1 A1. Pitch Black Fur

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The knight beneath me screamed as I dug my teeth into his neck.

His broken arms and legs uselessly flailed around as I chewed off large chunks of his face.

His warm blood filled my mouth and I looked him dead in his eyes as his life drained away.

Something hot then struck my back, prompting me to drop the silver-clad knight in my hands.

I turned around to find a small woman, dressed in fancy clothing embellished with a symbol depicting a golden sun rising behind a silver moon.

My fists loosened while I slowly approached the woman, who had her arms raised.

I looked into her glowing, golden eyes and let out a deep, smelly sigh.

"Stay back, Demon!" She yelped while her hands began glowing.

Two beams of light then shot towards me at an incredible speed before striking my fur-covered chest.

I dust off the fur the beams had managed to burn before facing the woman, who stood before me with trembling legs.

"S- stay back." She muttered while I slowly walked closer to her.

I was a few heads taller than the woman and my thick, muscular arms trembled excitedly as I walked.

The woman then turned to run, but I grabbed her right arm, breaking it in the process.

"Ah!" She screamed as I dragged her backwards. Further breaking bones and dislodging others.

I then placed the woman beneath me while her screams filled the air.

"Let me go! Please!" The woman screamed while I slowly placed my hand on her cheek.

Her eyes trembled and without cutting her, my hand slid from her face to her chest.

"Ah! Ahhh!" The woman screamed as my hand settled above her belly.

"Please…" She whispered and in that moment my eyes rolled back as my open hand rushed towards her belly, piercing the skin and digging through the flesh with my black dagger-like nails.

"Ah!" The woman screamed while I grabbed a handful of her innards.

I took deep and calm breaths while digging out her intestines.

My ears perked up as her screams went from loud and pained, to death gurgles.

I lowered my head towards her face and let out a foul sigh as her teary eyes rolled backwards.

She eventually let out her final breath, prompting me to let her go.

I stood up and took deep and even breaths.

I was surrounded by the corpses of several knights and their blood coated my hands, which were blackened with caked layers of dirt.

I then caught a glimpse of the rising sun and in that moment, the fur on my upper body slowly crawled into my skin.

In my curiosity, I walked over to a nearby pond and watched as my reflection slowly transformed.

My head went from that of a goat with large red eyes to a man with pitch-black hair and dark brown eyes.

I looked at my legs and feet to find that they were still covered in pitch black fur and remained hooved.

My skin was thick, dry and covered in countless scars.

My nails had also returned to their normal, human-like form allowing me to scratch my bloodstained face.

I scoffed at how soft my hands had become before facing a path that cut across a vast grassy plane.

A path I had been walking for several days.

I grabbed a nearby dirty black cloak and covered most of my body excluding my face. I then grabbed a large golden sword that sat idly on a patch of grass.

I slowly walked up the path as the morning sun bathed my cold body.

.

..

I walked for what seemed like hours before noticing that the sun had gotten rather high and bright.

I looked around and found a rather large and isolated tree in the distance.

I walked towards it before sitting against its trunk as the sun-scorched the countryside.

My eyes slowly fell and I quickly found myself falling asleep.

.

..

[You didn't have to kill them.]

A voice said.

I opened my tired eyes to find that the sun had slowly begun to sink into the horizon.

My gaze then fell to my shadow, only a cloud of black smoke was rising from it.

Within that smoke were two pure white lights that stared at me with a deep sadness.

I stood up and lightly stretched before grabbing a certain golden sword.

The eyes within my shadow quickly disappeared and I mindlessly returned to the path that led north.

Dragging behind me, in my hand, was the large golden sword.

.

..

My eyes widened slightly as what looked like a small town came into sight.

I could spot a few farmers tending to their lands in the distance.

I watched with narrowed eyes as the darkness of the evening engulfed their bodies.

They were like shadows in the dark.

Much like me.

Except… I was the lord of shadow-

"By the light of the moon, shut your mouth!"

"Ah!"

I looked forward and watched a man slap his wife as a knight clad in pure silver watched them with crossed arms.

The man's wife fell to the floor and placed her hand on her face.

"We cannot spare any more-"

The woman tried saying, but the man simply kicked her in the face.

"Pardon my wife's disrespect, I promise we'll have all the wheat you need in a few more weeks."

The man said, but I ignored any more of his words and simply watched past them.

I spotted five other silver knights and a priestess in the distance. I ignored them as well and I made my way towards a nearby tavern.

I entered it to find that it was dimly lit by a handful of candles and within it was a few exhausted farmers and a sole bartender.

I walked towards the bartender, who looked me over with narrowed, baggy eyes.

"What'ya want?" The bartender asked with a deep, gruff voice.

"I need directions. How much further north is Medelona?" I asked with a dry, but noticeably high pitch and soft voice.

"Huh? You want directions to the capital? Just where are you from?"

"Does where I come from really matter? Just tell me." I said as a familiar sharp pain assaulted my stomach.

I ignored it, as the bartender scoffed at me.

"It's about a week's worth of travel by horse and that's if the horse is good and healthy and fast." The bartender said.

I simply nodded before turning to leave, but before I could even take a step away, a group of drunk farmers entered the tavern.

"Heh? What's this? Eeol, do you let dark strangers into your place so easily nowadays?" One of the farmers said before walking past me along with his companions.

They then sat at a table a few meters from me.

I sighed before taking a step to leave, but just as I did-

"Haven't you heard, Eeol? The stories of a stranger travellin' north, killing everythin' in his path. Some say he's going to Mount Araena. Others say different. All anyone really knows is that whenever night comes, a night just like this one, the dark stranger transforms and becomes an emissary of death. Do you know what they call him?"

"Hey. Calm down, now. Don't take out your frustrations on some poor passer-by."

One of the other farmers said, but the angered farmer smacked the table with his palm.

"This isn't about the knights and their unreasonable demands! This is about The Goat Demon of the South."