Kai felt the bloodshed and carnage before he saw it. Waves of panic and fear washed over him as images of goblins fending off multiple Facestealers from the treetops flashed through his mind. With every passing moment lights in the distance winked out of sight while the Facestealers gained ground on their encircled prey. Kai burst into a sprint.

“I don’t mean to alarm you guys,” Kai shouted over shoulder, “but the village is under attack and we need to hurry!”

The goblins didn’t need to be told twice and followed close behind Kai. There were five Facestealers and around twenty goblins still able to fight. The rest of the goblins were huddled inside of a giant tree that the Facestealers were trying to break through to. The situation was grim. Kai could take down one Facestealer, sure. But five at the same time while trying to protect the goblins?

Kai looked at his status screen while he ran. The +5 strength buff still had 2 hours left. What tactic would be best? Brute force? He could invest the rest of his Ravenous points into strength and try to duke it out. No, that was stupid, in the end it was one versus five and that kind of thinking would get him killed.

Kai and the goblins were now in sight of the village and Kai could see the Facestealers curled around the side of a gargantuan tree as goblins pelted them with spears and stones from the branches above. However, unlike the Facestealer that Kai had killed, these ones were smaller and didn’t have any weapons in their claws. If the other Facestealer was the size of a 3 story house, then these Facestealers were a 2 story house in comparison. They were younger, less experienced and their minds were more animalistic as they had yet to feed on any intelligent, language speaking beings. Kai felt a plan forming in his head.

Instead of strength, Kai put 5 points into dexterity totaling to 9. Apparently, according to Aux, this meant he could shoot with accuracy down a range of 90 meters which was about the length of a football field. Kai took out his black spike and aimed at one of the Facestealers that was furthest away from the rest near the base of the tree. When he got within shouting distance Kai stopped, took in a deep breath and…

Laughed. He laughed a deep, loud, hearty laugh. The goblins at his side looked at him with astonishment but he continued to laugh until he saw the Facestealers to turn his attention to him. He then locked eyes with the Facestealer he had marked before and threw the black spike as hard as he could. The spike became a blur through the air but there was no time to stop. Kai immediately sprinted after the spike and was in front of the Facestealer just as it fell to the ground writhing in pain as the spike tore through its eye socket into its brain.

Now came the hard part. Instead of finishing it off, Kai used Empathic Link on all of the Facestealers and himself so that they all felt the pain of the black spike carving a path through their brains. All the Facestealers fell from the tree as they began to writhe in shared torment. The pain was no less intense for Kai and it took all his willpower to continue to laugh like a madman as he endured what was by far the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. When the pain finally became too much to bear he took out the black spear from behind his back and shoved it into the head of the dying Facestealer.

All at once the pain stopped. Sweet relief suffused Kai but it was also the same for the other Facestealers. It was just as they were getting up from the ground that Kai linked minds with them again and showed them the corpse of their kin that he had killed yesterday. He showed them how the bigger Facestealer had spent the last moments of its life in total agony, the same agony that they had all felt just now. He showed them how he had laughed as he killed the Facestealer without lifting so much as a finger. He showed them how he had ripped their brother apart limb by limb and then cooked his flesh over a fire. He shared with them the texture of his flesh, the flavour of his meat.

Revulsion and disgust circled back to Kai combined with a growing sense of fear and dread. Kai had them right where he wanted them, all he needed to do was to deliver the final blow.

Kai reached down and hacked a piece of meat out of the Facestealer at his feet. He then brought it to his mouth and took a heaping bite out of it. It was chewy and revolting uncooked. But Kai soldiered on and continued to laugh wildly as he bit into the meat while sharing the sensation to four nauseated Facestealers. It was when Kai’s laughing had reached its loudest that he closed his mouth and fell silent. A faint echo of his laughter still lingered through the forest which made the oncoming silence all the more pronounced. He then looked directly at the Facestealers and sent them a message. Though they had yet to understand language, the meaning was clear.

You’re next.

The Facestealers scattered like cockroaches exposed under a spotlight. None of them even suspected in their fear addled minds that they were possibly duped. All they could focus on was getting as far away from the “Kin Eater” as possible. Kai couldn’t help shaking his head as he watched the Facestealers disappear into the forest without so much as a glance back.

“You know, one day, I’m going to face an opponent that’s not going to fall for my bullshit. But today is not that day. Not even close.”

“To quote The Art of War, ‘The greatest victory is that which requires no battle’,” Aux said.

“How do you know that? I’ve never actually read that book.”

“We heard it at a conference. The one you brought tomatoes to.”

“Oh yeah. Good times.”

With the Facestealer threat ended the goblins began to filter down their trees and gathered around the corpse of the Facestealer. They kept a fair distance away from Kai who still had blood dripping from his mouth, but they seemed to regard him with more awe than fear. Eventually, the two Scouts that accompanied Kai introduced him to the rest of the village with no lack of shouting and fanfare. They embellished the story of Kai’s triumph over the larger Facestealer as being a battle of legends where they had watched him wrestle with the beast for three days and three nights as the creature blew out gouts of flame, cut through trees with its many magical weapons, sent out its legions of collected spirits of the dead to attack, leveled entire mountains and-

The storytelling went on for a while. By the time Kai felt compelled to stop the two goblins the damage was already done. He was swarmed on all sides by short, spiky, mask wearing goblins that wanted to greet their new “Warrior”. They touched his arms and legs and noted with approval the bandages Kai wore where the Facestealer had struck him with its cursed tail. Looking through their minds, Kai was beginning to suspect that “Warrior” had a different connotation than what he first had in mind and was going to ask about it when he heard a loud clap echo from above.

