The colours became more and more vibrant as I continued to tear through the legion of deep black.
Where once a blanket of darkness stood now appeared more like an army of blackened husks.
I ripped through each one with increasing joy.
I smelt fear ebbing from them as they died to my claws.
My mind blanks except for the same repeating word twisting around inside my head.
"Devour"
My mind was infatuated with those same words.
I laughed.
It's all I could think to do.
Laugh and laugh and laugh.
My body took over. Slashing and ripping through the creatures ahead of me.
My brain was a prison for my mind who desperately fought against those same words.
"Devour"
I watched those dark creatures scuttle away in fear as I approached. They feared me.
Finally, the monotonous devours made way for one louder and more prominent devour.
It tore through my brain seemingly hushing its compatriots. The word broke my stupor. My mind throttled itself back into the control seat. My body no longer mindlessly cleaved through the waves of darkness.
The vibrant colours pulled back to reveal a drab field of green and red. The darkness fell back to reveal ranks of small green creatures.
I stared down at myself.
Sticky red liquid coated my fur and armour dripping on the floor.
Flesh and organs lay at my feet strewn around the area.
Despite my now solitary position without the goblins hordes not a single one of them dared to approach me.
My once energized body became a shattered mess of fatigue and pain. My legs desperately yearned to fall from beneath me.
It would be all too soon before the goblins realised by emerging weakness. They would show the same mercy I showed their comrades.
It all made sense now. The scene In my head was no dream or hallucination. It was real life. I had torn through the goblin ranks like an animal. Pulling them limb from limb.
A deathly taste still clung to my tongue.
The once-silent battlefield sprung back into its usual mess of different noises.
Rats now having been invigorated slaughtered the goblins from both flanks.
They would never stand a chance at reaching me before these goblins realised I no longer held that demon-like strength.
They were closing in one me. One by one gaining the courage to edge closer sticking their weapons out in front of them.
"Devour"
That same fucking word.
It haunted my shattered mind.
I let out one last deathly schreetch at the goblins.
I steadied myself and resolved myself to my fate. If death was to take me I would not go willingly.
I gazed forward to find an unmistakable strange scene. The once courageous goblins coming to deliver my end were now running. Screams of horror and fear rang out as they desperately ran.
Many pushed past me but none wasted the time to finish me off.
I mustered the last of my strength to turn around.
A monster.
Half rat, half abomination. Its tremendous maw swallowing goblins by the tens. It walked on four legs not dissimilar to a rat yet this one was several hundred times larger. Every step shook the solid dirt beneath us and crushed tens of goblins in the process.
Its teeth were larger than even the largest of blades and several times more horrid. Its thick coat of fur seemed almost spliced together out of hundreds of small rats. Stitches and wounds covered the creature.
Atop the creature rode a disgusting beast even more vile than its mount. Where only one rider should have sat was several thousand rats. No larger than the average rat yet they formed together to create a tremendous amalgamation of flesh and bone.
Each rat's mouth opened in complete unison to let out a haunting cackle.
My legs finally gave out as I plummeted to the ground.
I could no longer hold back the fatigue as sleep took me.
"Morning snowball"
A joyous voice broke the silence as my eyes darted back open.
I was back. The same dream I've dreamed so many times before.
It was different this time. Where normally stood just a simple white room was now replaced by a white box which imprisoned me on all sides. Just ahead of me stood a small hole just large enough to where I could slip through.
"Snowball for our little adventure today I just want you to navigate this small maze ahead of you".
The voice came from nowhere but still I recognized it. The same creature which had spoken before.
Step by step I plodded forward. It felt weird walking on four legs but I managed.
I slipped my way through several white corridors occasionally finding dead ends and having to turn back. It took but a minute to reach the end of the maze. Another large white box lay at the end with some pellet-looking things in the middle.
"Incredible job snowball, you enjoy that food I left for you"
I approached the 'food' with apprehension but upon smelling the sweet aroma combined with the biting hunger which had plagued me from the start I laid waste to the small pellets.
As I was chowing down a squeaking sound interrupted my meal.
"What are you doing, .̶̮͗͆.̶͇̆́̋-̸̫̤͂͌.̶̲̗̈́̈́̑ͅ-̶̮̾͗=̶̠͙̂̾/̸̪̙̺͂'̴̟̌*̵̱̾̚͠ "
This voice was higher than the other and spoke in a more feminine manner. Most likely a women's version of whatever this creature was. Its speech was equally as clear up until that last word.
"Oh sorry Laura I was just playing with Snowball here".
He let out an awkward-sounding chuckle as if embarrassed.
"Awww, he's so cute"
Cute, I'm a deadly warrior not cute. This woman has some nerves. I let out a small hiss in return.
"haha, he doesn't seem happy about that"
They both let out a chicklet at my expense before chatting with each other about unintelligible things.
I spent my time pondering around the maze or scratching at the walls in a genius attempt to escape.
I was unsuccessful. Although soft feeling the material the box was made from was as smooth as steel making it hard for my much smaller claws to dig in.
However, giving up was equally as unhelpful. I continued to claw at the box for the next ten or so minutes.
The dream went on for a lot longer than the last two had.
"Bye .̶̮͗͆.̶͇̆́̋-̸̫̤͂͌.̶̲̗̈́̈́̑ͅ-̶̮̾͗=̶̠͙̂̾/̸̪̙̺͂'̴̟̌*̵̱̾̚͠ "
"See you soon Laura"
Finally, their yapping came to an end.
"God, isn't she stunning Snowball?
Do you think I just go for it"
Is he asking me?
How would I know?
Surely just as here to mate with you and then kill and slaughter the other males who go for her and then you're about there.
Stupid creature.
He continued to drawl on about this woman for several more minutes recounting useless stories about this and that.
Boredom plagued my heart as I snuggled up into a corner.
Please let this dream end.
My eyes closed as I desperately tried to sleep with the consistent chatter which plagued my ears.
It took a while but eventually sleep came to me.