"Gnolls, huh?" I said out loud, pondering, as I sat on my bed. Their name was definitely one I've heard of before, but nothing else about them seemed to have stuck.

"Terribly vicious creatures, I tell you," Branne said as he lazily put on some proper clothes.

"You say that, but you don't seem to be too alarmed."

"What do you want me to do? We have most of the Oxcross garrison with us, along with the Tamor garrison to the east. If they aren't able to handle the situation, then I think we have a greater problem on our hands."

"It's a good thing you prepared medicine to cure hangovers."

"Almost like I knew this was coming." Branne grabbed the pillow off his bed and tried to stuff it inside his bag. "You should take yours, too. One or two pillows having gone missing during a raid will be the least of their concerns."

I grabbed the pillow but held it under my arm as I packed my bag full already. "Did you know this was coming?"

"No."

"But you did expect something else instead, right?"

"Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "The way you spoke your earlier sentence was—odd."

"We weren't necessarily expecting any sort of attack. It was just a precautionary measure," Branne explained. "What is odd is why gnolls are raiding a village so far east."

To the far east of the continent lay the Shattered Steppes, a place where the land and sky were in complete disarray. Due to its chaotic nature, monstrous creatures and beasts largely inhabited it, making it an actual wilderness. Unlike the Southern Wilderness, which was wild in name only.

"I smell conspiracy afoot."

"If they were any other creatures aside from gnolls, I would agree..." Branne said, lingering on the last word.

"But?" I asked, rolling my hand.

"Good luck trying to reason with most of them without finding yourself in their stomachs."

"Ah."

"I can't believe it's morning already," Syn said as I followed Branne out of the room.

"It's not," I said, filling her in on what was happening.

"Oh, it's just some gnolls."

"Please dismiss their threat some more. It makes me feel safer."

"You aren't equipped to take care of them."

"That is the opposite of what I asked for."

"Eh, you could if the conditions were right."

"Much better."

"Hopefully none have mutated to a dangerous degree."

"Mutated?" I asked, concerned for the safety of myself, Athas, and the rest of the garrison and villagers.

"They gain strength based on the creatures they consume."

The idea of such intrigued me, but before I could question Syn some more about it, my thoughts were interrupted by the shouting of one Captain Tharkun.

"If you continue to move any slower, there won't be any village left to save. Go, go, GO!" He shouted at an excessively loud volume, making me wince and cover my ears with my fingers.

The soldiers hastened their movements as a large group poured out of the inn. Athas didn't seem to be present in that group or main hall.

"Your scouts didn't include any mentions of how strong the pack leader was?" Alphonse asked, donned in heavy armor, as he appeared next to Tharkun.

Branne tugged on my sleeve, messing with my balance. "Quit eavesdropping and hurry up."

"I mean, this inn is currently the safest place to be right now."

"Only while they remain here for the next several minutes. Once they leave, then what?"

"Leave with them obviously."

"Shut up and follow me."

I was not in the mood to argue and grabbed a sword from a crate as I followed him out. The streets, previously dead village roads, were now bustling with life as family after family and individual after individual rushed towards the village center. The buildings there would be large enough to hold everyone with ample space to run away if need be, while being close enough for the remaining guards and armed villages to fight back. Or so I was told.

In reality, the place was uncomfortably cramped. Or, that could have just been the library I followed Branne into, but with so many people, I figured the situation wasn't too different. Too tired to find a better spot anyway, I tossed my pillow down next to a window and lay down. Windows were double-edged swords as they did provide a faster method of escape, but if a gnoll were to get close enough, windows were also the fastest way in.

"If I'm about to get eaten or whatever, don't wake me up," I said in a hushed voice so only Branne and Syn would hear me.

"There's not a chance in the nine hells that I won't wake you up," he said.

I yawned and went to sleep...

And I went to sleep...

And I went to sleep.

An unfortunate fact about the world was that repeating something multiple times did not make it true. Instead, I lay there, failing to fall asleep and distracting myself with thoughts of how the following raid could unfold.

The best result would obviously be all the gnolls die and no one gets harmed, and this all happened in the next two hours, so I still had a chance to get some shuteye. This was just wishful thinking. So, I instead came up with some more realistic ways this would play out. The only problem was, I still didn't know anything about them.

"What kind of creatures are gnolls?" I asked Syn.

"Demonic."

"Woah, a little bit less information, please. I can't handle all of that at once."

She sighed. "They are hyenas which have feasted upon the flesh of several creatures, increasing their demonic anima to such an extent that they evolve in form and power."

"So, that's the vicious part."

"And like I previously stated, consumption of other creatures not only causes mutations but also increases their own overall strength. Being pack animals by nature is they often create even larger bands and then attack villages, towns, travelling parties, other monsters, and whatever else you can think of."

"So they're just stronger hyenas? I was expecting much worse."

"They walk on two legs, and average about three heads taller than you while being double your weight."

I grimaced. The room was no longer faintly lit, but instead, brightly. An unfortunate occurrence that caused a mild sting in my now open eyes.

