Tall trees, endless branches, countless leaves, and the ever-present vibrancy of life all around, Creep found himself lost. Currently, he hung upside down from a branch a few miles to the south-east of the dungeon- more toward the rocky mountain terrain than the human settlement.

The time was of night. In the dungeon, there was no distinction between day and night. It was always dark there with only a hint of light coming from the entrance. Inside there, one either slept or fought. There was no third option.

Here-outside, however, there was light. The humans didn’t even need their torches, those crumbling fires, to see. Creep saw hundreds of them roaming around. Not in groups, but in small parties. There were so many of them. All scattered about, but similar to each other. They moved in and out of wooden cottages, carried their weapons, and laughed. Creep felt like an intruder, like a human, timid and vigilant.

Creep observed them from the nearest trees. His stealth was only so powerful. He perfectly remembered being found and ignored by the red-haired human in the dungeon. Who knew how many had already found him? He wanted to fly away into safety; find shade, a shadow, a hole somewhere out of sight. And his chance to run away from the human camp came when the light naturally diminished and night arrived, hiding everything in a black sheet of darkness.

Creep’s eye lit up with amazement. He knew this phenomenon was something called night. He had enough words now. Wasting no time, he took flight. Hiding in the nights cover, he picked a destination and escaped.

[You haven’t eaten anything for the last 2 hours.]
[You are starving.][Your stamina will continue decreasing until you eat.]
[-10 Stamina][97/131]

This was the fourth time that this message had appeared in his mind. Once, Creep would have ignored it but now he couldn’t because he understood the underlining meaning. He was hungry. What did it mean to be hungry? He needed to feed of course. However, feed on what? He hadn’t eaten anything in the dungeon! He hadn’t been pestered by any such messages inside there. So what was different between inside the dungeon and outside here?

That’s another question.  He thought.

He still had time though. His stomach was grumbling, other than that, he was fine. How to stop his stamina from decreasing? He didn’t know.

Taking flight he decided to think about it later when he was out and away from the humans. He had a good time flying. The sky was broad and open. The air was cold. With the moon shining light upon the world, Creep felt relaxed. Ever since he had come outside, he hadn’t needed to fight the humans. No humans had tried to harm him either. He wasn’t restricted by the dungeon chambers. He was free.

This was the freedom his elder was talking about: unrestrictive, open, and amazing.

[You are starving.]
[Either eat or stop flying.]
[-5 Stamina][92/131]

Yes, there were the messages, other than that, there was no danger. He just needed to crack the method to satisfy his hunger and he was good to go.

Clicking his way through the endless sky, he flew away from the humans. Driven by no drive, no need, Creep almost felt helpless. He had nothing to do. Should he roam the world or settle down. He was having difficulty deciding. It was still the same night and he was still flying. Hunger, destination, humans, elder, the words perplexed and pestered him when he saw a different being coming toward him.

The being was something like itself. It had wings and it was flying. His echolocation had picked it moving toward itself some hundred meters or so away. Excited, creep flew toward a fellow flier. Someone who could tell him what he was supposed to do. Give him a task or something. Subsequent clicks placed the fellow flying toward him. The speed reminded creep of an arrow. An arrow… it wasn’t something he wanted to be reminded of.

So much death, punctured wounds, hanging bodies, seeping blood, he remembered nothing good associated with an arrow. You don’t even see one coming, only fell the air moving away from its path, hear the sound of it ripping through, and then felt it burn through your skin and muscles.

For some reason, Creep got the same vibe from the fellow. That couldn’t be true, could it?

Fifty meters,

Although the fellow was far away, Creep could already feel the meeting going horribly wrong. His sound sense was blaring, not loudly, but decisively. It made him vigilant, to consider his path. The dungeon hadn’t happened a long time ago. He had left the dungeon but the dungeon hadn’t left him.

Thirty meters,

Creep stopped flying toward it. Flapping his wings, he decided to hover instead. He didn’t have the required motor control to maneuver a tight turn. He had only recently received the skill. What was he to make of it with such little experience?

