It was on a very cold, windy morning that Jaken and Sesshomaru got their first glimpse of life in Mongolia. Master and servant approached a clearing, on which they saw a strange-looking nomadic village. Of course, they did not know that Mongolian nomads moved around according to the seasons, because finding enough water on the bare moorlands was not an easy task.

The village itself was like none other that Sesshomaru had seen in Japan or China. Dotted around in a group were many big, white tents. They looked circular, almost like domes, except slightly taller. There were round rocks around what looked like a doused bonfire, and livestock left loose to wander. The animals included many sheep, numerous horses and a few cows. Two women dressed in large and colourful dresses were busy milking the cows under the morning light.

Everything seemed peaceful...except it wasn't. Much like in Japan, Mongolian warlords were fighting battles with each other in pursuit of land at this point in time.

Sesshomaru watched from a distance as a group of horse-riding warriors emerged from the tall grass. They had shiny armors of leather, and hats of animal skin. The dog demon looked on as they each drew out their huge swords, and broke into the peaceful village.

There was nothing to mask the cruel reality of war. As the horse-riders pillaged the village, they slaughtered every armed man with slashes from their giant knives, which soon became stained blood red. Women screamed and children cried, as the raiders set fire to all the tents and stole away the livestock, before roughly chaining their captives. The captured villagers were dragged away to serve as slaves.

Once the dust and smoke had cleared and the riders were nowhere to be seen, Sesshomaru and Jaken entered the ruined village. There was little if anything of value left. Dead bodies were sprawled across the grass, which was pooled with blood and gore. The tents had been trashed and were now nothing more than burned rubble. The village was deathly silent. Not one survivor remained.

Like old days, Sesshomaru examined the ruins carefully, before leaving the pillaged colony without a word.

"Sesshomaru-sama, where are we going?" Jaken asked, scrambling after his lord.

"We follow the riders," Sesshomaru replied, for once not completely ignoring his green servant.

The riders rode across the lonely grasslands framed by sandy dunes, dragging their chained captives behind them. The land was bare and desolate, with the cloudless sky shining above it.

The captured slaves were violently handled. Whips and canes were used to make them move faster, as they staggered along the bumpy ground.

Eventually, when the sun was at its highest, the riders entered a large camp, at the center of which was a humongous white tent. The interior of the tent was luxuriously furnished, with carpets of animal skin and a well-crafted door. It was the tent of the Khan; the Mongolian warlord.

One of the riders entered the magnificent structure and reported to his lord of their raid. The Khan was glad to hear of the success and of all the loot, and praised his men for their good work.

Out at the entrance of the camp, a few soldiers were on sentry duty when their attention was captured by a white-robed figure amis the tall grass in the distance.

"He must be an enemy spy!" One soldier shouted rudely as the group approached the calm dog demon, "Take him to the Khan!"

Sesshomaru did not understand Mongolian, which very much annoyed him. But he kept calm until the soldiers roughly tried to grab him. Sesshomaru was not all talk, and he was unfortunately not kind enough to spare the lives of people who offended his lordly pride. He drew out his poison whip and sent the Mongol soldiers flying like popcorn out of a pan.

Just at that precise moment, the Khan had walked to the camp's entrance to see what the racket was all about. He arrived just in time to see a strange, silver-haired man effortlessly defeat a group of his best soldiers. The great warlord approached the dog demon while quietly clapping his hands.

Sesshomaru looked up at the Khan and instantly recognized him as the leader of the riders, because of how neatly he was dressed, and the amount of huge jewellery around both his arms. The Khan wore a large coat, a cape and cap made of animal fur, and big rings on his hands.

Another man walked up to Sesshomaru, and said politely, "I am the Khan's interpreter. Do you speak the Han dialect?"

"I guess..." The dog demon replied.

This was the first time Sesshomaru realized that during his months in China, he had learned to speak the local language very well thanks to his distant uncle. Jaken also discovered that he, too, had become bilingual as a result of their journey in the mainland.

"So sorry about the rudeness of our soldiers," The Mongol interpreter continued, "On behalf of the Khan, I would like to welcome you to our camp."

