In this World, the strong were privileged. It sounded cliché, but it was true. Those that could survive going out to gather food and resources were praised. Those that could only live on others like a leech were disdained.
This man was a leech.
He had no talent, he had no strength, he had no wisdom.
He was weak.
So just like the others, he was ignored. The food he was given was the bare minimum, eventually making him become malnourished. With no food, no magical herbs, no nothing. He became even weaker.
Luckily, the concept of bullying didn't even exist yet. Otherwise you could imagine what would happen.
But this man wasn't quite like the others.
He was…
INSATIABLE!
'FOOOOOOOD!'
His eyes were opened terrifyingly wide with desire and desperation, the burst blood vessels in his eyes making him look more horrifying.
The way he bent his fingers to emulate claws, helplessly grabbing at the air. It was like a chained ghost that had suffered thousands of years full of starvation had possessed him.
The unintelligible howls that he screeched didn't improve the image.
'STREEEEENGTH!'
Copious amounts of saliva spluttered out of his mouth.
His peers only looked once before shuffling away.
'He's going crazy again' is what could be interpreted from their thoughts. They couldn't understand why 'this one' always got like this when he was denied more food. He was weak. Why does he have to be so angry?
"EEEEERRAAAAKIRAYEEEH!" The man let out an even more terrifying scream, venting his frustrations.
He was very, very angry.
Why did they deny him so? Was it wrong to eat until his belly no longer hurt? Was it wrong to seek strength? Wouldn't it only benefit them if he became strong? Why did they deny him? Why… why, wHY, WHY?!
"EEERRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Screeching like a banshee and slamming his arms against the ground like a savage gorilla. It was quite petrifying.
'Do… do they want me to die?!'
A normal person in his position would think 'do they hate me?', But first of all he was obviously not normal, and 2, there were no levels of evil here apart from death.
In his mind, such a thing as 'hate', 'bullying', 'just taking the piss out of you' - did not exist.
Since they acted like this towards him. They-
'THEY WANT ME TO DIE!'
The man clawed at the dirt in his hands and repeatedly banged his head on the ground, his spine-chilling eyes becoming more red.
But even as he knocked his head on the ground, his eyes never left the bodies of his peers.
'I WANT TO EAAAAATTTTT!'
An ugly emotion was born in his heart, consuming his mind like an all-encompassing black cloud.
For the first time in the history of humanity. Hatred was directed at another of the same race. The desire that a predator had for prey, was directed towards those of the same race…
The desire to kill… no, it was the desire to murder - was born.
Over the next few days. The death rate had somehow increased. Confusing and worrying the ignorant humans. They thought that made a new group of predators hand encroached on their territory.
But that was not true.
The reason was none other than the insatiable man - who we will call the 'crying ghost' for now.
Crying Ghost was still weak, so it wasn't like he was killing people with his power.
But what he did was far more sinister.
He would tag along with the foragers when the went out looking for food, and when they were severely weakened by predator attacks…
He would go for the kill!
After separating them from the rest of the group, he would use a broken stalactite that the humans used as a weapon and sneak up on them, literally stabbing them in the back.
He would then voraciously eat their remains, especially targeting the blood, claiming that the sense of revenge and victory made it sweet.
Each time he did this, he became stronger. Even if it was human flesh, he was eating meat while others were eating plants. Not only was he getting the nutrients from the meat, but he was absorbing the essence in their blood that came from them eating essence-rich-herbs.
Despite the fact that he returned home alone nearly every time. No one suspected him. This was because it was completely out of their imagination and what you can't imagine, you can't guess.
That's like expecting someone to know what flying means even if they've never seen a bird before.
So they used their limited imagination to guess that he might have found a super herb that was making him stronger and stronger. After that they didn't think much, they only thought that there was now another expert to help them gather food.
So the Crying Ghost kept on with his devious actions, becoming stronger and stronger.
Soon enough, he became the strongest.
This caused others to admire him. But if they had any decent knowledge. The would have suspected the red in his eyes that only ever kept in creasing, nearly touching his iris.
At this point he was frighteningly addicted to blood. This wasn't the affect of the blood itself but the result of the rush he got each time he satisfied his vengeance. But he didn't know that and tied the existence of this rush to the blood and what the mind wholeheartedly believes, the body follows.
Soon, he began to covet the blood of stronger beings. He wanted to drink the blood of those that used to frighten him in the past; the beasts!
But he was pretty smart at this point. The blood he absorbed nourished his whole body including his brain so he knew that if he went out to attack those terrifying beast, his life would be in danger.
So he hatched a hair-raising plan.
In his clan of 8000 humans, he decided to start a competition.
He forced everyone to pair up with a partner, causing great confusion, but they complied because he was the strongest.
He naturally couldn't communicate so things were a bit of a struggle but he managed to eventually convey his intention to…
Have them fight to the death!