Their peaceful sleep was ruined by shouts and screams in the distance.

Egosum was the first up and moving. His mind was racing as he shouted at his friends to stand to attention as well. Fearing the worse, he hopped through the tent flap and searched for the source.

A gargantuan beast, a flood of humans, or a natural disaster were the biggest concerns at the forefront of his mind.

The sight that welcomed him was not what he was expecting. A horde of beastmen was gathered to the side of the village.

There were significantly more people gathered than he had seen before and the mob was much rowdier.

He hopped towards them and tried to piece together what was happening.

“Let them go!” The familiar voice of an older beastman yelled at the group.

He recognized a few of the beastmen as he got closer but took notice that all of the larger members of the mob were new figures.

They had multiple members of the village gripped in their larger hands, dragging them into the forest.

“What’s going on?” Cinera emerged from the tent behind them and walked to meet him.

“I have no idea but there are a lot more beastmen than before.” Egosum hopped forwards to try and get a better grasp of the situation unfolding before them. It was blatantly apparent that something bad was about to go down.

“They don’t want to go with you! Just leave us alone and let our families come back to us!” The screams went unanswered as Morgal ran towards one of the larger beastman Egosum failed to recognize.

The other villagers pulled her back before she could reach the larger person, causing her to struggle in their arms as she fought against the restraint.

“We can’t just let them take our people. Punishe will just have more of them die until he bleeds our village dry! We need to stop him now!” Egosum hopped towards the group, catching the eyes of many of the larger beastmen in the process of kidnapping the villagers.

“Why should they go with you if they don’t want to?” The larger group looked amongst themselves and then to the largest of their group for an answer.

“A talking toad?” He appeared confused as he looked at the comparatively small beast who confronted them.

“Yes, now will you answer my question?” Silence rained over the clearing as they froze under the interrogation. Finally, the large beastman broke through the silence.

“No. Now fuck off.” He yanked back his arm to pull one of the villagers, throwing the captured person into his arms. “They are ours to take from.”

Before Egosum could speak up again to egg the man into conflict, Thunkars young voice called out from behind them.

“Listen to Granny. You need to leave now.” The childish undertone was completely gone from his voice as he spoke. A cold and vicious snarl sounded like it was being held in the back of his throat, ready to be unleashed.

The threat of violence hung in the air as all of the kidnappers in the clearing froze.

The largest of the invaders let go of the woman he held in his arms as he backed away from the village.

“You can’t stick to the war beast forever. There will be a day when you are alone and that is when I will come.”

“I will stay with the village until the day I die. My parents died for it and I will too. That’s what the village is, not some recruitment camp for your war.” Thunkar shouted back at the larger beastmen.

“Don’t think you can just get away with hiding here forever. It won’t be much longer until the humans find you and when they do, it will be a slaughter. All that spilled blood will be on your hands Morgal.” The rough masculine voice trailed off as he and his groupies backed away into the woods, ignoring the kid before him.

“That day won’t come while I am the Matriarch of this place, and I don’t plan on giving up on that any time soon! He shouts sent them off as all of the villagers huddled around their loved ones.

The children cried while the adults put on a strong front.

Morgal turned around and patted her grandson's head before walking back to her tent, obviously dejected and frustrated with what just occurred.

The trio watched her leave before turning to Thunkar. His expression was one of cold fury as he stared past them and into the woods the invaders had left.

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“So do you want to fill us in on what that was?” The boy didn’t react to the question for a few seconds before relaxing. The faint smell of blood hit Egosum’s nose as he noticed the red liquid fall from the kid’s hand where he stabbed himself with his very own claws.

He looked over at the amphibians, drained of energy.

“Those were the hunters. They came to try and take more people away for their fighting. They lose people to the humans every time they clash so Punishe thinks it’s a good idea to raid the village for new conscripts.” He let out a deep sigh as he walked over to the sight of the scuffle to tidy up the mess they left.

“Punishe, the large guy in the front right? Why did he back off when you arrived? Seems like a massive numbers advantage on their side.” The kid scoffed before looking over his shoulder to answer.

“It's not worth the fight. I kill half of them and all they have left are a bunch of malnourished villagers. I am the last warbeast left here so they don’t have any other option but to respect the danger I represent.” His mood was obviously soured as he went about his business.

“Warbeast? What does that even mean?” The question seemed to surprise him before answering.

