My mother Sonja had always been a feeble and sickly child, even at the seventeen years she had at the moment of this raid. Ever since she was born in the capital of Munny she had gotten sick many times over and every time she did, she stayed on bed for days. That’s why she was taken towards the village she was in, together with her father, the village chief.

Father had hoped I wouldn’t get sick as often here, further away from the big masses of people, but I am still getting sick, I don’t want to be ill, I wish to be healthy all the time to be able to help him with the house chores or something with the village, I am smart enough to be of help… But if I am always ill, I’ll always be an annoyance…

And now he said we actually could have some serious trouble; some monsters are attacking the village! He said it’s going to be perfectly fine, but I know he was lying, his lips react unconsciously when he does so. Also, he told me to go to our “secret” place, which actually is a hidden basement hidden under a fake floor, where he had put some food to survive for a few days without the need for contact with the outside world.

Another aspect of this room was that there was a lock which could only be unlocked from the inside, so when Sonja was mad with her father, she sometimes came here in secret and stayed for a few hours or a day to two, but that had barely happened, as the only thing that made Sonja mad was not being of any use for her progenitor.

Even if she knew she was safe in here, hearing the battle raging made her feel nervous and it ending so quickly made her first relieved, believing that the defenders had won the battle, but time passing and no one entering her house to knock with the special code, made “just in case” someone tried to impersonate her father made her feel nervous and anxious. Did her father die? Then there should at least be some kind of cheering for protecting the village!

Or maybe the villagers had been hurt too much to cheer and were now being tended for? She had to know! Knowledge is power, her father, a researcher, told her many times over, so she decided to think of some plan to get information and be prepared in case the worst had happened. Staying still wasn’t an option for her and now that her father wasn’t there to enforce the rules of her staying still and recuperating from a relatively minor illness, she could do whatever she wanted.

But first, eating. Thinking was exhausting, especially so when you’re ill. After a good meal she decided to leave her plan for tomorrow, as it was dark outside, and it was well known that most monsters have better eyesight at night than humans do.

At the village plaza

- How many did we get?

Asked the tallest Rakshnurian in the town, the boss and only female of the tribe.

- About forty, some won’t be useful for our plans.

Answered the second in command and one of the smallest Rakshnurians in the tribe. If it weren’t for the younger members, he would clearly be the smallest one, not by a small margin.

- Divide according to contribution.

- Yes, Boss!

The short exchange ended just like that and the smaller Rakshnurian walked towards the main group of his tribe, telling him how the loot would be divided.

And by loot, he meant women, of course. He decided on what order they’d choose which women to reproduce with and let them do their thing. He, personally, didn’t like this kind of action, although he still could feel the pheromones in the air. He thought that reproduction between species wasn’t good, even if he knew it was necessary for their tribe to keep existing. He, instead, was trying to conquer his boss’ heart.

But how do Rakshnurians usually reproduce? Rakshnurians have pheromone receptors which can take two main signals. One comes from fertile, not pregnant women and the other from pregnant ones. When they are close to female that falls into the first category, instinct takes over them and turns them into a reproduction machine, even dumber than what they usually are, but once they finish their job and feel the new pheromones emanating from the women, they instantly gain control and instead of feeling attracted to the women, they feel repelled by them and the new pheromones they emanate. There are only a few Rakshnurians which don’t fall into this depravity, the female one being the main group.

Leaving the other Rakshnurians be, the second on the tribe started to search through the homes to find a gift for his boss, as that had been working over the seasons and he felt that if he could get one or two good gifts, such as the clothes that she (the boss) was wearing, he could at least get close enough for them to be together and maybe she would even test him to see if he was worth the momentary weakness and pain that being pregnant caused.

It wasn’t a usual pregnancy, as Rakshnurian babies are born strong via consuming the so-called life-force or mana of their progenitor. And what makes Rakshnurian females able to reproduce multiple times is that they naturally get more over the course of their life, in a more efficient manner than the males or other species do.

The other Rakshnurian in the tribe with high magic power was the second in command and it was also one of the reasons for his standing there. He couldn’t exactly get it by nature as fast as his boss, but he could instead take it from living things, be it plants, animals or sapient beings.

This Rakshnurian decided to first explore the more destroyed side of the city, as a potential gift could be destroyed by gravity and debris if he explored the other houses first. The only interesting things he had found that night were a few decorative sword covers and a destroyed carpet, which he of course couldn’t give to his boss, she wouldn’t like it.

He left his scavenging for the time being and went together with his tribe, them having finished the procreation.

At the next day two humanoids were preparing their course of action. One to get information and the other to get gifts. They didn’t know about the existence of each other, but they were my mother and father.

As the second in command left to search on the houses of the west side of town, a young woman had already a plan in her head. She would first look that no one was inside her house via small holes on the floor and if all was all right, she’d go to the first floor, crouched, not to be seen from the outside, trying to listen for some uncommon noises. If, after all that, she couldn’t tell the situation, she’d have to risk being seen by looking through one of the windows.

She set her plan in motion, no one was inside her house, but there was someone looking into a house two houses away.

The vice leader of the tribe suddenly heard a creak of wood. He thought it may have been some old, worn out wood, but little later the same sound was made. It wasn’t too far away, so he decided to explore, but being careful all the same, as he had already heard some stories of strong people hiding inside tiny villages. Barely making any sound, unherdable for Sonja, he got closer and closer to the house and when he got to a window, ready to come inside, a head popped right through it.

It belonged to a pale and blonde female, whose expression quickly turned into fear and she shouted, quickly closed the curtains and tried to get away. But it was for nothing, as the monster quickly broke the window and the wall it was contained it and caught her.

This should probably make his boss happy. A good specimen for reproduction, she’d probably survive more than three or four children.

Bringing her unconscious body back to his boss he was already gloating on what she’d let him do, but as she saw what he was bringing, although she was happy, she made the choice that ultimately made me exist. She told her vice leader that he’d have to reproduce with her if he wanted to stay within the tribe, as interspecies breeding was part of their “identity”.

The monster only shortly doubted what he’d do. He would walk around the whole world if that was the way to meet his boss. Still, he didn’t want to do it and his boss knew that. So, she decided to bring her and the human to where he found her and as the three of them got there, she told him that if he didn’t procreate at that instant, she wouldn’t kill him or leave him out of the tribe, but rather that she’d never ever answer to him again. This was enough to force him to impregnate the woman and therefore create me.

As a prize for his actions, she let him do it with her, although only through a method she could prevent getting pregnant. And that’s how I came into existence.