In a bundle of tattered feathers, Solomon and the dead vulture began to tumble down towards the planet's surface.

Blisteringly cold wind stung Solomon's face as he plummeted down towards the ground. He knew that if he fell this time, his injuries wouldn't stop at a broken wrist and ankles.

Solomon wracked his brain. He really didn't want to die because of something this stupid. The problem was, that he didn't really have the leisure to ponder on a solution to his problem. With every second that passed. He sped up and the ground drew nearer.

In a flash of inspiration, he clambered up onto the back of the vulture. He stretched out his hands and barely managed to reach either wing.

Currently, the vulture's corpse was limp and flapped uselessly in the wind. But, Solomon had a plan to use this corpse as a makeshift glider.

He grabbed the base of each wing and pulled back. There was a whoosh and Solomon's fall abruptly slowed, almost giving him whiplash. The wings caught the air and the vulture began to be buffeted around in the various updrafts and gusts of wind.

Since he couldn't control the direction he was flying, although he did manage to stop himself from falling to death, if he ended up landing in the middle of a forest, he would be killed by SHirkes for sure.

He looked around in panic. Solomon remembered being told by Fike that a rudder was used to steer the barge. He was looking for something similar.

His gaze came to rest on the limp tail feathers of the vulture. It was too far for him to reach and he needed his hands to hold the wings in place anyway.

Luckily, this wasn't too much of a problem for him. He had another limb after all. His tail snaked out behind him and stabbed into the flesh at the base of the tail feathers.

It was in this rather morbid manner that, Solomon managed to puppeteer the vulture. He didn't have the strength nor coordination to flap the limp wings to fly properly. But, he could manage to stop himself from falling by gliding.

Sticking his head out over the back of the vulture, he got a good view of where he was. Beneath him, ancient forests waited, ready to swallow any creature that dared come near.

Thankfully, he was still so high up that he didn't need to worry about getting caught in the innumerable branches of the enormous trees.

'When you know what's under those tree canopies, it makes the whole forest take on a much more sinister atmosphere' Solomon mused.

He wasn't wrong either. If he were to land in the forest right now. Solomon probably wouldn't even last 15 minutes.

Even the strongest demons that were leading the charge against the Shrike hadn't progressed more than a mile into the forest yet.

Of course, That was just for now. As the number of Shrikes thinned out, and the strength of the demons grew accordingly, the speed they could conquer this forest would speed up.

If Solomon had been with Hyde and Fike when they first arrived, he might have heard the minotaur demon announce that [The Horde] Usually takes 2 months at least.

But, each iteration of [The horde] was different. Just because a previous one took that long, doesn't mean this one would be the same. A lot of different factors were at play.

The strength of the demons. The strength of the enemy. The motivation of the demons. The enemy's tactics and fighting style. Whether they got support from the natives. It really was unpredictable.

This unpredictability was what made [The horde] so dangerous. Specifically for demons that had spent an entire year in the first circle. They would only have a year to live at most, and if [The horde] took long enough to complete. they might end up running out of time.

This wasn't a problem for Solomon or Hyde. They had nearly 2 years and could take yearly holidays with weekends off and still have time to spare.

That was exactly why Solomon could afford to go research the enemy first and fly about on a vulture. Time was on his side and he knew it.

The same couldn't be said for a lot of the other demons. This was why they would immediately launch into fighting with little to no prep. It wasn't just impulsiveness (Although that was definitely part of it). A lot of their rush to start the war came from desperation. They had to complete it before their time ran out.

These sorts of thoughts passed through Solomon's head as he floated above the endless forest. Drifting from updraft to updraft and sailing along with gusts of wind.

When he thought about how desperate some of the demons would be to finish this 'Penance' before their time ran out, he made a promise to himself.

'I will do everything on my own terms. Since I definitely don't want to end up like those feckless idiots, from now on, I will always take the 'Penances' as soon as possible.' Solomon didn't know yet, but this was one of the best decisions he would ever make.

After Solomon made that resolution, drifting there aimlessly in the sky, something deep within him clicked. Like a jigsaw piece falling into place, he understood a bit more about what it meant to walk the path of freedom.

'Perhaps it means to live your life on your own terms... to me anyway.'

Eventually, the sky began to grow dark and the air became colder. By now, Solomon had glided back over the desert. He could see the golden sands beneath him once again.

Seizing the opportunity, He gazed intently down into the flowing dunes of sand. Occasionally, he would catch a glimpse of demons moving about, preparing for fights, or returning from dangerous battles.

That wasn't what he was looking for though so he would only glance at such things. No, he was looking for the nest. The nest was the place where he would find the scorpion queen. Although he didn't plan to attack such a thing anytime soon, that didn't mean he wasn't ever going to.

In fact, if Solomon had a to-do list. Killing the scorpion queen would be near the top. Right beneath Killing the scorpion king and the rest of the scorpions. Basically, he was going to be dealing with a lot of scorpions soon.

He was falling lower and lower in the cold night air of the desert. As the ground crept closer, He readied himself for impact. He didn't know how to land a vulture, so this was definitely going to be bumpy.

