Exploring

i woke up, and stretched as i usually did extending my tail to it's fullest extent, feeling a great sense of foreboding as i did so.

i got up, and saw i was still on the bank, though someone had pulled me further away from the water. talkir was sleeping next to me, and he seemed to have grown a couple of inches, though that might just be me. his smell was distracting, but not as much as yesterday. when i went to stand on my four feet, i found it uncomfortable. then i remembered. i was a demi-human now.

well, i'm glad i have the lake to look at myself.

i took a look at my reflection.

i was pale. just a shade away from pure white. my hair seemed to suck daylight out of the air, and i had patterns of red crisscrossing my skin. against my pale complexion, the tattoo looking red lines seemed like trails of fire. the lines themselves had patterns engraved on them, and it didn't matter where you looked at me, the lines seemed to all meet and converge at my chest, with streaks of red starting below my eyes, and going all the way down to the tips of my fingers. i looked like a corpse with trails of blood drawn all over it. as i watched, my skin started to gain color, and even though i remained pale, i stopped looking so much like a corpse. as for my face, i looked like a regular twenty-something man, except that i was better looking by far than some of the so called 'models' from magazines i had seen women read.

i checked my fingers, and to my relief i could still extend my claws. i don't now what i would do without them. my fingers were normal looking for a human, but the nails could be easily extended into my claws. they were much shorter than before, but i would have much better mobility for using them. my feet no longer had claws, and that was good to. they would only get in the way, if i needed to fight. as for my hair, it had a silky sheen, and seemed to draw in the light around it, but get no brighter itself. it reached all the way down to my waist, and gave the illusion of fur on my back when i looked at my self from behind. the other thing i noticed,

i was completely naked. i had little problem being so, but i thought it would be rude to greet other humans unclothed. in my previous life, i had been completely at home being unclothed, since i had seen no reason to care about modesty, since it wouldn't help in killing, but had worn clothes since they would let me blend, and conceal weapons. now, the only weapons i had were my claws and body, but for a martial artist like myself,

that was all i needed.

i wondered how i would go about finding something to cover my more private parts, when i saw that on the ground where i had fainted was a silky black pelt. i smiled, and quickly went over to it. it fitted perfectly around me, and this was only right. after all, it was my pelt. it was like a coat, but much longer. when i had been on four legs, my shoulder came up to most mens shoulder while standing up. so even though i was taller than was average, the pelt still covered everything. i wrapped it around my waist, letting the upper part hang at my waist, so i was bare chested. it was too nice a day to be covering myself when i could absorb the suns rays.

i walked over to talkir, and started poking him.

*poke* "grrrhmmm" *poke* "ahhh!"

he came awake with a yell, and when he saw me he instantly came to alarm.

"another intruder! gather to me!"

i looked in confusion around, trying to spot this intruder, when i realized he probably meant me.

"talkir, i'm shadowpelt. i just became a demi-human. calm down."

he looked at me for a second, but when he saw the dark pelt ant the hair, as well as tracing the red lines all over my body, he stopped at my eyes. then he had a look of confirmation of his face.

"i'm sorry sir, i was a little alarmed by seeing someone resembling the intruders. you have my sincerest apologies."

"you don't have to call me sir."

he just smiled at me.

as he finished, a couple spiders and beavers came in, and while the beavers were a little scared and had to have my new appearance explained, the spiders hissed that they could tell it was me by my smell. their words were,

"you are soaked in the stench of blood and death, and your eyes hold the purest essence of insanity."

while this put me off, i couldn't deny it, and it saved some explaining, so i guess i can't complain.

i sent one of the beavers to go and fetch egain, and a spider to get shielin, while i asked talkir to bring the humans to the edge of the lake, once he had finished explaining their reasons to me.

