The last golden rays from the setting sun cast deep, menacing shadows across the hilly grassland as several figures silently scouted the area before stumbling across the campsite turned death trap.

Standing on the edge of the surrounding hills, the lead figure revealed a few hand signals and all but one other separated and moved to the surrounding hills. It was clear from their positions and how they scanned the area that they were on the lookout for potential threats.

After confirming the surroundings were clear, the pair cautiously descended the hill, their black, cloth-like cloaks almost completely masking their appearances.

“What in Roarn’s name is this?” After reaching the bottom, and taking a good look at the carnage before them, the figure that had taken the lead couldn’t help but reveal his surprise. Though it had looked bad further away, now they could see the state of the remains, a hint of fear crept into their souls. “Could this be the work of the new species?”

“I don’t believe so, Kelek.” Responded the person following him as he lowered his hood, his scaled, bald head and lizard-like face clearing distinguishing him from a human. “From the small group we captured near the border, they don’t seem to be a hive species or aggressive enough to do this.”

Kelek did the same, revealing his almost Identical head, bar the jagged scar down the left side of his face. “Kelok, there are no hive species near here nor any that support the dark ways. Could their species already have branched?”

“I highly doubt it, unless the seekers failed to extract truthful information,” grumbled Kelok as he kicked over a pile of half-eaten bones with his clawed foot. Excluding the cloak, the pair were naked, the black scales of their body making it seem as if they were wearing some sort of chain-mail.

“Do your thing and let's get back to the raid. I don’t want to miss out when it comes to splitting up the spoils, especially those females.” mused Kelek as he scanned the gruesome scene, his eyes falling on a human skull and frowning. “Though they have useless mammal fat, they are always available to mate, unlike our kin.”

Kelok snorted as he started drawing runes into the bloody dirt. “So you didn’t learn your lesson last time. The ‘Human’ females were not welcoming of your advances, even after you killed one of their males to display your strength. I don’t think they are that good, even just as incubators. It's likely they are not advanced enough to realize the benefits of a strong mate.”

Kelek glared at Kelok. “Nonsense, every female desires a strong male. It's natural.”

“The Felnek Queens? Helthans? Lethnals?” responded Kelok dryly. “Any male stronger than them, but not strong enough to force them into submission, is a threat and eliminated unless they are enslaved.”

Though it would have been almost impossible to see the mocking look Kelok was revealing, at least from a human perspective, to Kelek it was as clear as day. "Though it is our purpose to fight and give offspring, I think you need to find balance."

“Hurry up. Once we have reported something of worth, we won’t need to do this lowly scouting anymore,” growled Kelek, growing frustrated with his subordinate. "And this will definitely interest the Karn."

Nodding, Kelok spits on the floor, causing the runes he had drawn to glow in a white light before a hazy mist rises and flows towards some of the nearby bones. “Best I can do is a half a minute before death and only the freshest spirits at that. The amount of dark energy here has started to corrupt the land.”

The white mist spiralled around the bones before moving away and forming into five spike hounds, each milling about as they scavenge from the nearby bones.

Kelek nodded in respect for the spirit wielder’s skill. He was one of the best outside the core of the clan.

Suddenly, one of the ghost-like spike hounds fell to the side, a large chunk missing from its neck before disappearing into the white mist.

Without pause, the nearest one is killed, this time split in half and sent soaring into the air as something hit it from below with incredible force.

Another two fall, almost simultaneously, the mist revealing horrific wounds before dissipating into nothingness. The last spike hound had barely enough time to stand on its hind feet and release its projectiles before something grasped its head and pulverized its skull.

The last of the white mist seeped into the ground as both lizard men swallowed hard.

While one of the weakest and most numerous creatures on the planet, the speed and brutality in which the spike hounds had been defeated caused a chill to run down both of their spines.

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“Feeding grounds.” Muttered both in unison, realization that they had entered one of the most dangerous types of location, appearing on their scaled faces.

Normally, the starting zone for a new species would be free of high level, semi-intelligent beasts, however, seeing a large number of remains and the spiritual vision, they were now sure that something extremely dangerous was stalking these lands.

Looking up, Kelek scanned the hills for his men, only to realize they weren’t there. “Fall in!”

Though he was extremely worried from their recent discovery, he didn’t let it seep into his voice. That was until his command was greeted with nothing but silence.

