My heart stopped and my breath caught in my throat as the terrible beast’s head that was previously looking at the ground slowly rose. Its face was a mass of wounds and scars with a large gaping maw dripping with blood. I raised my torch in front of me protectively and readied my sword, but I knew it was probably useless. The creature slowly stood and began walking towards me. I slowly backed up until I slammed against a tree causing me to look away briefly but that was all the time it needed to leap. A burning pain in my offhand and a load snap brought my attention back in front of me, and there the creature stood with its mouth holding my now severed arm.

The pain caused my eyes to water and my legs gave way. It was so painful that I temporarily forgot about the beast and only focused on stopping the bleeding. My training kicked in and I grabbed a bamboo vile on my waist and popped it open before pouring it over the wound. I felt a sting of regret that was almost more powerful than my current pain, that thing costs almost a year of my earnings. The bleeding quickly stopped but I already had lost a lot of blood and was very out of it. But I sobered up fast when I looked up and saw the beast's face just inches away from mine.

My attention was now fully focused on the creature again, it had a chance to kill me but didn’t, why, was It playing with me, torturing me just for fun? I went to reach for my sword which was dropped when I was applying first aid but an impossibly deep growl interrupted me. I stopped and just stared at the beast when I noticed a subtle light in one of the cavernous holes that It had in place of eyes, almost like a light at the end of a long tunnel. The light resembled the soft fleeting light of the ancestors above, but something was wrong. I shivered as a feeling of extreme cold gripped me that made me feel stranded in the worst winter of all time, this was no guiding ancestor, it was here to feast. As I stared into the eye, I felt a strange feeling consuming me, it almost felt like…hunger? A hunger worse than any I have ever felt. It was not just the feeling one gets when you go without food, it was something more powerful, more primal. It was the need to feast on flesh and blood. The need to bring misfortune and destruction. The need to... DEVOUR.

The feeling soon completely consumed me, and I forgot the pain in my arm. I was so cold and so hungry that I forgot about everything around me, and soon my mind was brought to the brink of insanity. I tried to get up but I was forced down by the beast so I tried to kick at it but that only resulted in a snap and a flash of pain. It snapped me out of my insanity for a second and I saw that it had placed a foot on my knee and bent it backward shattering the bone.

I screamed in agony, but I could not escape no matter how hard I tried. the pain was mind-numbing but through a flash of momentary clarity I noticed something strange starting to happen, my flesh started to shift and peal while my bones started to grow. Seeing the new development, the beast rose onto its two crooked back legs and rose a long arm before sinking its claws into my flesh, I tried to scream but nothing came out. Slowly the beast lifted me up off my feet causing a series of snaps to echo out as my bones broke under my own weight. I cried, kicked, spat, and cursed but that only seemed to amuse the creature, and when I was at eye level the beast revealed a cruel smile that stretched ear to ear.

A series of snaps and pops echoed out from within me as my bones started to wriggle and grow beneath my skin and soon, they stretched my skin enough that I thought they would explode out. I cried in agony but there was no mercy, only more pain. I could feel my insides twisting as a change was occurring within me, I was afraid of what I was becoming. Suddenly I was tossed aside right into a nearby limb knocking the air out of me. I laid there where I landed trying to catch my breath, but the pain mixed in with fear made it infinitely harder. I was relieved that I finally broke eye contact with the beast, but it was only short-lived when a severed arm flopped in front of me, my severed arm.

I was confused but that soon turned to horror when my body leaped up on its own and pounced before I even knew what was happening. My teeth sunk deeply into the flesh and a heavenly taste entered my mouth, it was so succulent and juicy that I momentarily forgot that it was my own arm and only focused on devouring it. It was oh so delicious but soon I was able to regain control and I finally realized what I did. I looked over at the creature as if to ask why It was doing this to me, but I only found it softly chuckling to itself. Seeing that it wasn’t paying attention to me I took the chance to run and run I did. I ran with all my might in hopes to escape and soon I was whizzing past trees but soon I realized a problem, I was still lost. No matter how far I ran and how desperately I looked I couldn’t even find a hint of camp. I screamed in desperation and rage and started punching a nearby tree with all the force I could muster.