After Momo left to give their report to the Creator, the Speaker and her group proceeded south towards Mount Morningstar. Apep was amazed when the werewolves began telling him about the Red Creator and what the crystal could do. He demanded to be part of the group and the Speaker wasn’t going to fight him on it.

Seeing how he was changed, it would probably be a good thing for him to see his creator. Apep was less than happy when the Speaker told him her belief that his new condition was due to the red crystal and while Kinshra had some worries about his reaction when they finally meet, the Speaker didn’t share her doubts. There was a time when the Speaker was actively hunting her Creator but once she was changed, she never had any thoughts of hurting the floaying crystal that gave her a new life. The Speaker didn’t know if this was a natural by-effect of the change or something the Creator enforced, but she had no doubts Apep would not be able to hurt his creator.

What really worried her were the other creatures on the Southern Homeless Plains. After meeting Apep, the Speaker now believed the energy wave that swept through the Southern Homeless Plains was not one of destruction, but one of transformation. Somehow the Red Creator had sent the wave out of Mount Morningstar and it probably had changed most, if not all, the creatures it touched. The problem was that now there were hundreds, if not thousands, of changed creatures throughout the land and all of them would be as confused as Apep was when they first met.

The creatures had no idea what’s going on, what happened to them, or why it happened! They would be scared, angry, and would probably lash out at anything and everything that’s different from them. They would be a danger to others as well as to themselves. Considering the various unknown powers they would have gained from their change, that’s a worry to everyone. Not for the first time, the Speaker had to wonder about the Red Creator. Although she accepts that she was a lower life-form to the Creators, she always had a feeling of it been a little too haphazard for comfort. The sense of unease about the Red Creator was something she had always kept to herself and she now wonder if it was a good thing that the Creators separated.

Despite Apep’s protests, the group had been travelling slowly and carefully through the land. There was no telling what changes had occurred and Kinshra was taking no chances. One of the things they learned from Apep was that while many things in the land had changed, the water sources had not. Apep say his regular watering hole looked unchanged and the Speaker believed the same could be said of the others. The Red Creator favored fire and as water was the natural opposite of it, the Speaker believed the wave created by the Red Creator either would not or could not affect water. As the group travelled south, Kinshra made sure they stopped for water regularly and at one of them, the group found that they were not alone.

The bonfires may be able to give energy but hunger and thirst still need to be quashed and the Speaker knew it was just a matter of time before the group met with another group. A group of dogs was at the hole and although Apep never met their kind before, the Werewolves had. They were slightly bigger than normal dogs and had sharp horns on their heads. Their claws were long and sharp like daggers, and they possessed huge sharp teeth. Red fiery lines could be seen on their bodies and if you look carefully, you could see smoke coming out of the dogs’ mouths. The Speaker knew from experience these dogs could release fire from their mouths and for that reason, the Creator named them Hellhounds.

The Speaker was unsurprised by the fact that the other creatures in the land had been changed like Apep; what slightly surprised her was how aggressive the pack was. The pack of hellhounds growled the moment they saw the group and several of them immediately spread out, trying to surround the Werewolves. The Speaker and Kinshra were caught out by this. They had expected to be able to share the watering hole with the pack of hellhounds without any problems but it was obvious this pack was wild and very nervous. Before there was time to defuse the situation, the hellhounds attacked.

The hellhounds were quick and coordinated. One of the hellhounds shot fire right into the center of the group. The Werewolves dodged left and right to avoid the flames, and the rest of the hellhounds jumped in to attack. As quick as they were, the Speaker wasn’t worried. The Werewolves were far more experienced and outside Apep, her group knew what to expect from the hellhounds. The hellhounds didn’t know what to expect from the Werewolves.

As one of the hellhounds jumped to attack her, the Speaker lightly stepped to the side and avoided the attack. As the hellhound jumped past her, the Speaker swung her claws and aimed for the body of the hellhound. Blood spilled and the hellhound landed in a heap. The Speaker was on it before the hellhound could recover and killed it with a bite to the neck. As the hellhound was dying in her mouth, she looked around and saw that her group had the battle well in hand. A hellhound shot a breath of fire at Kinshra who simply shadowstep behind the hellhound. The hellhound was shocked by this and the hesitation proved fatal as Kinshra came from behind the hellhound, grabbed it’s head and twisted till she heard the snap of the neck. On the other side of the battle, another hellhound was killed by a Werewolf and that was it. The pack immediately turned and ran.

“What in the name of the 99 Gods are those?”

