Savagrios had consumed 34 Karakites before Serfet had to call Morray to stop Korm from feeding him their entire Karakite population. All in all, Savagrios feasted on over 1,156 kg of flesh and bone.

  Savagrios was now sunbathing outside the alabaster dome like some oversized lizard. With his head tilted back, he peacefully soaked in the sunlight. His translucent frame was also refracting the warm light in a crimson display that decorated his surroundings in a serene red.

  Serfet was passed out on the nearby bench, twitching awkwardly as he shifted around, trying to find comfort on the poorly designed seat. For a while, the only sound was the mellow howling of the wind caressing the ugly statues of the Back Gardens and the restless grunts of Serfet.

  Savagrios remained in place, dutifully and without complaint, as he waited for his next caretaker of the day.

  “Pitiful Lesser-Morray, we wonder who has left him in such a state.” Savagrios growled passively as he licked his teeth before yawning. “The meal was a treat beyond our bloodiest dreams, but the bone mass we gathered was lackluster…”

  Serfet, half-awake, mumbled in response, “Lesser…name…Serf…” he grumbled uncomfortably as he shifted on the obtuse thing that barely resembled a bench.

  Time crawled along and Savagrios began to grow restless as he looked around confused for the new ranger that was supposed to take charge of him for the day. The desire to leave to attend his business had been clawing at him but the Giras didn’t feel too inclined to cause any more disruptions until their duel with Borren.

  Savagrios scanned around the Back Gardens, trying to spot any movement. His Kyyr gaze dragged across the odd decorations and statues until he noticed something.

  “If it isn’t the kicking woman!” Savagrios roared happily as he got up, stretching his frame as he instinctively yawned. Standing behind a tree was a statue-like Mera, who was holding the poor tree in a visceral grasp so intense it was splintering the bark.

  Savagrios noticed the sudden intensification of Kyyr around her hands as she began to shudder. “A-are you okay, miss kicks?” he asked, crawling over to her.

  She didn’t react completely, ensnared in a quiet panic.

  Savagrios hesitated. Perhaps our glorious visage has shocked her pathetic little brain. What would our other selves do in a situation like this?

  Savagrios pictured Gira poking her with a stick, or perhaps trying to talk to her to no avail. He pictured Berserkrios cursing at the poor girl. He imagined K, who would probably try to comfort the young woman or ask for help from another source.

  Bothersome… Savagrios leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders.

  “Eeep!” She instinctively squealed, staring into Savagrios’s shattered face.

  Without another word, Savagrios carried her under his arm like old, worn luggage. “We have grown tired of waiting!” he announced. He wobbled her around, “There must be a better way to carry her…AHA!” Crimson tendrils erupted from his back, wrapping around the panicked Mera, who hadn’t fully realized what was happening.

  “Wha—wha—wha?” Mera struggled to form any words as she was fastened onto his spine like a backpack.

  “If it hurts, make sure to scream!” Savagrios roared in a jolly tone.

  “WAI—!” Mera tried to speak, but Savagrios went on all fours and burst forward at full speed, rushing past the deranged decorations of the back gardens.

  Not a minute later, back where Serfet was resting, a large figure shook him awake.

  “Ugh… ehhh…” Serfet looked up at the dark shadow that loomed above him. “WOW!” Serfet jumped away like some human-sized cat. “Ha-Haund?”

  “Morning, vice-captain Serfet!” Hound diligently announced his muscles bouncing around in a rather nasty display.

  “Egh… oh you’re here for Gira,” Serfet mumbled as he scratched at his eyes. “Sinking leviathans, my bloody neck hurts…” he rubbed the sore spot. “Hey Gira!” Serfet called out into the garden, “. . .” Serfet’s eyes shot wide open. “G-GIRA?!”

  Silence.

  THAT LITTLE SHIT LEFT?!

  Haund began to run in place. “Would you like me to look for him, sir?”

  Serfet crouched down, staring at the cracks on the white stone path, “Haund. You’re free to go about your business…” he said in utter defeat, “I’m too tired to deal with any of this today.”

  “But I could still—”

  “Haund. I need your help with something else.”

  “What is it, sir?”

  “Carry me to my room… my neck hurts from sleeping on this shitty bench.” Serfet grumbled as he let the freedom of not caring anymore take him to dreamland as he plopped forward.

