Chapter 4

  Mana & Tooth

  Mind racing. Breath burning. Snow crunched beneath my feet as I pushed my body beyond its limits, channeling mana into my legs to move faster than any normal ape could manage.

  Eastern village ahead. but the eastern redwood forest had gone silent. No animal sounds at all. Just the whisper of wind through barren branches and my own labored breathing. The first sign came when a scream tore through the frigid air—high, terrified.

  Dark against white. Body slumped against frost-silvered redwood. One of the guard. Blood pools black on snow, already freezing in the bitter cold. His chest still moved. Barely. By the time I reached him, he was already dead.

  My stomach tightened as I spotted the first drops of blood spattering the pristine snow. A trail leading deeper into the forest, as though someone had been dragged. Some tracks led toward the village. Others led away—smaller, running. Our people fleeing.

  I followed the blood trail, moving cautiously now.

  The trail ended at the base of the eastern village wooden post. Several lifeless warriors lay scattered on the snow. The guard post stood empty. Beyond it, structures burned. Smoke choked the air, carrying the unmistakable scent of dead flesh.

  Guard slumped against the village gate. His body sat at an odd angle, chest ripped open by what looked like massive claws rather than any blade.

  Drop to one knee beside him. His hand—clutches mine. Strength where death should leave none. Lean closer. Smell blood and fear.

  "Demons..." Voice broken. Blood bubbles red-black at mouth corners. "Walking dead with animal heads. Taking... taking our people."

  Words cost him. Each syllable—payment in life. "We killed some but... Sent messenger to clan... Young chieftain..."

  Eyes find mine. Recognition flares. Brief. Ember in darkness. Then—gone. Light fades. Nothing remains but cooling flesh. Close his eyelids. One motion. Swift. Final.

  Fury builds. Not hot. Cold.

  I lifted my head, listening. In the distance—a scream. High-pitched. Terrified. A child's voice.

  I stood at the village entrance, sword gripped in trembling hands. I had to assume these weren't simple demons. Some of the warriors we'd lost were mana users. Whatever killed them had power.

  The village center had become a slaughterhouse. Bodies lay scattered across blood-soaked snow—elders, warriors, children. Some still moved weakly, reaching toward me with pleading eyes as life faded from them.

  I grab the warrior sword, Instinct drove me forward

  And there—amid carnage. Standing. Watching.

  Too tall. Too thin. Limbs —stretched beyond breaking. Skin tight over visible ribs. Starving frame but not hungry for food. Neck—impossibly long. Unnatural. Crowned with deer skull. Antlers spread wide like a crown of bones. Where eyes should have been, only empty sockets pulsed with unnatural light.

  Seeing everything. Seeing me.

  It wasn't alone. Several others like it moved through the village, varying in size and form. I could sense mana within them—some weak, others disturbingly powerful. The strongest emanated from a four-legged creature with blade-like antlers.

  Deer-thing tilts head. Sensing. Knowing. Turns toward me slowly. Too slowly. Behind it—small form.

  Elsu.

  "RELEASE THE CHILD!" Voice erupts. Not mine. Something deeper, older. Power beyond flesh. Mana giving words weight beyond this borrowed ape body.

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  The four-legged creature paused, its empty eye sockets fixed on me. Without thinking, my body launched forward, channeling mana through every muscle and bone.

  Fifteen steps away. Ten. Creature motionless. Elsu dangling.

  Five paces. I leapt, sword raised high, mana surging through my muscles as I prepared to cleave the creature's neck from its body.

  Midway through my attack, the air hardens. Becomes iron. Body frozen. Suspended. Sword still clutched, useless. Inches from target. So close. Too far.

  The creature raised its skeletal hand, mana gathering around its fingers. The force struck me like a mountain collapsing.

  The world blurred as I rocketed backward, no longer touching the ground. No control. Body carves trench through snow and ice. Through dwelling wall. Then another. The impact drove the air from my lungs. Splinters of wood and fragments of ice riddle my skin as I tumbled, unable to control my trajectory.

  The final impact came when my back struck a stone. Spine meets unyielding rock.