Standing on the edge of a car sized branch was an elderly goblin leaning on a staff. He had white hair that was tied back into a top knot and well defined muscles despite the wrinkles that lined his face. His body was adorned with a patchwork of nicks, scratches and scars that ran along his dark skin in pale lines that seemed to glow. He had no spikes. Instead only shaved white nubs remained but this did not seem to bother him at all. His poise exuded confidence and demanded attention. Bright silver eyes stared down at the crowd as he inhaled a deep breath.

“What do you all think you are doing when there are still injured to be taken care of?! Get your butts back up this tree and help treat the wounded or by the Ancestors I will go down there and feed you all to the Uunanel myself! Do I make myself clear?!”

In a flash the goblins were scurrying up the tree and disappearing into doorways that led further inside. Before long only Kai and the elder goblin were the ones still left outside the tree. Kai shifted awkwardly as the elder stared down at him, unsure of what to say.

“I’m guessing you’re the Elder that these guys were talking about?” Kai shouted up to the goblin.

The elder motioned his hand like he was tossing something aside. “Hold on, my ears aren’t what they used to be. I’ll climb on down so wait there.”

But instead of climbing down the tree like the rest of the goblins, the elder rotated his shoulders, rocked his head side to side and, to Kai’s surprise, jumped off the branch. The elder fell forward head first and extended his arms and legs. At his sides were what looked to be wings made of a black, scintillating fabric. But something didn’t quite add up. Kai expected him to glide, but it was more like the elder floated down at a steady pace. As he neared Kai the elder lifted himself back into an upright position before landing square on his feet.

Kai couldn’t resist asking the question that was at the forefront of his head.

“That wingsuit doesn’t produce any lift, does it? Or, at least, not enough to support your weight. It’s magic, isn’t it?”

The elder lifted an arm to reveal the fabric that was attached to him. Patterns of stars and constellations twinkled across the surface.

“This old thing? You’re right, it’s not like the gliders the Telwryn have. On gliders you fly with the wind, feel it on your face. This thing pushes it away and makes the wind bend to its will.”

It was hard to notice, but it did feel like there was a bubble of air surrounding the elder as he lifted his arms. The elder let his arms fall back to his side and the feeling dissipated.

“Sorry, I just had to know the mechanics behind it. My name’s Kai and, uh, I guess you can tell what I specialize in,” Kai said as he shrugged towards the Facestealer’s corpse.

“Hm. You are an Uluanwen,” the elder said. “A speaker of minds. The Ancestors allowed me to listen in on your conversation with the children of He Who Lurks With Many Faces. It seems you are also a trickster as well.”

Kai put a hand behind his head and exaggerated his embarrassment as he reevaluated the person that stood in front of him.

“Ah, you caught me. I just prefer not to fight if I don’t have to. It would have been a bloody mess if I didn’t chase them away. Sorry if that doesn’t sit well with you.”

The elder shook his head.

“No, if anything I am grateful. Too many are eager to treat battle as a narrow path. Had we continued to fight we would have lost many more. Though you are a trickster, your action saved the lives of my people and for that I am grateful.”

The elder bowed his head to Kai and through Empathic Link Kai could tell that it wasn’t an act that was taken lightly. He was old. Though the younger generation did not remember he was an Elder and thus could never forget. His kind did not bow.

The realization made Kai uneasy and he quickly motioned for the Elder to stand up.

“Hey, no need for that. How could I just walk away from people being attacked? I mean, the vendors down at the fish market would never let me live it down if they heard I ran away from some oversized lobsters.”

The Elder gave Kai a quizzical look before shaking his head.

“You have a mouth like Xital. Always something clever to say. But the words you say hide your true meaning. Be careful that when you hunt in the night you do not forget what it means to live in the day.”

“Can a person who’s never seen light ever live amongst the day?” Kai asked.

“Yes.” The Elder looked straight into Kai’s eyes as he said this. “Yes,” he repeated.

“Well, if that’s the case then there’s something I need your help with. Oh! But before that I can help out with the first aid. As you can see,” Kai pointed to his bandages, “I have some experience with that.”

“It would help if you could do that. Come, our Healer is on her Crebah and I do not trust her little ones to do all the work.”

With that the Elder expanded his arms and floated towards the top of the tree. Kai on the other hand contented himself with scrambling up the tree with his new climbing gear. To his surprise he arrived at the top at the same time Elder did and the two entered into the goblin’s treebound home.

***

Status Update

Name: Kai Walker

Health: 54/54

Mana: 120/120

Class: Empath

Abilities: Empathic Link, Prayers for the Fallen

Skills: Survivalist (lvl.4), Trap Maker (lvl.2), Poisoner (lvl.1), Black Spear Wielder (lvl.3)

Magic: None

Collected Memories: House Leandros

Status:

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 5

Charisma: 6

Ravenous points: 40

Debuffs:

Ravenous (lvl.3)

Buffs:

Strength (+5) 2 hours

Dexterity (+5) 8 hours