The rat squirmed under his teeth. It had been so long. This one was crippled, and its little comrades had left it for dead. The chase had been invigorating. Blood flowed and small bones cracked in his mouth. Rats were his favorites but they knew it well and fled in panic at his scent. This one was a treat and he took the time to savor it.

He remembered when he was weak and all the sewers' predators came for him on their own, so much pain. But then he grasped desperately for life and took it. It had been a good time then. Couldn't get anything from this place now except dead meat. Nothing to be gained. Nothing at all.

For a while, fear had prevented him from exploring the depths, where red spineworms and thousand-eyes reigned. But hunger and curiosity got the better of him, as always. He had then tasted living shadows, and the great lurking mudsquids. Nothing was left now. Nothing.

Except rats and insects. Bugs were nice but too much of a bother. The rats thrived but they were smart, and fast. He wasn't their friend. They understood it now, not one of their own despite what their noses told them. Still, rats were only meat now. Nothing new.

He had been a boy once, that he knew for certain. He dreamed of little Molly sometimes. Her constant smile, how she would always follow him wherever he went. Mama too, mending his clothes or admonishing him for getting mud everywhere. Dead all of them. In the grave. Or burnt. Didn't know. Didn't want to know what happened up there. But the hunger for anything new was growing everyday. It wouldn't be long before he'd go there despite the pain and memories.

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He slowly extended a tendril of shadow and took a peek outside. It was night in the city. He didn't know if he could be only a boy anymore. Whiskers, scales or claws didn't belong in the world of men. Not on boys at least. They felt so right though. Changing again would hurt, it might take a lot of time too. Maybe he could keep the fur. Boys could be hairy right? He couldn't remember exactly.

He had never been outside the city. He wanted to go to the old forest. Mama often told tales of the forest. Didn't know where it was though. River spirits were silent here, he had tried to ask countless times. But then he never met one one even when he was only boy. Now that he was many, maybe they didn't understand him. You always had to be proper and polite with spirits, Mama always said. Bow your head, and do not look directly. Hard not to stare at the water when his head was covered with eyes though... He might have offended them.

He would sleep, then try to be a boy again.