First encounter

the wolves had been moved to the foot of the mountain, after some persuasion. i had made it known to them that i meant no harm, they had been quite happy to put themselves beneath my protection.

Talkir had evolved, and he now resembled something that was more raccoon-ish. his claws had gotten longer, his fangs looked like they could tear flesh quite easily from bone, and his tail wasn't wide anymore. now it was narrow, and the spikes on it looked deadly. i was right when i said he would make a good meal.

i was watching my reflection in the lake, cherishing the fresh air, the green scenery, the blue sky, the clean air. the only thing out of place was me. my dark presence seemed to make the grass bend the other way, and i felt like the air was too scared to curl around me. the reflection in the water looked like it belonged in a horror movie. blood red and green eyes, black fur with patterns of red that looked like they had been drawn with blood. that terrifying smile that i couldn't seem to stop doing. that look of pure and utter insanity. everything about me seemed molded to create fear.

ripples of water disrupted my reflection, banishing that dark creature. i looked up, and saw one of talkirs beavers scrambling over toward me. he looked like he had something important to say, as he didn't stop to appreciate the wonderful nature.

"Shadowpelt sir! we have apprehended two strange creatures at the edge of the forest. they were hunting some of the rabbits there."

"you don't have to call me sir. just shadowpelt would be fine."

"but, then what would we do to show our respect and gratitude?"

i looked at the lake again, seeing the demon beneath the surface, and replied in a simple voice.

"just by being there for me you show your gratitude. as for respect, i don't deserve any."

"but you-"

"now, let's go see about these intruders."

he stayed silent, though i could see he disagreed."

he led me to a space that was about ten feet in diameter, underneath some trees. during the previous day when i had walked among the spiked beavers and gotten to know them, they had noticed that i liked shadowy places, and had thus chosen to gather in darkness whenever they had something important to discuss. i found this strange, but i guess that's fanaticism for you.

talkir, shielin and egain were already waiting.

egain started talking when i showed up. "someone decided to take their sweet time."

both of the others looked daggers at egain, but i wasn't bothered in the least.

"i was enjoying the beauty of nature. i saw no need to go rushing over for something that may or may not be important. besides, i hate waiting."

egain looked pissed, and both of the others kept looking like they wanted to feed egain to a pack of hungry tigers, but i decided that my new visitors had become accustomed to my presence. i turned to them, and analyzed everything i could about them.

the one on the left had a slightly chubby face, and the one to the left was thin as a stick. i checked their ears, and they were round. i could't make out any claws, and when i used one of mine to lift their lips and check their teeth i couldn't find evidence of fangs. they had canines, but nothing in the way of sharp teeth. they had clothing made from a variety of plant and animal materials, such as fur, wool, and leather. after completing my carful inspection, i confirmed they were human.

when i had approached them, the chubby one had gone white, and the skinny one had started screaming. i waited for him to stop, but after a while of listening to him, i thought i could start to make out something that sounded like expletives, and perhaps some prayers, if praying included cussing and swearing like a sailer. when i had lifted their lips with my claws, the skinny one had fainted, and the chubby one started crying. like i said, everything about me was molded to inspire fear.

i tried asking the one that was still conscious what his name was, but he kept crying, so i told the two spiders holding the cocooned man to put him down by a tree, and i rolled the skinny one beside him. after doing this, i decided to discuss the invaders with my followers.

i turned toward the three of them, who were having a whispered argument.

"how dare you say such things to shadowpelt! if not for his mercy, you would be a pile of bones at the bottom of the river!"

"sssss, you should show more respect to master."

"your only saying that because you have a crush on him! it's not like i spit in his face, i just told him to hurry up in the future! jeez."

i walked closer, and when i could hear them clearly, i decided to stop their arguing.

"ahm. are you done?"

they all looked shocked that i was so close to them, but they quickly got over it.

"yes, we are done. what did you get out of them?" egain said.

"unfortunatly, i think i scared them too much to get anything useful out of them. i thought maybe talkir could talk to them next, as he isn't as scary as the rest of us."

talkir looked a little depressed, but he looked up and said, "i will do my best! and after this, i will work to get as scary as i can!"

i was saying that being scary was a bad thing, but oh well. it's not like he'll get scary enough to make grown men faint, right? right?!

