Night took its time to arrive as the hours crawled by in contemplative silence. Daegal was a little worried that his plan might be discovered by Reynard, and he would attempt to stop him from leaving. While the three of them had been given significantly more freedom ever since Daegal had succeeded in finding the abducted civilians, he wasn’t under any illusion that they weren’t being watched at all. He would have to sneak out the window in his room and hope nobody would see him in the dark.

  He was taking a gamble on this, but it would work; it had to. The light disappeared from the world as lanterns and torchers provided what paltry illumination they could for the city below. The castle was still bright, like a beacon in the night, so if he could escape beyond the walls, then he could become invisible.

  Darkness enveloped the world, and Daegal heard a series of short knocks on his door. He opened the door and saw Emil there. The man gave him a polite smile and nod of his head.

  “Good evening, Daegal. I’m just letting you know that I am on my way to take over your watch tonight. Go ahead and do whatever it is you need to feel better.”

  It was just vague enough to not draw suspicion from any nearby guards while at the same time providing him with cover. Most weren’t bold enough to wake him unless ordered by the king, and Daegal did not think he would be called until well into tomorrow morning.

  “Thank you, Emil. I really need this.”

  Emil smiled and gave a simple nod in reply before turning away. Daegal took a breath and closed the door, steeling his nerves. He moved briskly to the window, looking out and down into the courtyard. There was a small patrol wandering through, looking around casually. Daegal waited for them to pass before opening the window and leaning out. It was a struggle to get out of it without making a sound, or breaking it, but after a minute he got out far enough to dangle from the side of the building.

  It wasn’t that far to the ground, a simple hop for him, and he landed softly despite his size. He had to be quick, and he decided to take a page from the book of that being that looked like him. Making his way to the nearest wall, he leapt up, clawing his way up to the battlements. At the top, he stared down the other side of the wall and hesitated. It was quite the steep drop to the bottom, further than he had ever tried to jump before. He couldn’t simply stand there and consider his actions forever, though, as standing on the wall left him in the open. With an anxious breath, he slowly climbed over the edge, lowering himself as far as he could.

  The moment he let go it felt like his stomach jumped. His claws instinctually latched onto the wall, digging in and leaving groves down the side of its face all the way down. Worry colored his face for a moment as he picked up speed. He wasn’t even paying attention to the ground or how fast it was approaching, so when his feet touched down it caught him by surprise and his legs crumpled beneath him. He flopped onto his back, landing heavily on his tail and doing a half roll before settling on the ground.

  “Ow...” he mumbled as he rolled off his back. It didn’t feel like anything was broken, but he’d certainly bruised his tail.

  That’s going to hurt in a little while.

  He had no time to dwell on pain, present or future, as he had to get out of the city before anyone saw him. Luckily for him, the sky was cloudy tonight, minimizing the light from the moon and rendering him practically invisible. He was able to move swiftly, avoiding all guard patrols along the way as they walked with very clear torches in hand, allowing him plenty of advance warning to their position. The outer wall of the city was fast approaching, and Daegal performed a repeat of his earlier actions in the castle as he used every imperfection in the stone surface to climb. Dropping down the other side was gentler as well now that he knew what to expect, and he mitigated much of the impact this time around.

  He’d done it; he was out. Now came the task of picking up the trail of that other being. Wherever they were, they had been covered in so much blood that it would be easy to pick up a scent if he could just find where they exited the city from. He started circling the city, sniffing around as he sought after the distinct scent of human blood. It took a little over half an hour of wandering around the outside of the city until he found it. A few drops of blood, likely from his target as the trail was scattered and erratic, dripping from various parts of the body.

  Daegal felt the tension inside him increase as he stared into the night, across fields and farms whose color had been sapped by the night. He was descending fully into the unknown. There was not telling if that being was even still around. He’d come this far, though, so he wasn’t about to turn around now. Releasing some of the tension with a breath, he started running through the dark.

  While he may have grown out of his irrational fears of the dark, especially given that he was one of the biggest things in it, that didn’t make him immune from that feeling of unease that came. It was also of concern that he was no longer the single largest thing out there. Not knowing how this other being would react to him was unsettling. There was an increasing feeling as of late that Daegal knew very little.

