VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 42: The Beast within

Belladonna clamped her jaws down onto the bears neck, right where she had been slashing with her dagger. Her teeth speared through the torn skin, ripping it open even wider until finally she struck gold.

Sweet, delicious crimson sprayed into her mouth with the first bite, mixing with the flames of its fur to create a blazingly hot nectar that she eagerly drunk down. It burned her throat as she swallowed it, but the moment it entered her system the damage already started to rapidly repair itself.

Vital essence flooded her body, filling her with more energy and life than she had ever felt before. But... it wasn’t enough. She needed more.

’More. More. MORE! MOOORE!’

Awakened by the taste of fresh blood, the voice returned to her mind, screaming a sentiment that she could feel in the depths of her very being. It was right, she needed more. The taste... It was like nothing she had ever tried before.

She could feel the beasts heart beating against her teeth, pushing more and more into her mouth. Its life force was so fresh and ripe, just waiting to be harvested. Compared to the blood of the dead, even if they were only recently dead, it was the most heavenly drink she had ever tasted.

It was utterly intoxicating.

Her teeth clamped down tighter before she yanked her head back, tearing a chunk of its neck out. Even faster that the bear had swallowed her arm, Belladonna gobbled down the fresh meat, practically swallowing it whole, before she pierced her teeth back into the vulnerable flesh.

More blood spewed into her mouth, flooding it like a broken fire hydrant. Like a woman possessed she guzzled it down, as if she had been dying of thirst for years and was finally getting her first drink.

She had completely lost herself in the ecstasy, overcome with instincts much more powerful and ancient than herself.

The entire time Belladonna had been indulging herself, the bear had been roaring and writing in pain. It slammed its back against the wall, crushing her between stone and flaming fur.

But even when her bones shattered, they rapidly snapped and cracked back together. Although not always in the same position.

A few of them were starting to snap in new directions, growing and adding even more mass than she originally had.

Second by second, the bear was losing its strength. Its fur burning the parasite clinging to its back, but it would only heal. But some miracle, or perhaps because the parasite was so occupied guzzling down its life wine, it managed to slip the chain from its neck.

It smashed her against the wall again, before shaking itself violently and finally throwing Belladonna from its back.

She flipped in the air, landing on all fours - or all threes since she was still missing an arm - with unnatural cat-like grace. She remained still for a moment, breathing heavily with every breath curling with steam from the heat, before her body began to writhe.

Her muscles spasmed beneath her pale skin and a sickening cracking could be heard as her bones snapped themselves in half and rapidly rearranged themselves.

The Bear looked on with a mixture of horror and confusion, blood gushing from its gaping wound with every beat of its heart. But even if it didn’t know what was going on, it knew a moment of weakness it could take advantage of.

It stepped forwards, ready to bite the preys head off, yet the moment it took even a single step Belladonna’s head snapped up. The crimson of her eyes glowed brightly as they met the bears own, and in that same moment... It froze in its charge. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

For the first time in its life, it had been overcome with a sense of dread and fear, the exact same feeling it inspired in its own prey. But there was something more than that fear, something almost enticing. It found itself drawn to her eyes, its mind clouding for a brief moment.

Whilst the bear was frozen, Belladonna’s body kept writhing and snapping. Claws erupted from her fingers. That is not to say that they grew from her fingernails. No, instead it was as if her finger bones had turned into claws and burst forth from inside leaving the torn skin clinging around the claws, like a ballpoint pen bursting through a plastic wrapper.

Ridges formed along her spine, jutting out like lumps beneath her skin and underneath what remained of her armour. Her limbs altered in length, becoming optimised for a four legged movement, while her feet enlarged and grew talons just like her hand.

The glowing crimson within her eyes disappeared as the colour literally melted from her eyes. The crimson became watery as it slid down the surface of her eye, leaving them completely pitch black. The melted colour gathered on her eyelid and dripped down her cheeks like tears of blood, where it stopped itself against all laws of gravity.

Speaking of her cheeks, they tore horizontally, from the edge of her lips to the base of her ears, with only a few strands of skin keeping the two together like loose stitching. It gave her an inhumanly wide smile that was rapidly populated with even more teeth as they erupted from her jawline, filling her new mouth full to the brim with dagger like teeth.

A deep guttural growl came from the depths of her being as a long, pointed and prehensile tongue drooped from her mouth and slithered in the air. The growl quickly turned to speaking, although it was not Belladonna’s voice that spoke.

It was not even close, instead it was the rumbling, echoing voice of the being that had been shouting within her head.

"I... neeeed... MOOOOOOOREE!"

The creature that used to be Belladonna roared before it charged forwards with a sadistic twinkle in its pure black eyes. Its roars were enough to snap the bear out of its hypnotic stupor, but by that time ’Belladonna’ was already charging.

Her claws dug grooves in the stone as she charged towards it faster than she had ever moved with her lightning infusion. She sprung from the floor to avoid a slam attack, clinging to the wall for a second before launching herself at the bear.

With a blur of her arm, her claws tore four lines across its back, spraying blood in the air. She eagerly licked her fingers clean of the blood, before pouncing again.

As the tables turned so rapidly, the bear was forced onto the complete defensive, its mind reeling with confusion over what had happened, as suddenly the Apex predator found itself in the role of helpless prey for the very first time.