We trekked alongside the creek, hidden amongst the foliage that encompassed it. It was slow going, and likely would've been quicker if we just walked within the creek, but I didn't trust that nothing would spring from its hiding place amongst the mud and attack us, nor did I want to be out from the relative safety the trees provided.

So like that we trekked onwards, hiding from wandering beasts when necessary and avoiding dangerous plants, up until we heard a faint noise in the distance that rapidly grew in volume. Several creatures ahead of us were crashing through the underbrush, clearly throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of something. Luckily they didn't seem to be after us, although the noise itself could easily turn into a problem. David normally had us change paths or hide once he smelled something approaching, but this time he hadn't done so for some reason.

I quickly leaned in towards David and whispered to him, "Hey, why didn't you smell this?"

He didn't respond, and I turned to look towards his face.

His eyes were dilated as he stared off into the distance, locked onto something I couldn't see. Then his muscles tensed, and in the next instant he was sprinting through the trees.

I watched him run for a moment before reluctantly following him. A general rule for staying alive in a foreign environment is to copy the level of panic that your guide has. I doubted it'd be any different in this world

David sprinted ahead, crashing through the trees with little regard for the noise he made, and in several moments he broke through into a small clearing.

I slowed my sprint into a jog as the trees began to thin and stopped just short of the clearing. He'd arrived several seconds before me and blood had already soaked his body, cascading freely down from his maw. At his feet was the body of a man which seemed to have been mutilated beyond repair.

From the remains I could see the torn remnants of armor crafted from what looked to be leather and bits of monster remains. Which meant he wasn't a part of the emperor's army.

Several feet ahead of David there was a man scrambling on the ground to get away from him, and I could already see David preparing to tear into the guy.

That's when the trees on the far side of the clearing gave way as two creatures entered the field. One looked similar to the dragons, only without wings and much smaller, and the other looked just like the deer that David could shift into.

An unnatural smile spread across the small dragon's face as his body rapidly began to shift and contort. The change was short, but similar to David's, and not long after he didn't look all that different from David himself. Just a lot scalier.

"Well if it isn't a little deer lost in the woods. How lucky! The gods seem to be on my side this day!"

The Wendigo laughed, "Bring the human to me, I have questions for it."

David reacted immediately, grabbing onto the shaking human and dragging him over to the larger Wendigo who then crouched down at eye level to the human and smiled brightly, "So you thought you could run from me?"

He poked a clawed finger into the man's shoulder, piercing his flesh and twisting around. The man grunted in pain, but otherwise remained silent.

The Wendigo chuckled, "Gods you're a fool. Now then, tell me where your settlement is, and I'll make your death one that mattered. I'll even give you the privilege of being worn by one of my acquaintances here."

The deer standing behind him smiled unnaturally with bloodshot eyes.

I studied David's expressions. He wasn't reacting the way he normally did; something was obviously wrong. He was clearly listening to the orders of the scaled Wendigo, but it all seemed stiff, I doubted he was doing any of this of his own accord.

It looked like I'd need to intervene.

---------------------

I don't have a name. I don't have a home. What I do have, is strength. Enough to survive in this world, and enough to take from those who don't.

I stood amongst two of my kin who were unfortunate enough to run into me. Their fate is an unfortunate one, destined to obey the strong. It could very easily be my fate if I didn't become stronger.

My hand clasped onto the human's shoulder, applying just enough pressure for my claws to break the skin.

"Your future is already damned. It's ended, and there's nothing you can do about that. All you can do now is shorten your suffering. You're going to die; nobody can judge you for making it less painful on yourself."

Blood trickled down the man's shoulder.

"Now, tell me where your village is and I wi--"

In one fluid motion the human spit in my face.

"Rot in hell, monster."

I smiled, "Already there, let me give you a tour."

I put more force into my grip and felt the man's bones breaking beneath my grip.

Suddenly noise filled the clearing and my head jerked to the side as something incredibly fast hit it.

My eyes darted to where the shot had originated, and I quickly lifted the human's body in front of me to use as a shield.

