Celia emerged into a world on fire. A storm of red hot flames ravaging the forest for as far as she could see. The cry of battle ringing throughout the sky. It was chaos. It was destruction. And somehow she had the very distinct feeling that it had something to do with her. Which didn’t make a lick of sense.
It shouldn’t have, at least. But her gut and her instincts were telling her the same thing. And she hated the fact that she was inclined to believe them.
She should’ve went back down into the hive with that in mind. But she didn’t. Instead, Celia foolishly climbed the rest of the way out, Dreg in toe, and tried to figure out where the source of the fire was coming from.
And it didn’t take her long.
Up in the sky, there were two people fighting. And by people, she meant Jonas and the enormous grey monster that was currently shooting a massive beam of fire out its mouth at him.
A beam of fire he was deflecting with an orange glowing fishing rod. Spinning his apparent weapon of choice round and round and diverting the blast of fire away from him. And away from him was toward the forest. And as she watched it happening, Celia realized that her instincts were probably right. She also realized she didn’t even want to know why they were right.
No, she wondered if she still needed to hide Dreg and herself at all. As she doubted E-10 would ignore this battle happening above its territory. And that if it did, well it probably wasn’t going to go out on a hunt while it raged on. Celia certainly wouldn’t have if she weren’t so desperate right now.
And even then, she was still considering going back down into the wasp hive. Where she would probably be able to wait the storm out, and then get moving afterward. Well, if Jonas won that is. She wasn’t really sure what would happen if he didn’t. She preferred not to think about it at all really.
But think she did. And she quickly realized she didn’t like what it entailed. As, A, that monster was probably here for her or something, and B, that was probably why Jonas was fighting it in the first place.
Which ultimately boiled down to the dawning realization that she needed to get moving. Sooner rather than later if she could help it.
But, no sooner than a few minutes after she started running - in the opposite direction of the calamity behind her - did a new calamity present itself.
E-10 bursted out of a bush with a roar.
But he wasn’t going after her. Celia wasn’t even sure if he saw her, but either way he ascended straight into the sky and towards the battle overhead. First with one head. And then two, and three, and finally five.
Celia wasn’t sure if that was all he had or all he was willing to spare. Regardless, the five heads of E-10 bellowed their fury in sync and joined into the battle.
What happened after that, she didn’t know. Was too busy hoofing it in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Each and every step she took sending a wave of jiggles through her less firm parts. Most notably her butt and hips, which caused Dreg - who was slumped up against her - to wiggle back and forth. Jostled by the momentum of her lower half.
The only reason he wasn’t just thrown from off her was because she had his arms wrapped around her neck and was holding onto them. Kind of like he was a backpack. If said backpack was currently a comatose patient that had a penchant for destroying his own body whenever he got into a fight. Which now that she thought about it, Celia wasn’t exactly surprised about his current state of being.
What she was surprised about was the sound like thunder that erupted out behind her. Too loud to ignore. And instinctively, she looked back to see what was happening now.
The answer was a lot.
E-10 was a missing a head. Jonas had a gash in his left shoulder, and the giant grey vaguely crablike monster he was fighting looked no worse for wear. Aside from the fact that a number of its scales were flying off its body and scattering out over the forest. A number of which landed not too far from her.
Scales, that she watched through the trees, rapidly grew into miniatures of the horror they had been born from. Little horrors that she discovered weren’t as slow as their appearance would suggest and were quickly converging on her position.
Celia didn’t like that. Not one bit. She liked the second roar of thunder that came from the battle overhead even less. Though she didn’t look back to see what was happening this time. Instead she forced herself to run even harder. Felt her belly slap against her thighs as she did so, and very swiftly discovered that it was all in vain anyway. As the crab like critters and their soulless red eyes gained on her like a cat chasing a turtle. So fast that it was unfair.
