53 Mad Star

Right here in this spot, laying within the depths of the eternal woods which covered this part of the continent, several hundreds of different tribes and types of beasts have made their home. For it is here their haven laid. Untainted by the human settlements and adventurers.

Right here you would find many creatures wander almost every day. Like the [Cave monkey] for example. A primate specie with the outer appearance of a large Neanderthal and the body structure of a chimpanzee. Most often found inhabiting caves they dug out themselvs or stole from others. Living near the sides of small mountains or large boulders, covered by the infinite jungle stretching out for miles on end. Their tribes would at most consist of around thirty individuals, but it would of course vary.

But if ignoring the humanoid appearence and their primitive intelligence, you would find out that they were also not picky eaters. Feasting upon anything varying from rotting flesh to fruits. You could say they were both omnivores and scavengers in a sense.

And although there were many such tribes throughout the forest, these creatures stood out like a sore thumb. As they were the most dominant one. Even with a lacking intelligence, the monkeys still managed to construct some leather rags, which was quite the feat, considering they were a mutated type of beast.

[Cave monkeys] were, short and simple, very aggresive in nature. And even though they were considered friendly looking, there went not one day where a scuffle wouldn't occur. Each one always eager to test their might and fully grown lower general layer body strength.

On this fateful day, one such individual could be found traveling through the dense jungle like forest. Seeming to try and follow the scent of something, as its nose continuously twitched.

This was Ebel. One of the beta tribe members who had been tasked with finding the origin of an never before seen phenomenon.

Last night, a white star fell from the heavens while they slept. Waking up all living creatures in the surrounding area.

And as Ebel was considered the laziest one, he was forced to go and check the crater formed not too far away from their home.

The jungle he currently waddled through was heavy in plant life. branches, trees and vines constantly hit his cloth rags with minor amounts of force as he furthered his advanced.

He felt a little grumpy, but that soon stopped, as he had finally arrived at his destination.

Before him, where different kinds of trees and bushes would usually lay, was a large crater containing the mysterious object.

The scorched earth making it up had cooled down, giving him the leasure of an descent.

Quickly, Ebel jogged down the where the barely discernible thing rested. Small blackened stones would trickle down alongside him as he picked up the pace.

Finally, he was there. Looking at the now perfectly visible organism in the hole.

'What is this?' he thought.

Some sort of barely breathing human laid there. The top part looked pretty normal with a wild black mane and everything. Meanwhile, the tissue bellow its ribcage had been burnt and ruined. Not even the legs were left it, only the two sizzling stumps which would at most be considered untouched.

He looked down at the creature resting near his feet and gave it a weak kick. But nothing happened.

'Is this man dead?'

Ebel bent down and opened his mouth to an inhumane degree, immediately ripping out a piece of flesh with his scissor shaped teeth. Barely chewing before swallowing it down. This was most likely a way to see if the cells had started to decompose.

'No it is still live'

However, as these thoughts ran through his head, Ebel watched as the wound he just created healed up in seconds. The muscle fibers stitched themselves back together, not even leaving a scar behind.

'What...?'

The human seemed to have healed? But how? Ebel did not wonder too much about this, and quickly took another bite from it.

This time, he savored the meat while looking for the same occurrence to happen twice. Which it sure did..

Ebel could almost not belive what he was seeing. Was this perhaps a gift from the sky?

'It must be!'

Every time he thought about it, he felt more sure. Confident that the alpha would grant him more food and time to nap.

Without anymore hesitation, he hooked his dirty fingers on his hand onto the humans arm. Starting to forcefully drag the baggage of meat with him back to the tribe.

On his way back the little man kept mumbling about something and twitched from time to time. Who knew what it was, but Ebel felt a weird bubbling in his stomach every time it did. What was this thing?

However, he just found a branch and hit the man the head a couple of times to make him stop. It eased his nerves a little, and so he was able to drag it with him through the bushy terrain without worry.

And as expected, once he arrived, he was greeted by praise and worship!

In the beginning they seemed to be a little scared, but after finding out they could infinitely eat this things flesh, all of it was thrown out of the window.

Even the massive alpha dragged it to the campfire himself, taking several bites of it every second as to fill his never ending hunger.

That night, they all sung and danced with joy. For the heavens had sendt them an eternal feast!

Many days past, and they were all just as wonderful as the first one. With singing and dancing all day.

But today, all decided the stay home. What need is there to gather food when possessing this? Right?

Night had currently fallen in the cave monkey territory, and while some slept, others rested near the campfire. Talking about who knows what in their own language.

