Unhygienic

He fell on them like a bull in a ring. His axe rose and fell. Blood splattered as pieces of meat rained down. Within minutes, all the beasts were dead, leaving only one that moved far away from Kyrexiel.

"Come here, you low-blood, disgusting thing!" he growled, and then the energy he was using was cut off. Kyrexiel stumbled, falling to his knees as all the pain and tiredness slammed into him.

His vision dimmed. "Ah shit! I've used up whatever was going for me!" he groaned. 'And when I still have one more to deal with.'

His blood was slow in his veins, and when he struggled to stand, it was as if he were walking in murky waters. The axe was now a heavy thing he wished he could put down.

'What was that energy that gave an instant power-up and then left me weaker than I am, as if I've run a marathon?' Lucas shook his head. 'Almost as if it is a boost like that in games.'

He heard the feet of the beast as it made its way towards him, and Lucas made the decision. He threw down his weapon and let the beast latch onto his neck.

He gripped the beast, and there was a silent struggle for dominance. At last, Kyrexiel opened his mouth and bit off the head of the beast, crunching the skull in one snap.

Black blood dripped from his mouth, traced down his chin, and into his chest while some fell onto the floor. Kyrexiel squatted; he was tired, and now his stomach grumbled.

"Even disgusting vermin have their uses." He started eating, beginning with the skull in his mouth. "I prefer to cook my beasts, but nothing wrong with eating them raw either... what?" Lucas froze, his face a heavy mask of shock.

He had almost drowned in Kyrexiel's memories. That was why he had one of the beast's hands twitching in his mouth. Lucas waited for the disgust of eating raw meat to wash over him.

But the only thing that happened was that his stomach growled angrily because he had stopped eating. Lucas tried to spit the meat out, but his mouth worked against him, and he chewed instead, swallowing it.

"Traumatized. That's what I am," Lucas spoke around the meat in his mouth. 'What type of race is that Rashakas that they eat raw... and okay, sometimes cooked too, but they have no problem eating raw!' Lucas shook his head at his own thought.

At least his body had started healing now. Slowly, but it was getting there. If he could just wait and stay here to regain some strength. "What type of school wants to test their students like this anyway?" Lucas made a mental note to vote them down in their Rashaka reviews. If there's one.

He waited to see if the memories would throw something at him, but nothing. He shook his head and continued eating. Maybe he would be left alone.

Something clicked loudly in the room, like a bolt sliding into place, and the darkness parted like a raised curtain. The room brightened, and Lucas shielded his eyes with his left hand as the light entered.

He brought it down when his eyes adjusted. "So this is it." The room he was in was smaller than the last one, and its floor was covered in blood and pieces of the beasts.

He saw a door at the other end, open, but he couldn't see anything beyond it. Lucas stood, frowned at the pieces of beasts on the floor, and started picking up the limbs. "If I'm to eat them raw, then I'll at least eat the limbs. No way I'm eating the stomach with the gut." He shuddered.

As he ate, he wondered if he should have looked for water to at least wash them. 'Seems unhygienic. But who knows what type of acid I have in this stomach?' At the thought of acid, the memories stirred as if it were a trigger, but then settled, and Lucas sighed.

He wanted as much information as he could get about the place he was in. It didn't take long to eat four beasts' hands and legs. Kyrexiel's teeth were made for crushing bones.

He stood, his axe resting on his right shoulder, as he made his way over to the door, feeling his teeth with his tongue to remove a bone that was stuck there.

He walked out of the current room and entered... a garden? Everywhere he looked, there were plants growing, and of different colors. From the brightness of red, purple, blue, and green to the dull of brown and black.

"Well..." he looked back and found out he was now in the middle of the garden that smelled like damp earth and soil. And the plants had a smell that his body found familiar, but Kyrexiel didn't remember.

He turned around slowly, letting his eyes catch the different shades of the flowers. His eyes caught something glistening, and he walked over to investigate. "I said it! Water!"

It was a black pond, surrounded by big, smooth stones. Lucas squatted beside it, dropping his axe next to him. "I should remember to drink water or my shi..." he stopped as he noticed his reflection in the pond.

If there was any doubt, it was gone. He saw his eyes first, a deep purple with slitted gold pupils. He had long lashes, and his nose was slender and straight with a curved tip.

His mouth was thin and straight, pressed together firmly. Lucas frowned. "I look like the type of person that will look down on anyone from any position."

Thick purple hair gathered around his head like a lion's mane. Lucas flashed himself a smile. "This bastard must be rich or something. He looks as if he came from money." Like himself on Earth.

Which surprised him because Kyrexiel also had a warrior's body. He frowned as he caught the small bone lodged between his teeth. He removed it with his finger, and the small thing fell into the pond.

The small bone melted immediately upon touching the surface, smoking as it was vaporized.