"Awake are you now?" Branne said as he prodded at me with his cane, sitting on a wooden chair next to me.

"Never fell asleep."

"I'd be surprised if you could."

I took in a deep breath. "And how are regular people supposed to deal with this?"

"Regular people die. Most soldiers, though, are not regular people."

"Fair enough."

"With the appropriate armor, weaponry, and proper training providing them above average strength, they can contest against gnolls at an equal footing at just the physical level," Syn explained in a bored voice, sitting along the window's edge. "At the mental level, gnolls are, well, barely more intelligent than the hyenas they evolved from. Of course, there are special cases to both, but they are exceptionally rare and likely not attacking a random no name village."

"Can't wait for a dragon gnoll to attack us."

Syn stared at me, speechless. "A dragon gnoll? I think you're vastly underestimating the strength of a dragon."

"That was just the scariest mutation I could think of."

"They would also have ceased being a gnoll at that point, and long have evolved past that."

"What would they evolve into?"

"Depends."

"Oh no."

"Don't worry. I have never even such a creature besides reading about them..." Her voice trailed off as she looked around the room. "Maybe..."

"Should I even bother asking?"

"Whenever the time is right, I will tell you."

"Is this another forbidden secret technique or whatever?"

"How many of those do you think I would know?"

"Many, actually."

"You're correct, but I don't recall most of them and the ones I can parse together are useless."

"For now? Will they have use later?"

"Once you figure out how to change your bloodline to mine, I'll let you know."

"When a gnoll mutates or evolves, does it change bloodlines?"

"Its bloodline evolves. Which is a type of change. But, not the change I was talking about."

"Unfortunate."

"You say that like you have the same properties as a gnoll."

"Can I get them?"

"You, specifically? I doubt it. However, the idea of a person like you inheriting some of the gnolls properties through some ritual or unknown magic, while not something I have heard of, is not even close to the realm of impossibilities."

"No. Got it."

I continued to lie down for some time, almost falling asleep on multiple occasions. Almost.

Loud, nondescript words were being shouted outside.

I stretched my neck and back as I sat up and looked through the window.

Several seven foot tall creatures with spotted brown fur surrounded by a pack of similar looking hyenas emerged from past the darkness I could make out and quickly encroached the exposed paved dirt intersection below. The main group of soldiers and guards couldn't cover all the entrances to the village, so it was no surprise a few creatures found their way here.

Arrows flew through the sky. Some grazed the foes, with most missing entirely. Their origin, the building I guessed as the town hall. Several more volleys of arrows buzzed past, causing several more cuts and knicks, but no vital injuries.

"How embarrassing," I muttered.

"Could you—" Branne started to speak, but stopped himself as he thought about the words he was about to speak. "Eh, you probably could."

Seeing the gnolls in real life, they were not as frightening as I thought. Although, that could just have been the fact that I stood over one hundred feet away from them in a relatively safe environment. If I were one of the guards on the ground, my opinion might differ.

A few soldiers I faintly recognized from the tavern last night, along with some city guards, began to attack. A soldier from the Oxcross garrison attacked first. His sword's blade slashed across a gnoll's bare chest. Blood spurted out. However, after the initial recoil, the gnoll didn't miss a beat. It opened its crooked maw and bit down. The soldier just narrowly dodged as he stepped back. However, showing that their training was for naught, another soldier capitalized upon this opening and stuck down, creating another gash.

The now twice injured gnoll growled and swung their arms out in an arc. Thick spit and saliva drooped down from its teeth. Then it started to... laugh? The other gnolls and hyenas joined in. The laughter was almost person like, but at the same time obviously demonic. It carried a strange power to it that even I felt it. A small smile crept across my face. However, it soon vanished as a rich red aura coated their skin. With no warning, the second long stand off exploded.

Villagers equipped with woolen armor exited from their cover and surrounded the gnolls and hyenas.

Upon their appearance, the gnolls who fought those soldiers and guards shifted their attention. Some of the villagers only managed several strikes with most paralyzed by fear. Their attacks did nothing. With one swipe of its battle axe, it clove a man in half. And then another. And another. Instantly, the gnolls and hyenas gnawed and consumed the fallen men.

Such a bloody sight caused my stomach to twist and turn as I began to feel unwell. The soldiers, guards, and villagers were all affected as well, as they momentarily paused their attacks.

More villagers, guards, and soldiers exited their respective buildings and charged at the creatures. Riled up by the unfortunate sight from earlier.

The ferocious battle grew even bloodier as both sides faced serious injuries in just a few minutes. One gnoll stepped aside and let out a piercing cry before having its throat crushed. Some hyenas that feasted upon its flesh then stopped being hyenas. Their bodies twisted and turned. Morphing into gnolls themselves. And as if to make things worse, many more hyenas responded to the shriek and ran out of the darkness and into battle. Some of the newly born gnolls stopped fighting and instead rushed towards the buildings. Including the one I was in.