The balor, standing twice as tall as a man is the most dangerous non unique demon. Masters of multiple forms of magic and just as good with their weapons they lack a weakness aside from holy magic.

Their blade can cleave through bone and stone alike as if it were air, and their whip make impossible movements to ensnare those the demon chooses to play with.

Capable of flight and wreathed in profane flame there is no fleeing or facing this demon in melee. Your only hope should such a demon enter the plane is to run and hope your friends distract the demon long enough for the demon to forget about you. - Common Monsters

Raegaz

I backhand the leader of the scout teams, how can he of lost most or all of the members of ever patrol sent through here?

“I don’t care that you lose scouts. No manlings can stand against the army of Bloody Hand.

Find me a village to raid or there will be no food.”

Raegum the chief scout begins to backtalk, refusing my order. I pick up the thin long spear I took from a goblin named Puny and thrust it into him.

I grin as the spear pokes through the back. Withdrawing my spear, Raegum falls to the ground. I look over to his aide, an sniveling well of a goblin.

“Name?”

“Ga Ga Gamaz, s si sir”

Pathetic weakling, but maybe that fear of me will push him to make the goblin tribes work harder.

“You're now scout chief, find me manlings to kill and feed the men or you will make up what lacks in the rations with your own flesh.”

“Ye yes sir.”

“Dismissed”

The goblin runs from my command tent. I frown even though most of the weakling's piss stayed in his loincloth some has fallen to the floor.

I can stand goblin blood, a putrid thing but their wastes are worse.

“Get this tent clean by dusk. If I can smell goblin piss, I’ll have a new tent made from your hides.”

With that I leave the slaves and those who are otherwise my underlings to work. I need better reports on this band of manlings where the sun dragon once was.

The dragon didn’t care that we hunted if we offered it some of the shinnies.

The manlings here are weak but have strange weapons, I need to build the numbers of orc and goblin fodder if I will take the city that spans the horizon to the north; and that means I need food and females or a deathspeaker.

Kythia

I never thought that my mate would actually let me ride him through the sky.

You can see so far from the sky and the wind against your face is better than the fire carriages we used before.

If only this was a leisurely flight instead of rushing back to the rest of the pack. . .

I touch the strained muscles of the wings, they have been trembling to hold both of us in the air as a third of a day has passed.

I see the woods and clearing that I think will be where the rest of the pack is, but also another black blob of something moving south.

The scent of demonkin and their filth is in the air. Is that blob a monster?

I speak to ask my mate what that is but he does not answer. Just strained breathing, and something snaps like a bowstring and my mate's left wing stops moving as it was.

We turn in the air and I fall off of my mate. This will hurt, a fall from here will kill me if Moonlight Runner isn’t in control.

I feel my mate’s claws cut into me and turns to place himself between me and the ground.

One wing extended as we spiral rapidly to the tree tops. A crash of splintering wood and a spray of leaves swirl before my sight as the crack of bones breaking and a roar of pain echoes through my ears.

I roll out of my mate’s embrace with little more than painful scratches. I smell the blood of my mate spilt and seeping into the earth as I turn to him.

I don’t think he will ever fly again as the shattered bones splitting through the flesh and the tattered skin flaps that once was between the bones are all a mangles mess and a tree stump has ripped off one of the wings.

All I can do is cry out apologizes as he shifts back into his human form leaving a mangled wing behind.

I can barely respond after my mate pulls me down on top of him and holds me.

Aside from a twitch of desire for my mate I do not move and stop talking. A few breaths pass and my mate whispers.

“Help me up.”

I do as I am bid and clothes appear on his body after I pull him up to a standing position.

I can tell he is hurt but it is not physically. There are no cuts or broken bones in his human form.

A hand touches the mangled wing left behind and it vanishes as my mate cringes from pain.

“I’ll be okay. I am just exhausted.”

With that my mate takes a step towards where the rest of the pack should be but stumbles and in my surprise he fell to the ground.

I quickly check to see if he is hurt but find him sleeping.

I pull him up and begin to slowly walk us towards the rest of the pack: my mate pushes himself too hard. . .

After walking for a short few minutes, a giant silver wolf walks out of the corner of my vision.

I am confused for a moment, I do not smell her nor have I tensed up at her approach.

“Sister” the wolf speaks and only then do I recognize who she is.

“How are you here sister? Our body is awake how can we be talking like this?”

“I just wanted to see if I could come play. I don’t know why we are able to talk right now.”

