A loud thump was heard outside of an old farmhouse, where several horses whinnied and neighed as something had disturbed their sleep in the middle of the night. Such a commotion, however, was quickly silenced into unnaturalness. Thus, calling attention to the patriarch of the farm's household to stir into wakefulness, and caused his homely wife to moan as she shifted in the crude bed the pair shared.

"Arthur?" she slurred slowly, "What's going on?"

"Hush now, Anna," his body was slowly pumping itself with adrenaline from what he heard, and did his best to excrete calmness, but failed miserably. For his wife quickly sat up, fear creeping out of the corner of her widened eyes as she clutched at the rough quilt which kept them warm at night.

"What-?" she began, but he quickly shook his head.

"I don't know, but it came from the barn. I'll be right back." In so saying, he donned a quiver of arrows as he strung up the bow before leaving. Thus, leaving his wife, Anna, to rush to the only window in their room which gave a full viewing of the northern side of their barn.

Down below, she spotted her husband holding up a rusted lamp and their two boys, Joshua and Arthur. Both of which seemed rather frightened, as the pair also brought forth their own bows, before the trio hastened towards the barn. Whereupon she heard the boys cry out with great fright, even causing young Arthur to scurry back whilst clutching his right arm.

This led to her moving as swiftly as she could to the entrance of their home, but gasped as she was met with an unknown and blood soaked beautiful creature holding up her child's severed head. Whereupon she did scream, even as its eyes glowed a fierce light of crimson and violet, as it rushed towards her with frightening speed before she found her vision shifted from a height of one hundred and sixty centimetres, down to a height of ten. The last of what she was able to witness before the darkness claimed her was of her body squirting a fountain of blood into the air before it fell to the old wood floor upon the ground.

*

"[So good,]" moaned a girlish voice in the back of Karastak's mind, of which was shaken away as he trudged into farmer's household. For he was on a mission, one that was of the utmost importance to himself.

To find pants that fit.

For he had spent the last two days trying to find his way out of the forest, and did not appreciate the retinue which came to greet him after his appearance. Such as a horned grizzly bear which roared and charged out of the cave he had desired to occupy. Of which he quickly dodged out of the way of the spiraled horn atop his head, but was bashed away from a blow of its right frontal paw. This led to someone in the back of his head to remind him, "[Everything is Energy, Karastak, and Energy is Everything.]" Upon so saying, the voice fell into a fit of giggles as the world exploded with colour, reducing his mind to shock as he took in everything in a formal manner.

Whereupon he was able to watch as the claw descended upon his position, but it was also very slow; as though it moved through a thick layer of molasses. Thereby allowing him to quickly sidestep to his right, and watch as the air shimmered with energy. However, more was created from the passing of the claw, causing his eyes to widen greatly and reached out in an instinctual manner. Of which caused the energy to disperse, reducing it to matted and muted colours.

The horned bear, however, fell to the earth with a cry of pain, and upon peering closely to it, found that its right paw had shriveled to barely anything. For it appeared as though something had drained it of its life force whilst mummifying the extremity.

'Interesting,' he thought slowly, reaching out to touch the shoulder of the creature, but flinched his clawed hand back as it jerked towards his position with the motion of standing back upon its feet.

Unfortunately for it, the mummified foreclaw shattered as though it were naught, but poorly constructed glass. Of which caused it to screech in pain as blood spurted across the stone and earth which was near its home. Thus, reducing it to thrash around as its eyes burned with baleful hatred for he who had removed its ability to lash out effectively.

Whereas Karastak remained undeterred, reaching out and cutting through a collection of red sparks which resonated around the creature's head. Of which caused the body to become still, as the head became ash and dust, and its blood spurting upon the earth.

"Huh," his voice exuded slowly, his eyes darting this way and that as he inched himself away from what had happened. All the whilst, a young girl's voice continued to giggle as though demented from the carnage he had wrought, and would continue to do so until he found a group of hunters with bows. These were a group of four, and were chatting silently whilst travelling with great care towards some unknown destination.

No. He could not hear their conversation, but did decide to follow them as best he could. Of which resulted in him ducking down several times in order to hide. For he was not at all of the stealthy type, reducing his stalking prowess to almost nil.