  The carefully maintained fields used in the farms slowly faded into wild grasslands before eventually the wilderness greeted him again. The sound of leaves whispering softly in the cool breeze helped Daegal feel more at ease, just a little. After what felt like an eternity being surrounded by humans and unliving stones, the embrace of a forest felt refreshing, even if he preferred it to be warmer.

  Nothing was standing out to him as being particularly out of place. The blood drops were becoming fewer and further between, likely due to the substance drying as the other being made their retreat. Even the smell was starting to thin, and Daegal was concerned that he might lose the trail soon. That was, until the scent returned quite suddenly, and with much more intensity.

  Daegal paused when this happened, sniffing the air with concern. The only way that would happen would be if the source was getting closer. It was on the wind now, the stale scent of old blood and something foreign to his knowledge, and it was getting closer.

  He could feel something inside him reacting, like a shiver running up the spine and making his scalp prickle. It all came to a head with a short snap of a twig that nearly made Daegal jump from surprise as his head snapped in the direction of the sound. From the dark emerged a shadowy and familiar form. Their four golden eyes were the first thing to be seen as they shimmered in the dark, but there was also something new about them this time. Not only were they now superficially clean, but they were wearing various gold trinkets across their body. Rings on the fingers, armbands, and even hoops that fit the horns. It didn’t look bad at all, but just odd to Daegal’s taste as he was used to being bare save for a cloak in the winter.

  They perked up upon seeing Daegal, eyes wide with a mix of bewilderment and confusion. There appeared to be no aggression in their posture, but Daegal was still tense as they approached. A grin spread across their long snout, not so different from his own when he did it. Then, they spoke.

  “I could hardly believe it when I first saw you.” Their voice was on the lower end, not quite as deep as Daegal’s, but enough so that he could infer he was talking to another male.

  He held his arms out to the side in both a welcoming and questioning manner to Daegal. “Wrath, why didn’t you inform us that you had made it through? Why didn’t you meet at the agreed location? We thought those useless sacks of flesh failed the ritual.”

  There was so much in that brief monologue that Daegal had a hard time processing it all in the few seconds after it concluded.

  He knows me? But... what location is he talking about, and did he call me Wrath?

  “Hey,” Daegal blinked and snapped out of his own thoughts as he was addressed again. “Do you have your tongue in a vice? Say something! What have you been doing this last decade? Were you trying to subvert the humans of this country? Is that why I saw you in the castle? Oh shit, are you pissed that I got in the way? L-Look, I didn’t know you were there, just stay calm, we can work this out.”

  Too much was happening, and Daegal was overwhelmed. He needed to focus the conversation on answering some questions.

  “No, I’m not... angry. I just... can you tell me who you are?”

  Now he looked at Daegal with confusion. “Is that supposed to be a joke? You’ve been a pain in my ass for well over two centuries the way you blow your lid at the first thing that irks you. I lost a lot of deliciously covetous souls to you simply because they happened to wander through that damned bloody swamp you call a circle and ended up torn apart and devoured! Who am I? I’m Greed, asshole. Envy and I thought we were the only ones that made it through.”

  “Envy?”

  “Alright, jokes getting old, Wrath.”

  “I’m... I’m not joking.”

  Greed fixed Daegal with a skeptical stare, taking a few steps closer and looking directly into his eyes. Daegal had never dealt with someone of similar height and mass to himself. He found the experience to be a little intimidating and leaned back a bit to create some space. That reaction made Greed’s eyes widen, telling more than words could in the moment.

  “By the cursed gates, you’re telling the truth.” Greed stepped back, resting the tip of his snout on his knuckles in a thinking manner. “How much do you remember exactly?”

  “I don’t remember anything from before I woke up.”

  “Nothing?!”

  “N-Nothing,” Daegal confirmed.

  “Not even the mission?”

  “No. Uhm... is that mission why you killed all those people in the prison?”

  “That was just to deny information, and a little personal pleasure as well. Hearts corrupted by avarice have an exquisite taste to them.” Greed licked his lips as he recalled the taste of Ricard’s heart.

