Friend Or Foe

The wind was howling wild and full of death as a raven was flying high above the castle in the valley. It had a scar going across one of its eyes, and you could see how age had taken its toll on it. Yet it still flapped its wings every night to watch over its kingdom. A crimson bear was sleeping by a rock in a clearing in the woods, and you could 3 wolves and some lifeless bodies lying around it as a trophy and warning signal to anyone who dared wake it in its sleep.

The raven could see a settling fire in the gorgeous Eichenwalde. Dead humanoid figures were being thrown off the bridge as a man with an iron leg commanded the strong yet exhausted warriors.

The doors to the major part of the castle were pushed open as a stumbling and injured man came falling out of them. People rushed to his side trying to provide aid, but the old man with an iron leg hurried over, yelling and pushing people aside.

The raven took a sharp turn and followed a unique scent it had picked up in the nearby forest. After a long stride, it unfolded its shadowy wings and caught its momentum as it practically stood still. It observed a pitiful boy leaning over a dead man. The pale and slender boy was sobbing and shaking as he cried over the deceased corpse.

Its interest grew as the old raven flew closer and landed on top of a rock. The sight shocked it; the boy was not in despair or crying, but dug his teeth deep into the flesh of the dead. He had blue tired eyes and wild hair. The raven looked up again and flew home despite its ever-growing interest in the forsaken boy.

--> Zedrel's POV <--

My heart beat worryingly fast, and I could feel the enormous starvation fade as I kept putting my teeth in the raw demon meat again and again. I couldn't taste anything, but I knew I was getting my strength back. I heard some flapping wings descend from the skies above, yet I was reluctant to shift my attention from the beautiful reddish flesh. Minutes passed and a sudden shriek came from a raven as it observed me while sitting high and mighty on a rock. People knew ravens throughout the world as the sun's scouts because they would keep track of what happened at night.

I felt flustered over having been interrupted in my first actual meal in ages, yet the uncaring, stupid raven kept sitting and looking as if I were a monster. However, it soon took off towards the heavens and leaving me alone to my own again. For a moment I felt accompanied, yet the bird also left me. Without looking, I grabbed a sharp rock and twisted my body, creating momentum for my swinging arm as I launched the stone high in the air and deep into the right wing of the raven. In an echo, a loud shriek of pain resounded in the deep forest, as if mockingly repeating the cry for help back from within its endless labyrinth. The raven fell heavily and writhed itself in agony as it tried to run away from the incoming danger. With an icy heart, I trudged over to the struggling bird, grabbed it around the back, and with a squeeze I popped the small bones in the now lifeless raven's neck. I felt nothing, after all this was kill or be killed, and I would definitely fight till the last. The bird tasted delightful, and it almost filled me with tears as I kept eating and eating till there were no more.

I was full for the first time I could remember; it was a pleasant feeling, even though my stomach ached when trying to digest the special demon flesh. But just then, a shock bolted through me and a sharp pain followed my insane attempt to satisfy my starvation with demon meat. I fell to my knees in agony and held myself around my stomach, millions of sweat drops were dancing on my skin, and I squirmed around in suffering.

I tried multiple times to assault my dribble as a desperate effort to evacuate the toxic meat inside me, but all that came out was the poor amount of water I had had throughout the day.

As minutes went by, the pain and torture wouldn't leave me alone, and it felt like the demon meat were tearing my inner apart, but my body kept repairing itself again as if it were sewing my muscles together with the fibers of the demon's flesh. It was horrible, and I could feel it corrupting me, yet healing repeatedly.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the pain subsided, and I could breathe normally again. But the energy I had spent was way more than I could afford to lose, so I simply dropped flat on the ground and fell into a long sleep which you could say was more than needed.

--> A Hut In A Forest <--

Birds were singing throughout their kingdom of tree crowns as to celebrate the dawn of a new day. You could hear a small stream of water run in the nearby vast landscape, along with some deer satisfying their thirst. Everything was balanced in nature. The prey knew they had to stay on their toes not to get caught by the fierce predators that roamed about in the shadows.

But in the beginning of each daylight, everyone had a few precious moments of harmony, where they could just enjoy still being alive with each other, prey and predator alike. But amid the peaceful forest walked a middle-aged man around collecting branches and sorts in his arms.

