Revenous

As Aeris awoke, the sharp pain of impending death pierced her soul. Instinct, not logic, dictated her every bodily motion.

Something significant smacked into her location, and she quickly slid to one side. The ground shook as she stood on her tiptoes, scattering dirt and shattered leaves everywhere. Her eyesight sharpened, and her brain was still groggy from sleep, but her body moved with the deftness of a predator that had been trained through countless fights.

Squatting down, she felt her breath speed as her fingertips traced across the cold earth. After clearing her eyes of the haze, she beheld it.

An enormous animal.

It remained a short distance away, its annoyance evident as it pawed the earth. A massive, rumbling beast with crimson hide and rippling muscles, like a bull. Its twisted horns, which resembled gnarled roots, flashed menacingly in the dim light at each point. As if she were prey, her crimson eyes gleamed with unbridled fury.

Her whereabouts jumbled in Aeris' mind. In her apartment, she must have dozed off, right? But now? A weird and dense jungle.

The fearsome creature sprang to its feet.

She moved forward without hesitation.

As the monster lunged at her, sending dirt flying in all directions, she dove to her side, evading harm. Despite the confusion in her mind, her muscles tensed up. She responded with the deadly accuracy she had honed through survival.

As she touched down behind it, her gaze turned to its exterior.

Beast of Magic—Level One.

Her mouth curves into a little line. This beast is just a little risk.

Raising her head from the fog, she took a deep breath and continued racing ahead.

Under her skin, she felt the familiar hum of power, which caused her fingers to clench. Her palm was wide open. Tremendous, devouring energy surged to the surface, pleading for freedom. With her strength radiating from her fingertips, she placed her palm on the expansive back of the beast.

The power that could not be seen surged forth.

Dark tentacles flared as they snatched the creature's essence from the warped air surrounding her. It struggled as its body convulsed, emitting a deep roar, but it was over in a flash.

Its strength faded. Its powers withered. Its life power dissipated and absorbed.

Aeris showed no signs of fright as the monster knelt, its once-dreadful countenance now little more than a fragile shell. Following that, her heavy breathing was the only sound to break the terrifying stillness.

She lost her balance and collapsed on the floor, her pulse racing.

Aeris sat on the moist, moss-covered ground, breathing in tiny, irregular waves. As her mind raced through the disorienting fog of slumber, a searing agony sliced through her skull. Her immediate environment was thick with moisture and had a faint metallic odor—blood? Certainly not hers.

As she gradually opened her eyes to the soft, greenish light that crept through the thick foliage above, her icy blue eyes adjusted. Above her, like motionless sentinels, stood a forest of towering trees entangled with vines and pulsating with latent energy. Their unusually twisted bark was laced with vivid blue veins. An unusual hum permeated the atmosphere, the kind that is typically associated with areas where electricity has been cut off.

Her icy blue eyes blinked awake as she grew used to the dim, verdant light filtering through the thick foliage. The towering trees seemed to be watching her, their twisted vines entwined with their latent force. The bark had unusual twists and turns, and the wood had vibrant blue veins. There was an eerie buzzing sound around the area, which is often associated with areas that have seen a great deal of power loss.

Where is she?

She forced herself to stand up despite the pain in her throbbing limbs and the chill of her power pouring into her bones. Sluggish and contorted like a ravenous beast, her power raced inside her. However, the seven seals held it in place, sating its ravenous need. She had been utterly defeated in her attempt to break them; her might had worked against her, devouring her from inside. A painful void, as if something had been scraped clean, lingered in her core as a result of the aftershock.

The cult decided to kill her. The moment they struck, she realized she was defenseless against them. After agreeing to have her power sealed, she had been naïve to think the Magic Government would protect her.

Aeris steadied herself by breathing heavily and digging her fingers into the damp earth underneath her. Cravings transformed into wrath.

She had felt this feeling before.

An apparent sign of the depths within her, the pupils of her icy blue eyes suddenly shrank into small, slitted shapes—cautionary notes. I wanted to remind you. Her hunger drove her more insane the longer she went without food. She couldn't help but nourish her magic, that horrible, ravenous creature inside her.

Claws pressed into her palms, and fingers clenched as she fought against the natural want to eat. No, not just yet. First, she had to assess the issue.

Surprisingly, her clothes were still there when she looked down at herself, but they were dirty and torn. The attack revealed the creamy expanse of her limbs and arms as her once gorgeous black robes were torn at the hem and sleeves. There were no wounds beneath the crusted, dark blood that coated her flesh. Before she became hungry, her power must have healed her.

Her body adapted to her diminished strength by learning to balance on wobbly legs. As the breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, she felt her thick, ginger-colored hair caress her face. The crashing waves had her fingers entangled, so she tossed them aside carelessly. Her delicate ginger streaks glistened in the sunlight filtering through the trees, casting a lovely, otherworldly glow against the ominous background of this strange setting.

Had the cult thrown her here? Very unlikely. They would prefer her death to her escaping. She arrived here somehow. Did she teleport because she was in such a state of desperation?

She couldn't pay attention since she was too busy thinking about food.

