Ira Invidia (II): The First Hunt

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(G???????: We need to leave.)

His eyes darted around the alley, searching for the source of the voice he’d heard.

(E???: We’re not even going to pretend to be sane are we?) A second voice drawled, almost mockingly.

(S????: That would be too much work for too little gain.) An exhausted third pointed out.

Once more he checked all around the alley, but no matter where he looked he couldn’t find the source of these voices. At least not until he noticed his fractured reflection staring at him and telling him exactly where the speakers had disappeared as his eyes changed color flickered between several colors.

“Voices in the head…” He huffed in amusement. “What fun!”

(P????: Yes, yes, we’re insane. We’ve already discovered this, but there’s more new things to learn! I mean, look! There’s something odd about these two… Why aren’t you investigating!) A fourth (more sophisticated) voice cried.

Part of him -(the one you should absolutely ignore)- wondered if it was a good idea to heed the words of these voices, but given how they were him in a sense he decided to listen to them in so long as the ideas they voiced were intelligent or beneficial to him at the moment. (Smart man!)

(G???????: No, we need to leave before someone finds us with these bodies.) The first voice growled.

(W????: He has a point, if we don’t leave people will seek vengeance.) A fifth agreed. (We aren’t in a condition where we can fend off everyone who seeks us.)

(G???????: We need to learn more about our prey before we hunt them down.)

(P????: Oddly reasonable for you two, but I’m always in favor of bettering ourselves. We can learn on the move.)

“So that’s three in favor, out of… how many?” He asked.

(L???: There’s seven us in total!) A chipper voice answered. (Oh, and you don’t have to listen to us if you don’t want to!)

(G????: He’s right, for once, you should just ignore everyone else and search this lots’ pockets. We can’t afford to be wasteful in a world like this!) The final voice threw out.

(E???: We also can’t afford to be caught until our work is done.)

“That one has a very good point.” He admitted before looking down both ends of the alley. “Though I’m not sure which way we should go to avoid attention.”

(L???: Ooh, ooh, go the way the girl went!)

(G???????: He’s got a point… The men you killed came from the other, if someone sees you walking out covered in blood they might put two and two together.)

(L???: Oh, no, I just wanted to make a new friend!)

“Regardless, it’s a good enough direction.” He decided before heading in the same direction as the girl, only to pause as he came to a street with more people than he’d been expecting. (Or perhaps not…)

(G???????: No look at them. More than one person is covered in blood or openly carrying a weapon… They’re all ready for violence, but look at them… They watch their fellows with fear hidden behind anger… They’re merely prey pretending to be predators… How delectable…)

He found himself salivating as he boldly stepped onto the street, his eyes meeting a man who startled at his sudden appearance before putting on a bold facade as if the man wasn’t scared.

(G???????: Go ahead… Take a bite… Show everyone here what a real predator looks like!)

He began to open his mouth, feeling his teeth itch as they turned into fangs ready to rip into the meat and-

(P????: Now isn’t the time for bestial violence!)

His mouth snapped shut as he shook his head clear and started in the direction opposite the man. “What was that?”

(E???: That is what happens when you lean too hard into one of us. You start to behave the way we would, were we the ones in control.)

“Interesting…” He wasn’t sure if that was something to be concerned about or not. (After all, they’re already me and they’re already in my thoughts, so who could say who is really in control.)

(P????: An interesting philosophical, but right now we should focus on the actual project at hand… Look around and we’ll see what we can learn shall we?)

He nodded to himself, before taking a proper look around as he wandered through the streets. All around him were a number of tall buildings made of concrete underlining that he was in a rather dense city of some kind. The architecture all painted various hues of red and black while also being oddly pointy and damaged to the point where the buildings should’ve been abandoned but for some reason were not.

It was while looking at this that he noticed the blood red sky up above, alongside what appeared to be some kind of runic script. (Is that real, or merely another hallucination?)

