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Vur let out a burp and wiped away the blood on his lips with the back of his hand. He was walking down a hall, his chest and arms stained with large red spatters of blood that ran down his body like tiny rivulets. Behind him, there was a trail of bloody bear corpses, the ones at the start of the trail made only of red bones. The later ones were frozen in blocks of ice. Vur had been ambushed through the walls, ceiling, and floor thirteen times as shown by the holes left behind.

“Why’d you freeze those ones?” Mervin asked, pointing at the bears, whose eyes were still moving underneath the ice.

“I only kill what I eat,” Vur said as he let out a softer burp that sounded like a hiccough. He half-walked, half-waddled towards the door at the end of the hall, dragging his crossbow across the ground. “And I’m full. Who knew bears made of blood would taste so tasty?”

“Tasty…? Really?” Stella asked, staring at Vur with half-closed eyes.

Vur nodded as he pushed open the door. “Meat is tasty because of the juices. And the bloody bears were all juices.”

A clanking sound cut Stella off before she could respond. A bloody woman was standing behind a counter, a spilled pot of food in front of her. The viscous material inside was still leaking out, pooling on the countertop as the woman stared at Vur, her body trembling. Vur’s eyes lit up as he sauntered over to the counter, ignoring the six people sitting around a table as he passed them, and dipped his finger into the pooling food. He brought his finger up to his nose and sniffed it before giving the liquid a lick. He smacked his lips as he wiped his finger on a nearby cloth and righted the fallen pot. “Needs more juices,” he said as he propped his crossbow up against the counter.

Without waiting for a response, Vur reached behind his back and pulled a piece of bloody bear meat out of his pocket, positioning it over the pot. He squeezed and twisted it like a towel, dripping blood into the stew. Then he put the drier bear meat back into his pocket before wiping his hands on the cloth again. One of the childlike people sitting around the table let out a soundless scream, presumably something about a dead pet, but Vur couldn’t hear him much less understand. The adults around the table shushed the child, covering its mouth with their hands as they watched Vur with wary gazes.

Vur picked up a nearby ladle and stirred the pot, mixing the bear’s juices into the stew. He scooped up the liquid that had fallen onto the counter and mixed that back into the pot as well. Stella frowned at his actions. “Haven’t you ever heard of the five-second rule?”

Vur shook his head. “No. What’s that?”

“If you drop food, you have five seconds to pick it up before it’s too dirty to eat,” Stella said, nodding her head. The bloody people behind her nodded as well. And the woman standing across from Vur was still paralyzed by fear.

“Okay. And?”

Stella wrinkled her nose. “That stew on the countertop has been there for way more than five seconds.”

“That’s okay,” Vur said. “I wasn’t the one who dropped it, so it doesn’t count, right?”

Stella sighed. “Never mind. You eat bears raw. I forgot you didn’t care about hygienic-food practices.”

Vur grunted as he placed down the ladled and lifted the pot to his lips. He tilted his head back along with the pot and finished the stew in a few gulps even though the pot was larger than his head. Mervin stared up at him with round eyes. He pulled on Stella’s arm, but Stella smacked him away. “Didn’t he say he was full?” Mervin asked as he rubbed his red skin, still staring up at Vur.

“It’s a liquid,” Vur said as he placed the empty pot down. “It doesn’t count. It’s like drinking water after a meal.” He exhaled and patted his stomach while licking his lips, removing all traces of stew from his mouth. “Ah, I probably should’ve saved some for Tafel.”

“It’s fine. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have wanted any,” Stella said.

“Maybe,” Vur said as he looked around. There were only two doors in this room: the one he entered from, and one behind the counter. “It doesn’t seem like there’s anything of interest here.” He walked around the counter and rummaged through the cabinets and drawers, but the things he found could easily be found in his own palace back at home. “Yep, boring stuff. Thanks for the drink.” He patted the bloody woman’s shoulder as he walked past her and headed towards the next door. With a clank, he broke the lock by turning the handle and left the room.

The seven bloody people exhaled out a breath at the same time. Their lips moved, but no sounds came out. That didn’t stop them from speaking in turn though. One slammed his hand on the table and pointed at the door that Vur had just entered. The woman next to him pulled on his arm and shook her head, gesturing towards the door Vur had came from. The angered man stood up and walked to the entrance, pulling it wide open. The sight of frozen and dead bears greeted his eyes. Without a sound, he closed the door and sat back down at the table, folding his hands into his lap and staring at the empty space where his bowl of stew would’ve been if it hadn’t already been drunk. The woman by his side patted his back and gave him a small smile when he looked up. That smile stiffened as the door that Vur had just left through swung open.

Vur reappeared, covered in even more blood than before. Behind him, there was a corpse of a bloody creature, but it had been torn apart into an unrecognizable blob. “Forgot my crossbow,” Vur said as he walked back around the counter, leaving bloody footprints on the wooden floorboards. He once again ignored the gazes of the people as he lifted his crossbow, leaning it against his shoulder, and marched back out of the kitchen, closing the door behind him. The bloody people shivered as all of them thought they heard a faint human-like scream coming from beyond the door, but that was impossible. The bloody creatures in the next hall knew no fear or pain….

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