---

my name is gerald. i'm male, twenty six years old, and i live in the village of Roads End.

a day ago i was sent into this forest to hunt for something to eat, as supplies in the village were running out due to our drops failing, and all of the food merchants scared off by bandits.

our village was wealthy, due to adventurers stopping at it to prepare for their travels, since after our village there is nothing in the way of civilization except goblins, orcs, elves, dwarves, and maybe some vampires. the shops in the roads end were rarely out of work, and we had multiple blacksmiths, leather workers, and armor and weapons merchants. the crops failing wasn't much of a problem, but when bandits moved into the only road out of the village, things got desperate. the king was currently dealing with problems in the far east, and all of the soldiers sent to clear out the bandits had been returned. in pieces.

desperate to fill the near-empty warehouses, the village headman told me and bob to go into the forest and hunt something. we had never ventured into the forest before, as stories said that more adventurers had disappeared going into the forest than any other place in the continent. it was something to scare your children with, threatening them that you'll throw them into the forest if they don't behave. it wasn't just the rumors either. people who were in the village for some time saw things come and go out of the forest. it had a huge lake in the middle, that had a near-legendary kraken living in it, a spider queen that could regenerate, and the king of this forest was the most savage out of all of them. with no choice but to go into this forbidden forest, we decided that if we met him, our only hope would be to convince him to let us live and hunt in exchange for something from the village. sared the headman had told us we could offer almost anything, as we had no choice but to hunt, or starve.

when we were trapping, bob got stuck in a web, and while i was helping him out of it another web was spun around me. we were bundled up and brought to a shadowy clearing, where a gathering of creatures met. at first, we had been too scared to do anything but squeak and tremble.

then we saw the cat.

it was longer than most men are tall, and it had muscles that screamed killer, and eyes that whispered insanity. just looking into them made me want to hit something. to bash something. to kill something. anything. everything. blood, drink. flesh, eat. after a while, he unsheathed his claws, and after that i couldn't remember anything, except what looked like him ordering the other animals to do certain tasks.

when we awoke, a raccoon creature had tried to speak to us, and after some failed attempts, we were able to communicate. he promised us an audience with the king of the forest, and we waited in fear, though knowing we had to do this, or the village will starve.

we slept fitfully, but came fully awake when the raccoon told us that the king was ready for us. we took one last breath, and the spiders freed us, letting us walk on our own, though they watched like hawks, and we new if we tried to run they would have us tied up quicker than we could take two steps.the trees seemed to pass too quickly, and all too soon we came to the edge of the trees, with sunshine and doom waiting beyond.

we stepped out, and gasped at the beauty of the clear water, and healthy grass. but the gasp quickly turned to one of terror as we saw the upright figure also admiring the water. when he heard us, his cat ears twitched, and he looked around.

on a side note, the ears looked cute, like they belonged on a cuddly creature. his eyes, however, told a different story.

they were the same, except they felt even stronger. the green surrounding the red pupils were still as demanding as before. kill, kill, kill.

we had to be nudged by the raccoon to get close enough to speak, and we quickly made our greetings. he looked interested as we told him about our villages plight. when he heard their were bandits, and that it was under the orders of sared the headman that we were here, he asked if he would be able to talk to sared. when we replied in the affirmative, he looked excited.

he told us to lead the way, and he told the wold, and raccoon to come with him. it looked like the spider wanted to come too, but i think the village will thank him for not bringing a giant spider with him.

our walk through the forest was strange, as even though the king moved at nearly five times our speed, we would often have to wait for him, since he kept running around and jumping, swinging from branches, and basically doing amazing feats of athletics while looking like a puppy that had learned a new trick. one time, he poked his finger all the way into the trunk of the tree, and when he saw that piercing a tree was easy, he got a smile that made me wet myself. bob was no better.

when we got to a certain point, he led us to a huge clearing, and pointed out the mangled corpse of the previous king. the way he had been killed, and the amount of damage his corpse sustained was a testament to the brutality that had been inflicted upon that poor tiger. on the way, he also talked about killing the queen of spiders cassandra, and having a wonderful time killing the creature in the water. we already knew about the first one, as we had seen a giant floating corpse on the water, bloated and slightly devoured.