'I wonder what happened last night, there were a powerful amount of energy being released upon the world'. He thought while making his way home. And sure enough, within the next 5 minutes he was standing in front of a shabby cabin that looked more or less like it would fall together if someone were to step inside. Yet the confident man did just that as he pulled down the handle and stepped inside the poor made hut.

A loud crash was heard, and animals were sprinting away in shock, but truthully they were more afraid of the following.

The middle-aged man stood amidst the now crashed building and looked as if he would destroy anything nearing him in seconds. But he let out a wild yell that made all the birds evacuate the surrounding trees. "NOT AGAIN!" and began his wild rage tearing and ripping apart the crashed wood.

After a few heated moments, he had calmed down and now valued his limited options for a proper house. He had two possibilities as it stood now.

He could scout for a cave and maybe find a proper resting place.

Or he could try to build another hut for the 50th time.

As he calculated the chance of crashing yet another poor self build shelter, he got distracted by a sudden wild yell in the distance, and shot off to find the origin of the sound.

From tree to tree he jumped with scary accuracy and momentum, and came closer to the fierce sounds of battle at an unreal pace.

However, when he finally made it, he was flabbergasted at what he bore witness to. A one armed dumba** ran around in circles chasing after a rabbit, however, he kept losing balance or stopping for a quick breather. I got closer and set off of the branch which I was currently watching from; I landed with perfect silence and ambled towards the heavy panting young man.

Now there was but half a meter between us and I stared at his back, observing him as he looked at the ground in exhaustion. But at that moment he swung a vicious fist around in a half circle, aiming to knock me out, but all he hit was my open palm as I grabbed his fist with minimum effort.

"You knew I was here?" I asked, genuinely curious. After all, I had hidden my presence and released no sound as I creeped up on him.

"I just sensed you sitting in the trees watching me, and what does that matter now anyway?" He replied expecting me to kill him. But that was when it hit me. The sweet scent of demon flesh that exited through his mouth. My eyes went wide open and with a lightning fast jab, I knocked him unconscious. 'Could it be? Could he really be a Demon Jaeger?' these thoughts and many others made my mind go crazy as I took him upon my shoulders and dashed through the vast forest while I searched for anywhere I could settle down.

--> Eichenwalde <--

I sat down at the edge of the enormous bed that smelled of Amon. My master had died in the previous battle, but I was determined to go through with his plan, 'at all costs' I thought.

I had been appointed as the new leader by the court in the castle, but the battle had taken its toll on my body as well. I felt more and more cramps appear throughout the day, and sometimes my sudden loss of balance had me stumbling towards a nearby wall for help. In the main square we had killed every single one of those weak-minded fools, but the man called Baldur had left a mark of his blade in my weak old knee.

I recalled Amon's last words that stung like a wasp in me. 'Alaric is not... dead' I heard him say again and again as reminding me of my loss. But I just couldn't let his death go. Every time I saw something that reminded me of him, I would cramp in sorrow.

Back when I was a lonely demon lost in the streets of men and hunted by the Jaegers, he was the one who protected me, the one who invited me inside his home. Therefore, I had always been in his favor. I walked down the stairs in the gigantic castle as I paid close attention to the portraits of each of the former kings who had lived in Eichenwalde. 'Soon master, soon I will join you' I refused to let the pressing tear escape my eye and just blinked it away as was it nothing.

I walked out the large doors of the castle, and a loyal servant soon enough joined my side and reported. "Lord. Gibbs, we now have an accurate number of fallen men on our side." He held a slight pause, expecting me to give him some kind of reply or praise for his work. But as I kept silent, daringly waiting for him to fulfill the report, he gulped and continued with a small awkward cough.

"The number is 157 soldiers, sir!" I nodded and waved him off as I looked around at the buildings. Everything was burned down and crashed together because of the fire. I don't have a number on how much this would cost us to rebuild, but I could imagine a lot of innocent civilians sleeping without a roof over their head tonight.

All this was too much for me to take in at the moment, and I began my slow walk back towards Eichenwalde. I had a lot on my mind but most of all, this hatred towards Alaric were eating me up inside, and for every step I hated myself more and more for not being at my masters side when he was struggling, as he had been at mine when I were in a tough spot. 'It should have been me!' My mind kept screaming at me, it was torture and I held my hands around my ears to soothe the sound but it kept getting louder and louder. And at last I let out a yell as I shut all my inner demons out of my brain and I only had one focus, Alaric.