The Speaker saw the wide eyes of Apep and couldn’t help but smile. A few winters ago, she was just like him but now, after seeing so many strange creatures, seeing a pack of wild hellhounds in a land of ash was almost normal.

“Those are called ‘hellhounds’. They were created by the Red Creator from dogs.”

“Dogs?” Apep asked. “You mean this spirit matrix can create from animals as well as humans? And you seem these ‘hellhounds’ before?

“The Creators are more than simple spirit matrixes and no, I never seem these hellhounds before. The pack was wild and feral; mostly likely they were a pack of dogs that got hit by the wave just like you were. Also dear Apep, the Creators could create from anything they want. My Creator once created an underground forest deep within the Keg Mountains so these animals and plants are all…”

The Speaker stopped speaking as the group notice a red streak in the sky. Something was flying in the air. By itself, that wasn’t anything unusual but the object flying was coming towards them and more importantly, although it was still some distance away, the thing flying looked like it was on fire!

After a few more moments of silent waiting, it became clear that the flying object was heading their way. Not knowing the powers of the object, Kinshra ordered the group to get into formation. The Speaker and Kinshra stood behind a big male Werewolf named Darmin who was acting as the vanguard. Apep stood behind the duo at the rear of the group while the remaining 2 Werewolves spread out to either side.

The flying object was travelling at a fast speed and as it got closer, the Speaker saw that the object really was on fire. She also realized she was slightly mistaken. It wasn’t an object flying through the air; it was two! More accurately, it looked like one creature running/flying through the air and the other one was riding on the back of the flying creature.

When they landed, the rider got off the flying creature and the Speaker got her first good look at them. The first creature was a muscular male who was clearly no human. Although he was standing upright like a normal human, his skin color was reddish in color and there were ridges on his face and arms. Two horns were protruding upwards on the top of his head and they curved back like the horns of rams. He had a short skinny tail that strangely had an arrowhead at the end it and was rubbing his hands in glee. It was as if he just found some great treasure. The other creature was even more fantastic.

The flying creature looked a little like an unicorn with a horn on it’s head but the creature had scales covering parts of it’s body and head. It had a beard and choven hoofs that seems to create sparks whenever they touched the ground. However what truly caught the Speaker’s eyes was the creature’s mane that was flowing strangely upward. After a moment of clarity, the Speaker realized it wasn’t really a mane. They were flames! The creature had flames coming out of the back of it’s head! Not only that, the other creature was riding on that flying flaming horse! Any small doubts the Speaker had about the two creatures were answered; these two had to be creatures made by the Red Creator.

The muscular human-like creature stepped forward but he was ignoring the Speaker. In fact, he was ignoring all the Werewolves. He only had eyes for Apep. He smiled, showing off his sharp teeth.

“How do you do, brother? I am Doxuhr. May I know your name?”

The Speaker could feel Apep staring at the back of her head. She kept still, hoping the mage would play along. Luckily for her, he did.

“I am called Apep; Apep Daybluff. What are you and what’s going on?”

The creature’s smile got bigger. “Good! Good! Good! Finally! Someone who hadn’t gone crazy with the rebirth…!”

“Wait! WHAT?”

The creature’s smile faltered slightly at Apep’s loud interruption but he quickly rallied. “No, no, no; not to worry! You are not crazy. You have just been reborn and…”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOING CRAZY?”

The Speaker was seriously thinking of taking over right now but decided it was too late to change anything. At least the creature was trying to calm Apep…

“Oh no, don’t worry about my murmuring. I murmur all the time and you know what they say about people who murmur right? Fast lips; loose words; no meaning. Let us start again okay?”

The words came in a rush and the Speaker began to have a sneaking suspicion about the creature. With the Kin, their Creator usually used animals or small human children for the change. The Speaker was an exception to the rule, being a human adult before becoming a Werewolf. The Speaker suspect that rule may not apply to the Red Creator. The creature gave the group a theatrical cough and began again.

“Congratulations! Apep Daybluff, you are a lucky, lucky man. You have been chosen by our fiery Master to receive it’s great gift of power and glory. The Great Flames of our master is a gift that…”

“GIFT? WHAT GIFT? THIS ISN’T A GIFT! IT MADE ME A MONSTER!”

“Not just any monster sir, but a Delightfully-Entertaining-Monster.”

“A…a delightful what?”

The creature smiled embarrassingly at Apep and explained. “That’s what we’re called. Our master has a tendency to give us long winding names but not the worry, we just call ourselves…the D.E.M.O.N.S!”

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