Threads of the Soul

The creature's throat bulged outwards as it swallowed the heart whole, licking droplets of blood from its lips before giving Seth a wide, sharped toothed grin.

"Mmm, Like spicy chicken."

As Seth stared at the creature in bewilderment and shock, the enemy before him started to convulse slightly. His arms tensed up and fingers clenched, the muscles underneath his crimson skin wriggled like worms as some unknown process took over his body. Yet the entire time, this beast kept its eyes directly on Seth, staring him down like a hungry predator as the psychotic smile clung to his face, only growing with the pain it was experiencing.

Helpless to stop it, Seth watched in horror as its forehead cracked before tearing apart at two points. Tiny nubs of bone erupted through the skin and quickly began to protrude further outwards. Growing like a towering tree in a matter of seconds, horns crawled from its skull and curled around its head, before erupting into flames.

It's back bulged, like a pair of giant zits rapidly forming on its shoulder blades, growing twice as large as the beasts head. The Orc, or whatever the hell this thing was, hunched over and slammed its hands into the floor, letting out a rumbling, tiger-like roar as its skin burst open.

With a spray of blood, that quickly fell as scarlet rain, a pair of blood soaked wings stretched out wide, moving as if they were a stiff joint being moved for the first time in years.

Spikes tipped the knuckle joint of the wings, as well as where the 'fingers' of the wings ended as if they were talons. A leathery membrane, the same colour as the creature's skin, covered the gap between the wings fingers. He would have said they were bat-like, but after what he had just witnessed it was obvious what the better comparison was.

Its newly sprouted horns and wings were an exact replica of the demon's same features, the demon which heart it had just consumed.

Yet despite the chilling transformation he had just witnessed, and the ramifications behind it, Seth couldn't focus on what he had seen. Instead his mind was ensnared by that he had heard.

"Y-you can speak? What are you?"

He had heard many of the Hemogoblins speak before, it wasn't a new prospect that they communicated with each other. In fact they also spoke to form their strange, esoteric spells. But he had heard their language before.

It was crude and wretched, it simply sounded wrong to his human ears. There were many who thought that languages such as German or Russian were brutal sounding languages, but those same people would think those languages sound like angelic singing compared to the vulgar, almost puking language the goblins used.

However this one, this... heart-eater creature, had spoken to him in perfect English. It even had a local accent.

The Heart-Eater tilted its head slightly at Seth's statement, gazing at him with a hint of curiosity and bemusement as it folded its new wings close to its back.

"Oh? You're human under there, are you? That's good~ I can finally relax."

It let out a rumbling chuckle, rolling its neck as if it was stiff, before its form began to change once more. First its new traits disappeared, the horns and wings simply retreating into its body and its skin knitting itself back together, as if they had never existed in the first place.

Then, strangely enough, the crimson hue began to wash itself from its skin. It looked as if the blood that was staining its skin was being absorbed back into his body, returning him back to a basic, emerald orc.

Finally, his body shrank and features shifted, until all that was left was a regular human with shaggy blonde hair and who was wearing a black, leather armour, typical of that of a thief in some kind of fantasy RPG.

The human themselves looked young, much younger than Seth had been expecting. He appeared like he was in his teens, possibly somewhere close to 17. But to Seth, who was already feeling old in his late 20s, this teenager was like a child to him.

"As for what I am, We'll I'm the new God of this world."

The teenager spread his arms out proudly, before letting out a hearty laugh and puffing his chest out, as if he was waiting for Seth to drop to his knees and kiss his feet for simply existing.

Instead of doing that, however, Seth simply shook his head in disappointment in the child.

"You're a human? How could you do this to other people? They were just trying to survive, just like you."

The boy lowered his head, glaring coldly at Seth when his words reached him. His expression shifted from one of joy and overwhelming pride, to that of utter hatred and disgust. He looked as if Seth had just kicked his dog to death, rather than just calling him a person like everyone else.

Spitting on the ground in front of them, the teenager spoke in a chilling tone through gritted teeth, his arms dropping by his side as he started to pace back and forth.

"Human? Human?! I am NOT a Human. Not anymore. Xavier was the human, and he was pathetic. But I am not Xavier anymore, the world has blessed me with the power I am rightfully due.

