Night had fallen over the forest, and Banda was worried. He could see just as well as when the sky was blue, but somehow he felt there was more danger now. More things he could not see.

  Banda’s stomach rumbled again. He didn’t understand why it had started doing that, but it felt bad. A part of him wanted to try eating dirt and birds again. He didn’t understand that either. Those things tasted bad.

  A monster lunged from the cover of the brush, and Banda jumped away. The beast was three times the size of him with a short body of thick red and white fur and long claws. Drool poured down its fanged mouth as it shot twitching snarls his way.

  The badger lunged at him without pause, clawing and snapping with such rabid aggression that Banda couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. But that shock quickly gave way to annoyance.

  Banda landed a fist on its chest, but the feral creature managed to scratch his arm before it crashed back. Searing pain shot through the bloody wound that whipped him into a frenzy of distress. He had never felt true pain before.

  The badger lunged again, but Banda’s rage was far beyond the fight now. He grabbed its paw and whipped it against a tree. As the beast tried to claw at him even through the sever impact, Banda whipped it to the others side and flung it away.

  It tried to rise to its feet with rabid snarls, but its efforts merely shortened it life. The badger vomited blood and fell into a frothing spasm.

  Banda loomed over it, still wracked with pain and frustration. In his anger directed at the badger, his eyes went white and he opened his mouth wide to instinctively swallow its soul.

  The invigorating surge of power that rose within him snapped him out of his anger. It was a unfamiliar feeling. One he wanted more of. His thoughts turned to the unnatural sharpness of the beast’s claws, and he desired it.

  Instinctively, he tried to mimic them. He felt the power would give him what he wished for if he willed it. But his attempt failed and the power drained away.

  Banda stood there with a frown. It didn’t feel like what he did was wrong, but simply not enough. He wondered if it would work if he ate more. As he considered that, his eyes fixated on the badger.

  Banda hopped over to it and ripped off its arm. He took a bite of the badger’s bloody flesh and was almost satisfied. It did not taste good, but it did not taste bad either. More importantly, he felt his stomach being filled and the rumbles subsided.

  Banda took another bite, now with a goal in mind. He would eat more beasts.

  ---

  Banda rampaged over the land as he hunted beasts incessantly and indiscriminately. He swallowed their souls and devoured their flesh. Some of them even tasted good, so Banda hunted those ones more.

  He had learned much over the past few days, including the fact that eating too much also made him feel bad. That had annoyed him. Eat nothing and feel bad. Eat everything and feel bad. Those were two different things. It made no sense to him.

  He stopped in the wake of his carnage and tried to make claws again. Divinity surged as he felt closer to his target than ever before, but again it failed.

  The failure did not please him, but he was not annoyed. By now he was certain he right, and eventually he would succeed. Banda ran off in pursuit of more prey. Eating beast souls was good. And he could eat as many of them as he wanted.

  Excitement put a skip in his step as he ran through the forest in search of his next prey. Through the trees and under the brush, over dirt and grass, he ran. And finally he found one.

  A great beast. The largest he had seen so far. It towered over him, second only to the trees. The beast walked on all fours with a thick coat of rugged fur. It’s legs all ended in paws, and while Banda could not see its face as he approached from behind, that did not matter. He could look after it was dead.

  Banda lunged in Feral Form and mauled deep at its side. But his claws clanged strangely against the beast’s fur, without even leaving the slightest scratch.

  As Banda stared in wary puzzlement, the Ironfur Grizzly turned to face him. Though larger and slightly more monstrous, the creature was undeniably a bear. Nothing of its build stood out in particular, but it’s eyes were different.

  Pitch black amidst an emotionless face. There was no compassion to be found within its eerie gaze, nor had there ever been. The unsettling feeling it gave Banda had nearly distracted him from strange density of its mana. There was something different about it.

  Banda threw himself back as the bear’s paw cleaved the world. Its speed was considerable, but its power far more so. Banda gave caution to its strikes as he was forced to dodge.

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  It was stronger than him. But Banda had already learned how to fight things that were stronger. He lunged with its paw, reading its perfectly, and slammed his fist into the beast’s chest.

  But nothing happened. Instinct gave him just barely enough time to escape the bear's snapping jaw, but the attacks that followed came more aggressively than before. The ground sundered and trees splintered in its wake as Banda did everyone he could to avoid its mauling paws.

  He knew this was bad. He knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge for long. But the bear’s fur was too tough. Neither his claws nor his fists had any affect. He had to try something else.

  A rock found his hand and he whipped it as he dodged. It smacked the bear’s face to some effect, but not nearly enough. Banda grabbed another rock, and this time he aimed for its eerie eyes.