The cuisine. Finding food was her last chance of surviving the impending starvation.

Aeris moved slowly and carefully, taking a cautious step forward while she studied the strange, throbbing jungle. Under her boots, the moist earth felt supple, but there was an air of unease. It wasn't quite solid, as if the planet were moving steadily.

She took a stabilizing breath. Come up with a meal first. Find out the solutions afterward.

A large, piercing, and wicked grin spread across Aeris's face. The expression was unsavory. It was the disastrous smile that went a bit too far while still showing off those adorable, tiny, pointed teeth. A ravenous lust coursed through her body, begging to be let out from the confines of her magical abilities.

She dipped her bare feet into the living, breathing soil with a cautious stride. Her power detected and probed a five-meter radius, which extended out from her like invisible tentacles. It slithered through thick underbrush, rubbing against the bark of trees as it went, and eventually seeped into the very heart of the planet. It wasn't only the plants that gave the forest its vitality; a feeling of warmth and rhythm also played a role.

Something tasty.

Aeris kept her head slightly down as she pulsed her strength against a creature nearby, remaining silent throughout. It was a beast, small enough to be handled easily but large enough to serve as a complete dinner. As her focus grew, a deluge of information entered her head in the form of whispers, enhancing her perception. The beast slept off while wedged between the roots of an old, weathered oak tree. Its heavenly warmth and steady pulse belied its ignorance of the predator that had just seen it.

Stepping forward once again, she remained as silent as a ghost.

Unlike any rabbit before it, this creature was an Umbravine Hare. There was a subtle iridescent shimmer to its black, silky fur that blended in quite flawlessly with the forest floor. Its large, tufted ears shifted ever-so-slightly as it breathed. Its massive, powerful tail coiled around its body, providing balance and allowing it to attack predators; its clawed forelimbs, which were remarkably powerful for a hare, were tucked close to its body. But what piqued my curiosity was the soft light radiating from its neck; in its center was a supernatural force releasing dormant energy.

Aeris lick lips. She could stay alive for hours just on that core.

She was compelled to take action by her passion, yet she forced herself to wait. An evolved escape mechanism to evade predators, it could vanish into shadows if disturbed, briefly changing dimensions. It just took one stroke for her to kill it.

With her hands buried in the damp dirt, Aeris knelt. Her fingertips sent an invisible but deadly energy crawling into the roots under the creature's nest. The earth responded to her signal by pulsating once.

An ear twitch occurred in the rabbit. It made quite a stir.

Unfazed, Aeris moved on.

The ground gave way underneath her as her powerful pulse shattered it. The hare let out a terror scream and twitched to blend into the shadows, but Aeris was too fast. In her haste, she encircled its neck with her fingers before it slithered away.

A wave of raw magic pierced her senses when her body touched its fur, shuddering its force. Amid her ravenous hunger, her pupils briefly widened, splitting into small, black holes. The creature's essence trembled under her touch, its magical core throbbing with anguish. It fought valiantly, attempting to free itself from her grasp with kicks and claws, but to no avail.

Hands clenched by Aeris.

Dreadful crack.

A waning light illuminated the hare as it lay still.

She let out a shuddering breath and exhaled. Even when she took magic passively, she felt a warm pulse go through her veins, dulling her hunger but not eliminating it entirely. Something had to be eaten by her. Properly.

Aeris took stock of her environment as she surveyed her surroundings. She couldn't create a fire since she lacked the necessary materials. However, she was not out of luck.

She started her rudimentary preparations after dragging the corpse to a more open spot. Carefully, she used a sharp stone to slice through the hare's thick hide, removing the shimmering fur. Her palms were covered in dense, black blood that gave off a faint bioluminescent light. The hypnotic aroma and the beast's formidable might made her want to lick her fingers clean. Still, she restrained herself and bit her cheek instead.

Swiftly and deftly, she removed the hare's internal organs and tossed them aside.

An explosion. She required heat.

Her attention turned to the bioluminescent sap falling from a nearby tree. A realization sprung to her mind. Feeling its thick, sticky consistency, she dabbed some on her fingers. It wasn't only gleaming; it was reacting. Easily ignites.

Once again beaming, she distributed it on a fragment of dried bark before striking two stones together.

Upon touching the sap, the sparks ignited a whirlwind of pale blue flames that devoured the bark like ghostly tongues. It would suffice in place of a real campfire.

Holding the hare's corpse over the blazing fire, she impaled it on a stout limb. Rich, somewhat sweet, and a little off-putting, the aroma of roasting meat wafted through the air. Aeris felt a knot in her gut from all the excitement.

As the glow of the fire cast a gentle glow on her face, shadows danced across her pale flesh. She had lost much of her enigmatic beauty and radiance. Her thick, ginger-colored hair, matted with sweat and blood, stuck to her face. With her ice-blue eyes sparkling, she felt a slight relief from the hunger that had been nagging her.

She savored the initial bite.

The tender, alluring flesh warmed her blood vessels as she took a bite. With a surge of satisfaction coursing through her, she took a deep breath and leaned back ever-so-slightly.