When we passed through the Shandise to the so-called Shadow Plains, I was obligated to ask my guides why such a well-lit land was called as much.

“There is a somewhat notable forest in places here,” I’d said as I looked over the Plains from the foothills of the Shandise. I watched the suns rise over the far-off ocean, the shimmering of the sea nearly blinding, “but there is nothing casting a shadow large enough to warrant a name like that around here.”

My guides, a troop of enterprising Sunkindred under the command of a burly, hulking cow named Moarn, scoffed at my ignorance. The barbarians hadn’t hesitated in the face of bandits, indlovu, packs of wolfstags, or anything else. To the Shadow Plains, though, they showed no small amount of fear.

“It’s not the Plains that cast the shadows. It’s the things that live here.” Moarn answered, her chuckles derisive. “Let’s hope we don’t see any of them, they should be hibernating. My light should be enough to keep them away, but we’ll rush all of today and pray to Huldtar that his rays will protect us. We don’t have any offerings for them, and it would be better to refrain from making any contact.”

Unfortunately, Moarn’s light was not enough. Fortunately, her hatchets and the lives of two of her companions were.

-from a letter home by Eldara di’Frandara during his self-funded travels to Nievtra

My racing heart and clenching stomach were mostly disappointed with what I was led to see. The beast that this scout’s pack had found only somewhat looked like a nanuk, but much less imposing. The one we’d seen before was a monstrosity, seemingly dedicated to the protection of its goats. It stunned us with its magic and was as large as an indlovu, though with four arms and two legs.

This beast was smaller than Brutus, who stared it down the second we approached. Its thick brown fur covered its body completely, and its face wasn’t so humanlike as the nanuk’s. Instead, it was more like a wolf’s, with a snout and black eyes. Its rounded ears atop its head were almost cute, and it roared in challenge to us as our presence became more and more apparent. I wanted to rush forward and dispatch it for the affront of getting me excited for a fight, but Brutus raised a hand in front of me.

“Please, Alpha. Allow us.” He spoke nearly commandingly, but I supposed it would be helpful to him and my other guards to allow them a hunt, to prove themselves without me being in some sort of present danger.

I flared my frills in assent, and Brutus led three keelish forward to engage with the beast. It reared back on its back legs, now nearly ten feet tall, paws swiping widely in defense. Brutus dodged one swipe before lunging forward with his maw wide open. The creature’s entire wrist crunched under the massive khatif’s bite, and it wailed in sudden pain while lunging down with a bite of its own. Brutus disengaged to get just out of its reach, and it was forced to catch its weight on its forepaws. It immediately pulled the wounded foot up and snarled in a slavering fury at Brutus. My guard didn’t care, instead throwing himself at the creature’s unharmed arm.

The other three keelish didn’t hesitate to flank the beast, their jaws and claws cutting deep into the beast’s flesh. It roared in pain while ignoring Brutus’s attack and turning to swipe at the smaller aggressors, but Brutus took the opportunity to leap onto its back and begin ripping into its spine with his fangs while his claws sliced deep furrows into the creature’s back. Blood flowed freely and mixed with the rich soil underfoot. My guards’ prey gave up on striking back and tried to flee, but the keelish continued to hamstring the beast. Before it could get far, it fell to the ground with a thud and a whimper.

I waited for Brutus and the rest to strike it down, but he turned to me before doing so.

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“Do you want to strike it down?”

My immediate reaction was to say no, but I wanted to know what the creatures were called, as well as to seize any opportunity to continue progressing with my [Quest] to continue killing things. Beyond that, Brutus seemed to want me to deal the final blow. Even so, I decided against it.

“I want you to do it. It was your hunt, and you deserve the first meal as well as the final blow.”

“As you command, Alpha.” Brutus replied before gesturing to the small male that had begun following him just before we encountered the Inkulu. His name was, I learned, Mrak, and he struggled to tear the throat out of the felled and mostly dead creature. Even so, with three final chomps of his jaws, the creature breathed its last and I nodded my approval. The small male was less than four feet tall, though he was obviously growing under the influence of Brutus and Ytte’s guidance.

A small part of me mourned the loss of the progress on my [Quest], though most of me didn’t mind it. After all, I would gain more stats if I was the primary or sole hunter of the creature, and merely dispatching a beast for the progress of my [Quest] would keep me from being as powerful as I could be, in the end. Immediate progress would be great, but ensuring that I could stand on the same level or beyond the strongest High Speakers, Indlovu soldiers, or whatever else this world had to throw at me would be much better long term.

“Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to ensure that this creature wasn’t more than it seemed.”

“Of course, Alpha. The Alqat serve to protect you as our hope.”

The meaning of the word settled over me, royal guardian. When Brutus said it, the word brought a certain indistinct nostalgia. I knew I’d never heard the word, but it felt right.

“Then eat your fill and bring whatever remains to the pack that brought us here.”

“Only after you eat!” Squeaked Mrak. “You come first!”

“I am provided for.” I responded, though I reached a hand down and, with a quick swipe of two claws, sliced a long strip of meat free. I tossed it down my throat and swallowed without further comment. The three “Alqat” under Brutus’s direction still didn’t eat until he gave his approval. As his three subordinates tore into the mound of meat, Brutus bit the partially severed paw free and chewed idly on it as he stood at my right hand.

“Are you ready to return to the swarm?” he asked as his teeth crunched through the many bones in the paw.

“I suppose.” I replied. “Are you always going to accompany me?”

“Me or Ytte. Nobody else is strong enough yet. There will be some that grow.” He answered.

“I meant is there always going to be a guard, or Alqat with me at all times.”

“For as long as you remain our Alpha.”

“And this isn’t going to change any time soon?”

“Not so long as you remain our Alpha.”

I paused for a moment. “Who told you that phrase?”

Brutus flicked his tail. “Ytte.” he conceded as the last of the paw crunched between his teeth and vanished down his throat.

“Alright. Then let’s go back to the swarm. We’ll let these ones figure out if there’ll be any meat that needs to get back to the swarm.”

Brutus merely flicked his tail in response, and I led the way back to the main body of the swarm. It didn’t take long before the other three finished feeding. I was surprised to see that they hadn’t fed to gorging themselves, their bellies not distended with meat. Instead, each remained aware and energetic, ready for anything that approached.

When we made contact back with the swarm, I couldn’t help but notice Ytte taking notice of our approach and flaring her frills in approval as she saw my clean form. Then, she continued lugging her massive rock around. Again, I was about to begin experimenting with my magic when Shemira approached me. She waited mostly patiently for me to acknowledge her as she waited beside me.

“Yes?”

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about. You have time now?”

I suppressed a groan, knowing I still wouldn’t be able to explore my [Skills] or anything else to do with my magic.