In a rocky cave high up in the rugged hills, the demons had made their lair. Sharp Talon was the name the Greater Caizene gave itself. Two Lesser Caizene were fighting over meat as they tore bones apart with their desperate hunger. Sharp Talon snarled and shoved the two roughly to the sides so that it could eat the meat itself. The two smaller demons hissed in anger but dared not challenge the Greater Caizene.

Sharp Talon rested on a pile of bloody bones. Some were from animals, and others had scraps of clothing attached to it. Food was becoming scarce, and the Caizene were getting restless with hunger. In the dark recesses of the cave, dozens of pairs of glowing red eyes glared at Sharp Talon, who was nearly double their size. Sharp Talon knew their fear would lessen with hunger, and the Greater Caizene’s authority would be in danger. With a growl, Sharp Talon launched itself with powerful wings to the top of the cave leaving the others to find what scraps of food that were left among the pile.

The demons swarmed from the nooks and crannies to savagely devour what little they could find with yips and howls. Sharp Talon made its way to the entrance of the cave and squinted its eyes from the morning light. It was glad that the sky was overcast, for it hated when the sun was bright. A cold breeze carried a scent, and The Greater Caizene’s large nostrils flared. It smelled meat coming toward their lair.

It was moments later, as the scent traveled through the cave, when the others joined Sharp Talon at the entrance. They made a cacophony of clattering claws and sniffing sounds.

“Meat is clossse,” hissed Sharp Talon in a deep guttural voice.

The others howled with vicious glee and were eager to swarm forth. Sharp Talon held out a restraining hand with an intimidating growl. They waited. This was not the scent of the furry food that lived in the hills and quickly fled from the demons who were clumsy in this environment. Nor was this the docile meat that they found in the farmsteads. This was the talking prey that stood on two feet. Sharp Talon could smell their metal, and the demon grinned evilly.

“They come for usss,” the Greater Caizene said.

“Sooo hungry,” a smaller demon hissed.

“Why we wait? Letsss go eat sssome food,” another added.

The demons rippled with an eagerness to move forth, but Sharp Talon snarled threateningly.

“No, we mussst be careful. Thessse has weaponsss. They wisssh to fight usss!” The Greater Caizene said.

The others nodded, but vicious grins could be seen on their horned canine-shaped heads. Sharp Talon launched itself to an outcropping of rock, and the others followed. On its new perch, the Greater Caizene had a better view.

“There!” One of the lesser demons exclaimed.

A short distance away among the twisting switchback trails of the rocky hills, the demons saw a small group of four meat in armor and with weapons. The Caizene howled as one. They were so hungry. The food looked up in fright and started to scramble away on the uneven ground.

Sharp Talon no longer had control over the others as they swarmed down the rocky hills tripping and scrambling on four sinewy limbs like a tidal wave of leathery skin, fangs, and claws. Some took to the air, and all were eager to eat. But, something was not right in the Greater Caizene’s eyes. The meat, as they scrambled, did not kick rocks! Once Sharp Talon noticed that detail, it became clear that the prey were just magical images. They became transparent to the Greater Caizene’s eyes.

“Itsss a trap!” Sharp Talon exclaimed, but it was too late.

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The majority of the Caizene force were nearly upon the illusions as they were led further down the hill where the trail widened. The illusions vanished when the demons smashed into them, and they shrieked with dismay. Sharp Talon’s eyes scanned for treachery, and he spotted another meat with green skin that was on a rocky ledge above the demons. To the Caizene, most living things were food, and they couldn’t tell the difference between a human or an Ooraki.

The green-skinned meat swung a sledgehammer into the rockface, and it resonated loudly with echoing force. Sharp Talon’s red eyes widened as it realized what was happening.

“Retreat!!!” The large Caizene ordered as the rock face crumbled, sending piles of massive stone down upon the demons below.

