The Daemon races have a heritage that dates as far back as the Draoidh. They were once a cute people and looked fondly upon by our people. An Imp, the weakest type of Daemon, was a genius of its people and would have been even among Draoidh. It climbed to power with such hate and bitterness toward all other peoples. Because of that, he became a god, equivalent to a primordial, and corrupted those cute daemons into becoming absolute devils. Creatures filled with the purest hate and an urge to destroy. Every one of them became agents of chaos. Do not underestimate the Daemon.

~Cailleach, the Veiled Hag of Winter

Nin remained mum after her statement, but Crow felt his hackles rising. He wasn’t sure whether to keep going or prepare for a fight. Nin was unlike Mara in that she didn’t have a protective nature and, as a dragon, forego all strategies. Instead, her method was more direct—kill them all.

After an hour of nothing showing itself, they silently agreed to move on. That monolith in the daylight was quite impressive. Because of the distance, Crow hadn’t realized that it was rotating until the symbols changed on him. The last problem was that his visibility when the sun was high in the sky was worse than at night. The shimmering heat from the Fireheart Oak—a name he came up with—distorted everything. It was the reason they decided to sleep during the day.

Fireheart Oaks changed as the sun hit its zenith, and those black-flamed leaves turned into a raging inferno. The flames flared up and transformed into an almost entirely white flame with some orange flickering within. Crow wasn’t totally sure what to make of it, as the tree in his Soulscape didn’t do that. Then again, his Soulscape didn’t have a sun like the one here.

“You think these trees are keeping beasts away?” Nin asked at one point, and Crow almost forgot that she was pretty intelligent, despite her petulant moods.

After that first week, Lily didn’t even fly around anymore. The heat during the day almost melted her wings off, so now his scout was only handy during the night. Still, the moment Nin recognized something, Lily flew off and only just returned. Her animated gesture and rough appearance nearly caused Crow to laugh at how adorable she was.

Still, she looked a little frantic, so he didn’t feel that now was the time to make fun. Before he could really start understanding, Nin was already turning toward where Lily had come from. Even Crow could hear the ruckus headed their way.

A worm burst out from the foliage, and riding on it was a man, but his presence faded everything about him to a dull, lifeless gray. It was as if life and color were sucked away by its very presence, and Crow sucked in his breath sharply at its appearance. It was a Bodach Glas, a type of Daemon or bogeyman. Most often classified as a type of goblin, or at least a derivative of those creatures. Besides, the pointy ears that rose above their head were a distinctive trait of all goblins. Most goblins were half the size of a human, but not Bodach. These creatures were still shorter than humans, but not by much.

The more common name for this creature was a Death Goblin, but a more ancient name labeled them as the Gray Men. It was because of their ashen skin, and their clothing was a smoky or dark gray color. They also wore circular flat hates with a broad circular brim. However, they created small slits in the brim to allow their ears through, not willing to hide that distinctive feature. Crow suspected they did that to create fear or panic in those it confronted. The dark gray trench coat was the last piece of clothing that stood out, and this one had his slit in the back to accommodate his mount.

Crow quickly deposited all his spare weapons and anything shiny into his Vortex Pin. The only thing he left out was his bow and a single quiver of arrows. Bodach, like their goblin counterparts, were attracted to anything shiny or colorful. They used this as a reason to attack and steal from their prey.

The crucial difference was that the Bodach Glas were attracted to death and usually appeared in places with a lot of it, like battlegrounds or crypts. Many generals would withdraw from the battlefield an hour before nightfall, afraid that the Bodach Glas would appear during the confrontation. They had a penchant for appearing right at dusk and didn’t care if they stole from the living or the dead.

These creatures were part of the Daemon race, and like most of the small creatures from there, they were relatively weak. Crow was sure they had cultivation methods to get stronger, but this one was equivalent to a mortal human. In other words, he wasn’t too worried about it unless it was in a pack. It was their numbers that made them dangerous. The thing that worried him the most was the worm.

Crow initially thought it was a type of earthworm that potentially turned into a beast through some random event. He was wrong. It had a segmented chitinous shell, and he knew it was a Machaeridia. This worm predated the earthworm and might even be considered its ancestor. It was rumored to have been extinct, but there were some old drawings of it, and he knew he wasn’t wrong this time.

