8 Chapter 8

The humans' reaction to my intimidating appearance amused me greatly.

Falling to their knees, their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads; the pungent scent of urine told me that several among them had even pissed their pants in fright.

Interestingly it was the youngest human who was able to hang on to a strand of his sanity.

"O' great beast. What do you seek?"

I looked the human up and down. He was dressed similarly to the soldiers splayed out across the floor, but he had a refined and intelligent demeanour that gradually recovered as rationality overcame his fear.

The seemingly senile old man muttering some sort of prayer was presumably the guardian of this noteworthy youth.

It faintly occured to me that had I been born a human rather than a beast, I might have lead a life similar to the young man.

Over the last few days I had been busily practicing the language spoken by the humans of this region. I was proud to see my efforts allow me to understand the young man's words.

I opened my mouth. The sight of my huge maw filled with sharp teeth caused the young man's knees to tremble once more.

"This place. Where am I?" I spoke slowly, concentrating hard to pronounce the words as clear as I could.

Tremors ran through the ground due to the chasm like deep pitch of my voice. Air currents were stirred up by my fierce breath.

The words I spoke sounded like the roaring of an enraged wild beast, but they bore enough resemblance to human tongue that the young man understood me.

Eyes wide with shock at my speaking of the human tongue, the youth stammered out, "You are on the continent. The nearest kingdom is that of Cintra, ruled by Queen Calanthe. Your home is referred to by my kind as the frozen mountains...does this satisfy you?"

Listening to the human talk, I found myself somehow recognising the places he spoke of. Realisation dawned suddenly.

For a moment I lost control over my emotions and the air thundered under the force of my roar.

I quickly calmed myself.

"Nilfgaard. Have they taken Cintra?" I questioned.

Confusion flashed in the man's eyes. The fear in his heart was notably diminishing over time as he observed my obvious displays of intelligence.

I wondered how long it would take for him to beginning viewing me with desire in his eyes.

"Nilfgaard, of course not! Those bloodthirsty fools wouldn't dare approach our borders."

Those words confirmed my theory.

'This world I inhabit truly isn't ordinary.'

In my heart a trace of disgust began to burn. The human's of this world were more monstrous than any creature trapped here by the conjunction of the spheres.

Long ago the elves, the original inhabitants of this world, had shown kindness to the weak and scared humans, teaching them how to harness chaos into magic.

Soon the humans grew jealous of the beautiful elves and greed began to corrupt their hearts.

With their sorcery, taught to them with the trust and love of the elves, the humans lit the fires of war against their former guardians.

Rivers ran red with elven blood. Adults and children alike were slaughtered willfully. Humans plundered the wealth of the elves and used their flesh and blood to cast foul spells and birth nightmarish creatures to use against them.

Man repayed the kindness of the elves with only bloodshed.

Those that survived fled to the mountains, hiding in the ruins of their once great empires.

While I felt sorry for the wicked betrayal of the human race, part of me was curious as to the taste of the handsome elves.

The red flame transmitted a wave of excitement at the thought.

When given a glimmer of hope to survive, the human chose to abandon his dignity and drop to his knees, "O' great beast. I beg of you to let us go. I swear on my honour we will not disturb your peace again."

After seeing the contempt and superiority the human directed at the Nilfgaradians I had lost interest in him.

Towards other nations, races, and monsters of all dispositions, even the monster-hunters who risked their lives to protect them, the humans of this world held only animosity and disgust.

The only reason I was still alive right now, was that the human knew his current army were incapable of skinning and gutting me.

"Tell me where I can find a monster." I roared, not caring for the blood that trickled out from the man's ears.

Barely suppressed fury shone in the eyes of the young human. I had little doubt he would rally his men to slaughter me the moment he returned to his territory.

"Beyond the forest to the east, there is an old manor. The villagers say a large beast crawls out after the sun has set to prey on sheep and cattle.

It will even carry off their horses and they claim a stench of rotting blood surrounds the abandoned manor. This is all I know o' great beast, I beg of you to let me and my men leave." Not even a child would be fooled by his honeyed words.

The human's soldiers were slowly regaining their courage. Unlike their leader they did not conceal the murderous intent nor their hands that reached for their blades.

"A warning, human.

Destruction lurks at your door.

Do not choose to seek it out early and wave your shiny swords and spears at me; the taste of your flesh is not one I enjoy."

I did not wish to linger any longer. Loneliness petrified humans and even wolves and apes were not unaffected, but the brown bear welcomed it.

Fusing the bloodline of the brown bear had eliminated the hidden fear of solitude in my heart.

Wandering the continent and exploring it's endless valleys and mountains was enough to satisfy all of my desires.

I gave one last stare at the young human before turning my back to his group. Stepping back into the shadows of the trees I felt myself immediately relax.

Nature was my home and it welcomed my return.

Content and eager for a new kind of soul I raised my head to the sky and roared.

I could imagine the humans shaking with fear as the sound reverberated through the forest.

Perhaps in a few months a Cintran bard would sing of a humongous black beast that lurked in the snowy forests.

If he valued his life the human would not bring his men to chase after me.

I shook my head tiredly as I walked east through the thinning trees, 'Oh but you will won't you. Humans never lack stupidity.'