I opened my eyes and then shut them right away. It should have been a mostly cloudy day with hardly any light.
It now felt like I was being blinded from the brightness. I placed a hand up to shield my eyes as I opened them again, but I was already to close them again.
Sensory overload assaulted me with a telescoping vision that pulled me back and forth. Every time I focused, my vision zoomed in close, to the point where I could see the most minor details in everything.
Looking at the grass was like peering into a bladed forest alive with insects, worms, and other things. I could count the pollen on a flower over fifty paces away.
I closed my eyes again and tried to focus. How did I get here?
I was just touching the Dungeon Core, and I got The Blood Servant System, but what does that mean?
I took off a gauntlet and reached to my back to feel where the lizard had dug its claws into me. I could feel the broken links, torn cloth, but smooth and icy skin.
I brought my hand forward, and then, I slowly opened my eyes. I tried concentrating only on my exposed hand, trying not to let my vision wander.
I shook off my other gauntlet and then slowly touched my hand. It was the same, ice-cold like I had been out in a storm.
Now I was really starting to get worried as I touched my face. I felt the same cold, but my hands were not pale or blue, and I felt excellent in the physical sense.
Mentally, something was slowly invading my mind. It was not the binocular vision or the coldness of my skin; it was more visceral than that.
It was a kind of hunger that was slowly surfacing and making itself felt in my mind, creating an emptiness inside of me and the need to fill it. It was something sweet, and then I started to feel colder.
What the hell was going on with me? I stumbled back into a wall and slid down it.
The hunger was almost like a whisper, but I had no idea what I was hungry for. It wasn't like I could even get up yet to do something about it.
I needed to fix my vision; that was first, hunger be damned! I was useless with my eyes in this state. I would be more than likely to trip on flat ground or walk into someone.
I closed my eyes again and concentrated; I just needed to calm myself down and get back to the house. My idiot father might know what to do about this.
Thankfully, my brothers had moved out; this weakness would have made me the target for their jokes. I opened my eyes again and got up, anger pumped the blood in my veins, and suddenly, I was able to see fine.
Now I was up, but the hunger was starting to get to me. It felt like a hole inside of my body that needed to be filled. I bent and picked up my gauntlets and started walking back to town.
I gave a brief glance back to the dungeon entrance, a gray stone archway with an oily barrier that stretched across the opening. That was when I felt around my person but soon stopped, letting my shoulders sag.
My weapon was gone, along with my shield, and I had very little in the way of saving. That stupid priest was carrying all the loot left behind by the monster.
He and the rest of them were now absorbed into the dungeon. That went the same for the rest of the things left behind, monsters, humans, and loot.
Each trip into a dungeon was different, and you could never meet another party while you were in there, but that didn't stop people from waiting outside of dungeons to rob parties leaving.
There were no rules to dungeons, and the law was lost without proof. When an attack like that would happen, the robbers would just throw the dead bodies back. Once they fell into the dungeon, they would be absorbed and never found.
It had only been six months since these structures, and the idiotic gods showed up. The war stopped, but it was traded for faction wars and guild turf battles.
I walked into my hometown, which had recently received a name change. It had been called Tiagelia, but that was changed to Healia, named after our very own Goddess.
Yes, in the flesh and as bright as a bag of hammers. For a Goddess, she was nice but almost too friendly. I was heading to my home that was only another five minutes of walking, but suddenly I froze.
There was something sweet and delicious in the air. I could smell it like I was next to the fruity scent, and it made me heat up inside, cutting some chill.
The hunger level multiplied, and that's when I heard the scream. I knew exactly where it came from. The echo came from around the corner and behind the house I was standing in front of.
The information from the smell translated into my mind outside of the fruity scent. Suddenly I was aware that something was going on, and it wasn't right.
I ran around the building to find a man holding a blade to a girl's throat while trying to hike her dress up from behind. That was when I saw it drip from her neck where the tip of the blade was pressed too hard.
Blood. Strawberry sweetness. The two thoughts bled together to mean the same.
The rage of emotions and feelings made me heat up inside even hotter. Whether it was the man trying to force himself on the woman or the hunger, my body moved on its own.
I was standing beside the man before his head could start moving.
'Eosinophil- Target Weakness, Red Cells- Increased strength, speed, reaction.' -Scratchy deep feminine voice.
I felt something burning inside of me, but it wasn't pain. A red spot appeared glowing on the side of the man's neck. I didn't hesitate. I rammed my fist into the man's neck.
The man dropped the knife from his shaking hand as he fell to the ground choking. His head turned slowly and looked into my eyes, and I watched them as he tried to gasp for air.
My hunger dove me to act without waiting, but this was too much power and speed. Yet, I only wanted to taste the single drop of blood that leaked down the blonde girl's neck was too much to handle.
The girl tried to turn around, but I pinned her to the wall. I wasn't in control anymore; the thirst for the strawberry nectar was too much.
I was pressing my body against her as she cried out softly. I had never been this close to a woman like this. I was becoming aroused as my breast pressed into her back.
I was so close now that I could almost taste it. I stretched my tongue out to taste what I wanted so bad and slid my tongue over the drop.
Instantly, I felt pain in my mouth as my teeth started to shift. I could feel the change, and my heart was racing at an uncontrollable rate.
What was I doing? I had just saved this girl so I could...but I couldn't stop now, I had tasted her sweet nectar.
"I'm sorry."
That was all I could whisper before opening my mouth and sinking my freshly grown fangs into her soft neck.