  “Sir!” Haund exclaimed as he rushed to help the ragdolling Serfet.

  Bounding up the alabaster walls of the Voltasaxx manor, Savagrios erupted into the air and over the walls as he rushed out of the manor in search of even more prey to hunt. Despite the large amount of flesh and blood he’d consumed, the Karakites lacked the bone mass Berserkrios had desired.

  Bouncing around Savagrios’s back, Mera felt her guts slosh around haphazardly as they reached the top of a rocky hill that overlooked a valley clouded in the white canopies of feather trees and random half-structures. He took in a deep breath, flushing the Kyyr in the atmosphere through his entire body as he searched for prey.

  “There!” He roared as the faded scent of abyssal Kyyr flared his predatory sense.

  “Wait wait wait wait wait wait!” Mera cried out in a panic, but Savagrios had already lunged off the cliffside and had crashed into the dreamy underbrush of the feather trees.

  The light was muffled by the cotton-like leaves above, bathing everything in a hazy golden pall. It was a warm honey gold that stained his Kyyr receptors in its pleasant glow. Savagrios’s jaw dropped ajar as he spun around, taking in the golden grasses and lazy atmosphere of one of the many Gilded Forests of the Ordovis Coast.

  On his back, Mera squirmed around, her own hair muffling her as she tried to call out for the crimson beast. But her struggling was cut short when she suddenly felt herself lurch forward. Savagrios had dropped back on all fours. His Kyyr receptors flared as he tracked the unmistakable tang of blood and rot that fouled the golden air.

  Deep cut shadows laced through the forest floor, like claw marks across the golden brush. Strange amber glowing lichens were richly embedded into the gray wood of the old trees. Their spores lazily drifting amidst the golden glow, brushing against the roof of the Coarseblood’s mouth as he maneuvered expertly through the underbrush.

  He abruptly dropped low, his crimson body fading into the parting underbrush. A creeping unease rippled through his skull.

  For all its golden beauty, there was an alien edge. A bothersome silence that threaded between the shallow breaths of rustling wind.

  The terrain was jagged and uneven, with the tall grass making it hard to discern where to walk. Deep trenches and deep burrows lay hidden under the veil of gold and grace. Though Savagrios had grown— his Nascent Form, taller, stronger—he still lacked the mass to fully disregard the terrain entirely. Each step had to be measured, not only because of the hazards but also because something lay beneath the gilded surface.

  Mera had finally managed to get her hair out of her mouth as she swatted off all the grass and leaves that were now accosting her. She wriggled around, managing to roll over onto her chest, allowing her to crawl up and onto Savagrios’s shoulder.

  “M-Mr. Coarseblood…” She whispered near his auricular receptor.

  Savagrios noticed her and raised a claw in a shushing motion and pointed ahead.

  Mera could only see golden grass swaying slightly as fluttering feather leaves slowly fell through them and down into the dark underbrush. Confused, she mustered some of her Kyyr and used her King’s Retina to crystallize a little Kyyr monocle to peer into the unseen.

  She almost yelped, catching herself with her free hand as she tensed up. Just ahead maybe 3 or 4 meters past the Coarseblood’s head was a congregation of souls gathered seemingly under the ground. She looked around. Her grip tightening on her mouth as she realized there were dozens, if not hundreds, of abyssal things lying in shallow graves.

  Savagrios moved, causing her to panic, her body shivering as Savagrios approached one of the souls.

  Mera got close to his head, trying to whisper, “T-there’s… many…” her voice struggled to deliver.

  Savagrios rose on his hind legs. His crimson frame towering over one of the hidden creatures.

  Mera silently panicked, but her attention was drawn to the sudden surge of warmth she felt from Savagrios. His scales flared as he dug his claws into the ground. His Kyyr suddenly burst as a weave of crimson tendrils erupted from the ground and with them screeching bodies of small abyssal organisms.

  They were unlike any Gira had seen before. Long, pale, and skinny, with a face covered in strange fleshy growths that jiggled around—the vile little creature wriggled violently in the air as it twisted itself around the crimson tendril. It fought its hardest to bite into the red, but its movements suddenly stopped.

