Chapter 13 - Monster (Patreon)

Fumi contemplated her long solitude and tried to figure out how much time had passed.

Who was this strange man that had somehow survived…something akin to what she went through?

He must have some Ability to heal.

She recalled vividly the horrific experiments wrought upon her. The strange man in the coat…dying over and over only to come back to life hours later. The cold, metallic cube on her chest before she felt indescribable pain.

Over, and over, and over…until she was left alone in the darkness.

Until this man with strange, black, and silver eyes found her…healed her.

A total stranger.

The food ran out.

The water shortly after.

Echo felt the hunger pangs and could tell that Fumi did as well. "We have to find some food."

Fumi crouched and nodded, speaking in her assured way once more. "Open the wall. Sneak out. Eat something."

Echo did as she instructed, whispering the spell as he pushed the earthen tunnel wall aside.

The two crept silently down the tunnel to the intersection which now lay open - silent shadows gliding over the rough stone of the tunnel.

They paused at the intersection, and both listened intently, hearing some scratching noises.

Fumi took the lead as Echo pulled out his sword from the pocket-dimension, as well as a knife which he pushed into Fumi's hand from behind.

She accepted it and they slinked along in the darkness.

They found one of the patrolling chitinous wolves; this one was covered in armored insectoid plating. Fumi lunged forward without hesitation, diving under the beast and running her dagger along the underside; scoring a deep gash that gushed blood.

Echo immediately followed up and lopped off the creature's head, the corpse falling to the ground with a sickly THUD.

The two looked at each other before feeling the same instinctual need to cry out to them. A thunderous pounding as blood pulsed through them and seemed to pulse in their minds.

Consume…

Consume!

CONSUME!

They both tore into the creature, eating it bit by bit until only offal and the chitin were left. The heart they ripped in half, each getting a meaty chunk.

Echo had never felt more satisfied with a meal in his life, despite the horrid taste of the meat.

And the revulsion ripped through him as this instinct faded and he gained control of his faculties once more.

What am I doing?

And then the pain surged through him.

He doubled over, gasping for air as his body broke down the monstrous meat, forcing him to evolve as his skin stretched and broke trying to accommodate new muscle growth which then recompressed itself. He could feel a horrible ringing in his ears and dropped to the ground, convulsing.

As the pain died down, he looked up and saw Fumi on the opposite side of the creature's husk, also panting and obviously in pain.

Looking down at the corpse he gingerly flipped it over.

He saw what he feared. A set of tusks hidden under one of the creature’s folds of muscle.

Bertram’s tusk.

Echo tried to vomit, but nothing came up.

He had just eaten another ally.

Looking for something to keep his mind from the horrors he had committed, he looked to Fumi. She was still convulsing on the ground.

Echo went over to her; the instinct to devour her had gone and carried her back to their hideout; concealing the entrance once more before he passed out.

He shuddered at what he had done.

As he sat in silence, he couldn’t hide from it. There was no task he could do to keep his mind busy.

He had just eaten someone’s father. Someone’s husband. His company member.

Someone who used to be a person.

I’m a monster.

He wept.

Fumi woke and instinctually held her dagger in front of her in a crouch before realizing where she was. She looked at Echo who was sleeping and covered in blood from the monster earlier.

He ate the thing but doesn't look different.

She knew. Knew, with all of her being, that this person was like her. Unchanging.

She could vividly recall one of the weirder and most painful experiments she went through - where Tiberius had fed her some type of jerky. It caused her body to warp and spasm…and change horrifically. But, because of her Ability, she would return unchanged.

She looked over him from her side of the hovel and couldn't see any wounds or deformities, not even scars.

There's another person like me?

She smiled and giggled slightly.

I thought I'd be alone forever.

She was Deathless; a rare and unique Ability that quite literally prevented her from ever dying; if she would die, she instead would resurrect in the prime of her adulthood.

She had long ago given up hope of finding someone to love; not wanting to see them waste away while she moved on and outlived them - having dealt with that before.

But here, in front of her, was someone like her - who healed from wounds and wasn't affected externally by Tiberius's cube.

She gently brushed his hair out of his face and smiled at him as he slept.

I'll make you mine…and I won't be alone again.

Echo came to sometime later and glanced around, relaxing once he saw he was back in the hollow with Fumi.

She smiled shyly at him, "...Morning sleepy."

Echo grunted and sat up taking a deep breath, "Morning, I guess." He scratched his head and yawned, feeling well-rested.

Their eyes met. The instinct pulsed.

Kill…

Consume…

Evolve…

"...I'm hungry."

"Me too."

Fumi held the knife up in front of her and a glint crossed her eyes; a murderous intent as she took on her serious demeanor once more. "Let's go eat more."

Echo used his transmutation magic to open their hideout once more and they sneaked into the labyrinthine caverns. All thought that he had devoured an ally from earlier vanished from his mind as this instinct drove him to hunt. To feed.

In short order they came across another creature - this one covered in quills and barbs like a porcupine that were suspiciously purple in color, and small flames licked from the tips of each spine.

Echo leaned forward and whispered into Fumi's ear, his adrenaline and hunger pushing him into a near-manic state, the thought of the impending actions he was going to take forgotten. "I'll flip it, you kill it." Echo put his palm to the ground and whispered a spell, "Transmute Substance."

A jut of rock shot up under the creature flipping it onto its back and exposing its underside for a scant moment - but that moment was all that was needed.

Fumi didn't hesitate and leaped at the creature, carving it down the center and ripping out its organs, beginning to feast.

Echo joined in and soon the two ghoulish figures had devoured all save for the spikes; and ghoulish was the proper term as they were covered in viscera and bloody chunks; their eyes wild and feral. Again, they split the heart – the main organ they were both drawn to.

And then came the pain. It was different than the last time; sharp pain like being stuck with thousands of needles…but it didn't hurt as much as Echo thought.

Maybe I'm getting numb to the sensation.

He looked down at the body. There was nothing left – nothing to identify who it might have been.

Fumi looked worse for the wear, but she didn't need to be carried back this time as the two found their way to their hiding place once more.

Only then did the remorse and horror at what he had done hit Echo.

He wrapped his arms around his legs and tried to cry – but no tears came.

What the hell am I doing?

The same routine played out again and again. Echo kept track of the meals on the wall by carving into it - not unlike prison - as they continued to eat, hide, sleep, and barely spoke.

The scant conversation they did engage in was to inquire if the other was hungry; and whilst Echo did try to talk to Fumi further, she would always shush him.

"...We don't know where he is."

Tiberius was who she was referring to. They had heard him cursing and stomping up and down the tunnels; casting divination spell after spell to try and find them.

But it seemed as if he couldn’t detect them - or at least, they hadn't been found out yet. Echo had no clue about the limitations of Tiberius's magic.

Their hunting became more difficult though, as Echo was able to see - using Detect Magic - the invisible sensors just like in the tunnel that got him into this mess.

We have to get out soon.

They had eaten ten people.

He had eaten ten people.

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