  Daegal felt revulsion bubbling up inside his gut at the idea of eating a human’s heart. This was far from what he imagined whenever he thought about his origins or who his people were. Greed was proving himself to be a rather insidious individual, and this whole ‘plan’ that he was talking about didn’t seem to be one designed to bring peace. Conflicting emotion collided inside of him, but Daegal kept pushing, hoping that there was something good that could be found in this increasingly horrible series of revelations.

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  “What is the mission?”

  Greed looked at Daegal like he was stupid. “The destruction of God’s creations, of course. These pathetic little toys that he loves so much more than any of us will be scattered and broken before his very eyes, and the best part is that they will do it to themselves. All we need to do is give them a push in the right direction, draw forth their desires, and they will unravel.”

  Daegal felt like his heart dropped into his stomach. “W-Why? Isn’t there some way that we can work with the humans to make something good for us all?”

  The look he received from that question was scathing. “What the fuck did you just say? Work with them? You, who would rend them all into bloody stains for the insult of breathing the same air. They hate us just as much as that do-nothing God of theirs, and you pathetically suggest we do what, exactly? Bow to them? Kiss their feet? Beg them to let us be a part of their idiotic society when we have the strength to simply take what we want!? Who the fuck even are you anymore? You shame our names, the only ones given in all the nine circles.”

  “I... I don’t...”

  A growl from Greed interrupted any attempt Daegal might have made to make sense of, or refute, any of that. He sneered at Daegal, venomous and judging all at once.

  “Pathetic, useless, worse than useless! You are an active detriment to the plan as you are!” He looked at Daegal with contempt, but then his expression shifted slightly. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his maw. “Perhaps removing a detriment would be the most appropriate action. A little spin on the tale and I could convince Envy you went on a rampage, and I managed to beat you. That should affix my rightful position as the leader by virtue of strength.”

  Daegal felt his heartrate start to rise, especially when Greed started walking toward him in a hostile manner. He took a few steps back from Greed, trying to keep his distance and prevent what was being threatened from happening.

  “W-Wait! I didn’t come here to fight you. I only wanted-”

  “Then just stand there and die!”

  Greed then shot forward in a burst of speed, clawed hand shooting straight for Daegal’s face. Panic surged through Daegal as he twisted his body to avoid the claws that nearly took out one of his eyes. The assault didn’t stop, and even though he started backstepping, Greed kept pressuring him with claws, kicks, and even an attempt to bite him.

  Daegal had no idea how it came to this, and he didn’t have time to think as every blow that he was forced to block led to small injuries. Greed’s claws were like his, and they were strong enough to get through his scales. His arms were covered in small cuts, blood slowly dripping as he desperately fended off the rapid attacks. This couldn’t last, and Daegal began to realize that he would have to fight back if he was going to make it out of this.

  With his vision now narrow and focused, Daegal caught a blow with his left forearm and delivered a quick right hook to Greed’s snout. His head was pushed to the side with the blow, but to Daegal’s dismay, he turned back, largely unphased, and smiled with amusement.

  Daegal barely saw the lightning-fast punch that slipped his guard and collided squarely with his abdomen. It felt like the blow echoed inside him, bouncing off his bones and jostling his organs around. All the air in his body was forced out of him as he nearly doubled over from the pain, gasping for air that his paralyzed lungs couldn’t take in. Greed followed up, not letting him recover as a second fist came shooting toward his face. The impact rattled his brain and sent him sprawling to the ground, rolling to create a little distance.

  Greed did not pursue Daegal and instead began stalking around him as he propped himself up on his hands and knees, finally pulling a little air into his body with deep gasps. With a satisfied and amused smirk, Greed hurled some taunts at Daegal.

  “When did you become so weak? You were once one of the strongest of us, and now you’re lying in the dirt like a worm. Did the humans really corrupt you so much that you lowered yourself to their level?” He let out a boisterous laugh at the sky. “Oh, this is golden! I always hated how you threw your weight around like a mindless brute, and now I get to give you a taste of what you once dealt out!”

  He stepped forward and cocked back his leg for a brutal kick. Daegal threw up his arms in the path of the blow, and he managed to intercept it, but it didn’t make it any less painful. Daegal was sent rolling, lifted a few inches off the ground as he stopped himself in a crouched position. His arms were trembling and aching on top of bleeding now. Just about everything in his body hurt, and he could taste blood in his mouth.