  Mera watched in horror as the abyssal worm's skin began to convulse, the pale skin sagging like a rotting fruit as it fought for its life with every ounce of life it had left. But it was for naught, as Savagrios dragged the shriveled-up creature to his jaws and devoured the creature in a single bite.

  SCREEEEE!

  One, two, three, more and more of the worms rose from the soil as the crimson tendrils leached their blood like a thirsty fish in search of the sea. One by one, Savagrios swallowed each and every worm around him.

  Unfortunately for him, it didn’t take long for the worms to disperse through the ground and underbrush in a hissing panic.

  Savagrios pulled his arms out off the ground, then sliced the golden grass away to reveal the soil.

  “We felt a pulsing sensation but didn’t expect such nasty growths.” He inspected the ground. “What is this?”

  Mera’s skin crawled, the eerie silence of the forest ripping into her as she began violently trembling as her grip tightened around the Coarseblood’s shoulder. The piercing silence felt like a needle sinking into her eye with a slow measured pace. The pale pink grass wriggled and twisted its hissing form, spiraling in her eyes. There lay a pale figure before her deep in the grass, an ever-shut eye buried forever in her mind.

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  CRRRK…

  “Watch it, miss!” Savagrios growled as he felt his shoulder plating crack under her grip. “Stop that!” Savagrios released his back tendrils, letting her fall on the golden ground.

  Mera seemed to snap from her trance before her face went blue as she felt the moist soil shift under her hands. “N-no no no!GET AWAY!” her muscles tensed as she raised her arm, igniting a blaze in her own Kyyr before smashing it into the growths below.

  “Wowow, miss, c-calm down!” Savagrios hissed as he felt her Kyyr erupt with emotion as she senselessly beat the soil over and over and over.

  Savagrios tilted his head—confused by her sudden actions. A shudder crawled up his spine as he twisted his head away from her with a sudden snap. His Kyyr receptors were excited by a delicious stench that wafted in their direction. The air grew cold as a tenebrous chill scraped against his scales.

  Abyssal Condensation.

  Thick rivers of saliva began to pour from his jaws as the echoes of the nightmare on Trant reminded him of the flowering flesh he’d consumed that night. Standing just beyond the shadows of an old feather tree was an abyssal anomaly.

  SCREEEEEEEEE!

  A horrible shriek pierced the air, causing Mera to snap back to reality, her eyes jumping between Savagrios and the abyssal anomaly whose skin was surging like a foul sea of hidden tendrils.

  What’s going on? Its skin is all nasty? What in the ORPA is happening to it?

  An awful panic grabbed at her very heart as she processed the situation. The sinking feeling grew worse as Savagrios took a step forward.

  Savagrios found himself locking eyes with the pale vision. A familiar blur in the golden light. The two stared at one another, recognition flashing within the eyes of both beasts.

  It raised a claw pointing straight at the Coarseblood, its overlapping jaws splitting open to reveal a writhing mangle of spiraling tongues. It let out yet another ear-piercing screech that rippled through skin and scale as it just stood there pointing at Savagrios, its foul roar droning on and on.

  Savagrios was fueled with insatiable hunger and fear. Torn between terror and excitement, he took another step when—UGH!

  A violent force dragged him down. He glanced back. The hell!? Mera had grabbed him by the auricular organ. He looked into her deep, crimson-pink eyes—his annoyance fading as he noticed a fervor within her gaze. Unlike before, there was no sheepish fear, no anxious glances. Only a haunting resolve he had never expected from the shy woman.

  “We’re leaving.”

  ”Huh—but?”

  ”No buts. Now,.”

  There was a commanding edge to her; somehow, as she held him tight, her word managed to cut through the loud wailing of the pale creature. Savagrios struggled a little but her grip was strong. The Coarseblood glanced between Mera and the shrieking monster; he let out a disgruntled growl. She tugged at him harder.

  “We get it!” he hissed, surrendering himself by lowering his head. “Get on!”

  Mera nodded, wiping her tears as she coalesced Kyyr onto her face, creating a crystalline mask. She adjusted herself, hugging his neck.

  “Mr. Coarseblood—I’ll guide you!”

  “Got it.”

  The skinny, pale creature continued to screech, its skin rippling and bursting as black tendrils tore its face off, leaving behind a black mass that was slowly forming into some new unknown. It fell to the floor convulsing as a long snout filled with serrated fangs began to form. Its spine rippled as its scapula began to bend inward, the bone cutting through the skin as black bone emerged from beneath.

