For a few days, I barely kept myself moving forward. I had no idea where I was headed, but my keen sense of smell allowed me to avoid most animals. I hungered, but with my mangled body, I wasn't risking trying to catch a squirrel and tripping on a stone.

In the state my body was in for those first few days, any hit could have been too much for me to handle. Instead, I ate mushrooms and wild berries.

At first, I was worried that my lack of knowledge of this world could lead me to poison myself; but once I held a mushroom I had just taken from the dirt, something incredible happened. I remembered this mushroom was among the few the older goblins brought to the cave each morning.

It was at that moment that images of everything I had seen since waking up flashed in front of my eyes with such detail, as if I was staring at them in the flesh, but with different eyes. I could see every set of armor the guards had on them, the way they thrust their spears and slashed with their swords. The specific foraged food the goblins brought, and how they smelled and tasted.

Even the yelling of my brethren suddenly started making more sense.

There was a technique to their movements, after repeating the same action for long enough, they unconsciously thrust and slashed more efficiently than just waving their arms around. Even the way the lady of golden hairs, my unwilling mother, had a specific way to hold the reins of her horse, how she was seated.

But after watching the events come, I sensed them go. I had to focus on something or risk this knowledge going to waste, so I concentrated on the movement of the guards with their spears and the leaves, mushrooms, and berries the goblins brought.

Until I was certain that everything related to it remained, and everything else melted away into normal memories.

When I returned to normal It didn't seem like any time had passed at all, but my mind had returned to normal and the memories I had were simple images I could recall.

As time passed the memories I had focused on proved to be more than just recollecting, I could tell the difference between the mushrooms I had eaten and those I didn't know, and by picking up a stick I replicated the spear thrusts I had seen to the best of my capabilities my broken body allowed.

I didn't know what had happened, but one thing was certain. I had learned.

With this information, I managed to collect food, being certain that eating them wouldn't make me sick, and I managed to slowly heal from my wounds.

The forest seemed endless, with tall trees, many bushes, and a terrain filled with accidents; it was obvious that it was the perfect place to hide. And in between collecting food, resting, and drinking whatever water I could, I thought.

I thought about everything.

Until now I had never actually taken this seriously; somehow it all seemed like a dream up until now. As the cold night embraced the world with her cold darkness, my mind was awake and fired up.

Hidden between tree roots, I rested, thinking about the world I was in. I had very few memories of my previous life, but I knew that this place wasn't like the one I came from.

This place with swords and knights...and monsters, beckoned something deep inside my mind; those mist-like memories tell me that I have so much more to see. That this world of knights, goblins, and monsters was so much more.

I caught glimpses of that reality, too. These woods were devoid of any sign of civilization, so wildlife was abundant. I saw creatures of fur and horns, with two heads or even wings. That same sensation told me those animals were things I should know, but different.

But eventually, the routine was broken. And as the stars shined above, I had a sensation that in the shadows something lurked, watching me at all times.

I never saw what it was; it always hid right at the edge of my vision, or too far away for me to make out what it was, and whatever it was, I knew it wanted to make me fall asleep.

So tried my best to avoid sleeping, adding more pain to my existence, and it seemed to only come at night.

I thought it had to be another monster, something bigger, stronger, and hungrier than I.

It was that thought that finally made me realize, what was it. Even if I ate mushrooms and berries, my hunger never stopped, and trying to distract my mind from the pain made me ignore the slow decay of my flesh.

The skin stuck to my bones, and the wounds that had healed continuously had stopped hurting, and healing too.

Those eyes watching me from the dark belonged to the strongest of creatures.

Death awaited me to lift my emaciated hand in a plea to be taken away by her loving, longing touch.

I had escaped death twice already, in fact thrice, if being born again counted, and I'm sure there was a saying in my previous life about things that happen three times. Surviving, getting almost crushed to death by a horse only to die of starvation even if I was eating.

Was this some joke? To whoever or whatever brought me back after getting struck by lightning?

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Suddenly, white arms held me tight from behind, and golden hair fell in front of me. There was no doubt, it was my mother.

I looked up, and indeed, there she was. Had she ever smiled at me? Even if I belonged to the race that used her, surely, letting me live was an act of love. And as her warmth infected me, I allowed myself to finally close my eyes, and fall asleep.

My eyes opened in shock as I used what little strength I had left to get up and walk away from her, from the obvious delusion and alluring deception death was using to claim me. Despite my state, I had no more hunger or cold.

