My name is Zen.

It opens its eyes to the scene of a battlefield, and just as brilliantly as it appeared it vanishes. In its place swords of valor and struggle lay buried in the husks of a defeated army. It reaches out its hand to a sword next to it, the sword itself chipped and scarred from previous battles. The rust of blood scours its handles, and it pulls the sword out delicately as to not disturb the silent graveyard.

My name is Zen. My life is mine, and mine alone.

It handles the blade delicately, tracing the blade’s scars with long pale fingers. It tilts its head as if listening to something closely. It closes its eyes, and opening its mouth it reveals astonishingly white teeth, puts the blade into its mouth. Its lips of a pale pink close around the blade, and as it draws the blade from its mouth the blade itself is gone.

My name is Zen, and my life is hunger.

It drops the rest of the sword and shudders. Its eyes open and dart around the forgotten battlefield of yesterday’s battle. It remembers the taste, the texture, the life of the being it had eaten. It grasps its head in its hands, and screeches a terrible, dreadful sound. A banshee’s wail wouldn’t compare to the agony as it reflects on the life it had just absorbed, the life that now belonged to it. To him.

“My name is Zen, my name is Zen, my name is Zen.” It mutters, a distinct accent thick on it, no.. his tongue.

The thing in the human’s memories was him. That dreadful existence, one only told in stories and legends. The monster now realized that it had become something else, for it now had a conscience. It was no longer mindless for it had become sentient. It became more humane.

“I am Zen. Yes, that’s it. That’s it.” He mutters furiously, seemingly like a chant. He looks down at his hands, the blood dried and caked on it like dirt. Grey mush hides in his fingernails, if they could be called that.

He stares as the memories of his meal flash through his head. Metal discs passing from hand to hand, a woman in a dress looking back with a single tear down her face.

Something wet drops from his cheek as the woman’s image settles into his mind. He reaches to wipe it away only to remember his dirtied hands. Disgusted with himself, he begins to stand up from the ground. His knees wobble as he exerts his strength, only to stop as he gazes upon the corpse before him.

Fresh blood pools away from a fresh wound, as a man’s lifeless eyes look up to the celestial stars. The hilt of a sword lays across the man’s chest, and all he does at that sight is reach towards the eyes, and close the eyelids.

“Rest in peace, dear friend.” Zen says, while wincing from the pain of the new flood of memories. He holds his forehead as he begins his first step.

Wielded in battle, battered to the core but still strong and durable. It pleads for the fighting to continue, to strive for vict-

Gasping from the memory, Zen recalls the blade he had eaten.. no, the right word for what he had done was absorb. He had absorbed the blade, for reasons unknown. Seeing memories of a sword was strange, but he contributes it to his odd body.

Zen doesn’t know what he is, but his now sentient mind settles on a goal of finding that woman, and the stories and legends that were dredged up from his meal’s memories.

Walking to the edge of the solemn battlefield takes a toll on his body, his muscles beginning their chorus of pain. Zen looks around the edge of the forest to find a meal, anything that could settle his empty stomach. But just a quick look is not enough to discover prey, and Zen stumbles into the forest, causing a mess of noise that most likely scared away any prey that was at least an appetizer.

Zen looks carefully in rabbit holes and burrows for a small snack but his search ends up fruitless. He walks into the forest a little deeper, but the foreboding feeling he began to have tickled his senses. He stops to lay against a tree, his body landing against the trunk with hardly a thud.

Food.. Where are you food? I’m so hungry..

This thought ran rampant inside Zen’s mind, and his eyes wander to a rotted log. On that log crawled many types of bugs, mostly ants, and so Zen reaches out his hand to conquer his hunger.

By the handfuls, the bugs become Zen’s meal. Despite the amount of bugs that Zen ate, he couldn’t settle his hunger. He sighs as he lays against the tree, staring up at the stars. The night sky begins to lose its fight against daylight as Zen’s eyelids begin to droop.

