******Author's Note - This chapter is a bit dark, and can be disturbing for some, please read with discretion******

Three years ago.

Darius woke up and looked around his mud hut. Anisa and his mother were still sleeping beside him. Ruthan was also sound asleep in the corner.

He looked at the door which was closed from the inside, barricaded to ensure no one can break it down easily, not that it will matter if the Olorigun decides to give them a visit.

His father was dead, killed by the Olorigun, he tried his best to not think about it.

His father was targeted as he was one of the leaders who went in for the talk to end the violence. The violence started with the death of King Vespula. The law and order started to crumble after his demise, the Eidech and Inseks who had clear rules on fighting each other started to break them, in the beginning, they were small skirmishes but soon situation got worse when the Meomaris and Olorigun started to get involved, whole cities started getting destroyed.

These fights would often happen outside the strongholds of tribes in the villages where the Saugetiers inhabited.

His mother didn't want his father to represent the village and go for the talks, she was afraid that this would happen, but father was hopeful that they will listen and recognise the importance of Saugetiers, and hear their plea.

His uncle Ruthan had also gone along with him for the talks. He was his father's younger brother and was always around his father. He worked in the Sinop mines like his father. Darius liked Ruthan because his father liked him.

But things changed after their return from the talks.

He remembered how his father addressed the village after returning, telling them that things are well, and soon the other two tribes will cease hostility. He also asked them, for now, to leave the village and move into the forest near the no race zone until things settled down. There were those who trusted his judgment and were ready to move while there were others who wanted to stay.

Ruthan strangely chose the latter and started leading the group who wanted to stay. His father kept pleading with them to leave and return once things settled down.

Darius knew something was wrong and that his father was worried about something, for the first time in his life he saw him get worried. Even with all the hardships they endured being part of the saugetier tribe, he never saw his father so tensed and troubled.

Slowly a divide started forming between those who wanted to stay and those who wanted to leave.

One day he overheard his father and mother talk.

"We should leave Darek, you know we don't have much time, they will come for you. He won't keep his word for long, if he comes we can't do anything."

"It's not that simple Arina if we leave, Ruthan and others are going to die, I need to make them understand, I cannot abandon them, I am sure they will understand, it won't be long before I convince them."

"You know I have always trusted your judgment Darek, but this time I feel something bad is going to happen, I am afraid Darek, afraid for Anisa, Darius and you, we must leave."

"I understand Arina, my love, I give you my word we will leave soon." With that, he got up to leave. Darius followed him.

"Father is something bad about to happen?"

"No son nothing bad is about to happen, remember what I told you, Saugetiers are not weak, we will survive, the Eidechs and Inseks will recognise us, you need to trust me ok? I know what is best for you, be strong and take care of Anisa, remember you are her elder brother you have to help her grow, you have to help her make the right decisions, ok?"

Darius silently nodded.

Looking back and thinking of that moment, Darius wished he had said something more. His father should have left with the beastmen who wanted to leave, but he wanted to save all of them, why didn't he leave?

Two days later Ruthan and a group of beastmen attacked an outpost of the Inseks family that governed their village, they managed to kill a single Inseki tribesman, at the cost of many of their own. They returned to the village all bloodied up, father hid Ruthan in their home.

With the attack, things took a turn for the worse. It was now decided that the whole village will move into hiding in the forest as was decided, they knew the Inseki will target their village soon. Preparations were made for them to leave the same day.

When they were just about to leave, the village started to cover itself in mist. Darius knew it was not natural. Seeing the mist his father and mother turned pale, he had never seen his father with that expression.

He told them to get inside the hut and not come out no matter what happens. His mother pleaded with him to not leave.

"No, Arina, I must go and meet him, there is no other way."

"Then let me come Darek, seeing me, I know he will listen to me, please Darek let me come."

"No my love, I must do it alone, you know one of us needs to stay, we both know it has to be you, I will come back I promise."

"Don't keep promises you won't keep Darek. How did it end like this, Darek, we were supposed to leave."

She turned towards Ruthian "It's all because of you, you caused this, you should go instead of Darek."

Ruthan sat there blank-faced.

"Stop it Arina, at least with me we still have a chance to save our family, I will convince him and come back."

His mother without responding went near Anisa and held her tight.

His father turned to leave, stopping right at the door, but instead of turning back or saying anything, he walked right into the mist.

Darius was confused "Where is he going?" "Why is he going?", he looked at his mother who sat there with a blank expression, Anisa kept looking at her mother, Ruthan didn't say a word.

Darius turned and ran behind his father, his mother came after him shouting at him to come back, but the mist was too thick for her to follow him. He was barely able to see anything and kept running towards where he thought his father had gone.

After a while he reached a clearing where the mist was thinner, there were a few Inseki tribesmen right in the middle of it, they wore the "Brumbar" tribe symbol which belonged to the governing family of the village.

He saw someone different in the center of the beastmen. The moment his eyes fell on him, his beast instincts were screaming out at him to run. Darius knew he was not something you gaze upon and survive.

Like all the Brumbar tribe beastmen he had two sharp horns and a very bulky body, with very lean hands and legs, his eyes were thin and wide from each other, but what made him different was the single long horn double the size of the other two right in the center between his eyes.

He knew he was looking at the Olorigun of the mist - Marraaku, one among the "Balance of Five". What is such a calamity doing in their village?

