Before Rash could mount Light, Holkar approached him. He seemed to have grown slightly, and the white spot in the center of his forehead began to glow. Suddenly, Rash heard a deep and strange voice:

  "The last time you confuse me with those grass-lickers. I have no connection to them, do you hear?!"

  Light was already double his original size, and now stood directly over Rash.

  "I apologize! A thousand apologies! It won't happen again!" Rash apologized.

  Light snorted in warning and returned to his normal size.

  "What exactly happened here just now? How did you speak? And how did you change your size?" Rash asked.

  "He is a Volker. It’s part of his abilities—telepathy and mass shifting. No one really knows how they do it. Even my people didn't know how they were created," Kieren answered. "I would also strongly recommend you don’t talk to him. He isn't much of a 'people person'."

  Rash nodded and tried to mount Light again. This time Light allowed him. Kieren climbed up as well and whispered something to Light.

  Suddenly the world blurred—and suddenly they were back in the clearing in the forest. Only this time, there was a cabin and a stable that weren't there the last time Rash visited the place. Rash quickly dismounted Light and vomited on the ground.

  "What was that?!" he asked while wiping his mouth.

  "That is Light’s speed. You get used to it eventually."

  Rash looked around, trying to understand where the cabin and the stable appeared from.

  "Well, go into the house. You’ll see a shower there. Take a shower, and then start chopping wood for your house. I’ll be back tomorrow," Kieren said.

  "To where..." Rash started to ask, but Kieren’s look was enough to understand that he needed to be quiet now.

  "Alright. And once again—thank you very much for everything."

  Rash turned around and realized that Kieren and Light were no longer there. He entered the house, looking for the thing Kieren called a "shower," but after a brief look, he realized he had no idea what it was.

  Instead, he saw three axes leaning against the wall, and one hanging on it. He approached and tried to lift the first one—and couldn't move it even a millimeter. The same happened with the second and the third.

  Finally, after much effort, he managed to take down the axe Kieren had hung on the wall and went out to chop wood.

  Kieren and Light appeared on a small hill, on the border of the Marquisate of Warbrand in the Kingdom of Orantis. They looked down at a small city surrounded by fields and villages, above which towered a large castle.

  "Come on, Light. It’s time to remind them why they should leave us alone."

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  Light snorted in agreement. Kieren raised his hand and whispered a word.

  Suddenly the air around him blackened, and all the grass and bushes around him withered. His and Light's shadow rose up and created a monster that surrounded them both until they were swallowed inside it. The monster looked like a muscular man with horns, holding an enlarged version of Kieren’s sword. It roared and began to run toward the castle. Dozens of Noctwix ran following it.

  On their way, they passed through fields full of people—who fled in fear. The monster stopped in front of an elderly man:

  "Gather all the Earth-born and come to the city gates in exactly one hour."

  The man nodded and ran toward his village.

  The monster returned to running toward the castle, bypassed all the Noctwix, and without stopping smashed the city gates and entered inside. Behind it entered all the Noctwix. In the background, war horns and alarms were heard.

  One of the Noctwix jumped on a slave dressed in rags and tried to devour him. The monster growled at it—and it, in response, growled back but released the slave… and jumped on his owner: a nobleman dressed in fancy clothes.

  The Noctwix looked at the monster for approval—and it growled in agreement. The Noctwix decapitated the nobleman and began to eat him.

  The monster roared again, as if challenging the entire city. In response—more horn blasts. A company of knights clad in armor advanced toward them and began to fight the Noctwix. The monster roared, and all the Noctwix moved away from the knights and ran to other parts of the city.

  The monster remained alone in front of the knights—and roared again. The leader among them raised his spear and threw it with such high speed that the eye could not catch it.

  The spear pierced the monster’s body, and black blood began to flow from it.

  "Do not be afraid, my pure-hearted brothers!" shouted the knight. "Even the Dark King himself can bleed! He is but flesh and blood like us! Let us defeat the villain and protect our city!"

  But the monster's black blood stopped… and turned into shadow arms that pierced each of the knights and threw them far away. The monster roared again—and suddenly all the Noctwix returned, jumping on the knights to finish the job.

  Inside the monster, Kieren stroked Light and said to him:

  "Now let's find the Marquis—and finish the job."

  The monster began to run toward the castle. When it arrived, it leaped over the walls, hung onto the central building—and jumped inside through a giant glass window. It landed directly inside the throne room.

  On the throne sat an old knight clad in gold armor, holding a diamond-encrusted sword. Before him stood three: a lion-man, another knight clad in armor with a sword and spear, and another man wearing a robe and holding a staff.

  The man with the staff raised it, intending to cast a spell—but before he could get a word out… the monster was behind him and decapitated him. Within seconds—the remaining two were dead.

  Now the monster stood before the old knight. It split in two, and Kieren stepped out of it—holding his sword in one hand, and the body of the knight from the forest clearing in the other.

  "I believe you recognize this fellow?" Kieren asked.

  The old knight nodded—too terrified to speak.

  "Your son attacked me in my forest. And you see what happened to him."

  Kieren threw the body at the knight's feet and took the sword from him:

  "I want you to know—that even in death you will have no rest from me. I am going to destroy all your descendants, and kill them in agony. Just as I did to your son. Until no trace remains of the Valmore family."

  And with those words—Kieren plunged the sword into the knight's heart and watched him die.

  After his death—Kieren returned inside the monster and headed toward the city gates. There, as expected, the Earth-born were waiting for him.

  "All the nobles, without exception—are dead. The city is yours. I recommend you enter it quickly and take control—before reinforcements arrive."

  The elderly man, who had spoken with the monster earlier, stood at the head of them all.

  "Thank you, Elibrax. We will not forget this."

  With those words—the monster turned around and returned to the forest along with all the Noctwix. Kieren repeated the process four more times—once for each city from which one of the members of the squad that attacked him had come.

  Afterward—he returned to the forest clearing, exactly as the sun rose.