The Gluttony That Consumes Itself

Someone was lying in the empty shack. The place looked more like a prison cell than anything. Sunlight shone upon the figure, illuminating skin that withered into blackened flakes. The creature had eyes all over its body. They blinked in unison, all gazing towards us. Its worn-out T-shirt and shorts weren’t enough to pass it off as human. This entity was the most likely to be Dodomeki, a Japanese demoness with a hundred eyes.

But it wasn’t. My intuition screamed at me that it wasn’t.

“What is that?” Raven whispered. The creature leaped at us, baring its eerily human teeth.

“Let me!” I screamed, hoping Raven got what I meant. With the power of Junk-o’s belt, I lifted my hand to shoot sharp grass at the creature. Those green needles drilled into several of its eyes, staining them with blood, but the creature didn’t slow down. The injured eyes stayed open.

The creature bit at Raven’s hand. She instinctively retracted her arm, but not quickly enough; the creature’s mouth reached the fingers, its teeth chomping down.

Raven’s hand remained intact. Using the magical headband, I had summoned an ice layer to form a protective glove over the skin, blocking the creature’s jaws from severing any joints.

The creature tried to close its mouth, but its teeth only slipped off the slick ice. I kicked it in the stomach, knocking it backwards. My attack didn’t seem to do any damage, but the creature did lose balance for a second. I dispelled the ice and took off in a sprint. The creature recovered. It started hunting me again.

“Wall!” Raven yelled as I was dashing closer to an apartment building.

“Trust me,” I replied.

I scaled the wall as fast as I could, courtesy of Junk-o’s jacket. The speed let me barely escape the monster’s reach as it arrived at the wall. It lingered underneath; all of its eyes cast their gaze towards me. Then, it rushed away from me; after gaining enough speed, it hopped onto the opposite building.

Oh no. I only had time for a single thought before the creature bounced off the side of the building and straight towards me. It slammed into its destination; impaling the wall, its fists left two craters. I narrowly dodged it by disabling the jacket, but that sent me plummeting to the concrete below.

“Ouch!” Raven yelled.

Fighting through the pain, I desperately tried to crawl away.

Before I could pick myself up, the shadow cast over me shifted and grew. Realizing what was happening, I conjured an ice barrier on my back.

A crash. The creature landed on my makeshift armor, shattering it into pieces. My broken defense couldn’t soak up all of the impact, so I ended up with a sharp twinge in my spine. At least, it didn’t seem like any bones were broken. Instead, the real issue was the monster weighing down on my back.

A side glance told me to fortify my neck with ice. The creature gave up reaching for my neck; instead, it pressed its strength onto my spine. My bones sounded concerning cracks, and my organs felt crammed against one another.

The creature’s weight squeezed the remaining air out of my lungs. I gasped for whatever I could inhale, still suffocating. Fumbling around, I caught the creature’s leg. An eye rubbed against my palm; its slimy texture felt like the skin of a swamp fish.

Doubling down, I tightened my grip. Upon my order, ice spread from the contact point to the rest of the leg. The creature let out a cry that seemed like a million incomprehensible sounds blended together. It limped backwards, and I took the chance to roll around.

It stomped the ground to shatter the ice and free its leg, then it charged again. I didn’t even have time to sit up. An ice plate formed on my stomach to absorb some of the impact. The excess force reached my gut. It felt like my insides had already turned to mush. Raven grunted in pain.

The creature swung its fist at my face; I deployed an ice barrier to protect myself. The clash still rippled through my skull. I hardened my fists with ice and battered the creature’s stomach. The creature took all my hits as if they were nothing. It kept up its assault. Despite my defense, my face continued to bruise, and dizziness started to overtake my mind.

If I lost consciousness here, my spirit would probably be expelled by the same force field that had denied my entry, leaving Raven vulnerable.

That can’t happen. I flattened my fist into an open palm, coating it with ice. And with all my strength, I jammed the hand into the creature’s mouth. It didn’t even attempt to dodge, preoccupied with dealing blows to my face.

With perfect aim into the creature’s throat, my hand shot out as many blades of grass as the magical belt could allow, all the while the creature continued to attack. I kept blasting out projectiles as my vision blurred.

But I didn’t pass out. The creature stopped its assault.

Eyeballs slipped out of their sockets, popping like bubbles as they hit the concrete ground, until only two eyes on the face were left. The empty sockets closed. Its skin regained color. The creature morphed back into a human being, a man with a round face and smooth skin.

The man’s eyes flitted around a few times, and they locked onto me, but there wasn’t recognition within them; he might not have actually perceived me at all. Blood poured from his mouth onto my face, and he collapsed next to me.

Raven screamed and frantically wiped the fluid from her face. I took deep breaths to calm her, and it seemed to be working.

“What happened?” Raven asked.

“I don’t know.” I reached to check the man’s pulse. Nothing.

“Is he dead?” Raven strained her quivering voice.

“It was us or him.”

Raven didn’t say anything else. The corpse jiggled. Not a good sign. I crawled away from it instantly and watched from a safe distance. The body darkened until none of its features were visible. The black receded after a few seconds, and the corpse transformed into a living, breathing person.

My mouth gaped. The man’s hair caught my eye; it was composed of a pure darkness that absorbed all light hitting it. The signature feature of…

“Famine?”

The skinny man next to us started shedding tears from his white eyes.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You killed him. You killed Minoru!” he yelled. As he wiped his tears, he stumbled to his feet and staggered away.

“Wait.” I tried to get up, but the ache restricted my motion. I could only watch Famine turn the corner and scurry out of sight. He left so quickly that I wondered if he was merely a hallucination.

“So, did anyone actually die?” Raven asked; each of her words sounded strained and effortful.

“That Minoru guy did. After the host dies, the body regenerates into the horseman’s true form,” I answered absentmindedly. Why was Famine here? What made his host become that creature? How is Famine connected to E.T.?

We stayed lying down in the middle of the alley for some time. None of us dared to start the conversation. The silence continued until footsteps filled the alley.

“Death, what did you do?” An unknown, plain-looking man sauntered toward us; each of his steps had a covert heaviness to it. His glowing red eyes heralded his arrival.

“War, why are you here?” When dealing with him, any signs of weakness could spell defeat, but in my injured state, a glare was all I could muster up.

“Why were you fighting Famine?”

I sighed. “I thought I could find a black-market dealer here.” If I didn’t compromise a little, we would end up asking each other questions like talking to a wall.

“This place has no connection to the Robin Hood.”

Possibilities flashed in my head. War voiced one of them to me. “Pestilence lied to you.”

A shiver in my heart. “How do you know that Pestilence gave me this information?”

“Because I told her about Famine. And she also led away the agent who was assigned to watch this area.” War’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.

“There could be another explanation,” I said, but my voice came out soft.

War turned around and flicked his hand. “I’ll send some paramedics to look at your injuries. Don’t do anything. I’ll handle the investigation.”

“Yeah, you have to look for Famine. Good luck with that, I guess.”

War glanced back at me and chuckled. “You really haven’t changed at all.”