Twenty meters,

It was still too far away for him to make out what it looked like. But the thing had taken less than five seconds to cover the more than eighty meters distance. What did that mean? It was fast. Blindingly fast. However, the feeling Creeps sound sense had given him -the dangerous vibe of a predator coming to eat him- came into being, as the being arrived close enough for him to see a red aura of danger enveloping and rising from its body like a living flame.

Ten meters and the thing was close enough for Creep to actually see. A single glimpse and Creep stopped flapping his wings. Flee or fight. He was smart enough to understand that fighting something he knew nothing about was suicidal. He fell toward the forest which was a long way down. He was flying high. Being a newcomer in the human’s cave, and his memories of them, didn’t help him, they rather restricted him in a way. He was flying as far away from the humans as he could. To survive was his current objective and being in plain sight, a target for the archers, wouldn’t have helped him.

Five meters,

As Creep fell, he watched his stalker take a dive. And it quickly entered Creeps range of sight. It was a bird. Pitch black, wide feathery wings, gaudy stomach, and hefty size, strong golden talons, a small beak, but big eyes.  A night watcher, Creep thought, his skill giving a title to the predator. But where his learned skill excelled, it also failed there. It only provided titles and meanings to objects -inanimate or living- but not proper definitions. Things could have turned very interesting if Creep didn’t have sound sense.

He had the experience, however. He had fought humans. He had killed tens of them and watched countless more bodies fall and disappear. Murder didn’t scare him. The unknown however did. Not knowing the reason for the night watchers -a bird- advance made him nervous. He wasn’t in the dungeon anymore. There was no reason for the thing to attack him.

So why is it baring its talons toward me?

Three meters,

He tried to talk to it as he fell. He was still a long way from hitting the tree canopies, but the night watcher was right in front of him. Under the moonlight, he could almost see its pupils focus on him and him alone, and its claws opening wide enough to fit his whole body in the gap.  He words -which his dungeon companions had easily understood- however, fell upon a void. The response was a sharp snarl, a stinging cry.

It couldn’t understand him. Maybe it didn’t even hear me. He thought and flapped his right wings just enough to take him out of the night watchers flight path. Once their position changed, Creep dived, following the bird's example. Calling his dagger from the sub-dimension, he held it tight between his feet and bombed the night watchers back.

There was no hesitation, no worry. The thing tried to hurt him, so he killed it- A plain and simple response to its action.

You killed a level 4 Night Watcher.
Experience granted.

They both fell toward the forest. Creep tried to call back the dagger, but because it was stuck inside the dead bird, it refused. Decisively, he let go of the dagger and started flying instead. Five minutes later he reached the ground and came to stand right next to the bloody body which refused to disappear. It stayed there, lying, motionless, bleeding.

Pulling the dagger free from the body, Creep saved it in his sub-dimension and moved forward to take a look at why the corpse wasn’t disappearing -why it was being weird- when suddenly he remembered something.

He was in a range of a complete corpse murdered by him. There was a time when this wouldn’t have mattered to him, but now he was different. Now he understood.

“Drar” Although the word sounded nonsensical Creep already knew that intent mattered more than perfect vocalization.

What would you like to devour?

To devour meant to take something eagerly, to make something his. He needed to kill for it to happen. He could only choose one thing as stated in the skill description.

Setting the skill aside, what did its use meant for him? It meant that whoever had given it to him, wanted him to kill. They wanted him to kill and take, take the best of everything and become perfect. Using it meant a future of death and plunder.

Is that why I am? He thought, coldly looking at the corpse. He stood there basking in the cold wind and the hidden predators watching him from the shadows.

Finally, inhaling the nights sound Creep made his decision.

You have decided to devour Night watchers- Eyes.

Your compatibility is at 100%.

Night watchers- Eyes devoured.
[Skill- Motion capture added to eyes.]
[You receive one extra point in constitution upon level up.]

You are starving.]
[Either eat or rest]
[-5 Stamina][92/131]