Elmar clutched at his stomach, Theanore’s letter weighting on his mind. It had been too much to hope she could get him criminals to eat. He feared for the day when he would lose all control and attack someone.

The tiger cubs meowed at him and he smiled. He poured more of the milk inside the bowl he had brought, and they began lapping it up. They were good little critters, Elmar thought to himself, and deserved a chance at life.

But if he was unwilling to eat them, what was he going to eat? He had asked Garry about evil things around the inn, but Garry had told him of three more caves with useless slimes and one hag’s hut which had been locked and with barred doors.

The woman inside had sounded frightened. Had called him out on what he was. Elmar felt like a villain for even considering taking her soul, hag or no hag. But then, what was he going to do?

A bug passed by the tiger cubs and Elmar lunged at it. He scooped it up and ate it whole. He felt his hunger lessening immediately. So, a soul was a soul, no matter how small its owner was.

Elmar began to upturn stones and eat bugs. He didn’t care that they tasted disgusting, he was hungry. When he felt like he was full, he decided to leave the rest of the bugs for the months to come.

With a food source secured, Elmar smiled. A Litch living off bugs was probably unheard of, but he guessed he would be the first. He knew he should feel some guilt about eating souls and banning their owners from the afterlife, but these were bugs. He had squashed bugs many times before, and he hadn’t felt guilt then.

The tigers had drunk all the milk while he had eaten and now were curled up around each other. Elmar was yet to tell Diana and Dereck of the tigers. He wasn’t even sure they could be tamed.

But if they could, they would be useful trackers. Certainly, they would be good pathfinders too. They just needed to grow up first. He could work a spell to make them tame. He had heard of mages keeping tailed foxes, with as many as five tails, as pets. Why couldn’t he keep a tiger?

Standing up, he moved back to the entrance and decided to go back to the hag’s hut to apologize for scaring her. He moved briskly and after an hour of walking he was in front of the familiar hut.

The hag was looking at him through her curtains and was holding a staff defensively. Elmar knocked on the door three times and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts.

“Go away, Litch! I am stronger than I look!” Screamed the hag. She tried to put on a brave showing, but her voice betrayed her terror.

“I am sorry, ma’am. I thought you were an evil, baby eating, hag. I found I can eat bugs. Not only that, but I will not eat you.” Said Elmar, and he tried to relay his sincerity with these sentences.

“Baby eating? I have never seen a baby in my life, much less eaten one! Did that lump Garry the gnome sends you? Just because I gave him the book of prophecy, he would send a Litch after me! Despicable.” Said the hag with a huff. She seemed to believe Elmar because she didn’t sound as afraid as before.

“Book of prophecy? What is that, ma’am?” Asked Elmar. If Garry had such a thing, he would have told him, surely.

“Drop the ma’am, boy! I am Gildana. And the book of prophecy tells the future in fairy tales. Accursed thing. I wanted it gone, so I gave it to Garry free. Not my fault the book gave out a prophecy concerning him, now is it?” Asked Gildana and Elmar nodded.

He had wondered where could Garry get such a book from, but now it all made sense. Still, Gildana was not to blame. She had been burdened with the knowledge of the future and had wanted nothing to do with it. Simple as that.

“Gildana, may I come in? I wish to give you a life-extending ring to apologize.” Said Elmar. He had enchanted one just this morning and found much to his satisfaction that it had the same effect as before, despite him using his soul and not mana to power the enchantment.

“A life-extending ring? Then Gildana will match you gift for gift.” Said the hag, and the door was opened just enough for Elmar to come inside.

The hut had a homely feeling to it. The walls were a soft beige color and there were paintings in wooden frames scattered on them. There was a particularly interesting one of a woman in her twenties. She was plain, but she was smiling.

“That was me before I become this.” Said Gildana with more than a little regret in her voice. “I used to be a wood’s witch. Knew my herbs, I did. But then my magic changed, and I turned into a hag.”

“So sorry to hear that.” Said Elmar as he looked at the hag. She was hunched over, her skin was a pale grin color. Her nails were crooked, and her teeth were black. Yet, her eyes were the same warm brown from the painting.

“Don’t be. It is probably my fault I ended up this way. Now, boy, as the elder it is my right to give my gift first. Close your eyes.” Said Gildana and Elmar did so.

He heard rustling and there was something placed in his hand. He opened his eyes to see a mushroom.

“This is quite the special mushroom, boy.” Said Gildana, grinning. “It is said it is made from the souls of those who have committed most horrible crimes. I find it growing in graveyards on certain graves, so it must be true. Try eating it.”

Elmar brought the mushroom to his lips and took a bite off. Instead of immediately getting the urge to throw up as he did when he tried eating a baked apple, he managed to swallow and keep the mushroom down.

He didn’t know if it was going to keep him from starving, but between bugs and this, he thinks to himself that he has a chance to live life as a normal human being. Even though he was no longer one.