Forever Evil - Chapter 26

When I had arrived at the Goblin Cave Entrance I stopped to take in the view.

Forgetting my hunger to admire the scene of a setting sun slowly being swallowed behind the seemingly endless expanse of trees within the Dark Forest.

The light of the sun was still warm but I could feel a small breeze kick in.

It felt refreshing and triggered a flashback.

About the time my family and I went to the beach to celebrate Julie’s birthday party.

I remember the warmth of the sun on my skin as the sun set behind a similar expanse of trees beyond the horizon while a similar breeze swept across the beach.

I closed my eyes and smiled to better remember the happy memory.

However my feelings of peace and homesickness were disrupted by a low growl coming from my stomach.

The ache of hunger tarnished the memory by instead focusing only on all the good food I ate that day instead of the fun I had with my family.

Jack: (“Hot dogs, Burgers, Barbecue Steak, Soda, Juice, Cupcakes, Pinata Candy, Ice Cream Chocolate Cake.”)

Drool dripped from my mouth as I recalled the wonderful smells and taste of each delicious delight creating an almost hypnotic like craving for the yummy food.

Driven by my hunger and not wanting to waste anymore time.

I started my routine baseball warm-ups to limber up…

Although I was getting through them just fine I still tried my best to act like nothing was different from when my body wasn’t a hulking mass of flesh and muscle.

It hadn’t been long since I became a roided out freak but I was trying my best to get use to it.

This body still felt unnatural and strange to me when I compared it to my smaller human and earlier goblin physiques.

I didn’t get tired from my routine or even break a sweat but I was less nimble as the flesh around my body weighed me down.

Whenever I clenched my fist or anchored my legs I could feel the power behind every muscle at work.

Hell I had muscles in places I didn’t even know could have muscles in.

My skin although thicker than before looked thin as if it was just barely able to hold in the bulging muscles in my body.

The endless feeling of energy and strength felt surreal I never really got tired naturally unless I was being healed or using magic.

With any luck this hunt will help me feel more at home with my body after a good hunt or two.

Finishing my warm-ups I left for the direction of the nearest Fire Fox Territory…

As I made my way through the Dark Forest there wasn’t really much to do.

I felt bored and hungry despite the beautiful starry sky above me and the creepy forest that surrounded me.

On foot the journey would take some odd forty minutes during the day.

But at night I had to be extra careful of my surroundings as to not encounter the dangers lurking about in the dead of night.

So the journey would naturally take longer and with nothing to pass the time with I distracted myself with the forest around me.

The forest looked like any other with its natural beauty during the day but it was at night that the forest truly earned its name.

A drastic shift in setting would occur where the tall trees would block out the light of the moon creating a pitch black darkness in patches of large areas throughout the Dark Forest..

Where only the nocturnal creatures would be free to roam and rule over as they pleased.

It was legitimately a creepy forest at night but I wasn’t scarred, how could I be.

After all when I compared the spooky forest to the Dark Room my dad kept me in for god knows how long.

There was no contest and unlike the Dark Room I could actually defend myself now with this large body of mine and a weapon by my side.

Jack touched the golden dagger he kept tucked at his waist, it may have been small but the weapon brought a sense of security he did not have in the Dark Room with his father…

It was in these patches of darkness in the forest where trees would have distorted human faces on them during the night.

The goblins called them the Living Tree’s or Face Tree and although I couldn’t confirm if they could actually talk with their mouths.

Going through Gyrom’s encounters with the strange beings they were carnivores and hostile to any living creature that crossed their paths.

The Living Tree’s could use their branches like tentacles to restrain or rip apart enemies before throwing them into their mouths and eating them.

Luckily they were only active at night and during the day the living trees would simply turn back into ordinary trees making them harmless and easily killed.

However the Living Tree’s were indistinguishable from the rest of the tree’s in the Dark Forest during the day.

So it was hard to keep track of them or know which one was a Face Tree and which one was an ordinary tree.

Even if you tried to make a mental note the obscured night that shrouded their territory made it almost impossible to notice them without a light source or night vision.

According to Goblin legend a Face Tree will grow larger and healthier the more blood it consumes in its lifetime and can evolve into a Tree Spider.

What a tree spider actually looks like and was is a bit convoluted due to it being lost knowledge to the goblins.

The last one was said to have appeared during the Four Goblin King’s Era and was only slain when the four great heroes of each kingdom banded together to slay it.

It really bothered me how everything in this god forsaken forest was either carnivorous or dangerous.

Only non hostile things I’ve across so far were the rabbits, fish, birds and, small bugs,

Its a wonder to me how those small and ordinary critters have managed to survive this long in such a bad shit crazy environment.

The ambiance of the forest was drowned out by the sound of water my ears perked up at the noise.

I was approaching a river, if I was on the right track then it should be the same one where those goblins warriors got the weird blue bugs from.

I shouldn’t be too far from the Fire Fox Territory now and I can fill my belly with water while i’m there, great!

I eagerly picked up the pace to quench my growing hunger but something was wrong.

I stopped walking and clutched my stomach wondering what was wrong with me?

My hunger felt overwhelming it felt desperate somehow like a violent impulse trying to overrule any other response.

It was getting harder and harder to control with every passing second.

I struggled to get a grip of myself and control my body from moving on its own,

I wanted to run to the food I wanted to eat something so badly that my brain was beginning to justify ignoring the dangers of the forest.

To just fuck it and run at full speed towards the Fire Fox territory without a care in the world.

It was like an uncontrollable primal instinct to feed.

That’s when it hit me, it was just like that time with Gyra and the training Goblin Females!

I needed help controlling myself, I was hungry, too hungry, not just starving but I was so hungry that I was open to the idea of eating anything at this point including myself.

I began to gnaw at my own left arm digging my razor like teeth into my own flesh as I resisted the urge to eat.

I chewed the flesh of my arm ignoring the pain to suck out the bitter metal tasting blood from within and swallowing the juicy red meat raw.

Luckily that weird seed Chuck gave me would heal the wounds I made immediately but every time it did I would get more and more tired with every recovery from the pink light.

It eased my hunger but I knew it wouldn’t last long so I called out for help to the only person I could trust for guidance Chuck.

Jack: ( Chuck! Chuck! You there!? I could really use your food!-help! )

Jack: ( Dammit Chuck! Where the Food!-Fuck! Are You!? Man I could go for a bite right about now…)

Another low growl echoed through the forest from Jack’s stomach

His appetite was insatiable any control over his own body at this point was gone there was only one thing going through his mind Hunger.

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat…”

A soft chant was mumbled from Jack’s mouth before growing in volume and becoming a loud demand.

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

A chant that played on loop inside of Jack’s head became the only sense of reason and purpose Jack had now.

Any precaution or reason was drowned out by the chant that was now being spoken out loud as if he was praying to his hunger.

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

Jack’s body walked forward to the river slowly at first before picking up his pace to a jog and then a full speed sprint towards the river.

Jack continued to chant as his eyes darted left too right and at every corner of the Dark Forest in search of something to eat as he continued his mad chanting.

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”

Jack: “Meaty, Cheesy, Salty, Sweet I want to Eat!”