First Steps

Empty.

That's all that occurred to the strange being when the darkness faded, revealing a gloomy forest. It wasn't so much the word, as it was the concept that had occurred to them. There was the distinct sensation of something missing. A massive snail-like creature slithered out of the rotting mass of an old tree trunk. It crawled out on all fours, grasping at the mud as it moved its first. The saturated ground sucked at its soft fingers as it pushed itself to steadily stand.

It continued to wander across the dense landscape. It was looking for... something. It wasn't sure what this something was, but the thought of not pursuing it ached in an abstract way that puzzled the creature. After a long while of walking, it lay down and rested in a patch of damp grass, body withdrawing under the bony shell. A gnawing ache in its stomach had grown to a nigh unbearable degree. An instinct had occurred to it to exhale through its back, and it followed without question. The result was an odd purple mist that floated through the air, shimmering as it dispersed into a cloud of fog. It wasn't long before creatures migrated towards the monster, aimlessly ambling towards it, until its body reacted before its mind could and easily snatched them up. Squirrels, rabbits and mice were swallowed whole without a second thought. Bigger prey began to draw near, like boars and does and the monster rose to wrestle them down and consume until the gnawing urge was sated.

Amidst the organic wreckage, it began to settle down. However, now that it was full, the previous emptiness presented itself front and center, sitting in its chest like a heavy chunk of ice. It wasn't unbearable, but it was just enough to make this gigantic snail puzzle over how to be rid of it. Through vaguely pondering this, it drifted off to sleep.

The next time it awoke, the gnawing sensation was back. As it had done before, it exhaled through its back, though the amount of force caused some of the mist to leave the openings on its face. Once again it waited. Though this time it took much longer, they were rewarded with a distant crackling. As it came nearer, the steps sounded heavier than that of a fox or badger. The creature strained their eyes to see better, resulting in a pair of odd white tentacles sprouting from its head. There, they noticed an unfamiliar being of bipedal nature, wandering lazily towards them. In the back of this creature's mind, there was the barest pang of familiarity, but this was quickly clouded by the aching in its belly. As soon as they came within striking range, the creature snatched them and sunk its teeth into the thick thigh of this new meat. Immediately, it began to scream, staring at the creature in horror, but unable to move despite the visible effort. This noise made the monster's blood buzz in an exciting manner. It bit down again and pulled its head away, this time shredding off a chunk. Orange blood began to flow freely down its gullet, and it lapped at the area with its tongue.

In the midst of its meal, the victim was beginning to quiet down a little, beginning to murmur new sounds. This piqued the monster's attention, though not enough to distract from enjoying the meal.

"Ven... venom-oof..."

The monster interrupted with another sloppy lick at the inflicted wound before curiously trying out the new sound.

"Venn… Vennimmmoo…?" it rumbled, trying out this odd noise. It observed the muttering meal, noticing the eyes focused in a new direction. Peering in that direction as well, there seemed to be another victim lumbering carelessly towards them. "Vennnnimoo..." It slowly crawled towards the unwitting individual. This one looked very similar to their current victim. They were adorned with shiny markings. A slimy hand reached for their ankle, gently pulling them nearer as it observed. Would this taste different?

Stretching out its neck, it licked the shiny stripes on their calf, the fur quickly being coated in thick purple drool. Finally, it bit down, rows of teeth piercing through the alluring hide and dragging it back to the fading pile that was now its first taste of bipedal flesh. This quickly brought the individual out of their stupor as it yelled out in pain as well. The sound lit up the monster's brain again, and it gnawed at a thick forearm until a piece came free. This was just as tasty as the other one, though the royal purple blood seemed to possess a slightly bitter flavor.

This shiny individual was noisier than the first, prompting the creature to eat with more enthusiasm. They were soon whittled down to thick bones and odd chunks of flesh before it migrated back to the initial victim. If they were still alive, there wasn't much left in them as they quietly lay with their eyes wide open, mouth agape. This one was consumed much more slowly as the massive mollusk wasn’t quite as hungry, but savored the taste of this one regardless.

Halfway through, sleep overtook it. Something about the satisfaction from the current catches and the absence of that empty feeling seemed to be immensely comforting. It wrapped its arms around the mangled torso and gently nuzzled into the chest before black blanketed everything.