Crunch

  Ves snapped her eyes open upon hearing the sound. How long had she been out? She hadn’t intended to fall asleep.

  Crunch

  The sound echoed. It was close. Like something was eating. Slowly, carefully, she sat up. Just enough to see over the grasses she lay in. She could feel her bones and joints creak with each motion. Ahead of her, down by the shore, was still the body of the dire wolf. The source of the sound was a beast feasting on the remains. It was a bear, a massive one. The creature already dwarfed the wolf several times over. Unable to stop herself, Ves let out a gasp.

  The bear froze, only to lift its head away from the meal. Its snout was soaked with blood that glistened in the midday sun. Turning in Ves’s direction, the two locked eyes. Ves could see the great beast tense as it sized her up.

  After staring for what felt like an eternity, the bear turned back to the wolf. With great effort, it tore a leg from the remains before slowly limping away with its prize in its mouth. Its own back leg was a twisted mess, like an old wound that had never healed.

  Only after the bear was no longer in sight could Ves breathe again. That the bear left her alone shocked her. Though after looking over her current state, she could guess why. All the minor scrapes and cuts were gone, but her limbs were still severely gaunt. Like the starving beggars she often saw in the city. Honestly, being so emaciated that a predator didn’t want to bother with her should have been her most significant concern, and it was. Until she looked at her right arm, that is.

  Her arm, from just above the elbow down, was encased in a sickly looking dark gray fleshy sack. Horrified, she went to poke it. She could feel where her fingers brushed across its surface.

  It was part of her.

  She had lived through a lot, but this? This was too much, even for her. So she lurched over and heaved, not that there was anything left in her to come up.

  Panicked, she lashed out with her remaining hand. She clawed at the grotesque tumor, at least she tried to, but she was too weak to do anything aside from mildly scratch at it. That she could feel pain from the limited damage she inflicted sickened her even more. Which caused her to retch again.

  Flopping back down in the grass, she shut her eyes, trying desperately to hold back the tears. Even for her, this was too much. So she tried to remember how she had ended up in this mess. She knew she was initially in the forest as part of a hunting expedition. One of the many servants brought along to serve her bastard of a master and the other nobles who accompanied them. The trip was largely uneventful, with her managing to stay out of trouble. The only item of note was that a knight accompanied them. One who served the temple. It was obvious she was a foreigner, as they seemed uncomfortable with the high volume of slaves among the staff. Or, contracted as her homeland of Kohdessia liked to put it in a poor attempt to avoid the stigma that came with the S word.

  She tried harder to remember. She recalled her master’s frustration that the trip extended longer than planned. They had gone deep into the Fangswood, far deeper than was generally considered safe. She had heard the knight was hunting something specific. Some monster that they had tracked across the continent from the far north. After that, her memories got blurry. She vaguely remembered some sort of attack and an egg. Then, the next thing she knew, she woke up alongside the river with something living inside her…

  Something she could oddly tell was sleeping. That she could tell at all disturbed her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t continue to lie there. She needed food desperately, and in her weakened state, she was left with one option.

  Sluggishly, she pulled her husk of a body back to the water’s edge. Greeted by the wolf’s mangled remains after the bear ate its fill. Ever thankful that the beast didn’t kill her, it looked to be a dire bear, which were often very territorial.

  After a few moments looking around, she found a jagged rock she could use as a rather poor excuse for a knife. She planned to cut away several strips. She had helped butcher plenty of livestock during her life.

  As for cooking them, she had seen her master’s men start fires all the time. How hard could it be?

  Lifting herself to her knees, jagged rock in hand, she leaned over the corpse. The smell of the blood assaulted her. The flesh itself smelled putrid and sour. Yet instead of feeling sick, her stomach rumbled and her mouth watered. In the back of her head, she knew she should not react like this to a waterlogged corpse, but the longer she stared at it, the more hunger overtook reason.

  Even with the body already torn open, it took all her strength to cut into the wolf. Her hand was so weak she could hardly hang on to the rock, let alone cut with it. Still, she persisted until she held the first slice of meat in her hand. It looked delicious. Unfortunately, she still had to cook it, so she went to set the strip to the side before she paused. It would be so much work to gather the wood to start a fire. Could she even do it in her state?

  Staring at the raw slice of meat in her hand, she asked herself.

  Did she really need to cook it?

  It already looked irresistible.

  Surely, she could take a risk and just eat it now.

  Eat it raw.

  With a trembling hand, she lifted the flesh to her mouth. Just a whiff from this close made her drool. Unable to resist any longer, she took her first bite. It was bliss. The meat was like nothing she had ever tasted before. This had no right to taste this good. It was flesh from a dead, mangy beast that had been sitting in the sun all afternoon. It should be disgusting. She should feel sick even being near it, let alone consuming it.

  And yet she loved it, devoured it.

