I look at the scene. Hundreds of dead bodies. Would be me eating them qualify for proper burial?

I don't think so. Let's imagine that someone I care about died - would I want them to be absorbed into something inhuman? The answer is obvious.

I'm already guilty of indirectly killing them; I at least owe them a proper burial. Though I don't know how exactly people do it in this world. I guess someone should arrive here in the next few days, considering the appearance of that woman.

Now what I think about it, it would be an idiotic choice to absorb those corpses. What if that scary woman will return here only to find out that bodies are gone? She would know what I wasn't annihilated, and it would be really bad. Even worse - what if she returns while I enjoy my meal?

Anyway, for now, I will try to ignore dead humans unless I'm sure they deserved the fate of being eaten by me. Or if there is no chance for them to be buried in the first place. What I should do now, though, is to run away from here as fast as I could.

I feel the changes in my body. The cat became a part of me. My agility improved a lot. But it was the smallest change I experienced.

"Meow, meow."

There is a new mind inside of me.

"Meow, meow."

And it is annoying, to say the least.

"Meow, meow... Hiss!"

Well, I can't actually feel annoyance, it is just knowledge from my past life of how it should feel.

"Shut up."

It seems that after being absorbed, the animal became a little bit more obedient.

Would it happen each time when I absorb a living body? I would go crazy rather soon then. Or, more likely, it only happens the first time around? I wish it would be the case.

Zeyl became quiet. But I can also feel that he wants something from me. Not only he, but my inner instinct tells me the same thing.

Change your body. Experience the new form. Become the other existence.

Understanding what I should do exist inside of me. It is the instinct of my body. And so, I started to change from the inside.

The process wasn't exactly pleasant. My cells changed on the fundamental level, and it is a bizarre experience, to say the least.

Boned appear inside of me, then muscles and tendons, inner organs, brain, skin, and fur... It probably lasted about five minutes, and then I lost my senses for a few seconds.

When my senses returned, they were different from before. My sight is no longer covering 360 degrees. The number of colors I perceive dropped tremendously as well, even less than a human can discern. In exchange, my hearing experienced an unprecedented upgrade. The previously almost silent world now filled with sounds. Sounds of wind, of insects, of trees...

The biggest difference, though, is the sense of smell. I didn't pay attention to it before, but it seems that in my liquid form, I can't sense the scents at all. And now, my world is felt with different fragrances and odors. The most prominent one is the smell of death...

My Tactile Zone disappeared, but I still have very similar, though somewhat limited, tactile sense thanks to my whiskers.

I'm the cat now. Both in appearance and in my senses. I try to move around, but it isn't as simple as I thought. Movements feel awkward. After running around for a little bit, I even lost my balance and fell down as a result.

What else I expected? It makes sense that you can't just get used to the completely new body in a few seconds. On the contrary, my previous situation is a strange one.

I feel the urges from another mind inside of me. What does he want?

"Meow, meow!"

Could it be? Does he want to control the body instead of me?

Hm... I guess it shouldn't hurt, right? After all, I have some control over him. It feels that he is just my subordinate and couldn't disobey me too much.

I try to feel Zeyl inside of my mental world. He exists there as a separate mental concept. Rather than the other personality, he should be considered an "imaginary friend", I guess. Except, he isn't imaginary, but real.

I try to give Zeyl permission to act like he was. I still can feel everything the cat's body feels, but I don't control it anymore.

He seems to be happy... Could it be? I took away control from him to check something. Then, I approach the corpses and... get disappointed, at least in my thoughts.

I still consider them appetizing. It shouldn't be the case for a cat, right? I try to look at some small insects and find no interest in them. I still have the same emotions as my liquid body.

If I really could borrow emotions of absorbed bodies, wouldn't it be easy to regain my humanity? Just take away some evil criminal's body, and that is it. Though, wouldn't his emotions would be twisted because of his evil personality? Well, no reason to think about it now.

I returned the control over the cat's body to its rightful owner and ordered him to go hunt in the forest. Preferably, on the opposite side from where cloaked man and Valkyrie-like woman disappeared.

"Hiss, hiss!"

It seems Zeyl can read my thoughts somehow, and at the mention of the man who killed his "servants", the cat became rather agitated. Well, I guess if one day I'll be strong enough then the meeting with my "creator" would be necessary for many reasons.

Zeyl, obeying my words, moves to the forest while catching some insects along the way.

It is the beginning of our first hunt. First, but hardly the last.