Once the tip of the boot disappeared into the mouth, the immense blood-lust I felt faded. The pair was no match for me. In the past I would have never been able to fight someone like him, but now it was too easy. With a single hand I could crush his bones. I could give him a ten second head start and still chase him down before he'd run two hundred meters. If I felt like it, I could stand still and let him attack again and again. Whatever I couldn't dodge would just bounce off me. I was disappointed. I had thought he would provide me with more strength, but aside from the energy I absorbed I felt no change. He was too weak.
I walked back to my den. I had found a rocky area far away from the usual routes that hunters travelled. The shade it provided kept the sun from my back. I stepped inside and sat down. Even in the darkness, I could see the surrounding area. I had no possessions, only the loin cloth wrapped around my waist. Compulsively, I reached up and touched the scar on my neck. It covered an area the size of a palm, below my ear. When I recalled that night it was indistinct.
When I had awoken, I was in extreme pain. Evidently I had missed my head shot; the energy bolt had fired straight through my neck. Still I should have been dead. My bones were warping beneath my skin and my chest was splitting in half. My lungs and heart had disappeared. I no longer had to breathe, making my screams empty. I still had a pulse, but I didn't know where it was coming from. It was only after a few days that the chest mouth opened slightly to bring air flowing through my larynx. Even after all these days, I hadn't yet figured out how it worked. Eventually I regained my senses. I presumed that I hadn't been unconscious for long, as Cyrn had yet to return.
Then it hit me - hunger that I had never felt before. It was all-encompassing, always at the front of my mind. It came before any thought I had. Hunger. Hunger. Eat. Eat. I turned to the side. The smell of blood had filled the air. Two corpses were before me.
I couldn't control myself as I leapt onto the body of the man. The mouth immediately bit into him, swallowing him down. It didn't take long until his entire body was eaten. Sare's body was still there. And the hunger consumed me. I blinked and she had gone. Only tattered remains from her clothing were left. Then a feeling began to well up inside me. It was intense fear. And then pain. And then a relief that it had come to the end. I vomited, but only bile came out. Horrified and ashamed, I fled.
I found the cave and crashed to the ground, convulsing. A new power filled me. My muscles felt much stronger and my reflexes became quicker. It seemed that my life before had been on fast forward. I hit the ground and the rock crumbled. It took me a while to adapt. The hunger never left.
Compelled, I left the cave to hunt. I didn't let any creature escape. Rodents, insects - it did not matter. I ate them all. It was then that I discovered my eyes becoming better. I could see in the dark and catch sight of the smallest of movement. My sense of smell became much sharper too. My smell radius grew rapidly. The smell of blood filled my nostrils.
I tracked down the first set of humans. It didn't take long to kill them all.
The mouth was able to consume, seemingly, anything. All contents would vanish into that darkness, never to be seen again. I produced no waste. Stranger still was the ability to absorb all nutrients from whatever I had eaten. There was little water out here in this zone. Fortunately, it seemed that I could directly absorb the fluid flowing through anything I ate. I noticed things changing, depending on what I had eaten. If I ate someone strong I would become stronger. If I ate a snake I would be better able to sense temperature. These were abilities I had only heard of before. They were exclusive to super humans.
The world looked completely different than it used to. I could track and follow a single grain of sand blowing through the cave. I could detect any creature within one hundred metres of me. When I moved, the world became slower. I was able to notice nearly everything that I passed. I knew that a storm would arrive within the next two hours and I knew that the current temperature was about thirty degrees Celsius. I also knew that I only had an hour before the hunger would take over.
I looked down at my torso. The mouth was closed at the moment, making it look like I had a giant scar running up the front of my body. I habitually scratched the scar on my neck. A piece peeled away. There was something squishy inside the opening. I dug my fingers inside. I pinched it and pulled it out. It was the creature that had burrowed into me. My hand carefully held it. It was a weird feeling. Like my hand was sad.
I scanned it with my new enhanced senses. It wasn't moving. It was the first time I managed to actually examine whatever had infected me. It reminded me of a jellyfish. Its body was clear; you could see straight into its inner organs. It was squishy too. It was shaped like a beetle, with an outer layer and six legs curled underneath. There were razor mandibles at the front of its head. I shivered at the memory of it burrowing beneath my skin. It was about the size of an old bullet, like the tip of my pinky finger, and upon closer inspection I noticed a patch of tentacle-like appendages growing out from the back of its head. I had never seen anything like it before. It was completely alien.
I flipped it over. There were scorch mark on its belly, blackening it. It was as if a lightning bolt had struck it. I couldn't decide if I was lucky or unlucky. The energy bolt I fired had managed to hit the creature, saving my life and denying the monster access to my brain, but death would have been preferable to the horrors I had witnessed over the past few weeks. Being forced to watch yourself not only kill and eat other people, but revel in it. Failing to save Sare truly had a grave consequence. The punishment was hard to bear.
