My quest hadn’t updated, but it felt right to be here right now. Alex knew nothing about anything. How someone could survive as long as they had without knowing about the system was unbelievable, yet here I was. Alex had to be what the Devourer of Knowledge and Light had wanted me to find. A being that great wouldn't send me on a vacation without ulterior motives. Who needed a vacation after waiting ages for a way to pay back a debt? My world had prospered from that debt. It needed to be repaid.

Alex was squishy and young. I hadn’t seen a baby devourer that wasn’t shaped like me in a long time. Still, they might not have meant for me to find this baby. Or worse yet, maybe they didn't know about this baby devourer. We had lost so many, was the system returning balance to things? The bones of the great giant in the distance mocked me, reminding me of the legions we had lost. So many had been slaughtered on both sides, but we’d definitely seen the worst of it. Until they stepped in.

I almost shivered. Then I caught sight of Alex. All thoughts of the Great Ones vanished.

Finally, it had happened. It always did at an early age. Alex lost control.

This was why we were hunted. None of us could understand what it meant to lose control, until we did. All I could do was watch, and hope they would come out of it on the other side still mentally there. Sometimes, the young and squishy ones broke. When they did, it was sad, and almost always meant their death. I hoped Alex wouldn’t. This had been the most fun I’d had in centuries, and needing to put Alex down would sadden me, cutting into my fun.

The thought made me pause. I was having fun. There wasn’t much I could do, what with the constraints of the Sanctuary, but I could answer some questions, and try to keep Alex alive within the rules. The questions from the human had finally started, and they were learning more about the universe. I knew they had to have more questions, but this mission of theirs seemed to be taking up a lot of their mental capacity. I hoped it wasn’t a permanent weakness of the mind.

The sound of something creeping closer drew my attention away from the human gnawing directly on the carcass's shoulder. Another spitter peeked out from behind a tree, eyeing the scene. I moved closer to it, then paused as Alex hissed behind me, sounding like a beast.

The spitter fled through the trees in fear.

I flew back to my post over Alex, chuckling. Maybe this human could become a great devourer after all. If they survived this.

Regaining control would take some time. The amount of damage Alex had taken had been great; I wasn’t exactly sure how they had survived to be honest. Ribs broken, shoulder crushed, internal bleeding for sure, and that was only what I could sense from the mark I’d placed. At least some of the smarts were still there. They were using the tooth instead of their ineffective fingers.

Well, mostly.

Alex cut deeply into the creature, heading for the heart. I buzzed, interested in seeing what would happen. Each time they devoured a heart, I wondered how it would change their squishiness. So far, nothing big had happened, it’d only been small changes to help them survive. Survival was the most important thing at this early stage, after all. As long as you lived, you could keep growing.

But this was a milestone, Level Ten. I’d hatched at level ten. On my world, it was the weakest you’d ever be. Here, in this place, most hatched young at level zero or level one, or at least the beasts did. These strange humans shouldn’t even be in this area. The groups of humans on this planet were farther away, and usually hatched at level zero, but quickly grew to level ten. Alex was different. Somehow, they were even weaker than a normal human. Or, they’d started out that way. They weren’t weaker than the other humans anymore, even though they were still pretty squishy for a devourer.

Another mystery for me to solve, besides the quest hanging over my head.

Alex shoved the heart into their mouth and hummed happily. It almost sounded like my buzzing, which pleased me. I studied them, wanting to see what would change. At some point, they needed to become more. Less squishy, and more toothy.

They stopped humming and they dove back in with their knife, cutting off more flesh.

I hovered in the air, slightly disappointed.

I had expected something to happen. It must have, and yet… nothing. Nothing I could sense, anyway. Maybe it took time. That had to be it.

I flew around in a circle before landing on a tree branch over Alex. I needed to wait. Humans were strange, after all, especially this one.

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Chirping came from the trees to the north and I sighed. Those creatures weren’t very smart. A group slowly approached, keeping away from the annoying crystal that hummed several feet away. In a couple of hours, they wouldn’t be able to even move this close to that annoying noise, but for now, they crept forward.

A pack of small things circled around, staring at Alex gorging themselves and the dead spitter. Alex called them Compys. Dumb creatures that were too low-level to worry about. Still, they stepped forward, chirping at Alex.

I let out a chuckle. You never drew the attention of a devourer. Especially a devourer who was raving. Nor did you try to steal its food when it gorged. Especially when it gorged.

Alex hissed at them, their bright eyes narrowing.

