That’s not at all reassuring. You’re zero help, you maniac.

“Do you mean that literally? Should I be worried?”

“Literal? Just make sure you step up, or you’ll find yourself missing a precious organ.” He snagged his fingers through one of the trinkets in his beard and adjusted it. “Next question.”

Annoyance raked its claws but I balled my hand and crushed the emotion. Now was not the time.

“Should I expect any other changes? Relating to our strain, I mean.”

“Changes? Every new hunt is a change to your being.”

“I mean something that only happens to us with the Prime’s strain.”

This time, a laugh, loud and boisterous. It was followed by the empty stare of the older hunter bearing down on us.

Creepy bastard.

“The Prime’s strain? All Grimms are of the Prime’s strain. We are merely that of a different strain, one more reserved for those chosen. But even the girl beside you is a part of the pack, just as you and I. Get it right boy, I won’t repeat myself.”

“Understood,” I said neutrally.

“To answer your question: it depends. Our strain responds to changes more drastically than the others. When I said every hunt changes your being, it was me being literal. The others absorb the experience, imprint the new instincts into themselves and grow by the system’s allowance. But us? The system allows us freedom of choice. To choose how we want ourselves to grow. And for that, we are burdened with the penalty, the tax given to the pathways that others are denied.”

“The twenty-five percent?”

“Yes.”

It explained a few things, at least in regards to my shadow magic. But Alice had basically received the same thing. Either she was lucky, or what Krulg said was more propaganda than real.

“Does the penalty never go away?”

“Never. No matter how many hunts I’ve partaken in. A small price to pay for how much power it rewards.”

As the wind cut a crisp gale across our faces, the waters crashed against the rocky shore and seafoam pelted Krulg’s cloak. He closed his eyes and raised his head chin, breathing in deeply through his nose.

He sneezed and grunted. “Two more questions. That is all the time I have left to spare.”

And again it's impossible to sit someone down. What do I need to know? Something I can only ask this guy, and not figure out from somebody else.

Before I could speak, Alice moved closer. I turned but she didn’t stop, moving till she was ahead of me. The back of her hair swayed in the breeze, but I could see how stiffly she held her neck.

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“What happens to those who fail to acclimate the strain? Or the flames the Prime has given Cain?”

I was touched that she was concerned for me, but that didn’t sound like the question she really wanted to ask.

What are you doing?

Krulg cocked his head and regarded her coolly. His eyes examined her from head to toe.

“Are you seeking to join our ranks? If so I’d give up now. For it is not possible.”

Alice shook her head. “I do not seek the Prime’s power.”

The older Grimm moved fast, his face looming above hers. He didn’t grab her by the collar but his voice was lined with a dangerous tone that promised violence.

“And why is that? You claim to have the interest of the Prime yet you do not seek his gift? Are you mad, or foolish? Speak,” he commanded.

Alice stood as a statue, only her hair and clothes rippling in the wind.

“I dare not assume myself above the Prime’s wisdom,” she stated clearly. “If he graces me with a gift, I’ll accept when the event occurs. But I do not actively seek the Prime’s power.”

“Then why do you ask? Concern for him, perhaps?” Krulg glanced my way. “You fear for his death?”

“No.”

He blinked. “No?”

“No. I am confident in Cain overcoming the challenge. That is not why I seek an answer.”

Slowly, Krulg backed away, not moving further than his original spot, but he no longer leaned down.

“Why then, pup?”

“You said the flower feasts. A missing organ as the price for failure. If you fail the rite, is there only death?”

Krulg chuckled. “There is no rite. Not the way you pups have received your strain. Did you not tell her of your experience?”

“No,” I lied. “I wasn’t sure if that was something the Prime wanted to keep a secret. Better to be cautious.

“Good. It's information we prefer to keep to ourselves, but the Prime has stated that there is no punishment for the others finding out. We are pack, but best to keep the infighting to a minimum.”

“In fighting?”

“Foolish idiots who only see the power that we receive and not the reason why, nor the responsibilities. It takes many a few decades before they become wise enough to understand.”

Confirming that he is also a lot older than he looks.

“My question. Do they die?” Alice cut in.

“The few failures I’ve seen, only one ended with them keeping their life. A small cruelty, but one they must live with.”

“Why a cruelty?”

He looked her dead in the eyes, irises blazing with orange light. “To live with the shame that they are a failure beyond approach. To walk our path, lesser because of their own weaknesses. To continuously bring their failure with them, a permanent shadow of what they could have been. Is that not cruelty?”

Alice wisely didn’t respond. But she adjusted her stance and stood even straighter, something I didn’t think was possible until I saw her lift her head higher to match Krulg.

“Elizabeth said that we would know the person who failed.”

His eyes narrowed. “It's forbidden to speak of the failures. So she must have fought against his command. Shameful. I apologize for the display.”

“The organ that is eaten. The price for their failure. Is it in the chest?”

For a moment, it looked like Krulg was ready to attack or simply ignore her question. He looked hostile but it wasn’t fully directed toward her. If anything it was more a sour look, like one used when debating something unsavory or repugnant.

The wind blew a final time, and the wave rushed upward, going as far as to soak the older Grimm’s boots in foam. He sneezed again and walked past her, scratching his nose.

He only stopped once he was once again standing on grassy earth, and not the rocky shore.

“To receive the strain is to accept the system. It's a seed planted in all of us. But where your’s is given through a conduit, ours is through the Prime himself. Whether it is through him or through the avatar, the result is the same.” He paused and breathed in. As he opened his mouth a grunt escaped, and his arms began to shake before he stabbed his nails into his thigh. “To fail, is to forfeit the essence of our growth, to eat the drum of our life. To fail, is to be an undying. Forced to forever accept their failure. When you fail the Prime’s gift, it is to lose the piece of yourself that ties you to your mortal existence.”

Krulg coughed and the shaking stopped, but his arms were like cords of steel that continued to grip his thigh. “To fail, to become Hjartalauss.”