"Are you serious?" I asked.

Grim grabbed one of the steaks and bit down. Blood dripped down his chin, and he grabbed one and tossed it over. Freki intercepted and swallowed it whole. The hunter shrugged and tossed another, higher this time.

I caught it and glared.

"Deathly," he said as he swallowed the last of the steak. He grabbed another and paused." You going to eat or not?"

Why was he here? Why now, and why couldn't he wait till after morning.

But he's here now. And the last time he was, he messed with your system.

I slowly sat down. Unlike him, I torched the meat by conjuring a flame and controlling the heat. My core responded with a calmness that wouldn't have been present before the change to my soul.

Grim munched on another steak, watching me with narrowed eyes. I cooked the meat until it was medium rare and tore off a chunk.

After swallowing, I felt energy welling in my gut, spreading into my chest.

"What kind of meat is this?" I asked.

"From a mana-infused bull. Good stuff. Figured you'd be strong enough to eat it," he replied, wolfing down another slab of meat.

I finished mine and tossed another to Freki, who stayed by my side, eyeing the other Grimm.

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head. "If you want answers, you'll answer my questions."

I couldn't get a read on him. He seemed almost… jovial. He grinned and cocked his head, his orange eyes blazing with an inner flame that pierced through the light in the room.

It was hard to explain, but I felt challenged looking into those eyes. The feeling squirmed deep inside my gut. But it didn't make sense. The last time I looked in there, all I saw was an impossible sense of age.

Still, mana heeded my call and threaded into my eyes, flooding the world with colors. As I took in Grim's form, my eyes burned.

Freki growled, but I clawed at my face as my mana retreated.

Progenitor. Prime! Forbidden!

Heat.

Flames!

They tore at my skin and burnt the nerve endings underneath. I grasped the flames and tore them away. They crashed, and I crushed the remaining wisps along my hair. I couldn't see it, but my regeneration rushed to fix the damage.

Grim spoke, the words crashing through the pain and vibrating my bones. "Foolish pup. Several years too early to take in my form. Be satisfied that you lived and stole a precious glimpse."

Copper flooded my tongue and I spat before wiping my mouth with my sleeve. "Could have warned me."

"I underestimated how deep you've taken your lore. It won't happen again but do not peek at my form again. Not with your mana sight."

The command shackled me. Forced me to freeze.

No!

My finger twitched, and I railed against the command until I broke free. It left me weak and panting; the burns along my eyes pulsed with agony that sharpened into spikes until my regeneration fixed the gore.

I blinked away pink tears and searched my satchel for my flask. I uncapped the container and poured the remains over my head, letting the cool water wash away the ash and dead skin.

It took several minutes for my eyesight to return; the flames' effects ran deep, slowing the repair.

Slowly, I regained vision, and the cones returned color to the world. I blinked away the spots and found Grim watching me with a grin wide enough to look uncanny.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"What?" I asked.

"You fascinate me," he remarked.

I stared, and he continued to smile. As I willed my mana to move, it recoiled. I froze, and I could swear that Grim's smile grew even wider.

"First question. What happened to your soul? Answer me or don't. But you won't like my alternate method of finding out."

Dangerous bastard. Fine, I'll play your game.

"No idea. Quest rewards evolved my skill and gave me a new passive."

He nodded, finally dropping the all-to-wide grin. "You smell wrong in the best way."

I shook my head. The guy was creepy, but he hadn't attacked, not yet anyway.

"My turn," I said. "Why are you here? Were you waiting for me?"

"That's two questions, but I'll answer anyway," he said while munching another steak. "I was waiting, and I'm here for you. I told you, you have a story to tell, and I'm ready to hear it."

I frowned. "I doubt it's that exciting."

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll decide. But first, tell me how does it feel?"

"How does what feel?"

"To meld your soul to two forces. To split it in such a way without tearing yourself apart."

"Fine now. Painful when it happened. I had to… force it to comply. Otherwise, it felt like I was going to explode."

"Fascinating. Now ask away."

Things felt less tense, but I kept a hold of my axe, and Freki stayed ready. He felt like a monster to hunt, a maddening creature, and less of a person.

I knew there wasn't a single thing I could do to him, but I would at least try.

