There’s something magical and manly about relaxing in your own home after fucking an orc.

Shadbak rested on the surprisingly cool floor. Though the floor wasn’t level, she hugged a wall and slept peacefully. While I tried my best many flaws of my first structure, I’d say the lack of inner walls or windows hurt it the worst. If an enemy attacked, I couldn’t see them coming if they hid their qi; I wouldn’t know if they were on us until it was too late.

My failure in architecture aside, I liked my shack.

Ordinary houses wouldn’t do it for me anymore; they were too fragile. I patted the wall, and it didn’t budge; if I leaned too hard against a standard wall, I would rip right through it. My home was different; it was built by me with thick walls bulging with wood qi. Building it had been more challenging than harvesting spirit cores. Growing things through qi alone took a lot of concentration and resources. A single wall took hours to build right the first time. It was easier to manipulate the roots of a seedling than to form a wall. Still, I think it was worth it.

Building things made me feel nostalgic. The feelings and memories of the past made me feel drunk on melancholy. I hated remembering the past and remembering all the opportunities I surrendered.

The men in my family have always been jealous of my grandfather’s ability to envision changes. My grandfather could look at a forest and see a driveway, a house, a new wooden deck, and any number of additions. I remember when he took me out to the forested area that would be his home and asked me what I thought. That summer was full of nightly campfires and chopping wood. I helped him screw in walls and repair a rotten frame in the winter. I spent a few days on Christmas break painting his walls. But for every opportunity he gave me to work with him, I chose to play games 2 out of 3 of those times.

Wood qi made me feel nostalgic and bitter even as I stepped upon what my grandfather did naturally; I felt bitter resentment for my past self. Working with the seedlings taught me to envision what I wanted before qi made it happen. Even if this place was only a temporary outpost, I could make it into something unique.

Shadback spoke up in the middle of my musing. “Something is outside,” Shadbak said, and that was all the warning I had.

Five claws, each as large as swords, sliced through the wooden walls of my newly built home. They tore, and my walls screamed as flames licked across the slashes. A pale blue eye looked through the slit made by the claws from the gashes. The seedling screamed as fiery qi ripped into it from the burning with hate held within the blue eye.

An aura filled with malice and animalistic hate welled up, building like the anticipation of a lit fuse. The beast’s fire quickly caught sweeping through the small shack. Still, the creature glared at us, building its power, aura, and presence.

For that split second before its power unleashed, I made a conscious effort to pull my sidearm. My body moved at preternatural speeds to bring my sidearm up. But, even as the barrel lined up with the monster’s eye and I squeezed the trigger, I knew it was too late.

Its aura crashed through the opening in the wall, and my heart raced until it sputtered, threatening to stop. I needed to get away and regroup if I tried to fight it now, I’d die for sure. Instead, all I could think about was how hard I was going to die. For millennia, its kind hunted humans crushing skulls between its fangs and ripping out our guts.

Shadbak growled under her breath. “It’s a demon.” I wanted to yell, no shit, but my throat felt swollen; I couldn’t breathe.

I waved my sidearm, and it vanished as its aura surrounded me. The beast was simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. Claws ripped through my newly made home ripping and tearing as it circled us.

My hand wouldn’t stop shaking; I couldn’t even pull the trigger. Even as a part of me raged at the feelings this fucking cat forced on me, I couldn’t focus. Something about this creature made my muscles lock up, and my arms shake. Even when I saw the creature, I couldn’t remain focused for long.

“We have to get out of here,” Shadbak yelled.

I didn’t say a word. Instead, I grabbed Shadbak's hand and rushed out through one of the failing walls. The monster had waited for us. It struck faster than I could follow. Five claws fell like the reaper’s scythe destined to slice my chest to ribbons even as my shaking stopped.

A fire lit within my mind burning away the fear and doubt. It ravaged and raged within my body, swallowing up my weakness and burning it to ash.

Black scales covered my body from head to toe. I hated this creature more than I’ve ever hated anything else. The claws that would have ripped me to ribbons cut shallow wounds. Black flames bloomed in my hands as I shot after the creature. The impossible predator had morphed into a draft horse-sized orange and black-maned lion. I drew my sidearm and fired.

Despite the boost in power and speed, the lion dodged and slashed with its fiery claws. I drew my knife and activated my qi engine. A qi dash brought me close before the lion could recover from its last attack. It was too used to its massive paws, cutting everything it touched into charred ribbons. My knife sliced across its pelt but only scored a shallow wound.

