《Abyssal Horror》
1 - Spawn
" True Formlessness, I think. " Our protagonist waved his hand around in the air.
" WAIT " " NO " He tried to catch himself. He looked around the '' room '' out of habit. Not like there was anything to look at in a white void anyway. He just thought whats-it''s-face would give him just a bit more leniency if he acted bewildered like he did back on Earth.
A perfect duplicate of himself materialized a fair distance away, then shifted it''s cold gaze upon him.
" Sorry. " It spoke in monotone. " You can''t take back what you say in here. " It stated without emotion.
" Are you done requesting and selecting? If you are, proceed here and you will be sent to the other world. " It''s finger bones snapped as it pointed to the '' floor '' it was standing on.
At least It was nice enough to use a '' meat puppet '' this time. At least I have something to look at.
" Right. " Our unamused protagonist spoke while sulking.
He was selecting traits in preparation for a permanent trip to another world. A once in two-lifetimes opportunity! The situation every anime fan dreams themselves in! He should be doing better then this.
Alas.
It wasn''t so bad. His master plan of maximum potential in his second life was coming together nicely. Apparently, per verbal disclaimer, there was going to be some give-and-take. Like, Yin Yang shit. Oh well. Not like I care. This next life; my second chance; is going to be truly boundless.
He pondered his next request for awhile. He couldn''t think of anything off the top of his head.
Why now, of all times, was he short on ideas? The one time in his pathetic existence he needed to come up with good ideas on the spot - his head now suddenly felt like a dry well. Like he was missing something. Is this what being in charge is like?
This is traumatic.
It feels like I''m single slip-up away from another life of pain If I''m not careful. If I even ''live'' to see that at all!
Not like the other guy is trying to do better...
Our protagonist sighed as he looked over to his doppelganger.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Whatever this thing was, it wasn''t getting any easier to talk to. Not even after 56 or so hours creating my ''character'' with him. But he couldn''t complain. It DID bring him back from the dead, after all. Or. Will. At least it is about to, assuming it''s being honest.
On that note, he hasn''t gotten tired. Or hungry. Or had any negative feeling at all. All 3 of those points were in favor of Mr. Eldritch here. But he just couldn''t help a certain bad feeling of his...
'' Why isn''t this thing more sociable to spite apparently having done this for thousands of years? '' He thought.
'' Well, maybe it just doesn''t want to bother learning human tendencies! ''
Ah. There it was. A single, simple sound argument to make sense of this madness. You have no idea how good that felt. No, seriously. YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
Being told you''re dead by a series of shifting and growing mouths and eyes several times your size isn''t exactly soothing. Nor is being forced to pick out permanent traits for your second life. I''ve seen shows and stories where stuff like this happens. If your not overpowered, YOUR DEAD.
And then came the lack of communication.
'' Just ask, and you shall receive. '' It said.
'' Receive '' what? If I asked for the ability to travel at the speed of light, would I turn into light itself and take flight, or would I violate the laws of physics and still be made of hard stuff and have to walk everywhere?
I was met with dead silence with I asked for clarification. Literally shouting into a void.
Lastly, I''m not even sure I have a body anymore. But I know that - thing - can make as many copies of me as it wants!
Well. That last part isn''t so bad. I was never too attached to my old body anyway, and, going by what I already selected my new body ain''t going to be human.
Alright then. Deep breaths. Your entire future rests on what you choose now. And you seem to have unlimited time to do it.
After a long, long, LONG '' mental health break '' our protagonist finally spoke up :
" I think I''m reaaaaaady - " He trailed off.
" AFTER one more 94 hour planning session! " He managed finish his sentence, haphazardly splicing the two thoughts together.
The entity showed no signs of anger or annoyance, or any sign of anything at all.
And so time was spent.
94 hours + 6 + 13 + a '' all-nighter '' worth of time later...
His hands were shaking. If he even had hands. He remembered all what he had asked for by heart. He remembered (almost) all requests that were rejected. It was getting hard to keep track things. Holding a thought in his mind for longer then a couple of moments was becoming a luxury.
He wasn''t tired. The being made sure of that. But something, somewhere was breaking.
He was not built for this.
Was he going insane?
This, what he has already accomplished, will have to do.
He gathered himself, and willed himself to be moved to what he called the Isekai Spot
As he touched the sphere, he could have sworn he saw the entity smirk.
Oh well. Too late now.
He awoke as a tiny mass of black goo. Along with hundreds of thousands more of his siblings.
He was more so being ejected out of his mother''s body. This was reproduction by spore / and or budding. His '' mother '' likely didn''t even know she was a mother, let alone care about him.
The worst possible start for the perks he chose.
Uh oh.
2 - Getting into it
He fell, squishing into a rocky floor and bouncing back up as if he were a toy. He might as well be, as he was operating by touch alone. He didn''t have any appendages. Or eyes.
