A woman’s voice echoed through Mareus’ head as he slept.

“It’s time to get up.”

He couldn’t quite tell who was speaking, they had a motherly voice that was younger than he was used to. While drifting between his thoughts and the remnants of a dream he had already forgotten, there was a pinch on his face. Followed by a tight feeling in his chest.

It grew tighter. And tighter.

Tighter.

Mareus gasped so violently that he almost fell off his bed. The sunrise hadn’t found its way through his window yet, leaving the room cast in shadow. He rubbed his eyes and squinted around the room until an imposing frame came into focus at the foot of his bed.

The only elder he feared as much as he respected.

“How long do you plan to sleep child?”

He scratched at his head, still half asleep. “Good morning, Grandmother.”

A gentle breeze danced its way into his room, finally coaxing him awake. If only his grandmother was so gentle.

Her knuckle struck him between the eyebrows and sent him flying back onto his pillow.

“Ow! Why’d you hit me?”

“Because I felt like it.” She scratched at the back of her own head.

Mareus rubbed the sore spot on his forehead.

“Get ready. You promised to help me today, remember?”

“Right!” He reached the wardrobe before his sheets had the chance to hit the bed.

“Wear something you can get dirty.” She called back as she left.

Mareus quickly slipped into yellowed pants and threw on a tattered shirt too large for him. They were Ganju’s clothes from when he first started training and it was clear he wasn’t kind to them. Several new patches were added where needed. While the ends were hemmed to better fit their new owner.

As he raced out the door he snatched a worn piece of cloth, frantically trying to tie his hair back with each bounding step. Mareus made it to the entrance only to see his grandmother waiting for him in front of a hill that popped up over night.

On closer inspection, he realized that it was the creature she had captured with the warriors. A single one of it’s massive legs was nearly three times his size.

“Scary, isn’t it?” His grandmother asked.

“I’m not scared. I just…” He lost track of his words while staring at the boar’s tail that could flatten him with its weight alone. “How?”

“With a lot of effort and preparation. You’ll learn how in a few more years.”

Mareus watched her gaze turn towards the corpse, not quite landing on any one area. She was part of the group that had fought such a monster, and not only survived but brought it back to eat. So why did she look like she had bit into something rotting?

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He tugged at her clothes, “Granny, are Shou… Evil?”

“What would make you ask that?”

“Granny Wei told me about them before. She said they’d scoop me up with their tongue and eat me in one bite.”

“That cheeky brat.” Granny Zhu slowly caressed the coarse hairs of the carcass, old wounds catching her eye here and there. “What else has she told you about them?”

Mareus thought for a moment as he followed her towards the creature’s head.

“She said that there were two as big as a mountain that came to her old home and that’s why she moved here. But, I didn’t believe her. I don’t think they can get that big.”

“Did she tell you about the one she became friends with when she was a little girl?”

They were almost to the head now. The top of its shoulder sloping gradually to meet them. Until, Mareus almost walked face first into the wall of flesh that med up the snout.

“The big turtle?” He asked.

“Yes. Do you think she would be friends with someone evil?”

“Well, no.”

“You’ll learn that some things are good some are bad. More often though, things are some combination of both. It doesn’t matter if they’re mortal or otherwise. In the end, they are just trying to survive.”

Mareus stared at the lifeless pig’s face. If he didn’t already know it was dead, he could have easily thought it was sleeping.

“Even this one?”

Granny Zhu removed a serrated blade from the belt underneath her apron and started sawing off the tip of the creatures tusk. Once she was mostly through, she gripped it tight and with some effort the piece broke clean off.

“If you count these rings we can guess about how old it was. This one was more than twice as old as I am, but it’s still a little child like you.” She handed him the tusk.

“Like me?” He stepped back and stared at the hill sized beast. “Little?”

Mareus gingerly placed his hand on its snout. Its fur scratched him like a wire brush.

“Do you think about good and evil during your day?”

“No.”

“That’s why we must show respect. Half of it’s blood is shared with the land it lived on. The rest we use for talismans and other things.” She placed her hand besides his. “I’ll show you how to properly take care of the rest once our help arrives. This is far too much work for the two of us alone.”

It didn’t take long for help to arrive. There were more than twenty adults that immediately set up several stations to strip and process the skin, meat, and other body parts. In the blink of an eye the day was already gone. And the gigantic creature was replaced with several neatly organized piles.

Mareus took a break from cleaning up and watched as the setting sun transformed the remains into gold. A heat filled his chest from the work they had done, but it was followed by a weight that fell into his stomach. As the sun disappeared over the ridge, his trance broke and he quietly interlocked his fingers before offering a grateful prayer.

“May I join you?”

The different fluids staining Granny Zhu’s clothes made her look more like a butcher than a respected elder. Her locks were weighed downed with viscera, thick strands of it clung to the sides of her face. Though if she smelled, it didn’t make it past Mareus’ own stench.

Gongzhu plucked a chunk of flesh from the back of his head. He looked down at himself realizing that he was just as filthy.

“It felt like the right thing to do.” He said.

“You don’t need to explain. You’re the only one that can decide what feels like the right thing.” She clasped her hands together, “I feel the same, in case you were wondering.”

Seeing her whole hearted prayer, Mareus returned to his own. They let minutes pass in silence until they were satisfied.

He finally spoke up. “Granny. What do you pray for?”

“Usually a bigger bath.” she joked.

The old woman had to catch herself when she saw the look of absolute shock on his round face. She wiped a tear from her eye before continuing.

“I pray for their soul to find peace in the next life. Whatever it may be. I like to think that there is something after we leave our loved ones behind. A place we could see each other again.”

Faceless people popped into his mind. A young couple with long hair as black as his own. An older man about his grandmother’s age with snow white hair. Mareus wondered if she was thinking about them too.

“Grandmother…” he started.

“How about I show you something?” Her voice wavered as she gave a half smile. “The others can handle the clean up.”