  Mera had seen enough as she tugged at Savagrios, pulling him away from the changing creature. She looked around and spotted a path that avoided the large amount of sharp purple souls that were beginning to aggregate around them.

  “Mr. Coarseblood, this way!” She pointed the way.

  Savagrios hesitated, his attention transfixed by the evolving creature.

  CRRRK!

  “OUCH! We get it!”

  Relenting to her grip, Savagrios began to bound through the golden forest, making sure to follow Mera’s directions as a sudden cacophony of shrieks erupted from every direction.

  Does she really know where we’re even going? She tugged at his neck, guiding him in a different direction again.

  “Mr. Coarseblood, can you climb up?”

  “OF COURSE!”

  Savagrios shifted his weight as he lunged at one of the larger trees nearby. He dug his claws into the old bark, using his grip to push himself up the tree in one powerful motion. They crested the golden canopy with a flash of color, his crimson gleam standing out amidst the white canopy.

  Mera pulled herself up using his ear bits and using his head to survey their surroundings.

  “We need to make a break for the coast.” she tapped on his head, pointing in the direction of the cliffside.

  “Why?”

  “Trust me!”

  “That answer doesn’t satis—”

  Mera pulled herself over his head, melting away her Kyyr Retina and staring into his shattered gaze. “P-please…” she pleaded in a rather shy manner. Her mellow eyes causing Savagrios to feel an odd confusion.

  “O-okay! W-we’ll do it!” Savagrios relented rather easily. “Hold on tight!”

  He compressed the crystalline muscles in his legs as his body shifted.

  “W-wait! YOU’RE JUMPING?”

  “WHY OF COURSE!” he announced proudly as he erupted with motion, a flying ruby shimmering between the fluffy white clouds and the fluffy white canopy.

  “DON’T LAND THERE!!!” Mera cried out as they landed with a sickening lurch, the unfortunate tree that’d caught them swaying violently as a disturbing growl bellowed from below.

  Savagrios took a quick look down. “Forgive us, we didn’t know there’d be so many of them!”

  Dozens of Unknown had begun to claw their way up the tree.

  “JUMP!” Mera cried out as a pale claw swiped far too close.

  Savagrios jumped again with all his strength as a sea of writhing arms clawed at the two from under the feathery crown of leaves.

  “That’s a lot more than we remember!”

  Mera tightened her grip around his neck, her legs wrapping around his chest as they landed on a tree even closer to the cliffside.

  “They’ve been gathering here for the last couple of days. With all the human activity surrounding the Penthes—-TAAAAAT!” Savagrios jumped again.

  “Sorry, miss, there were more!”

  “Egh! I bith my tongue,” she complained as they landed near the very edge of the forest.

  SCREEEEE!!!

  Savagrios threw himself forward, landing on all fours as he galloped to the edge of the forest, the vile Kyyr of the abyss wrapping itself around his crimson frame, the pink grasses fighting to hold his talons as bladed tendrils surged all around him, their edges cutting into his legs as he pushed himself harder.

  FWOOSH!

  They breached the boundary of the forest and the cliff, skidding to a stop. Savagrios turned to face the forest, his body tensing as he waited to witness the terrors, but there was nothing.

  “Where are the prey?”

  Mera let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad they’re scared of you…”

  “Well, of course! But—then why did they chase us in the first place? And why have they stopped?”

  Mera swallowed as she loosened her grip before sliding down Savagrios’s back. “Unknown aren’t stupid. They think just like you and me—well, not really.”

  “You confuse us! Why did the hunt end?”

  “Ahhhh…” Mera slapped herself. “Okay! T-those things are Unknown—they’re these messy mixes of things forced to look all gross like that! Some of them have human brains mixed in. That means they can critically think… though in the specimens I’ve dissected their prefrontal cortexes are actually pretty withered… especially their anterior cingulate cortex…”

  “Huh? You’ve lost us again, miss.”

  “Awa–umm…Sorry, what I’m trying to say is they probably know fighting you in the open is a bad idea!”

  “That’s silly. There’s clearly like a thousand of those things in there! How could they not try and kill us here and now, versus in there?”