That’s when Zen’s stomach began to grumble. But not in hunger, as suddenly Zen felt a fulfilling sensation from.. something.

What is happening? Why do I feel so uncomfortable? My back itches, my arms, my legs. Why does everything feel like it's beginning to burn or itch?

Little did Zen realize, with his awakening of a sentient mind, he lost his bestial urges. These urges, or instincts, were what made the difference between a simple monkey and a human. But no longer was this the case, as with the awakening to a mind came a loss to the instinctual side of any sentient being, Zen himself not excluded.

His race’s ability was in fact unique, and Zen was not an exception to the rule of his race. With his consumption of the ants, he in fact only needed one to satisfy his hunger. But being sentient had its drawbacks, as he tried to satisfy his hunger that never ended.

Since his body had received material beyond its maximum need, it began his… race’s unique trait.

Feeling the need to sleep as well as the burning sensations across his skin, Zen cries out and falls sideways from the tree. Around Zen a light show of what could be mistaken for fireflies dances around him, and envelops him. It solidifies around Zen, as he begins to sleep. However, this event doesn’t go unnoticed, especially for the denizens of the forest.

                                            ---------------- Ecali Forest---------------

Shuffling his feet, the guard lets out a small cough. The forest outside of the gate he guards echoes, his cough slowly fading into the dark brush. He stands guard in case of any undead that show up to knock upon his town’s gates. After all, there was an old battlefield not far away from his home.

“Do you think we will be lucky enough to have some wolves attack us?” A voice asks, and the guard turns to glare at the man standing at the other side of the entrance to their village.

“You oaf, wolves know not to attack settlements.” The guard lifts his sword out of his sheathe, “Cause we have these shiny swords to take care of any threats.” The man chuckles in reply.

“Well, all I really want is some well cooked meat to eat. Even if we only get the stringy legs, at least we won’t be hungry.”

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“Truer words couldn’t have been spoken.” The guard replies, shifting the torch he holds onto the torch sconce placed outside for their convenience. The light illuminates a little farther due to the height, and the bushes rustle slightly from something. The two guards tense up slightly but after a few breaths no more signs of movement are seen nor heard, so they breathe out a hefty sigh.

The guard with the torch next to him chuckles, “Looks like Will the Wolf Slayer has learned the law the nature.”

“And it seems the Willy Wonder of Nieke has learned the consequence of active use.” A whisper comes from above the two guards, a voice that has a higher pitch and sounds as if the words were said right next to their ears. Both guards jump from being startled, their armor clinking from their sudden movement.

Will looks up while the other guard tries to push his legs closer together to hide the increasingly more obvious water mark along the clothing etched underneath the armor. The sound of chains squeaking together, as well as the laughter of a little kid, causes the Willy Wonder to lower his head in embarrassment.

“You know kid, you’ve got a lot of nerve picking on Willy like that. It’s not his fault that he is well-endowed, or that women always seem to be attracted to his inhumanly dashingly good looks.” Will the Wolf Slayer replies, while giving the Willy Wonder a sidelong glance.

Willy blushes furiously underneath his helmet, and Will laughs at his sheepish guard buddy. “By Erna, he’s blushing like a little girl!” This causes Willy to redden even further, as the kid on the fence jumps down from above the Willy Wonder.

With a slight puff of dirt made from the kid’s landing, the kid turns around with a mischievous smile on her face. The figure of a budding women is faintly portrayed in the light of the torch, as she wears pants and a leather jerkin made for the hunters of the village.

“Liz, you aren’t supposed to be out here. The chief will get mad at us for letting you outside the gates.” Will complains, as Willy quickly nods while keeping his blushing face hidden.

“Well, you two aren’t going to tell. Are you?” Liz, the kid actress, smiled her best smile. Her brilliant teeth flash out in the dark, reflecting the light of the torch. Will only sighs as Willy looked away from the young woman.

“Ha… of course not. Since telling would still get us in trouble.” Will conceded, and stands at attention to look out into the woods surrounding the gate. Willy does the same, albeit more shyly.

