveled to the site of the battle, carefully avoiding the nesting places of known predators. As he was getting closer, various beasts in the forest were being awoken from all the commotion, as they opened their eyes, they shot towards the battle as if enraged, throwing all defense to the wind in exchange for speed in order to make it there faster. Orou made his way out of the forest in post haste, excited about the thought of making his way there, something that could make the beasts in the forest behave like mad was surely important and would provoke a bloodbath.


    As Orou was making his way out of the forest, he saw multiple beasts rushing forward. Though none were as scary as the bear, Orou felt that he was too insignificant in this forest. When he finally reached the edge of the forest, he saw the pile of rubble where a magnificent tower once stood. This was the very place he was created at, the very same place the great battle had occurred.


    Slithering behind the rubble and looking forwards, Orou saw about 10 men fighting off a horde of beasts. They were completely covered with blood and a huge mountain of corpses was piling up. Despite that, beasts were still rushing to their deaths as if mad. The strategy seemed to be effective because the ten armed men were growing weaker by the second. More intelligent and cunning beasts were sitting on the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity to strike. There seemed to be an inexhaustible amount of beasts of all variety. The soldiers were attacked every direction, even from the air and underground, leaving them no chance of escape.


    "We''ve got the flower, retreat!" A man at the lead of the formation yelled loudly while cutting a wolf in half. The mercenary mumbled some words to himself and the sword in his hand lit up with a bright light, blinding the beasts in front of him but not affecting the man himself. Seeing that the men were escaping with their prize, the beast pushed themselves even harder, trampling over some of the weaker beasts that got pushed over.


    The man who looked like the leader shouted a few more words as his sword brightened and dimmed, cutting apart a beast with each swing. Despite his best efforts, it seemed that only half the party, the ones closest to the leader were going to make it out. With each swing the two halves of the party were getting wider apart, eventually the party which was left behind was encircled by beasts, leaving no space left to retreat.


    "Markus, you can''t leave us to die here, we''ve been together for years," angrily shouted a female while getting surrounded by beasts. Her swordplay was excellent as she fought back hordes of beasts, but for each beast she slew, the beast would inflict an injury onto her. She was bleeding profusely from multiple spots on her body, her efforts weakening by the second.


    "Goddamni..." She started to shout once more, but mid sentence, one of the beasts hiding in the shadows decided to strike. It was a gray wolf, about 2 meters in size. It moved with unbelievable speed and agility, avoiding crashing into any beasts as it charged towards the woman. Once it got close enough, one could see the fangs of the wolf elongate as a wolf paw struck towards the woman. Her face went pale as she held up a shield to block the strike. While she did successfully block the strike, she went flying a few meters back, her shield having five long indentations in it.


    The woman scrambled to stand up but it was too late for her, the various beasts around her took the opportunity of weakness and pounced on her. "Please, please, save me, I don''t want to die!" the woman shrieked with a horrified voice, but those were the last words she uttered before getting torn to shreds.


    The other 4 remaining men encircled by beasts saw this ghastly scene and hesitated for half a second, but this half a second was enough for the beasts. From the ground erupted a giant worm, bigger and larger than any one of the men. It opened up it''s mouth and Orou could feel something gathering towards its mouth, something invisible yet tangible. A second later, a spray of acid struck towards their backs, corroding through their armor and lastly, their flesh. They screamed and flailed and thrashed on the ground to no avail before stopping any signs of resistance and dropping dead on the ground.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    While the amount of beasts encircling the now deceased half party was great, the majority of them chose to madly dash towards the leader still holding a blood-red flower in his hand. "Damn, I didn''t think this would have to be used so soon, it was prepared for the damn beastmen." Markus shouted in irritation and quickly sheathed his glowing sword, nimbly dodging an eagle''s swooping attack.


    Unfortunately, it seemed like two of his party members were not as successful during this brief period of weakness. Without them noticing, vines had grown around their feet. As they tried to dodge the lunging attack of a massive viper, their feet got obstructed, causing them to fall over. One of them died immediately thanks to the poison the viper injected in him. The other tried to desperately cut at his feet and get rid of the vines to no avail. He looked in despair as the same eagle which attacked the leader came swooping down at him, two sharp talons striking towards his eyes. A scream later he was lying on the ground, blood pooling below him.


    Few tense seconds passed as Markus finally pulled out some sort of crystal. It had the exact same color as the flower, a deep shade of red. As soon as he pulled out this crystal, every single beast stopped what it was doing, looking towards the stone with greed in their eyes.


    When he pulled out the crystal, something stirred within Orou. He felt the same kind of attraction towards the crystal as he did towards the flower, but as he continued to stare at the crystal, his mind went completely blank. He felt something inside him rolling, resisting a foreign presence. Orou writhed in pain as the two forces clashed, the invading force felt like it was corroding him from the inside while the force resisting was like a great wave, washing over the corrosion and easing the discomfort. Eventually, Orou felt the invading force weakening before completely disappearing. His whole body relaxed as he opened his eyes, completely ignoring the crystal, his eyes still locked on the flower.


    As it turns out, the rest of the beasts didn''t have as much luck as Orou. After a period of silence, every single one of the beasts let out some kind of noise. Whether it was a howl, a screech, a hiss or a roar, they did so without withholding anything. The wave of sound that was rippling out from the horde of beasts was a cacophony of various noises. While Orou wasn''t affected as much, it seemed that the three remaining men were staggering back, one almost falling onto the ground.


    Markus grimaced and chucked the crystal into the horde. As soon as he did that, fierce fighting broke out in the area around the crystal. The beasts didn''t hesitate to unleash various abilities of various colors, dyeing the battlefield in blood in mere seconds. Using this chaos, the three men started to rush out, surprisingly not running towards the plains to the north but back into the forest. The leader was still holding the flower in his hand gingerly, as if afraid of anything happening to it.


    Keeping the flower in his sight, Orou started to slither towards the trio with rapid haste. Inside of him, he felt the waves retreat and gather in a single spot inside his body, but while the waves were still spread throughout his body, he used this chance to unleash a sustained burst of speed to rush into the forest. Coupled with the fact that the men were badly injured and exhausted, Orou could momentarily outpace them, rapidly closing the distance between them. Orou felt his speed diminish as he continued to slither towards them. He had closed enough distance that he could keep an eye on them, keeping himself hidden from their sight and keeping up with their pace.


    The three men continued to run and run for a while until one of the men shouted: "Let''s stop here, I can''t keep going without taking a quick breather." Markus seemed to agree as he nodded and slowed down to a stop. Taking deep breaths, he sat down with his back leaned against a tree. He set down the flower next to him and started taking out bandages from his backpack, bandaging wounds that were still bleeding.


    "That was way too close for comfort, who could''ve expected that the flower would provoke such a reaction from the beasts." Markus sighed as he finished bandaging his wounds. He stood up, dusted himself off by habit before taking a glance at the flower.


    "We''ll be rich in a week, no more of this adventuring life, we can buy a decent house in Belor, though I don''t think I''d want to stay here next to this forest anymore, maybe travel to a different kingdom and start a new life there." Markus was grinning halfway through that sentence as he continued to look at the flower.


    His face was still pale from excessive blood-loss, but he could almost imagine the future by staring into this flower. As he continued to stare at it, he saw the blood-red flower darken in some spots, it seemed to absorb something into it for a moment before regaining its usual color.


    It took Markus a second to realise what caused the flower to darken. He looked down towards his heart and saw a blade running through his heart. The color of his blood on the blade resembled the flower, before he saw the blade disappear and another burst of pain come from his back.


    "I''m sorry leader, but your future happiness has nothing to do with us. If you could kindly drop dead, that would be the best for both of us." As Markus turned around, he saw one of his party members holding a bloody shortsword, talking with a sly grin on his face. The second one was approaching closer in the direction of the flower, holding a longsword and a buckler in his hands.


    After the shock had passed, Markus roared in pain and rage, his hand moving towards his longsword by his side. Even while rapidly bleeding out, he could feel another strike approaching him, already at a dangerously close distance. Markus twisted his body in an unnatural position, his gem-encrusted longsword heading straight towards the attacking man''s throat.


    While Markus twisted his body in order to avoid any more critical injuries, the blow was still aimed at his left arm. In a desperate manner, Markus stared down the attacker, seemingly mocking him.


    "I''ve always known that you were too much of a coward in combat, if it were Melissa, she would always take the chance to injure her opponent, even if it meant sustaining some wounds. It''s no wonder people always call you an inferior version of her."


    The man saw Markus'' longsword striking towards his throat and just as he was about to retreat, the words Markus spoke seemed to aggravate him. He continued to strike towards Markus'' arm while moving his body, trying to evade the imminent death if the longsword pierced his throat. His blade struck first, it stabbed right through his left arm while Markus screamed in pain.


    His eyes seemed to glimmer, trying to convey something to Markus but before he got the chance, his eyes went wide, blood gushing out from his throat. The now bloody longsword shone with a dim light as Markus staggered, more blood spilling from his now useless arm.


    "What about you, are you just going to stand there like a turtle in its shell?" Shouted Markus, slowly walking towards his former party member, who was staring at all of this with bemusement in his eyes. His buckler was raised up and he held his sword in a defensive position, as if ready to parry any blow Markus might make.


    "I don''t listen to words of dying men, I''d be generous if I said you have half a minute left to live before you bleed out," said the other man, his eyes showing his respect for Markus. As Markus staggered forth, he was retreating, always keeping a distance of 10 meters between them.


    "Even if you had to fight a rabbit you''d never underestimate it," laughed Markus.


    "It''s all thanks to you, leader. It seems ironic that your own teaching keeps you from killing me." As he said that, he saw Markus tossing something the shape of a small rock at him. Without any hesitation, he raised up his shield to block it, but as he did, he saw a blade flying towards him, light concentrated on the tip of the sword. He looked over to see Markus 10 meters away from him, lying prone on the ground with a smile on his face. Once more, he didn''t hesitate to roll out of the way of the sword. He sighed with a sense of accomplishment as he saw that he had avoided the sword flying towards him.


    "Fool."


    Just as Markus said that, a horrible explosion came from the distance. The sword which was streaking through the air completely dimmed before a blinding radiance exploded from the sword, evaporating the ground, the grass, the trees and most importantly, evaporating the man who had avoided the sword.


    Orou was watching all of this excitedly, still confused about why the humans were fighting when they had just successfully escaped. As the sword exploded, Orou got the scare of his life as he instinctively hissed, but his hiss was drowned by the sound of the explosion.


    A few minutes passed by in complete silence as Orou observed the surroundings. He wasn''t what to make of this before he caught the sight of the flower. It was as alluring as before, maybe even more so than before. For the last time he made sure that there was nothing hiding in the shadows before stealthily making his way over to the flower.


    He looked at the man who had thrown the sword with curiousness. His gaze lingered for a few seconds, but he felt the calling from the flower grow ever stronger. He could no longer resist the alluring scent and dashed towards it as fast as he could. It didn''t take long before he was right next to it and the next second, it was in his mouth.


    As he devoured the flower, it seemed to melt in his stomach into a warm liquid. It resembled the pulsing that has been present in him ever since he was born. The warm liquid seemed to spread through his body and cover every single part of him. As he looked around and at himself, he saw a thin layer of blood cover him before rapidly becoming thicker, enveloping him in a cocoon in a few seconds. His entire body felt comfortable beyond belief and the urge to sleep overtook him. As he dozed off to sleep, he could hear a voice in his head saying something to him...

 Spirits

    "Dear child, I know this will get to you in one way or another. I had plans to let you mature and experience the world without my influence, but I fear things have been changing. I noticed that around the time you were born, something has changed in the world we live in and the parallel plane of spirits. The world is under some kind of strain, tiny cracks and tears are appearing in space constantly, though they are gone before anyone can notice them. I''m probably not the only one who has noticed this, but there are bigger things to worry about in the minds of common people.


    "I wish for you to understand the inner workings on this world, and that requires you to eventually travel out of the Forest of Shadows. I do not know how you will do it, but if there''s one thing I know for sure, us, children of Arathaniel are clever and scheming. You are someone unique in this world, you must be careful in your travels. I''m giving you the ability to understand the language of both humans and beastmen, you will meet them both in your travels.


    "Lastly, the most important thing in this world is information. In order for you to understand how this world work and in order to make your own discoveries, you have to see the world laid bare. Make use of both your blood and spirit core to achieve success, control the spirits all around us. It will not only set you on your own path, but it will also be useful in combat."


    Orou woke with a start, his mind repeating the information he had heard in his mind. He started to move and as he did, the thin layer of blood fell off of him. He looked around only to see the same scene from before, three rottings bodies and a crater. There was no sign of life around him, no birds chirping, no rabbits hopping about. Orou scanned the area intently, looking for any signs of danger that might be lurking around but after a few minutes, he gave up on the pointless search.


    Orou slithered around the battlefield, thinking about everything that had happened so far. After waking up, he felt as if a fog has been lifted from his mind, he could associate words with actions he had seen. Orou realised that the actions of the humans in front of him were as clear as day now, they had "betrayed" each other, the reason being a thing called "greed." Looking back at it, he still believed the actions of these humans to be foolish and illogical


    As he reached that train of thought, he felt unexplainable anger start to cloud his mind. Although he had experienced such an emotion before, it has never happened with such an intensity.


    A moment later, he was back to normal. He kept recalling everything he had experienced so far and he felt a strong sense of emotion attached to each of his memories. "Love" and "respect" towards his creator, "anger" and "disgust" towards the humans in front of him. This boggled Orou''s mind as he had never even felt some of these emotions he was feeling now.


    Orou still couldn''t wrap his mind around the first part of the sentence in his mind, but as he recalled what the voice said, he started to try and feel around him. Throughout his life, he had occasionally felt things he could not see with his eyes. These small things were present everywhere he went, but he had clearly felt them when his creator was attacked or when the beasts were attacking the humans recently.


    He was told to manipulate the spirits around him, but he didn''t know how he could do that. He tried everything he could to no avail and finally, the only thing left on his mind was to make the damned spirits move. He willed it with such an intensity that he stumbled back when the spirits actually started to move, floating closer to him, breaking his concentration.


    Regaining his composure, Orou cleared his mind of all distractions and willed the spirits to move to him. It was hard, the spirits did not want to move closer to him, in fact, they didn''t want to move at all. Orou had to forcibly grab them and make them move closer. They moved at a snail''s pace, it seemed like it would take forever for them to arrive near him.


    He continued this for a minute and it seemed that the spirits weren''t moving at all. Time passed and he grew more frustrated by the second, his mind racing in order to figure out what he was doing wrong. With an even fiercer intensity, he willed with all of his strength for the things to move closer, to approach him and stay there.


    This time, something seemed to snap as he felt something inside him boiling. The waves that have been ever present in his body were growing fiercer, slamming against his body from inside. With a burst, the spirits rapidly approached his eyes, making them appear like two blue spheres shining light.


    This, however, provoked an even more intense reaction from within him. The waves which were rampaging within his body all had a goal this time as they headed towards his head and towards his eyes. They turned from blue to red in an instant, his mind going blank from this sudden reaction.


    All this said and done, both the spirits and the thing inside of him calmed down. He felt a resonance between the spirits and the waves in his eyes. He looked around and saw the things he had been trying to hard to move closer to him. There were small wisps floating in the air, looking like they were constantly moving. Focusing in on one of them, he saw that the spirit was completely blue. Although it was blue, Orou could see through it just like if it was transparent.


    Wondering what would happen, Orou willed the spirits to move. It was much easier now that he could actually see the spirit and visualise it in his mind. The spirit in front of him raced through the air before reaching his mouth. He opened it up and willed the spirit to go inside, before closing his mouth once more. Unfortunately, he felt nothing happening, it seemed like he couldn''t eat them for breakfast today.


    He tried looking at himself to see if he was made out of spirits. It seemed like the spirits were simply phasing in and out of his body. He didn''t know how but as he looked at himself, he found himself staring at himself in an out of body experience. He freaked out and moved away from himself, and the feeling that accompanied him moving was excellent, it felt like he was swimming in the air, able to move anywhere he wanted. He circled around himself for a while before carefully inspecting himself.


    The most important thing he could see is that in his eyes were two circles. One was blue and the other - red. They were overlapping and constantly rotating around each other. In the middle he saw a complicated formation, it seemed like multiple circles overlapping to form an intricate drawing that made his head spin.


    If one were to assume that you had to manipulate spirits and draw this formation close to where his eyes were, he had no idea how he actually managed to do it. He saw that the drawing was faintly covered in blood and the spirits around him were almost attracted to it. Without him having to do anything, the spirits were moving closer to him and staying put in this intricate formation.


    Other than that, he tried to look inside of him in order to see what these waves that occasionally helped him were. He tried his best, he even sticked his spirit head inside of his body but in the end, he found nothing of note.


    Losing interest in himself, Orou started to freely fly around in the air. The feeling was addicting as he started to fly even higher in the air, but he found out that he couldn''t fly higher than 5 meters from his body. It was like there was an invisible barrier around him, he simply couldn''t move past it.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Time passed and Orou felt himself fading from wherever this was. Seconds passed and he found himself back in his body, his mind and body exhausted. He could still see spirits around him, but he felt the blood flowing from his eyes back into his body. He took a last sweep over the battlefield and this time, he actually noticed something. Where the sword once exploded he saw the spirits behaving differently than usual. They were frantically moving around, swirling above the crater.


    Orou being a curious snake from birth started to quickly slither to the crater before his spirit vision ended. He stood at the edge of the crater and peered downwards. The spirits were circling around a spot devoid of any spirits. Once more, he slivered down into the crater and looking at the place devoid of spirits. There lay a completely cracked crystal, one which Orou saw shining the brightest on the sword the man he recognised as Markus now held.


    He looked closer at the crystal in order to see what was so special about it, but he couldn''t see anything special about it now that it was cracked. He prodded it with his head and the second he did, it dissipated to ash before his eyes. Orou looked at the place and saw that it was still devoid of spirits. He felt spirits leaving his eyes so he moved out of the crater, still pondering about why the place was devoid of spirits.


    He felt that it was a shame that the bodies were already rotten or else he would have eaten them. Orou noticed that once more, his body had significantly expanded. He was born a month ago, but his body was already over 4 meters long. He figured that he would be able to eat a human if he found one, though he didn''t really feel like hunting them because of the advice the voice in his head gave him.


    As Orou prepared to move out of this area, he felt an overwhelming sense to devour everything living just to feed himself. He didn''t know if it was because of the flower or the spirit vision, but his mind went blank. He had experienced this once before and almost died, so this experience left a deep impression on him. He resisted this urge to the best of his ability, but it seemed like that was not enough as he started sprinting out of this area devoid of life further into the forest.


    Once he saw anything moving, he immediately lunged to devour it, often times devouring it whole without killing it first. He made his way forward through the forest, killing even the smallest creatures in front of him. A rabbit was innocently hopping around, minding his own business when Orou shot out like a streak of lightning. His mouth was like an endless black hole as this time, he bit down on the rabbit, piercing through the rabbit''s head. The next moment, it was already in Orou''s stomach.


    Orou was just about to charge forward for his next pray before he felt a burst of wind approaching his back. Although he was not in the right state of mind, his sense of danger was working ever more so than before. Before the wind could reach him, he made the decision to rush forward without looking at his assailant in order to dodge this strike.


    It seemed that while Orou was fast, the thing attacking him was even faster. Orou felt talons strike his back, leaving five deep gashes on his body. Orou whipped his head around in order to see who was daring enough to attack him and sure enough, it was the eagle who had harassed him previously.


    Intense hatred burned through him, how dare this eagle keep provoking him so many times. Almost instinctively, his vision sharpened and he saw spirits surrounding the eagle''s talons. These spirits were spinning at an extremely fast rate as he saw a green light surrounding the eagle''s talons. His whole body was covered by a thin layer of spirits, seemingly protecting him.


    Orou didn''t need a prompt to start attacking. Before the eagle got the chance to fly up and away from him, he felt the thing inside of him roiling and pulsing, almost as if answering to his anger. His vision turned completely red, his body slightly shivering. Time seemed to slow down as Orou shot forwards towards the eagle. He was aiming at a spot that was not protected by the spirits, a spot below his right wing. As he shot forwards, the eagle lifted his right wing as if anticipating his attack and struck out with a talon.


    Orou could see that the talon was wicked sharp, he still felt pain from his back from the previous attack. He was gushing blood, but that didn''t stop him in the slightest. Seeing that the talon was heading straight towards his head, he shifted his attack towards the eagle''s left wing. The eagle''s talons struck his body once more, five more deep gashes added to his body as Orou cried out in pain, but his attack arrived a second later. He bit down on the left wing with all the force he could muster, drawing blood and injecting his venom into the eagle.


    As he did, he left a surprising amount of resistance from what he could see to be spirits. They were gathering towards the spot where he bit and reinforcing it, but this only gave Orou an opportunity for attack. As he was holding the eagle by his wing and injecting his venom into the eagle''s bloodstream, he moved his tail with surprising ease as it picked up speed and shot towards the eagle like some sort battering ram.


    Normally, he wasn''t able to use his tail for much, but once he woke up, in addition to having grown, he could manipulate his tail with much more ease than before, even being able to use it as a weapon against enemies. The eagle heard a huge whoosh coming from the snake and as he looked over, he could only see a huge tail rapidly approaching him. The eagle flapped his wings in desperation, trying to fly away but Orou was holding onto the eagle''s wing and pinning him down.


    The eagle could only look with desperation in its eyes as the tail approached him. Orou saw the spirits retreating from the spot he was holding onto with his fangs and spread throughout the eagle''s body, but it was far too late for that. The tail hit the eagle with such force that the eagle was blown away tens of meters from Orou, the side that didn''t manage to get reinforced by the spirits was crushed into a bloody pulp, the side that did get reinforced wasn''t looking much better either.


    Orou thought that the battle was over before being shocked, he looked over to the eagle and saw that it was still breathing, though it was losing blood at an alarming rate. Orou could tell that the eagle hated him with all of his might, but he could also tell that the eagle was feeling smug, looking at him like he was a dead snake.


    It was too late to notice that in front of the eagle''s beak was an overwhelming number of spirits. He had never seen so many gathered in one place, with the exception of the fight in the tower. Orou imminent doom approaching as he darted out of the way of whatever was coming. He didn''t get far before he saw a completely green half crescent shooting out towards him faster than his own tail struck at the eagle. In his spirit vision, he saw something weird. The spirits at the edge of the crescent were completely green, their shapes differentiating from the rest of the spirits. They were leaner and taller as multiple green spirits formed a line that was the edge of the crescent. Even without his spirit vision, he saw that this crescent was most certainly not good for him as the edge of the crescent was reflecting the surrounding light, shooting towards him.


    At his current rate, he was going to be split in half without any chance to react. Even with the waves inside of him boosting his speed to his limit, he could only get a little bit further before the crescent was already before him, threatening to end his life. Orou had never felt as much panic in his life as he''s currently feeling, but his body kept moving forwards despite his hesitation. This was likely how the eagle felt before he had blown it back with his tail


    Adrenaline was pumping through his veins as he looked towards the rapidly approaching crescent. His body was working to its limits as another burst of speed came from his body. He managed to get slightly further but it was too late, the crescent had already reached him. Orou watched, almost in slow motion, as his tail was separated from his body. His eyes didn''t leave the crescent as it didn''t stop there and continued to travel further, cutting apart everything in his path.


    A second later, the feeling of shock reached him as he opened his mouth and hissed in pain, blood spilling from the place where his tail used to be. Orou changed his direction and bolted towards the paralyzed eagle. He arrived there a few seconds later and bit into it once more into the eagle. He started to wrap himself around the eagle, crushing it even further than it already was, killing it if it didn''t die from blood loss already. He opened up his mouth and started to slowly but surely devour the eagle.


    Pain filled seconds passed as he concentrated on devouring this eagle. He got it down relatively quickly before looking back towards the trail of blood he made while charging towards the eagle. He felt something inside of him rapidly sending out waves towards his rear, and each time it did, he felt this pulsing pain.


    Having seen the wide variety of beasts that chased after the blood flower, Orou knew that this eagle wasn''t one of the apex predators of this forest. He finished his meal, exhaustion was catching up to him after the wave of adrenaline was gone and slowly, he slithered deeper into the forest.

 A Mistake

    Today, just as usual, Orou went out to hunt for food. As he grew bigger in size, the number of times he had to eat each week was increasing. Small critters no longer satisfied him as he started going for larger prey, none as strong as the eagle he had met earlier of course.


    Orou still felt lingering weakness from the earlier fight as he looked towards his tail. It looked brand-new, but he couldn''t swing it with as much force as he did earlier. To Orou, the most dreadful thing in this forest is his pangs of hunger. Without it, he would have never been so reckless to provoke the eagle, even if he did come out at the end of the day.


    Maybe it was the intense pain or the hearty meal which brought him out of his berserk state, but either way, he did not want a repeat of what happened. He spent days moving from place to place, sleeping on trees and hunting enough to sustain himself. When his tail was growing back, he consumed twice as much food as usual and the waves which helped to regrow his tail weren''t pleasant either.


    He didn''t spend much time in one place. It seemed that the place where he killed the eagle was the eagle''s territory so he didn''t have to worry that much about finding other predators, but once he couldn''t find food as often anymore, he had to move even deeper into the forest. While the areas that belonged to various predators weren''t quite as clear to Orou, he had to escape multiple times when he was spotted by one of them.


    Although Orou could probably bring them down, it just wasn''t worth the effort. What if he got as injured as he did when battling the eagle? The eagle''s body lasted him a day or two before he had to hunt for twice as much food while still being weakened. Who knew if they had even deadlier abilities than the eagle.


    Over these few days, Orou has been experimenting with spirits. The crescent left a deep impression on him and if he could manage to unleash a similar ability, he could take down the eagle with no problems. Unfortunately, his experimentation led him to nowhere. He could easily gather spirits to his eyes, but besides that, he couldn''t really do much. He tried looking around everywhere for the green spirits that were at the edge of the crescent, but the only thing he could was an endless sea of regular blue spirits.


    Often times, he inspected the formation that was present when he gathered the spirits to his eyes. He had the feeling that without this thing, he could direct an endless source of spirits to his eyes and nothing would happen. He wondered how the eagle knew so many ways to manipulate the spirits. When the eagle covered his body with spirits and made his talons sharper, he didn''t see any sort of formation there.


    Tossing the matter to the back of his head, he managed to find a herd of deer, peacefully grazing grass. He blended into the surroundings of the forest and quietly snuck towards the herd without raising much suspicion despite his size. He was quite massive, in fact, he had grown even more during this time of relative peace.


    Once he was close enough, he struck out with his fangs, spooking the rest of the deer to bolt away in panic. Orou''s venom did marvels as in a few seconds, it went limp. He coiled around the deer and thoroughly crushed the deer. Finding prey took much longer than actually killing it.


    Figuring that this deer would last him a good while, he began to slowly eat it. Even though he could eat it much quicker than he currently was, he enjoyed the process of crushing all the bones of the prey and the feeling of it slowly entering his body. He had decided to make this place his resting spot for some days as he enjoyed his meal.


    Hours passed as he finished his meal and simply lay there, basking in the sun. He was conserving his energy and digesting his meal as he heard the noise of footsteps approaching him. Lifting his head up, he heard human speech coming from further into the forest.


    "It was a bitch to fight this wolf, almost lost Jeremy as well, at least we''re bound to get decent money it, at least ten times that if we had simply slain it and not captured it," said a rough voice, his voice was like that of metal scraping against metal, irritating to listen to.


    Despite that, a more cheerful voice came from his side: "I didn''t expect for it to bring out the big guns, it almost got me when it started thrashing about, would''ve blown my cover and it would''ve gotten away as well."


    A third voice, a bit exhausted and seemingly a bit further away from the two speaking shouted out: "I don''t want to step a foot into this forest for a long time, I almost overdrew my mana by healing you. Who knew that the wolf would ignore everyone and rush towards Jeremy, wasting a few scrolls of mine. I guess he really didn''t like arrows digging into his flesh every few seconds."


    Hearing the word mana, Orou got irritated. He didn''t know the reason for his irritation, but this word rubbed him the wrong way. Keeping the words of advice about humans in mind, he still decided to sneak up on them and follow them. While sneaking closer, he marveled at how these humans were communicating and how he could understand what they meant.


    This was a completely unique experience for him, sure, he could recall and understand what was said when he didn''t understand the language, but hearing them speak and keeping track of the conversation, while occasionally missing a few words was a novelty.


    Orou followed them as they headed out of the forest, a few minutes later they entered a clearing in the forest and Orou peered at them at a distance, behind several trees. He saw five people walking in an orderly formation, one of them constantly keeping an eye out for any monsters.


    "A couple of days and we should be out of the forest and back to Belor, there shouldn''t be beasts as dangerous as the wolf out here but we should still steer clear of any beasts capable of claiming an area in this forest," said the man keeping a watch on the surroundings. He was dressed in brown leather armor with short swords and daggers by his side, a green cloak covered most of his body.


    "Right, keep an eye on the wolf in case it decides to do anything funny, I doubt it can bite through mana reinforced iron, but it''s shown many surprises throughout the battle," said the man at the front. He had heavy metal armor on and a shield on his back, with a long sword by his side, his voice annoying Orou to no extent, how the rest of the humans could listen to his talking was beyond Orou.


    "You two have to relax a bit, with me here, how could any beast be our threat. My iron chains bound him for a good portion of the fight and he got burned pretty badly." At the very back stood a man dressed in flamboyant red robes. In his hands was a weird staff and resembled a snake with a red crystal on top.


    By his side was the actual cage being levitated in the air and the wolf inside of it. It looked simply miserable, it had multiple cuts and arrows sticking out of it, patches of fur were burned off and the flesh was singed. A man with the leather armor and a bow with a quiver on his back was intently looking at the wolf. Next to him was a man dressed similarly to the backline of the army that attacked the tower. He was wearing white robes and held a staff with a crystal on top of it, looking a bit haggard.


    At this point, Orou couldn''t resist his curiosity. Spirits surrounded his eyes as he looked around at these five humans and at the cage, wanting to figure out secrets about the spirits. His mind went blank as he looked at everyone involved, each of them had a weapon enchanted by the spirits, the spirits bound in complicated formations. The crystals on top of the staves held an overwhelming amount of spirits, they seemed to be packed full inside of it and Orou wondered how the crystal didn''t explode.


    Taking a glance at the cage, he saw that the iron itself wasn''t covered with spirits. The spirits had actually merged with the iron. He didn''t understand how something like that was possible as he kept inspecting the cage. Below the cage were numerous spirits seemingly holding it up, levitating it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the surrounding spirits were behaving strangely. They were sort of moving all over the place in the area, it resembled a dome with the point originating from the man in the flamboyant robes.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Orou froze as he realised that the party had stopped in place, missing the man with the daggers. The remaining four had a soft glowing light surrounding them the man in the light robes was softly chanting under his breath. An arrow was pointed at his head and the man in metal armor shouted orders: "Jeremy, covering fire, Leon, bind him, Pan, keep chanting, heal when needed, Roy, get to his back and strike, I''ll keep it busy."


    As soon as the orders were clear, an arrow shot out towards his left, glowing with a faint light. At the same time, a set of iron chains aimed slightly to the right started to race forwards at him, threatening to bind him.


    Orou realised his mistake as the arrow and the chains were flying straight at him. The first thing that popped up on his mind was that he couldn''t evade this, he reacted a bit too late. His eyes darted towards the chains as he tried to find a gap where the spirits weren''t as tightly knit together as everywhere else. The first set of chains flying straight at him were longed and looked more flexible while the second set of chains looked sturdier.


    He made the split decision to break out through the front. The thing inside of Orou reacted by sending out waves towards his head as he lunged towards the middle of the long chains. He opened his mouth and bit down on the chains. At the same time, he tried to will the spirits to disperse from the middle of the chain. Unfortunately, he saw most of the spirits bound tightly together, but a small portion of them did disperse.


    The chains snapped in two as Orou went flying past them, his fangs hurting like hell. The flamboyant man by the name of Leon stared in shock at Orou, pointing his finger in disbelief and yelling out: "HOW? How did the snake manage to snap my chains? They''re not as strong as real iron but they''re close, impossible."


    "Get a grip, if you don''t start chanting spells right now we might all perish, there''s no time for emotions in battle," shouted the leader in metal armor as he continued to charge forwards towards Orou, wanting to intercept him from attacking the others.


    Orou closed the distance with the leader, his fangs biting towards his legs. The man slashed his longsword at when he was in range, but Orou changed the direction of his bite towards the torso of the man. Still, the longsword cut into his side and the wound felt like it was on fire, delivering a moderate amount of pain towards Orou.


    Orou closed his mouth as he naturally knew that biting this armor made of metal and enchanted by spirits was fruitless. He started to wrap around the man, trying to constrict him in his armor. The leader flailed his sword around, but Orou had wrapped around his arms already, leaving him no swinging space to injure Orou.


    "Shoot at the darn thing, it''s going to crush my armor and me inside it, quick!" the leader shouted after seeing no arrows or spells being cast his way.


    Leon grinned while shouting "Be careful not to burn alive there captain." He then proceeded to lift his staff up in the air and started to chant something, the crystal on the top of his staff catching ablaze while still retaining its form. The man with the bow, Jeremy, started to shoot arrows towards Orou''s body that was constricting the leader. The arrows were no longer glowing as Pan had started to chant a completely different spell, pointing at the leader.


    While the rest of them were doing that, Orou wasn''t slacking off, he was using all of his might, helped by the rolling waves inside of him to crush the armor. Orou saw various strange drawings on the armor flicker as the armor practically groaned under the pressure. Before the first volley of arrows could reach him, the runes shattered as the armor began to cave inwards, the man let out a gasp trying to catch his breath, but his armor was gone and he was next.


    A volley of arrows struck Orou''s body as he let out a hiss of pain. They struck deep into his flesh but Orou was close to killing the leader that he didn''t relent and let the strike him full force. The next strike came from Pan who pointed his finger at the leader and he started glowing like the sun itself. Orou felt like he was constricting someone ablaze as the scales on his body badly singed for every additional second that he held onto the leader. Orou knew that if he wanted to kill him, he would suffer injuries enough for the rest to potentially kill him so he let go of the leader.


    As the leader dropped down towards the ground catching his breath, Orou started charging past him and aimed towards the flamboyant man still chanting his spell. Orou could see the spirits collecting to the spot above Leon''s head and forming into a huge formation in the shape of a lance. From the red crystal came a different spirit, small but completely red, shapeless like a liquid of some sorts. As it settled into the middle of the lance, Orou could see a burning lance appear above the man''s head. He could feel the heat emanating from the lance from some distance away as the lance started to charge straight at him.


    It started out slow but it picked up speed as it approached him. Orou wondered how it was possible for one man to conjure such a massive lance of flames as his body darted out of the way. The lance didn''t hit him directly as it landed a few meters away from him, but Orou did not escape unscathed. It blew up in a sea of flame around the place of impact, engulfing Orou within it.


    Despite the burn marks on his flesh, he continued to charge forwards, dead-set on laying his fangs on the flamboyant man. Another volley of arrows struck him, but a few more arrows wouldn''t do him much harm if he could eliminate them all in one swoop.


    What caught Orou''s eye was a spot to his left that was almost devoid of spirits. It formed a human shape as it slowly approached his side. He couldn''t see anything with his normal vision, but his action was set already. Using the momentum from charging forwards, his tail swung out at the invisible figure. He saw the shape leap backwards in order to minimize some of the impact, but as the tail hit him, he went soaring through the air, hitting one of the trees at the edge of the clearing.


    The three men at the back were quite confused at why Orou would do that, but once they saw Roy flying through the air at crazy speeds, the reactions were quite distinct, there were cries of concern and shouts of rage coming at Orou. He didn''t pay any attention to them as he continued his charge towards the flamboyant man in particular, he couldn''t allow for him to cast more of his spells, especially ones as deadly as the flaming lance.


    Orou was charging at impressive speeds, but the distance he had to cover was equally as impressive. He saw Pan finish chanting a spell, though he couldn''t see any immediate effect on the surroundings. Jeremy had temporarily stopped shooting as he pulled three yellow arrows from a separate quiver. Orou could see that within them multiple short, thin, yellow stripes, constantly moving. Jeremy aimed an arrow at Orou but didn''t shoot yet.


    Orou got an uneasy feeling from these arrows but his mind was set on filling his stomach with this flamboyant man who was chanting another spell. It was done extremely quick as the spirits he had summoned formed a layer of blue armor around him. He didn''t have any time to chant another spell before Orou was before him.


    Orou was determined to sink his fangs into this man as he lunged with lightning speed. Orou was going for a bite on his right arm, as it seemed the spell was the weakest there. Orou got a good glimpse of his face as he lunged forward, the human didn''t seem to be scared, his face was that of regret and anger at the same time.


    Orou didn''t manage to get closer than a meter to the flamboyant man''s skin. Orou saw a necklace on the man''s neck shatter into countless pieces as a blue barrier appeared around him. Orou felt like he had hit solid metal as he couldn''t stop himself in time, his head was spinning as he hit the blue barrier. The barrier shuddered for a bit but remained there, blocking his path.


    Orou was standing still as he recovered from the concussion when he heard Jeremy shout out: "Move back, let me deal with it!"


    Orou saw the barrier rapidly move backwards as he was lying on the ground. The closest thing to him was the now flashing arrow as Jeremy drew back the bowstring and released the arrow. It was much faster than a normal arrow. Orou was still dazed, his head spinning as the arrow arrived. Orou managed to move his head out of the way as it hit his body.


    He didn''t know that spirits could move so quickly as he experienced the full brunt of the arrow. The yellow spirits inside the arrow escaped into the air and in a blink of an eye covered an area of five meters. The yellow spirits were using the blue spirits in the air as a medium to rapidly hop between each other, moving thousands of times in a second.


    Orou''s muscles started to spasm and the world around him started to fade to black. It felt like someone had lit a fire inside of him, Orou had never felt as much pain as he''s currently feeling. He lay in pain for a few seconds before the waves inside of him soothed his spazzing muscles, he looked towards the culprit, his eyes filled with rage. However, when he saw another arrow of the same kind being pointed at him, he lost all will to fight and he turned around.


    His head met with more iron as a shield slammed into him. He saw the leader, his armor thoroughly crushed. He looked to be healed as he held a sword in one hand and his shield in another. After shield slamming Orou, he retreated back, escaping well past five meters from Orou. His head was pounding as first he had slammed into the barrier, struck with the magical arrow and now taken a shield to his face, he tried to move but his body wouldn''t obey him as all he could do was despair, a second arrow flying towards him.


    Orou didn''t have time to admire the flashing spirits, this time, it felt like something hit his head with a sledgehammer as the world went completely dark. The final words he heard before blacking out were: "Lock him up and transport him to Belor, he''ll fetch a good price there."

 Orous Price

    Waking up in a cramped cage is never a pleasant experience, especially when your head was pounding. Orou focused on his surroundings still distracted by his head-splitting headache, the first thing he saw were iron bars surrounding him from all sides. He was slowly moving forwards while being levitated a few meters above the ground.


    Still, looking around for a while , he didn''t recognise the surrounding area. The trees here were sparser and shorter, there was less foliage here than where he usually rested. He stirred in his cage, his body weak and powerless, he has most likely been in this cage for several days by the looks of it.


    His body stirred and that attracted glances from every party member. It seemed that everyone was alive, Roy, who got hit directly by the Orou''s tail was relatively unhurt. The leader and he were missing their armor, probably destroyed beyond use. A different amulet now hung on Leon''s neck, it looked completely different from the last one, made completely out of silver.


    "It has woken up, keep a clear distance from it. It has some kind of strange detection ability and the ability to interfere with mana, Leon even has suspicions that it can make out the mana in the air," said the leader, his hand by his sword.


    Even if Orou did want to act out, he had no energy left and he couldn''t focus enough to make use of his spirit vision. He let out a weak hiss before coiling up, getting in a more comfortable position. The metal he was lying on was cold and hard, while he couldn''t look at it with his spirit vision, Orou assumed that this was the spirit infused iron.


    It seemed like the rest of the party was keeping away from Orou, even the flamboyant man who was next to the wolf at the time was keeping his distance. They whispered to each other as the cage continued to levitate in the air. A day passed as Orou slowly recovered. His wounds were mostly gone but he was starving and currently, he was lashing out at the cage, his eyes completely red.


    Initially, he had resisted going berserk as he knew it was going to do him no good, but as time passed and he grew hungrier, his weary mind could no longer handle it. He had no room to lash out with his tail, but his fangs constantly assaulted the iron cage, completely fruitlessly. He used his head to bash against the cage but after a while, his head started bleeding and began to pound even harder.


    Whatever instinct of self-preservation was gone as he went all out against this cage. Orou wasted all of his non-remaining energy and exhausted himself until the point where he couldn''t move any longer. Waves of something were traveling down to heal his head, but for every wave that reached his head, his stomach growled.


    He could no longer move as his eyes returned to the normal shade of blue that they were before, Orou thought that the thing must have realised that there''s no food to be had and must''ve given up, if it was a thing that was causing him to lose his mind each time. The rest of the party was further away from him compared to when he woke up and when he calmed down, they collectively let out a sigh of relief.


    The sun was setting as Orou finally saw what he assumed to be his destination. The trees grew sparser the longer they walked and when there were no more trees in the area, Orou could make out huge walls, around thirty meters tall. Orou''s first reaction was surprise, followed up by amazement. He pondered about how it was possible to create this monstrosity that he saw before him.


    As they approached closer, Orou could make out more details. On the walls were multiple ballistae, Orou could see men patrolling on the walls, keeping a watch out for anything coming out of the forest. There were multiple watchtowers and on them were men with crossbows. The men had their crossbows pointed at them, but they clearly didn''t believe anyone would attack this place.


    Orou got a feeling of danger from this place, he didn''t doubt that he would be dead in seconds if all those crossbows and the ballista fired at him. He nervously stared at his surroundings as they approached the gates of these massive walls. Four guards stood at the gate dressed in some kind of metal armor. They had halberts by their sides and as the party came closer, the four guards came a bit forwards to meet them.


    "I''m sure you must be busy, watching out into the forest is hard work after all. Here are the papers necessary as well as the usual reward for keeping such a good watch out," the leader said with a smile on his face as he withdrew some papers and a pouch. The pouch jingled as the guard inspected it, weighted it in his hands and looked inside of it. He smiled as well and gave a cursory glance over the papers, giving them back to the leader but keeping the pouch to himself.


    "Happy doing business with you Pete, you were gone for a bit so I was getting worried, how could one of my sources of income die out there so easily," the guard laughed and slapped Pete on his shoulder. While Orou wasn''t the best at making out expressions, he could see that the leader was forcing a smile, not happy about this interaction.


    Their way into the city was unobstructed, the heavy portcullis was lifted and what greeted them was a bustling city, full of activity. The first thing Orou saw was the variety of people and their garbs. There were all kinds of people walking around of varying height, size, and age. He saw people like Pete and the people with him, dressed in heavy armors with swords by their sides. He saw people with long, smooth and flowing robes walking around like they owned the place.


    "It feels good to be back in the city, I''m so glad we enter from this side of the city so we don''t have to see all kinds of riff-raff wandering about the city," said Leon, the flamboyant man with the snake-like staff in his hands.


    "Yes, yes, let''s go. Let''s get rid of this snake, get paid and I can go get a drink," shouted Roy as he started going forwards, gaining a bit of a distance from the rest of the party.


    Pete sighed and started to walk forwards. The huge cage levitating in the sky drew many a gaze, but it seemed like the people here were used to this sight. A few people were looking at Orou and discussing something amongst themselves. Orou felt as if he was stripped bare as he continued to stare at all the people who were staring and pointing fingers at him.


    As they walked forwards, Orou saw a variety of houses, most of them lavishly decorated with ornaments and such. The thing that caught his attention was a tower to his east. It resembled the tower where he was born, though a bit smaller than it. It was made out of some kind of light blue material, and while he couldn''t see if there were many people there, he saw Leon constantly staring at the tower, not reacting one bit to his companions.


    They arrived at what the party called the "business district." There were various shops lining the streets, each flaunting their wares in unique ways. Weapon shops, clothing shops, magic ingredient shops, everything that you could think of was being sold here. The party ignored all of the shops and went further into an area that seemed like the marketplace. People were yelling all kinds of things, the competition here seemed even more intense than the shops as people tried to out outyell each other.


    A man in green was sitting in a chair with various potions displayed in front of him, each labeled with something different. Unfortunately, Orou didn''t know how to read so he had no idea what they said. The man saw the party heading through the market, stood up and greeted Pete: "You''re back! I hope you''ve got more ingredients for me, especially for how long you''ve been out there."This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    As the man laughed, Pete gestured over to Orou and said: "He''s our main prize for this trip, you can go and bid for him after a while if you want. Gave us a lot of trouble so he better be worth it," Orou hissed at them, he didn''t like whatever was coming, but he didn''t have a choice in this.


    They exchanged a few more pleasantries before the party continued to make their way through the market. They finally arrived at a huge, open area that was filled with various cages. Orou looked around to see big and small beasts, all on display for anyone who would like to gawk at them. Besides the beasts, Orou saw a few creatures that looked like humans but had fur growing all over their body. He assumed those to be beastmen that he had heard of, but why would they capture one another if they were so similar?


    The beastmen were very different from each other compared to humans. He saw a beastman standing up in the cage with majestic fur and mane, another one with two horns that looked like they could impale you and come out the other end.


    The most important thing that Orou noticed here was that all of the beasts and the beastmen had collars around them. They were azure blue and looked to be tailor-made for each beast and beastman, fitting them perfectly. It didn''t take a lot of thinking to figure out that he was probably going to have one put on him, though he didn''t know his fate after that.


    It didn''t take long to find the man in charge. He was dressed in a truly unique way, his whole outfit was mismatched, each piece of his outfit was in a different color. He had a jester''s hat on with bells hanging off each pointed end of the hat. He was walking around and looking at the small crowd that had gathered in front of the cages.


    "That guy''s eyeing the beastman and I know he has the money for it, that guy''s been looking at the silver ape for way too long..." The guy continued to ramble on to himself, looking for potential customers to approach. He seemed to be absorbed in the task at hand so he didn''t notice when the party approached him.


    Pete coughed to draw the man''s attention as the man snapped out of his trance, looked at Pete and abruptly turned around to squeeze Pete''s hand. With an enthusiastic smile on his face, he looked towards the cage and then back at Pete.


    "Ah, my good friend, you''ve brought me another pet to be sold. He''s quite a big fellow, looks quite tough, surely you must have had a lot of trouble with him, tell me all about it, I''m excited to hear whatever you have to say," the man talked with such a rapid pace that Orou had trouble following him. He was still grasping Pete''s hand and it looked like he had no intention to release it as he pointed with remaining free hand towards Orou.


    The word pet rubbed Orou the wrong way, he hissed even though he knew that it would be pointless, his body shifted around in the cage as he tried to figure out how he could deal with this spirit iron. He had used his spirit vision to look at it, but the spirits were fully integrated with the iron, even if he could see them, he couldn''t force the spirits to move in the slightest. Physical attacks did no good, after a day of thrashing in the cage, it showed no sign of breaking. Perhaps it was due to his weakened state, but even if he had a full stomach and used his tail to hit it, he still wouldn''t be able to destroy the cage.


    As Orou was considering what to do about the cage, Pete broke free out of the man''s grasp and waved his hand to say: "Now now Dirk, let''s go and sit down before we talk about the details and the price, I''ll tell you all about this snake."


    The man named Dirk continued to enthusiastically pester Pete with questions as the continued to head forwards. They passed all of the cages and walked forwards until they reached a place that resembled a circus tent painted completely red. Dirk pushed open the flaps to reveal the area within. The place somewhat reeked of animals as they entered and Orou could finally see the reason why the stench was so bad, this circus tent housed numerous cages filled with all kinds of beasts and beastmen. Whether it was the flying variety, beasts who dug underground and even beasts bigger than Orou, this place had them all. There were several people walking around the area, feeding the beasts one by one.


    The workers weren''t surprised by Dirk and the rest walking in, they didn''t even give the cage with Orou in it a second glance as they continued working. Orou saw some of the beasts he had seen in the beast horde locked up in cages, most likely defeated and captured by adventurers similar to the party that was advancing currently.


    They arrived at a separate location in the circus tent that was walled off with a blue barrier, Orou intently looked at the barrier but he couldn''t see through it or discern its purpose. While Orou really wanted to look at this with his spirit vision, the last time he looked at something with is spirit vision, the party noticed him and he got caught, so he was a bit reluctant to use it in the presence of so many people.


    Dirk pulled out some sort of amulet from his pocket and placed it next to the blue barrier. A few seconds later, an opening appeared in the blue barrier. It looked human-sized, but as Dirk and Pete passed through it, Orou continued levitating forwards into the barrier. Orou was pretty sure the cage wasn''t going to fit through the barrier, but in an instant, it expanded to perfectly fit Orou through it before closing and leaving no openings to go back out of.


    Orou looked around to see a spacious and lavishly decorated room. It was much bigger than it seemed from the outside. Throughout the whole room was a carpet of luscious white fur, the walls adorned with various tapestries and paintings. Leon pointed his finger at Orou and he floated to one end of the room while Dirk invited the guests to sit at a coach before going over to prepare tea.


    Maybe this was the first time the party had come here, or maybe the sight was just something to behold, but apart from Pete who was currently talking with Dirk, the rest of the party were staring at things in this room with greedy eyes. Leon was looking at the bookshelves, Roy was looking at the richly decorated statues with gems as their eyes, Jeremy was looking at a bow that was mounted up on the wall and Pan was intently trying to look at some of the papers that lying haphazardly on a table.


    After serving them all some tea, Dirk sat down on a chair next to the table and started to intently observe Orou. Orou was in the middle of trying to make out the text on a book, but it looked unintelligible to him, he was wondering how he could understand the letters, but the task was beyond his hand.


    After observing him a bit, he looked to the party and said: "This is a pretty big catch, in order to talk business, I need to know exactly what it can do, how did you guys capture it anyways?"


    Pete proceeded to recount the battle from his perspective. While the story was completely new to Dirk, Orou also listened with interest, hoping to glean how they managed to find him in the first place. It turned out that Leon had a spell useful for detecting any spellcasting in the area, this was the reason he was in this party despite his attitude. Dirk''s eyes shone when Pete said that he had a way to detect the invisible Roy in the heat of battle and that he broke through Leon''s spell, his eyes went completely wide when Leon told him the possibility of Orou having the ability to see mana.


    "So, he has above average physical abilities for his size, has a way to quickly heal wounds, can cast spells, has a way to detect invisibility and the possibility of seeing mana that has to be further tested. It also looks to be fairly intelligent from what I''ve heard, he''s even examining the books and trying to decipher the text as we speak, is that all," summarized Dirk.


    "That seems to be everything, he could have something hidden but he would''ve used it in the battle if he did. This has got to be one of the fiercer beasts we''ve fought as a party, so let''s cut to the chase, ten thousand gold and he''s yours."


    Dirk''s face was completely stoic as he thought for a while, before exclaiming: "As wonderful as this snake is, ten thousand gold is way too much. The possibility of him seeing mana is only that, a possibility. I''ll have to invest time and resources to find out if he truly has it, and if he doesn''t, he''s not that impressive. I''d give you half of that, five thousand gold."


    The two continued to bicker back and forth, raising and lowering the price. In the end, it seemed like Orou was sold for eight thousand gold, though he had no idea how much that was and what it could buy. They shook hands before they started to reluctantly leave, wanting to stay and admire the objects inside of this room for a bit longer.


    The cage started to float outside of the room, into the main area. Orou had a separate area from the rest of the beasts, a bit bigger and more isolated from the rest of the beasts. He looked to the other beasts, his gaze restless, worried about what will happen to him from now onwards.

 His New Master

    "A slave collar is a collar that with multiple purposes, the main purpose being that to prevent the slave from escaping or retaliating against its master. If the beast has any hostile intent, the collar will inject mana into the slave''s collar to cause it unbearable pain. The slave collar can be modified to fit most of your needs if you so choose." Dirk was explaining this to a middle-aged man in fancy robes. Orou had overheard that he wanted to mass order them for the "upcoming events", though he had no clue what those were.


    He channeled the spirits to his eyes in order to examine the collar closer. It was a bit bigger than what would fit a human, but not by a lot. Multiple circles interlocked with each other throughout the whole collar and he could see that the collar was constantly drawing in spirits into the formation within. It was weird because the spirits weren''t integrated within the collar, but instead were absorbed by it, turning into a blue mist that circled inside of it.


    Orou''s spirit sight had been all but confirmed. It was a day after he had been sold to Dirk. He was getting outfitted with the new collar when he couldn''t resist casting his spirit vision in order to examine it closer. He didn''t get to take a look at it for long before some sort of mage came from Dirk''s room and cast a spell on the collar. Spirits surrounded it to lift it up and it began to close onto him. Although Orou wanted to resist, it simply floated onto his head and slightly tightened itself, securing itself tightly to his body.


    The mage then proceeded to start chanting a few spells. He formed a formation of various squiggly lines in the air and started to channel spirits to it. The formation that the mage formed was as complicated as the Leon had formed with his flame lance spell, if not even more complicated. The spell launched a ball of spirits into the air, each of them rotating around each other. It was quite interesting to watch how the spirits seemingly played around with each other while propelling themselves forwards.


    Only after a few seconds did he see that the area around the ball was completely devoid of spirits. Both Dirk and the mage were staring at Orou with wide eyes and it was only then that Orou realised that he couldn''t see anything with his normal vision. He quickly dispelled his spirit vision, but it was too late as Dirk started jumping up and down. Orou swore to himself that he would always check the surroundings before the spell first, considering that it was not the first time he had seen something invisible.


    Jumping back to the present, the deal between the two had been struck as the man purchased more than a hundred of the collars for a large amount of gold. Orou was more interested in the collars than the deal as he had been trying to intently analyze anything and everything magical during his time here.


    Ever since Dirk learned about his spirit sight, he had been kept in the lavishly decorated room isolated by the barrier and he was brought food by Dirk himself. Orou made it clear when he wanted to be fed, hissing and showing his fangs to him each time he got hungry. Once Dirk got the gist of what Orou was trying to convey, he stopped bringing small animals and brought bigger prey for him to feast on.


    The usual workers weren''t allowed in this room, so Orou had a lot of time to spend by himself, seeing as Dirk didn''t actually visit this room so often. He had stared at the blue barrier for hours, examining how it works and how the spirits interact with each other. Staring at the barrier and looking at the incomprehensible symbols on the books, these were the two activities that occupied his mind on the daily basis.


    Orou would have preferred to stay in the room with the rest of beasts as staring at the barrier all day was mind-numbingly boring. Although it was nice that food was provided for him, Orou enjoyed the process of both hunting down the prey and killing it himself. The thrill of the hunt simply wasn''t there when he was eating already dead beasts.


    Several days passed as Orou stopped keeping track of them. All of his wounds from the battle were gone and his head wasn''t pounding as hard as it was a few days ago, though it wasn''t completely gone. When he got bored of looking at the barrier, he would try and manipulate the spirits in the air, looking at how he could affect them. All of his attempts on the barrier were unsuccessful as the spirits there were held in place and wouldn''t move even a bit.


    He tried imitating some of the formations he had seen being formed in the air, but seeing them for a few seconds simply wasn''t enough to imitate the complicated formations. He tried to surround himself with the spirits to form some sort of armor, but it was so damn hard to make them stay in place, the second he ceased concentrating on the spirits, they retreated back to their original positions.


    Following that, a few more days passed in boredom, he had no sudden breakthrough in his thinking and understanding of magic and he still couldn''t understand what was written on these damn books. He was once more concentrating on the books when Dirk came into the room with a big smile on his face.


    With him was another man dressed in a green tabard. As Dirk entered the room with him, the man''s eyes snapped to Orou as he excitedly said to Dirk: "This might be the biggest sale we''ve ever had. His price is bound to be ten times higher than what we brought him for, and that''s underestimating the interest people have in this ability."


    Dirk took out some sort of rod and tapped the cage Orou was residing in. It started to fly up into the air and levitate off the ground, pointing the rod forward he said: "We''ve spread the word everywhere, there''s already a crowd of people gathered and there''s going to be more coming."


    The two of them started walking out of the room, and Orou floated behind them. Dirk started looking around and said towards the other man: "Be sure that you bring out all the beasts that might be of interest to mages, we can''t miss this opportunity to showcase all of our wares, it''s not only them who will be coming here. A large crowd is sure to attract even more attention."


    They exited the tent and Orou saw a crowd of people in the distance. There was a huge wooden platform erected where all of the cages usually stood, now featuring around fourteen other cages, with both beasts and beastmen. As Orou floated out of the tent, he attracted some attention. Pretty soon, almost all of the people in the crowd were staring at the cage, pointing fingers and whispering to each other.


    Dirk and the man didn''t seem bothered as they continued to walk towards the platform. Orou looked at the crowd and there be at least a hundred people there, probably a lot more. The number of people with staves in their hands and dressed in robes was no small amount. He turned on his spirit vision by instinct and the whole place was a mess. Spirits were flowing in and out of the crowd, some twisting around certain people, some going down into the crowd and disappearing.


    His head started to hurt by trying to make out the effect this crowd was having on the spirits, so he dispelled it while looking at the other creatures in the cage. Five beastmen and nine other beasts were on display, available for everyone to see. He was placed last in the long line of cages as the man with Dirk said his goodbyes and started heading towards the platform.


    The man didn''t head up the platform but started chatting with some of the people in the crowd. As time passed, more and more people started to filter in and it was getting a bit crowded, but the people running this had made sure that everyone had enough room in order to see and bid.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    For Orou who has been locked in a single room for days, the variety of people there was a delightful surprise to him. He continued to focus in on some people, mostly on people with obvious magical items like staves in their hands. The crystals of these mages interested him, but he didn''t want to activate his spirit vision here.


    An hour or so passed before the man in the green tabard stepped onto the platform. He stepped in front of all the cages and calmly looked at the crowd, saying a single word that silenced the crowd.


    "Attention!" The man''s voice was magnified multiple times as his voice could be heard clearly to people at the back of the crowd. The sounds of chatter stopped as heads turned in his direction.


    "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to today''s auction. We''re going to be showcasing multiple beasts and beastmen that can be very useful to both mages and regular people." His voice was cheerful as he snapped his fingers, with a start, the first cage started levitating up in the air. It featured a beastman covered with multicolored feathers, yellow, red and green spots of feathers could be seen on his body.


    "We''ll be starting this auction off with a beastman of musical talent. He''s a descendant of the rainbow peacock, his voice is as heavenly as the rainbow peacock himself. He has learned the art of combining both music and magic, being a very formidable foe in combat capable of boosting his allies or disrupting his enemies. For mage''s, learning this new way of spellcasting, using mana and combining with songs could lead to having a breakthrough in your magical research. Even for those not gifted in magic, his already wonderous voice combined with magic is like heaven to your ears. Our starting bid will be three thousand gold. "


    Orou didn''t really see the attraction of this beastmen. He didn''t understand why a beastman was being sold, but no humans were being sold. The voice inside of his head told him that they were both children of Arathaniel, so why would this sort of thing happen? Eventually, he was sold for double the starting price to a man wearing an oversized hat with some sort of book in his hands. The beastman looked sad as he continued to sit cross-legged in the cage, grimacing over the final price and him being sold. The man yelling out the bids was paying no attention to the beastman, immediately after yelling out the final price, he started auctioning off the other beasts.


    The rest of the beasts were sold without any problems, they had useful abilities that could be used in daily life, as well as some novelty that appealed to the mages. Soon after a silver wolf had been sold, Orou was the only one remaining on the stage. He was used to being levitated in the air, but this time he was levitated up higher than ever. He saw the whole crowd and the entire city from up here. The city was neatly divided into multiple squares and the divide between each area was quite distinct.


    "This is what you''ve all been waiting for, the six-meter long snake caught deep in the Forest of Shadows. On its own, it''s formidable enough to almost wipe out a mid-ranking hunting party with its impressive strength and regenerative abilities. In addition to that, it possesses the ability to peer into the parallel plane and see mana in its natural form. If a mage could obtain this ability, casting spells would be as easy as snapping your fingers and magical research would be as clear as day. Even if you can''t manage to tame this beast, a powerful magical artefact could be crafted out of his eyes, a powerful device capable of seeing mana. Starting price of a hundred thousand gold."


    Almost as soon he finished introducing Orou, a voice, clearly enchanted with magic shouted out: "Five hundred thousand gold!"


    The crowd was silent for a few seconds as the man who shouted could be seen smiling. He was an old man in his fifties dressed in plain robes with no sign of a staff or any magic on him. An awkward silence filled the crowd as the man that had finished shouting looked a bit bitter and stared at the man who shouted the price.


    "A million gold." A voice that wasn''t particularly loud stood out in the silence. A young woman, probably in her mid-twenties was standing there, people visibly shying away from her She had long, blonde hair that reached her waist. She had a cloak made out of some kind of white feathers that fluttered in the wind. The man who had shouted the earlier price turned his head around to glare at her, but once he saw who he was glaring at, he meekly turned his head back. Some of the people who were standing around the edges, just for the sake of watching the auction started to leave, disappointment visible on their faces.


    "A million gold going once, twice, thrice, sold!" It was unclear what kind of expression was on his face as Orou started levitating down. The people who had won the bids had already arrived near the stage as the woman started approaching. Money proceeded to change hands as cages started to levitate away with happy expressions on the faces of those who bought them and the unhappy expressions of those in the cages.


    Orou coldly observed the woman approaching slowly approaching him. He didn''t like being in captivity, and this recent development wasn''t anything good for him. He saw no way of breaking out of the cage, but if the woman released him from the cage, maybe he could do something about the collar if he learned more about magic.


    As the woman finally arrived next to Orou, the man who was grinning all of this time due to money being passed into his hands stopped smiling and with a cold expression on his face he said: "Hand over the gold and the snake is yours."


    She took her hand and thrust it into the air, but the hand disappeared as she did so. A bit later, a chest filled with coins hit the ground. The man hefted the chest up with surprising strength and weighed it. After a few minutes of making sure that there is a million gold in there, he handed her a rod and some sort of ring.


    The woman tapped the rod on the cage and started walking away, heading towards the direction of the district with the tower. Throughout the entire journey, she didn''t say a single word nor did she even look at Orou. Considering that, his eyes flickered as he cast spirit sight on himself and inspected this woman. The ring and the rod were clearly magical. The rod had a trail of spirits that attached it to the cage, presumably to make it levitate. The ring had some sort of blue mist inside of it, so Orou could only assume that it was linked to the collar.


    Besides that, she didn''t carry any enchanted items with her. Orou would have expected to see something, perhaps an item that allowed her to magically pull out that chest out of nowhere, but there was nothing. Orou was a bit disappointed, but he kept intently looking for something.


    He found nothing as the cage stopped in the air. He looked up and he saw that they had stopped in front of a house. It was a bit bigger compared to the rest of the houses he had seen, but not by too much. The house made from gray stone looked worn out by time as if it had been here for ages.


    The woman pushed the door open and walked inside. Orou floated towards the door as the cage hit against the stone door, too wide to fit it. The woman turned her head around before sighing and walking towards the cage. She tapped the rod against the door of the cage and it unlocked.


    Orou stood there in confusion for a few seconds. He had imagined all sort of scenarios to happen, but not her immediately unlocking the cage. He was still a couple of meters in the air but he slowly descended downwards, not having moved in quite a while. The cage awkwardly levitated in the air as the woman paid it no attention and closed the door behind them.


    His collar prevented him from harming the woman, but could he simply slither out of this house? He most likely wouldn''t make it out of the city anyways. Thoughts raced through his head as he slithered into what seemed to be the living room. Although it wasn''t as lavish as Dirk''s room, it wasn''t bad off either. A table made from high-quality wood and a carpet of various colors, a chandelier hanging above it and the paintings of various people made this room seem stuffed.


    "You''re going to be living here, don''t wander out of the house and don''t interrupt my research, you''re free to do whatever you want otherwise." Her cold voice resounded through the room as she looked at Orou. Following that, she simply walked into an adjacent room, leaving Orou alone.


    No one besides his creator had addressed him like he understood what was meant. This woman was the second person to do so, and Orou didn''t know whether to be worried or excited. His first thought was to follow the woman, but he would have plenty of time to observe her later. Seeing that the woman was gone out of his sight, Orou looked at the adjacent rooms, turned on his spirit vision and went to work scouring for anything magical.

 The Wonder of Magic

    Spirits were something to be marveled at. They painted the world of spirits blue and by combining the spirits, you could create magnificent effects. They had the habit of returning back to their original position, and even if they didn''t, a new one would take their spot.


    Orou was staring at a particularly bright spirit in the chandelier. It was many times bigger and brighter than regular spirits and it seemed to give out a blue glow which spread out throughout the house. Simply looking at the blue glow was calming, Orou wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep as he continued to look at the spirit.


    "A protection from evil spirits is what people used to call it back in the day. I still haven''t found out the use of it, but it seems to pacify the mana in the air." The woman passed by Orou and entered another room to the right. She was holding a book in her hands as she passed him staring at the lamp.


    Orou tried to will the spirit to move, but it didn''t listen. Most of the times when he ordered spirits and they didn''t move, it seemed like they were bound by something and he couldn''t force them out of their positions, but this one seemed different. He wondered if it was possible to use him to use his spirit sight, but it wasn''t like he could move it anyways.


    The rest of the room had nothing special going on about it in the terms of spirits. It was fancily decorated, but it didn''t matter to Orou as long as it had nothing magical about it. He looked around and decided to follow the woman into the room, as she seemed to be keen on talking to him.


    He entered into a large roomed, filled with all kinds of alchemical reagents. There neatly organised shelves with all kinds of vials and bottles, each of them having something written on them. In the corner of the room was a completely still basin filled with green liquid. Blank paper sheets coupled with a quill and ink stood on a writing table, looking like they have been untouched for a bit.


    The woman walked next to the writing table and set down the book on the table. She flipped through it and opened a specific page. She simply sat there for a while, thinking about something or other. After a while, she turned to Orou and said: "Don''t disturb me while I''m working."


    She took a red-feathered quill in her hands and dipped it into the black ink. She slowly laid the quill on the paper and started drawing on the paper. It was excruciatingly slow, each line of the formation she was drawing took multiple minutes. Orou initially watched with interest, but he simply didn''t have the patience to look at her writing something.


    Using his tail as a support, he lifted himself up to look at the book that was opened. An entire page was filled with writing Orou couldn''t decipher, but what made his eyes light up was the drawing on the second page. The drawing had several brighter spots that were drawn like wisps he saw in the air, a single wisp in the middle with three rings of spirits around it.


    This discovery made Orou ecstatic, if he was correct in his train of thought, this was a formation of a spell! He couldn''t wait to try it out as he turned on his spirit vision, looking at the spirits around him. The first thing he saw was that there were so many magical things in this room. The quill, the ink, and paper and the basin of water all had spirits in them.


    This was like a dream to Orou, his thoughts racing all throughout the place. The paper wasn''t that special in terms of spirits, it simply had spirits mixed in with the paper. The quill seemed like some sort of funnel, the tip of the quill had the most spirits while the feather had sparsely arranged spirits, sort of floating down into the tip.


    The spirits in this room were slowly flying towards the ink on the paper and imbuing itself into the lines being drawn. In the middle of it, the basin filled with water was a cloud of light-blue spirits. The cloud was constantly losing and picking up mass from the water itself.


    Now, Orou hasn''t been dabbling with magic for a long time, but he had seen the spirits making up spells. Items worn by adventurers seemed to be like that paper, they were both stronger and harder than usual. The quill was beyond him, but the slave collar also drew in spirits just like that ink, and while he wasn''t sure about the cloud of spirits, he had seen special spirits being made by formations. The crescent of wind, the fire lance, and the lightning arrows all featured different kinds of spirits, those he hadn''t seen normally in the forest.


    He was most excited about the water as he wanted to experiment with the cloud, but his mind was split on doing that and trying to imitate the formation he had seen. The woman still seemed to be drawing the formation that was visible on the page, not having finished the central ring of the formation yet.


    Simply looking at the book once more had convinced him of trying out the new formation. The spirits around him were slowly moving closer to him, being drawn into the collar around him. Deciding to use this momentum, he picked one of the spirits closer to him and he willed it to stop.


    Just as expected, the spirit stopped dead in its tracks. Orou didn''t know how big the formation should be, but the formations he had seen were all very big, so he decided to make the ball several meters. While concentrating on the spirit in the middle, he drew in more spirits and stopped them to make a circle around the spirit in the middle.


    He regretted making it so big, the space between each spirit was too wide and he was having trouble concentrating on so many spirits. His concentration slipped as he tried to add spirits to the ring and all of the spirits scattered, returning back to their original positions.


    He expressed his displeasure by hissing at the air. The woman didn''t react as she continued to draw the formation with pinpoint precision. Orou calmed down and thought about what happened. He didn''t have much experience maintaining concentration on so many spirits, all he had to do was guide the spirits to him and the thing inside of him arranged and held them in position.


    This time, he decided to make it much smaller. Half a meter in diameter to be exact. He held the spirit in place and guided the others to surround it. Now that it wasn''t so big, his mind wasn''t all over the place and he could easily complete the first circle. The second circle was a bit harder, but as long as he kept the spirits in his sight, he would be fine.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    The third circle was a bit trickier. He had to hold the two circles in place while still moving other spirits, which placed a lot of stress on his mind. He continued to move the spirits, much slower this time. Eventually, he succeeded in doing it. The three circles around the lone spirit seemed to click in place and the circles started rapidly spinning around the spirit.


    In the place of the circle was a ball of light. Orou''s eyes started burning as he looked at it, he quickly averted his gaze and retreated backwards. He didn''t feel any heat from the ball of light, though the light was blindingly bright. Orou would have jumped in joy if he could, this ball was the first spell he had cast without the help of the thing inside of him.


    He looked at it with his spirit vision, the three circles were rapidly rotating around the spirit in the middle. The spirits weren''t glowing in his spirit sight, he wondered why that is as he inspected it from every angle. Looking back, he saw the woman continuing her work with the scroll, she wasn''t disturbed in the slightest by this bright light suddenly appearing in this room.


    The ball of light was nice and all, but Orou quickly got bored of it, not to mention it was hurting his eyes all this time. He didn''t know how to dispel the spell that he cast, once the spirits started spinning they wouldn''t obey his command. He experimented for a few minutes, but just like every other spell that he had interacted with, the spirits seemed beyond his control.


    Since the ball of light wouldn''t go away, he might as well create a few more. Orou wanted to create a small ball of light, one that wouldn''t burn his eyes and wasn''t that big. He didn''t make any calculations or anything like that, he simply imagined a smaller ball, with the rings being less dense in terms of spirits.


    He had the formation of the ball the size of the woman''s hand floating in the air. It was much simpler as he didn''t have to spread out the spirits over as wide of an area nor did he have to concentrate on as many of them, but it wouldn''t work. He didn''t know what the problem was, so he simply started adding more spirits to each one, distributed evenly. It took a few more spirits to create a faint ball of light in the air. It was nowhere as bright as the one earlier and it was much smaller.


    Continuing with his "experiment" on the ball of light, or as Orou liked to call it, his new toy, he created the same kind of formation as earlier, but this time he made one ring denser and one less dense. The result wasn''t spectacular, in fact, the ball of light didn''t even materialize. He went on for about two hours, experimenting with various sizes and shapes and whatnot. In the end, the only thing he could change was the size and the brightness of the ball, nothing else.


    The room was covered with tens of balls, each one of them letting out a light of different brightness. Some of the old balls of light had dissipated, but the room was simply bathed in light. At this point, the woman was practically done with the scroll she was writing. From what Orou could make out, the formation inscribed in the scroll cast a much bigger, brighter ball of light than he could currently create.


    As she drew the last line, she mechanically stood up, picked up the scroll and went over to the basin of water. She slowly lowered the scroll into the water, completely soaking it. The ink disappeared into the water and Orou saw the scroll absorb some of the cloud of spirits. As the woman pulled out the scroll, where the ink once stood, the formation was burned inside of the paper.


    She snapped out of her trance as she held the completed scroll up in the air. She looked around, only to see tens of balls of light everywhere. She sighed, closed the book on the table and started heading out of the room, without saying a single word to Orou.


    Orou followed her into the room where she picked up the book in the first place. The room was filled with bookshelves and shelves which stored scrolls. She placed the scroll in one of the empty positions and placed the book back in the bookshelf. Her expression was stern as she looked towards Orou and said: "From now on, you shall follow me to wherever I go."


    He didn''t know what to make of that sentence, so he simply threw it to the back of his head as he looked around the room. Besides the books and the scrolls, there was a single rocking chair and a fireplace. Orou wondered if it was safe to put the fireplace right next to the scrolls, wouldn''t they just burn up?


    Orou would love to unravel each of those scrolls and inspect the formation, but he couldn''t even take them out, perhaps with his fangs if he tried. He didn''t see much to do, so he simply turned his back to the woman and started slithering to the other room, hoping to experiment with the pool.


    "Did you not hear what I said you damned beast!?" The woman raised her voice, but Orou was more interested in the pool than the woman at the present. He slithered over to the pool and looked at his own reflection, before turning on spirit vision. The woman had followed him and Orou thought that it would be nice if she could show him a few more formations, for him to learn magic.


    Orou had the idea to use the weird cloud of spirits as the middle of the formation he recently learned. He willed the cloud to stop, and it did, though the task was multiple times more difficult than commanding a regular spirit to stop. He didn''t go overboard and created a reasonably sized formation, about the size of the woman''s head. He had cast this spell multiple times and he had rested for a bit, so this wasn''t a problem to Orou.


    A ball did appear in the air, though it wasn''t a ball of light Orou was used to. It looked like a ball of water that shining light blue light, simply floating there. In his spirit sight, he saw the cloud expand to envelop the three rings and the rings started to spin the cloud into a ball. It was constantly compressing and expanding inside the circle formed by the three rings.


    Orou used his tail to smash down the middle of the ball. Water splashed throughout the whole room, but as his tail passed through the ball, it reformed back into a slightly smaller ball of water. All that did was get Orou''s tail wet, the woman was looking at this all with a cold glare in her eyes, unsatisfied with something.


    The ball of water expired a bit quicker than the rest of the balls of light, the cloud of spirits went back to the basin and continued to stay there, unphased by what just happened. Before he could experiment more, the woman said: "That''s enough, I''ve felt the effects of the spirit vision quite well, you will follow me to a tamer, and if that doesn''t work out, you will accompany me for a trip around the city."


    She took the ring she was given when Orou was sold to her and said: "You will not stray more than ten meters away from me," the mist inside the ring travelled to the collar and then back to the ring. The mist was different from the cloud of blue spirits, though Orou couldn''t tell what it was, something was wrong with the mist, it didn''t seem to fit in with the rest of the spirits like the cloud did.


    The woman started walking away, but Orou''s mind was filled with thoughts of spirits and mists, he continued staring at the basin without budging. He heard the woman open the door and walk outside, and that''s when he felt something. Something travelled from the collar into his body, and the second it did, Orou was in excruciating pain. His body twitched as it continued travelling further into his body and spreading out.


    Thankfully, the pain was over as soon as the waves washed over his body from the inside. The thing inside of him devoured the thing from the collar in no time. He heard footsteps walking further away from him and he once more, the collar injected something inside of him. The same process happened, but Orou didn''t want to experience it more than once. He quickly moved out of the house and caught sight of the woman, he was about to hiss and lunge at her in anger, before the collar once more injected something inside of him.


    Twitching in pain, he remembered the conversation about the collars he overhead as all hostile intent dissipated, though bitterness and resentment remained. He slithered behind her, keeping up with her pace, his mind occupied with how to get rid of this collar and how to escape.

 Dawn

    "Madam Dawn, in order to acquire a part of your pet''s abilities, you must complete the taming ritual. It''s a complicated process which bounds your mana together, possibly causing you to obtain the abilities of your pet. This taming ritual is very complicated, the pet must be familiar to you and not have any hostile intent, allowing it to be bound to you." A short man of stature was sitting down, petting a fox with white fur sitting in his lap.


    Orou noticed that the man and the fox seemed to slightly resemble each other as the man continued talking: "It''s not always guaranteed, I made the pact with Mel," he pointed down towards the fox on his lap, "and what I got was different from what I expected."


    Dawn was nodding along while looking at Orou, his eyes were glowing with blue and red light as he inspected the both of them with his spirit sight. He couldn''t see anything different about them, but perhaps he needed to observe the spells they cast in order to see what''s the difference.


    "I was planning on bringing him around with me anyways. There''s no way I can''t succeed in this even if he doesn''t like me." Dawn spoke with absolute conviction in her abilities


    "That''s not how magic works," he sighed as he passed her a book, "you promised me a scroll for the taming instructions and the ritual, I can be confident that the scroll of blinding light will reach me in no time, is that correct?"


    "Absolutely, I will deliver you the scroll after I return home, it might take a few hours before that."


    She took thrust her arm out and the book dissipated. This time, Orou clearly caught the process, though it wasn''t clear to him even if he saw it in spirit sight. Her arm simply disappeared, even in spirit sight.


    "Let''s go," Dawn said as she moved out of the house, Orou saw the man let out a breath of relief as she stepped outside and house, Orou slowly following behind her. To Orou, the man earlier resembled one of the beastmen, though he didn''t have any fur or scales. It was difficult to explain why he thought that, maybe because of his resemblance to the fox, or maybe because of something else.


    The man''s house was in the same sector as Dawn''s, so they hadn''t gone too far. Orou didn''t have much trouble following behind her as her pace wasn''t that fast as they slowly made their way towards the city center. This was a bustling city and activity could be seen everywhere, whether it was children playing around or merchants advertising their wares, the streets were never quiet.


    In the centre of the city was a huge statue, around twenty meters in height. It was of a man in heavy armor aiming a crossbow towards the direction of the Forest of Shadows. The carving was exquisite as it seemed like the statue could come alive at any time. There was a plaque at the bottom of the statue and Dawn seemed to glance at it, but she didn''t say anything.


    They continued to head towards the north-west, traffic clearly not flowing through here as much as the other districts. The buildings here were in a state of disrepair, the road was uneven and the surroundings glum. It was approaching evening as the sun was slowly setting, Dawn looked around and spoke: "I''m feeling quite generous today, the people here don''t see the light of sun too much."


    Orou wasn''t sure what she spoke of, but he continued to follow her regardless. He soon saw what she spoke of - people dressed in rags, clearly malnourished and diseased. Dawn stood out like a bright flame in the middle of darkness. Her cloak made out of white feathers was flapping around as she surveyed the people around her with a cold look in her eyes.


    Besides people idling on the streets, Orou also saw people in groups residing in the abandoned buildings. Just as Dawn was observing them, they were observing her as well. Their hostile intent dissipated as soon as they saw the several meter long snake travelling with her. Orou hissed and bared his fangs, ready to strike at anyone who would come at them. He hadn''t gotten a good meal today, and surely one of them must be decently fed, enough so for a decent meal.


    The figures in the building shrunk back at the sight of his fangs, retreating further into the building. Orou was a bit disappointed a meal didn''t deliver itself to his mouth, but he kept looking for anyone foolish enough to do so. They continued to walk forwards until Dawn stopped and began to walk into one of the buildings.