  “Mr. Coarseblood, look around us—what do you see?”

  “Trees, you, the ground, rocks, our splendid form.” he pointed at himself.

  “I meant more like the terrain… Think of it this way. Imagine you want to hunt a specific someone. But that someone is a lot stronger than you and you want to guarantee a win so you’d want to fight them with as many advantages as possible.”

  “Cowardice.”

  “Okay, but... Ugh. Talking is hard…” Mera shrank under Savagrios’s shadow.

  Savagrios felt a little bad so he thought really hard. What does she mean? Terrain—the ground; flatter, open, cliff behind us. Okay? If we really wanted to eat a specific prey. We would fight them in glorious combat! But that’s us! Ugh… Think like K… Guarantee… Terrain… Forest versus here. There’s only forest there, hard to see, hard to move in, lots of enemies. Here, open with lots of OPTIONS! We see. They want to guarantee a kill, but we are US! It recognized us, but we devoured them all… were there others? Watching?

  Savagrios shook his head. “We think we understand.”

  Mera looked at Savagrios with a disillusioned face. “Sure…”

  Savagrios felt annoyed. “Those creatures remember us! So they want us dead, but they want to kill us without hurting their numbers. So now that we’ve left their domain, they are nervous to attack!” he said proudly.

  Mera’s eyes widened. “Ye-yeah, that sounded kind of correct.”

  Savagrios smirked, his face cracking with pride.

  “We must confess miss kicks, but Savagrios wasn’t supposed to search for more prey. Perhaps you could not mention this expedition to our other selves.”

  Mera smiled weakly. “Umm—” Savagrios lowered his head, shrinking his frame like a dog that had chewed on your shoes. “Uhhh…” Savagrios looked away, his auricular organs folding down. “F-fine! But I’ve got something to confess too…”

  Savagrios immediately dropped the facade. “What is it? We enjoy gossip!”

  Mera felt a little betrayed by his sudden shift in demeanor, “Well… You see Mr. Coarseblood I—I wasn’t assigned to you today…”

  Savagrios’s eagerness faded. “WAIT, WILL MR. MORRAY BE UPSET!?”

  Mera was taken aback by the panicked Coarseblood. “N-no, I don’t. I don’t think so.”

  Savagrios deadpanned again, “Oh, then let’s never speak of today again and return back to the manor! But should we at least not warn the other rangers about those foul things in the woods?”

  “Y-yeah… I don’t think anyone realized how bad the infection had gotten…” Her eyes fell back onto the golden edge of the forest. Her eyes followed the gold until she spotted a figure?

  SHRIIINGK!

  In a flash, Savagrios had wrapped himself around Mera, a deep-bladed tendril tearing through his armor and painfully embedding itself into his ribs.

  Savagrios roared in agony before ripping the tendril out of his chest and then slamming down his jaws on it, tearing into it as he crushed the bladed tip in his mouth.

  Standing in the shade of the forest stood a single creature that resembled none of the infected he’d seen before.

  Its top half was mostly shrouded by shadows but the silhouette was enough to tell him it was something new. It stood tall like a man, with two distinct protrusions erupting from its back. The fell beast had a long snout similar to a Rak’da, but there was something extremely off about it.

  Savagrios hissed before retaliating as he sent his own crimson tendrils flying through the air in a flash, a number of them managing to strike their target.

  GOT YOU!

  But the creature didn’t even flinch as it smoothly began to walk closer and closer, completely disregarding the barrage of tendrils.

  ARE WE NOT STRIKING IT?

  The creature kept approaching its frame still in shadow. It snickered.

  What the hell!?

  Savagrios felt his blood run cold as he pulled back his tendrils. In a single motion he swept Mera off her feet. “WE MUST LEAVE!”

  Mera nodded as she rebuilt her retina just enough to glance at the creature. Her body tensed.

  “No no no not again!” Tears poured from Mera’s eyes. “IT’s here.”

  Savagrios lunged off the cliffside, digging his free arm into the cliffside as he slid down the rock face and onto the white beach. He didn’t look back as he felt a shudder under his scales. The echo of blissfully corrupted moans echoed in his mind as the presence above reached the cliffside. Its houndish shadow stretching over the escaping Coarseblood as it simply watched.