Just like every main character, I have been given the gift of consumption, and YOU are nothing but my cattle, here to feed ME and make ME stronger. Don't you DARE say I and anything like YOU or those other pathetic, miserable humans like Xavier."

Spittle flew from his mouth like a sprinkler as he shouted, utterly consumed by his rage. His finger pointed either at Seth and himself with every exaggeration of the words 'You' or 'Me'. His face was even turning red, not from his ability but from the sheer rage he was feeling over something so pathetically small.

A vein bulged and pulsed in his forehead, looking like it was about to burst at any second.

"You know, there was this girl that pathetic little Xavier used to know. He dedicated his entire life to her, every waking second was always about her. He protected her, he learned everything about her. He knew the real her, the true person she was when she thought was alone and not the fake version she showed to everyone else.

He loved her. Even when she slutted herself out and dated useless excuses for men, he stayed devoted to her and knew that eventually she would understand that they were made for each other. And do you know what happened next? Do you know what happened when he FINALLY confessed his love so that she would understand that there was a Nice guy waiting for her?"

He whipped his head towards Seth, his anger bubbling deep within him and clear as day on his face, his fists clenched so tight that blood was dripping from his palm. Yet despite his outbursts and over emotional demeanour, Corvus was standing there still as a stay, giving him nothing to work with.

"She spit it back into his pathetic little face. She called him a creep. ME? A CREEP!?... It broke his pathetic little heart.

But I won in the end. When things changed and I finally understood my true calling, my true supremacy to cattle like you, I knew what I had to do. It was me, the Heart-Eater not useless, pathetic Xavier, that found her.

It was easy, he had followed her home enough to have the route memorised. I found that bitch, and I ripped out her blackened heart. I made her watch as I ate it right in front of her, so she knew how it felt when she rejected me... When she rejected Xavier."

As he spoke, his form shifted, changing from the scruffy, blonde haired teenage boy into a cute, brunette girl around the same age. His outfit adapted to the new form, but even with his change in appearance, the psychotic look in his eyes was unmistakable and revealed his true identity.

"I didn't even care about her power, she didn't even have one! She just deserved it. I mean look at her, you understand don't you? Just a dirty, heart breaking slut that didn't deserve to live anymore."

He gestured to his own body, pushing up the breasts that had formed on his chest and directing it to Seth, desperately trying to provoke any reaction from the cloaked stranger. Yet no matter what he did, he got nothing. Not a single word.

His anger flaired up once more, but cutting out in a second as a wonderful idea came into his depraved mind.

"Aww, what's the matter? Is this not your type? How about this? Or this? Or perhaps... This? Is this what gets your rocks off Mister?"

He shifted between different forms. First it was a tall, drop dead gorgeous woman with caramel skin and bouncy, curly hair, then the next second he was a muscular man with a chiselled jaw line that appeared like he was carved from marble.

Lastly... his form shifted to that of a young girl. Younger than the girl he had previously spoken about. Standing before Seth, with a sadistic smile stitched onto an adorable face that didn't deserve it, was a girl that barely looked 8 years old.

Seth clenched his fists tight, making the Heart-Eater smile in delight that he finally got the reaction he had been hoping for. When Seth spoke through Corvus, his tone was cold as ice. Utterly devoid of emotion, even the anger that was festering inside of him.

He knew that's what he wanted, But this thing didn't deserve that anger. He didn't deserve anything, especially not power. Not even life.

"You're not human. You got that right, But you aren't a god. Not even close."

"Oh yeah? And what am I then? A monster?"

The Heart-Eater let out a cackling laugh, his psychotic smile stretching to his ears and practically ripping apart the innocent face he was puppeteering.

"No. You are what you've always been. A pathetic, miserable little shit that doesn't deserve to live. Power hasn't changed that in the slightest.

As Seth spoken, the ground surrounding the pair of them exploded into clouds of dust in a rhythmic pattern, until they were fully surrounded by a circle of dust. Confusion painted the 'little girls' face, as he looked around at the dust clouds.

When they finally dispersed, the Heart-Eater could see the castle gargoyles that had miraculously come to life and immediately surrounded them.