He came back to himself after hearing a shriek. At his feet, the mangled corpse of the fat reverend laid in a pool of blood and gore.
Turning around towards the source of the shriek, he saw the young boy who served him earlier, standing in the hallway with a look of pure horror on his face while looking in his direction.
Instinct took over and he lunged towards the shrieking kid, knocking him back into the room he slept earlier in. Without even stopping to look at the young boy, he sprinted towards the stairs to get out of the church as fast as possible.
Once outside, even though it was night time, the streets were still bustling with activities. He chose a random direction and ran away before someone could see his bloodstained clothes. After several minutes of running, he was out of the village and back in the woods again.
Luckily for him, the city was built in the center of the forest, so it was easy for him to just run back inside to hide. Meantime, he was able to snatch a new set of clothes while running away but wanted to go deeper in the forest before stopping to dress up.
Realization dawned upon him while running that he didn't tire out. His body was bustling with energy and a new found strength was pulsing through his veins. After one hour of sprinting, he finally came to a stop. Looking around, the same thick fog was lingering in the air, just like the last time he was in a forest.
Was he back in the same one? He wasn't sure but if he was, he probably won't come across any animal just as before. Throwing his bloodstained clothes on the cold ground, he glimpsed once more at his own body. The physical changes nearly made him trip.
Gone were the twig-like arms and crooked fingers. He couldn't see his ribcage anymore and his skin had taken a more grayish tint, a direct contrast from the sickeningly pale white from earlier. Rubbing away the remains of the dry blood on his face with the dirty clothes, he began to ponder about what happened earlier.
He didn't remember much, except the feeling of endless hunger that took over his body.
The feeling was gone now.
He felt full, sated.
It wasn't hard for him to acknowledge the fact that he probably killed and ate the fat man. The evidence was plenty enough. Trying to think otherwise was delusional and no emotion such as remorse or disgust could even be felt.
What he needed now was a course of action.
" Ahh… what am I rea.."
Eyes bulging, he choked on his words while bringing a hand to his throat.
" I can finally speak.. "
Rubbing his throat as if scared he would lose the ability to speak once more, he began to ponder how his voice came back. The only possibility he could think of was the way his body changed drastically.
By eating the clergyman.
He could only guess that the consumption of flesh gave back his muscles their vigor. He didn't take into account the fact that his victim was from the church
" I just hope I'm not gonna jump on every bystander I come across and feed on them.. "
Even if he didn't feel remorse for the deed he had done, that doesn't mean that he was a lunatic who wanted to kill everyone on sight.
Without much more to figure out since his lack of information about nearly everything, he chose to go back to the city. Since he could now speak fluently, had new clothes and his physic was completely changed, the chances of him being associated with the murder was slim.
The old man who gave him a ride had said the city was named Isern, if he recalled correctly. He had to go back to gather information about the land, the surrounding area and maybe information about him. He knew that the latter was probably non-existent though.
Waiting one more hours in the woods, he walked back towards the still lit city.
Standing at the border of the forest, he took a closer look at the city in front of him, trying to glimpse at possible sentries who would be searching for him. Not seeing anyone, he carefully avoided bright places and silently made his way back inside a dark hallway.
Going back to the church would be plain stupid and he didn't have any money, so an Inn was out of reach. He settled for the night when he found a pile of hay near a pigsty.
He was able to sleep through the night without interference.
His sated feeling was still lingering around when he woke up so he went ahead in random streets until he arrived in the central area. Hundreds of people were walking around, selling or buying products. Drowned by the sounds, he spied a bar uphill and decided to try his luck there.
The door was already swung open so he casually entered and sat down on a nearby empty stool. The air inside was bitterly pungent, sweat and urine mixed together. The bar was crowded, from fallen drunkards to full fledged adventurers, with whore trying to entice some of the good and rich looking men.
Not bothering to call a waitress since he didn't have any money to start with, he just sat there and listened to the crowd, trying to peruse information that could be useful to him.
On his left, two drunkards were having a heated conversation.
" Did ya hear what happ'nd at the ol'church yes'erday? "
" Yeh, says a big'ol nasty hog skewered the pig himself, ironic eh! "
" A hog!? Tha was no hog you piss-poor swine, t'was a bloody demon wolf! "
One of the drunkards suddenly jumped on his feet, face red in anger.
" Who you calling a swine you wanker! A facking demon wolf? Have ya drink yer own piss again!? "
Since words were useless, both of the men started to fight and the crowd around them only served to stimulate them.
Looking elsewhere, he spotted a group of armed men around a table. Two of them were plain looking, with a minimum of equipment on them while the other two were way more armed. The strongest looking one was bald and he was hugging a whore in one big hand. The look on the whore face showed that she would rather be in the man's embrace on her left.
The man in question didn't let the drunkards fight distract him while he spoke to his companion.
" We don't have time to waste here and find the culprit who killed the reverend. Let the soldiers do their job, why do you think they offered a sum for helping in the subjugation?"
One of his companions who resembled more of a rat than a man answered.
" I.. I guess it's because they are too lazy? "
" No Ryndel.. it's because they either couldn't catch it, find it or worse, it was strong enough to escape. Either way, it means alot of wasting time, which we can't afford. In case you forgot, we need to be in Stugatt by the end of the week. Remember Stugatt? "
" Y...yes Ghelv, w..we are going to Stugatt for the annual mercenary recruitment of the Night C..Coven "
" Exactly Ryndel. Now tell me, do you think in that big brain of yours that we have time to waste here? "
" B..but the money.."
Hitting the table with a gauntlet fist, Ghelv told his lackeys " To hell with your money, how much do you think the coven will pay us each month if we are able to join them? Way more than this meager sum the city guards is offering "
Not wanting to argue any further and fearing to be left alone if so, the lackey just dropped his head and stopped talking.
The strong looking one gave a hard slap on the whore ass, making her squeal.
" When are we leaving then? "
Ghelv looked at his most trusted companion, a big hulk of a man he came across years ago when he was assembling his team.
" We leave tomorrow at dawn. I can trust you will be done with her then, Ander? "
Smiling broadly with his yellowed teeth, Ander lifted the whore with one arm while picking himself up.
" I'll be done and ready "
He watched the hulking man walk past him with the saddened but resolved whore in his arm.
Looking back at the three men that stayed at the table, he focused once more on them, particularly on this man named Ghelv.
" I know that Ander's will be ready for tomorrow, but you both will return to your housing immediately. No whoring or booze today. If you are late for even a minute, I'm leaving you both behind to rot in whatever fucking places you prefer "
Both men gulped noisily, acknowledged in silence and departed to their room, leaving the seemingly leader alone at the table.
The man named Ghelv had the face of a born leader. Clean shaved, white teeth and trimmed hair just showed everyone around that he was of a superior caste. The man had short black hair with pale green eyes. His nose was a little bit crooked but nothing too much. Probably got punched in the face by someone he annoyed.
Thinking he could gather some information from the two simpletons that left earlier, he stood up and walked towards the man named Ghelv.
" Mind if I s.. "
" Get the fuck out of my face "
" … "