chapter 5

waking up in the middle of a giant corpse wasn't an everyday occurrence, but it still felt natural.

i got up, i was now just barely smaller than a horse, and when inspected my claws they were a full half foot long. the red streaks in my fur had gotten more extensive. now, instead of simply being streaks of red within my pure black fur there were now swirls in addition, and on both of my front paws there were spiral patterns.

when i emerged from the giant corpse, i was greeted by two-three hundred spiders, with blue in the front. when i tensed and my claws came out with a snap, all the spiders cowered. then i saw that if they had wanted revenge that they could have killed me while i was sleeping.

i sheathed my claws, and decided to hear them out, if they could talk. "hello again, i don't believe that i have had the courtesy of telling you my name. my name is Shadowpelt, nice to meet you."

blue looked shocked that i could talk, and slowly got over its fear of me. "sssss, Shadowpelt kill Cassandra. sssss, Shadowpelt new leader of nest. sssss, what Shadowpelt want?"

after thinking for a little bit, i decided that having followers wouldn't be a bad thing. "you know how to hunt, right?"

blue didn't seem to understand for a second, but it quickly got it. "sssss nest know how to catch food. Shadowpelt want meat?"

"yes. but not from you. listen, what is your name?"

"ssssss, this one doesn't have a 'name' what would this one do with a 'name'?

i face palmed. or should it be called face pawed? "okay then, i will name you. remember this name. you will now be known as Shielin, and you will be the new leader of the nest."

"ssss, but this one did not kill Cassandra. Shadowpelt did."

"i won't be the leader of something so small as a nest. i told my god that i would conquer this forest. it may be greedy, but i will be the king of the forest. i can't govern every nook and cranny once i have control, i need you to be my lieutenant. take control of this nest, strengthen it, and tomorrow come to the cave up on the mountain. just you, i will need to coordinate somethings with you."

"sssss, this one understands. Shielin often ordered the nest while Cassandra slept. this one will come up to the cave on the hill in two days time."

"well then, i need to go. i have some important business to attend to."

"what is Shadowpelt going to do?"

i looked at Shielin and smiled. "what else? celebrate my fifth day being alive by eating Demius."

when i walked away, i heard Shielin say something in a quiet voice before i left. "this one begins to doubt masters sanity."

i smiled even wider. i was leaving the nest in good hands. "oh, how right you are, Shielin. at least about the insane part."

---

while walking i thought of what i had met so far in this forest. three headed foxes, spiked beavers, wolves, a giant frog, and a nest of giant spiders.

'how in the world am i going to unite them under my rule?'

the present king of the forest, Demius, had never made any effort to bring all of the animals together. he was known as king of the forest because he was the strongest, not because he made any effort to act like a king.

as i was walking through the forest, i smelled many different things, but all of it smell so dull it felt like it was clogging my nose. when i reached the east part of the forest i was met by three wolves that came out of the trees. i was appalled by how dull they smelled.

when they saw me, they immediately went into full alert. i just looked at them, and without even thinking about it, i activated fear. two of them ran away yipping like i had bitten their tail, but the one in the middle was made of sterner steel. he growled, then seemed to get slightly bigger, and his muscles seemed like they could barely be concealed underneath his fur.

a pleasantly sharp oder began emitting from him, and i started to take interest.

"what is your name, dog."

he growled, and if he were human he would probably spat in my face.

"well, if you won't tell me, then i will beat it out of you."

no more words were exchanged, and we ran towards each other and clashed.

---

"if you would just tell me your name, we can stop this right now."

he growled some more, and even though he was bleeding from many cuts, and had many bruises, he wouldn't back down.

'sigh, if only he would stop being so stubborn.'

"look, if you won't tell me your name, i will have to hurt you."

"i will never tell a rabid beast like you may name. you smell like the beast that killed six of the other packs wolves, and you didn't just kill them. you tore them to pieces. i will kill you, and end your reign of terror, so that the cubs in my pack can grow up without the fear that a monster like you will eat them."

"eat them? i would never eat something so weak as a wolf cub. you, on the other hand, you have a most delightful smell."

"why i'm i any different from the rest of my pack?" he looked confused as to why i would only be interested in him.

