Meanwhile, deep in the frozen forest, a bitter wind twisted through the trees, carrying with it the stench of blood while the occasional crow's caw broke the stifling silence.

The rabbits that had been out of their borrow, including the sentry had been eliminated with unbridled fury, their torn and shattered carcasses littering the strangely snow-free ground, drenching it with their blood.

The sun had long since reached a point where there was little light that fell due to the thick coverage of evergreen trees, and if wasn't for the snow reflecting the limited light, it would be difficult to see Kai's menacing figure, his golden eyes glaring into the rabbit warren's entrance.

Scanning the surroundings quickly, Kai darted forward, sticking his head into the entrance before rapidly retreating. After a few moments, he repeated the movement, getting a sharp image showing that there was nothing in the two tunnels that lead away from the entrance in different directions.

Kai sat down again, the sensation that something wasn't quite right nagging at him.

While there was no harm in being cautious, to anyone watching, this approach would have seemed like overkill for a simple rabbit warren yet, little would they know that it wasn't the rabbits Kai was wary of.

Nearby, a few smouldering clumps of ash, which had once looked like small, snake-like vines, lay scattered between the rabbit corpses. They had exploded from the earth in an attempt to block Kai or protect the startled rabbits. Some of them had even attacked the charging dragon, trying to restrain him.

He still had the sensation that something was watching him but he could not locate where it was coming from, and so, he was on high alert.

To ensure that not one rabbit escape, even with the unexpected challenge, Kai was forced to use his limited reserves of spirit energy to power his dragon's breath, as well as utilise his damaged wing, which resulted in intense pain but, now the bodies could be counted, he was confident he had been successful.

Still, if it weren't for the fact that he needed to find shelter to rest and the need to consume a significant amount of fresh meat, he would have probably abandoned this area already.

Even though it seemed like not a single rabbit had been able to escape into the barrow, Kai's keen senses picked up that those below ground had already been alerted and were seemingly gathering.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Kai once again scanned his surroundings. He didn't pay much mind to his presence being revealed, believing that the noise and stench of death would have been more than enough to alert those below ground yet, sneaking suspicion at the back of his mind told him that it wasn't so simple.

Having come to a decision, the young dragon moved to one of the nearby corpses, keep a vigilant state, and started to eat the rabbit with a disgruntled expression.

During the time in the cave he had discovered he liked cooked meat more than raw, his energy reserves were so low that Kai knew he couldn't be so frivolous.

After Kai had finished devouring his prey, only leaving the entrails and a few bones, did he move onto the next. While most preditors would retreat with their prize or eat in a hurry and go, Kia was in no rush, his only hesitation being the unknown presence.

The freezing cold was remarkably diminished around the large tree and the presence of rabbits, in such large numbers, indicated that it was a relatively safe area.

Not only that, there was the rabbit's warren, a pre-made den, just slightly taller than the dog-sized dragon, the rabbits were an excellent source of nutrients, and the nearby snow could be eaten for water. This area was almost perfect for the exhausted dragon to recover and analyse the new memories it had gained.

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Kai had just finished eating the last rabbit, breaking its thick legbone to suck the marrow, when his face twisted in frustration.

He had been hoping his lax, unhurried approach would either chase off or draw out, whatever was watching him yet, the forest remained stiflingly silent.

Circling the big tree before approaching the warren's entrance from behind, Kai was utterly stumped. Had he sensed killing intent then he would have given up, but it seemed the thing was content to just watch him.

Looking up, Kai watched the round looked at the tree's round, white fruit, almost pear-like in shape, and wondered how they would taste when, strangely, the one he had been staring at fell.

With a soft thud, it landed on the leaf litter before rolling to a stop.

Kai, who had been on high alert, had already retreated a couple of meters but after ensuring he didn't sense anything strange about the fruit, and not believing in coincidence, he slowly approached.

With an outstretched claw, he quickly sliced the fruit and retreated, only to see it cleanly separate and display what he expected, the flesh of the fruit surrounding small seeds.

The young dragon chuckled as he shook his head and, after getting within reach, lightly licked the fruit.

It was sweet, full of energy and strangely, warming. Appart from that, Kai did not notice any strange things coming from his body and the fruit revealed none of the warning signs of the poisonous plants he had encountered in the cave.

Just to be sure, Kai cycled his spirit energy a little bit faster as he ate one half, and soon after the other.

Strangely, the small, white fruit was packed with energy, both natural and spiritual, and he felt his insatiable hunger, which the five rabbits before had barely touch, diminish significantly.

"What a strange creature." A genderless, airy voice echoed from all around Kai, startling him as he curled, ready to attack or defend at a moments notice. "Would you like to live here?"

Kai's head was continually scanning the area, looking for the source of the mysterious voice. While it didn't sound like any language, he knew, strangely he could understand the meaning and intent behind the words.

"You can't kill any more of my rabbits though. It took an age to lure them here, and the wolves already keep their numbers so low that I barely get any spirit energy from them."

The voice continued talking. "Even though your body is highly efficient and doesn't emit much spiritual waste, my god is it delicious. It's so pure and clean."

"And you are such a strange creature. I have never seen one like you. You are apparently a weak monster but have such an intimidating presence and tyrannical aura. Also, you appear to be pretty intelligent. Can you speak? If not, I can give you some more of my fruit. Not too much though, I have to meet my quota for the humans, or they will dig me up and plant me in one of their prostitution orchards."

Kai frowned, wondering why the voice had suddenly become so chatty and frustrated that he still couldn't locate its source. If this carried on, he might use the rest of his spirit energy and burn the surrounding area. He was pretty sure that whoever owned the voice would appear if he did that.

"So what gender are you?" asked the genderless voice? "And whats your orientation? I usually chose a form that will appeal to the fleshy I am interacting with, well in the shape of a human. To do anything else, I need to absorb one of their species and then it would ruin my fruit."

Kai was rapidly attempting to put the pieces of information he had gained together, the voice had revealed a lot of information yet, all of his thoughts were thrown from his mind as he released a terrifying hiss, his wings slightly expanding to make his body appear more prominent.

In front of him, two human-like shapes appeared. One was male and the other female. A single long vine attached to the top of their head and disappeared into the tree's green leaves above.

While they where human in shape, their bodies were made up of many vines, twisting together like muscles. Their hair was a moss-like substance, and their eyes appeared to be made out of nuts and a watery sap-like substance.

"Oh... they still look terrifying," said the man and woman at the same time, the man's voice giving off strength and dignity while the female was smooth and seductive. Even so, it was clear from their tone that they were quite upset. "I really felt I made improvements since last time."

The figures fell apart as the vines retreated back into the tree.

"Sorry." The genderless voice that emanated from everywhere returned, though it was distinctly less energetic than before. "I didn't mean to scare you..."

Kai had seen enough to realise it was the tree that was the one watching him and so while keeping his eye on it and the branches above, he slowly retreated backwards.

His ancestral memories contained no information on such a creature, and while it wasn't hostile in any way, or at least it appeared that way at the moment, Kai sensed that while he was close to it, he would be at the tree's mercy.