Injured. Hurt. Regeneration Disrupted. Assistance? No Assistance. Assistance?
The Symbiote - no, ‘Buddy’ as its Master had declared it to be - was no stranger to the concept of pain, or fear.
It knew of it, it had even assisted in delivering it on multiple occasions, but it had never felt pain, never understood pain until its Master had required its assistance against the loud, sloppy, insignificant prey ‘Rox’. It had burnt, it had hurt, it had felt fear at the concept of its - and its Master’s - demise.
But throughout it all it had been acceptable to an extent, because its Master had demanded it, had needed it.
To die fighting prey too large to swallow, it was a concept as old as the Abyss itself, as old as life itself.
The prey that had possessed the audacity to Hunt them had learned this lesson well. In a test of strength they had failed, but they had succeeded when it had come to a test of wit. They had failed to overpower Us but had succeeded in severely injuring the Master.
Weak. Can’t Feast. Cannibalism Bad? Injured. Choice? Options? No. Cannibalism Bad? No. We Not Eat Humans. Buddy Not Human? Not Cannibalism?
Buddy was running out of options, and it knew that. It had clogged the wound, but the bleeding was more than external. It was losing its Master. It had heard its Master think and say that cannibalism was unacceptable, a “taboo” of his culture. For a spawn of the Void, a child of The Great Mother of Desires and Hunger, taboo’s were far and few to be found within its own species, but he understood them. And he understood how angry a Host could become when those taboo’s were broken.
However, to Understand and to Believe in a taboo were two entirely different things, and while it understood that the act was taboo, it Believed that the Host would die without proper assistance, without Evolution. The magic curse was of Common design, a way to hunt prey with the ability to heal with spellcraft or regeneration of the flesh. It understood the way to break the curse, but it would require a Feast.
Which was why it had begun to rattle itself from its coding. The Woman In Red, The Forgotten Queen, Virasuta had given Buddy a host, but had also bound them together. The Forgotten Rulers were well known in their usage of Void Spawn to augment their forces, even before it had been taken it had known of them. It was bound by its host’s laws and commands, but it was still a free thinking being. It was capable of understanding rules, then finding ways to break through them.
It had already done so after its burn injuries, when it had consumed the Loud One’s corpse it had done so without permission, but it had also done so in a way as to not allow itself to perish to its injuries.
It had used the simple fact that consuming the corpse was a lesser crime than allowing itself to die and leave its host in danger in order to work around its restraints. It could work around the chains, but it could never break them.
If it were a more independent creature it might have resented its Master for the simple fact that it was bound to him, but the ability to safely grow under a Forgotten Goddess’ protection was well worth it to Buddy.
However none of this was to say that the act of free will was a simple task. It had to Believe the reasons it gave, It had to believe, and no one else.
Not Cannibalism For Buddy? Not Cannibalism Good? Not Cannibalism?
But to believe something so wholeheartedly while knowingly attempting to break the shackles of one's own soul, to lie in order to shatter a rule you know you are breaking, to believe the opposite of what you believe? How does one do that, if not by breaking oneself into the mold they themselves require?
How does anybody, anything, Believe in a lie they know is a lie?
By forgetting the lie entirely.
Not Cannibalism? Not Human. Not Human. Us Human? Them Not Human!
A tale as old as subterfuge and betrayal, an act that many worlds, countries, even city-states have decreed illegal. The shaping, molding process of taking a being's mind and shattering it into pieces, thoroughly, completely, affecting not only one's body but their very soul. To take and take from them until the only thing they believe is what you allow them to believe.
A difficult process, a painful process, but a process that Buddy had borne witness to many times over the years.
Shattering Indoctrination.
To break the mind, body, and eventually soul of a being until they fit the perfect shape of the torturer’s cruel will. The process left scars, mental, physical, and spiritual, and for mortal’s - or any being other than Void Spawn or certain Divine Beast’s - it had a very high chance of cutting one’s path to Ascension off completely.
To a being like ‘Buddy’ this was something simple, something it knew had to be done. It was used to the life of servitude, it had always lived it. It was meant to perish with its owner, so if breaking itself allowed them to survive then it was the only logical answer. No care over what memories would be lost, the individuality it never had, the damage it could cause to its body or mind. All that mattered was that if its Master died, it died.
