About a week after the first meeting between Mageon and Ogon. In a clearing just by the edge of Ogon village and Feytale forest, a brood of hens was frolicking around. The black, brown, and white hens were clucking, scratching at the ground and doing things hens normally do. In the middle of their brood stood a proud rooster, keeping a watchful eye on his ladies, just like roosters normally do.

What was not normal in this situation was that the rooster in question was the size of a dog and that he was idly chatting with a murder of crows that were occupying the nearby trees and bushes. The crows kept a respectful distance from the hens that got nervous if they came too close. The distance between the talkers was solved by talking extra loud. These birds were experts on being loud.

"Is it not degrading? To be at the center of such a brainless bunch?"

"Is it not embarrassing? To have lost your black feather gown?"

"Is it not a scam? A trick? And an insult? To have traded the visage of our kin for the flightless feathers of a rooster?"

The crows spoke quickly as usual. One saying something new directly after the other had shut its beak. It had a rhythm to it, the way the Fright-crows spoke. The way they weaved sentences with each other as if writing a book. The rooster they spoke to, Norman, flicked his long tail feathers that lay around him on the ground like a pond of feathers and the hens clucked and looked at him with awe.

"These wings might fly as well as they once did, but they fly none the less, kaw. And while your long beaks and silky black gowns are sharp and handsome in their own way, my gown flows further and with more vibrant colors, kaw."

"Black and white are not colors, you fool!"

"Black and white does not hide you from sight, you fool!"

"I have no need to hide, kaw. I am beautiful and graceful now and I wish for all to watch me in awe as I stride, kaw."

Norman bristled his feathers, forming a mane around his neck and chest. He then took some graceful steps around in a circle, earning many approving noises from the hens.

The crows did not look impressed.

"You might still fly but you cannot keep up with your kin, no more."

"You fall behind and fly out of sync. How will you attack and defend without our aid? Those lowly hens have neither speech nor mind to fight for you."

"Are you not exposed now? Are you not arrogant and blind?"

Norman scoffed and peered at them scornfully with his red little eyes.

"I am evolved, kaw. I stand at the front of my flock now, kaw. These ladies need not fight for me, for I will keep them safe from harm, kaw!"

The crows muttered and shifted on their branches. What neither side of the argument had noticed, was the human man sneaking up on the brood. Perhaps this was an opportunity for Norman to prove his point? A jagged knife glinted in the man's hand as he snuck through the bushes towards the rooster that had his back turned to him. One of the crows bent its head and saw movement. The next second the bushes exploded as the man charged forward. The hens screeched in fright and Norman whirled around, sweeping his long gown of feathers through the air. The many patterns of his feathers formed a dizzying spectacle as he locked eyes with the human and noticed the knife, not an arm's length away from his head.

"MONSTER!" was the word the man screeched as he aimed at the rooster, but the word ended in a choked noise and the knife met a hard surface of equal strength.

Clang!

A long talon, perhaps 30 centimeters long, had shot out from under Normans feather-clad foot and met the knife as it came swinging down. The man, on the other hand, didn't even notice the talon. His gaze was fixed on the still moving patterns of Norman's feathers. White and black danced around each other in complicated patterns. To follow one speck of color as it swirled around was near impossible and made the man's head hurt, yet he could not tear his eyes away.

The other talons of the defending foot slid out from under the feathers and met the blade as well. They bent and clutched the knife, then with a flick, removed it from the human's hand and dropped it on the ground. Norman's eyes were fixed on the human's face.

The crows watched in fascination as Norman put his talons together and then thrust them through the man's throat. The human gurgled and fell to the ground, eyes still locked on the dancing patterns. Norman's neck extended as he pulled the man's face closer to his. Then he opened his beak, and something shifted under the feathers of his face. The sides of his face parted and the corners of his beak stretched and continued into a fleshy maw, running the entire length of his long neck. Jagged teeth glinted in the previously hidden part of his maw and a red tongue flicked inside. The dead man was pulled into the maw, face first, then the "rooster" began swallowing him like a snake would.

