As my giant serpent head went flying, I felt my hold on the Primal Force within me slip. I was fully expecting to be dead by now, especially seeing as I was decapitated. Still, by some miracle, I was still alive and, worse, aware of the world around me. My giant snake head bounced down the side of the mountain, rolling and bouncing into the dense canopy of the Jungle before landing with an unceremonious splash into one of the many flooded waterways the canopy concealed. With each bounce, my hold on the serpent from grew weaker so that when I finally landed in the water, the bobbing head of the serpent I was began to flake away like ash in the wind, revealing my original form.

  ?

  All in all, I was in a much better state than I could ever have hoped. I had thought that with being decapitated, I would have been dead or just a floating head, but miraculously, most of my body was ok. Well ok was relative. I was missing my entire lower half, and my stomach rumbled something fierce. I tried to swim away towards the muddy bank as I remembered all the fucked up things I'd witnessed in these waters. In my state, I was a dinner bell. A thought which was unfortunately vindicated as I felt the nibbling of little teeth on my exposed internal organs. I grit my teeth, putting everything into my battle focus to block out the sharp pains that shot through me every time one of those stupid little fish decided they wanted a taste. With each of their little bites, I felt my rage build. By the time I reached the muddy bank, I was no longer able to hold it back and with all the dexterity my body could muster, I snatched up one of the fish that was waiting in the shallows as my body lay in the mud. Without a second thought, I popped the fish into my mouth and swallowed it whole. How my mouth fit the entire thing in, I didn't know. I felt my throat muscles constrict and crush the little fish spilling its life juices down my throat. I felt the fish's life force fuse with my being; its essence, sense of self, and individuality swept away and crushed by the flow of my rage.

  ?

  I needed more; this small thing was not enough. I scrambled across the mud back to the water's edge, where a school of ravenous little fish were feasting on bits of me. The idea that something so small and weak would dare to feast upon me stoked the fires of my rage, and my hunger grew in response. I don't know how long I was there, snatching up fish and devouring them. With each one, I felt my strength grow. I didn't even notice when the fish I was pulling out of the water got bigger. Some of them were as big as a small child; still, I swallowed them whole, my jaws stretching wider and wider as I scoffed bigger and bigger prey. The hunger pushed me to eat this food; it was good, but it wasn't what I needed.

  ?

  I crawled through the Jungle, clambering up trees to snatch birds from their nests, devouring them before gorging myself on their eggs. Still, this wasn't the energy I needed. That's when I spotted something moving on the ground below. Without thinking, I leapt from my perch in the treetops, landing on the creature's back. It screamed and howled, trying to escape. It was bipedal, but I didn't care. I noticed the green-skinned thing trying to reach a knife at its side, and I grabbed that arm and ripped it out. I could smell it! This creature had something I was looking for, something oh so delicious!. I kept tearing into the creature, ripping off chunks and swallowing them down until I found a beautiful core. There was a black, glass-like gem next to it. I recognised it as a mana sphere. It wasn't as desirable as the delectable morsel in my hands, but I ate it too. The mana sphere dared to fight back, being digested. It was a feeble attempt as the primal force within me broke it down. But the core, oh, the core was so perfect, so delicious. I wolfed it down, and my cravings intensified.

  ?

  The hunger within me grew stronger as the sun's rays struck my body, forcing my regeneration. The prickling sensation of new growth would have overwhelmed me if I were not so focused on finding more prey. I stalked through the trees, ignoring the myriad of messages I received from the system. There would be time to review that later; I needed to feed. I was so absorbed in my hunt that I barely noticed when my legs had returned. There would be time later to think on such things, for now, they were just more tools for the hunt! It was nightfall by the time I found my next substantial meal. I'd been feasting on any small animal unable to escape as I tracked my new quarry. With my lower section regrown, I was almost at full strength. I still had some scales missing, and my tail was a pale imitation of what it had once been. Where it had been thick with muscle, now it was thin and bony, the skin around it too tight, giving it a skeletal appearance. Still, it was a weapon, and there was prey to devour.

  ?

  I followed the green creature, a goblin. I had no idea why I cared what it was called. It was just another meal afterall. I was about to leap from my position and consume it when two more came to meet him. These carried lanterns filled with the flutter of glowing insects. The group seemed fearful. This brought a smile to my face. They should be afraid. On this night, everything should be afraid.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  ***

  Kezan watched the space between the trees in the dense Jungle. This was bad. At first, they had thought Spip had gotten lost, but when they heard the screams, Kezan knew something was wrong. He'd led his team to rescue her, and what he'd uncovered was something truly horrific. Spip had been torn apart, and a two-metre-wide area was covered in her blood and bits of gore. Whatever had done this couldn't be natural. Nothing was killed in such a messy, callous manner.