The sun was raising and the orange skies seemed like a tide from the afterlife catching up to me. I did not doubt that if I didn't find something substantial to eat, I would never see the sunrise again.

But barely strong enough to walk, I had no hope of catching anything else than a static plant, and I knew that I needed meat. Death was behind me, close enough to hear her quietly giggling to herself, far enough that I couldn't see her when I turned my head around.

A part of me wished to give up, but like the night I almost died crushed, I simply couldn't sit down and accept my fate. I had to keep pushing, keep trying, until my very last breath.

Was it the fear that if I died I would come back under another form? With even fewer memories? Would this go on until I was nothing more than a mindless bug?

So I kept moving forward, completely ignoring all creatures that I saw, even if they eyed me with a hunger I could recognize, I must have looked sick to them, for none approached me.

Until I tripped and fell down a cliff, rolling my way down, I felt the cold hit of water instead of the dry dirt. Panicked, I thrashed around for a moment until I simply stopped moving, and held my head above the water.

Standing up, the water was deep enough only to reach my knees, and after a short moment of shock, I guffawed at my sorry state. One day from dying, looking like a walking corpse, after being reborn.

What a bunch of nonsense.

Complete madness.

I cried.

Then, I raged.

Then, I went silent.

Taking big, deep breaths, I bared my jagged teeth and gazed at my reflection in the running water beneath me. What stared back at me were those black eyes, with yellow, almost golden irises, and I knew that it wasn't right, that this light green flesh wasn't what I was supposed to be.

It was the guards, the women that birthed me, their image, their flesh, that once was mine. Why then, did I come back as this creature? What horrible deeds did I commit that deserved such a harsh punishment?

But before any thoughts could invade my mind, something else invaded my nostrils.

It was a smell like none I had known before. It was sweet like the berries, yet strong like blood. And whatever the source it stirs something deep inside me, compelling me to follow it, forcing my legs to move almost on their own.

I get out of the river from the other side, rushing deeper into the woods as the smell becomes stronger and stronger. This sweet smell that drives me mad is giving me strength that I didn't even know I had left within me.

Until I reached a clearing in the woods, it was small, but a large space on the leaves above allowed the sun to cut through undisturbed. There were even a few beautiful flowers, white like the clouds, dotting the clearing with an almost surreal beauty. Even the birds had begun to sing.

But something else entirely eclipsed this scenery, the woman sitting on a tree trunk, giving her back to me.

Dressed in a common dress, blue with a green skirt, there was a white cloth resting next to her, and she combed her long, light brown hair calmly. I could see the back of her neck, and fair skin, and even from the back, I could tell by the curves of her body that even if thin, her figure was entrancing.

I watched with my mouth agape, and I knew that the smell came from her, now standing so close I could tell exactly where it came from. It came from between her legs.

My mouth watered and my heart quickened as something in between my legs hardened.

Then she turned her head to the side, lost in whatever thought she had inside her mind, with a tender smile, and humming some melody. I saw the thickness of her lips, and the shine inside her brown eyes; there was even a redness in her cheeks.

Finally, her eye, looking around, meets mine.

Had I gone into another trance? Because everything was blurry and all noise disappeared, there was only her and me locked into this staring contest, and her innocent eyes and welcoming smile made my hunger vanish.

I could feel my strength return, my wounds heal, and my stomach full.

What have I done?

Breaking from my trance, I raise my right hand and stare in shock at the bloody rock on it; when did I grab it? With a trembling gaze, I look in front of me, knowing that what awaits me is only suffering.

For the woman is now dead, her clothes torn in my struggle to reach her flesh as fast as possible, head smashed from one side and torso ripped open, entrails spilling out half-chewed...in fact, I'm still chewing on a piece of her.

How could I do this?

I drop the stone, feeling my chest tighten, and my eyes swell as tears run down my bony cheeks. I feel like throwing up, but my needy body won't let me waste what it so desperately demanded. I gag, but nothing comes out.

My legs tremble, and I want to run. I want to wake up; this is surely an illusion. I must have died when I fell from that cliff.

I must have.

"ROKAN!" The woman's scream rattles inside my head as memories of what happened slowly return to me.

She yelled and screamed many things, but that word was the one she said the most until I bashed her head with a rock.

Finally, control returns to me, and I run away.

The hunger is gone, but what I have done, will forever remain.