we finally got to the edge of the forest, and he looked like a child that had left his hometown for the first time, excited and full of energy. over all, he was confusing. on the outside, he was a merciless killer, insane and brutal. on the inside, he seemed like a child given their first chance at life, trying to experience everything at the same time.

he looked carefully at the road that led to the forest, which was more of a dirt track. we led him further, the wolf and raccoon following, occasionally engaging in conversation with the king, usually along the lines of reports of what had happened while he had been unconscious. we finally arrived at the town, which was surrounded with a wooden palisade, and had watchtowers at key points along it, where any threat could be spotted from far away. they rang the bells, signaling that someone was approaching, but didn't use the alarm bells, as they saw it was us.

the gates opened, and a dozen or so of the towns militia came out, briefly revealing the town. it mainly consisted of one-to-two story houses, with the only two story buildings being the inn, and the headman"s house, since his family lived on the second floor, while meetings were held in the first one.

the captain of the militia, jack, hailed us and asked us what we were doing. he also looked alarmed at the sight of the king of the forest, but that was to be expected.

he was terrifying.

---

i looked keenly at the leader of the militia, and inspected his equipment. he had an iron studded vest, and was armed with a short spear and wooden club, which made me think this village must be peaceful, to have such bad militia.

never the less, you should always be polite. at least, thats what my master had said. he had been talking about killing people, but i think it applied here.

"greetings, i am Shadowpelt, king of the forest, and i'm here to speak with sared about his wish to hunt within my domain."

he was shocked at how well i could speak his language, but after talking to bob and gerald for half an hour, i could speak the human language reasonably well. i wondered why? i would have to ask jordan sometime.

"oh, um, well then." he looked at my human companions and told them to go and rest, that they looked like they had seen a ghost. and, "oh, and you should leave your pets outside. i don't want a wolf inside my town."

egain didn't like being referred to as my 'pet' and leaped forward, probably intending to rip the mans throat, but luckily i could grab the scruff of his neck, and held him back from ripping the guard apart.

"you f***er, i'll get you son of a bitch, bastard, just try saying that again, asshole. i'll rip your face off and stick it to you butt, and your females will probably find you more attractive after i rearrange your teeth!"

i easily held the struggling egain down, even tho he probably weighed as much as me.

"as you can see gentleman, egain isn't my pet. he is my friend, and i will be taking him with me. clear?" i activated fear for maximum effect.

"crystal." he said, struggling not to piss himself. the other guards looked afraid, and started backing away.

talkir also walked with me, and told the guards in passing,

"i'm not a pet. but if you ever threaten shadowpelt, i will not hesitate to kill you." and all of them felt more scared of the nonthreatening raccoon than the barking wolf.

once we were through the gate, i headed toward what the trembling militia men pointed at when i asked them the location of the headman. i walked toward it, many people ducking into buildings when they saw me pass, afraid of the wolf who walked beside me. at least, that's what i thought they were scared of.

i heard whispers, and felt their eyes, but when i took a look around, all of the gazes disappeared. it seems i'm more intimidating than i thought.

when we reached the door, i knocked, and waited for him to come out. when he opened the door, i had to look down. he was short enough to be a tall dwarf, and so wide around i though he had one or two more people stuffed into his shirt. i mean seriously, i didn't realize that humans could get that big around. he looked like a slightly squashed tomato, short and more wide than tall.

"hello, i'm shadowpelt, the king of the forest. i'm here to discuss your problem. may i come in?"

for someone with such a horrible appearance, he had a cunning look to him. "of course, come in, come in."

he took us to what looked like a large meeting hall, then brought us to a slightly smaller room, with comfortable chairs, and so many cushions i thought we had stepped into a plush world, where everything was coated with patting. no exception for the headman.

as we took our seats, i found i didn't like sinking into the chairs cushion, so i instead sat with my legs crossed on the back of the chair. egain took the floor to my right, talkir to my right.