The crows watched in silence but their surprise and approval of the spectacle were clear to see. The hens had lost interest as soon as the man died and gone back to pecking at the ground or grooming their feathers. After Norman finished his grizzly meal, the conversation continued.

"You are no mere rooster are you, brother?"

"You held secrets from us, didn't you, brother?"

"Tell us what you've become, brother!"

Norman closed his maw and retracted his talons, returning to his almost normal rooster appearance.

"I did spend some days as a lowly rooster, kaw. A 'Cursed Rooster' Maker called it, kaw. A sort of larval state to what I am now, kaw."

Norman made a dramatic pause and blew up his chest with pride as the crows jumped up and down on their branches, going "Tell us! Tell us!".

"I am now a juvenile Basilisk, kaw. I have the Skill [Trick of the eye], kaw. It lets me trick and harm others as they gaze upon my glorious visage, kaw. Hypnotic beauty, ah so very deadly, kaw."

Norman chuckled and turned so that his bloody gown of feathers glistened in the sunlight. The crows "ooh"-ed and "aah"-ed much like the hens had done earlier. The conversation resumed and the birds chattered away happily, completely unaware of the human sitting in the bushes staring at them in horror.

Peter Coaler opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, not able to believe what he had just seen. Mort had been all too eager to fight the monsters and it had only taken a little bit of coaxing for Peter to get him running after the beasts, knife in hand. He'd stayed behind to let Mort do the bloody work. Not because he was afraid of the monsters. No, he had a reputation as a guard to uphold and going against the Mayor's orders by attacking the dungeon beasts would have made him look bad.

Killing an overgrown rooster was perhaps not the most glorious achievement but it was the only exposed monster they'd found. It had looked weak, strutting around on the ground with the village's chickens and talking nonsense with the crows. Yet it had killed Mort in an instant, without getting a single injury. Peter was terrified. He should have chosen a rat instead. Those pests were everywhere and they would have counted as monsters. Then the other monsters would have gotten mad and attacked someone in revenge, which in turn would prove Peter right. They were violent monsters, tricking the others with lies and imitations. He only needed to make the other villagers understand...

Fanv was hanging around the town square. It was one of the few places in the small village that had paved ground. Some merchants had raised stands in some corners. Benches stood steady on the cobble, either alone or in stacks, waiting to be used during festivals and celebrations. One lone bench stood just by the big well in the center of the square and Fanv sat on it lazily. Villagers were bustling about, tending to their daily tasks and few paid her much attention. Sure, there were some side-glances and frowns but most people had pretty much grown used to her being back from the dead. Back from the dead, a evolved werewolf and leader of the sentient monsters of a hidden dungeon. Fanv didn't mind the stares, they were justified...

A flicker of movement caught her eye in the crowd. One of her pups, Kellan, was skulking around in the crowd. Fanv squinted her eyes at the young man. He was wearing dark linen clothes, most likely made by some villager and traded for something else. Black hair and sharp green eyes, a second set of eyes under the main set. He kept the second set of eyes shut much like most of the other pups, either to imitate their mother or to look more human. The "normal" set of eyes were the only ones with long eyelashes and defined eyelids. The "extra" eyes were set deeper in the skin and when closed, became almost invisible if one didn't look too close. This and the fact that only a few of the visvargs grew horns like Fanv's in their human form allowed most of the pups to hide their true race with some effort. Some things still gave them away, like the way they moved or the way their voices seemed to "echo" thanks to their telepathic abilities. Or the way Kellan was studying the mingling humans with a hungry glint in his eyes.

Fanv watched him closely as he snuck around, the other villagers unaware of the wolf in their midst. A creeping suspicion hit her as he watched her son approach a young human woman. She couldn't hear what was said but saw the human giggle and blush at something Kellan said. The pair then turned and started walking in between some houses, away from prying eyes. Fanv rose and followed. The crowd parted when she approached, keeping a respectful distance from her. She didn't mind. Her gaze was fixed on the backs of Kellan and the woman. Ogon had many dark alleys and the one she walked into was a particularly dark one, with clotheslines hung up ahead, shading the ground below.

