**INITIATING AHMAR GRACE # 2 - 2 - 7** a robotic voice blared from all directions throughout the forest.
Following this voice, a metallic grinding noise could be heard. When Draco looked to his left he found the source of this noise.
The tree to his side had suddenly undergone a change, and a small doorway was opening up within the base of the tree's trunk.
This doorway was less like a door and more like a hole, but Draco was willing to jump straight into it regardless.
Unfortunately, this hole wasn't something Draco could fit through, for a small pedestal began to rise up to fill the hole in the tree.
Atop this pedestal was something that made Draco hold his breath, because it held what looked to be a sword!
The sword had a wicked appearance, and it was easily 6 feet long from the handle.
The handle was metallic purple, and the blade was pitch black in appearance. The blade radiated a sinister aura, and it gave Draco chills just looking upon it.
Draco looked over his shoulder and saw that the Ape had only paused for a brief moment, and was already barreling towards his position again!
Seeing he had limited time to act, Draco reached over and grabbed the sword.
However, as soon as Draco's hand touched the hilt of the sword, something strange began to happen.
Time began to crawl to a halt, and Draco's consciousness was suddenly placed into an unfamiliar state.
Draco looked around and blinked his eyes, but when they opened back up he was in an entirely different environment!
He was now in a vast, barren field. The field was filled towards the horizon with disfigured corpses and limbs, and this bloody landscape continued as far as his eyes could see.
Draco had instantly forgotten the forest where he previously was, and his mind seemed to re-focus on the people that were now rushing towards him.
'That was a strange vision, I must focus on this battle.' Draco thought, but the voice of these thoughts was not his own.
Draco's attention went towards the three figures that were now surrounding him. They were much smaller than him, and they looked like children in comparison to his monumental frame.
He didn't know why this felt strange, for he had always towered above mortal men.
His four legs were powerfully built, and he could easily trample any man below his hooves.
Draco moved his arm and with a single slash cleaved the head off of a man, his pitch-black sword continuing to bisect another man's torso from his legs.
The last man stopped in his tracks, raising his sword in front of him to block Draco's next strike.
Draco snorted as he swung again, his sword shattering the little man's sword in a shower of steel and blood.
Draco flicked his sword as he watched the man fall into two cleanly cut pieces, splattering blood off of his sword's edge.
He looked at the black sword in his hands, the black so all encompassing that it appeared to absorb all of the light around it.
"I love this blade!" his voice boomed, laughing as he turned towards the next group of attackers with a maniacal grin.
He casually pierced a man through his chest, before stomping another man senseless with one of his hooves. He grabbed the crushed man and lifted him up to rip his throat out with his teeth.
Draco drank the man's sweet vitae, shivering with the ecstasy of a fresh kill.
The other men watching saw this and began to literally quake in their boots, some of them even dropped their weapons and turned to run.
However, Draco spared none of them.
He promptly cut down the men that still dared to face him, and then chased down the cowards and trampled them down as well.
He grabbed another poor soul that he had found cowering beneath a pile of corpses and ripped the head straight from his body.
Draco held the man's head over his own and drank the blood that dripped down like you would the water from a coconut.
"Mmmm, the taste of the man's fear is palpable." Draco said with his eyes closed, feeling the invigorating feeling the blood gave him.
When Draco opened his eyes again, he was back in the forest within the Ahmar cage.
'Where am I? Is this some sort of illusion?' Draco thought, still in a voice that wasn't his.
He flexed his limbs and twirled his sword around in his hands.
'This is still my sword, but why are my limbs so weak and fragile? This must be some powerful illusionary art.' he thought, convinced he had been caught in some sort of trap.
He had two little legs that made him cringe to look at, and he seemed to be as small as a dwarf.
He looked ahead of him and saw the massive Ape bounding towards him, but he remained calm in face of this terrifying foe.
"Paltry creature, you dare face off against me?!" Draco roared, his voice so convincingly stoic that it had even given the Ape pause.
However, the Ape remembered that it had just thrown this man across the forest, so it resumed its charge with renewed vigor.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHh!!!" The Ape howled, closing in on Draco's position.
"Shut up." was all Draco said.
Draco slashed out at the Ape who attempted to grab ahold of him, and with a single swing he severed the Ape's thick arm at the elbow.
The creature's hairy limb went flying through the air, and the Ape stood stupefied for a moment as it watched its arm fall to the ground, not believing what it was seeing.
Draco was unsurprised though, and continued with his assault.
He stabbed out at the Ape's heart, intending to pierce it in one go. However, just as his blade bit into the Ape's chest the creature jumped back with alarming speed.
The Ape howled in pain as it clutched its stump of an arm, looking at Draco with an undisguised hatred, and a twinge of fear.
"Don't look at me like that, you overgrown monkey." Draco said as he spat to his side.
The Ape growled and hooted, charging back at Draco with a renewed ferocity.
When the Ape reached him it swung at him with its good arm, but Draco ducked the swing with a single nimble motion before stabbing out at the creature's body.
The sword pierced into the Ape's side, eliciting another howl of pain from the creature.
The Ape kicked out at Draco with both of its heavy legs, and Draco was unable to dodge as his sword was still lodged in the creature.
Draco was sent flying by this kick, but he still managed to keep hold of his sword as he pulled it from the Ape's body just in time.
Feeling his bones rattle and his tendons tear from the kick, Draco wondered why his body was so much weaker than it should've been.
After all, he had been sent flying by such a weak creature!
Draco expertly twisted himself in midair and landed on his feet, skidding for a few more feet before his momentum stopped.
The Ape had kicked him over a dozen feet away, but it still looked at him with an emotion that would surprise anybody watching.
This was because the once dominant ape in the forest was now looking at Draco with fear in its eyes!
The Ape had turned away from Draco and began to run, jumping along the forest floor with an impressive speed despite its injuries.
It was unable to climb away due to its severed arm, but it nonetheless sped away as fast as it possibly could.
Seeing this, Draco snorted as he chased after the Ape.
He was used to weak creatures fleeing from him in terror, so he began the chase.
To Draco, the chase was the best part of the hunt. He quickly sped through the forest behind the Ape, ignoring the cries for help from his battered body.