(E???: It’s real. It’s also a spell circuit… Too big to read from here -can’t even take a guess at what it does- but it’s probably not why the sky is red.)

(P????: Perhaps it’s a reaction similar to how water particles normally turn the sky blue… Though that wouldn’t answer what particulate is causing the red…)

(G???????: Blood… Can still taste it in the air despite leaving the alley… There’s been so much bloodshed it’s stained the very air… Not as good as true blood, but still a mouth watering flavor, wouldn’t you agree?)

“I do…” He admitted, unable to help but lick his lips.

As his gaze came back down to street level, he found his eyes locking onto an odd insignia of an X of sorts with an additional line capping the end of each that was hanging off of banners here and there, or painted onto the buildings if they lacked said banners. A symbol that he found quite common on those who walked near him, be it stitched into their clothing or tattooed onto their flesh.

(P????: Clearly every person or business here affiliates with whatever organization this represents, but what does the symbol actually mean?)

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The answer was staticy feeling in his mind as if he remembered it, less by definition and more with his emotions towards it, emotions that were most clearly defined as (annoyance/disgust/rage.)

He frowned. “Well that wasn’t very clear at all…”

Regardless of clarity of definition, he felt like even associating with whatever this symbol represented was sapping at his own intellect, as if whatever it represented was such an extreme form of stupidity that it was somehow contagious.

(W????: The symbol is for idiots and pathetic wretches who’d rather blame the innocent than take responsibility.) An angry voice growled, filling his mind with red.

(P????: Now, now, we need a clear head to think. I’m noticing another oddity on the fellows surrounding us.)

He blinked before taking another subtle look at the people around him, for a moment thinking them no different than an ordinary person before spotting the thing the voice was talking about.

Namely that while the people around him for the most part looked human, almost everyone also had several traits that were distinctly not. The most common of which were claws and fangs, glowing eyes, and in a few instances even horns and tails. (At the very least I shouldn’t stand out too much.)

(P????: I’d think not. They’re all like us, both human and not… Though with a less clear divide between the two…) The other voice mumbled, piecing together his thoughts for him. (Nice of him to do that.) (You’re welcome, still this means that they can't turn off whatever phenomenon causes our transformation…)

(E???: We can only manage that because everything is so shattered in here, and even then only just barely.)

(G???????: Should just cut loose, restraint is pointless. Revel in the Madness of it all.)

“That does sound fun…” He admitted, thinking about loosing his claws and fangs into those near him.

(E???: It may be fun, but it won’t see our work get done.)

“A valid argument.” He sighed, feeling smaller than a moment before as he felt a sort of longing in his chest for something he couldn’t quite name.

(L???: Oh, oh, I’ve got an idea!) The happiest of his voices shouted.

“Oh, do tell!” He grinned.

(L???: Well, we’ve got no direction at the moment, right? So why don’t we try talking to the people around us, maybe they’ll give us some?)

(P????: No. Caring about strangers’ opinions is how you end up tied to a worthless organization full of idiots.)

(S???: Though getting someone else to do some of the work for us would be nice.)

“The question is who?” He wondered, taking another look at those around him and finding all of them wanting be it due to either their affiliation with that (annoying/stupid/vile/disgusting) pinwheel or because they were just bland and blended into the scenery.

(L???: Well what about that girl that we woke up to? She seemed nice in a ‘desperate street rat trying to survive’ kind of way.)

“Well, at the very least she was more interesting than anyone here.” He noted with a wry grin, before taking another look around. “But how are we supposed to find her when she’s run away and we’ve moved in a different direction?”

(G???????: Hmm, it’s more fun when they run… The fear makes their meat so much sweeter.) That one purred as his stomach growled.

(Are we a cannibal?) He idly wondered, while considering his delight in the taste of blood.

(P????: That would depend on your definition, but… probably.)

(W????: You’re not eating her, she’s innocent.)

(L???: Yeah! She’s going to be a friend not food!)

(G????: Innocent? She stole from us! That’s worthy of a death sentence!)