  ?

  Kezan vowed to hunt down the beast. A thing like this couldn't be allowed to exist. But that had been back when they'd seen the body. Now, though his scouting party, a group of thirty goblins and himself, a High Goblin, was in disarray. This monster was stalking them. It had jumped down, grabbing one of his goblins before disappearing with the hapless victim up a tree a moment later. The body fell to the ground with its torso ripped right open. He had attempted to launch a firespell after it, but it was quick. Far too quick.

  ?

  Kezan drew the glow moss lantern from his hip and opened and closed it in a series of quick motions. This was answered by flashing lanterns among the trees. He was reassured as the lanterns began to move to his position. That was until one winked out, followed by a harrowing scream that ended abruptly with a soft thudding sound.

  "Quick, form up, it can't attack us all at once!" Giving up on the stealthy, quiet approach, Kezan called out.

  ?

  He cursed as three more lanterns winked out. Two, he noticed, had turned around and were running in the opposite direction to him. He was about to call out, but both of those winked out, replaced by a wet crunching sound.

  ?

  The remaining lanterns became the familiar forms of goblins, but as Kezan counted them, he realised he was missing half of his goblins. That monster had been far bolder than he realised.

  ?

  "Is this everyone?!" Kezan said, his voice caressed by fear. The goblins around him hung their heads in shame as they drew their weapons and formed up in a tight circle. Kezan stood in the middle of the circle and began chanting. This spell would take a few seconds to complete, but it should hopefully bring this to an end. He ignored the sounds of the thing moving above them in the trees. He ignored the erratic breath of his terrified goblins. This would solve everything. This spell was just what they needed.

  ?

  Kezans final words escaped his lips, and his spell took shape. The eerie darkness was blasted away as a magic rune, glowing emerald green, crawled across the ground, forming a huge magical circle. In the glow of the runes, he could just about make out the shape that hunted them in the trees. A humanoid figure, emaciated and covered in shadow. It had two horns and a long skeletal tail. Only its eyes were clearly visible in the darkness, two golden orbs that communicated only one thing. Hunger!

  ?

  Kezan never tore his eyes off the thing as the spell took shape around him. He focused his energy on the spell as the magical circle called forth something old from the land of his ancestors, a realm his people had left aeons ago. A huge mustelid-like creature made of earth and plant matter erupted from the magic circle, the runes that had made it up sticking to the magical summon and running across it, flowing like a network of tiny green rivers.

  ?

  The mustelid, the size of a small car, raced up the nearest tree, its focus completely on the monster that hid there. It crashed into the thing, and the two went tumbling into the darkness.

  ?

  "While it's distracted, let's get the hell out of here!" Kezan said, pushing aside his weariness, and he attempted to lead his remaining troops away.

  ?

  They had only made it a few steps when there was a whooshing sound as something fast moved past Kezan's face and crashed into the ground in front of him. Kezan's mind took a full thirty seconds before it could accept what had happened. He'd felt it a moment before it occurred. His summon had been killed. His spell had been broken, and there on the ground was his summons head neatly sliced away. A moment later, he heard a series of whooshing sounds followed by a series of thuds. Black crescent-shaped blades had sliced through his group. Everyone except for him lay dead or dying a slow agonising death as they bled out on the ground around him. And that thing, that demon was moving towards him with a manic grin on its blood-stained face. The strangest thing was that he could have sworn it spoke. For a minute, he had thought he'd heard it say sorry? But that was absurd. He tried to summon up whatever mana he had left to cast another spell, but the beast flowed forward. It was unnaturally silent as it plunged its hand into his chest and around his core. He stared in confusion as he saw the tears welling up in its eyes even as it lunged forward and ended his life.

  ***

  Have you ever had one of those dreams where you want to do one thing, but your body doesn't respond? Well, that's what the hunger is like. Once it takes control, at first you slip into it, agreeing with it, but as you get more and more full, you start to regain your sanity, but that doesn't mean you gain your freedom, no, instead it makes you watch as you become something monstrous. It wasn't for another hour after I had wiped out that goblin troupe that I completely regained control. I stood there surrounded by corpses. I wish I could say I was repulsed, but that would be a lie. I could taste the blood in my mouth, and despite my mind, I couldn't help but enjoy the sensation. The only thing that cut through the pleasantness was my shame. I had failed my mission, got my ass handed to me by a weeb monkey, and to make matters worse, I just went full horror monster on a group of sentient beings. They hadn't provoked me, they weren't even a threat, but I had eaten them, and to top it all off, I had enjoyed it, and that was what made me the most uncomfortable.