“No wonder you don’t have a wife yet, Will.” Liz snickers as she stands at attention between the two guards, standing exactly in between the two duty bound men.

“No wonder you don’t have a wife yet, Will.” Will mocks in a high pitched voice in imitation of the wicked kid of Nieke. Liz gives a darkened look that makes Will stiffen, before giving a brilliant smile.

“You don’t need me to give a threat to you, right?” Her wicked smile is answered by Will’s nodding head, and oddly enough Willy’s head nods as well. Liz gives a curt nod before peering out into the woods, grabbing onto Willy’s arm in the process.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what, m’lady?” Will asks as he looks in the same direction Liz is.

“...” Hearing nothing, Will gives a quick look to Liz to find her squeezing the arm of a blushing Willy. “Ha… why me.” Will raises his hand, and gives a good strike to the noggin of Liz. She crouches from the soft hit to her head.

“Ow! That hurt, you meanie!” Liz bitterly yells, only to find Will pushing his finger to his lips. Her brows frown. “Wait, so I actually didn’t cry wolf?” Liz muttered to herself, as she only wanted to tease the woman wonder of Nieke.

“Stay back Liz. We can’t have you be getting hurt.” Will pauses. “This is actually a good time for you to climb back over the gate.” Will points a finger behind him, while drawing his sword out from its sheathe.

“No! I want to experience my first time!” Liz says, only to realize she left out an important part to the sentence. She blushes furiously as she feels Willy’s burning gaze on her neck, or maybe the heat from his embarrassment. She quickly turns around to face Willy. “I meant my first time seeing a monster!”

“Ahm.. I.. I can’t let you miss. It.. It’s not safe.” Willy manages to get a sentence out before grabbing Liz’s arm softly. Liz looks back out to the forest to find Will’s darkening figure, and easily escapes Willy’s soft embrace with a kiss to his cheek. Ignoring his blushing face, Liz makes her way over to Will.

“So what is it? Is it a monster?” Liz asks excitedly, her childlike enthusiasm irritating Will as he shoots a look to Liz.

“No.. it isn’t.” Will sighs, and sheathes his sword. He walks past the bushes and crouches down, everything but his head disappearing from her sight. “Liz, come help me with this.” Will’s voice comes from behind the bushes.

“Y-Yes!” Liz shouts. She quickly walks past the bush to find Will leaning over a man. She quickly asks, “Is he a drunk from the tavern?”

“No, he’s not drunk.”

“Then what is he doing here in the forest at this time of night?” Liz inquiries, glancing at the man with long hair. She notices that it changes color halfway down his back, but as to what color she can’t make it out. Her eyes travel from the ends of the hair, until she looks at the head of the man. “Will, is that..”

“Yes, it is.” Will affirms Liz’s speculation. He brings his finger over to the man’s head and brushes the hair behind the ear. “Liz, go back and tell your father we’re having a guest in the village.”

“What should I tell him about this.. guest?” Liz asks as she begins to back out from the bushes.

Will looks back at Liz. “That we have a tale to tell.”

“Alright! Leave it to me.” Liz dashes out of the bushes, startling Willy. She quickly jumps over the gate, disappearing from sight. Will looks back at the man, the hair reflecting the light from the moon.

“You fairy tales just like to make yourselves known at the worst times. Why couldn’t you come out after the war?” Will asks the man, but receives nothing but the wind’s embrace. “Let’s just hope you nonhumans can stem the tide of war.” Will looks up, just missing the twitch of the elongated ear.

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Hey, Teenreader here with a few words. I work and have college, so I'm sorry for the delay. Any response is appreciated, and any criticism is as well. This is a developing story, so if you don't like characters that build up from nothing, this isn't a story for you. But you can still read it, I'm not your mother. I try to keep it as original as possible, but sometimes I will pull ideas from places that don't originate in my head. Fret not, for there is a reason for everything... except for Willy, he was just a prank I wanted to use. Hope you've enjoyed my writing so far