The red voice scoffed. (W???: She stole nothing of value.)

(G????: Nothing of- Everything is of value as long as it's ours!)

“Regardless! None of this explains how we’re going to find her.” He pointed out as he came to a stop, uncaring for the various eyes on the mad man talking to himself in the middle of the street.

(G???????: Hmm, her scent ‘s in the air, still fresh enough that the blood and filth of humanity has yet to consume it. The innocence makes it stand out against the rabble.)

He inhaled, but (I can’t smell anything…)

(W????: I smell the blood of the innocent and the damned alike, but not the girl.)

(G???????: Grrah, need to feel the beast… let it guide you on the hunt…) The feral one growled as his skin began to feel a little too tight on his bones.

(E???: Dangerous route this one, be careful not to over indulge it lest it consume you.)

(W????: True but the Beast has purpose, value we shouldn’t neglect.)

“Alright, the ‘beast’-” (It uses a capital B.) “Ah, apologies.” He coughed into his hand. “Ahem, the Beast is a valuable tool, but that doesn’t tell me how to use it.”

(E???: The Beast is a state of mind. Leave it to the unconscious mind, you’ll just direct it as the conscious mind.)

(P????: So long as you remain more man than Beast at least.)

Before he could parse that ominous thought, he found himself hunching over as his stomach began to growl, the tightness of his skin growing even worse as his mouth began to water. All around him the world grew brighter, the darkness fading so that he could see through the darkest of shadows as well as the shadows cast by every person he saw.

(G???????: Not the time. Time to hunt!)

His heart began to pound in his chest and he began to move, his eyes taking note of recent scuffs picking apart the ones that were too big and too heavy, before seeing the ones that were smaller than the rest. Small enough to be the (prey/friend/girl) he was after.

Moving in pursuit his calm walk slowly shifted into a spiraling sprint as he sought out his (prey) not caring in the slightest about the people around him or the fact that several flinched away from his bloodstained form and snarling maw, (all that matters is the hunt!)

A trail of something floated through the air, unseen by all but the mad man following it, through back alleys and streets as he barely took notice of the people and things that surrounded him. Details that in a clearer state of mind might’ve meant something or triggered some sort of response from the voices in his head but currently meant nothing in the face of his growing (hunger.)

Coming into an alley walled off by a chain link fence, he easily leapt over said fence in spite of it being as tall as he was, before finding that the cloud of (scent/emotion/madness) that he’d been following expanded into such a large thing that it consumed his vision.

(She’s nearby…) He growled both internally and ex at that thought, not sure whether it was him or the voices making the sound.

His eyes darted around the brickwork alley, taking note of the various filth and debris that littered the ground, the torn up posters depicting odd imagery, and the overflowing dumpsters before falling on a large wooden board lying against the brickwork, too close to really hide anything of import and yet…

(G???????: The rabbit’s den is buried, need to dig it out.)

The voices seemed to disagree.

The only places he could see the girl hiding would be inside the dumpster, which while viable in the short term was not somewhere he could see her staying in long enough to cover this entire alley in… (whatever I was tracking.)

“Which leaves you…” He smiled, before grabbing the edge of the board and tossing it aside to find a small alcove in the alley brickwork.

An alcove just big enough for a sleeping bag, a backpack, and a terrified green eyed girl who could be no older than ten and four bundled up in a heavy scarf and jacket.

(G????: There’s the thief!)

(G???????: Food!)

He growled, ready to rip into her throat and- (Enough/Enough/Enough!)

The voice’s echoing presence was enough to force him to flinch.

(W????: She’s a child!)

(L???: Friend not food!Friend not food!!!)

(E???: What would your mother think of this behavior?)

He found himself flinching once more as the voices that weren’t all for killing the girl reprimanded him.

(P????: As I said, will you be a savage beast or a proper gentleman?)

(Right…) He inhaled, before exhaling. (Need to be sure of whatever choice I make…)