Cursed Child: Eater With The Odd Eye

Chapter 3: And So He Fed

What would emerge from a mix of hunger and fear?

What would triumph?

Trodden's throat favoured hunger while his mind, aided by his eyes supported the fear, urging him to back away and cower like a rat.

Yet, there would be no suspense, for the result was clear.

That which was aided by the screeching voice that sang profanity and vanity in his head won, inducing the young 17-year-old to build up strength in his knees and thighs, gazing intently at the short man who walked briskly towards him.

Hunger triumphed.

A foreign concept to Trodden, but one which he yielded to in reality.

He needed to feed.

Like a beast, he eyed the brown-coloured ball he saw floating within the head of the short shadow that approached.

He saw not the whip that was held, which was a threat to him.

Just the eye that he foresaw to taste divine.

The slaves wrestling over the long-dead cow paused as a thick tension built up around the soldier and slave.

Aneus who had his mouth painted in blood peeked from the crowd, trying to see what was going on.

The onlooking crowd waited with baited breaths, some getting overly excited at the prospect of how artistic a fight between a slave and his master would be, even though the result was known to all.

For mortal flesh could not triumph against these contenders.

Trodden with a focused gaze suddenly lunged at the short man with his hands reaching for the man's head!

The square-faced man wore a grin, his foul teeth revealed as his cruel nature was fuelled.

He saw Trodden's advance and his ever battle-ready body moved, his arm shuttling through the air like a comet as went on to grab Trodden's neck, feeling the young man's pulse under his thumb which brought him great satisfaction before slamming him in the ground head first!

A burst of cheer exploded from the onlookers as dust rose from the brutal assault!

Trodden screamed as while part of his head was buried in the dank, blood-stained ground, he felt something break within him!

Blood oozed from his nose and mouth as his mind spun, a thick finger that dug into his throat viciously making his experience more than hellish!

Once more, pain assaulted him and he almost turned insane from shock.

Is this what it felt like when flesh was torn and bone shattered?

Why did men war against each other then?

Why did their swords impale each other so often when this was usually the result?!

All of sudden, Trodden had a different perspective on what he witnessed every five days during the Feeding Rite. Or the torment he saw inflicted by the soldiers on his mates which he had never once tasted as he lived in his own world, devoid of all aches on the flesh.

"I knew it! Haha! I felt it! What misfortune has burrowed unto you, gifting you taste buds as we all?! Finally! You feel the lick of pain, do you not?!" the square-faced soldier barked with ripples and streams of his horrid saliva raining on Trodden's face.

He saw Trodden's dark eye and chalked it up to an effect of being injured in the massive battle royale for the cow!

He seized his grip on the young man's neck and with his bark-covered leg, he stomped on the boy's knee, the incredible surge of strength shattering Trodden's kneecap while sundering the flesh in an unsightly splutter!

Trodden screeched as his vision trembled, the pain-causing his mind to plead for rest.

Bits of bone and blood separated Trodden's thigh from the rest of the leg as the young man quivered in absolutely excruciating pain!

He felt himself lose consciousness from the pain while the looming shadow above him emitted devilish noises and not words, the brown-hued eye floated within it bobbing up and down.

As Trodden felt himself grow weak, the screeching voice in his head returned and tormented his mind, the young man feeling like his brain was being scraped by a knife!

"FEED, YOU FOOL! YOU SHALL NOT SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER DAY IF YOU FAIL, FOR I WILL KILL YOU BEFORE HE CAN!"

Trodden felt his senses grow sharp once again as his body was jolted awake, the pain still fresh within his veins.

He remained on the ground trembling under the many eyes, many of the slaves even resuming their scramble over who fed on the remnants of the cow, ignoring his incident.

For such was this world.

For such were the three rings outside the Blessed Lands, where man cared not for others more than himself.

'Why? Why do I face such torment now?! Who did I offend?! Tell me!' Trodden cried within as the pain bore its toll on him.

Hatred festered as the voice in his head gave him an unquenchable thirst for the eye within the short man's head.

He gazed at it intently before pushing up his body that lay down on its belly with his arms.

He looked down at the dirt and gnashed his teeth, sweat pouring from him and onto the ground where its meaningless existence was proven by how it no longer existed a second later.

The square-faced soldier crouched down next to Trodden and gripped his brown locks of hair.

He brought the young man's face disturbingly close to his and licked his lips.

Trodden barely looked conscious in his eyes and this, he would change soon. A worthy candidate whose torture would appeal to his erotic and twisted desires had finally been found.

"Four years worth of hurt is what I owe you, mutt! You have a lot you need to catch up on and I bring it upon myself to gift you this," the square-faced man said.

Trodden's hand weakly fumbled as it slowly and harmlessly grabbed the neck of the man's chest plate.

The square-faced man scoffed as he continued to pull on Trodden's hair.

The weakness he saw in Trodden brought him an exciting tingle.

The 'weak' young man's hand suddenly shot up, his fingers digging into the man's socket!

For the first time, Trodden experienced the warmth of blood and the tender feel of a man's insides when his fingers jutted into the man's socket and pulled!