The Olorigun took all the attention Darius could give. His presence was so daunting that it took him some time to notice his father on his knees in front of the Olorigun. Instead of running towards his father, Darius hid out of instincts.

The Olorigun spoke "You had the chance to run, why didn't you choose it Darek? what was the point to stay, despite knowing they won't listen, why did you choose to stay? I gave you time as per my word to Arina."

His father spoke without looking up "Please spare my hut and those inside it."

After a while, the Olorigun spoke, "You and your wife have been obedient Saugetiers, you submitted to the power, you understood your weak blood and knew your place, for that I will hear your last wish, Darek of the Saugetier"

Maaraaku's eyes turned blood red.

"Thank you", those were the last words he heard his father speak before he was surrounded by a thick mist. The mist turned red and once it cleared what remained was a dry husk that belonged to a beastman previously known as Darek.

Darius hid without moving an inch, he was unable to process what just happened, he didn't know how to react, there were no tears, no scream, he kept looking at what remained of his father.

The Olorigun looked in Darius' direction and spoke "I shall heed Darek's last wish, run to your hut, and stay inside."

His voice shook him back to reality and without a thought, Darius ran, ran as fast he could, as hard as he could, his path to the hut was clear of the mist, he opened the door and barricaded it with whatever he could find inside his house.

His mother looked at him and knew, she started crying.

"You are a leach who has robbed us of our Darek, you hear me you are a leach." She kept shouting at Ruthan with teary eyes.

Hearing this Anisa started crying as well "Where is Father? Where is father, mother?" she kept repeating it.

Ruthan kept a distant look and didn't say anything.

Darius sat there, trying his best to not think about what just happened. He kept looking at the door, expecting it to be flung open any moment, he kept staring at the door and telling himself to not think about what happened. After a while he let sleep take over him.

------

Darius got up and removed the barricades from the door and stepped out, it was late in the day, there was no mist around. There was an eerie silence around him, a vast silence.

He went around the village in search of other beastmen, but it was not a beastman village anymore it now belonged to beastmen resembling his dead father.

Out of the thousand who breathed the previous day only four remained.

------

They couldn't stay in the village anymore. Darius had to close Anisa's eyes while walking through the village, they didn't go searching for his father's dead body.

They fled in the direction of the no race zone, on the way they came across other beastmen of different villages who were fleeing just like them.

His mother rarely spoke or ate, Anisa stopped acting like a child. Ruthan slowly started to keep his distance from them and started to mingle with other beastmen.

As for Darius, he only wanted to take care of Anisa and his mother, nothing else mattered for him, he didn't want to remember his life in the village anymore as all he could recollect was his father's last moments, it took a lot of effort to not think.

None of them were the same since they left the village, at times he would imagine that they were like the beastmen of the village, only empty husks of their former self.

------

Their journey was not easy, many couldn't survive the journey, his mother's health started deteriorating day by day. Due to this, they couldn't move as fast as others, Ruthan had left them entirely and was rarely seen.

Their journey took them almost a year and ended when they reached the forest after the no race zone, even though it was part of the Farlan kingdom there were rarely any patrols.

With all the number of beastmen flocking into the place it soon turned into a village that constantly kept growing, but it was not a typical village, it had no rules to bind it, the strongest and meanest started to form their own rules.

Those who survived the journey either started exploiting the weak or became exploited by the strong. Darius noticed how the farther they came from the beastdom the more they started shedding their previous identities.

Ruthan flourished in the newfound identity. He formed a gang along with other beastmen, mostly young beastmen who kept an appetite for trouble. He started treating Darius and his family the same way he would others.

Surviving in the village was not easy, there was no regular work, some went into the forest to survive. Soon the village became a hotspot for those who wanted muscles for hire, the beastmen of the village started to take all types of odd jobs. Darius soon found himself in the midst of this, he joined Ruthan's gang as he needed the money to buy medicine for his mother who was now mostly bedridden.

In his absence, Anisa took care of his mother, but he feared for their safety, as long he was part of the gang, his safety was ensured.

After a few months of arriving in the village, his mother passed away from illness, her last words to him were to keep Anisa safe and away from the village and other beastmen.

That's when he decided to move into the forest away from the village, he still continued to work for Ruthan to ensure the safety net remained.

-------

Chris watched Darius finish his story, he couldn't come up with anything to say. He wanted to say some consoling words, but he knew they didn't need that.

One thing he knew for sure was that this world's definition of weak and strong was completely wrong, if one cannot call Darius and Anisa strong, then Chris didn't know what strong is anymore.

After a long moment of silence. There was something bothering about the story so he asked Darius.

"I was attacked by a mob of beastmen before you guys found me, are they from the same village? Did you know about it when you found me, Darius?"

"Yes, they were from the village, someone had paid them to attack you, I was not part of the attack Philip, I didn't know anything about it, I got to know about it after I visited the village the next day after I found you."

Chris wanted to ask him who paid them, instead, he asked something unexpected.

"So what is this new assignment?"

"I am not sure about it Philip, but if Ruthan has come here asking me to come, then it can be only one where he will need me."

Darius looked at Anisa and then continued.

"We plan to strike a consignment of Sinop crystals being transferred from the beastdom to the Farlan kingdom."

Chris had already made up his mind even before Darius completed the sentence.

"I am going to join you on that assignment."