"so, what can i do for you?" the headman started.

"actually, it's what i can do for you. ever since i was born, i have felt the need to go out and explore. something as little as the forest won't be enough for me, i want to travel. and to do that, i need to now that my subjects will be well looked after. for now, i think forging a strong relationship with this village is in my best interest. tell me, how many bandits are there guarding the road to the next city?"

he was mildly surprised that i was so willing to help, but answered me all the same. "they say as many as fifty, quite a large group for bandits. on another note, i would like to ask. will you allow us to hunt in your forest?" he was questioning, and even though his outward side seemed to create the picture of a stumbling fat man, he was cautious, and clever, not being easily distracted.

i thought about all of the possible repercussions, and came to a conclusion.

"if you agree to my terms, then you can hunt within my forest."

he was still cautious, and i like that.

"what conditions are they?"

"first off, you will limit your hunting to only as much as you need to stay alive. no hunting for sport or profit."

he nodded, showing he agreed.

"second, if ever i ask, you will provide manpower for whatever i need, within reason."

he was more hesitant, but still nodded.

"and thirdly," this time i looked deeply into his eyes, and spoke from the depth of my soul.

"if i hear about any human attacking a giant spider, a wolf, or a spiked beaver, then i will personally come back to this village, and kill every last man, woman, and child, in revenge. do you understand?"

he started sweating. but nodded all the same.

i smiled, and leaned back. "then it's agreed! i hope you find success in your hunting! i have somewhere to be now, so please excuse me."

he also smiled, and shook my hand to seal the deal. "your very knowledgeable about the world, if you don't mind, would you tell me how old you are?"

"i don't mind, and huh, today would be my ninth day being alive. see ya!"

he was flabbergasted, but shook himself. "where are you going? thats the road to the next town."

i simply smiled.

"i'm going hunting as well."

he looked confused.

"i wonder what human blood tastes like?" i thought idly, while extending and retracting my claws.

he turned very white.

i looked at him for confirmation, and asked, "no one will be mad if i kill those bandits, will they?"

he slowly shook his head, and i started smiling the grin, and could already taste the blood of them on my lips. i felt thirsty just thinking about it.

i set off, leaving by the east gate, where the guards mad way, not daring to stop me.

i inspected the road to the east of the town, and saw that this road was made from stone, and had interesting depiction's on the side, which i was surprised hadn't weathered away. it must be magic.

walking on the road was easier, but not having grass under my feet felt wrong. after a while, i reached a place where i could smell man scent, and investigated on the side of the road. i quickly silenced a scout who tried to run by impaling him with shadow.

i made my way further into the forest, egain and talkir following behind me, and we found a camp. it consisted of tents, cooking fires, and one large tent where the leader seemed to be. scouts were posted at the edges, and i sent talkir and egain to clear them out. talkir with gusto, egain with reluctance at following my order.

on egains side, he quickly ripped their throats out, leaving them no time to scream for help.

on talkirs side, he clawed their eyes out, and bit their throat so they couldn't scream. he also shot a few spikes from his tail, impaling two of them to trees, easily going through flesh. once they were all dead, they came back, and i gave them further instructions.

"go to the edges, and kill any that flee. got that?" they both nodded.

"then lets do this."

it had become night while i had talked with the headman, and walked to the bandits, but that only meant this would be easy. their torches gave them light, but i had experimented, and only moonlight and sunlight destroyed my shadow.

and tonight was moonless. this world had a different moon and sun than my first world, with the moon going through a weakly cycle, instead of a monthly one, of being full and dark. this was to my advantage, as tonight, i could wrap myself in shadow, and assassinate all of them without a single one knowing what hit them.

but that wouldn't be fun enough.

"he he, come and spray your blood into the air, give me your screams, and offer up your lives."

"for i am here"

i strode into the middle of their campsite, not bothering to hide, and taking scent of them.

dull,dull,dull,dull!

why isn't there someone worth my time?

i smelled a sharp scent coming out of the tent, and i smiled.

