68 Meeting Under The Moonless Sky (1/2)

Under the dark moonless sky, a pack of demonic hounds were circling around their master. With each step their master took, they scampered behind him. With each thump of his staff, a pulse of energy flooded their surrounding area. As soon as the pulse detected a living animal, the beasts pounced onto it.

They ripped the animal to shreds and devoured every last bit of it. Dygo watched on, expressionless. His head was nothing more than a skull with no flesh or nerve endings, no chance for expression. With each step he took, he let out a breath of air.

”What a beautiful night,” Dygo said to himself.

Just then, he noticed that his hounds had sniffed out a prey of their own. He looked into the distance they had indicated. Using his night vision, he spotted a huge snake in a clearing.

As he got closer, the snake sensed his presence and his hounds. Dygo realised that it was a cobra.

”Who goes there,” the cobra hissed in a loud booming voice.

But the facade of bravery could not fool Dygo. Fear had its own unique scent and feel. It could never escape him. Dygo knew the cobra had long realised that it could not hear Dygo's heartbeat or the hounds'. That fact frightened it.

”I mean you no ill, human. I am merely passing by,” Dygo assured.

”Wait, you know that I am human?” The cobra hissed.

If Dygo could, he would be grinning.

”Your transformation magic cannot fool me. Or my hounds. Human, may I ask a question?”

The cobra slithered a little further back, but it did not want to back down. Dygo might look evil, but one should never judge a book by its cover. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

The cobra nodded.

”What is it like to be able to smile,” Dygo asked.