Legacy World 4.2 Ravenous Hunger

While Luna processed the memories, the golden specks in her eyes started to glow, making her irises look golden instead of grey. Her round pupils turned into sharp slits. Her breathing became irregular.

[Lu- Luna?] BaoBao called out worriedly.

However, he did not get a reply.

[Luna!]

Just as he yelled out her name again, he heard Luna's thoughts and saw the flashback she experienced.

It was the eve of a new year. She was only 12 years old then. 

Just as they did so every year, her family was gathered in her father's study where her parents would review their results for the whole year. Luna knew without needing to be told that she was the only one who made no improvements in any aspect of herself whatsoever.

Like she anticipated, her siblings were commended for doing well even in areas that were not their talents. Although her parents also commended Luna for being the most earnest, sincere, and hardworking one of them all to the point of advising her siblings to learn that from her, all she could feel was shame. 

She knew that they truly respected her persevering nature but she just could not stop thinking that whatever they said were simply pleasantries and meaningless comforting words. More and more of such thoughts stubbornly planted themselves in her mind. Her inner turmoil must have shown on her face because her parents came up to her.

"Luna dear..." Her mother tenderly held her face and tilted it up gently so that she was looking at her. "You've truly done well not giving up. We can only imagine how tough it has always been for you and it's not the end yet. We're really proud of you for that."

Tears welled up in Luna's eyes. "How can you be proud of me when I haven't achieved anything?" She asked in a small voice.

"My child..." Her father gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "Each of you have your own strength and yours shine in a different way from your siblings. We're proud as long as you learn to capitalise on that strength."

"Remember the purpose of everything, Luna dear. Everything is so all of you can live freely in this society and the upper echelon."

Her siblings approached the small circle and Desmond talked about Luna proudly as usual. "Who cares if you haven't achieved anything yet! Nobody would dare to mess with someone as serious as you. If everything does fail..." 

Desmond thumped his chest firmly. "They'd have to deal with me!"

When he sensed three glares on him, he laughed bashfully and quickly corrected himself, "I mean us."

"You should see yourself through our eyes!" Erica's clear and immature voice was like a bell chime.

"Luna dear, look up and around you."

Luna did as told and met their affectionate and compassionate gazes.

"This is what I want to last forever." Her mother continued.

Tears fell out of Luna's eyes. Her parents smiled and took their children into their arm, giving them a big group hug.

"My children, live and make your mark in this world in your own individual ways. Let there be nothing that can ruin this happiness we have now." Her father encouraged.

"Of course!" Her siblings said with gust. Erica hugged Luna enthusiastically while Desmond rubbed her head.

"...Mm!" Luna nodded with tears streaming down her face.

/What did I do to deserve this kind family? Who am I to deserve their love? I'm just a failure who doesn't know when to give up... They're too nice to me... I can't be a let down anymore than I already am./

And that was the last time Luna cried. She never stopped to think about her emotions. She never paid attention to her thoughts because all she could come up with were more questions with no answers. She also did not want to be more of a bother than she already was. It was better to suppress everything deep down inside her. As long as she kept doing what she has been doing, some results would come out of it one day, hopefully.

/How could I forget? I failed. I failed to keep the promise we made to our parents! I really am just a failure after all!/

The tears welling up in her eyes finally trickled down her face. At the same moment, she lost control and her bodily instinct took over.

She punched in front of her and cleanly broke through what turned out to be a coffin. The force of her punch blew away the soil that was in its path. The hole had not been very deep. She planted her palm firmly down on the ground to the side and hauled herself out of the coffin. She burst out of the now empty pit and sprinted off in the direction of the tantalising smell. The speed she ran at was far beyond what a human could do.

[Luna?!] BaoBao knew that she was not acting herself in this moment. There were so many thoughts racing through her mind that even he felt a bit disoriented by it.

While he quickly assessed whether Luna's life will be in danger and how he could help her regain her senses, she already reached the source of the smell. It was a pair of young children digging graves not too far away from where Luna had been buried. Luna leapt towards them and was in midair when BaoBao's desperate voice rang out inside her head. [Vanora!!!]

Clarity returned to Luna's eyes and she took in a sharp breath. She was instantly brought into the present and her brain registered several things of her current situation at once.

By the time the children were aware of her presence, she was already right before them. They had no time to react. It was also too late for Vanora to change the course of her path. Revealing herself to the villagers and the angels now would be highly disadvantageous as well.