  For several heartbeats, darkness threatened to take me. I fought it, clawing back to consciousness, tasting blood in my mouth. My vision swam as I tried to focus, to push myself upright. Every movement sent fresh agony through my damaged body.

  I staggered to my feet, one arm clutched around my fractured ribs, the other gripping the sword I'd somehow managed to hold onto.

  Through the haze of pain, I saw them— Desperate barrier between death and survival. Standing tight. Formation. Backs nearly touching. Spears and swords extended outward. Last defense.

  A huddled cluster. Villagers. Elders. Children. Eyes wide.

  The warriors faced two bipedal deer creatures. The larger one towered over the warriors as it circled them with unnatural patience. The second was smaller but moved with slower pace, dodging spear thrusts while looking for openings in their defense.

  I didn't hesitate. My body launched forward, mana coursing through damaged muscles, temporarily binding fractured bones as I moved with impossible speed.

  The smaller deer creature sensed me first, its antlered head snapping in my direction just as I closed the distance. Its mouth opened in that grinding sound—a warning to its companion. Too late.

  My sword swept through the air, meeting the thing's long neck and continuing through without resistance, severing its head in one clean stroke.

  Before the creature's head hit the ground, I pivoted, Free hand extends toward larger deer thing. Mana surges. Core to arm to fingertips. Outward. Invisible force seizes creature mid-lunge. Body freezes. Suspended. Hanging in air. Will alone holds it. Limbs twitch. Fight against power. Against me. Futile struggle.

  I closed my fist. The creature's body compressed with a sickening crunch of bone and Black fluid erupts—mouth, empty sockets, skin pores. I released my hold, letting the creature drop to the ground. It twitched once, twice, then went still. Before anyone could speak, I drove my sword through its chest.

  Like its companion, the creature's form began to dissolve, skin and muscle flaking away like ash in a winter breeze. Within moments, nothing remained of either monster except two yellow crystals—dark mana stones gleaming against the snow.

  "Young chieftain..." a child's voice called out through the aftermath of battle. She broke from the crowd and ran to me, wrapping her small arms around my blood-soaked waist, pressing her face against my wounds without hesitation. Her tears wet my skin.

  The four warriors approached. head bowed.

  eyes haunted by the horrors he had witnessed.

  "Young chieftain," said one, his voice rough with renewed hope.

  "No time for formality," I replied, tasting blood in my mouth. "Where are the others?"

  "Half of the warriors followed those... things beyond the eastern bridge after they took the villagers. Captain Ivar led the soldiers in pursuit, ordering the rest to stay behind and shelter the remaining villagers." He gestured eastward. "We've heard nothing since. We sent an urgent message to the clan yesterday, but received no response. We feared the beasts had intercepted our messenger." His eyes brightened slightly. "But since you're here, I suppose they received it after all."

  I looked down at the child still clinging to me. Her tear-streaked face showed both fear and relief. "Your mother is waiting," I told her gently, nodding toward the ape female that was holding her before, now standing anxiously among the survivors. "Go to her now. These warriors will protect you all." I carefully extracted myself from the child's grip, watching as she hesitated for a moment before running into her mother's outstretched arms.

  Rushing to the eastern bridge, my mind still racing to find Elsu and the others, I felt it before I saw it—a disturbance in the mana field around me.

  The four-legged deer beast stood meters away from me, its antlered head with a curved blade that seemed to grow from its skull.

  One long limb extended toward me, fingers splayed. No sign of Elsu. The creature tilted its blade-crowned head, empty sockets pulsing brighter. A grinding sound emerged from its throat—almost like laughter.

  Something stirred within me. Strange symbols flashed across my vision—a language I had never learned yet somehow understood completely. The language pulsed with each beat of my heart.

  [WARNING: PURE DARK MANA PREDATOR]

  [MANA RESERVES: CRITICALLY LOW]

  My body suddenly felt heavy. The voice was like blood flowing over my mind.

  I tried to resist, but my strength was fading. The creature before me sensed my vulnerability and began to advance, its blade-antler lowering for a killing blow.

  My vision blurred, then sharpened with unnatural clarity.

  [BLOOD HUNGER ACTIVATED]