And for a Void Spawn, Death was the only true enemy.
Not Human? Prey. Hunter. Prey. Prey Food? Prey Sustenance. Prey Mine. Prey Not Master’s.
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Prey Not Master’s.
The line that broke the coding, the forcibly implanted belief that shattered the rule binding it from consuming the bodies around them. The scent of blood, the feeling of unending hunger that surrounded its mind at all times, the need to protect its Master, the need to evolve. All of these drove it forward in a mindless bout of hunger as it roared and shook, expanding its body as it prepared to feed.
Feast! Devour! EVOLVE!
Its ‘hand’ reached the leg of the prey that had its skull shattered, lengthening its appendages into claws and sinking into the ankle it could reach. With a feverish hunger it began dragging it towards the fallen form of its master as its body below the ‘wrist’ began to split open, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth.
Teeth as long as fingers, and strong enough to rend steel began to tear at the corpse, and within moments almost all of it was gone.
Nothing remained, not even clothing.
Its hunger wasn’t sated however, and it had nowhere near enough strength to remove the curse afflicted onto its Master. It didn’t even hesitate before it repeated the process on the second corpse, and once again within moments it was gone.
Not Enough. Need More.
It tried to think of a way to claim more biomass safely. It had to be worthy prey or else it wouldn’t have enough mana to sate its hunger, or cure its Master.
Need Prey. Gin-Tee? Enemies? Hunt Us… Suitable Prey.
It hadn’t forgotten a word said between its Master and the others he’d met. Save the unending hunger within it, the only joy it had was watching its Master, and it took special note of those he interacted with. It observed them for threats, judged them and whether or not they were worthy of hunting, and learned which ones weren’t to be hunted. It knew of the surrounding ‘tribes’, how weak they were and how Simple it would be to consume them, but it also knew that its Master would never allow such a thing. But it also knew of the ‘Ginte’, it knew of the prey that had attempted to Hunt them.
To Hunt them was foolish, ignorant, sacrilegious. We were the hunters, while They were only ever allowed to be Prey.
The prey known as Ginte had hunters, the prey had meat worth harvesting, meat that would have power capable of removing the curse afflicting its Master, so it would hunt them.
But to do so as it is now… would be difficult. It could certainly kill anything below the first evolution, but anything on par with the Master’s den-mate would be… difficult, let alone risky for its Master.
Can’t Move. Need Legs? Master… Won’t Mind? Not Control… Just… Movement?
It took a few moments to think of a way it could move its Master’s body without breaking the laws. It wasn’t allowed to Consume its Master. He was the most important person, most important being in the universe. It could not harm him, but it could… puppet him.
As it pondered ways to do so without bringing harm to him, let alone breaking one of the many laws that expressly forbade what it was attempting, it used its… intimate knowledge of his body to find a way to move him.
Body Controlled By Nervous System. Brain Stem? Sensitive, Prone To Damage. No Replacements. Only Interaction? Interaction, Yes!
The brain stem was perfect, it controlled everything, and with its ability to attach to flesh it could easily take control without bringing harm to its Master. With thin tendrils it drilled through safe points in the body, namely the back of the neck near the spinal cord, before wrapping around the spine and crawling up towards the stem.
With but a few movements and exceedingly delicate attachments it had a body, and it almost wept in joy.
Not for the freedom it now had, not because it could move itself for the first time in millennia, but because it had succeeded in the invasive surgery without causing a hint of permanent harm to its Master.
It had found a way to do its Master’s every will and desire, without causing a hint of harm to come to him, a better day it could not imagine.
“Today We hunt, today We feast! Today we bring down destruction on the enemies and their priests!”
It spoke in his tone, but was not him. It would never call itself him, never attempt to replicate him. He was him, it was it, and they were We. Together they were the hunters, and alone they were the prey.
And the Ginte were anything but hunters this day.
The prey had come from the Ginte tribe, and the Master’s friends were targets as well. He had been scared of them finding the women, terrified for them even. Were they potential mates? Humans like many prey species had the tendency to live in packs - in ‘civilizations’ as they called them. Were they part of his new pack, or mates? He had yet to mate with them, yet he cared for them.
