Chapter 6: Transmigration

It was a normal evening with branches creaking in the middle of a forest with the smell of rotting wood. A delighting sound of birds squeaking and animals shuffling through the forest grass. It was breathtaking sight if it wasn't for the body of a young boy dangling on a tree branch while flailing his legs and shouting for help.

"Young master"

"Are you there?"

"Please have mercy young master. I will really die this time."

Cori was bawling his eyes out while pleading for his life. He was just an eight-year-old slave who constantly had to deal with his young master's pranks. He couldn't understand why his young master had to choose him most of the time when he was planning something dangerous or trying new ideas even when there are other slaves.

Today is like any other typical day. His young master wants to try a new method of attracting prey and he decides to use Cori as his bait. The plan was simple. Tie Cori to the branch of a tree and make him make noise to attract prey while the others use arrows to shoot it.

Near the tree where Cori was tied, branches of trees were stacked and bundled on each other to make a good cover. Our young Lord of the house of Demir who was addressed by the name Gabrhan was cackling to himself behind the cover of branches while peeking at Cori. He was amused at his brilliant idea and was thrilled at the prey that will be his trophy today.

He looked at Cori and demanded loudly, "You better yell louder or you will keep hanging there. Don't worry, nothing will happen to you. I will shoot every bird that comes your way. I also gave you my dagger to keep it with you in case the bird comes closer though you may not use it as I will shoot it before that happens."

Cori was not convinced at all. He knew his young lord better than anyone. With his lousy skills, it would be a miracle if he was able to shoot Cori while he is tied up much less a flying bird. There were also many dangerous animals besides birds in the periphery of the forest and Cori was sure his young Lord will abandon him at the first sight of danger. And the last thing that made Cori lose hope was because his young lord decided to come to the periphery of the forest without telling the guards and only bringing six of his many servants including him.

What can a ten-year-old young lord do if anything dangerous happened. They were almost the same age but the difference in their lives was like heaven and earth. One was suffering and crying while the other was laughing his ass off. Cori always wondered and was still wondering to this day why their lives could be so different.

While Cori was questioning his lot of life, and his young master getting amused at the thought of catching the unsuspecting prey,

"Hickkkk Hickkk Hickkkk...."

Everyone froze where they were standing in total silence. Gabrhan looked around his servants and asked angrily,

"Who the hell is hiccuping in the middle of our hunt. If you are playing pranks with me, I'm gonna skin you alive."

His servants were glancing at their surroundings instead of replying to him because they knew that no one among them has the guts to play pranks with their young master. Gabrhan saw no one was paying attention to him and was getting impatient,

"Hey, I just asked a question. Why are you not answering? Do you want me to demonstrate my whipping skills? huh?"

No one responded again and they just resumed checking their surroundings vigilantly until one of the servants spotted a humanoid-looking, eight-limbed monster that was silently creeping through the bush in their direction around 30 meters away. The servant squinted his eyes trying to identify the scary-looking monster when suddenly, the monster gazed back at the servant with only one eye on its humanoid presumed face.

The servant almost shit his pants when he was gazed at by the monster,

"Hic Hic...Himp" He was hiccuping by force even when he covered his mouth.

He just experienced a soul-stirring terror beyond measure while standing rooted. He woke up seconds later and didn't even bother warning his young master until he ran away a few meters while yelling back at his group,

"A HICCUP SOUL BEAST... RUUUUNN"

The group looked at the running servant who was bolting away like he saw death in the face. The moment he mentioned the name of the Hiccup soul beast, everyone, including the young master, raced to be the first to run ahead without bothering about any hierarchy or nobility. No one gave a hoot about it at this moment of life and death.

All of them seemed to have unlocked the potential hidden inside them, they were running away without almost touching the ground.

Though the name of the beast may sound funny, there was nothing funny about the ability of the beast. It was among the scariest and most dangerous monsters in the deeper forest much less the periphery.

It is a beast with a humanoid body consisting of twelve limbs and one big eye on its small face. It looked like a spider but with a four-armed human body and an eight-legged big abdomen. It didn't have a mouth as it only feeds on the souls of any kind of living being. Its humanoid part looked just like a human and has smooth skin just like a newborn baby while its abdomen only consisted of hard bones. There was no flesh at all, the whole of the abdomen is covered with bones leaving no space to see what's inside.