It threw itself at me, aiming a savage bite for my throat. The cold intelligence in its eyes revealed nothing; it was a monster. I decided then that tanking a bite from this big orange panther wasn’t an option. My joints screamed as I twisted, driving my body to move at speeds it wasn’t used to. Getting bitten by the monster wasn’t an option.

Even as I moved out of range of a fatal bite, its fangs dug into my shoulder. I thrust my hand out and pushed wooden stakes erupted. But while they pushed against the lion’s pelt, they couldn’t pierce him. The beast released a yowl of pain and slashed out with its claws.

“Bullets, knives, and stakes won’t pierce your hide.” I holstered my sidearm and clenched my fist. My options had been limited.

The lion ripped itself off of the stakes as I pushed off with qi steps. My body crashed into the lion, and I lifted it, leaping with all my might. The big cat twisted in mid-air, biting and clawing with all its might. All the while, I punched, pressing greater amounts of qi with each blow.

Pain ripped through my body as my battle form dug through me, healing and adapting. I could feel myself changing with every wound I took or blow I struck. All the while, I felt a savage desire well up inside of me to prove to this lowly ground-bound beast that I was the king. Since I gained this skill, there were no reservations from my humanity for the first time. Because of that, my blows seemed to rain down all the harder.

I could feel my qi coming faster and reinforcing my limbs better than ever. Finally, one of my newly concentrated blows hit the lion with the force of a stick of dynamite. The creature shifted like sand and twisted out from under me as we landed.

As I prepared to finish the fight, it dashed for my house and snatched up Shadbak’s bag of spirit cores. Then the beast ran off for the tree line. I was too stunned by the beast’s sudden cowardice until I realized it had taken my spirit cores. But, unfortunately, by the time I realized what was going on, it was already beyond the tree line.

“How could you let that thing get away?” A voice yelled from behind me. I turned to see Emily.

She was shaking terribly. Long slashes covered her body, and the bag she’d taken to fill with spirit cores was missing. I crossed the distance and caught her before she fell. Little orange hairs grew out of the cauterized wounds covering her body.

“You had it,” Emily yelled. I nodded my head and picked her up.

“Next time it comes near us, I’ll kill it for sure. After that, you’ll have to stay home and get some rest.” I said.

“What home that thing?” Emily pointed accusingly at the shattered remains of my shack.

A feeling of cold hate passed through me. For a second, I contemplated launching myself into the woods on a lion hunt. For once, my battle form didn’t hurt me as much. Now was as good a time as ever to hunt the beast.

“Neither my gun nor my knife could wound it,” I said.

Emily grunted. “It’s an anti-human demon. Any weapon made by human hands will have little effect on it. Only monster-slaying weapons can wound it permanently. I don’t think it's alone either.” Emily said, and she was right.

…

Emily developed a fever that night, and it hadn’t gone away for 4 days since then. I did what I could to make her more comfortable. I rebuilt the shack, fired bricks to reinforce the walls, opened a basement, and expanded the moat. During the night, we kept the bridge up. But Emily continued to fight the fever, and ever more blue eyes gathered in the dark at night. The only time I left Emily alone with Shadbak was to gather fish from the nearby lake. Those trips only lasted ten minutes at most, but every time I returned, the walls of our house were torn apart, and the moat had been crawled through.

“We have to retreat as long as we stay here; they’ll try to remove us,” Shadbak said.

It was sound advice, but I didn’t want to hear it. “I’m close to beating their pride just a few more days, and her fever will break,” I said.

“Staying here is making her worse. You’ve seen her wounds and the orange fur growing from them. It's more than a fever. A demon’s curse is empowered by their aura.” Shadbak said.

The walls of this place glowed with an isolating formation built to keep the demon’s aura out. I learned the formation because I was trapped here with nothing else to do. When I left, the demons attacked. While I stayed, they spied on this place, sleeping in turns, waiting for me to leave. Finally, they scattered and hid their qi if I tried to hunt them down.

Of course, formations didn’t do much when my walls were turned to Swiss cheese. Even sandwiching brick in didn’t do much more than buying a few minutes. Food was a problem I didn’t expect to have.

It showed how much punishment this place took.

“I don’t think they’ll let us escape at this point. If Emily was healthy, we’d try it, but at the moment, it isn’t possible.” I said.

