Battle For Meat
Something was different this time.
Kassian did not prioritize survival above all else unlike before.
Not now.
Not with that lying before him.
His expression said it all - eyes wide, breath shallow, a gluttonous spark gleaming where fear once resided.
That was a free meal right there!
Real meat! The real deal!
Back in the Oceanic City, Kassian had only tasted meat once - when his uncle scraped together enough to treat him to a tiny restaurant when he was still a child. Resources were scarce, and meat was a luxury few could afford. The cities fed their citizens nutrient-based liquids - tasteless, colorless, soulless. Just enough to keep people functioning. Just enough nutrients to survive.
But never to live.
Kassian had grown up thin, barely nourished. And now, after days of eating heart-shaped leaves and unfamiliar mushrooms that barely scraped the edge of satisfaction - although better than those tasteless artificial food - his body remembered something primal.
Meat.
His taste buds flared at the thought. He could still recall old footage - humans tearing into roasted flesh, laughter in their eyes, juice dripping from their chins.
He had drooled back then.
He was drooling now.
It didn't matter that the animal was mangled. It didn't matter that its innards were missing or that its predator might return. The hunger in his stomach had twisted into something deeper, more demanding.
He needed it.
But he wasn't reckless.
The predator might have already eaten its fill and left. But it might return. Kassian couldn't tell how fresh the corpse was - though the absence of decay hinted it hadn't been long.
Then there were scavengers. They'd come, sooner or later, and inevitably eat their own fill.
Either way, time was against him.
He had to move. Fast.
Kassian crept forward, crouching low.
The corpse was still warm.
Steam faintly rose from the torn flesh, mingling with the earthy scent of the forest. His instincts screamed caution - told him he was doing something insane - but his hunger drowned them out.
He scanned the area for any sign of movement. Nothing. The trees were silent. The stream babbled somewhere behind him like a lullaby meant to ease his fear.
His gaze landed on a jagged rock half-buried near the bush.
He snatched it.
It was rough, but the edge was sharp enough - shaped by nature, not by hands. He approached the carcass, heart pounding like it might burst from his chest, and knelt beside the open ribcage.
The original predator had devoured most of the vital organs. From what he can recall, these parts were rich in nutrients and provided a source of concentrated energy. Thus, predators ate them first.
The stomach cavity was empty, the ribs licked clean. But there were still parts left - meat clinging to bone, untouched muscle along the haunch and upper leg.
He could work with that.
He pressed the jagged rock against the hide.
Nothing.
Not even a scratch.
His brows furrowed.
He tried again, this time harder - dragging the edge of the rock along the hide like a saw. Still nothing. It was like trying to cut stone with his nails and his arms began to numb.
He cursed under his breath and changed tactics, aiming for the softer, exposed flesh inside the torn belly.
The rock bit in.
Slowly.
He sawed at a strip of pinkish muscle, the motion rough and slow, but the flesh yielded. Not easily - but enough.
Then pain flared.
Kassian yelped and jerked his hand back.
Blood welled from a pair of shallow cuts on his fingers. The edge of the stone had slipped.
He stared at his hand in disbelief.
The rock cut him instantly. His skin was nothing to it. Yet he couldn't even scratch the beast's hide.
The realization hit him like a blow: Even with proper weapons, he can't kill something like this.
He wasn't a hunter.
Not here.
Not in this world.
Whatever had brought that thing down… it was much more powerful.
Kassian swallowed hard, the sting in his fingers sharpening his focus.
He glanced at the treeline.
No movement. Not yet.
Teeth clenched, he returned to his grisly task, hacking free a strip of flesh as best he could. He worked quickly, silently, always glancing over his shoulder. Every second he lingered was a risk.
But for the first time in days, he had real food.
And that changed everything.
Kassian managed to cut uneven chunks of meat from the exposed belly, stuffing them into his pouch with trembling hands. Each slice was hard-won, and the sharp rock bit into his fingers more than once, leaving smears of blood on the pale, warm flesh. But he didn't stop.