    Orou saw nothing special about this building, but he followed nonetheless. The building had several people inside of it, it looked like a family was living here. They shied back when Dawn entered the building, but she didn''t seem to care as she kept approaching them. Only now did Orou realise that they had multiple black spots on their bodies, their flesh rotting and festering.


    The woman Dawn was approaching had a makeshift knife in her hand raised up as she covered in the corner. She winced as Dawn came closer, but Dawn simply knocked the weapon out of her hand. Dawn audibly started chanting a spell, and Orou wasn''t about to let this opportunity slip. He managed to cast his spirit vision before she could finish her spell, and saw one of the more complicated formations he had seen in his life.


    The middle of the formation was that of an eye with three dots above it, circling the eye was an unusual circle, deformed and twisted. Various runes surrounded the circle with the eye, and they all the runes were interwoven between each other. The formation was finished a few seconds later and he saw the eye light up. The spirits forming the eye coalesced together to form a scintillating spirit in the shape of a ball, though the ball was split into various pieces.


    With the scintillating spirit in the middle, the formation began to take form in front of the woman. A wave of light washed over the woman, the black spots on her body retreating as if fearing the light before burning up, leaving behind only the smell of burnt flesh. The woman''s face regained color as a healthy blush spread throughout her face. Her body relaxed as she continued to bathe in the light. Not long after, the light dissipated and Dawn looked over to a man, curiously looking at his wife. She relaxed for a minute or two before once more casting the same spell, healing the man of his illnesses.


    "Thank you miss, thank you." As Dawn started to leave, both the woman and the man sincerely thanked her, only to not receive a single word in reply. She went through this ruined district and started healing people, though she didn''t heal everyone she encountered. Orou didn''t know on what basis she healed people, but he excitedly followed her, looking at every single spell she cast.


    Throughout the rest of the day, she had cast many a spell. None were as complicated as the spell she cast on the couple in the building. Orou focused in on the easiest formation she saw her cast, a rune formed with various triangles next to a curving line. She cast that on a man lying on the streets, severely bleeding out. His wounds knitted together as the blood loss stopped, the man''s face was the definition of shock and surprise, along with gratitude after the fact.


    He stood up, still dazed from all the blood he had lost and said to Dawn: "Please, my child, he''s sick with a terrible illness."


    He dropped down on his knees and pleadingly said: "I don''t have anything to give, but he''s my everything, I can''t bear to see him gone."


    Dawn nodded and the man jumped to his feet in joy, almost falling in the process. He started hastily making his way through the streets, Dawn and Orou following him. Entering another half-ruined building, Orou saw a woman with a child in her arms. The child was peacefully sleeping as the woman looked in alarm towards the people bursting in. She gasped in surprise as she saw the man''s bloody shirt and she gently placed the baby down before rushing over to hug him.


    "I''m so glad you''re safe, I thought that you died out there." The woman softly spoke to not wake up the baby.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "This kind lady healed me as I was about to die. I''ve asked her to take a look at Chance, maybe she can cure his illness." The man replied with as much enthusiasm as before, turning around to look at Dawn with pleading eyes. The woman once more picked up the baby and held him in her arms. She didn''t say anything, but she was as excited and nervous as the man.


    Dawn looked over at the baby, the cold expression on her face ever-present. Orou saw her casting another spell that he assumed to be some sort of healing spell, but as he glanced towards it, the formation was completely different. Numerous lines formed a huge pillar with spirits filling the entirety of it.


    Dawn''s chanting was loud enough to wake the baby up as he started crying. The mother cradled him in his arms as the spell was completed, she was whispering and calming down the baby as a pillar of light appeared in front of her hands and fell onto the baby. The crying stopped as all that could be seen was the bright pillar in the place of the baby. The pillar receded as the room lost brightness and all that was in the woman''s hand was a pile of ash.


    "The poor boy was incurable, his life bound to end in a few days. I am terribly sorry for your loss." That was all that Dawn said as he turned her back and started walking out of the building, her expression still that of indifference.


    Both the woman and the man were in a state of shock as they heard Dawn''s words. Then, it hit them. The woman started screaming and wailing, still holding the pile of ash in her hands. The man''s face was twisted in anger as tears fell down his face, he screamed and pulled out a knife, charging straight at Dawn.


    "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS," the man screamed in his anger, but before he could reach Dawn, Orou''s fangs greeted his neck. Even as Orou started pumping venom into his body, his eyes didn''t leave Dawn. He was trying to lift up the knife in his hands, but he was struggling with the onsetting paralysis. His body slowly went limp as Orou started coiling around him. He dropped the knife as the bones in his body were being broken by the huge force Orou was transmitting to him.


    By instinct, Orou''s jaw unhinged as he started to slowly devour the man. He didn''t get far before he saw the woman walking away, the distance between them gradually increasing. Orou remembered what happened last time as he reluctantly left his meal behind him. It was too much of a hassle to drag the man with him and Orou was sure that the woman wouldn''t stop for him to eat the man while they were here.


    Even as they left the building, the woman''s wailing was as clear as day to everyone in the vicinity. The once friendly gazes turned hesitant, no one willingly approached Dawn anymore as she made her way through this district. Orou was wondering why Dawn would kill the child, but he realised that he didn''t care enough.


    The sun had already set and Dawn started heading back. After leaving the ruined district, the surroundings were a lot brighter. Multiple balls of light were floating in the air, lighting up the surroundings. In spirit sight, he realised that they had the same formation as the one he had cast earlier. The strange thing was that the size and the mana in them was the exact same, Orou couldn''t see a difference between the two of them.


    The activity in the city didn''t diminish, it was just as active as it was during the day. They returned back to the house, but they didn''t stay there for long. Dawn grabbed a couple of scrolls and started going back to the tamer''s house. She simply dropped the scroll off without saying a word and continued onwards, this time towards the tower not that far off from here. The tower was glowing with blue light, illuminating the surroundings with merely its presence.


    Even at this late hour, mage''s were coming and going from the tower, carrying staves, books, and scrolls in their hands. The most interesting thing at the base of the tower were two obsidian statues clad in heavy armor with massive two-handed swords in their hands. Each time someone entered or left the tower, they would pull out an amulet and show it to the statues before passing through.


    Of course, at the sight of the statues, Orou turned on his spirit sight. The statues were imbued with spirits, merging together with the obsidian. He could tell that there were more spirits at the joints of the statue than the rest of the body. The sword held a surprising amount of spirits within it, more than he had seen in any other weapon, the polished obsidian swords were illuminated by the blue light of the tower and that only made them seem more menacing.


    Dawn did the same thing as the other mages, she pulled out the amulet from who knows where and simply held it in her hand as she entered the tower. Orou stuck close to her as he didn''t like the sight of the obsidian statues, but he safely passed through without any problems.


    Orou thought that both Dawn''s and Dirk''s collection of books was impressive, but this was on an entirely different scale. The first floor of the tower was a massive library, probably housing thousands of books. The walls were entirely covered with bookshelves, even in places where humans couldn''t reach. A circular staircase was leading up to a different floor, the staircase most likely looped to the top of the tower. Small crystals were floating around, zipping from one book to another. Orou saw the spirit float up to a bookshelf, and the book simply stuck to the crystal, both the book and the crystal zipping away.


    Each of the crystals only had a single spirit, and Orou was not sure how they were moving, seemingly of their own will. The crystal stopped in front of a group of mages, all enthusiastically discussing with each other, flipping through books with more being delivered to them by the crystals. Simply looking around, he saw multiple groups of mages, as well as some lone mages, quietly reading and writing notes by themselves.


    Orou was used to people staring at him before noticing the collar and sighing a breath of surprise, but this time, the mages didn''t even spare him a glance, completely oblivious to the world around them. As someone who stalks their prey in stealth and ambushes it, being completely exposed was uncomfortable for Orou, so being able to observe humans without them freaking out was a breath of fresh air.


    Just as they didn''t pay any attention to them entering, Dawn didn''t pay any attention to them. She was looking towards a man sitting on his own, separate table. Occasionally, people would approach him and one of the crystals floating in the air would zoom towards one of the bookshelves.


    The man was pointing at a crystal when he saw Dawn approaching him. A slight smile was on his face as he greeted her: "What an unexpected visit, Siccus has been wanting to see you for a while now, it''s related to your scroll making abilities of course."


    "Lead me to him."


    All of the enthusiasm that the man had was dissipated by Dawn''s stony expression. The man grumbled something before he stood and up and started walking towards the stairs leading up. There weren''t that many people here, so the only thing you had to worry about was getting lost between all the bookshelves. After navigating through the maze of books, they reached the stone stairs leading up towards the second floor.


    As they were about to step on the stairs, a man came down from the second floor. He was stroking his goatee and was pondering something as he spotted the three of them. His wrinkled face had a slight expression of shock as he dusted off some dust off of his red robe, speaking directly to Dawn: "I was wondering when you would come."


    "I''ve spent a large amount of gold purchasing this snake over here, so I''ve come to deliver some scrolls." Dawn briefly looked at Orou before thrusting her arm into the air and pulling out some scrolls from thin air.


    "Is this the snake that can see magic? How exciting," Siccus'' attention shifted to Orou as he carefully inspected Orou''s eyes. Orou was annoyed at being treated as an object of curiosity, but there was nothing he could as he coldly looked back at the man.


    Siccus snapped his fingers and said a word that Orou couldn''t understand before barrier surrounded them. Just like a little child''s, Orou''s eyes snapped over towards the barrier. It was translucent and Orou could see outside of it just like looking through glass. It wasn''t that different from the barrier he had seen in Dirk''s room, so he was instantly disappointed.


    "Now that we can''t be overheard, we can proceed with our business. I''ve got the usual payment for the scrolls with me, but that isn''t what I wanted to talk to you about." Siccus used his arm to bring out a bag of coins out of thin air, just like Dawn did.


    "I wanted to offer you a deal. If you could mass produce scrolls of offensive and healing nature, we would purchase them for a higher price than usual. Of course, we would pay a lot more for any scrolls of advanced magic that you could produce, and we will take any scrolls of simple magic that you might be willing to sell outside of our deal with you. How does this sound to you?" He handed over the pouch of gold to Dawn as she sunk deep into thought, contemplating about the deal laid out for her.


    "I must refuse this deal. I quite like the freedom of doing what I please, and money has never been an issue to me. I don''t want to make scroll making my profession and I most certainly don''t want to be making scrolls all day. That being said, I can provide a few scrolls I have lying around in my house, but I will have to see what''s in stock." Dawn carefully deliberated over her choice of words and slowly spoke, seemingly giving him some respect.


    Siccus was disappointed in her choice, but he gave her the same respect she gave to him as he spoke: "If you ever reconsider, there''s still some time."


    Orou wasn''t paying attention to the conversation, but he knew that Dawn was done when the barrier he was inspecting dropped. He looked towards the second floor, hoping to see what was up there, but Dawn was already walking towards the exit. Orou reluctantly followed her, ridding his mind of thoughts about the library and pondering about the formations of the spells she cast earlier.

 The Ritual

    A curved line made of spirits appeared in the air. Next to it were several triangles, symmetrical on both sides of the line started appearing. Halfway through forming the 4th triangle on the right side, the triangle fell apart, the spirits holding it together dispersed. This set off a chain reaction, the entire formation collapsed, the spirits scattering to their original positions.


    A loud sound of something hitting stone could be heard. Orou lifted up his tail and once again, brought it down on the stone with all of his strength. The stone wasn¡¯t affected by Orou¡¯s display of rage as Orou continued to move around the room, trashing everything in his way. As his tail hit the bookshelf, it glowed with a soft light and his tail hit a thin barrier, completely blocking his strike.


    He calmed down after a few more minutes, his rage was growing hotter with every failure. It had been a couple of days since the last trip outside, and the two spells, the healing spell and the beam of light spell, were occupying his mind. After a good night¡¯s sleep, he spent all day trying to cast the two spells, to no avail. When he could complete the formation, it was too small for it to trigger, and if he made it bigger, he couldn¡¯t complete it.


    The problem was that he couldn¡¯t hold down enough spirits for the spell. As he spread out the spirits and placed them in their positions, he had to split his attention to a different spirit and move it to its intended location. Initially, he didn¡¯t encounter a single problem, but as he controlled more and more spirits, it became harder and harder to split his concentration, to bring a new spirit.


    The worst part is that he felt when he would fail. He knew that the spell would break if he didn¡¯t continue to focus on what he had before him, but the formation wasn¡¯t finished, so he had to stop completely focusing on the spirits.


    Days passed with only the slightest progress. Orou could easily go on all day, repeatedly practicing and trying to cast the spells, but each time, he stopped at the same place. He would wake up the next day only for him to be slightly closer to finishing the spell, he could draw two extra triangles with magic compared to days ago, but he still needed several more to complete the spell.


    Once or twice, he had sunk into a state of absolute focus, his mind being completely divided in half, one part concentrating on the formation, the other bringing in new spirits. He had completely finished the formation, the only thing left was for it to take effect. Perhaps it was horrid luck, or something completely else, but at the last moment, Orou felt the beating of something inside of him clearly, and the waves that usually helped him broke him out of his concentration.


    The thing that broke him out of his rage that time was the pain he felt injected in him. Dawn had walked in and Orou in his mad rage had attacked her, madly lunging towards Dawn¡¯s neck. The pain was unbearable, but thanks to the waves inside of him, the bursts of pain lasted only a few instants. He snapped out of his rage, but it was too late to stop is the attack.


    His fangs were so close to her neck, the urge to bite down and taste meat for the first time in a few days overtook him. He bore through the pain and bit down, but his fangs only met barrier made of light. The rest of his body slammed into the barrier and he started falling to the ground. Orou noticed a few cracks in the barrier, but as his view left the barrier, he noticed that in Dawn¡¯s hands was a prismatic sword, made primarily out of light.


    The sword was not raised or aimed at Orou, but merely the sight of it scared Orou. Twisting his body mid-air to soften his fall, he landed on the ground and immediately retreated, not willing to come in contact with the sword no matter what. Both Dawn and the sword remained motionless, but after a while, the sword vanished as if it had never been there.


    The feeling of danger passed, but Orou was still vigilant. He realised that even without the collar, he probably couldn¡¯t eat her. He observed Dawn¡¯s expression and he looked for any signs of movement or the signs of chanting. Orou would bolt as soon as she did anything threatening, rather escaping than fighting this woman.


    Her expression was blank, though he could see that Dawn seemed to make up her mind about something as she continued doing what she was doing before. Orou flickered his tongue and let out a sigh of relief, at least the best sigh a snake could do. In his mind, he had already forgotten about the reason why he was so mad and he went on to unsuccessfully experiment with spells.


    Returning back to the present, another spell and another failure. He occasionally cast a ball of light spell, simply to remind him that he could in fact cast spells. His gaze lingered on the bookshelf, specifically, on the book that Dawn had opened when he learned his first real spell. He had tried to take it out multiple times, simply by biting it with his fangs and dragging it out, or by smashing the entire bookshelf, all to no avail. It was protected by a barrier that completely enveloped it, the same happening with the shelf full of scrolls.


    His stomach growled and as it did, his face distorted. Orou didn¡¯t know what the problem was with Dawn, but she didn¡¯t feed him raw meat, even though he had seen her eating meat herself. She fed him some kind of liquid that filled his stomach with all the nutrients he would need, but Orou absolutely despised it. Although it did fill his stomach, it had no taste, it offered nothing but nutrition. Where was the pleasure of crushing the bones, the pleasure of slowly devouring prey or feeling the warm corpse inside of his body?


    After he ¡°ate¡± his meal, he continued his spellcasting practices. It was the exact same each and every time, but Orou still enjoyed it, up until the point where he failed. He saw Dawn sit down and write a scroll, but she neither brought out the book nor was the formation new to him. It was the same spell he was practising currently, the spell of healing other people. The only difference was that the formation had an eye with dots above it, a formation he had also seen before.


    Orou didn¡¯t know what Dawn did besides writing scrolls in her free time, but he didn¡¯t care. The only time he bothered about her was when she went out and he had to come with her. A few more visits to the mage¡¯s tower, all uneventful for Orou in terms of magic as well as trips to the market to purchase something or other.


    As Orou watched her, Dawn was writing the scroll for hours, the formation she had to draw was more complex than any of the scrolls Orou had seen her draw before. Halfway through the process, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the paper she was writing on was completely in flames. Hours of work burned in front of Dawn and she didn¡¯t seem phased, only picking up the next piece of paper to continue working.


    Unless Orou sunk into that magical state of concentration again, it would take weeks for him to cast the spell. Even if he did repeat what happened last time, how could he know that the waves inside of him wouldn¡¯t disturb him again? In fact, as he was manipulating the spirits, he started to realise that the thing inside of him was preventing him from completing the spell. The longer he maintained concentration on the spirits, the larger the effect of the waves was. Orou had the faint feeling that they were destabilizing the spirits, making Orou work twice as hard just to keep a single spirit in place.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    He didn¡¯t know how to solve the issue, so the only thing remaining to do was to keep practicing. Although the improvement was small, it was still noticeable, so Orou didn¡¯t lose hope. Even if it wasn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t give up. His passion for magic making each time he tried casting the spell unique.


    Another failure from Dawn¡¯s side signalled the end of her patience. Orou had gotten better at identifying Dawn¡¯s current mood based on how she behaved instead of looking at her face. This time, her actions were faster, she didn¡¯t do everything with as much grace as she normally does, which meant she was angry.


    ¡°Follow me,¡± was all that Dawn said as she stood up and started walking outside. Orou got just as frustrated as her but for a different reason than hers. He couldn¡¯t control spirits and walk at the same time, though that didn¡¯t stop him from trying. Couldn¡¯t this woman just stay in one place and not move so much? She had food stored in this building, so why did she have to go outside so much?


    With his mind on the task before him, he slithered further down the street. He kept trying to move the spirits to no avail up until the point where his head hit a stone wall. A bit staggered, he looked up to see the tamer¡¯s house. Dawn swaggered into the house as if she owned it, catching the man sleeping in his chair by surprise.


    ¡°I need the ingredients for the ritual, I¡¯ll pay full price for all of them,¡± before even giving the man a chance to speak, she laid out her terms.


    ¡°What do you mean? It¡¯s still way too early to conduct the ritual, a failed attempt might make further rituals impossible, it might even lead to worse consequences,¡± the man exclaimed, still a bit sleepy and shocked by her sudden intrusion.


    ¡°I don''t care, provide me the materials and that¡¯s all you need to worry about. Don¡¯t butt into my own business.¡±


    ¡°Fine. If it fails, I don¡¯t want you complaining to me,¡± he had a frown on his face as he stood up from his chair and started walking to the other room. He came back with a large sack in his hands and a little, white fox scurrying by his side. He reluctantly handed it over to her as his other hand grabbed a pouch of gold with his other hands.


    ¡°Last bit of advice, you really should take more time before doing this. Being too hasty will ruin the entire ritual.¡±


    Dawn stored the stack in a separate space in the air. Orou was already heading outside without Dawn prompting him to go, his eyes staring at the eastern wall. Orou saw several crossbowmen patrolling up on the walls, which would spot anyone entering or exiting town. Besides that, there were several guard towers with more people looking in the direction of the forest.


    Orou had seen the walls once at night. They were illuminated by magical lights, just like those illuminating the streets. There were even more men patrolling the wall at night, but the light only went so far, not even reaching the forest. The trouble was leaving the city itself, someone as big as Orou would draw a lot of attention.


    Dawn saw Orou staring at the walls, but she said nothing to him as they moved forwards. Orou¡¯s mind was distracted by thoughts of escape long after they had returned to Dawn¡¯s home. The issue of how to deal with Dawn, the collar and getting past the walls occupied his mind until the sunset.


    As Orou was about to lay down and sleep, he felt a slight wind on his scales. The wind was cold, pricking into his skin like tiny barbs. By instinct, he cast his spirit vision. Looking around, he saw spirits rapidly moving past him and approaching Dawn¡¯s room. They were moving faster by the second and the wind picked up, it felt like the wind wanted to drag Orou along to its destination.


    He decided to let the wind guide him. Uncoiling himself from his original position, he slowly started following the stream of spirits. Passing the chandelier holding the unusual spirit, he saw that it was flickering, struggling against the wind. The chandelier was swinging back and forth, as if about to fall over.


    His curiosity got better of him as he considered if he truly wanted to check it out. He still felt the wind prickling his skin, and the thought about something that could attract spirits excited him. He slithered into Dawn¡¯s room and saw what was causing so much commotion. He saw Dawn writing runes into the ground using some sort of ashy powder. When the powder touched the stone, it burned itself into it, the powder disappearing in the process.


    The circle of runes was almost finished, a pentagram was scorched into the stone and five skulls of beasts were placed down on each edge of the pentagram. Each of the skulls had a vine making its way through the skull, penetrating the skull in various places.


    The sight was not much different in spirit sight. The pentagram made of spirits, with each of the points shining brightly. The runes inscribed on the ground were also made of spirits, though the spirits weren¡¯t motionless like the pentagram. Instead, the runes were rotating and moving in a circle, constantly changing positions, but never leaving the circle.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re here. Saves the trouble of me coming to call you over. Now, move into the circle and stay there, don¡¯t even think about moving from your position.¡± Dawn stood up after finishing the last rune, completing the circle. She was different than usual, her indifference gone and in its place, excitement and impatience. The ring on her finger was shining brightly as a thin cloud connected Orou¡¯s collar and the ring.


    Even without her saying anything, the second the circle was completed, he smelled an alluring scent, reminding him of the forest, freedom and fresh food. His feeling of danger faded and the waves inside of his body stilled, his body started moving as he was pondering the choice and moments later, he was within the circle.


    Dawn didn¡¯t waste any time and started chanting in a weird language, it reminded Orou of someone singing a song instead of chanting. The chanting didn¡¯t stop after a minute or two, Dawn kept singing for half an hour, the spirits in the air dancing and resonating with the song.


    Orou sunk into the song, getting lost in memories not belonging to him. A rocky ship in a storm, the winds that threatened to capsize it and the smell of salt in the air. The men on the ship were screaming and yelling, some had lost hope already and simply staring out into the vast darkness before them. The ship was creaking and groaning, struggling against the storm.


    In the midst of chaos around him was a single man, unphased by the storm. His voice was calm and steady, unhurriedly assigning each man his task. The sailors who lost hope were affected by his voice and once more stood up to perform their tasks, their eyes filled with determination and hope, the hope of surviving the raging storm.


    Despite their best efforts, it seemed like it was all for naught. The ship¡¯s mast creaked and started collapsing, snapping in half. The sailors were scrambling, trying to salvage the situation, but it was too late as the mast started falling, aiming straight at the captain. It was too late to get out of the way, so the man simply stood his ground, his gaze was staring straight ahead, staring at the storm in the distance.


    The men were yelling and shouting at the captain, but his determination didn¡¯t waver, for he knew that he would be safe in this storm. The sailors were cloaked in darkness as a shadow swept across the ship, a tail of humongous proportions heading towards the captain. He greeted it with a smile on his face, the tail wrapping around the mast and lifting it up in the air


    The sailors stood in awe, their gazes locked onto a figure that had appeared in the vast ocean before them. A serpent that towered over the storm itself had appeared, its tail extending all the way towards the ship. There was no room for terror, only shock and awe greeted the serpent as it approached the ship, its tail wrapping around the ship.


    The ship started shaking as the serpent raised it up in the air and brought its tail closer to its body. Two eyes, as blue and endless as the ocean stared at the captain. Without any fear, the man approached the edge of the ship, staring right back into the eyes of the serpent.


    ¡°I knew you would come, you always do.¡±


    Instead of the authoritative voice that commanded the sailors, he spoke to the serpent in a soft tone, as if speaking to a friend he¡¯s known for decades. The serpent opened its mouth and fangs easily bigger than the ship itself gleamed in the darkness. The serpent¡¯s flickered its tongue in front of the captain, gently licking him before closing its mouth.


    As the serpent let down the ship, the winds and the ocean calmed down, the dark clouds that were blocking the sun were blown away and the sun¡¯s warmth descended onto every member on the ship.


    ¡°Full speed ahead men, towards the land of hope and promise.¡±

 Escape

    At first, it was an itching, reaching straight to his bones. Next was a prickling sensation, pricking his flesh in every spot of his body. After that was numbness, his whole body was void of any sensation or feeling. Finally, a calling came from deep within his body. His blood was restless as if it wanted to escape the bounds of his body and go somewhere else. Every thought besides that of accepting the calling was gone, the only thing that needed to be done was to simply stop resisting.


    But, for some reason, even though his mind and his body were telling him to surrender his will, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to stop. The waves that pounded his body from within reminded him that he had some kind of purpose and that if he gave in, his purpose could never be fulfilled.


    The feeling of submission flooded through his body once more, but as his mind regained clarity, he started to realise that something was terribly wrong with his body. As soon as his mind regained clarity, his body started rejecting the foreign feeling. It was a slow and arduous process, the thing inside of his body had met its match and the two forces inside of his body were in a stalemate.


    His mind was getting blurrier by the second, with each pulse of the waves, his body felt frailer. Orou knew if he collapsed, the invading force would take over his body, and everything that he had struggled for so far would be gone. He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed, it felt like hours, but eventually, the conflict in his body was over. The invading force became weaker over time only to be overwhelmed by the waves in the end.


    A beam of light shone through the veil of darkness covering his eyes. Soon, his vision was flooded by light and once more, he could see the world around him. The runes on the ground were dissipated, the skulls were turned to dust and a drop of black blood was floating in the air. He could see the blood slowly evaporating in the air, as if under an intense flame.


    There was only silence in the room as Orou turned his head to look at Dawn. The singing had stopped, her face was haggard and her body had aged several years. Her hair was snow white and her eyes were wide open, staring directly at Orou. Seeing her in such a weak state provoked Orou¡¯s viciousness, his eyes greedily staring at her, wanting to bite into her and devour her whole.


    Unfortunately, even though Dawn was weakened, the collar was not. The collar injected something into his bloodstream and Orou started thrashing in pain. The pain was much more intense and it lasted longer this time. His body was already in a critical condition and the reaction of the thing inside of him was delayed. It wreaked havoc inside of his body for a long time before the wave could arrive and overcome it.


    Only now did he realise what had happened to his body. He felt like he hadn¡¯t eaten in days, possibly months. His body craved meat and blood, his instinct told him that if he didn¡¯t eat, he would die. Orou rushed out of the circle as fast as he could, heading directly towards the kitchen. He wrapped the container holding the magical liquid and drank it all in one go. Almost instantly, his body regained some of its vitality and the overwhelming sense of hunger faded. It was like a bottle of water to someone that had recently come out of the desert, but this liquid wasn¡¯t enough to fully satiate him, not to mention quench his hunger for meat.


    Orou calmed down and started scouring the kitchen. He couldn¡¯t find any meat, but that was to be expected as Dawn hadn¡¯t gone out for food in a while. Temporarily making the kitchen his resting spot, he started to contemplate on what to do next. The most important thought on his mind was to get out of here. He longed for freedom, meat, and the cover of trees. Besides that, there was Dawn. If she could recover, there was no saying to what she would do next or how she would react to the fact that her ritual had failed.


    Orou looked out the window, the sun was below the horizon and magical lights lit the streets. His head was hurting, but he knew that if he wanted to get out of here, he had to risk in all in a single go. He poked his head out of the kitchen, only to see Dawn nowhere to be found. It would be for the best if she had left the house, but Orou didn¡¯t have the time to check where she was.


    He steeled himself and used his tail to smash the glass window. Surprisingly, the window shattered as his tail went through the window, easily reaching the ground. Orou thought that it would be magically enhanced, just like the bookshelf, but he was pleasantly mistaken. If Dawn hadn¡¯t left her home, she would surely hear the window shattering, as would others.


    Regaining his bearings, he withdrew his tail through the window and used it to propel himself out of the window. He shot out like an arrow and landed like a fish out of water. The second he left the house, he could feel the now familiar sensation of something being injected in him. He continued to move mid-air as his muscles started spazzing and twitching.


    He flailed mid-air, but that only made his landing even worse. If no one was alarmed by a window shattering, the sound of something heavy crashing into the ground surely would alarm them. Thankfully, it was soon over as the waves reached the source of his pain and engulfed it. His body sprung into action as once more, he propelled himself forwards.


    Another wave of pain came a few seconds after the first one. He had moved a few meters but the collar didn¡¯t seem to be affected by that. Orou could barely catch a breath before he was lying on the ground, twitching in pain. The only thought if his mind was to escape this horrible pain, his eyes glancing back towards the house, thinking that it wasn¡¯t too late to turn back.


    The thoughts of returning dissipated after the next wave that soothed his body. Who knew what Dawn would do to him, after she came back and learned of his escape, what if she was acting right this second, casting mysterious spells to track him down? As he reached that train of thought, he didn¡¯t hesitate to push his body to its limits and with a burst of speed, move several more meters.


    The third, fourth and fifth wave of pain hit him, each time leaving him sprawling on the ground. Orou could feel the speed of the waves becoming slower each time, the time he spent on the ground becoming longer. Despite all of this, he continued to move, continued to desperately rush forwards, hoping his body could last until he gained some distance.


    Orou went through dark alleyways, often times crashing into a wall when he couldn¡¯t stop himself in time. Slowly but steadily, he made his way towards the north-west, towards the ruined district. After the tenth pulse of pain, the waves of pain almost left him permanently paralyzed on the ground, not having any opportunity to move. Using the single second he had between the waves, he rushed forwards, trying to make as much distance as he could each time.


    The anticipated eleventh wave of pain did not hit him. It took a few seconds for Orou to realise he was in total control of his own body and that his body wasn¡¯t twitching. Both his mind and his body had almost broken down from the torture inflicted upon him by this collar, but he preserved through it and finally, he was free from the impact of the collar.


    He had bet his life on the fact that the collar would stop working after some distance, and he was absolutely right! The thought of this reckless endeavour came from seeing spirits linking the ring and the collar. Whenever Dawn gave an order, the ring would always react and reach out to connect with the collar using spirits, thus Orou bet on the fact that once he was a certain distance away, the previous orders would be invalidated.


    A lot of things could have gone wrong. What if the collar kept the same orders even when the ring and the collar couldn¡¯t be connected? What if he couldn¡¯t make it out in time, his body not being injured from the previous ritual? Orou wouldn¡¯t have made this choice if he saw another way out, but try as he might to wrack his brain for any solutions, he simply couldn¡¯t come up with any.


    His body was motionless for a few seconds relishing in the pleasure of being in control of his body. Orou wished for nothing more than to coil up and go to sleep, but that would most likely be his end. He looked for any signs of life in the area and started feeling for any vibrations, but the area was eerily quiet. The horrifying thought of Dawn approaching him and the ring connecting to the collar once again cleared his mind of any distractions and once more, he pushed himself to start slithering forwards.


    As much as Orou would like to stick to shadows, in order to move from district to district, he had to cross streets lit with magic. It would be much easier if he could pass through the city square and move directly to the ruined district, but that area would surely be patrolled by guards at night.


    Orou wasn¡¯t moving as quickly as he hoped he would be. His body was weakened from the pain and the fact that he had to wind through alleyways and take various detours, simply to avoid the light was slowing his progress. A few minutes later, he was lurching in the shadows and looking straight ahead, thinking of how he could avoid getting noticed when passing through this wide road.


    There were guards at the east of the road, standing guard near the gate and guards to the west of the road, patrolling the city square. The fact that they weren¡¯t scurrying around and searching for him relieved Orou, but the situation wasn¡¯t getting any better because of that. The two guards standing near the gate were staring directly down the street and they would definitely notice Orou if he dashed to the other side.


    Using this moment to catch his breath, Orou started moving through the shadows, trying to find a spot that was less illuminated than others. Unfortunately, the magical lights lit up the entire street, not leaving a single spot covered with darkness. Orou stopped moving and simply started observing the two guards at the gate, patiently waiting for them to slip up.


    Time passed as the guards stood there, their weapons lying against the city wall. They weren¡¯t like the obsidian statues by the mage¡¯s tower, perfectly still and always watching, instead, they chatted with each other and occasionally took a sip of alcohol, getting rowdier with each sip.


    ¡°We¡¯ve never had an incident at the gates, stop worrying so much,¡± the bigger looking man said to his partner as he took another swig and clapped him on the shoulder. Those words relieved his partner as he followed the man¡¯s example.


    Orou¡¯s blue eyes constantly stared at the two, waiting for an opportunity to slip past this street. Finally, an opportunity presented itself. The bigger man was messing with his heavy suit of chainmail and after a minute or two, he got increasingly more frustrated with it. He called his partner over to take a look, and that was the exact moment Orou used to spring into action. Mustering all the strength he had left in his body, he launched himself forwards.


    It was almost like watching events in slow motion. Each second was painfully slow as Orou urged his body to exert more strength and propel himself to the other end of the street. His attention was on the two guards, intently watching their expressions for any unusual changes. When the bigger man abruptly moved, Orou¡¯s heart almost stopped. Fortunately, the man was too busy with his armor to notice Orou as he safely passed through.


    Orou didn¡¯t stop or relax as he reached the other end. He continued moving with the highest speed he could muster, navigating through the alleyways, afraid that he might have been spotted. He couldn¡¯t maintain his top speed to that long, so he slowed himself down a bit, choosing tight and narrow alleyways that humans couldn¡¯t pass through comfortably.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    This time, he was heading towards the west. He wanted to return back to the ruined district and hide in one of the ruined buildings until he could find a way to escape, but the actual method of escaping the city still eluded him. Each time he had to turn a corner, his body would be on edge, ready to react to any potential ambushes. Even though he could sense vibrations in the area, a single misstep would mean the end of him, so he couldn¡¯t avoid being stressed even if he knew the area was safe.


    Constantly being on alert, he made his way through the district that he had never really been to. The houses here looked bigger and in better condition than the ones in the south. While most of the buildings back south were plain and uninteresting, each building here had a different style of carving and each of them had something unique about them.


    Orou had no time to appreciate the superb carving of these buildings and even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t care about these things. Slithering through another alleyway, he sensed vibrations coming from the west and Orou could tell it was more than a single person coming in his direction. In a panic, Orou rushed forwards into a more shadowy alleyway and hid in the shadows, hoping that the rapidly approaching figures wouldn¡¯t notice him.


    He noticed that the vibrations had spread out and it was only a single creature heading his direction. Soon, he saw what was making such noise running through the alleyways. It was a guard, similar to those he had seen on the street. Even if Orou couldn¡¯t detect vibrations, he could hear the guard¡¯s armor clanging as he made his way through the narrow path.


    Having made sure that the guard had passed him, Orou started slowly moving, this time keeping an ear out for anyone approaching his way. A narrow encounter with the guard had almost made Orou lunge towards the guard, but he didn¡¯t spare Orou a single glance as he continued moving north.


    The shift in districts was very noticeable, one moment he was standing before a house with flowers engraved in the stone, the next moment he was next to a half crushed building, ruined beyond repair. Orou could feel the distance between them growing, the guards not nearing anywhere close to the ruined district.


    Orou could finally relax, the ruined district had no magical lighting illuminating the streets, so Orou could freely move about. He quickly found himself on the path he had once travelled together with Dawn. Orou wanted to make his way deeper into this district before laying down to sleep, but before that could happen, he saw something that attracted his attention.


    A young woman was sleeping on the ground, probably not older than twenty years old. She had multiple cuts and bruises on his body, her eyes still wet with tears. She didn¡¯t have much for clothes, only some rags that were stained with blood and were torn up. Orou¡¯s stomach growled, his eyes glinted with a dangerous light. Very slowly, he slithered up to her and opened his mouth wide opened.


    It was a quiet process, up until the point where the woman woke up from having her throat bitten. He made a few guttural noises before once again closing his eyes, this time for good. Orou was currently as happy as he was when he first discovered a spell. He couldn¡¯t wait to dig in, but he had the mind to drag the woman in the nearest building, without a care if anyone was in there.


    It was a small building, semi-preserved through the ages. Orou gave it a once over just to see if no one was here, and he began to dig into his meal. As usual, he coiled around the body and slowly but surely crushed her, making sure the woman was dead. Oh, how he had missed the taste of meat and blood.


    Making sure to enjoy every second of the process, he started to eat her, from her head to her legs. At this point, there wasn¡¯t any trouble swallowing humans and he could even do it quickly if he wanted to, but he didn¡¯t. He was done with half of the body in ten minutes, and he had reached the legs by fifteen. Even though he had spent some time with Dawn, he felt no remorse from eating humans, after all, how were they different from every other creature of flesh and bone.


    Just as he was about to finish his meal, something disturbed him. Although he was distracted by eating, he felt movement pretty close to him. A few moments later, a man holding a lantern came in through the door. At first, the man heaved a sigh of relief, but as he looked down and he noticed Orou, his eyes went completely wide. He dropped his lantern on the floor and he began to sprint out of the building as fast as his legs could carry him.


    Orou had no idea why he would walk here, but Orou didn¡¯t want anyone to know of his presence here. Quickly stuffing the last bit of the woman¡¯s legs in his mouth, he started to chase the man. He had just eaten and his strength hadn¡¯t recovered yet, so Orou was definitely not in his best shape, but Orou could see where the man was heading.


    Combining both his thermal vision, his sense of smell and his sense of vibrations, he was able to track down the man. Orou flickered his tongue in the air to get a sense of how far away he was and he started moving. He had dashed several hundred meters by now, but Orou wasn¡¯t about to give up because of that. His body accelerated and he shot forwards like an arrow, closing the distance considerably.


    Orou¡¯s burst speed was great, but he couldn''t sustain it for a long time. After closing the distance by two hundred meters, his speed slowed down to match the human¡¯s speed. He continued to desperately sprint through the darkness, and Orou wondered how he could make out the road without seeing it.


    The stalemate continued for a bit. A few minutes later, the man started gaining the upper hand, Orou¡¯s speed slightly dropping. Once more, the man made considerable progress and turned a corner, sprinting towards the right. If Orou couldn¡¯t sense his vibrations, he would have lost him, but Orou had all night to hunt him down, and if there¡¯s one thing he¡¯s best at, it was hunting in the dark.


    A few more minutes later, the vibrations abruptly stopped. Orou picked up his speed, determined to catch the damn human. Turning around another corner, he could finally see the man fiddling with something on the ground. Orou slowly approached him, noiselessly approaching the man¡¯s back.


    As he rapidly approached lunging distance, the man finally got the thing unstuck. Orou could finally see that the man was fiddling with some metal bars. He removed the metal bars and quickly hopped down into the hole that Orou didn¡¯t notice before. A hand reached to grab at the metal grate, and that¡¯s when Orou decided to strike.


    His two large fangs bit down on the hand that was groping for the metal grate. As soon as the fangs pierced flesh and drew blood, he started to pump venom into the screaming man¡¯s hand. Orou tightly held onto his hand, but the man¡¯s other hand erupted with unexpected force, forcing Orou to release him from his hold.


    The man was running now, but he wouldn¡¯t get far. Just to be safe, Orou dropped down the large hole into a place that smelled of filth. He quickly looked around for anyone else, and when he couldn¡¯t find anyone, he continued to slither over to the man¡¯s location. Orou could feel the vibrations becoming less frequent until eventually, the vibrations stopped altogether.


    Surely enough, the man was lying on the ground, unconscious. Orou felt a shame that he had recently eaten, otherwise this man would make a great meal. Just to make sure, Orou started wrapping around him and in a few seconds, a limp body was lying on the floor, thoroughly crushed.


    Having killed the man, he took a look around to see where the man wanted to escape to. The walls of this place were old, even older than most of the houses in the ruined district. The most important thing was that this place smelled of all kind of trash and waste, Orou wondered how anyone could stay here for longer than a few minutes.


    On one hand, he despised the smell, on the other hand, he was curious about where this underground path leads. Orou had chased him for quite a distance and they weren¡¯t that fall of the walls, so this place could possibly lead to the outside of the city. Having reached this train of thought, Orou got excited and, slithering over the dead body, he started to move forward.


    It was still and quiet in this place, with an occasional drop of water from above. Eventually, he reached a path that split into three ways. One lead straight, one to the right and the other to the left. Looking through both of the paths, he found nothing of note and decided to simply keep going straight.


    Another branching path presented itself to Orou, but this time, he could feel vibrations coming from the left room. It wasn¡¯t one or two sources, but multiple sources walking towards him. Not wanting to deal with multiple people in his semi-weakened state, he continued to move straight, this time, moving much, much faster than he did before. The multiple figures were walking at a brisk pace and they were some distance away, so Orou quickly continued down the dark tunnel.


    No more branching paths presented themselves to Orou. He has been slithering down this path for what felt to be minutes, but he still couldn¡¯t see a way out. He felt the vibrations coming closer to him, now on the same path that he was minutes ago. There was no turning back now, but fortunately, he could vaguely see moonlight shining down and illuminating a dead end.


    A renewed burst of speed carried him all the way over to it in a few seconds. A metal grate, just like the one earlier greeted Orou¡¯s head and through the cracks, he could see that he had made his way out of the city. He used his head to slowly move the grate out of the way, but it would budge. Shoving it a bit harder, it seemed to be stuck there.


    Panic overcame excitement as he could hear footsteps approaching him. Throwing all caution to the wind, he used to tail to smash against the metal grate. It went flying in the air, and close to it was Orou. His body practically flew out of the hole when he saw the forest and without a second thought, he started rushing in that direction.


    A sharp pain from his back made him snap out of his trance and observe his surroundings. The area around him wasn¡¯t dark but illuminated by light. In his back was embedded a single crossbow bolt and he could see more heading his direction. He avoided two, but he couldn¡¯t avoid the remaining three that struck his body, sending three waves of pain through his body.


    Orou finally turned his head and looked at the wall. Several crossbowmen were standing on the wall with their crossbows raised and aimed at Orou. He saw several more men standing before the ballistae and loading them, preparing to shoot them towards Orou. He had a mere hundred meters to cover before he would be out of the light, but these hundred meters were not so easily crossed.


    His body moved thirty meters before another wave of bolts shot at him. Orou¡¯s body twisted as best as it could, but these men were clearly experienced, leaving him no room to dodge. Taking four more bolts to his back, he crossed another twenty meters, moving slower due to the bolts striking his body.


    He tried his best to evade the bolts, but his body was practically giving out before him. These weren¡¯t ordinary bolts, each one of them digging deep into his flesh, almost entirely sinking into his body. Although Orou had felt danger from these bolts, nothing was as scary as what was currently aimed at him. Moving thirty more meters, he saw that one of the ballistae was loaded up and aimed at him, an enormous bolt notched and ready to skewer him to the ground.


    The bolt was easily twice as fast as regular bolts and if that thing hit him, he would be pinned to the ground, making him target practice for the men standing on the walls. More crossbowmen had arrived to stand on top of the wall, and Orou had to choose between taking countless bolts or the ballista shot.


    The choice was made almost instinctively. The danger he felt from the bolt was much greater than the bolts that shot at him, so without thinking about it, his body twisted and bent, and made an S shape, barely avoiding the ballista bolt that deeply embedded itself onto the ground. He felt the wind blow on his face as it landed on the ground and he desperately tried to make the final twenty meters, but before he could move further, he was skewered by more than ten arrows.


    Orou had more than twenty bolts sticking out of him, one could even call him a pincushion. While the pain from the collar was gradual, the pain that he was feeling right now came all at once. He was profusely bleeding, but his body didn¡¯t stop, he couldn¡¯t stop. He crossed the most painful twenty meters of his life and made his way into the soothing darkness before him.


    Although Orou wanted to lie down and rest, the crossbowmen were still aiming their crossbows in his direction. He made a sharp turn towards the right in hopes that they wouldn¡¯t be able to see him. His guess was right as ten more bolts landed to where he would be if he kept fleeing straight ahead.


    Moving in a diagonal, he continued to look at the men aiming their crossbows at the darkness. One of them waved his hand and, to Orou¡¯s relief, they slowly lowered them. There were a few hundred more meters until he reached the edge of the forest, but as he kept looking, he saw people emerging from the same spot he came.


    First was a bald man with numerous scars on his head. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get to see the outside for long as the man leading them raised his hand, and soon after, the man¡¯s lifeless body dropped down into the hole. No one came out of it again, but the men still had their crossbows aimed at that spot, waiting for anyone to emerge.


    Orou didn¡¯t wait around to see what happened next. He dragged his exhausted body towards the edge of the forest and desperately tried to stay conscious. Despite the fact that he was exhausted and injured, in his mind, he was celebrating. Finally, he was free from the city!

 Silver Tree

    A soft and bright light enveloped a deep claw mark on Orou¡¯s scaly body. A three-meter wolf was lying in a pile of blood next to him while Orou was profusely bleeding from his side. As the light settled down on the wound, flesh began knitting itself. Orou was grimacing and hissing in pain, but he had experienced worse, and this would save him time to move forward.


    Orou¡¯s tail thrashed back and forth, but soon after, the only mark of his recent injury was a claw-shaped scar. His head was spinning, but after he was done grimacing, he started smiling. He claimed his meal, enjoying it in its entirety. As he finished his meal, he turned his head to look back, only to see a scene of destruction. Broken trees and scattered earth only showcased how fierce the battle was.


    The trees here were much denser than at the edge of the forest, the sun¡¯s rays only shone through tiny cracks, it was the perfect environment for hunting. Despite being longer than ten meters, he had no problem moving stealthily through the forest, blending in with the foliage surrounding him.


    Orou¡¯s favorite thing to do after a meal was to lie down and take a nap and bask in the sun while slowly digesting his meal. Finding a spot where the sun shone down through the cracks, he thought about what had happened after he escaped. Orou passed down soon after making it to the forest, his belly full of human flesh to make up for his horrendous injuries.


    He lurked close to the edge of the forest and observed the city from a distance. He had also noticed a distinct lack of any beasts near the edge, but that was to be expected, considering how well prepared the men on the wall were. He spent his days recovering from his wounds and waiting for any adventurers to enter the forest.


    He did not get to eat any adventurers, but he recovered enough to start properly moving and hunting again. He had decided in these few days that he would start going deeper into the forest, and hopefully, reach the beastman territory. He heard that they have a different type of magic, and he hoped to observe how they were different from humans.


    Having made up his mind, he started travelling deeper into the forest. He wasn¡¯t in any haste, preferring to enjoy his life in the untamed forest and practice magic in the meanwhile. After several weeks of practice, Orou practically cried tears of joy when finally, all twelve of the triangles had been assembled around the curved line and a soft, golden light shone on him.


    The healing process was not pleasant in any way, shape or form. It wasn¡¯t as bad when he only had minor scratches and injuries, but when he was bleeding out from every spot imaginable, the pain was enough to drive one mad. Orou didn¡¯t know what he was doing wrong, as he didn¡¯t see men screaming when Dawn healed them, but he could bear through the pain just fine.


    While he succeeded in casting the healing spell, the pillar of light spell was beyond him. It required one to build an actual pillar. It was hard enough connecting the spirits to form a long shape like a pillar, but that was just the beginning. After constructing the pillar, Orou had to guide the spirits into it and fill up the entire pillar with spirits. Quite frankly, it was an impossible task for the current Orou, he couldn¡¯t even fill up a third of the pillar, not to mention all of it.


    Although it seemed hopeless, Orou was not one to give up, especially regarding spells. After every meal, he lay down and practiced his spellcasting, and this time was no exception. After devouring the wolf and basking in the sunlight, he concentrated on practicing spells. He had done this hundreds of times before and this time, it was no different. He could form the shape of the pillar with ease, but filling it up was hard. The formation wasn¡¯t as complicated as the healing spell, but the number of spirits required was multiple times that of the healing spell.


    One thing he had noticed was that it was a lot easier to manipulate the spirits while being directly under the sun. Perhaps it was due to the nature of the formation, or perhaps it was due to some other reason, but Orou didn¡¯t mind it one bit, in fact, his rate of progress was much better when practicing under the sun.


    At the halfway point, the pillar erupted and the formation dispersed, resulting in a failure. Resting for a few more minutes, he kept trying and trying, until the sun had begun to set. When Orou realised that his progress was beginning to slow to a halt, he got up and started moving deeper into the forest. His intention was both to make progress towards the land of beastmen, and to hunt for food. Although he had already eaten, he always had more space in his stomach for small critters that wandered too close near him.


    Hunting and practicing spells was exciting, but Orou was growing impatient on when he would reach the end of this forest. He wondered how the beastmen would treat him, and how they would react to his collar. The humans were scared of him and it was only because of the collar that they didn¡¯t run away in fear. He also wondered why they would be relieved by its presence, by what he had seen, it didn¡¯t restrict him from attacking other humans, only his owner.


    His thoughts drifted over to the collar, only now remembering that he still had it on him. It didn¡¯t cause any discomfort, and often times, beasts would strike and bite at the collar, only to get hurt instead. It was made of some metal that seemed unbreakable, and if it didn¡¯t cause him immense amounts of pain, he didn¡¯t care whether it was on him or not.


    He spent the whole night wandering through the forest, immersed in his own thoughts. What snapped him out of his trance was the sun rising, which signalled that it was time to seriously hunt for food. The wolf in his stomach could last him a few days, but Orou liked the process of hunting and the thrill of battle, so he didn¡¯t care that he was half-full.


    He found a small clearing in the forests from a distance and decided that it would be a nice place for him to look for prey. Slowly slithering closer and closer to the clearing, he saw something that shocked him. The clearing was devoid of any trees except for a single tree standing in the middle of the clearing. It was by far the largest tree he had seen in his life, and that wasn¡¯t the most unique feature about it. The leaves of the tree were made entirely out of silver, reflecting the sunlight around it. Not a single leaf was on the ground, instead, it looked barren and devoid of any life, as if doing everything it can do to emphasize the beauty of the tree.


    Orou absentmindedly slithered closer to the clearing, wanting to get a better look at the tree. The leaves looked like someone sculpted multiple pieces of silver into leaves and put them on this tree. As a gust of wind blew through the clearing, a sound that could only be described as ghastly wailing resounded through the clearing.


    An apple, made entirely out of silver was inconspicuously hanging out of the tree, if one didn¡¯t pay attention, you could mistake it for another one of the tree¡¯s leaves. Orou wouldn¡¯t have noticed this if it wasn¡¯t for an ape, its fur also made out of silver, staring at the apple with greedy eyes. It wasn¡¯t paying any attention to Orou as it continued to stare at the apple, impatiently waiting for something.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Orou didn¡¯t know what to make of the situation, this was the first time he had seen anything as bizarre as this. Turning on his spirit vision didn¡¯t help to clear up the situation in the slightest. Each of the leaves had a spirit inside of it, only, it wasn¡¯t like any spirit he had seen before. It was a weird amalgamation of shapes, constantly changing size and shape, looking completely different each second. The spirits were travelling from the roots of the tree into the leaves, and then from the leaves into the apple. Once they reached the apple, they melted together, becoming slightly bigger each time.


    Both Orou and the ape were obsessed over the apple, probably for two completely different reasons. He watched the apple absorb spirits, and once the spirit became as big as the apple, it compressed itself. Orou would describe the spirit looking ¡°purer¡± and ¡°shinier¡±, though he didn¡¯t know what was happening to the spirit itself.


    He looked over at the ape, and he realised that the ape had stopped staring at the apple, but was staring at him instead. Its expression twisted in rage, it let out a shriek of anger and smashed its hands against the barren ground. The impact was like a small meteor landing on the ground, launching dirt everywhere.


    It started charging at Orou, but to Orou it seemed like a slow jog. Maybe it was due to the silver fur weighing it down but each step it took made the earth slightly tremor. It got halfway to Orou when he finally reacted, his first reaction was to retreat back, gain some distance and observe the ape closer.


    Orou was much faster than the ape as he started circling around the tree, the ape mindlessly chasing after him. It tried to attack him multiple times, but none of the ape¡¯s blows connected on Orou¡¯s body. The wind produced from the immense blows only made the shrieking from the tree worse, his ears were ringing by the time the ape swung for the fifth time and missed.


    Orou had enough of this farce and after the ape missed once again, Orou used his full momentum to swing his tail straight towards the ape¡¯s body. The result left Orou retreating back in pain and the ape still chasing Orou, even angrier now than before. It seemed like the ape was made entirely out of metal as Orou knocked the ape a few meters back, but it was unharmed besides that.


    After each exchange, Orou was the one more injured despite the ape not landing a single blow on him. His fangs couldn¡¯t penetrate his silver fur and his tail couldn¡¯t hurt him. He had conjured light in its face, but that only made it angrier, thrashing the entire place in its blind rage. This pointless exchange happened for a few more minutes before Orou started realising that something was strange.


    At all times, Orou made sure he had a direct line of sight on the tree. He wasn¡¯t worried about the ape as its slow speed made it unable to chase Orou even if it wanted to. The wind had picked up and the wailing had gotten worse, but that wasn¡¯t what worried Orou, instead, he saw the leaves begin to softly shake.


    The shaking became more intense as time passed, the tree looked like it was going to be uprooted at any moment. The spirits in the leaves were restless, moving about in the constraints of the leaves. The wind had stopped, but the wailing continued, resembling some sort of twisted song. For a second, Orou could see a face appear on the trunk of the tree and wickedly grin at him.


    The ape was oblivious to this happening behind his back, he ignored everything besides Orou in his blind rage and because of that, he didn¡¯t notice his doom. The silver leaves shook and one by one, the started falling from the tree. As the first leaf fell from the tree, the rest followed, but they weren¡¯t aiming to hit the ground below them, instead, the leaves shot out towards the ape and Orou.


    The leaves were flying towards them at a rapid pace as Orou started slithering backwards, hoping to use the ape as a cover from the leaves. The ape didn¡¯t notice them before it was too late, it turned its head around, only to shriek in terror and try to dodge. With its speed, there was no way to dodge the leaves, so the only thing it could do was to brace for impact. What it didn¡¯t expect was for the leaves to come out of the other side of his stomach, completely dyed in blood.


    Countless leaves struck the ape¡¯s body, every single one of them piercing through his body, continuing their flight towards Orou. The ape looked at his stomach in disbelief, before several more leaves completely dissected his brain, the rest of his body falling down to the ground. Fortunately for Orou, the ape¡¯s body slowed down the razor-sharp leaves enough for him to get out of their path.


    He fled to the edge of the clearing and hid behind several trees, hoping for them to slightly slow down any incoming barrages. After a minute of waiting, Orou slowly and stealthily made his way back to the clearing and cautiously observed the tree. The tree had ceased to shake and the wailing had stopped, if one didn¡¯t look at the ape¡¯s corpse, it was like nothing had happened. In his spirit sight, he observed the apple for any changes. The ¡°purifying¡± the spirit was still in process, as was the process of absorbing spirits through the tree¡¯s roots.


    Orou slowly used his tail to cross the boundary of the crossing while he observed the tree, ready to flee if anything unusual happened. His tail was fine and the tree didn¡¯t react as Orou slowly started slithering over to the ape¡¯s corpse. The leaves barely encountered any resistance as they passed through the ape¡¯s body while Orou couldn¡¯t even injure him. If those hit his head, he would be in the same shape as the ape.


    He dragged the ape¡¯s body back outside of the clearing and situated himself in a tree, observing the tree and what would happen to it. Hours drifted away as Orou was enchanted by the spirit he saw in the apple, it was constantly changing like the others, but he could see that the more times it shrunk, the longer it took for the spirit to change shapes, instead, it assumed one shape per cycle.


    At some point, Orou had also eaten the ape¡¯s corpse. For some reason, the fur was not as tough as Orou expected when devouring it, but he had already eaten it, so there wasn¡¯t much of a point of pondering about this issue. He desperately wanted to approach the apple closer and inspect it in much more depth, but he had seen what happened to a bear that approached the apple.


    Similarly to Orou, it was attracted to the scene before it and wanted to take a bite out of the apple. The reaction from the tree was much quicker this time, without any wailing or any faces appearing on the tree, multiple silver leaves dissected the bear into multiple pieces before returning back to the tree.


    Another hour or so passed before he saw something new. A single root, entirely covered in silver, came out of the ground and pierced the bear, slowly but surely draining it of all its blood. For a split second when the root was absorbing the bear¡¯s blood the quickest, he could see a thin strand flowing from the bear¡¯s body to the root. Orou could swear that the second the root absorbed the strand, it grew bigger than it usually was.


    After it was done absorbing the blood, the root easily picked up the bear and threw it to the edge of the clearing. Orou wondered why he hadn¡¯t seen any corpses lying by the edge and why the air didn¡¯t smell of rot. Using his tongue to smell the air, he could pick up some sort of sweet scent coming from the tree. It wasn¡¯t that obvious at first, but it definitely wasn¡¯t here when Orou came here.


    The longer he spent observing the tree, the thicker the scent became. He saw numerous beasts come up to the tree only to die without fighting back. His mind was getting clouded, his mouth watered at the thought of eating the apple and his body started moving forwards, once more entering the clearing. At the last moment, his cloudy eyes saw one of the beast carcasses lying next to the tree and realised that his sense of danger was screaming at him to get out of here immediately.


    He turned his body back and started fleeing, but the tree was one step ahead of him. As soon as he started turning back, the tree sent out a new barrage of silver leaves, threatening to cut him up. His head was still dizzy, but his body reacted instinctively by lunging forwards, narrowly avoiding the first barrage of leaves. The second and the third barrage came at the same time, and each time a barrage approached his body, he narrowly avoided his doom.


    Orou let his body do all of the work as he stopped thinking altogether, relying purely on instincts to survive. The moment he got out of the clearing, the furious assault stopped and the tree regained its serene appearance. His heart was still pounding as he recalled his near-death experience and he vowed to never come near this tree as he continued his journey towards the land of beastmen.

 A feast

    Several days after fleeing, his mind was still occupied with thoughts about the shifting spirit. It was the first time he had encountered a different spirit that wasn¡¯t the result of a spell. Orou wanted to return back and investigate the apple, the tree and from where the shaping spirits were coming from, but if he couldn¡¯t find a way to deal with the leaves, it would be impossible.


    That train of thought continued for several days as Orou went deeper into the forest. What made him almost completely forget about the shaping spirits was a site of a battle. Normally, Orou wouldn¡¯t care and after a glance or two, head past it, but this time, he saw footprints, resembling that of humanoids. A single massive beast must have fought multiple of what Orou assumed to be beastmen. He didn¡¯t see a single corpse, but the footprints of the beast and the trail of blood were enough for Orou to know where they went.


    Moving stealthily through the foliage, he followed the trail of blood. He heard grunts and yelps before he saw the actual battle. Sticking his head out of a bush, Orou observed a fight between a tiger and six beastmen, all of them injured in one way or another. Although they were wounded, the tiger looked even worse, in fact, it looked like it was about to collapse at any given moment, the only thing holding it up was sheer willpower.


    The tiger¡¯s willpower was not enough as one of the beastmen skewered the tiger, driving his spear through the tiger¡¯s head. The beastman¡¯s gray fur was stained with blood and the red eyes filled with madness calmed down.


    ¡°There¡¯s no time for rest, we need to make it in time for the sacrificial ritual. Take the tiger¡¯s body as well as Thog¡¯s body, he deserves to be buried with the rest.¡± A deep and guttural voice shouted out orders in a language different from that the humans spoke. He pointed his spear to a corpse with two long horns and sharp tusks lying near the tiger with various claw and bite wounds.


    ¡°Can we make it back in time? The full moon will be here in two days.¡± A beastman with completely white fur spoke in a soft voice, going around the battlefield and recovering still usable arrows. While it was hard to discern genders, Orou was pretty sure that it was a woman, though he could be mistaken. The language they spoke in relied more on grunts and growls not words, but this beastman was the opposite, relying more on words than grunts.


    Three more beastman, two resembling a goat and one resembling a lizard, started begrudgingly dragging the two corpses as they started walking forwards. Orou started assessing the situation, wondering if he could take them on. They were injured and exhausted, but the two archers could get a few shots off as he fought off the rest. While he could defeat them all pretty easily, Orou¡¯s plan was the opposite of that. He wanted to follow them to the so-called ¡°village¡± and see what the difference between a human and a beastman settlement was.


    The five beastmen got into a formation as they dragged the corpses behind them. Even while exhausted, they kept a guard up for any potential ambushes and didn¡¯t slack off. After tracking them for a day, Orou compared these guys to adventurers he had seen it the forest. The beastmen¡¯s weapons and armor had signs of wear and tear, having been used for quite a while, but they seemed experienced in combat and working in a group. The only men that could compare to them in terms of discipline were the guards he had seen up on the walls.


    Leather armor and crude steel weapons made them easy pickings for Orou, but if they were equipped with magical armor, spears and enchanted arrows, they would be much better fighters than anyone Orou had met before. Of course, the fact that they didn¡¯t have anyone with the ability to cast spells both relieved and disappointed Orou. He wasn¡¯t making much progress on the beam of light spell and seeing a new spell would make his training much more interesting, but a mage could potentially detect him, and if that happened, he would have to kill everyone here.


    A quick scan with his spirit vision showed that everything was normal in the surrounding area, as well as making sure that none of the beastmen had any surprises in store. They had bedded down for the night and Orou was out hunting for food. They ate rabbits and various small critters they found along the way, never touching the huge tiger they carried behind them.


    Orou spent the entire night filling up his stomach. He had noticed that the further they went, the fewer beasts he encountered. It was getting to a point where Orou had to spend the entire night hunting, and even then, the results weren¡¯t satisfactory. If this trend continued all the way to the village, Orou would have to seriously think about what to eat as he wanted to spend at least several days observing the village.


    As the sun started rising, Orou made his way back to the camp. The beastmen had started packing, and the beastman resembling a wolf, Tjord, ordered everyone to pick up the pace so they could arrive in time. The rest of the beastmen solemnly nodded and started marching forward, not minding their exhaustion. While heading to the beastmen village was great and all, but because of that, Orou couldn¡¯t practice his spellcasting. His mind was conflicted about which was more important, and eventually, he came to the conclusion that the beastmen village was more important, solely on the possibility of unique spirits and new spells.


    Having made up his mind, he easily kept up with the beastmen. He snuck up to them, at a distance that some would call uncomfortably close, and spent his time observing each of the beastmen. All of them had some form of fur and they clearly had traits unique to the beasts they resembled, even if Orou didn¡¯t know what beasts they originated from. Tjord had the highest position in the group, he was constantly giving out orders to the group and motivating them to move forward. The beastman with white fur stuck close to Tjord and from what Orou could observe, was Tjord¡¯s wife. The rest of the beastmen had nothing but respect towards him, though their eyes were droopy, the mood solemn from the death of a companion.


    After a long and arduous trek through the forest, they had finally arrived at a village. It had sharpened sticks for walls and a single grizzly guard. The guard looked questioningly at Fjord, to which he replied with an affirmative grunt. The guard didn¡¯t seem like one for talking as after a few grunts and growls, he opened the gate to the city. As the group was about to enter, Orou contemplated on how to get in. Before they could completely walk into the city, he recalled the memory of Dawn and decided to test something out.


    Letting the two beastmen with horns drag the body in first, Fjord was unsuccessfully trying to chat up the guard. Everyone stopped what they were doing when a soft light enveloped Fjord¡¯s wife and she started screaming in pain. After a few seconds of screaming, she dropped to the ground, unconscious and potentially dead. Fjord howled in rage and turned around to look for the assailant, only to see a snake looking at his wife with cold eyes, turning its gaze at him.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The spell that Orou cast was to try and heal the beastman. Orou had seen Dawn healing people and they were always grateful to her, so Orou wondered if they would let him in the village if he healed the beastmen. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the side effect of his healing, the intense pain that came along with it. Although it did hurt, it was nowhere near enough pain to knock someone out, was it? As a result, the group along with the guard were murderously staring at him, drawing their weapons and preparing to attack him.


    Deciding to try it one more time, Orou looked over to Fjord and started casting the spell. Orou practiced this spell every day just so he could get used to casting it, and because of that, he could get it off before he was shot with arrows. He used the spirits to draw the triangles in the air and a soft glow enveloped Fjord. He screamed in pain, but whether he was fueled by rage or he simply could take pain better than the other beastman, he continued to stay on his feet and charge at Orou.


    The first volley of arrows was flying towards Orou and he didn¡¯t plan on fighting them, for now at least. People reacted negatively when Orou tried to eat them and Orou still wanted to enter the village and not get attacked by everyone there, so he slipped back into the bushes, went a few meters forwards and hid in the leaves of the tree, looking down at the beastmen still charging forwards and trying to hunt him down.


    Orou didn¡¯t get it, he just cured their wounds, why were they attacking him? The pain was just a minor side effect for healing, was it not? After a few more minutes of searching, Fjord cursed and went back to his wife, carefully looking over her. As the sun started setting, they carried the two corpses and Fjord¡¯s wife into the town, the wooden gate shutting behind them. Orou slowly dropped out of the tree and started thinking of how to get into the village. He could likely simply slither over the wooden wall, seeing that it wasn¡¯t taller than him, though he didn¡¯t want to get spotted.


    As he pondered about his current situation, the sun had already set and it was then that Orou realized that something wasn¡¯t right here. A weird tingling feeling travelled through his body, Orou¡¯s eyes instinctively becoming red as he used his spirit vision. At first glance, it seemed like everything was fine, but upon closer inspection, the spirits were behaving weirdly. They were rapidly moving in the air, creating the illusion of the spirits standing completely still.


    Orou also noticed that the surrounding temperature had slowly increased until it was as hot as standing under the sun during the day. Perhaps he hadn¡¯t noticed in during the heat of the battle, but as Orou tried to heal himself, he found it much harder to make the spirits obey his will. While moving them as easy, completely stopping them was the hard part. To Orou, it almost felt like the spirits were excited about something, provoking them into this state of rapidly moving.


    A soft light enveloped him and the usual pain that accompanied the healing was replaced with a burning sensation. His wounds burned under the soft glow as the pain he felt was even worse than usual. He bore through the pain and looked over to his wounds, completely gone from sight. As he was recovering from the pain, he saw a bit of smoke coming out of the village. The longer he spent thinking about what to do, the more the quantity of the smoke increased.


    Orou couldn¡¯t miss the ¡°sacrifice¡± that they were talking about, what if it was related to the unusual behavior of the spirits? He started circling the village, looking for anything that would mask his intrusion into the village. After circling around it a couple of times, he decided to risk it and making his way to the side of the village, he used his tail as support and slowly slithered along the wall. His head peeked over the village, but his sight was blocked by a wooden house.


    After making sure no one was looking, he rose to his full length and started to slowly slither over the wall and down into the village. The thought of how he would escape crossed his mind, but he soon forgot it as he remembered about the sacrifice. He stealthily slithered over towards the wooden building and poked his head around the corner, wanting to see from where the smoke was coming from.


    The view towards the centre of the village was relatively unobstructed as he observed the beastmen preparing for the sacrifice. A massive bonfire was lit in the middle of the village with several more beastmen bringing firewood over to kindle the flame. A large number of corpses was piled up near the bonfire, whether it was wolves, tigers or rabbits or deer, they were all tossed in a single pile.


    Six beastmen, all of them different from each other, were standing around the bonfire and singing a song in their own language. It was a song about the old replacing the new and the strong preying on the weak, about embracing the beastly side and letting yourself feast upon those weaker than you. The other beastman standing around let out feral howls, all of them joining in with the song in one way or another.


    Slowly, the song faded only to be replaced with slow and solemn footsteps and the tapping of a cane. Each tap that hit the earth carried with it the rhythm of the song and Orou could still hear the voices of the beastmen even after the song had ended. The rest of the beastmen bowed their heads, all of them looking towards the sound of the tapping. Orou saw the cane before the beastman that was holding it. The cane itself looked ancient, the wood that it was made of was preserved through the ages and on the cane was engraved a single line.


    Holding the cane was a four-meter tall beastman, easily towering over everyone in the village. His fur might have been golden once upon a time, but it was now a dim yellow mixed in with spots of black. His golden mane was in full display for everyone as if to declare his royal nature. His face was the epitome of pride and the scars on his face only served to emphasize it. His footsteps came to a halt as the only thing that could be heard in the village was the crackling of the bonfire.


    ¡°A night of full moon is nearly upon us. Let us feast on the remains of our ancestors and accept the feral blood inside of us! Let the night of feasting begin!¡± The beastman¡¯s imposing voice resounded through the village and the rest of the beastmen let out savage roars, their eyes filled with feral madness. Resembling a savage pack of animals, each of the beastmen started rushing over to the pile of dead animals and using their teeth, they ripped into the animals and started eating their flesh and drinking their blood.


    The moon had turned blood-red, dyeing the surroundings in a red shade. The four-meter tall beastman started waving his cane and in Orou¡¯s spirit vision, he saw the spirits excitedly rush towards the formation forming in the air. The now red spirits formed a ribbon in the air and rushed forwards into the group of beastmen feasting on the flesh. The red ribbon passed through each of the beastmen and the animals they were eating, each time becoming slightly bigger and longer.


    The ribbon returned back to the beastman who held the cane and the red ribbon entered his body. He looked ecstatic, his body was shivering from excitement, his eyes completely red. Drawing in a deep breath of air, he let out a roar which pierced through the air, prompting the rest of the beastmen to join in, forming an unearthly chorus of roars and howls.


    Orou saw Fjord and his team also joining in on the feast, their usual composure gone and replaced with madness, taking pleasure in eating the entrails of the tiger they had slain. Their fallen comrade was also lying in the pile, but Fjord had no remorse on his face as he started feasting on his dead ally. Of course, Orou saw nothing wrong in this, so he continued watching with excitement, waiting for the beastman to do anything else.


    To Orou¡¯s disappointment, the ferocious-looking beastman didn¡¯t participate in the feast. He spoke a few more words of encouragement before slowly walking back to where he came from, his cane once more tapping to a different rhythm of a different song. The beastmen didn¡¯t pay any more attention to him, their mouths dripping with blood and their hands dyed red.


    Orou watched all of this as if enchanted by the magical sight. He watched until the sun replaced the blood moon, the beastmen parted ways, saying their goodbyes by madly cackling and laughing.

 First Contact

    Morning came and peace returned to the village. The earth surrounding the bonfire was stained with blood, bits of flesh and organs decorated the place of the feast. Orou saw beastmen walking around the village like nothing had happened, they seemed to not be bothered by the lack of sleep, in fact, they looked invigorated and stronger than before. He overheard a conversation next to him, the beastmen talking about common affairs, not bringing up anything relating to what happened last night.


    Orou stealthily moved behind buildings, darting between empty spaces when he could, trying his best not to get noticed. When a beastman turned his back to Orou, he used his fastest speed to move behind cover. As usual, the waves inside of his body erupted and helped Orou cross the distance faster, and that was when he noticed something had changed. Previously, the waves were like a torrent, rushing to every spot of his body, violently pushing his body forward. This time, the waves resembled a tsunami, rampaging inside of his body and battering it in the process. He launched forwards like an arrow and not able to stop himself, he rushed past several buildings, desperately trying stop before he gets noticed.


    The waves retreated and Orou¡¯s body stopped in place. He heaved a sigh of relief and looked around, hoping that no one saw him. Orou¡¯s head poked around the building and saw that not only did they not notice, they had stopped what they were doing, all of them were facing east, staring at something. Most of them had conflicted expressions on their faces, some having pitying expressions, others, excitement on their faces. Deciding to figure out the reason behind this sudden change later, he started to slither toward the spot where they were staring, wanting to get a closer look at what they were looking at.


    ¡°No, no, please, don¡¯t leave me here. Someone must be trying to frame me, let me go and I¡¯ll ensure you have bright futures in front of you. I swear, I¡¯m not feral, really, I¡¯m not.¡± A frantic voice was shouting, the volume of the shouts gradually increasing, the panic in his voice evident. Slithering a bit closer, Orou saw a beastman resembling an ape held by two more beastmen, also of the ape descent. The two ape beastmen were clad in plate mail, their metal gauntlets tightly clasping the unarmored ape¡¯s hand, preventing him from escaping.


    The beastman continued to scream and shout in terror, but the hands holding him didn¡¯t budge. They threw the beastman through the gate and into the village, his body stumbling and falling face first into the dirt. He scrambled to get up and wanted to rush out of the village, but his already battered face encountered a gray barrier, preventing him from passing through the gate. His fists thudded heavily against the barrier, but his fists couldn¡¯t affect the barrier.


    The two beastman clad in heavy armor turned around to leave, not sparing the ape beastman a single glance. His teary eyes followed their footsteps, all the way until they could no longer be seen. A large hand clapped him on the shoulder and the ape turned around, face to face with the imposing lion beastman from the night before.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be alright. What¡¯s your name child?¡± The once imposing voice had a warmth to it that was difficult to describe, almost like looking at his past self.


    ¡°My name is Grizz, old man,¡± Grizz replied with defiance in his voice, his eyes showing a mixture of respect and disgust for this beastman.


    ¡°You may call me Vaar. I shall pay your disrespect no mind, for I was once in the same situation myself. Even if you deny it now, you will soon learn to accept your feral side and break free of the chains that bind you.¡± Vaar spoke with authority in his voice, his hand once more clasping his shoulder and looking him straight in the eye.


    ¡°You¡¯re wrong old man, I¡¯ve never been feral and will never become feral. I¡¯ll return back and prove them wrong, somehow.¡± Grizz shied away from Vaar¡¯s gaze. Moving a bit back, he said his piece with determination, fully confident in upholding what he said. Many of the beastman laughed and started returning back to their usual tasks.


    ¡°All of us were like you at the beginning, Aria, show him to his lodgings and show him around until he learns where what is.¡± Vaar laughed and beckoned over the white-furred beastman, Tjord¡¯s wife. Aria happily obliged, dropping whatever she was doing and approached Grizz. He seemed a bit wary of her, but under Vaar¡¯s heavy gaze he had no choice but to comply. Mumbling something to himself in dissatisfaction, he started to head deeper into the village


    ¡°This here is the village centre, we usually gather here at night to sing songs and drink wine, relaxing after a hard day of work.¡± Aria motioned over to the bloody campsite, cheerfully skipping forward and pointing out various buildings.


    ¡°Why is there so much blood there?¡± Grizz interrupted Aria introducing Vaar¡¯s house and pointed toward the spot where the pile of corpses used to be. His face was a bit pale, most likely thinking about the various possibilities of what happened here.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just the leftovers from yesterday¡¯s sacrifice though I¡¯m not sure why it¡¯s named that. We like to call it the feast.¡± Aria¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as she continued talking about this as if it was an everyday occurrence. Grizz¡¯s silence prompted her to continued introducing various important buildings, but he was deep into his own thoughts, clearly not listening to what she was saying.


    ¡°This is where you will be staying, likely for the rest of your life.¡± Aria¡¯s tone was remorse as she guided him to a wooden house near the wall. Maybe it was out of compassion or something else, but when Aria saw his expression of fear and bewilderment, she said a few more comforting words before leaving his to his own thoughts, reminding to look for her if he has any questions later.


    As Grizz absentmindedly entered his new house, Orou looped to the back of his house, wanting to find out more about the new arrival. The house looked a bit older than the rest of the houses he had seen and it showed signs of previous inhibition. Orou saw two window slits to the sides of the building and after thinking about it for a solid few seconds, he stealthily stuck the side of the house and slowly started raising his head higher, cautiously listening for any noise coming from the house.


    He felt vibrations coming from the house and he could make out that Grizz was walking in circles, most likely angrily stomping his feet. Orou slowly and carefully raised his head up to the window slit and peered in the house, only to find a pair of eyes staring back at him. A few seconds of awkward silence of both parties just staring at each other passed. Orou was confused on what to do, he couldn¡¯t kill him fast enough to not raise an alarm, but he simply wasn¡¯t reacting to Orou¡¯s presence.


    Instead of slowly backing away like Orou expected him to do, Grizz started approaching Orou, one of his hands raised to Orou¡¯s eye level. He didn¡¯t feel any hostile intent from Grizz, so he simply stood still, letting Grizz approach him. His footsteps became more confident the closer he approached Orou until eventually, he was standing right next to Orou. Grizz placed his hand outside of the window and on Orou¡¯s head, softly stroking his head.


    Orou was beyond confused at this point so he simply let Grizz stroke his head, wondering why he was doing this. At first, he thought that Grizz might be casting some sort of spell on him, but once he saw his actions in spirit sight, he was even more confused. No formation appeared in the air or on his hands and no spirits flew over to his position, Grizz was simply stroking his head.


    After Grizz finished stroking Orou¡¯s head, he placed his hands on Orou¡¯s neck and started to lift Orou up with surprising strength. Strangely, Orou felt no need to resist him, after all, he meant Orou no ill intent. After exclaiming something about how huge Orou was, he finished placing Orou in the room and started to examine him.


    ¡°You poor thing, did the humans on the other side of the border to this to you?¡± Grizz looked at Orou¡¯s neck, carefully inspecting the collar on his neck. The collar didn¡¯t bother him on a day to day basis, so Orou had almost forgotten about it until this moment. Orou still harbored ill will towards this collar for making him experience so much pain, but he was out of human territory, so it didn¡¯t matter as much to him.


    Perhaps it was due to the pleasant smell the ape beastman had, but Orou decided to test something on a beastman that didn¡¯t attack him on sight. Orou started casting the spell to heal Grizz¡¯s bruised shoulder from when he was thrown into the village. Grizz didn¡¯t notice anything until the soft light covered his shoulder and Grizz winced in pain, retreating a bit back from Orou. It was soon over and Orou tried to make himself look as non-threatening as possible by flickering his forked tongue, hoping Grizz wouldn¡¯t attack him like the previous beastmen.


    ¡°I can see why they would want to collar you,¡± Grizz said to Orou as he looked at his miraculously cured shoulder. He ran his hand along Orou¡¯s shiny scales as he continued examining his body for something. His hand soon reached Orou¡¯s tail and Grizz seemed a bit disappointed by something, but soon after, he lifted his head and looked at Orou.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°You can stay with me big snake, at least I¡¯ll have some decent company while looking for how to escape this cursed place,¡± Grizz stopped petting Orou, sat down on his bed and started swinging his legs back and forth, wondering about something or other. Orou was excited, his healing had actually worked, maybe he could use this beastman in order to gain access into the land of beastmen.


    Since Grizz didn¡¯t seem to mind his presence, Orou started to examine to the room around him. It wasn¡¯t anything special nor did it have any fanciful decorations, just the bare necessities for a beastman to survive. Comparing this building to Dirk¡¯s and Dawn¡¯s houses, it seemed a bit cramped. Evidently, Grizz thought the same as Orou, he looked at the bed below him and the walls in front of him with scorn and displeasure.


    Keeping a close eye on Grizz, Orou started to resume his practice of magic. Although the ball of light spell was simple, he never forgot to practice is a few times. He conjured up a ball of light in the air, but he forgot one thing, that is, Grizz. The sudden appearance of the blinding light surprised Grizz and he shouted in surprise while covering his eyes with his hands.


    ¡°No more bright light,¡± after calming down, he opened his eyes with difficulty and shouted at Orou. Frankly, Orou didn¡¯t see the reason of panic. The ball of light brought him no discomfort and even when he cast it in Dawn¡¯s presence, she didn¡¯t seem to mind. Even if Grizz wanted it gone, Orou had no way of dispelling it, the magic was already in effect.


    Grizz grumbled something and made peace with the ball of light floating in the air, looking more dissatisfied than he was before. Orou continued his display by healing himself a few times. He wasn¡¯t injured in any way so there was no pain and the more he practiced forming the formation, the quicker he could assemble it in time of need.