Instead of tearing the children apart as was intended, she decisively placed her hand on the boy's shoulder to propel herself beyond them. Children's shrieks filled the air. She landed on the other side without a hitch then looked back.

The boy's right shoulder that she had placed a hand on was now hideously deformed. His arm dangled by the side. His face was covered in tears and sweat and he trembled like a leaf in the wind, but he still stood protectively in front of his sister with a fierce expression. He used his good left hand to point the shovel at Luna. His younger sister also had a face full of tears but also gripped onto her small shovel with two small hands, ready to provide assistance.

Luna's heart ached. /It's my fault./

She gritted her teeth so hard that she could feel her gums ache. Something nagged at her to eat them so that she could get stronger. Being in such close proximity to them in her current state was unsafe, so she sprinted off and disappeared into the woods.

She ran as fast and as far away from human civilization as she could. She did not know for how long she ran for but she kept it up until she lost all the energy she had and collapsed heavily on the ground. The speed she was running at caused her to tumble and roll. She only stopped after crashing into a big and sturdy tree. It knocked the wind out of her and she laid still on the ground in pain.

After a long moment of silence, Luna finally opened her eyes. It was now back to her usual grey eyes. /Thank you, BaoBao. Don't worry, just the thought alone is enough./

BaoBao had thought of materialising himself in this world to aid her and hug her for comfort, but he has learnt from the previous world to be careful. They did not know every power there was to know in this world yet.

/Also... Thank you for earlier. You did well./

[No... it's the least I could do...]

Luna smiled softly. /I knew I could trust you./

She rolled over to lie on her back and sighed. While she looked up at the tall trees that seemed to reach high up in the sky, she asked BaoBao for the original soul's wish.

[Her wish is simply to survive. With the strength and power you have now, this sounds like the easiest wish to fulfill so far!]

/...I don't think so. It may very well be the hardest./

BaoBao was puzzled then put in more effort to analyze Vanora's current plight. He realised his underlying assumption that Luna would know how to use her new powers and neglected the fact that she was now directly involved in a war between angels and demons. [Ahhh... Sorry...]

/At least you realised it by yourself. It's fine./

Luna pieced together her identity and the original soul's wish to figure out who she was in the story. At the same time that she reached a conclusion, BaoBao also figured out who she was.

[The random new demon at the end of the story!]

/Now that I know how I would die and where it would occur, I have to do my all to avoid that place and the female lead./

[If you really fulfill this original soul's wish... Won't this be your first time living out a lifetime in a world?]

/That's if I manage to fulfill the wish. I need strength and knowledge to survive but I lack both./ Luna closed her eyes and sighed again. 

When she opened her eyes, determination shone in them. BaoBao knew that she was ready to take on the fulfillment of the wish in this world.

/Let's start with finding some food. Hopefully it'll satiate this insane hunger./

While Vanora got up on her feet, BaoBao informed her. [There're some deer up north.]

She sniffed the air and found that she could differentiate many different kinds of smell in the air. The smell of dirt, trees, grass, flowers, the dense humidity of the forest air, and the different animals living in it, including the deer that BaoBao identified. With her keen sense of smell, she could also estimate about how far away it was from her.

She hunched forward and contracted her leg muscles in preparation to take off. When she kicked off, a deep imprint was left in the ground. The herd was objectively far but she reached it within moments. It took her only seconds to scan the entire herd and find the best catch. She easily landed on its back and simultaneously twisted its head. While the body fell to the ground, she flipped and landed neatly in front the dead deer. All the other deer were still in the midst off dashing off.

She focused on the sound of the herd running off into the distance. She could still hear them after a minute had passed. She could also hear the noisy buzzing of the insects all around her and the grass moving under crawling or slithering animals. Only then she brought her attention back to where she stood.

She bent down and stroked the fur of the dead deer, then closed its lifeless eyes. She quickly started a fire then effortlessly skinned and ripped the deer apart. When the smell of blood and raw meat hit her, her stomach rumbled and growled. Oddly, the more she cooked it, the less tantalising it smelled. She ended up only half-cooking the meat before taking a bite into it. The cooked part tasted bland and unappetising. The raw centre was the complete opposite. It tasted buttery and smooth and made her want far more of it. Unable to bring herself to eat completely raw uncooked meat, she settled with cooking the surface of it.