  The rock struck clean, and Banda saw the beast bleed for the first time. It’s right eye had been destroyed. It was not invincible. It was not unkillable.

  Banda destroyed its other eye, and in its blindness the bear fell into a rampage. Scent alone was enough to track Banda and pursue, but the bear’s intent was clearer than ever. And Banda found that easier to dodge.

  He darted away from its swipe and lunged with the second again. This time, he lept to its face. The bear reacted as he drew near, but not soon enough.

  Banda buried his arm through its ruined eye to the mushy flesh inside its head. It flailed violently, but only once. For all its might and imposing stature, it spasmed and fell limp to the ground like all the rest.

  He devoured its soul without hesitation, and the dense cluster of mana gave him more power than any other beast before. Banda settled his body and mind, and willed his desires. Claws, as sharp and deadly as possible.

  Divinity surged around him. Banda felt it flow through him, filling him with life as it started to take form. The glittering white light shattered off, leaving behind that which he sought.

  Banda held out his clawed hand, and his nails shone white. He knew innately how to wield these claws he had taken from the light, even more clearly than he knew how to run or breathe.

  He struck down at the dead beast and clawed clean through its tough fur. A smile found Banda’s face and he hopped atop his defeated prey, as joy overflowed from finally gaining his claws.

  But only a few moments passed before he came to a stop. His expression scrunched as he had quickly noticed something else. He hopped off the bear and darted around for a bit before walking over to a tree and mauling it down with a single swipe.

  Banda was not mistaken. He had become stronger. Strong enough to kill a tree without his power.

  Banda thought. This change had happened as soon as he made his claws. Making claws, he reasoned, must make him stronger too. He glanced over at the bear. That beast he killed must have made claws as well. That would explain its strength.

  An eager smile found his face once more. Making claws was even better than he thought. The feeling of gaining power excited him, but his satisfaction was quickly replaced with the desire for even more power.

  Banda took off with greater speed and zeal than ever, with the intention to kill every last beast within the forest.

  ---

  Banda swung through the trees of his forest with eyes like a hawk. He dove down without warning to maul an unsuspecting beast and swallow its soul. The young savage shot off again, stalking through the trees and brush.

  A rock smacked against a tree which drew a jolt of another beast’s focus in that direction, and it too became his prey.

  Banda darted off once more with a bounce in his step and a beaming smile. He was having a lot of fun. There were many things in the forest to kill and every day he grew stronger. Nothing could worsen his mood.

  ---

  Banda lumbered through the forest ground, his mood much worse than before. He felt terrible and didn’t know why. Eating didn’t cure his head like it did his stomach. Devouring souls didn’t help either.

  He had been suffering like this for two bright times and one dark time now, and it had already taken more than its fair toll.

  As Banda vowed to maul the beast responsible, his eyes started to droop. Lumbering movements turned to a stagger until finally he collapsed on the ground, fast asleep.

  Suddenly his eyes snapped open, and he spun away as a Shadow Panther pounced on the ground where he had just been. The panther crouched deep to lunge again, but Banda clawed out its throat before it had the chance.

  The beast fell in a pool of its own blood, but Banda found no joy from it. He was angry. Something had made him go dark. Made him stop thinking. Stop watching.

  The young savage frowned. There was something here, something he could not see. And whatever it was, it had ‘claws’ that could make him go dark. Make him easier to kill.

  He sped off with vigilant hostility, vowing to never let that happen again.

  ---

  A few more days had passed, and Banda felt more miserable than he had ever been. It was getting worse every day. Worse enough that it had started to affect his fighting.

  His body felt sluggish, and he couldn’t think as fast or as well as normal. There had already been some close calls, whether it was do to poor movements or poor decisions, which made Banda worry how much longer he could keep going until some beast’s claws finally reached him.

  His feet came to a stop on their own as he eyed the soft ground. Banda scrunched his face as he forced himself to think for a moment. He looked around, then hopped up a tree to a spacious branch with thick leaves that could hide him.

  Every part of his body and ever corner of his mind howled at him to lie down, but he would not. Its was too dangerous. He hoped that if he stopped moving for a while, that would be enough to cure him.

  Banda waited alone in the quiet night. With no distant cries of beasts nor even the rustling leaves to lend him company, he found his gaze drift upward to the full moon.

  The silvery white light glowed brilliantly and serenely. It was pleasant to look at. Comforting. And unlike the yellow light during the day, he could stare at this one for as long as he wanted.

  Banda’s eyes started to droop again as his head nodded off, and soon the young savage fell asleep on the branch under the moonlit night sky.