    As usual, the beam of light was too difficult for him. After making a hollow shape of a pillar, he tried his best to fill it up but the number of spirits he required was still beyond him. He tried making the outer shape smaller, but once the spirits were in place, it simply didn¡¯t activate. He could fill it two-thirds of the way there, but it was still a long way before he could complete the formation.


    Finally, his mind drifted over to the red ribbon Vaar had conjured in the air the night before. Excited about finally being able to try out a new spell, he started to will the spirits to move into position. The formation of the ribbon wasn¡¯t anything special, it almost resembled a snake slithering through the air. He had to form a ribbon-like shape in the air, the spirits having to be connected all the way through the ribbon.


    At first, it was quite difficult. He tried forming just the outline of the ribbon and then fill the middle with spirits, just like the beam of light spell, but it simply didn¡¯t work. Then, he started to place the spirits one by one in their positions, but it would take him a long time before he could actually form the entire length of the ribbon. Finally, he got the idea of controlling three spirits of once and placing them horizontally, not having to worry about constructing the vertical layer one by one. It placed significantly more stress on his mind, but it was way faster and he didn¡¯t have to split his attention as much.


    Because it was his first time doing this, it still took him a considerable amount of time, but eventually, he completely finished the formation. Holding the entire thing in place for a few seconds, a red ribbon appeared in the air above Orou¡¯s head. The red wasn¡¯t as prominent as in Vaar¡¯s ribbon, nor did it resemble blood in color, but it was something. The true issue came from the fact that it didn¡¯t complete itself like the rest of the formations. When he cast the ball of light spell, the second he was done forming the three rings around a spirit, he didn¡¯t have to hold it in place anymore and it materialized outside of his spirit vision, but this time he was still struggling to keep the spirits in place even after he had completed the formation.


    He had seen the ribbon moving in the air and darting around beastmen, so how had Vaar done it? Instead of stopping the spirits in place, he willed them to move to his right. This was considerably harder than simply holding them in place, and when he finally succeeded in making it move, the entire formation went and collapsed, the spirits dispersing in various directions.


    Grizz was watching Orou struggle with amusement, though his brow was a bit furrowed at the sight of the ribbon. Grizz started laughing at the sight of Orou¡¯s spell collapsing and Orou shot him a deadly glare, still angry at his failure.


    ¡°That reminds me of my younger brother trying to cast spells. I never had the talent for magic and I could never sense mana, but all of us used to laugh and tease him about him being unable to conjure a single flame in the air. Despite that, he was still the most talented ape in our family in terms of magic.¡± Grizz started reminiscing about his past, his mood drastically taking a dip. Orou¡¯s ears perked up when he mentioned something about magic and Orou would have loved to ask him what the formation for the flame spell was, but unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t communicate with Grizz.


    Looking out the window, he noticed that the sun was setting, and he realized that he was quite hungry. He had spent the entire night observing the feast and today, he spent his time practicing spells. His thoughts wandered over to Aria¡¯s previous introduction and he recalled that she had mentioned something about a warehouse with food. He would have gone out hunting himself but when he was approaching the village, he noticed that the closer he approached, the fewer animals he could find. Likely, he would have to travel out several days out of the village, and if he did that, he wouldn¡¯t be able to observe Grizz and the rest of the beastmen.


    Figuring that this might be a good time to go and visit the warehouse, Orou started to slowly lower himself out of the window. Grizz didn¡¯t say anything to Orou as he did and after looking to the right and making sure there was no one there, he got out of the building. He had circled the entire town both from the inside and the outside and he knew where the warehouse was, so getting there was no problem. The beastmen were as active as they were during the day, it almost seemed to Orou like they didn¡¯t tire. Orou wondered if that was the result of the feast or something else as he slowly made his way over to the warehouse.


    The unfortunate thing about the warehouse was that it had a single entrance by the front, and the front was exposed for everyone to see. From what Orou saw, the door was closed opening it would be quite a difficulty for Orou, seeing that he had no hands. Thinking about it for a moment, Orou decided to simply wait there and wait for someone to enter the warehouse and use the cover of darkness to sneak into the warehouse.


    He had to wait a surprising amount of time before someone arrived next to the warehouse. He heard a clicking sound and some groaning which signalled him it was time for action. The sun had completely set and there wasn¡¯t any magical lighting so Orou wasn¡¯t worried about being noticed, though he still wasn¡¯t sure if beastmen could see in the dark.


    Slithering over to the front, he saw a large beastman with brown fur push the doors open. The beastman finally opened the door and stepped inside and that was when Orou acted. He slithered inside and went directly to the right in order to avoid being spotted by the beastman. Orou wasn¡¯t sure what he expected, but it was a huge storage area housing food and numerous crates with different labels. Hiding behind one of the crates, he started to flicker his tongue and look around for any food to be found.


    As the beastman continued walking forwards, Orou spotted a preserved carcass of a deer next to the beastman. He started to slowly slither behind the various boxes, slowly approaching the carcass. The thought of eating the beastman crossed his mind, they were completely alone and no one would know that Orou killed him, but he tossed the thought out of his mind. It was too risky and he wanted to remain in this village for a few more days, who knew if he had to kill a few beastmen towards the end of his stay, just to know what they tasted like.


    The beastman was looking back and forth as he approached a crate, Orou could clearly tell the beastman was nervous about something, but he was unsure about what. After a few more seconds of checking his surroundings, the beastman started to slowly and carefully open the crate, and that¡¯s when Orou decided to snatch the carcass. He dragged it behind some crates and fully opened his mouth, devouring it in less than a minute. He hated to do this, but Orou didn¡¯t want to be spotted and if the beastman went out and locked the door, he would be stuck here for quite a while.


    As Orou prepared to exit, he heard a clinking noise. Orou¡¯s curiosity got the better of him as he turned around and started heading back towards the beastman. Hiding behind another pair of boxes, he saw the beastman taking out a bottle of some sorts. The bottle was housing some sort of red liquid and the beastman looked very paranoid about taking this bottle. He carefully placed it down and started taking out another, and then another. When he was placing down his 4th bottle, Orou decided to approach him closer and inspect the liquid. Besides that it was red and the bottle was corked, he couldn¡¯t tell much more.


    Maybe it was a foolish action, but Orou was determined to take a bottle and examine it closer, after all, learning new things was the entire reason he was in this village. The beastman was taking out another bottle when Orou decided to move. He quickly rushed to the spot where the beastman had placed down the bottles and he placed the entire bottle horizontally inside of his mouth, using his fangs to keep it from falling out. He didn¡¯t stick around to see the beastman¡¯s reaction, darting behind several crates and disappearing out of view.


    Still holding the bottle in his mouth, he quickly escaped from the warehouse and started to head back to Grizz¡¯s house. He didn¡¯t see any more beastmen wandering the streets so he didn¡¯t make much of an effort to hide, excitedly making his way back in order to experiment with the new thing he found.


    Arriving back at Grizz¡¯s house, he didn¡¯t enter through the window slit but instead prompted to coil upon the ground and think about what to do with this bottle. He didn¡¯t have to think much, he wanted to examine the liquid and the only way for Orou to get the liquid out of the bottle was to smash it. Without much hesitation, he raised himself up and simply dropped the bottle he was holding in his mouth. The glass shattered and the red liquid spilled everywhere, releasing an intoxicating smell. It smelled of sweet fruits and sugar, and although Orou primarily ate meat, his mouth salivated at the thought of tasting this.


    He slowly lowered his head next to the puddle of liquid and he did what any reasonable snake would do, that is, taste the liquid. It was sweet beyond wildest imaginations, but Orou enjoyed it in its entirety. The rest of what happened was a haze, the only thing Orou remembered was a dream of colors, honey and nectar sweet beyond belief, a field filled with multicolored flowers. The dream was hazy and hard to remember, but it was as sweet as the liquid itself...

 Hazy Mind

    Orou woke up lying on the ground behind Grizz''s house. The puddle of liquid and the shards of glass that covered the ground were gone. His head was pounding as if someone had hit him in the head with a hammer and as he looked around and observed his surroundings, he realized that it was mid-day already. His thoughts were a bit sluggish and it was hard to move, but somehow, he forced himself to raise his body and enter through the window slit.


    He had trouble steadying himself, but once he did, he realised that Grizz wasn''t there. He tried thinking about where he could have gone, but Orou''s head was hurting too much. He tried his best to recall what happened last night, but all that he remembered was a haze after he drunk the liquid. He wouldn''t mind taking a few more drinks if it meant to experience to that dream again, but then again, seeing in what state he was in made his hesitant about any future drinks.


    The longer he continued to sprawl on the floor the better his condition became. He felt the waves inside of him alleviating the headache, but not by much. It was like something was temporarily obstructing the waves from clearing his headache, though they could reach the rest of his body just fine. Even though he wasn''t feeling great, the impulse to practice his spells wasn''t impeded by a headache, but try as he might to control the spirits, it was simply impossible with his current state.


    The rest of the day wasn''t productive for Orou, he had planned to further investigate every building, but he simply couldn''t in his condition. Grizz arrived back in a few hours, his hands covered with dirt and the exhaustion clearly spelled out on his face. Seeing Orou slightly alleviated his mood, a smile on his face as he sat down next to him.


    "I can''t believe they made me work so hard. You wouldn''t expect this from beastmen of high purity, but this is a village of exiles after all. I can see the benefit of becoming feral if it means having as much stamina as those guys," Grizz sighed and started complaining to Orou. He listened in hopes of gleaning any new information from Grizz, but all this served was to bring up more questions.


    "You went drinking last night eh? I found you lying in a pool of dream-wine, clearly drunk beyond belief. That stuff is expensive and you only take a single glass don''t you know?" Grizz continued speaking to Orou, not expecting an answer back. The exhaustion from earlier was gone as he continued making fun of Orou, which was only making Orou''s headache worse.


    "What kind of a dream would an animal even have? I''ve never tried feeding dream-wine to my pets." As Grizz continued talking to himself, Orou was half tempted to get another bottle simply to laugh at the beastman when he gets completely drunk, but after this incident, he didn''t want anything to do with the wine.


    Eventually, Orou had enough of Grizz''s babbling. He simply wouldn''t stop talking and although he was a wonderful source of information, Orou simply wasn''t capable to process all the information given to him, especially considering his current state. Not minding Grizz''s shouts of Orou abandoning him, he lowered himself down the side of the building with less grace than he wanted and moved to a building where he had a clear line of sight to the town centre. Positioning himself so he could comfortably relax, he coiled up and stared at the town centre, waiting for night to fall.


    Orou observed children playing and their mothers chasing after them, reprimanding them. He heard shouts and groans of beastmen in the distance, but from what Grizz had said, they were either doing manual labor like chopping wood or sparring with each other. There were designated hunting parties that were out hunting some meat both to have a stockpile of food and to prepare for another feast, but Grizz wasn''t sure how they were leaving the village when a barrier was surrounding it.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Although Orou didn''t really care, for Grizz it was a huge lead and he promised Orou to learn more about the hunting parties and if possible, escape using that way. Orou had a lot of time to think while he was waiting for night, so he pondered if he should go with Grizz once he leaves the village. If Grizz could get him further into the beastman kingdom, he was all for it. Besides, it was like having a mobile source of food ready to be eaten at any time, in case of an emergency.


    He continued contemplating the pros and cons of leaving with Grizz as the sun finally set. The children were ushered in and slowly, the activity died down. Orou waited until he could no longer hear a single noise before he started to move. Even though it was dark, Orou didn''t simply slither down the middle of the road, instead opting to dart between shadows and stick to buildings for easier escape.


    His head had cleared enough for him to finally gather some spirits and guide them to his eyes. He saw the familiar blue shape of the spirits and he decided to use this night in order to properly scour this village using his spirit sight, looking for any anomalies. He started from the eastern gate and zigzagged through the village, looking above and below him, searching for any anomalies.


    Before he could even get to the village centre, he noticed a few vibrations approaching closer to him. From the looks of it, it was a group of more than four, but it was difficult to pick out how many were there exactly. Darting behind the corner of a building, he slowly poked his head out and waited for the sources of the vibration to arrive in order to judge how to proceed next.


    Five beastmen were walking down the road and whispering to each other. A few chuckles and even more grimaces could be seen on their faces as they seemed to be engrossed in conversation. By their sides were metal swords and while they weren''t wearing any armor, they looked more experienced than the regular beastman simply based on the way they walked, forming a similar formation to the one he had seen Tjord''s group use.


    They seemed to walk fine in the darkness without any light, but it could be simply because it was a well travelled and familiar route. Either way, it didn''t stop Orou from slowly moving to their backs and following them from behind, hoping to glean any new and interesting information. Keeping a good distance just in case the spotted him, Orou hopped from one shadow to another and got into ear-shot of the ongoing conversation.


    "That''s not funny, how long do you think we can continue living like this, it''s bound to change soon," a beastman with a horn he didn''t recognise slightly pushed his companion, a grimace on his face as he wasn''t the only one not laughing at something his companion had said beside him.


    "I''d reckon we have a month left of this before the barrier finally cracks. I''ve got a wife and two kids, I don''t know if I can join Vaar in his upcoming campaign." The beastman with a slightly warped face spoke to the man next to him. The mood of the group shifted as he continued speaking: "Of course, you''re free to join him but honestly, I don''t believe he will succeed against, he''s going against the king himself."


    "Where will you live if Vaar doesn''t succeed? There''s no place for ferals like us in beastmen society and Vaar hopes to change it. Besides, I don''t think you have that much more time left to decide. Vaar told that he has news from Belor and that we need to find the snake that was here a few days ago, if Tjord and his group succeed on finding it, we might be out of here before we know it." As the beastman said that, Orou got a bit worried. He didn''t know why Vaar needed him and what Vaar would do if he found him.


    "We''re up against impossible odds. I haven''t heard the latest news from Solus but they always have an army stationed near the border. If we somehow manage to get past it, the news will surely travel to the king. I don''t doubt for a second he would mobilize the rest of his forces to crush us, not to mention that he himself would participate in combat." The beastmen argued fiercely over which side to take until eventually, they reached the western wall.


    "I hope you can join us." With those words, the group of beastmen dispersed, leaving Orou all alone to contemplate about what he had just heard.

 A Deal

    While the information he got was a lot to handle at once, he didn¡¯t give up on his original task. He kept his eyes open for any unusual spirit activity around the village. Even after continuing his task for an hour and scouring the entire village, he saw nothing wrong with spirits. The only thing unusual was that he couldn¡¯t see a barrier around the town. He had clearly seen one appear when Grizz came into the village, but now that he was searching for it, it was nowhere to be found.


    Turning back to look at the town centre, he decided to slither back to Grizz¡¯s house, perhaps simply to think about what the beastmen said. Using his usual route of slithering behind buildings, he used to window slit to slither into Grizz¡¯s house. Grizz was sleeping on his bed, though Orou noticed that he was tossing and turning with a grimace on his face, almost falling out of the bed at one point.


    What Grizz did in his sleep was no concern to Orou. He slithered to a corner and lay down, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of what Vaar might want of him. The first thought on his mind was about the possibility of him getting captured. Although Grizz didn¡¯t react negatively to the collar around his neck, that didn¡¯t mean the rest of the beastmen wouldn¡¯t.


    Thoughts about leaving this place crossed his mind, but he still had yet to investigate the barrier and if he left now, he wouldn¡¯t have Grizz as a guarantee that he could enter the beastman kingdom. His mind was conflicted on the topic of leaving, but eventually, he decided to stick around for a few days and simply practice spells. Inspecting a ¡°feast¡± closer and clearly seeing how Vaar controlled the red ribbon held greater sway over him than getting potentially captured.


    Looking outside to see how dark it was, Orou decided to sneak out of the village and test his new spell on any animals he could find. Unlike Grizz, he had no issue getting out of the village by simply slithering over the wall. It took him most of the night to find a single animal around these surroundings and Orou wasn¡¯t sure why he couldn¡¯t find any decent meal. Perched on a tree was a single bird, cheerily chirping away as the sun started to rise.


    He snuck up on the bird perching on a tree branch and started to conjure the ribbon right on the bird, hoping it didn¡¯t escape as he was conjuring the ribbon. Fortunately for Orou, the bird didn¡¯t fly off before he was done with the formation and when ribbon did appear, the bird¡¯s chirping turned into cries of pain and the cries turned into silence. The bird fell out of the tree branch and a withered corpse was lying on the ground, completely sucked of its blood.


    Although the test was successful, there was an issue was with him moving the ribbon. After Vaar had cast it, he returned it back to himself but there was no way for Orou to do that, it would simply collapse again. Another issue was that Vaar¡¯s ribbon didn¡¯t seem to such out blood, or if it did, it didn¡¯t do it that rapidly or else the beastmen would have been screaming in pain. He wasn¡¯t sure what the issue is, but he felt like this would be much more useful to him in combat.


    He returned back to the village before any of the beastmen woke up and he contemplated entering Grizz¡¯s house. If he was as chatty in the morning as he was yesterday, Orou would soon have another headache. He was taking a gamble here by entering Grizz¡¯s house, but when he entered, he saw that Grizz was still asleep. Perhaps he was expecting something more when he returned, but this suited him perfectly fine. Orou salivated as he observed Grizz but he had to stop himself before he could take any action.


    He had days to burn with nothing to do but practice spells, so that¡¯s exactly what he started to do. The time between breaks became shorter the more he practiced conjuring the red ribbon, most of his practice was staring at the red ribbon desperately trying to make it move and failing. He had finally gotten the ribbon to move more than a centimeter forward when Grizz¡¯s scream disrupted his focus and his ribbon shattered.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Grizz¡¯s scream could have been caused by either a ribbon or a nightmare, but Orou didn¡¯t care. He had finally made some progress only for Grizz to disrupt it and he was absolutely fuming with anger. As Orou was staring down Grizz, he slowly got out of bed and laughed, petting Orou despite Orou glaring daggers at him.


    ¡°Did I scare you big snake? Don¡¯t be so angry now,¡± despite having woken up with a start, he was still happily grinning at Orou. He was showing his white teeth in response to Orou and after a few more minutes of playing around, he said his goodbyes to Orou and headed out, mumbling something about today being the day.


    Practicing spells was a hard and arduous process, it even seemed mindless, repetitive and boring at times to simply cast the same spell again and again with no success, but Orou took great pleasure in being able to command an extra one or two spirits at a time when he started the casting process anew. He experimented with the formations for all day, trying to find a way to finally move the ribbon easier and indeed, he found out that making it completely straight was simply hindering his ability to move it. Although it was much easier to construct a straight formation, when he finally managed to make all the spirits stop in their right places, a curved ribbon practically flew in the air, for a few seconds at least.


    Jovial about his success, he realised that it had been half a day already. The sun was slowly setting and Grizz would be returning soon. Orou was sure that his progress would shock Grizz, so he couldn¡¯t wait to show off. His prediction wasn¡¯t far off as soon Orou heard footsteps approaching. Lifting his head slightly and flickering his tongue, he stared at the door expecting Grizz to return.


    Grizz did return, but he was not alone. By his side was a beastman about twice his height, carrying a cane in his right hand. Vaar¡¯s gray and yellow fur was fluttering in the wind as he ducked to enter the house, a toothy grin on his face. As soon as he entered, Orou got the same feeling of danger he got from Dawn, if not even more oppressing. By reflex, he started conjuring the red ribbon in the air and he did it with practiced ease despite having only learned it two days ago.


    ¡°I know that you can understand what I¡¯m saying, so listen up. I have my own contacts in Belor and I¡¯ve heard about what you can do, so let¡¯s make a deal.¡± Vaar¡¯s imposing voice rang in Orou¡¯s ears as he was still in the middle of conjuring the ribbon. His actions slowed down a bit as he thought about the deal Vaar was proposing to him, but he was almost done with the formation and the feeling of danger that Vaar gave him made Orou instinctively retaliate like a cornered animal.


    A red ribbon appeared above Orou¡¯s head and moving in the air with extraordinary speed and grace, it shot towards Vaar. Both Grizz and Vaar were shocked, though the reason for their shock was completely different. With a slight smile on his face, Vaar lifted his cane in the air and the line engraved on the cane started glowing. In spirit sight, Orou saw the cane absorbing any spirits in the surrounding area, creating a sort of whirlwind of spirits.


    The line expanded to cover the entirety of the cane before the line started to creep up Vaar¡¯s arm. In almost no time his entire arm was covered in all kinds of lines, both straight and scribbled. As the ribbon fluttered in the air and rapidly approached Vaar, he lifted his cane up to meet the ribbon. As soon as the ribbon touched the cane, it completely stopped in place and the lines that had reached Vaar¡¯s shoulder all started rushing towards the ribbon. The place where the lines touched the ribbon rapidly dissipated, Orou saw in his spirit vision that the lines were devouring the spirits, the rest of the spirits almost fleeing in terror from the lines.


    As if not having had their fill, they dropped down to the floor and started travelling through the wooden floor, leaving marks of decay on the wood as they rapidly approached Orou. His mind was paralyzed by fear, but deep inside of him he felt something familiar about these lines. Before they could reach Orou, they seemed like they were cut off by something invisible and after squirming around for a few seconds, they returned back to the cane.


    ¡°So, have you come to your senses yet? I shall not make you return back to your owner nor will I kill you, I simply need your help to break the barrier binding us to this place.¡± Vaar lowered his cane and spoke to Orou in a calm demeanor as if nothing had happened.


    ¡°I shall give you a night to consider, though I do not recommend fleeing as bad things tend to happen to those that disobey my will,¡± with those words Vaar turned around and started walking away, his cane tapping against the ground.

 Cracking The Barrier

    As soon as Vaar left, Orou turned to glare at Grizz who was nonchalantly sitting on his bed, seemingly completely oblivious to what just happened. Seeing that Grizz was simply ignoring him, Orou slithered closer to him and bared his fangs, letting out a menacing hiss in the process. That seemed to do the trick as he turned his head only to see Oros fangs a few centimetres off his face. He visibly recoiled and withdrew his head to get some distance between the two of them.


    ¡°Look, you can¡¯t blame me for this. Vaar said that I could leave in a few days if I found a snake with a collar on his neck.¡± Grizz shrugged as he nervously looked at Orou, awaiting any immediate action from him. The only thing he got from Orou was a cold stare.


    ¡°He promised you that he wouldn¡¯t return you back to your master or kill you, I don¡¯t see what the problem here is, everyone benefits here.¡± The staredown continued for a few seconds before Grizz broke the eye contact and started speaking again. Orou determined a hint of hesitation in his words as he continued staring at Grizz. He wasn¡¯t satisfied with the answer Grizz had given him, but he didn¡¯t know what he wanted to hear from him.


    After Grizz had made it clear that he wouldn¡¯t speak anymore, Orou started to slowly back down. He had to use all of his willpower to keep the urge of eating Grizz down and still he couldn¡¯t bear the sight of him. After that, he started to seriously consider Vaar¡¯s offer. He could easily stop Orou¡¯s spell and the sense of danger Orou got from him was overwhelming, but that¡¯s exactly what scared Orou. The offer was reasonable as long as Orou stood a chance to escape, but if Vaar decided that he wanted Orou gone after he had done his task, he could most likely do just that.


    He had a single night to think over the pros and cons of this deal, and if he decided to bolt, he had to do it while the sun was still down. Although Orou knew that this deal was potentially very dangerous, it was hard to rationalise turning it down. The possibility of him killing Orou or capturing and bringing him to Dawn was reasonably high, but if Orou had figured it out correctly, he would have an opportunity to observe the barrier and how to break such a thing. He also wanted to observe the black lines that destroyed his spell and devoured the spirits and how he could obtain the ability to conjure these lines.


    Orou¡¯s mind was undecided, but it didn¡¯t take long for morning to come as Orou was lost in his own thoughts. His greed for knowledge got the better of him and in the end, he decided that he would comply to Vaar¡¯s request, fleeing if anything goes terribly wrong. Grizz still hadn¡¯t woken up and Orou was simply staring at the ceiling, returning back to practicing the red ribbon spell when the door to the outside burst open. Grizz jumped out of his bed in surprise and once he saw who it was at the door, he meekly sat down on the bed and decided to keep silent.


    Vaar had come early morning for Orou, and Orou had not disappointed him. Vaar seemed to be in a jovial mood, his footsteps faster than the night before, the rhythm of his cane tapping the ground resembled a cheery song as he stepped into the house.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve decided to stay here. Let us waste no time and head straight to the barrier, the sooner you complete your task the better it will be for everyone,¡± Vaar¡¯s voice was as imposing as before, but Orou could sense that he bore no ill will towards him. That didn¡¯t make Orou less scared of him, but it made him refrain from fleeing through the window the first chance he got. Very hesitantly, Orou started to follow Vaar who didn¡¯t even look at Grizz and had started to walk out of the village and towards the eastern gate. Everywhere he went the beastmen would greet him with respect in their eyes and only after he left would they return to their tasks.


    While Orou was overshadowed by Vaar¡¯s imposing grace, some of the beastmen had noticed him following Vaar. They didn¡¯t have any fear in their eyes as they looked at Orou, perhaps only sympathy as they saw the collar around his neck. At least from looking at their eyes, Orou could tell that they didn¡¯t think of him as anything unusual. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the reaction of humans, who had tried to avoid him like he was the plague whenever they could.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    They made their way through the village and finally arrived at the gate. Vaar stopped himself right next to the gate and opened it, revealing the way deeper into the beastmen kingdom. He slowly moved his hand until it was right next to the gate, the next moment his finger was touching a gray barrier. It surrounded the entirety of the village, most likely catching a few beastmen by surprise. Orou had already prepared his spirit vision and he was intently observing the surroundings, waiting to see how the barrier formed.


    Surprisingly, the barrier formed from the point Vaar touched, his finger being intercepted by a spirit. In no time at all, a sort of spider web formed out of spirits surrounded the entirety of the village. The spirits were all connected by a blue thread that resembled the spirits themselves, the village resembled a gigantic cocoon wrapped by an even larger spider.


    Orou had a burst of inspiration, what if you could mold the spirits into various shapes, what could you accomplish then? Deciding to give it a try, he located a nearby spirit and called it to himself. After willing it to stop, he imagined the spirit elongating until it turned into a string floating in the air. For the first time, Orou felt the spirit resisting his will. Orou struggled and pushed against the spirit with all his might, but it simply wouldn¡¯t budge. He imagined every possible way for the spirit to be deformed, but each time it stubbornly resisted Orou¡¯s will, unwilling to change into anything else.


    Bummed out about his failure, he returned back to the strings connecting the spirits, hoping to glean anything more from them. The string was blue and thin, but the longer Orou observed the string the more it seemed like it was a single string wrapping around all of the spirits and holding them together. Orou¡¯s eyes glimmered in fascination as he continued to observe the string.


    ¡°This is the part where you come in. I need you to find the weak spots in the barrier, whether it is some flaw in the barrier or simply a place where the spirits are less dense.¡± As Orou continued inspecting the strings, Vaar¡¯s voice cut off his train of thought and pointed out the task in front of him. Orou still wasn¡¯t sure how this barrier was obstructing Vaar, the string seemed like it might snap at any time. Deciding to give it a shot, Orou used his tail to simply slam against the barrier and observe what happened. As soon as his tail slammed into the barrier, Orou saw the string vibrate slightly before dispersing all the impact on it.


    Simply marvelling at the barrier in front of him, Orou started to walk around the barrier, hoping to spot any flaws in the barrier. He circled the entire village multiple times with Vaar following behind him, closely inspecting the distance between the spirits and for any spots where the string didn¡¯t connect two spirits. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack and he had to circle it three times in order to find a spot where a spirit was missing. The thread was still there, but with enough force, you might be able to snap it seeing that it didn¡¯t have the support of a spirit.


    Although Orou was a bit hesitant about how Vaar would do this, he used his tail to tap a spot near the northern wall, a bit up in the air. Apparently, Vaar got the message he was trying to convey because as soon as he did that, Vaar tapped his cane against the ground and soon after, a whirlwind of spirits came rushing in. The ones that were secured by the string weren¡¯t affected, though he could see the whole barrier shaking a bit as the cane¡¯s magic started taking effect.


    Now that Orou was much closer to Vaar, he saw a hint of a formation inside of the cane, along with something else entirely different. He wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but soon after, the lines began spreading across the cane, slowly crawling up his arm, his shoulder and soon after, it covered the entirety of his body. Vaar was writhing in pain and could barely lift his cane up in the air, but when it touched the barrier, the lines that were crawling on his body started to dissipate into the barrier, like an ink dripped onto a blank canvas.


    In spirit sight, Orou saw the lines gnawing at the thread and devouring the spirits around, but while they could remove the support of the thread, they couldn¡¯t completely destroy it. The barrier soon began to restore itself, the thread drew in more spirits and trapped them, only for them to be devoured by the lines fighting the strings.


    While the stalemate continued, Vaar finally took action. Orou saw a faint glow surrounding his fist, but looking at it with his spirit sight, there was no formation there. A single punch was all that it took for the barrier to collapse, like a glass dome shattering piece by piece. He saw the string holding together the entire barrier snap in two, the spirits that were once held by the string were desperately fleeing the lines which were now feasting on the spirits mid-air.


    ¡°Finally, I am free.¡± Vaar¡¯s shout reverberated through the entire village, a chorus of howls joined his shout.


    ¡°Just you wait, I¡¯ll get my revenge,¡± Vaar whispered to himself, his face twisted in an unusual grin, smiling and cackling to himself.

 Free!

    Vaar slowly calmed down after shouting on top of his lungs, the lines in the air unwillingly returning back to the cane in his hand. The spirit strings had already dispersed and the spirits returned back to their positions, the way to the outside free now for every beastman wishing to leave. Vaar looked over to Orou, pondered something for a few seconds and finally, said something that surprised Orou.


    ¡°You¡¯ve done well, what do you think about joining me in my conquest? Your talents would be very useful in the upcoming battles.¡± Although it was an interesting proposition, he didn¡¯t have any interest in staying together with Vaar for any longer, not to mention if there wasn¡¯t any magic to be seen in the near future. Orou responded by simply hissing at Vaar and turning around to leave, hoping that he wouldn¡¯t break his side of the deal. Turning his head around, he saw Vaar heading towards the village centre, where a large crowd had already formed.


    Orou¡¯s first interest was to find Grizz and then get the hell out of this place, his mind was already set on exploring deeper into the beastman kingdom and seeing what secrets he could uncover. As Orou made his way to the house, he saw Grizz excitedly packing what few things he had with him, his face becoming even more jovial when he saw Orou.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m free so soon, I thought I would have to stay here for a few years at least.¡± He let out a sigh of relief and after making sure the house was devoid of any of his belongings, he started heading out of the house, relishing his new found freedom and basking in the sun.


    Grizz¡¯s emotions changed on the fly, one moment he could he grieving and the other he could be jumping in joy, which was what was happening currently. His expression turned weird when he saw the crowd of beastmen surrounding the town centre and Vaar slowly approaching them.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been imprisoned here for years on end, our families have likely forgotten about us. If we returned back, they would spit on us, the rest of the society would despise us, treat us like outcasts. The king would ship us out to some other shithole, leaving us to rot away in the middle of nowhere!¡± Vaar stood in the middle of the village centre, surrounded by every beastman in the village looking at him, their eyes glimmering with hope.


    ¡°We will not be despised by those who abandoned us, we will not be shamed for our choices and we will not be oppressed!¡± He continued, his voice becoming louder and louder, practically shouting by the end of the sentence. The beastmen were restless, some had gripped their swords tightly, continuing to stare at Vaar.


    ¡°I will lead us to overthrow King Azal and carve out a place in the world where we can live without worrying for our safety, a place where we can embrace our blood and not have to worry about keeping our emotions in check.¡± His voice was both royal and imposing, practically resembling a king speaking to his subjects evoking emotions long suppressed from the beastmen.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°We will force the beastmen to acknowledge us and fear us, to learn how to respect us. Join me and together, we will take what¡¯s rightfully ours!¡± The entire village was drowned in chants and shouts, yells and cries of excitement. Vaar¡¯s roar was deafening and the roars that accompanied it were even more guttural and filled with emotion. The commotion lasted for a long time and Vaar did nothing to stop it, further enticing them to discuss with each other and showcase their emotions.


    Even Orou was forced to admit that this would make this blood boil if he was a beastmen, but he wasn¡¯t. It was an impressive spectacle and Orou was excited to hear more details about why they were here, but this didn¡¯t change his mind on leaving this village. Grizz had a scowl on his face, his disdain for the beastmen here was evident, no longer masked as it was before.


    ¡°A kingdom of ferals, what a joke. Even if they did somehow overthrow the current king, they would tear themselves apart in no time. If Vaal doesn¡¯t plan on regulating their emotions, what happens once they let loose and start eating each other? A bunch of savages, nothing more.¡± Perhaps now that he had no more bindings to this village, he could say what was truly on his mind, his voice drawing a few heated glances from the edge of the crowd. Grizz nervously looked over to Orou and beckoned him over, pointing towards the western exit and hastening his step.


    Orou gave Vaar one more conflicting look before turning back to Grizz and quickly slithering next to him, his fangs bared at anyone who dared to glare at them. That seemed to dissuade any action towards them as they returned back to discussing the revolution. Orou expected some protests against them leaving, but as they passed through the western gate, they encountered no resistance.


    ¡°Do you know how hard it was for me to try and befriend them, I¡¯d rather die than be branded as a feral again,¡± Grizz spoke with seething anger in his voice which made Orou wonder if he was truly feral or not. Vaar spoke about them keeping their emotions in check, but Grizz wasn¡¯t doing an awfully good job of either. It didn¡¯t matter as long as he could safely travel the beastman kingdom and it wasn¡¯t like Grizz held any chance of killing him either.


    Orou could hear the chatter even up until the point where the village was no longer in sight. Grizz breathed a heavy sigh of relief and surprisingly, brought out a map from one of his pockets. When Grizz caught Orou staring at the map, he simply squatted down and let Orou inspect it together with him. The map wasn¡¯t that big, showcasing two territories divided by a massive forest and multiple cities on the edge of it.


    ¡°This is where we are, we need to pass through the border, through the town of Lium and head further north-east. That¡¯s where Onilia, my place of birth and one of the five large cities of Solus is located.¡± He pointed his finger to a red spot on the map with a marking underneath, dragging his finger to the east, he pointed at the edge of the forest and then further north-east, deeper into Solus.


    ¡°I knew this would be useful one day, I stole it from my brother a while ago and I¡¯ve kept it ever since.¡± Grizz laughed and rolled up the map, placing it back in his pocket, he looked over to Orou and continued: ¡°I¡¯m not sure how I¡¯ll get you across the border, but I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll think of something. I have my contacts in Lium, probably could have saved me from going here if I had more time.¡± He scratched his head and pet Orou¡¯s, his footsteps much more energetic than before. While Orou wasn¡¯t particularly happy about Grizz¡¯s show of affection, he made do with his feelings and started following Grizz, letting him lead them towards Lium.

 The Tri-Beast

    Travelling through the forest was something Orou usually enjoyed, the joys of hunting and simply staying in the shadows drove him forwards deeper into the forest, but not this time. It hadn¡¯t been a day yet and Grizz was already whining, saying this and that about not being able to find any food and that they would starve soon if they didn¡¯t do anything. Orou didn¡¯t know how to explain it to him that there simply wasn¡¯t any prey near the village, so he had to constantly deal with the whining.


    Grizz wasn¡¯t fast by any means imaginable and Grizz would insist that Orou stuck close to him, or else he would get lost. Orou was sure that it would be the other way by the end of the day and Grizz was using him as a guide to not get lost and wander in circles. They spent the entire day walking, not even stopping to rest during the day to practice spells. The distance they travelled was less than Orou could travel by himself in a single day and they had to stop travelling when the sun started setting, something about firewood, heat and sleep, things Orou wasn¡¯t usually worried about.


    While Grizz went off to gather various branches to make a fire, Orou started slithering around the campsite and making sure it was relatively safe, he couldn¡¯t have Grizz die after all that effort of breaking the barrier. It took quite a while for Grizz to find all that he needed so Orou used this moment of peace to once more practice the few spells he had learned. Simply by controlling multiple spirits at the same time, the process of creating the formation for the beam of light spell was both much quicker and a bit easier, he could fill in about 80% of the formation and he was getting close to the day he would be able to cast it.


    Orou was eager to test out the ribbon in actual combat, though he wasn¡¯t sure how effective it would really be. He controlled the ribbon in the air to fly all over the place as Grizz had put down everything burnable he could find and pulled out a piece of metal and a rock out of his pocket, Orou¡¯s concentration wavering a bit as he thought about how he didn¡¯t notice it before. He struck the two together to produce sparks to light the sticks on fire, but he wasn¡¯t doing a very good job of it. He was struggling to produce any sparks and even when he did, nothing caught on fire. It took about half an hour before he figured out how to use it and started a small campfire to warm himself.


    ¡°Stole this from one of the beastman¡¯s houses, it¡¯s crazy how they don¡¯t keep anything valuable in their homes, only stuff like this.¡± Grizz had a smug smile on his face as he warmed his hands by the small campsite.


    ¡°I even tried to sneak into Vaar¡¯s house, but he caught me on my first try. That¡¯s why I told him about you, who knows what he could¡¯ve done to me for that.¡± If there was a sliver of guilt in Grizz, Orou didn¡¯t see it on his face as he cheerfully started talking to Orou while looking for a decent spot of earth to sleep on. Orou¡¯s will was something to be reckoned at as he didn¡¯t send the ribbon to Grizz¡¯s side and simply made circles with it, the entire ribbon shaking at the verge of collapsing.


    While Grizz was staring at the fire, Orou was pondering about the issue of food. They had met no predators wanting to ambush them along the way, but he did see signs of animal habitation, more so than going west of the village. He was conflicted about going hunting for food or staying with Grizz and making sure he wasn¡¯t going to get eaten by any beasts lured by the fire. He pondered up until the point where Grizz started to go to sleep, finally deciding to stay with him. He would eat any beasts that attacked them in the night and rest in the meanwhile.


    While Orou didn¡¯t think anything was foolish enough to attack them, he turned out to be wrong. He heard faint footsteps in the distance, faint enough to think it was nothing to an untrained ear. This immediately raised Orou¡¯s alarm as he was no stranger to night ambushes, his head snapped to the direction of the footsteps and he saw a curious looking beast sneaking up to them. The beast was completely purple and had no fur to mention of, a tail that was shaped like a forked trident and two narrow, beady eyes hungrily staring at the sleeping Grizz.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    The purple beast hadn¡¯t noticed Orou being aware to its presence, so it continued to slowly sneak up to Grizz. Deciding to use this opportunity, Orou started to quickly shape the formation of the red ribbon, placing the formation directly above Grizz¡¯s head. The beast got uncomfortably close to Grizz, its sharp fangs out and ready to strike him at any moment, but before he got to sink his fangs into flesh, he was startled by a ribbon appearing above Grizz. That didn¡¯t cause it to flee, though it stopped in its place and cautiously looked at the ribbon simply floating there.


    What caused it to flee was the ribbon all of the sudden shooting out towards it like lightning, before the beast could react the ribbon had landed on its body and the beast let out a howl of agony, waking up Grizz in the process. The beast quickly jumped back and started running away from the ribbon, which chased the beast and lead it straight to Orou. As the beast was rapidly approaching, Orou could see that the skin which the ribbon touched was decayed and black blood was spilling from the beast¡¯s side.


    Orou wanted to see what would happen to the beast if it was completely wrapped in the ribbon, but it was quite a bit faster than the ribbon. Once the element of surprise was out, it could outmanoeuvre the ribbon, especially since Orou couldn¡¯t sharply turn corners or else his concentration would completely break. Despite that, the wound the ribbon has inflicted on the beast was slowing it down and it was rapidly approaching Orou¡¯s direction.


    The beast didn¡¯t notice the ribbon suddenly disappearing from view and it didn¡¯t notice Orou¡¯s wicked sharp fangs until they near its face. The beast couldn¡¯t stop itself in time to escape from the fangs that were approaching its neck, but the beast twisted its body in an unnatural way, Orou¡¯s fangs landing on its body instead of its neck. The skin was rubbery and it was hard to sink the teeth in, but Orou didn¡¯t relent and instead pushed down even harder, barely penetrating the skin and starting to release his venom into the beast.


    The purple beast roared in pain once more and to Orou¡¯s surprise, brought down the trident-like tail on his body. It was too late to dodge as his fangs were still in the beast¡¯s body and Orou was having difficulty extracting them from the rubbery flesh and skin. It struck his body straight on and the tail embedded deep in his flesh, digging deeper with each second. Just like how Orou was releasing venom into the beast, he felt that the tail was also pumping something into him, the sensation of having something running through your veins wasn¡¯t unfamiliar to Orou.


    Both of them tightly held on to each other, Orou¡¯s fangs in the beast¡¯s body and the beast¡¯s tail in Orou¡¯s body, it was a battle of endurance at this point. Orou was trying his best to constrict around the beast while it was trying to bite at Orou, both of them trying their best to survive at this moment. Orou felt himself become more sluggish as the waves inside of him tried their best to fight against the invading substance, but just as Orou was becoming weaker, the beast stopped struggling so much and Orou could see one of its limbs becoming limp.


    While the waves were doing their best to fight it off, the tail was not relenting one bit and continued to pump whatever venom it was into his body. Orou¡¯s vision went black for half a second before he regained himself and when he did, he saw Grizz approaching, his figure crouched low and a dagger in his hand. The beast couldn¡¯t spare Grizz a single glance as it was desperately fighting for its life and that was the last mistake it would ever make in its life.


    Grizz¡¯s dagger cleanly sunk into the heart of the beast, encountering almost no resistance as it did. He stabbed it a few more times in rapid succession, wielding the dagger as if he had done this for years. The beast¡¯s cries of pain became fainter as he continued stabbing it until it was no longer breathing, the beast¡¯s tail going limp inside of Orou¡¯s body.


    ¡°Damn it, what is a tri-beast doing so close to the border, you alright?¡± Grizz ran over to look at Orou and the grievous wound he suffered from the tail. Making his way further from the beast¡¯s corpse, Orou steadied himself and bore through the pain within his body to start casting another spell. It was difficult work controlling the spirits while wounded and with constant distractions, but he succeeded and soon, a light was surrounding the injury. He felt whatever venom that was rampaging within him dissipate, and the venom that was still left in his body was taken care of by the waves. The forest he was in was dangerous and Orou had nearly forgotten that because of his stay in the village and for that, he had almost paid for it with his life.

 Lium

    It was the next day and Grizz had rekindled the fire from last night. He was cooking one of the beast¡¯s leg while Orou was slowly digesting the rest of the body. He still didn¡¯t understand why he couldn¡¯t eat it raw, after all, the beastmen in the village did it. As Orou spent more time with Grizz, he could see many similarities between humans and beastmen, so why were there enslaved beastmen in the human kingdom?


    Grizz was singing some sort of song about travel and adventure while roasting the leg, but the words of the song were lost to Orou, while he was reflecting on yesterday¡¯s battle. If he was a bit more proficient in controlling the ribbon, he wouldn¡¯t even have to fight it himself and put himself in such a deadly situation. There was also the matter of Grizz¡¯s combat ability and if he actually knew how to fight, but Orou wouldn¡¯t like to find out at the price of Grizz¡¯s dead body.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get to eat such delicacies each day, Tri-beasts are uncommon this close to the town and even if one was spotted, they¡¯re tough enough to warrant people avoiding them, or rallying a group of soldiers.¡± Grizz interrupted Orou¡¯s thoughts mid-way as he started tasting the leg, it was a bit burnt on one side and undercooked on the other, but he was enjoying it nonetheless.


    They resumed their travels when Grizz finished eating, their pace slightly slower than yesterdays. Grizz, as usual, was complaining about something or other, about his sore back or his dirty hands, but it was the norm for Orou at this point. Ignoring Grizz¡¯s protests, Orou wandered off and started sneaking through the woods, still keeping an eye on Grizz. He was trying to locate any smaller prey and get away from Grizz¡¯s voice at the same time.


    Today the air was humid, but they were protected from the sun ray¡¯s thanks to the large trees. More and more cracks of sunlight fell onto them as they continued along the path, the area becoming less dense the further they went. Another uneventful day was on the verge of passing as the sun started setting. Orou had caught a rabbit for Grizz to eat and as Orou returned back to Grizz, he saw that Grizz was munching on some berries he had found while wandering off. Dropping the rabbit next to Grizz¡¯s feet, Orou was preparing for another spellcasting session when Grizz spoke to him.


    ¡°We should reach Lium tomorrow, but it might not be that easy to get you into the city. I¡¯ll need to sneak into the city and procure a few items before you can even be seen with me, so don¡¯t be surprised if I suddenly vanish. It shouldn¡¯t take more than a day, but you never know, that¡¯s why I¡¯m warning you now.¡± Grizz offered a few berries to Orou as he told him that, but Orou simply hissed at them. Orou could observe something for days on end, not to mention simply waiting for a day, so he threw Grizz¡¯s comment to the back of his head and started practicing his spells.


    The soft glow of the moon accompanied the red ribbon dancing in the air as Grizz went to sleep, the ribbon made circles in the air and flew through the air like a magnificent bird and before Orou even knew it, it was morning. As if entranced he had spent the entire night controlling the ribbon, enjoying the beautiful show no one but him could see. Orou was still in deep thought when Grizz started roasting the rabbit Orou caught earlier, his mind thinking about all the different nuances of controlling the ribbon.


    The trek through the forest ended during the 3rd day when Orou finally got a glimpse of a beastman city. The sky was cloudless and the sun was high in the sky, fully illuminating the city in full display. The city itself had no walls to speak of, tall buildings made from some sort of stone marked the edges of the city. The buildings looked pristine as if having been only recently built. Orou could see all sorts of beastmen, travelling in groups and chatting with each other. Multiple groups featured beastmen with the same sort of features, likely descended from a common beast. What immediately stood out to Orou was the fact that beastmen from one group didn¡¯t seem to approach other beastmen, only talking with their kinsmen and avoiding contact with others.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Surprisingly, travelling next to various beastmen were beasts, exactly like those he had seen in the forest. They weren¡¯t chained nor did they have any sort of collar on them, wolves, lions and panthers were freely wandering around the city while none of the beastmen spared them any second glances. Orou looked at Grizz for any explanation, but Grizz was already sneaking off in the direction of the city, a smile plastered all over his face. Orou sighed as best as a snake can sigh and started to move from tree to tree in order to see what else he could spot.


    The city wasn¡¯t as bustling as the human city, but it seemed on another level compared to it. All the buildings he saw were in pristine condition, the skill and the work required to construct each building was evident to even Orou. The beastmen walking around the city were decently dressed, most of them having some sort of weapon by their sides. Even the weapons were decorated and Orou mused that they probably wouldn¡¯t be too effective in combat. The city seemed a lot calmer and more peaceful than Belor, where every other person was shouting and advertising their wares.


    What truly surprised Orou was that beastmen regularly travelled in and out of the forest, one of them even nearly spotting Orou. The beastmen that went out weren¡¯t well armed, a single dagger or even nothing at all by their sides. How would they survive if a beast attacked them? Orou¡¯s mind wandered over to tracking one of them and seeing why they were going out, but then he remembered that he had to wait for Grizz.


    If Orou could speak, he would have grumbled about being forced to wait, but as he was, he was simply moving from one tree to another in search of any food. He saw all sorts of berries and trees bearing fruit at the edge of the forest, but he was having a bit of trouble finding any living beings. That being said, a beastman did just recently enter the forest, and all sorts of accidents happen in the forest.


    Orou seriously pondered about this issue, but Grizz¡¯s words rang in his ear and he rationalised to himself that he shouldn¡¯t eat beastmen until he was starving, after all, who knew what magic they used in this land and if someone would find out what he did. Still looking for food, he spent hours simply wandering close to the edge and looking for food while observing the beastmen that passed him. He saw a beastman with a pocket full of berries walking towards the city and a beastman coming back with a rabbit on his shoulder, munching on a carrot and being oblivious to the rest of the world around it.


    He finally couldn¡¯t resist an urge to follow one of the beastmen into the forest, but all that did was leave Orou disappointed. The beastmen wandered into the forest and came out a few minutes later, in his hands a wicker basket full of berries and fruits. Orou¡¯s mood slightly dropped, though he still wondered about how they didn¡¯t get attacked by beasts.


    Figuring it was about time to return back to his original position, Orou turned around and saw Grizz standing there, a grin even wider than when he entered the village on his face. In his hands, he held a single piece of paper and a small silver bell. Orou couldn¡¯t read any of the words, but the silver bell was quite interesting. Using his spirit vision, Orou could determine that a spirit dwelled inside of the bell and some form of formation was inscribed into the bell, though he couldn¡¯t make out what it was. The spirit seemed indifferent to its predicament, though spirits didn¡¯t really have emotions to base it off of.


    ¡°I¡¯m now an official beast tamer, that¡¯s what the paper here says at least. It would have been much easier in the future if I could get a shaman¡¯s permit, but those aren¡¯t readily available.¡± Grizz pointed at one bit of text that Orou couldn¡¯t understand and put the piece of paper away, he placed the bell on his palm and let Orou take a closer look at it, before continuing: ¡°This thing is to calm normal beasts down, though I¡¯m not sure it will work on you, seeing that you know magic and all.¡±


    Grizz had a mischievous smile on his face and all of the sudden, he rang the bell in his hand. The spirit inside moved with the bell and Orou could swear he heard the spirit almost talking to him, the voice in his hand calming him down and telling him that everything would be alright. He quickly shook his head and cleared his mind, his eyes still staring intently at the spirit.


    ¡°Thought so. Shall we enter the city then?¡± Grizz placed the silver bell into his pocket and started walking forwards, beckoning over for Orou to join him. Orou slithered over next to him and slowly, they started approaching the city.

 The Under City

    The distance between the city and the forest¡¯s edge was a mere few hundred meters and the two of them covered that distance in no time. Orou got more excited as he approached closer to the city, he had examined the city from the outside for hours on end, and finally, he had a chance to enter it to observe it closer and marvel at the things inside of it. Passing by one of the buildings on the edge of the city, they started to navigate between passageways of several buildings before finally, the view of the city was laid bare before them.


    The first thing that caught Orou¡¯s eye was a massive water fountain made of gray stone. On the stone itself were carvings of beastmen with scales, as well as various creatures with scales, long and thin just like Orou sitting on the beastmen¡¯s shoulders. A pair of beastmen were sitting on the stone, chatting with each other and nibbling on some fruit by their side. More groups of beastmen passed through this area, a few of them taking a few glances at Orou, but paying him no more mind upon seeing Grizz by his side.


    Simply comparing Belor and Lium, the two border cities at the edges of the forest, it was like a day and night comparison. Belor was a walled city constantly on guard, within the city itself were numerous people, constantly active and bustling, the shouting and clamoring on the streets could be heard at the other side of the city. Lium was a breath of fresh air from that, a city both lavish and quiet with people leisurely strolling around the city and enjoying the various luxuries of the city.


    While Orou was taking in the sights before him, Grizz¡¯s attention was on a completely different matter. He was looking at a building to the east of the water fountain, a building not as impressive as the ones at the edge of the city, but still relatively lavish compared to Belor¡¯s houses.


    ¡°The first step is to get rid of that collar of yours. I¡¯ve got an acquaintance in the lower city who deals with this sort of stuff, charges a price for freeing both beastmen and beast alike.¡± Grizz motioned over to the building he was looking at, but Orou was too busy looking at another scene that surprised him. He saw trees growing in the middle of the city and beastmen sitting there, occasionally plucking the fruit off of the trees. He even saw new saplings growing a bit off of the city centre. How could they properly grow trees in the middle of the city?


    As usual, Orou¡¯s curiosity got the better of him and he started slowly slithering over to the trees before he felt something tapping him on his head. Grizz pointed his finger at the building and said: ¡° I know this is interesting, but we¡¯ve got things to be doing. You can explore the upper city a bit later, but for now, let¡¯s get that collar removed.¡±


    Orou hissed in displeasure but grudgingly followed Grizz, who checked behind his back every few seconds in order to make sure that Orou hadn¡¯t run off. They passed the water fountain and walking by several buildings and Orou noticed that the buildings closer to the middle of the city were shorter and they seemed to be one shade lighter than the buildings near the forest. The two types of buildings were different from each other, but Orou wasn¡¯t sure why that was.


    They entered one of the shorter stone buildings that Grizz pointed to earlier. The interior of the building was unusual, to say the least, it seemed like a storefront, but without any of the wares or a person running the store. The place was shabby and run down, a lot different from how the exterior of the building looked. Grizz beckoned over to Orou and kneeled down behind the counter. Orou hadn¡¯t seen it before Grizz lifted it, but there was a trapdoor disguised as a floor panel, indistinguishable from any other floor panel in this building.


    Peering inside of the trapdoor, the only thing Orou could see were stone stairs leading downwards. Grizz sneezed as he peered his head down and using his hand as a support against the stone wall, he slowly started descending downwards. It was pitch black and Orou was surprised how Grizz didn¡¯t fall walking down the steps, but after several minutes of climbing down, Orou finally saw light coming from below.


    Slithering down the final set of stairs, Orou entered into a place that resembled a warehouse. Piles of scrap and various garbage were sorted into piles and on the floor was a beastman that resembled a rat tinkering with various metal pieces, loudly cursing to himself. He turned his head around at the sound of footsteps and placing down the metal in his hands, he stood up and clasped Grizz¡¯s hand.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Back so soon eh? Is this the reason you needed the permit and the bell? Quite an impressive specimen if I say so myself.¡± A gnarly voice spoke to Grizz while his two beady eyes examined Orou. Not giving Grizz a chance to speak, he continued: ¡°Are you here to participate in the arena? He looks like he could take on the top contenders.¡±


    ¡°It depends on when it starts, but most likely he won¡¯t participate. Besides, if this big guy doesn¡¯t want to participate, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.¡± Grizz shrugged and pointed at Orou who was still examining his surroundings before he continued: ¡° I¡¯m here to get the collar removed and speak with Tris. I won¡¯t be sticking around here for that long, I''ve got a few matters I need to deal with at home.¡±


    The two of them spoke to each other and reminisced about old times, but Orou wasn¡¯t interested in the conversation. His full attention was placed on the way this place was lit, that is, on the spirits simply floating around the area. In his spirit vision, he saw a spirit made from many different colors, shedding a bright light in a radius around it. It was made from several blue spirits, all packed together in a sphere of sorts. Orou had to wrack his brain for any recollection of this spirit and after a few minutes, he finally remembered where he had seen it. Dawn had created this spirit when she was healing people, using it in a spell to completely cure someone from a disease.


    While the two of them were busy talking to each other, Orou decided to try and use this spirit in his spells. He started with the most basic spell he knew, the ball of light. Willing the scintillating spirit was difficult and he could barely move it and make it stop, but eventually, he succeeded. He placed the spirit in the middle and started to surround it with rings made from regular spirits, deciding to make the ball a meter in diameter. He had done this countless times when practicing, so the formation was done in no time. The three circles started spinning around the scintillating spirit, and soon after, the spell took effect. Almost immediately, the entire room was drowned in light, interrupting the conversation and raising alarm from both of them. The ball of light seemed like a miniature sun at this point, it completely illuminated the entire room to the point of making one go temporarily blind.


    ¡°Damn you and your spellcasting,¡± Grizz shouted as he groped around for any sort of support, his eyes completely shut. Even Orou was avoiding looking at the ball of light, instead opting to move around it and in the direction of the exit of this warehouse. Both Grizz and the rat beastman followed in his steps, blindly looking around for the exit. After several minutes of struggling, all of them safely made their way out of the warehouse and into an entirely different city than the one above.


    As Grizz was closing the door behind them, Orou simply admired the sight before him. Countless spirits of the same nature were haphazardly floating around, illuminating the entire city for Orou to see. Various beastmen stared in surprise at the overwhelming light coming from the warehouse, but surprisingly, most of them seemed to expect this. Unlike beastmen above, those here mixed together and spoke to each other freely, most of them cackling and giggling at the sight before them.


    Taking his eyes off the beastmen, he noticed that the buildings around them were ancient, it was a surprise at how they hadn¡¯t crumbled yet. Both the craftsmanship and the stone used were completely different from the buildings above, even the oldest building he had seen in Belor couldn¡¯t compare to those he saw here. The most surprising thing here was the ceiling, it was naturally formed and it stretched on for tens of meters in height. Thanks to one of the spirits that had floated up to one of the stalactites, he saw bat-like creatures hanging from the stalactites up above. They were blue in color and much wings bigger than their entire body, one of the bats whom the spirit had floated up to waved his wing to shoo it off and returned back to sleep.


    All of this was a lot for Orou to take in. He spaced out for multiple seconds pondering on how one could even create a city like this while staring at the bats peacefully sleeping up above, undisturbed by the beastmen below them. Soon, the crowd dispersed and both Grizz and the rat beastmen were staring at Orou, who was oblivious to all of this.


    ¡°You can¡¯t blame him, my mouth was agape for hours on end when I first came to this place, it¡¯s truly a marvel of ancient times,¡± Grizz said to the beastman beside him and he simply shook his head and sighed.


    ¡°I suppose I needed to go out and get a few more materials anyways, do come back and visit me sometimes, I¡¯ve yet to show you my latest invention.¡± The rat beastmen spoke to Grizz while ignoring Orou, his tiny hands on his sides as he started wandering off after saying his goodbyes.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get going, there¡¯s plenty of more shocking things ahead for you to see.¡± Grizz tapped Orou on the head a few times before he started heading forwards, straight into the heart of the city.

 A Slave No More

    Orou forced himself to stop staring at the bats above and started slithering together with Grizz. The road that they were walking on was uneven stone, the same stone that made the rest of this underground city. As they continued walking the road, Orou noticed that while spirits were interesting, they weren¡¯t a reliable way of making sure the entire city was illuminated. They would float off and leave an entire chunk of the city completely dark and they had a tendency to float up and hang out together with the bats until they were shooed away.


    The under city had many resemblances to Belor, numerous shops and inns on every corner of the city, houses in various conditions and people walking around haphazardly. A fox-like beastman stood by a lavishly decorated building and winked to Grizz, to which he responded with a grin and a wave. Orou saw bottles of the same stuff he had once tasted, the dream-wine as Grizz called it being drunk by a few beastmen who immediately after closing their eyes and passing out on the street, the people around them simply ignoring them.


    The combination of flashy and crude signs being placed on ancient stone buildings was a new sight for Orou, though he was still bitter about the fact that he couldn¡¯t read any of them. As Orou continued examining the signs, they made their way past an inn and turned the corner to enter a back alley. Grizz took the lead and went quite a bit down this alleyway before eventually, he opened a door at the side of one of the buildings and slowly stepped in.


    ¡°We¡¯re currently closed, go and find a different place for all your spirit collar needs.¡± A loud shout could be heard coming from inside as Orou started to slither next to Grizz. As he entered the building, he saw a mole-like beastman sitting on a run-down couch, holding a cigar in his hands and making smoke rings in the air. He was clearly annoyed and dissatisfied by the sudden intrusion, but as soon as he saw Grizz he practically leaped in the air, almost dropping his cigar to the ground.


    ¡°Warn me before busting in like that Grizz,¡± the mole beastman hugged Grizz and heartily laughed before inviting Grizz to sit on the coach. He looked at Orou for a few seconds before spotting the collar and nodding to himself.


    ¡°Sorry that I¡¯m on such a short notice here Dar, but I need this collar gone and I need it gone before tomorrow.¡± Orou was surprised to see Grizz slightly embarrassed, he pointed to a room to the right of Orou and continued: ¡°We can catch up while you work, I¡¯ll even pay you this time.¡± Both of them laughed at that sentence and before Orou knew it, Dar entered the room and came back with a box full of various metal tools. He rummaged through it for a while before eventually, he pulled out a small hammer, some nails and a strange, curved instrument, completely flat with indentations in the middle of it


    ¡°This is for your own good, don¡¯t struggle and jerk around too much. If the pain gets very intense all of the sudden, don¡¯t panic and try to bear through it.¡± Dar was lecturing Orou like a child while he got prepared, Orou¡¯s spirit vision was already on but he saw nothing magical about Dar himself or the instruments he was wielding.


    Dar approached Orou¡¯s head and told him to not move his head as he stepped around Orou and started working on the collar. He felt something sliding along his scales and below the collar before he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck. Orou desperately tried to contain himself from turning around and eating Dar whole as he bore through the pain, but that was only the start of the pain.


    He heard the sound of metal striking metal right next to his ears which nearly deafened him, but more importantly, each time that something hit his collar, it would release a bit of whatever it was that had tortured Orou a month ago into his body. Orou¡¯s mind was filled with memories of him nearly dying thanks to this thing and while the pain was still manageable, he shuddered each time the collar injected something inside of him. The only good thing about this was the fact that Orou noticed the waves inside of him practically devour whatever was ravaging his body, clearly a notch above what they could do the previous time.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Both Grizz and Dar seemed to relax and nonchalant about the whole matter, chatting with each other and catching up for old time¡¯s sake. Orou was suffering each time the collar was hammered, why did he need it gone when it hadn¡¯t done him any harm in the beastman kingdom yet? Orou resentfully glared at Grizz, but he was ignoring whatever evil looks Orou gave him.


    A sudden sharp burst of pain came from inside of his body as he heard the collar hit the ground, releasing more of its vicious poison inside of him. His tail whirled around, not quite hitting Dar with its full force but definitely pushing him against the wall. Orou was no stranger to battles within his body, but it wasn¡¯t a pleasant feeling, to say the least. He felt powerless as the inside of is body was being corroded, the waves aggressively taking bites of the thing. It was over half a minute later, Orou¡¯s body worn down but finally, he was without a collar. The first thing he did was glare at Grizz, but he saw something that dissipated his anger almost instantly.


    In Grizz¡¯s hand was a small crystal shard, completely red in color. He was handing it over to Dar, but in Orou¡¯s irritation and sudden attraction to the crystal, he rushed over to snatch it from Grizz¡¯s hand. He successfully gobbled up the crystal, but in the process he crashed into both Grizz and Dar, knocking over the few pieces of furniture that were there and smashing everything in his path.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your snake Grizz, I don¡¯t think beasts are supposed to eat those.¡± Dar looked at his still unfinished cigar that got crushed by Orou with sadness before staring at Orou. Grizz shrugged and scratched his chin, both of them curiously staring at Orou. Orou slowly slithered backwards as he felt a burning sensation going down his throat and entering his stomach. The waves inside of him rushed towards the crystal-like mad, fully enveloping it and retreating back to their original position.


    While he didn¡¯t feel any different, he felt a sense of accomplishment come from deep inside of him, like he had defeated a great enemy or accomplished something great. While Orou didn¡¯t usually question his feelings, he knew that this wasn¡¯t natural, he didn¡¯t even know why he lunged for the crystal in the first place. Although now that he thought about it, it did look very delicious, so perhaps he didn¡¯t need a better reason than that.


    ¡°You can¡¯t eat those, do you know how much you can buy with that single half diluted crystal? Enough to feed for a month at least. Rumor even has it that they¡¯re made from Noble Beast¡¯s blood, you eat one too many of those crystals and you could be in dire shapes.¡± Grizz pulled out a much and dimmer crystal to use as an example, but  Orou had to try his best and resist from lunging forwards to eat the crystal, he somewhat trusted Grizz¡¯s word after all. Grizz handed a small pouch over to Dar and apologised for the broken furniture, promising to stop by sometime before starting to leave.


    Orou felt a burning heat coming from his stomach once again and while he couldn¡¯t see what was happening inside of him, he felt the crystal sort of liquidate and become a part of the waves. The rest of the waves spread out through his entire body, battering his insides with an even higher intensity this time. As they exited Dar¡¯s house, Orou started to wildly flail his tail around simply to make the waves do something instead of battering his body. As expected, they rushed to his tail and as his tail hit the building by his side, a massive crash resounded through the area and after the dust had settled, Orou could see that a huge chunk of the wall was gone.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re excited and all, but these are buildings preserved for thousands of years, there¡¯s no need to destroy them wantonly.¡± Grizz turned around only to see a scene of destruction before him, his mouth was agape once more as he stared at Orou¡¯s tail before slowly calming down. The waves in Orou¡¯s body were still restless, but his venting had helped him calm down.


    ¡°I hope that there won¡¯t be any more surprises for me today.¡± Grizz sighed as he started walking down the alley with Orou by his side, resisting the impulse to ruin this place.

 Sapphire Night

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few hours, but if there¡¯s one thing you should remember, it¡¯s that once the bats start waking, it¡¯s time to go,¡± Grizz said before he disappeared into another alleyway, leaving Orou simply standing there before an inn, a bit confused about where Grizz was going. The beastmen around him were giving him weird stares, most of them shying away now that they saw no one by his side.


    Although it was hard to determine when the sun was setting down here thanks to the constant lighting of the spirits, Orou saw that fewer and fewer people walking the streets by the minute, the activity and the bustle of the city disappearing in an instant, leaving behind an empty city only inhibited by spirits. He saw people shutting their doors and locking them with wooden boards, the chattering inside of the buildings had almost completely ceased.


    Orou stared up at the cavern¡¯s ceiling, the few spirits that had made their way up there fully illuminated the bats hanging from stalactites, their blue eyes staring down at the city below them. As soon as the first bat flapped his wings, the rest of them followed suit, swooping down into the city with their massive, veiny wings. Each of them started screeching, drowning the city in an ungodly noise that hurt Orou¡¯s ears simply by listening to it.


    To Orou¡¯s disappointment, not a single bat landed near his position, so Orou did the only natural thing left to do, which was to go look for some bats himself. He cast spirit vision on himself beforehand and started slithering over towards the north, looking for any signs of bats or what they might be doing in the city. Very soon, he understood why most of the doors were locked and people were hiding in their houses. A beastman closely resembling a pig was screaming in pain, a single bat was using its wings to wrap around the beastman and bite the beastman¡¯s neck, sucking blood from his body.


    The beastman flailed and tried to get it off of him, but the bat had tightly latched onto him and after a few moments, he toppled over and never stood back up, the bat continuing to suck his blood until the body had no more blood left for it to drink. The bat lingered on the body for a few more seconds before vomiting out something onto the body. Orou saw a few spirits approach whatever the bat vomited and enter inside of it.


    While all of this was happening, Orou was approaching closer and closer to the bat, wanting to examine it further. The bat moved out of the way and Orou finally saw the thing on the corpse¡¯s chest. It was a blue crystal, resembling that of a sapphire, slightly shimmering in the darkness, reflecting some of the light from the spirits. The bat flapped its wings and it was about to leave before it noticed a certain someone approaching from the distance. As in a frenzy, it started to quickly flap its wings, whipping up a mini-hurricane in the air as it approached Orou, greed and madness clearly evident in its eyes.


    Orou was caught by surprise by the sheer speed of the bat, it practically tore through the air as its sharp teeth were snapping in the air, its body quivering in excitement. Orou didn¡¯t have any time for spells so he did what he knew best and prepared his tail to meet the bat¡¯s teeth. He had discovered that he could crudely control the waves, or at least make them head in the direction he wanted them to go, so he guided them towards his tail in preparation to strike the bat dead. The waves battered his rear end and his skin prickled each time the waves hit his tail, but that only made Orou more excited to what was about to come.


    The bat flew in a straight path to Orou, desperate to taste his blood and sink his teeth into Orou¡¯s flesh and when it finally reached him, Orou was ready to strike. Aiming to smash the bat to smithereens, he raised his tail and with his full force smashed down on the bat. A horrible whoosh of air blew the bat out of its course, but just as it was about to meet its end, the bat¡¯s eyes regained intelligence and using the wind as a propellant, launched itself out of striking range.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Orou¡¯s tail continued to travel downwards, straight into the stone road. Chunks of stone flew everywhere, some even striking the bat in the process as a massive crater stood where once was a road. His tail was badly hurt from direct contact with the stone, but he wasn¡¯t about to let go of an opportunity to strike the bat. As it tried to regain its balance and fly up higher in the air, Orou lunged forwards in hopes of dragging the bat down to the ground and fully devouring it. It almost felt like the bat knew where he was going to strike before he did so himself as it deftly avoided Orou¡¯s lunge.


    The bat swooped in to strike at Orou and he tried his best to dodge, but for once in his life, he realised the disadvantages of being so big. He avoided the strike to his head, but the bat¡¯s claws dug deep underneath his scales and it latched onto Orou¡¯s back. It plunged its sharp teeth into Orou¡¯s body and started to feast on his blood. Orou could feel his blood quickly depleting and it was not a pleasant feeling. Guiding the waves to his rear end, he used all of his might to fling the bat off of his back and back into the air. It flew for a few meters before once more stabilizing itself, but Orou saw that its eyes and body had drastically changed now.


    The eyes of the bat had gone completely red and its body was swollen, all of the veins on the bat¡¯s wings were popped out and the bat was unsteadily flying in the air, looking as if it was about to fall and crash. As Orou cautiously observed the bat, he saw that the bat¡¯s body became more bloated, until it resembled a sort of balloon. It let out the loudest screech Orou had heard in his life as soon after, Orou saw the bat¡¯s body pop, sending a shower of blue blood and entrails everywhere.


    Directly below to where the bat had blown up was a red crystal, very similar to the one he had seen just recently in Grizz¡¯s hands. The shade of the crystal was of a much deeper red and it shone with a brighter light when Orou looked at it. Unlike the crystal from earlier which looked like the most delicious thing in the world, the only feeling he got from this crystal was that of shame and disgust. It almost looked like his own blood, though in a crystal form.


    Orou desperately wanted to inspect this crystal closer, but it seemed like the bat¡¯s screech had attracted an entire swarm of bats, all heading in Orou¡¯s direction. There must have been hundreds, thousands if not more, but he couldn¡¯t be sure how many there were. The only thing he was sure about was the fact that he would die if the entire swarm landed on him, so his instincts took over and using the waves within his body, he started to flee at the fastest speed he could. He fled in search of some sort of cover that would protect him from the bats, but most of the doors were barricaded shut and ruined buildings wouldn¡¯t protect him from the swarm.


    He ran and ran before he realised that he couldn¡¯t hear the screeching of the bats anymore. He didn¡¯t know whether they chased him and he simply outran them or if they had gotten distracted by the crystal, but Orou wasn¡¯t keen to find out. He slowly and carefully made his way back to the inn where he and Grizz were supposed to meet while keeping his eyes and ears open for any more bats.


    While he didn¡¯t see any more of the blue bats, he saw bat-like beastmen descend onto the streets with various bags in their hands, scouring the streets for something. Observing them closer, he saw the bat beastmen picking up the crystals and putting them in their bags, their eyes carefully looking at the surrounding buildings with a steely gaze.


    While the collectors walked around the street, Orou returned back to the inn and hid in the alleyway nearby, collecting his thoughts about the bats and the crystals he had seen earlier.

 Planning The Heist

    The beastmen finished collecting the sapphires, eyeing even their own companions with steely gazes before retreating back to where they came from. Slowly but surely, the activity in the city started to pick back up again, beastmen were slowly opening their doors and heading back outside, behaving like nothing out of the norm had happened. Orou sat near the inn simply observing the behaviour of the beastmen until he decided to slither back to the place where he got attacked, wondering if the crystal made from his blood was still there.


    It took a few minutes to get there, but Orou knew he was getting close to his destination as the crowd thinned and a section of the main road was simply abandoned. Besides his own created crater, Orou saw a large number of dead bats lying in a pool of sapphire-like blood. All of them had bite and scratch marks on their bodies and it looked like their cause of death was likely from infighting. Although Orou hadn¡¯t eaten in some days, he was a bit hesitant to eat the bat corpses, what if his blood crystallized from within him?


    Regretful about wasting his time here, he decided to return back and head back to the inn, but before he could, he saw Grizz walking in his direction, by his side the most colorful beastman he had ever seen. Feathers of blue, green, yellow and red and several more mismatched colors adorned the beastman''s body.


    ¡°It¡¯s rare to see such a fight between the bats, I wonder what could have happened here. Speaking about bats, I wonder if we¡¯ll see them at the ar...¡± Grizz stopped mid-sentence as he finally noticed Orou who was curiously staring at him, right next to the pool of blue blood. Orou saw Grizz¡¯s thoughts drift off and the beastman beside him had to snap a few times to get him out of his trance.


    ¡°Right, this is the snake who I¡¯ve told you so much about, what do you think of him now that you¡¯ve seen him in person Tris?¡± Grizz looked at Orou, seemingly questioning what he was doing here before turning to his companion and addressing her.


    ¡°Well, to start things off, he¡¯s much larger than I imagined, and by seeing your surprise, I can imagine that you weren¡¯t expecting to see him here, which makes me that much more interested,¡± the bird beastman rattled her beak and a shrill voice came out from it, her eyes were darting from one spot to another, carefully examining Orou¡¯s body.


    ¡°I suppose this saves me the trouble of having to look for you, but I¡¯ve got great news. Tris here caught me up on the latest news circulating around the city, and if I¡¯m correct in my assumptions, we might have one of the greatest heists laid out before us,¡± Grizz walked up to Orou and started excitedly talking about his latest idea.


    ¡°You see, the beast arena is on the verge of closing down, something about pressure from up top and mentions of even the royal guard getting involved, so they¡¯ve decided to host the biggest show they¡¯ve ever done. While this normally wouldn¡¯t interest me, they¡¯ve announced that the winner is going to get a completely pure blood crystal, undiluted and directly from the capital¡¯s mines,¡± Grizz started explaining about what he had planned and while Orou carefully listened to what he had to say, he still didn¡¯t get the point of this or the role he had to play in this.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°The crystal they¡¯re offering is nice and all, and I¡¯m sure you could win it if you participated, but we¡¯re not after the crystal. We¡¯re after the several bags of blood crystals they¡¯ll get once the arena opens up, which will make us rich overnight.¡± Grizz¡¯s eyes were practically glowing and he was rubbing his fingers against each other, practically imagining the sheer amount of wealth he¡¯d acquire.


    ¡°Your role is simple, go participate in a single round and do the flashy light thing you did earlier, cause a commotion for several seconds so I can get successfully get out of there.¡± Grizz waved his hands around like a madman in order to explain this to Orou, but he still wasn¡¯t particularly sure on this, why would Grizz even want to do this?


    ¡°I get rich and you get to eat the blood crystal, sounds goods?¡± Orou was still conflicted on the whole issue, but simply the thought of eating something better than the blood crystal he had earlier made his stomach rumble, not to mention the fact that he was pretty interested in the beast arena himself.


    Grizz and Tris discussed how they were going to split the profits, the interior layout of the building and how he was going to get in and out with the crystals as they started walking back to the inn, at least up until the point where they could see the traffic of beastmen return back to normal. Orou slithered along with them, keeping one ear open for anything that might relate to him, but he quickly realised that Grizz was too engrossed in his conversation to spare him any extra attention.


    ¡°We¡¯re a bit short on time as I didn¡¯t really expect you to be here, but we¡¯ll manage. I¡¯ll see you in a few hours once I have the preparations for the heist finished,¡± Tris said her goodbyes to Grizz and they parted their ways, leaving Grizz alone with Orou.


    As they entered the inn they were staying at, Grizz turned to Orou and gave him a serious look, saying to him: ¡°The most important thing is to distract everyone, there¡¯s no telling what you¡¯ll meet and there¡¯s no saying if you won¡¯t meet someone equally as strong as you, but don¡¯t let your pride get in the way. It¡¯s not a matter of life or death nor is it a matter of proving your strength, if you fuck up here, we¡¯ll both die there.¡±


    Leaving Orou hanging with that, Grizz started to prepare himself for the ongoing heist, pulling out a set of lockpicks to make sure they are in optimal condition and sharpening the few daggers he had hidden all throughout his body. He changed into a set of clothes more common to the city, a combination of black and blue and started rubbing some weird, dark powder on his fur. In a few minutes, Orou almost couldn¡¯t recognise Grizz, it was like he had turned into a completely different beastman.


    Orou didn¡¯t know what more to do, so he simply started practicing his spells as he kept watching what Grizz was doing. It took him more time than Orou imagined to make sure everything was ready. He noticed a distinct lack of anything magical on Grizz¡¯s body, except for the silver bell he had set down next to Orou. Maybe it was the difference between humans and beastmen or the difference between the two kingdoms, but he hadn¡¯t seen that many magical items carried by beastmen.


    As he was pondering about this difference, he felt a tap on his scales and he looked up to see Grizz up and raring to go. Following Grizz out of the room and out of the inn, he pointed towards the north-west and said to Orou: ¡°Good thieves always scout out their locations, so let¡¯s go.¡±

 The Colosseum

    The building they arrived at wasn¡¯t anything special, no huge arenas or any open spaces, simply an ancient stone building slightly bigger and more worn down than the others. It had a single door at the front and two windows on both sides of the building, perfect for escaping if the situation calls for it. A minute or so from here is a building with the stairs going back to the upper-city, though it might be quite difficult for Orou to get up the stairs quickly.


    The two of them entered an abandoned building nearby and started observing the surroundings. It didn¡¯t take long before he saw a steady stream of beastmen walk into the building, some with beasts such as wolves, tigers and lions by their sides. The atmosphere was quite jovial, the beastmen were calling the fighting in the arena a ¡°spectacle¡± and saying that they¡¯re looking forward to it, it seemed like this wasn¡¯t the first time any of them had visited this building and the arena in general.


    Half an hour later arrived Tris with several papers, she handed them over to Grizz who accepted them with pleasure. He waved to Orou and said: ¡°It¡¯s more exciting inside,¡± before he started walking out of their hiding spot and directly into the building. Orou followed him by his side and with a careful gaze examined their potential escape routes. The inside of the building wasn¡¯t anything special, it seemed like once it might have been a house of sorts, but it clearly wasn¡¯t being used for that purpose.


    It was relatively empty on the inside with another set of stairs travelling a bit down. Slithering behind Grizz, Orou slowly went down the stairs and it didn¡¯t take long before the underground area opened up into a massive space, one that could probably accommodate a few thousand people, but before they could proceed, they were halted. Two beastmen clad in heavy armor stood beside them and Grizz, as if he had done this before countless times, slipped a pouch of crystals to the beastmen. They double checked the amount and one of the grunted and motioned for them to go in, to which Grizz simply smiled and walked forwards.


    Examining this underground location, Orou wasn¡¯t sure how they managed to build this. There was a colosseum in the middle of it, the stone stained with both old and new blood. Beastmen had already taken their seats, excitedly chatting with each other about who would win and which beast seemed the fiercest out of the bunch so far.


    The underground area made the entire place have a bit of an echo, so even though there weren¡¯t a lot of people here currently, the place was filled with noise. Orou observed that beastmen of higher and lower class mingled with each other, seemingly without prejudice. Beastmen were walking around the seating area, pouring each other dream-wine and feeding sweet fruits and nectar to each other, fully enjoying themselves even before the main event started. There were two beasts desperately fighting between each other, two wolves from the same family as Orou was informed. A sort of appetizer for what was about to come.


    Orou followed Grizz over to a separate place where the beastmen who were bringing competitors with them. A finely dressed bat-like beastman was carefully examining various papers given to him and the beast they had brought in. Several beastmen had to dejectedly leave because of something said by the bat beastmen, but none of them tried anything funny in his presence.