"do that. shielin, how is fortifying the forest going?"

"so far, about a fifth of the perimeter of the forest has been covered in webs, and overall things have been going immensely well. more of the spiders have evolved, and the nest is stronger than ever. we are ready for whatever you need us for."

"talkir, how well did reorginizing the beavers go?"

"they were quite frightened at first, but when they learned that you would be protecting us from now on, they quickly regained order. we have done some experimentation for self defense, and found some interesting things about ourselves. first off, we can apparently shoot the spikes in out tails, and in a few minutes they will regrow. we found this out after some of the beavers lost the spikes in their tails, and they quickly regrew. we are ready whenever you need us, sir."

"*sigh* you don't have to call me sir."

"i want to though, sir."

guess he won't be as easy to convince as the other beavers. ha, its times like these that i wish he didn't have such a strong backbone.

"how are the wolves after moving to their new home?"

"the move was completely unnecessary, but they are adjusting to their new home well. the twenty warriors you are promised are always ready, but we won't come at your every beck and call. remember that." he had a defiant look on his face the entire time he delivered his report, and i could barely hold back my grin. he was just too amusing. the other two didn't seem to share my opinion, but that's okay. maybe. shielin looked like she would feed egain to her nest if he said one more word. i spoke quickly, so that shielin didn't kill my rebellious friend.

"good to know. now, i'm going to go and enjoy nature some more. come find me by the lake when you have extracted any information from the intruders. bye!"

"wait, wha-" egain tried to say, but i was already gone.

"ahh, i swear, that black furred cat will be the end of me."

the spider looked like she wanted to eat me, and i kept her in the corner of my eye. that beaver was a stranger to me, and i had no idea what to make of him, except that he was wholly devoted to that black furred bastard. i new i should probably get to know them, but so far they had replied to my advances with questions of my loyalty to the bastard, and found it lacking.

the beaver turned to me, and he tried to analyze me as i tried to analyze him. "tell me," the beaver said, "where did you first meet shadowpelt?"

i decided to be straight with them, and hold nothing back, in the hope's that they would do the same. shielin also looked interested.

"he was strolling through the forest like he owned it, and when he came upon me and my companions, they both bolted. afterward, i activated my special ability, 'adrenaline rush' and fought with him."

both looked very interested at this, and i continued.

"he played with me, more like. after he had exhousted me, and pinned me to the ground, he told me he'd like to eat me, but he was saving room for Demius. he then let me go, and i thought that would be the last i saw or heard of him. but couple days after, this spider came and told me to meet him in his cave. i was scared down to my fur, to be quite honest."

"ssss, this 'spider' has a name, and will tear you limb from limb if you don't use it." she sounded serious

"anyway, where did you first meet him? and how the hell did he get you to be loyal to a son of a bitch like himself?."

they both had that fanatic look in their eye for a second, but talkir started off with his own story.

"when i met him, i also thought he would eat me. the difference was that instead, he sat down on the opposite side of the river and asked me some questions. like where cassandra and demius were, and after i told him, he told me he owed me one." talkir looked like he was reliving a fond memory, "a couple days later, a giant crocodile came out of the river, and attacked us. after seeing that we had no chance agianst it, i went to shadowpelt's cave and asked for his help. when he responded without even pausing, i started to be in awe of him. when he rescued me, i felt so thankful i could follow him anywhere, and when i saw him kill the lizard as if it was a fly, i felt fear and awe in equal amounts. and that is as it should be. i will follow him anywhere, and do anything that he needs done that is within my power, and try as hard as i can to do the things that aren't."

i was surprised, and i thought, okay, maybe the bastard did one good deed, and so what if he rescued a bunch of beavers? it just shows that he's prideful as well as arrogant.

shielin nodded when he was done, and recited her story.

"when we first met, i was under orders from cassandra to kill a furry creature that was killing spiders, and i led a couple dozen of my brothers and sisters to try and kill him. when we encountered him, he got this huge grin on his face. then he started killing my siblings, and after several of them were dead, cassandra came out and tried to kill him. in the end, he ripped open her stomach, and ate her insides. once he had accomplished this, he went to sleep inside her corpse, and when he awoke me and my remaining siblings came to him and pledged out loyalty."