Kelok, shifted his feet, as his tongue flicked out before grimacing. “Fresh blood of our kin. They are dead Kelek. We walked into the beast's lair. We are not prepared for a hunt.”

“We need to get out of here and report,” whispered, Kelek. “Our main force is only comprised of raiders. If the humans put up much of a fight and cause significant losses, our return will be like a death march if the beast catches our scent.”

-”Catches your scent? This beast has already tasted your flesh~” A cold, emotionless voice bombarded their minds, startling the two lizard men.

“Mind Breaker!” hissed Kelek, his stance lowering. “This is bad. Really bad.”

“Silence your thoughts,” hissed Kelok. “It could read our minds.”

-”Welcome to our parlour, said the spider to the flies,” laughed a feminine, bloodthirsty voice.

“Back to back, there are two of them,” hissed Kelek, feeling Kelok’s presence appear just behind him.

-”Seems we were right.” mused the masculine voice. They can hear us and although they speak a unknown language, we can somehow understand it.

-”Over here.”

Kelek spun to face the location he thought the voice emanated from, only to realize it was still in his mind. “Damn it, a level three mind breaker. Don’t let your guard down.”

-”Over here,” whispered the female voice.

-”Over here,” repeated the masculine voice, seemingly from the other direction.

“Show yourselves. Do you have no honour?” roared Kelek

-”Honor is for the dead and stupid,” responded the male.

-”Just like your men,” echoed the female voice. -“Just like the one you call Kelok.”

Kelek turned his head slightly, sure this was another trick of the voices only to see the mangled remains of his trusted subordinate, his chest and throat torn out. -”How did I not hear.”

-”Over here.”

-”So you hunt humans?”

-”Behind you.”

Kelek flinched at the last one, sounding so close that someone could have been whispering in his ear. “We do. As a new species, we need to put control or eliminate them before they grow too strong. You should know this, you must be a native to have bypassed the barriers.”

-”Native?” chuckled the voice. -“No, I am… Was a human but I cast off the shackles of my kind.” The last words were spoken with such a chill, that Kelek couldn’t help but shudder, darkness seemingly encroaching on his vision.

Drawing from his wealth of experience, Kelek hardened his resolve. “We respect the strong. Join us. You will have all you need. Food, mates and a nest.”

Kelek remembered there was two of them, seemingly different genders. “Unless you have already paired. In that case, we won’t press you to mate with any others though if you are as strong as it seems, it would be desired.”

The silence was almost deafening as Kelek slowly span in the centre of the valley, not knowing which way he should make a bolt for as the voices seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere.

Every now and again, the sound of metal hitting metal, or the rustling of grass would catch his attention, only to discover that it was yet another mental illusion. -”They are practising their skills on me. It is already at a different level from when it started. Such adaptation is… terrifying”

-”You do make a tempting offer, lizard man.” The voice snapped him from his thoughts.

“I am a Rakorn,” responded Kelek. “We are an honourable species that has been here for over a hundred cycles.”

-”But~” chuckled the feminine voice, which descended into a bone-chilling hiss. -"No sale."

-”I am afraid that if I am to chose between the devil I know and the one I don’t, I’ll pick the former. At least that way, I can manipulate the situation to my advantage,” continued the male in an emotionless tone.

While he was still processing the meaning behind the words, a blistering pain erupted form Kelek’s leg as he fell to his knees and a hand wrapped around the back of his neck, holding him in place.

After the shock of the sudden pain passed, he tried to move only to find that he couldn’t even budge, as if the thing clasping his neck was a mountain.

Lifting his head up, he looked onto the almost featureless face, excluding the terrifying teeth, looking down upon him. The creature was at least six foot tall, with lethal spikes rising out of his body.

Instinctively, the Rakorn knew that the creature before it was a predator. One made for a single purpose, to kill and judging from its grip, Kelek knew that his life would be over with a simple flick of its wrist.

Even though the situation looked dire, hope bloomed in the Rakorn’s stomach, the fact that he wasn’t dead yet meant that his life had some value, however, the next words he heard turned that feeling to one of dread.

“Now comes the fun part,” chuckled the voice, multiple times more terrifying than when it was a mental projection. “Let's play a game called Truth or pain.”