The early days of the Calamity were turmoil. Death, famine, and every imaginable ailment that could occur during a disaster. Even those who avoided others were not safe, as Calamity still had its stranglehold on the world at that time. -Endymion, History of Lunarius
Hunger.
Gnawing, gaping, endless, miserable!
I had never felt anything like this before. My stomach was an endless abyss, slowly eating me from the insides. I could feel my arms withering away, my cheeks going from roundish to gaunt.
I had spent the last several days traveling through the woods on foot, keeping sight of a main road to my distant left. Water had not been a problem, as a stream churned along on my right, and when I had started walking, I assumed that the bit of berries I had found would be enough to at least keep me going, the berries ripe and plump from the harvest season. I was wrong.
Never in my life had I ever gone hungry before. My mother was not a very wealthy woman, but we never really struggled for much. I had a roof over my head, a full belly, and enough to have an active social life. Helping my mother in the kitchen was more of a personal thing for me, rather than a necessary one, even if I really did not like it.
When the first pang of hunger hit, it was startling. I had been hungry before, but always with the assurance that food was close on hand. This was different. Primal. My stomach curled in on itself, and no amount of trying to banish it from my mind helped. It was empty, and it was making itself known.
Each step felt harder than the last. I had been walking up a slope in a daze, pushing my body forward through sheer willpower.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
My breath came out in ragged gasps. I decided to focus my vision on a singular, vague point ahead of me, telling myself, a few more steps, a few more, come on. With a tired swivel of my head, I glanced to my left.
The road was gone. In the back of my mind, panic started to set in. I knew that following the road, I would eventually run into other towns and villages, but in the state I was in, the panic and concern that was there was pushed down by the feelings in my stomach. I was vaguely aware of the lack of water to my right as well, but that wasn't a concern to me.
Stupidly, I began to picture one of my mothers meals, a classic that she would cook often. Weeper, pan-fried with a bit of animal fat, a heavy amount of salt, a bit of garlic in the pan with it. I could almost taste the golden, crispy brownness of the meat. My mouth began watering, filling with fluid faster than I could swallow it.
And then came the anger. White hot anger, like I had never experienced before. I began mentally cursing everything I could think of, the dirt beneath me, the gods that put me in this situation, the damn feeling in my stomach! And I stopped, the feeling inside me becoming too much for me to handle.
I started to fall to the ground, but something told me not to. The chances of me not standing up again were high. I raised my head to look in front of me once more, praying, begging anybody that would listen to me to give me anything to keep me going.
I saw a wooden structure, around a hundred meters in front of me. And I began hearing the distinct clucking of chickens. Before I could even think about my actions, my feet dragged me forward, quickly breaking into an all out run as I barreled forward.
It felt like an eternity before I reached the small, houselike structure that indicated a chicken coop. The clucking of chickens in front of the coop indicated a few chickens bouncing around, but that was not what I was looking for. Throwing the back doors of the coop open, I saw a beautiful row of bright white eggs, ready for picking. I had never considered eggs a particularly amazing food, but right now, the pearly white surface was the most delectable thing I had ever seen.
I carefully scooped up a few of the eggs, making sure to not crack even a single one. I flicked my finger on the side of the first one. A crack spider-webbed out from the point of impact, and digging my fingers into the crack revealed the clear liquid and yellow yolk. Bringing it up to my lips, I began gulping the contents down.
Heaven. The clear liquid entered my mouth before quickly sliding down my throat, followed by the thick yolk. And I couldn't get enough. Finishing the first egg, my stomach began steering my mind, and before I could think about it, I popped a second egg into my mouth, shell and all. I knew in the back of my head that what I was eating did not taste good, but to my stomach, this was the most gourmet meal that I had ever eaten, second to none.
Swallowing down the second egg, I went to toss a third in my mouth.
A gruff voice rang out from behind me, "You better put that down son, or I'm gonna have to do something the both of us will not like."