You would expect that the life of a snail would be simple. Eat. Poop. Sleep. Repeat right? Eventually, in through life, I would find a mate and repeat the cycle of life... But, could you imagine by day 22 that that simple life would have changed so drastically? Apart from the leaves that I was eating falling apart below my body, how could I have been involved in so many events? The migration, the betrayal, the hostage situation, winning a fight with a spider and being betrayed once more, and now on day 22, I was trapped within a labyrinth. How could this all have happened?
I was just a snail...
Why did my world begin to fall apart before me every time I try to do something? Are the lives of all snails this harrowing?
I didn't know, and I seemed to question my whole life as I watched my world fall apart before me for the third time in my short life. High up and stuck to the side of a pillar of stacked ice, I knew that there was a chance that I would survive the fall. A slim chance if fate was in my favour.
I couldn't jump. I didn't have legs. I couldn't fly. I didn't have wings. I couldn't teleport. I didn't know what magic was. So, I was stuck as the crumbling tower continued to fall apart.
It started from the top. Small pieces of sharp icy powder instantly fell downwards and crossed in front of me like it was snowing. Then came the smaller chunks of ice. Balanced gingerly on the sides of the tower, it didn't take much for them to fall off and downwards.
I began to panic while taking in sharp breathes. 'Was I always this high up?' I asked as I watched a chunk of ice fall off the tower above me and smash to pieces below like shattering glass with a rock. Suddenly the imminent fall became real to me. I was going to fall.
15% - red. It was still flashing. 'A chance of survival maybe?' I questioned as the rumbling and swaying got worse.
'I can't risk it.' I thought as I looked downwards at the quaking tower of ice as it undulated back and forth even more. 'You only live once.'
I moved. I took the risk. Another risky plan.
Pushing back and forth, I rocked the tower even more. Back an forth, I swung. If this was a scene from the Disney movie: Tarzan then the tower would be a vine and I would be a Tarzan as I tried to use to swing forth. Well if only the tower was a rope that held together.
Soon, heavier and heavier chunks of ice began to break off - either from losing stability, falling or cracking.
I didn't care.
I held on and continued.
I didn't listen.
A break. Finally, the piece of ice that was keeping the tower together somewhere beneath me broke to pieces and showered beneath me. Tiny flakes of ice pellets showering downwards as a result.
I felt my body sink downwards suddenly and my blood rushed throughout my body once more.
'It's time.' I thought as I prepared. I knew I would have a single chance, milliseconds to save myself.
My eyes were on the wall. The exposed filament-made wall.
Teetering in place, I felt the tower begin to fall as my body moved with it.
A felt a rush. A rush of adrenaline. A rush of cold air.
I clung on tighter and waited for the tower to bring me to my destination.
Like a wooden log falling in a forest, it fell while it seemed to hold together... until it rolled.
I miscalculated.
'No!' I thought as my body swung around with the movement of the tower as my shell now faced the wall.
The wall... yes the wall. I wanted to get to the wall no matter what it costed me.
I tried swinging my body around - to control the fall of the tower, but it didn't work. The ball had already been set into motion and all I could do was hold on as I braced for impact.
...
Hurt.
It hurt so bad.
My shell slammed into the wall with the added force of the heavy pillar as my body was squished against the wall with the impact. Partially absorbing the impact, the wall bent inward and hugged around me as the pillar pushed me deeper inside as if I was a nail and the tower was a hammer.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
The sounds of strands snapping filled my head as I wailed out in pain as the remained of my health bar seemed to decrease as the milliseconds passed by.
But in an instant, it ended.
The wall latched onto my shell and pulled me upward.
Pain. Scratches. Unable to pull my body back into my shell due to the weight, I was swept along upwards with the pull. My body bled as the sharp edges of ice cut into my body before it finally fell down into the room below me.
My health bar flashed dangerously low before I...
I blacked out.
<...>
...
And here is where that whole experience got fuzzy.
Through hazy glimpses, I saw flashes of what had unfolded.
I was no longer attached to the wall. No, I hung on the ceiling as I looked downward. Time seemed to pass by between the flashes as the light around me dimmed, but I didn't know how long. I couldn't hear anything and I couldn't move no matter how I tried.
I was bound.
...
The second... the disgusting mushy taste of filaments filled my mouth as I seemed to tunnel through the filaments around me and burrowed back upward. Back to the angled passageway, back where I came from.
<... Mast...> I heard faintly but I soon returned back to my world of white.
...
Next, I felt an impact, but a soft impact, but I couldn't see anything. It was dark... something had happened, but I didn't know what had happened.
<... close...>
Close?
...
Salty and sweet something broke apart within my mouth as I felt myself perking up.
I regained consciousness once more to bursting beads of flavour entering of my mouth and empty stomach. 'Huh,' I thought as the salty and savoury drops of pure goodness flowed down my throat as I felt myself recovering - Hunger and health.
Covered in mist, I stared at the heavenly drops of gold light in front of me. Surrounded by broken sac of webbing, it seemed like a meal was prepared and it was prepared especially for me. I couldn't control myself as I ate further.
Slurping up the golden balls, I couldn't help but wonder: 'What am I even eating?' I asked as tried to hold back, but I couldn't.
It appeared that he gluttonous voice seemed to know.
'What... what happened?' I asked.
...