A sad life

Time passed and soon enough darkness covered the world, the three moons of the planet hung high in the sky. The blue, purple, and green vividly contrasted in the night sky.

The forest was as silent as always, not a single animal alive within it, the goblins had already completely dominated it long ago, killing all other animals in the process.

In a cave deep in the forest, a woman could be seen deep within, a fire roared, radiating heat and warmth. Two goblin corpses could be seen next to the woman, one of them missing an arm.

Coincidentally, the woman was holding a goblin arm above the fire, the flesh sizzling as it heated up.

The woman's expression seemed more than just upset but outright disgusted by the goblins in the cave, as she tried to make as little contact with the arm as she possibly could.

-x-x-x-

Hello, greetings, and salutations my comrades! Today, I managed to get some food for myself.

Well, I'd be more accurate to say the food came to me.

I saw these two goblins walking close to the cave entrance, so I, in my hunger and thirst, simply ran out and killed them both before they could run away.

Now, I fear what these guys are going to taste like... But there isn't anything else here for me to hunt, and looking for a river or lake in this place is risky as hell, more so than usual.

Luckily, their blood will serve as a good enough replacement for water right now.

I took the arm closer to me, the flesh within cooked well, the smell making me salivate.

I ripped into the flesh with my teeth, the crispy skin offering little resistance to my desperate bites.

I've noticed that all the creatures here make me feel amazing when I eat them, probably the dopamine kicking in after a successful hunt. The point is, I absolutely love eating here, even without essentials like salt and spices to flavor the food to my liking.

I guess the quote "Hunger is the best chef" is true, now that I have been eating more inconsistently and have to put in considerable work for my every meal, whenever I do get to eat, I feel bliss unmatched by anything I've ever experienced in my life.

The darker the shadow, the brighter the light I suppose.

In just a few minutes, I ate the entire arm, leaving only bones, which I cut open with my sword, cutting them up into tiny pieces, which I put away into a separate pile.

Now, don't get me wrong, eating bones is not a good idea without proper measures, but again, they contain a ton of good stuff, so I'll keep them as emergency food, in case I'm ever starving to death.

With that decided, I eagerly cut off the other arm of the goblin, and with excitement cooked it over the fire.

When the sun rose, all that remained was a very satisfied me, and a pile of tiny bone tic-tacs.

I quickly extinguished the fire, it would be silly to be spotted by the goblins because of something so silly.

-x-x-x-

"WHAT?!"

An angry shout shook the mansion as Imbellis instinctively lowered his head, not daring to make eye contact with the lord.

The lord in question, an elderly shaman-looking orc, is covered in fairly comfortable clothing, though the perilous situation the city is in shows even on the clothes the lord wears, clearly they have seen better days.

A tribal necklace with bones hung around his neck, and all his other clothes are similarly tribal, very much aligned to the local orc culture, though his aggressive, hot-headed, and foolish behavior is the exact opposite of what a real shaman aspires to be.

"You fucking animal, I told you to do one thing right, and you couldn't even protect some newbies?! You worthless sack of...!"

The rant went on and on, the lord's infamous temper showing itself again in its full glory.

"Hah... You know the drill, go get their stuff, make sure you get everything, if even a piece of that armor is missing, I will kill you myself!"

"Understood"

Imbellis knew too well that the lord is weak, but the orcs he commands are strong, after all, they are the ones who took over the city 40 years ago.

He still remembers the screams as the walls were breached, the shaman in front of him leading the siege from the back, casting curses and spells to weaken the human defenders.

The reason why there is so much hatred between the orcs and humans is that many of the half-orcs around now were not made through consensual intercourse, instead, in the glory and heat of battle, the strong took their spoils.

Now, imagine the city a few generations later, such a thing will not be forgotten for a long time.

Though the younger adults are more open to each other, so time is healing the city.

Anyway, Imbellis had a job to do now, one that he was fairly used to.

The only reason he is still alive is that he is old, 50 years old to be exact, so he has a lot of experience in his mind.

He went to his home, the place is as old as him, and he'd been happiest here back in the good old days.

His family is all gone, dead one way or another, same with his wife, who supported him and helped him become as brave as he is now.

He used to be a way bigger coward, in fact, he would break apart when the thought of being forced out of the city walls even crossed his mind.

She was patient with him, helped him, and built him up.

Now that is all gone, claimed by this cruel world, ripped away from him.

And it's all his fault. If only he was a little braver, if only he was not a disgrace if only he didn't run back then.

He would still have his mane, their kind's birthright, if he protected his family.

Too bad the world doesn't care, and it didn't wait for him to grow up.

With a solemn and lonely heart, Imbellis quietly grabbed all the things he would need for this journey and departed from the city and towards the unknown.

Chapter end