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Landen looked at Jay as confused as ever, and Jay’s face suddenly turned cold as he looked Landen right in the eyes.

“...because I slaughtered them.”

“You did?” Landen said as if it were a question but Jay’s cold stare was answer enough, “...You did.” he said slowly.

He looked around at the skeletons with a newfound fear.

“How close did we come to being wiped out…” Landen thought, pursing his lips in worry.

“They used to be white.” Jay smirked, seeing Landen glancing at the skeletons.

“But… they’re all stained a dark red…” Landen stared unblinkingly, “How much blood did it take to cover them all…” he thought.

“Did you slaughter all of them?” Landen asked next.

“All of them. Grundel, his hunters. The ones who ambushed me died first, then the rest of the village who had me surrounded. Some fled, but they died too. Others tried to hide, but no mortal can hide from me, even in complete darkness… Technically only one escaped; a child - but only because I let them go. They are the only one left of their village. I showed the child mercy.”

A coldness travelled down Landen’s back. Suddenly he felt like he wasn’t paying this man the fearful respect he was worthy of.

He almost couldn’t stand to look at Jay’s face, preferring to lower his eyes instead.

“Sir, the cannibals have been slowly taking our people for years, but they preferred to attack other villages, since we, the leaf-skin, were their only trading partners and had the best defences.

Of all the villages, our leaf-skin village is the only one which the cannibals didn’t attack willingly. It was much easier to hunt other villages.”

Jay raised a brow, “They don’t attack willingly, but they attack? Huh?”

“They are forced to fight by the knights, forced to abduct people - and they only succeed because the knights feed them something which empowers their bodies, giving them incredible strength for a short time. This is why we call them the kindred, as they are like the kin of the knights.”

“I see. Smarter to not use their own men to attack.” Jay thought before asking, “So, how much stronger do they become when they are empowered?”

“Strong enough to climb the walls and pull us down with them.” Landen pointed back to the palisade walls.

Jay wasn’t very impressed. He believed he and his skeletons could have fought the cannibals in their empowered state; severing an arm was an easy thing for his minions and swords.

“Hmm… but if they’re jumping from the wall without breaking anything, maybe it strengthens their bones somehow?” Jay wondered.

Of course, his thoughts drifted to stronger bones, ignoring everything else.

“Ah- sir, since you killed the kindred, the knights will soon be at their village, wondering why they’re all dead. They may come looking for clues and attack us themselves.”

Jay suddenly started smiling and it soon turned into a grin, making Landen uncomfortable.

“We leave in ten minutes. Prepare for the journey.” Jay shewed him away, not giving Landen anymore time to chat.

Landen went away and began packing some supplies, and giving some orders to others.

“What have I gotten myself into…” he thought.

Jay had a stroll through the village, and there really wasn’t much that stood out to him other than the wolf-boar farm.

It was made into the side of a cliff, traces of some cave system going further into it.

Despite being a mix of boar and wolf, they were as docile as their faces were ugly.

The villagers began to gaze suspiciously at Jay when he walked closer to the wolf-boar pens, and it was clear that this was like a treasure to them, a no-go zone; their only meat supply.

Jay left and returned to the gate, waiting for Landen.

The dead bodies of the men had already been cleaned up, and the mourning of their wives had grown quieter, having moved to other parts of the village.

It wasn’t too long before Landen returned, and to his surprise, a small crowd had gathered around Jay again.

There was what seemed to be an exquisite throne, made by some advanced craftsmanship which he had never seen the likes of. The wooden parts of the chair seemed so smooth that one could touch them without risking splinters.

Really, it was just any old chair, but to Landen it seemed like it would be the opus magnum of one of their own carpenters.

“They must not have many iron tools, if any at all.” Jay thought as he mounted his throne.

Suddenly, he was raised up as if on a cloud. Jay appeared as a king, and out of instinct, Landen almost wanted to kneel - this was taking into account that this was the man who had slaughtered the entire cannibal village.

And this young man was now looking down on him, with a tired expression.

“Ready?” Jay asked from atop his throne.

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t call me ‘sir’ anymore. My name is Jay. Lead the way.”

“Ah, right. My name is Landen.”

“I know.” Jay nodded uncaringly, having already analysed Landen.

Landen thought, “How did he… Ah, he must have heard my name when Liny was yelling it.”

Before leaving, Landen gave nods to a few of his men. In his own way, he was preparing the villagers for his absence while he was away. The men gave a trusting nod back, and so Landen marched out of the gate with an undead procession of skeletons in tow.

The four of Jay’s level four skeletons carried Jay, while Handy was sent to scout ahead.

While watching Handy bolt through the trees, Landen was amazed by its speed, and he thought that it was no wonder that his men were so quickly rounded up and pacified.

Thankfully, most of the captured scouts were starting to come back to their senses and seemed more normal after spending some time in the village again.

Their walk through the thick root-covered forest was pretty uneventful, and Jay did nothing but make a white blob with a green glow form into a dagger and then back into a blob again, doing it repeatedly as they travelled without a care in the world.

Landen was curious, and if he had a choice he would have sat down and watched in wonder, but ultimately he decided not to ask; he was just glad that Jay didn’t ask for more forms of compensation such as food or women or even ownership of his village.

“We’re getting close”

Finally, they made it near the cannibal village, and stopped just outside the village in the dense forest near it.

A part of Landen didn’t believe that Jay had slaughtered them all, but now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could do nothing but bite his lip while thinking about how close his own people may have come to meeting such a fate.

Seeing that there was no one else around, he and Jay got closer, entering the remains of the village.

Much of it was burnt into blackened piles or charcoal, some parts still smoking amongst smouldering charred corpses, but other places were untouched by the fire - but he soon wished it had been.

This was when Landen saw one of the victims of Jay’s massacre.

Their corpses hardly looked human anymore; they were grotesque and leaking fluids. Each of their faces were contorted and twisted in terror, only held together by the collagen and muscle left in their skin.

Landen was almost breathless, wondering why these flesh-sacks, which were once humans, had no bones left in them.

“Their bodies… what… what the fuck happened to them…”

Some others were much worse. They didn’t even have any skin left.

Somehow the skin had been removed, then the bones underneath the flesh, leaving bloody red curtains of flailing flesh behind.

He had never seen anything like it.

“Who… no - what is this being…” Landen silently glanced at Jay - Jay who alone caused all of this horror and destruction.

Landen suddenly remembered the fiendish, sick smile that appeared on Jay’s face back at the village when he mentioned the knights will be coming here soon. After telling Jay, he had made them leave immediately.

“...what is he planning for them?”