The lock of the door leading to the house of one of the slave traders clicked a few times before giving up and opening. It was pushed from outside, lightly and slowly in order to not cause any sound which could wake people inside. But, the merchant was quite rich and petty when it comes to the matter of his own luxury. Each and every door, metal joint and even wooden panels on the floor were either lubricated or adjusted to work as silently as possible. This pettiness was a blessing for every thief that wanted to walk in.

The man with a hood over his head hid the lockpick in his pocket and double-checked the doorframe. He located a spring mechanism and with a quick movement of his hand, he disarmed the trap. Then, he nodded to his companions that were still hiding in the darkness of the night. Three masked thugs entered the house, one stayed in front of it keeping the guard, ready to warn his comrades in crime about any possible threat.

They were acting quickly, knowing that their time is limited. They decided to split up in order to speed up their search. One of the men located the hatch in the corner of the kitchen leading to the basement – originally the supply room, on regular basis the room where slaves were living – in darkness, coldness suffering hunger and humiliation. The second man checked the other rooms on the floor while the last one headed toward the stairs and later – bedroom.

The last man was a member of the nomadic cat-men tribe, moving without a sound, like a shadow - this ability was something he was born with. Without waking the merchant, he approached his bed, picked a dagger and quickly sliced his throat. Not too deep in order to avoid instantly killing him, but not too shallow either so he couldn’t even scream for help. The man woke up with the gurgling sound, as if he was drowning, because, he indeed was – he was constantly having his blood flooding his lungs.

“You are lucky, swine, for that’s the slowest death I can bestow upon you - if it was different time and place I would make sure you would be suffering for days… unfortunately, we still have to visit few of your neighbors so…” “Kahei, the fuck are you doing? Don’t waste time talking with a dead man! Haiijo already released those who were trapped in the basement, we are moving to the next target! Swiftly!” “… sorry. It’s one of my many weaknesses, the man that owned me was talking all the time, literally couldn’t shut the fuck up. I think I just want to pay them with the same before they die…”

As if just waiting for him to finish, the man stopped moving, his fingers still gripping the sheets of his bed.

“Congratulation. Your romantic date is over. Can we go?” “Killjoy…” a small explosion could be heard from a distanced place in the merchant district “Looks like we have been spotted. Lion tribe will cause havoc and focus the attention of the guards. We have to leave. Now.” “But there are still other…” “We won’t help them! We have to make sure that those that we already released will leave the city, otherwise, everything we did tonight will be in vain!”

Cat man hissed in helpless fury but eventually nodded in agreement.

“If we could save just one more…” “You will save no one if you would die, brother. Now go!...” “OVER HERE! THIS HOUSE! SOMEONE BROKE IN!”

Voice of humans, most likely guards, could be heard from the outside, followed by sound-sign made by their companion on the outside of the building. They were located.

“I will buy you some time! Now go!” “But…” “GO! YOU IDIOT! I will join you shortly! Save these kids!”

Cat man was pushed out of the building throught opened window by his companion, he felt into the thick bushes next to the mansion getting scratched badly but with no serious injuries. As he got up he noticed group of six heavily armored guards entering the house. There is no way that his friend will leave it unscratched… or leave at all.

Bloody humans!

Someone grabbed his hand and pulled away

“Come! We have to leave!” Haiijo, the lizardman hissed in half-worshiper “But Stettew!” “We won’t help him now! Don’t waste his sacrifice! We still have the job to do!”

With a gesture of his head, he pointed toward a group of recently freed slaves, mostly kids, holding close to one another, confused, scared.

“… one day… they all shall pay!…” “Then don’t be a fool and live long enough to see that day coming! Live long enough to MAKE that day come!”

With another helpless nod and tears in his eyes, thugs left the mansions, moved toward the back alley, located a manhole leading to the sewers and entered it, leading the group of kids to safety. Using the underground they managed to move toward the opposite end of the city – the slums, and emerged from darkness… just to encounter a not-so-small squad of guards already waiting for them.

“As expected. You thought you would use the infrastructure of OUR town against us?! You are still animals in your heads…” another small explosion, and screams and yells of fighting “… you hearing that? Do you know what is this sound? It’s your kin dying on the streets, like turds you are! But fear not, you will join them shortly! For this act of violence, we don’t have to capture you…”

The man speech was disturbed by cheerful humming, the sound approached them from the side, as everyone turned their heads in that direction, they noticed an exotic looking kid. Slightly darkened skin contrasted with his light hair and toxic green eyes. A human, at first glance.

“Kid? Boy!? What are you doing here!? Leave, now! It’s dangerous here!” the guard officer panicked, for a split of second the cat man was wondering if he would manage to jump to the kid and take him as a hostage, but something told him not to move. The air around this kid, he smelled like blood and conflagration.

His eyes changed instantly, turning into vertical slits, he smiled widely showing abnormally sharp teeth. He was chewing on something - something bloody.

“… another subhuman…” officer hissed disgusted “… READY YOUR WEAPON LADS!”

The side of formation lowered their spears toward the boy, the second row of soldiers holding crossbows aimed at this seemingly innocent boy.

