The orc girl treated me pretty well, despite the drugging and the cage. She always made sure I was fed and well taken care of. She even started taking me out when she went with the bigger orcs to hunt. I think I also managed to figure out her name. The larger orcs called out to her once and she responded, so I think her name is Greta but they pronounced it GRAH-TEHH. I gave up on escape and decided to stick with them for a while. Hanging out with them I would be safe and they always gave me large cuts of meat. I was even able to grow a bit, even though I think I get more biomass from living creatures I absorb. Cooked meat was tastier.

Greta had taken me out of the hut earlier than usual this morning and lead me to the other side of their village. A small group of older orcs were standing around talking to each other. They each had long wooden spears and small knives made of sharpened stone. I assumed she was taking me out to hunt again as we had done before. However, this was a lot earlier than I was used to leaving for a hunt. The sun had not even begun to rise and we were starting to leave the village. I licked my lips in anticipation, I hope we get lots of meat on this hunt.

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Victoria was walking around her apartment. Well, it would make more sense to call it the real victoria’s apartment. It was where she first met the original Victoria and also it was where she made her disappear. Sometimes Victoria would look at the scratches on the floor and think about that night. She turned her attention back to the tv program she had been watching. Something to do with how the country was being destroyed by earthquakes caused by the central power plant in the capital. She shut it off and got up for a stretch. She was currently in the form she was most comfortable in. She looked like a short teenager with pitch black hair. Her eyes were as black as her hair but had a almost imperceptible ring of white in the corner. She was currently wearing a thin t-shirt that simply said “ROCK IT!” and some gray shorts. She loved to just laze around on her days off but the recent discovery of the missing applicants from the main building she simply couldn’t get it off her mind.

She walked into the room she used as her office and sat down at the desk. She opened her laptop opened a program. A small window opened up and displayed a large chart detailing everything she had found out so far. Which wasn’t very much right now. She knew that someone who had access to the main office building had abducted some new recruits. She assumed that whoever they were used these new recruits for a discontinued experiment. She also had a small list of suspects that she compiled, but she doesn’t have any proof about any of them. She went over the list a couple times and decided to go down the list and check them out one by one. She didn’t really have anything to do today so, why not.

She got dressed and was about to leave her apartment when she caught sight of her face in the mirror.

‘This wont do’ She thought to herself. This form was very beautiful and would catch the eye of many people. She wanted to sneak around without being noticed so she gave herself a less noticeable appearance. She wrapped a beige scarf around her neck and altered her face just enough to be unrecognizable. She made herself less pretty but not ugly enough to draw attention to herself and then left her apartment. She looked at the list and started with the person she knew lived closest to her. He was a very dedicated scientist, in fact he rarely actually left the lab. She thought she would break into his house and do some snooping.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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I followed Greta as she followed the group through the forest. For some reason all the orc had stern faces and refused to look at Greta or me at all. We came across some small animals but the hunters didn’t stop at all for them. We were even attacked by a predator but they just killed it and moved on. Ignoring all the meat. I waited till they were far enough away before sneaking off to absorb it and coming back. No one even noticed I was gone, probably because they keep avoiding my gaze. This was giving me a bad feeling.

We walked for a very long time, it didn’t take long for me to be completely lost. I feel I could find my way back by smell if I need to though.

Eventually we reached a clearing and stopped. The orcs set up some kind of table they made by stacking up some large flat rocks that they found at the edge of the clearing. This must be some kind of ritual place for them. I wonder why it has to be so far away from their village though.

The hunters put a large bag on the rock and backed away. Greta walked up and started going through the bag. I walked up and sat next to her, I tried to look into the bag but she kept finished looking through it before I got close enough for a sniff. She closed it and grunted something to the others, the biggest one nodded to her and started to set up camp. None of them hunted anything so I left to get some food.

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Greta watched as her wolf walked off. She knew he was going to hunt and knew he would return. He always returned to her after she shared her gorulla root with him. She just thought that he liked her, she didn’t seem to notice that he shyed away from the larger members of her tribe. She looked around at her family and sighed deeply. She knew what we came here to do. This was her rite of passage. Every orc that comes of age has to go through this before they would be considered an adult. She was allowed a small bag of food and she was able to request one thing from the tribe to bring with her. It was expected that she would have chosen a weapon but she chose her wolf. The elders were worried but they couldnt interfere. It wasn’t their place to and her parents had fallen when their tribe split off from the main clan. She was scared, the elders that came with her would leave in the morning and she would have to survive in the woods by herself for a week and then find her way back to her tribe.

Her thoughts were clouded by her fear. Her heart was thumping as thoughts of the monsters that lived in the woods filled her mind. She whispered a short prayer to whatever gods she could think of and began to prepare herself for her trial. She was going to tell her elders she was ready but she remembered her wolf wasn’t back yet. She wanted him to be here as she went through the ritual, having him near would calm her spirit. It was very uncommon for her people to get pets, but when they do, they were treasured by the tribe. It was seen as a blessing to have a strong monster as a pet but its not something they went out of their way to do. It was something that had to happen naturally. Like a starving wolf walking towards the center of their village. She was startled by a rustling in the bushes nearby, but she calmed down when she saw the black fur of her wolf dragging along some animal he killed. She smiled and went over to help him, she doesn’t regret taking him along with this trial. She only hopes he doesn’t hate her afterwards.