    ¡°A giant serpent from the Forest of Shadows huh, he does look like the sort and the papers check out. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing him in action, he looks like one of the finer specimens that I¡¯ve seen today at least.¡± The bat beastmen carefully pondered over each word and he spoke slowly, but Orou had never seen Grizz as serious and prepared as he was for the mission. He was currently nodding along and making small talk with the bat, smiling and behaving like it was his greatest honor to be speaking with him. Although the bat beastman was satisfied with his behaviour, the line behind them had started growing and finally, he waved them off.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Grizz let out a sigh and proceeded to walk into the area designated to hold beasts. It was fairly spacious and each beastman and his beast had an area to himself, but there was a fierce air about the room. Both the beasts and the beastmen were staring angrily at each other and Orou¡¯s arrival attracted no shortage of angry glances. Several more snakes started hissing at his arrival, growls and howls were on the verge of being let out, which would turn this place into an arena of its own. Thankfully, the owners calmed down their beasts in time before it turned into a bloodbath.


    One thing Orou was wondering about was about the beastmen¡¯s behaviours. Most of the beasts here were going to get wounded and possibly die, but none of the beastmen were concerned. Each one of them looked confident in their beast¡¯s abilities, encouraging the beast they were with.


    After several more minutes of sitting around, the bat-like beastman came into the room and all of the sudden, all the chatter from earlier stopped. He coughed twice and said: ¡°I¡¯m sure all of you know this but each of the beasts will have its own area until it is let out of it. We have no qualms about killing any beast that will cause chaos before going up to the arena as this is the biggest arena we¡¯ve held yet. That being said, please guide the beasts to their respective cells and return to your seats.¡±


    Grizz went along with Orou through another door and into the right passageway which seemed to loop all the way around the arena until they reached a side of the wall simply littered with cells. Orou wasn¡¯t even sure if he could fit into the place he was designated and he had bad memories of being locked up, but he believed that he would be let out once his turn came. Surprisingly, the beasts put up with being locked into various cells and being separated from their owners, behaving much calmer now than before.


    While the rest of the beastmen walked from where they came from, Orou saw Grizz slip away into another area behind another door. He gave Orou one last look before slipping into the shadows, most likely off to accomplish his task. Minutes passed and Orou continued observing the beasts around him. He had encountered some of the beasts locked up here in the forest, he saw wolves that had attacked him during nights and he even saw a tri-beast that he recently defeated, but there was no shortage of beasts that he had never seen before. Lynx¡¯s, hyenas and giant scorpions were the least surprising things he saw, strange beasts with several appendages and weird skin color were all over the place. He examined one and then the other, but there were so many beasts here, and this was only one half of them.


    After what seemed like an hour or two Orou heard the loud cheer of beastmen and a booming voice that Orou could hear from his location. ¡°Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the biggest arena we¡¯ve held yet. More than a hundred beasts have been gathered all for your enjoyment, and the winner of this arena will win an undiluted blood-crystal worth a small fortune on its own. Now, without further ado, let the arena begin!¡±


    Thunderous applause followed the announcement and he saw the beastmen from earlier holding a piece of paper in their hands. The boisterous voice announced the two beasts that were going to fight in the first round and the beastmen unlocked the cell of the first beast fighting, that is, a giant hyena. The beast didn¡¯t resist the beastmen who had their spears raised up and walked into the colosseum itself. More cheers accompanied the beasts as they started fighting and from what Orou could hear, the fight was quite intense. After a few minutes, Orou saw the hyena¡¯s corpse being carried in and away, its body having several scratch marks and a bite mark on its throat.


    ¡°A beast that had been tamed from the Alorian Jungle, one of the rarest and most prestigious beasts from the lion family capable of advanced magic, the Barghat lion!


    ¡°A beast that has been tamed from the Forest of Shadows, a serpent more than fifteen meters in length capable of fast and deadly strikes.¡±


    After numerous corpses and injured beasts, it was finally Orou¡¯s turn. The beastmen opened his cell and with spears raised, accompanied him towards the entrance of the colosseum. Keeping in mind what Grizz said, Orou proudly went out, seeking to draw as many gazes as possible.

 Barghat Lion

    Orou slithered into the colosseum all of the sudden, the surrounding area became a lot dimmer. He could see fresh blood on the ground and on the colosseum walls, spirits haphazardly floating around to illuminate the area. He could faintly make out the crowd that was here to see him and he could see his opponent. Before he got a chance to observe the lion that was supposed to fight him, he saw a beastman sitting higher than anyone else on a throne made from black stone. He and the rest of the beastmen surrounding him were of bat descent, their wings were as big as their body and their fangs were razor sharp.


    The beastman sitting on the throne was different from the rest, his eyes were pure red, his wings were twice the size of the people surrounding him and his clothes were eccentric but finely made, a silk robe with a golden thread making a symbol of two wings on his chest. He was drinking red wine and with an amused grin watching both Orou and the lion. Orou assumed that he was the target to distract, he looked like the leader of the pack.


    He had no choice but to pay attention to his opponent when he heard a roar that almost staggered him back. Orou''s eyes turned to him and tens of meters away stood a blue lion, on its body several golden lines that seemed to be haphazardly scattered on its body. It looked at Orou with contempt in its eyes, most likely not thinking of Orou as an opponent but as food to be eaten. While it seemed to be waiting for something, Orou didn''t hesitate to grab the first move. In the air, he formed a ribbon made entirely out of spirits. He tried to make the spirits stick as close as they could to each other in an effort to make the ribbon more resilient and faster.


    "May the fight begin," the boisterous voice announced the start of the battle and the Barghat lion started to run towards Orou, gathering more and more momentum each second. A moment later Orou''s formation was complete and a red ribbon appeared above his head, this time a much deeper shade of red than before. He had made significant progress in controlling it, he made the ribbon fly in an unreadable pattern towards the lion, hoping to catch it by surprise. It seemed surprised by the ribbon but it showed no fear towards it and as the ribbon flew towards the lion, it decided to meet it head-on.


    The lion''s claws caught the ribbon, but the ribbon wasn''t so frail. Tears appeared both in the present world and the world of spirits, the formation of the spell was unstable, but it still held on. The lion roared in pain as Orou commanded the ribbon to wrap around the lion''s paws that were becoming darker each second. The lion looked enraged, but the contempt towards the ribbon and Orou was still there. Using its teeth, it aggressively lunged towards the ribbon and with one bite, the ribbon was torn into two pieces. Once more the lion roared in pain as it seemed its strike wasn''t without consequences, its teeth were stained in its own blood and the flesh around its mouth was rotting away.


    Although Orou remembered what Grizz had said to him, his instincts took over him as he couldn''t afford to miss this opportunity. For a moment he took control of the waves and urged them to push him forward, and so they did. He burst forward with speed that surprised Orou himself and deciding to use the most out of his momentum he spun himself around and used his tail to try and smash this lion against the wall. A burst of red came from within the lion and with a speed that matched Orou''s, the lion crouched and jumped up in the air, soaring high above Orou''s strike.


    The lion fell down like a meteor soaring through the sky, diving straight down and aiming for Orou''s head. There was no way Orou could afford to get hit by that, so he did something impossible. With the help of the waves inside of his body, he was able to turn his tail from smashing into the wall to flying straight at the lion, smacking it flying if it didn''t do anything. Whether it was the lion''s confidence or pride didn''t matter, but as the tail went flying towards it, the lion did nothing to try and dodge it.


    Orou''s tail and the lion''s paw collided with each other and a moment later, the lion went flying. With a loud crack, the lion crashed into the wall of the colosseum, the wall was on the verge of breaking as cobwebs spread out from the point of impact. The lion''s left side was bloodied, but besides that, it seemed relatively fine. Orou was shocked when he lifted his tail and saw a chunk of flesh missing, spewing blood everywhere. Seeing that the battle still wasn''t finished, Orou decided to not hesitate. He bore through the slight pain on his tail and seeing that the lion was simply standing there, went for a lunge attack.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    In the heat of the battle you can miss many things, but Orou wasn''t sure how he had missed this. One couldn''t really call this a formation as there weren''t any visible boundaries, but simply floating above the lions head was a cluster of spirits. They were scattered haphazardly like the stars in the sky, but as Orou lifted his head, he felt like there was a pattern to it. The number of spirits that were above the lion''s head was most likely beyond anything Orou could control and as Orou watched the spirits, something popped up in the current world. A cloud of darkness completely covered the lion making Orou lose line of sight towards it. While Orou continued to charge, a part of the shadow detached itself from the cloud and slowly, it started to turn into a lion, the same one he was currently fighting.


    The lion started to recklessly charge towards Orou which in turn gave him an opportunity to attack it. He brought his tail down to smack the shadow into the ground, and he succeeded, somewhat. The shadow distorted and for a few seconds it turned back into a small cloud of darkness, but the next moment it started reforming itself. Catching Orou off guard, the shadow used its shadowy teeth to bite at Orou. Even though it was only a shadow, Orou still felt the shadow''s teeth sink into his flesh and tear out a huge chunk of his flesh. The flesh fell through the shadow''s body but it continued to strike at Orou, not caring about defense in the slightest.


    Orou rapidly lunged at the lion but his body simply passed through the shadow, the spirits that made the shadow dispersing for a few seconds before reassembling itself. As the fight between Orou and the shadow continued, he saw three more lions made entirely out of shadow charging at him. He retreated backwards, hoping to gain a little more breathing room but the shadows relentlessly pursued him, their shadowy claws and teeth dealing real damage to Orou.


    He was doing his best to disperse the shadows with his blows, but his energy sapped and the waves inside of him battered his insides, making him weaker and weaker as time went on while the shadows weren''t. He was doing his best to hold on until he could retaliate, in his spirit sight he saw the formation that surrounded the lion become more unstable as time passed and while the shadows didn''t seem to be affected, Orou was sure the formation was bound to break at any given time.


    Injury after injury was delivered onto his body, but the moment he was waiting for arrived. While the formation didn''t break like Orou anticipated it to, it flickered and the shadows, turning back into clouds, made their way back to the lion''s position. If he wanted to win this fight, he had to do something risky. Calming his mind and bearing through his injuries, he started to gather spirits in a shape of a pillar directly above the cloud of shadows, in the place where the lion stood. Controlling multiple spirits at once, he started to rapidly fill the pillar up, hoping that he could finally complete the formation. The last time he tried to cast this spell, he was could only fill it up to 90%, but he had practiced his control over the spirits by repeatedly conjuring the red ribbon, he should be able to finally cast this spell.


    His progress wasn''t as fast as he hoped, his injuries distracted him and he had to stop at times, but as long as the lion did nothing, he had a chance. The spirits were coming in from the above and settling themselves directly above other spirits and he was 80% of the way there when once more, the shadows started to reform themselves. Orou had gained some distance from the previous fight, but they were forming at a rapid pace. Pushing his mind to the limit he only had the remaining 5%, a handful of spirits to place before he could complete the formation, but the shadows were gaining on him.


    They were several meters from Orou, rapidly closing the distance. He saw one of the shadow lions lunging at him and soaring through the air, but it was too late, he had already finished the formation. The pillar made from spirits started to shine and almost as if in slow motion, Orou watched the pillar appear above the cloud of darkness. It was extremely bright and dazzling, coming down as if the heavens themselves wanted to smite the lion. Noiselessly, it penetrated the darkness and fell down, the darkness dissipating in an instant, the stone below scorched by extreme heat. The only thing remaining of the lion was a head, the rest of his body directly turned into ash by the pillar that came down. Even in death the lion was prideful, not even having enough time to react to its own death.


    Orou slithered over to the centre of the colosseum, exhaustion washing over him. He felt countless eyes fall on him as the boisterous voice was in the middle of saying something, The crowd was cheering and clapping, the man seated on the black stone throne was smiling to himself and looking straight at Orou. With his remaining strength, Orou grabbed the most prominent light spirit, one which was shining the brightest. Three rings surrounded the scintillating spirit and one by one, the rings started to rotate. Orou bolted for the direction of the exit as a blinding light, resembling a small sun spread through the entire colosseum. Shouts of chaos and panic spread through the arena as Orou dragged his body in hopes of escaping.

 Mortally Wounded

    Mass hysteria broke out as soon as the light appeared. The loudest of the screams belonged to the beastman sitting on the black throne. Blood was profusely flowing from his eyes as he started flapping his wings, knocking over the plates of fruit and the glass of wine he was drinking earlier. The bat beastmen accompanying him had the same reaction, their wings spread open and one by one, they started to hover in the air, their hands covering their eyes.


    Orou only gave a single glance at the situation around him before he turned his gaze towards the exit. The walls of the colosseum were only fifteen meters tall so they posed no problem to Orou, though his speed suffered in the result. As he was climbing the wall that blocked his path, he turned his head towards the other exit and surprisingly, he saw Grizz carrying an entire sack of what Orou presumed to be blood crystals over his shoulder. He had multiple stab wounds on his body and he was desperately fleeing something, his face that of fear.


    ¡°Even if it means sacrificing your lives, kill him! He can¡¯t be allowed to leave alive having seen that.¡° Behind Grizz were a multitude of beastmen clad in heavy armor, all commanded by another bat beastmen. He was screaming and shouting at the beastmen who was just as enraged as the bat beastmen, though some of them were visibly scared of something. Dodging several spear thrusts, Grizz ducked and weaved through the still confused crowd of beastmen, making his way to the stairs.


    Orou started to escape through the exit that wasn¡¯t plagued with beastman guards, thus he turned to the right and started slithering as fast as he could, fully employing the waves inside of him. He had to avoid bumping into several beastmen¡¯s legs and had to avoid getting stomped a couple of times and each time that happened, his irritation grew. At some point or another, Orou decided to start using his tail in order to clear the way in front of him and as a result, the resulting chaos only worsened.


    After a few seconds, Orou saw why Grizz said that he needed to distract the beastmen using his ball of light spell. The leader of the bat beastmen in his rage and agony used his wings to fling his companions several meters away from him and using his sharp nails he practically cut up a stone table. Turning to the source of his pain, the ball of light floating in the air, he started constructing a formation in the air. A complicated circle made entirely out of runes formed a pentagram in the air. A moment later all that Orou could see was a red flash and a deafening explosion where once the ball of light stood. The stone that made the colosseum cracked and shattered, a wave of force knocked the beastmen closest to the colosseum back, each of them almost unconscious.


    While the chaos still continued, the bat beastmen hovering in the air calmed down. It took half a minute for the first one to open his eyes and even then, he swayed unsteadily in the air, struggling to keep his balance. Orou could see the exit with his own two eyes, but before he could reach the exit, he heard a shout.


    ¡°There he is! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± The beastman who had recovered the quickest out of the lot shouted towards the rest, pointing directly at Orou¡¯s location. Drawing some sort of weird, curved sword from his side, he started to fly in Orou¡¯s direction. His pace was fast and seeing that Orou couldn¡¯t unleash his full speed because of the crowd, he quickly caught up. Swinging his sword down at Orou, he deeply cut into his flesh, adding another wound to his already wounded body. Orou was beyond enraged now as he ignored everyone in his way and swung his tail using his full strength. The bat beastman tried his best to dodge, but Orou¡¯s tail was simply too fast and he had lowered himself down enough that he couldn¡¯t evade the strike by flying straight up.


    Three innocent beastmen were smashed to death and the bat beastmen was smashed to the side, directly into the stone wall nearby. The beastman was beyond dead as he resembled a pancake at this point, the rest of the beastmen were doing their best to scramble out of Orou¡¯s way, which made his escape considerably easier. One by one, the bat beastmen were recovering and once they saw their dead companion, their icy gazes became even colder.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    It was a contest of speed between the bat beastmen and Orou, but in the end, Orou won. Glaring at anyone that dared to get in his way, Orou made his way to the stairs and started to climb as best as he could. Turning his head around, Orou stopped on the twentieth stair and started constructing a formation he had recently cast. While he didn¡¯t see any light spirits to use in his formation, the ball of light that he created was still considerably bright. The bat beastmen recoiled from the bright light and fortunately, none of them recklessly charged through the ball.


    Not wanting to risk the leader of the bats pursuing him, Orou drove his body to the point of exhaustion, becoming more proficient in controlling the waves inside of his body each second. Orou was sure that he would need quite a while to recover after this as his insides were thoroughly bruised, but that was something he didn¡¯t have to worry about right now. The stairs seemed endless as Orou slowly heard the noises from below fading. He saw a single light spirit floating in the doorway, seemingly hesitant to go any further down. He had never been happier seeing a spirit than now, but the moment of happiness was brief. He faintly heard the sound of an explosion, and that was which raised panic in Orou.


    Orou once more pushed his body to its limits as he went out of the abandoned building and into the under city of Lium. The streets looked emptier than before he had come in, but that was of no concern to Orou. He quickly started to slither over to the warehouse where he first descended into this city, desperate to escape and meet up with Grizz. The beastmen that still lingered on the streets stood to the side as they observed a snake madly charging through the streets, many of them looking confused.


    Orou¡¯s flight wasn¡¯t over as he heard a screech that could easily shatter glass from the distance. He slowed himself a bit down to look at what was making that noise and he immediately regretted slowing down. The leader of the bats was flying in the air, his two large wings in full display for every beastman in the city. One by one, the sapphire bats above him started opening their eyes, all of them looking at the leader with reverence in their eyes. The leader let out one more screech and each and every single one of them started flapping their wings, their eyes locked onto Orou.


    The bat leader started to follow the swarm, his eyes still searching for Orou. Orou was so close to the warehouse, but that distance seemed like it would take forever to cross as the bat leader spotted Orou. In his spirit sight, he saw the leader construct the pentagram in the air, an unbelievable amount of spirits quickly rushing towards the formation. The swarm of bats quickly approaching him was the least of his issues as the pentagram already had three of the symbols completed, two more remaining to be constructed. An open door greeted Orou as he saw another set of stairs and even Grizz, rapidly rushing up the stairs, but it seemed like it was too late.


    The pentagram started spinning in the air, a moment later he saw that the area he was in was completely devoid of spirits. Inside his body was a tsunami of waves, rapidly pushing him forwards, but by the time he was halfway out of the area, it was too late. A red bubble appeared in the air and it enveloped Orou¡¯s lower half before a moment later, the bubble burst. Orou went temporarily deaf as he felt an intense pain coming from his back. The front part of his body was scorched and burned, while a moment later, Orou couldn¡¯t even feel the lower part of his body.


    The force wave and the momentum of his previous movement pushed him forwards, all the way until he slammed into the stone stairs. Orou saw Grizz¡¯s shocked face looking at him and the last thing he saw was Grizz rushing to him and lifting him up, desperately dashing up the stairs while holding Orou¡¯s bleeding body in his hands. Orou kept alternating between the state of unconsciousness and being semi-awake all the way until the point where he heard someone mutter: ¡°I hope this helps you, it¡¯s worth a small fortune but who cares,¡± and after that, he fell completely unconscious.

 Grizzs sweetheart

    ¡°It was too late to do anything, our mere existence had doomed this world beyond repair. I had no choice but to end our kin and birth forth a new life, smarter and more advanced than rest. It is within them that my hope lies and I hope that one day they will be able to save this world from its destiny.¡±


    Orou woke up with a start. His eyes darted around in search of any bats, but all that he could see was old wooden walls. His gaze landed on Grizz, who was sitting by a table with a quill in his hands, intently writing something. Orou¡¯s body felt stiff and uncomfortable and as he moved his body, his entire lower body ached. The noise startled Grizz as he turned his head towards Orou and with a wide, beaming smile said: ¡°You¡¯re finally up.¡±


    ¡°I was worried that you would never wake.¡± Grizz looked over at Orou¡¯s lower body and pointing his finger at Orou, he continued: ¡°It was quite miraculous to see your body regenerate like that. Not a week later you¡¯re completely fine, though I wonder how much of that is attributed to the crystal.¡±


    If it truly had been a week that would explain his growling stomach and his overwhelming sense of hunger. He looked over at his body and if he didn¡¯t remember being exploded by the spell earlier, he would¡¯ve thought that there was nothing wrong with him. His mind tried to recall what happened after, but it all felt like a blur. He was forgetting something very important, something that was related to the voice he heard earlier, but no matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn¡¯t remember anything.


    ¡°You must be confused at how you survived. It¡¯s quite easy, the bats can¡¯t go up to the surface, end of story.¡± Grizz mistook Orou¡¯s bewilderment and started to excitedly explain his heroic deeds of saving Orou. ¡°You were quite heavy but I took you in my hands and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Even fed you a pure crystal, see how nice I am?¡± Orou rolled his eyes the way he had seen Grizz do it and began to slowly slither out of the bloody corner that he was resting in, looking for any food that could relieve his hunger.


    ¡°It would¡¯ve gone much better if I wasn¡¯t so greedy. I got the crystals and everything, but I had to go into that room. They were feeding the corpses and the injured beasts to the sapphire bats, can you imagine that? We would¡¯ve been sapphires by now if we went along with it.¡± The last two sentences got Orou¡¯s attention. He wondered why the beastmen in metal armor carried both the dead and the injured beasts to the same spot. Perhaps there was never a round two planned after all.


    While Orou was pondering over what would¡¯ve happened if he hadn¡¯t escaped, he saw a beastman unlike others walk into the room. It was a woman with green hair and green eyes, bearing a resemblance to a frog. Although most of her body was covered with clothing, Orou could see patches of green on her body. If that wasn¡¯t the case, one could mistake her for a human.


    ¡°It should be about time to feed him, do you want to...¡± She stumbled into the room in the middle of the sentence, but once she saw Orou moving towards her, her words trailed off. After several seconds of standing still, she approached Orou and placed her hand in front of him. She was staring at him with bemusement as if wondering what he will do next. Orou didn¡¯t know what she wanted of him, so he simply slithered past her. He heard something about feeding him, so surely, there must be food somewhere here and he was on a mission to find it.


    The two of them exchanged looks before Grizz shrugged and the woman followed Orou with sad eyes. Orou could smell the scent of meat coming from the room to the right of him which only made him hungrier. He picked up the speed and barreled into the kitchen. There, he saw two plates of steaming potatoes and vegetables on the table, but more importantly, he saw a butchered carcass of some beast. Orou opened his mouth wide open as he started to stuff himself with the meat before him.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°You can¡¯t just eat so much after waking up and besides, that¡¯s for multiple days.¡± The woman cried out as she turned to corner and saw Orou¡¯s wide open mouth. Orou hissed at her and picked up his pace. Before she even knew it, the meat was gone and in its place was a satisfied Orou. She sighed and yelled out for Grizz to come and eat while looking sternly over at Orou, saying something or other about how it wasn¡¯t good for his stomach.


    ¡°I told you this before Lyra but you can¡¯t control what he does, he¡¯s too smart for that.¡± Grizz laughed as he sat down by the table and started to eat his meal, his eyes darting between Orou and where the meat previously was, a weird expression on his face.


    ¡°So, what are you going to do now that he¡¯s awoken? Beastmen are looking for both you and him, the bats from the under city have a lot of influence you know.¡± Lyra sat down next to Grizz and asked him a question. She poked him with her fork a few times when he didn¡¯t answer and after yelling out in pain, he slowly said: ¡°Although I would like to stay here with you, I need to get back to my family and sort a few things out. After that, I promise that I will come back and settle down with you, no more of my adventures.¡±


    ¡°As for the bats, I disguised myself to make me seem like someone of lower status and I¡¯ve got things planned for this big guy when we arrive at Onilia and if everything pans out, he should be safe to travel on his own.¡± A bit of a sad smile broke out on Grizz¡¯s face as he stared at Orou, perhaps he had grown fond of him over this month or so. Orou flickered his tongue in response, unsure of what to think. He lifted himself up and peered through a window only to find himself in an unfamiliar place. A small hamlet with only a few handfuls of wooden houses greeted him, beyond that were only the rolling plains. A couple of beastmen, some resembling Lyra were walking around the village, it seemed like there was a new house being constructed in the vicinity.


    After a few minutes, he felt a tap on his scales and as he turned around, he heard Grizz ask him: ¡°Do you need a few more days of rest or are we safe to travel further? It will probably take a few days or so, depending on how fast we go.¡± Orou lifted his tail and while he did feel some residual weakness, it wouldn¡¯t stop him from moving forward. Besides, the meat from earlier didn¡¯t completely fill his stomach and he was eager to move unobstructed by any people or buildings blocking his way.


    Wanting to check how combat ready he was, Orou started to slither forwards and the next second, he started controlling the waves inside of him. As he wanted to guide them forwards, he realised that he had been blind this entire time. Almost instinctively, he could visualise the thing from where the waves were coming from and returning back to. It was a blood-red sphere rapidly spinning inside of him, constantly sending out and receiving back the waves of blood. He felt as if he could grip the sphere and make it send out more waves, or recall all of them back. Not to mention simply guiding the waves, he felt like he had total control over them.


    As he experimented with simply covering his flesh with the blood waves to gently pushing him forwards and then violently jerking him towards the right, he realised that there was something else in the sphere. A small crystal was floating in the middle of it and each time he commanded the sphere, it slightly dissolved into the sphere, making it bigger. Now that he knew there was a crystal floating there, he could feel a minute source of heat coming from within him, something he wouldn¡¯t have noticed or brushed off otherwise.


    ¡°Hide the crystals somewhere safe, you never know when a patrol could show up in this place. I¡¯ll be off now, hopefully back before the end of the month.¡± Grizz kissed Lyra before picking up his backpack and solemnly walking out of the door, Orou following from behind.

 Royal Guard

    Orou zoomed back and forth between Grizz¡¯s legs, playing around with his new found power. This solved his issue of not being able to practice spells while moving, now he could practice controlling his blood core instead. This left an unfortunate side effect of being able to easily trace them as Orou kept accidentally making holes in the dirt below them. At first, Grizz tried to cover their tracks as best as he could, but he gave up after seeing what Orou had done.


    As Orou travelled the plains, he realised how much he missed simply living in the forest. The sun didn¡¯t constantly shine on you, you could hide in trees and the foliage around you, but here, he felt weak and exposed. If a predator that he couldn¡¯t beat approached him, the only option would be to run, it was impossible to ambush someone in these plains. Besides, the food here was not as tasty or plentiful as in the forest. Catching something to eat for both him and Grizz was mostly dependant on luck.


    ¡°We¡¯re nearing the main road again so be careful of any beastmen, though they should probably be careful of you if we encounter any,¡± Grizz told Orou as he stopped his mad dash back and forth and slithered next to Grizz. Orou had noticed that Grizz wasn¡¯t really excited about going back to his family, during these two days of travel he wasn¡¯t as energetic or talkative as before, but that might be the result of his parting from Lyra.


    Grizz stopped for a second and while drinking from his water canteen, he pulled out the map from his backpack. According to the map, they were more than half-way through their journey and as Grizz traced his finger across the map, he said: ¡°There should be a town nearby for us to restock, but that¡¯s half a day away. The nearest landmark should be the crossroads, one path heading towards Onilia and the other towards the capital, Mira. We might have to travel to it after I¡¯m done in Onilia, though I¡¯m still not completely sure, so don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡±


    Reflecting back on his journey through the beastman empire so far, he had learned fewer spells than he hoped he would and he had almost died way too many times. That¡¯s why he was so excited about going to Onilia, Grizz mentioned earlier that one of his brothers was learning magic and perhaps he could glance at some of his spell formations, simply to enrich his collection. He had also been thinking of a way to cast spells and move simultaneously, but it was way too hard for him. The main issue was concentrating on the spirits, he could both move and command the spirits, not to mention if he was in battle, a single distraction could potentially disrupt the entire formation, which would waste both his energy and his time.


    As it usually happened when he travelled, Orou''s mind kept on alternating between different thoughts, but his train of thought was interrupted when he sensed vibrations some ways forwards. A few seconds later he heard a noise in the distance, heavy footsteps were rapidly approaching them and it wasn¡¯t just one pair. There must have been more than twenty pairs of footsteps, moving much quicker than an average beastman or a human. Orou wanted to quickly slither to the east and hide somewhere, but Grizz motioned Orou to stay where he is with his hand.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Orou could see what was approaching them. Beastmen clad from head to toe in metal armor were riding on what looked to be horses, only twice as big and strong. The beastman in the front lifted his hand and the horses halted to a trot, halting only when they were face to face with Grizz and Orou. The horses were more interested in Orou as more than a few of them stared straight at him with their red eyes, neighing and sniffing the air around him.


    The beastman that was leading the rest of them stepped off his horse and lifted his visor. He had blue scales on his face, bearing resemblance to a fish and his two wide eyes blinked at Grizz as he said: ¡°On royal order, we are to ask for every citizen to prove his identity and search his belongings. If you are to resist this order, we are free to execute you for disobedience. In addition, since you are travelling with an animal, you also need to provide the papers of ownership and the qualifications of a beast trainer.¡±


    Grizz put on a fake smile and started rummaging through his backpack. Orou had been with Grizz for long enough that he knew Grizz was putting up his best act of complying to orders when in reality, he was most likely annoyed about this inconvenience. He pulled out three specific papers and as he did, three more beastmen jumped down from their horses. The six remaining beastmen circled them, their swords ready in case something was to go wrong.


    The three of them also raised their visor¡¯s and Orou noticed a striking resemblance in one of the beastmen. A beastman with brown hair, bearing a resemblance to a bear was reading through one of the papers and Orou could swear he looked like the beastman that was guarding the gate of the forest village, only a much younger version of him. After a minute of reading the papers, the bear beastman whispered something to the other two and reported back to their captain.


    ¡°Sorry for your inconvenience Mr Grizz Ashmore, you must be in a hurry to get back to your family. Normally, we would search through your belongings, but in respect of your family, I shall forfeit this action.¡± Grizz¡¯s cheery face had a hint of a frown on it, but it was gone a moment later, humbling himself before the captain and exchanging small talk.¡±


    ¡°Right, one last question. Do you know of a person named Vaar? All information on this subject will be rewarded with blood crystals.¡± The four beastmen on the ground were intently looking at Grizz¡¯s facial expression, hoping to catch something out of the usual. Orou didn¡¯t know if they were happy or disappointed when Grizz feigned confusion, saying: ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such a person. Is he a famous criminal? Should I be wary of him?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, if you know naught of this subject then it¡¯s better things stay that way. Once more, I¡¯m terribly sorry for the inconvenience.¡± He beckoned the three beastmen on the ground and remounted his horse. Taking one more look at Grizz, he raised his arm and started galloping off into the distance. Orou stared confusedly at Grizz, after all, they had seen Vaar and they knew where he was, why would he need to lie about that.


    ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s best to feign ignorance and not get involved, besides, I¡¯m not lacking in crystals,¡± Grizz sensed Orou¡¯s confusion and sighed. He put the three pieces of paper in his backpack and started to move. ¡°I never thought someone would refer to me like that again, but the word of the royal guard is the law. They have the authority to execute anyone and who would ever know that we were killed by them, not to mention they can simply say that we resisted the search.¡± Grizz grumbled about the injustice and how the kingdom would be a better place without the royal guard as the two of them continued moving on.

 Reunion

    After the encounter with the royal guard, they encountered no more trouble on the road. The deeper they went into Solus, the more settlements could be found, and surprisingly, Grizz knew precisely where to go and where to restock. Orou quickly found out that while there weren¡¯t a whole lot of things to hunt, there would always be some sort of food in towns they visited. Orou got to taste a variety of meats, and he even started trying out the vegetables and fruits the other beastmen were eating. Of course, none of the fruits he tasted could compare to raw meat, but he found out he had a particular taste for sweet things.


    Another thing Orou noticed was that Grizz was well-known in these towns, he always had someone who could offer his lodgings for the night and children would run up to Grizz, asking him for exciting new stories, to which he would always oblige. One night, when Grizz pulled out a dim blood-crystal to pay for their meals, Orou realised that he had a newfound dislike for the crystal in Grizz¡¯s hands. It was as if someone had defiled something sacred and the crystal Grizz was holding was an abomination. Orou rationalized that these feelings most likely came from the crystal inside his core, though he was wondering why that would be the case.


    The nights went by and on the 5th day, after some delays and numerous curses from Grizz, they arrived at Onilia. Just like Lium, it had no walls to speak of, instead, beastmen which bore a sigil of a lion emblazoned on their metal armor patrolled the surroundings, making sure that no one entered or passed without being searched. Calming himself down, Grizz looked at the beastmen patrolling the city and a moment later, he started walking towards one of the guards in particular.


    As Grizz approached the guard closer, he lifted his visor and a face similar to Grizz¡¯s greeted them. Both Grizz and the guard resembled apes, though the guard¡¯s fur was much darker than Grizz¡¯s. The guard was the first to speak of the two, asking Grizz: ¡°You¡¯re back from your adventures so soon? Usually, it takes you several months, but it¡¯s only been a month or so.¡±


    ¡°This has been one of my shortest and also one of the most interesting ones so far, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get to know all about it some days later, but do tell, why are the so many royal guards around here.¡± Grizz smiled and gestured over to Orou before looking around the area, taking note of how many guards there were around here in total.


    ¡°It¡¯s the imperial order, apparently there¡¯s something else stirring in the kingdom, enough for the king himself to get involved. We¡¯re to search through every single beastman¡¯s belongings for anything suspicious, though who knows what that might be. It¡¯s very hard to do so especially considering what type of city this is. It¡¯s been turning away traffic in and out of the city, which I¡¯m sure is a pain for both your father and the governor, they must be bleeding money at this point.¡± Grizz listened to this with rapt interest, his expression slightly dropping when the guard mentioned his father.


    ¡°Right, right, as much as I would like to keep talking with you, I¡¯ve got urgent business in the city. One last thing, do you know where brother Kris is?¡± Grizz¡¯s smile turned into a frown as he looked around.


    ¡°Captain¡¯s in the barracks, he¡¯s signing all the paperwork in order to take a temporary leave, it¡¯s a chore to even get a holiday around this time. If I remember correctly, he was also looking for you, something about why you would take off so abruptly,¡± the two of them shook hands and Grizz started heading into the city, some of the guards blatantly staring at Grizz as he passed by.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    What greeted Orou was the most packed city he had ever seen. It was currently midday but beastmen were merrily going from place to place, minding their own business. It was hard to see ahead of him because of the traffic, but there was one thing that immediately caught Orou¡¯s attention. A massive building that stood in the middle of the city, a place that was illuminated with neon lights even during the day. Grizz pointed to it and said with pride: ¡°Moonhall Casino, the property of our family, as well as over half of the entertainment buildings here.¡±


    Various beastmen with all kinds of instruments were performing on the street, making sure that not a single spot of the city was covered in silence. Grizz introduced various buildings on the side of the street, pleasure houses, gambling houses, inns and pubs, bathhouses and casinos, all types of entertainment could be found here and all of them were owned by Grizz¡¯s family. People made way for Grizz and gave Orou curious looks, whispering something or other to each other.


    They made their way to the Moonhall Casino and turned to the left, heading towards the barracks, but as they did, Orou saw Grizz stop and simply look at the casino, a longing look on his face. Not mentioning anything to Orou, he simply continued to walk forwards. Orou paid him no mind as these days, Grizz had quite a few mood swings and who even knew what he was thinking about. All that Orou could think of was entering the various buildings and seeing what¡¯s inside them, he was quite interested in seeing the card games and dice games that Grizz described to him.


    Orou would have expected for beastmen to quiet down near the barracks, but this place of the city was just as bustling as the others. Orou saw people exchanging goods in alleyways and even the occasional shout of ¡°thief¡±, but the few guards that he did see were busy with other problems. Compared to the brightness of the city around them, the barracks were dark and gloomy, clearly, an older building compared to the rest. The insides of the barracks were even gloomier, lacking any sort of decor or bright colors to attract one¡¯s attention.


    Making their way through the barracks, Grizz opened a stone door and revealed a beastman very closely resembling Grizz filling out paperwork, a stack of it already having been filled out and loads more to go. Kris confusedly lifted his head to look at who was intruding before Grizz barreled into the room and hugged Kris. Still slightly confused by what was going on, weakly patted Grizz¡¯s back and said: ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you, I have a wife you know.¡±


    Grizz excitedly laughed before answering: ¡°How can your wife be more important than your own brother. I haven¡¯t seen you in months and even when I came back, I was chased out of the city soon after.¡±


    Kriss¡¯ confusion grew as he puzzlingly stared at Grizz. ¡°What do you mean that you were chased out? Father told me that you briefly visited him before you left, saying that you had something important to do.¡±


    ¡°That is true, I came back from the kingdom of Zerus and I did visit father, but before I knew it, I was being escorted by his personal guards, claiming that I am feral and that I need to be contained for my own good. He was trying to get rid of me Kris, for good this time. Most likely he would¡¯ve blamed it on some accident and silenced all witnesses,¡± Grizz explained with a frown on his face.


    Kris put down his quill and heavily sighed. A minute of silence passed as Kris considered what to do before he spoke: ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true then that doesn¡¯t bode well for either of us. I can get you a place for you to hide, though the news of you coming back must have likely spread. You can lay low for a while and I can find Izz, where ever he is, and we can discuss it together.¡±


    ¡°I knew I could rely on you, Kris. I have a plan in mind, but it will involve all three of us and this big guy,¡± Grizz motioned over to Orou before continuing: ¡°It won¡¯t be quick and it won¡¯t be painless, but I promise, we will get father out of his seat of power and prosecuted.¡±

 Three Brothers

    Kris got to work immediately. While Orou and Grizz stayed in the barracks, he left, only to return an hour later, saying that he had found a spot to hide away for a few days. Grizz had already pulled out the black powder from his backpack and was disguising himself, though Orou didn¡¯t see much point in disguising, after all, where else would you find a fifteen-meter snake simply slithering on the street.


    Grizz pulled out a black cloak from his backpack and donned it before beckoning for Orou to come to him. Grizz held his hand out and was expecting something from Orou, but Orou wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted. He sighed and said: ¡°It¡¯s easy, simply coil around me and we¡¯ll be off.¡±


    Orou stared at Grizz, puzzled by his idea. Wouldn¡¯t it be obvious that he was under the cloak, especially considering his size? Slowly and hesitatingly, Orou started to slither up and around Grizz, trying his best to not constrict and kill Grizz. It took a while, especially considering that Orou had to readjust his body when Grizz complained about not having enough air to breathe or the fact that he was going to die any other second. Eventually, Orou had his head on Grizz¡¯s head and they were ready to go. Kris was hysterically laughing and pointing at Grizz, saying that he looks ridiculous.


    Grizz ignored his brother and after confirming the location, started to go deeper into the barracks. It looked like he had done this countless times as he slipped out of a back door and into an alley, moving from one shadow to another. He did so with practiced ease and quite frankly, Orou was impressed by how he moved and avoided getting detected, though he still didn¡¯t see a purpose to this, after all, Orou could do just as well if not better.


    When there were no alleyways to navigate, he confidently strode out into the street and surprisingly, not many people stared at him. Orou double checked if there was any magic involved by activating his spirit vision, but he could see nothing that would mask them from the public¡¯s eye. After a few more minutes, they arrived at a small building, which looked like a small gambling house with a run-down sign at the front. Entering the building, he saw a few people sitting around a table, drinking liquor and playing some kind of card game. None of the patrons turned to look at Grizz and he made his way to the bartender, slipping him a note.


    The bartender pointed towards one of the doors to the right of Grizz and without any noise, he made his way to the door and pushed it open. Before Orou was a spacious room, lavishly decorated with red silks and tapestries. Sitting on a red coach was an ape with light-grey fur reading a book, and although Orou couldn¡¯t see his face clearly, he was pretty sure this was another one of Grizz¡¯s brothers.


    Grizz took off his cloak and Orou was finally free to move about freely. The first thing he did was slither next to the ape beastman and look at the book he was reading. It had a whole bunch of writing in it, but more importantly, it had spirits drawn in it. Although there was no formation for Orou to see, there were two spirits drawn. A regular blue spirit and a much bigger blue spirit, closely resembling the regular spirit, similar to the spirit he had seen in Dawn¡¯s house, inhibiting the chandelier.


    The beastman was so engrossed in reading the book that he didn¡¯t even notice Orou slithering right next to him. Grizz stood and watched this with crossed arms and after a few seconds, he loudly coughed. This startled the beastman as he practically jumped up. He stared at Grizz in surprise before jumping up once more when he saw Orou so close to him.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°You scared me Grizz, I swear I¡¯ll get a heart attack because of you one day,¡± he stood up and practically fled from Orou, quickly approaching Grizz¡¯s side.


    ¡°Kris should be here any moment Izz, I figure that he didn¡¯t have enough time to fill you in, but trust me, you¡¯re not going to like what comes after that,¡± Grizz mischievously grinned at Izz and motioning over to Orou. Izz snuck a glance at Orou before slightly recoiling and saying: ¡°No way, I don¡¯t want anything to do with that thing. Count me out of this whole thing.¡±


    Grizz put his arm around Izz¡¯s head, more in a ¡°you¡¯re not getting out of here¡± manner than being friendly, saying: ¡°Now, now, you might be pleasantly surprised after you hear the plan and what he can actually do, you¡¯ll change your mind in no time.¡±


    Izz was resisting with all his might before the door to the room opened and in came Kris. He paused, still standing in the doorway and looking strangely at the two of them, one desperately trying to escape and the other trying to keep him here. Izz was the first to speak as he practically shouted: ¡°Kris, make him release me. You know that I can¡¯t stand snakes and look at him, he¡¯s practically a giant.¡±


    ¡°Stop it you two. From what Grizz told me, the situation is quite severe and Grizz has promised me that the snake will be needed,¡± Kris sighed and closed the door behind him while Grizz slowly released Izz from his hold. Orou caught Grizz winking at him, though he wasn¡¯t sure what Grizz meant by that. Kris forced the two of them to sit down on the couch before Grizz started to explain to Izz what he had said to Kris a few hours ago.


    ¡°And that¡¯s why I left so abruptly, any questions?¡± Grizz finished retelling his story before taking a shot of whatever alcohol was on the table. Izz pondered the issue for a few seconds before pointing at asking Grizz: ¡°Right, but I still don¡¯t understand, what part does he play in all of this.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s where you come in. You might not know, but this big guy right here has something special going for him. You need to teach him all about magic and as many spells as you can,¡± once more, Grizz winked at Orou and this time, Orou was ecstatic. Finally, after all this time he will have an opportunity to learn more magic.


    ¡°It¡¯s not possible to teach a beast how to cast magic even if I wanted to and I¡¯m not particularly inclined on teaching him.¡± Izz hesitatingly looked over at Orou only to find him staring at the book lying on the coach, trying his best to flip the page with his tongue. Izz quickly grabbed the book, his eyes closed in order to not look at Orou for too long.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought before I learned of what he can do. He has the unique ability to see spirits and he¡¯s intelligent enough to understand beastman speech. I have faith that he can learn spells, he seems to be practicing them every chance he gets at least.¡± Grizz stared at Orou while thinking to himself, recalling his past experiences. Izz had an expression of disbelief on his face and for the first time, he stared directly at Orou.


    Izz didn¡¯t say anything but instead, he started casting a spell, a formation of some kind appearing above Orou¡¯s head. Orou quickly slithered backwards and stared directly at the formation, waiting for anything to appear, but to his disappointment, the formation disappeared after forming a few crisscrossed lines in the air.


    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right Grizz, he can see magic,¡± just as ecstatic Orou was about learning magic, Izz was ecstatic about finding out that Orou can see magic. His fear slightly waned as he continued to cast various spells, only for the formation to dissipate half-way. Orou got angrier and angrier each time Izz did so and after the third time, Orou hissed at Izz, making himself look as menacing as possible. Izz jumped backwards in fear and carefully looked at Orou, considering something or other in his head.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try and do my best while teaching him, though I can¡¯t promise any results. Don¡¯t blame me if he can¡¯t learn anything. One last thing, if he attacks me, I won¡¯t care that he can see magic and I¡¯ll retaliate,¡± Izz made up his mind and turned back to Grizz, confidently proclaiming that he would do it.


    If he were to attack you, I don¡¯t think you could live, especially if you¡¯ve learned nothing new in these few months. Do your best to teach him all you know, I¡¯d like to be done with all of this in a month or two, so be quick.¡±

 Learning Magic

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much you know or understand, but we¡¯ll start with one of the simpler spells.¡± Izz pulled out a book from a backpack he had retrieved and flipped to the third page. There, after a page filled with text, was an illustration of a formation. It was shaped like a snake, with an emphasis on the exterior layer of spirits, or the snake¡¯s skin instead of the interior. Orou could spot resemblances to the formation of the red ribbon, so without Izz even prompting Orou to do anything, he started to cast the spell.


    ¡°This is an intricate spell that once might have an advanced spell with a formation to create a water spirit within it, but unfortunately, it has been lost to time. It took me several days to learn this, but the trick is to make an outline of the formation with spirits and slowly fill it in. I¡¯m sure you could do this in a week or...¡± Izz stopped himself mid-sentence as he looked at Orou, or more importantly, what was floating above Orou¡¯s head. A serpent, strangely similar to Orou himself, was floating in the air and a moment later, Orou was moving it slowly move around.


    It held many similarities to the red ribbon spell, except it required nowhere as many spirits or the concentration needed to control it. In a few minutes, Orou could make it turn corners and constrict around an object, just like he would do if he was fighting someone. Maybe it was due to the fact that it resembled himself but he had no trouble making it attack with its fangs or moving its tail to sweep through the air.


    Izz was for a loss of words, he stared slack-jawed at the serpent flying in the air, unable to comprehend what was happening. Meanwhile, Orou was contemplating about how he could shape the ribbon into a snake. It had many similarities to it, so maybe with a bit of tweaking, he would be able to combine the two. He ceased concentrating on the serpent and started to slowly conjure the red ribbon, making small adjustments so it would resemble a serpent. Obviously, he failed to modify the formation, but Orou believed that with enough time and endurance he could do it.


    Izz finally snapped out of his trance and started pacing back and forth. ¡°Maybe the ability to see spirits makes all of the theory behind magic irrelevant, how could this be?¡± He muttered to himself, pondering about what to do next. After a few more minutes had passed, Izz started to rummage through his backpack and pulled out another book. It was twice as big as the other book and it looked much, much older. He frantically flipped through the pages until he flipped open a page with a massive formation. The illustration itself was spread through both of the pages and Orou could see why.


    It was a formation consisting of a massive and complicated circle, repeating five times and each time, the position of the spirits was shifted. The runes that made up the five circles were changed and swapped each time, which made Orou wonder if the runes actually meant something. In the middle was what looked to be a star, each of the star¡¯s points was shown to be glowing as if a large number of spirits was crammed into that single spot.


    ¡°This is the spell I¡¯m currently working on and since we only have a single month, I can¡¯t afford to waste time with basic spells. You¡¯re going to help me figure out this spell whether you like it or not, after all, what could be more important than reconstructing ancient spells.¡± Izz loudly declared his intentions, but Orou guessed he only did so because Kris and Grizz weren¡¯t here. He excitedly picked up the book he was reading when Orou first met him and after he had flipped through until nearly the end, he showed Orou an illustration of the star formation, by its side was a spirit that Orou had never seen.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°You see, this is a manmade spirit. While many of the elemental spirits can be observed in nature, there has never been a sighting of this spirit. That¡¯s why it¡¯s so important for me to successfully cast the spell, simply so we can observe the spirit and potentially, discover which spells this spirit is compatible with. Although there is the formation to create the spirit here, no one has succeeded in doing so.¡± Izz rambled on about the spirit while Orou looked at the spirit that was in question. It was a smaller spirit and it reminded him of the scintillating spirits that he had seen in Lium. Instead of giving out light, it seemed to reflect it and in the illustration, it was shown that it takes the form and the shape of whatever was in its surroundings.


    Orou immediately went to work on trying to construct the formation, but he was stuck at the first step, he didn¡¯t know how to create the formation of the star. The points of the star were glowing, but it simply wasn¡¯t possible to overlap spirits. Even then, he could only complete two out of the five circles needed, it required precise control over spirits to create the runes and with each circle, the demand for spirits was much higher. He looked at Izz casting the same spell, but he wasn¡¯t faring much better. He could only complete three circles, though it did give Orou inspiration on how to more effectively place the spirits.


    Days passed with Orou doing nothing but practicing spells. He didn¡¯t have to worry about food as Grizz got enough for him to eat on a day to day basis and he didn¡¯t have to worry about anyone hunting him down. He listened to Izz simply ramble on for days on end about magic and the importance of the spell they were researching, but Orou didn¡¯t care beyond the fact that it was an interesting spell to practice. Izz went out and brought back books to study, and often times, he would call Orou over to show him something.


    Orou slowly started learning the letters of the beastman language by reading the books together with Izz, but he was nowhere near proficient enough to actually read them. His effort in combining the serpent and the ribbon was slowly progressing, though he still hadn¡¯t found a spell formation that would trigger. Regarding the spell with the illusion spirit, he had found out that starting from the biggest circle was the most efficient method and as he improved on his control over spirits, he could create up to four circles now, though the fifth one eluded him.


    Over this month, he saw Grizz and Kris constantly go in and out of the building, often times returning with various papers or even wounds. Of course, Orou would heal them even if they screamed and yelled when he did so. A whole mountain of papers was stacked on a desk nearby and while Orou could recognize a few words, he couldn¡¯t read what it was about.


    As the slithered around the room, he noticed that both the tapestries and the silk hanging from the walls were noticeably darker than before. On closer inspection, the edges of the silk were completely dark. Even the sofa had its color drained from it, though that might have been because of Izz jumping around so much. Orou thought that perhaps this wasn¡¯t such a nice place, after all, Kris did find it in an hour or so. Tossing the matter out of his head, he slithered next to Grizz and stared up at him writing something on a piece of paper.


    As Orou stared at Grizz, he started to question his role in all of this. He had learned a bit about magic, but nothing special enough to warrant Grizz asking Izz to urgently pass down everything he knew to Orou, though Orou was still grateful for that. Grizz continued writing for a few more minutes before finally, he sighed and put down the quill. He looked down only to find Orou innocently staring up at him and he smiled, putting his hand on Orou¡¯s head.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s been fun learning magic and all, but there are a few things I need your help with. In fact, there¡¯s no better time than this,¡± Grizz thought for a seconds before he packed all the paperwork into his backpack. Standing up from his chair, he continued: ¡°Let¡¯s head to the governor. I don¡¯t know how he will react to this, but be ready to fight if it comes to blows,¡± saying that, he started walking out of the room, this time, without any disguise and Orou by his side.

 The Governors House

    It had been a month since Orou went outside and honestly, he had missed the fresh air, although if he had a choice, he would stay inside for as long as he could, researching and learning spells. The street was as busy as when Orou first came into the city, if not busier. There were beastmen that smelled of alcohol and beastmen who smelled of perfume mixing together, creating a unique atmosphere in the city. Grizz was slightly grinning to himself as he watched, Orou¡¯s head darted from one beastmen to another with renewed interest in what was happening in the city.


    After making their way past the Moonhall casino and the countless gambling houses on the way, they arrived at a slightly larger building than most. It was made out of green stone, though it resembled many of the gambling houses simply based on the architecture. Two guards bearing an insignia of a panther¡¯s head on their shields were standing guard, more so chatting with each other than guarding the door of the building.


    Grizz stood a few meters off to the side and nudged Orou before saying to him: ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t have any sort of grand plan here. We go into the governor¡¯s building and confront him with evidence, if he doesn¡¯t take action, the least we can do is make him not interfere in our business.¡±


    ¡°I know how much you like to toy with magic and Izz loves company, so it¡¯s a win-win situation. I simply had to get him interested at first, so I said you desperately needed to learn magic at first.¡± Grizz had a mischievous expression on his face as he told Orou this. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell Izz that I said this to you,¡± he put up his finger in a ¡°shush¡± manner and laughed to himself, though Orou was confused how he would tell Izz this information.


    ¡°I¡¯m rambling on here, let¡¯s go in,¡± and as he said that, he started walking straight towards the guards. They didn¡¯t pay Grizz any attention until he was standing right next to them, and even then, the two of them ignored him. Grizz placed his hand on the door and pushed it open, which finally provoked a reaction from the two of them.


    ¡°Stop there, what business do you have with the governor?¡± One of the guards coughed and put up his deepest and most intimidating voice, though it seemed to have an opposite effect thanks to his partner laughing beside him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sent here by Nim Ashmore on official dealings with Governor Baltis,¡± Grizz rummaged through his backpack and grabbed a piece of paper. Almost as if shoving it in the guard¡¯s face, Grizz passed it on to him and a few moments later, the guard straightened his stature and handed the paper back to Grizz. The other guard had stopped laughing and was now properly holding his weapon, looking as if he was doing his best to keep watch.


    ¡°You may pass. The governor is currently in the midst of a meeting, so you might have to wait for a bit.¡± The guard fully opened to door and stepped aside to let Grizz in. He looked suspiciously at Orou as he was slithering into the building, his body was about to step forwards and block his path before he decided otherwise and let Orou pass. Grizz winked and loudly said: ¡°Being born into a rich family sure is nice.¡±


    While the building didn¡¯t look particularly impressive from the outside, it impressed Orou from the inside. A massive living room with painted gold walls and a massive golden chandelier greeted the two of them. Before Orou could take a closer look at the rest of the room, a beastman dressed in a blue suit with white, fluffy wool covering his face, almost to the point where one couldn¡¯t make out his facial features.


    ¡°Unexpected visitors, the governor is busy. Sit down over there and I¡¯ll call you over when it¡¯s your turn,¡± and with that, the beastman wandered off into a separate room, leaving them all alone.


    ¡°If that guy is supposed to greet visitors, he must be really bad in doing his job,¡± Grizz said to Orou when the beastman was out of earshot and he started walking forwards. Orou followed his example and started slithering over to the table, but before he could do so, he was stopped by Grizz.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°If we were to wait here, we would be wasting the chance we were given here. Let¡¯s go snoop around this house, maybe we can discover some blackmail to persuade the governor to join us.¡± Grizz¡¯s mischievous smile made a return for the second time today. He stopped and started listening for something or other and after a few seconds of doing so, he pointed towards his right and said: ¡°Once you hear the governor¡¯s voice you can never forget it. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Orou stopped himself to listen for a bit, but he heard no voice coming from the right. He sensed the vibrations from the beastman travel further to the left and he felt a few more vibrations coming from straight ahead, but surprisingly, nothing from the right side. Grizz had already reached a doorway and was impatiently waving at Orou, beckoning him to come over.


    The two of them passed through a narrow hallway with several more doors on the way and Grizz stopped by each one of them, pressing his ear against the door and listening for a few seconds. His face went from excitement to disappointment with each door he listened at until they arrived at the end of the hallway that split into two more hallways.


    Grizz confidently turned left and pointed at the door at the end of the hallway. Not bothering to listen at any other door, Grizz started briskly walking while Orou was still examining the various paintings that were hung up on the wall. Once more, Grizz waved at Orou and put his ears against the door, and Orou, following his example, did the same.


    ¡°And what¡¯s the situation regarding the rebels in the city?¡± A deep and rough voice asked a question. Orou could hear the sound of pages being flipped before a reply came: ¡°The royal guard have been doing their best to search through everyone and not let any known rebels into the city, which has cut the profits of the town in two at least considering what kind of people travel here. Besides that, we haven¡¯t found any beastmen with strange marking nor have we found anything strange being smuggled in.¡± A voice that was awfully sweet replied back before sighing.


    A few seconds of silence passed before the sweet voice continued: ¡°There have been reports of people openly discussing the subject and what¡¯s happening further to the west. There¡¯s no shortage of beastmen who are starting to question the king¡¯s rule, though the situation isn¡¯t as bad as everywhere else, at least, there¡¯s no risk of a revolt here.¡±


    ¡°I have the power to directly report to the king if the rumors aren¡¯t squelched. There¡¯s no shortage of beastmen trying to prove themselves during these trying times and no position of power is truly secure.¡± The deep voice calmly spoke, but he was interrupted by a thumping sound.


    ¡°Are you threatening me? I know how to run this city and I¡¯ve been doing it so for twenty years, I don¡¯t need anyone to tell me what to do or how to do it.¡± The voice that was previously sweet turned venomous and Orou could feel the tension within the room, not able to see what was going on.


    ¡°I am doing no such thing. I am merely stating what I can do and what¡¯s the current situation, no more. I will visit you very soon Governor Baltis and I expect the problem to be solved by then,¡± and with that, Orou heard the sound of footsteps slowly approaching the door they had pressed against. Grizz immediately removed his head from the door and started dashing in the other direction, doing so while making practically no noise. Orou followed him, controlling the blood core inside of him to match Grizz¡¯s speed, moving as noiselessly as he was.


    As the door opened, the two of them had already turned the corner and were sprinting back to the reception room. Grizz jumped over the table and landed on the coach nearby, grabbing one of the fruits that was lying on a platter. Orou slithered next to Grizz and coiled up, placing his head on his body and looking directly down the hallway, expecting the beastman to come any moment.


    After a few seconds of silence and anticipation, Orou saw a lion beastman with much, much darker fur than Vaar walking down the hallway. He was staring directly at Grizz and Orou as he was walking by, though Grizz¡¯s facial expression was the epitome of boredom, not revealing any of his real emotions to the beastman. Without as much of a word, the lion beastman passed the two of them and exited the building before Grizz let out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°He¡¯s from the lion family so likely, he¡¯s someone important. If I didn¡¯t have 100% confidence in persuading the governor, I do now.¡± Grizz said to Orou as they waited for their turn to come. Several minutes passed and finally, the beastman in the blue suit walked up to them. With an indifferent expression on his face, he said: ¡°The governor will be seeing you now.¡±

 Negotiations

    The two of them followed the beastman through the same hallway they had already visited as Grizz pretended to look around as if everything was brand new to him. His show of emotion was ignored as the beastman didn¡¯t give the two of them a single glance. Arriving at the door, he knocked on it twice before loudly declaring: ¡°A messenger from Nim is here to see you.¡±


    The same sweet voice from earlier replied to him: ¡°Enter,¡± but Orou could sense an underlying anger underneath that voice. Grizz shrugged and before the beastman had a chance to do anything, he pushed open the door and walked in. The beastman gave Grizz an evil look but didn¡¯t do anything out of line, especially in direct sight of the governor. He excused himself and left Grizz and Orou all alone with the governor.


    The room wasn¡¯t as large nor as lavish as the other rooms. A panther-like beastman with black fur was sitting by a table, a glass of wine in one hand and a quill in the other. Behind her was a cabinet of wine, locked behind a pane of glass. Grizz¡¯s eyes lingered on the bottles in the cabinet, or more likely, the writing on the bottles themselves.


    ¡°Nim couldn¡¯t be bothered to come himself and had to send a messenger for him. Well, spit it out, what is it?¡± Baltis voice startled Grizz who was busy still inspecting the wine bottles. While her voice still held a hint of respect for the lion beastmen who she talked to earlier, there was no respect to be found here.


    ¡°Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Grizz Ashmore, Nim¡¯s oldest son.¡± Grizz slightly bowed towards Baltis, though he similarly didn¡¯t hold much respect for her. Her gaze lost the disdain she had for Grizz earlier and she put down the glass of wine on the table, saying to Grizz: ¡°At least he sent someone qualified. What is it that he wants?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you Governor Baltis as I know that you value honesty over anything else, I¡¯m not here to do any errands for Nim, instead, I¡¯m here for this,¡± as he said that, he pulled a stack of papers out of his backpack and placed them down on the table. There must have been at least a hundred of them, if not more. Baltis had an intrigued smile on her face as she grabbed the paper on top of the pile and started reading over it. Her expression changed from that of bemusement to displeasure.


    ¡°What are you trying to achieve here by showing me this,¡± she waved the paper in her hands before taking the next one and reading over it. Her frown deepened with each paper she put aside,


    ¡°Hundreds of written testimonies and filed complaints about Nim¡¯s underground dealings. Murders swept under the rug, illegal drugs that cause one to become feral and so much more that you¡¯ve simply ignored.¡± Grizz stood up slammed his hand on the table and stared directly at Baltis. Baltis shied away from Grizz¡¯s glance, perhaps aware that everything he said was the truth. Seconds filled with tense silence passed before Grizz finally sat down.


    ¡°This has to stop and you know it. Many citizens wonder if you¡¯re the governor or he is. Practically half of the city is under his control and you do nothing about it. Are you confident that your men and your guards are truly yours?¡± Grizz didn¡¯t relent in the slightest and he maintained eye contact with Baltis throughout the entire conversation. Grizz¡¯s last sentence finally provoked a reaction from Baltis as she furiously retorted.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°What do you expect me to do? As you said, many of my men have been bought over by Nim. I¡¯m aware of what he¡¯s doing, I receive several reports about him and his men daily. He would escape before any attempts of capturing him would succeed. The only way to make him stay put is to execute him, and if we did that, riots would start in no time. Every single of the largest entertainment buildings are reliant on him and our income would plummet once the riots started.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s precisely what we want from you. Nim has been a menace to this city as a whole for a long time and it¡¯s time for him to go. You have the power to lock down the city until we find him and you have the power to make an official statement about this. Although he has no official will, your word would go a long way in making sure that no revolts break out when one of his sons inherits the mantle.¡± Grizz had a slight smile on his face as if he had finally gotten what he wanted. Baltia considered what Grizz said for a few seconds, taking a few more sips of wine in the process.


    ¡°So you want my help in inheriting all that Nim owns. How do I know that you won¡¯t be the same as him? There¡¯s no guarantee that you will kill him, besides, someone with ties to the king will be coming here very soon and he wants this place to be in perfect order, or else I¡¯m done for.¡± Baltis was still sceptical of what Grizz said, after all, all she had was Grizz¡¯s word that he would succeed.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not me who¡¯s going to inherit Nim¡¯s position, it¡¯s Kris. He¡¯s been the captain of the guard for a few years and you¡¯ve known him for even longer. If there¡¯s anyone you can trust in this city, it¡¯s him,¡± Grizz let that sink in for a few seconds before he continued: ¡°As for your other issue, I have no doubts that Kris will deal with it perfectly. He has been complaining about the lack of guards in this city and the lack of funding from the governor. The first thing he will do is take care of the mess in the city, besides, I have a few contacts of my own amongst Nim¡¯s men that can will help smooth out any difficulties he might face when Nim is taken care of.¡±


    Baltis sunk deep into thought while Grizz looked over and gave a thumbs up to Orou. Grizz had no doubts about whether or not he would succeed and instead, returned back to observing the wine bottles. A minute passed in complete silence before Baltis slowly started to talk: ¡°While I don¡¯t trust you, I know that Kris is a competent man. Nim has been a thorn in my side for years and I¡¯m willing to risk my position to get rid of him. Now, what is it that you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Give us three days to prepare. At the dawn of the fourth day gather everyone in the city and make an announcement, listing all of Nim¡¯s crimes and proclaiming him a criminal. Just in case, have the guards lock down the city, not allowing anyone to go in or out. If all goes to plan, we will be back with Nim¡¯s head and you can reward Kris for his meritorious deed of slaying Nim and say that he is deserving of his father¡¯s position. We will also need to clean up some of the men that are truly loyal to Nim, but your men don¡¯t need to do anything, we will take care of it.¡± Baltis and Grizz argued back and forth about the various details of what Baltis had to do, but eventually, they agreed on this course of action.


    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I hope to see both you and Kris safe and sound after getting rid of Nim,¡± with those last few words, Grizz slightly bowed and started to exit, leaving the room after what felt like hours of negotiation. Staring outside one of the windows, Orou saw that the sun was starting to set and even Orou as getting a bit nervous about what would happen three days later, this seemed like it was important for Grizz and Orou had grown a bit attached to him. Seeing Orou looking at him, Grizz kneeled down and patted his head, and for the first time in his life, Orou willingly let him do that.

 Moonhall Casino

    The two of them walked through the city that was lit by strange lanterns. Grizz pointed out how the lanterns have been ever since he was born and they seemed to burn on throughout the entire night and extinguish themselves during the day, seemingly burning on forever through some weird magic, though Orou didn¡¯t see any traces of spirits in the lanterns.


    The city grew busier as night approached, many beastmen were dead-drunk already and even more were heading into the various gambling houses and casinos that were scattered all throughout the city. Several guards were scattered haphazardly all over the city, but there were nearly not enough guards for the amount of beastmen that were causing trouble over here. In fact, Orou saw some of the guards holding bottles of alcohol in their hands, joining in with the rest of the merry troublemakers.


    Grizz seemed like he was used to this kind of scene as he ignored everyone that was around him, heading straight towards the Moonhall casino. He didn¡¯t seem to be stressed about the upcoming confrontation with Nim, it was as if he had forgotten it already. He gave a small blood crystal to the lady that was peddling various fruits and vegetables in a cart, grabbing two apples and offering one to Orou. Orou sceptically bit into it and once he found out that it was pretty sweet, he devoured it in one bite.


    They made their way to the Moonhall casino and instead of turning around and going back to their hideout, Grizz turned to the casino and started walking closer to it. Two beastmen stood by the door, blocking several of the beastmen from entering, but Grizz simply waltzed past them and pushed open the door. The beastmen didn¡¯t seem to react to Grizz doing so and immediately, Orou heard cries of protest from the beastmen that were blocked from entering.


    Orou hesitantly followed Grizz inside of the casino, only to find himself awestruck by the things around him. It was packed with beastmen walking around with drinks, talking and socializing with each other. Shouts and cries could be heard in equal volume from the tables with playing cards and dice, beastmen in blue suits were dealing out cards while beastmen in black suits were watching over the game. At one point, Orou saw a beastman playing cards cry out in joy, only for him to let out a growl a moment later. A beastman in a black suit used force to subdue him and he was thrown out of the casino, his earnings still remaining on the table.


    Grizz walked past the bar that was serving drinks and the tables with cards and dice and walked past several beastmen stationed at the stairs who either stopped or allowed certain people to walk upstairs. After a few glances exchanged between the beastmen, they allowed Grizz and Orou to pass, though Grizz didn¡¯t spare them a single glance. The second floor was a lot more refined and a lot calmer than the first floor, around fifty people sat by various tables and discussed matters in whispers and making various deals with each other.


    Grizz ordered something that was called ¡°pyre whiskey¡±, a drink that still had flames dancing on the surface of the liquid. Taking a single shot of it, Grizz started walking to the very back, eyeing a particular group of beastmen playing a card game, wagering a sapphire crystal that Orou instantly recognised.


    The four of them looked up at Grizz and a beastman with a long, striped neck greeted him. ¡°We¡¯ve been wondering when you would come. Would you like to play a game of cards?¡± A soothing voice invited Grizz to play, to which he responded by sitting down onto an empty chair and the long-necked beastman dealing out cards to him.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Do we have the governor on our side? A lot of things would go smoother if the governor could make an announcement,¡± the long-necked beastman offered a cigar to Grizz, to which he simply shook his head and looked at the cards he had been dealt. He was silent for a few seconds before he answered: ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve convinced her to speak on the behalf of Kris 3 days later but she won¡¯t involve herself in any other way. We will have to do the rest of the work.¡±


    The long-necked beastman took a whiff of the cigar and set down a couple of the cards face-down. The remaining three beastmen were staring at their cards, looking slightly nervous about something as Grizz¡¯s gaze swept over them. ¡°I can trust you to fulfill your end of the bargain, can I not? A lot of things are at stake here and I can guarantee that if you help Kris get settled in, you can maintain your position and gain a lot.¡±


    ¡°You can expect Nim to be here on the third day, as we¡¯ve discussed earlier. I won¡¯t do the dirty deed myself, I don¡¯t want Nim¡¯s blood on my hands as I¡¯m already risking the reputation of Moonhall casino for this.¡± Another puff of the cigar and the long-necked beastman took the sapphire crystal in his hands, seemingly busy with inspecting it.


    ¡°Another thing, I expect for the down-payment to be delivered to me before the three day period ends, you know I don¡¯t like to make deals simply basing them off of empty promises.¡± The beastman put down the crystal and looked expectantly at Grizz, the remaining beastmen lifted their heads sightly on the mention of down-payment, no longer being as timid as before. Grizz sighed and rummaged through his backpack before pulling out a small pouch and tossing it over at the long-necked beastman. The three beastmen¡¯s eyes immediately snapped to the pouch, but the long-necked beastman gave the three of them a threatening glance and they unwillingly relented.


    ¡°How many are on our side and how many need to be dealt with?¡± After receiving his payment, the long-necked beastman nonchalantly grabbed a dagger from below the table and placed it down on the table, his eyes meeting Grizz¡¯s.


    ¡°I¡¯ll provide a full-fledged list tomorrow. There are certain individuals that will come to our side when Nim¡¯s gone, but there¡¯s also those that will try to resist when he dies. Pass the list to the guild and make sure that at the end of the third day, they¡¯re all taken care of.¡± Grizz looked over to the dagger and said that with an unsavory smile on his face. He listed several beastmen whose names Orou didn¡¯t recognise and the expressions of the three beastmen drastically changed, going pale and looking around for something.


    Grizz finished the game and the long-necked beastman pocketed the sapphire crystal even though Grizz won in the end. Both of them gave knowing glances at each other before Grizz stood up and turned around, saying to the long-necked beastman: ¡°Say hello to Mallady for me when you meet her. A shame she couldn¡¯t be persuaded to join us, it didn¡¯t have to end this way you see.¡±


    He gave a nod and Orou stared at the beastman for a few more seconds. All four of them interestedly stared back at him, as if seeing him for the first time. Orou wondered about what history Grizz had with this place before quickly catching back up with Grizz, just in time to hear Grizz sigh as he looked outside the window at the crescent moon, muttering: ¡°What a shame,¡± to himself


    ¡°Sometimes, I want to simply enjoy a life without all of this intrigue and pretending I have to do and relax, let down my facade. It¡¯s great that I have someone to talk to, even if you might not understand what I¡¯m feeling and can¡¯t reply to me.¡± Grizz looked at Orou before sighing once more and starting to make his way down the stairs.


    ¡°As soon as all of this is done, I¡¯m retiring and going back to live with Lyra. If you want, you can join us, though I doubt that you would want that kind of life.¡± Orou truly pondered over Grizz¡¯s proposition and eventually, he decided to postpone the decision. He had so much more to learn and so much more to experience, but Orou also liked spendings days in peace and quiet. As he exited the Moonhall casino, he stared up at the sky and wondered about what he wanted to do.

 Mock Combat

    The two of them slowly made their way back to the gambling house they were staying at. It wasn¡¯t a particularly popular place, though the regulars kept returning here every night to wager small prizes and get drunk on cheap alcohol. Although they had only been here for a month, Grizz occasionally played a game or two with the regulars, so as they walked in, they were greeted with friendly smiles.


    Entering their room, Orou expected to see Kris and Izz, but all that greeted him was silence. A few books were opened on a nearby table along with a note, though Orou still couldn¡¯t read what was said. Grizz dropped his backpack in a corner and looked over to Orou who was still inspecting the note.


    ¡°Both Kris and Izz have important tasks at hand so they won¡¯t be here until the final day,¡± Grizz said as he laid down on a coach and simply stared at the ceiling. Orou slithered next to him and coiled up, just like he had done back when he met Grizz. Orou wasn¡¯t in a mood to practice spells for some reason as he kept thinking back about various things that had happened during his travels and what would¡¯ve happened if he never stumbled upon the small village.


    Before Orou even realised it was already sunset. Grizz showed no signs of waking up, but that was typical of him. Usually, Kris would kick him awake, but now that nobody was there to keep him in check, he could sleep for as long as he wanted. A few more hours passed as Orou got out of the strange mood he was in earlier and started to think about combining the two spells he knew already.


    Grizz woke up before Orou could make any new discoveries and after doing his morning stretches, he walked up to Orou and slightly nudged him. Orou saw that by his side were two wooden daggers which he held up in the air before saying to Orou: ¡°Since we have to fight Nim, or more likely, his bodyguards, I figured that we should practice together.


    Grizz twirled the wooden dagger in his hands as Orou processed what Grizz had just said. He repeated it multiple times in his head, but he still didn¡¯t get what Grizz wanted from him. Why should he fight Grizz? He wasn¡¯t about to eat him and he wasn¡¯t even hungry for some beastman flesh so Orou didn¡¯t see a point in fighting Grizz. Apparently, Grizz realized that Orou was thinking after several minutes of Orou doing nothing, so he decided to start things off himself.


    A wooden dagger was rapidly approaching Orou and was about to strike Orou¡¯s head if he did nothing about it. Although Orou didn¡¯t feel a sense of danger from the strike, he still decided to retaliate. Orou launched himself into Grizz¡¯s strike, not being afraid of being hit by it. Grizz quickly withdrew his strike and nimbly avoided Orou¡¯s strike, circling around Orou to get to his backside. Orou simply used his tail to swing at him, but once more, Grizz jumped over Orou¡¯s tail and used his wooden dagger to strike it. Although the dagger was made from wood, Grizz wielded it with surprising strength, enough to actually make Orou feel pain.


    Grizz jumped around the room like an agile ape, avoiding Orou¡¯s every hit and landing two in return. Orou wanted to move around and corner Grizz, but his size prevented him from doing so. The room was only so big and unlike Grizz, he didn¡¯t have much space to maneuver, so deciding to fight this battle another way, Orou used his tail to create some distance between the two of them. He started to create the formation of one of the simpler spells he knew, that is, the water serpent spell, and as Grizz rushed towards him, he found himself to be constricted by a floating serpent.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Deciding to take a bit of revenge for Grizz¡¯s earlier strikes, Orou made the serpent constrict tighter around Grizz, but as the serpent started doing that, it constricted around nothing but air. He felt a strike land on his backside as his concentration waned and the serpent was no more. In his irritation he instinctively guided the waves from his blood core towards his tail and slapped downwards, causing the section of floor that was there to be a mere crater. Immediately after, he realised what he could¡¯ve done to Grizz and turned around. Orou let out a sigh of relief in his mind as he saw that Grizz was as safe as ever, though he looked a bit exhausted simply from running around so much.


    Honestly, Orou could stand here and not do anything and he would win this battle. The wooden daggers did no significant damage to his body and the waves soothed the bit of pain that was there. Grizz would eventually get exhausted and that would be the end of his life, but Orou realised what Grizz wanted of him. He had seen Grizz practice with Kris every day and now that he had fought Grizz, he could see the progress he has made in these few days. Although it was a waste of energy to Orou, perhaps it was something as exciting as learning spells for Grizz, so he entertained him for as long as Grizz could go on.


    The two of them exchanged blows as Grizz got more proficient in reliably landing strikes on Orou¡¯s body. In return, Orou had to control his strength and fight in tight quarters, which helped him land more blows on Grizz. Although Orou had never considered practicing spells this way, he found out that it was surprisingly effective. He had a limited amount of time to cast spells so he had to judge which spell he could cast, and which would take too long to be effective. Although it was still a learning process, Orou felt like his concentration was not as easily broken as before, and all of this because of a sparring session that lasted a few hours.


    Grizz was drenched in sweat as he sat down on the couch, heavily panting. ¡°Back when I was younger I could go on for days without end, but look at me now, exhausted after mere hours of sparring,¡± Grizz laughed at himself and looked at Orou, though he didn¡¯t appear to be much different from when he started. In Orou¡¯s opinion, this had wasted more energy than simply practicing spells, but his thoughts might have been influenced by the fact that he was getting hungry now.


    Grizz seemed to agree with him as he grabbed the several large chunks of deer meat lying in a corner and dragged them over to Orou. Just as Orou was about to dig into the delicious meal before him, he saw Grizz doing something strange. The large piece of deer that Grizz had grabbed earlier was being stuffed into Grizz¡¯s mouth, a bit of blood running down Grizz¡¯s mouth. Grizz took his time and minutes passed, he was clearly enjoying each bite of the meat and he looked a bit saddened when there was nothing more in his hands. He looked over to Orou, only to find him staring at him, not having touched any of his meat.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine to eat a bit of meat once in a while, you do it all the time so why can¡¯t I?¡± Grizz laughed to himself though Orou could see guilt written all over Grizz¡¯s face. His gaze shifted around nervously as he observed both the door and Orou who was still staring at him.


    ¡°I have a nearly pure blood crystal by my side, so I should be fine, right?¡± Grizz seemed to be talking more to himself than to Orou. He double-checked his pockets and pulled out a blood crystal that had a deep shade of red and examined it for something before sighing and putting it back into his pocket. He ignored Orou¡¯s gaze as he stood up and grabbed his real daggers and his backpack, saying to Orou: ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few hours.¡±


    What Grizz had done was clearly strange as he hadn¡¯t seen a beastman eat any meat so far, but after thinking about it for a while, it wasn¡¯t anything that bothered Orou. What interested Orou was the behaviour he showed after the fact, this was the first time Orou had seen Grizz so nervous and fidgety about something. He started to eat the meat before him, deciding to find out more about the blood crystals and what uses they had at some point.

 Discovery and Change

    The four circles that were held together solely by the sheer force of will looked hypnotizing to Orou. Once more, he failed to construct the smallest circle that would bring him oh so close to completing the spell. The more he worked on the formation, the more he thought that the spell wasn¡¯t any sort of illusion magic or magic that would affect the mind, but a spell similar to his spirit vision. If there were a regular world and a world of spirits, could there be more worlds for Orou to see and explore? This thought process drove him to wrack his mind about how he could compress the spirits into a star shape.


    The first thought on his mind was to simply push the two spirits and merge them into one. He split his concentration in half and manipulated two spirits, making them float some distance away. The two noble and brave spirits charged at each other like knights, but in the end, they crashed and like two magnets pushed each other apart. Orou pushed his mind to its full extent and willed for the two to merge, but no matter what he did, his will was never strong enough to do it. The worst thing was that Orou could see that if he pushed harder, it could possibly work, but he could never push hard enough.


    The next idea was something that he had theorized a while ago when looking at the spirit strings, that is, to simply shape a single spirit into a star. He imagined his will as an invisible force approaching the spirit and surrounding it just like he would constrict around his prey, he tried to flatten the spirit. It gradually began to deform and flatten, instead of a sphere, it looked more like an oblate. Orou was getting close to finishing the first step of his plan, but just as his concentration slipped for a moment, the spirit escaped from his grasp and regained its spherical shape.


    Orou¡¯s anger knew no bounds towards this particular spirit as he kept tormenting it for hours, flattening, elongating and deforming it, but try as he might make a star, he simply couldn¡¯t. His head was beginning to hurt from his extensive use of his will, but a little bit of pain has never stopped a snake. If the spirit had a mouth, it would surely be crying as Orou did his best to try and chop it in half and take a smaller piece of the spirit with himself. Thankfully for the spirit, Orou didn¡¯t succeed in splitting in half.


    He gave up on this idea after several more hours had gone by. Grizz had returned back at some point, but Orou was so entranced by his research that didn¡¯t notice him come in. He was writing something with an exhausted look on his face and Orou wondered what he had been up to in these last few hours. Orou felt a bit bad that he couldn¡¯t contribute to whatever Grizz was doing, but it was probably for the best anyways.


    Orou slithered over to the couch and looked intently at the book that was lying there. It was the same book that Izz had read when Orou first met him, the book about various spirits and what they look like. It was currently closed shut and Orou had to stare long and hard at it before he realised that it wouldn¡¯t magically open and he had to do something about it. He awkwardly used his two fangs to try and open the book and he succeeded, after about five minutes of trying of course.