"EEEEEEEAAAAAAKKK!" The squared-faced soldier screamed at the top of his lungs as blood gushed from his socket!

Trodden had on a look of craze as blood sprayed upon his face, painting a heretic image over him with his dark eye that trembled slightly!

He then pulled out the eye from the man's socket which was more or less squeezed into the likeness of a festering wound from his lack of care in handling it!

The bloody mass which looked a lot less like an eye save for the coloured iris was... attractive in the young man's eyes!

As he held it, he heard the voice in his head screech all the more, urging him to feed on this disgusting and putrid object.

And so he did.

Trodden hungrily fed on the square-faced man's eyes under the gazes of all who no longer cheered or ridiculed.

They all looked at him as if he was a devil as he emitted grunts of hunger and enjoyment while eating the eye, the square-faced man wriggling in pain beside him!

Trodden swallowed the murky mass of soft flesh, feeling it slide down his throat, its taste nothing short of disgusting and its smell pungent.

Contrary to what he had been led to believe, it tasted not as good as honey or roasted fish, but like vomit with a raw and sticky flavour.

It was what it was, after all.

An eye.

As the flesh reached his belly, Trodden felt his odd eye surge, from the golden centre a tumultuous strength pouring into his veins and momentarily dulling the pain from his shattered knee!

It was pure ecstasy!

When pain and pleasure collided, Trodden felt alive and he found himself relishing in this sensation!

The square-faced man who then turned to him with bloodlust stood and shakily rushed up to Trodden!

"You evil mutt! What devil has possessed you?!" the man screamed as he leapt upon Trodden with his muscular mass.

The young man, still drunk from the feeling that surged from the eye, rolled on the ground, dodging the man's inaccurate descent as he then raised his body to kneel, for he could no longer stand with his severed leg!

The short man pounded into the ground with his fists and feet, digging a crater madly!

Trodden saw an opportunity right when the men landed, feeling a powerful addition to his strength once again as strangely, on his arm, his skin began to feel rough and thick!

...!

He lacked the time to feel for it but his youthful skin grew tough without changing its state, his mass becoming rough!

His bones gained a peculiar weight to them signifying a welcome change that he would use in all time to come!

With one push against the ground, Trodden leapt towards the dark shadow he saw which no longer housed the brown ball!

The young man was shocked to see himself fly at an immense speed towards the short man whose eye he had stolen!

He had never moved with such speed!

It was all foreign!

What did this odd eye do to him?!

He cooked his arm back and threw it with all his newfound might at the man's head, staking all of it with this one blow!

His fist met the side of the man's face and once more, for the first time in his life, Trodden tasted the feel of his fist exerting so much force that it blew away a man's head!

Bits of the skull along with brain matter blasted from the square-faced man's head as before he could scream, he was already dead!

Trodden collapsed on the ground as he took in deep breaths while still feeling the ache of his flesh and the raging of strength funnelling from his eye!

He turned to the soldiers and saw many of them rattled, with a few of them looking at the square-faced man with disdain.

They had not interfered in all of this surprisingly.

Trodden took in deep, raspy breaths as he awaited what verdict would be reached on his fate.

He turned to the slaves as he lay, seeing them looking in his direction with a mix of shocked disgusted and frightened visages.

The earlier excitement and thrill he felt vanished immediately.

For among the other slaves, he saw the figure of Aneus gazing at him from afar with trepidation.

From the young man's eyes, he could see disbelief, as if what he saw was not the same young man whom he relied on.

These gazes brought Trodden shame and he curled up on himself.

At this moment...

"GOOD, GOOD! MINE CHILD OF THE ENDLESS HOLLOW! YOU SHOW MUCH PROMISE! KEEP YOUR VESSEL ALIVE AND FEED! JOURNEY FAR AND WIDE WITH THIS STRENGTH, FOR NONE ON THIS PATH WILL AFFORD YOU AID!"

The screeching voice in his head spoke such words before vanishing entirely

With its disappearance, Trodden felt the pain from his right eye recede as it returned to normal.

All the pain was gone once more and Trodden felt it not.

The sound of heavy steps crunched on the dry ground as someone approached.

Trodden looked up and saw the bald man who had a charred face as if burnt looking down at him with authoritative eyes.

He then turned his gaze to the corpse of the squared-faced man and spat at it, his spit as if the ammunition from a cannon as it pounded on the ground with great weight.

"You have bested one of our own. He failed to regain his honour after you gouged out his eye and fed on it and thus deserves no honourable death or recognition. But you..." the man said with a fiercely stern expression.

"You have caught my eye and I wager the lord will find interest in you as well."

Trodden steadied his breath as he felt the tension.

The lord of the city.

He was to meet that man? A figure he had not once seen ever since he came to the Ruined Hold?

"Carry him. The lord shall decide his fate," the bald man said to some of his men before turning to Trodden. "Pray that you see not what lies behind these walls as your judgement. For if that is the verdict decided upon by the lord, then you shall plead to be fed to the dogs instead."