The five Compys didn’t seem to care as they launched themselves at the carcass. The first was stabbed with the tooth, while Alex hit the next in the head with a large rock. So that shoulder must be healing up nicely.

One of the others bit Alex’s leg, but Alex completely ignored it while stabbing at the other who dashed in for a small bite. Alex was faster, killing the small creature.

That’s what happened when you targeted something four levels above you. You died.

The tooth came down on the one still gnawing on their leg. The last, seeing its companions dead, vanished into the underbrush. If it was smart, it wouldn’t come back. Alex slumped down, grabbing the knife before cutting into the smaller carcass.

The scent of blood filled the air, tempting me. I resisted.

Oh no. Focus on the big dead thing, not hearts. A heart binge would last so much longer.

Alex tossed the heart into their mouth. It didn’t take long for them to cut apart the three others to reach their hearts, but Alex didn’t bother eating the rest and tossed the uneaten carcasses into a pile nearby.

Thankfully, they turned back to the bigger kill before diving back into eating more of its body. Eventually, they yanked out the spear and shortened it, returning it to their belt. That was the most Alex thing they had done so far. It might be over soon. Hopefully, it would be.

I settled in to wait.

I was wrong.

***

The smell woke me, along with a buzzing near my ear. I blinked several times, trying to figure out what had happened. After a few moments, I sat up, holding my head. The constant humming sound at the back of my mind rattled me. It was just so loud.

The spitting dino had attacked me, and I’d almost died. That, I remembered. Notifications blinked, but I kept them muted while I gained my bearings. I sat on the jungle floor. The smell that had woken came from a carcass, a big one. It wasn’t fresh at all, making my nose twitch.

Suddenly, I remembered the whole fight with the Dilophosaurus. My hand went to my shoulder, finding my shirt burned but the skin underneath whole. Two other piles sat in the distance. One looked to be Compy bodies, while the other was something I didn’t recognize immediately. Then I saw the head fin. It was a Parasaurolophus. Giant chunks had been torn out of it, but a good amount of meat remained, and it smelled fresher.

“What the ever-living fuck?” I whispered.

“I barely remember my first bender, but the day after is clear as crystal.”

“Bender?” I asked. Yet, flashes came to me; Pain, so much pain, then fighting Compys and eating their hearts. The last thing I remembered was dragging the Parasaurolophus back here after killing it. Though, the actual process of killing it was gone.

I stared at the body, trying to get an idea of what’d happened.

[Parasaurolophus, Level 4, Dead.]

That made more sense. I’d gone after one to eat, not grow.

“How much did I eat?” I asked, not expecting an answer. The amount of meat missing from each of the bodies was impossible. A human couldn’t eat all of that. There wasn’t anywhere for it to physically go. My stomach was only so big and, without being overly analytical, there wasn’t some giant pile of shit somewhere. I wanted to gag, but couldn’t. I found myself standing and moving closer to what was left of the para. It still looked and smelled fresh. While I wasn’t hungry now, putting some of this away for later in my inventory crystal would be important. Having extra food would increase my ability to heal after a fight. Especially if this type of thing happened when I got seriously injured.

I couldn’t let this happen again. What if I’d been around people? What about if I’d been around my brother? Or with a hunting crew, like Mary or Cass?

My chest tightened and I swallowed the panic. I went to grab my knife, but it wasn’t at my side.

“It’s over here…” Noseen buzzed, and I turned back from where I’d woken up. I must have had it in my hand when I’d finally slept. After retrieving it, I knelt and butchered the carcass into chunks, tossing them into a stack in my inventory. I didn’t know what to think as I sliced and diced. Instead, I focused on the task, and let my brain process everything that had happened.

I still needed to check out my notifications, but only once I felt like my head wasn’t going to explode. The humming from the crystal was still there, and probably the only reason I was still alive. As soon as this was done, I needed to check my notifications and then climb that tree again. This time I needed to make sure nothing was around before I jumped down.

This was already too much of a detour, though it was hard to tell how much time had passed based on the angle of the sun through the tree cover. Though, it felt like the sun was in the same spot it had been when I’d been attacked. So, maybe I was fine and still on track. But that didn’t make a lot of sense, how long had it taken me to take down the para and drag it back here?

Eventually, the urge to check the notifications took over. I wanted to see what I’d gotten from the Dilophosaurus. That had to be enough meat, I thought. It was way more than I’d taken the first time, but now I knew better. Food healed me quicker.