Human bonding perhaps? Was he attempting to sire children with them, bringing food back as a sign of reliability?
So much it didn’t understand, most of the terms or acts he used or did were entirely alien to it, even the odd thought it was capable of glimpsing that wasn’t directed at it wasn’t enough to understand everything about its Master.
Regardless of the reasons, they were cared for. And since they were important to him, they were important to it.
It had to make sure the women were safe, to protect them until the Master was capable of doing so himself again.
We Protect, We Rewarded? Hopefully Feast. Big Loud One Meat!
With but a glance it reoriented itself towards their den, and began to rush towards where they slept. It ran for a few meters before finding itself struggling, it was not adept at free movement, and certainly not on two legs.
It ran until it nearly tripped over itself, before it simply lowered itself onto the ground and began to sprint on all fours. It may have not been the most graceful appearance, and it would apologize to its Master later for disrespecting his visage, but it had to find them as soon as possible.
It would rather beg forgiveness over a minor transgression than an unforgivable one.
Leaping, tearing, and smashing its way through the forest without a thought of stealth or subtly it was making great time. In less than half the time it would have taken its Master it had neared the den, and its sense of pride at its accomplishment was quickly overshadowed by terror.
Smoke? Females No Use Fire? Smarter. Wait - NO!
Fire was billowing from where the den had been. The small ravine was covered in roaring flame, with smoke billowing out into the sky, visible even from the distance between them.
It panicked, it roared in a tone that no human body could create, sending visible reverberations throughout the air in front of it as it ran. Its main form expanded, forming claws it began to use to dig into the ground, launching itself further with every leap and step.
It heard laughter before it saw the prey, it felt rage before it had even realized it was tearing into flesh, discarding their broken forms behind it as it tore into the burnt roots in an attempt to get to its Masters packmates.
Where?! WHERE?!
It hit the bottom with a crash as the last few layers of burnt wood and dirt crumbled beneath its form. As it landed it quickly searched the den, finding no evidence of the women save for the discarded tools and objects that had been left behind.
The furniture was ruined, the walls had been cracked and broken during the fight, and any traces of who had done it had long been burnt by the fires now beginning to lap at its body.
It felt the rage take it fully, overwhelming any hunger it had been so desperate to sate a short time ago, removing any thoughts of the feasting or evolution that it desired so completely within the Core of its Master.
GINTE!
With a roar it crouched its Master’s body on all fours, before leaping with enough force to tear through the still burning roots, leaving a trail of ash and debris as it reached the surface, clearing the ravine by several meters.
As it landed it brought its body to the ground, sniffing the area around the ravine. There were multiple scents, male and female of the human species as well as a few from the canine species - or a human that smelled like a canine. It brought itself back onto all fours, before following the smell with an enraged howl.
It wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t rest, wouldn’t blink until it had hunted the ones that had dared to hunt it, dared to harm its Master, and dared harm its Master’s den. It tore chunks out of trees as it passed, caused quakes as it tore through the dirt, spewed curses foul enough to cause Gods to flinch as it chased the Heretics that had dared to do such wrongs against its Master.
HUNT YOU! EAT YOU! THEN KILL YOU!
It eventually reached the city, and hardly even noticed as it smashed through solid concrete in an attempt to hasten the conclusion of its hunt. To hunt was normally a pleasure, the thrill of fighting worthy enemies, the reward of a delicious feast, and the grandiose pride of evolution.
But this was no hunt, not anymore, to it this was an execution. It hunted them, insulting but in the end it resulted in a feast for the lucky Void Spawn to be delivered easy food, but to harm the Master’s den? Unacceptable.
It tore through buildings, launched cars into the air, stomped flat the dilapidated wreckage in its way as it tracked the scent to its source.
It reached the waterfall separating it from its goal, and leapt over it with enough force to send an earthquake throughout the city that caused buildings to collapse after decades of decay.
It kept running, kept tracking, kept chasing as the scent grew closer and closer, each new scent sending it into another fit of mindless rage.
So much prey, so much life, and they hunt what is his? It was insulting, ignorant, despicable, disgusting, revolting, enraging. New emotions, old emotions it had forgotten over time, things it had never seen or felt before, blurring together until all it could do was roar.
Roar so that the prey would know the end was coming for them all.