Becoming Chaos

V - Circling Full Part 3

The blinding rage kept pushing me forward.

I wasn’t thinking about anything but the faraway human voice that I wanted to silence. Somewhere within these woods was my prey, unknowingly waiting to be devoured.

The burning hunger that clawed inside me intensified. My gut twisted as I thought of warm blood and flesh. I knew it was supposed to be disgusting, but something in me wanted it so bad.

I raced on, one paw in front of the other. I did not stop to take a look where I was headed as I knew exactly where I should be going. I leaped over fallen trees and large rocks without effort. The cold winds brush against my fur, cooling down the blazing heat that tortured my skin.

I knew it was dark, but with my new eyes, everything looked like they were under the sun. All around, I saw everything with prism-like clarity. I could see even the smallest of things in my peripherals. A crowned heron perched itself on the branch of a tree at least fifty feet away from me. To my my far right, I could see salamanders fighting; carnivorous ants milled impatient, waiting to devour the unlucky loser of the death match. The circle of life, I thought.

I took in the night breeze. The unmistakable smell of human flesh lingered in the air. It was faint, but it was there. I followed it like an invisible thread. My mouth pooled with saliva at the thought of my prey.

I turned a sharp left as I heard the human move. He was still far from me, but for some reason, I knew all his movements. In my mind, I could visualize his every step and every change in direction. He seemed lost, I realized. I could sense my prey running in circles. He was taking careless steps, running here and there without directions. He was shouting, too.

Which was not a good idea when you are alone in a deserted island. What was he doing here? I thought, but I realized that my hunger did not care. If anything else, I was thankful.

My ears twitched as they caught another wave of sound. It was coming from behind me. I snarled at the thought of the boy that smelled like rain. His footsteps echoed as his feet crunched on dead leaves and dried grass. He’s fast. I trotted to increase my speed. I knew I was faster than the rain-smelling boy at my trail. I knew he could not keep up.

I was passing through the rise and fall of trees on both my sides. The wind whooshed as I sped through the woods. Above me, the moon was hung proud. With my enhanced vision, it almost seemed as bright as the sun. Its usual silver glow looked to me like a bright and harsh white light. I howled for a reason I did not know. The thought of the moon made me want to draw my head back and sing in delight. If only I wasn’t so blinded by the hunger, I’d be barking at the glowing rock all night.

All of a sudden, the footsteps that trailed after me disappeared. I knew he would give up, however, the smell of rain still underlined the air. Shaking my wolf head, I tried to erase the thoughts of the boy away from my mind. I realized that I should be focusing all my strength on the helpless human who would soon be my prey. He was near, I could feel it. I could already hear his nervous heart beating fast. I slowed my pace as I finally caught sight of him. I stopped and hid behind a copse of thick-trunked trees, watching my prey in silence as he turned his head around. His movements were random, frantic. He was shouting, but I did not care to understand what he was yelling about.

Crouching low, I prepared for my attack. I focused my strength to my hind legs as I readied myself to spring. The man’s back was unto me, unaware that death was lurking behind him. I could strike anytime and he wouldn’t stand a chance, but I waited. I wanted him to see me coming. I wanted to see fear in his eyes. I wanted to hear him scream in utter terror as I break free from the shadows.

I watched as everything seemed to go slow motion. My prey moved to turn around. His movements looked like dragging through thick soup. After what seemed like a lifetime, he was facing my direction.

I smiled. Or thought I did. I did not know if my new form allowed me to put on a physical smile, but I felt the joy break through within me. The searing rage was momentarily lost, blurred by a fleeting sense of victory. It was over for this man.

I leaped. The muscles of my hind legs tore as I sprang forward with all the speed and strength that I could muster. In a split second, I was out of the shadows. Everything felt slow as I was suspended in the air, my mouth wide open. I felt wetness on my muzzle as saliva flew from inside my mouth.