“I forgot you wouldn’t know about that. Well, It is the siege version of a normal hunter. We fought on the front lines in every fight and were feared by all our enemies for our size and ferocity. I know she saw it.” He nodded in Cineras direction before continuing. “I am still a kid though. If I was grown up, I would be bigger than Granny’s tent. They wouldn’t even dare coming by if my dad or another adult warbeast was around.”

“Why don’t they just make more if they are so strong.”Egosum followed him as he pushed the debris into the woods.

“Doesn’t work that way. They only appear in times of prosperity. The women have to be healthy, and the men have to be strong. Neither of those is true despite what Granny or Punishe would like to believe.” He paused in his steps before turning around to address the amphibians.

“If they come back again, I might not be as kind. Now, let’s go hunt.” Egosum saw no reason to disagree.

The group walked into the tight confines of the forest under Thunkars guidance to the nearest beast.

“How do you feel about your home being so close to destruction?” The kid looked back with a shocked face.

“I didn’t think much about it until you put it that way. Geez. You need to work on your delivery, man.” He fell silent as they walked forward.

Cinera bumped into Egosum’s side as they followed him.

“Nice going. I am sure he appreciated the reminder.” He looked at her before carrying on.

‘I guess I suck at conversing with some people. The more normal they are, the stranger I seem, I guess. Makes sense.’

They traveled through the forest in search of fresh meat to console the distraught villagers. A meal to improve their mood was the best cure he could imagine

“I smell something up ahead. Don’t recognize it. Should we check it out?” He turned to them, waiting for an answer.

Eogsum nodded his head and they moved in the direction of the scent.

They soon found themselves hiding behind cover as they located the beast. Large snapping sounds exploded in front of them, not dissimilar to the sound of human lumberjacks in the distance.

Egosum peaked around the side and took in the beast's visage. A massive hulking brute lumbered through the tall trees, pulling down low-hanging branches with its long arms. The snap of limbs thicker than his body rang off each time it went after a new batch of leaves.

Gigantic claws scraped the small twigs and bark from the damaged tree, sending them into its gut. The hind legs were only a third the size of the front and obviously poorly suited for combat.

His Qi sight emphasized those aspects immensely. The claws took on a vicious hue of red and blue mixed together and the arms bulked up considerably as its body slimmed down.

“Haven't seen this one before?” The quiet question hung in the air for a moment before Thunkar looked back at him.

“No, but I know what it is. It’s a Ruminating Sloth. Eight person recommended hunt. I don’t know about this one. Would we even be able to carry it back without some help?”

“Sloth? That thing is a fucking ogre-horse hybrid.” His whispered trepidations earned him a silent shrug from the boy.

Egosum thought about the issue before quickly coming to a decision.

“I'll fight it with Cinera and then you and her can go back to the village for the extra help. We haven’t traveled too far and this will be able to feed the village well for a whole week.” Thunkar looked at him before a smile blossomed on his face.

“Okay yeah. Yeah. I like that idea. Hmmm. All I really know about it is that it is a close-range attacker with a focus on using its arm. No idea if it has any tricks beyond brute strength, but it would be best assumed to have something hidden.” He turned to look at the massive beast moving through the woods.

“Good luck with this one. I could try to help if it gets really bad but I tend to struggle with controlling the shifting so you might need to watch out for it. I don’t want to be plagued with memories of tearing apart the only friends I have made outside the village.” Thunkar hunkered down to watch the fight as Egosum looked at the boy.

“That form Cinera saw, you can’t control it?”

“Not well or consistently. I think you got this. Just don't get hit by the swipes and, hopefully, Cinera can get some big punches in. I haven't seen any attack magic so this will be cool.” The boy watched the creature intently before glancing back at the toad. ”What are you waiting for? Get in there man.”

With their conversation ended, Egosum looked back at his salamander companion. They conversed on the strategy before stealing their resolve and confronting the beast.

She flanked the creature from behind under a blanket of ash that kept her hidden. Egosum went to cut the creature off by blocking its intended path.

He plopped down onto the well-traveled animal trail and waited for the beast to recognize the threat. The small head and huge arms swept side to side as it walked ahead. The gap between it and Egosum continued to shrink until it was only a dozen hops away.

Despite the close distance, it seemed unperturbed by the intruder.

“Meep!” He took a page out of Coyotl’s book and blasted the creature's eardrums with his best rendition. The sound echoed through the forest and yet the beast didn’t even flinch. It merely turned its head in his direction with a speed only a snail could hope to match and squinted at the toad.

It walked towards him with the confidence of a king. It was within a single hops distance when it leaned down to get a better look at him. The long arms lowered the small head to the toad and almost touched his skin before Egosum decided to strike.