As the blade emerged from its sheath, it started singing. It was a clear, deep sound, almost gentle compared to the beast in front of us. The guard positioned himself in a low, deliberate, and well-managed manner.
He didn't blink his eyes. He continued to breathe steadily. Like a laugh ripped from a rotting throat, the monster that had once been a child gurgled and tipped its head. Then it jumped.
They lunged at him, a swirl of black veins and limbs screaming. One foot, one movement, and the steel flashed as the guard stepped forward.
With a sound that reverberated throughout the corridor, the creature's body was flung back.
A shatter echoed in her bones as she smashed into the wall with all her might, but she got back up. The blood from the cut in her side was thick and dark, but it continued to flow. He appeared to be painless. Or perhaps he did, but he didn't give a damn.
Once more, he charged. After deflecting the first hit and stumbling on the second, the guard rammed his knee into his ribs. Another flash of steel, another shatter, another scream. It stumbled.
I remained there, observing the scene without moving. I had numb legs. I had weak arms. I believed my heart was going to burst in my chest since it was thumping so rapidly.
The fruit inside me... it pulsed, it throbbed. Something burned under my skin. A pressure, which intensified with each heartbeat. I felt it reacting to the creature - no, to its Essence.
It wasn't just fear that I was feeling now. It was hunger, a raw and primitive hunger. And the strangest thing was: I could feel it too. The creature. Not just its form or presence, but what it had become. Its essence was unstable, it screamed, shattered, it called to me.
I felt my face contort into a strange grimace as the golden flames spread over my limbs and came out of... my mouth?
My hands were shaking, my stomach twisted, my skin itched from the inside, and my breath abruptly stopped, as if to keep me from drowning.
I'm hungry,
The thought didn't have words; instead, it was a sensation. A faint glow shimmered at the tips of my fingers, radiating its golden light throughout my body.
No. No, not now. Never again.
I knew the guard had noticed, but he didn't turn around. He felt his shoulder loosen up. He delivered one last punch to terminate the battle.
As the remainder of its tainted essence leaked into the air and turned into smoke, the creature fell, its body tensing.
Silence settled in. Just our breaths. And the faint humming of the sword that still vibrated from the impact. The guard slowly lowered his weapon, then looked at me over his shoulder.
His eyes did not contain fear. They contained something worse. Recognition.
The disgust I felt mixed with the hunger that gnawed at me from the inside, my posture changed before I even thought about it.
My back arched, my arms relaxed and hung in half-formed smoking golden gauntlets. I stood on tiptoe, the ground seemed to disappear beneath my feet and my vision blurred. I could no longer hold back.
______________________________________________________________________________
~Mason Reems~
I turned my gaze away from the still warm remains of the child I had just killed.
What's the point of all this? That was the question I had been asking myself since I arrived here. Those kids... all those kids.
But it was the job. No room for second thoughts. At least, I will have spared him from suffering any further.
I was about to hit the road again... when I felt it. The temperature had just risen sharply, and a murderous intent pierced my back like a blade.
I turned around.
And then, I saw him.
The child. The one I had barely guided just a few minutes earlier. He stood there, his eyes wild, his gaze devouring. Ready to pounce.
His fighting stance was disordered. His left arm half-raised against his chest, the right hanging along his leg.
He was on tiptoe. Every inch of his body was enveloped in golden-yellow flames.
Her amber eyes were empty. Her pupils had narrowed, feline. And for a second, I no longer saw a child.
But a predator.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
~Abel Zannah~
I saw it move before I even made my decision.
My muscles had already responded. My leg had tightened. My arms had followed suit. My hands were open like claws.
I lunged.
My body felt extremely light and strangely fast.
My hand collided with the flat of the guard's sword, propelling me several meters away.
I caught my fall at the last minute and positioned myself on all fours. I tried my luck again. This time, he dodged my attack. Without missing a beat, I used the same arm to kick him in the ribs.
He stepped back as my legs returned to the ground. I threw myself at him again.
My movements were wild and seemed natural, instinctive, yet I didn't feel like I was the one fighting; everything came to me in a curtain of anger that inhibited my senses.
[Stop], the same voice had come back to haunt me. It was distant and distorted, but insistent and authoritative.
I ignored it and let my hunger and anger carry me.
I growled. My hands flamed, gold pulsing around my fingers. The air seemed to warp with each stroke, vibrating, resonating.
In yet another acrobatic action, the man's blade struck my back with a sharp burn, but I didn't stop.
I struck again. And again. Sharp, disordered, imprecise blows. My mind seemed to expand as the fight progressed.
I felt everything. Every movement. Every breath. Every heartbeat... hers.
I want his fruit. I heard my unhealthy laughter. That wasn't me. It couldn't be me.
The golden fire intensified. It crawled along my neck and face. My back arched in an animal posture.
[You've got to stop, it's too much for you.]
The voice had returned. It was closer this time. Soft, imploring.
Is it the man? The one from the dream. The one of the empty sky. It was him who had been waiting, patiently, from the beginning. Is it his fault?
My body was burning even hotter.
The guard dodged one of my blows again.
My left foot had missed its target and my legs were spread apart. The flames on my right leg intensified and, in a split second, my foot hit his hip.
Without waiting, I propelled my left foot over her shoulder and struck her with my heel. He stepped back, surprised. Just half a second.
Half a second too long.
I slipped into the opening, both arms ablaze, screaming.
He raised his blade to block my attack, but I had already slipped past his guard.
My open hand was about to reach her chest.
[ENOUGH]
A wave surged within me. An inner uproar, brutal and pure.
My vision exploded into light.
A golden flash blinded me and I lost my balance.
I fell to my knees, panting. My limbs were trembling. The fire had gone out.
The silence had returned. The real one. The heavy one stood before me, his sword barely raised.
He hadn't finished me off.
He was looking at me. No... he was watching me. Like a hunter who recognizes an animal more dangerous than expected.
And I was curled up on the floor. Empty. Broken. Breathless.
"What are you, kid?" he murmured.
I didn't answer.
I didn't know what to say.