    Using his tongue to flip the pages, he searched for the page that illustrated the regular, blue spirits that he was currently dealing with. Several more minutes of page flipping passed before he finally stumbled onto the page he needed. He regretted not being able to read the writing as this would be the time he needed it, but ignoring his lack of reading skills, he looked at the illustration on the page. There was a small blue spirit that he saw all around him, but there was also a bigger spirit that had a deeper shade of blue. The illustration depicted the small spirit bowing before the bigger spirit, and that was what Orou was looking for.Stolen novel; please report.


    He carefully examined the bigger spirit for distinctive marks or something that would make the regular spirit obey it. The spirit was what Orou imagined multiple spirits, all squeezed into a single spirit would look like. Recalling the spirit he had seen residing in the chandelier, he compared it with the illustration and found it to be exactly the same. He recalled the big spirit making every other spirit obey it as if it had its own domain. The closer Orou got to the spirit, the harder it was for him to move other spirits. Perhaps if Orou could borrow the ability from the big spirit and make the others obey him, he could create the star he needed for the spell.


    Taking a hold of the book by using his fangs, he slowly slithered over to Grizz, making sure to not drop it along the way. Grizz was taking a break from writing and was staring at something on the table when he saw Orou plop down the book next to him. Grizz looked over to find Orou using his forked tail to flip the pages to the spirit he had found earlier. Grizz looked like he wanted to give Orou a hand, but wasn¡¯t sure if he should, so he simply watched as Orou struggled with the simple task of flipping pages.


    Finally, Orou found the page he was searching for and used placed one of his fangs on the big spirit, looking excitedly at Grizz. He was confused for several seconds as Orou kept tapping his fang against the drawing, but he eventually got what Orou was trying to convey. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t an answer that Orou was expecting. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask Izz about everything regarding magic because I have no clue what that spirit is or where to find it. Finding Izz is going to be difficult now that he¡¯s gone, but we should see him in three days. You should be able to ask him what¡¯s on your mind then.¡±


    Orou dejectedly slithered away from Grizz, leaving the book on the table and not bothering with the regular spirits anymore. He knew that he was likely going to fail, but he pushed down on the door handle and exited the room by himself, hoping to find either Izz or the big spirit. The beastmen looked over at Orou, but once they saw that Grizz wasn¡¯t coming out of the door, they gave Orou strange looks and withdrew a bit to themselves, though they didn¡¯t do anything to provoke him.


    Although Orou hadn¡¯t noticed it before, he spent the entire day practicing spells. The ever-burning lanterns illuminated the streets and the beastmen around him didn¡¯t pay him any attention, either too drunk or too busy with something to notice. Orou used his spirit vision to look all around him, though nothing besides the Moonhall casino stood out to him. Even the casino has some sort of barrier spirit, nothing that would aid him in his pursuit of knowledge.


    Orou slithered through the alleyways of Ophilia, witnessing colorful powder being traded around, screams of help and someone being murdered in cold blood, all things that might have interested a regular beastman, but certainly not Orou. From what he had learned simply by living in a human city and travelling with Grizz, these were things that the rest of the beastmen frowned on and they would get punished in some way if they were caught. In some regard, Orou agreed on the fact that Kris had to be the one to put this city in order, but he couldn¡¯t sympathize much with the victims.


    After an uneventful hour or two of searching, he started to head back and encountered something that made him remember a few unpleasant memories. A young beastman, lying in a pool of his own blood but still barely breathing was whimpering to himself, crying and rocking himself to sleep. He was well out of the way of any guards or any lanterns that would give him away, so it would be easy to devour the beastman and end his suffering, but for some reason, Orou opted not to do it.


    Perhaps he had been with Grizz and Izz for too long or perhaps he was getting too much into the mindset of a beastman, but even the thought of eating the beastman caused Orou to be slightly repulsed. If he was in the forest where he had to fight for every single one of his meals and where you didn¡¯t know if you would end up in the jaws of another beast, he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated, but he was safe from any harm and he had plenty of meat to eat back at the gambling house. Deciding to leave this beastman to his own, Orou slithered back to their lodgings, wondering when he had changed so much.

 Dreams

    Orou returned back to the gambling house a few hours after he had left and found that the door hadn¡¯t been locked, most likely for Orou to get in. Several patrons were sleeping, passed out on the table and heavily snoring. The barkeep did nothing to throw them out, most likely peacefully sleeping in his own room by now. No one noticed his arrival, not even Grizz when he opened to door to their room. He was sleeping heavier than Orou had ever seen him sleep, recovering from whatever exhausting thing he had done today.


    The hours passed like the wind as Orou didn¡¯t sleep and instead got to combining his two spells, the water serpent and the blood ribbon. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was even possible to change the formation so that it would still activate, but be in a shape of a serpent, but that didn¡¯t stop him from trying. Orou stared at his reflection in the mirror as he tried to make the ribbon as serpent-like as possible and he felt like he was on the verge of completion. He forced the formation to bend to his will, giving it one last push.


    He saw the spirits surrounding his eyes and looking up above him through the mirror, an incredibly detailed serpent made entirely out of blood. It was a splitting image of Orou as one could make out every individual scale on his body. The blood serpent started floating around and without any extra practice, Orou felt like he could make it do whatever he wanted. He was already incredibly proficient in controlling the blood-ribbon and once he completed the formation, he could control the serpent just like his own body.


    The serpent flew around everywhere, doing various tricks and stunts in mid-air. Although he didn¡¯t know how effective it would be in combat, he wouldn¡¯t return back to his blood ribbon spell even if it was less effective. After being able to freely manipulate the serpent, returning back would feel like taking a step backwards, not to mention he liked the sight and the feeling of his identical replica flying in the air.


    After messing around for a few more minutes, Orou noticed something weird about the serpent. In the middle of the serpent, through the various spirits that made up the serpent, was a single black line. It was barely noticeable and it didn¡¯t seem to impact the formation in any way, but Orou felt a sense of familiarity from the black line and he was sure that he had seen it somewhere, though he couldn¡¯t remember where.


    The two new discoveries he had made today made Orou excited for what was going to occur in now two days. If Grizz was telling the truth, they were going to be fighting someone or something, so he would get to observe his new spell in action and find out what the black line does and after the battle, he could ask Izz where he could find the big spirit, or more likely, Grizz would be the one asking for him.


    Speaking of Grizz, Orou saw Grizz stirring and looking like he was about to wake up, so Orou did the only natural thing imaginable, which was making the serpent float as close as possible to Grizz¡¯s face and making it stare directly into his eyes. Grizz stirred awake and slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted by Orou¡¯s face, only blood-red and devoid of pupils. He jumped a little before closing his eyes and opening them for the second time, only for the serpent to not disappear like a bad dream.


    The two of them had a staredown with Grizz¡¯s gaze being as serious as it can get, which was not the reaction that Orou expected from Grizz. He made the serpent fly in the air and make a perfect circle before returning back to Orou and disappearing all of the sudden. Grizz stood up and blinked several times at Grizz, asking him: ¡°Am I in another one of those strange and twisted dreams of mine?¡±


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    Grizz stared at Orou almost as if he was expecting him to talk, but Orou did nothing more than slither up to him and questioningly stare at him, wondering what Grizz was talking about. Grizz¡¯s eyes cleared up a bit and he mumbled: ¡°Maybe not,¡± before walking next to Orou and putting his hand on Orou¡¯s head. Grizz was a bit nervous about something as he stared at Orou, but Orou didn¡¯t do anything out of the usual, allowing Grizz free reign over his head.


    After several more tests Grizz finally let out a sigh of relief and said to Orou: ¡°Don¡¯t do that to me again, I¡¯ve been having weird dreams since I left the village and I thought I was in another one of those,¡± to which Orou simply responded by flickering his tongue. He didn¡¯t have dreams, only the single dream he had when he got drunk off of dream-wine, so Orou truly wondered what it must be like to regularly dream. If he could dream of honey and nectar every night, he would do so without hesitating.


    Grizz got properly dressed while Orou was thinking about dreams. He was interrupted by a wooden dagger flying at him and Grizz sprinting towards him. It seemed like Grizz wasn¡¯t done with sparring and wanted another match, though he stood no chance of beating Orou. Just as yesterday, Grizz went out to do something and Orou stayed inside, preferring to practice the few spells that he knew.


    Two days practically ran by as Orou continued his spell practices and his sparring with Grizz. He didn¡¯t see either Izz or Kris during these days and each day. Grizz seemed to be growing more and more exhausted. Although there seemed to be nothing wrong with his body, he was constantly sighing and grumbling about something, never in a good mood when he came back to the room they were staying at. Before Grizz went to sleep, he had a faint smile on his face


    Orou tried extra hard to practice his spells during the night, healing himself and conjuring both ribbons and serpents to try and improve himself before a fight. He was rusty and he wasn¡¯t afraid to admit it. The sparring that he did every day was little more than entertainment for Orou, if he wasn¡¯t fighting with his life on the line, it wasn¡¯t a proper fight at all.


    Grizz woke up practically rearing to go. He jumped out of bed and walked around the room with a spring in his step, all of his previous exhaustion seemingly gone. He spent several minutes making sure that his daggers were razor sharp and properly hidden, he donned his leather armor and took care that there were not going to be any problems with it before the battle. He poured some brown powder into his pocket and prepared a dart coated in some sort of viscous substance. All sorts of gear went in and out of his backpack, including lockpicking tools, some cosmetic and more powder and a change of clothes, things he had seen Grizz use at one point or another.


    Orou wondered if Grizz would be more deadly with a few magical items, and he wondered why he hadn¡¯t seen any so far. Even a monkey would be deadly with a magical dagger and armor, not to mention Grizz, who was an ape. Grizz tapped Orou on his head when he was ready to go, an hour had already passed since he woke up. The two of them exited the room and Orou looked over to the bar, only to find no one there. He heard clamoring outside of the gambling house, people questioning about why they were supposed to go to the city centre and what the governor wanted. Grizz pushed open the door and confidently walked out into the city before him.

 Nim

    The two of them went out of the gambling house and did what they were most proficient in doing, that is, sneak through alleyways. The streets were packed with beastmen that were grumbling and slowly making their way closer to Moonhall casino, discussing why the governor would make a public appearance. Multiple guards were knocking at homes and yelling something at the door. Those that opened their doors were suggested to get outside, with subtle threats mixed in between the suggestions. Although there were no beastman that openly attacked the guards, many of them glared, keeping a wide distance away from them.


    As it turned out, they were not the only people using the alleyways. Many beastmen were simply trying to escape the traffic and many more wanted to stay in the shadows and observe what was going on. Grizz would mix in perfectly with these unsavory folk, if not for a huge snake following him from behind. Still, not many beastman paid attention to them as something much bigger was happening. They arrived next to the Moonhall casino without any incident until they saw the governor herself standing on some sort of elevation, looking at the beastmen before her with a confident gaze.


    As Orou was still distracted by the governor, Grizz pointed out several people, dressed similarly to the rest of the crowd but with much, much bigger weapons by their sides. They were seemingly encircling the entire crowd, staying at the edge of it and biding their time. Grizz¡¯s finger snapped to a few figures dressed in dark clothes, making their way through the crowd without any problems whatsoever. A few of the figures that were hiding in the shadows also noticed this, but even the alleyways were entirely covered as several eyes and something glinting stopped anyone from retreating backwards. Once more, Grizz pointed to a roof and Orou saw several men hopping from roof to roof, somehow managing to stay out of sight of the entire crowd.


    Grizz¡¯s connections and plans were much deeper than what they seemed on the surface. As they were passing through another alleyway, someone knocked a few times on his shoulder, to which Grizz responded with a grunt of approval. Following that, they entered an abandoned building and Grizz lifted up a trapdoor before promptly jumping down. Orou¡¯s head reached the ground with his tail still being next to the trapdoor and he started following Grizz through a narrow stone passageway. It went on for several hundred meters before another trapdoor greeted Orou. Climbing up, Orou saw a completely dark room with several shelves and chests in it.


    Grizz fumbled around his pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a key and unlocking the door that was blocking their way. They passed through a lavishly decorated room, full of pink satin and the like before opening another door. The Moonhall casino in all of its glory greeted them, though this time it was nowhere near as active. Not a single person could be seen drinking or playing cards, the entire place was evacuated, though Orou could still hear some faint noises coming from upstairs.


    Grizz slowed down his pace upon hearing something from the 2nd floor. Orou practically couldn¡¯t hear Grizz¡¯s footsteps as he started walking up the stairs, a dart with the viscous substance coating it in his hands. Grizz¡¯s steps came to a halt as he intently listened for the voices, Orou joining him in the process.


    ¡°Cut to the chase and stop chit-chatting. Why did you call me out here?¡± Orou could make out a faint, monotone and emotionless voice asking a question and the sound of shuffling feet along with a faint scream. A trembling voice that Orou recognised as the long-necked beastmen replied: ¡°There are a few important matters I needed to discuss with you.¡±


    ¡°Spit it out,¡± the same emotionless voice replied and Orou heard the drawing of a blade. Apparently, Grizz had enough of listening as he climbed the last few steps of stairs and stared right ahead of him, aiming to throw the dart at someone. A second later Orou saw what they were dealing with. An ape with light brown fur, slightly lighter than Grizz¡¯s fur, was standing next to the long-necked beastman, a shortsword held up to his neck. Next to him were two beastmen, one resembling a fox and the other resembling a wolf.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Grizz made no sound as he wound up his arm and tossed the dart with all of his strength. It rapidly soared through the air, aiming to hit Nim¡¯s neck if nothing was done about it. No one noticed the silent flying dart, except for the fox beastman by Nim¡¯s side. The fox beastman¡¯s ears slightly flapped and his fur stood up. Moving with unnatural speed, he stepped in front of Nim just as the dart was about to hit him. While it didn¡¯t hit Nim, it still penetrated the fox¡¯s neck.


    ¡°It¡¯s an ambush!¡± The fox beastman yelled out as he pulled out the dart out of his neck. He pulled some sort of vial from his pocket and gulped down the liquid within it, pulling out the two shortswords by his side and standing in front of Nim. The wolf beastman did the same, unsheathing the massive two-handed sword he had on his back and looking at the assailants.


    Seeing that his ambush had failed, Grizz spared no time to introduce himself and started sprinting forwards, his steel dagger hidden from sight. Seeing that Grizz was already going, Orou spared no time hesitating and practically threw his body forwards, allowing the waves inside of him to do the rest of the work. Although Grizz had started sprinting first, Orou reached the two of them way before Grizz did. Nim had already retreated to the wall of the second floor before shouting out: ¡°I should have known that you were behind all of this and that you wouldn¡¯t simply lie down and not get involved.¡±


    Grizz didn¡¯t respond to his words, silently passing by the two of Nim¡¯s bodyguards and heading straight towards Nim. The wolf beastman tried his best to intercept him, but Orou¡¯s tail was heading straight towards him and he had no time to stop Grizz. The fox beastman narrowly dodged his tail by ducking, but the wolf beastman didn¡¯t have the same luck. He was expecting to block the attack with his sword, but instead, both he and his sword were slammed into the nearby wall. The wall was just fine, most likely magically enhanced by the spirits Orou had seen surrounding the casino, but that likely just added to the wolf beastman¡¯s pain.


    While the wolf beastman recovered from the heavy blow, Orou was following up his attack on the fox beastman, lunging forwards to bite at him. The fox¡¯s fighting style was very similar to Grizz¡¯s as he tried to sidestep the strike and use his shortswords to cut as his underside, but Orou had suffered enough from Grizz¡¯s wooden daggers to fall for that mistake again. His fangs successfully connected with the fox beastman¡¯s arm, his fangs going all the way into the fox beastman¡¯s arm. He slashed at Orou with the one remaining free arm he had and heavily struck at Orou¡¯s scales, slashing into Orou¡¯s flesh.


    Orou was happy to trade blow for blow any time of the day, so he simply kept injecting the venom into the beastman, hoping to deal with him before the other one could regain his bearings. Unfortunately, he had underestimated how heavy his blow was as the beastman swung his greatsword down at him. At the same time, the fox beastman¡¯s shortsword was going to the right of his head which would be not hit him if he stood still, but he was forced to evade in that direction. Avoiding the greatsword which heavily thudded onto the ground, the shortsword hit its mark and pierced through, leaving behind a nasty wound.


    Orou retreated backwards in order to not get flanked, but the two of them were clearly very experienced in working with each other. Another swing downwards from the wolf beastman and a swing upwards from the fox beastman aimed to catch him and give him a few more wounds, if not for the slight delay the fox beastman had. Orou saw his arm slightly tremble and his momentum falter and he used that chance to rush directly towards the wolf beastman, pushing the fox backwards with his tail, not enough to injure him.


    The wolf beastman took another slash, but he was too slow to do anything against Orou as he entangled his legs and started to wrap around him, constricting him. The wolf beastman flailed with immense strength, at least twice that of Grizz¡¯s, but it only worsened his situation. The fox beastman rushed forwards, but he was still a few seconds off from getting close enough to strike at Orou. Orou¡¯s two fangs struck at the wolf beastman¡¯s neck as his eyes looked at Grizz, only to find him injured and bleeding, struggling to keep up with Nim. Nim¡¯s strike pushed Grizz off balance as he fell backwards and Nim¡¯s sword went down, aiming at Grizz¡¯s heart.

 Emotions

    Orou watched as Nim drove down the blade into Grizz¡¯s body. He wanted to go and help, but it would take time to release the wolf beastman and sprint towards him, so all that Orou could do was hope for the best and try to murder the wolf beastman as fast as he could by driving his fangs deeper into his neck. The fox beastman was running forwards, but Orou¡¯s gaze was locked on Grizz, who was struggling on the floor, his hand reaching for something in his pocket. The blade narrowly avoided his heart as it stabbed through him, but Nim wasn¡¯t done there. He wrenched the blade, violently twisting it and causing Grizz to yell out in pain, a sadistic grin on his face.


    Finally, Grizz seemed to grab something from his pocket and a moment later, he tossed it at Nim¡¯s face. It was the brown powder Orou had seen him prepare earlier. It scattered throughout the room and this time, it was Nim who was yelling out in pain. He had covered his face with his hands and was trying to wipe the powder off of his face, but it only seemed to make his suffering much worse as the powder burned his face, quickly becoming a deformed monstrosity. Grizz bore through the pain and used his daggers to strike Nim, but even with Nim¡¯s eyes closed, he could land only a few out of many blows.


    Seeing that Grizz was fine, Orou let out a sigh of relief and returned back to his own battle just in time to see the fox beastman stab at his head. Deciding that he had probably injected a lethal amount of venom into the wolf beastman¡¯s body, he released his grip on the beastman and retreated a bit, waiting for the venom to take its effect. The wolf beastman was desperately trying to catch his breath, having nearly died from being constricted and crushed to death as well as battling with Orou¡¯s deadly venom.


    The fox beastman passed another vial, similar to the one he had drunk earlier to the wolf beastman and cautiously stared at Orou that was staying still and looking at a spot above him. A moment later, the fox beastman¡¯s ears twitched and his voice, full of panic, resounded through the room: ¡°He¡¯s casting a spell!¡±


    Nim¡¯s head snapped to Orou as Grizz caught him with another dagger slash, his body bleeding from countless spots already. The two beastmen rushed towards Orou simultaneously, the wolf beastman¡¯s steps still a bit wobbly but his eyes were determined to reach Orou. The fox¡¯s ears were constantly twitching and his expression got worse for each second that passed. It seemed that even the fox beastman was a bit affected by Orou¡¯s venom as his legs refused to obey him, his speed much lower than that he had shown at the start of the battle. The fox beastman desperately looked at Orou and shouted out: ¡°It¡¯s a powerful advanced spell, disrupt him no matter the cost!¡±


    Even though the fox beastman was shouting and screaming, it didn¡¯t change the fact that Orou¡¯s spell was almost completed. A formation of a serpent, half resembling a ribbon, was being silently formed in the air. The finishing touch, two large and menacing fangs made from spirits was all the formation needed to be completed and the two beastman stared in surprise as a serpent, made entirely out of blood and very closely resembling Orou, started to fly towards them.


    The two of them split up and went to both sides of Orou as the blood serpent flew towards them. Orou assessed the situation and decided it was better to get rid of the fox beastman first, his ability to sense both danger and spells had ruined both Orou¡¯s and Grizz¡¯s plans. The blood serpent turned to the left as Orou instinctively tried to make the blood waves within it push it forwards. While the blood serpent didn¡¯t have a blood core, it seemed that there was something else within in propelling it forwards, though Orou wasn¡¯t sure what it was. The blood serpent moved at a speed that was slightly slower than Orou¡¯s own speed and adding in the fact that it could fly, the fox beastman had nowhere to escape. The blood serpent¡¯s mouth opened up and two large blood fangs struck out at the fox beastman.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    He avoided the blood serpent for as long as he could by relying both on his speed and his twitching ears, hoping to give as much time to the wolf beastman as possible, but as the fox beastman looked around, he saw that he was pushed into a corner. Holding his two shortswords in his hands, he charged forwards to meet the blood serpent. His shortswords slashed through the blood serpent, leaving splatters of blood on the walls and the ceiling but not stopping the serpent from charging forwards. Just like Orou had done to the wolf beastman, the blood serpent started constricting around the fox beastman.


    The fox beastman let out an ear-piercing screech as he writhed in immense pain, the spots of his body that had contact with the serpent were rotten and blackened. If a regular person were to be observing the scene before him, he would be horrified out of his mind. The serpent seemed to be draining the fox beastman¡¯s blood and one could see a steady stream of deep red blood entering the serpent¡¯s body and dispersing within it, becoming a deeper shade of red each second. Just for a second, Orou could see the black line appear in the middle of the serpent, it seemed to be growing larger along with the serpent.


    The blood serpent released its hold on the fox beastman and all that was left was a dry husk of a body, completely devoid of any blood. The serpent seemed to have a slight grin on its face as turned its attention to the wolf beastman, but before it could reach him, Orou¡¯s concentration waned and the blood serpent unwillingly dissipated into the air, letting out a screech as it did. The wolf beastman¡¯s greatsword had deeply cut into Orou¡¯s body and would have severed it in half if the blood waves didn¡¯t slow the sword down at the last second. Orou hissed in pain and immediately turned to the wolf beastman, using his tail to retaliate back and knock the wolf beastman off balance. He struggled to get up as his limbs simply didn¡¯t want to obey him, but somehow, through the sheer force of will, he stood up.


    Orou had retreated several meters back and was starting to cast another spell, this time, a spell to heal his worrisome injury. For some reason, the wolf beastman didn¡¯t immediately charge towards Orou, instead, he turned to his dead partner and simply looked at him. Orou saw the beastman take out a crystal from his pocket, a deep red crystal similar to that Grizz owned, except, the crystal was half cracked and had several black spots on it. The wolf beastman hesitated for a few seconds before tightening his hand and crushing the crystal. As soon as he did that, Orou saw the black spots from his crystal travel down his arm and the wolf beastman shed a tear. His emotions got out of control as soon, he started sobbing into his hands and a mysterious phenomenon happened. The wolf beastman¡¯s fur started growing at a visible rate, his eyes become completely red and he let out a ferocious but sad howl, directed at Orou.


    Picking up his greatsword, the wolf beastman started sprinting towards Orou. Each of his steps broke the stone underneath his feet and he shot forwards with unrivaled speed. Ferocious wind reached Orou before the wolf beastman did and at the last second, he got his spell off. A soft golden light enveloped his wound and started closing it at the expense of Orou suffering immensely. The wolf beastman arrived a second later and struck down at Orou with his greatsword. Orou practically didn¡¯t have time to dodge as the sword travelled down with immense force, the wind caused by the swing hurting Orou even before the sword could. Orou guided his blood waves to cause his body to twist in an unnatural way, barely avoiding the strike, but not getting out unscratched.


    The ground cracked and the impact from the strike travelled through Orou¡¯s body and ravaged his body from the inside. Orou wanted to flee from the wolf beastman, but surprisingly, he found out that his body was mid-air. The wolf beastman¡¯s strike had completely collapsed the ground beneath them, sending both Orou and the wolf beastman crashing down onto the first floor, directly onto one of the playing tables. Both of them were fine, a fall from several meters couldn¡¯t phase their battle-hardened bodies. A tense second passed as both of them stared at each other and stood completely still before leaping to action.

 A Struggle for Life or Death

    The battle between the two of the resumed as the wolf beastman leapt at Orou with his greatsword, wildly swinging at the spot where Orou was. Orou rapidly retreated backwards and looked for any signs of weakness from the wolf beastman, he was way too fast and way too strong in his current state, no beastman should be able to move that fast. He noticed that the wolf beastman had never stopped crying and that with each swing of his greatsword, he lost a bit of the strength he had gained. Once more Orou had to jump out of the way of the greatsword, but he was too busy observing the beastman that he didn¡¯t realise that the wolf beastman had chased him to a spot where he couldn¡¯t dodge.


    Orou crashed into one of the nearby tables and practically smashed it in half, avoiding getting slashed in half. Still, the greatsword was too fast to completely avoid and the next second Orou saw a part of his tail being separated from his body and flying towards the wolf beastman. The blood waves rushed towards his tail in order to try and minimize the damage, but the waves did nothing to stop him from feeling the pain that Orou currently felt. Even though Orou missed a part of his tail, Orou knew that this was a moment of life and death and ignored the pain he felt, opting to make as much distance between them as possible.


    Guided by his blood waves, he quickly reached the walls of the Moonhall Casino. He turned around to look at the wolf beastman, but as he saw what the beastman was doing, he focused in on a spot a few meters in front of him and started to quickly construct a pillar of spirits, the outline of the most powerful spell that he knew. Once upon a time, this spell seemed like an unclimbable wall to him, a spell that he had practice day and night to successfully cast, but now, it was merely a simple spell that required a lot of spirits.


    As Orou looked at the wolf beastman, he saw that the wolf beastman was still chewing on the piece of his tail that was chopped off. The wolf beastman crushed the scales with his bare teeth, drank the blood and chewed on the meat of Orou¡¯s tail, looking like he was enjoying a great feast. Seeing that someone was eating his tail made Orou feel weird and uncomfortable, enough so that he had to stop looking at the beastman and concentrate solely on his spell.


    The wolf beastman¡¯s eyes flared red as he finished chewing on the tail and looked towards Orou with hungry eyes. He let out another howl as he dropped his greatsword and dropped to all fours, starting to sprint towards Orou with an even quicker speed than before. Orou was planning to make sure the pillar would completely burn the wolf beastman to ashes and thus was adding more spirits than was required, but he quickly realised that he wouldn¡¯t have time to complete the spell if he did that. The wolf beastman was rushing with at a speed that was hard to track with eyes and he would reach Orou in a few seconds. Orou had no way of knowing when the wolf beastman would arrive before, so he simply did what he knew best and that was to rely on his instinct for support.


    The wolf beastman jumped off of the ground and leaped towards Orou, and that was the exact time Orou chose to complete his spell. A golden pillar of light that had saved him once before came from the sky and threatened to disintegrate the wolf beastman, if not for a miscalculation on Orou¡¯s part. He had underestimated the wolf beastman¡¯s speed and before he even knew it, the wolf beastman had reached Orou. Still, Orou¡¯s efforts didn¡¯t go to waste as a third of his body, including his legs, was practically turned to ashes and the rest of his fur was lit on fire. He howled in pain and decided to take out his anger and pain on Orou, using his nails and teeth to slash at Orou¡¯s throat.


    The wolf beastman¡¯s teeth ripped out a chunk of Orou¡¯s flesh and his sharp nails dug underneath Orou¡¯s scales, prying them off of his body one by one. Orou waved his tail around to try and get the wolf beastman off of him, but he was hanging on for his dear life and doing his best to injure Orou in the process. The only thing left in his arsenal was to fight back with his own two fangs, digging deep into the wolf beastman¡¯s flesh and pumping his venom into the beastman¡¯s body. The wolf beastman didn¡¯t resist Orou¡¯s fangs and decided to wage a war of endurance, inflicting wound upon wound of Orou¡¯s body, seemingly lost in the pleasures of eating Orou¡¯s body.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Orou was bleeding from every single spot on his body, a pile of his scales were floating on the small pool of blood that came from Orou¡¯s body. His consciousness was growing faint, but Orou knew that he had won this fight. Slowly but surely, the wolf beastman moved slower and slower until eventually, he had trouble lifting his hand. He was still alive, but Orou made sure that he couldn¡¯t ever recover even if he did wake up. He was growing hungry and he was losing an extreme amount of blood, but he knew he would be fine, he had suffered worse than this. The blood waves dutifully did their job of closing his wounds and slowly regenerating his flesh, though it would take weeks before he was combat capable again.


    Only now did Orou realise that there was still a battle going on upstairs. He dragged his injured body across the floor and left a trail of blood behind him, but he was going to get up there and see what happened to Grizz even if it killed him. He took several minutes to crawl up the stairs and he took the time to listen for any sounds of combat, but all that he could hear were faint voices. Finally, he had climbed up the stairs and he saw what was the outcome of their fight. Both Nim and Grizz were lying on the floor and talking to each other. Grizz looked quite similar to Orou in the fact that he was rapidly bleeding out, but he was still barely moving. On the other hand, Nim was lying on the ground completely motionless, his face completely pale and his voice shaking.


    ¡°Although you poisoned me, you¡¯re going to go down together with me. That¡¯s what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn¡¯t belong,¡± Nim¡¯s monotone voice was barely audible, but still enough to provoke a reaction from Grizz. He tried to shout, but all that came out was a whimper: ¡°Fuck you old man. I¡¯ve never treated you as a father in the first place, but then you had to bring this upon yourself by targeting Aria and then me, I don¡¯t plan on dying here. Any second now the battle downstairs will be over and I¡¯ve got confidence that he will prevail.¡±


    Although Orou still wanted to observe for a bit, he saw that Grizz was close to dying and that this was the perfect chance to reveal himself. He slithered forwards and expected a reaction from either one of them, but all that he got was silence, he had forgotten that they were staring at the ceiling and couldn¡¯t see him. Orou slithered over to Grizz and gathered his remaining will to try and heal him. He started to draw the curved line in the air, the spirits unsteadily shaking with each burst of pain from Orou¡¯s body. If this was in the past, his concentration would have been disrupted half-way through, but he had learned a lot about magic and the manipulation of spirits, steeling his will through the many battles he had fought.


    A faint and soft glow enveloped Grizz and he shouted in both pain and happiness. Now that he had seen what happened to the wolf beastman, Orou could swear that he saw something black and tiny floating around Grizz before being attracted to his pocket. Grizz tried his best to stand up, falling down multiple times in the process, but eventually, he stood up. He flashed a grin to Nim and took a dagger out from his boot, slowly approaching Nim.


    ¡°Do it,¡¯ were the last words that Nim spoke before Grizz drove the dagger into his throat. He kept stabbing and stabbing, his entire hand was covered in blood but he still continued. He took minutes to completely behead Nim before weakly picking up his head and raising it up in the air. Nim¡¯s expression was calm, not that you would expect from a dying man. Grizz looked outside of the window before he managed to spew out a few words: ¡°Let¡¯s go down, they¡¯re most likely expecting us.¡±

 His Past

    Both Orou and Grizz started heading down the stairs and past the wreckage that was the first floor. A massive hole that went through the ground and half of a body was lying to the side, the tables were either pushed to the side or completely destroyed. This place would be out of operation for a few months, the long-necked beastman who had hidden in the corner was practically crying as he was totalling all the losses, most likely not expecting the fight to go down to the first floor. Blood slowly dripped from Nim¡¯s head as Grizz was carrying it by the hair. He took a deep breath and opened up the door to the outside.


    There was complete silence as practically everyone¡¯s eyes landed on Grizz and Orou and the head that Grizz was carrying. All kinds of emotions could be seen on the beastmen¡¯s faces, shock, horror, joy, anger and the like. Grizz walked to the stage that Baltis was standing on and went right next to her. By her side was Kris, wearing a suit of plate mail and a halbert by his side, looking as regal as he could be. Baltis concealed her smile and as Grizz lifted up the head, she loudly proclaimed: ¡°Nim has been slain by his son and the countless injustices that Grizz committed have been avenged.¡±


    An overwhelming cheer went up, those that had most likely suffered under Nim were crying tears of joy. Orou noticed that the crowd was considerably thinner than before he went in and he could no longer see any eyes watching from the shadows nor anyone sneaking about on the roofs. When the cheering subsided, Baltis looked to the crowd and then back to Grizz, before saying: ¡°You¡¯ve done a great deed for this town, how could we, citizens of Onilia, ever repay you?¡±


    Although this was planned in advance and Grizz knew what was going to happen, he was still doing his best to keep his emotions in check as Orou saw him struggling to not smile. He took a deep breath and slowly said to the crowd: ¡°My father had done many horrible things during his life and my only wish is for that to not happen again. If there was one beastman who could keep this town in check and make sure no crime were to go unpunished, it would be my brother Kris.¡±


    As Grizz pointed at Kris, he stared back at Grizz with pure shock in his eyes. His trembling finger pointed at Grizz and he softly whispered: ¡°This is not how this was supposed to go, you were supposed to inherit Nim¡¯s property, not me.¡± Despite Kris¡¯ evident shock, the show had to go on. Baltis took Kris¡¯ hand and lifted it up in the air before once more proclaiming: ¡°Kris has done a wonderful job of keeping order in the city for multiple years and I¡¯m sure that he will keep doing so for many more to come.


    Both Grizz and Baltis were staring at Kris expectantly until eventually, he gave in and turned to the crowd. He had the bearings of a beastman who has been in charge for all of his life and with a strong voice, he addressed the crowd: ¡°If that is what it takes to bring this city in order, then I will do what I must. With Governor Baltis¡¯ help, I will make sure that the city and its establishments are properly regulated and that the civilians will suffer no injustice.¡±


    Another overwhelming cheer resounded through the entire city and Kris let out a sigh of relief. Baltis said a few more words to reassure the citizens before they started dispersing and the four of them walked inside the Moonhall casino to have a talk. Grizz weakly patted Kris¡¯ shoulder, half leaning on him to not collapse right then and there. Although he didn¡¯t have any obvious injury thanks to Orou¡¯s healing spell, he had the look of someone who had been walking for days without resting in the slightest. Kris had a thousand questions he wanted to ask Grizz, but after taking one last look at Grizz¡¯s condition, he decided to save his questions for later. He surveyed the area around him and looked at Orou after seeing the massive hole in the ground, but he didn¡¯t say anything regarding it.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Kris and Baltis were conversing about something, but Orou didn¡¯t care about any of that. He slithered next to Grizz in order to make sure he was fine, and although he wasn¡¯t very proficient in beastman anatomy, Orou was wondering if Grizz had lost too much blood. As he looked at Grizz, he saw that his body would shake every so often, and each time it did, Grizz¡¯s facial expression slightly relaxed. Although the rhythm was off by a few seconds and it seemed slightly slower, it reminded Orou of his own blood core.


    After a while, Kris and Baltis had agreed on something and they went their ways. Kris picked up Grizz¡¯s sleeping body and motioned over to Orou: ¡°We can finally return back to our house, Izz should have taken care of Nim¡¯s people over there,¡± and with that, he started walking out of the casino. Orou slowly followed him, looking out for any potential ambushes along the way. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t get assaulted along the way, but instead, people respectfully bowed and greeted Kris, it seemed like he knew more people than he was letting on to.


    Eventually, they arrived at a mansion on the western side of the city. It was old, most likely hundreds of years old if Orou had to guess, though still in somewhat good condition. They walked inside of the mansion and a thick stench of blood immediately assaulted them. Izz was sitting on a chair and reading on a book, by his side ten people wearing servant¡¯s outfits. As they walked in, Izz immediately stood up and, ignoring both Kris and Grizz, ran towards Orou.


    ¡°I was worried that you would die, the world couldn¡¯t bear to lose someone who can see spirits,¡± Orou still remembered how Izz desperately tried to avoid him and compared it with the treatment he was getting right now. Many of the wounds on Orou¡¯s body would be life-threatening if not for his blood-core and Izz gasped in surprise at how Orou wasn¡¯t dead yet before Kris coughed next to Izz and pointed towards Grizz.


    Izz turned around to check Grizz¡¯s pulse and after making sure that he was still alive, he pointed towards a room upstairs and with a serious expression on his face he told Kris: ¡°Take him up to his room, he should be fine after recovering for a few days. I¡¯ll apply some medicine to him later.¡± He turned back to face Orou only to find him out of his sight and instead, following Kris to Grizz¡¯s room. Izz sighed in desperation and tagged along, going up to the second floor and opening Grizz¡¯s room.


    Although Orou expected something more, it wasn¡¯t anything unique. A plan room with a bed, a table and a window, a bit unfitting for a mansion of this size. Only the basic necessities were left and comparing the lavishness of the main room and this room, it was like day and night. Izz noticed Orou¡¯s gaze going from Grizz¡¯s room to outside of it and sitting down next to Grizz, started talking with a bit of a sad smile on his face.


    ¡°Grizz was never father¡¯s favorite child. He would dote on both me and Kris, providing everything we needed, but he left only the basics for Grizz. That might have been one of the main reasons why he started stealing now that I think about it. At first, he simply stole what belonged to father. He would get caught every time and every time he did, he received ten lashings for it. He got better and better each time he got caught, learning from the lower-class beastman that he often hung out with. Father got increasingly more infuriated with Grizz until he had enough. I don¡¯t know what happened on that night, but after that incident he started leaving home for longer and longer periods of time, going on his so-called ¡°adventures,¡± until he returned back to us with the news that father had him exiled. Nim was a bad man and he deserved what he got, but still, he was our father.¡±


    Izz softly sighed and without saying an additional word, stood up and started to slowly walk away. He stopped by the doorway and turned his head to look back at Orou, saying to him: ¡°Protect Grizz for me. I want nothing more for him to settle down and live a peaceful life after what he has been through.¡±

 Izzs Passion

    Orou coiled up next to Grizz¡¯s bed and started watching over him while guiding his blood waves to his worst injuries. While he could try healing himself with his spell, it would much too painful with his injuries. He had noticed other side effects like extreme exhaustion manifesting themselves when he healed himself and he wasn¡¯t sure why it was happening. He had tried adding the formation to create the light spirit in the middle of it, but that simply strengthened the effect, and in return, strengthened the pain he had to face.


    Now that Orou had time to reflect on the battle that he had fought, he had multiple questions that needed to be answered. His blood serpent was behaving erratically, it almost seemed like it had its own emotions and will once it devoured blood and then there was the issue with the black thread. He still wasn¡¯t clear on how a beastman becomes feral and what¡¯s the use for blood crystals and if every beastman could do something similar to what the wolf beastman did. If they could, how come beastmen ever get enslaved by humans.


    Orou had questions without end he would have liked to ask if only he could speak, but unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t created with the ability to do so. He could only sigh to himself and continue licking his wounds, pondering over each and every single detail that happened during the battle. Over the course of many days, Izz went in and out of the room to apply medicine to Grizz and Kris occasionally visited to look over him, but Kris was very busy now that he had to run several establishments. During these days, Orou didn¡¯t leave the room and instead, kept watch over Grizz. He practiced his spells and even tried to determine if the serpent truly had a will of its own to no avail.


    It was the beginning of the fifth day when Grizz finally stirred and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Orou¡¯s face, well-illuminated thanks to a ball of light floating above him. The next thing he saw was a wall, completely stained in blood. Orou had accidentally crashed the blood serpent into the wall, which nearly caused it to collapse by itself, but thankfully, Izz hasn¡¯t visited the room in some time.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re safe and sound but can you get your face out of my face,¡± Grizz slightly pushed Orou¡¯s head aside and tried to stand up before falling back into his bed and laughing at his failure. Apparently, Izz had heard what was going on and opened the door, only to shriek in surprise at a wall covered in blood and Grizz lying sideways. He rushed over to make sure that Grizz was alright and then gave a stern lecture to Orou about using and misusing strange magic. Grizz had found something to plug his ears with and was blankly staring at the ceiling, but unfortunately, Orou didn¡¯t have the same option.


    After that Izz started interrogating Grizz about what happened in the fight and lectured him about not moving around for a few days. Of course, there was no way Grizz would listen to him, but he answered truthfully about his battle with Nim, not thinking anything of it. Izz dutifully noted it down, asking for more details than Grizz could even remember. Orou wasn¡¯t sure why he needed to write this down, but he seemed to be very serious about doing this, carefully noting down every bit of their fight.


    ¡°God, do you have to be so annoying, I just woke up as well,¡± Grizz grumbled as he continued to narrate the events, even describing Orou¡¯s heroic battle with the two beastmen, not mentioning the gruesome details of what the blood serpent did.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Right, this will make for an interesting scoop. The beastmen have been interested in what happened in there and how Nim was slain,¡± it seemed like Izz was more interested in the story than Grizz¡¯s health after he told it and almost as if he was dazed, he wandered out of the room. Grizz sighed and looked over to Orou, before saying to him: ¡°You wouldn¡¯t know this as he¡¯s been teaching you magic all the time, but he¡¯s also a very enthusiastic journalist. One of his many, many passions.¡±


    Grizz uncomfortably twisted in his bed before trying to stand up once again. ¡°He got me real good, I would have been a goner if not for you, so thanks for saving me,¡± Orou looked over Grizz for a while longer before making sure he was fine and capable of somewhat fending for himself before he slithered over to the table and picked up a familiar looking book. Izz had brought back all of their belongings from the gambling house and specifically placed down several books related to magic for Orou to read.


    Izz was downstairs, ferociously writing something down on a piece of paper. Orou slithered next to him and once more, with painstaking effort, blood, sweat and tears finally opened up the book and flipped to the right page detailing the two spirits. He patiently waited for Izz to finish whatever he was writing, though it took multiple hours for him to actually finish. Once Izz started writing, there was no stopping him no matter how hard Orou nudged him. In the meanwhile, Orou did his best to piece out the words written on the page.


    Izz seemed like his spirit was completely drained from him after he had written his piece and he looked over at Orou with dead, fish-like eyes. His eyes regained a bit of spirit once he saw Orou with a book by his side. He went over and picked it up out of Orou¡¯s mouth and inspected it closer. Orou used his fangs to tap at the big spirit he saw and looked as curious as he could be, trying to do his best and communicate with Izz.


    ¡°That¡¯s a greater spirit, one of the first greater spirits to be discovered in fact. It commands the lesser spirits below it, creating an area of influence around it. It¡¯s very hard to force spirits to move under this area, so they¡¯re not used that much in spellcasting and they are naturally created in dense spirit areas,¡± Izz started to explain this to Orou and the fire in his eyes lit up once more. Unfortunately for Orou, Izz didn¡¯t understand what he meant so after tapping the illustration of the greater spirit for a few more times, Orou frustratedly nudged Izz to come along and went to Grizz¡¯s room.


    Izz showed Grizz the book he was holding and pointed towards the greater spirit, asking Grizz: ¡°What does he want for me to do?¡± Orou looked expectantly at Grizz and very slowly and with uncertainty, he spoke: ¡°I think he wants to ask where he can find this spirit. I saw him being very excited about this matter when he was playing with magic, but I¡¯m not entirely sure,¡± Orou flickered his tongue in happiness and waited for Izz to answer him.


    ¡°Well, I suppose you could find captured spirits in Edum, that is, in the capital. They¡¯re awfully rare and you probably won¡¯t be able to find one in the regular market, though some of the more renown shamans might have it. I know for a fact that the king¡¯s shaman has one, he made a fuss about not being able to find one and had the entire kingdom turned upside down to search for it,¡± Izz thought for a moment before replying to Orou. It was determined then, they would be heading to Edum next in pursuit of the spirit and nothing anyone said would stop Orou from doing so.


    ¡°Speaking of Edum, I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ll have to head there after you¡¯ve recovered Grizz. We¡¯ve gotten new information about the rebels that needs to be delivered directly to the king, and what¡¯s a better man for the job than you Grizz,¡± although Orou didn¡¯t notice him there, Kris had silently arrived and was staring at Grizz with a piece of paper in his hands, solemnly staring at Grizz. Both Izz and Grizz were looking at the piece of paper with serious expressions before Grizz replied: ¡°You know that I didn¡¯t want to get involved in all of this, but fine, I¡¯ll do it.

 Black Line

    ¡°Baltis asked me to choose a single man I can trust with this information, and that man happened to be you Grizz. A few days here or there won¡¯t matter much in the general scheme of things, but we¡¯ve seen no king¡¯s men coming around here recently and we¡¯ve heard unsettling rumors coming from the west.¡± A few minutes had passed since Kris had arrived. He was sitting on the bed next to Grizz and looking at the paper in his hands. Grizz was grumbling about something or other as he read over it, saying that there¡¯s plenty of men to involve in this besides himself, but despite all of his grumbling, he was treating this matter seriously.


    Orou stuck his head between Grizz¡¯s and Kris¡¯ heads to try and read some of the words. And unsurprisingly, his progress in learning the beastman language was proving itself as he could decipher some individual words. ¡°...West... ...Danger... ...Found... ...Safe...¡±. Unfortunately, the language used was very formal and thus it was hard for Orou to make out more of what was written.


    ¡°I¡¯d figure the king would have this information already, would he not? There are people on the lookout for this kind of stuff near the border and news do travel quickly. The only unique thing here is the report on what the city found and I don¡¯t think this weird thing can do much harm even if it gets spread around,¡± after calming down and rationally analyzing the text for a few seconds, Grizz turned to Kris and questioned him on why he was being sent.


    ¡°Perhaps the governor has more information than me, or perhaps it¡¯s due to the fact that one of the king¡¯s men is supposed to arrive soon. It does good to no one if he finds out that we¡¯ve had this for several days and haven¡¯t brought it to the king,¡± and as Kris said that, he reached over to pull something out of a bag that Orou hadn¡¯t noticed before. He seemed to be very careful in handling whatever was inside as he took several seconds to finally lift it out, and once he did, Orou saw something familiar to him.


    It was a glass jar with several runes on it, most likely to reinforce the glass or to make sure the thing within doesn¡¯t break out. Inside the glass jar was a single twisted black line that was silently bashing against the glass jar, trying to get out of it. It twisted and turned and changed into countless shapes, but Orou could instantly recognise this thing, after all, he had seen it recently. Although the black line was much thicker and more vigorous, Orou recognised it as the black line that ran through his blood serpent.


    ¡°This is the thing that you need to deliver to the king. It looks a lot more menacing once you see it for yourself. The beastman tried to sneak into the city but he was caught by one of the newly instated guards, panicked a whole lot when his backpack was opened and this strange thing was found,¡± very carefully, Kris placed it on the table and stared at the black line currently dancing from spot to spot. While Grizz took a single glance at the thing and proceeded to ignore it, Izz excitedly rushed over to it before getting stopped by Kris, not letting him approach closer in case he destroys everything.


    ¡°Can you see how it stands out in the contrast of everything when you look at it. I can¡¯t even properly cast spells in the presence of this thing, I simply must have it,¡± Izz¡¯s greedy eyes looked up and down the line before continuing: ¡°How about we keep quiet about this thing and keep it here to study. An opportunity like this doesn¡¯t come often,¡± Izz exaggeratedly put his finger up to his lips and looked towards both Grizz and Kris, giving Orou a sneaky nod and an excited smile.


    ¡°Absolutely not, that¡¯s a crime punishable by death and I don¡¯t plan on dying over some black line. You can observe it from a distance while Grizz is still here, but never walk in touching distance within it and under no circumstance let that thing out of the jar, got it?¡± Kris looked like a parent lecturing his child, but this lecture was surprisingly effective as Izz didn¡¯t dare to get closer, at least in Kris¡¯ presence. He looked around for a blank piece of paper and ran out of the room once he found out that the room had none. Grizz was oddly silent as he looked at the line and after several seconds of silence, Kris excused himself and went back to resolving ¡°business¡±.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°The more I think about this the more severe the situation seems. I wonder if what you did back there was the right decision,¡± Grizz had more to say, but he stopped himself when Izz rushed in with all the necessary writing tools he needed. He started to scribble down some notes as he observed the thing and tested casting several spells, only for all of them to fizzle. The spirits simply didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near the thing and as a result, it was increasingly hard to command them. Whenever a spirit approached too close to the black line, it lashed out only to hit the glass jar and angrily retreat back, trying again and again.


    Orou wondered how he was able to control the blood serpent if it was the same thing running through it as this thing. There was also the question of why was someone trying to smuggle this thing in, though Orou didn¡¯t spend long on trying to figure it out and tossed it to the back of his mind. He spent his time observing the line for any strange behavior together with Izz and trying to read the notes that Izz had written. Grizz was grumbling even more now that Izz was constantly in his room, saying that Izz had no respect for the injured, but according to Izz, research was more important than this thing called respect.


    Throughout several more days, Izz wrote down what the line did and how it behaved, though he complained that he couldn¡¯t do any reasonable experiments with it being in a glass jar and constantly urged Grizz to convince Kris about keeping it as a pet. While Grizz¡¯s complexion got healthier each day, his expression got angrier each day. Grizz was out of the bed by the second day and he was gone all day long, helping Kris in settling in through his ¡°contacts¡±, though who knew what he meant by that. Orou was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t actually doing that much and was just escaping from Izz¡¯s constant nudging.


    By the fourth day, Grizz was practically begging for Kris to let him leave and get away from Izz, though he had pretty much packed up all of his things before even receiving an answer from him. With Orou by his side, he walked down the staircase, meeting both Izz and Kris along the way. Both of them sighed and said nothing as Grizz waved to them: ¡°We¡¯ll be back in a few days, won¡¯t we? I¡¯ve still got a few things to settle here, so don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t be running off again.¡± Both Kris and Izz wanted to say something to him, but before they got a chance, Grizz was already off.


    As the two of them started heading towards the eastern gate, Orou noticed a few differences from a few days ago. There was a guard posted up by every important building and multiple guards patrolling the streets and the alleyways. While the atmosphere of the city was wild and untamed before this, now it seemed more restrained and tame, though Grizz pointed out that this was the case only on the surface and that this forced for the thieves and assassins to hide deeper.


    Both entering and exiting the city required your belonging to be searched, but fortunately, Grizz had an official pass from the governor. Of course, Grizz being Grizz, unknownst to all but Orou whom he told this in secret, he was using the governor¡¯s pass as a chance to smuggle something illegal out of the city. Orou didn¡¯t know what any of the drugs that he was smuggling did, but Grizz told him that they were highly sought after in the capital and people would pay huge amounts of blood crystals for it.


    The two of them passed through the gate and Orou couldn¡¯t help but compare his experiences both in the beastman kingdom and in the human kingdom. They were so similar, yet so different in both culture and their behavior that one would be surprised if you were to compare them side by side. If they weren¡¯t fighting for food, what was the need for bloodshed? With those last few thoughts, Orou decided to imitate Grizz and wave at the city using his head, which made for quite a comical scene. The usually stout guards were pointing at him and laughing, no doubt planning to share the story about an eighteen meter snake trying to wave to their friends.

 Oein

    The two of them started walking in the morning and without even noticing it, it was already night. Orou was disappointed by the lack of anyone trying to attack them during their travel, but that was likely to be expected. While there wasn¡¯t a proper road that leads to Edum, Grizz had lived in Solus for long enough to know in which direction to go and in which towns to stay. They¡¯ve met a few beastmen here and there while travelling here and there, but they seemed to be in a rush and none were willing to speak with Grizz.


    Currently, they were staying in a small town by the name of Oein. Grizz had walked into an inn, wanting to find a place to stay, but after he saw the prices, he simply couldn''t stay still. Grizz haggled with the innkeeper for several minutes, proclaiming how the prices were absolutely absurd and that they deserved a discount. The innkeeper relented after Grizz beckoned for Orou to lift his head and rise to his full length, seemingly intimidated by Orou¡¯s sheer size. Grizz happily went off while tossing the few blood crystals he had saved in his hands, the innkeeper giving him an evil look as he did so.


    ¡°Usually you have to be careful with these kinds of things just to make sure the innkeeper doesn¡¯t poison your meal in the future, but we¡¯re heading off the first thing in the morning and I doubt that I will come back to this insignificant town ever again,¡± Grizz said as soon as he was out of the earshot of the innkeeper, teaching Orou how the way of life here was. Orou did his best in rolling his eyes, just like Grizz often did and followed him upstairs into a small but cosy inn room. A single window overlooked the town that was clad in darkness, though Grizz once again ruined the mood by complaining about how uncomfortable the bed was.


    The night here was just like any regular night with Grizz sleeping and Orou practicing spells. He was very careful in casting the blood serpent spell, observing the black line within it very carefully for any signs of breaking free. Orou¡¯s caution was unwarranted as the blood serpent simply did as Orou willed it, not showing any will of its own nor the black line doing anything suspicious. Although the black line made spellcasting that much more difficult, Orou found that he was having much better results by training under this constant pressure. It took more effort to stabilize the spirits and make sure they wouldn¡¯t move and even though it took him a while to actually finish the spell, Orou wasn¡¯t in any rush.


    A few hours later, both Grizz¡¯s sleep and Orou¡¯s concentration was interrupted by loud shouting outside. Both of them were exceptionally angry at the thing that woke them up, but their anger faded as Grizz opened the window to take a look outside and see what was happening. A crowd of a few hundred people had formed near the inn, all of them holding some sort of weapon or farming tools in their hands. A beastman with brown fur was standing at the very front of the crowd, and as he raised the sword that was by his side into the air, he started shouting.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with feeling emotions, should we be punished for being happy when our child is born, are we wrong for being angry when we see injustice before us? Is there anything wrong with truly being feral?¡± The crowd quieted down to listen to what the beastman said before once more, exploding in a burst of emotions. All sorts of cries and yells about injustice, as well as oppression and even vague chants of ¡°down with the king!¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The crowd eventually calmed down as the discussions died down, once more, the beastman with brown fur looked at the crowd and spoke: ¡°How many people have died under the cruel tyranny of the king, those deemed useless and feral. Who truly knew if these people were truly feral, or if they simply spoke out against the king,¡± immediately after he said that, a beastman from the crowd yelled out: ¡°My brother was brought away, never to be seen again.¡±


    This seemed to provoke a reaction from the crowd, countless people yelling out about their relatives, chained by the king¡¯s men to never be seen again. As the yelling got louder and louder, more and more people joined in, those that tried to defend the king quickly got silenced by the overwhelming noise from the crowd. Grizz quickly got dressed and sighed to himself, looking back to Orou and saying: ¡°It¡¯s never good to get in between a mob and what they¡¯re after. Let¡¯s leave before it turns out into a full-blown riot.¡±


    Although Orou didn¡¯t care, Grizz seemed to be in a rush to get out. The crowd kept clamoring outside of the building, and as they went downstairs, they found the innkeeper was nowhere to be seen. Both Orou and Grizz peered around the corner of the inn and the crowd seemed to have grown considerably. The beastman with the brown fur was continuing to instigate the crowd by saying: ¡°What has the king ever done for us? Why should we continue to serve him like loyal puppets, listening to his every whim? Why should we be discriminated against, simply because we aren¡¯t born in a noble family?¡±


    Orou¡¯s head turned towards the beastman with brown fur, wondering if the beastman had answers to his own proposed questions. Although Orou wanted to stick around for a bit longer, Grizz nudged him to move along and Orou begrudgingly followed him. It was getting a bit heated and as they started leaving, they got approached by two brutish looking beastmen, eyeing them up and down. The first one spat out something black that he was chewing on and motioned to Grizz.


    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going, pretty boy. The main activity is over there, so how about you just turn around and don¡¯t even think about leaving,¡± the beastman looked at Grizz and cracked his knuckles while the other partner circled around him, menacingly glaring at Grizz. He simply sighed and motioned over for Orou, pointing at the guy right next to him. With a quick motion, he took out a hidden dagger from his pocket and slashed at his legs while Orou charged forwards with his fangs. In almost no time at all, the two of them were quickly dispatched, standing no chance of even retaliating.


    ¡°Common thugs, most likely hired by the person behind this entire mess, though why you want to prevent anyone from leaving?¡± Grizz turned around to look at the gate, several more beastmen that looked similar to the ones they dispatched were standing near the gate, though all of them were looking in fear at both Orou and Grizz. They didn¡¯t try to stop them from exiting the town, instead, they fled far away from the giant snake that had just murdered their friend.


    Although Orou couldn¡¯t properly hear it enough to make out the words, he heard the crowd chanting something, their voices growing louder each second. Grizz mumbled something about how he even got in this mess in the first place, ignoring the increasing havoc before them. Orou kept watching the town until it was no longer visible, but as he stared at it, he started getting a bit nervous, though he didn¡¯t know why.

 The Capital

    The two of them were on the move once again after successfully escaping from Oein. Grizz seemed to be against getting mixed up in whatever was happening in the kingdom, but Orou was the exact opposite, wanting to find out as much as possible about what was going on and why exactly were the beastmen rioting. It wasn¡¯t just Oein that was like this, most of the small towns they stopped by on the way had sparks of rebellion, it seemed like even the tiniest fuse would set off a huge explosion. Fortunately, they met no huge mobs of beastmen along the way and although they visited each town they saw, they were there only for enough time to restock and then be on their way again.


    They walked through the ever-rolling plains and the occasional patch of forest towards the east, meeting more and more beastmen travelling to and from Edum. Grizz approached a friendlier looking beastman and hailed him, asking for the current news and what was happening in Edum. Apparently, the king was absolutely furious about the news of an upcoming rebellion and was executing people left and right, claiming them to be supporters of the revolution as well as being secretly feral. Of course, this did nothing more than increase the already present tension in the capital, causing several people to try and get further away from the chaos.


    The two of them continued their journey eastwards. It took them two days to finally reach the majestic capital of Solus - Edum. It was the largest city Orou had seen, much larger than the human town he had visited. Impressive feats of architecture greeted them from the distance as several buildings, both tall and wide could be seen. One of the most noticeable things about Edum was the enormous tower that seemed to reach the clouds and go on further. In his spirit vision, he could see the surrounding spirits being slowly drawn towards the clouds, or likely, the top of this tower.


    The city itself was built next to a strange looking mountain, it looked incredibly jagged and a glint of red in one of the rocks near the top reflected the sunlight, making itself fully visible to whoever gazed on the mountain. Orou felt a strange calling to this mountain, a feeling he had felt somewhere else once upon a time, though this time, it was much stronger than what he had experienced before. As soon as he shifted his gaze to a part of the city, he felt the calling disappear entirely. A few seconds later, he started hearing someone whispering to him and each time he focused on the whispers, they seemed to quiet down enough for Orou to not hear what they were saying.


    With the ever-present whispering barely loud enough to be heard, the two of them started approaching the city. As usual, there were no walls to be seen, but instead, the city was walled off by a barrier of spirits. It was strangely similar to the barrier he had seen enveloping the village where he met Grizz, except much bigger. The same spirit threads connected the spirits together and barred anyone from entering or exiting. As Orou was wondering how they would get in, he got closer to the city and noticed a group of beastmen getting searched and interrogated by guards, being practically held at swordpoint. Every single one of the guards had an insignia of a lion¡¯s head and they behaved like they truly were lions, each of them proud and arrogant.


    After making sure that they nothing was out of the norm, one of the guards placed his hand on the barrier and a moment later, he ushered the group of the beastmen through, leaving behind several rude remarks to one of the beastmen in particular. As soon as they entered the city, the barrier automatically closed behind them. Looking at it from spirit vision, it looked like the spirit string and the spirits themselves simply vanished for a few seconds and then reappeared once the beastmen had gone through. Spirit vision often raised more questions than it answered, and this time it was no different. Grizz noticed Orou¡¯s confused, though he made no comment about it as the two of them approached the gate.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    The guards were about to stop Grizz, but Grizz was already prepared. He pulled out one the governor¡¯s documents and placed it in the guard¡¯s hands. Somehow, Grizz managed to look prouder and more arrogant than the guards as he put on his best expression of displeasure, scoffing to the guards: ¡°Make this quick, I have an important message to deliver to the king and who knows what the king could do when he finds out that you¡¯ve prevented me from delivering it.¡±


    Although Orou didn¡¯t know other beastman that much, he was sure that no other beastman was as proficient in faking his emotions to achieve what he needed. On the mention of the king¡¯s name, the rest of the guard''s faces turned sour and the guard that was holding the document almost dropped it. Grizz was dressed well enough to pass for someone important so the guard, without reading much of the document, ushered both Grizz and Orou into the city, his previous arrogance and pride gone from his face.


    The two of them walked through the barrier and entered inside of the city. It looked much more grandiose up close than from a distance. The city was truly worthy of being called Solus¡¯ capital, it was much more bustling and active than Onilia. The beastmen were walking back and forth, and unlike Onilia, proper order was beheld. Guards were posted up near every important landmark and building and it seemed like the beastmen were afraid of the guards as they were actively avoided.


    The two of them started walking forwards, but as they did, they heard a loud yell coming from a distance. The crowd moved out of the way as a red-eyed beastman was escorted by two armed guards. He was howling and growling and after him was chasing a child, most likely his own. The girl was screaming and yelling for the guards to let go of him and that her father had done nothing wrong, but the stone-faced guards didn¡¯t have a reaction as they continued escorting the beastman to likely his doom.


    ¡°A proper greeting for the two of us as I can see,¡± Grizz sighed and looked over at the girl before resuming to walk. The rest of the beastmen didn¡¯t want to get involved and it looked like they were used to the scene before them as once more, the traffic resumed. Orou wasn¡¯t sure how he hadn¡¯t noticed this when looking at the city from above, but as they continued walking, Orou saw a massive palace decorated with gold and jewels in the distance. Of course, no one dared to take the gold that was before them as the entire palace was encircled with guards in blue armor, standing perfectly still and intimidating all thieves that would want to visit the palace.


    ¡°The king can wait a day or two, I¡¯m not heading into the palace until I know what¡¯s going on inside of it and whether the king won¡¯t take our heads for simply appearing in the palace,¡± Grizz said well out of earshot of any guards as he pointed to a bar in the distance. It didn¡¯t have a huge, flashy sign and the people that walked in and out were dressed in black, but just as the rest of the buildings in this city, it was impressive in its own regard.


    Grizz strolled into the bar like he owned the place and immediately, tens of eyes glared at him. Grizz ignored the menacing glares as he walked next to the bartender and pulled out a blood crystal, saying to him: ¡°Tell Aron that I¡¯d like to meet with him as soon as possible and that I have a few things that might interest him.¡± The bartender silently nodded and whispered something to his assistant, who retreated into the shadows and started to make his way outside of the bar. Grizz turned to Orou and said: ¡°So, do you want to try some of the finest alcohol Edum has to offer?¡±

 Grizzs contacts

    Grizz got a shot of a strange green drink which smelled absolutely horrendous. Orou was excited to try out some of the drinks that Edum offered, but after seeing what Grizz ordered, he was hesitant on even approaching Grizz, not to mention tasting it himself. ¡°Come on, it tastes a lot better than it smells, I promise you,¡± even though Grizz was edging on Orou, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Orou as he slowly started slithering further and further away from Grizz, hoping to escape the horrendous smell.


    The two of them spent around thirty minutes simply playing around with Grizz trying his best to convince Orou to have a taste and Orou refusing despite everything that Grizz said. The rest of the patrons were looking at them weirdly, but neither Orou nor Grizz cared about what others thought of them. They finally stopped once the shadowy figure came back, by his side a rat-like beastman. He was looking around for something with his two beady and shifty eyes and as soon as he spotted Grizz, he started heading straight towards him.


    ¡°Why do you keep ordering this disgusting drink every time you¡¯re here, it¡¯s like you¡¯re purposefully trying to scare away the patrons here with its vile smell,¡± the rat beastman sat down next to the two of them and immediately began talking. His voice was squeaky and he spoke quickly, by the time Orou turned his head around, the rat beastman had fully finished his sentence. Grizz simply grinned and picked up the green drink, downing it in one go. Grizz coughed a few times and his face twisted in agony, though the smile was still on his face.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again Mar. I saw your brother in Lium about a month or two ago, so you¡¯ll be pleased to know that he¡¯s well,¡± Mar¡¯s smile quickly turned into a frown upon the mention of his brother. Mar coughed a few times before he shifted his gaze to the empty shot glass, and not meeting Grizz¡¯s eyes, he said: ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard? Lium has already fallen to the rebel army and I¡¯m not sure what has become of my brother, I hope he¡¯s safe but I¡¯m not awfully optimistic about his chances.¡±


    Grizz seemed to genuinely surprised upon hearing this, his face still partly stupefied as he asked Mar: ¡°What? How come I haven¡¯t heard of this, shouldn¡¯t it be huge news if it was true?¡± Mar placed his finger against his lips and quietly whispered to Grizz: ¡°Although the king was absolutely furious, his advisors have done everything they can to suppress the news from travelling. Most likely, they¡¯re building up their army in hopes of destroying the invading force before full-fledged revolts will happen.¡± Grizz had a conflicted expression on his face, he sighed to himself, before asking Mar to tell him the full story.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know too much about what happened in Lium, but I can try to explain. From what I¡¯ve heard, the revolting army simply showed up next to Lium and immediately began wrecking havoc. Beastman with red eyes and black tattoos on their bodies, armed with proper armor and swords, started going through the town, no guard there being a match for them. Still, while the upper city fell, the parliament of bats took action and collapsed every entrance into the under city. I told my brother to not stay with the bats, but no, he wouldn¡¯t listen to me. I hope he hasn¡¯t turned into a sapphire yet.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Grizz took a moment to ponder what Mar just said before condoling Mar: ¡°I¡¯m sure that your brother is perfectly fine, he knows what to do and what to avoid in order to not provoke attention.¡± Mar simply shrugged and ordered a shot of a clear liquid, partially resembling water. Grizz motioned to the bartender to get him another shot before he continued: ¡°I¡¯m here on a few different matters. I know that you don¡¯t do this for free, so I¡¯ve gotten a little gift for you,¡± and as Grizz said that, he pulled a small box out of his backpack. Mar¡¯s eyes started glimmering as he excitedly took off the lid of the box before exclaiming in shock. Inside of it was some colored dust, which frankly didn¡¯t seem like something to be freaking out about, in Orou¡¯s opinion at least.


    ¡°This should cover the costs of everything I¡¯m about to ask of you and be enough for a future favor or two, should it not?¡± Grizz cracked a smug smile as Mar quickly closed the box and pocketed it, carefully looking around for anyone who might¡¯ve witnessed the transaction between the two of them.


    ¡°Right, first thing is first, we¡¯re likely going to be staying for multiple days so we need a place to stay for the night. You know the criteria, it must be hidden and safe, preferably as close to your boss as possible,¡± Mar was excitedly writing down what Grizz was saying, nodding along to every criteria that Grizz demanded. Immediately after Grizz said all that he had to say, his eyes lit up as he said: ¡°I know of a place like that, an abandoned storefront that used to belong to a fortune teller before she was executed for spreading rumors about the fall of the kingdom. Rarely anyone passes by there and those that do are boss¡¯ men.¡±


    ¡°Good, the next thing I need is information on the king¡¯s palace and the goings on within. That means everything on how¡¯s the security looking like and the most detailed info you can find on the king¡¯s shaman, which includes times when he¡¯s strolling in the garden and times he¡¯s off in his study.¡± Mar was visibly troubled with Grizz¡¯s request and he kept scribbling something on the piece of paper that he was writing on. He thought about it for a while before he finally responded: ¡°It¡¯s going to take quite a lot of digging to find out that information so it might be a few days before I can respond back to you. Also, I¡¯m starting to think that this little box won¡¯t be enough, the prices for these kinds of things have been on the rise ever since the signs of a revolution, everyone is interested in what the king is going to do, simply to be ahead of the market.¡±


    Grizz once more opened his backpack and pulled out a similar looking box. Mar¡¯s face was the epitome of greed as he stared at the box, but Grizz didn¡¯t hand it over to him just yet. He lifted the lid to reveal some sort of strange sand, black and white grains of sand were mixed together in a chaotic matter. It was Mar¡¯s turn to be dumbfounded as he simply stared at the box, his hands reaching over to grab it.


    ¡°Since I¡¯m going to have to be paying extra, I might as well go all the way. I want all the current and future information you might have on the revolution and the moves of important players in the city. I want to make sure that you¡¯re the first to inform me on any major events that might be transpiring,¡± Mar seemed to be absent-minded as Grizz dictated his conditions for surrendering the box in his hands. Without even writing any of the conditions down, he excitedly shook his head up and down. As Grizz handed over the box, Mar gingerly held it up in fear of dropping it and he once more nodded his head to Grizz before excitedly taking off.


    ¡°I¡¯m expecting the place for us to live in to be ready in a few hours, you better not let me down Mar.¡± Grizz left a few parting words as Mar exited the inn, he turned back to Orou and with a thoughtful smile on his face, he said: ¡°It seems that we¡¯ll be staying here for more than a couple of days.¡±

 Illusion Spirit

    It didn¡¯t take long for Mar to return. He was brimming with excitement when he approached Grizz and Orou, presenting a set of keys to them. The keys were old and rust, Orou wondered if they could even serve their intended purpose anymore, but Mar assured them that everything was perfectly fine. No one paid them any attention as they left the inn and followed Mar. The whole city was like a maze, in a few minutes, Orou wasn¡¯t sure where he was anymore and if he could make his way back to the inn even if he wanted to. Half an hour later, they arrived at Wilmot street which was half ruined and abandoned. The stone underneath them was cracked and it would be difficult for any regular beastmen to move forwards without tripping, though it proved to be no trouble to the two of them.


    ¡°This poor place was chosen as the battleground between boss¡¯ gang and the sparrows. It was a bustling place when it was managed by the sparrow and boss really wants to repair it, but we simply don¡¯t have the time right now,¡± Mar explained as he hopped over a pit that went down for several meters. Grizz did the same as Mar, but Orou simply slithered around it, unsure why there was a need to jump in the first place. Everywhere Mar went, Grizz followed and did the same as he. Mar seemed to be intentionally picking the roughest part of the road and Orou was wondering if perhaps this was similar to the sparring Orou and Grizz did, only by using obstacles and not actually fighting.


    Grizz easily kept up with Mar until eventually, they arrived at a run-down shop. It might have had a flashy sign at one point and the walls might have been painted purple before, but the shop only had traces of its former glory. Grizz turned the key and the door opened with a squeak. Surprisingly, the interior didn¡¯t look as bad as the exterior. The store had a wooden counter, on it laid a crystal ball and some tarot cards with strange drawings on them. There were several bookcases that covered the wall, the books boasting various different titles that were difficult for Orou to read.


    Mar peered into the shop but didn¡¯t step into it. He looked at Grizz before shouting: ¡°I¡¯ll be off now, you know where to find me if you need me. I¡¯ll be back with the information a bit later,¡± and without further ado, Mar turned and left, leaving behind Grizz and Orou to explore the shop before them. Grizz went on into a different room as Orou was inspecting the things lying on the table. Activating his spirit sight, he saw that within the crystal ball, there were a great many spirits trapped inside. Most of them were simply staying in place, some of them were doing their best in attempts to escape, though it did them no good. As he looked around the shop in general, he found that there was a greater concentration of spirits here, which might be a reason why the interior was still preserved.


    Orou conjured a ball of light in the air and inwardly, he marvelled at how easy it was to control the spirits here. The first thing he did was to try and form the star by stretching and deforming the spirits, but Orou had gotten his hopes up in vain as he still had no results. Orou looked at the crystal ball and, deciding to play with it later, he went into the room that Grizz was in. It looked like it was the fortune teller¡¯s bedroom as a large bed, completely covered by purple satin. Grizz sat down on the bed and sighed, saying to no one in particular: ¡°I said for him to get a comfortable place but this wasn¡¯t what I was expecting.¡±


    The two of them scoured every single room of this place in search of anything interesting or valuable, but the only exciting thing Orou saw in this place was the crystal ball. Grizz picked it up in his hands and the spirits inside of it shook and scattered about. Grizz shrugged and put it back down once he saw that there was no immediate effect and asked Orou: ¡°What¡¯s so interesting about this crystal ball?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Orou answered him the best he could, that is, by not answering at all. He formed a tiny formation inside of the crystal ball of the ball of light spell and as he was preparing to will the spirits inside of the crystal ball to move, their did so on their own accord. Both Orou and Grizz were quite startled when out of nowhere, the crystal ball lit up. It did nothing more than light up, but just thing made Orou excited about what one could do with this. He started thinking of the countless possibilities when he realised that he didn¡¯t really have a formation small enough to fit inside.


    He stared at it long and hard before finally, realisation hit him. Concentrating solely on orb before him, he started conjuring the formation of a five-pointed star inside of the crystal orb. Only five spirits reacted to the formation, each of the five spirits went to the five points of the star and slowly but surely, the spirits started stretching out towards the middle. Orou observed this with rapt interest, wanting to find out how he could replicate the process. After several seconds of this, the spirits had finally formed the form of a star. The formation brightly flashed for a few seconds before the five spirits were simply gone, in their place stood a small spirit that was both real and fake at the same time.


    Orou wasn¡¯t sure if what he was seeing was simply a trick on his eyes or if the spirit was truly there. Simply looking at the spot before him, there was completely nothing there, but as soon as his attention shifted elsewhere, there was a tiny spirit, just on the edge of his vision. Orou tried to will the spot where he had summoned the spirit, but nothing responded to his commands. Orou tried his best to observe it without paying it any attention but the spirit proved to be too elusive in the end. If Izz was here, he would likely know what to do but Orou simply didn¡¯t know enough about spirits to know what was the deal with the spirit


    He tried forming another formation inside of the crystal ball but no matter what he did, the spirit simply didn¡¯t respond. If he could, he would let the crystal ball conjure the five complicated runic circles by itself and see what the spell did, but the circles had to be centered on himself or else it simply wouldn¡¯t work. Orou decided to try forming the illusion spirit himself, picking out five spirits which he felt were the most energetic. He created the formation of the star and guided the five spirits to their respective positions. This was where the hard part began, he had to concentrate on all five of the spirits floating in the air. He willed the five spirits to both stop and move towards the middle, gradually increasing the pressure both on spirits and on his mind.


    The five spirits desperately wanted to move to the middle, but Orou¡¯s will held them in place. It was slow work and Orou would have given up by now if he wasn¡¯t seeing signs of progress, the spirits were slowly stretching out in order to reach the middle. This was the point at which Orou¡¯s will simply cracked and he was left dazed on the floor for several minutes after. The pressure of both keeping the spirits from moving, making sure the spirits move in the right direction and resisting the pressure that was created when the spirits tried to reform themselves was simply too much. He lied on the floor and simply thought about what he could do and what he had to do in order to make the spirits obey him, but his mind was firm on the fact that he had to acquire a greater spirit and experiment with it.


    Orou wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been experimenting with the crystal orb, but when he turned around to look at Grizz, he had seen that Grizz had already unpacked and was preparing to head out once more. ¡°Finally, I could¡¯ve simply left without you but where¡¯s the fun in that, we¡¯re off to scout the palace,¡± Grizz beckoned Orou to come with him as he opened the door and stepped outside. Orou took one last look at the crystal ball before taking off with Grizz, determined to solve the secret of the star some day.

 The Invisible Garden

    ¡°What kind of thief would I be if I trusted every piece of information that I receive. The only thing that you can trust are your own two eyes, and even then, there¡¯s plenty of illusions out in this world,¡± Grizz looked Orou in the eyes and spoke to him as he gestured to the grand palace in front of him. It had taken much longer than they had hoped to get here, Grizz reassured Orou that he knew where to go, but they had gotten lost more than once, having to aimlessly wander around until they found a notable landmark or an area that Grizz actually recognized.


    The palace was majestic. Various beautiful and exotic flowers grew beyond the palace gate, colorful birds landed on the luscious trees and various beastmen were doing their best to keep the exterior of the palace looking impressive. Grizz nonchalantly strolled around, pretending to be talking to a beastman that was walking next to him. He circled the entire palace and counted exactly twenty-four guards. As Grizz returned back to the palace gates as he once more spoke to Orou: ¡°These guards are trained to catch anyone trying to sneak into the palace and keep anyone from entering it in case of chaos. Keep in mind where they¡¯re usually located, just in case if we have to escape from the castle.¡±


    There were countless beastmen passing by the palace every minute, most of them sparing the palace only a single glance before returning to their duties. Blending in with a crowd of beastmen, most likely tourists that were examining a statue next to the palace, Grizz made his way to the right side of the palace and pointed at one of the windows closest to the ground. Whispering to Orou, he said: ¡°We¡¯re not going to get your greater spirit by any usual means and I¡¯ve always wanted to try my hand at stealing something from the palace. This here is the king¡¯s shaman¡¯s room, our destination when we get into the palace.¡±


    As he said that, he pulled out a piece of paper and started drawing the side of the palace in all of its glory, incorporating both the trees in the way and the guards that were silently staying there. It took him a few minutes to draw almost a perfect drawing of the palace before he put the piece of paper down and started making his way to the back of the palace. It was strange, while the rest of the palace¡¯s exterior was decorated with various flowers and bushes, the back of the palace was empty. Grizz pointed towards the empty space and spoke to Orou: ¡°The rumors say that while the king¡¯s shaman isn¡¯t seen in the palace, he¡¯s hanging out in the invisible gardens, casting various curses on the king¡¯s enemies. Can you see them?¡±


    Orou guided the spirits to his eyes and took a glance at the world of spirits. He was shocked beyond belief when he truly saw an entire garden, hidden from the naked eye. The garden seemed to be trapped in a box, the outer edges of the box being completely devoid of any spirits. Inside of the box were numerous flowers, trees and leaves made entirely out of spirits. Two beastmen made entirely from spirits were drinking spirit tea, sitting on chairs made from spirits and resting their hands on a table made from spirits. It seemed like a separate area, isolated from the rest of the world for spirits to have their fun and experience what it was like to live a lavish life on their own.


    Orou¡¯s will seemed to be completely rejected from this place as he simply couldn¡¯t influence the spirits within the box. He was half-tempted to conjure the blood serpent in order to see the reaction the spirits would have but then he remembered the guards that were guarding the palace and their reactions once something like that appeared in the sky. Orou looked to Grizz and flickered his tongue at him in agreement. Grizz whistled in surprise and said out loud to Orou: ¡°It would make the news if it was confirmed that it existed.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Grizz stalked the palace for another hour, drawing it from different angles and plotting out his path of escape. During this hour, Orou got to see the guards in action. One of the tourists had decided to approach the gate and sneakily pluck off a ripe apple off of one of the closer trees. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to touch the apple as one of the guards sprinted with surprising speed, considering the guard¡¯s heavy armor. The tourist was tackled to the ground and handed off to the guards in gray metal armor, escorted to who knows where.


    No more incidents followed that one as most of the people kept their distance from the palace. Grizz was done a few minutes after, motioning for Orou to follow him. It took only took them fifteen minutes to reach the shop now that Grizz had memorized the path and to his credit, they took the exact same path they did last time, minus all the detours. Grizz went off to the bedroom in order to write down notes while Orou grabbed a random book from one of the bookshelves and got to reading.


    Three days passed like the wind as Orou kept trying to read this book. It proved to be much greater of a challenge than he initially thought as he often had to approach Grizz with the book in his mouth and point out the specific words that he didn¡¯t understand. Grizz did a phenomenal job as a teacher, patiently explaining what each of the words meant as well as associating them to certain examples in order to make it easier for Orou to understand. It was a book about fortune telling and what it entailed. Apparently, fortune tellers used magic in order to manipulate the spirits and seemingly ¡°communicate with them,¡± learning more about the person that was trying to get his fortune read. Some of the more powerful spells could make use of spirits to peer into the distant future, but unfortunately, no formations of any of the spells were described in the book.