The ones sitting near the campfire was of course, Ebel himself, and two of his brothers. They happily laughed from time to time while eating some round blue fruits. Or berry balls as they were called. Looking like large blue strawberries. These three were tasked with watching over the gift, who peaceful laid next to a bunch of dried twigs and logs, and the fire. Right now, the little man could be found sleeping not too far away from them. Face down and burried underneath the old rubble and wood.

However, as they merrily sung along, something weird happened.

The body of the gift, it started to twitch madly. As if many small critters were violently fighting inside its body.

The three brothers stopped what they did and all looked at it go. Mabye it was the night air, or just the silence from the environment, but they all felt a little fear tingle inside their bellies whenever it moved.

"Ooo Oooo Ooo ooo Ooo Ooo"

'Ebel, you brought it here, you check it out.'

One of Ebel's siblings cried out to him, and as he couldn't find any flaws in what the guy said, he just walked over to it steadily. Tripping on the the broken twigs and dirty stones filling most of the camp.

Every step he took would create an echo. The dried dirt would crumble underneath his feet, and the ashy twigs they had previously used to grill the gift's meat with shattered into pieces. It kind of ruined his approach, but Ebel still continued.

Not long after, he finally stood a few meters away from the twitching body. However he felt like walking any closer would be a bad idea, as all the instincts in his body warned him about just this.

Behind him the two brothers just laughed at his nervousness, and so he turned back around and barked at them with all his might.

However, as he made eye contact with the two, Ebel noticed that their facial expression froze. What was this? This was the kind of face one would make after stumbling upon a of king layer beast. Not even daring to shake in fear, as all blood beneath the skin would have retracted itself togheter with all hopes of escape.

However, not too long after turning around, some strange cracking noises filled the insides of Ebel's large ears. He couldn't fully understand where it came from, but it all made sense after he turned back around.

The torn human body was currently violently breaking appart. No, rather the skin on it's body started to turn into a material resembling burning firewood. Both rough in texture and unpleasant in appearance, it did not take long before the entire thing was cracked.

The fingers began to multiply, growing a couple extra joints, and long red nails similar to many rusty knifes. The black hair grew thicker and longer, like the mane of some adult lion. Meanwhile, the back muscles shook madly for a second, before four spiked shoots dug their way out from the flesh.

And lastly, the leg stumps. No, they did not properly grow back, but the remaining tissue seemed to stretch itself down. Not too different from what you would consider two spider legs, and a pair of hooves mashed togheter.

Cold sweat began to run down Ebel's back as he watched the transformation unfold, unsure of how to deal with it.

Out of pure fear, he reached down next to him and picked up a large stick while trembling like a madman. Planning on hitting it in the a couple of times to make the fear go away.

However, the moment bendt over and grabbed one, the body began to whisper something strange.

"Speed....Times strength..."

"Times distance....And length...."

Beads of salty water now fell from his forehead like a river, as a beacon of panic welled up inside the monkey's stomach.

"Plus the power....And then demand..."

He frantically raised the stick up in the air, planning to smash the head of this weird human into a pulp. However, he was not allowed to do such a thing.

The malformed figure spun around. Aiming it's hollow black eyes and grinning jaw at him.

Ebel wanted to finish the attack, sending this creature back to sleep. But it suddenly slammed both of its palms back into the ground in one violent swing. shooting its way up towards him while finishing the whisper.

"And so, suffer the principle which I command."

As the deformed body was about to hit, it suddenly threw one of the claws into Ebel's stomach. However, he wasn't cut by the crooked nails. Rather, it was as if a piece of paper tried to hold its own against a fork. Pulling the ripping flesh to one side with an unbreakable force.

Almost instantly, Ebel was violently severed in two. Unable to even register what had happened, he silently died without knowing why.

The two siblings sitting near the large flame felt the fruit bits inside their mouth fall out as they began to tremble in fear.

"hahahahaha"

The beatly figure balanced itself onto the two long flesh hooves stretching out of the lower body. However, as this proved to not be as efficient, something resembling small spikes of bone grew out from the frontal area resting on the ground. Even if looking like some damaged claws, it greatly helped it regain full control.

The two brothers looked at this abomination one last time before madly fleeing. Howling in alarm as they trampled upon several dried sticks and dirt patches. However, no matter how fast they ran, the image of those void eyes and the insane smile filled with needles would constantly haunt their mind.

While running away from the previous spot, something seemed to travel into their ears. A voice which felt so close, you could feel the warm breath shoot alongside each word.

"Do you two know what kind of animal awaits for it's own demise...?"

Not even a second later, a weak thump hit against each of their chests. No, this was not like any normal hit they had ever received, for this one drained all the warmth from their body. Almost as if they had been impaled by the spear of a ghost.

"Sheep....The answer is sheep...."