"your stronger than them. your companions wouldn't have lasted a second against me. you, on the other hand, can give me some trouble." i smiled at my next thought. "eating something that is as strong as you is exhilarating, don't ya thing?"

he paused, then looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "your insane!"

"i'm the one who nows it best. now, are you going to tell me your name, or will i have to take a leg of first?"

"go to hell."

*chuckle* "i was headed there before you were born." i came forward and sweeped his front legs, sending him to the grond, then punced ontop of him, and when he was pinned, i whispered in his ear, "if you keep refusing to tell me your name, i will track down your companions and ask them. but for them it will involve a lot more pain."

"grrr, your a sick bastard. my name's Egain. happy?"

i smiled once more, and said, "very." i got up, and kept going in the direction the i had originally been following.

"where are you going? aren't you going to eat me?" he was still on the ground, and looking very confused.

"no. i have to save room, if i ate you then i wouldn't be able to eat the whole meal i'm about to have."

"what are you going to eat?"

"why, the king of the forest, of course."

and i walked away, leaving him lying on the ground, numb because of the shock of so many revelations.

---

walking through the trees in the morning was relaxing, and the sun felt great on my fur.

when i got to where i could smell the sharpest smell i had ever known, it turned out to be a large sized clearing. i looked around, and all i saw filling the clearing was animal bones. as i came in, a group of four wolves were dragging an animal carcass toward the center, and there, in the middle of the clearing was a tiger. i had snow white fur, black stripes, and fangs that would rival bowie knives in both sharpness and length.

when i had reached about twenty feet away from him, he sat up, and turned toward me. the wolves quickly dropped the dead animal and ran away.

"why, hello there. you must be the creature thats been terrorizing the poor denizens of this forest. as the king, i would like to kindly ask you to stop. but, i really hope that you decline. it gets boring around here, with nothing to fight."

"i couldn't agree more. so, shall we begin? i would tell you my name, but you will soon be dead, and have no more need to know anything.

"ho, looks like your a cocky bastard, what gives you the arrogance to say that so confidently?"

"it isn't arrogance, it is simply stating the facts as i see them. i hate arrogant people, and people who are arrogant without reason are even worse."

"you say that you aren't arrogant, and then you say that you will win. i think you need to reevaluate which is true and which will leave you dead. i know that agrias are strong fighters, but i have not yet found any that can hold a candle to me."

"you know of my species?"

"yes, i know that agrias are violent, bloodthirsty cannibals."

"cannibals, you say?"

"yes. agrias have a unique smell gland that differentiates between the weak and the strong. agrias are naturally drawn to strength. they are infatuated with eating the strongest meat they can."

"hmm, i see. i believe that i have some of that. but why say they are cannibals?"

"because, in the beginning they were created by the old god, and he made it so that eating stronger meat would make them stronger. when they had eaten all of the strongest animals, and could no longer gain strength from eating them, they started to look at each other. they were at that time all immensely strong, and the story goes that when they were sleeping in a cave at night, starving because they could no longer stomach the weak meat of their prey, it is said that each others smell filled their nostrils, and starved with hunger filled with lust for strength, they fell upon each other and ate until only one was left, who starved shortly afterward because he could no longer eat other agrias because they were to weak.

from then on, agrias stopped being pack hunters, and developed the ability to mate with basically anything, however they could only have one to two children with the other races, and when ever two agrias would meet they would eat each other, until they became endangered, and finally believed to have died out. don't you get it? your a member of a species of extinct cannibals who are driven by their only instinct until death.

get stronger, so you can eat stronger meat, which gave them more strength. you, as a person, are doomed. and as a race you already are! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

i let him laugh for as long as he wished, and when he stopped, i said,

"i have no reason to talk more with you. in the name of my god jordan, i will kill you, and take control of this forest."

"ho ho, it looks like we have a champion. well, two can play that game."

he raised his paw, and spears made of light appeared in the air above him. "ha ha ha, can your god give you power like this?"

i said nothing. just stood perfectly still. a cloud had blocked the sun for a moment, and the area around the clearing was shrouded in shadow for a few seconds.

"ha ha ha! take this!" and shot his spears forward, and when they were an inch away, i didn't move at all 'well, that was boring. guess that agrias really was just bragging.'

"i'm not so weak as to need help from a god, unlike you." and used shadow blade to cut three long gashes along his side.

