I woke to the sound of something eating.
At first, I thought I was still dreaming. The noise was distant, wet, uneven. A tearing sound. Then a crunch.
Bone.
My eyes opened slowly to the darkness of the forest. The air was cold. The smell reached me before I understood what I was seeing.
Blood.
A few meters away, beneath the pale light filtering through the trees, a creature crouched over a small body.
Red skin.
A Zabrak child.
The creature's back rose and fell as it fed. Its teeth tore through flesh with desperate hunger. Each bite was loud in the silence of the night.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't even breathe.
The child's arm lay twisted unnaturally beside the body. The sound continued. Tear. Chew. Swallow.
Something inside me began to shake.
Not my body.
Something deeper.
The creature suddenly stopped and lifted its head. Blood covered its mouth. Its eyes locked onto mine.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then it growled.
Low.
Threatening.
It shifted its weight to leap.
And something inside me broke.
I didn't think.
I didn't decide.
I felt.
A pressure surged through my chest, rising into my throat, into my skull. The air between us tightened violently.
The creature never reached me.
An invisible force exploded outward.
Its body was thrown back as if struck by something massive. It slammed against a tree with a sickening crack and fell to the ground.
Silence returned.
Complete.
The wind had stopped.
Even the forest seemed to hold its breath.
I was still kneeling.
My hands were empty.
I hadn't touched it.
I hadn't meant to.
Slowly, I stood.
The creature didn't move again.
It was dead.
The metallic scent of blood filled my lungs. My ears rang faintly.
A branch snapped somewhere nearby.
A small animal stepped cautiously into view. It looked at the dead predator.
Then at me.
Its body stiffened.
It took a step back.
Another.
And then it ran.
The forest grew quiet once more.
Too quiet.
My legs felt weak.
They're afraid of me.
The thought came uninvited.
They're afraid of me.
I looked down at my hands.
They looked the same.
They felt the same.
But something inside me had changed.
Beneath the fear—
There was something else.
Power.
Uncontrolled.
Awake.
I swallowed hard.
They're afraid of me.
I lifted my head slowly and stared into the darkness of the forest.
And for the first time, the question formed clearly in my mind.
What… am I?