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i responded with sarcasm, "yeah, killing your siblings and your other, then sleeping in her corpse. lots of cause for loyalty."

she looked patient, and said, "if you interrupt again, i will drown you in the lake. now, back to my story. when we told him he was the new leader of the nest, he refused." i was confused. if that bastard refused being leader of the nest, why was she loyal to him? "he told me that i was the new leader, and that as long as the nest was safe, he would be happy. he also told us that if we needed help he would come and help us. then he left, saying, 'i'm going to celebrate my fifth day being alive by eating demius. i thought he would die, but when he came back i decided that i would follow him. since he had looked out for us when we were at our weakest. does that answer your question?" her eyes seemed to dare me to respond negatively.

"yes." i don't get it. why is he such a decent person? when i saw him, he was insane. why can someone so lost to sanity be held in such regard? how can it be that i don't?

and then it hit me. i did. i was treating him like my previous mentor, who had taught me how to hunt, and how to survive. when he had taught me, i had always insulted him, and afterward regretted it. he was basically my mentor, and had even promised to make me stronger. perhaps, it wasn't so much that i hated him, and that i didn't want to get too close to him. my mentor had died, and it had crushed me. i had then tried not to get close to anyone else, since i had no one els close to me, as my parents and siblings had died to giant spiders years before.

my way of insulting him could be trying to not get close to him, as i had to my mentor.

damn it all

i heard groans from the tree, and saw that the two invaders were regaining consciousness. i made eye contact with shielin and we backed off from the clearing, letting talkir take the lead.

i saw egain and shielin back away, and i prepared myself to talk to the invaders. shadowpelt had told me i wasn't as scary as the rest of them, and while that disappointed me, i would have to work on inspiring fear another time. for now, it would be to my advantage.

i walked up to the two creatures, who where propped up my the tree, and tried asking them some questions.

"what are you? where are you from? and why are you in this forest?"

at first they looked confused, but as i repeated my questions, they slowly gained understanding.

"we #@&$% and we from the $^#&$^ to the east. i and him are hunting, to get food for starving !@#^%^,"

it was hard to understand, but as they kept talking i got a better grasp on their language. in this world, all of the languages were derived from the old god, so even animal languages weren't hard for people to grasp, with enough time. but even still, the rate at which shadowpelt had learned our language was uncanny. he was special, even without his intimidating body, his mind was so different from anything i had known before. it seemed that he always knew what he was doing, and for me, his follower, that was reassuring.

when i could understand them fully, they told me their names were bob and gerald. they were hunters from the town to the east, and their crops had been failing, and so a town that had never considered hunting before, sent out the two best candidates to see if they could scout out the forest. at one point, they asked if they could speak with demius, to see if they could come to an agreement about hunting in the forest.

"we would like to speak to the king of the forest, so we don't step on his toes."

"the king of the forest is shadowpelt. he came by an hour or so ago, but you both fainted so he left and told me to interrogate you and bring him any information you have."

at this, they looked very afraid, but i paid that no mind.

"so, you want to talk with him? i do not know when he will be available next, but if he agrees i will bring you before him. i think he would like to know about your town."

they looked at each other, gulped, and gathered their courage, and said, "we would like that very much." i could tell that they were lying through their teeth, but i was impressed by their courage.

"then it is agreed." i looked in the direction of the lake, and wondered what shadowpelt had been doing. "i wonder what's taking him so long."

i was having fun.

after a little while of walking around the edge of the lake, a giant octopus had emerged from the water, but this was different from normal octopuses. this one had sixteen legs.

i smiled my hungry smile.

"guess you'll make a nice meal."

it smashed the ground next to me, and tried to grab me, but i clawed its arm off.

"is that all you've got?"

the arm regrew.

i smiled wider.

"now we're talking."

i danced among the sixteen arms, slicing them off, taking bites here and there, and basically having a wonderful time. soon, i got tired of the game, and ran along one of the arms until i got to the main body, which i then began to disassemble.