However, he was soon able to see where these hunters had led him, as it was to the outside world. Whereupon he had only one thought upon his mind, 'I need some pants.'

*

Thus he awaited for night, and dashed out towards the farmhouses which held people with clothing. However, he soon found himself to be much taller than those who lived in the homes he broke into. Most of the adult males were close to two hundred centimetres in height, whilst he was closer to two hundred and fifty centimetres. Thereby reducing his chances of find suitable clothing. Nevertheless, he continued to search, and came to the home of Arthur and his family. Here, he noted that the patriarch of the family came to his chin in height, and would have begged for a pair of pants, if not for the fact that one of his offspring launched an arrow in his direction.

Thereby causing his eyes to change colour in order to absorb the energy of the projectile. This led to him taking the lives of the one called Arthur and his youngest child, Joshua. Whereas young Arthur was forced to flee due to him losing his right arm at the elbow just as he throw the bow at Karastak in fright.

Of which led to the slaughter of the family, and his desire to ransack the home until he found the parents' bedroom. Here, he tore through everything which was of sentimental value to the family. Drawers, the armoire, and the bound wooden chest at the foot of the bed were each torn apart, their contents tossed around. There was even a bag with twenty pieces of gold coins stashed at the bottom of the chest, but that was tossed off to the side. For he cared little for monetary gains at this point in time.

"Where is it?" he grumbled slowly, and repeated the question many times over. Of which led to him pausing halfway through as he felt another presence in the room. One that caused even the girl's voice in his head to pause in her giggles.

Slowly, he turned towards the door, and spied two individuals. Both of whom were females, but one was carrying something in her arms. With his own sight, he could see nothing interesting about it, but once he switched to his more enhanced sight, he noted that there were three life forces at the door. Two of whom gasped as Karastak switched his sight to the latter, and grinned as he slowly stood up.

This action caused the one carrying the bundle, which was obviously a babe, to flee the scene. However, she quickly screamed when her eyes spied upon the carnage at the front of the house, resulting in a second cry coming from the one within her arms.

"Ah," he sighed slowly, stalking towards the frightened female who stood her ground against him, "I do not know what you are, my dear, but you have come at a most opportune moment. For you see," his right clawed hand was raised at this point, his digits dancing as he continued with, "I need to procure some clothing, and the older one in the barn appeared to be my own height. Therefore, I need to know if he has any extra clothes and where they are located."

With his sight enhanced, he did everything within his power to resist touching the energies which swirled around the female's head as she bobbed it once before squeezing past his body. Whereby she did sigh and shook herself as she scurried around the room in search of the elusive clothing he sought out. Of which took only a few moments before she returned with a bundle of crude linens consisting of a buttoned shirt and trousers which might need some twine to keep it held up.

However, he had to dismiss his enhanced sight to take it from her arms, as he was fairly certain they would crumble to dust if he were to touch the energies around the clothes.

"Why thank you, my dear," he reached out slowly, and lightly pat her head as he took the bundle with the other clawed hand. Whereupon he turned to leave, but halted before turning back in order to inquire, "Is there a bath? I'd like to remove the blood from my skin before donning the garments."

This caused her to become confused, as she pointed at his body whilst cocking her head to the right.

"Hmm?" staring down upon his body, he noted the pristine condition of his snow-white skin that was not marred with a speck of dirt, nor a fleck of blood, "Oh, well that's handy. Well, thank you my dear. You've been most helpful."

Just as he turned from the room, he heard a soft voice coming from within, "Thank you." Which caused him to grin a sad grin, as he could tell she had been through some hardships. As well as the fact that he did not need to see with his enhanced sight that the child which was carried by the screaming female was, in fact, her own.

"It is a pity I could not spend more time with him," he chuckled softly as he stepped out into the open air, then turned towards forest a few kilometres away as the farming community awoke with an uproar to the bodies he had left behind.

*****

"Anna!" cried out a thoroughly distraught elderly woman who tried to rush for the farm house at daybreak, but was barred by two burly farmhands. One of whom reached down and lifted the petite woman up, then sat her down closed to her husband, whose hair was of salt and pepper and in great disarray.

