'Why?'
A young Cosmo stands above a tired rabbit-looking creature, caught in a trap, a knife clenched in his hand.
'Why?'
Its flesh made into his mothers favorite stew.
'Why?'
Its hide into new shoes, its bones grinded for their gardens.
'Why?'
All of it will be used, so all he needs to do is…
Yet, he stays still, as he hears echoes from a life before. Whispering anger grows as he raises the knife, aiming to end it in a single stroke. The voice, like raindrops, hits the back of his mind with the same question. 'Why?'
***
It's been 12 years since he was found in the forest by Sia, who also named him Cosmo. At one point, he asked Sia why she named him that and she responded with.
"Cause you had such pretty eyes!" Sia happy answered, while hugging him at the time. "It was like looking at the stars!" Cosmo couldn't help but sigh and smile at the memory, his mother is always a happy and simple person, which was in contrast to her sister, Verra, who's more serious, and a bit mean.
As Cosmo reminisce about the past, he walks into his home and sees Verra, his Aunt. "Seriously? Can't you do anything more than pick herbs!" Verra shouts as Cosmo places the bag of herbs on their table. Both Sia and Verra were hunters in this village, charged with gather meat and protection.
"Sorry Aunty… I'm just not good at hunting…" Cosmo looks away, only half lying. Verra looks at Cosmo and then at the bag of herbs, then back at Cosmo. For the past two years, Cosmo has been picking herbs. For the longest time before that, all he seemed interested in was reading. She only wanted to urge him into trying harder but she can't seem to bring herself to be angry at him, seeing that he always picked up this much herbs to make up for not being able to hunt. She checks the bag and as usual, all neatly picked.
"I guess all that reading helped…" Verra complements but seems a bit upset. Sia was the first to suggest Cosmo to join them in hunting but quickly backed off when Cosmo said he wanted to read. Verra was the one that really urged Cosmo to hunt and at some point, forced him to at least try. She can't help but be a bit upset because Minny, the village librarian, said that he should work at the library since he likes to read so much and hates how close Minny is trying to be with Cosmo. Verra tries to hide it but she is attached to Cosmo after raising him with her sister.
"Should I bring them to Nelly again?" Cosmo speaks, seeing that Verra is pouting. Nelly is in charge of trading in the village and usually gets a good deal with the herbs he brings in, although, he assumes that it's because he was the only 'male' in the village. Verra gave Cosmo a strange look before grabbing the bag.
"No, I'll bring it to her..." She sighs before walking out but not before petting Cosmo, "Good job." She compliments before making her way to the village market.
'Still bother by that day huh?' Cosmo thought, remembering to when he was 10, he joined Sia and Verra while hunting.
He helped corner a deer and when Verra went in for the kill, Cosmo was in shock, body shaking, breaking out in a cold sweat. That time, an echo of a voice returned, a voice he thought was gone, disappeared in his past life. Like an old habit, he huddled down and covered his ears, ready for the voice to grow into shouts. Yet, nothing happens, the voice fades as he feels a warm sensation wash over him. It was Sia, gently stroking his head, her voice calm and sweet.
"It's ok…" She repeats. Her touch was always soothing. This touch helped him during his first few years, when he would wake up from nightmares, her touch warming him during the cold, it was almost magic. Since that day, Verra would also try and comfort him in the same way, although her touch was similar, she's a bit more careful and light, scared that she might hurt him again.
***
Bushvee village, located on the border of the Wild Forest and the civilize world, or at least this world. Since Cosmo could crawl, the first thing he did was to try and learn where he is, even asking Sia when he was old enough to speak.
This is a village of lesser succubui, an all female race of seducing, life stealing human-like monsters but the lesser part made them more human then monster. Apparently, after a war, there was a surge of lesser succubui being born. A lot were hunted and prosecuted but some kingdoms were more lenient and this village was one of those leniencies, sent to live in the Wild Forest, an uncharted part of the world.
Like its name, the forest is vast and ever changing, animals and beasts vary widely, seasons unpredictable. The deeper one goes into the forest, the stronger this 'Wildness' affects them. Because of their special constitution, lesser succubui are seemingly unaffected by the magic emitted by the Wild Forest and can live there without much problems.
For years, this village has been the main source for the Wild Forests herbs, a strong component in potions. So certain people in the Bushvee make their way to the border to make trades for things like daily amenities and such. Because of their succubus nature, they have a strict policy when it comes to interacting with males, although interacting with them doesn't cause them to act too extreme, it's still an issue since their population are under strict control.
Thus, the first situation with Cosmo was a rather strange and urgent one. First, most of the succubui wanted to hand him over in the next trade, but this could cause an issue since any report of them coming into contact with a male could result in separation and re-location. This would be bad as Bushvee was the largest and longest a succubus village to've been made. Some were curious about Cosmo, despite smelling like a male, he didn't stir any of their succubus nature, so they assumed he might be a monster of the forest or some kind of homunculus, sent to spy on them.
Sia told them that they found him in the middle of a one-way teleportation circle, that someone wanted to get rid of him. She even showed them where they found him and Nelly concluded that it was a hastily put together teleportation circle, that it was a miracle that Cosmo even survived in the first place, she also assumed that it might the reason why Cosmo was different, that the Wild Forests magic might've brought him back to life in some way, not alive yet, but not dead either.
With a vote, they decided to let Sia raise Cosmo. At first many were cautious about Cosmo, but over time, they got used to him, some even enjoying the fact they're able to talk and interact with a male. Some in years and other, for the first time. Because of their lack of interaction with males, this allowed Cosmo to act like whatever. From walking, advance reading to his somewhat cold attitude, they all assume that it was simply because he's a male, even so, they still can't help themselves but give him special treatments.
***
Succubui have extremely dexterous hands, from knitting to butchering. Those hands were one of the reasons why they were sent to pick the Wild Forests herbs, strong enough to pull out the herbs but delicate enough to not to break the roots. What surprised Cosmo even more was that every succubuses in the village had their own way of touching, able to have whole conversations with each other with a handshake. Sia's touch was strong yet warm, Verra's was similar but it was more soothing, Nelly felt like she was trying to guess Cosmo's weight and Minny was sharp and probing.
He knows this because there's this special pastime for the succubui of the village, petting Cosmo. It annoyed him at first, but he couldn't blame them, when Cosmos looks at his own reflection, it's always shocking at how he looks. Not as beautiful as the women in the village but he could easily be mistaken for a girl. He looked down at his clothes and is still glad that Verra convinced Sia to not make him wear a skirt.
The villagers keeps petting him at every chance, but because of this, he was able to learn about their strange way of 'touching' and the uniqueness of each one. Over time, he tries to imitate them, the movement of their fingers and pressure of their palms and over time, learning this helped him with his herb picking.
It took a while but he convinced Sia to let him go herb picking on his own. The villagers have a map on where herbs might grow for picking but due to the random nature of the beasts in the forest, they tend to avoid the same area. Cosmo is confident in his ability to go about unnoticed, a skill from his first life, this allow him to pick more herbs. Sia thought that he was just good at picking herbs, Verra assumes he was making up for not being able to hunt.
When he meets a certain quota, he looks for a private place and practices. At first it was a simple way of passing time, but after a year, he was able to imitate Sia's touch, that warm yet firm touch, then, a few months later, the soothing touch of Verras. He couldn't help but feel excited, learning and doing something new in a new world.