“It’s so fun… Just as Kaero said… SO MUCH FUN!” kid almost sang like a bird with a tone full of delight.

The marksmen pulled the triggers and ten bolts flew toward the boy that kept on approaching the guards.

Cat man wanted to scream, to yell , yet he couldn’t muster voice from his throat. The world slowed down, he could see the mosquito flying near the tip of one of the arrows being pushed aside by the impact of the projectile. And he could see the eyes of the kid, moving at an abnormal pace.

He moved to the side letting the first bolt fly past his face almost paying no attention to it, yet he smiled even wider.

For gods! This smile! His opened mouth covered more than half of his face showing colossal jaws. He dropped on all four letting the other two bolts harmless fly above his head before he charged on the group of every thirty men, like an animal.

The rest of the bolts dug in the ground as he avoided them moving in a zig-zag patterns.

He shortened the distance between them drastically in a blink of an eye, stopping two or three meters away, just outside of the spears reach.

“First, remove the stinger…” kid hummed.

Insectoid wings grew on his back adding to the power of his vertical jump, once he was directly above the squad, from sides of his hand's small needles grew out and were shot down digging painfully in the flesh of the archers as he landed on the opposite side of the squad.

“…Then, crack the shell open…”

His body instantly got covered by the black, dense chitin armor, awfully long horns appeared on his forehead as his whole body became bulkier. He charged right into the middle of the team. Spearmen tried piercing the creature, yet their weapon shattered on wide plates, missing joint cracks.

The first man was nailed on the horn, lift off the ground and send on the opposite side of the street. Hitting wall of the house he shattered his skull dying from the impact on the spot.

The beast danced between helpless guards, kicking, stabbing hitting with body mass ten times bigger than a fully equipped soldier.

“Remove the fangs…” Four elite swordsmen which were standing around the officer as his last line of defense died one after another completely helpless. Beast morphed again into much more agile type, even though they were trained by best of the best, they couldn’t land a single attack.

The kid approached the trembling officer with his mouth big enough to swallow him whole opened is a devilish grin.

“… serve still warm….”

Cat man couldn’t hear what the officer was yelling. Was he cursing or begging? The words mixed together as this “innocent kid” started feasting on him.

“Good appetite… I messed up, you are supposed to say that before eating! Sister Lana will scold me for bad manners again!” back to his child-like form creature appeared frightened for a moment. “My liege!...” from the same alley that previously little devil emerged Kaero – wolfman, leader of the beast-men from the slums. “… my liege! We had a plan! We were supposed…” he noticed the scenery.

The group of slaves, the kid, the carnage…

“… you saved them… I beg for your forgiveness, my king! I misjudged the situation! P-please! Carry on!” “Kaaeerooo!...” the child sang “… you were right! It’s sooo fun! Big brother never let me play like that! He was saying it’s too dangerous! But look! They are sooo weak! Sooo disgustingly weak! And you said that weak are food for the strong! You were right, and big brother was wrong! For the first time!...”

He laughed in the air, it was such a grotesque, cheerful, innocent laugh – so very unfitting their current situation.

“… it feels sooo right to do so… So right to be feared! To be worshiped… maybe you were right indeed? Maybe I was meant to be a king…”

For a split of a second he became confused, he gazed into an empty location far away lost in his thoughts.

“… but, what about brother then?...” he said to himself, so quietly that nobody else could hear him “…isn't he stronger? He is. Then why am I doing what he is supposed to? Why isn’t he leading the purge of this corrupted world? The world ruled by weaklings? It’s not right… so very not right… Was it the reason we were born? Were Kim supposed to do what Brother refused to do?...”

He didn’t notice he started talking about himself in plural form.

“Kim were meant to rule. We were meant to fix it… yes… we are evolution… Kim are the cureeee. Brother was mistaken… was he mistaken? He was right each and every time… until now. One mistake proves that one is not perfect. He may be close to perfection, but not just there… until Kims make mistake… will Kims be perfect? Kims are perfect. Yesss…” “My king?” “Kim made a decision. Carry on the purge…” “But what about the kids and women?” “Kids… vital for the survival of the genes. Vital for evolution. Women, critical for the case. Women have a higher status as life-givers than males as mere seeders. Higher priority. Securing critical… Change of priorities. Eradication of lesser race is being marked as a lower impact task. Relocate vital members of society outside of the city. Secure their retreat, become a decoy. Cause as much havoc as possible. Then, retreat, regroup, prepare for further actions.” he, as a creature, might be lacking senses of sanity or common knowledge, but his art of fighting and survival was a cluster of memories of hundreds of creatures. His sense of strategy was similar to those of greatest commanders, thought he was lacking the wording. “As you command my lord!” wolfman bowed before looking in direction of cat-man “… WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Didn’t you hear his majesty orders! We will be your distraction! Lead kids and women to the forest!” “I-it will be done… But, Kaero, who is that thing… that… creature?” “Speak with respect. He is the blessing that came down from havens as the answers to our prayers. He is the one that was bound to come…” but… it was impossible… he was but a fairytale told among slaves to give them a glimpse of hope “… he is the divine that shall purge the world. Hail the one that shall feast on the impurity of this world. Hail the Devourer!”