  Daegal staggered to his feet only to face another charge by Greed. They collided together and went rolling to the ground, clawing and hitting each other in the dirt. During the scuffle, Greed managed to slip a hand past Daegal’s guard and grip around his throat. The pressure was crushing and made him gag as he grabbed Greed's wrist to try and pry it off, his other hand busy trying to stop a mauling.

  Greed smiled with twisted satisfaction at having Daegal in such a position. “You know, I’m not sure which I’ll enjoy more: crushing the life out of you, or tearing down those pathetic cities these humans like to hide in. That look on their faces when they have that sense of security striped from them is always so entertaining, and it’s made so much sweeter when all one need do is pay another human to do it for you. Avarice is so easy to manipulate.”

  Daegal couldn’t breathe, and that was causing panic to build within him even more. If he didn’t escape soon, then Greed would kill him! A brief thought was spared in that moment, evaluating Greed. He lived purely for himself and acted without restraint. It was the opposite of Daegal who kept himself reserved, quiet... restrained. Every action he took was measured, always holding back, never using more strength than he needed to complete a task, lest he accidentally broke something, or someone, he didn’t intend to.

  Years of this behavior had become habit, standard, but now faced with potential death and the vague threats toward humans, toward those he had grown to care about, it was behavior he could no longer afford. A part of Daegal that he thought was buried ten years ago started to break through the surface, causing his body to tighten like a tightly coiled spring. Pupils dilating to slits, Daegal could feel bubbling fury starting to form in response to this unrepentant monster who treated life like it was a trivial commodity that could be spent on his entertainment. The very idea that he might get anywhere near Fiora was the last straw, and Daegal snapped.

  Abandoning his grip on Greed’s wrist, Daegal lashed out with his claws, and drove one directly into his attacker’s eye. Greed howled with pain as his eye was gouged out, the pain causing him to loosen his grip around Daegal’s throat. Before he could recover, Daegal shifted his hand back down and grabbed his thumb. With a sharp jerk to the side, he broke the appendage, ensuring he would never get a grip on anything else again. Both pains combined in that single instance, leading to an angry and desperate retaliation as Greed took another swipe at Daegal.

  It was a sloppy attack, and easily blocked as Daegal intercepted it while managing to get his foot beneath Greed. With a push, he shoved his attacker off of him, creating space between them. Daegal was back on his feet in a flash, and Greed was assessing his injuries. His vision was halved on one side with blood dripping down his face and his thumb was sticking out at an odd angle, bone poking slightly out from beneath the skin. A deep growl rumbled in Greed’s throat.

  “I’ll fucking end you!”

  Daegal did not have the mental faculties to retort in any logical way, so the best he could do was inhale and let out a roar that shook the trees around them. Letting go of his restraint, Daegal was the one to charge this time, running right at Greed. The sudden shift in aggression from the previously hesitant behavior seemed to catch him off guard. Daegal threw a wild punch, putting everything he had into it as he aimed for the side with the injured eye. The blow connected with the ribs, and Greed gasped as the power behind it was more familiar to his memory.

  That blow had hurt him, possibly even cracked a few ribs, and things only devolved from there. The fight became less organized as the two large and powerful beings locked horns, almost literally in a few moments. Claws, teeth, and blood flashed in the moonlight as they ripped at each other's bodies, snarling and growling like feral animals all the while. Fractured and broken bones were shared between them, yet Daegal’s ferocity in his desire to protect his friends was slowly wearing Greed down faster than the reverse.

  In a decisive move, Daegal managed to grab one of Greed’s horns, and using it as leverage, pulled him off balance while driving a knee up into his sternum. Daegal could feel several bones crunch against his knee, previously weakened from the fighting and now completely broken. Greed coughed out blood and found it impossible to take a full breath without pain lancing through his body.