Greed had overtaken him.
It wasn't until he finally dislodged a larger chunk - nearly the size of his forearm - that something shifted inside him. A flicker of guilt. A jolt of awareness.
'What am I doing?'
He stared at the bloodied strip in his hand, suddenly seeing it for what it was: not just food, but bait.
A lure orchestrated by nature.
And he was still kneeling beside it.
Heart pounding, Kassian wrapped the chunk in one of his large, dried leaves, tied it with a vine, and scrambled to his feet. Without wasting another second, he dashed toward the bushes.
The forest seemed to breathe around him - alive, alert, listening.
Before ducking fully into the undergrowth, he risked a glance back.
At first, he saw nothing but trees. Then--
A branch bent unnaturally, and a massive shape slithered between the trunks. Four limbs moved in a slow, deliberate crawl. A wide, blunt snout pushed past the underbrush. Its tongue flicked - long, forked, and unnervingly precise. The creature was a lizard. At least, at first glance.
But then it stood up.
Its front limbs lifted from the ground, and its spine curved upward with shocking fluidity. The beast balanced on two powerful legs, easily twice Kassian's height. Jagged ridges ran along its back, and its scaled chest flexed with each breath. It paused, head tilting. Scenting the air.
Kassian didn't wait.
He sprinted through the brush, crashing past low-hanging branches and roots, the bundle of meat tight in his hand.
No time for stealth. No time for thought.
He burst from the thicket and reached the stream in seconds. Its calm, murmuring waters were a relief to his senses - but not enough to slow him down.
Without hesitation, he turned downstream, racing along the edge where stone met water, heading back toward the swifter river.
He didn't look back again.
He didn't need to. At least, for now.
Whatever that thing was, it had found the kill.
And it was hungry.
While racing toward the river, Kassian felt a subtle vibration in the air - like pressure rippling outward. Something was flapping.
He halted mid-stride, breath shallow, and scanned the canopy overhead. Then, behind him - movement.
A winged figure descended in eerie silence, gliding down from above before perching on the thick branch of a towering tree that loomed over the stream. Its landing was too graceful. Too intentional.
It must've been drawn by the noise he made - the splashing of his muddied shoes through the crystalline water.
From a distance, it looked almost human.
But no… not quite.
Feathers coated its body in a radiant, unnatural sheen - iridescent hues shifting with the light. It walked upright like a person, but its birdlike legs ended in hooked talons, perfect for clutching prey and ripping them apart. Its arms, though jointed like a human's, were bound with vibrant feathers that stretched into long, elegant wings.
Its eyes glowed amber. Piercing. Intelligent.
Too intelligent.
And when its mouth parted, there was no beak - only a human-like mouth filled with jagged teeth made for ripping, not speaking.
Kassian stiffened.
It looked at him. Not with hunger, but curiosity. Recognition, even.
Then it moved - slowly, confidently strutting across the branch - and its feathers began to shimmer.
Like magic woven through flesh, the feathers receded, vanishing into porcelain-pale skin. The creature's form shifted, melted into something familiar yet wrong. Very wrong.
A woman stood there now. Graceful. Naked. Perfect.
Unashamed.
Pointy ears jutted out of a long green hair that spilled down her back like a curtain of ivy, framing her unnaturally beautiful face. She smiled - a seductive curl of the lips meant to entice. But Kassian felt only unease crawl down his spine.
He wasn't seduced.
He was creeped the hell out.
The creature - harpy, or whatever it was - leapt from the branch. A drop of over ten meters. She landed with such delicate ease that the stream barely rippled beneath her bare feet.
She bent down, picked something up from the ground… and raised it to her mouth.
A chunk of meat.
Kassian's eyes widened in horror.
It was his. One of the pieces he'd cut earlier must've fallen from his purse.
The harpy tore into it with delicate hands and sharp teeth, savoring it like a delicacy.
Kassian cursed under his breath - and ran.