Noryet began to walk around the square. Many of the villagers greeted her with a friendly hello or a wave. There were some who even smiled at her with relief at her mere presence in their village. The village was still on edge since the death of its knight and the family. She knew that there were still some villagers who never left their home while others had packed up and left. There were several homes that were vacant in the village.

“Goodday, Miss Noryet!” A merchant who was selling small trinkets said to her. The cart was full of small jewels that were fashioned into earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. The woman was even making a trinket as she greeted Noryet.

“Goodday,” Noryet said. She continued to walk and greeted several villagers and even some travelers to the village. However, her mind was elsewhere as she thought about Lissa’s question about how Korgrans she had faced. The images of these monstrous Korgrans flittered about her mind now.

Noryet had been a knight for about seven years and it had been full of encounters with Korgrans. At first, she had gone to battle with smaller ones and they were easy to subdue as their strength was not fully maximized. They were also quite clumsy and always on the offensive. Noryet had slain many of them as she was sent on assignment to different towns and villages. She had even encountered four small ones that she quickly dispersed of without any further deaths and injury to her own person.

But, it wasn’t until Noryet confronted a mature Korgran that everything changed for her. Mature Korgrans were larger in size and very powerful. Their skin was dark gray and their entire bodies were nothing but muscle. Their heads were large with small black horns that protruded from each side. These horns were very sharp as Noryet had seen the damage they inflicted on their victims. These mature Korgrans also had dark red eyes and mouths that were filled with razor sharp teeth. One bite from these creatures could sever an entire limb.

Where the smaller Korgrans would struggle with its victim due to their smaller undeveloped teeth, a mature Korgran could devour an entire human, animal, or creature whole! A mature Korgran’s strength was also very formidable as they could simply pierce the flesh of their victim’s chest and rip out the heart in order to consume it. The heart was what Korgran’s desired and would go manic with obtaining it. They also loved to bite into the flesh of their victim to first subdue it.

Noryet had learned that there were some Korgrans who had the ability to paralyze its victim with its teeth. There was some sort of secretion that would seep into the victim’s body from a bite and the Korgran would be able to easily get to the heart of the victim. Noryet had witnessed this incapacitating effect during her encounters with these mature Korgrans. The many mature Korgrans that she faced would try to do it to her but her amour protected her.

Noryet had briefly shared with Lissa and Marenon the injuries that she had sustained from these monsters but she had not been descriptive in what these injuries had been. She had suffered many broken bones and even had her leg twisted from fighting a Korgran. That injury had been so painful but she had continued to fight until she brought the Korgran down. It had taken up to a week and a half of a healer working on her leg before it was set right.

Also, there were numerous scars on her body from when the claws of the Korgran would penetrate her armor. The claws were razor sharp and could tear away flesh and Noryet had many spots on her body where the flesh was discolored. A healer’s magic could only do so much unless she sought out the help of an advanced healer but even then it would be very costly. A knight’s salary was not sufficient unless they became an officer or Head Commander.

Mature Korgrans were also quite fast in speed and could rush an unsuspecting victim. Noryet had experienced the rapid speed of these mature ones many times and her sword and shield protected her but there had been moments when she had been hit by them and it was such a blow that it would knock the air out of her lungs. It was always best to stand in a defensive pose when coming upon a Korgran which she had learned from her training.

Mature Korgrans were also unique due to their ability to speak and their intelligence. They would often goad Noryet as she fought them and would even laugh as she struggled to subdue them. Noryet would do her best not to let them get to her because she had heard many tales from knights during her training of fallen knights who lost their cool and reacted to the provocation from the Korgrans. Many of the mature Korgrans would toy with its victims and with knights that were trying to stop them. The smaller Korgrans were less intelligent and could say a few words but were more impulsive.

Noryet kept walking the square and then made her way into the various roads where homes were. It was less crowded here and quiet. The sun was just beginning to decline and Noryet knew that it would be fully set in about two hours or so. She had come to estimate sunfall since arriving here. She walked slowly through the various roads and even walked by the home of the slain family. It was boarded up and even several houses around it were vacant from those that decided to flee the village.

Noryet felt a cold breeze that made her shiver. It was so eerily quiet here. She kept walking and was about to turn the corner when she heard a small cry. She stopped and looked around to see where the sound had come from. It was quiet again and she took one step when she heard an audible sound.

“Help me!”

Noryet looked around and waited to see if it would happen again. The cold breeze was picking up again and it seemed to pierce through her armor and her padded clothes beneath.

“Help me! Please! Someone help me!” The voice cried out.

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Noryet could see that it was coming from an abandoned home. She walked toward it and slowly opened the door. “Who is there? How may I assist you?” She shouted into the house.

Silence greeted Noryet. The house was empty and very dark. Even the sun’s light was not entering the home. Noryet squinted as she tried to look farther into the house. It was pitch black. “Hello? Does someone need help?” She called out in a loud voice. She waited with her eyes and ears keen to any movement of sound.

Once again silence. Noryet waited a beat and thought that maybe she had imagined it. It had been a long day standing out in the sun. She turned around to leave but heard the voice once more.

