Erik rode to the capital. He came into the house of Rufus hoping to find him. Alas, he was not there.

“Rufus is not here right now. He is somewhere digging ditches……” Amala said with a slightly annoyed tone.

“That is a shame. I personally would have asked for his help. I am in dire need of his help and his powers,” Erik said disappointingly.

“What is so wrong that needs his help personally?” Amala asked.

“I have a monster that needs to be slain and I believe only Rufus is able to kill it.”

Amala sat down and looked confused.

“What kind of monster needs Rufus personally to go and hunt it? Why can’t you do it for example”

“It is a raxnas. It is more than just a regular monster. Two villages have already been wiped by it and the more it devours the bigger and stronger it gets. I sent out already two hunting parties to kill it with me leading the latter, but I barely was able to survive,” Erik said with a slight terror in his eyes.

“What do you mean gets bigger?”

“It is a rare monster and could be said that it also is divine, but divine in the most horrendous way. It is a parasite by nature and usually is only the size of a thumb, but if it latches onto something bigger it will take control of the body. It will keep devouring others that are the same kind as the thing it took control of first. Unfortunately, it took control of a human this time.

“Instead of digesting the food, it grows ever more with every person it devours. It has an endless hunger and keeps on eating and growing. The largest I have ever heard of one getting became a size of a horse carriage,” Erik explained about the raxnas.

Amala smiled and slammed Erik on his shoulder.

“I will take care of this monster for you. I am the best hunter of all the grey skins. I am sure that I am able to take care of this monster for you,” Amala said and gave Erik a thumbs up.

“What are you saying? A raxnas is more powerful than your average nobleman with divinity even. We also need to kill it as fast as possible before it gets a chance to grow even more.”

“Then I will go also.”

Pema said and entered the room.

Erik looked at the two of them who were confident that they could be able to slay the monster.

“Fine, we should leave right away. The earlier we kill it the better for us. I hope it hasn’t grown anymore larger by now…….”

"Should we tell Rufus we are going?" Pema asked.

"Let's not make him worry too much. Let him take it easy for now," Amala said back.

~ ~

Amala and Pema arrived at the Craiov region a few weeks later.

Craiov was the poorest of all the regions. Many wars had been fought on its soil between many nations.

The Saxon forest covered most of the region with fort Craiov being the capital of the region. The land looked poor with not much suitable land that could be cultivated and used for farming.

“So, what made you want to come so badly,” Amala asked Pema as they were riding toward for Craiov.

Pema didn’t answer.

“You also feel like the others are getting away from us?” Amala questioned.

“Both Rufus and Edward have become incredibly strong and powerful. Now also Haley is powerful and is pulling her own weight and more. They are fighting against enemies I could never fight on even terms. I need to get more powerful,” Pema answered back.

Amala smiled back.

“Don’t be so blue brother. You will not be left behind by the others. If anyone can walk beside Rufus and Edward it would be you.”

~ ~

As they arrived at fort Craiov they saw a large chain of populace waiting in front of the gates of the humble fort.

“What is going on here?” Amala asked Erik.

“The raxnas had destroyed another village and forced many to leave their homes. Most of them are now hoping they would be able to take refuge in the fort. Most of the villagers are from the Saxon forest where life is already hard enough. They don't need this raxnas to make it any harder for them,” Erik explained.

“Are there no capable warriors to take on this monster?”

“We are weak. Craiov is at the crossroads with the nations of Brahm and Sparv and the Etna city-states. Many people don’t want to live in a region that is mainly known as the battleground,” Erik explained while looking at the refugees."

As they entered the humble fort they saw people aiding the refuged villagers. Some had no time even to take their belongings and one even had his hand ripped off.

"We will stay at the fort only for a while. The sooner we slay the beast the better," Erik explained and started to gather the few men he could muster to go along with them.

~ ~

It was not long before Erik had left the fort with a few soldiers along with Amala and Pema.

They entered the eerie forest and headed towards a village that was attacked by the raxnas just recently.

As they approached the village no sound could be heard. The farm animals were still in the pens untouched or unharmed.

The houses were not damaged or partially destroyed. It looked like all the humans had left the village while leaving all their belongings there or they had just vanished into thin air.

In one house a fireplace still had hot coals, indicating that the attack happened not long ago.

“Does a raxnas usually cower in front of humans?” Amala asked Erik.

“It depends. The more it devours the more aggressive it becomes. It had devoured at least fifty people by now so it can be extremely fearless in front of us.”

"Why didn't it attack the farm animals?" Pema asked.

"Since its original host is a human it is not interested in anything else than humans. If it connects with a deer it will eat only deers and so on."

~~

They left the village and started to track the monster. It didn’t leave many tracks, but small ones could be found on the ground.

Amala was in front tracking the monster while the rest of them followed her. The tracks led to a small hill in the middle of the forest.

The closer they got the denser the forest became. They were around an hour's run away from the village it was last seen in.

A loud noise of something falling came from a little ahead of them.

They all rushed and saw a tree that had collapsed on the ground. It looked like it had been ripped apart with huge force.

“How big can it become, again?” Amala asked with a small terrified voice.

“The largest I have seen one becoming was a size of a large bear and it had eaten around ten people.”

"So if ten people amount to a monster size of a bear....."

"That means this monster must be one hell of a behemoth."

A large hand grabbed onto a ledge and cast a large shadow on all of them. They looked up and saw a large blob of a creature looking at them with hundreds of eyes. It had many human hands coming from it and it was standing on many human legs like a centipede. It had a large gaping mouth with human-like teeth with three snake-like tongues coming from the mouth. The skin color was the same as human's skin and it even had different color hairs here and there like toupees hanging from its body.

It was the raxnas.