A long ugly scream rose from the prey’s throat. In the blur of events, I saw that he was barely a man. He looked young, but I didn’t care. Or at least the rage and hunger didn’t care. All I wanted was to feel the life drain out of his body as I tear through each of his limbs and bones. My claws were extended in front of me, ready to pierce into my prey’s flesh. I almost nicked him with the tip of my claw when a sudden weight forced me to the ground. The smell of rain invaded my nostrils.

A strong grip wrapped around my body as I and whatever had struck me fell and rolled several times on the ground. I yelped as my back hit a tree, stopping our snow-balling. Leaves fell on my face in a graceless flurry. The grip that held me loosened. I stood up to see what kept me from my dinner.

I looked in front of me, and sure enough, the rain-scented boy was standing in all his glory between me and my prey. A shrilling sound reached my ears as my food screamed in terror at the sight of my monstrous form and a boy who had huge white wings. Rain boy had a glowing gold feather in his hand. He raised it higher, sending a blinding golden light that hurt my eyes.

“Summers,” the boy who had wings said. “I won’t let you do this.”

I would like to see you try to stop me, I wanted to say but my new form did not allow for speaking. I bared all my teeth at him and snarled.

“Come on now, tiger, I don’t want to hurt you.”

I’m not a tiger! A wave of irritation rose to the surface. Without much thought, I lunged at the bird boy, my mouth snapping. I hit him square on his chest with my paws. We fell to the ground. My face was over his, my mouth working in a snarl. My saliva dripped from my tongue as I growled at his expressionless features. I opened my mouth wider and moved to bite a chunk of his face off, but I heard another senseless scream.

I stopped and turned my eyes ahead. My prey had fallen down on his butt, his hands behind him. His feet were pushing against the ground in his attempt to scoot back and get away from me. I felt my stomach turn. Ignoring the boy below me, I lunged toward my prey, mouth snapping. I yelped in pain as I felt something grabbed at my tail, stopping my attack. I have a tail! I looked back and saw rain boy grabbing my back end with the hand not holding the golden light source. I barked at him.

“Bad dog!” he shouted. “Stay!” He turned his eyes to the other boy behind me. “Run, you i***t! Run!”

I turned to look at my food. He did run. I looked back at the annoying bird man holding my tail. Turning around as he released his grip, I pounced him flat against the ground. A rush of wind touched my face as his wings flapped. An itch made its way inside my nose as loose feathers floated in the air.

“Calm down, K!” he said and raised the golden light in front of my face. “I was just kidding!” Despite everything, I heard him laugh as though I was some big joke. I wanted to eat his face.

I winced at the light. It was so bright that I was almost blinded. A persistent intrusion penetrated my being. Whatever the feather in his hand was, it drove the rage within me crazy.

I growled and snapped at him, my sharp teeth clicking against each other. My canines found his fingers and I bit hard. Warm liquid pooled inside my mouth. It wasn’t the taste I’ve been expecting. It smelled and tasted like the earth after a storm. Drawing my muzzle away, I made sure I got the glowing feather. I spat, I did not know if that was how to describe it, but I did what I needed to do take the feather away from my mouth. I leaped off him and retreated, gagging at his blood. I puked, but my empty stomach had nothing to push out. My throat hurt from vomiting nothing. Shaking my head, I tried to clear the annoying pain and in a few seconds, it was gone.

“For Heaven’s sake, K,” rain boy said as he stood up, blood running down from his fingers. His wings flapped gently and he rose a few inches from the ground. “You really are a bad dog! Why did you bite me? I was just trying to help!”

Who’s K? And rain boy, if you wanted to help you’ll bring me my food, I thought. I stared at him as he floated in the air. The gold feather was gone and so was the blinding light. He looked like a giant chicken, but he had no appeal to me as I knew how his blood tasted. I retreated in slow steps. Drawinf my head back, I howled at the moon above. When I ventured my eyes back, I saw him crane his neck to the side as though he was fascinated with my howling. I realized he was distracted, so I did not waste the chance. Turning around, I bolted to chase after the faint scent of my original prey.