  That was just the start as Daegal refused to relinquish his hold on Greed’s horn and now drove his opponent snout first into a nearby tree. Greed was seeing stars and tried to grip to tree for support, but it was ripped away from him when Daegal yanked him back and threw him onto the ground. He writhed a bit, trying to push himself back up to his feet, but before he could get more than a few inches of the ground, he found Daegal’s arm wrapped around his neck. Daegal had hooked him in a full choke, arm locked and steadily squeezing harder. Greed started to panic, and he realized he had all but lost the fight, so he did the only this he could.

  “Wait!” Greed gagged out. Daegal stopped putting more pressure on his throat but didn’t release it. “I-I submit. What do you want? I can g-get you anything! Money, food, slaves, your own castle. I have s-so many humans under my control; you’d never want for anything! Come on Wrath, just n-name it!”

  Daegal’s blood was rushing through his body, adrenaline surging through his mind in enough volume to make it difficult to even think. What little that was there recognized the shallow ploy for his life, and Daegal realized that letting him go would likely be a costly mistake. Face steeling itself in a glare, he growled out his reply.

  “My name, is Daegal.”

  With that, he resumed crushing his throat. Greed clawed as his arm, the ground, anything he could get his hands on to try and escape. None of it worked, and a deep growl rumbled in Daegal’s throat as his muscles bulged from exertion. After what felt like an eternity of struggle, Daegal felt a snap in the throat, and Greed slowly slumped in his grasp. He took no chances, and kept up the pressure for a moment longer, giving a few more sharp tugs on Greed’s throat. After there was no doubt about the outcome, he released his grip, and the limp body fell to the forest floor with a soft thud.

  Daegal stood panting over Greed’s body, looking into the lifeless eyes as the dull sensation of pain started to slowly build within him. Now that the fight was over, his body began to purge the adrenaline, and he could feel every cut, every fractured bone, and he staggered a little as he leaned on a tree, groaning with pain. After a moment to catch his breath, a different sensation began to take hold, and his eyes started to moisten with tears.

  He wasn't crying for Greed; he was a reprehensible beast that didn’t deserve sympathy. No, he was crying at the cruelty of fate. Years of wondering who he was, and the answer was right in front of him the whole time. The humans had it right from the start.

  I’m a monster...

  That was his origin, to be a nightmare in the dark, to predate upon humans, torment, maim, kill. He cursed his existence, wondering why he was even here. He was made to hurt people, and that idea crushed him.

  On the verge of drowning in his own despair, a small light in his conscience remained, pulling him back. Adelaide, Fiora, Eira, Emil. There were only a handful of people in this whole world that thought of him as anything other than some creature that was loosely contained. Was that enough to justify his existence? He wanted to believe so. Perhaps he could defy what fate intended for him, with the help of a few friends.

  With a whimper of pain, he commanded his body to move and begin the long walk back to the city. Every step was agony, his body crying out for rest. He could not afford to give in to that feeling as he had to get there before morning. Through the forest, across long fields and farmlands, he hobbled along, wounds slowly dripping blood all the way.

  When the city came into sight, it was a relief, but also a daunting challenge. His body was starting to fail him, and he had to climb the wall still. Digging his claws into the gaps between stones, he growled with exertion as he pulled himself steadily up the wall. His muscles burned for every inch gained, and once he summited the wall, the drop down was no easier. He did not have the strength to slow or cushion his descent, and his legs gave out from under him as he landed, leading to a forceful impact with the ground. The pain shot through his ragged body, paralyzing him for a minute as he fought back the urge to cry out.

  It took great effort to stand again after that, and he made his way through the dark alleys, pushing toward the castle. The city was fast asleep, thankfully, so his journey was not interrupted. He could not find the will to climb another wall, so despite the trouble that would undoubtedly come from it, he made for the front entrance. At least the castle guards were all aware of him already.

  Despite the knowledge of him, the two guards who were guarding the gate were spooked by the large figure that emerged from the darkness. It was only after a moment of fear and brandishing their weapons that they recognized Daegal beneath all the blood and dirt clinging to his body.

  “Wait, isn’t that...”

  Whatever they might have said after that didn’t register with Daegal. His vision was starting to darken. A persistent hum was getting louder in his ear. His head felt light as he wobbled and then tilted. The last thing he saw was the ground rapidly approaching before everything was consumed in darkness.