Atral stirs in her sleep. She feels like there is something to be worried about, but the exhaustion within her body keeps the dragonkin in a torpor.

Memories flash within the mind of Atral, showing varying scenes. First a man with a blue cloak, then an old man, and finally a monstrous pale being with a gaping maw.

Seeing Nekesh inside of her head makes Atral shoot up in her bed. Atral can’t sweat, but she pants out panicked breaths and her heart races.

Atral’s eyes dart around the room and she sees a completely different scenario from before.

The walls around her are no longer made of stone but of wood. The room is very cramped for the 7 foot tall dragonkin and she feels more claustrophobic now than before.

A pleasant scent reaches Atral’s nose and that seems to calm her down a little bit. The smell of meat makes the dragonkin’s stomach growl loudly and she quickly stumbles out of bed.

Her long tail knocks several things over as she hurriedly leaves the room and runs towards the smell of meat.

Carl, who was simply cooking himself a small dinner, suddenly jumps up from where he was sitting and ducks for cover.

Atral blasts through a door frame and into the main room of the house where she plucks the pork that was roasting above the fire.

Without even a moment's hesitation or even letting the pork cool down, Atral throws the meat into her mouth and swallows it whole. She lets out a pleased sigh as she sits on the ground.

“Ye’ scared me! I thought there was an earthquake or something! If you’re that hungry you could’ve just said so!” Carl yells as he inspects the door frame that now has an Atral sized hole in it.

“Thanks for the food! Do you have anymore?” Atral says, ignoring Carl’s bewildered stares.

“Have you no shame?!” Carl yells, wondering who raised this needy dragon lady.

“Have you no food?” Atral sassily says back, her stomach still growling.

Carl is completely caught off guard by this and simply stands with his jaw open before he waves his hand and walks into his storage room.

Atral finally takes a look around the house and sees that Carl has most likely been living here for a little bit.

There is a bookcase filled to the brim with tomes, paintings line the walls and plants cover most free table surfaces.

“How long have you been here?”

“For about a year now, speaking of which, where are you from lady? I am sure your family or friends are worried sick about you.”

Atral is confused about how Carl has been here for a year. From her understanding with the knowledge given to her by The Archiver, the planet should just be getting invaded now and was completely desolate before anything happened.

“I won’t lie, I just got on this planet today, and I don’t even know if my family was brought here. I hope not…”

“Wait… You came to this planet today?” Carl asks with a panicked voice.

“Yeah… I’m surprised you believe me.” Atral says.

“Oh no…”

Carl comes from the storage room with a large sack. His face is completely pale and his eyes look panicked.

“What’s wrong?”

“The second wave is coming soon!” Carl yells as he throws the sack of fruits at Atral and hurriedly puts on his trench coat.

“What does that mean?” Since Carl is yelling Atral is yelling as well, but she sneakily swallows an apple whole as she asks.

“The Archiver said that there would be a second wave of people arriving. Then the real fun would begin. The Pioneer Kings have been doing nothing but worrying about what to do when the second wave shows up.”

“Well… What did they decide.” Atral asks as Carl walks up to the dragon woman with a stern look on his face.

“They made a deal with The Archiver. If they killed every last one of the second wave, then the world will be at peace. Total Genocide.”

Atral’s heart freezes as she sees the knife in Carl’s hand.

“I know what I must do Atral. I will need you to comply.”

*******************Underground*********************

Nekesh sits inside of his orb, recovering and sulking the whole time. His soul’s stomach growls violently and the ghoul feels like he is going to starve to death soon.

The Ghoul panics as he feels tens of footsteps running through the caves, coming directly at him.

‘OH NO! THE PREY HAVE BECOME PREDATORS! I WON’T YIELD TO YOU!’ Nekesh yells from within the orb even though he knows full and well that it cannot do anything to stop a predator.

The light of a torch lights up the surroundings, and Nekesh’s orb lets out a shiny luster, catching the eye of a cave explorer.

“Look!” a man yells as he runs up to Nekesh’s orb. The man picks it up and shows it to his friends.

“I am the first to find treasure! I knew coming to this world was a good idea!”

“You don’t even know what it does. For all you know this thing could be just a piece of compact shit!”

Hearing himself be compared to feces, Nekesh rages within the orb, however, this rage only makes the orb slightly tremble and nothing else.

“Whatever, you’re just jealous!” the man says as he pockets Nekesh’s orb before the group continues to run through the caves.

Nekesh is surprised that they didn’t just straight up eat his orb, and the ghoul realizes what the man had said.

‘They believe I am a treasure. Maybe I can find a time to absorb their bodies and regain form.’

Nekesh simply lies in the pocket for a prolonged period of time, jostling around but biding his time.

Soon, a panic erupts from within the group that had picked up the orb from Nekesh.

“Look! Fellow humans! What a wonderful surprise. My name is Kyle and I-.”

*PLUNK*

The man named Kyle is cut off short by the sound of an arrow hitting something. This is followed by multiple panicked screams, the dropping of bodies, and people pleading for their lives.

‘HEY! ASSHOLES! THEY ARE MY PREY! GET OUT OF HERE!’ Nekesh yells from within the pocket of an unmoving explorer.

Soon, the sounds stop and everything becomes still. Nekesh waits for a couple of minutes and wonders why the predators didn’t eat their prey after killing them.

Using a little bit of his life force, Nekesh rolls out of the pocket and observes the area.

The group that had initially picked up Nekesh were dead, every single last one of them. Whether it was from arrows or magic, all of them were killed and their bodies left to rot.

Or in this case, their bodies are left for a hungry ghoul inside of an orb to absorb.

Rolling up to the body of the person that picked Nekesh up, the orb digs its way into the mouth of the human man and rolls down his throat.

Releasing a small acid from within the orb, the insides of the human man melt away and are absorbed by Nekesh.

Feeling his hunger be satiated somewhat and his mana regenerating, Nekesh squeals out in ecstasy.

After eating the entire group left to rot, Nekesh predicts he will have his body fully back. And when he does, Atral and Carl are first on his kill list.