He smiled, and I shrugged it off.

"Who are you really?" I asked, deciding to be direct.

He frowned and shook his head. "I am Grim the Grimm. Prime Grimm, if you must. But who am I really? When you're strong enough to fight me, I'll tell you."

"Implying I'll get to that level?"

He grinned but kept silent.

If he wasn't going to answer, then I'd take that as a go-ahead to ask another question.

"My lore strain. Why am I not like the others? Why are my eyes orange like yours?"

"Are you sure you want the answer to that?"

"Yes."

He reached for another steak, but instead of tearing through it with his teeth, he held it up and crushed it. Blood dripped down, but a golden flame erupted from his palm and turned it to ash.

The flames stayed and swirled above his hand until they separated into two marbles. Four tiny tendrils sprouted from the base of the marbles, while another sprouted from the back. They grew into wolves, two of them, pups based on their shapes.

They looked strangely familiar.

Grim raised his hand and launched the wolves into the air. They played and wrestled before running through trees. The scene drew me in even as Freki growled in the back of my mind.

The wolves grew and chased other beasts, more creatures made of flames. Their chase led them into a pack of humans. Before the wolves attacked, the scene blurred, and the wolves now sat upon a raised dais.

But something was different.

Something splintered the wolves, and one ran off into the night. The other wolf, made of gold, stared at the marble in the sky. It began to run, to chase, and bound across the land.

The wolf neared, cornering its prey. It jumped, its teeth inches apart.

The flame exploded. As the embers ended, Grim clapped and dispelled the illusion.

At once, my cloak tightened, and Freki stood with flames crawling along his legs.

"H-how does that answer my question?"

"It does, but you don't know it. But I'll be kind and give you an easier solution to tide you over. To put it simply. You are not them, Cain. You're not the same breed; all there is to it."

"That's a crappy answer."

He shrugged. "And yet that is the answer."

"I don't like this game anymore."

"And all I did was bring you food and ask some questions. Let me be clear. Answer, or I'll extract them from you."

I growled but stayed sitting. "Fine."

"Good. Next question," he said. "What is the other energy I detect within you? It reminds me of giants."

I extended my arm and conjured my own flame. As it became a swirling marble the size of my hand, I set fire to my blood and watched the flames turn emerald.

"I met a keeper. In return for helping him, he bathed me in his blood. New perk and all allowed me to set my blood on fire."

He shook his head.

"Not your blood, though it contains it naturally. But life force. Draw too much, and you'll kill yourself," he explained. Grim tapped his canines and grasped the air. The marble was ripped from my control, and he held it between his fingers. "It's been centuries since I've tasted Keeper blood. Knowing the system, it made you choose."

"Bones. It reinforced my bones."

"I see."

The marble continued to spin, and he opened wide. As I blinked, the mable was in his mouth and he swallowed. It went down with a comically loud gulp as he closed his eyes.

He sat there and swayed. Golden flecks rushed to the surface of his throat before fading.

Hhe opened his eyes and stared. Gone was the cocky smile, and in its place was a cold, calculating look filled with centuries of experience.

"You've been a busy pup—a corrupted one, a sealed one, meeting a Keeper and slaying a demon. Outsiders, too. My oh my," he muttered.

My hackles rose, and my nails sharpened. "How?"

Grim rose to his feet and rolled his neck. "I changed my mind. The game is over. I have received what I wanted."

I stayed silent, and he snorted. He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a scroll. He tossed it, but I let it roll to a stop and remained sitting.

"Accept my gift. You'll need it for the Harvest."

My eyes widened. "Wait. How long till the Blood Harvest?"

Flames sprouted from his feet and slowly engulfed him in a torrent that obscured his body. "You smell different, pup. It seems you finally realized the truth."

"And what's that?"

"A Grimm isn't human."

I extended my arm and attempted to wrest control of the flames, but a titan of willpower firmly crushed it and tossed me aside. It flattened me to the ground, and I heard a deep, rumbling laugh before the flames exploded.

Freki stood over me, but the flames died off as I ducked. Slowly, I sat up and stared at the perfectly intact gazebo.

All that remained beside the bag of meat was the scroll waiting for me to unravel it.

I growled and closed my eyes.

Why can't people be normal for once?