Empty shell

The woman who had begged him to kill them let out a sharp, uneven breath, her knees giving out beneath her. She sank to the ground, pressing her hands against her face as muffled sobs escaped her lips. Relief. Fear. Maybe even guilt. Kaden had seen it all before.

He didn't linger on it. He had already done more than he intended.

But the priestess? She still hadn't moved.

Kaden gave her a sidelong glance. "What about you? You both should go back into the barrier and try killing something weaker to level up."

She met his gaze evenly, eyes eerily calm.

"Okay." He said, already turning toward the dense trees. "Got more important things to deal with." Giving them one last look, he started running towards the egg sac once again. Once he was outside their field of view, he shifted into his raven form.

Kaden's body shrank and contorted in an instant, feathers bursting forth as his bones hollowed and restructured. The moment his transformation was complete, he flapped his wings hard, taking off into the night sky.

The world below him became nothing but a dark blur, the trees stretching endlessly in every direction. He didn't waste time looking back—whether the priestess stayed behind or not wasn't his concern anymore. He had a mission.

As he soared, his sharp raven eyes scanned the forest below, cutting through the darkness with ease. The egg sac was close. Within a few minutes he reached the kobold turf and the next second, lo and behold he was perched atop a tree right next to the cave entrance. If it still could be called that.

Kaden's eyes widened with shock as he saw the carnage that lay outside what previously used to be the cave. He no longer needed to wonder where the beast horde went. Here it was. All the beasts dead and lifeless.

Corpses were strewn about everywhere, some half-eaten, some ripped apart beyond recognition. Kaden's feathers ruffled involuntarily. Whatever had done this hadn't just killed—it had fed.

Kaden's talons gripped the branch tightly as he took in the horror below. The ground was a massacre of twisted bodies, fur, scales, and bones. Blood had long since soaked into the dirt, turning it into a dark, sickly mire. The sheer brutality of it sent a chill through him.

This was systemic slaughter and something had devoured and left the remains like discarded trash.

His gaze darted over the scene, scanning for any sign of movement. The egg sac had to be deeper inside the cave, but that also meant whatever had caused this carnage could still be lurking in the shadows.

After some time nothing moved and he decided to check things out with his other form. He directly switched to the rat form. 

Kaden's body twisted, bones cracking and shrinking as he shifted into his rat form. It was still painful, but he had figured out a trick—switching directly between animal forms was slightly less agonizing than shifting back into human first.

His small, clawed paws landed softly on the branch, his vision changing as his senses heightened. The world smelled louder now. Blood. Rot. It smelled less revolting.

He took a deep breath—or rather, the rodent equivalent—and scurried down the tree trunk, keeping to the shadows. His small form moved unnoticed against the carnage below as he darted between corpses, weaving past the bloodied remains of beasts that once rampaged across these lands.

His little heart beat faster as he came closer to the cave. He hesitated for a moment before creeping inside.

The cave was darker than he remembered. He continued scurrying downward, sometimes having to burrow past a blockage but he eventually got down there. The familiar cavern was mostly collapsed but still there. The next second a shiver ran through his tiny frame.

It was still there. The egg sac was still there.

He ran over to look at it closely when he mentally slapped himself. The egg sac only looked so big and whole because he was now tiny. When he looked closely at it, he could see the torn pieces sagging down and parts of it dried up.

Kaden's tiny claws dug into the dirt as he cautiously crept closer to the remains of the egg sac. Now that he was seeing it from up close, he could tell—it wasn't just hatched, it was emptied.

The thick membrane, once pulsing with life, was now nothing but shriveled, torn flesh, hardened in places where the fluids had dried. The ground around it was soaked in something dark and viscous, not quite blood, not quite anything he recognized.

Whatever had been inside… it had burst free.

Shit! He was already too late. Where was he going to find this beast? It could have gone anywhere by now. If he found it would he even be strong enough to face it?

As he mulled over things silently, he reached for the dried up egg sac and decided to do something disgusting. He took a bite out of that egg sac, trying to see if that would give him any more stat boosts.

He only barely swallowed that small piece when suddenly the ground started rumbling. A tremor ran through him and a furious roar shook the cavern walls. 

Dust and debris rained down from above as the deep, guttural sound reverberated through the tunnels, sending a primal chill down Kaden's spine. His tiny rat body trembled as an overwhelming pressure flooded the air.