Old man Sid took a seat and with a gesture of his hand, he willed a few more chairs made from hardened dirt to rise up out of the ground behind his new guest.

"Please have a seat."

Lowen and Nia looked at each other with caution before they slowly sat down. Ben, on the other hand, had already jumped into his seat with excitement, his eyes darting in every direction, as he tried to discover every inch of the room.

Lowen felt the chair beneath him, it felt like a combination of dirt mixed with rocks and other debris, it was terribly uncomfortable. Only him and Nia seemed to notice though, as the other two people only looked to be excited.

"You three, what did you come for?"

Hearing this voice, it once again sounded like grinding rocks, except for this time it didn't reverberate as much in the ear. Looking at Sid, all Lowen could think about at the moment was Sid's eyes and how they induced such murderous rage within him.

(Just what kind of power can cause such a reaction? Could it be a form of hypnotism or mind control?)

As if he could read Lowen's thoughts, he pointed at his own face.

"Hehe, are you curious, if that's all you want to know its simple. I have cursed eyes. Hehe, if that's all you want then be on your way, oh and leave that Mammoth Boar hair you have on you, on your way out.

Lowen felt the Mammoth Boar hair in his clothes before he pulled it out. He held it in his hand and examined it for a sec.

"You want this, why?"

Seeing the foot long hair, the old man smiled in delight.

"Hehe, why does that matter to you, just let me have it and ill give you some meat that I've recently acquired, what do you say?"

(What did he just say?)

Lowen, Nia, and Ben all looked at Sid with incredulity, they each couldn't believe what they had just heard. This man really just offered the meat that he stole back to them as a trade, there really was something wrong with his head.

Ben jumped up and down on the chair, pointing at old man Sid he yelled.

"No no no, that's our meat and you stole it, give it back or, or...."

Old man sid leaned forward with slight interest.

"Or what?"

Ben was stumped, he didn't actually have an answer. He looked toward his sister and saw her giving him a stern look, but in his childlike ignorance, he misinterpreted her look of sternness, for one of support. He immediately nodded as though he understood and bellowed.

"If you don't give it back then big bro will defeat you."

Nia jumped to her feet and was already pushing Ben's head to the ground making him bow down, as she did, she too bowed down in apology.

"He's sorry, he's so sorry, please forgive him, he doesn't understand he's only a child."

Lowen understood why she would do this, this old man was eccentric. In the village, if people scolded her or sneered at her, even if they spit on her, that was basically as far as they'd go but this old man wasn't one of her fellow villagers and he was clearly messed up in the head. That, plus the fact that his domineering statues which stood just off to the side, could easily crush her and her brother in an instant. Even with Lowen there, he wouldn't be able to protect them if worse came to worse. So she couldn't afford to act recklessly, let alone allow her little brother to do so. But Ben didn't understand any of that and he didn't understand why his big sister was forcing him to bow. The only thing he understood was that this old fart in front of him stole from his big bro and little Ben just couldn't let that go. He resisted his sister as much as he could while he yelled.

"Big sis let me go, this old man is a meanie, he stole from big bro, he stole all of big bro's meat that I was gonna eat. We have to get it back no matter what, otherwise, otherwise this old man will eat it all."

Everyone looked at Ben with surprise, at the end of the day, it wasn't the fact that it was stolen from Lowen but instead that with it gone, Ben would have none of it to eat.

An awkward silence quickly filled the atmosphere right before a loud laughter just as quickly broke it.

"HAHAHAHEHEHOHO, funny, this kid is just too funny."

This loud laughter was soon followed by the stiff creaky movements of the statues. With them suddenly moving again, Nia and Ben grew fearful, while Lowen took up a defensive stance, as he did, he also watched the flow of energy. Old man Sid was clearly the focal point that the energy connected to. There was no doubt he was moving these statues. What Lowen simply didn't understand, was how even being in this close proximity to the old man and the statues, Lowen for the life of him couldn't figure out how they operated. Although he was defensive, he was also very excited, watching these things move, knowing they were being manipulated with earth energy made Lowen wonder if he could learn to do the same.

(Shit, now's not the time to be excited about these statues. I have to concentrate in case I have to fight my way out of here.)

Lowen raised his fist up, taking up his Snake Fist stance ready to throw down at a moments notice but instead of an expected attack, the statues stopped right in front of Lowen and began to pull at their chest. As they did, an odd yet creepy scene happened before him. Each statue inserted their fist deep inside their chest and as they did, they began to pull something out from within. Lowen honestly half expected to see a stone heart or something along those lines but instead, he got a bit of a surprise. Slowly but with little to no effort, the statues began to amazingly pull out the rabbit meat from before. At some point, these statues had stuffed the rabbit meat into their chest cavity and were now extracting them but that wasn't the end of it. As each one pulled the rabbit meat from their chest, like a strange magnet, all the dirt and debris that was attached to the meat began to stick to the statues, separating itself perfectly from the meat. After a minute or so, all of the meat was fully extracted from the statues with not a spec of dirt or grime on them.

