Lilith hid among the thick bushes.
In front of her, the clearing was lit by a crackling bonfire. Two orcs sat on gray rocks. Massive bodies. Dark green skin covered in mud and scars. Between them, a black iron pot boiled over the flames.
One of the orcs growled. He plunged his wooden bowl directly into the boiling water. Pulled it out overflowing.
In the pot, chunks of animal heads floated and bumped into each other. Into the orc's bowl fell the dirty broth, a pair of cooked eyes, and pieces of splintered skull.
The orc brought it to his mouth. The bones crunched between his yellow teeth. The liquid dripped down his chin, lost in the leather he wore.
Lilith wrinkled her nose.
She looked around the camp, beyond the smoke and the pot. She saw the rest of the animal. It lay on the dirt floor. Decapitated. The torso, legs, and back were intact.
"How strange."
The orcs laughed with each other. They shoved each other's shoulders while continuing to eat everything that came out of the pot.
Lilith took a step forward.
Her feet stopped touching the grass.
She emerged from the bushes levitating. Her dress barely swayed with the silent movement. She crossed the space between the undergrowth and the camp without causing a single crackle.
She descended right onto the carcass of the decapitated animal. She stood on it.
She began to kick the meat with the tip of her shoe.
The orcs were startled. Their laughter stopped. They dropped their bowls. The broth splashed onto the ground. They looked at the woman who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Hey..." said the larger orc.
He stood up heavily.
"What the hell are you doing!" he roared. "It's mine!"
Lilith did not stop kicking the carcass. She didn't even look up immediately.
"Really?" she said, in a soft tone.
Finally she raised her eyes. Her gaze was cold.
"I only saw two animals throwing away their prey."
The orc clenched his fists. He picked up a wooden club with iron spikes that rested at his feet.
"It's ours. Get lost or..."
He stopped abruptly.
Under Lilith's shoes, the carcass began to darken. The skin and muscle lost their natural color. They turned black. The firm texture of the meat began to give way, melting like wax in the sun.
Lilith began to sink a couple of centimeters into the mass.
The other orc jumped to his feet.
"Our food!" he shouted.
Both took their clubs. They ran toward her with heavy steps that shook the ground.
Lilith made no defensive gesture. She simply rose.
She floated backward and upward, tracing an arc in the air until she perched on a thick branch of a nearby tree. She watched them from above.
The orcs stopped abruptly next to the animal.
They crouched down. They examined the meat with their thick hands. Their fingers sank into the tissue. It was gelatinous.
"She ruined it!" bellowed the first, raising his hands stained black.
The second orc looked up. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Lilith.
"Kill her!"
They jumped toward the tree trunk.
They began to climb. Their claws tore off pieces of bark. The wood creaked under their weight. They climbed quickly, driven by fury.
Lilith watched them climb.
She let herself fall from the branch. She levitated again, floating gently downward. She landed right next to the melted prey.
She turned toward the tree. She looked up at the orcs who were now hanging halfway up the trunk.
"Please. I don't want to go back and forth. Just give me the meat."
The orc who was higher up clung to a branch and shouted down at her. Saliva flew from his tusks.
"Never! Even if you cursed it, we won't give it to you!"
Lilith exhaled slowly. Her shoulders dropped in a display of pure disappointment.
"How boring."
She stretched her hand forward. Palm open.
A black ball formed instantly. Dark.
She fired it.
The projectile flew straight at the tree.
The thick trunk split in two, disintegrating in that area. The sphere did not stop there. It continued its straight path.
It took the head of the lower orc along the way.
The cut was clean. The neck was charred. The decapitated body collapsed like a stone, hitting the ground lifeless.
The tree gave way.
The higher orc fell, tangled among the broken branches and foliage. He crashed violently against the earth, raising a cloud of dust and leaves.
Lilith paid him no attention.
She turned toward the animal carcass.
The meat was now soft enough. She plunged her hands into the dark mass. Pulled. Removed a large chunk easily.
She held the meat in her hand. Black blood dripped onto the grass.
A few meters away, the surviving orc coughed. He tried to recover. He placed a bloody hand on the ground, trying to get up among the shattered wood.
Lilith had already risen.
In the air, the fabric of her back tightened. Her wings spread completely, darkening the light of the clearing.
The wind from her flapping stirred the dust.
She began to stretch her wings to continue her journey, disappearing again into the sky.