The moon hung high, casting its cold silver light over the desolate forest. The trees, ancient and twisted, reached for the sky like skeletal hands. Beneath their boughs, the earth was cloaked in mist, thick and suffocating, as if the very ground itself held its breath.
Kaelen stood at the edge of the clearing, his massive form hidden in the shadows. His red eyes glowed faintly, piercing the darkness. He could hear the rustle of leaves, the quiet murmurs of the wind, but none of it mattered. Not when he was waiting for her.
The sacrifice.
It was a ritual older than any memory he could recall. Every full moon, the village sent someone to him — a willing offering to the Eater. His hunger was relentless, and only through feeding could he stave off the growing emptiness inside. The power he possessed, the curse that bound him, demanded it. Without the sacrifices, he would wither, lose everything, and become no more than a shadow of what he once was.
Tonight, it would be her. Another innocent soul who would fade into nothing, leaving only the hollow taste of their essence in his mouth.
He heard her before he saw her.
Her footsteps were light, almost hesitant. She was a girl, no older than twenty, with hair the color of midnight and eyes that seemed too vibrant for this forsaken world. She was trembling, but not from fear. From the weight of her fate.
Kaelen's gaze flickered to the shackles on her wrists, the symbols of her captivity. The village had sent her to him, and she knew exactly what would happen here.
His stomach twisted with something he couldn't quite name. Hunger? Pity? He had not felt anything for a long time.
"Come forward," Kaelen's voice rumbled, low and cold. The words echoed through the forest like a death knell.
She did as commanded, her steps slow but resolute. When she reached him, she lifted her chin, meeting his gaze without flinching.
"I will not beg," she said, her voice strong, though her hands trembled.
Kaelen's heart stilled. There was something about her—something in the way she held herself. She was not like the others. Not like the weak, terrified offerings who pleaded for their lives. No, this girl... she stood tall, unwavering.
His hand twitched, the urge to claim what was rightfully his rising within him. But something else tugged at him, deep within the very core of his being. Something unfamiliar.
"You think you're different?" Kaelen sneered, though his words held no malice, only curiosity. "You are nothing more than a meal to me."
Her eyes softened, as if she understood something he did not. "I know what you are. But I won't let you break me."
His breath caught. She wasn't afraid. That certainty in her eyes, that strength—she didn't view him as a monster to fear, but as something... else. Something she wanted to understand.
Kaelen clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. The hunger surged again, sharp and painful. It would be so easy, just one swift motion, one bite to silence the strange stirrings inside him.
But the voice that had been buried in his mind for so long spoke up. Don't.
It was the curse, the curse that kept him alive, yet constantly reminded him of the price he paid for it. The more he fed, the more detached he became. The more he consumed, the less human he felt.
And if he did this... if he took her, like he had taken so many others before her, he would lose whatever humanity he had left.
Her life or his soul.
The choice was his.
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