He braced himself for what was probably going to be his siblings trying to eat him, but that moment never came. In fact, the many blobs he had originally been jettisoned along with him had retreated from his touch. '' Unusual for a spawning species '' He thought. Not that he knew much more then that, again, no eyes.
Of all the starts he could have had. Of all the places he could have been.
He mentally steeled himself. This wasn''t going to be a smooth ride.
Taking stock of the situation : He was basically a liquid. He was subconsciously holding himself together in a '' ball ''. That much he knew. What else did he know? He could detect temperature. And - food? At least this body came with instructions. Not good ones, but only being reduced to acting on instinct, given the situation, is something he felt grateful for.
He was hot. The outside world was cold. Relatively speaking. He had no idea just how extreme the temperature difference was, and wasn''t about to test how long it took for those to equalize.
Speaking of not starving to death as a mere spawn, he wondered if he could ''ball'' and ''unball'' himself to get towards the ''Food'' near his mother. Perhaps she was willing to share?
He manged to slink his way towards his new mom. Progress!
Ah.
So that''s how the ''Danger Detection'' perk works.
''Perk'' was a strong word for the overwhelming sense of dread he felt when he touched her. He felt her gaze shift upon him. His mind went blank.
His body curled up into a flat disk, gained a protrusion growing up from the center, and then slammed it down into the ground; Propelling himself away. Kind of like a toy.
Once he realized what he had done, he tried spreading himself out to slow his velocity. Images of a splattered... himself via falling off a cliff shot to the forefront of his mind.
He managed to safely land on more rough stone. And per his newfound, incredible, near-gyroscope sense of direction; a higher elevation. He started ''slinking'' immediately.
After a moment or two of feeling the lay of the land he stopped for a moment, and let himself pool in a small crevasse to conserve energy. He gathered his thoughts :
He was, almost certainly, in a cave. His siblings were much, much cooler to the touch then he was. And, to spite only ~5 or so minutes passing, he was hungry.
After all his consideration, he realized that he had been moving inefficiently all this time. He had been wobbling up and down a like a 90''s bean toy when he could have been moving like a snake.
'' STUPID STUPID STUPID '' He called himself as he pulled himself up from his small crack. '' I need food and I need it now I NEED FOOD AND I NEED IT NOW '' was pushed to the forefront of his mind, to spite not actually starving yet. Fear? A sense of urgency? He didn''t know what compelled him, but It was something primal. No sense on dwelling on it.
The others seemed to know what to do after they were born. Why didn''t he? He hadn''t bumped into one of them for awhile now. Had they gone somewhere? Statically speaking, my best chance at survival is doing exactly what they do but - wait. They likely don''t have brains as large as mine. If they even have brains. If I even have a ''brain''.
The survival rates for these types of species is abysmal anyway.
If he wanted to live, he was going to have to THINK.
But, what was there to think about? He wasn''t given the necessary hardware; the necessary '' stuff '' to make use of his ''big'' brain. Of course.
HE was put into another species body, not the other way around. He wasn''t fit for this environment. He was going to die.
...This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Or.
Since he had nothing left to loose.
He got up. He slithered away from his mother, who was now starting to get annoyed at his presence per his danger sense. There was little time to think. Hopefully more to act.
He tried every trick in the book to get some vision. Tremor sense. Echolocation. Anything. He needed more to work with then just '' food here ''.
But then -
A big, oval shaped ''food'' approached mother. Almost outside of his ''vision''. It bobbed up and down slightly on approach. It then stopped a fair distance away, as if scared.
After approaching a little bit more, he felt a small vibration in the air and in the ground as mother jumped at the thing. Apparently she was storing all that food inside her. No wonder she didn''t want to share.
The ovular ''food'' was then sucked, quite rapidly, into mother. It didn''t take a rocket scientist to deduce what happened here. He was a predator. Or, at least he eat other creatures.
Also... He could have sworn he could see outlines when he hyper focused on mother''s food. But only when he had been startled. He was left to wonder if his siblings could see, but he couldn''t somehow. Maybe that treasured big brain of his wasn''t so great after all.
But his state of shock and awe wasn''t long. 2 more oval-shaped food-beasts were dancing around the location the first one got got. They were purposely avoiding his mother''s location, who either wasn''t, or couldn''t, give chase.
He sprinted, as fast as a retarded little snake could.
'' Is this the closest path to them? No. Wall. Ok. Moving alongside it now. '' He adapted quick as his thoughts continued to race. He got within jumping distance. He didn''t take the chance. He was still unsure just how much that first jump took out of him. But then food started to back away. Ok.
He flattened himself. He did his best impression of one of those toy poppers.
He flight through the air lasted for what felt like years. Time slowed down as he contemplated the gravity of his choice. But he made it. There was little he could do now That choice was already made.