Half a dozen of Sharp Talon’s fellow demons were crushed under the rocks as the others took to wing and avoided the deadly avalanche. But in the air, the demons were not safe as there were several sharp cracks as enchanted cross bolts exploded into the flying creatures knocking them out of the sky. The Lesser Caizene regrouped as more meat sprang from hiding spaces among the rocks to attack. They wore heavy padded armor and carried steel weapons, and in mere moments the hills echoed with the sounds of battle. The demons retaliated with spear, fang, and furious hunger. But the meat had the element of surprise, and the battle was not looking good for the demons.

Sharp Talon was more intelligent than the Lesser Caizene, but its mind was still mostly primal, and it did not notice their pending doom. Instead, it eyed the green-skinned prey hungrily and let loose a mighty roar. A roar that only the strong-willed could withstand while the others shivered in fear. The demons howled and pressed their attack in a frenzy as Sharp Talon gripped its spear and launched itself toward the green-skinned food.

The Ooraki stumbled back, not from fear of the roar as its will was strong enough to ignore the effects, but from the simple fact that a giant winged demon landed just meters from it on a narrow rocky ledge. Sharp Talon attacked with its spear, and the prey deflected it with its sledgehammer. With a hiss, the Greater Caizene batted the clumsy weapon out of the meat’s hands, and the food fell painfully on its back on the sharp uneven ground below where the avalanche it created had buried many of Sharp Talon’s brethren.

The Greater Caizene prepared to leap down and devour its fallen meal when another creature barreled into it with clumsy claw and tooth attacks. Sharp Talon was confused as it was a Caizene, but this one smelled of decay and had pale eyes with withered flesh. The Greater Caizene growled, gripped the abomination, and smashed its frail rotting body against the rocks before tossing it aside as if it were a pile of rags.

Another meat stood over Sharp Talon’s green-skinned prey. This one had hair the color of flame and pointy ears. In their hands, they wielded a saber and dagger. The Greater Caizene grinned hungrily. More food! It launched itself down and discovered its new prey was agile as they easily evaded Sharp Talon’s fierce attack while slicing with their blades. The attacks were nothing to the thick skin of the Greater Caizene.

The Ooraki scrambled away, injured from the fall and unable to fight, and Sharp Talon focused on the flame-haired meat. The Greater Caizne was no longer thinking about the other demons and rationalized that once it killed the sword-wielding prey, it could devour both for itself. It fought with primal cunning.

Sharp Talon jabbed its spear, and the flame-haired meat deflected with their sword and countered with their dagger. The Greater Caizene quickly batted the dagger into the air and slammed the back end of their spear into the flame-haired's side, knocking them to the ground. With a howl of triumph, Sharp Talon raised his spear to plunge it downwards into its prey’s helpless body.

Except its spear’s blade was batted aside by a Dane ax’s blade. Confused, Sharp Talon looked up to see a dark armored thing before it. It did not smell of meat and had an odd scent of something else. No matter, it will be destroyed, and then the meat can be devoured. The Greater Caizene let loose a howl of both hunger and fury and launched itself heavily into the armored thing. The thing was strong and nearly as big, and the two fought spear and fang verse ax and plate armor. Where Sharp Talon fought with ferocity and viciousness, the dark armored thing fought with cunning and skill.

In one exchange, Sharp Talon’s spear was knocked aside, and the armor thing plunged the sharp end of its ax into the Greater Caizene’s chest. Sharp Talon swung a claw hand, but its attack was blocked as the armor thing smashed their great helm into the demon’s snout. Fangs and blood spurted outwards as Sharp Talon fell back. The Greater Caizene gathered all of its strength to drive its spear into the armor thing but discovered that its arm was missing. It was chopped off by a clean downward stroke of the Dane axe.

Sharp Talon was looking at its bloody stump in confusion as the armor thing reversed its ax and swung the sharp blade in a powerful slice. The Greater Caizene’s head flew upwards into the air as the large sinewy body collapsed to the ground.