And that meant Celia had another fight on her hands already. She threw Dreg into a nearby tree in anticipation, and adopted a ready stance right after. And by a ready stance, she meant she bore her claws and brought every other biological weapon at her disposal to the forefront.
She still wasn’t fast enough for the first attack.
A red eyed crab, with its upper body separated from the lower by a stalk of a middle, to jump at her and pinch her thigh. Which, for the record, hurt way worse than she expected. But she didn’t let the pain stop her from reacting. Body erupting in a storm of teeth and camouflage. Flesh turning a darker shade as wooden hooks and hand shaped leaves grew from her. Sharpened enamel bursting out her leg and spearing the crab straight through.
A leg she used like a scythe, cutting down the second crab that tried to jump at her. But she wasn’t fast enough for the third, who sprang at her from the front. Claws meeting her arms as she tried to block, and pinching on. Grip cutting through a layer of her scales and drawing blood out from her wrists.
She spat a ball of molten spit at it. And watched as her little projectile burned straight through its armor and appeared out the other end.
The smell hit her next. Stomach growling as the want for food suddenly overcame it. Strong enough to distract her for a moment. And that was all it took before more crabs jumped onto her and latched onto her body. Her body, which she had slowly turned into a living fortress, her defense born from offense.
Tentacles lashed out. Feathers rang with explosive energy. And hands made of leafs grabbed and pulled at the assaulting force of crabs.
But Celia’s mind was no longer in the battle. The smell of cooked crab had grabbed her and refused to let go. Even as she was pinched and pained from all sides. Pain that sadly didn’t do enough to curb her appetite. Serving only as a - not so - minor inconvenience as she picked up the crab she had burned and began to eat it.
It tasted like an old memory.
Of a time spent on the beach with her dad when she was younger. Of a time spent with her grandmother and the rest of her extended family. The first memory she had of when it finally clicked in her mind that her mothers side of the family was a little plump in the rear.
She hated the fact that she remembered that right now of all times. She hated the fact that food was having this strong of an effect on her. She hated how her mind had slipped out of the fight completely. But what she hated most was that she wanted more. More. More!
More!
|Mark of the Belong to none|
Hidden skill unlocked!
(Passive) This Ambition Mine
Skill adjusting to unique parameters of bearer=++= Complete!
(Passive) This Hunger Consuming
She let the hunger consume her.
Let it grab her and drive her. Candle hearth burning hotter within her, infesting all her attacks in the promise of a meal to come. She didn’t even care about the pain that followed. All that mattered was the feast. The feast that would come after.
It was in pursuit of that feast that led her to switch from fighting on the defensive to going on the offensive.
She skewered and tore. Teeth impaling, claws ripping apart. She burned and she ate. Molten fury infusing every one of her attacks, cooking every crab she struck from the inside out. Steel tongue lashing out after to catch her growing bounty and bring it to her mouth. And as she did so, more than her tongue became steel. Her body became a thing of metal ringed with sharpness and hunger. A thing of truth, truth of what she wanted, what she was becoming. Of the monster that screamed to be released.
And for the first time she let go completely. No leash in her hands as she tore through the crabs like they were nothing, and devoured them. As she ate and consumed and slaughtered and hunted and became. And that fueled her, every bit of hunger she satisfied healing her. Wounds closing up. Damage reversing. Stamina returning, rising as it enabled her to keep going.
Up until there were no more crabs left.
She stood alone on her little battlefield, drenched in something that may have been blood. And a whole lot less hungry than she had been a few minutes ago. Well, for now at least.
And as she came down off her hunger indulged high, hands rubbing circles into her tummy - which she pretended not to notice - another set of scales descended from the sky. These ones bigger than the last, and almost all of them sailing towards her.
Which was all the confirmation she needed that the big monster was definitely here for her.
But she wasn’t even sure she cared about that anymore. She was ready for whatever it threw at her. So long as it promised to fill her up.
Unfortunately what came out of the forest from this latest set of scales wasn’t that.