And... SUCCESS!
He landed on a leg. He knew so due to feeling fur and skin. Hopefully this thing wasn''t able to dispatch him before he climbed to it''s torso. He assumed it was it''s torso, as that''s where the food was. He slinked up the creature, like the hostile liquid he was, and fashioned himself to it''s underbelly. Now. Was it meat or, blood, or something else he has to eat?
Judging by what he saw enter mother it was certainly no solid. It likely wasn''t a fluid either, so that just leaves some strange fantasy gas-type resource.
Assuming the 3 states of matter even applied here.
... Now what? How does he get the food?
'' Suction cup, go! '' He thought, as he flattened out in preparation. Then he felt friction of rough rock passing back and forth over his body.
Aww. That''s cute. You think you can scrape me off? I''m basically a liquid.
I''m not letting go until I sucked you dry.
After mentally facepalming at his one-liner, he completed his suction cup. No dice. But - the food did move.
THE FOOD MOVED. He was close. He could feel it. But he wasn''t getting anywhere like this, and he was getting tired. Perhaps...
He let go of the outcome. And of his couscous mind. If only for just a moment.
His instincts led the way. He snapped back into reality. '' The back of the neck! Of course! '' Now he pretty much knew this things didn''t have good countermeasures, and where to drill.
Well. Almost. Almost knowing is a far cry form knowing for certain. However, his short ~ 10 or so minute life history proved that good enough is good enough.
He slinked over to the top of the creature. Man. It certainly didn''t like it when he moved. And... found it''s neck.
He hesitated for a moment. '' What if this thing has two heads? What if it has a prehensile tail? What if it has some weird anime ability that completely one shots me and there''s nothing I can do about it? ''
Well.
If there was, he''d be dead.
There''s nothing more to do about that.
He listened to himself, and his newfound instincts. Look how far it got him.
If it all goes belly up at the last possible moment, at least he''ll die quickly. He can''t imagine something so much more larger then he having to take more then one swing.
He inhaled. At least, that what he called it. The closest word would probably be something else, but the pure bliss of '' finally, food '' had overwritten any complex thought he had been hoping to accomplish. The food wasn''t a lot, even in his limited state he knew that, but it did sate his hunger. He would be sitting pretty for awhile.
The thing had twitched slightly at his ''bite'', and he was going to try more. Hopefully without killing - whatever this was. Probably a pig or similar. It felt like a pig. A very, very hairy pig.
After 3 or so ''mouthfuls'' the creature finally relented. It seemed to give up completely, now ignoring the 1/40 tumorous mass on the back of its neck. That ratio used to be 1/50. Time to make it 1/10.
And... Was it him or was his metabolism... fast. Like, faster then a humming bird fast. Was he going to need to keep feeding like this his entire life? If so, then...
Wait. No. He wasn''t going to go through death again. Not this time.
It had been awhile. He certainly had grown, but not to 1 tenth the creature''s size. He had figured out that if he intended to put his food into his ''mouth'' he stores that energy in his body. So - that''s what he''s been doing for the last several hours. '' I bet if I could look at myself, I''d look like a smaller version of mother. '' He idly thought.
There wasn''t much else to do but think and strategize. The ''pigs'' have been walking together for awhile now, and mine was starting to slow. So I stopped feeding. Let''s hope this works and I don''t actually have to kill my host.
It''s been about 4 hours, and turns out I can take MUCH faster then they can give. Shame. I really wanted to play it safe. Who knows what they''re capable of If I''m not currently on a unreachable part of their body.
The rate at which I''m expending my stored energy is not great either. Specialized cells and organs exist for a reason, and I have none of them. Oh? Whats this? More and more food coming into view?
It was a pack. These things were pack animals.
He hadn''t internalized that fact even as they all had walked together for nearly 5 hours.
But now they were back to the pack. And with that, usually comes grooming. You know?
Removal and eating of the parasites?
Uh oh.
3 - 1 v 3
'' Ohno ohshit pleaseno ''
He panicked. He formed the entirety of his body into a suction cup, and PULLED. The food reared up and started shaking. Then fell over.
'' I didn''t even take all of it! '' He pleaded to no one, as some of the pack members came over to investigate. He didn''t even know where their heads were or how they were about to strike at him. If they even were. All he could see is food.
All he could see... Is food.
He attempted to harden a piece of himself, then shoot it away like a lance. It worked. The beasts backed away. Though, the attack didn''t connect. He retracted the tentacle back into his body once he felt he had missed.
How did I do that? How can I do that again? His mind raced while his attention darted around the 3 aggressive blobs of ''food''.
His mind shifted to one of his many abilities : '' True wave form manipulation ''. He wasn''t sure if it was just that; or yet another function of his body. His mind had taken him on a pretty hard detour, so maybe it was the former. Or possibly both.
