Chapter 18: The Settlement

Chapter 18: The Settlement

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Humans.

My stomach rumbled in animal hunger and I recoiled at the thought. No, I can’t, I tried to scream at myself in horror as I wrestled with the bestial part of my newly acquired nature. I craved, desired, no, needed to taste flesh and the conscious, moral part of me lost control as I struggled against those urges.

The smell was a temptation beyond me, the scent of people nearby had managed to drive me insane and that animal part of my brain responded in kind as my fangs salivated in anticipation. My body had betrayed me and seemed to take on a life of its own sped off towards the smell.

Carelessly, I crashed through the underbrush, my claws leaving large gashes in the dirt as I passed through. I ignored the skittish and fearful animals that scattered in front of me and ran straight past the dirt mounds that held within them the lingering dead. Even as ghoulish hands reached out to grab me, I knew no fear of the monsters that lay within those mounds. As my reflection in the eyes of prey had shown me, I had become the only monster that mattered during the night.

Driven by bloodlust, I followed the smell on the air towards the sound of people. Eventually the trail led me through the woods and into a large clearing. The clearing was full of giant rocks that I assumed marked it as a quarry area. The smell of livestock and smoke was heavy in the air. An odd smell wafted on the air that I barely noticed over the smell of smoke and a a howl interrupted my thoughts as a dog came running out at me and dived straight at my foreleg with its fangs

Though the dog was furiously attacking me, the attacks were negligible at best. I could smell the fear on the animal and though my instinct was to lash out and kill it, I resisted as I could and instead swiped it away from a powerful blow from my paws and sent it sprawling with a whelp as the dog landed against the stones and ran away into the forest, looking for an escape. Probably for the best, I told myself as my eyes turned towards whence it had come as my thoughts shifted and turned towards darker matters. Humans… I thought as I noticed people moving around in the distance.

I'll allow this my wolf, remarked a voice in my head that I recognized as belonging to the Dread God Falanor. You're wisp will live.

I felt a breath shudder throughout my body and returned my attention to the nearby humans. That’s correct Chris remarked Fel with an aura of excitement as if nothing had happened or gone wrong. You can see them from here can’t you, the men chopping at trees that never fall, yet still collecting the lumber, the healing well, the barracks and the small army being trained. This is the perfect chance to test yourself. But be wary, if you kill the owner of those forces, the entire settlement will collapse, and whatever strength you might have gained from culling the lot of them will be lost.

I growled in agreement and crouched low to the ground as I crawled towards the settlement, keeping my hearing fixated on the settlement as I moved in.

“Hey,” said one of the lumberjacks. “Has anyone seen where the master’s dog ran off to?”

The lumberjack next to him shook his head. “No idea, you know that dog loves to run off and get into trouble. He’ll probably be back soon with a couple of animals for us to turn into pelts. You know how dogs get.”

The first lumberjack seemed unconvinced, “I think maybe we should go look, you know how these nights can get. Grab the pitch forks and the torches. I’m pretty sure I heard a yelp.”

That was all I needed to hear. I sped across the field and headed straight towards the timber shack where the group of lumberjacks were putting their equipment away to swap out for other gear. I was on the first of them almost instantly as I jumped forward by an impossible distance and landed on the man’s back as I bit down on his neck with powerful jaws that ripped and tore in a haze of gore and blood as a glowing curse mark appeared beneath where the man had died.

The remaining lumberjacks tried to ran and scramble for their weapons as they clutched at ax and pitch fork, but as I advanced, their blows and weapons counted for nothing as the bravest among them shouted a cheer of defiance before I rushed forward, impaling myself on his weapon and disemboweling him with a swipe of my claw. He tumbled over in two pieces, even as his weapon remained impaled in me. and I kept going as the human in mind shuddered and tried to look away as my body worked on its own to feed its own impulses in grim feast.

The other lumberjacks stood no chance, though I was surprised none of the soldiers I had assumed to be stationed at the barracks had come forth to help them. Once the lumberjacks were all killed, their bodies laid strewn apart on the outskirts of the settlement surrounding the timber shack.

I moved on to the animals, tearing into the wandering goats, sheep, and penned hogs the settlement had been relying on. I wasn’t even eating at this point, just killing indiscriminately. The entire area full of glowing curse marks on the ground, and what surprised me most was how much stronger I began to feel, how much bigger even as lingering guilt plagued me and my senses began to return.

It doesn’t matter Chris, chided Fel. Each and every kill makes you stronger and will help you to survive. Your strengths lay in this body, and whatever manner of trickery you can use so that others never find out it is you. But you must be gone, the sun will be up soon and you will be human again and vulnerable.