Shadback looked through a boarded-up window. “The stakes aren’t cutting it; you need a better deterrent.” She said.

“Like what?” I asked.

Shadbak grumbled. “Figure it out you’re the leader.” She said.

As I gazed out at my dry stake-filled moat, a thought occurred to me. What about water? They were creatures of ash; water probably wouldn’t do them any favors. Moreover, I doubted this place received any rain, and if it did, the ashen probably didn’t enjoy it.

So, I did what I could with the roots of seedlings and began digging a channel. I dug a long ditch through the trees, hills, and rocks for the next couple of days. All the while, I kept an eye on the house. If one of the demons came close, I charged over with all my might.

Working the land did wonders for my qi control and my qi in general. The more I used my power, the more comfortable with it I became. Every day I built a few more layers to my home, and Emily started to get better. We mainly ate red fruit, and the formation seemed to grow stronger with time. It was all looking good until I reached the halfway point in building the channel.

I had grown complacent, and the second I sensed their qi, I rushed over. All six lions had attacked a single spot and tore it open. After building numerous layers, they weren’t able to break the formation. I made sure of that. With every layer, I built, their ability to break through into my liar before I returned lessened.

But on my return, bricks lay strewn across the ground, and hours of work had been ruined. Piles of shit covered my porch, and they had pissed everywhere. Still, they watched at the tree line, ready to flee at a moment's notice. Building the rest of the channel would take too long; something had to change. I didn’t have time to dig the rest of it and guard the house. That killbot might have been a better buy than I thought.

…

The next day I sat on my deck brooding over my next move when six riders broke through the tree line and rode down my bridge. The demons chasing them stopped at the tree line while the riders charged right for my home. 6 men, 2 dressed in heavy plate and 4 wearing leather, crossed my bridge before the knight ripped his helmet off and looked around with a half-mad gaze.

When he saw me and the stakes in the ground, he sucked in a breath and let it out. “My name is Lucio Terranor, heir of the Terranor lands of which you live. By divine right of the triad, I conscript you to my service and order you to open your doors to me and my men.”

I raised an eyebrow. The men had their hands on their swords, especially the one with the name Washington glowing above his head in gold lettering. So really, there was only one response to an uninvited guest, and I had official backing to use it. “Go fuck yourself. I am a member of Interrogator Emily Ramael’s retinue and follow her orders. My orders are to defend this location, and that is what I’ll do.”

Until I said the word Interrogator, the man seemed about ready to blow a gasket. The second I said the word interrogator, the others, even Washington seemed ready to shit themselves. But, when I finished, he seemed to calm down and even relax.

“Ah, you’re here to exterminate the demons. Is the interrogator inside? Perhaps I can arrange some cooperation?” Lucio said.

I shook my head. “She’s in isolation, the demons.” They stiffened at my words.

“You don’t have to explain their curse to me; I’ve witnessed it firsthand. The demons attacked several villages along the forest’s edge. Some of my men had to receive the Prophet’s mercy by my own hand.” Lucio said, then paused. “Where is your inquisitor?”

“Have you heard of Gemini town?” I asked.

Coasting off Emily’s interrogator status was all I could do to avoid a fight. If he hadn’t backed down immediately, I would have had to kill him and possibly his men. Nobles didn’t like commoners who weren’t under their thumb.

“So, he was caught up in that terrible business. We have some food, but it won’t last long. What have you managed to ration?” Lucio asked.

I glanced over at my three-day-old smoking shed. It was my 8th attempt at a smoking shed. One of the leather-clad men opened it up, revealing dozens of fat mudcats.

“The ashes in this place have a lot of salt in them. It doesn’t take much to boil them in with water to make brine. As for the lake, it’s hardly been fished, so it’s full of fish.” I said.

There was also a small collection of water spirits possessing wet clay. A few of them seemed intelligent.

“So we aren’t in danger of starving immediately. We can also kill and smoke our horses to lengthen our food supply. But still, that only puts off the inevitable. Is the interrogator getting better?” Lucio said.

“Her fever broke, but she hasn’t woken up yet,” I said.

Our conversation was interrupted when a roar resounded through the forest. All of the lions joined in, and I watched as more blue eyes appeared; some of them had human faces and lion bodies.

I decided then that we needed large outer walls in addition to the moat. A plan to create a thorn bush line in front of the moat also came to mind. My stakes needed to be larger and sharper to pierce the lion pelts. Well, at least I had six people to help me work.