I watched it for nearly half an hour, trying to catch any slight movement. I couldn't detect anything from it. It was dead. I tore away a strip of cloth from my loincloth and wrapped the creature up inside. I didn't know quite what to do with it. I had a deep fear of this monster, a monster that could turn others into monsters, but strangely now, I felt connected to it. As I held it, it gave me a feeling of melancholy. The hole in my neck felt empty.
The mouth on my chest opened slightly and released a noise. I was very startled by this - the mouth had never made a noise before, only the sounds of eating. My hand wanted to bring the creature and caress it against the mouth. But then I stopped. An enormous feeling of elation rushed over me. Not wanting to jinx myself, I hurriedly dispelled those thoughts. I was scared to try again, scared that the next time I tried nothing would happen and I would continue my enslavement. After a while my arm still remained in place. It hadn't budged at all. I tentatively tried to scratch my nose.
Ha ha! It worked! It actually worked! Sweet, sweet relief rushed over me. I quickly ran my hand through my hair and touched my eyes and mouth. Every day, you subconsciously touch your face. Having gone weeks without any contact, no itches scratches, no fingers running through my hair, I teared up at the feeling. It reminded me of how I was before the change. My fingernail scratched me, causing a thin red line on my cheek. Ouch! I yelped. The nail retracted. I blinked.
I spent the next few minutes staring at my nails. It was amazing! I had been forced to watch as my nails hardened and sharpened, before being plunged into some guy's neck or holding down a rodent. However, that had now all changed. I was in control! The nails retracted at my command. Not even the crusted blood stains beneath them distracted me. This was just too amazing! I could pull them back in to look as my old self had, nicely clipped human nails, not claws. The hope that flooded through me brought me to my knees. There was hope. Hope that I could still be saved. That I could once again become a human.
I sat in a silent daze. My thoughts had returned. I never thought that I could feel joy at being able to think clearly. I was Rav, seventeen years old this year, I didn't know who my parents were, but that was alright because I made my own family at the orphanage. I had a brother called Cyrn and a girl that I liked called Sare... Sare. There was a girl that I used to like called Sare; a girl that I had eaten. She didn't even get a funeral. A pulse like fire rushed up my spine. I had no idea where it started but at this moment it zapped directly into my brain. An image began to form.
"What do you want in the future?" I asked. Sitting opposite me were two boys. One was scrawny with rust coloured hair. As usual, he had a large toothy grin plastered across his face and was filled with a boundless energy and vigour. The other had the makings of a small titan. His skin was darker and his frame was already building. His eyes already held the confidence and pride of a warrior. His hair was black, like oil, and cut short in a military style.
"I'm going to travel through all the known worlds! Then once I've explored them all, I'll discover all of the unknown worlds!" The smaller boy exclaimed.
"I will protect all that I care for. I will save those who are in danger and rid the worlds of those that wish harm upon their fellow men." The taller boy was composed and stern beyond his years. It was as if a mountain had been compressed into human form.
"What about you?" The smaller boy asked, eagerly awaiting my response.
"I wish to see the world and experience all that it has to offer. I want a place that is my own, to share with those I love. I want to share my experiences with those around me; to truly explore all that I can."
The two boys stared at me, wide-eyed. The smaller boy's expression made me giggle and I saw a light glint in his eyes.
"Then we should form a team!" The taller boys' voice resonated within the small room. "We will always be together, always striving to achieve our goals and always looking to help the others achieve their goals."
"Yes!" I was excited. "We will stick together, no matter who stands against us. With the three of us together, we will carve out a path!"
"None will stand before us as we soar towards the heavens! To be a team for life. Allies through everything!" The smaller boy exclaimed.
"Then it's settled. From today the three of us will hunt in a team. To our bright future!" I cried out, raising my hand in the air. The two boys followed my lead.
"Towards the blazing future!"
The rush of energy faded and once more I was looking at the floor in the cave. I remembered that day. How could I forget it? It was the moment our lives had changed. Each of us had been alone, looking for others to share in our struggles. "Comradery is extremely important. No one can achieve their dreams on their own." This was one of the primary messages taught at our school. It was from these bases that the kingdoms had been formed. A bond to the hunt was one that would bind our hearts forever.
The experience was incredibly moving. Having had no human contact or interaction, the closeness I felt from that memory was the same as being embraced by a mother. The realisation of it inspired me. Sare was alive. She was living within me, and I was to carry her dreams forwards. I made a vow to myself. I would live on for as long as I could, taking Sare to see all of the worlds, through my eyes. Her legacy would live on through me, and nothing would ever take that away.