The Khan and his men lead Sesshomaru back into their camp. The dog demon was cautious as always. Even Jaken felt slightly suspicious, and kept close to his master.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Jaken whispered, grabbing the hem of his lord's pants, "I don't trust these people. Look at those huge scimitars they carry."

"Jaken...let go of my hakama..."

Jaken flinched at his lord's menacing glare and immediately did as he was told. But Jaken knew that Sesshomaru was thinking the exact same thing as he was. Why would the Mongolian Khan gladly welcome them into his camp after they had killed his soldiers? Did he have something dodgy planned?

Despite their cautiousness, the Khan invited Sesshomaru and Jaken to dine with his important officials inside his tent. The Mongolians served delicious roasted lamb with fresh vegetables. Jaken completely pigged out, not wanting to risk losing an opportunity to eat meat. After all, it wasn't every day that a traveler would get to eat food as good as this. Soon, the green imp's face was once again smeared with disgusting morsels of half-eaten food.

"Dear guest," The interpreter mumbled, sitting next to Sesshomaru, "If I may ask, what is that green thing that follows you?"

How Sesshomaru hated that question! It was the one question, of all the possible questions in the world that he absolutely did not know the answer to. In order to make the annoying interpreter go away, Sesshomaru pretended to eat his food. Sure enough, the interpreter left him to dine in peace.

But Sesshomaru had gradually gone from pretend-eating to actually eating the lamb. The dog demon who had once detested the sight of human food now found the true pleasure of eating rich, juicy roast. He was a dog, after all.

"We hope you liked the food," The interpreter said kindly once the meal was over, before lighting a candle which illumined the dark interior of the large tent.

"Yes, very much. And if I am not mistaken, it is for an important reason that you have invited me to your camp tonight," Sesshomaru replied, getting down to business.

"Indeed," The Khan explained seriously, with the interpreter repeating his every word, "Earlier, when you slew my men with uncanny speed and without any trouble, I was convinced that you may be the very warrior we have been searching for in order to accomplish a task that none other has been able to complete."

"What task could be so difficult?" Sesshomaru asked, becoming interested in the new challenge bestowed upon him.

"For many hundreds of years, there have been rumours of an unspeakable horror roaming deep in the Gobi desert," The great Khan continued, with a gravely serious tone of voice, "A terrible, horrifying beast, capable of swallowing livestock whole and corroding flesh from the bones with its venom. If one touches it, they will die instantly. The ones who have seen it have never dared to go near the Gobi desert again, saying that this creature looks like grotesquely huge cattle innards. They call it the olgoi-khorkhoi."

The interpreter was stunned, not knowing how to translate 'olgoi-khorkhoi'. He paused for a moment, before saying with a horrified expression, "It's a gigantic, blood-red demon, taking the form of a huge worm."

"So you are looking for someone who can slay this proposed beast?" Sesshomaru said, "But all you have heard are rumours. There is no proof that such a creature exists. You may be sending people on wild goose chases."

"Many foreigners have said the same," The interpreter stammered, slightly shaken by the Khan's explanation, "But only recently, two of our cattle wandered beyond the lake and didn't come back again. We found pieces of torn bones, hardly recognizable, strewn on the rock and sand. The skulls were...missing. And last month a neighbouring tribe reported to have seen a huge red beast in the moorlands. I'm not sure if you understand, but many people have died because of this monster. We must kill it, to protect the people."

"The great shaman has foretold of a powerful warrior who will be able to destroy the olgoi-khorkhoi," The Khan continued, "If you are able to get rid of this beast for us, then you will receive a gift that the shaman has prepared half a century ago. It is an artifact of great value. I also own thousands of livestock of all kinds, you may take what you want."

Sesshomaru thought for a moment, before saying simply, "If this beast does exist, I will slay it."

The Khan and his officials laughed in appreciation, before inviting Sesshomaru to drink with them. The dog demon declined at first, but felt curiosity towards both the beast he was told to slay and the liquid humans drank to get high. After all, he found that human food was more awesome than he had once thought. Jaken was already drunk, so Sesshomaru decided that a sip of rice liquor might not kill him.

Being entirely inexperienced with alcohol, the dog demon couldn't stop once he had started. By the end of the night, he was so drunk that he had completely lost it, and fell asleep on the rug.