  Looking at her now-empty hand, she glanced back down at the dead wolf. Grabbing the rock again, she frantically tried to cut off another slice. The rock was hardly even sharp. It had taken all her strength just to cut off that first piece.

  It was taking too long!

  And she was so hungry.

  She was already filthy and covered in blood. All she could think about was how hungry she was. How wonderful the meat tasted! Tossing reason to the wind, she leaned forward, pressing her mouth against the gaping hole made by the bear. She paused for only a moment before shoving her head inside, then feasted.

  By the time sanity returned to her, the sun was almost set. She felt grotesque. Her entire body, hair, and what little remained of her clothing were soaked in the wolf’s blood. More importantly, she noticed how little of the wolf remained.

  Looking down in horror, she could see her stomach engorged. To the point she looked like she was with child. A human should not be physically capable of eating as much as she had. Yet, the meal was blissful. She couldn’t remember anything she had eaten in her entire life that came close. Feeling full was almost unheard of for her. With rare exception, she always went to bed hungry. To be full, she marveled at how wonderful such a simple thing could be.

  ‘Welcome back.’

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  Ves blinked, looking around for a moment before remembering who the owner of the ‘voice’ was.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt your… enthusiastic feasting. Not that I’m complaining. We desperately needed it.’

  Looking back at the remains with a grimace, she was pretty sure she even ate the intestines. Fearing the answer, she finally asked, “What is happening to me?”

  ‘Saving you, saving us, it required a change. I can’t really say it’s a conscious effort on my part either. It’s subconscious, like instinct, the changes to your body, that is. Or should I say OUR body? At this point, I have a hard time telling where I end, and you begin.’

  Looking down at her blood-soaked hands and tattered dress, she stumbled back away from the corpse. The reality of what she did quickly sank in. The very idea was revolting, but even now she could still taste bits of flesh and blood in her mouth. They tasted wonderful.

  ‘I apologize. I didn’t realize I would upset you. My only focus has been making sure we stay alive.’

  “Can you at least explain? Tell me what these changes are?”

  ‘I’ll try. To start, our bodies are completely interconnected and codependent. You were beyond the point where your body could heal naturally, so simply stabilizing you was not an option. Drastic measures were needed, so instinct took over, and we sort of,’ The voice paused as if trying to think of the right word, ‘merged. As I said, it’s hard to tell where one of us begins or ends at this point.’

  Ves lowered her head, wrapping her arms around her knees. “I suppose that answers my next question of whether this was permanent or not.”

  ‘I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to die…’

  “It’s funny. I can tell you’re sincere. It’s like I just know those are your honest feelings.”

  ‘I think I can as well. I can feel how much what I’m doing to you is bothering you.’

  It bothered her, and the fact that they seemed to feel each other’s emotions had its own implications. Still, she would be dead several times over without it. Despite it all, Ves still wanted to live. Maybe this thing could be her chance for a fresh start, for a life free from servitude.

  “So what about the rest of the changes? I really want to know what’s going on with my arm.”

  ‘It’s honestly a miracle you didn’t lose it. That sack is protecting it as it regrows into something new.’

  ‘In general, your body will become much stronger, rebuilding itself from the ground up. It’s hard to describe, but if you die, I die. So I think my body is trying to turn you into a stronger and safer host to reside in.’

  Ves looked down at her arm. Being stronger would be a tremendous boon to her survival. She knew she would eventually run into another predator, and running might not be an option. On the other hand…

  “Not sure how I’ll handle all this if we ever return to civilization”. She could try to pass off as a beastmen depending on how the new arm looked when it finished growing. But that was a problem for another day.

  ‘Also, as you have noticed, you’re able to eat far larger quantities of food than before. Normally, such a large meal wouldn’t be needed, but sustenance is required to perform all the changes, and a replacement for the frightening amount of blood loss had to come from somewhere.’

  “What about the whole raw meat thing?” Ves glanced back at the wolf carcass. Even that caused her to drool.

  ‘Best guess is it was a large and close source of food.’

  Ves dragged herself down to the murky water’s edge. Blurry as it was, she could still make out her reflection, at least a bit. Enough to check for other changes. Although blood caked her hair, she could see its actual color shine through in spots. It was still the same silvery white as it had always been. Thankfully, her favorite part of her body, her eyes, were the same sharp emerald as ever. Her mouth and jawline also looked largely the same. They felt rather sore, like growing pains she remembered from childhood. Which worried her that they were changing as well. She did notice a few of her teeth were now loose. She honestly had no idea what to make of her situation, but since when had her life ever been easy? Splashing some water on her face, she tried to clean up, at least the best she could.

  “Bright side, I suppose, not like I ever got to eat much meat before.”

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  “Guess it’s my turn to give some explanations.” Done washing up, Ves hobbled back up the shore and sprawled out in the grass. Taking a moment to watch the setting sun dip below the tree line.

  “I suppose the most important place to start would be that I’m a slave, and not some poor contracted but a true slave, a bloodline branded.”