Kellan and the woman stopped halfway in and started whispering to each other. Fanv hid behind some crates and watched intently. She strained her hearing and tried her best to filter out the buzz of the town square behind her. Kellan and the woman were standing close to each other. Fanv's breath caught when she saw Kellan reach with for the woman's face with one clawed hand then- stroked her cheek? Fanv watched, dumbfounded, as Kellan gently touched her and whispered something to the blushing woman. She leaned into his touch and looked into his eyes. Both stared at each other yearningly for a moment before Kellan let go. Fanv stared at the lovestruck pair then smacked herself on the forehead. The noise of the village square was still blocking her from eavesdropping but now she had a feeling she didn't want to hear what was said, judging from the way the pair fidgeted and blushed at each other. The woman received a light peck on the lips and turned to leave. Fanv crept further behind the crate and scolded herself for being paranoid.

One last nosy glance at the leaving young woman gave her just enough time to react to the form that leaped from the roof at her back. Fanv flew from her hiding spot and in mere seconds she closed the distance between herself and the woman. The woman squealed in surprise as Fanv tackled her to the ground but any scream that was coming was cut off when she saw her attacked slam into Fanv's back. The attacker, another visvarg, judging from his scent, yelped as he realized that he'd sunk his claws into Fanv instead of the human and tried to get off and make a break for it.

Fanv's hand shot out and grabbed his ankle and snatched his balance away with one firm tug. The woman gasped and crawled away from them. The man snarled and was met with an equally angry sound from Fanv. Kellan was nowhere to be seen. Fanv pulled her pup in close and bared her teeth at him. His hissing and snarling were egging her on and making her vision turn red, the same was most likely happening to him as well. Their spines made snapping sounds almost at the same time and as bones shifted place and skin stretched the last of their self-control was lost to the frenzy.

Krystal was minding her own business in the village square. As a caravan chief without a caravan, there wasn't much to do but she would make do. Geffery would probably return in a week or so and Krystal had yet to decided what to do when he returned. To take back control of the caravan was the most obvious choice but the relationship between Ogon and Mageon was far too interesting to abandon just yet. Maybe she could-

Her thoughts were cut off as something screeched from within a dark alley connecting to the village square. Many heads turned just in time to see a black visvarg get thrown out of it and into the open square. People stared in shock at the giant wolf as it struggled back to its feet, then panicked screaming broke out.

A second visvarg, this one familiar to Krystal, reared its massive head and charged the smaller visvarg. The smaller one yelped as it was seized by the hind legs and thrown once again. This time it reacted in time though, and Fanv roared in pain as it dug the claws of its front legs into her back as it flew over her. The smaller visvarg tensed and pulled itself onto her back, neck curling back like a snake before it bit deeply into her shoulder. Fanv wasn't having none of that.

People who were already running ran faster to get away from the wrestling visvargs and some yelled in terror as Fanv rolled across the ground. The smaller visvarg lost its grip and was sent tumbling down some street. Its tumbling was cut short as Fanv's jaws closed around its head and yanked it back into the square. The black visvarg shivered violently as its mother let go, placing it just in front of her. She reared her head and snarled at it, a guttural" hissing sound that made Krystal's hair stand on end.

"HOW DARE DISOBEY ME?!"

Her voice was distorted, garbled, and rough, so unlike her usual smooth sing-song voice that Krystal had to look closer to make sure it was who she thought it was. The black visvarg shuddered and shook beneath her gaze, blood soaking its fur and claws digging into the shattered cobble beneath it.

"It was just a game, Mother-"

Fanv reared her head high and hissed in disbelief.

"YOU DO NOT PLAY WITH MY RULES! THE HUMANS ARE NOT TO BE HURT!"

"But the humans flee and tremble! I am not the only one yearning to hunt them-"

"YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY MY ORDERS!"

"We cannot resist-"

"SILENCE!"

The crowd watched in horrified fascination as Fanv grabbed her pup by the scruff of its neck and lifted it into the air. She surveyed the empty square and the humans hiding behind houses and stands then leaped into a dark alley. Surprised shouts and curses were heard as Fanv made her way out of the village towards the forest and dungeon within. The villagers who'd witnessed the spectacle were left speechless and many still trembling in fear.