    Besides learning to read and practicing his spells, Orou followed Grizz as he wandered through the city, visiting various shady bars and the hideaway of thieves to trade his cache of drugs for various secrets and blood crystals, which he traded for various things like new daggers and armor, clothes to fit in with the local citizens and poisons of various kinds. Orou had no idea how he knew so many people, but it seemed that word quickly spread amongst the thieves that a beastman from Onilia had brought several ¡°goods¡± with him. Of course, this entailed several ambushes from the darkness, all of which Orou easily repelled. They were treated with various wines and foods, so during these three days, Orou got to taste so many flavors that he never had experienced.


    At the end of the third day, Mar was knocking at the front door, holding in his hand several papers. Grizz excitedly let him in and as Mar stepped inside of the shop, he heavily sighed and said: ¡°You don¡¯t know how much effort it was to procure this information, it¡¯s strangely difficult to spy on the king¡¯s shaman, one moment he¡¯s there and the next moment, he¡¯s just gone.¡± He passed the stack of papers to Grizz as he continued talking: ¡°The security of the palace is pretty high if you wish to go after the king himself, he has countless guards surrounding him at all times and he himself is the best warrior the kingdom has to offer, so it wouldn¡¯t be the greatest move.¡±


    ¡°The shaman was elusive but we noted down his general pattern. He spends most of his time in the gardens, though who truly knows how much time he spends there.¡± Mar shrugged his shoulders as he continued: ¡°Of course, we¡¯ve noted down activities of the nobles and the various gangs that want to get their greasy fingers on the action.¡± Grizz started pouring through the papers, making sure that everything was in order. Orou saw Mar stand there for a bit before he started to stealthily make his way out, seemingly proud of what he had accomplished. Grizz didn¡¯t even notice Mar leaving as he spent several more minutes going over the papers. Grizz looked outside of the window and sighed, saying to Orou: ¡°We¡¯ll go and visit the palace at dusk, nearing the end of the time when the king is accepting visitors.¡±

 Kings Palace

    The sun was on the verge of setting as Orou and Grizz stood in front of the palace, the sun reflecting from the jet black gate in front of them. Grizz was dressed in a blue suit that he had gotten as a gift from one of his deals, looking like one of the nobles straight from the palace. His usual characteristics were overwritten by pride and composure that Grizz had never shown. By his side was the official report from the governor, in his backpack a bottled jar containing the black line and in his boots, several hidden daggers he hoped he wouldn¡¯t have to use today.


    Strolling towards the guards like the world owed him an apology, the guard slightly raised his weapon, preparing to apprehend Grizz if he made any sudden moves. Instead, he calmly presented the document he held in his hands and patiently waited for the guard to read through it. After getting halfway through the document, he handed it back to Grizz and motioned over to the rest of the guards, doing his best to open the gate as quickly as he could. He looked at the backpack Grizz was carrying for a few seconds, wanting to approach but a bit hesitant on doing so. Eventually, the guard decided to do nothing but let Grizz and Orou pass, though he gave Orou a menacing glare for half a second before returning back to his job.


    The palace grounds looked even more beautiful once there wasn¡¯t a gate obstructing the view. Red, green and blue flowers were blossoming, similar to a dream he had once, the only dream he had ever had. The palace itself looked intimidating from this close and Orou wanted nothing more than to simply wander off and head towards the invisible gardens. Unfortunately, the two guards standing next to the massive palace door had already spotted them and were opening the door, so Orou¡¯s plan of doing what he wanted would have to be cut short.


    The two of them walked through the door and into a massive room. The room was lavishly decorated, though that wasn¡¯t what drew Orou¡¯s attention. Both Orou and Grizz looked towards the right, towards a wall completely covered in ancient pictographs. They illustrated the history of how beastmen evolved to what they were by conquering and pillaging everything around them. Both the sun and the moon were bowing to a beastman sitting on a bone throne, the earth that he was standing on seemed to be only a platform to elevate his status.


    ¡°Complete bullshit, if this was true, why are there still five kingdoms instead of one, and why is the king struggling to deal with the humans? Both ancient and current beastmen think themselves as something great while placing others below them.¡± While Orou looked at the pictographs with awe and desire to learn more, Grizz simply scoffed and sat down on one of the comfortable looking sofas next to the pictograph. Orou continued to inspect the pictographs, wondering how many years ago were they drawn onto this wall and how much of it was real and how much is simply fantasy.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait for long before a beastman with two horns approached them. He was dressed like a servant and behaved similarly to one, bowing to Grizz and asking him of his visit here. Grizz wanted to simply pass the governor¡¯s paper to the beastman, before he held off and responded to him: ¡°We¡¯ve got an important discovery about the revolution to deliver to the king, it¡¯s highly sensitive information meant only for privileged ears.¡±


    Immediately after Grizz said that the beastman profusely apologised for his lack of respect, though he insisted on staying in place and not moving. ¡°It¡¯s important that I make sure you know of basic courtesy, like how to greet the king and how to properly bow,¡± the beastman was preparing to continue before Grizz cut him off: ¡°The king prefers to be addressed as ¡®Your Majesty¡¯ and yes, I do know how to bow. It¡¯s the first thing they teach you at in every courtesy lesson.¡± Grizz shooed him off by waving his hand and turning to look at Orou, ignoring whatever the beastman had to say.


    Orou curiously observed Grizz¡¯s current behavior and honestly, sometimes he couldn¡¯t understand how Grizz expressed himself. Everything he had seen from Grizz showed that he often faked his emotions to get what he wanted, but this time, Grizz¡¯s displeasure seemed genuine. The beastman awkwardly stood there for a few seconds before he realised he wasn¡¯t needed. Once more, he bowed to Grizz with slight hatred in his eyes, though it seemed like he was used to being treated this way.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    A few more minutes passed before the same beastman returned and humbled himself before Grizz once more, motioning over to the large double doors that likely lead to the king. ¡°The king is ready to see you, please remember, no matter what you do, don¡¯t make him angry,¡± the beastman slightly pushed against the double doors before they started to open themselves. From Orou¡¯s point of view, there was no magic involved, so likely, this was another marvel of technology that Orou had never seen.


    Stepping through the massive double doors, Orou was greeted by one of the most impressive sights of his life. The entire room seemed to be made entirely out of gold, the walls, the floor and the ceiling were reflecting the light from the golden chandelier that was illuminating the entire area. Ten large pillars seemed to be holding up the entire weight of the palace, by each pillar was engraved a golden dragon in all of its glory. Grizz took in a sharp breath as he simply looked around, trying to not get overwhelmed by what was around him. The numerous guards in jet black armor were looking towards them, double-edged swords raised high in the air in a ceremonial fashion.


    Looking straight in front of him, he saw a beastman sitting on a throne made entirely out of red crystal, a golden phoenix perched on top of the throne, covering the beastman from both sides with its two massive wings. For some reason, the throne that the beastman was sitting on was making Orou feel uneasy, but a much greater source of fear was the beastman sitting on the throne itself. A strangely familiar beastman with luscious, golden fur and piercing red eyes was staring directly at the two of them. He was wearing a suit of metal armor that matched the color of his fur, by his side a sword made out of various crystals, red, blue and green, though if there was one thing this sword was, it was wickedly sharp.


    Standing right next to him was a beastman with blue feathers and a beak on his face. He was dressed in red robes and in his hands was a twisted sceptre of some sort, half floating in the air. Grizz signalled with his eyes that he was the target they were looking for as he went forwards and performed an exquisite bow which would have any regular person trip and fall flat on their face. The nobles by the king¡¯s side were carefully looking over at Grizz, their eyes sharp like an eagle¡¯s, wanting to spot any mistake in etiquette. Even Orou felt the pressure of having countless eyes gathered on top of them, not to mention Grizz, whom the king was staring directly at.


    ¡°Greetings, Your Majesty. I have come bearing great news. We¡¯ve comprehended one of the revolutionaries that was trying to sneak into the city. He was trying to smuggle in a truly vile thing, evil captured in a jar itself,¡± as Grizz said that, he pulled out the jar that was housing the twisted line. Immediately, every gaze in the room snapped towards the jar and while the blue feathered beastman wasn¡¯t paying much attention previously, Grizz captured his attention by pulling out the jar. The king growled and pointed his finger towards the jar, immediately after, two beastmen came bounding towards Grizz and snatched the jar from his hands.


    ¡°You¡¯ve done a great deed today by delivering this to me. Reward him with one of the highest quality blood crystals from our treasury.¡± The king¡¯s voice was imposing and domineering, it seemed practically impossible to even muster up the will to say no to him. A single beastman went past them, most likely heading towards the treasury to get Grizz¡¯s reward. Both the king and the king¡¯s shaman had seemingly forgotten about Grizz¡¯s and Orou¡¯s existence as the king held the jar in his hand, carefully examining the black line within it. The king¡¯s shaman was excitedly whispering to the king as the sceptre left his hands and started floating around the jar.


    Both Orou and Grizz watched with interest what the king, the opportunity to peacefully examine the king wasn¡¯t something you get every day. The nobles standing on the lower platform were scrambling up to see what the thing in the jar was while the guards made sure the king was safe from any threats. Orou instinctively used his spirit sight to look at the room in from of him, but strangely, he couldn¡¯t manipulate the spirits in this room. No matter how hard he tried, they simply wouldn¡¯t budge.


    As the beastman returned back with a small box in his hands, Grizz carelessly tossed it in his backpack and leaned down low to whisper to Orou: ¡°This is the perfect opportunity to sneak around the king¡¯s palace, let¡¯s go quickly before the king¡¯s shaman doesn¡¯t decide to wander into his study.¡±

 Authority

    The two of them quietly left the golden room and returned to the room with the pictographs. The beastman servant from earlier had his back turned to the two of them, busy with looking after the plants and cleaning the room. Grizz quietly motioned over towards the right door and started tiptoeing towards there, but as Orou was following Grizz, he felt vibrations coming from the right. It was more than one set of feet coming their way and one particular vibration as much deeper and heavier than the rest, most likely a big beastman or someone wearing a suit of armor. Using his head to nudge Grizz¡¯s foot, he silently hissed towards the right door and turned his head to look at the left door, unsure if they could make their way to the shaman¡¯s study through there.


    Grizz hesitantly looked at the door, one foot in the air, still deciding whether to follow Orou¡¯s advice. It didn¡¯t take him long to decide as he turned around and started walking towards the left door, putting his trust in Orou¡¯s decision. Very slowly and carefully, he opened the door and peered inside. As expected, the door was well-oiled and as such, it opened without letting out any noise. Grizz waved his hand for Orou to come along and as Orou slithered inside, he saw a narrow corridor with three doors leading who knew where. From the left, Orou heard the sound of arguing, a conflict between a male and a female beastman about love or some other nonsense.


    ¡°Right, according to the palace schematics, the only way to reach the shaman¡¯s room would be to head to the invisible gardens and loop around to the other side. There should be an exit to the gardens near the kitchen, though it¡¯s bound to be packed with people,¡± Grizz pressed himself against the right door and carefully listened while whispering to Orou. Orou didn¡¯t have to press himself against the wall to determine that to the right of him was a room full of people. Most of them seemed to be chaotically running around the room, so he wasn¡¯t sure if the room to his right was truly a kitchen.


    Grizz stood up straight as he winked at Orou and with a burst, he opened the door in front of him. Several beastmen were running around the kitchen, doing their best to cook up a meal most likely meant to serve the entire palace. None of the cooks paid any attention to the two intruders before them as they were too busy trying to finish everything on time. Grizz simply looked at Orou and shrugged before he started walking forwards through the middle of the kitchen. The two of them had gotten half-way through the kitchen before one of the cooks ran into Grizz, dropping whatever green vegetable he had in his hands.


    ¡°Goddamnit, be more careful next time,¡± the cook picked up the vegetables he had dropped on the ground and was preparing to head off to another table before he stopped and simply started at Grizz and Orou. ¡°Wait a second, you shouldn¡¯t be here,¡± the cook carefully inspected Grizz¡¯s outfit and said out loud, drawing the attention of several more beastman who turned to look at Grizz. He silently sighed to himself before loudly clearing his throat in order to draw attention to himself.


    ¡°I have new orders from the king. He wants the current dish that you are preparing to be steam-fried. That is, he wants it steam-fried for the entire royal family.¡± Grizz straightened his back and said with a loud and clear voice and a slightly condescending tone, pointing towards one of the dishes they had prepared already. Immediately after he said that the cooks practically exploded with chatter, complaining about how they wouldn¡¯t make it in time and how the king changes his mind on every whim.


    ¡°Silence! I shall not have anyone disrespecting the king in front of me. You shall have the dish prepared or face the wrath of the king,¡± to the surprise of the cooks, Grizz shouted out with surprising authority in his voice. The room went silent and they shot him both fearful and angry gazes, resuming their previous work by redoubling their efforts. Some people looked curiously at what Orou was doing, though they didn¡¯t spare him more than a single glance before they returned to their work. Grizz simply looked around before he started to confidently stride across the room towards the door straight ahead of him and while the beastman looked at him strangely, no one objected to him simply heading towards the exit.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    As they stepped through the door, Grizz let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall, not saying anything for a few seconds. ¡°This is why I could never succeed my father, the nobles look at other beastman like a lesser species, animals to be herded at their will. At least I¡¯ve picked up a few tricks by being around father.¡± Grizz looked at the guards that had their back turned to them and the constant stream of beastman that were paying no attention to them. He smiled, crouched down and slinked in the shadows of the palace, saying to Orou: ¡°Now this is more in my element.¡±


    Looking ahead of him, he saw nothing more than an empty space, but even without his spirit vision, his gut was telling him that there was something wrong here. He guided spirits to his eyes and found himself in the middle of a patch of roses. Orou looked around only to see the same thing he had seen before, only from a closer point of view. Next to Grizz were two gentlemen sipping tea and not paying any attention to the world around them and even when Grizz blatantly passed through them, they simply returned back to normal and continued with their silent conversation.


    Orou felt a gust of wind hit his scales and from the corner of his eye, he saw a tree rustling its leaves, following the direction of the wind. Although it was something very simple, something a child would even understand, it completely baffled Orou at how the leaves were rustling. He stood there for quite a while, simply staring at the tree in front of him. He only awoke from his stupor after Grizz had properly shaken him for a few seconds, whispering to him: ¡°Come on, we need to go or else the king¡¯s shaman could return.¡±


    It was a fairly easy task to sneak through the gardens. As much as Orou wanted to hide behind the spirit trees, he had to constantly convince himself that they weren¡¯t truly there and each time he passed through something that he would collide within the real world, he felt something wrenching his gut, his mind telling him that something was most certainly wrong, though he didn¡¯t know what it was. Despite all of this, the guards were faced in the opposite direction so they little to fear of. The two of them made their way to another door, quite similar to the one they just walked out of. Grizz was about to open the door when Orou lightly bit his foot, not enough so to draw blood but enough to stop him from doing so.


    ¡°What was that for?¡± Grizz looked at Orou and while he didn¡¯t expect an answer, he expected some sort of reaction from Orou. Orou could sense multiple heavy vibrations, at least more than ten pairs of feet. Hearing so many of them, the only logical conclusion that Orou could come to was that they were guards, dressed in heavy armor. Going face to face with more than ten heavily armed guards was something that seemed very foolish to Orou, so no matter what they did, they can¡¯t go in there. He let out a menacing hiss towards the door and turned around to go back to where they came from. Grizz let out another heavy sigh as he listened at the door, his face still a bit confused but slowly and surely, he realised what Orou meant.


    Orou wasn¡¯t sure how they were going to get into the shaman¡¯s room, but he wasn¡¯t about to waste his life for some spirit. Perhaps if it had been his past self, he would have charged straight into the room, but the present Orou had seen and experienced several things which have made him appreciate life more and more. As Orou was deep in his thoughts, Grizz whispered something to Orou and as Orou turned to him, he saw Grizz staring at an opened window with light shining through it. Grizz had a grimace on his face, but he seemed to have steeled himself as he jumped, reaching the window and climbing up.

 "It is I, your prince in shining armor."

    Hanging off of the ledge of the window, Grizz pulled himself up and peered inside of the room. His hand trembled for a second as he almost fell off of the ledge, but he pulled himself together and with a deep breath, he climbed into the window. Orou followed him inside of the window, it was a simple matter of using his tail as a support for the rest of his body and lifting himself up. He saw a dull room, a floor checkered with black and white and the walls of dull gold, worn out by time. The room was divided into two sections, on one side, fancy jewelry, dresses and tiaras were simply lying on the floor, never having been used before. The other side featured a set of plain metal armor and multiple steel swords, worn out by time and use. The wall had countless slash marks on it, the wall having been repainted several times only for the pain to get scratched off each time.


    Both Grizz and Orou were staring one particular spot, that is, a huge bed with a beastman sitting on top of it. ¡°The princess¡¯ room,¡± whispered Grizz as he stared at the princess, who would most likely tower over him if she stood up. She had short golden fur and a lithe body, her back was perfectly straight as she sat cross-legged on the bed, a longsword on her knees. Both of them were observing her as they tried their best to not make any noise, but while they could make themselves unseen and unheard, it was exceptionally hard to mask one¡¯s scent. The princess stirred from whatever she was doing and started sniffing the air, a frown on her face. She slowly turned her head towards the foreign smell and Grizz got ready for confrontation.


    Instead of yelling or jumping back in surprise, she took the sword on her knees and pointed it towards Grizz. She slowly retreated as her fierce eyes stared down Grizz. ¡°What are you doing in my room? Explain yourself before I call the guards and pierce you on this sword myself,¡± she had the look of determination as if she was truly going to enact her threat if she didn¡¯t receive a satisfactory answer. Grizz put up his hands and straightened his back, looking directly into the princess¡¯ eyes, carrying himself with confidence.


    ¡°It is I, your prince in shining armor who has come to save you from your dreary life of boredom,¡± Grizz bowed down to the princess and remained bowed for a few seconds until he saw that the princess had lowered her sword, her eyes a mixture of confusion and anger. ¡°I don¡¯t need anyone to save me, I have practically everything I could want in here and if I ever wanted something more, with a simple snap of my father¡¯s fingers, the entire kingdom would be on their knees in order to curry his favour.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, you have everything you could ever need. Gold and riches beyond the wildest imagination, prettiest dresses and jewelry the kingdom has to offer, countless suitors that would drop to their knees if only you gave them a chance. You have the world in your hands, but there¡¯s one thing that you lack and I can offer to you, that is, freedom.¡± Although Grizz had no shining armor nor a sharp sword, he had something better than that, a tongue made out of gold and confidence in himself. His blue suit was practically glistening as he brought out all the charisma he could muster, continuing his grand speech.


    ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know the tragic story of Solum¡¯s princess, a tale of a princess seeking the life of a soldier and a father who cruelly imprisons his own daughter, deciding her fate and future all by himself. Ever since you were young, you¡¯ve been interested in the palace¡¯s knights. Their swords danced and their bodies ducked and weaved, but all that you could do was watch from a distance. The king had forbidden you to pick up a sword lest you hurt yourself, or even worse, decide to follow the path of your sister. Of course, as years passed, you¡¯ve become more interested in swords, up until the point where you convinced a poor servant to smuggle a few wooden swords into the palace in order to taste the thrill of battle for yourself.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The princess was silently staring at Grizz in shock, his voice was loud but convincing and surely, hearing your own memories being told by someone else is bound to be shocking. Grizz had the princess¡¯ complete attention as she had completely lowered the sword up, enraptured in Grizz¡¯s vivid storytelling. Similar to the princess before him, Orou was staring at Grizz with curious eyes, wanting to hear more of the story being told.


    ¡°Day after day, you sparred with the servant, completely soaked in sweat after each sparring session. Of course, those days couldn¡¯t continue for long. One day you came to the usual meeting location, expecting another day of training, but all that you saw was the severed head of the servant with several of the king¡¯s men waiting there for you. You cried cursed your father and his men for hours, but ever since that day, he has prohibited you from leaving the palace and he keeps careful watch over people that you interact with. The only place safe from the chaos of the palace was your own room, so you locked yourself up, refusing to see anyone and everyone. Each time you tried to escape, the guards would carry you back to your room and after dozens of tries, you simply gave up.¡±


    Grizz let out a deep sigh as he continued staring at the lioness before him, she had a sad smile on her face as she sat down on her bed, talking to Grizz: ¡°Yes, but am I at fault for giving up? No matter what I did, they would always catch me and return me back to the palace. Throughout all these years, the best I¡¯ve managed is to get actual swords in order to practice with. I¡¯ve pleaded for my father to let me out, but he simply doesn¡¯t listen to what I say. His advisors call him a wise and protective father, but the way I see it, he¡¯s keeping me locked in a cage.¡±


    Grizz had a slight grin on his face, though he didn¡¯t let the princess catch on to it. He slowly approached the princess and in a soft and gentle voice, he said to her: ¡°I can get you out of here, free to live a life however you want to live it, free from the influence of the palace and your father.¡± The princess looked up at Grizz with sparkling eyes, rekindled of hope. Her voice slightly trembled as she asked Grizz: ¡°But how? There are guards surrounding the palace on all sides and as soon as they catch wind of me, they¡¯ll capture both you and me. While I will be safe, my father will have your head for that.¡±


    ¡°The secret lies within the shaman¡¯s room. He has discovered the secret of invisibility and once we discover it, you can turn yourself invisible and simply walk out of the palace, your father none the wiser to where you¡¯ve gone. I need your help with distracting the guards while we make our way to the shaman¡¯s room and quickly snatch the secrets he is hiding.¡± Grizz motioned to the closed door in front of him and looked at the princess with determination, having no doubts about himself or the task that he was about to perform.


    The princess stood up and took the sword that was lying on her bed. She approached the door and as she placed her hand on the door, she turned to Grizz and said to him: ¡°The shaman has terrible magic hidden in his study, terrible things have happened to all those that have tried to trespass into his room. I could cause enough chaos to give you a few minutes, but you have to promise me that you won¡¯t endanger yourself for me, I don¡¯t want anyone else dying in my stead.¡±


    ¡°Have no fear, I promise to you that I will return back safe and sound, the secret of invisibility in my hands and I shall free you from this prison of yours.¡±

 Theft

    The princess walked to a nearby drawer and took out a fake bottom, picking up a small, glistening key from underneath it. She walked back to the door and used the key to unlock the door, opening it and peering around the corner. She gestured with her hand for Grizz to go forwards as she disappeared behind the door. Grizz lingered in the room for a few seconds before he decided on something and walked outside, searching for where the princess had gone.


    They saw a golden hallway with several portraits, including the king and the princess, as well as some others, most likely the queen and the princess¡¯ sister, who she was talking about earlier. Underneath the king¡¯s portrait was written ¡°King Tiar, 530 - present,¡± and in the middle of portraits was a drawing of the royal family, assembled in its entirety. As Orou looked at the drawing, he felt like there was something missing and when he turned on his spirit vision, he saw that a particular spot of the drawing was simply empty and covered with spirits in a tiny formation which Orou couldn¡¯t clearly make out.


    ¡°If you go left and turn the corner, the first door towards the right is the king¡¯s shaman¡¯s room. Be careful, if you make too much noise, the guards from the other room will come streaming in and once they do, I doubt that you¡¯ll be able to escape. I¡¯ll make sure no patrolling guards get in your way,¡± the princess turned towards the right and after waving Grizz farewell, she disappeared around a corner. Grizz looked at the spot where the princess was and whispered to Orou: ¡°It¡¯s a shame there¡¯s most likely no secret to invisibility in that room. I truly feel sorry for her, she has experienced terrible things and she desperately longs for freedom, though I doubt we¡¯ll be the heroes she needs.¡±


    Orou thought about it from his perspective, if he couldn¡¯t experience the thrill of the hunt and fresh blood and was confined to such a small space, he would likely escape within the first few months, or die trying at least. Of course, if he had an unlimited amount of new spells to research, he wouldn¡¯t mind spending some time in a small room. They were doing all of this simply so Orou could satisfy his curiosity and potentially make a new breakthrough in his research, but he was sure that Grizz didn¡¯t mind it.


    Following that train of thought, the two of them started sneaking towards the left. Several more portraits hung on the wall with something scribbled underneath them, and now that Orou could finally read, he recognised them as previous kings in their prime. Underneath what looked to like a portrait of the king¡¯s father was written ¡°King Julias, 493 - 587 After Fall.¡± Orou tried to get Grizz¡¯s attention, but he seemed to be distracting by his own thoughts. Keeping in mind a note to somehow ask Grizz what ¡®After Fall¡¯ meant, the two of them reached the end of the corridor and Grizz, stopping by one of the doors, put his ear against it and started listening.


    Simply based on the vibrations, Orou knew it was the room that leads to the outside. Orou sensed several heavy vibrations as he heard various grunts and shouts from the room to his left. Grizz cursed under his breath and after retreating from the door, he said to Orou: ¡°According to the schematics, there shouldn¡¯t be any guards here. In fact, no one was supposed to be there, except for a few servants simply doing their duty. The strange thing is, although I can perfectly hear their voices now, I couldn¡¯t hear anything when pressing my ear to the door outside. We¡¯re going to have a long talk with Mar after this.¡±Stolen story; please report.


    Having finished saying what he was thinking, he turned to look down the corridor and after making sure it was completely safe, he started walking towards the shaman¡¯s room. The door itself was nothing special. A wooden door with a metal handle that opened inwards, though before Grizz even got a chance to touch the door, Orou hissed towards him to not do anything. His spirit sight was still in effect and it seemed like the rumors of people not returning after walking into the door were true. There was a strange formation of spirits on the door, a twisted S letter, reaching all the way towards the ground and the ceiling. While Orou had no clue what it did, he wasn¡¯t about to let Grizz walk into a formation without him knowing it.


    Grizz stopped and retreated from the door while Orou approached it. He carefully inspected the formation before deciding to do the only thing he thought would help, that is, try and disrupt the formation itself. Just like he would with a regular spirit, he used his will to try and simply force it to move. The spirits seemed to stuck there, as if glued to the spot they were currently at, and while it did slightly move, Orou didn¡¯t think it would be enough for the formation not to trigger.


    The next thing that Orou tried was to distort spirits. He concentrated on a particular spirit, situated right in the middle of the formation and started stretching it with his will. While he felt the resistance from the spirit, he didn¡¯t have the added pressure of having to hold down the spirit for it to not move, so slowly but surely, the spirit stretched until it resembled a line. The reason why he could stretch it out so far was that once he stopped, the spirit didn¡¯t return to its usual form. Orou did the same for a few more spirits in the formation because he didn¡¯t know if the formation would work or not, but after a few minutes of tampering with it, Orou flickered his tongue at Grizz.


    Grizz¡¯s hands trembled slightly as he touched the door handle and opened the door. Orou saw the twisted S shape try and reach Grizz, but it fell apart as soon as it did, the spirits simply floating there before returning back to where they once came. What greeted them was a clean and tidy room, several stacks of miscellaneous documents organized on the table. Several alchemical reagents and herbs, similar to what he had seen in Dawn¡¯s study, were neatly arranged on several shelves. Several bookshelves with books describing the nature of spirits and spells made Orou practically drool. There were several strange tubes and vials of strange liquid, as well as a white mist that simply seemed to float above a part of the room, but the thing that made Orou alarmed were several spirits, rushing not towards them, but towards the right. Whatever it was, it surely couldn¡¯t be good for them.


    Orou hissed at Grizz to hurry up as he started going through the strange vials, wanting to find what the bottled spirit that they needed. Orou searched around to no avail, no vial or bottle seemed to hold a spirit. He was ready to give up when Grizz shouted to Orou: ¡°I found it,¡± tossing a strange, black cube into his backpack. Orou looked around wistfully at all the strange curiosities around him, probably wanting to pocket them as well, but being unable to do so because of Orou.


    As they started to leave, Orou took one last glance around the room and there, from the corner of his eye, he saw a place devoid of spirits, a few documents lying in the middle of it. Orou¡¯s eyes lit up as he wondered if those could truly be secrets to invisibility, and to the surprise of Grizz, he went back to the table and did a motioning gesture with his tail towards Grizz, though all that did was send gusts of wind towards Grizz¡¯s face. With his fangs, he gestured towards an empty spot on the table and as Grizz put his hand down where Orou was pointing, he was surprised to find that there was something there. He picked up the invisible papers and as soon as he did that, they regained their original appearance. Having no time to check them out, Grizz simply threw them into his backpack and together with Orou, they bolted out of the shaman¡¯s room.

 Black Box

    The two of them got out of the room and closed the door behind them. Orou saw in his spirit vision that the twisted S symbol was no longer there, but since other people couldn¡¯t see mana, hopefully, the shaman wouldn¡¯t notice it. As Orou looked to the right, he saw a steady stream of spirits travelling down the hallway as if blown away by a gust of wind. Whatever it was, it surely couldn¡¯t be good for them so Orou flickered his tongue at Grizz and started picking up his pace. Fortunately for them, no guards came out of the adjacent door as they passed by and soon after, they had arrived at the princess¡¯ room. Grizz had already cleared his throat and was ready to make all kind of excuses to the princess, but as they opened the door, they found the princess nowhere in sight.


    ¡°The plan is to simply head back to the entrance and stroll outside as if nothing has happened. We pass by the guard, wave him goodbye and then hide the best we can to survive the shaman¡¯s incoming wrath,¡± Grizz whispered to Orou as he was already halfway through climbing the window. As he looked back to Orou, his eyes fell on something in the room and practically lit up. Placing his leg back into the room they were in, he strolled to the pile of necklaces and tiaras, opening his backpack and sweeping everything valuable in there. Various gems and jewelry made from gold made Grizz silently whistle to himself as Orou could see him thinking about the profits he was about to acquire.


    Orou stood by his side, annoyed by the waste of time due to some shiny toys, though Orou had to give Grizz credit where it was due, he neatly separated the pile into two piles of small, valuable things and heavy, useless things, sweeping the first pile into his backpack. He did so with remarkable speed and experience, showing that it was not the first time he had done something like this. Having finished the looting process, with a single leap, he jumped out of the window and tumbled to avoid most of the impact.


    Orou followed along, still keeping his eyes on the invisible garden, though it was as if nothing had changed from when they left. There were no rustling leaves in order to draw Orou¡¯s attention, so he passed by it. As Grizz opened the door to the kitchen, Orou turned around only to find one of the men sitting by the table staring at him. The man¡¯s face was emotionless nor did he blink, he was completely motionless as his partner kept on drinking the tea before them. Orou wasn¡¯t as much freaked out as he was surprised, wondering why the man would behave in such a way. Orou wondered if the man was controlled by the shaman, though he didn¡¯t have much time to ponder as Grizz had already walked into the kitchen and left him behind.


    Slithering into the smoldering hot room that was the kitchen, Orou saw that Grizz had adopted his ¡®I¡¯m in charge attitude¡¯ towards the cooks, bossing them around. ¡°Come on, the king is practically starving out there. If you can¡¯t get the meal to him in time, who knows which one of you will be his next meal,¡± saying that, Grizz flashed a toothy grin towards the rest of the cooks, to which they responded by moving their already exhausted legs even faster. Of course, this came with the added benefit of several glares which Grizz didn¡¯t pay any attention to. Thanks to his performance, not a single one of the cooks came up to them and asked them what they were doing outside of the palace, though they were probably too busy thinking of how to murder Grizz to be bothered by that.


    Continuing their stroll through the palace, they exited the kitchens and walked through the hallway, arriving back at the entrance. The huge double doors were closed and the servant was doing his duty of cleaning the room. He was currently making sure the double doors were as shiny and intimidating as they were supposed to be. Grizz looked towards the exit to the outside and whispered to Orou: ¡°There were several guards standing next to the door and if we were to open the door, the servant would surely notice. Go to the doors and be ready to attack if he makes too much noise, I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Having finished saying that, Grizz started walking straight towards the servant. Orou followed what Grizz said, quickly and noiselessly arriving next to the door, looking back to see what Grizz would do. He had snuck right next to the servant and with one quick motion, he grabbed the servant and started choking him. Placing his hand on the servant¡¯s mouth to muffle the oncoming screams, he applied more and more pressure towards the servant¡¯s neck until eventually, his body went limp in Grizz¡¯s hands. Orou didn¡¯t understand why Grizz didn¡¯t simply kill him with his daggers, but all that mattered was that they didn¡¯t attract any unnecessary attention towards themselves.


    Grizz dragged the unconscious body towards the nearest hallway, far away from the line of sight of Orou and the guards that would peer into the room. With a spring in his step, he arrived next to the door and composed himself, slowly opening it. Just as expected, the two guards were right next to the door, looking straight at Grizz and Orou. Grizz didn¡¯t even look at them, his expression not changing in the slightest. The two guards looked at each other but they weren¡¯t planning on taking any immediate action. Grizz¡¯s facade didn¡¯t drop even after arriving at the main gate. Grizz pushed it open with his hand and completely ignoring the guard that was standing next to him, he walked into the streets of Edum.


    Orou wasn¡¯t able to keep as much composure as Grizz, so ignoring what Grizz was doing, Orou blatantly stared at the guard. He didn¡¯t seem to be bothered as much by Grizz leaving than he was by Orou staring at him. Orou heaved a sigh of relief in his mind, the king¡¯s shaman must have not spread the alarm for them to pass through as successfully as they have. Orou stopped staring at the guard before the guard did something that Orou would regret and he rejoined Grizz, who was grinning from ear to ear, looking into his backpack and counting his spoils. ¡°If I can find someone who¡¯s willing to take these off of my hand, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about crystals for the rest of my life. There¡¯s also the papers we¡¯ve got, which could potentially be worth a fortune and of course, your greater spirit.¡±


    Immediately following his burst of happiness was paranoia. Grizz started ducking into various shady alleys and dashing after turning the corner. Orou didn¡¯t mind it as much, though he wasn¡¯t sure why Grizz was doing what he was. He kept doing this all the way until they arrived back at the small little shop they were living in. Grizz started unpacking his backpack and organizing the various trinkets he stole, categorizing them by value, weight and how big they were. He placed the black cube and the documents on the table, to which Orou responded by using his tail to drag the cube to himself.


    Using his spirit vision, Orou tried to see if he could sense any sign of the spirit, but it seemed like it never existed in the first place. He fumbled with it for an hour with no success before in anger using his tail to smash the cube before him. The rest of the building trembled, but the cube before him was fine. Moments later, Grizz came running towards him, wondering what kind of mischief Orou was up to again. Orou pushed the cube towards Grizz, awaiting for Grizz to do anything. As expected, Grizz picked up the cube before him and started fiddling with it, trying to twist and bend it, using his finger to push at specific spots and even using some of his thieves tools in order to uncover the secret of the cube, all to no avail.


    Just as Orou was contemplating whether or not to simply cast beam of light onto the cube, Grizz spoke out: ¡°We¡¯ll go outside tomorrow and see if I can find someone who would be able to open this thing. I also have a few matters of my own to attend to, such as tracking down Mar about the schematics and finding people who would be willing to buy the jewelry. Anyhow, enough of this cube, let¡¯s go and look at the documents we took, if they were in the shaman¡¯s room and he decided to make them invisible, they must be quite important,¡± Grizz tossed the cube on the floor and went next to the table, picking up the few pieces of documents there were.


    Before he started reading, he was quite excited but as he read further and further, his expression became more serious. He took several minutes to read over what was said in the documents and as he put them down, he heavily sighed and pressed his hand against his head. Orou slithered next to him and flickered his tongue, wanting to know what¡¯s wrong. Grizz looked at Orou for a moment before replying: ¡°This is more serious than I thought, the king¡¯s shaman is working with the revolutionaries.¡±

 Dreamland

    ¡°What do I do even do with this information?¡± Grizz sighed as he once more picked up the documents and started reading over them. Orou slithered next to him, putting his head on Grizz¡¯s shoulder and reading the documents. Unfortunately, all that Orou got was a list of names and numbers, which made no sense to Orou. Orou flickered his tongue at Grizz and used his fangs to point at the various names and numbers, looking expectantly at Grizz. He didn¡¯t react at first but once he saw and understood what Orou was doing, he responded.


    ¡°While there¡¯s no note or anything of the sort written here, it¡¯s a ledger containing all of the major trades the revolutionaries have done ever since they were created. If you look here, you¡¯ll see that they¡¯ve acquired several crates of weapons and armor from Shaemor, that is, the neighboring human kingdom just across the border. What I don¡¯t understand is how they have so many funds on their hands, this ledger details trade deals worth millions of blood crystals.¡± Grizz pointed towards one of the numbers at the top of the list and exclaimed in shock.


    ¡°It¡¯s like they¡¯ve been preparing for years and only now did they pull the trigger. If these numbers are true, they¡¯re as well equipped as the king¡¯s army, not to mention whatever strange magic they¡¯re using on their soldiers. If I was a betting beastman, I would bet on the fact that the shaman was the one responsible for the creation of the strange line,¡± Grizz pondered the situation for a few seconds before continuing: ¡°Now that we¡¯ve stolen this from him, I¡¯m sure that the shaman won¡¯t stop hunting for us until he¡¯s dead. We¡¯re likely on his hit list already, simply from delivering the black line to the king.¡±


    Grizz flashed a smile and looked to Orou, saying to him: ¡°Thankfully, I¡¯m a master of disguise and you can alert me of whatever strange magic the shaman can cast. If he can find us despite that fact, we can always simply fight him, you know a few strange spells yourself, don¡¯t you?¡± Grizz happily rubbed Orou¡¯s head which Orou now understood as a sign of affection. Using his forked tongue, Orou licked his palm, to which Grizz responded by giggling and touching Orou on his nose.


    ¡°The problem is - what do I do with this information? If I showed this to the king, the shaman would likely be killed and if he escaped, he would be denounced for all times. We could also arrange a meeting with the shaman and blackmail him, though that¡¯s a very dangerous game to play. The safest option would be to sell it to a third party, one of the gangs perhaps, but I¡¯m not lacking in crystals and this piece of news could impact the entire revolution, it¡¯s too important to pass it on to some nobodies.¡± Grizz continued scratching Orou¡¯s head while thinking of a solution to the problem that had suddenly presented itself.


    Seeing that Grizz was taking the matter seriously, Orou decided to try and think of a solution himself. Simply basing it off of what he had seen of Grizz, Orou thought that the choice would be simple. He always wanted more to himself and he had already said that he didn¡¯t want to involve himself in this whole mess, so the best option would be to sell it off. Of course, if Orou had a say in this whole matter, approaching the shaman and blackmailing him for various spells and secrets would be the best option, but Orou could also understand why Grizz thought of it as a dangerous matter. Orou had seen first hand both the trickery of humans and beastman, trusting the shaman to do as he was told was simply nonsense.


    Ten minutes passed in complete silence before Grizz finally put the papers back in his backpack and said out loud: ¡°It¡¯s not like we have to decide it right now. Let¡¯s take care of all the other matters before thinking of what to do with this.¡± Orou looked outside and saw that it was most likely well past midnight. Seeing what Orou was doing, Grizz piped up: ¡°We won¡¯t do it right now silly, even thieves and crooks have to sleep you know. You should try properly sleeping sometimes, wander around in the dream world and see what you can find.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Orou was quite confused about Grizz¡¯s last statement, but it looked like he had no intention to explain anything as he started heading off towards the bedroom. Orou imagined another world besides the spirit world for a few minutes and wondered if the dream he had was related to what Grizz had said, absentmindedly heading towards the bedroom and slithering next to Grizz. Orou wanted to nudge Grizz and ask him to explain himself, but as Orou slithered up on the bed, he saw that Grizz had already passed out and was loudly snoring.


    Orou wasn¡¯t sure how Grizz had managed to fall asleep as quickly as he had, but looking at Grizz¡¯s sleepy body, Orou decided to try and fall asleep. His mind kept wondering about the dream world and he was annoyed by the fact that he wasn¡¯t currently practicing spells, but after some amount of time, he managed to drift off to sleep.


    He woke up several hours later, his mind completely blank. Try as he might remember what he dreamt of, he could only draw blanks. Orou looked over at Grizz, who was already up and moving about in the shop, writing down something on several pieces of paper, leaving a note with some number next to each one of jewelry pieces.


    As Orou started slithering over, Grizz turned his head and yelled out: ¡°The sun is already high in the sky, how can one snake sleep for so long? I¡¯ve been waiting for you for hours. Come on, we¡¯ve got plenty of matters to take care of.¡± Looking outside the window, Orou confirmed what Grizz said and confusedly slithered next to him, thinking about why he had slept for so long. Now that he thought about it, his thoughts were a bit clearer and his body seemed to be refreshed and full of energy. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he hadn¡¯t had a proper rest in quite some time.


    Clearing his mind of all distracting thoughts, he started following Grizz to a place they had once visited, the tavern where they met Mar. Just as last time, Grizz slipped the bartender a few blood crystals and waited for some time. This time, it didn¡¯t take as long for Mar to arrive, after five to ten minutes, he had already waltzed into the tavern and had sat down next to Grizz and Orou. With a cheerful smile, he said to Grizz: ¡°So, what do you want this time? You can always ask me anything if you¡¯ve got more of the stuff you gave me last time.¡±


    Grizz put down his glass of some vile alcohol and said to Mar: ¡°I don¡¯t need much from you, only some of your answers,¡± he coughed a few times and opened his backpack, pulling out the schematics of the castle. Laying them out on the table, he looked at mar and continued: ¡°Where did you get this?¡± Mar looked confused for a few seconds as he pondered something and hesitantly, he replied to Grizz: ¡°I got it from one of the higher-ups, Dan was his name. Told me his spies have the latest information on the castle.¡±


    Grizz nodded up and down before completely dropping the matter, which confused Mar even more than he was already. The two of them started talking about various places to pawn off stolen goods and which places were safe, which places were ready to kill you for anything valuable. Finally, after several minutes of talking and several minutes of Orou not paying much attention, they arrived at a topic which interested Orou.


    ¡°Do you know of anyone, who deals with magical goods? Preferably someone, who could crack a magically enchanted safe and someone, who will keep shush about the goods brought to him,¡± Grizz looked down at Orou and smiled before returning back to his conversation. Mar scratched his chin and looked down into his drink for a minute or so before replying: ¡°Yeah, I know of a guy. His name is Rial, a strange fellow who is locked up in his house most of the time. Rumors are that he researches strange occultic magic, though no one knows if that''s true or not. We get him highly illegal magic stuff and he helps us resolve all of our magic related problems.¡±


    Mar started describing the direction to Rial¡¯s house, though Orou lost track of them half-way through. Knowing Grizz, they¡¯ll be lost for a couple of hours before finally getting to the damn thing. With that, Grizz waved Mar goodbye, not forgetting to slip Mar a few crystals for his assistance. Walking out of the tavern, he said to Orou: ¡°I don¡¯t have a clue where to go, but we¡¯ll find him eventually.¡±

 Occult Practices

    Without further notice, the two of them started walking west. Grizz tried his best to remember the various directions Mar had given him, but there were so many that remembering all of them were simply impossible. Orou wondered why Grizz didn¡¯t have Mar simply write down the directions, but there was no way for Orou to ask him that. Orienting themselves by major landmarks such as statues, important looking buildings and various thieves¡¯ hideouts that Grizz recognised, they slowly but surely made their way in the right direction.


    It took them an hour and then some to finally reach a small building. It didn¡¯t stand out in any way, shape or form and without Grizz remembering the last few instructions, they would¡¯ve never found it. Even now, both of them were hesitant about whether or not they had found the right house, after all, there were several houses just like this one all around them. Grizz pulled his hands out of his pockets and knocked on the door. They waited for a minute before it was clear that he wasn¡¯t going to respond, so Grizz simply tried to pull the door open. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t locked, though even when they entered the house, they found nothing out of the ordinary.


    The two of them searched the house for any clues of Rial¡¯s whereabouts and it seemed like the search would be fruitless until Orou found a trace of blood on the floor below them. Calling Grizz over, he crouched down to inspect the area before he smirked to himself and lifted the entire flood up, or at least, a trapdoor that had been disguised as the floor. Immediately after he lifted the trapdoor, a repugnant smell assaulted Orou¡¯s tongue and Grizz¡¯s nose. Both of them retreated several meters back, opening the door wide open to let the smell filter out. It took several more minutes to do so, but at least they didn¡¯t have to deal with the threat of dying from the smell even before they descended down the trapdoor.


    Grizz took the lead, carefully lowering himself down and looking below to avoid stepping into anything dangerous. Orou followed behind him, looking at the horrible scene that greeted them. Instead of a basement, one could call this an underground dungeon. There were metal chains with several skeletons imprisoned in them and a thick stench of blood practically hit both Orou and Grizz like a truck. There was strange, purple moss that was growing on the walls and on the skeletons themselves, while most of the skeletons were fairly intact, there was a single skeleton which had completely turned into moss. Underneath the moss was a protrusion of two large wings, resembling a butterfly attached to a human body, struggling to break out of the purple moss.


    Tending to the moss was a frail and sickly man. His fingers, his face and his body looked like someone had taken a skeleton and dragged only skin across his entire body. In his hands was a bucket that was completely filled with blood, he was dipping his hand into the blood and simply placing it on the moss. The moss, as if it was alive, reached up and enveloped his hands, completely draining the blood from his hands. Just as Orou and Grizz were looking at him, he was also observing them, his head tilted to one side in confusion. He put down the bucket full of blood and wiped his hands free of any remaining blood.


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember ordering any new slaves, though if you¡¯re here, you might as well stay,¡± his voice was shrill and pierced one¡¯s ears when Orou heard it. In his hands was a red orb which shone with a soft light. Orou saw the spirits around him swiftly gather towards the orb and as Orou was ready to move forward and strike him, Grizz yelled out: ¡°We¡¯re here to do business, we require your services with unlocking a particular magical cube.¡±


    Rial hesitated for a moment as he looked at Grizz and Orou, though he focused more on Orou as he slowly lowered his orb. The spirits scattered all around the room as he said: ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say it from the start? I was half ready to kill you right there,¡± Rial assumed a righteous stance as he unwillingly put down his orb and sat down on a nearby chair. Grizz coughed a bit and sat down on the nearest chair that was unstained by blood, and as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by the skeleton completely covered with moss. Underneath the moss, the creature flapped its wings and an unearthly shriek resounded through the room. Rial put his finger to his mouth while looking at the skeleton and then back to Grizz, expecting him to continue.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Right, I¡¯ve recently found a black cube that we¡¯re fairly certain is magical, though we don¡¯t know how to actually open it up. There are some blood crystals involved if you¡¯re willing to open it and keep quiet about it,¡± Grizz looked unsettled by whatever was going on to his left, though he still kept a calm and rational attitude while speaking to Rial. Pulling out the cube from his backpack, he set it on the table and pushed it forwards for Rial to investigate. He picked it up in his hands and simply observed it from all sides, looking for something in particular.


    ¡°How surprising, something I haven¡¯t seen in all of my years of tinkering with magical devices. This looks like a way to trap something in it, most likely a spirit. I wonder if it¡¯s possible to trap ghosts or even souls in this thing. Whoever created this thing must be a genius,¡± his eyes glittered as he looked at the cube before him. Walking to another room, he picked up several strange instruments, bent metal pipes and various other metal contraptions, putting them down on the table and starting the process of getting this thing open.


    The two of them watched as Rial kept trying to hammer away, twist and bend the black cube. Orou saw that as he was working with the cube, the various metal instruments he had helped him guide the spirits both into an around the cube, though none of the spirits were able to get in. After several minutes of tinkering, Rial practically jumped from his chair as he said out loud: ¡°It was this simple all along, how did I not get this. You simply weave a thread of spirits around and through it, splitting the cube into nine pieces and opening it.¡±


    With seemingly practiced ease, Orou saw one of the spirits in the air abruptly stop and start to quickly elongate until it resembled a thin string. Guiding the string towards the cube, the string entered the cube from a hole that Orou never noticed was there, weaving all throughout the cube. It splintered into nine different pieces, still floating in the air around a particular spirit. Orou immediately recognised it as the greater spirit he had been looking for. Orou saw an invisible wave go through the spirits and one by one, they almost seemed to become disciplined, arranging themselves in a particular order, though to Orou it still looked like chaos.


    ¡°A greater spirit, I haven¡¯t seen one of those for a while. Tell you what, if you¡¯re willing to sell me this cube, I can offer several high-quality blood crystals to you and the promise of my further services free of charge, if you would ever desire them,¡± Rial looked at the two of them, almost as if he was confident that the box was already his. His face dropped when Grizz confidently told him: ¡°No.¡±


    Rial¡¯s hand trembled for a bit and Orou saw the spirits start to approach the man and without any hesitation, he started casting a spell on his own. Creating a hollow pillar of spirits above the man¡¯s head, Orou started gathering the spirits needed to cast the spell. It was much, much harder than Orou thought as the spirits simply didn¡¯t want to move, didn¡¯t want to be disturbed, but fortunately, the man sensed something above his head and the spirits that he had been gathering scattered. Glaring at Orou, he told Grizz: ¡°Fine, the usual price of five medium blood crystals will do, though do remember me when you think about selling the box.¡±


    As Grizz reached the grab the box, Rial looked to Orou and started talking: ¡°You need to weave a spirit thread to open it and simply use your will to surround it on all sides and force it to snap shut. It will completely isolate the aura the greater spirit is giving out, though I¡¯m still not sure how,¡± saying that, Orou saw the box simply shut on its own. Grizz looked confusedly at Orou before he flickered his tongue and taking that as a sign of acceptance, he gave the crystals over to Rial and pocketed the black cube before them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s never return to this place again, way too much creepy stuff going on here,¡± Grizz said to Orou as they started climbing the stairs, their ascent was followed by another wail of the strange butterfly creature which so desperately tried to escape its mossy bounds.

 The secret of the spirit

    As the two of them left the house, Grizz visibly shuddered. He said to Orou: ¡°This is why I don¡¯t mess around with magic, it¡¯s easy to go down the wrong path and become insane like the maniac we saw right now. Another reason is that I simply can¡¯t learn magic, but we¡¯ll ignore that fact for right now.¡± Whatever Rial was doing didn¡¯t disturb Orou that much. Sure, the screech and the squirming around might be a bit terrifying but besides that, he didn''t see a reason to be scared. The thing didn¡¯t exude an aura of danger nor did the thing make any hostile movements, so Orou didn¡¯t get Grizz¡¯s evident displeasure.


    As much as Orou wanted to get back to the shop and inspect every single piece of the spirit, they still had business to take care of. Grizz moved through various buildings, speaking in codes to various people, occasionally pulling a shiny necklace or ring from his backpack, receiving a bag of spirits in return. The smaller pieces like rings sold quite quickly, but there wasn¡¯t much of a demand for tiaras or masterfully woven dresses. By the end of the day, Grizz has received several payments from several sources, but he looked in dismay at the rest of the stuff at the bottom of his backpack.


    ¡°I¡±m going to need to find some very specific buyers to sell these. I¡¯m sure the dress has never been worn nor has it ever seen the light of day, so it would be easy for a merchant to sell, but the problem is getting a reasonable price from a merchant, it¡¯s going to have to travel through multiple hands first at least,¡± Grizz sighed as they started to return back to their temporary home. Still, his overall mood was joyful, most likely because of the several bags of crystals he was carrying with him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure none of this interests you and I don¡¯t have to rush in selling these, I can take several days to find the right buyers. I¡¯ll busy myself with counting our spoils while you can play with the spirit that we found. We¡¯ll return back to Onilia in a few days when I get myself sorted through all the things that need to be done here.¡± The setting sun disappeared behind the tall buildings as they entered the shop. Grizz tossed the cube into the air as it slightly reflected the light in front of it and Orou caught it with his tail, wrapping around it and casting his spirit vision. His eyes focused on an unfortunate spirit right next to the box and he stopped it dead in its tracks.


    Now, a problem unfolded itself. If Orou could make a spirit string himself, he wouldn¡¯t really need to examine this spirit. The one time he did make a string was the formation that was attached to the door, so Orou simply had to concentrate on two different spots and stretch it. This time, he had to concentrate on stretching the spirit, making sure that the spirit stayed in place and he had to account for the fact that the spirit was going to resist being deformed unlike last time. That being said, he had gotten practical experience and he had the crystal ball, so the process was nowhere near as stressful as last time.


    Orou kept slowly stretching the spirit out for what felt like hours. His head was pounding and he was beginning to see double. He could hear the heavy thumps of his own heartbeat, which he never knew were this loud before. He couldn¡¯t make the spirit thin enough to be a thread and he had to do with the spirit resembling a thick and long needle. Fortunately for him, it seemed like it would fit into the black block, though he only now realised that the process of moving the spirit was even harder than he imagined. He had to surround the spirit with his will, hold it in place and move it at the same time. Orou nearly went crazy from trying to move it, it unsteadily shook and bounced up and down and didn¡¯t want to obey his commands. The spirit needle finally arrived next to the cube and with a sigh of relief, Orou put the needle into one of the holes.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    He waited for several seconds in anticipations until he realised it isn¡¯t going to work. Rial use the thread to weave through all the holes and as that realisation hit Orou, his concentration broke and the spirit expanded and returned back to its original form. Orou was ready to say screw with it all and toss the cube outside of the window, but as he looked closer towards the cube, he saw that it was slowly opening. A corner of the black cube was simply missing and Orou wasn¡¯t sure if it could be used again, but the spirit seemed to be in no hurry to move as it simply presented itself to the rest of the spirits.


    Once more, Orou saw the rest of the spirits stopping to move and standing completely in place. Orou was in no condition or mood to currently manipulate spirits, but he watched in excitement as the greater spirit asserted its authority over the rest of the spirits. It wasn¡¯t even that, what made Orou truly happy was seeing the spirits behave like beings with feelings and order, though he knew that this likely wasn¡¯t true. To Orou, it seemed like some of the spirits were respectful and some were shaking in fear, though that could simply be his head from the exhaustion he felt.


    Finally noticing his surroundings, he noticed that it was completely dark outside and that Grizz was already snoring. His mind was telling him to observe and play with the spirit, but he had exhausted himself too much by forcing himself beyond his capabilities. His vision slowly grew dark and he slowly laid his head on the floor. The spirit before him expanded to cover his entire vision as his vision faded to black and he went to sleep.


    Orou stirred from his sleep and found himself staring at the black box, illuminated by daylight that was slipping into the room through the curtains. He looked around to look for Grizz, but the only thing he could find was a note next to his table, spelling out ¡°I¡¯ll be back before sundown, so don¡¯t worry about me. Don¡¯t turn the shop upside down while I¡¯m gone.¡±


    Orou wondered where Grizz had gone, but if he wrote down that he would be back in several hours then be so. He had a slight headache that would¡¯ve made it difficult to manipulate spirits, not factoring in the domain the greater spirit had over the rest of the spirits. With difficulty, Orou gathered the spirits he needed to cast spirit sight. He slithered and coiled up next to the spirit, deciding that he wouldn¡¯t experiment today. No, he would observe it like he would do with his prey, looking for the method that the spirit used to control the spirits around it.


    Without even noticing it, several hours had gone by in a flash. Grizz still hadn¡¯t returned, but the sun was slowly beginning to set. What Orou noticed was that the life of a spirit was very uninteresting, at least the life of this greater spirit. Just like any regular spirit, it moved around and spun in place, but besides that, there was nothing interesting about it. On the other hand, the rest of the spirits that wanted to behave like their usual selves but couldn¡¯t were interesting. They seemed to be half obeying, half resisting the command of the spirit in front of them. At first, they seemed to be practically held in place but as time passed, they started to slowly wiggle and move, trying to escape its grasp.


    Just as it seemed like the spirits were about to escape, a sort of invisible wave spread out from the middle of the spirit and washed over the rest of the spirits. As it hit the spirits, they once more became rigid and motionless. Over the day, he had seen the same phenomenon repeat itself multiple time and at the end of the day, he decided to try and use his will in order to replicate it.

 Will

    He spread out his will and imagined it positioned right in front of him. Waiting for the moment when the greater spirit had the least control over the rest of the spirits, he imagined an invisible wave in front of him and he pushed out. The wave rippled out from his position and in fact, Orou saw the spirits in front of him stop. If the spirits had faces, they would surely all be facing towards the Orou as for the first time, he felt a closer connection to the spirits. He wanted to reach out and will these spirits to do as he wished, but his will kept on going until Orou couldn¡¯t even see it anymore. As soon as he stopped giving orders to the wave, the spirits returned to their usual behavior, at least until the greater spirit sent out a wave on its own.


    For the rest of the day, he kept trying and trying to both move the wave forwards and at the same time, moving the spirits in front of him. He had a limited time frame to send out the waves as the influence of the greater spirit was too great otherwise, but by the end of the day, he found out that it was simply impossible for him. The second he let go of the wave, the spirits stopped obeying him. He could concentrate on multiple spirits at the same time, but this was something completely different, he would have to practically split his will into half and devote full attention to both tasks at the same time.


    Of course, the second he realised that he needed to split his will in two, he tried to do so. He made his will go in both directions at once and he kept applying force to it until he started to feel his mind almost splitting in half. He writhed on the floor for several minutes and his headache got way worse, but for his efforts of almost killing himself, he felt a slight crack in his will. The crack didn¡¯t feel natural or right in the slightest, but as he watched it, he could see it repair itself. He had to make a decision and he made a choice that not many people would make, the choice of inflicting pain upon himself, hoping for results unknown to him.


    Over the next few hours, Orou¡¯s will was tested in several ways. The pain from his head made Orou half insane, but he kept on going and going. He had urges of giving up, of simply giving up on this meaningless action and figuring out another way. Orou shook his head and cleared his mind of the distracting thoughts that were suddenly popping up in his head. The crack in the middle of his will was growing bigger and bigger, the larger it got, the harder it was to resist the various urges that were popping up, but the more he was tempted with giving up, the more determined he got with finishing what he started.


    Even when he was resting in between tearing up his will, he felt a crack in his mind that seemed like it would end him at any moment. Various emotions, fear, despair, bitterness and insecurity, started popping up from the crack in his mind and Orou had to devote most of his time driving back these emotions to where they came from. He knew that if he let the emotions overwhelm his mind, the emotions would devour himself from the inside and make him broken, insane.


    As he kept on splintering his will, he felt that in his mind, two separate entities were fighting off the oncoming wave of emotions. The left side that hosted his curiosity, his passion and his hot-headedness was driving the negative emotions towards the right and the right side that hosted his anger, his obsession and his resent was doing its best to resist the pressure. Orou didn¡¯t have to torture himself anymore as once the two sides emerged, there was no turning back. The crack fed on the emotions that were being thrown around and it expanded, expanded and expanded until it shattered his mind.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    His vision went black and his emotions became faint, his breathing became still and his heart even stiller. His consciousness was dim, but faintly, he felt himself swimming in an endless sea of black. He knew that the sea was endless and that he had been swimming for an eternity, but something drove him forward. He hoped that the sea would one day end and that he would no longer have to swim, for he had grown weary and old, but he knew that it was hopeless.


    He knew that he was no longer able to swim, the black sea had long since devoured him. He moved with the currents and where he moved, moved the sea. He had grown as endless as the sea, but now he knew that there was nothing in this world besides the sea, that is, until he saw a light in the middle of the darkness. A tiny thing, not even worth its gaze, had approached him and challenged the might of the sea. Boundless anger overcame it as the entire sea lashed out, but the tiny thing held on strong despite his efforts. For the first time in eternity, he lifted his endless body and stared directly in the thing¡¯s eyes, but all that he saw was endless light.


    Orou woke up, his body drenched in water, rather, his own blood. He tried to stand up, but his body got confused as two separate wills ordered the exact same thing. He looked around, only for each one of his eyes to look in a separate direction, away from each other. He had succeeded in splitting his will and as he looked within his mind, he saw the faint remnants of a crack that was once there. After several minutes, confusion and anger, he got both of the wills to do as he wanted and he started looking around, looking for any signs of what had happened to him.


    He was lying in a pool of his own blood in a different position than he remembered passing out on. The box was nowhere to be seen and next to him was Grizz, worriedly looking over him as he stirred. The sun was high in the sky, though he had no clue whether it was the next morning or a week after. He had difficulty in moving his body, so he simply laid there as he looked at Grizz.


    ¡°You need to stop doing this. I came back and when I saw you bleeding out from every orifice imaginable, I didn¡¯t even know what to do. I called a few doctors to look over you, but they couldn¡¯t find any injury or even anything wrong with you, so, I had to call in a few magical doctors. I¡¯m telling you, magic is dangerous and getting involved will only bring your doom faster,¡± Grizz applied some sort of weird gel onto his scales and immediately, he felt the effect. He didn¡¯t realise his body was burning hot until the gel cooled his entire body down to a manageable temperature.


    He did his best to stand up and process what had happened, but no matter what he did, his two wills kept interfering in the process, almost like they wanted to outdo each other in who could be first to complete the task he had given. This caused the two wills to interfere with each other and in turn, make him unable to move. Orou sighed to himself and very slowly, guided the wills to work together. Still, once he found a way to coordinate and make the two wills work together, he would have achieved the first step in his mastery over spirits.

 Payoff

    Orou had never had this much trouble simply walking around. He felt like it was not his own body he was controlling but someone else¡¯s, and even then, he wasn¡¯t doing a great job of controlling it. Grizz was quite concerned at first, but as Orou started slithering towards him, he practically dropped to the ground in tears, blatantly laughing about Orou¡¯s misery. It wasn¡¯t like he could do anything to Grizz, the moment he tried to rush towards him, his body shot out like a bullet. Unfortunately, his body shot out in the wrong direction, directly hitting and crashing into the wall. This caused Grizz to laugh even more than he already was and Orou swore he would get revenge once he learned how to control his body.


    It wasn¡¯t like the wills were incompetent, in fact, they did their job just as good as his original will. The only issue was that it was really hard to direct both wills at once and often times he just forgot to control both, which lead to the current situation in front of him. His mind was sharper than before as he could process two entirely separate thoughts at the same time, which lead to a lot more questions being raised at once. Both wills agreed that the first thing he had to do was look at the black cube and learn if his experiment was a success or not.


    It took him several minutes to actually get to where the cube once was, but it was no longer there. He looked both of his wills to look around and for around an hour, he scoured the house for where the cube might have gone. Half-way through his search, Grizz approached him and sternly said: ¡°If you¡¯re searching for the cube, it¡¯s in my backpack. For your own safety, I¡¯m not letting you approach it,¡± Orou hissed at Grizz and made his way towards Grizz¡¯s backpack, but Grizz was way faster than Orou in his present state.


    ¡°You can have it at the end of the day. Come on, let¡¯s go out for a walk,¡± Grizz snickered as he beckoned Orou over, holding a closed black cube. It was cracked on one side and Orou didn¡¯t remember closing it, but there it was in all of its glory. Orou unsteadily made his way towards Grizz, but Grizz simply retreated back, heading further and further into the streets. Eventually, he had to forget about the cube simply because the rocky road was too much for him to handle. He was moving at a snail¡¯s pace, but over time, his control over his body got better.


    Grizz lead them through the main streets, taking pity on Orou by not entering any winding alleyways that were even harder to navigate. It would have been a nice sightseeing trip if only Orou wasn¡¯t so frustrated. Grizz introduced the various places in the city to him, one half of Orou¡¯s will was processing information, the other was simply looking around, though both of them were taking part in driving his boy forwards.


    After several hours of awkwardly slithering, he had gotten the basics of controlling the wills down. He had cooled down and along the way, he was pondering upon how he could improve upon his control. Two wills were going down two parallel lines of thought, making his improvement that much quicker. Now that he thought about it, it was like having two of himself in one body.


    Returning back to the shop, Grizz rummaged through his backpack and pulled out the cube that Orou had been longing for this entire day. He placed it on the table and said to Orou: ¡°Now, don¡¯t do anything else that will put you in danger. I know that spirits are interesting and all, but they¡¯re not worth dying for.¡± Orou absentmindedly nodded his head as he started casting spirit sight. At first, he didn¡¯t succeed simply because the two wills were trying to control the same spirit, which greatly interfered with the movement of the spirit. Then, he decided to approach the matter from a different perspective and assigned the two wills two different tasks.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    It worked surprisingly well. Each will was just as effective as he was before it was split and now he had two of them, which meant twice the speed and twice the concentration. He completed casting spirit sight in record time and once more saw the world of spirits. He looked at the box, though it was just as tightly sealed as before, even though it had multiple cracks on it. Even if it meant damaging the box, he had to get the spirit out of there.


    Of course, the thought of simply sending out a wave and seeing if he could manipulate the spirits normally crossed his mind long before the thought of opening the box, but unfortunately, the waves he sent out had no effect on the spirits. His mind was set on opening the box and besides that, he was excited to see if he could make an actual thread this time. As usual, he locked his eyes on a nearby spirit and used his will to stop it.


    He pondered for a few minutes on what the best course of action was before he simply decided to give different tasks to the wills. One will would fully concentrate on making sure that the spirit wouldn¡¯t move and the other would concentrate on delicately pulling the spirit and making a thread out of it. Having decided that, he immediately set out to work. He stopped the spirit just fine, but when it came to making sure the other will was pulling on it, he was having some difficulties.


    The two wills were like small children, he had to make sure both were properly doing their jobs otherwise each of the two wills would wander off to join the other will in its action. His concentration got broken several times before he fully zoned out and managed to pay attention to both of the wills at once, instructing them with instructions. The process itself was still hard, but it was nowhere as hard as before. Having two wills wasn¡¯t like cutting in half the work required, it lifted the strain and the burden his mind had to take and divided it between the two wills, making the process a lot more manageable and smoother.


    He elongated the spirit until it resembled a spear shaft and he felt like he could still go on. The spirit slowly became a needle, though much, much finer and longer this time. Orou couldn¡¯t fully make the string, but it would fit for his purposes. Then arrived the part where he collapsed last time, one will was making sure the spirit wouldn¡¯t collapse and the other was in charge of moving the spirit. The travel was much, much smoother this time, though it still shook on some occasions. Orou distinctly noticed the will that was holding down the spirit was experiencing way more strain than the other will and he wondered if there was a way to split the pressure.


    Finally, after several minutes of preparation, the needle had twisted and bent and gone through all of the openings in the cube. It slowly opened and once more, an invisible wave spread out through the room, making the rest of the spirits submit. Utilising both of his wills to analyze the wave, he lied in wait for an opportunity to see if he was right to split his will in half. After an hour or so, the moment of truth finally arrived. The spirits were restless, about to break free from the control of the greater spirit and that was the moment Orou chose.


    He imagined the half of his will as a boundless wave, which triggered the memories of a black, rolling wave for some reason. Giving an order for the wave to travel onwards, he ordered the second will to grab a nearby spirit that had turned stiff and was facing his direction. He simply had to make the order as the spirit practically came rushing towards him, all resistance from it completely gone. He had the feeling that he could easily order the spirit to be of any shape and as he wanted to do that, he found the spirit return to being stiff, his own wave overridden by the greater spirits.


    He was disappointed at first, but as he kept thinking of the endless possibilities that came with this discovery, he once more became excited. Tomorrow, he was going to finally finish the spell he had been working on!

 The Truth

    That night, Orou couldn¡¯t sleep. He didn¡¯t want to cast the spell or even shape the spirit because Grizz was sleeping, so he practiced shaping his will into a wave. It was fairly easy, but Orou had to get the timing down so he had the most of amount of time to shape the spirit. Of course, he tried to collide two different spirits or simply shape the star himself, but for some reason, this task was way harder than making a string out of spirits, no matter what he did, he couldn¡¯t succeed.


    As he practiced the rest of his spells, he spent the most time learning how to control the blood serpent anew. One will was in control of moving the spirit, the other was in control of determining the timing of the attack and deciding on how it was going to attack. At first, his blood serpent collapsed several times but he got better and better at manipulating the wills, eventually surpassing his previous results. The attacks came faster and the movement overall was smoother, which would surely be a great boon when in combat.


    Morning arrived and Orou was both examining the spirits for signs of weakening and Grizz for signs of waking. Coincidentally, the timing of the two was the exact same, the spirits started shaking and as Grizz stirred in his bed, Orou excitedly sent out a will wave. Wasting no time at all, he grabbed the spirit in front of him and imagined it shaping itself like a star. Almost like the spirit was made out of liquid, it rippled and slowly changed into what he thought of.


    Orou looked at the greater spirit in panic as he wrapped his will around the star-shaped spirit. Recalling his other will, he used it to snap the box shut, preventing it from sending out another wave. The second he stopped his will wave, he immediately felt the star-shaped spirit resisting his efforts, doing its best to revert back into its original shape. For some reason, the spirit was exerting a lot more pressure compared to when it was being shaped into a string as if it was desperately avoiding its fate of being turned into a star.


    Despite the spirits best efforts, Orou¡¯s will held on strong. Tightly enveloping it on all sides, Orou commanded his other will to start constructing circle after circle around it, weaving complicated runes made out of spirits into the sides of the circles. Orou was doing his best to complete the spell as soon as he could because he felt that the will restraining the spirit was not going to hold on for that long. His mind was trembling from the pressure, but he was no stranger to pain, his mind held on strong as he completed the fifth circle.


    As soon as he did so, the pressure from both of his wills disappeared. The circles and the runes within started spinning around the spirit at a slow rate, picking up in speed as time went on. The spirit shone with an increasingly bring light until eventually, it released a bright light. The spirit disappeared from view and as Orou looked around for where it might have gone and there it was, hovering in the middle of the circle just out of the corner of Orou¡¯s eye.


    The circle didn¡¯t stop spinning, in fact, it spun around even faster until the runes became a blur. It spun so fast that it seemed to be shrinking in size, at least until Orou noticed that it had become half of its original size and it didn¡¯t want to stop. Eventually, the circle shrunk down to match the size of his eye and floated right in front of his eyes, approaching closer and closer each second. Orou winced and he wanted to move away from whatever was approaching him, but he found himself locked in place by an invisible force surrounding him. Utilising his blood core to focus at one point on his body, he used all of his strength to try and move, but his efforts were for naught as he still couldn¡¯t move.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Orou stared at the thing right in front of him. He wasn¡¯t feeling terrified, but he had an unsettling feeling in his chest that he didn¡¯t want this to reach him, however, no matter how hard he struggled to escape his binds, they held on strong, not budging in the slightest. His heart was racing, but there was nothing he could except watch.


    The spinning circle touched his forehead and slowly but surely, merged with Orou. At first, all that he could feel was pain, but amidst the pain were traces of enlightenment. He struggled to ignore the pain and reach out for the few strands of understanding that were floating in front of him, but they seemed to be always out of his reach. He watched in despair as the strands floated away into the void beyond him, but as the void swallowed them, he seemed to have understood something, unsure of what it was himself.


    The void that was in front of him was lifted and once more, he could see. The world in front of him was the same, but at the same time, it was fundamentally different. Everywhere he looked, the world was divided into two colors, white and black. The floor, the ceiling, the furniture and even Grizz were made entirely out of black strands, writhing and struggling to escape their boundaries. As he looked around, he saw that besides the black strands, there was a faint, black mist that was hanging around the room, sticking to the black strands and not letting go.


    The mist seemed to be corroding the black strands in front of it, making it shiver as if in pain. The strands were retreating further and further, but they had no more room to run and they could only writhe around as the black mist dug deep into them. Looking at Grizz, he seemed to have something inside of him that was making the black strands slowly spin. As the black strands spun, they turned into the black mist that then went on to eat away at the rest of the black strands. The mist Grizz released wasn¡¯t enough to fill the entire room and he wondered the rest of the mist was coming from. Then, he looked at himself in the mirror.


    His entire body was filled with black strands, pressing up against his body, slowly expanding it outward and he could see himself slowly growing both bigger and taller. The place where his blood core was supposed to be was a huge mass of circling black strands. They were silently screaming in pain as they were crushed into the black mist by the circling thing inside of him. As he looked around himself, he saw a constantly rising black mist that was devouring everything around him. He could clearly see that where the mist was, the spot was very slowly blackening and becoming rotten, after weeks if not months, this place would be in shambles simply from this mist.


    Grizz was moving around like everything was perfectly fine. How could he live without knowing that with each second, not knowing he was destroying the world around him? He bit onto the apple in front of him and the black strands from the apple were sucked his body, never to see the light of day again. Grizz tossed out a piece of a pig¡¯s meat for Orou to see and even though he saw that it was full of black strands, Orou was very curious. He dragged it in front of the mirror and slowly bit into it before devouring it whole. The black strands within the meat were terribly afraid of him as he ate it, almost as if they knew their impending fate.


    As the black strands joined the rest, he grew slightly more and within him, the thing started spinning even faster. Even though he ate the meat, he wanted to eat more, the black strands within him were disappearing at a visible rate and even if he didn¡¯t want to continue eating, he had to survive.

 Trapped

    Orou was coiled up on the ground next to the mirror, thinking about what he could do with this information. He kept glancing at the various furniture around him and observing the mist that was half corroding, half merging into the black strands. It was a slow process, but Orou couldn¡¯t deny that it was happening. He felt a bit weird about the situation, he didn¡¯t really care much about whether or not the black mist corroded everything around him, but it simply felt wrong on a fundamental level. The more he stared at it, the more he was convinced that something like this simply shouldn¡¯t be happening.


    Orou kept staring at himself in the mirror as if hypnotized and as Grizz walked around the house, he came to check up on Orou. Patting Orou on his head, he said: ¡°What¡¯s wrong buddy? Notice something interesting about yourself?¡± As he did so Orou noticed that when Grizz touched his head, the black mist that floating around him was attracted to Grizz¡¯s hand, or to say more precisely, the black strands in this hand. The black mist started to spread through his entire body and slowly merge with the strands, corroding them in the process. Orou violently jerked his head away from Grizz¡¯s hand and moved a bit away from Grizz.


    ¡°Not in a good mood I see. I was planning on bringing you along to meet with Mar, but if you don¡¯t want to, you can stay here,¡± Grizz shrugged his shoulders and started to walk outside, looking expectantly at Orou. Orou thought about it for a while before following behind Grizz, wanting to see how the world around him in his new sight. Walking outside, he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of black strands. Everything, absolutely everything had strands in them. The stone below him, the birds flying above him, the trees and even the clouds were made from the strands.


    The second he stepped outside, the black mist that was once restrained to the small shop was let out to roam about freely. It latched onto anything and everything it could, staining the area around Orou completely black. Orou was hesitant to follow Grizz after seeing what was happening around him, but eventually, he convinced himself that he didn¡¯t care about the mist and moved forwards. Everywhere Orou went, he left a trail of darkness that slowly disappeared behind him. Catching up to Grizz but not standing too close to him, Orou glanced at everything around him, hesitant to see how else he affects the world around him.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t notice this before, but whatever you were doing seems to have succeeded, you¡¯ve got a weird crystal on your forehead,¡± Grizz glanced at one of the houses and abruptly turned to Orou, looking straight at his forehead. His face turned weird as he continued staring, he rubbed his eyes and blinked twice before saying: ¡°Or not, I swear I saw something. Is this another one of your weird tricks?¡±


    Orou didn¡¯t notice anything like that when he was staring at himself in the mirror, though that would explain why he was continuing to see the world in black and white. The two of passed through several beastman and as they finally arrived at a more crowded area, Orou noticed that he was not the only one that was releasing any sort of mist into the air. Above the crowd was a massive cloud of black mist, a tiny source from each of the beastman walking next to each other. The black cloud seemed like it wanted to descend onto the crowd and devour them whole, but instead, it floated above them like a menacing pack of buzzards.


    Eventually, the two of them reached the already familiar tavern. Grizz, as usual, said something to the bartender, ordered a drink and sat down onto a nearby chair, beckoning Orou to approach him closer. Orou slowly but surely approached him, wanting to find out in what proximity he affected Grizz, but surprisingly, he found that unless he was walking right next to him or Grizz was directly touching him, the black mist wouldn¡¯t affect Grizz. Orou didn¡¯t know how to convey this to Grizz, so he simply kept his distance, making it seem like he was alienating Grizz.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°What a coincidence, I wanted to inform you about the latest news soon and there someone was, saying that Grizz wanted to speak to me. We should go somewhere private, wouldn¡¯t want to cause any unnecessary panic,¡± Mar opened the door and walked into the tavern. Placing his hands on the table, he smiled towards Orou and Grizz, but as he reached his last sentence, his smile turned into a grimace. Grizz was about to say something but he held his words back, standing up and following Mar outside of the tavern.


    The two of them chit-chatted about miscellaneous things like how the king was feeling and what the local gangs were up to, information that would be privy for any other beastman, but nothing too exciting for the two of them. They reached a small alleyway with a single door on the side of it. Knocking on it several times in a complicated rhythm, the door opened was opened by another beastman and the two of them descended down a narrow staircase down into the darkness. After several seconds, the darkness revealed a colorful area. Beastmen were drinking, smoking and taking strange, multi-colored dust on every corner of this place.


    The people here seemed to recognise Mar as they acknowledged his presence, but no one went out of their way to greet him. Finally, the two of them arrived at a separate room, completely closed off from the rest of the beastmen with sound-proof walls. Mar wasn¡¯t in a hurry to explain what information he was withholding as he prepared several drinks for both of them, sitting next to the only table in the room. Passing a drink to Grizz, he said: ¡°This probably won¡¯t be a secret by the end of today, but I don¡¯t want to be hunted down for inciting panic.¡±


    Grizz leaned in to listen as Mar took another sip, saying to him: ¡°As you know, the revolutionary army had taken over Lium and was marching closer to the capital. Apparently, what we didn¡¯t know was that the king had secretly sent an army to wipe out the revolutionaries, but instead, they were the ones who got wiped. There were no survivors remaining and somehow, they had masked this fact until now. There were suspicions and rumors regarding the departure of the army, but they did a great job of keeping everyone¡¯s eyes away from the real facts.¡±


    Mar heavily sighed as he continued: ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be so bad if this was all that happened. The revolutionary army is marching straight towards the capital with no stops and the king, either in his rage or in his fear, has decided to lock down the city. That means that no one can get in and no one can get out,¡± as Mar said this, Grizz stood up and slammed his hands on the table, nearly spilling the alcohol besides him, shouting out: ¡°Has he completely lost it? Who in their right mind would think of locking down the entire city just because of this? If the king¡¯s army got annihilated, what hope does the capital itself stand? Furthermore, not even the king¡¯s side is safe.¡±


    Mar tilted his head at Grizz¡¯s last sentence but Grizz promptly shut his mouth, only continuing to grumble about how the king was out of his mind. He looked to Orou with hope in his eye and he could see that Grizz was formulating a plan, likely on how to get out of this city. Despite that, he still continued to unleash his anger at Mar, shouting to him: ¡°How is it even possible to mask an army heading out of the city, not to mention it getting annihilated. Surely there must have been some talk of him locking down the city, he can¡¯t simply decide that on his own.¡±


    The angrier that Grizz got, the faster the thing inside of him spun, releasing more and more black mist into the air and corroding everything around him. Sitting down on his chair, he took a deep breath and the thing inside of him stopped spinning so fast. The mist around him wanted to spread out, but it was attracted to a single point on Grizz¡¯s body and after a moment, there was no more mist in the air.


