Celia looked down into the tunnel she had chosen, and unsurprisingly, it was about as dark as her father’s basement. Not a smidge of light except for the rays peeking past her, descending from the cracks in the ceiling above. Which really shouldn’t have been enough. It should’ve been too dark for her to see, or navigate, or even consider going in really. But her eyes were different now - or rather her eye, singular - and she could see through the darkness rather well. Well enough, at least. Like it was all lit up by a somewhat dim torch.
And that essentially destroyed any excuse she might’ve used to turn around. No, there was no choice now but to continue on. So she did. Taking the first of many steps into the tunnel, and daring herself to keep going. Eyes constantly scanning her surroundings for any hint of danger. Unlikely as it seemed.
She was in a tunnel after all, so really there were only two directions an attack could even come fr-
The ground beneath her feet vanished. Falling away in clumps of dirt and stone. Barely giving her enough time to jump backward, narrowly avoiding falling into the newly formed pit. A pit that a centipede like creature suddenly emerged from. It’s body a pillar of serrated chitin, each of its legs ending in a set of hands, and it’s eyes glaring at the world around it with an almost physical hatred.
And then it was gone. Descending back into the hole it came from. A pit that covered itself back up via means Celia didn’t and refused to understand. The tunnel returning to silence immediately after. Almost as if it had never happened in the first place.
Which, conveniently enough, gave Celia an excuse to leave after all.
But when she finally got to her feet and turned around, she found the way she’d come from collapsed. The tunnel utterly blocked by a very thick layer of rock and stone. Too much for her to dig up. Leaving her once again with only one option, the other direction.
"Yup. Yeah, why don’t I go scout out the place? Ugh, so much for a clear head."
The feelings of stupidity aside, Celia eventually did what she had to do and started moving. A lot more slowly and carefully this time. Relying on all of her senses rather than just her eyes alone, which sadly introduced a new problem. Kind of. That being, her nose picked up something that smelled like food ahead. A tempting aroma that pulled at the strings of her heart and had her drooling against her will within moments.
And she would’ve resisted it’s allure if the smell wasn’t coming from the only direction she could go in. So, in a not so reluctant manner, she drew ever closer to it. Stopping only occasionally when her nose picked up on the smell of something angry and violent beneath her feet. Which she assumed to be the centipede or something worse.
Something she didn’t even want to imagine.
But, with some careful management of when and where she was putting her feet, she managed to get to the other side of the tunnel. Where she finally emerged into proper daylight once again. And by proper daylight, what she really meant was whatever glow that angry wound in the sky cast. Which was mostly a reddish glare of light that colored just about everything accordingly.
Including the beach she walked out to. And that, in of itself, came off as strange to Celia. She was no student of geography, but she was pretty sure that this beach shouldn’t exist. Based more off a feeling it was giving off than any fact based reason.
Which was a bit more than concerning. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anywhere else to go, so in spite of her misgivings, she walked out onto the beach and it’s mix of white and red sand. A pervasive heat emanating from it and into her. It was, in a word, uncomfortable. But in the most unnatural way, as if… as if-
"Who goes there?"
The voice came from the left, masculine and frightened. And Celia immediately turned towards it, eyes going wide when she saw that it had indeed come from another person.
Human, male, and maybe taller than her by an inch or two. But again, definitely human.
"I said who goes there!" The man yelled, handmade spear in hand and aimed at her. Dirty brown hair and dark green eyes staring her way. "If you can talk, talk now!"
Celia put her hands up. "Celia. My name is Celia and I know it doesn’t look like it but I’m human too. Just, changed. Ok, I swear. So please put the spea-"
"You’re human?" He asked.
The question filled with so much disbelief that Celia instinctively cringed.
"Yeah. I just got bit by a parasite, and now I look like a flower. Um, the parasite isn’t in control of me by the way." She said, before internally cringing again. As that sounded exactly like something someone who was being controlled by a parasite might say.
But, if the man across from her thought the same he didn’t show it. He just looked awestruck, as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. Which Celia couldn’t really blame him for. She didn’t even have a mirror and had already found herself in disbelief of her own appearance a few times already.
"You… really are human aren’t you." The man said, now approaching. His spear held low as he drew close.
Celia nodded. "Yup. Kinda got stuck here earlier today. I think. It might’ve been yesterday though. I, uh, haven’t really been keeping track of time."
"That’s alright. Time doesn’t really matter here all that much anyways. Things are a lot more… loose on this side of the veil, especially rules like time. And biology. Come, follow me so we can talk and eat."
And at the mention of food, Celia’s stomach let out a beastly roar of greed. Immediately causing her to blush in embarrassment.
"Uh, sorry about that. I’m not usually that loud, promise." She said, already following the stranger, once again licking her lips at the mere idea of another meal.
"No need to be embarrassed, I know what it’s like to wander this land in need of food. Hunger can be the first thing to do you in if you’re not careful." He said, leading the way across the beach and over to a little camp. Complete with a tent, a campfire, and a large hunk of meat cooking over it. "I’m Jonas by the way."
For a moment, Celia was too distracted by the meat on display to respond. There was something inside of her, a part of her in a way that she didn’t understand, that demanded she eat. That whatever it was be fed, and fed right now. But after a second of mental effort she managed to pull her thoughts away from her stomach long enough to focus once again on Jonas.
"I’m Celia, but I think I already mentioned that."
"Aye. But nothing wrong with repeating yourself. Helps ya not to forget who you are, and what you are." He said, emphasis on the what.
A not so subtle hint that even Celia could pick up on.
"Ok, so about that parasite thing. You see I got attacked and it stabbed me in the eye. That’s why I only have, uh, one eye by the way. Anyways it stabbed me and some weird stuff happened and I’m kinda half monster now. But still half human and sane. So please don’t worry about me going crazy or anything on you like in the-“
"I know what you are." He said, taking a seat by the fire. "A hybrid. And you are not the first I’ve met. But you might be the 'youngest'. So tell me, what have you been classified as?"
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