The Monster Mage

2

^^ Victoria ^^

Before I could give much thought to the crystal in my hand, I looked up as the bear healed, then began to BULK. He was only about Three, and as such was originally about two-three feet tall at the shoulder, and maybe 400 pounds at the most, but over the space of a few minutes he grew to the size of a fully-grown Kodiak, and more; 7ft at the shoulder, easily 2,000 pounds of raw corded muscle, and really, really pissed off.

He charged me with a roar, and I caught his charge with my chest, digging my feet into the dirt underneath us suddenly while holding his jaws away from my face. An animal urge to eat him raw raced through my mind, and I took a bite out of his neck, feeling my teeth rip through his thickly armored hide like ice; crunchy, but not enough to hurt my teeth or mouth.

He bellowed in rage as he began bleeding profusely, but the wound healed while I watched, to my fascination. A scar was left in its place, but it was no longer bleeding at all. Even in this animalistic mindset, that sparked my interest, and I hissed in pain as he used my distraction to slam a paw across my face.

Normally, that should've killed me; the force of such a blow would easily mimic an oak tree being swung around like a club, and could flatten most skulls. I should've been thrown for a few yards and laid in the snow, my skull smashed into pieces like a pumpkin.

Instead, I simply staggered back a few steps, as I felt a stinging pain from his claws having gone across my eye, and a little splash of blood, then a momentous itching as scar tissue grew over the wound. There wasn't any bone damage, and not even a shaking in my skull.

I grinned at the curious situation and it's consequences, then hauled off and simply punched the bear across the jaw, feeling slight pricks in my palms as my nails stabbed my skin. His jaw was broken visibly, and he moaned in pain, backing away from me. At first I thought he was running, and I took a step forward, just as he reared up onto his hind legs, standing almost fifteen feet tall, from my quick estimate before he dove down at me, slamming his paws down.

I rolled out of the way swiftly, then kicked his jaw on the other side, breaking the bone again and causing him to moan in pain and cower a bit. He was confused now, more afraid than angry, but my rage didn't abate, and the ravenous hunger in my stomach had me tackling him and tearing through his throat the rest of the way.

The meat went down my throat raw, hot and wet with his lifeblood, and it was the most delicious, euphoric taste that'd every touched my tongue. He groaned a confused, pained sound, and I grabbed his nose and skull, twisting and snapping his spine with a growl of effort. Killing him painlessly seemed the best thing to do in the situation.

I had enough presence of mind to skin the body instead of simply devouring it whole, though I did eat the snow that his blood spilled onto, despite it not being my intention at all. I ate his organs while they were still hot; they had the most nutrients, and my body seemed to know what it needed. The raw meat caused my stomach no issues, but I was irritated to find that there simply was no fat layer. That explosive growth had turned it all into bones and ligaments, though what had caused it was still a curious thought.

There was no crystal in his heart, despite how much I looked, and I was confused and disheartened by this; I'd have liked to study it, and see how it worked. I looked down at the body again, and frowned; somehow while I'd been lost in thought, the meat had all disappeared, as well as the bones, and even the intestines. I held the last bit of jaw-bone in my hand, and ate it with a sigh, keeping his canines as a souvenir. "I guess I need more food than I originally thought..." I muttered, and set the pelt in the cave.

Sated, (for now; I could already feel my stomach grumbling again,) I took a moment to examine my body. There were no visible changes that I could see; I wasn't any more muscular than before, (I'd always been pretty built, and my extremely active lifestyle hadn't hurt my muscle mass,) and I didn't feel taller, either, though I'd need a measuring method to be sure. My clothes did feel somewhat tighter, but that could've been from them being leather and recently dried; real leather shrank when it dried.