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I take the succulent nipple in my mouth, then proceed to bite through the stomach, feeling viscera and blood pour down on my face. I wonder what it must be like, to be a taura watching another member of your herd be eaten alive.
“Don’t worry, fair creatures,” I say, through a grin, not bothering to wipe the blood from my teeth. “You will not face this indignity much longer.”
I bite through taura after taura, and every bite seems to bring with it a new recollection. At this point, I’m certain it’s been several centuries since I last awakened. I wonder whether, in feeding on their flesh, I am also absorbing their memories, or if they’re awakening my dormant past.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
I shift my head to smile. Standing before me, and now shutting the gate door closed, is a portly-looking dark elf with unwavering exhaustion, whose hands nervously crest the handle of a dulled sword.
His soul isn’t as dark as I would hope, but perhaps I could grant him mercy today. I can see the toll that living has taken on him.
“Tell me,” I say casually.
I stand on two feet, bringing myself to full height before him. He buckles and falls backward against the fenced enclosure.
“What are you?” he stutters. He fights through fits of stammering, unable to compose himself.
I approach him slowly, looking out over the surrounding area.
There’s nobody here to interrupt us. He lives alone on this farm. His only company is the taura I consumed. For miles, he’s surrounded by forests.
“Do you enjoy living? Or would you like me to relieve you of the experience?”
His eyes widen as he looks up at my face. “What kind of question is that?”
“A rather basic one, I would hope.”
He thinks. “Well, what I’d really like is for you to give me my taura back,” he says.
I chuckle, and I can sense his uneasiness.
“I’m sorry. It’s a little late for the taura,” I remind him. “But they were delicious, and their blood will go toward the creation of a new world.”
He falls even further back against the pen, his eyes now scanning the farm in horror. “That’s good?”
“Yes. They were delicious, thank you. I remember now how much I love taura.”
He hesitates. A moment of silence passes between us.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
But even from here, I can sense the sadness in his heart. It’s not livestock that he’s mourning. It’s something else entirely.
“Very well,” I tell him. “Then I won’t kill you.”
He says nothing else as I leave, closing the gate casually behind myself.
“But if you change your mind, I’ll be listening.”
“Is this a dream?”
He speaks to nobody, as by the time he comes to his senses, I am already gone, his voice trailing me in the wind.
Perhaps if it helps him, I’ll let him think that.
