The moment I opened my eyes, the world stared back.
Dozens of faces—sharp, frightened, disgusted—cut into me like blades. Not a single gaze wavered. Some screamed. Others recoiled, covering their mouths as if my existence was an offense to breathe near. A few simply glared, hatred twisting their features.
I tried to stand.
More screams.
My legs trembled beneath me—four limbs, unsteady, aching as if they'd been forced into shapes they were never meant to hold. My ankles throbbed. My whole body felt wrong, heavy, stretched, rearranged.
I focused on one of the onlookers. I couldn't tell if it was male or female; the details didn't matter. What mattered was the fear rolling off it in waves.
I could hear it.
I could smell it.
And gods help me—I could taste it.
Hunger twisted deep inside me, sharp and demanding. That fear… it was intoxicating. Delicious.
I stepped out of the shattered cradle of the fallen tree and stalked toward the trembling figure. It backed away, eyes wide—too wide, impossibly wide—as if terror was forcing them open from the inside. Its voice came out broken, strangled, barely human.
I lunged.
My body moved faster than thought—faster than anything should. My teeth sank into its arm, tearing through flesh like wet cloth. Momentum carried us both until my antlers slammed into the wall behind it, burying themselves deep into stone. I yanked myself free and looked down at the creature I'd bitten.
It stared up at me, barely bleeding, but utterly destroyed by terror. Its fear filled the air like perfume.
And I felt powerful.
Alive.
Hungry for more.
The thought spiraled, multiplied, devoured everything else.
More fear.
More screams.
More blood.
A sharp grin pulled across my face—too wide, too wild—and before the thing could breathe again, I tore its head off in a single bite. Blood sprayed across the cracked floor. The body twitched once, then stilled.
Dead.
The body lay motionless, blood pooling beneath it in a widening halo.
For a moment—just one—every ache in my body faded.
The twisting pain in my limbs, the throbbing in my bones… all of it washed away the instant the head came free and the body fell still.
I wanted more.
I lifted my gaze, searching for the next pulse of terror. Fear poured off the crowd like smoke, thick and intoxicating. My grin stretched, sharp and feral, as the scent hit me—so many hearts trembling, so many souls ripe for the taking.
I locked onto one.
This one's fear was so strong it might've killed them even if I hadn't touched them.
I stared.
Then charged.
But before I reached my prey, something slammed into my back—a burst of crackling energy. Agony tore through me, white-hot, electrifying every nerve. I collapsed onto all fours, the impact jolting through my twisted bones.
The pain… gods, the pain.
It was worse than before, worse than anything. Suddenly even the thought of ripping them apart didn't satisfy the gnawing inside me. Nothing would.
I forced my head up.
Through the haze, I saw him—the golden-haired one, sharp-featured, standing over me. The one I wanted to tear into pieces. The one whose blood I imagined soaking the floor.
But his eyes…
He didn't look angry.
He didn't look afraid.
He didn't even look disgusted.
He looked… sorry.
Sorry for me.
As if I were something wounded instead of something monstrous.
I didn't understand that feeling—not then, not ever—but it struck me harder than the lightning did.
And the last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me was his face, watching me fall.