    Mar shrugged in response to Grizz and said to him: ¡°You can¡¯t expect me to know everything, the king has spies and beastmen who live and breathe deception. He was able to cover our eyes for long enough to pull this off, leading to this uncomfortable situation.¡± Grizz snorted and stood up, preparing to leave. He looked at Orou, saying to him: ¡°We¡¯ll get out of here, if you could break a barrier once, I believe that you can do it again.¡±

 Barriers

    Grizz was fuming all throughout the way back home, each time he grumbled about either the king or the army, he got angrier. Orou wanted to help him calm down as the black mist he was producing was equal to several beastman standing in one spot, but at the same time, he didn¡¯t want to approach too close in fear of making Grizz suffer, so he simply observed Grizz along the way. Honestly, he still didn¡¯t understand why Grizz was so mad, it¡¯s not like the army would show up and start killing everyone, though Orou had never seen one in action, only hearing distant tales of wars from Izz.


    Making their way back to shop, Grizz started packing his things. He didn¡¯t have a lot with him, but the few things that he did he packed in his backpack. Waving goodbye to the shop, the two of them started heading not toward the western gate but towards the north. Various impressive looking buildings greeted them as they headed towards the north. Now that Orou thought about, he had never really gotten a chance to explore this city, he was too busy with his magic research to fully uncover what this city was holding. This desire only got more intense as he saw several shops selling what seemed to be magical devices and various strange things he had never seen before.


    They had only stayed in the city for a few days before they had to leave, but if that was what Grizz wanted, how could Orou refuse him. It wasn¡¯t all that bad, if he could learn several more ancient spells from Grizz, he would be set for a good while. Thoughts about magic distracted him from his recent findings and soon, they arrived next to the barrier. Of course, the barrier was constantly active so there was no way of knowing the king¡¯s latest decision. Grizz motioned Orou over and pointed at the barrier, asking him: ¡°Can you do something about this?¡±


    Turning on his spirit vision, he didn¡¯t see anything out of the norm. A massive amount of spirits were woven together by fine, silk-like thread. He was familiar with both the barrier and the spirit thread, so he should have no problems creating a doorway through the barrier for them to pass through, or so Orou thought until he actually tried to bypass the barrier. First, he simply tried to move the spirits, but as was the case with every barrier he had seen, the spirits were simply impossible to move.


    Moving on to the next method, he tried to disrupt the barrier by trying to manipulate both the string and the spirits, changing them into different forms and shapes, but just as before, the formation was near immovable, it was like the spirits didn¡¯t have a will of their own, behaving just like they were when they were under the effect of the greater spirit, only the effects much more noticeable this time. Perhaps there was something even greater than a greater spirit, able to garner the respect and the fear of regular spirits, but that was something that Orou simply didn¡¯t know at the current time.


    Making a note to study barriers later, he started thinking of other solutions. Sheer force clearly wouldn¡¯t work, otherwise, the barrier would be nearly useless in any regular situation. The only other choice was to circle the barrier and intently look for any weak spots, but it was difficult to do in the current situation, the barrier was way too large. Still, seeing no way around his problem, he started heading towards the east, circling the entire city. His pace was quite quick as he was intended to finish by the end of today, but even then, he would have to move kilometers and he likely wouldn¡¯t be able to fully circle the city.


    He carefully observed the spirits as he moved around, but at the end of the day, he noticed that there wasn¡¯t a single crack, a single blemish in the formation. Turning around to Grizz, he slapped his tail against the barrier and hissed at it before deciding to head back to their quaint, little shop. As Orou did that, Grizz looked like he had lost all hope about escaping the city and just as Orou, he started to make his way back to the city, dejected about his failure. Of course, Grizz wasn¡¯t one to give up so easily, suggesting to Orou plans of bribing the guards or, in the worst case, finding a shelter for them to hide during the assault.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Orou was thinking about how he would convey it to Grizz that he wanted to find someone who knew more about formations, but by the time they arrived back at their temporary home, Orou still didn¡¯t have an answer. Setting down his backpack and unpacking the things he had packed, Grizz lied down on the bed covered in silk and satin, saying to Orou: ¡°As much as I don¡¯t want to, I¡¯m going to have to meet with Mar tomorrow and procure more information. I stormed out in rage in front of him, but a few crystals and it will be like this incident never happened. What about you, you want to tag along?¡±


    Orou thought about Grizz¡¯s offer and to Grizz¡¯s surprised, Orou hissed in denial. He had plans of properly exploring the city, perhaps breaking into a few magic shops and looking closer at what the city had to offer. It would be more interesting with Grizz, but since he was likely going to spend the rest of his day travelling through various alleyways and speaking with his contacts, Orou decided to not bother him and go do it on his own. Grizz shrugged in response to Orou and turning on his side, he slowly went to sleep.


    Orou also wanted to try and sleep, but despite saying that he wasn¡¯t worried about the army, he decided that it would be the best for him to practice his spells again. Battles between two armies always were chaotic and catastrophic, resulting in a huge number of deaths, at least so he had heard in stories. If worst comes to worst, he had to be strong enough to defend Grizz and who keep himself safe at the same time.


    Although Orou considered himself to know much about magic, he still didn¡¯t know that many formations. He could create balls of light, heal himself, devour a person¡¯s blood and turn them into dust, but out of the four options he had, the only one which wouldn¡¯t wake up Grizz was the blood serpent. While he could cover himself in golden light, he didn¡¯t see a need to do so. He could heal beastmen perfectly fine when he first learned the spell and there was no reason to make it stronger than he was.


    This time, he was considering doing something new. Since he had two wills, wouldn¡¯t that mean that he had two potential spells that he could cast at the same time? Of course, he learned soon after that his line of thought was very idealistic, concentrating on constructing two different formations at the same time was beyond him. Now, creating another spell formation while maintaining an already existing one was different. Using only one of his wills, he slowly but carefully constructed the blood serpent and keeping it under his control, he started constructing another.


    This proved to be more difficult than he actually thought as the blood serpent was constantly pressuring the will that was holding it in place, placing more burden on Orou¡¯s mind as he was constructing the second spell formation. To his own surprise, he succeeded in creating two identical blood serpent, though not everything was as simple as it seemed. He simply couldn¡¯t move the two of them at the same time, each time he did, one of the blood serpents collapsed and he had to start the long and complicated process anew.


    He spent the entire night fumbling about with spells just like he usually did, though, by the end of the night, he had learned how to efficiently multitask. It wasn¡¯t enough to either construct or move two spells at a time, but Orou was excited about the possibilities of combining two spells not just in a way that adjusted their formations. As Grizz got out of his bed, Orou excitedly wagged his tail like a dog, looking outside and thinking about what magic he could find in the city.

 Unsettlement

    Orou devoured his morning meal quicker than usual, with a single gulp, half of a deer carcass was gone. The black strands from his meal expanded his body, making his core spin even faster and process the old strands into black mist. He had gotten slightly used to seeing everything in black and white and at times, it was amusing to look through three different visions at once. Once he finished his meal, he flickered his tongue at Grizz who was preparing to head out himself and excitedly slithered out into the streets.


    As was expected, the streets were desolate. Fortunately, Orou had remembered the path towards the city centre, so he had no problems navigating himself through the rugged road. As he went further and further into the city, he noticed something wrong with the beastman around him. Usually, the beastmen walking back and forth were quite jolly, joking around and laughing at various things in front of them, but the mood that was hanging around the crowd was clearly different. It was more solemn, none of the beastmen had smiles on their faces, instead, fear and unsettlement were rampant within the crowd.


    The beastman scurried along to complete the various tasks they had to do and while a few noticed a large snake slithering through the street, none had enough spirit to crack a joke or even wonder at what he was doing here. Orou was quite interested in what had upset the citizens, so following the source of anger and dissent, he headed towards the west. He didn¡¯t have to travel for long before he saw what the problem was, a huge crowd of beastmen were standing next to several guards, who were guarding the barrier.


    The crowd looked like it might erupt in flames at any moment as Orou could hear intense shouting further towards the west. Slithering through the crowd and scaring more than a few beastmen, he saw a wagon with several horses parked right next to the barrier. A man with flashy and expensive looking clothes was berating two guards, who were standing next to the barrier, weapons crossed.


    ¡°What do you mean I can¡¯t exit? I¡¯ve just delivered several bolts of fine silk and linen to the palace and they¡¯re expecting another delivery in a few days. Do you know how strict both the king and the king¡¯s advisers are these days? The responsibility is going to be on your hands once I make an official complaint.¡± The man had several mercenaries of his own by his side and that apparently gave him enough confidence to scream at the royal guards, scolding them from head to toe. While one of the guards was dealing with the situation with a neutral expression, the other was practically fuming.


    ¡°Those are the king¡¯s orders so whether you like it or not, you have to comply. Don¡¯t try to make a scene here, I don''t care whether or not you¡¯re someone important, I will have your head and the king will even compliment me for it. Shut your mouth and walk on back to where you¡¯re staying,¡± the fuming guard erupted in emotion, laying it all on the wealthy merchant in front of him. The rest of the guards were looking at the argument with a smirk on their faces, not intending to stop or involve themselves in it.


    As the shouting progressively got louder, so did the mob of angry beastmen. More and more people were attracted to the barrier and once they learned that they were trapped here, they joined the crowd in angry protests. The whole situation escalated when neither side was willing to back down and apologise and when the guard shoved the merchant, all hell broke loose. The merchant¡¯s mercenaries drew their swords and those who had various weapons in the crowd made their ways forward. The royal guard didn¡¯t seem to have a leader, so when they saw swords being drawn, they jumped into action.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    It was over in a second. While the merchant tried to retreat, the two royal guards moved with an impressive speed which could rival Grizz¡¯s. One of the guards turned his attention to mercenaries, while the other turned to the merchant himself. While one of the guards was distracting the mercenaries, the other barreled through them, making his way towards the merchant himself. With a quick sweep of his blade, the merchant¡¯s head came flying off, his eyes still wide in shock and surprise. The several people who were about to jump into action stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the lifeless body of the merchant, afraid to go further and provoke the rest of the guards.


    The guard who was arguing with the merchant walked over and spat on his corpse, looking provocatively at the rest of the crowd as if asking if there was anyone else who would like the same fate as this merchant. Seeing that no one else was saying anything, he got to the dirty job of dragging the corpse away to who knows where. A few seconds after he did, the crowd erupted in nervous whispers and conspiratory speech, the news about this would likely spread to every corner of the city in hours. Orou saw several beastmen standing by the side and poking the barrier with their swords, trying to move it by force. Of course, none of them succeeded but this inspired the crowd to start discussing alternate ways of getting out of the city.


    The crowd dispersed after a few words of warning from the guards, though more than a few beastmen were staring at the guards from a distance, most likely plotting something or other. Orou didn¡¯t want to linger for too long as this wasn¡¯t news to him, but as he went back to the city centre, he heard whispers about a revolt. No one knew where these whispers spread from, but as soon as there was mention of it, the whole city square seemed to be almost infected with them. One by one, the evil deeds of the king were being laid out. The merchant became an example of how corrupt the guards were and that this needed to stop.


    A few people even publicly addressed the crowd, spreading the information that the revolutionary army was getting close and that perhaps, they needed to change and surrender to the army, replacing the old king with the new. The guards that were patrolling the streets tried to quell the chaos and capture those, who publicly spoke out about the king, but there were simply too many beastmen gathered here for the guards to effectively do something. More and more fear spread upon learning that they were trapped here while the revolutionaries came and all of the sudden, the idea of surrendering to the revolutionaries wasn¡¯t as bad as it sounded before.


    Once this sort of crowd started going, there was no way of stopping it. Orou watched for several minutes how several beastmen popped up in various parts of the crowd and started addressing the merits of not suppressing their feelings and giving in to their wild side. Of course, the idea of going feral was unacceptable by most folk, but one by one, the people started getting converted. The same few people tried to incite the crowd to rise up against their evil king and escape his tyranny, but their speech was cut short by tens of guards splitting up the crowd and hunting those who spoke up. Try as they might flee, at the end of the day, there were several more heads lifted up as examples in the city square.


    This drove fear into the crowd but did nothing to stop the discussion about the revolutionaries. Although no one dared to openly speak of it again, the idea of finally being free and not punished for letting out emotions was spreading. As a result of that, Orou saw an influx of black mist that was rising in the air, corrupting everything around them. Orou was quite confused on which side to support, on one hand, you had the king who ordered people to suppress their emotions, but on the other hand, if the beastmen let their emotions run rampant, the city would be corrupted in no time. Debating the issue on which side he agreed more, he started wandering the streets, wanting to hear more of what the beastmen said.

 Story of Two Brothers

    Orou spent the rest of his day exploring the city, listening to the various opinions beastman had of the king and becoming feral. He still didn¡¯t have an opinion about it until he stumbled upon a small tea shop with two beastmen sipping on black tea and discussing with each other. There was no one around them, but Orou decided to sneak closer to them and listen to what they were saying, after all, they looked to be quite engrossed in the topic they were discussing.


    ¡°You do know that if we keep discussing this, we could get executed? One of my friends recently spoke about this topic and not an hour later, he was dragged off to Hangman¡¯s square where he was lined up along with the rest of the so-called ¡®revolutionaries¡¯,¡± the shorter of the two beastmen wearing a big, stylish hat which covered most of his head spoke up, his voice slightly trembling. He resembled a big mouse with two comically large eyes and even bigger ears.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, there¡¯s no one here anyway. So, what do you think about this? We¡¯ve been raised all of our lives to not even dare think about expressing emotions and eating meat in fear of becoming feral. I remember my mother told me horror stories about becoming feral and eating everyone around me, but it isn¡¯t that bad, is it? I¡¯ve seen a man turn feral and, honestly, the only thing that changed was his demeanor. It was like he had a shackle removed around his neck.¡± The taller of the beastmen had a large cane by his side and was playing with a pocket watch that he had laid on the table. He had two large tusks, slightly resembling an elephant.


    ¡°I¡¯d very much so like to keep my head attached to my neck, but even if I do get a bit emotional at times, that¡¯s what the crystals are for. Besides, there must be some reason for the king to disallow any talk about it. I¡¯m just a poor shopkeeper, what do I know about the various things in the king¡¯s mind,¡± the mouse like beastmen shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of the tea, occasionally looking around for anyone, that might be approaching them.


    ¡°The king¡¯s full of nonsense, he doesn¡¯t know anything about managing a kingdom. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the city fell even before the revolutionaries arrived,¡± the elephant-like beastman laughed before his partner loudly shushed him. Leaning in closer to his partner, he continued: ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know the story about the king and his brother, every child that turns twelve has to hear it. What some people might not know is that the tale goes quite a bit differently. I don¡¯t know if this is true or not, but I¡¯ve heard a story from my father once.¡±


    ¡°The story goes like this - Once upon a time, there lived two brothers. The two of them would compete in everything, their appearance, how many maids they could make blush and most importantly, they competed in combat. The two of them were prodigies in combat, but because of that, one could never come on top of another. Unfortunately, one day, the king got ill and after several days of struggling with the deathly illness, he passed away. After his death, the whole palace got searched and those tending the previous king were interrogated for his last will, but there was none to be found. According to the laws of the kingdom, the throne should have been passed to the current king, but his brother had something to say about that.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°He proposed that the throne be passed to the victor of a duel, and while the king didn¡¯t have to accept, the provocation and the mockery he received from his brother provoked a split second decision, guided by anger. The king¡¯s brother knew that the two of them were evenly matched and on the day of the duel, he let his anger run rampant. The two of them fought with skill and grace that had been never seen in the kingdom, but in the end, the king¡¯s brother, letting his anger guide his strikes, overpowered the king. Just as he was about to deliver the last strike, their own sister got in between them, begging to spare the king.


    His mind was so clouded by emotion that he didn¡¯t recognise her and with a single strike, he cut his own sister in half. This gave a chance for the king to retaliate and, striking a deadly blow to his chest, his brother fell. The king spared his brother from death and instead, he sent him on exile, having the late king¡¯s shaman work on something, that would trap him forever. Ever since that day, the king has banned all talk of this and created new laws about keeping your emotions in check. Ironically, after tens of years of being the king, he seems to have signs of turning feral himself.¡±


    Finishing the tale, the elephant-like beastman sighed and his partner, still thinking about what he heard earlier, said to him: ¡°So, in the end, the decision to prohibit all emotions was a decision that the king made while being influenced by his emotions. Going feral means unbottling all of your pent-up emotions and the first time you do that, the emotions you feel are going to be intense.¡± Orou was intently listening to both the story and what they had to say, but they were interrupted by several beastmen walking nearby. The two of them immediately switched the topic and even after the beastmen had passed, they weren¡¯t in the mood to continue talking.


    Orou disappointedly left the small tea shop and noticing that the sun was setting, he started slithering back to their house. To Orou¡¯s surprise, Grizz had arrived back before him and sitting next to his table, he was writing something about calling in his connections at the top and how the person in question would receive a lot of monetary reward for helping him out. Sealing up the letter, he turned his head towards Orou and smiled, though his face looked quite exhausted.


    ¡°So, what have you been up to? Mar didn¡¯t tell me anything important and I wasted half a day dealing with the damn guards. They¡¯re too arrogant to deal with bribes and even after haggling with them for hours, they tell me that not even they can exit the city. The medallion that they use to open up the barrier simply doesn¡¯t work and they have to deal with the pressure of people holding them accountable for trapping them in the city. I couldn¡¯t care less about their feelings, but after contacting a few more people, it really seems that the king had decided to lock down the city on his own. The court is panicking and thinking about how to stop the people from revolting while the revolutionary army is about to knock on the city gates.¡±


    Grizz seemed calm when Orou entered the shop, but once he started talking about his day, his emotions were unleashed upon Orou. Taking a deep breath, he stopped talking for a few seconds before saying: ¡°We¡¯ve got two days before the army is here. I still hope that I¡¯ll find a way for us to escape, but if not, we should be prepared. I don¡¯t want to fight anyone, but I¡¯m sure as hell going to be prepared for when they come.¡±

 Strange Magic

    Another night of spellcasting passed as Grizz tossed and turned, most likely plagued by another one of his nightmares. Orou was getting better and better at controlling the two wills to the point where he was starting to feel like controlling them was natural. Throughout the night, Orou decided to experiment with one of his spells, that is, the spell which granted him this unusual vision of the world around him. Using his head to rummage through Grizz¡¯s backpack, he dragged the black cube out of it and placed it on the table. Skillfully creating a spirit thread, he wove it through the cube and without a noise, the greater spirit inside of it was revealed.


    After that came the long part of waiting out the greater spirit¡¯s influence. The worst thing about it was that this made the spirit very hard to manipulate, but still, Orou using this to temper his ability to control the spirits. After an hour or two, he felt that his time was close and using one of the wills to send out a wave, he captured one of the spirits and quickly turned it into a star. Then, he repeated the process of creating the five complicated circles and setting the formation into effect. There was nothing different this time, the circles spun until they became the size of a small crystal and once more, Orou¡¯s body completely froze up and the circle entered his forehead. This time, instead of blacking up and swimming in the abyss, he felt his entire body shudder and he felt slight pain on his forehead. All of the sudden, he felt something in his mind clear up and his vision become sharper.


    Looking around, he couldn¡¯t notice a difference until he looked in the mirror. Very faintly, he could see something shimmering around both himself and the black strands. The shimmering force didn¡¯t seem to do anything to Orou and the strands, but upon closer inspection of it, he saw that the black mist rising from his body was unaffected by this shimmering force and instead, it seemed to be devouring it. Now that he saw the shimmering force, he saw that the black mist wasn¡¯t corrupting the strands themselves, but the shimmering that was surrounding them. In fact, when he looked over to a nearby chair, he saw that the mist had completely enveloped one of the strands, but it was holding on due to this strange force.


    The mist was aggressively devouring the force and once it was completely gone, the black strand dissipated into the mist, never to be seen again. When he looked over to the chair using his normal vision, he could see that the chair had noticeably blackened. while one wouldn¡¯t notice this simply walking by, the wood had started rotting. In fact, comparing the earlier state of the shop, it was much better than the current state, the surroundings looked darker and gloomier, one could mistake it for an abandoned ghost shop.


    Orou regretted that he had thought about casting the spell only now and with a simple command of his will, he closed the box. The sun had started setting and any moment, Grizz was about to wake up. Orou slithered to the kitchen and grabbed a quick snack and once he was back to the bedroom, Grizz was already up and about. He had dark rings under his eyes but he seemed to be quite excited. Finally noticing Orou, he ran up to him and running his hand through his scales, he said: ¡°I forgot to tell you this yesterday but I found a potential buyer for the information.¡±


    Orou perked up his ears as Grizz took a breath and continued: ¡°I figured that dealing with the shaman would be too risky and I don¡¯t really care for either side, so I found us a buyer from one of the gangs. I negotiated a meeting with them today and besides the huge amount of crystals they¡¯re offering, I also thought about you! There are rumors that the gang has a group dedicated to the ancient history and ancient spells for some reason, so if we¡¯re lucky, I¡¯ll be able to negotiate something for you as well.¡±


    Orou, of course, was ecstatic about this news. He didn¡¯t care whether it was an ancient or a modern spell as long as he had learned something new about spellcasting and spirits in general. While Orou had plans to go outside and snoop some more, he forgot about everything he wanted to do and he was slithering around the house with great speed, impatiently waiting for Grizz to finish breakfast. Grizz simply laughed at Orou¡¯s behavior and after dressing up and making sure his hidden daggers were in place, he opened the door and started heading towards the east.


    The two of them made their way past the abandoned street they were in and passed through several alleyways to arrive at a shady looking street. The beastmen here were dressed in all black and Grizz snickered at the lot that just passed by them, saying he didn¡¯t know if they were thieves, hoodlums or occultists gathering to simply hang out. Of course, this provoked several hostile looks at Grizz, but most of the beastman stopped staring once they saw Orou following Grizz.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Orou had hoped that they would get there sooner rather than later, but an incident occurred while walking towards the meeting spot. Another group of hooded figures passed by and one of them got dangerously close to Grizz. Orou didn¡¯t even notice it but he turned around to look at the group when one of the hooded figures screamed in pain, his hand twisted by Grizz¡¯s. The group stopped as several of them raised daggers in their hands, warily looking at what Grizz was about to do.


    ¡°You should take your filthy hands and shove them up your ass instead of my pockets, buddy,¡± the beastman screamed in pain as Grizz continued twisting his arm until an audible crack could be heard. Shoving the beastman aside, Grizz turned his back to the group of hooded figures, intending to walk away from them, but before he could do that, the beastman who was rolling in the ground in pain screamed out loud: ¡°Get him!¡±


    Grizz sighed and, pulling out the two shortswords by his side, he gestured towards two of the hooded figures, saying to Orou: ¡°I¡¯ll take them, deal with the rest.¡± The hooded beastmen immediately got into position, creating a surprisingly secure formation. Two hooded beastmen were at the back while there were five others protecting them from all harm. The figures in the middle started muttering something to themselves and with his spirit sight, Orou saw a single formation that resembled a crescent moon start being formed. What was surprising was that there were two separate wills constructing the same formation with one will creating the right side and the other, the left side.


    Orou didn¡¯t intend to hesitate but seeing a formation being created in the air turned on his competitive mood. Using his two wills to speed up the process, practically imitating what the two occultists were doing, he started creating a serpent made from blood. The two wills constructed the formation with ease and familiarity, meeting in the middle to create a single blood serpent. Using one of his wills to start creating another serpent, Orou guided the already existing serpent to attack the hooded beastmen.


    Meanwhile, Grizz had already begun attacking the beastmen. Using his two shortswords, he skillfully danced around the entire formation, inflicting the beastmen with several cuts as he avoided all of theirs. Moments later, the beastmen that he was fighting was rolling in the ground, holding one of his arms where Grizz had cut him. A mixture of blue and purple was spreading up from the beastman¡¯s arm and moments later, his entire body turned completely purple and he stopped breathing. The rest of the beastmen started to become a lot more cautious, trying to not get cut and to protect the two beastmen that were chanting.


    Out of nowhere, a serpent made entirely out of blood wrapped around one of the beastmen protecting the spellcasters. In his third vision, he saw the blood serpent absorb the black strands within the beastman¡¯s body and this time, as the serpent drained the beastman¡¯s blood, it didn¡¯t even leave a husk of a body behind. Absorbing the last black strand of the beastman¡¯s body, he turned into nothing more but dust that was quickly carried away into the air. Another beastmen fell to Grizz¡¯s evil poison and the last of the guarding beastmen shrieked in terror, screaming out: ¡°It¡¯s a forbidden s-,¡± before being interrupted by the second blood serpent which hungrily drained his blood.


    The two beastmen looked oblivious to what was happening around them and Orou saw in his spirit vision the formation was completed. Of course, he could have interrupted the spell at any moment, but he was quite interested in what the spell would do, so he allowed the two of them to survive for a moment later. As the blood crescent was finished, the two beastmen slit their own wrists and the blood that sprayed out of their bodies was the finishing touch the spell required. All of the sudden, the surroundings got darker and Orou could smell a thick scent of blood in the air. The crescent moon formation had risen high in the sky and was continuing to shine down upon the spirit world as a blood mist slowly began surrounding the two of them.


    The blood fog began digging into Orou¡¯s skin and slowly, he started bleeding out of his body. The bleeding got more intense as time went on and deciding that he had enough, Orou sent the two blood serpents to finish off the two occultists who were desperately trying to flee the scene of carnage. Orou observed the blood crescent that was hanging in the air and deciding to do something about it, he sent one of the blood serpents to bite at it. Surprisingly, instead of going through the crescent, the blood serpent bit into the crescent and tore a chunk out of it, but in retaliation, the crescent let out a wave made from blood that slashed the serpent in half.


    While the first serpent couldn¡¯t do the job, the second one did. Using its tail to smash at the crescent, it shattered into countless pieces and the mist, as if it was never there, dissipated from the air. Grizz sighed as he started dragging the corpses into a nearby alleyway, saying something about not wanting to leave a mess behind. Looking at the sky in spirit vision, Orou saw that a few fragments of the moon still remained, resembling strange sorts of spirits before fading away.

 Passing the Information

    ¡°The guards don¡¯t care about some petty thieves dying in some back alley place, I doubt they would even care if a few died in front of them,¡± Grizz laughed it off as he finished searching the pockets of the few beastman they had killed. He was excitedly whistling about a few low-quality blood crystals when, likely, he was richer than most of the population of the city. Unfortunately, the blood serpents turned everything they touched to dust, so while Orou was still wondering about the strange spell they cast, there was no way to find out if they were carrying a copy of the spell in their pockets. After Grizz had done all the hard work of cleaning up the mess in front of him, Orou sent the two serpents to experiment with the black strands and a moment later, every single one of the bodies had turned to dust, the thin black strand weaving through the spirits growing slightly bigger.


    The few beastmen that were passing by were doing their best to avoid looking at the bloody scene in front of them and the two serpents flying in the air. As Grizz scanned the area around him, several beastmen jumped in fear and scattered further away, wanting to avoid any confrontation with him. Although Orou wanted to further experiment with the serpents, Grizz had already started walking and silently flickering his tongue to himself, he ceased concentrating on the serpents and started following Grizz.


    No other beastmen bothered them as they made their way to a particular building in the distance. It resembled a large inn, slightly enveloped by a red and black glow around it. Looking at it with his spirit vision, Orou saw complicated lines of spirits running around and through the inn, creating a strange sort of formation. Pushing open the door to the inn, they were assaulted by a thick stench of alcohol and smoke. Several gazes turned to them, but Grizz had made no attempt to hide his bloody shortsword and the blood splatters on his clothes. Most of the beastmen turned back to what they were doing once they saw both Grizz and Orou, though several more beastmen continued to rudely stare at them, wondering what they would do.


    The two of them made their way past several tables of beastmen playing cards and rolling dice and reached the largest table in the room. A large beastmen that resembled a bear with red and black fur was surrounded by underlings, pouring him several drinks and lighting cigars for him. Several of the underlings had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the two of them approaching so the large beastman cocked his head and turned to look at the approaching duo. With a hearty laugh, the beastman before them stood up to reveal his massive frame and bulging muscles, extending a hand to Grizz. Making sure that his hand still had some of the blood on it, Grizz wickedly grinned, shook the beastman¡¯s hand and sat down on the opposing side of him.


    ¡°I thought you said you would be alone, but here you are, together with some sort of snake. What am I to do about that?¡± Without any fear in his eyes, the beastman cracked his knuckles and stared down at Orou. Orou met his blood-shot eyes as Grizz said to him: ¡°Are you scared of a small snake, Haran? He¡¯s my pet and he¡¯s not afraid to get his fangs bloody in case anyone here decides to do anything funny, isn¡¯t that right?¡± Although Orou wasn¡¯t particularly fond of being called a pet, he took the social clue that Grizz was giving him and, standing up high above the three-meter beastman, he looked down on him, hissing and showing his two, massive fangs.


    Haran unwillingly stopped staring at Orou while the rest of his underlings retreated in fear, almost stumbling over themselves as they stared at Orou. Haran glared at the retreating beastmen before carefully looking over Grizz, smiling at him and saying: ¡°You seem to have gotten in a fight, I hope that none of my people injured you too badly.¡± Grizz put down a bloody shortsword on the table and, looking over at the rest of the people in the inn, replied to him: ¡°Your men need to be taught better, you simply don¡¯t steal from another thief. I thought that a simple lesson of a broken arm would be enough, but who would¡¯ve thought that he retaliate. Unfortunately, the five beastmen won¡¯t be able to make it back to here anytime soon.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Haran slammed his fist on the table but Grizz still had a wicked grin on his face, not shrinking away from confrontation. The jolly music that was playing earlier had died down as the rest of the beastmen were staring at the two of them, some with weapons already drawn. Several tense seconds passed before finally, Haran responded. ¡°They broke the thief¡¯s oath, so they deserved what they got. Perhaps the men here need to experience another bout of ¡®teaching¡¯ before they understand. Enough about that, let¡¯s talk business.¡± The music resumed as the beastmen unwillingly returned to what they were doing, a mixture of both anger and disappointment in their eyes.


    ¡°Before we get to my part, I want to see what you¡¯re bringing to the table. I was told that besides the crystals, you¡¯ve been working on an ancient spell of sorts. Both me and my partner are very excited to see what spell you have to offer.¡± Grizz cleared his throat and got down to business, the smile from his face disappearing almost instantly. With a snap of his fingers and a quick yell, Haran held in his hands a large sack and a scroll, aged and yellowed. He set both the sack and the scroll on the table, though as Grizz reached over to grab the sack and the scroll, he said to him: ¡°Not so fast, it¡¯s a two-way bargain and I need to see that everything is in order.¡±


    Grizz¡¯s eyes wandered to the beastmen standing beside Haran and the few beastmen that were sitting next to them, intently listening for any secrets that might be spilled. With a wave of his hand and more than a couple of yells, the people around him dispersed and with an excited look in his eyes, he looked down at Grizz and the backpack he was holding in his hands. Slowly pulling out the stack of papers from his backpack, Grizz leaned in to whisper: ¡°This comes from the king¡¯s shaman¡¯s room. There¡¯s some interesting stuff written down here, let¡¯s see, a trade deal between Solus and Shaemor worth more than a few hundred thousand crystals.¡±


    As Orou looked over at him, he could practically see Haran salivating, though he was doing his best to not show any interest. Just as Grizz as about to put the stack of papers in Haran¡¯s hand, he withdrew his hand and once more, he whispered to Haran: ¡°Now that I think about it, the information here is so incriminating that I¡¯m not sure I want to pass it over.¡±


    Haran¡¯s eyes narrowed as he thought about what Grizz said for a couple of seconds before making a beckoning motion to one of the beastmen. A minute passed after Haran said something to the beastman and he returned back with another sack, similar to the one already on the table. ¡°This is the most I¡¯m willing to offer, you¡¯re not getting a single crystal more out of me.¡± Grizz opened the sack and peering inside, he clicked his tongue before returning back to the conversation. Sliding over the several pieces of paper he held in his hand, he said to Haran: ¡°Be very careful with what you do with this information, this could greatly influence how the battle plays out in a couple of days.¡±


    As Haran grabbed the papers detailing the several trade deals, Grizz placed the two sacks and the scroll in his backpack and, standing up from his seat, he motioned for Orou to follow him as he started heading out of the inn. While Orou didn¡¯t notice this at first, Haran had recalled his underlings and he was subtly gesturing at both Orou and Grizz, whispering something to the lot of them. Grizz turned his head to look at Haran, shouting out: ¡°I forgot to mention but besides being able to constrict you dead and inject deadly venom, he can also cast various spells. In fact, it wasn¡¯t me who killed the beastmen, it was him.¡±


    Haran assessed both Grizz and Orou before making another gesture with his fingers. Grizz broadly smiled as he approached the door to the inn and once more, he shouted out: ¡°Pleasure doing business with you,¡± before exiting the inn and starting to walk back towards their little shop.

 Two Sides

    Although Grizz put up a confident facade, after exiting the tavern and walking forwards for a bit, he motioned over to Orou and, turning the corner to enter an alleyway, took off running. After making several complicated turns and making sure no one else was following them, he let out a sigh of relief. Finding an abandoned spot in an alleyway, he pulled out the scroll for Orou to look at as he started saying to him: ¡°My poor heart is going to stop if I have to make another deal like that. He and the twenty seven other men that were sitting in the tavern were fully prepared to kill me for the ledger. You did a great job by intimidating them.¡±


    Grizz continued babbling, but the only thing that was on Orou¡¯s mind was the scroll before him. As Grizz unrolled the scroll, what appeared before Orou was a drawing of a massive rune. Although it was more complicated than the several runes that Orou had seen and drawn on the circle formation, Orou didn¡¯t see what was special about the drawing before him. It was a strange rune, starting from a single point in the middle were several unsymmetrical lines, each very different in length and thickness, forming a very strange letter K. What was interesting about the formation was the location of the spirits. One needed to look very hard in order to actually find that there were several spirits, tiny dots over the black ink that was used to draw it. There was absolutely nothing to link the spirits together, nor was there a line of spirits going from one point to another and Orou could think of several ways to interpret the drawing in front of him.


    ¡°This was not the main concern of the trade deal, but I should have checked it before accepting. Is the scroll fine or did they trick us?¡± Grizz squatted down next to Orou as he examined the scroll, but after several seconds of investigating, he gave up on looking at it and instead turned his head to Orou, expecting a response. Orou hesitantly flickered his tongue, still unsure of whether or not the rune could actually be formed by spirits. Although Grizz likely noticed Orou¡¯s uncertainty, he didn¡¯t pay it any mind as he put the scroll back in his backpack, saying that he would let Orou inspect it when they returned back to their shop.


    Following that, the two of them slowly gravitated towards the more populated areas of the city and for the first time today, Orou noticed that there was a strange mood hanging around the few people that they met along the way. Grizz was just as observant as Orou, so pulling over one of the beastmen that was walking at a quick pace, he asked what was happening. The beastman he pulled over was unwilling to answer, and so were the rest of the people Grizz asked. Eventually, as they were nearing the centre of the town, one of the beastmen who saw what they were doing approached Grizz.


    ¡°People are in a hurry to get where they have to be and not spend a single second more on the streets. Soldiers are patrolling the streets and apprehending those that speak out or even worse, ¡°seem suspicious.¡± Who knows how many beastmen have been taken away by the soldiers, probably numbering a few hundred at least.¡± The ferret-like beastman nervously said to Grizz and he nearly jumped when he saw two soldiers, armed with sharp swords and dressed in black armor with stripes of red running down the sides of the armor. The two soldiers were dragging behind them a screaming beastmen, who was doing his best to writhe free of the soldier¡¯s grip.


    ¡°Down with the injustice, down with the king! There¡¯s corruption on the streets and corruption within the palace that needs to be removed. Free the people, free our emotions!¡± Even as the man was getting dragged along the street, he was continuing to protest, perhaps trying to spread a message. The beastmen around them had scattered to both sides and were looking at all of this with fearful eyes, doing their best to not get between the soldiers and whatever they were doing.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Only now did Orou notice a small boy that was desperately running behind the soldiers, tears and snot flying everywhere. ¡°What did my papa do wrong? Please, let him go, don¡¯t take him away,¡± the distressed calls of the boy were ignored by the soldiers up until he reached his father. One of the soldiers stopped dragging the beastman and, looking at the boy, calmly explained to him: ¡°Your papa is a rebel, that is, a criminal. The revolutionaries have raided and pillaged, killing countless innocent beastmen along the way for their so-called cause, and your papa is supporting those kinds of people. My own papa was killed by those scum, who think they¡¯re doing us a great favor.¡±


    Hatred was evident in the soldier¡¯s eyes as he stared at the beastman who was shouting various profanities at the soldiers. Of course, the child before the soldier didn¡¯t understand what he meant and, using his little hands to punch against the soldier¡¯s armor, continued crying. One of the more compassionate beastmen ran over and picked the child up in her arms, turning him away from the soldiers and his father, calming him as best as she could. Grizz looked at the scene in front of him with sad eyes, his expression clearly down. With a sigh, he turned to Orou, saying to him: ¡°There are two sides to every story and every war.¡±


    Slowly but surely, the street returned back to the way it was before, though Orou could see several people in the same predicament as Grizz, unsure what to think of. Grizz quickly got over his sentiment and resumed heading to where he wanted to go in the first place. He didn¡¯t speak a single word of the earlier matter as he continued chit-chatting with Orou, only emphasizing that he needed to be more prepared for what was to come.


    Over the rest of the day, Grizz visited several shops and black markets in order to search for what he wanted. He acquired several poisons, venoms and powders, as well as some strange stuff that Grizz said he needed for ¡®disguise.¡¯ Orou didn¡¯t pay much attention to what Grizz was buying, but instead, he paid attention to the people walking around him. As was said earlier, he saw an influx of soldiers and guards patrolling the streets, making sure that everything was in order. Throughout the day, he saw several more cases of beastmen getting dragged away, and even a case of execution. Apparently, one of the citizens got violent with the soldiers and what came after was to be expected.


    Not only common citizens were shaking in fear, but the various thieves that dealt in illegal substances were also nowhere to be found according to Grizz. One of the beastmen that Grizz dealt with told him that the soldiers were making use of the situation and had already taken several thieves, accusing them of supporting the rebels. The beastman said that this was all an elaborate scheme that was set up by the king to get rid of the various illegal activities in the city, though Grizz doubted whether or not the king was smart enough to do that.


    The two of them made their way back to the shop they were residing in. Grizz rummaged in his backpack and after taking out the two sacks of crystals, he threw the ancient scroll over for Orou to catch and read on his own time. Grizz kept grumbling about having plenty to do today, but that didn¡¯t stop him from emptying the sacks and counting how many crystals there were. Orou used his tail to wrap around the scroll and with great difficulty, he managed to get it unrolled and displayed in front of him. Carefully memorising the strange rune illustrated on the scroll, Orou began using his will to manipulate the spirits, trying to figure out the secret behind this spell.

 Bizzare Rune

    Before Orou started experimenting by himself, he remembered about a magical trinket that they had found in the shop. Dragging the scroll over the counter of the shop, Orou stared at the crystal ball that was simply standing there. Struggling to remember how this thing worked, Orou started looking between the crystal ball and the scrolls on the ground, thinking about what size the formation should be. The last few spells he cast, he had a specific size that needed to be met or else, the formation wouldn¡¯t work, but in this case, the rune was simply drawn there with no more explanation.


    Deciding to make the rune the size of the crystal ball itself, he started commanding his will to guide the spirits within the crystal ball, but the second his will touched the crystal ball, the spirits within started rushing towards the centre of it, creating the formation that he still held in his mind. The spirits arranged themselves in position and several seconds passed, but Orou¡¯s hopes were let down when nothing happened. He experimented with the crystal ball a few more times, making the rune smaller and smaller until he saw that it had no effect. At first, he thought that the fault might be in the crystal ball, but after casting the ball of light spell and forming both an illusion and a scintillating spirit within the crystal ball, he confirmed that it was working as before.


    Orou dragged the scroll back to Grizz¡¯s room and coiled up in a comfortable position, preparing to experiment for the rest of the day. The first thing he did was to create the rune the same size as the scroll, overlapping both the drawing and the rune he was making with spirits. It was a bit tricky getting both the length and the thickness completely right and the fact that the rune wasn¡¯t completely symmetrical like the rest of the spells was slightly bothering Orou, but the rune itself wasn¡¯t anything challenging. A minute or so passed before he completed it, but just as before, the rune didn¡¯t do anything.


    Thinking that perhaps the fault was within him, he tried to adjust the various proportions of the rune, making one end thicker and the other, thinner. After an hour of experimenting with length and size, he realised that it didn¡¯t matter how big or small he created it, it simply wouldn¡¯t work. Then, he started thinking of other solutions. He looked carefully at the scroll before him and placed the spirits in specific places, as marked by the scroll. There was nothing to connect the spirits and thus, the rune once more didn¡¯t trigger.


    He tried to link the spirits in various ways, creating a spirit thread to connect the spirits just like he had seen the city barrier do and holding it all in place with his will, but no matter what he did, it simply didn¡¯t work. He tried to shape a single spirit into the rune, but that was way too complicated for him to do normally. Employing the help of the black cube, he waited until the right time and, sending out a will wave of his own, he grabbed a hold of a single spirit. With a single thought, the spirit changed into what he imagined, in this case, the strange rune drawn on the scroll. Even though the spirit changed into the rune before him, it still didn¡¯t work. Making sure the spirit didn¡¯t return back to its original form with one will, he used the other to make small adjustments, guiding additional spirits to the mark placed on the scroll. Unfortunately, nothing he did with the spirit triggered the spell.


    Hours had passed ever since he started experimenting with the rune and Grizz had already gone to sleep, snoring soundly to himself. Taking a small break, he looked around and only now did it hit him that the black lines that he constantly saw around him were similar to the black ink that was used to draw it. Orou knew that he was basically grasping at straws here, but nothing he did with the spirits seemed to work. Taking stock of the things around him, he noticed several black lines that looked like they might fit the rune, for example, the leg of the bed that Grizz was sleeping on was very similar to the first crooked line on the rune and the surface of the table housed another black strand, which seemed to fit the rune.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Slithering over to the table, he raised his head to look directly at the black line before him. It was constantly squirming and moving around, so it was difficult to keep sight on it for too long, but as Orou examined it closer, he noticed that it was exactly like the line of the rune before him. The only problem was, he didn¡¯t know how to make the line move. He moved both of his wills to surround the black line and he forced it to stay still, but the line simply ignored the wills, swimming in the table without a care in the world.


    He observed the line for a long period of time and finally, the black line had reached one of the table legs and the rest of the black strands had moved away to different parts of the table. He wrapped his tail around the table leg and very quietly, as to not wake up Grizz, he snapped the table leg. Placing the table leg next to the scroll, Orou carefully observed how the black strand moved and what it was doing. The strand was still swimming, unaware of what had happened and just as it was about to hit the broken part of the leg, it bounced right off and, adjusting its course, continued freely moving inside the table leg. Orou was expecting some sort of sign of life from the black strand, perhaps showing a bit of emotion like the spirits he dealt with on the daily, but there was no surprise at no longer being part of the table, not a single reaction from the black strand.


    Throughout the night, Orou kept trying to force the strand to obey his will. He tried to do countless things with his will, but all of them failed to impact the black strand in any way, shape or form. Orou wrapped around the whole table leg and started to evenly apply pressure through the entire thing, but once more, it didn¡¯t seem to have a single reaction. After a long period of time, Orou was tired of failure and wanted to see something new, so after waiting for the black strand to stretch from one end of the leg to another, he applied slightly more pressure and broke the leg in half. As soon as he snapped it in half, the same thing happened to the black line. At the point where the leg was broken, the single strand split into two smaller ones.


    Of course, this meant that the black strand was no longer useful for his rune, but Orou was way too curious about the black strands and about what he could do. Placing one of the halves far away from both Grizz and himself, he dragged some of his food to himself and quickly started to devour the food before him, making the thing inside of him spin faster and faster, turning the black strands into the black mist. Following his theory that the blood core was responsible for this, he consciously made it spin faster and faster, to the limits of his current abilities. After he had done all of that, the completely wrapped around the table leg, making sure that it was as close to the core as possible and then, he simply waited.


    He could see the effects of his actions without looking at the leg itself. There was a vast quantity of mist rising into the air and spreading through the entire house, much more than usual. He simply lied there for half an hour and carefully uncoiling himself and extracting the table leg, he was excited to see what had happened to it. The first thing he noticed was that the leg was considerably darker than before, the wood was very clearly rotting and degrading. Looking at the black strand inside of it, he saw that it had shrunk by about a third of its original size and while it was still swimming inside the table leg, the movement of the strand was nowhere as smooth as they were originally.


    He repeated what he just did for a much longer period of time, that is until the sun rose and Grizz woke up. Two hours passed before he no longer felt the table leg within his grasp and uncoiling himself, he saw that there was nothing more but ash remaining on his body. He looked at the ash, both in horror and in amusement, thinking about what this discovery meant for him.

 Preparation

    When Grizz woke up, Orou was still experimenting with the other half of the broken table leg, seeing how close it needed to be to him and how distance impacted the speed that the black strand was corroded. Of course, Grizz was in shock about why the table was missing a single log, but Orou feigned ignorance to the best of his ability, using all of the techniques he had learned simply by being together with Grizz. Sooner or later, he dropped the matter and after eating his breakfast, he strolled outside, motioning for Orou to tag along.


    Orou contemplated going with Grizz, but he figured that he would simply be going to various thieves¡¯ dens, so without turning in Grizz¡¯s direction, he continued experimenting with the slightly blackened table leg. Grizz returned back to the shop after a minute, asking Orou if he would like to come with him. Orou absentmindedly hissed at him, waving his tail at Grizz¡¯s direction. Returning back to his experiments, he determined that the closer the object was to his scales, the more black mist it attracted to itself. When he moved the leg a few centimeters back, he found that the mist was still attracted to the object and only after moving it half a meter away did the mist stop zoning in on the table leg.


    Still, he had long since determined that this black mist was not good for everyone around him. He remembered that not long ago, he saw Grizz¡¯s hand touch him and immediately after leaving his scales, the mist would no longer do anything, but now, it seemed like he was surrounded by an invisible aura and once something encroached on his aura, the mist would relentlessly corrupt everything that approached him. Orou wondered how the floor hadn¡¯t turned completely black yet, but when he looked down, he saw the answer. There were numerous black strands in the floor that were constantly changing positions and even if the mist got to them, they would soon escape and have other black strands take their place.


    Although this was all fun and very educational, he still wasn¡¯t getting to his goal of controlling the black strands. The black mist seemed like it could make the black strands shiver in fear, and most likely, if the black mist completely encircled the black strand, it could make the strand stand completely still, but there was no way to control the black mist. He constantly experimented with the black strands, but everything that he did was ignored by the black strands. He was driven nearly mad as he spent the better half of the day doing everything he could, but his best was not good enough.


    Taking a temporary leave from the experimentation with his newest spell, he slithered outside in order to bask in the sunlight for a moment. Contemplating several matters at once, he decided to start preparing for the oncoming. He didn¡¯t know what he would face, but if he started fighting, he wanted to go all out. Following such logic, Orou started practicing constructing the column like formation for the beam of light spell. He practiced constructing it quickly and he practiced packing it with spirits, though he always cancelled the formation at the last second in the fears of causing too much unnecessary destruction.


    Remembering the formation to create a shimmering spirit, he practiced quickly constructing an eye with three dots above it, creating several spirits that simply floated in the wind, illuminating the area around him. Then, he started weaving as many shimmering spirits as he could into the beam of light spell, which at his current limit was three entire spirits. If a shimmering spirit could cause a ball of light to shed enough light to possibly blind people, Orou was afraid what the three shimmering spirits would do to the already deadly and destructive beam of light spell. He couldn¡¯t lie to himself, he was half tempted to test it out in the streets before him, after all, there wasn¡¯t a single beastman currently out there. The rational part of him was saying that it was a bad idea, and, fortunately, Orou agreed with his rational part.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    For the following two days, his routine consisted of figuring out the secrets of both the rune and the black strands, practicing all of his spells, the beam of light spell in particular and sparring with Grizz in his free time. Throughout these two days, his research on the rune was a complete failure and the black strands remained as elusive as always. He had much better progress regarding his common spells, he found out that by conjuring two blood serpents and controlling them both at the same time, he was able to make the two of them work together and unleash even deadlier attacks than before, creating an elaborate dance in mid-air which would stun any passerby were they to look upon the blood serpents.


    In early mornings and late evenings, both Orou and Grizz intensively sparred. Grizz honed his rusty battle skills as he leaped and tumbled to avoid most of Orou¡¯s blows, attacking with his two steel short swords to inflict several wounds on Orou. Of course, the wounds were gone in no time and even when the blood core couldn¡¯t take care of them, he still had his healing spell. Orou practiced combining both spells and physical blows for an extended time period. Using his two wills, he could craft the spell formations much quicker than before and often times, Grizz had to deal with light in his eyes and several small water serpents coiling around him, holding him in place while Orou got ready to attack.


    After showing Grizz his entire arsenal of spells, he advised Orou to use the smaller, quicker ones to hinder his enemy instead of trying to kill them with the larger ones. He taught Orou several cheap tricks on how to surprise enemies, that if you see a male beastman, you should always aim your fangs and tail between his legs. Besides the several small tricks that Grizz taught him, Grizz also started thinking of several tactics that the two of them might use, fighting a large amount of beastmen.


    At first, their teamwork was simply, Orou often times did as he felt right and the attacks and combinations that Grizz was suggesting were awkward and uncomfortable. At the end of the second day, their teamwork wasn¡¯t great, but the two of them got some combination moves off. Of course, Orou knew that in a real battle, he would ignore Grizz and base himself solely off of his survival instincts and his rage, but he was interested to see whether or not the tactics that the two of them were currently practicing would be of any use.


    That night, both Orou and Grizz heard several loud noises at times and panic at others, but the screams quickly stopped and what seemed like peace returned to the city. This night, countless people would try to escape and even more would try to rebel and plot against the king, sewing chaos in an already chaotic city. Still, the night went by peacefully for Orou and Grizz, not a single soul bothered them as they did their best to recover their spirits before the battle. Morning arrived and with it, the sound of drums followed. It was A rhythmic sort of tune that woke up Orou, his body full of energy and his head filled with thoughts about doing battle, to defend the city they were in from any and all enemies that would dare to attack it.


    Grizz solemnly started dressing up in his battle gear, several vials of venom and boxes of powder were being opened and prepared. Although Grizz said he wanted to hide and wait for this to pass, Orou saw that he was excited to fight for some reason. After properly securing his multiple daggers and sword, his leather armor and his venoms, he looked to Orou, squatted down, placed his hand on Orou¡¯s head and said to him: ¡°I thought about this for a while and only now have I decided what to do. Even though I would prefer to support the revolutionary cause, I¡¯ve got my brothers back in Onilia and I fear to even think about what will happen to them if the capital gets conquered. Let¡¯s get out there and fight!¡±

 Golden Lion

    Stepping outside of the shop, Grizz stopped and listened for a while. Wondering what the matter is, Orou slithered next to him and listened. The loudest thing was the rhythmic drum beat, but besides that, Orou could hear shouting and screaming. The barrier was still up, so Orou didn¡¯t think that the army had gotten here, but Grizz thought otherwise. He started quickly moving to the north, looking around for something or other. After going a considerable distance from the shop, he found a simple stone building. The only thing unique about it was that it was much taller than the rest of the buildings around it and that was exactly what Grizz was looking for.


    Grizz started quickly and proficiently climbing up the house, using all of his ape instincts to their fullest. Orou followed suit and although he didn¡¯t have much experience in climbing, using his full length of twenty-three meters, he could easily climb on top of this building. Upon reaching the top, Orou could see what Grizz was looking for. Although there wasn¡¯t a full blown riot yet, there were several people protesting and shouting for the king to step down, and a few more people, not so peacefully destroying several establishments belonging to the crown and marching towards the palace with weapons in hand. The alleyways were practically infested with spies and beastmen wanting to make the best out of the current situation, waiting to see how the battle turns out and who will prevail in the end.


    When the protestors reached the palace, it was like they had provoked a hornet¡¯s nest. The twenty guards in black armor that stood there immediately jumped into the crowd and started decapitating beastmen without a single care in the world. Several more guards and soldiers came pouring out from the palace, aiding the black armored beastman in battle. More and more beastman exited the palace, to the point where Orou thought there was some sort of magic involved. The palace simply couldn¡¯t fit that many soldiers, hundreds, if not thousands were pouring out from the palace, stepping through the pile of bodies. All of the protesting beastmen had been slaughtered without exception and the soldiers had already started killing the beastmen, that were simply standing there with signs in their hands.


    As more and more blood was shed, the beat of the drums got louder and clearer and his heart started beating along with the drum. The two rhythms merged, making Orou experience intense bloodlust together with a strange emotion, devotion. Even though he this wasn¡¯t his home and he had nothing to defend here, his entire being was screaming that this was the right thing to do and that he should devote his everything to the cause. Resisting the urge and turning his head to look at Grizz, Orou saw that Grizz had gripped one of his short swords to the point of making his hand bleed, but he seemed to overcome the strange urge that came with the beat.


    As the soldiers were slaughtering the screaming and pleading beastmen, several strange beastmen, dressed in various animal skins and bird feathers came marching out of the palace. They held green, wooden staves in their hands, though not a single crystal could be seen on top of the staves. The beastmen tried the best to form some sort of formation, but each of them was too arrogant or wild, doing what they pleased instead of falling in line.


    After trampling hundreds of bodies underneath their feet, the soldiers in black and red armor started forming up, creating several neat and organized lines. Soon after, Orou saw a man emerge from the palace. His armor was reflecting the sunlight around him, the gold blinding everyone that looked at him. A serpent, made entirely of gold was motionlessly lying on his shoulders, its fangs bared at everyone who dared to look at the man. In his left hand, he was wielding a golden shield, emblazoned on the shield, a head of a ferocious lion. In his right hand, he was holding a multicolored sword, made entirely out of crystals. Without a doubt, this sword was capable of cutting everything that stood in its way. It was the king in all of his glory, shining and glowing like the sun.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Following behind him was a beastman in strange, red robes that drew in all attention and made one dizzy at the same time. In his hands, he was holding a twisted, black sceptre that looked as if it was alive, squirming in the feathered beastman¡¯s hands. As he stepped outside of the palace, his head slowly turned in Orou¡¯s direction and, looking both of them directly in their eyes, he smirked. Orou was still slightly stunned from the beastman¡¯s gaze, his heart and, alongside with it, the rhythm of the beat sped up. His body got ready to attack at any moment, but besides the glance, he didn¡¯t do anything else. Of course, this was the king¡¯s shaman whom they had stolen the black cube from and Orou didn¡¯t believe that the shaman didn¡¯t hold a grudge against them.


    Making his way to the front of the army, the king lifted up his sword and pointed it towards the western part of the barrier. With a loud voice that held authority and demanded respect, he addressed the army: ¡°You¡¯re here because of one thing and that is to defend the kingdom. I¡¯m demanding you to fight against the enemies of our kingdom who plan on disrupting our peace and break the laws that have been here ever since the creation of Solus. You will take up your swords and for each one of you that falls, you must take down at least five of the opposing army.¡±


    The king wasn¡¯t making a speech, nor was he rallying the troops to fight better. He spoke as if he didn¡¯t even consider the possibility of anything besides what he said. He wasn¡¯t asking for the soldiers to fight, instead, he demanded them to fight, knowing that they had no other choice, but strangely, his words and his presence inspired the soldiers. Although the common citizen might be fearful and even condescending of the king, the soldiers that stared at him held nothing but respect in their eyes.


    ¡°The enemy will do his best to attack, but this barrier has held on for hundreds of years and today is not the day it will fall. They will employ several strange and unusual methods, and knowing him, they will find a way into the city. As soon as their leader falls, their morale will crumble and the battle will be won. Now, go out there and perform your ancestral duty of defending the city, feel the beat of the Syrnis and let it pulse through your bodies, let it take over and guide you to victory,¡± following those words, the army started marching towards the western barrier, following each and every of the king¡¯s orders.


    Without wasting an extra second, Grizz hopped down the building and dashed between the buildings in the direction of the army, looking for any good places of vantage. Finding another tall building which looked to be a mansion of sorts, Grizz and Orou scaled it and finally looked through the barrier. The barrier was gray and it was hard to see through it, especially considering that Orou had to ignore the spirits in the barrier and the black strands in the clouds and in the ground, but the two of them finally saw what was approaching the capital. Several beastmen wearing chainmail and holding simple steel swords in their hands were approaching the capital, but the strangest thing about the army were the beastmen, or rather, their skin.


    Although the beastmen were wearing armor, the patches of exposed skin that Orou saw had black lines running both underneath and through the skin, completely deforming the beastmen before him. For some reason, some of the beastmen at the far end of the army weren¡¯t dressed in armor and Orou could fully see the horror that was the beastmen in front of them. They didn¡¯t even resemble beastmen at this point, several large and thick lines were running through their heads, arms and legs and Orou even saw a few beastmen with black lines sticking out of them like spears, impaling the beastmen.


    At the front of the army was a beastman unaffected by the black lines, a beastman that stood five meters tall, with a black, wooden cane that twisted like a serpent and fur that was a mixture of gold and darkness. It was Vaar, the beastman who was freed by Orou, breaking a barrier very similar to this one, the beastman who swore revenge on his brother, the current king of Solus, who had cast him out for being feral.

 Betrayal

    Although the army looked impressive as it was marching towards the city, it was still quite some distance from the city. The soldiers belonging to the king got in positions, the group of beastmen that Orou now recognised as shamans spread out through the various buildings and alleyways, hiding behind the numerous soldiers in front of them. The king¡¯s shaman was still standing by the king¡¯s side, looking at both the barrier and the approaching army with a weird glint in his eyes.


    As the army approached closer, Orou could clearly see that the black lines that ran through the beastmen bodies were the same as the black lines that he constantly saw around him, the black lines which he had carefully studied a few days ago. The main differences were that the black lines weren¡¯t as active as they were regularly, though they still moved and squirmed. Although Orou wasn¡¯t sure about it, he didn¡¯t see the shimmering force that surrounded each of the black lines around those, which lines which went through the bodies. Remembering the black line they had seen in a jar, Orou once more carefully looked at the army, this time, turning on his spirit vision. As expected, the spirits around the army were in total disarray, doing their best to flee from the marching army. This caused a weird absence of spirits around the army which resembled the signs of something being invisible, though Orou and the rest could see the army perfectly fine.


    The soldiers got tenser the closer the army approached, several of them had already drawn their swords, most likely under the effect of the drum. They were rearing to go and meet the enemy, but the presence of the king made them hesitant. Slowly but surely, the army reached the edge of the barrier, their footsteps resounding through the city as clearly and loudly as the drum. Laying one hand on the barrier, Vaar looking through it and licked his lips as he met eyes with the king. His eyes slowly turned into a deeper and deeper shade of red and his fur slightly stood up as he let out a low and guttural roar.


    ¡°I¡¯ve waited for this day for years and years on end. Your barrier delayed me, but you should have known that I would find a way to escape,¡± barely withholding his rage, Vaar clenched his hand in a fist and punched the barrier, which made the barrier ripple, spreading the impact through the entire barrier. Still, the barrier stood strong and the king, similarly struggling to keep his emotions in check, said to Vaar: ¡°Yes, I should have ended your life all of those years ago, but I was too soft at that time. This time, I won¡¯t make the same mistake, I¡¯ll make sure to see you bleed out on the edge of my sword.¡±


    ¡°You took what was rightfully mine, I should have been the one that sat on the throne and ruled over the rest of the beastmen. It¡¯s finally time to reclaim what¡¯s mine, the kingdom is only the first step. The foolish human kingdom though to weaken us by making sure we were properly equipped, but they didn¡¯t know that this would be their downfall. I¡¯ll conquer both it and the cowardly beastman kingdom, which has committed a heinous crime of accepting humans as equal, as well as conquer the kingdom of the God King.¡± At this point, Vaar was no longer looking at the king but at the possibilities and the future, which he planned to enact. The soldiers behind Vaar were shouting in agreement of Vaar¡¯s words, raising up both their swords and shields.


    ¡°Although you broke the barrier that was trapping you in your village of exiles, you¡¯re not going to break this one. As the kingdom advances and evolves, so does the barrier. How are you g-¡± as the king addressed Vaar, his speech was cut short as something black and twisted was pierced through his stomach, coming out on the other end with a burst of blood. At some point, the king¡¯s shaman, who was standing by his side and calmly observing the conversation had made his way to the king¡¯s back and with one smooth motion, pierced his sceptre through the king¡¯s golden armor. The sceptre started shining with a menacing black light as Orou could see the black strands inside of the king¡¯s body lose the shimmering force surrounding them and start to wreak havoc inside of the king¡¯s body.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The king tried to speak, but all that he could do was cough out blood. Raising his crystal sword high in the air, the king made a sharp turn towards the shaman and with immense speed and strength, cleaved the shaman¡¯s body in half. The crystal sword met no resistance as it cleaved through the body as if it was a piece of paper. The sword glimmered and the green crystals making up the sword lit up, causing the inside of the shaman¡¯s body to start to crystallize and in a few seconds, the entirety of the shaman¡¯s body had turned into a massive, green crystal. A second later, the crystal slightly shook and almost instantly, it collapsed into countless crystal shards, not a single piece of the shaman still remaining.


    Although the king¡¯s might was surprising, what was more surprising was the king¡¯s shaman. After being shattered into countless crystals, the black strands, instead of dissipating into the air, started to slowly reform themselves into a man very similar to the shaman several meters from the king. Orou saw the shaman lose more than a few black strands in the process, but other than that, the black strands coalesced together and out of thin air, the shaman¡¯s body appeared several meters from where he died. Unfortunately, the shaman didn¡¯t escape unharmed as Orou saw a strange chain of spirits come from the crystal sword, linking together the crystal sword and the shaman¡¯s body. The shaman twirled his sceptre and the chain snapped in the middle, though not before it turned the entirety of his hand into a crystal.


    As all of this was happening, the barrier that surrounded the city was flickering. The shaman held a strange sort of crystal in his hands and when the shaman clenched his fist, the entire barrier shuddered before breaking into various pieces, releasing all of the spirits making up the barrier to freely roam the land once more. Without wasting a single second, Vaar raised his cane and the soldiers behind him started charging into the city, their swords drawn and the black lines excitedly squirming. For the first time, Orou noticed that the cane held within it an overwhelming amount of black lines. Pointing his cane towards the king, three black strands shot towards the king just like a bolt of lightning.


    The king¡¯s armor had magically restored itself as the several golden runes inscribed on it flashed. His body was covered in a golden light and the black strands within his body were quickly eliminated, his body restored to its original condition. He wanted to chase the shaman who betrayed him, but there was a more imminent threat coming his way. This time, the red crystal lit up and, emitting a strange but familiar red light, slashed down onto the three oncoming black strands. The sword pierced through the strands with ease and, cutting them in half, the red crystals once more lit up, causing the three strands to be sucked into the crystal sword, and in return, travel to the king¡¯s body. The king looked slightly stronger and healthier than before, though Orou wasn¡¯t quite sure.


    The king¡¯s soldiers were confused at first, especially the shamans who looked at the king¡¯s shaman in shock in surprise, but as Vaar¡¯s soldiers started charging towards them, they took up their swords and met them in battle. Empowered by the beat of the drum, each of their swings was filled with power and speed, easily tearing through Vaar¡¯s soldier¡¯s armor and through their bodies. In return, the black lines detached themselves from their bodies and struck out at the soldiers, either piercing through their bodies, infecting them from within or by simply strangling them. The shamans started chanting and swaying, creating a strange sort of dance as they started casting their various spells. Green vines grew around the enemies¡¯ ankles, lightning struck down in the middle of the enemy army and the shamans started turning into various strange beasts, joining in the combat. Soldiers were rapidly dying as they had no way to defend themselves from the black lines, but the shaman¡¯s spells and the soldier¡¯s swords were causing as much damage as they were receiving. h


    Grizz looked at Orou, clenched his two shortswords and leaped down from the building, intending on joining the fight between the two sides. Orou followed him and as he was about to cast a spell, he locked eyes with the king¡¯s shaman, who had suddenly appeared right next to Grizz. Time moved in slow motion as he raised his sceptre, about to swing at Grizz¡¯s head and it was all down on Orou to save him.

 Shamans Magic

    When Orou saw what was happening around him, the thing he relied on to save Grizz weren¡¯t his spells, but his body. Almost instinctively, Orou controlled the blood core to make the largest amount of blood waves inside of his body, and, guiding them to his tail, he rushed out and swung his tail against the shaman. There was no way the shaman would survive this hit if it landed, but the shaman only had a slight smirk on his face. The tail hit him head-on, but it seemed to practically phase through him, hitting the ground beneath him instead. It was like a large scale explosion had happened at the site of impact, the stone and the dirt beneath it was blown in all directions, raining down onto the soldiers close to him. This drew more than a few gazes, but the soldiers had more important things to worry about, that is, whether or not they could live through the current moment.


    Orou panicked when the shaman¡¯s sceptre passed through Grizz¡¯s body, but upon a closer look, Grizz was perfectly fine. Only now did Orou notice that the shaman¡¯s body was made entirely out of spirits and although he didn¡¯t know why he couldn¡¯t hit the shaman, he was confident the shaman couldn¡¯t do anything to them either. He was half correct, the shaman¡¯s body dissipated into the air, the spirits that made it up scattering everywhere, but a strange sort of pentagram was floating right above Grizz¡¯s head, which didn¡¯t bode well for his well-being. Orou looked around in hopes of finding the shaman¡¯s real body, but upon an initial glance, he had hidden too well, likely casting several strange spells from who knows where.


    Deciding to take a look at the pentagram above Grizz, he could determine that it wasn¡¯t complicated, there were only a few spirits making it up, but every few seconds, the pentagram slightly lit up, sending a barely visible pulse to somewhere. If Orou had to guess, this was either a medium for a different spell or a way for the shaman to track Grizz. Either way, Orou wanted it gone and thus, he got to work. It was a much easier process than he thought, the spirits were held in place by some sort of force, but they couldn¡¯t resist the pull of two separate wills. One by one, Orou dismantled the pentagram and immediately after, he started looking around for any anomalies in spirits around him.


    Grizz was about to drop the matter and rush into the battlefield when Orou nudged him with his head and started dashing towards the north, into an abandoned building. In Orou¡¯s spirit vision, he could see that there were several spirits gathering towards a particular spot in the distance and although it could be a regular shaman hiding from the battle, there was a much larger chance that it was the king¡¯s shaman, plotting his next move against the two of them. Deciding to not give the shaman the advantage of terrain, Orou once more used his blood core and his tail to deliver a single strike towards the building. Even a new building couldn¡¯t take a hit from Orou, not to mention an abandoned, half-ruined house that was on the verge of collapsing by itself. The entire thing toppled down, directly onto what Orou assumed to be the king¡¯s shaman.


    As the building hit the figure, its spell was interrupted and a large number of spirits went rushing off into the distance. Orou wasn¡¯t sure if he could even gather as many spirits as the shaman had gathered, but in the end, it didn¡¯t matter if the spell was interrupted. Orou thought about aiming a beam of light spell above the buried figure, but he was interrupted by Grizz dashing off towards it. Orou used his two wills to simultaneously construct two blood serpents, already in a position to wrap around the shaman if he didn¡¯t move. The figure coughed a few times and slowly stood up, revealing the figure of the king¡¯s shaman. He looked in surprise at both Orou and Grizz and he barely had time to react as a poisoned shortsword came flying in his direction.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    As Grizz¡¯s blades were approaching his neck, he touched his sceptre and drew a large oval in front of Grizz. Similarly to the cane, there were a few black strands trapped within the sceptre and using the black strands to draw the oval, several more black strands shot out from the stone, the earth and the skies around them to fill in the empty space of the oval. Moments later, the shield-like thing started shimmering, forming something solid out of nothing. Grizz¡¯s blade, and subsequently, his entire body and head crashed into the black shield that had all of the sudden appeared in the air.


    The shaman used that opportunity to retreat back, starting to wave his black sceptre in the air in and casting some sort of strange spell. It was completed even before Orou got a chance to complete his spells or Grizz had a chance to recover. The stone beneath his feet started to crack and the dirt started to blacken, and surprisingly, Orou saw three different actions in his three visions. In spirit sight, Orou saw a strange rune float out and attach itself to his chest, constantly drawing in more spirits. What was surprising was that he could move just fine, without even maintaining concentration on the rune, just like Orou¡¯s spirit vision. The spirits entered within his body, as well as surrounding both him and his weapon.


    In his black and white vision, Orou saw the black strands from the earth rise up through his body, pushing against his skin in order to make room for more black strands. The black strands weaved together and through the spirits around the shaman, creating something that looked like armor. The black strands in his sceptre escaped their bounds and formed a thick staff, reinforced with several more black strands from the stone before him. In his regular vision, he saw the shaman become twice his size all of the sudden, his black sceptre turning into an ashen colored staff and black armor, thicker than a usual piece of plate mail appeared around his body. With a heavy step forward, he launched himself towards Grizz, flying like a giant arrow shot from an even bigger bow.


    Grizz regained his wits the instant he saw the black armored monstrosity come charging towards him. He sheathed his two short swords and pulled a flask of something thick and viscous out of his pockets. His feet moved as they have never moved before, but the sheer wind from the ashen colored staff was enough to knock him off balance. A similar explosion, resembling the sound that Orou would make when swinging his tail came from the spot where the staff landed. Somehow, the staff had both blown away the stone around it and pierced the dirt in front of it, lodging itself deep within the ground. Pulling the staff out from the ground with ease, the shaman deftly spun around with his staff, hoping to catch Grizz unawares.


    A single hit from the staff would mean Grizz¡¯s doom, but going face to face with death didn¡¯t scare Grizz. He dodged every hit and waited patiently, for a chance to strike, for whatever Orou was doing to be completed. Just as the two blood serpents appeared in the air, Grizz made his move. The shaman was in an awkward spot after missing Grizz, his own massive strength making it hard to consecutively swing the staff and that was the opportunity that Grizz capitalized on. Although he couldn¡¯t quite get the head of the shaman, he smashed the flask of the green substance against the shaman¡¯s shoulders and immediately, the substance took effect. The jelly-like thing was corroding the armor that the shaman was wearing at a considerable pace, almost reaching into the shaman¡¯s bare flesh.


    The shaman used his armored fists to prevent the substance from doing just that, but as a result, the substance splashed over the rest of his armor, creating several holes in his armor. Appearing out of nowhere, two large blood serpents started rapidly approached the shaman, aiming directly for the cracks in the shaman¡¯s armor, hoping that they could finally taste some flesh again.

 Wild Strands

    The two blood serpents crashed into the shaman with a loud bang, using all of their momentum and force to knock the shaman off balance. One of the serpents went for the shaman¡¯s legs, using its tail to make the shaman fall flat on his back. The serpent completely wrapped around his legs and started constricting. The strange thing was that instead of crushing the armor like the serpent was supposed to, it started absorbing the black strands into its body, dissolving his armor at a visible pace. The other serpent used the chance created by the first serpent to wrap around his body and arms, both absorbing the armor and draining black strands from the shaman¡¯s body using the few holes created by the viscous substance. When it had completely wrapped around the shaman, it used its fangs to bite into the shoulder of the shaman, excitedly gulping down both blood and black strands.


    The shaman was screaming in pain, grasping at the ashen staff that lied on the ground next to him. When he realised he wouldn¡¯t able to get do that, he bore through the pain and started chanting something to himself. The staff that was lying on the ground unravelled itself into numerous black strands, which started ominously floating around him. Using his eyes and his mind to command the black strands, the shaman looked directly down upon the blood serpent wrapped around his body. Clenching his teeth, he looked up at the strands, and all of the sudden, the strands started to vibrate. A few moments later, a few of the strands united themselves into a single long, black strand and the strand started falling down from the sky, directly towards his arms and the blood serpent.


    The black strand which closely resembled a spear started gaining speed and even though Orou wanted the blood serpent to unravel itself before it could get pierced, it was the shaman that was holding the serpent in place. The spear fell onto the blood serpent, piercing it directly in the middle and immediately dispersing it. After that, the shaman¡¯s arms were next, the black spear pierced through the armor and his flesh and bones without any resistance, burying itself deep within the ground. He screamed and yelled in pain, but very soon, the hole that was left by the spear was mended by the black strands that made up his armor. Holding out his shaking hand, the black spear flew directly his hand and, aiming at the blood serpent that held his legs, he pierced downwards.


    Orou knew that the fate of the blood serpent was sealed when the shaman struck downwards, so he stopped concentrating on the serpents and started charging forwards. He passed Grizz, who had retreated and pulled out several throwing knives, getting ready to aim at the shaman and arrived directly next to the shaman. He had stood up and he was angrily glaring at Orou, but his emotions didn¡¯t stop him from raising his spear and stabbing out at Orou. Deciding to trade blow for blow, Orou didn¡¯t bother to try and dodge the spear and instead, used his tail to sweep out at the shaman. Following his tail were several knives, coated in all sorts of colorful venoms, aiming for the weak spot in his armor.


    The shaman twisted his body to avoid the knives, though he couldn¡¯t avoid all of them. One of them dug into his shoulder and the venom began its work. The spear that was aimed at Orou completely pierced through his scales and flesh, lodging itself deep within his body. Inside his body, he felt the spear begin to slowly dissolve, releasing several wild black strands into his body. In response to getting impaled by a spear, Orou¡¯s tail accurately made contact with the shaman¡¯s right side. Although the shaman still had his armor, it wouldn¡¯t protect him from the sheer strength of Orou¡¯s tail. The right side of the armor cracked into several pieces and the shaman went soaring through the air, flying several meters before crashing into a building. The shaman¡¯s flight didn¡¯t end there as he completely demolished the stone wall of the house, crashing into what Orou assumed was the furniture and the other wall.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As Grizz sprinted towards the shaman, eager to finish him off, Orou wanted to do the same, but he was stopped by the spear inside of him. He couldn¡¯t stop the spear from dissolving into the black strands, but he did the only thing he knew that could cure him. Creating the formation of a curved line with several triangles and the formation of an eye with three dots on top of it, he created a shimmering spirit and used it to empower his healing, healing his entire body. This time, he didn¡¯t experience the pain that came with the healing and the stab wounds were completely gone, but unfortunately, it did little to help the situation inside of him. Several beams of light dispersed some of the black strands inside of his body, but there were too many to count. His body was ravaged with pain as he started bleeding from several spots inside of his body and the only thing left to do was to rely on his blood core.


    The blood waves were constantly destroying the black strands and alleviated the pain from inside of his body, but it was a slow process. After more than a minute of struggling with the wild strands, he felt the strand so something unusual. They gathered together in a ball and started violently shaking inside of his body. A few seconds later, the ball exploded inside of his body, sending wild strands in every direction, piercing through his entire body. Orou hissed in pain as he started bleeding from more than twenty spots on his body. The strands, just like arrows flying in the air started flying back towards the shaman and Orou desperately wanted to slither over towards the building, to protect Grizz from the evil sorcery of the shaman, but he was too injured to do so.


    His body was doing best to get him back to his original shape, the blood waves were rapidly healing his injuries and Orou himself was starting to cast simple healing spells on himself. He knew that he was in too much pain to create both the formation and the shimmering spirit, so he decided to use the basic version of the healing spell. It exchanged long-term pain for a single burst of pain, and Orou was happy to make that trade any day of the week. He heard several strange noises from the building to the left of him where the shaman had landed and, lifting his haggard body, he started slithering towards Grizz, letting the blood waves heal the rest of his injuries.


    It took Orou longer than he hoped to arrive but what he saw surprised him. Holding the same black spear in his hands as before, the shaman was duelling with Grizz. The shaman¡¯s skin looked much paler than before and his hands and legs were shaking, but despite that, he was landing blow after blow on Grizz. In return, Grizz¡¯s venomous short swords kept slashing at his bare skin, delivering more and more venom into the shaman¡¯s body. Orou was surprised at how Grizz was still going, he had several holes where the black spear had pierced him and he was profusely bleeding, but despite that, he kept on fighting and fighting.


    Both of them were getting weaker and the shaman decided to change his strategy. Using the blunt end of his spear, he pushed Grizz off of his feet and to the side and started backing off. He retreated, exiting the building and turning the corner, he disappeared from both of their sights. The two of them started chasing, but their conditions weren¡¯t optimal. As they exited the building, the two of them saw that the shaman was far away, once more chanting something strange in an unknown language. Using all of the speed he could muster, Orou dashed forwards while Grizz hid behind another building, slowly and stealthily heading towards the shaman.


    As Orou started dashing, he knew that he wouldn¡¯t make it in time. The few remaining strands of armor he had and the spear in his hands dissipated into several black strands, the earth around him became pitch black and the stone turned to ash as the black strands started rising in the air, directly towards the clouds above them. The originally white clouds started to turn grey and before long, they were completely black, shrouding the entire city in darkness. With a smirk on his face, the shaman looked at Orou and brought down his hand, bringing down black lightning as well.

 Cleansing Light

    As the shaman¡¯s hand went down, the clouds parted and Orou could see the various black strands swimming inside of the clouds start to coalesce and merge together, forming a strand much bigger and more ferocious than the black spear that was in shaman¡¯s hand. He saw the strand float in the cloud right above him and slowly saw the lightning descend onto, but he could do nothing as the process was over in a flash and before Orou could react, the thick strand had moved right above his head. In practically an instant, the strand which resembled black lightning descended downwards onto Orou, hitting him straight on, shocking him to his very core. His entire body was charred and as Orou spazzed on the ground, he could feel tiny, little wild strands once more entering his body.


    The shaman confidently smirked as he looked around for Grizz. The shaman turned his head to look in every direction, but his eyes couldn¡¯t zone in on a target. Instead of looking confused or bewildered at Grizz¡¯s disappearance, his smirk only grew wider as he started waving his hands in the air and making strange symbols in the air. The black clouds only grew in volume, becoming darker and darker the longer he chanted. A few moments later, two runes made of black strands were levitating above his hands, slowly but surely ascending into the clouds. The moment the two runes touched the clouds, they merged and the black cloud began stirring. It stirred and stirred the clouds, which had completely covered the city, began shaking.


    Almost as if two invisible hands were squeezing the black clouds, the clouds deformed and all of the sudden, it started raining. Each droplet of rain had a small, wild strand inside of it and as the droplets touched the ground, the wild strands merged with the rest of the strands and began to cause chaos. The impact on the ground, the buildings and the nature around them was not as huge as the impact on the beastmen living in the city. Almost instantly, a variety of shouts and cries of pain rose up from several spots in the city, creating a strange cacophony of noises. Although Orou was still on the ground, he could hear the rain impacting the battle towards his right, the main battlefield of the two armies. Looking expectedly around him, he raised his hand, most likely in preparation for bringing down another lightning bolt onto poor Grizz.


    Strangely enough, Grizz was nowhere to be found. There was a strange silence abound in the area, a tense moment for both Orou and likely, the shaman as well. Finally, both the shaman and Orou heard a strange noise behind the shaman and as the shaman excitedly turned around, the only thing that greeted him was a dagger aimed straight towards his throat. Grizz had made his way around to the shaman¡¯s back and bore through the pain the black rain was inflicting on him in order to get the finishing blow on the shaman. The shaman tried his best to dodge, but his legs weren¡¯t responding to his commands. He looked in fear and panic upon the oncoming dagger, but he could only stare face to face with his upcoming demise. The dagger found no resistance as whatever the shaman was going to say didn¡¯t leave his throat, the shaman¡¯s body toppled over and he started bleeding from his throat, though surprisingly, he still wasn¡¯t dead.


