Soon his revenge would begin, but first he had to make a decision. In his current, natural form, it was always harder to deal with these sorts of details. When he took a more humanoid form, he was less.. distracted, his mind clearer, but he couldn’t afford take the time to change forms now. He just needed to make a decision here and keep moving.

  The seed of his revenge would be planted soon, but he needed a vector, an agent, an unwitting pawn. Fertile soil. He had found what he sought here, in this weak land between the territory of the prey and what they called the True Wilds. It had taken him.. He couldn’t remember exactly how long it had taken him to find one that smelled right. Time was a loose thing, to one such as him, especially in his natural form.

  This.. boy, had the right scent. He would do. He was so very weak, but his weakness would be of use. No one would suspect such a weakling to be an instrument of a greater power. He would be an unsuspecting poisoner, delivering death to the heart of the lands the prey called home. Even if this particular instrument died, the poison would be passed on to a more capable pawn. The prey were nothing if not envious. Their own avarice would be the beginning of their own undoing. They would pass on the seed of his revenge through murder and guile, until a chosen one used it for its intended purpose. All that was left to was to decide how to introduce it.

  He could not simply confront the boy, offering power. He needed to ensure there was no connection between them, no memory left behind for pursuers to find in the mind of the boy. It was unlikely this boy would ever understand what he would hold, but it was best if the boy had no clue as to its origins. He had considered simply leaving it for his pursuers to find, hoping they would be foolish enough to use it or pass it on, but it was just as likely they would lock it away. They were already strong enough, for prey anyway, and had no need for such a thing.

  His thoughts were sluggish, and he hungered, but before he could leave, he had to make a decision. Could he hide it near the boy, and then have the boy find it? How could he do that if he couldn’t stay here? He had no time to set the boy on a quest seeking it, or setup circumstances for the boy to stumble upon it. His pursuers would eventually arrive, and he wanted to be done with this.. How could he ensure the boy took it and kept it? How could he make sure no one would associate the two of them, even approaching too close might alert the beasts near the boy. It might cause the boy to flee toward the human settlement and those that might detect one such as him.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  This situation required subtly that was hard for him in his true form. The need to continue to move, to keep ahead of his pursuers, and the need to feed, both drove him away from this spot, yet his need for revenge kept him here, frozen in indecision.

  At some point he noticed that the boy was battling beasts and losing badly The more he watched, the more he scoffed at the boy’s weakness and inevitable demise. He enjoyed laughing at the misfortune of prey, it was one of his favorite pastimes as he flew over his lost territory..

  He stopped himself. He struggled to focus on what he was here to do. Eventually, he understood that the boy dying would mean he would have to search further for another instrument. It would cost him even more time. He couldn’t save the boy directly, for the same reason he couldn’t give it directly to the boy. Was there a way to turn this situation to his advantage?

  He lost himself in undecided thought again, until it appeared the boy might lay down to die. He knew the look on the boy’s face, as boy's life was leaving him. The boys face betrayed selfishness, and anger at the world, at its unfairness. It mirrored his own outrage at the loss of his sanctum. He felt confusion for a moment, at his understanding of what the boy was going through, but eventually he rejected the emotion, and supplanted it with a forced apathy. The only thing worse than being humiliated by prey, was coming to understand the prey on their own level. That was true humiliation.

  He was tired, hungry, and wanted to be away from this moment in time, away from the face of this boy. He decided to go with the simplest solution to his problem. He simply tossed it then, controlling it so that it might wake the boy one last time, giving the boy a chance to live. If the boy died despite his largesse, so be it. Another would find the seed of his revenge, eventually. It would take longer, for an appropriate instrument to be found, as it was passed from owner to owner, but in the vastness of time, eventually a proper vector would come to possess it. Then his revenge would truly begin. For the moment though, he would bide his time, and gorge himself on a meal deeper into what the prey called the True Wilds. His pursuers would be slowed by the territorial beasts there, and he would gain time to fill his stomach.

  Without looking to see if the boy lived or died, he turned toward the north and flew away. Leaving the seed of his vengeance behind, he flew toward sustenance.

  Author's Note: I should have another full chapter for you tomorrow. This epilogue was harder to write than I was originally planning. It doesn't quite have the flavour I was looking for, so I might rewrite it at some point. It does contain most of the information I wanted to convey though. I've been sick for a few days, and so it was hard to concentrate on writing. Even Toads get colds, apparently.

  We've hit 42k overall chapter views, 350 followers, and are staying in the top 700 rated on RR fairly reliably. Thanks to al the readers! We have a decent number of reviews now! Thanks to @Cestarian and @Hoblit for their reviews.

  Reader Questions and Comments:

  @Riftsaw Nice paranoia! We'll see what happens! Greer is a pretty tricky person, despite Dem's influence on her.

  @Kleeia Is Greer the jealous type? Hmm..

  @Newbage That party will have a role in the future...

  Your paragon option is a bit odd, I don't think Wersa is gonna seduce anyone except another Warrior like Graf. My April Fools chapter wasn't meant to be taken seriously, hahaha. Kudos for your creativity though. The Renegade option is interesting, and its possible Dem will use his influence and powers on men in the future, but we'll see!

  @Cestarian Something is indeed fishy, I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the clue.

  @Empathy Good question! Dem doesn't yet know much about the benefits of the soulbound, but I would say that, as a spell, its not built on mutalism, its building on taking and dominance. Whatever he recieves from it has to be taken.

  @patlican I tried to convey that it cause more problems than it would solve to simply murder the party, at least at first. If they murdered the whole party, even with Wersa's protection, it would be likely Dem would be targeted in some way. Dem can't afford the scrutiny.

  @SalineSalute Thank you for your comment. I'm less worried now.

  @edasvangen Shhh! No spoilers!

  Eventually I may not be able respond to everyone's comments every time, but for the time being I really like to read and respond to what you have to say.

  Thanks for reading!