With a bang, The corpse buried itself in a sand dune. Flecks of golden sand sprayed out from where the vulture landed creating an obvious impact zone.

Solomon was ripped from the top of the vulture and continued flying forwards unit he collided with a sand dune slightly further away. He gouged out a ditch in the sand behind him before he finally came to a stop.

Spitting out sand from his mouth and dislodging it from his hair, Solomon spluttered for air. By now, he was used to falling from high places so he recovered with grace. Shaking off the jitters and adrenaline that course through his body, Solomon jumped back to his feet and ran towards where the vulture had landed.

The vulture was massive and the landing hadn't been quiet. He fully expected a large corpse in the desert to attract plenty of attention. 'Hopefully of the scorpion variety' Solomon thought. If it wasn't a scorpion, he would just kill it anyway. Then he would have even more bait. This is called glass half full thinking.

But, Solomon didn't think it would be likely to find anything else. Scorpions were the dominant predator in this desert and outnumbered most other species. Not only that, Their sensitive sense of smell would lead them directly to the corpse.

Although it was admittedly gross. Solomon hid himself and the vulture's corpse. He wanted to have the initiative in the upcoming fight and since he didn't know which direction the scorpions would come from, this was the only place he could launch an ambush from.

After half an hour of holding his breath under the carcass, his patience was rewarded. Or not. Depending on how you looked at it, his patience might even have been punished. Because, while Solomon had been patiently waiting for one scorpion to show up. 4 unearthed themselves from the sand nearby.

Last time, He had struggled to kill one and now four had arrived to attack him together. Not only that, he was trapped beneath the carcass and couldn't free himself and run away without alerting them to his presence.

Cursing his luck, Solomon slowed his breathing. Although he couldn't see the scorpions approaching him from where he was hidden. He could definitely hear them. Each scorpion was accompanied by the sickening clicking of their enormous claws.

In the darkness of night, the dark black carapace of the scorpions melded in with the background. They were like shadows moving about in the darkness. The only way to identify them was the moonlight that gleamed off their lustrous exoskeletons.

As the clicks grew closer, Solomon was roughly able to identify their positions. 'They are approaching from all four directions.' He could also hear them being to hiss at each other. 'It seems they are fighting over the food.' He realised.

'I can definitely use this to my advantage' He thought. 'All I have to do is wait till they let down their guards and then...'

Solomon couldn't see what was happening, but when the clicking grew close enough. Roughly 20 metres, it rapidly increased in intensity. The hissing became louder and more violent and the sound of massive claws clashing against each other became apparent in the stillness of the night.

Lying beneath the corpse, the sound of his own breathing sounded deafening to his own ears. That was why, when he heard the fight between scorpions reach its crescendo, he held his breath.

Outside the corpse. A particularly large scorpion had just triumphed. It stood victorious over the other three. All of the other scorpion's carapaces were decorated with scratches and grooves. The thing responsible for these minor injuries was the largest scorpion there.

Although the wounds were indeed minor, It wasn't worth getting injured for the first dibs on the vulture. These scorpions had competed for food before and knew how much one another would eat. Since the vulture was particularly large, they had decided to back off a bit and let the largest of their group eat first.

The alpha scorpion dragged its enormous body across the sands and over to the vulture. Solomon, who was beneath said vulture and was holding his breath, grinned. It was heading towards where he was hiding.

When the alpha scorpion was close enough to begin eating, it turned to look at the other scorpions behind it. When it was certain they weren't going to sneak up and attack it, it lowered its mandibles to the belly of the vulture... and went limp.

A lot of things happened at that moment. Right as the alpha scorpion lowered its mandibles towards the belly of the vulture and opened its mouth. Something white pierced out of the vulture's belly and drove into the scorpion's mouth. Killing it instantly.

Solomon, who was still beneath the vulture, had driven his tail up through the vulture's belly and into the scorpion's open mouth. Through the mouth, he had pierced the scorpion's brain and killed it.

However, from the perspective of the other scorpions, the alpha had walked up to the corpse, taken a bite and passed out for some reason. Immediately, they became confused and were put on guard.

Still, Although they were large, that didn't mean they were smart. After waiting for a few minutes and seeing nothing happen, their guard lowered slightly. Since they themselves were poisonous and had never encountered anything more poisonous than them. they had no idea what could have happened.

In the end, the scorpion's curiosity could only be answered by going to see what was wrong with the corpse themselves.

Two of the three scorpions scuttled towards the corpse, while the smallest one crawled across the sand towards the alpha scorpion.

When the smallest scorpion came close enough to touch the alpha scorpion, it raised up one of its giant claws. Reaching out, it pushed against the exoskeleton of the alpha scorpion. In an instant, like a tower made out of playing cards. The alpha scorpion collapsed.

Although the exoskeleton remained unchanged, The inside of the alpha scorpion had withered to dust and was completely hollowed out. What remained was only its incredibly hard carapace that collapsed at the touch of the smallest scorpion.

Then, in the dust and sand raised by the collapse of the enormous exoskeleton. All hell broke loose.