On the ground lies the unmoving body of a creature larger than any ?elare has seen before. It has a serpentine body, around ten times the length of even the longest snake he's ever seen. Its mouth lies open, hundreds of teeth the size of his palm layering the mouth and throat of the beast.

  Indigo scales, seemingly absorbing all magic that touches them, cover the length of its body. Forcing his gaze off the thing, he looks back to the Elder and whispers, “What is this?"

  The Elder raises an eyebrow and replies, “No need to whisper. It will not wake up until it hungers, and it has just been fed. This is the Worldgorger, the Unique monster responsible for our village's… well, everything.”

  ?elare looks as if he is about to faint, and his light falters then vanishes as the Elder finishes, “But we will discuss this more once we are out of here.”

  The Elder leads the way back to the staircase. As they climb, ?elare regains his capabilities enough to question him.

  “Why is there a Unique monster next to our village? Our villagers are at risk with such a beast!”

  “?elare, you need to understand that this is not a simple matter. The Worldgorger is only a threat when it is hungry, so as long as we keep it satiated, our villagers are safe. In fact, its presence deters other monsters who are significantly more prone to causing destruction.”

  ?elare talks back, exasperated, “It's a Unique monster! It could turn at any point and kill most of the village if you aren't there to stop it. We need to take it out as it sleeps, so it can't do that. If you're not confident alone, I can leave the village and-”

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  “No. You can't leave the village. Why do you think it is forbidden? The Worldgorger will sense you leave its domain, then it will hunt you down and consume you. Furthermore, I don't believe there are many capable of bringing it down. My great grandfather was a part of the Hero’s Party who were sent here, and not even they could defeat it. They only survived because they struck a deal with it. A deal to keep it fed in exchange for being allowed to live. He founded our little village with the rest of the party solely to… attract food.”

  ?elare stops climbing the stairs as he hears the last words. The Elder notices and stops too.

  “What do you mean by ‘attract food’?”

  The Elder doesn't reply.

  “Tell me what you meant,” ?elare presses.

  After another moment of silence, the Elder's hesitant voice says, “?elare, we will talk more later. For now, you have a lot to process.”

  As he finishes his words, heavy footsteps descending the stairs sound out from where ?elare was.

  “No! I forbid you from returning there!” The Elder shouts, his voice echoing down the staircase.

  The footsteps stop for a second and the Elder lets out a sigh of relief. Light appears from somewhere down the spiral staircase, making the Elder squint. At the same time, ?elare’s footsteps pick back up, significantly faster. The Elder decides to give chase.

  ?elare runs for the huge chamber containing the Worldgorger as fast as he can, his pursuer right behind. He hears the Elder reach the bottom less than a second after he does. Dashing into the room, ?elare realises that he won't be fast enough at this rate. In a last ditch effort to see what the Elder wants to hide, he releases a huge burst of light into the room.

  Simultaneously, he feels a small prick on his neck. He only gets a single glimpse of what the chamber contains before collapsing to the floor unconscious. However, that glimpse is all he needs. Littered across the far walls, beyond the body of the Worldgorger, lies a pile of decomposing corpses. Human corpses.