Moonlight Runner's tail begins to wag as she looks at our mate.

“Can I have another turn with our mate tonight?”

“You’re not upset at him?”

“Why would I be?”

“That he twisted the gift of the moon into something else.”

“Our mate is our mate and alpha, he will sire strong pups with or without gaining the gift.

His wolf just became a member of the pack instead of being part of him.”

“You really don’t care?”

Sister walks up to me and her nose presses against mine. Flashes of the hunt yesterday run through my mind more thoroughly than what seeped over to me earlier.

The howl of the wolf made of moonlight echoes through these memories of my sister. One of joy at being accepted to the pack, not one made by a hurt or enslaved wolf. The wolf is willing to be as he is, happy even.

Sister steps back and licks my face. Though I physically feel nothing from that, I smile.

“Lykou is happy with the role in the pack that he has" and after a short pause continues, "so can I have tonight?”

“You had the morning before the full moon.”

“You interrupted that and that was for getting pups, I wa . . .”

“Once was for pups, after that his seed was already in us. The rounds after we’re for fun and you know it.”

Sister looks at me with the same eyes as she used to beg to go hunt deer a decade ago.

I can’t say no to her when she does that. She knows it, but it only happens when she truly wants something.

“Fine but remember the other two females need our mate's affection too.”

There is a tiny amount of disappointment in sister at the idea of having to share our mate with the others but with the wagging of her tail I know she is happy about the arrangement.

I want time with our mate too, but there is that dark blob I saw while flying. How strong is that ooze creature to be so large?

Lysan

Bryan had us all barricade ourselves as best as we can in the remaining rubble.

I sniffle holding back the tears I’ve been shedding since Adrian was kidnapped by himself four days ago.

Sister has been hiding something from me but I don’t care, I just want Adrian to come back. I don’t care about anything else as long as I can be with him.

He's so nice to sister and me, and keeps his word. I’m not worried that he’ll die or be hurt but that he won’t or doesn’t want to come back.

I look at the mark that is still on sister’s hand from the spell he did over a week ago. It’s still there so he’s alive.

There is some movement in the brush along the tree line and we all get into a readied stance for combat.

Just before sister let’s lose an arrow from the sad excuse of a bow, I notice who is coming out of the brush.

I begin to run to Kythia and Adrian before I fully understand what I am doing. I don’t care that he was gone for days, that I did not eat or bathe recently, or even that he loves Kythia more than me. He is back and so I am happy.

I bump into someone else on my rush to him, but it is only his mother. We ignore each other as we both look to see if he is alright.

He just seems to be asleep, blood-stained and dirty but physically fine.

“Where was he? How did you find him? Why did he leave? Why di. . .”

Adrian’s mother asks question after question to Kythia.

Kythia ignores the torrent of questions and speaks about another problem.

“There is a black blob larger than these buildings headed this way. A giant ooze and the scent of goblinkin is thick in the air. We need to move.”

We already knew the goblins were nearby, but a giant ooze?

There is a troubled look on Bryan’s face as he asks a question, “Was it really flat and you could kind of see the ground or trees in the middle of this ooze?”

Kythia nods.

“Where and when did you see it?”

“North and towards the rising sun, while flying back with Adrian.”

There is a slight pause before Bryan responds once more, “that was a horde then. We need to get out of here and leave.”

“Not until Adrian wakes up.” I interrupt.

Bryan clearly thinks it is a bad idea to wait as he begins to say something but sighs instead. The fire carriages need that weird liquid to move and Adrian has all of it.

I pull him with Kythia to where sister and me have been sleeping. I want to make him as comfortable as possible while we wait.

Adrian’s mother keeps bothering Kythia for answers, but I don’t think anyone will like the answers. I’m too busy cleaning Adrian as best I can with the scraps of cloth I have to pay attention.

Sister looks worried though, but I don’t need to be; Adrian can do anything. He has kept us safe and fed ever since we met him, and never asked for anything in return.

As the others are arguing over something, only I notice as Adrian begins to tremble lightly. What little fat is left on his body falls away and his eyes are moving around.

I start to check to see if anything is wrong with him again, this can’t be right but as soon as it begun it also stopped.

He rolls over and grabs onto me and pulls me into a hug. He is still asleep but his breathing slows further as he mumbles my name.

I can’t stop an embarrassed smile from forming, I like this but am embarrassed to receive affection in front of others. . .