The cavern echoed with gruesome sounds as Kaden devoured the goblin, a grotesque display unfolding while he savored every last scrap of its flesh. The feral hunger consumed him utterly, driving him to gnaw on the creature’s sinew and bone, each bite resonating with a sickening crunch that echoed in the cold, dark chamber.
He tore off chunks of meat and crushed them between his teeth, reveling in the sharp crunch from every bone he pulverized.
The white light shone without pause, absorbing the remains. The eerie luminescence cast ghastly shadows around the cavern, and illuminated his face, which was now brutally smeared with the blood of his unfortunate victim. It covered him like a mask of blood, dripping freely down his skull. He was no more than a savage, a monster of death and carnage.
And he needed more. Much more. It was like a beast had awoken within him, and it was nowhere near satisfied.
Before he knew it, the last remnants of the hideous green creature had been completely devoured. He surveyed the grisly aftermath and felt empty as he realized there was nothing left. Every single bit gone. The only evidence of the goblin’s past existence was those few ragged pieces of clothing he had discarded, as well as the darkening puddles of blood that littered the cavern floor.
The monster, covered in blood and now more red than white, glanced down at its malformed left arm. It had grown, yes, but still hung uselessly by his side, a pathetic, misshapen limb not much longer than six or seven inches.
Frustration boiled up within him, and he scoffed. He had thought the hunger would dull, but instead it did the opposite, the meager offering of goblin flesh merely whetting his appetite and deepening his cravings.
Entirely obsessed with this desire, he began considering waiting close by to see if the goblins would send a search party to find their little missing friend.
It was nothing more than a desperate, reckless plan to sate the growing void within him, and it took all he had to fight and not succumb to the tempting thoughts. He was sure the goblins would send someone, and smart enough to know his odds would be terrible against them. It wasn’t worth the risk, nor the time.
With a snarl, he picked a fragment of flesh from between his teeth and shook his head, forcing himself to stand up and leave the blood-soaked scene of atrocity behind. His footsteps were sluggish as he moved deeper into the cavern, each step leaving a bloody imprint on the rocky ground and painting a trail behind him.
As he trudged through the cavern’s darkness, his mind began to unravel. Each step was agony, his thoughts fragmented by the relentless hunger that gnawed at him. The air was heavy and stale, the acrid scent of blood following him everywhere he went, clinging to his bones like a second skin.
He couldn’t focus, he couldn’t think. The hunger that so disturbed him continued to swell. It pulsed and stabbed, filling him with a desperate need to consume and clouding his senses.
Wave after wave assaulted him, hammering on his skull with an unyielding conviction. The pain was overwhelming, his knees buckling beneath him as he struggled to hold himself up.
But the hunger didn’t care. It was like a living thing inside of him, a parasitic force that wanted to control him, insidiously whispering its demands without pause; Eat. Devour. Consume.
He fell to his knees with a thud, body convulsing in spasms of pain.
“Arghh!” His hand clenched in front of him and started twitching violently. The spike he had carried fell from his grasp, clattering onto the rocky ground.
“What’s… happening to me?” he gasped, his voice a hoarse whisper, and he struggled to speak, eyes wide in a mixture of terror and disbelief.
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He didn’t relent, fighting to suppress the rising tide of madness. Shoving the feelings down as far as possible, he grit his teeth in defiance and grabbed onto the cavern wall. With great effort, he pulled himself up little by little, his legs completely useless underneath him.
From the depths of his mind, far beyond the reach of his thoughts, came a hideous laughter. It echoed through the haze to ring out within his consciousness, like a mocking chorus reveling in his suffering.
He tried to ignore it, tried to focus, but the laughter only grew louder, drowning out his thoughts.
His grip on the wall slipped, and he fell once more. The pounding in his skull intensified, each blow threatening to shatter his mind. His eyes flickered as he held on desperately to whatever remnants of sanity he had left.
“What… huh…” he mumbled, eyes flicking to the shadowed ceiling above, where the darkness began to twist and writhe. From the shadows emerged masses of long, sinuous tendrils. They crawled out of the ceiling, reaching for him with a cold and treacherous intent.
He rolled on the ground, trying to evade their touch, his lone hand flailing to hold them away.
But his efforts were futile from the beginning; his hand touched a tendril, and a shiver crawled up his spine as his hand and arm passed through it, a clammy sensation clinging to his bones.
Entirely unburned by his struggle, the mist-like tendrils continued in their advance. His mind was in chaos, all thoughts torn asunder by the ceaseless hunger that gnawed at his soul.
As the darkness closed in, he knew he was losing himself, piece by piece. The monstrous appetite would never be satisfied.
One by one, the tendrils closed around his body and his vision began to darken. His hand that had had been struggling went limp, falling on top of his ribs.
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Kaden found himself standing in an otherworldly realm, shadows stretching infinitely in every direction, casting a veil of impenetrable darkness everywhere his eyes reached. The surrounding space was devoid of any discernible features, as if he were enveloped in a living void.
“Huh? Where am I?” he said, his voice barely rising above a whisper, swallowed by the void. Kaden took a cautious step forward, the sound of his footsteps echoing eerily in the emptiness.
His eyes darted around frantically, searching for any sign of life or structure, as an unsettling feeling grew within the pit of his stomach. The shadows seemed to writhe and pulse, as if they were alive, watching him with unseen eyes, waiting for something.
As he adjusted to the dimness, Kaden noticed something peculiar moving in his peripheral vision. He glanced down and was startled to find his skeletal form replaced by a strange and vaguely shaped haze. As he moved, it followed him, trailing behind like shadowy echoes. It never stopped moving, looping through cycles of shrinking and growing, as if it was breathing.
The sight was both mesmerizing and unsettling, and his mind raced trying to piece together his memories. Fragments of memories flashed before him, disjointed and elusive, until one image stood out—one of sinister shadows, tendrils reaching out for him, wrapping around him. He shivered, their icy touch still echoing within him.
Suddenly, a presence materialized from the darkness. It took on a form as indistinct and amorphous as the one of Kaden. Yet something about it was markedly different, like something dangerous and threatening lingered within, just behind the veil.
“Who are you?” Kaden demanded, his voice trembling slightly as he took an involuntary step back.
“Who am I?” the entity echoed, its tone laced with a faint amusement that was almost drowned out by the harsh, gravelly texture of its voice.
The mere sound of it filled Kaden with a profound sense of dread, like an invisible force pressing down on him, sending chills through his being and causing his skin to prickle with unease. It was a voice he could never forget, often haunting him when he closed his eyes.
He knew exactly who it belonged to.
“Y-You!” Kaden stammered, the word escaping his lips as a mixture of accusation and disbelief. Anger surged within him, clashing with the fear that urged him to retreat further. He wanted to hold his ground, but faced with the overwhelming pressure he couldn’t prevent himself from taking another step back.
The entity laughed, a chilling sound that resonated through the shadowy expanse like the tolling of a death knell. Its mirth was palpable, slicing through Kaden’s resolve like shards of ice. The being drew closer, its form shifting with each step, nodding with sinister delight as it whispered, “Yes, me.”
“What do you want?” Kaden asked, his voice barely steady as his form quivered beneath him. Every fiber of his being urged him to run, but something held him in place, a flicker of defiance burning within him even as fear threatened to consume him.
“Oh? Not bad,” the entity praised, its voice a strange blend of admiration and mockery. “You’ve certainly made progress since we last met. Even so, there is nothing you can do.” Its words were taunting, echoing through the void.