It wasn’t long after setting up "shop" that the first potential prey item made its way over to Celia. A thing shaped like a dog with the head of a shark and pitch black eyes. It came nose first, shoving its sniffer into her hiding place in order to catch a whiff of the scent the flowers atop her head were releasing. Which immediately brought Celia to her next and newest problem.
She had no idea how she was supposed to kill this thing. She’d never killed anything in her life. Except for maybe some bugs she hardly even remembered. And that total lack of experience left her paralyzed.
Up until the little shark bit one of her flowers. First came pain, then came instinct. She lashed out with her claws, single eye honing in on the dog sized abominations throat. Nails cutting through its flesh like knives. Which a part of her believed to be a killing blow. Or at least near fatal, but the dog shark proved that not to be the case. Baring it’s fangs at her before it began a brutal assault of its own.
Leaping forward at her, mouth opening wide enough to swallow her head whole. And it would’ve if she hadn’t backed away at the last second. Only to slam her back against a pillar and realize she didn’t have any more room to maneuver. Which for her "prey" was perfectly fine, as it once again lunged at her. This time sinking it’s teeth into her legs as she made a desperate attempt at kicking it.
Celia couldn’t stop the shriek that escaped her, nor the rage that followed.
She went for its eyes, stabbing her nails through the sensitive organs to wet sound. The shark reeling back in pain. An opportunity she immediately seized, lunging at its exposed underside and tearing into it with an animal like fury. Ripping and tearing with her claws, cutting her way back up to its throat and beyond. Breath growing heavy as she all but eviscerated it.
Her assault only relenting when the half shark half dog thing finally went still and stayed still. The sight of its dead body finally putting her rage to rest. Then came the realization of what she’d just done, how she’d just acted immediately afterward. And only one word rose to mind that could describe it.
She acted like a monster.
Her hands, her body, they were covered in red. And somehow, that had her stomach practically howling with glee, saliva dripping from her mouth as she idly thought about how her upcoming meal might taste. How much she wanted to eat the dead thing in front of her, right here and right now.
It was… disgusting, to say the least. And again, something that an animal would do. And Celia wasn’t an animal.
"I am not an animal." She repeated to herself, again and again as she grabbed the corpse by its legs and began to drag it back the way she came. Eyes searching to and fro for anything approaching to steal her kill.
Thankfully, it seemed that every other beast in sight was too busy minding their own business to mess with her. Which gave her all the time in the world to try and figure out how she was gonna actually carry her prize back up from where she came from. As the root she had climbed down looked very… inaccessible. Unless she had some way to strap the dead dog shark to her, someway.
And in the midst of her pondering, a growl came from behind her. A deep, and angry sounding one. Hungry too.
Which is precisely why she didn’t turn around to look, and jumped up at the root. Claws sinking into its wooden flesh. Her trophy hanging behind in the other hand, her grip on it stronger than expected. In fact, she had a better grip on the gigantic root than she expected, almost as if her claws were made just for this. Which, all things considered, they might just have been.
A thought she was only given a few seconds to think about before whatever was behind her tried to seize her meal in the making. It’s attempt half thwarted by a tug upward, pulling her prize further towards her. Well, most of it at least. The head was missing now, and she was pretty sure some of its organs were painting the ground below. But what she still had seemed like more than enough to satisfy her growling stomach.
So she ascended. Climbing upward with one hand while the other held a firm grip on her prize. Her ascent only occasionally interrupted by a small flock of carnivorous bird creatures, that more-so tried to peck at her than the sack of meat she was carrying.
They were, thankfully, cowards that flew off the moment she offered the most token of resistances.
And then she was all but home free. Absolutely nothing else bothering her on her way back to the tunnels. Where her nose successfully led her back to her little cave. Which was just as she had left it. Bare of anything and everything, and left in seeming solitude by the rest of the cave systems denizens.
Celia was tempted to eat the stinking corpse as soon as she got back. The idea of just tossing it to the ground and tearing in, more than just a little appealing.
Too appealing.
"No no, I am not an animal. I’ve got rocks, I’ve got fire. I just need to… remember."
And with that she set herself to starting a fire and actually cooking her meal. Or at least not eat it raw, she’d never been much of a cook before this and she doubted she’d make for a good one now.
Regardless of her cooking skill, Celia found two rocks and starting working them together in her best attempt to start a blaze. Only to remember mid attempt that she would need wood, or some other material for her would be flame to consume.
Or not. As, in the midst of her thinking exactly that, a spark fell from her rocks onto another darker colored rock, and immediately, it caught fire. Burning a cool blue that whipped back and forth as if it were dancing. A very short lived dance, as seconds after it started, it ended. The flame going out as the rock it was birthed from was completely consumed. Leaving nothing behind but a smattering of minuscule pieces.
But even that was enough to inspire. Which quickly led to Celia grabbing as many of those rocks as she could find and making a pile of them. Which she then laid her slowly decaying prize atop of, before she set it alight.
The azure flames entombed it instantaneously, wrapping around it like they might embrace a lover. The heat, somehow radiating an icy coldness as they cooked the meat within seconds. Everything that was once red darkening faster than Celia would’ve ever thought possible. In fact it was happening too quickly, she realized. And before it could completely burn she reached out and pulled her meal away. The heat licking at her hand just as fast as it did the meat. Burning her, and leaving a black mark upon her skin/scales.
But she couldn’t care less. As soon as the smell of cooked meat hit her nose, everything else became less than background noise. All of it entirely forgotten as she lunged at her slightly burnt meal and began shoveling chunks of it into her mouth, as if she had never tasted anything better in her life.
And it might as well have been the truth just based on how much and how fast she was eating. There was just food, food, and more food. The world thinning into lines of consume, feed, and grow on a constant repeat. A prerogative she found herself all to eager to fulfill.
She didn’t stop till there was nothing left of her meal. Came to, leaning against one of the cave walls, a hand rubbing her bloated middle in slow circles. A screen once again popping into her center of vision.
Modification(s) gained!
Null tongue, These teeth unending
These power names are great. Just enough to give an idea of what they are about. But worded so strangely to be hinting at so much more.
What is a "null tongue"? Could it make her tongue multidimensional? Would her tongue become a weapon, erasing things it touches? So many questions!
I'm glad you like the names! But you're just gonna have to wait to find out. I will add that you won't be finding out immediately, as Celia's still finding these things out herself.