(Kisaya POV)
The chill struck first, not from the night air but from deep in my chest. My body reacted before I understood, arms tightening around myself. I opened my eyes. Darkness filled my sight, broken only by the faint light of the moon, every sound too sharp against the silence. The fire was out, leaving only ash and blackened wood.
And he wasn't there.
My pulse surged. I dragged my eyes through the dark, searching, until I found him. His back, further than it should have been. My breath leaked out in a trembling sigh of relief, but it didn't ease the tightness in me. My gaze stuck to him, unwilling to move.
That was when I saw it. A flare, sudden and raw. Spiritual energy broke from him in waves, almost violent in the way it bent the air around him. It rose and fell as if his body couldn't contain it. I'd noticed it before I rested, but now it was worse—stronger, more frequent. Something about it wasn't right. I found myself moving toward him before I even realized it.
"What are you doing out there?" I muttered under my breath, not sure if the words were for him or myself.
But when I closed the distance, his voice cut the night:
"Don't… don't come any closer…"
The sound rooted me where I stood. My hands clenched tight, my breath catching in my throat. "What happened?"
He turned. Slowly. Painfully. His hand clutched his arm, every muscle taut with strain. His whole frame shook, not from cold or fatigue, but from something coiled inside him, fighting to break free.
"I… I don't want to hurt you…"
Then his eyes met mine.
Red eyes stared back at me, not the familiar gold I knew. Blood red, alive with that same nightmare light I had seen when he wasn't himself. My body answered before I could think, one foot sliding back across the dirt, my hands reaching unconsciously for the spear that wasn't there.
He spoke again, voice rough, trembling. "There… There's this hunger, this thirst. It keeps growing. I don't know how much longer I can hold it back. When you fell asleep… I… I almost attacked you."
His words shocked me, leaving me frozen. Almost attacked me. My pulse thundered in my ears. Not with shock, no, but with the realization that had finally caught me.
His body didn't lie.
Hunger.
Not madness.
Hunger.
I remembered the corpses, pale and dry. Not torn apart. Just emptied, drained until nothing was left inside. And then him, spitting out food like it was poison, as if his body rejected everything it once needed.
He hadn't been killing. He had been feeding.
My chest tightened. My hand loosened at my side.
"I think… it's blood." The words tasted wrong as I spoke them, but there was no other answer left. My voice came low, steady only because I forced it.
He trembled, his eyes wide, unfocused, as if he hadn't truly heard me. Then, barely a whisper, his lips formed the word: "Blood?"
I swallowed, the words thick in my throat. Still, I nodded. "Do you remember when I told you about the reports?" My breath caught, but I pushed on. "All of the bodies, human or animal, were pale, empty… drained of blood."
His brow furrowed.
"So… if I drink blood… will it stop?"
The silence after lingered like a blade between us.
I held his gaze. My throat was dry, my heart still hammering, but I didn't look away.
"It's the only thing that makes sense."
(Ereshgal POV)
My hand wouldn't stop shaking. The spiritual energy coiled around it like barbed wire, pulsing, burning. Red blurred my vision in sharp flashes, each throb syncing with the hollow ache in my throat. I tried to swallow, but nothing soothed it.
Calm. I had to stay calm. Break it down. Control it. But every sound around me was too sharp, every shift in the air scraping my nerves raw. Kisaya's heartbeat struck like a drum, louder with each passing moment. I tore my gaze away, but when I looked at her, I wasn't seeing her eyes… I was staring at her neck.
A sick desire pressed against my teeth, a need that felt older than hunger. To sink them in. My stomach twisted at the thought, horror and craving merging into something I couldn't name.
Do I have to drink blood? No. I'm human, not an animal. I can't… this isn't me.
But this thirst… it's growing. I can't keep going like this.
I glanced at Kisaya. She was watching me, her face tight with worry. She's afraid of me.
My hands trembled. I don't want this. But if this is the only way to stop it… if drinking blood is the only thing that will keep me from losing control… then I have to try.
"I'll find an animal" I muttered at last, voice low and uneven. My body moved before the thought was even complete, turning away from her. "Don't follow me… I'll be back."
And then I ran. Fast. Too fast. The world split open. We had crossed a river earlier, there had been a forest near it. My body remembered the path better than my mind. Before I knew it, I was there.
The woods swallowed me whole. My senses surged outward, desperate, ravenous. The air stank of moss, soil, bark… and something warmer, alive. My ears twitched at every snap, every rustle. Then…
A crack. A branch.
I lunged before I even thought. And there it was… a deer. Fragile. Innocent. Alive.
It bolted, but my body didn't hesitate. My hand closed around its neck, breaking through its desperate fight. Its eyes bulged, and still I smiled.
Something sharp pressed through my gums. Fangs. I didn't think, didn't choose. I bit.
The moment blood hit my tongue, the world shifted. Fire became water. My throat opened, my body sang. Relief. Pure, unbroken relief. I drank, swallowed, devoured… yet there was no flavor, no savor. Just release. Just silence creeping into the hunger for the first time.
And then it stopped… too soon. Not enough. I shook the limp body, bit again, harder, deeper. Nothing. There was nothing left, only emptiness gnawing harder than before.
More.
I needed more.
The hunger backed off, but not enough. I jerked at a sound behind me, ready, crouched, grinning with a mouth wet and sharp. Another one? Another chance to make it stop?
But when I turned…
Kisaya.
Her eyes locked on me, clutching the spear tight. Her whole face showed fear.
I lifted a hand to calm her, but it wasn't a hand anymore. It was a claw, every finger drenched in blood. The red coated my skin completely, running down in thick lines, and with it shimmered the glow of spiritual energy until the two became one, crawling over me like something alive.
I froze, staring at the thing I had become, no breath left to catch.
I stared at the thing attached to me, horror clawing deeper than the hunger ever had. My lips moved, voice fractured:
"…What am I?"
I collapsed to my knees, still staring at my hand, the stranger's hand, the monster's hand, that wouldn't stop shaking.