"wha- where are you?!"

as the cloud passed, i appeared behind him, not saying a word. he thought i was another image, and swung around, looking around for a hint of where i was. i walked up behind him, and took a bit out of his shoulder. like i thought, it was delicious.

"ahh!" and swiped with his claws toward me. i leaped back, chewing and swallowing, licking my lips.

"just like i thought, you are delicious as you are stupid, which makes you the best delicacy i have tasted."

"grrr, you f***ing bastard! get over here and fight me!"

"why? it's so much fun to see you squirm."

he screamed, and leaped at me, i dodged to the side and slashed some fur off of his shoulder. he turned around and caught the tip of my tail, taking a single drop of blood.

circling and growling, he watched my every move, when suddenly he activated an ability that made glowing claws of light extend from his paw. "ha ha, top that, f***er!"

without a word, i activated shadow claw and cut the front of his chest.

he looked down in shock, then he got angry. he roared and came forward, and we grappled, he knocked me down and got on top of me, and bit into my shoulder, then i rolled him over onto his back and racked his side with my back claws. we rolled, clawing and slashing at every opportunity, occasionally activating our respective blades for extra reach.

we finally backed off, now covered in scratches and bites, neither of us breathing hard. "he he, how about we kick this up a notch?" i asked with a smile.

"yes, lets." he replied with an equally happy grin, all traces of the arrogant asshole gone, replaced by a kindred sole who loved the fight. we went at it, faster than ever. he swiped and i dodged, i tried to bit, and he knocked my head away. we fought this way for six hours, by this time it was getting dark, and we had not slowed one bit.

"he he."

"ha ha!"

we laughed as we fought, i had slashed one of his eyes closed, and i had to limp on three legs since my front left one was cut nearly off. we grappled once more, clawing and biting, and hour after hour we fought, it was night, then the moon was out. a pool of our blood made us slip, and we took advantage of each others slipping. we rolled around in it, bled into it, this pool of blood became our arena, and it was getting bigger every minute. during the las hour till sunrise, we started slowing. i was panting while laughing my guts out, and he was panting like a wounded horse.

my vision had tunneled, and if the world had exploded, i wouldn't have noticed. all that mattered was Demius.

---

my right eye was closed, since that damn agrias had made a cut above my eye and it was pouring down blood into it. i had to admit, though, even with one leg, he was my hardest opponent yet. we clashed again and again, each one more frantic than the last, until light slowly began to filter from around the trees. at this, i started laughing again, not like the insane laughter of that psychopath, it was a laugh of victory.

"ha ha! you will lose now! my patron is the goddess of the dawn, and i become twice as powerful as during any other time! hahahaha!"

"hahaha!"

"hahaha!"

"hahaha!"

i briefly wondered what he was doing standing completely still, and alarm bells started ringing in my head, but that soon left my mind, as strength flooded into me, "haha-huuuu." i grunted. when i looked down, that bastard was slowly revealed to me, and even as strength flooded into me, it drained out through my chest, even as the dawns light disintegrated the shadows that had wrapped him ever since i had declared my victory.

"i told you."

he said as he ripped my heart out and ate it.

"i hate arrogant assholes like you."

and even as this side of the world brightened with the dawns light, my vision darkened and faded. and i had one last chuckle.

"that bastard really did kill me. i wish i knew his name."

"it's Shadowpelt. tell your goddess, when you get back to her."

and with that, i, Demius, The King of the Forest, fell at the hands of an agrias champion named Shadowpelt.

the last thing i heard was a number.

"One."

---

i looked down at the body the previous king, and felt a little sad that i would never get to fight him again. then i feasted. and it was delicious. i then lay down next to the body of the now dead king, and fell asleep while lapping up his and my own blood. and his claims that agrias were cannibals made more sense, as mine tasted wonderful.

when drifting off, i heard another dinging sound, followed by the voice.

would you like to evolve?

'again? so soon? its only been two days since my last evolution. oh well, i guess it won't hurt.'

"yes."

the end of chapter 5

Authors note: and there you go, Shadowpelt is now king of the forest. i will be posting another chapter for How To:Become an Evil Overlord, later today. if you want to check it out, it's about a girl turned overlord. hope you like the chapter, have a nice day!