Its speed was enough to send chills down his spine. The way it condensed its body to slide forward allowed it to gain powerful bursts of speed. Crow was sure they couldn’t outrun it, but it wasn’t like a snake where it could adapt its surge forward. The chitin limited its movement because once it condensed itself, the chitin overlapped, limiting it to one direction—straight ahead. Once extended, it could move about freely, but it exposed the gaps in the armor that covered its body.

Despite the current danger, he couldn’t help but marvel at how powerful a simple beast like this was. He’d never have thought to use it as a mount and wondered how the Gray Man did it.

Not losing himself to his thoughts, he waited for the thing to surge forward and released a continuous barrage of arrows. Three of them were already in the air before he inhaled again. Two went for the worm, while the last one went toward the little Daemon. Crow ignored the worm, mostly because he knew, like the earthworm, that he could cut it in half and it’d still survive. What he wanted was for it to squirm about to distract the Gray Man.

Even with that planning, the Bodach Glas still avoided the kill shot. Instead, he dodged to the side and took the arrow through its shoulder. What he hadn’t expected was the keening screech that bellowed out from the damned creature.

Nin, at some point, had snuck around to the side, and as it screeched, she rushed forward. A mighty roar escaped her mouth before she spewed Dragonfire, and fire akin to plasma covered rider and mount. She silenced the Bodach Glas within seconds, its mouth filled with that overbearing fire. The worm flopped around before trying to burrow into the ground. However, how could it know that Nin was an Emerald Dragon, whose fire was also part of the earth itself?

It didn’t make it into the ground before he stopped thrashing, and then silence filled the small clearing.

“Turn away,” Nin said, her cheeks flushed. Crow was unsure why she asked that but did as told. Not long after, he heard the sounds of crunching and munching and swallowed hard.

Was she eating that thing? He couldn’t associate the sounds he was hearing with anything else and was too afraid to turn around and confirm it. After about fifteen minutes, the sounds stopped, and he heard her burp. It was a small, dainty sound, but he was sure he didn’t mistake it.

“Okay, I’m done…” Nin said, and Crow turned to find that the worm was gone, but the Gray Man was still a charred mess. Seeing his wary eyes, she just shrugged. “I wasn’t lying about eating you. A dragon needs a lot of food. It is how we build up our power. Using Dragonfire emptied some of my reserves, and I haven’t had fresh meat in quite some time. I’m practically starving.”

“I’m… sorry,” Crow muttered, unsure why he was sorry, but he felt she was accusing him of not being attentive toward her needs. If that was true, it really was an oversight on his part. “If you have, uhm, needs, please let me know in the future.”

“This doesn’t bother you?” She asked and was both curious and grateful.

“I’ve seen your soul. Do I need to doubt you?”

Nin smiled and rushed toward him, throwing her arms around his neck, and moved in to kiss him. Crow’s hand went up between their faces, and he coughed nervously.

“Maybe we can do that after you’ve cleaned your mouth,” Crow’s face flushed. Lily fell from the sky and landed on Crow’s shoulder, but they both saw her laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face. She rolled over onto her side with one hand holding onto her belly and the other pointed at Nin. Her antics were infectious, and Crow was trying not to laugh with her. He coughed a few times to cover himself, but Nin glared at him.

While they were playing, they heard the screech of another Gray Man heading toward them. It was only at that point they realized the one they’d just killed was calling for help. They all stopped laughing and turned and ran toward the monolith. Lily guided them on a path she discovered, but it wasn’t a direct line to where they were headed. However, it was much easier to follow, and they made much faster time than trying to make their own way.

Two days later, the sounds of the blundering worm and screeching Gray Men disappeared. It was a harrowing experience because they realized hours after that the number of Gray Men around them wasn’t small. Unsure what had made this trail, they stepped further into the forest to make camp. They were still forced to eat cold rations because none of them had found the source of another food—well, except for Nin. While he ate his rations, she’d have Lily help her hunt.

While he sat there eating and waiting for them to return, he heard the sound of wings. Looking toward the sky, he wondered what kind of beast could fly in that scorched sky.

Caw-caw-caw!

Crow nearly lost control of his bowels as a shadowy three-headed blackbird landed on a branch near his head.

“Why are you here?” Crow asked, trying to calm his racing heart and the bit of panic that crept into his body.

*Does the little mortal not welcome us?* The Sluagh asked, and he could sense that it was amused.