"one."

after returning to land and eating all of the arms i chopped off, i licked my lips. it hadn't been very satisfying, and i wished it had been bigger.

then about twenty more came out of the water.

my smile reached as wide as it got.

"you just seem to answer all of my wishes, don't you?"

they came all at once, i slashed through multiple arms at once, dodging some, getting hit by others. i laughed, and slashed, and danced. i sank my claws into one of their appendages, and instead of cutting it off, i pulled the octopus out of the water with brute strength, and ate it.

"two."

i kept fighting, getting warmed up, and loving it. left, right, jump, duck, slash, cut, kill murder, repeat.

"three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,"

i killed many in quick succesion, and after i had killed a dozen, an octopus surfaced that was many times bigger than the others. the normal ones were about the size of two horses, but this one was the size of a good sized house.

"lets play, shall we? he he, thirteen, fourteen."

it's arms cracked the ground around me, and i started to get mad, since it kept splashing water on me, and i hated that. i got angry enough that i ran along the bottom of it's tentacle all the way to it's head, and started cutting it. it tried to get beneath the waves, but i didn't let go. we fought beneath the water, and i got buriesed, and i'm pretty sure a few of my bones broke. i started to think, maybe jumping into the middle of the lake to fight a creature many times stronger in the water, wasn't such a good idea.

however, such thoughts were silenced, and i barely felt the pain.

my insanity dulled both.

"lets see how you like being eviscerated. shall we? he he."

i killed more of the others as i swam after the beast, my lungs burning for air.

"fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen."

the big one tried to drag me deeper, but i used my claws to get on the top side of it's tentacle, and swam to the surface. the other two blocked my chance for air.

"nineteen, twenty."

that gave the big one the time to come at me with all thirty-six of it's tentacles, all speeding toward me. without any options, i bent the shadows to my will. i used the shadow at the bottom of the river, and made a blade that effortlessly sliced through all thirty-six of it's tentacles. then i used the shadow to press against my body, propelling me to the surface.

i flew several feet into the air, and saw talkir and the others at the bank, and as i flew, i waved, which made all of their jaws drop.

then the tentacles that had regrown shot out of the water, and sped toward me, while i was helpless in the air, unable to move myself. but then,

why would i want to move?

i activated shadow blade, and combined it with shadow manipulation, lengthening the blades to several feet, i slashed through all of them once again, and fell into the water. before i did, i heard the two guys gasp, but shielin simply looked like she expected this from me. it made me want to laugh, and i had to stifle it when i was once again submerged. i used shadow manipulation once i was deep enough, and propelled myself toward the squid. we fought for a few minuets, but i caought him by making a wall of shadow in front of him, and running right through him. once i was inside, i ate him. i hadn't been able to smell him in the water, but he tasted wonderful. i ate until i was full, then surfaced once again and swam to the bank, where i was greeted by my followers.

"sup'." then i fainted from oxygen depravation.

when blackness clouded my vision, i heard that tiny voice.

would you like to evolve? options are available.

this was new, it had never said that last part before.

"yes."

the necessary requirements for the following have been met.

alpha agrias, blood, insanity, water variant.

black agrias demi-humah, blood, insanity, death variant.

i thought for a while. if i chose the first, i would be the strongest creature in the forest. but it would be near impossible to convince the human kingdom to be under the rule of an animal. they would undoubtidly rebel if i conquered then, so even though i didn't want to be human again, i decided it was for the best.

"black agrias demi-human."

noted. your evolution will now be cut down to a fourth of the speed, and the ability to learn magic and learn jobs has been unlocked.

well, guess this will probably have some kind of consiqunse, but for now, i think i'll dream about the tastyness of that squids flesh. mmmm, i have now tried sea food for the first time in my lives, and i like it. perhaps i'll have calamari some other time.

and when i awake, i'll conquer the humans.

starting with those invaders home.

end of chapter 8

Authors note: sorry it took so long for this chapter! i had a bunch of stuff come up, and i couldn't find the time to sit down and write. but here it is! i hope you like it, and be prepared for the future. XD it will be blood-tastic.