'' Why am I thinking about this while in combat?! '' he asked himself, as he hopped away from the 3 ''pigs'' that were trying to avenge their fallen comrade. They had retreated almost as much as he did, but pack animals were notoriously fearless when near their own. Just as soon as they had fallen back, they were right back to maintaining a very close distance from him.
Those outlines showed themselves again. Flashing for a moment, then simmering down to nothingness. But only when he was moving fast. Now that he was in a better mental state; he recognized this.
'' Please work '' He was thinking as he bobbed up and down. Didn''t work. Should have assumed that given my first method of movement. Secondly...
'' Vibration. '' He figured. Those pigs were getting too close. They were almost sniffing him. He sent out another attack, this time at all 3. In the short time they were held at bay, he grew himself a little bobble filled with air. Then he wiggled it.
It was... somewhat successful. He could make out the vague outline of what was in front of him now. One of the pigs opened it''s mouth wide, and made a pass at him. He had to dodge; no way he was trying to parry that.
The resulting movement overloaded his mind. He was blinded. '' GA! '' He tried to say, but had no mouth.
His 3 opponents were in fact, pig like. He could only see well-defined outlines, but what he could make out were the legs of a deer, the skull of a triceratops, the whiskers and hair of a mouse, and the talons and beak of an eagle. Their hind legs were very muscular. Maybe for jumping? Or closing the distance? All in a package 30 times his size.
Now, what to do?
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Yeah, ... no. He wasn''t winning this.
He grew some bubbles of ''fat'' on his back as he prepared to slither away. Even if they slowed him down, no sense escaping now just to die of starvation. He slammed his new tail on the ground to give him a one-time burst of speed forward. Against all odds, it worked. That impeccable sense of direction helped him stabilize himself midair with his water-like agility. He landed quite far from the things. He was quite small and agile. Perhaps he''d find a crack or crevice to hide in if he hugged the wall for long enough.
He ran. He tried to use his ''vision'' while he was running, and... no dice. Everything was a blur. So much for that. Will probably be useful later. Running. Running now.
Him turning tail (literally) and running away triggered some sort of response within those pigs. He felt the side of a mouth bump into him as he was slithering.
That. Was. Close.
He slithered faster, growing some rotating spinies on the tip of his tail to deter further predation. He picked up the pace, using loose rocks as a springboard to launch himself forward whenever able.
Inevitably, he reached a point where the elevation of the terrain was too much for the abominations. Around 70 degrees. Almost straight up. He certainly didn''t feel them come down a drop like this on there way here, so this must be a splinter path. He scurried up the rock face with relative ease, while the pigs trotted angrily below. Their attempts to climb were met with a cave opening around 1/2 the size of their face. He was safe.
They had a little pity party ramming those rocks in annoyance. It didn''t take long for them to give up and start trotting back to their friends.
'' So. That was traumatic. '' was the only thought that came to mind. Either he was completely worn out or he was COMPLETELY desensitized. More of the same, I guess.
That was around a 3 minute chase at 5 times their walking speed, so only a 15 minute walk back to their little group, give or take. Not that he knew how fast these things move relative to him, so he couldn''t make accurate measurements for him.
He wasn''t hungry anymore, and had found where to get more food. Though he lost track of mother, but he wasn''t morning that fact. Their first meeting didn''t go too well.
... Was he really adapting after only half a day of life or is this just how predators and parasites think? At least he was focused.
A little of both. That''s usually how things go.
Wait. Hold on. Where did that thought come from?
He wasn''t left to wonder long. The name of his skill '' Clairvoyance '' was brought to the forefront of his mind.
Now THAT was creepy. He hadn''t even been able to distinguish them form his regular thoughts until now!
It had called itself ''skill''. Was it part of a game-like system? It certainly didn''t act that way. It acted more like knowledge of a set of martial arts then anything else...
So his brain had been directly altered to house all these new abilities?
No response from '' clairvoyance ''.
That was concerning. All those insane abilities he asked for back when was coming back to bite him in the most strange of ways.
Many negative thoughts of his reincarnator came to mind. He definitely had some words for him now, if he didn''t already.
As the adrenaline was wearing off, if his biology even had that, he was left with the gravity of what just happened.
'' I WAS ALMOST EATEN!!! '' He internally screamed. He jumped up from the crack he had settled in. '' I ALMOST DIED LIKE A WILD ANIMAL! ''
He slowly let himself fall back down into his hole. '' Like... a wild animal. '' He realized at that moment.
The reality of his situation set in.
He steeled himself. He settled back into a more comfortable position to lay down and think. His mind started to focus. Food. Shelter. Water? Safety. THEN and only then would he feel safe to explore his surroundings. Not that would likely yield anything in a cave world.
He focused his mind back on the immediate. His stored food was now 1/10 gone. 90% left. Time to make it count.