"now we're, he he, talking."

one came at me from the left, and i used eagle talon to rip his throat out, when one came from behind i did a back kick, launching him into a tree, and breaking his spine. they came all at once, and i picked one out and leaped onto his head, ripping it off as i fell behind him. i ran forward, snapping two of their necks before they had the chance to turn around.

they came more cautiously. a hook to the right, a stright the the left. i caught both, twisting their joints and making them fall to the floor. i delivered swift kicks to their throats, ending their pain.

a roundhouse to my left, i caught it and flipped the user, flying into his friends. one came with a sword, and i stepped to the side, dodging and snapping his head as he tried to process what had happened. as he died, i grabbed his sword, and beheaded two of them before they could turn their heads. one raised a shield, and i swung any way, with as much force as i could. the shield split, and so did he, all the way to the ground, where my newly acquired sword snapped from my strength.

they came once more, seeing i was too fast for swords, they came with knives. i flowed through them like water, so graceful you would think i was dancing a practiced routine. when all lay dead before me, and i stood drenched in blood, i smiled, and looked at the bandit captain, who had left his tent to see what was happening.

"what the hell happened!?" he looked at the bodys surrounding me, and the blood covering me, and said with fear,

"what kind of monster are you?"

i smiled all the wider.

"what the hell are you?!"

i laughed, and replied with a voice that choked with insanity.

Death

he stood strong, and pulled out his sword.

"i hope you know your dealing with a previous adventurer, and that i will do all i can to kill you."

i wouldn't have it any other way

he slashed the air, a blade of fire flying toward me. i dodged like it was nothing, and he followed with a horizontal slash, which i ducked under by stretching, my muscles sliding along one another. he raised his empty left hand and uttered a few words, and a bolt of energy streaked toward me. i tilted my head out of the way, still smiling. and laughing.

he pulled out a scroll, uttered a few more words, and threw it at the ground. it erected a blue shield around him, and he yelled,

"ha! try and get through this, monster!"

i manipulated the shadow beneath him, and made a long gash on his back.

"gah!" he yelled in surprise, then looked behind to see his blood sprayed all over the ground, then turned to see me running toward him, he took out a strangely shaped vial, and drank the red contents, and to my surprise it healed the wound on his back.

i used a pouch i had taken off of one of the bodies, and threw it at the barrier, but all it did was repel the pouch, so i knew it would be safe to try and break through. i ran forward and did an axe kick, and cracked the energy shield.

he looked scared. i laughed.

i punched it over and over, while he chanted, trying to repair the cracks, but sadly failing.

he pulled out a blue potion with the same kind of vial, and drank that, which made him able to go on chanting. i guess it restored his mana, and i hoped he didn't use all of them, as i would like to try one. since shadow manipulation took mana to use, and i could reinforce my other abilities with it, i would like to have a way of replenishing it without waiting an hour.

i broke through, even as he was pulling out a fourth potion, and he screamed.

i paused for a moment, enjoying the fear scent, then bit off half his neck. i was carful to grab the potion before it could fall, then ripped his arm off and tore into it. i ate the rest of him, blood soaking my jaw, i took what i could off the bodies, and drew smiley faces on all of the dead who still had faces, then laughed and tore their heads of and erected them on spears and swords rammed into the ground. when it was done, i nodded in satisfaction. anyone who walked into the camp would see a line of smiles drawn in blood, backed up by their headless bodies, which i had used splints and pieces of wood to prop up, in the position of saluting.

i walked back to talkir and egain, who each had their respective pile of cowards, then we left.

i thought about the adventurer, thinking that it would be interesting to meet more of them. i had looted basically everything the adventurer had owned.

"now, i think that little night time activity will inform the world of my existence.

"lets hope all adventurers are as tasty as this one."

i smiled a bloody smile, and laughed an insane laugh.

oh, how good it is to be alive!

end of chapter 9