Of whom then clung to his wife, as she him, and wept in silence as the farmhand returned to his post by the door. For within the home were a few of the community's militia, each handling the gathering of evidence by way of their Divination Magicks. Which resulted in a confusing mass of images being toppled over by something which was not there.

"I don' get it," grunted one of their number as the spell ended, "There wa' clear'y sumfin 'ere last night, but it ain't bein' picked up."

"I agree," came another voice, "so it's best we leave this to our captain." Which then led to a round of agreement as they stretched out their senses in order to listen in on a hushed conversation within the master bedroom a few metres away.

Within said bedroom were four personages, one of whom was clad in a heavy hauberk of leather and chain along with a hard cap atop the head, heavy leathers for the trousers, and iron clad boots. Upon the waist was a belt which was used to not only keep the hauberk in place, but also keep the sheath of an iron short sword secured within reach. The one who wore this was in fact, a woman for forty winters, but was not one who was of flowers and softness. No. She was a battle hardened soldier who was sent to watch over the farmlands as part of her "retirement".

Whereas the other three in the room, with one being a babe of a few weeks, the second of a young woman who would soon search for a partner to start a new family, and the third of a young girl of around fourteen summers. The first pair sat upon the bed with the woman rocking the babe slowly in her arms whilst shooting a quick glare at the latter every now and again. Of whom sat upon a wicker chair closest to the window, where she glanced down towards the yard which had many a Militiaman running about. Though she did spy her grandparents, down below, she made no mention of them as her eyes turned towards the forest off in the distance where the creature had fled after liberating her from a monster disguised as her father.

However, such thoughts were quickly banished as she jumped in her seat as the captain coughed to garner their attention. Once it was given, she sighed whilst rubbing the back of her neck, "So you're telling me a monster killed off your family in order to steal some clothes?"

"Tha's righ'," called out the one on the bed, who was more of a hawkish woman with a holier-than-thou attitude on life. However, it softened when it came to the child in her arms, and would smile often as it clutched her fingers with tiny hands. Turning away from the child, her eyes drooped into a glower as they swiveled towards her own sister, nodding as she continued with, "He dragged 'er in to the room, and came ou' wif our Pa's britches."

"You helped it find clothes?" the captain asked with a raised eyebrow at the girl, and noted the quick shiver of her body before she nodded in response. "Okay, did it due anything else? Like touch you, or threaten you?"

Here, the girl shook her head furiously, and opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately silenced as the other spoke out, "I' thanked 'er for the clothes, then asked for uh bath, but lef' af'erwards."

"Uh-huh," the captain nodded as she took out a parchment sheet in order to hastily jot down some notes before inquiring, "Do you remember what the creature looked like?"

"I was too uh-scared, but it was a he, and was tall like our Pa," replied the older, and when asked how she knew of this, answered with, "He was as bare as our Gracey 'ere when she was uh-birthed. She," an index finger was pointed towards the girl on the chair, "saw everything more 'an me."

When the other glanced at her, she found a curious sight of the girl hiding her scarlet coloured face within her hands as she whispered the only phrase spoken from her since they came, "Pretty man." Thus remaining silent for the rest of the inquiry, and resulting in their dismissal whilst the captain brought in her Diviners to relay what had occurred and learn what they had uncovered.

"Here's the thing, Captain," called out one of their number, "when we all looked, there was nothing there."

This led to her opening her mouth to bark something fierce, but was waylaid as another continued, "'e's telling the truth, Cap. We looked like we was sp'osed to, but found only them's bodies falling over dead with no one there. So either it's a powerful Mage, or a monster which should not be here."

"This is such a headache," she grumbled slowly, massaging her temples as she took in their words, "Grab as many men as you can, and conscript the Hunters."

"Why's that, Cap'n?" inquired one of their number.

"We need to hunt this son-bitch down before we get someone else to clean up the mess."

"Yes Cap'n," they each saluted by thumping the area over their hearts with a closed fist, then exited the home whilst leaving their leader behind.

Of whom then stared out of the window which overlooked the northern face of the barn, and noted the remaining family members coming together before leaving the grounds. Here, she spied the young girl of the family, one who was called Gwen by the older, had a happier spring in her step as they ventured away from the carnage that was the rest of her family.