“Wait! Help me!” The voice shouted. Noryet quickly turned around. The voice was that of a child and they sounded very scared. Noryet wondered if a child had come into the abandoned house with curious intent and had possibly gotten themselves stuck or even harmed in some way in the dark.

“Where are you?” Noryet shouted.

“Here in the back! Please help me!” The scared voice shouted back.

Noryet entered the house and the door slammed behind her. She swore that she heard it lock behind her but wondered if it was just her imagination. She walked slowly to the back of the house. To the right was a small kitchen area and it was bare with cobwebs everywhere from the spiders that had taken root here. Her footsteps were so very loud in the house as they echoed.

“What has happened to you?” She called out to the child.

“I got lost and my foot got caught in one of the floorboards. I can’t take it out!” The child said in a scared voice. “Please, help me!”

The voice was coming from the right of the back room and Noryet made her way to it. For some reason, she was on alert and felt a strong itch to put her hand on the hilt of her sword. It’s just a scared child, she told herself. Nothing else. She kept walking slowly and tried to sense out the child. She did not want to step on them.

“I’m over here!” The child said in a frightened voice. “Please, help me!”

The child’s voice seemed to be just a few feet away. Noryet begun to crouch as she moved slowly to where she thought the child was. She reached out a hand. Her eyes were also adjusting a little to the pitch black of the house. She made out a small figure before her. There was dark brown hair on the child’s head and it was turned away and she could not clearly see their face. She could make out brown clothes on their body and she saw long ears which made her guess that it was an elf.

“I’m here,” Noryet said to the child. Her hand touched the child’s back.

“Oh, thank you so much!” The child said and turned their head to face her. It was a skeleton face! The floorboards beneath Noryet erupted as a large Korgran came through it. She stumbled back and quickly grabbed at her sword and raised her shield before her.

The Korgan came fully out of the floor with an evil grin on its lips and its razor sharp teeth were bared. The mature Korgran was dark gray and had the skeletal remains of a small elf in its right hand. It had been using the skeleton as a puppet of sorts to lure Noryer to it!

“Hahahaha! You foolish human!” The Korgan bellowed with laughter. “I’ve been practicing this elf’s voice for several days to see if I can mimic it and it worked!” The Korgran laughed again and then threw the skeleton on the floor. The bones broke apart and scattered about the floor. The Korgran looked at Noryet with its red eyes getting darker. “I am hungry and I think your heart will be so delicious to eat!” The Korgran pounced at her and Noryet lifted up her shield in time to block the swipe of its claws at her.

The claws scraped against her shield and Noryet swung her sword to which the Korgran jumped out of the way. Its hand reached out suddenly to grab her and it almost took the purchase of her leg but she was able to dodge it. She swung her sword again at it but the Korgran dodged it.

“I’ve been laying in wait for someone to come this way,” The Korgran said in a gruff voice. The voice was not human and was completely unholy. “No one has come to this way since I ate those humans and that knight! But, it seems another knight has come to play! Do you think you will survive?”

The Korgran laughed but Noryet ignored its words and focused on trying to strike a blow upon it. The claws reached out again but Noryet moved swiftly out of its way. The Korgan rushed her and the force of its body hit her shield as she raised it. It was too strong and caused her to stumble and fall down upon the ground. She quickly raised her sword and swung it. The Korgran batted her sword away as if it were a mere stick as it moved closer to her. Noryet felt its claws dig into her armor and pierce her arm. She cried out in pain. She could tell from the wound that her flesh had been torn into.

The sword flew across the room and disappeared in the darkness. Noryet did not panic but instead swung her shield at the Korgran and it hit the monster in the left side of its torso. The Korgran laughed as if Noryet had tickled it.

“Your puny tools are nothing to me!” The Korgran grabbed her shield in both of its hands and squashed it as if were fruit and then tossed it behind it. The clang of it hitting the floorboards rang out in the empty house. The Korgran then leaned close to Noryet and grinned at her.

Noryet quickly grabbed a small sword from her side and plunged it into the flesh of the Korgran’s midsection. The Korgran didn’t even seem to react to it. Its head moved fast and then it sunk its teeth into Noryet’s right shoulder. She screamed in pain and felt the sharp teeth sink even more into her shoulder. The Korgran bit into her and then pulled its head back. A huge chunk of Noryet’s shoulder came with it in its mouth. She screamed in pain again. She had a moment to look over where her shoulder once was and saw that it was completely gone.

Her body started to feel very numb and she had a chance to register that this Korgran’s teeth had that paralyzing secretion upon it. She tried her hardest to reach for the sword in its midsection to grab hold of it and slash it up the Korgran’s body but her hands only made it part way off the ground.

The Korgran chewed her flesh and then swallowed. “You are very tasty, human! Now, let’s have at your heart!” The Korgran’s hand raised up and then the claws came toward Noryet’s breastplate. The claws pierced through and into her flesh. She made a groaning sound and blood came from her mouth. The Korgran ripped her breastplate off and some of her chest came with it.

Noryet’s last thought was that she hoped Marenon and Lissa did not have the same fate as her. The Korgran took out her heart and feasted upon it as life left her body.