A red haze seemed to cover a certain region of the Faelands. Beyond the red mist, a terrible and malicious ritual was taking place as dozens upon dozens of corpses were laid before the hollow of a twisted black tree.

Bodies of goblins, maned bears, wargscales, and even larger species of beasts were among the dozens of corpses strewn across the floor. Strange bony emaciated beings circled them; all similar looking with a single long blade-finger on each hand and a red crystal on their backs, clicking and buzzing in a strange rhythmic tune all while shuffling in a hypnotic pattern.

Slowly, the still corpses started to stir and spasm as though there was still something living within them. Flesh bubbled and tore as long tendrils of twisted muscle and entrails squirmed towards the air, wriggling with pulsing veins coursing through them.

Before the hollow of the tree, a massive bog-dyed skeletal arm emerged, slowly reaching towards the twitching flesh heaps.

As the hand neared, the tendrils started wriggling towards it as though they were worms attracted to rot. As soon as they made contact with the hand, the flesh tendrils melded onto it as though they were being siphoned into a sponge.

Inner flesh grew along its fingers then onto the hand, then onto the arm. Skinless, the arm appeared like a massive flayed piece of meat that was on the brink of decay. One finger, absurdly larger than the others, curled and drew a circle in the air over the piles of desiccated corpses.

Soon, each of the corpses started to twitch as they slowly began to morph. With the sickening crunch of bone snapping and the squelch of flesh reshaping, the multitudes of corpses became molded into bipedal gaunt beings; the same beings who clicked and buzzed before the tree’s hollow in offering.

As the ritual concluded, the arm pointed with its massive grotesque finger in a certain direction. All the creatures; including the newly shaped ones, looked towards where it pointed and after a brief lull, let out a unified shriek.

Their arms outstretched and their finger-blades drawn, the beasts moved like a tide bent on swallowing everything in its wake.

The eerie hum of the red crystal on their backs resonated as more of their kind appeared from similar corpse piles laid out across the region to join the ever-growing horde.

***

The little changeling had become quite exasperated.

For many times a day, the Tyrant had constantly hounded its party; constantly ambushing them whenever it could. It did it so often, the wolf twins no longer even waited for the changeling’s warning before they readied to avoid its strikes whenever they had to move closer to the water.

It even became so brazen that one time it had directly waited in plain view before a small path that cut directly into a stream. In frustration, the changeling grabbed a fallen tree and threw it like a javelin at the Tyrant.

Smacking directly onto its eye, Gultrave rolled around in pain before quickly escaping into the water. In its anger, it tried firing another beam, but since it could easily be blocked while enduring some pain, the changeling easily shrugged it off while throwing another log in retaliation.

Hitting its eye once more, Gultrave thrashed in the water before leaving and not showing up for the rest of the day, giving the changeling and its group a brief respite. Unfortunately, its tenacity proved to have not diminished as it had returned to its former routine the next day, albeit no longer as brazen.

The changeling pulled out some hairs and would have recklessly confronted the Tyrant if it weren’t for the little green fae. Just as it was at its wits end, the fae had shown an amazing ability to discover and create paths within the wood. The foliage seemed to bend to its whims and granted them safe passage while hiding them from the Tyrant’s eyes.

The only times the fae hadn’t guided them were when it needed to rest or there weren’t enough shrubbery and small plants along their path. Trying to move the older and larger trees seemed to strain the little fae, so the changeling didn’t press it.

Despite them having disappeared from Gultrave’s gaze so often, it was a wonder it kept finding them. Past a certain point, the changeling then began to realize the Tyrant must have been predicting their path since their group was only moving towards a single direction. Not to mention the paths were mostly linear, so they didn’t have many options when it came to picking which way to go.

The changeling confirmed this when they were about to enter another region close to the water. Looking towards the river, it found an inconspicuous but familiar-looking “log” in the distance. Had this “log” noticed them, it would slowly approach them as though it were drifting closer and stalk them for a time until it decided to attack. If it doesn’t notice their presence, they wouldn’t see the “log” for a time until they arrive at another region close to the water further along their path.

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Gultrave, the “log,” would then be there waiting as though it had guessed where they would arrive should it have missed them.

This frustrated the changeling greatly. They once tried waiting out an entire day to see if the Tyrant would leave, but the “log” remained. In the changeling’s mind, it wondered what this creature did all day that could warrant it to waste its time so frivolously. Didn’t it need to eat?

