Chapter 135: famine.

I followed Leonor to outside of the building. I had not been outside up till now, but apparently the building resembled a church. Only it was wicked and twisted.

It was stationed in a village that had been burned to the ground. I suspected that this was a requirement for the gate to open. The men that did it surely worked hard on making it work. And now I just walked away. Letting all of that work go to waste. They would probably even get killed by the next demon to walk through that gate.

Leonor and I followed a nearly invisible path through the forest that was just outside of the village. once the path had completely disappeared, we continued to walk for a couple if hours.

This entire world resembled my original one, to the point where I could almost mistake it for the same. Yet there was always something off about the atmosphere, like the world itself wanted me out. Tough my connection to this world was too strong for it to kick me out, I felt that it had never stopped trying.

As I was walking, I thought about my name. Yerald was the one that gave it to me. tough it could just have been because of my red skin and scales. It just felt a little too specific. A struggle of self? I struggled a lot with myself, especially in the beginning. And other things linked to that name were just too… matching.

I shivered. It was almost like that man had known the things I wag going through. But if that really were the case, what would happen when the final stage was completed? I just tried to shrug it off as just an insane old man that was playing around with a term that he had read somewhere and simply made a connection with the colour.

Eventually I looked up when I heard people talking in the distance. It was almost nightfall and we had been walking without taking a break even once. Leonor looked exhausted but apparently, she wanted to be at the camp before the night came.

Like I expected weapons were aimed at me as soon as I came close to the camp. It did not matter where I went, humans were everywhere the same.

"Lower your weapons. I have managed to get the aid of this demon. With him we will be able to hold out until reinforcements come. Now we can withstand the constant attacks and eventually reclaim this land."

A short man came out of the crowds. "Leonor, have you gone insane? Why were you gone for three days? No one is allowed to leave. Not even someone with your position. Especially not someone with your position. What were you thinking?"

Slightly startled, he took a few seps back. he stared at me with a mixture of fear and hatred. "Why did you bring that thing here? You can't possibly trust a demon. I don't know what deal you made, and I am sure that it will fulfil its end of it. but it will create loopholes and drag all of us with it to hell. This is just plain stupid and reckless. you are bringing all of us in danger."

Before she could say something, I interrupted their conversation.

"She offered me something that will be verry useful to me and I am more than willing to fulfil my end of the deal. Which is holding the monsters off until you get reinforcements. But there was not a single word spoken about whether or not I would kill you humans myself. Whether I do or don't, I get my reward or I am afraid that I would also need to take her soul and get what I want by force."

Her face turned slightly pale when I stated that I could just kill everyone here if I so desired. Only now she had realised that she should have chosen her words more carefully when she made the deal.

"tough I could attack you any moment I want to. I advise you to be a little nicer to me. As the monsters that are the reason why you are in this situation would probably kill you as soon as they get the chance. While I still have to make up my mind."

The people lowered their weapons and slowly started to shuffle to the side so that I could enter the camp. I walked in with Leonor next to me.

"could you please inform me better about the situation? It could possibly prevent too much damage to your camp when I know what I am going to fight."

She nodded and let me into one of the tents. This one was one of the few that were actually big enough for me to freely move in it. she grabbed a map and placed it on the table in front of us. Then she begun to explain their situation.

"A few months ago, there was a famine in the north. The cold had struck harder than ever, and their cattle and crops died. Sadly, we could not spare our own food as we too faced a similar famine, only less severe. Tough a lot of people died; some committed the sin of eating their own kin to stay alive."

"So those people turned into wendigos and after they had eaten everyone there, they moved to this place?"

"Exactly. And as you should know if you are familiar with the term wendigo, they grow when they eat people so that they are never full. That is why we should do everything to limit the casualties as much as possible and why no one is allowed outside of the camp. We can no longer win this if we have to face against hungry giants."

I grinned and let my tail slightly wag from side to side. Wendigos were perfect. One could only become a wendigo when they were aware of the fact that they were eating their own. This meant that they knew fully well what they were doing and the possible consequences. They must have had so much despair, hunger, and pain before they eventually committed the sin. There was no way that their souls were not corrupt. And the best part was that, in comparison to Skinwalkers, there did not need a demon to be involved in all of this. Meaning that all their souls would be for me alone.