Barely did a breath escape me. I felt strange, I felt greed, but it was not me. Instead, it drifted from behind me like the smell of a delicious meal. When I turned, I saw a golden fog that seemed to come from where the goblins still played. I had no way to take them by surprise. It would be dangerous. I could not risk being injured with no way to clean or bandage it. But that smell had a hold of my mind, it refused to be ignored, and I struggled to resist.
As I grew closer, I could smell other emotions—anger, jealousy, greed. They tasted like different flavors I could not describe. I stood there at the corner, away from the things that made such a glorious meal, and watched as different colored clouds drifted by: gold for greed, red for anger, and orange for jealousy. I barely held myself back from turning the corner to get closer, and oh, how badly I wanted to. Every cell in my body screamed to turn the corner, to enjoy the meal more closely.
I closed my eyes, and with all the willpower I could gather, I pushed the hunger back. I need a plan, I thought. Then I remembered the new skills I had unlocked—mental lure. But how did I use it? As the thought passed, I felt it: like an invisible third hand I had never known I had. I stretched and moved this new limb in awe. Yet again, another thing captured my attention—three glowing shapes I could now see through the wall.
I reached out, almost gently, grabbed one of the shapes, and pulled. I heard shuffling, and then the grumbling of a voice that had lost more than it had won.
I readied my dagger even as I pulled the goblin toward me. My heart beat faster and faster as the taste, the smell, grew stronger. And right then, when the goblin turned the corner—his head still twisted back as if he stared at those who had cheated him of his money—just a little longer, and they would burst into flames. But as his head turned, I saw his eyes widen, and I drank in his shock like a fine wine.
Even as I plunged the dagger into his throat, silencing a cry before it could escape, that final moment sent a shiver of pleasure through my body like a drug. I knew this wasn't right. I knew something was wrong when I first killed a goblin and felt nothing. But this—this was the final nail in the coffin. Something was wrong with me.!!!