In these situations, they usually waited for the little fae’s powers to return in order for them pass without incident, but this method was an incredible waste of time and energy.

The changeling was prepared to make another mad dash to avoid the Tyrant when they were about to pass another stream that branched from the river, but surprisingly this time, the Tyrant remained in plain view far away from the shore.

Gultrave remained where it was and continued to stare at them, but never got closer.

Astonished, the changeling warily moved through the path as it watched the Tyrant. Regardless of how far it went, Gultrave remained where it was and only continued to watch.

At first, the changeling wondered what could be the cause, but soon its question was answered. Loud thumps and the shaking ground drew its attention from Gultrave.

In the distance, it could hear calls from up high and the thrashing of trees, but its attention was mostly on a gigantic creature just a few tens of feet before it sitting in plain view on a humongous tree stump.

It was a great four-armed and four-eyed beast with reddish-brown fur that had features appearing similar to humans. It had a long rope-like tail and six slightly pointed ears. Except for its four eyes, it had the face and upper body of a gorilla along with the features of having large forearms, but the rest of its body appeared more streamlined or skinnier like that of a baboon.

Despite the unique number of certain body parts, the oddest feature it had was that certain parts of its body had hard shell-like coverings, almost like armor. The most prominent of those shell-like coverings were on its knuckles and were shaped like barnacles, including the openings.

This ape-like creature that was watching the changeling’s group from up high was none other than a Primatus, the great simian beast that rules the Noctus Lagoon.

Without the changeling realizing, it seems that their group had arrived at their intended destination. This was the reason Gultrave was wary; it was on the verge of intruding another ruler’s territory.

The primatus examined them as though it were a lofty ruler on its throne looking down at its audience. Apparently, it chose to observe the changeling’s group instead of directly confronting them.

Primatus were known to show keen intellect even amongst the higher beasts and they weren’t an entirely belligerent species, but that didn’t mean they weren’t prone to violence. Should the changeling prove a threat, it wouldn’t hesitate to face them even if the opponent was a Tyrant.

The reason for that…

*THUMP* *THUD* *CRASH*

…was because primatus troops were incredibly large.

*SCREECH* *HOWL*

In the blink of an eye, dozens upon dozens of varied primatus species surrounded the changeling and its group.

Some were similar to the large one sitting on the stump, while there were smaller species with two incredibly large forearms that were almost two-thirds the size of their own bodies. There were even those that were incredibly small and were just around the size of a human, but had incredibly limber looking bodies.

Every single one had odd plate-like armor on their bodies and limbs just like the largest one, but what varied were the number of their limbs, eyes, and ears.

They screamed, roared and bellowed; all performing different kinds of intimidating looking displays towards the changeling’s group. Based on the knowledge of primatus that the changeling had gained, though they appeared threatening, they were actually curious and approached in such a manner towards anything new they encounter.

The reason for this is the potential danger anything posed in this region. The entire troop moved and would act as one if anything threatened even a single one among them. This trait was why this species ruled the Noctus Lagoon.

The size of the troop also determines their potential strength, and judging from what the changeling knows, the troop before them was a sizeable one.

The changeling warned the twins not to attack while the little green fae held onto its back – shivering in fright. Despite their situation, the changeling calmly analyzed their available actions.

Since the primatus were a very curious species, the best way it believed to go about their situation is to show them they weren’t a threat.

To do that, it needed to appeal towards the biggest one in their troop.

While the changeling was making the analyses, the largest primatus that was on the stump had already lowered its face practically within arm’s reach in front of the changeling while it scratched its head.

To the massive primatus, the changeling looked oddly similar to their kind, so it couldn’t help but think it was another one of their own. However, it thought it strange that the little creature seemed to like wearing the skull of another creature, which is strange even among their kin.

It was also odd that two wolves were following it, but these were matters that it didn’t need to care about. The great primatus looked behind it and showed an expression as if it were asking what to do.

The changeling was surprised at this action and looked towards where it was facing. Shock reverberated through the changeling’s body when it saw the gargantuan beast that was lurking in the woods behind the troop.

A titanic body covered in wiry black fur absent of any form of armor or plates and brimming with muscles as though chiseled from stone, there the beast stood on its massive forearms.

Its fiery eyes aglow as it stared down the changeling, its presence alone seemed to dominate the very air as though all of nature would break against its power.

There was no mistake, this was another Tyrant; the true lord of Noctus Lagoon.

***