The three could hardly look away but once more the statues began to walk away with the meat. They headed to a large black metal door that was more than 15 ft tall. Looking at the black metal door, Lowen couldn't recognize its material, so he couldn't judge how dense it was but it seemed even with the strength of 20 men they wouldn't be able to budge the door an inch. Without even touching the door, it slowly opened up all by itself, looking at it opening up, Lowen's jaw almost dropped. This door was more than 5 ft thick, Lowen had thought 20 men wouldn't be enough but now seeing its thickness, he believed even with a 100 men it'd be impossible.

Ben seeing the meat once more being taken away, escaped his sister's grip and ran at his fastest speed but even still, by the time he actually got to the door it had already slammed in his face. Pounding on the door, Ben fell to his knees, looking up in despair he yelled to the sky.

"NOOO!"

Old man Sid again laughed uproariously.

"HEHEHA, too good I love it, I absolutely love this kids reaction."

Ben became increasingly angry, he pointed at Sid and yelled.

"Stinky old man you, you, you..."

But before he could finish his sentence, the old man spoke again.

"I'm gonna smoke that meat, well that's what those statues are going to do but if you really insist, I guess I can stop them but right after, you 3 need to leave."

Ben's mouth shut like a bear trap and his mind froze, he looked like he had fallen into a stupor. If the look on his face spelled a single word it would read confusion, just utter confusion. Lowen, however, seemed to figure out this Sid a bit. Whether he was crazy or not, Lowen didn't know but he knew one thing for certain.

(This weird guy, he sure loves to play games.)

Lowen looked at the forge for a second and asked.

"Mister Sid was it, how did you know we want to make jerky? Maybe we wanted to trade some meat for some weapons, you are a blacksmith after all."

Without seeing Sid's eyes, Lowen looked at his facial expression which seemed to be mocking him, he could only guess but he was sure Sid thought of him as no more than a fool.

"Hehe, it seems your not from around here, are ya?

"Why do you say that?"

"Hehe, because, hehehe, everyone around here knows I don't make weapons, never have never will. Hehe, as for the jerky, I didn't know you wanted jerky, I never said I was making it for you, I simply said I was making some, hehe."

Lowen looked at this old man with an annoyed expression, everything with him seemed to be a game and Lowen couldn't see a straight path, so instead, he decided to flip the script.

"Well, you wanted this didn't you?"

Lowen took the long durable Mammoth Boar hair and spun it between his fingers. As he did, the smile on old man Sid's face grew brighter and brighter.

"Hehe, give it to me; If you do, I'll give you some of that meat, hehe."

Lowen shook his head.

"Nah I think I'll be keeping this. I'll take it back home and probably just use it as a back and butt scratcher."

Sid immediately grew angry.

"WHAT!."

"Huh, didn't you hear me? MY ASS!! I'm gonna scratch it with this."

As the huge smile that once plastered old man Sid's face quickly turned into a frown, he shouted.

"WHAT!!! you dumb brat, do you have any idea what you've got there and your gonna use it on your ass, are you crazy?"

"Crazy, Nah, I just really need a back and butt scratcher, it's not like anyone else needs it right."

"What, if your just gonna waste it like that I've got a hundred back scratchers you can have, just trade with me."

"Hmm, I don't know, what's in it for me."

Sid was becoming more and more upset.

"I just told you I'll trade you some back scratchers, that's what's in it for you."

Lowen tilted his head to one side and then tilted it to the other, he acted as though he were contemplating a matter of life and death. At the same time, Nia and Ben were just confused.

(He wants a butt scratcher, I thought we came to make jerky. What the heck is he talking about?)

Finally, Lowen answered.

"Well I can give it to you but just trading is no fun, so how about we do something interesting instead?"

Sid was starting to run out of patience.

"Something interesting and what is it you think I would find interesting."

"Oh, nothing too difficult for you, just a simple game. You win, you get this hair, I win, you teach us how to make jerky."

Sid was wondering what the brat would suggest but to think it'd be a game. Sid loved to play games but what game could a child compete with him in, he found it a little annoying. He felt he could just take the hair from Lowen and was contemplating whether or not to when Lowen's next words surprised him.

"Still not interested, how about this, if you win I'll show you where 10 more of those hairs are but if I win, not only will you teach us how to make jerky but you'll also teach me the secrets behind your statues.

(He knows where 10 more of those hairs are. Isn't this the easiest deal of my life? With those hairs I could easily increase my statues strength 3 or even 4 fold, hehehe easy, way too easy.)

Sid this time kept a poker face and held out his hand as though he were reluctant.

"Fine, its a deal."

As the two shook on it, Sid could only laugh inside his mind. To him, those hairs were already his. On the other side as well, Lowen maintained a poker face, his thoughts raced just thinking about the mysteries of those statues and how they were already his for the taking.

"So tell me, boy, what game do you wish to play? Hehehe."