The brother I'd brought with me began to shift, but before the process could complete his head shot back as sound echoed throughout the clearing and his body crumpled to the ground.

Then I saw him, off at the edge of the clearing was a human holding a weapon I didn't recognize.

A lesser beast would have lost himself to anger, blinding rushing towards the enemy.

Not me.

The kinship of human's is stronger than most species and is one of their glaring weaknesses. I shifted the human to cover my vitals as I instructed the remaining Wendigo to flank him from the side.

Just like that I ran towards the human. I may end up taking damage from this, but it wouldn't kill me. Afterall, I wear the skin of a dragon. My victory is inevitable.

---------------------

The Wendigo rushed towards me using the human as a meat shield. Luckily it seemed he sent David around to flank me. This fight wouldn't last long enough for him to make a difference.

I quickly retreated into the forest, carefully following the path I'd taken here. It was probably the most dangerous tool I had at my disposal.

Like everything, my spear had weaknesses. It doesn't control all plants. That became obvious the second I left that field, but if I use it to cut something, plants will grow there. Those can be controlled.

I'm not sure what that says about the particular field I found the spear in, but it has influenced my behavior since then somewhat. For instance, I've been stabbing random trees the whole way here.

A mixture of vines and roots began to latch onto the Wendigo, many of them attaching themselves to the human he was using as a meat shield.

The Wendigo hesitated for a moment before letting go of the human and tearing the plants from his own body.

I aimed my pistol and shot him dead center in the head, but the bullet simply skidded off his scales and flew off into the distance. I scoffed, nothing could ever just be easy.

Likewise, the plants couldn't pierce his skin, although with the amount I had I could easily slow him down.

More and more plant life sprouted from the stab marks I'd made prior all throughout the area, grabbing onto the wendigo and trying to pull him to the ground.

Sadly it didn't seem to be going all that well, but that was fine. I already had a surefire way to kill him.

The Wendigo's glared towards me as he tore apart the plants covering him just slightly faster than I could make them.

"You, human. You think yourself to be strong?"

I reached into the sack at my side, pulling out the gorgon head.

"I'd reckon so."

"You're wrong! Relying on your weapons is cowardice. Toss them aside and face me like a man! Prove your strength, transcend yourself!"

…

…

"Are you stupid? Strength comes from whatever makes you win. Case and point."

I pointed the gorgon head towards him and he quickly averted his eyes. I didn't need to worry about this killing the captive, I'd covered his eyes with plants ages ago.

"You can't kill me with cheap tricks!"

The Wendigo struggled under the plants, but with his visibility being so limited it was quickly becoming a losing battle.

Although I still couldn't seem to pierce his skin, not that it mattered. Vines and roots dragged the human far away from the Wendigo as I tossed three grenades under the monster's feet.

The Wendigo's eyes locked onto the grenades beneath him, and although he didn't seem to recognize what they exactly were, he could tell it was a weapon.

"Coward!"

An explosion rocked through the forest and blood and viscera coated the ground. I turned around nonchalantly to find David looming over me, blood still dripping from his maw and his claws raised high. The Wendigo stood there motionless for a moment before falling to his knees and throwing up.

After a moment I crouched down beside him, "Feel better?"

"....yes."

"Good, great, now would you mind explaining to me why you were seconds away from ripping me apart?"

"My kind, we obey the strongest amongst us unconditionally. It's not something we can resist."

"What determines the strength; the skin you're wearing?"

"Yes."

I stood up. "Interesting."

My boot kicked David in the side, knocking over his already unsteady body.

"Listen here and listen well, you absolute idiot. You hid this from me. Don't try and lie, saying that you thought I knew or that you thought it wouldn't matter. Bottom line here is that you hid something disastrous from me, something I didn't even know I needed to worry about. So if you have anything else you want to tell me, do so now."

"...there is nothing."

"Fucking fantastic! Lesson learned, don't hide things from me, now we can move on."

I snapped my fingers and the captured human was dragged towards me by the vines.

"Now onto you."