“Seriously?!” the boy shouted from behind.

I didn't spare him a glance. Galloping forward with bursting speed, I could hear my muscles tear from running, but I did not feel any pain. Only the insatiable hunger pushing and driving me forward. The wind slapped my face and body as I followed the scent of my running prey. Closer, I’m getting closer.

Straining my ears, I searched for the exact location of the human boy. Over the silence, I heard the flapping of wings. Why won’t he stop? I thought, but I pushed on. I looked back and I saw the winged boy flying above me. With a snarl, I leaped with the intent to catch him. He flapped his wings and somersaulted in the air, evading my claws. I landed on all my fours, my teeth bared.

With a graceful movement, the boy stood in front of me. “Don’t make me do this, K,” he said, his tone a warning. “You just need to wait. Your turning will soon be over. You do not need to kill the human.”

If it was possible to bare my teeth further, I did. I snarled at him, a loud growling noise emanating from my throat. His words reached me, but I could not understand what he meant. Turning? What turning? I bark-howled at him, drowning out his meaningless words.

“Come on, K, you are better than this,” he said. “Don’t make me make you obey. You wouldn’t like it.”

I snapped at him, my mouth opening and closing like some mad contraption. His shoulders heave as he sighed.

“Herev,” he said. For a moment I thought he was calling me by another name, but then I saw him extend his right hand out. He splayed his fingers and golden-white flames bloomed across his open palm. My new eyes saw the flames burst and take on a lengthy shape. He flicked his hand, dousing the fire. As the flames vanished, something appeared in his grip.

A sword. A wide silver sword. The weapon in his hand glowed a subtle light, as though there was some kind of white fire burning within.

I bared my teeth even more. My gums complained, but I ignored them. In front of me was a boy with wings, a glowing blade in hand. I did not seem to notice earlier that his eyes were shining, too.

“I warn you, K,” he said. “I will do anything to stop you.” He swung his sword in an arc with hypnotic grace. “I will strike you down if need be.”

I didn’t care. If rain boy was bluffing to intimidate me, it did not work. I barked at him, making sure that the rage I felt came across. He didn’t even flinch. I stared him down, his form unmoving. My barks died into a low growling noise as I waited for him to move, but he stood still. I wanted to lunge at him and take him out, but the silvery glow of the sword sent red flags of warning. I ventured my eyes around. At the corner of my vision, I saw a shadow move. There you are.

I snapped at rain boy once and made a dash to my right. The winged boy shouted, but I ignored him. I saw my prey running through a field of high grass leading to the edge of the island. Poor human has nowhere to run. He was near and I was famished. Already, I could taste my victim’s hot blood in my mouth.

I leaped as I caught sight of the tiniest movement. No matter where he hid, I could smell his fear and hear his careless maneuvers. I ran through the greenery, the blades of the grasses slid against my fur. My heart pumped in anticipation. I opened my mouth and my saliva frothed. The boy almost reached the edge of the island. He’s trapped, I thought. There’s no way he's jumping down the river’s vicious current. The human turned around and screamed as I lunged at him. My teeth found his neck. He fell to the ground on his back as I pounced on his skinny chest. His head hung limp over the edge. He could’ve made it to the water if he was not such a coward.

I bit harder and felt his blood gush into my mouth. Hot and sweet and salty. The blinding hunger that terrorized my being dissipated in quick waves. My body relaxed as I drank more of my prey’s blood. The boy's gurgled screams pierced my ears. He placed his hands on my face in a futile attempt to push me away. It did nothing against my new-found strength. His resistance weakened as his life faded away. I removed my muzzle from his mangled throat and bit him on the shoulders. Human boy wasn’t screaming anymore, nor was he thrashing. I stopped biting him as it no longer brought me excitement. Nudging him with my nose, I pushed him off the edge when he didn't move. With a sickening splash, he fell into the river. The current carried him away.

The sound of flapping wings broke my trance. I turned around. Bird boy hovered in the air, sword in hand. “Summers,” he said. “What have you done?”