    As Grizz went over and inflicted the finishing blow onto the shaman, his body started to wither away. Grizz looked around in confusion as in seconds, the shaman¡¯s body had turned to nothing more than a pile of ash, which was quickly scattered by the wind. The devastating rain abruptly stopped and the black strands left the clouds, but the damage was already done. The buildings around them were in shambles, the earth around them had significantly blackened and even Grizz¡¯s clothes had several holes in them. Grizz let out a sigh of relief as he quickly made his way to Orou, who had stood up and was looking towards a particular spot in the distance.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Although Orou¡¯s body still had several wild strands inside of it and his entire body was numb from shock, his mind was occupied with a more important thought. Using his black and white vision, he saw that the place where the shaman¡¯s body had withered away still housed several black strands. In a scrambled mess, the stands quickly floated a few hundred meters off into the distance and Orou made haste to chase after them, seeing that he had observed this process once already. Grizz¡¯s eyes were full of confusion, but he still followed Orou to wherever he was going, which turned out to be a spot above an abandoned building. Lifting his head up, Orou hissed at the air, thinking about what he could do to prevent the shaman from simply coming back, the black strands were slowly but surely reconstructing themselves, forming an outline of a beastman they were familiar with.


    Orou didn¡¯t have time to waste, so he decided to greet the shaman in the best way that he could. His body was slightly sore and his blood core had mostly taken care of the wild strands, so he started forming the outline of a massive pillar right above the empty spot of the building. With one of his wills, he started bringing the spirits into the pillar, filling it to the best of his abilities. With his other will, he designated the location of three spirits, one of them being right in the middle of the pillar, one directly above it and one directly below it. He meticulously started constructing the formation of three eyes with three dots above each of them, turning several regular spirits into bright, shimmering spirits. Using his will to barely hold them down, he waited for the formation to be complete.


    As he got closer and closer towards the end of the spell, he slowed down his process and momentarily took his eyes of the formation to look at the black strands. The black strands had almost formed the complete body of the shaman, though currently, he was still missing a head. Orou needed one more spirit in the right place to complete his formation, but he completely stopped whatever he was doing and stared at the black strands, awaiting the moment when he could strike. As the final strand was placed into the shaman¡¯s body, his body appeared in plain sight of everyone and that was the moment Orou decided to complete his spell.


    The shaman laughed as he looked around, only to be surprised by Orou and Grizz awaiting him below. His head snapped up as complete horror and despair crept onto his face. He moved his hand in front of him and he started moving his legs as if to jump down from the building, but his movements were too slow. The clouds parted way to reveal a massive beam of light descending down onto the shaman, illuminating everything around it in a blinding and scorching light. The heat given off from the beam was so intense that the building that was made entirely out of stone started melting, even the furthest corners of the building. Immediately, both Orou and Grizz were hit with an intense heat wave which would kill them if they didn¡¯t move.


    Even before the massive beam of light hit the building, the shaman¡¯s clothes and fur had caught on fire and his flesh started melting. As the beam of light got closer and closer, the screams of the shaman got louder and louder. The beam of light evaporated everything it touched, the shaman¡¯s skin, muscles, blood and bone, all completely gone. His building combusted from within as the beam of light easily went through it, descending lower and lower into the ground, completely melting everything it touched. This went on for several more seconds as the ground beneath their feet started to become hot and eventually, the beam of stopped shining down onto the earth, though it had ruined the earth that it touched.


    Orou looked around for any signs of the shaman, but the black strands that made up his body didn¡¯t clump up and run away this time, in fact, there was completely nothing left of the black strands that had once made up his body. The beam of light, in all of its shining glory, had cleansed the shaman, both from the inside and the outside.

 Battlefield

    After the beam of light descended down onto the shaman, the only thing left was silence. Grizz mouth was open in shock at what just happened and Orou was too exhausted to rejoin the main battlefield, so the two of them simply stood there. After a while, Grizz approached Orou, making sure that he wasn¡¯t critically injured. Although he seemed to be fine from the outside, his insides were still a mess, the wild strands had done quite a number on his organs. Still, his blood core had gotten quite a bit more effective as even those injuries were quickly being cured. Orou¡¯s mind was filled with thoughts of the black strands and how the shaman had weaved them together to create such devastating and effective spells. Unfortunately, as both Orou and Grizz approached the massive hole left by the beam of light, they could see no belongings of the shaman which would give away his secret.


    After scouring the previous sites of battle with the shaman and determining that he had not reformed his body once again, Grizz started heading towards the main battlefield. Grizz¡¯s eyes were sparkling as most likely, he thought about joining the battle himself, but Orou was in no condition to fight and he wouldn¡¯t let Grizz fight without his protection. Menacingly hissing towards both Grizz and the direction of the battle, Orou started climbing the building that they were on previously and with a reluctant sigh, Grizz followed behind him.


    As they were climbing the building and approaching closer to the battlefield, Orou noticed something he had missed during the heat of the battle. The drums which were constantly beating sounded like they were right next to his ear, beating with such strength and with such intensity to muffle the sound of his own heartbeat. His blood, as if responding to the drums, was moving through his body, covering the entirety of it to heal his wounds quicker and to reinforce his skin with an extra layer of defense. This, combined with Orou controlling the blood core to heal his wounds, made sure that Orou could recover at a rate visible to the naked eye, though he had no outer injuries to boast of.


    The view from up above was both spectacular and bloody, the soldiers were dying by the second and more and more bodies were starting to stack up. Although it looked that the battle was going to be won by the king¡¯s soldiers when it started, upon a closer inspection, Orou could see that the majority of the soldiers that were getting killed were from the king¡¯s side. The dead soldiers from Vaar¡¯s side were missing the wild strands from their bodies and soon after, Orou saw where they went. As one of Vaar¡¯s men fell, the wild strand that was coiled around his neck like a serpent slithered through the ground and merged with the closest wild strand, belonging to one of the other Vaar¡¯s men. Each time it did so, it became much more ferocious and deadly, capable of killing tens of men from the king¡¯s side.


    Just as Vaar¡¯s men were empowered from each death, so were the king¡¯s men. Each death made the drum that was beating next to his ear a bit louder and a bit clearer, which in turn, made him more bloodthirsty. The king¡¯s men started fighting like berserkers, ignoring their own safety in order to bring down someone with them. With each death, their movements got quicker and their swings became more powerful. The fewer soldiers there were on either side, the more powerful the remaining soldiers became, capable of taking on even greater threats than before.


    Once more, Orou looked down towards the corpses and found something unsettling about them. The corpses were slowly decaying and decomposing, the black strands that they were made of were sinking into the ground and swimming in a particular direction, that is, the site of battle between the king and Vaar. It was a battle of an entirely different scale than the one between the soldiers, an area of a few hundred meters was completely clear of anyone, and that was rightfully so, anyone who would get close to the battle would die without exceptions. The ground had turned completely dark, the stone had crumbled away to reveal the dirt below it and even the dirt had withered away, making sure not a single trace of life could be seen. What was much more interesting was that the withered dirt had a thin layer of green crystals covering it, reflecting the sun around it and giving the illusion of a green and luscious meadow.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The closer one went to the site of battle, the thicker the green crystals were. The ground beneath the two of them had completely withered away and they were standing on a thick crystal platform, the sound of swords clashing could be heard every second or so. The king looked miserable, his originally golden armor had several spots of black on it and his massive, golden shield had a large hole inside of it. His crystal sword was untainted and still holding strong, but with each swing, the crystals that were making up the sword became smaller and smaller. The red crystals were constantly healing him while the green crystals were making sure that with each stab wound he received, he would be able to inflict grievous injuries to Vaar. It was still unclear what the purpose of the blue crystals was, but Orou saw the blue crystals slowly lighting up and becoming brighter as the battle progressed.


    On the other side, Vaar looked equally as worn out. He was in a completely different outfit than when he approached the city. Strange, black armor, which was very similar though different in both design and the runes on it to the shaman¡¯s armor, adorned his body. He was covered by a massive, black cloak which was making it very hard for Orou to track down where Vaar was at any time. The king was struggling with the same issue as half of the time, Vaar didn¡¯t have to parry the king¡¯s blows and could slip behind his back, threatening to end the fight in one stab with his serpentine sword. The sword was almost the same as the cane that Vaar was carrying earlier, though much more slender and much more sinister. A black, sickly glow surrounded the sword and each time Vaar swung the blade, the black glow would assault the golden armor and the king himself, making him weaker and weaker with every swing.


    Now that Orou noticed the glow around the sword, he could make out a similar glow around the entirety of Vaar¡¯s body. It resembled the mist that Orou was constantly giving out, though much more concentrated. The black strands around him were only fuelling the black glow as he was constantly draining the ground and the clouds for black strands, as well as receiving a steady supply of strands from the decaying bodies within the battlefield. Besides empowering the glow, the strands cured any wounds that he suffered and made him grow in size, becoming quicker and more powerful the longer the fight lasted.


    Still, the situation was nowhere as good as it seemed for Vaar. Most of his body had crystals sticking out of it and when the king pierced Vaar¡¯s body with his sword, some of the black strands that Vaar was absorbing were also going to the king. One of his arms was completely covered in crystals and even though the black strands were struggling to heal the arm, the crystals simply wouldn¡¯t go away. His eyes were constantly darting between the king and blue crystals on the sword, a worried look on his face. Both the armor and the shield were repairing themselves and the shield looked like it was drawing in sunlight, creating an incomplete circle of runes drawn on the shield.


    The fight was progressing very slowly, both of them had ways to heal themselves and as soon as the battle between the soldiers was over, Vaar wouldn¡¯t have a way to recover. Although no one could know how the battle would turn out and whether Vaar or the crystal sword would break first, Vaar had no intention of delaying the battle anymore. Taking several steps back on the crystal platform, he held his sword up high and cut his finger. Using the bleeding finger, he drew a single line on top of the sword and immediately, the sickly glow around his body gathered on the tip of the sword. The king charged forwards, but Vaar was prepared for him. The both of them struck out at the same time, though this time, it was Vaar who drew blood.

 Critical Conditions

    The serpentine sword easily pierced the king¡¯s golden armor, piercing through the king¡¯s torso and coming out through the other end. The king¡¯s crystal sword was aimed at the already crystallized arm and as he yelled out in pain, he kept his hand steady and decided to trade blow for blow, swinging his sword straight down. The sickly glow was no longer there and the armor looked frail. With a clean cut, the arm tumbled to the ground and shattered into countless green crystals, which only served to strengthen the green crystal platform below them.


    Despite his missing arm, Vaar had come out on top of the exchange. The king¡¯s golden shield slammed into his side and Vaar went crashing into the crystals below him, taking the serpentine sword with him, but the blow was nowhere as strong as it seemed. The sickly glow that once surrounded the serpentine sword was seeping into his wounds and surrounding his entire body, corroding the golden armor and weakening the king with every second. Although the effect wasn¡¯t immediately visible, the king¡¯s wounds were starting to get worse and his flesh was starting to decay and wither, rapidly aging.


    The two of them resumed to clash with each other, but the king was always half a step late, whether it was dodging Vaar¡¯s blows or landing his own. The sickly glow around him wasn¡¯t dissipating like Orou expected it to, but instead, it clung onto his armor, waiting for its turn to attack the king. It was the king¡¯s turn to retreat as he forfeited all offense and blocked each and every one of Vaar¡¯s hits. In Vaar¡¯s slashes, the king pointed his shield towards the sun and the runes on it became more distinct, slowly but surely completing the circle of runes all around the shield. Although Vaar saw what the king was doing, he didn¡¯t change his strategy, relentlessly assaulting the king¡¯s seemingly unbreakable defense.


    Although the king¡¯s movements were getting slower and slower, that didn¡¯t stop him from fighting. After a minute of clashing, the battle took another sudden turn. As the king pointed the shield towards the sun, the final rune on the shield was completed and the shield exploded in a golden light. Waves of golden sunlight rolled off of the shield and started surrounding the king¡¯s body, driving the sickly glow off of him and closing his wounds. It burned away the blood that was staining his armor and made its way into his body, healing him from inside out. As the first wave of golden light dispersed, an even larger wave of light enveloped the shield and completely covered it. A second later, the king was no longer holding a golden shield, but instead, a shimmering bracelet appeared around his wrists.


    The golden light continued its way downwards onto the king¡¯s armor and where it passed, it left a trail of shimmering spirits, the ones that Orou used in his spells. The shimmering spirits lit up the entirety of the king¡¯s armor, making it almost impossible to even look at his body. As the spirits started spinning, the king didn¡¯t waste any time to counter Vaar¡¯s previous blows. He regained his earlier vigour and each swing seemed to be stronger and heavier than the last one. The bracelet on his arm shone each time he slashed at Vaar, leaving behind a scar in the sky, a golden glow wouldn¡¯t fade.


    Although Vaar was still faster than the king, every little hit that landed on him was devastating. His skin turned to crystal and his body started to burn from the light. The crystals themselves felt like they were imbued with light, constantly singing his skin and flesh. While the king couldn¡¯t land a deciding hit, the small cuts started adding up as Vaar¡¯s wounds weren¡¯t healing and soon enough, a third of his body, spread out evenly through his torso, arms and legs, was covered with small crystals. Vaar was struggling to properly hold the sword simply from the pain he was experiencing, but the worst thing was that he wasn¡¯t hurting the king.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    As Vaar once more swung out against the king, the shimmering spirits on his armor rushed towards the spot he was swinging at, as if they could tell where he would swing even before he swung. The shimmering spirits created a thin, translucent barrier of light to soften the blow and although his sword could cut through the barrier, he couldn¡¯t pierce the king¡¯s golden armor. Still, Vaar kept on assaulting the armor as with each swing, the spirits and the bracelet around the king¡¯s wrist got a bit dimmer.


    As the spirits got dimmer and dimmer, the king decided to not waste any more time on swinging his sword and instead, pointed his bracelet towards Vaar. Immediately, the shimmering spirits on his body shot towards the bracelet and merged with it until eventually, it was as bright as the sun. The bracelet floated off of the king¡¯s wrist and started to expand, expanding until it was as large as the king himself. If one looked in spirit vision, the spirits didn¡¯t disappear, but instead, they were spinning so fast that it was almost impossible to notice that it was made of several spirits instead of a single entity.


    Flicking his wrist towards Vaar, the rapidly spinning bracelet launched itself towards Vaar. The thick, green crystal platform that couldn¡¯t be pierced by either the crystal nor the serpentine sword had a single, clean line digging several centimeters into the platform, created by the spinning bracelet. Vaar was retreating, but he was nowhere quick enough to escape the bracelet. Instead of lifting his sword to block the bracelet, Vaar rapidly turned around and his cloak, made entirely out of black strands slightly pulsed. The cloak already made it hard to see where Vaar was at all times, but at this instant, it seemed like Vaar completely disappeared, in his place was a mass of shadows, clashing against the shining bracelet.


    In his black and white vision, Orou saw that Vaar hadn¡¯t disappeared anywhere, though he had somehow hidden completely out of sight. As light and darkness clashed, the light started to cut through the black strands making up the cloak and instead, the cloak started rapidly absorbing black strands from Vaar¡¯s body. Slowly, the light became dimmer and the darkness enveloped the light, completely extinguishing it, but the victory over the bracelet didn¡¯t come at a cheap cost. The cloak had several cuts in it, but in reality, it was Vaar who suffered immensely. He was noticeably smaller than before, his muscles less bulging, his demeanor less impressive and with a profound exhausted on his face, he stopped fleeing and step by step, started approaching the king.


    As the shimmering spirits disappeared from his body, the king¡¯s true state was revealed. His pristine condition reverted back to his haggard body, covered in several wounds and aged several more years. His wounds started bleeding once again and the black, withered flesh around his wounds started squirming as if something had burrowed under the king¡¯s skin and was trying its best to rip open the king¡¯s skin and get out. His once shining armor became covered with black spots, becoming much, much dimmer than before.


    The two of them were in critical conditions. Vaar¡¯s arm was missing and his entire body was burned and still covered in crystals, which were slowly expanding to cover the rest of his body. The king was covered in wounds that wouldn¡¯t stop bleeding, his entire body aged and withered, his crystal sword chipped, his shield gone and his armor damaged. Despite that, both of their eyes burned with nothing but resolve and anger towards each other. Step by step, the two of them got closer to each other, their respective swords vibrating as if excited to once more meet in battle.

 Crystal

    The closer the distance between the two of them got, the more black mist started gathering around them. Despite the pain that accompanied each and every step and despite the various wounds on their bodies, the two of them were grinning, likely for the same reason. While the king¡¯s smile waned, Vaar¡¯s smile only grew until eventually, it turned into full-fledged laughter. The laughter was followed by the black strands inside of his body dissipating, turning into black mist and then, instead of escaping and floating up into the clouds, it formed a small layer around his body, compressing itself to make the sickly glow that he once had. The more he laughed, the more emotions he unleashed, the stronger he got. The two of them got closer and closer until they were right next to each other, but neither one of them attacked first.


    ¡°This reminds me of the time we fought each other in the barracks, except we were much weaker and much more naive. You¡¯re a fool, don¡¯t you know that? Even after fighting for what was initially yours and even after killing her, you spared me and sent me off, perhaps hoping that I would one day come back, completely changed and perhaps even call you my brother once more. From the day our father died, you stopped being a brother to me, instead, you became someone who I needed to beat.¡± Vaar laughter turned maniacal as he held the serpentine sword to his chest. The sickly glow that surrounded his body merged with Vaar and started rushing towards his chest, more precisely, towards his heart.


    The sickly glow surrounded his heart and created a cocoon of sorts, constantly becoming smaller and at the same time, much darker. Similar to the pulsing of Orou¡¯s blood core, the cocoon started pulsing, sending waves of the sickly glow through his body. The crystals embedded within his body started shaking and one by one, they started shattering. Along with the crystals, his skin started cracking and drying up. He aged several years in a second until he looked nothing more than a pile of skin and bones, but as the skin withered away, the bones started turning from pure white to dark and a new layer of skin started growing around the bones. Similarly to the bones, it started turning black and instead of skin, it looked more like a piece of metal.


    As Vaar¡¯s transformation was in process, the king wasn¡¯t simply idling, waiting for Vaar to finish. Instead, he plunged his sword inside of the weakened crystal platform and the platform beneath his feet also started to shatter. Initially, the green crystals on the sword glowed as the king was doing this, but even the crystals on the sword started shattering and instead, the blue crystals became brighter and brighter. All of the sudden, the platform beneath their feet started cracking down the middle, where the bracelet had cut through the platform and with a loud crash, the two of them tumbled down onto the ground. The king softly landed on his feet and, his sword, still in one half of the platform, became brighter and brighter. On the other hand, Vaar landed with a heavy crash, sending dirt spraying everywhere, burying himself deep into the dirt.


    Orou didn¡¯t care about drawing attention as the only thing he currently cared about was seeing about how the fight would conclude. He stood up to his full height and looked into the slightly lowered pit, excitedly waiting for the next thing to unfold. The two of them were in their own world as if they had forgotten that they were ready to kill the other a few moments ago. The king completed his move first, the crystal platform was entirely gone and so were the green crystals on the sword. The red crystals were completely dim as the sword was dominated by an azure light was covered the entirety of the sword and the king.


    The king sighed and with his free arm, he brought it up to his face and placed his palm on his face. A few moments later, the crystal sword cracked and shattered, turning completely into an azure light. The light started to wrap itself around the king¡¯s body and the shattered fragments of the crystals around him started levitating and spinning around his body. From the tips of his fingers, blue crystals started growing and spreading through his palm, his arm and then, the rest of his body. The thin layer of blue crystal started digging into his skin and flesh, but the more it did so, the thicker the layer of blue crystal became. The king held up his right arm in the air and the crystals started to thin out, becoming sharper and sharper until the entirety of his right arm resembled a sword. Similarly holding out his left arm, it started deforming and growing more layers of crystals, until it resembled the shield that he carried earlier.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    His entire body underwent transformation to resemble his original state, his golden armor, now colored completely blue and a blue serpent coiled around his neck. With another sigh, the king started moving towards the still immobile body of Vaar, that was half buried in the dirt. Vaar didn¡¯t react even when the king was right next to his body and so, the king stretched out his right arm and swung it towards his neck. The swing was so quick that Orou only saw a blue flash, but instead of a decapitated head, Orou saw a thin barrier form around Vaar. The barrier completely stopped the strike, but it didn¡¯t dissipate as Orou expected it to. Instead, it started to expand and expand, creating a protective bubble around Vaar.


    The king swung countless times at the bubble, but no matter if he tried to pierce or slash it, it simply wouldn¡¯t burst. The king was like a tireless machine, waving his time multiple times in a second and battering the bubble with his shield and although it looked like it was weakening, it would take a while for the king to completely shatter it. Several minutes later, the bubble was covered in scratches, but it didn¡¯t burst. Instead, Vaar started to slowly open his eyes, which had turned completely dark, though the red in his eyes became that much more prominent. He smiled and punched out towards the barrier, sending multiple vibrations through it before shattering it in its entirety.


    His feet finally landed on the ground and when they did, it resembled a small earthquake. The ground started intensely shaking as he started dashing towards the king and the sounds of air exploding could be heard when he punched out towards the king. The crystals making up the left side of the king¡¯s body cracked and caved in, but the king showed absolutely no emotion. Using his right arm, he stabbed through Vaar¡¯s body multiple times, leaving several holes behind as a result. Using his left arm, he brought down the massive shield onto Vaar¡¯s head and smashed Vaar several meters into the ground below them. Vaar¡¯s entire head was cracked and he had tens of holes in his body, but he was smiling and laughing like just like before.


    Leaping several meters into the air, Vaar swung his leg towards the king¡¯s head, but all that greeted him was a massive, blue shield. The force from Vaar¡¯s leg was so intense that the king¡¯s body shuddered and the shield cracked, but once more, in response to Vaar¡¯s aggression, the king mechanically swung out his crystal arm towards Vaar¡¯s leg, digging half-way through before stopping, retrieving his leg and continuing the process of slashing Vaar¡¯s leg. In the few seconds that he was in mid-air, the king delivered more than thirty slash wounds that pierced Vaar¡¯s skin and flesh, until it reached the bone. No blood came out and instead, his metallic skin started repairing itself, closing the wounds as he was inflicting them.


    Still in mid-air, Vaar used his other leg to swing at the king¡¯s crystal legs and this time, he was successful. The king lost all balance as he was sent flying for several meters, but before he was, his crystal arm delivered a fatal wound that would kill any regular man. Extending much longer than it was originally, the king swung out his right arm towards Vaar¡¯s neck and moments later, his arm came out on the other side of Vaar¡¯s neck. He was blown away milliseconds after doing that, but instead of grasping at his throat, Vaar let out a laughter which sounded like metal scratching against metal and, crushing the dirt beneath his feet, he sprinted towards the king.

 The Fall

    As the king flew in mid-air, crystals started detaching themselves from his body and shattering into countless pieces. Just as before, the crystal shards started levitating and combining, forming a massive javelin made from blue crystal. Almost as if an invisible hand picked it up and threw it, the javelin soared through the air, rapidly approaching Vaar¡¯s back. At the speed it was flying, it was practically impossible to dodge the javelin so Vaar didn¡¯t even bother. He kept gaining distance on the still-soaring king, but before he could land a follow-up hit, he was struck by the javelin. It wasn¡¯t as sharp as the king¡¯s right arm, but the sheer force behind it made the javelin pierce through Vaar¡¯s skin and come through the other end, though no longer the same shade of blue as it was before.


    The javelin was completely coated in strange, black metal flakes which corroded the crystal until eventually, the javelin was no more. Vaar ignored the gaping wound on his back and leapt into the air, completely cracking the ground beneath him. The king tried his best to raise his shield, but similarly to the javelin, the momentum propelled Vaar forward with such speed that it didn¡¯t give the king enough time to react. Vaar¡¯s knee crashed into the king¡¯s torso, completely cracking the blue crystal making up the king¡¯s body and sending vibrations through the rest of the king¡¯s body, causing small cracks throughout the rest of his body.


    Just like a flying comet, the king soared through the air and crashed into the ground, making the earth shake and the dirt explode. With another heavy thud, Vaar landed on the ground and started dashing towards the king, but this time, the king was ready to retaliate. Pieces of his shattered torso came flying down towards the king and several large chunks of the crystals making up his body started rippling and shifting towards his back. In less than a few seconds, the king had two large protrusions on his back and the blue crystal shards floating around him gathered to create two, massive wings. The wings, just the like king¡¯s right arm, looked thin but sharp and they kept on becoming thinner until they resembled a cicada¡¯s wings, almost completely transparent.


    Despite the wings being made out of crystal and being so thin, they moved flexibly and with a single flap of his wings, the king was flying in the air. Flying up higher and higher in the air, the king opted to carry out war of attrition, swooping down, hitting Vaar and then retreating back into the sky. His right arm could easily cut through Vaar¡¯s skin without any of the strange metal flakes affecting him and even the wings were a useful tool in attacking Vaar, delivering several thin but deep cuts, cutting straight to his bone. The shield in his arms started to slowly dissipate and in its place, two additional cicada wings grew on his back, greatly aiding his mobility, speed and power. Besides that, the once cracked crystals were replaced with new crystals, his body became bulkier and heavier, his sword, larger and sharper.


    As Vaar was getting assaulted with several attacks, he wasn¡¯t simply standing still. Vaar¡¯s body was a massive weapon on its own and each blow that landed on the king¡¯s body cracked and shattered the crystals making it up. Still, he was the one on the losing end this time. The king was inflicting wounds quicker than his body could regenerate and close them and although the dirt he was standing on was covered entirely in crystal shards, the king simply wouldn¡¯t die. Deciding to do something different, he placed his hand on his chest and his metal like skin unsteadily rippled. As soon as the king swooped down to attack him, Vaar used his hands to smash at the wings, completely ignoring his defense. The king¡¯s arm inflicted several more injuries on him, but as the king stabbed out one more time, Vaar¡¯s chest rippled and from it, a large, metal spike emerged.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Clearly, the king hadn¡¯t expected this as he completely stopped his offense and focused on getting away, but unfortunately, the metal spike had already pierced through his body. A second later, several more ripples appeared on Vaar¡¯s body and tens of metal spikes stabbed the king¡¯s body, making the king¡¯s body resemble a hedgehog. Vaar¡¯s hands were doing their best to rip off the king¡¯s wings, but they proved to be too strong and agile. The king used his four wings to batter Vaar¡¯s body and propel himself backwards and into the air, though with several more holes in his body than he started out with.


    This time, the king¡¯s body didn¡¯t regenerate. The holes in his body were there to stay, but the king didn¡¯t seem to be bothered at all by the fact. His face was completely expressionless as he held out his hand, pointing it towards Vaar. He started flapping his wings faster and faster until Orou couldn¡¯t see them anymore, until the wings had raised up a storm. The numerous pieces of crystal shards that were lying on the ground started shaking and stirring. As if they were in the middle of a raging tornado, they started to fly up and gather around Vaar¡¯s body, starting to spin at a great speed. The crystal shards dug into Vaar¡¯s flesh and made several, small cuts on his skin, though the crystals that touched him immediately dissolved from the metal flakes.


    The few crystals that survived dug deep into his body and buried themselves there, most likely waiting for an opportune moment to dig themselves out and strike from within. Vaar had survived the crystal storm and in its place was an entirely different storm, made from the same metal flakes that dissolved the crystals. They gathered together into a single, solid metal ball and, holding the ball in his arms, Vaar aimed it towards the king. Using all of the strength inside of his body, he threw the ball towards the king and smirked as if he knew the result of his action before it unfolded.


    The king wanted to move away, but he found that his wings had grown sluggish and heavy all of the sudden. The sickly glow that remolded Vaar¡¯s body had surrounded his wings, hindering him from making any rapid movements. That being the case, the king was smart enough to completely stop flapping his wings and plummet down onto the ground, but the metal ball was already before him. The ball reflected the sun around it and once more, the strange ripple appeared all throughout the ball. From the ball formed hundreds of metal spikes, completely skewering the king¡¯s body, forcing the king to show pain on his emotionless face.


    Using the remaining strength he had, the king gripped one of the metal spikes and pushed against it, making the king plummet down onto the ground once more. Vaar was all but ready for the king as a massive ripple spread through his left arm. Going directly beneath where the king was plummeting, Vaar chuckled to himself and pointed his left arm up into the air. The king watched in despair and tried his best to make his wings work, but no matter what he did, they wouldn¡¯t respond. Realising his present situation, the king stopped struggling and instead, he pointed his right arm towards Vaar, intending to exchange a blow in return.


    The king had long since reached terminal velocity, but that would only make sure his fall was that much more painful. The ripple on Vaar¡¯s left arm grew unsteady and as the king approached the ground, a massive, black spike shot up from Vaar¡¯s arm. The king¡¯s body landed directly on the spike, going all the way through the spike and crashing into Vaar¡¯s body. Although the king was in immense pain from being impaled on top of a massive spike, he didn¡¯t forget to return the favor back to Vaar. Even though he had lost some speed when he was impaled on the metal spike, he still had enough force to bring his arm down on Vaar. His arm slashed down, through Vaar¡¯s shoulder, his torso and his legs, completely severing the right half of his body.

 The End of War

    The king¡¯s impaled body started to tremble and the crystals that made up his body started to crumble and shatter. The hole that was in his stomach expanded as the king wriggled, trying to escape. Using all of the strength left in his body, the king used his wings, which were now gone of the sickly glow to push against the spike and propel him into the air, but as he launched into the air, even the crystal wings started to shatter. The four, thin wings had several tears in them and as the king tried to fly away, they completely disintegrated, leaving the king no choice but to crash back into the ground once more. Several more crystals shattered as he thudded into the ground, his legs completely shattering from the fall. Despite that, he used his crystal arm to dig into the ground and pull himself forwards, hoping to make it in time before Vaar got back up.


    Vaar¡¯s body was cut into two pieces starting from his right shoulder. His head was in one piece and Orou could clearly see that Vaar and breathing and trying to move, though he couldn¡¯t get off the ground. Several black tendrils were coming out from his decapitated right half, slowly dragging his body back together. The king, although he was doing his best to move, was simply too slow as the tendrils reattached the two halves of Vaar¡¯s body together. Following that, Vaar¡¯s body started undergoing rapid changes. His skin became much paler and he was rapidly shrinking down, from his original size of five meters down to three meters. The black strands and the black mist that once made up his body was diminishing as his muscles started to decay.


    The king¡¯s sword like arm had turned back into his regular arm, all for the sake of dragging himself over to Vaar faster, but his face was overcome with despair as the wounds on Vaar¡¯s body started to close. Vaar¡¯s face was contorted in pain, but, enduring the pain, he managed to smile as he stood up and glanced over at the king. His legs were unsteady and his right arm was hanging limply by his side, but he was walking over to the king, one step at a time. The king¡¯s face was overcome with despair, and a few moments later, resignation.


    Vaar looked down on the king and kneeled down next to him, using his left arm to pick up what was remaining of the king¡¯s body. Staring right in the crystalline eyes of the king, Vaar said to him: ¡°Any last words, dear brother?¡± His voice, although metallic and exhausted, was full of pride and accomplishment. He was cackling like a hyena that had finally caught its meal and was about to dig in.


    ¡°You might kill me, you might take over the kingdom, but trust me, you won¡¯t reign for long. I hope you die a long and bloo-¡± The king¡¯s eyes widened and his face went from anger to surprise as Vaar¡¯s metallic left hand dug into the king¡¯s body. With another burst of crystals, Vaar tore his hand out of the king¡¯s body and in his hand, he held a heart, made entirely from blue crystals. The king tried to force words out of his mouth, to curse at Vaar but all that came out were groans of pain. The king¡¯s body cracked down the middle and finally, completely shattered, leaving behind nothing more than shards of what once used to be the king.


    The ever-present drums that were inspiring the soldiers to fight on all of the sudden died down, the adrenaline that was present in all of their bodies and their rolling blood quieted down, leaving behind only exhaustion and tiredness. Vaar¡¯s cackling was accompanied with shouts of victory from the soldiers, which were now eldrich abominations walking in human form. Although the two sides were matched for a while, the more soldiers died on Vaar¡¯s side, the stronger each beastman got. Instead of arms and legs, black tentacles were moving them forward and on their chests was an opening, which seemed to lead into the abyss. One by one, the abominations picked up the exhausted and defeated soldiers, breaking their limbs with their tentacles and throwing them into their chests, revealing a huge maw which would chomp down onto the soldiers and absorb the black strands into their bodies.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The battlefield was completely empty, save for a few of abominations sweeping the battlefield, looking for more corpses to devour. It didn¡¯t matter from which side the soldiers were, the abominations would even eat the comrades that had fought with them and who had died to win this fight. Those that weren¡¯t eaten by the abomination were absorbed into the ground and instead, fed directly to Vaar, which helped to slowly but surely expand his body. Vaar, still savouring his victory and holding the crystal heart in his hands, started making his way over to the battlefield and once he did, the abominations gathered around him.


    There were more than a hundred of his remaining soldiers left, all of them deformed in one way or another. Although they couldn¡¯t properly think, they still recognised the presence of their leader and formed up to create a tidy formation. Unfortunately for them, their loyalty wasn¡¯t rewarded with praise, but instead, with murder and death. Vaar picked out several of the least deformed soldiers and, piercing his arm through them, started to absorb the black strands inside of their bodies. His once exhausted body regained its former vigour after only several kills and he grew an entire meter once he had killed more than twenty, after which he stopped and addressed the army.


    ¡°Those that are here before me are those, who fought, killed and slaughtered the most. For that, I shall bestow you the honour of being the elite guard of the new kingdom of Noctis. You shall be tasked with slaying our future enemies, ready to sacrifice yourselves for me at any time,¡± Vaar moved his right arm and using the black strands he recently absorbed, he forced the black strands to condense and create a sickly glow around his finger. The tentacles shrunk back from the sickly glow and retreated back into their host''s bodies, leaving behind a husk of what was once a beastman. As Vaar¡¯s finger touched the beastman, his body disintegrated, leaving behind only the black strands the beastman had absorbed during combat.


    The black strands merged to form a shadowy form of a humanoid and after a few moments, the black strands forged black armor. With a heavy thud, a knight, made entirely out of black strands appeared where once was nothing. The knight was much larger than the beastman originally was, growing to three meters and becoming much bulkier than before. The knight held in his hands a sword, made from black crystal and a shield, made from dark metal. The armor that the knight wore was exquisite as if painstakingly crafted tens of hours by the most skilled craftsman. It depicted the process of evolution of the black strands, which was to eat and absorb until there was nothing left in the world.


    The process took several minutes, but eventually, the ugly abominations were gone and in their place, several black knights, holding their swords and shields perfectly straight, stood upright. Going up to the largest beastman, the one whose body had been almost torn to pieces by the tentacles and the one with the most amount of deaths on his hands, Vaar placed his finger on the beastman¡¯s forehead and once again, the husk of the beastman disintegrated and the black strands started to create a massive body, almost as large as Vaar¡¯s original form was.


    This time, instead of letting the process complete itself, Vaar pierced his hand through the black strands and placed the king¡¯s crystal heart inside of the body of the beastman. Immediately, the black strands started to wrap around the heart and corrupt it, turning it from blue to dark blue, though not completely dark like the rest of the beastmen¡¯s hearts. Following that, the beastman¡¯s suit of armor was created, but instead of metal, it was completely made out of crystal. The same happened to his shield and his already crystal sword, which grew by several meters, nearly becoming as large as him. The beastman that was standing before Vaar vaguely resembled both him and the king, though inheriting some of the original beastman¡¯s traits.


    ¡°From this day, you shall be known as Ashan, the commander of the Black Knight division. I have great hopes for you, so don¡¯t let me down.¡±

 A Tense Welcome

    Both Orou and Grizz kept watching as the Black Knights followed Vaar to the palace. There was not a single soul in sight as the Black Knights swept the streets but countless eyes cautiously looked outside of their windows in order to see who won the fight. Those who could were trying to escape the city while the barrier was still down, while others were keeping still in fear of being caught and killed. After a few minutes, they had finally arrived before the palace, though from the first glance, it seemed to be completely empty. Vaar waved his hand and a few knights rushed into the palace, with him following behind them.


    Before he actually entered the palace, Orou saw Ashtan lean next to Vaar and say something, to which Vaar slowly nodded and turned his head to look directly upon Orou and Grizz, who thought themselves to be hidden on top of a roof. Orou¡¯s heart started racing as he had seen the entirety of the fight and knew what Vaar was capable of. He was ready to flee as soon as Vaar made any sudden movements, but the worst did not come to be. Instead, Vaar smiled towards Orou and Grizz and with the same metallic screeching as before, he shouted out: ¡°You don¡¯t have to hide there, my saviors. Without you, I wouldn¡¯t be able to escape and come here. Come, let¡¯s take a look at my new palace.¡±


    Both Orou and Grizz were sceptical of Vaar¡¯s words, but the two of them didn¡¯t have a choice in the matter. Vaar clearly wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer and provoking him would be the last thing they needed. Slowly making their way down the roof, the Black Knights parted ways to reveal a path towards Vaar before once more closing their formation, leaving no exit for Orou and Grizz to escape if worse came to worst. Still, Vaar didn¡¯t have any intention of harming them as he gestured towards the castle and chuckled to himself before proceeding to walk inside.


    Vaar¡¯s chuckle sent shivers down Orou¡¯s spine, hearing it from a distance was one thing but now that they were right next to him, it was a completely different experience. Orou didn¡¯t know how or why, but Vaar¡¯s words instilled an unnatural sense of fear within him that was only amplified the closer they stood to him. Now that Orou got a good look at him, Vaar¡¯s metallic body looked completely different than expected. From a distance, it looked like his body was made out of metal but standing closer, Orou could see that it was a mixture of his old skin and bones melded together into a huge mass that made up his original body.


    The three of them entered the palace side by side, but not a single beastman awaited them there. It looked like the palace was looted, the vases made from gold were nowhere to be found and the massive chandelier that was hanging there earlier was gone. Vaar sighed as he looked at both pictographs on the walls and the massive gates leading to the throne room. He approached closer to the pictograph depicting a massive beastman ruling over everyone and everything and placed his finger on the depicted king, saying to himself: ¡°The palace might have changed but the dream of all beastmen still lives on.¡±


    As Vaar was lost in his own memories, several knights, who had made their way into the palace earlier came from the left and right doors, reporting their findings to Vaar. As expected, everyone that might have originally lived here had evacuated. The princess and several nobles were nowhere to be found, although the knights found a beastman desperately trying to get into the throne room, most likely to profit the most out of situation. Of course, the beastman was executed on the spot with not a single trace left of his being, but the Black Knight''s couldn¡¯t make their way into the throne room, which seemed to be locked by some sort of spell.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    The three of them approached the double doors and very clearly, the doors had two massive, blue chains wrapping around them, preventing anyone from entering or exiting from the throne room. Vaar lifted his arm and the air around them started to ripple and lash out at them, but before he struck out, he looked directly at Orou. Slowly lowering his hand, he said to Orou: ¡°Since you were the one to free me from the barrier, why don¡¯t you show me what you can do. Break these two chains and I¡¯ll give you the opportunity to serve me well into the future.¡±


    Although Orou didn¡¯t have any intention of dealing with Vaar for a prolonged period, it would be very foolish to disobey Vaar for such a simple task. Casting spirit vision on himself, Orou saw that the spirit chains weren¡¯t anything special. The formation of the spirit chains was similar to the barrier he saw surrounding the city, with several spirit threads looping around to create the outline of the chains and the spirits forming the inside of the chains. Still, Orou had to wrack his head for a minute or two for a solution. The spirit chains looked to be very solid and from a first glance, Orou couldn¡¯t see any flaw or weakness in the formation.


    Now that Orou had seen what the black strands could do, he had a new-found respect for them, and in return, he realised what kind of spell he had created. Focusing his mind and concentrating on the spirits, he conjured two serpents made from blood to float above his and Vaar¡¯s heads. The two serpents charged towards the chains and wrapped around them, using their fangs to bite at the chains. It was a slow process, but over the course of several minutes, Orou saw the black strand that was running through the serpents take effect on the spirit chains. The black strand was seemingly lashing out at the spirits, which made the spirits that were bound in place tremble in fear. It started to devour some of the spirits which were resisting, making it seem like the serpents were corroding the chains. Finally, after several more minutes, the chains snapped in half and the spirits scattered, into and beyond the throne room.


    Vaar¡¯s face was a mixture of amusement and bewilderment as he kept on staring at the two blood serpents, not minding the fact that the way inside of the throne room was clear. Without even looking at Orou, Vaar leaped several meters into the air and somehow grabbed a hold of the blood serpent, to which the serpent responded by lashing out with its tail and biting into Vaar¡¯s arm. Surprisingly, both the tail and the fangs landed onto Vaar¡¯s body without doing any damage, though Orou could see the black strand within the serpents and the sickly glow around Vaar clashing. Unlike other black strands, this one didn¡¯t shrink away from the challenge and behaved like it¡¯s authority was provoked by the sickly glow.


    ¡°This is the spell that I cast during the feast, but how come it¡¯s been changed so much. Originally, it was meant to absorb world strands from the bodies of others and deliver them to me, but this serpent seems to have developed a will of its own. The more you feed it, the more it will grow and perhaps one day, it will no longer be a spell but become a spirit body of its own. How interesting.¡± Vaar¡¯s hand was holding the serpent¡¯s mouth shut with an iron-like grip as he examined the serpent from all sides, peering directly into it and taking a closer look at the black strand inside of it. After a few more minutes of playing around, he tossed it back into the air and opened the double doors with ease, laying his feet on the golden floor beneath him.


    Orou had to do everything in his power to stop the serpent from attacking Vaar and now that Vaar had said it, he could feel the serpent becoming much stronger and aggressive with each time that he used it, as if it was developing its own will. Leaving Grizz and dashing next to Vaar, he absentmindedly wondered about what Vaar had said. Although he had said only a few sentences, those sentences had raised more than several questions inside of Orou¡¯s head.

 A Task

    AThe throne room was just like Orou had seen it last, though much emptier and less majestic than it seemed before. The huge paintings, the golden pillars and the golden throne with a golden phoenix were still intact, though apparently, this wasn¡¯t how the room looked when Vaar had left. His mouth was slightly agape as he took in the scene before him before going to each individual pillar and inspecting it. Using his fingernails to scratch the gold paint off of the pillars, he read what was inscribed on the pillars. The language it was written in was foreign to Orou, but Vaar¡¯s eyes burned with fury as he revealed the writing on each pillar.


    The pillars looked to be ancient, made from different stone that the rest of the buildings in the city. The pillars had numerous scratch marks on them as well as large holes inside of them. As the gold paint came off, Orou could see that the pillars were half dyed red, though the base of the pillar was the deepest shade of red amongst them. Besides the red color, the pillars were also scorched black, though surprisingly, the spot that was scorched the most was more than six meters up the pillar. This was the case with each and every pillar and as Grizz stared ahead, his eyes widened as if he had realised something. Although he didn¡¯t say anything, his hand was nearing one of his hidden short swords and he approached Orou, carefully looking around


    Vaar approached the throne step by step, glaring at the phoenix who was perched on top of the golden throne. Orou couldn¡¯t see Vaar¡¯s hand in motion as all of the sudden, both of the phoenix¡¯s wings were torn off of its body and were tossed on the ground. Continuing his assault on the golden phoenix, his five fingers gripped its head and twisted it. The golden phoenix screeched in pain as it animated and tried to use its wings to fly away, but instead of flying away, it only made its pain much worse. Vaar completely twisted its head and after not hearing any more screeches, he threw it on the ground next to the wings. The gold melted from the phoenix¡¯s body and turned into blood, which was sucked into the golden floor they were standing on.


    As he was doing this, the Black Knights spread through the throne room and assumed the roles of the royal guards, which stood in the same position when Orou had seen the king for the first time. With a sneer on his face, Vaar sat down on the throne and beckoned the two of them to approach closer. Looking around him, he said: ¡°I¡¯ll deal with the mess here later, but for now, I need to figure out what to do with the two of you. You see, while you freed me from my exile, you have also killed one of my most loyal subjects. Though his motives still unclear to me as he could have freed me years ago, his contribution to the revolution was great.¡±


    ¡°Without him, the city is defenseless. The great barrier is what has protected this kingdom during the direst of times, but without him, it would take several weeks of sifting through his research and reading several ancient tomes to find the way to reconstruct it. Seeing that you¡¯re the people who killed him, I assign you the task of going into the Fallen Mountains and extracting the largest Blood Crystal you can find, though not smaller than the size of my fist.¡± Vaar¡¯s voice didn¡¯t hold any emotion when talking about the death of the shaman and with confidence and authority matching that of the previous king, he commanded both of them to carry out his task.


    Grizz looked like he had something to say upon hearing the task they had been assigned, but he swallowed his words as he noticed all of the Black Knights standing in position to attack them if something went wrong. Vaar noticed Grizz¡¯s discomfort, but he didn¡¯t pay any attention to it. Instead, he stood up from his throne and snapped his fingers, the blackness from his skin fading as he did so. The sickly glow unraveled itself to reveal multiple black strands, which started to weave themselves together into two black faces. First was the shape of the face, then the details and then the blood-curdling expression. Both of them shuddered as the two faces opened their eyes and stared directly at them, all the while screaming and shouting in pain.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°Of course, there should be an incentive to complete the task that I¡¯ve given you. Who knows if you decided to simply run away or not finish my task. In this case, the incentive is to live and see another day. If you aren¡¯t here after three days, the curse will take effect and within seconds, you will find your skin shriveled, your hair turned to white and the blood in your body to be completely gone. I hope you won¡¯t be so foolish to run away or return here empty-handed. Trust me, my wrath is much worse than what the curse could do to you.¡± As the king continued speaking, the faces started to approach closer and closer. Grizz¡¯s body was trembling as he kept looking around for the source of his terror, though the only thing he could feel was encroaching doom.


    The reaction from Orou¡¯s body was less intense, but he knew that the consequences of having the curse merge with his body would be unpleasant. His instincts took over as he started to create the formation for the beam of light spell, rapidly assembling the spirits in hopes that the light could dispel the tortured faces. Orou let out a sigh of relief in his head as he reached the end of his spell, the faces about to collide with their bodies. What Orou didn¡¯t account for was Vaar, who was looking at the ongoing scene with a smirk on his face. Drawing a single black strand out of his body, he aimed his finger towards Orou¡¯s head and immediately, the strand, just like a flying arrow, started soaring through the air, threatening to pierce Orou¡¯s head if he didn¡¯t do anything.


    Realising that there was no way to complete the spell before the black strand reached his body, he started to rapidly move backwards, but as the black line pierced into the ground, the face followed him at the same distance that it was before. No matter how much Orou bit at it, his attacks went through it and moments later, the screaming face merged with his body, occupying a spot in the middle of his body. Orou violently shuddered as a cold sensation spread through his body, but besides that, there was no visible effect on his body. As usual, Orou¡¯s blood core started its work, wanting to cure Orou of what was ailing him, but this time, it had finally met its match.


    When the waves collided with the shrieking face, a strange, snow white aura appeared around it, repelling the wave and chilling his body at the same time. No matter how many times the waves assaulted the face, the result was the same. For now, Orou had dejectedly accepted his fate, though he had no intention of giving up once he had escaped the palace and gotten himself far away from Vaar.


    ¡°Once you return, I¡¯ll remove the curse and grant you a position as one of my aides, so that you might help me conquer the world, starting from the human kingdom to our west. The sooner you return, the better. Now excuse me, I have a few matters of my own to deal with.¡± Vaar placed his hand on his chest and the blackness completely drained from him. In his hands, he held the familiar serpentine sword, which was infused with several black strands and surrounded with the sickly glow. Plunging the serpentine sword into the ground, Vaar started muttering something to himself, but the two of them didn¡¯t stay for long enough to find out what Vaar was doing.

 The Curse

    The two of them hastily made their way past the guards and exited out of the palace. They were greeted by countless eyes, who didn¡¯t dare to enter the palace but had enough guts to spy on it from a distance. Seeing that it was only the two of them, many heaved a sigh of relief and one beastman even approached Grizz, most likely wanting to ask him about the ongoings in the palace. Before he could get close to Grizz, he flashed the beastman a toothy grin and revealed his short sword by his side, which scared the beastman into running away at full speed.


    After that incident, no one else approached them and they made their way through the desolate streets of the city, though not towards the mountain in the distance, but instead, towards their old house. Grizz was silent throughout the journey, his facial expression changing every few minutes into something different. Lost in his own thoughts, Grizz lead them into the shop, which was surprisingly still intact, and sat down on the couch nearby, putting his arms on his head. After a few minutes, a shiver that ran through his bones woke him up from thought and after suffering through its effects, he turned to Orou.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯re away from Vaar, tell me that you can get rid of this curse. If I have to experience this every half hour, I¡¯m not even sure I could make it to the mountain, not to mention have the ability to deal with the horrors within it.¡± Throughout Grizz¡¯s speech, Orou experienced the same shudder that Grizz felt, but the effects of it were barely noticeable. As soon as the cold waves started spreading across his body, they were encircled by the blood waves and devoured, restoring warmth to his body.


    Thinking further about what he could do, he visualised where the curse was located in his body and tried to coordinate an assault on the face, commanding the blood core to do his biddings. He kept building up waves until soon after, he released them all at once to get rid of the curse once and for all. Unfortunately, the shrieking face was too resistant even to the mightiest of waves, it fought back by unleashing cold waves on its own, completely freezing and shattering the attacking waves. Orou kept on trying for multiple times, but it seemed that no matter how much he assaulted the face, it simply wouldn¡¯t give up, not weakening in the slightest throughout all of the attempts.


    Next up, he tried magic. Simply guiding the spirits didn¡¯t do anything, so Orou used the only healing spell he knew to try and get rid of this ailment. Carefully expanding the formation of the spell and including as many scintillating spirits inside of it, Orou directed the light to form directly in the middle of his body, but as the massive waves of healing light engulfed his body, he felt the face resisting in the same way that it resisted the blood waves. The healing light was a much more formidable foe as inside of him, he could feel the chilling grow weaker and the face beginning to unravel itself into black strands, but his healing spell ran out before it could completely cleanse the curse.


    As Orou kept experimenting with various ways of freeing himself, Grizz continued his speech, this time, speaking of the mountain that they were to visit: ¡°I¡¯d much rather take any other task from Vaar in exchange for not doing this one. The Fallen Mountains are the place where blood crystals are mined and many people wander into the Fallen Mountains, hoping to quickly get rich, but never returning in the process. The miners who work there only mine at the base of the mountain and even then, the purity of the crystals are abysmal. Throughout the years, technology has advanced and you can refine low and mid quality blood crystals from the common rocks there.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Orou kept listening to Grizz¡¯s tale as he started experimenting with black strands and the face. Concentrating on his core, he made it spin and rotate at an even faster pace than it was before and immediately, the effects could be seen. The black mist concentrated around his skin and started escaping upwards and sinking downwards, but even though Orou tried his best to direct the black mist to the face, it simply wouldn¡¯t listen to him. The same thing happened with the black strands, although he could see them on the outside and he knew that the face was made out of black strands, his will simply couldn¡¯t grab the face and unravel it piece by piece, the black strands were too elusive to catch.


    ¡°If we went to the base of the mountain, we would be perfectly safe, but that¡¯s not what Vaar wants us to do. He wants us to find a crystal so big, it could be extracted into several top-quality blood crystals. To do that, we would have to climb up and through the mountain, which is where so many beastman lose their lives. Strange creatures made from shadow and blood roam the mountains, attacking and slaughtering those, who encounter them. Not a lot is known about how they attack or how they look like, only rumours of them being the personification of blood crystals or the evil spirits, which haunted the once living Noble Beast.¡±


    Orou was running out of ideas as he carefully listened to what Grizz said. Orou had full confidence in himself that he would be able to get out of there alive, but simply obeying one¡¯s command wasn¡¯t in Orou¡¯s nature. No matter how much he manipulated the spirits to twist and bend and no matter how many spells he cast, nothing got him rid of the face, which almost seemed to be rejoicing in its victory over Orou. He hissed out towards Grizz, who slightly jumped in shock before sitting down once more with a wry smile on his face.


    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have no choice but to scale the mountain and do our best to find the darned crystal. Who even knows whether there¡¯s a crystal that big up there and if Vaar will complete his part of the deal, but I don¡¯t wish to find out if he was bluffing about the curse. If you get any ideas, even ideas that would seem very stupid, go ahead and try them. I¡¯d much rather suffer through your magic than scale the mountain,¡± Orou thought about what Grizz said for a few seconds and he had a few choices in the matter, perhaps ripping open his stomach and shining healing and purifying light onto the face, or perhaps even making the blood serpent assault the face, but there was a line he had to draw at inflicting harm on himself.


    If there was no other option, Orou wouldn¡¯t hesitate to try out the methods he thought of, but in his mind, Grizz was exaggerating about the horrors in the mountain, and even if he wasn¡¯t, that simply made it all of the more exciting to scale the mountain. Any unnatural creature would surely have magical nature and perhaps he would even have a chance to further study the weird blood crystals, which he was still confused on. Orou shook both his tail and his head in response to Grizz¡¯s previous suggestion and flickered his tongue towards the door, looking back and forth between Grizz and the door. With a sigh, Grizz stood up and picked up his backpack, adjusting his shortswords to be much closer to him than before. Opening the door, he stepped outside and pointed towards the large mountain in the distance, which almost seemed to be pulsing every once and again.

 Shimmering Force

    As the two of them walked down the streets, they saw the Black Knights sweeping the streets, cleaning the dead corpses off of the streets and dragging beastmen out of their hiding spots. The Black Knights relentlessly searched each house and each alley and as soon as they spotted the hiding beastmen, the only fate for the beastmen was to submit or to die. The Black Knights didn¡¯t hurt the beastmen at first, but emotionlessly asked the beastmen to follow them. No matter how the beastmen begged, the Black Knights remained emotionless, awaiting the answer with dead silence hanging in the air. Many trembled in fear simply by being near one of the knights and followed them without any resistance, but many let the fear overtake them by either fleeing or even worse, attacking the Black Knights.


    No attack could penetrate their armor and those that attacked were put down by force, either by making them gravely injured or even in some cases, killing them. Those that were killed were absorbed by the Black Knight¡¯s swords, making several small changes to their demeanor, their size and their armor and weapons. Seeing the fate of the beastmen that resisted, only the truly brave or foolish ones would try to run from knights, only to be hunted down seconds later. Vaar hadn¡¯t given them anything to distinguish themselves from common beastmen, but somehow, the Black Knights knew to not hurt them, only ignoring them as they passed by.


    Both of them made their way towards the gates, but as they did, they saw more and more cases of beastmen being captured. The strange thing was, all of them were going in a certain direction as if combing the city while walking towards a specific place in mind. Orou didn¡¯t see where the beastmen were being shepherded to, but likely, it wasn¡¯t anything good for them. Of course, there was a limited number of Black Knights to sweep the city and many beastmen had either gotten lucky or hidden too well. Those who had evaded notice tried to flee the city, but as they approached the gates, they saw the beastmen who were once fleeing towards the gates, flee from them.


    Several beastmen with black strands sticking out of them, resembling Vaar¡¯s soldiers before they were transformed to Black Knights were standing around the city, licking their lips at each beastman that tried to escape. Unlike the Black Knights who had no emotion, the soldiers didn¡¯t give the beastmen a chance to submit The black strands wildly flailed around as the soldiers started chasing beastmen, who came within sight. In fact, as the two of them stood near the gates, they saw one of the soldiers¡¯ black strands pierce the chest of one of the beastmen. Following that, the soldier¡¯s chest opened like a giant maw and chomped down on the arm of the beastmen before devouring the rest of the beastman¡¯s body.


    Orou and Grizz expected to be able to pass through without any problems, but that was not the case. One of the beastmen who had recently feasted on a beastmen turned his gaze towards the two of them. He stood still for several seconds before the black strand elongated and soared towards Orou. Reacting much faster than Orou, Grizz bent forwards and pulled out one of his hidden daggers, chucking it towards the soldier and dashing towards him, all while pulling out his two short swords. A bit later, Orou took action by using one of the simpler spells he knew, the water serpent spell. Using both of his wills to work on the formation at the same time, he conjured the water serpent in less than five seconds.Stolen story; please report.


    Orou sent the water serpent to crash with the black strand, but unsurprisingly, the black strand simply passed through the water serpent. The soldier twisted his body to dodge the dagger and using the sword by his side, he slashed towards the rapidly approached Grizz. Ducking below the swing, Grizz used both of his swords to cut at the soldier arm, who clutched his hand in pain and dropped his sword in pain. The black strand turned towards Grizz instead, but the water serpent had already reached the soldier. Using its full momentum to crash into the soldier, the water serpent bit into the throat of the beastman as well as wrapping around his head, suffocating him in the process. Wildly flailing around and struggling while unable to breathe, Grizz stabbed both of this short swords into the beastman¡¯s heart, who drew his last breath immediately after.


    As the black strand was nearing Grizz and was about to pierce through his body, it suddenly stopped and detached itself from the beastman¡¯s body. Plunging downwards into the ground, it started wriggling through the earth and travelling through the sea of black strands towards the rest of the soldiers. Using this chance to observe the black strand, Orou slithered closer and closer towards the gates, all while looking downwards and inspecting the black strand. Although he didn¡¯t notice this during Vaar¡¯s and king¡¯s battle, the black strand was struggling to make its way through the rest of the black strands.


    The black strand was quite noticeable as it swam through the rest of the black strands. Usually, he didn¡¯t really notice the shimmering force around the black strands, but when one compared a strand with it and a strand without it, it was like comparing black and white, a total contrast. As Orou looked at it, he distinctly felt that the strand was out of place, like it didn¡¯t belong together with the rest of the strands. The lone black strand was isolated by the rest of the strands and weighed down by some strange pressure. It almost sunk into the earth a couple of times, but with great difficulty, it reached one of the beastmen before merging with his body, travelling from his feet towards his shoulder, where a wild black strand was sticking out of his body.


    Before Orou had realised it, he had moved right next to one of the soldiers, who was staring directly at him. Orou bared his fangs as he controlled his blood core to spin faster, sending blood waves towards his head. As he was ready to lash out at the soldier, he noticed that neither he or the black strand was attacking. The rest of the soldiers were warily looking at Orou, raising their weapons in fear. The soldier right next to Orou nervously gulped down as he said: ¡°You may pass, my comrade was way too careless attacking you, the great serpent.¡±


    Orou dispersed the waves gathered in his body and passed through the soldiers, Grizz silently following behind him. He looked as if he was lost deep in thought and as they started walking towards the mountain in the near distance, he suddenly said to Orou: ¡°As much as I love my own race, I hope the humans win the oncoming war. These things are not beastmen, they¡¯re monsters, abominations.¡±


    Opposite to Grizz, Orou didn¡¯t find the beastmen to be weird. It was natural for every creature to hunt and to kill in order to satiate its hunger. Although feeding on their own race was uncommon, the beastmen who only fed on fruits and vegetables seemed stranger to Orou. He was fascinated by the wild black strands that were embedded within the beastmen and if he had a chance, he would gladly sit down with Vaar and learn what everything he knew about the black strands. From Orou¡¯s understanding, the black strands made up everything that was living and having the opportunity to see the black strands made him understand much more about the world around him, even though many things were still shrouded in mystery.

 Fallen Mountains

    The journey towards the mountain was longer than the two of them predicted. While the mountain looked quite close when looking at it from the city, the actual journey proved to be much longer. While Grizz had prepared the basic necessities needed to travel, Orou had grown used to the lavish lifestyle of being fed multiple times per day. He went out of his way to try and find any food he could but along the way, he saw no signs of life. This was clearly evident from the run-down road that looked like it rarely saw any travel, but besides beastmen, even animals and birds would give this place a wide berth, avoiding it like a plague.


    Orou¡¯s stomach was rumbling at the end of the first day and Orou himself was in a terrible mood. He had to leave the city because of war and although fighting was quite fun, it ruined his leisurely lifestyle of studying black strands and spells, as well as simply resting and indulging in the pleasure of eating. Besides, he wasn¡¯t here on his free will and if there was one thing he hated the most, that was being denied a choice in the matter. The least he could do was hope that there would be something to eat and something to study on the mountain, but his displeasure overcame his hopefulness.


    Grizz was strangely silent throughout the journey, whether it was because he was often lost in thought or simply because he sensed Orou¡¯s horrid mood and decided to not agitate him any further. Creating a small campfire a small distance from the road, he laid down onto the ground and closed his eyes, though he, similarly to Orou, had difficulty sleeping this night. To ease some of his displeasure, Orou decided to practice his spells, but no matter how many flashy tricks he did with the two blood serpents, he couldn¡¯t calm down. Finally, after a few hours of spellcasting, he laid down his head to rest until morning came, but even then, something wouldn¡¯t let him sleep. Whispers barely audible to Orou were on the edge of his hearing, but as he tried to make out what the whispers were saying, they quieted down, still loud enough to barely hear but not loud enough to make out the words. As soon as he stopped listening, the whispers became louder, repeating the cycle enough to drive Orou mad.


    As he lifted his head in anger and laid his eyes on the mountain in the near distance, he felt a calling to it, a strange attraction that he never knew existed within him. He had experienced this when he first laid his eyes on the mountain, but now that he was so close to it, he could very clearly feel it calling to him. As soon as he looked away from the mountain, the calling disappeared but in its place reappeared whispers. He was conflicted on which he hated more, the strange feeling or the whispers that drove him mad and he couldn¡¯t decide for quite a while, alternating between the two of them to keep his sanity intact.


    Fortunately for Orou, morning came and the sun shone over the mountain, which seemed to lessen the whispers and the calling by a considerable amount. Orou found himself beginning to hate the mountain more and more by the second, but he had to persist in his journey. The sun had begun to set before they reached the end of the road, that is, the base of the mountain. The first thing that greeted them was an old, worn down sign, which read: ¡°Foolish adventures, turn back while you still have the chance. This isn¡¯t the mountain of promise and dreams, rather, a mountain of death and carnage. You won¡¯t find riches here, but die like the rest who have tried to scale the mountain.¡± The sign was covered in dried blood, chunks of it missing with bite marks left on the sign.


    There was a single entrance to the mountain, held up by heavy wooden supports. Before the two of them entered the mountain, Grizz turned to Orou and said to him: ¡°We¡¯re not going to be scaling it like you would a regular mountain. The inside of the mountain is hollow and while the stone is jagged and uneven, it¡¯d be a much easier journey than scaling the mountain from the outside. Keep an eye out for the workers, we should ask them for information regarding the mountain. They¡¯ll likely call us foolish, but we don¡¯t have much of a choice.¡± Grizz¡¯s melancholy and thoughtfulness was gone, his eyes sharpened and he constantly scanned his environment, looking for any threats to their safety. Always holding one hand close to his short sword, he motioned for Orou to follow him.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As the two of them walked inside of the mountain, the surroundings became a lot darker. Although there was a lantern every now and then, it wasn¡¯t nearly enough to illuminate the way forward for a regular person. Of course, neither of them were regular people. Orou had the thought of conjuring a scintillating spirit to light the way for Grizz, but he was able to avoid every jagged rock along the way, all while constantly looking forwards. The stone that made up the mountain was dark-grey and the tunnel wasn¡¯t dug out evenly, instead, there were wider and shorter passages with several holes seemingly dug at random in the ground. The tunnel wasn¡¯t straight, but rather, it curved towards the left and the right every few hundred meters, making sure that navigating this path was a challenge on its own.


    After several minutes of walking through the tunnel, Orou saw the tunnel become brighter, illuminated by a blood-red light coming from the distance. What greeted them was one of the more impressive sights they had ever seen. The place was huge, glimmering with several crystals embedded within the walls, reflecting the light from the numerous lanterns lighting up the massive area in front of them. What was more impressive than the natural beauty of the jagged mountain was the technology that was used. Several huge metal machines were roaring with flames, almost deafening Orou from the sound alone. The truly strange thing was that the sound couldn¡¯t be heard within the tunnels, as if this place was isolated from the rest of the world.


    The machines were constantly in motion, the ores containing the blood crystals were moved forward from one container to the roaring machines. One of the machines was constantly in motion, crushing the ore into several smaller pieces and sending it further down the line. Next up, one of the machines would swallow the ore, making direct contact with the roaring flame inside of it, and spew out a crystal, though nowhere as bright as the crystals Grizz had in his backpack. After that, the crystal was precisely cut into shape and thrown into several more flames, ranging from blue to pure white flames.


    The once large crystal became much, much smaller, but subsequently, much purer. It was delivered to a huge metal container, which was large enough to hold thousands of these crystals, but surprisingly, the container was overspilling, filled completely to the brim. Orou wondered why he didn¡¯t see any machines like this in the main city and why a road so important to the entire empire was so rarely travelled, but as he turned to Grizz, he found him to be staring at something in the distance, completely ignoring the buzzing machines. Orou thought there would be nothing that would distract Grizz from a pile of crystals lying before him, but clearly, he was wrong. Turning his head to look at what Grizz was looking, he found that the once magnificent scene had completely turned to hell, more than fifty corpses were lying on the ground, all of them horribly disfigured.


    The ground was completely stained in blood, further enhancing the beauty of the crystals that were embedded on the ground. The beastmen that were lying on the ground were missing pieces of their flesh. The least mutilated beastman had a single bite wound on his throat, taking out half of his neck. The more mutilated beastmen didn¡¯t have a complete body, having their legs and arms torn from their bodies and torn into several shreds by some sort of horrid beast. Every single beastmen that was lying dead on the ground held an expression of horror on their faces, their eyes wide open even if death. Orou tasted blood on the air, but before he could do anything, he heard footsteps behind his back.

 Hound

    A bloody mist had formed over the machines, the bodies and the blood crystals. The stench of blood intensified even further and as Orou flickered his tongue, he could taste the blood, though it wasn¡¯t like the blood of beastmen or animals, rather, it burned his tongue. The burning sensation on the tip of his tongue snapped him out of his trance as he rapidly turned his head towards the oncoming noise, but before he could see what was attacking them, he was struck dead on. Orou felt sharp claws rake his back, leaving five deep gashes on his body, as well as a sharp pain on his neck. He felt something bite into his neck and rip out a chunk of flesh before hungrily going for another bite.


    Orou reared his head backwards and launched himself into a nearby wall, slightly injuring himself in the process, but successfully throwing the thing attached to his back off. Having no time to cast spells, Orou scanned the area with his eyes, his tail raised, ready to strike at anything that would approach him. He looked everywhere, but there was no sign of the creature anywhere to be found, at least until he looked at Grizz. He was blankly staring off into the distance, his eyes lacking any sort of focus. As soon as he saw Grizz, he also saw the creature, which was rapidly charging towards Grizz with its eyes locked on his neck.


    The creature could only be described as hideous. The creature was two meters tall and had four large legs built solely out of rock, its claws being made out of sharpened blood-crystal. Its torso was a strange mix of shadow, rock and crystal, all blending together to create what some would call a hideous abomination. Its head resembled that of a hound, built entirely out of crystal with even the smallest details visible on its face. Of course, the nearly perfect crystal face was ruined by the abnormally large teeth which jutted out of its mouth. Although they were made from the blood-crystal, that made up this whole mountain, they were several shades deeper and inside of them, Orou could still see dark blood that moved with every footstep the massive hound took.


    Seeing this thing bounding towards Grizz made Orou¡¯s heart and core practically explode with energy. Using his tail as a propellant, he directed all of his blood waves towards his tail and, cracking the stone beneath him, he launched himself into the air. It was a race to see who could reach Grizz first, but fortunately, Orou had won the race by a small margin. Just as the hound was about to take a bite out of Grizz¡¯s neck, Orou slammed head first into the hound¡¯s body, which likely hurt Orou more than it hurt the hound. Still, it accomplished Orou¡¯s objective of distracting the hound from killing Grizz. Using his tail to knock Grizz prone in one sweep, he bared his fangs at the hound before taking a closer look at it.


    From the perspective of the spirit world, the hound was nothing unique, though only after staring at it for several seconds did he realise that the hound¡¯s body didn¡¯t have a single spirit inside of it. Instead, using his black and white vision, he saw that the shadows making up the hound were similar to the black strands and the sickly glow, though distinctively much different than both. It was like a mist that was compressed together but still allowed to freely move on its own. The blood-crystals and the stone weren¡¯t ordinary either, black strands freely wove through the hound¡¯s body, moving to accommodate the hound¡¯s actions.


    Although it seemed like the hound was standing still, it was constantly moving in place, using its two hungry eyes to observe Orou for any cracks in his defense. Orou prided himself in being able to stay focused for a long time, but this time, his concentration lapsed as he heard a noise coming from his back. Turning his head to look at the noise, he recognised it as Grizz, who was finally stirring from his trance. This, however, gave the hound an opportunity to pounce on Orou. With a surprising burst of speed, the hound made its way to Orou¡¯s other side and as Orou was turning his head to look at the hound, he pounced on Orou, once more digging his sharp claws into Orou¡¯s flesh.


    This time, Orou saw that the claws were coated in several black strands and each time the hound injured Orou, it would inject some of the black strands within Orou¡¯s body. Strangely, Orou didn¡¯t feel the strands do anything and he wasn¡¯t planning on finding out. This time, instead of charging into the nearby wall, Orou lifted the lower half of his body, lifting the hound who was in process of delivering another strike. Guiding the blood-waves to his tail and amassing all of the strength from his lower body, he slammed his tail against the wall with all of his force, slamming the hound into the wall as well. The mountain wall trembled as shattered stone went flying everywhere, raining over both Orou and Grizz.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    As Orou withdrew his tail, he saw that while the hound had several cracks running down its body, it was completely fine in other regards. Retaining its original speed, it once more charged towards Oro, but this time, he was ready for the hound. Raising his tail high up, he slammed down onto the hound with all of his strength, creating another hole in the ground in the shape of a hound. This time, Orou was confident that the hound wouldn¡¯t be able to move, but once more, he was proven wrong. The hound leaped out of the hole and onto Grizz¡¯s head, digging his sharp teeth into Orou¡¯s neck.


    The hound was sucking Orou¡¯s blood the longer its teeth stayed in Orou¡¯s neck and even though Orou had large quantities of blood, he was beginning to grow faint and powerless. This time, instead of violently jerking his tail, he whipped his neck with all of his strength and even though the hound tried its best to hang on, it was launched far into the distance. Immediately, Orou got to casting spells. He didn¡¯t know how much time he had before the hound was back and if it would go for Grizz, who was still rolling on the ground, struggling to get up for some reason, so he opted out of the beam of light spell and prompted to conjure two separate blood serpents in hopes that they would be able to mess with the hound.


    It was going well until the formations were halfway done. The hound was still nowhere to be seen, but his concentration was put to the limit when he felt something in his body stir. Quickly glancing downwards, he saw and felt the strands that the hound injected in him start to mix with his blood, making his blood burn everything around it, including itself and the rest of the blood in his body. This made spellcasting almost impossible, but quickly, waves of soothing blood came to his rescue and he resumed his spellcasting. The unfortunate news was that the hound had once more caught scent of Orou and Grizz and was currently in a mad dash towards them.


    It would be a close call, but Orou had confidence in his spells. His confidence wavered when the hound was approaching the hundred meter mark from Orou, but the blood serpents appeared before the hound could take one more bite out of Orou. Sending his two serpents to bite at the hound, he was almost confident in being safe for now, but the hound once more surprised him. The black mist inside of his torso burst outwards, cloaking the hound in shadows and at the same time, giving him a burst of speed. The hound agilely avoided the blood serpents and turning the shadows into several bigger claws, he swiped towards Orou¡¯s body.


    Orou had the choice of dodging the swing, but he had worked so hard for the blood serpents that he wasn¡¯t willing to let them dissipate for now. Barely bearing through the pain to preserve his blood serpents, he felt the hound once more land on his back, this time, his claws were wreathed in shadows. Although he couldn¡¯t see the blood serpents, he didn¡¯t need to be able to see in order to give the serpents orders. Picturing the hound in all of its glory, he ordered the serpents to wrap around the hounds, in particular, to wrap around its front left leg.


    The blood serpents followed their orders to perfection, while the hound was busy with tearing open several holes in Orou with his claws, two serpents approached from its back and ambushed it. One of them charged head on towards it, knocking it off of Orou¡¯s body and making it land directly in front of Orou. Now that he could see the hound, he had a much easier time of manipulating the other serpent. It was quite a simple matter to make it wrap around the leg and as the hound struggled to get out of the serpent¡¯s hold, the other serpent joined in the fray, further wrapping around the leg and beginning to bite it.


    All at once, Orou commanded the serpents to crush the leg and over the course of several seconds, he heard the sound of rock being crushed until there was nothing left. Heaving a sigh of relief, he made the two serpents wrap around the other front leg and repeat the process, all while the hound made several ungodly noises in the process. Orou dismissed the blood serpents and looked at the hound with cold eyes, enjoying the hound¡¯s struggle to get up.


    Orou could have chosen to end its life with a beam of light, but instead, he chose the most painful way for it to die. Raising his tail high in the air, he smashed the hound into the ground, into the walls and threw it around like a toy, shaking the ground beneath them and slowly cracking the hound until eventually, the hound¡¯s crystalline face shattered and with it, the rest of the body decayed.

 Magnificent Light

    After smashing the hound into countless pieces and smashing the ground a few more times for good measure, Orou calmed down and looked all around him, scanning for any signs of danger. Although the countless dead corpses were an unsettling sight, there was nothing besides them and the machines tirelessly working in the distance. Nervously shifting around and recovering from the exhaustion of the fight, Orou slithered over to Grizz and took a closer look at him. Orou had seen Grizz snap out of his trace and his eyes regain their clarity, but regardless of that, he was still motionlessly lying on the floor.


    Slithering right next to him, he saw that Grizz was constantly twitching, proving that he was still alive. There seemed to be nothing wrong with him until Orou saw Grizz¡¯s bare arm. Blood mist had settled right next to him, silently enveloping him from all sides and tightly sticking to his body, slowly being absorbed into it. Now that he noticed the mist, he took a closer look at himself and true enough, there was a similar mist surrounding him, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye. The mist was having trouble absorbing into his skin and the mist that succeeded in doing so was instantly purged by the blood-waves, who didn¡¯t even bother to report this to their master.


    Looking at it using his black and white vision, he saw countless tiny black strands freely swimming in the mist without a single care in the world, but even if he saw the tiny strands, it didn¡¯t help him figure out how to get rid of the mist. The first thought that popped up in his head was to destroy it with the beam of light spell, but with it came the consequences of completely annihilating himself and Grizz. Deciding against that action, he started casting the spell most similar to the beam of light, that is, the healing light. This time, he very carefully modified the spell to become much larger and envelop Grizz¡¯s entire body, all while creating several simmering spirits to enhance the spell¡¯s effects.


    Orou didn¡¯t know what the mist would do to Grizz, so he did his best to speed up the process all while creating the formation as carefully as he could. Only after several minutes was he sure that the spell was as perfect as it could be, and as the formation completed itself, a dazzling light enveloped Grizz in an oval shape. He lied in the oval light for several minutes until the dazzling light started fading, revealing a completely pure and untainted Grizz. It looked like he had aged a few years backwards, once more looking like what he would look like in his twenties. His wrinkles were gone and the blemishes on his face had smoothened, his hair and fur became much darker, but at the same time, much purer.


    Most importantly, Grizz¡¯s eyes were open and the blood mist was completely gone from his body. He leaped up with surprising agility and looked at his arms in surprise, exclaiming: ¡°You¡¯re a miracle worker you know!¡± Following that, he drew his shortsword and slashed at the air all while circling around an invisible target, delivering strike after strike on his target. After a few more tests, he sheathed his sword and happily said: ¡°I didn¡¯t think I would be able to fight like that again, I feel a couple of years younger.¡±


    As long as Grizz was happy, Orou was also happy and he wondered if he cast the same spell on himself, would his scales look shinier than they already were? Deciding to test his theory, he cast the same spell multiple times to envelop each individual part of him at once and after several moments of bathing in light and feeling bliss, he looked over himself. Just as he predicted, his scales were gone of all the scratches and bite marks inflicted by the countless opponents he had once fought and the exhaustion he felt from earlier was completely gone.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to regret entering this mountain already. If you weren¡¯t there to fight off the hound, I¡¯m pretty sure I would be in the same state as the rest of the workers, that is, mauled to death by that horrid thing.¡± Grizz heaved a sigh of relief as he started going over to the scene of carnage in the distance, wanting to inspect them for something or other. Orou followed Grizz, distracted in his own thoughts. He wondered about why his spell would have such an effect now. He had cast it many times on Grizz and while he had never enveloped his entire body, his skin never changed. Now that he thought about it, his blood serpents were way stronger than he expected. Orou smashed into the hound countless times and could only crack it while the blood serpent was able to break its leg with only some difficulty. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t know the cause for this as there was no spiritual anomaly in the air.


    After some time, they arrived next to the beastmen corpses. It was truly a horrid sight as the hound didn¡¯t have any remorse towards mutilating and disfiguring the beastmen. One beastman had his face completely eaten, the other was torn into several bits and once Orou took a closer look at the beastmen, he saw the same blood mist, though much thicker, around the beastmen¡¯s bodies. It was behaving quite a bit differently than in Grizz¡¯s case, it was floating into the beastmen¡¯s wounds and coming back out a few seconds later, this time, much thicker and deeper shade of red. Some of the mist dissipated, scattering towards the nearby walls and crystals, but some of it remained to continuously circulate through the beastmen¡¯s corpses, each time drawing more and more blood from their bodies.


    After marveling about the mist for a few more minutes, Grizz got up close and personal with the corpses and the mist. He started searching through the bodies of the beastmen, digging through their pockets and opening up various containers they had with them. Orou closely inspected how the mist reacted to Grizz¡¯s hand¡¯s, but luckily, it didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest, only continuing to do repeatedly fulfill its task. It was a long and arduous process, but after the better half of an hour, he came back to Orou with a frown on his face. His hands were covered in blood and so was the rest of his armor, but that didn¡¯t stop him from laying his hands on Orou and petting him for his own happiness. Of course, this meant that his shiny and pristine new scales were covered in blood and it took all of Orou¡¯s will to resist slithering away.


    ¡°There should be a map of the mountain somewhere around here. It contains the explored parts of the mountain so we won¡¯t be able to rely on it to climb the entirety of the mountain, but it should set us in the right direction and let us hopefully avoid any more of those hounds. None of the beastmen were carrying the map on them, so there should be another place they kept it.¡± After smudging some more blood on Orou¡¯s scales, he stood up and exclaimed to Orou, pointing forwards with an uncertain expression on his face. There were more tunnels towards their east and west, though there weren¡¯t any signs of one path being used more than others, not simply by looking at the rocks beneath them.


    Orou was rather distressed by Grizz¡¯s uncertainty as fighting more than one of those hounds would prove to be very challenging to Orou, but there was no way to turn around now either. Following behind Grizz, the two of them started slithering down another long and jagged tunnel, hoping to find some sort of sense of direction in this place.