It was the nightmare of most hunters and explorers. It has the ability to make a creepy sound that can kill your soul while making you die of a hiccup at the same time. It was pretty much-known knowledge that hiccuping in front of this beast, is the sign your soul, is being sucked from you.

It is also a good way for people to protect themselves when they are hunting. As long as they are in the forest, hiccuping is most likely a sign of danger.

Cori stopped flailing while looking at his young master running like a flightless bird and began trembling fearfully in midair. His worst nightmare was happening right in front of his eyes. His lord abandoned him without glancing at him even once.

"Have mercy young master...." Cori yelled,

"At least untie my hands so I can use the knife....."

"You guys don't leave me here...y-you...I hope you die while tripping you child-looking monster."

He could only curse his ruthless young master at the end since no one bothered to even look back at him. His young master said he could use the knife but how could he use it when his hands were tied up, these silly pranks came to bite Cori instead of the prankster himself. Oh, the woes of the insignificant.

The beast crept faster when it realized its prey was escaping. Though it has a terrifying ability, it is currently injured badly and is moving 70% slower than its usual speed. It was missing three of its legs and one of its arms. It was also the reason why it's creeping in the periphery. If it stayed in the deeper regions, only death awaited for the weak.

Eventually, the prey escaped from its range faster than it was expecting and it couldn't follow them out of the forest. To the beast, the outside world is more dangerous than the deeper regions of the forest.

It crept back to the only prey remaining hanged in the air. It gradually climbed the tree, untied the ropes with its remaining three arms, and hugged the flailing and screaming young prey in its arms before jumping off the tree. It looked around it to make sure it was safe before It started making the creepy sound to suck the meager soul of the small prey.

"Hickkk HIckkk"

Cori was crying non-stop the whole time. What a living nightmare. He could only think of cursing and begging the beast while hiccuping,

"M-Mercy.. hic.. oh great beast...."

"Have mercy.. hic hic..."

"Die you ugly beast...hic"

"I curse.. hic hic.. all your generation young master..."

Cori gradually lost focus in his eyes while crying and begging till his last moment. He perished, eyes gazing up, calling upon to the sky where the gods are meant to dwell with no one to heed.

The beast threw Cori's body down after having its meal and looked in the direction of the outside forest before moving back to the place it crawled from.

The group of servants and the young master have already made their way out of the forest and stood farther away while resting and thanking all the gods for making it back alive. Gabrhan was a bit farther away, puking all the things he ate this morning. He couldn't remember the last time he ran that fast and desperately.

One of the servants inquired breathlessly,

"Why is..huff.. a hiccup soul beast...huff.. in the periphery of the forest?"

"Beats me.. huff" another servant replied doubtlessly.

Gabrhan yelled at them from the back with anger and fear,

"Shut up and come here you lowly insects."

"Listen up, I don't want anyone mentioning what happened today. If I get in trouble because one of you decided to become a blabbermouth, wait for me to castrate your tongues." He ordered everyone when they gathered around him.

He didn't want what happened to spread to his friends or his family. It was embarrassing, but the thing that made him fearful was his father finding out he violated his orders by going out alone. He didn't want to have to face his apathetic father at all.

One of the servants felt a bit of guilt and asked, "What about Cori?"

Gabrhan looked at the servant, before warning all of them,

"Don't mention him at all. If anyone asked, just say you don't know. After they start an investigation, they will just conclude that he is a runaway slave, got it?"

"Yes, young master. Your will shall be served."

All of them just went with the flow. It wasn't the first time someone died due to the pranks of the young lord and they all cooperated to bury issues like this before. Not that there is any reason to bury it, is anyone going to ask the young lord for the death of a slave?

Nope, it just makes it more convenient to handle it in a civilized way instead of having a rumor around you depicting you as a tyrant.

"Let's go. I don't want to come back here ever again. What a pity, Cori was my favorite plaything." He sighed like an adult though he is just ten years old and looked like he had just drank a hot drink and was breathing out the hot air.

They left hurriedly while some continued looking back at their lost friend and pondering whether it will be their turn next.

What they didn't know was that shortly after they left, Cori opened his eyes with confusion and surprise. He sat up and looked at his surrounding.

He was bewildered by the sight of this magical forest and the small weird insects that were running around his finger. He swatted the insects and stood up shakily while mumbling to himself,

"Is this the unknown planet?"