With another snap the plants receded from his body, leaving him coughing and gasping. It took a moment, but once he'd finally caught his breath his eyes locked onto David and a look of horror entered his face.

"You missed one, behind you!"

"Would you shut up! It's bad enough that I had to set off explosives, I don't need your yelling added on top of all that noise."

"...b-but there's a monster behind you."

"He's in my employ, he won't harm you."

"But he killed Jerome!"

I glanced back towards David, seeing the blood that still covered his body.

"An unfortunate mistake on his part I must admit, but it's been sorted out."

"...if…if you say so."

"I do."

"Well, you have my thanks for saving me."

"You're quite welcome. Now, I'd really appreciate your help."

"With?"

"Well you see, me and my companion here have been lost in these woods for quite some time and we'd really appreciate it if you could introduce us to your settlement."

The guy's face went starkly pale as he glanced towards David. I quickly amended my statement.

"We can leave David here behind if that would make you more comfortable."

That didn't seem to help. His eyes darted between David and me. Full of fear and paranoia. I could almost see the ideas forming in his mind. How I could be in league with the Wendigos, or maybe that I was one myself. Maybe this whole event was simply a charade to get him to lead us to his village.

This wasn't good. As things stood the guy was seemed more likely to off himself than he was to lead us to his settlement. Any community surviving in this place would need that level of zealous cooperation to survive.

I sighed to myself, one act of violence to inspire a lifetime of respect. That always was my motto.

I turned toward David, pulling his head close to mine as I whispered towards him.

"Don't worry buddy, this won't be permanent. Think of it as a small break. I always uphold my deals. Always."

"What are you talking abou–"

The gorgon head had once again left my bag while I'd been pulling David towards me. It was an admittedly simple use of misdirection, but simple tricks tended to work the most often.

David's eyes met those of the gorgon's, and he only had enough time to let off a string of curses before his body turned to stone. I kicked over his statue and it shattered upon the floor.

Then I turned back towards the human.

"I don't believe I've introduced myself. I'm Marcus Keane, and you don't need to fear me."

The man's eyes darted between me and the rubble on the floor "What did you just do to him?"

"Weren't you watching? I killed him. He was a monster, wasn't he?"

"Wasn't he your friend?"

"Hmm, more like an acquaintance, but if you're saying he's a monster then he probably is."

"...yeah."

"Anyways, let me get a look at your wound. I believe that the beast's claws dug rather deep into your shoulder."

The man looked down at his wound and the blood flowing from it, a look of worry quickly spread across his face. He had likely forgotten all about the injury thanks to the adrenaline. That'd soon be wearing off.

He gripped my hand. "Are you a healer?"

"Not my profession, but I can get by well enough. Sadly though I can only operate on someone once I know their name. Call it a personal preference."

…

"My name's Hugh."

"Excellent, nice to meet you Hugh."

Hugh's eyes looked towards the statueified version of David, as well as the red stain covering the forest floor further away.

"Likewise."

With that I helped him take off his leather armor. I then took the knife he'd strapped to his boot and used it to cut away the part of his shirt where he'd been injured.

It was a deep wound, but it was still within my abilities to treat. I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out a pair of tweezers, using them to pick away the dirt and debris from his wound before splashing it with a healthy dose of disinfectant.

"Goddamn, that shit stings."

"It means it's working. Now~"

I pulled out a small suture kit consisting of a needle and thread and held it above the wound.

"Fair warning, I haven't had to use one of these in years."

"Not exactly a confidence booster, are you?"

I got to work and Hugh grit his teeth, and after a few minutes I had the wound stitched up and bandaged about as well as I was going to get it.

"Now that you're not about to bleed out. We really should get out of here."

"Yeah, it's a miracle that a predator hasn't walked up on us yet."

I purposely didn't mention the dozen or so creatures I'd impaled with plants while I'd been tending to his wound.

I helped him to his feet and we quickly left the area, spurned forwards by the setting sun and the uncertainty of the surroundings, Hugh began to lead me back to his home.

I smiled to myself, after three long bloody months, I was finally going to see civilization again. Or at least what passed for one in this world.