  ‘Branded?’

  Ves reached up and rubbed her hand against a scar on her forehead. It was shaped like a simple rune, somewhat curvy, but oddly it always reminded her of winter, of snow.

  “I’m from the country of Kohdessia, which borders the forest we are in. Slavery, or as polite society calls them, contracted, are the cornerstone of everything. Especially with the upper class.” Ves practically hissed the words out.

  “Kohdessia gets away with saying it’s not slavery, as technically as the name suggests, contracts are involved. Both sides must agree and sign off on mutually accepted terms. These terms are enforced with powerful spells.”

  ‘If both sides must agree, I don’t understand the problem. I take it there is one?’

  “There is,” Ves replied as she clenched her fist.

  “While yes, both sides have to agree on the contract, or the magic won’t take. There are, unfortunately, always people in desperate situations and those who prey on them. Forcing them to accept terrible terms to pay off impossible debts. Situations like that. What’s worse is when we get into the black market. Slavers will often kidnap people and force them to accept lifetime contracts. Often starving them until they will willingly sign anything just for some food.”

  ‘How can they get away with that!’ the thing shouted in Ves’s head. She was surprised by how much outrage it felt. Pity, maybe, but that it felt an anger that felt so similar to her own… questions for another day.

  “It is technically illegal and harshly punished if anyone is caught doing so. The issue is that only applies if the victims are natural-born residents of Kohdessia. It’s an open secret they kidnap foreigners, then sell them on the black market.”

  Ves held herself tighter, and her voice grew softer. “Then there is me, a Bloodline Branded. It’s not contract magic, it’s domination magic. Supposedly, it’s only used for criminals, but it’s passed down from generation to generation.”

  ‘What did your ancestor do?’

  “No idea, I wasn’t told. To them, I’m property. Property doesn’t need to understand.”

  ‘How has this continued for so long? Surely one of your ancestors would have chosen to forgo having any offspring so the brand ended with them.’

  “Branded… don’t get choices.”

  By the next day, Ves was feeling well enough to move. Her emaciated body was even filling back in. How in the world the creature in her head was doing any of this, let alone so quickly, was a mystery. Still, the ability to heal quickly, while helpful, would not be enough to survive.

  First things first, she needed a way to defend herself. It didn’t take her long to find a solid stick, one straight enough to use as a makeshift spear. The problem was that she had no means to carve a sharp point.

  ‘What are you doing?’ The voice in her head asked as Ves slowly walked around the shore, picking up various stones before tossing them away.

  “Trying to find a pointy rock.”

  ‘What for?’

  “So I can tie it to this stick. Even a crude spear is better than nothing.”

  ‘Do you really think that would help? Those wolves were massive.’

  “Honestly, no, I don’t. But it will make me feel better.” It was then Ves remembered something and dashed to the wolf’s corpse. A corpse that was now revoltingly pungent and crawling with flies. Batting the swarms away, Ves dug around the body. Between the black flies and the blood-caked ground, it was hard to see anything. Still, she found it. The stone from the day before, the very jagged rock she used as a poor excuse for a knife.

  After retreating upwind, she got to work. Tearing strips of cloth from her ruined uniform, she tied the stone to the stick. Which, with only one hand and her mouth to work with, had been an ordeal. Still, at the end of it all, she finally had a means to defend herself. Just in time, too, as the voice in her head spoke.

  ‘Ves, I think, something is coming.’

  She held her new spear in a death grip as she jumped to her feet, looking around frantically for any threats. Nothing, no growls or howls. Not a single sign of danger hiding just inside the tree line.

  “Where is it? I don’t see anything?”

  ‘There just beyond the trees.’

  “Are you sure? How can you possibly see something I don’t?”

  ‘I’m not seeing anything. I can feel it. Or them, rather. I think they are hiding.’

  Just great. More strangeness from the thing living in her head.

  ‘Ves, I think they can feel me as well. It's like there is a connection. Let me try something.’

  Ves wasn’t sure how, but she could feel the creature was deep in concentration. Just as she was about to ask what they were doing, she saw something move. Slowly, four beasts, insects really, walked out of the forest towards them. They were all severely injured. Seeing them, her memories stirred. These were the things that had attacked the pack of wolves. They were the same things that attacked her master’s camp.

  “Oh goddess, save me,” she mumbled out as she held the spear out, trying to look menacing.

  ‘Ves, it's ok.’

  “In what way is any of this ok!? You saw what they did to the wolves the other day.”

  ‘I think I can control them, or at least they are listening to me. They only approached because I asked them to. Just watch’

  Before her, Ves watched in shock as each creature spun around once before sitting down on the ground.

  ‘I think they are here to protect us.’

  Tension left Ves’s body as she dropped the spear and flopped to her knees. These creatures, beasts unlike anything she had ever seen or heard of, were here to protect her. Well, not her, but the thing in her head. Just what in the goddess’s name had she gotten herself into?