I remember my death. Ragged coughing drawing up the taste of blood. Each gulping gasp as I tried to pull air that wouldn't come. Why wasn't anyone helping?
I woke to the smell of brimstone and flesh. Acrid scents and wails filled my ears. I was hungry. I had never been so hungry, and the walls... the walls were flesh.
In a panic, I clawed for life, rending at the leathery cocoon prison surrounding me. The dull wails became shrill screams as I tore with mindless fervor. Out. Out! I was so weak. Like a blister, I felt the walls finally give in a wet burst, thrusting me out into the world.
And what a world it was. The smell was choking now, fog passing heavy and yellow. The cocoon I had burst out of in a sick parody of birth lay beside me, shriveled and starting to rot. There were even more on the thin ledge. Looking at them I could feel bile rising to my throat. Bile and desire. I was so hungry.
"Where the Hell...?" I thought.
[Hell System Realized]
[Location Unlocked: The Shrieking Cliffs]
I almost slipped off the cliff, startled by the voice, catching myself with my long, thin arms. Thin and unnatural. I brought them up to my face, horrified at the gangling sinew and dark, dull claws. Even starvation wouldn't do this. What have I become?
[Demon Examination: Self]
[Name: Nameless]
[Tier: Lowest Lesser Form]
[Caste: Parasite]
[Morphology: Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[System Translated Stats]
[Level: 1 ; Experience: 0 of 30; Status: Starving]
[Health: 6/6, Mana 0/0, Stamina 5/20]
[Strength: 1][Defense: 1][Magic: 0][Resistance: 1][Speed: 1]
[Native Skills: Latch, Demon's Stomach, Horror's Maw]
The hunger rose again, incessant this time. Meat. Anything would do.
[Health: 5/6]
Whatever was going on, I was starving to death. I looked at the rotting envelope of my cocoon.
Anything.
Dragging myself to the rotting mass, I took it into my hands and began gathering the shredded remains. Without thought, I felt my mouth open stretching the skin until it broke, a wide hood ripping apart for the first time. The feeling was awful, but the thought of satisfying the hunger was all consuming. More than anything, I wanted to eat.
I shrieked in pleasure, involuntary and surprised. The rot slipping down my gullet was delicious. It tasted like the sour of dead garbage, the smell of old bone and fruit gone soft. I knew it should have made me wretch, but whatever I was now, the creature I had become, relished in satisfying my hunger.
[Health: 6/6] [Status: Ravenous][Stamina 10/20]
[Title Unlocked: Eater of the Womb]
What a vile title.
It worked. The hunger, ever present since my birth, had faded to an acidic roar. It was becoming easier to think. I crawled over to the edge of the ledge and tried to take in my surroundings. The Cliff seemed bottomless, fading into yellow clouds of sulfur as deep as I could see. Immense shadows flew in the clouds, flowing over the red stone walls like dragons. What was casting the light? If there was a sun here, it eluded me.
Gazing around, the sounds of clawing from the nearby cocoons fell on inattentive ears. At first I looked to see if something approached, backing to the wall of the ledge, but that only brought me closer. With a screech, one of my unholy brethren drug their way out of their sac and into the world.
What an abomination. Was that what I looked like? Long, thin arms connecting to a larval body with no discernible face but for tiny, sunken eyes. A long vertical gash ran below them, what I could only assume was the maw I had torn open in my hunger to feast. Legs so short and fragile they looked vestigial. The malformed appearance was fetal, something not ready for existence. Something that strayed from the plans of its creator.
The thing looked at me, silent at first. Black eyes unreadable in the strange light that bounced off the red stone and yellow air.
It was on me a moment later, black eyes reflecting my own. Its maw had opened up and tiny, needled teeth were trying to grasp into my bare and vulnerable flesh. Its arms were weak, still exhausted from its own birth. I was able to pin it, screaming open my own maw. It had the desperation of starvation, but I had a will to live and the advantage of stamina. Unable to risk it wounding me, I leaned in and latched. My teeth gripped where theirs could not onto its exposed hide.
The warmth of ichor and blood flooded inside. I could feel my teeth within me acting as if they had a mind of their own. They undulated against the flesh, sawing off chunks.
[Stamina 5/20]
[Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger -2HP]
[Stamina 10/20]
[Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger -2HP]
[Stamina 15/20]
I was eating them alive, my exhaustion from having to force them off and attack replaced by frenzy. I would live. I would be the victor. Exhausted, the creature below me ceased its struggling. Faint mews were its only protest. Soon they ended as well.
[Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger -2HP]
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[New Stat Unlocked: Souls]
[Souls +1]
[Experience Gained]
[Experience: 15 of 30][Status: Alert][Stamina 20/20]
[Title Unlocked: Sinner of Siblicide]
I gorged on the corpse and its cocoon.
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Leap]
[New Skill Unlocked: Beginners Pain Resistance]
Did I steal its skills? Leap must have been how it closed the gap so fast even after the exhaustion of birth. It must be costly for stamina. Once it closed the distance, it didn't put up much fight. And Pain Resistance... I thought about how the creature died. The texture of my teeth as they lacerated and powdered. Horrible.
I was a monster. No, I was worse than a monster. I was a demon. What had I done to become a demon? I remembered being... someone else. Nameless. I didn't even have a name.
But I did have something. Experience, Levels, Status, Morphology. I thought again of the fight, of the crunching. The rush at the moment the other demon died. Power. Not much, but enough to know that I wanted more.
A different hunger awoke then, clawing at my insides.
[Title Unlocked: Sinner of Greed]
Strange, I thought, that a demon could sin. All the same I turned to the cliff, feeling my mouth tear in anticipation. There were more wombs. More of the eggs pulsated along the cliff, many moving from the inside in the tearing motion that led to life. Most of them did. I was the first, but soon I would be one of many.
I had to be strong enough to survive that.
Relying on instinct, I moved closer to the wall, then crawled up its surface. Working across the surface, my slow approach felt as natural as walking on the ledge. I was a cliff hugger, I suppose. Some things were bound to be in my nature. The long arms that first disgusted me proved useful for navigating, their only virtue. They latched to the rough stone with a tight grip.
I positioned myself above one of the more active eggs and waited.
[Your patience has rewards. Beginners Stealth Hunt unlocked.]
It seems intent was as likely to reward a skill as action. Something good to know for later.
[Your examination has rewards. Beginners Observation unlocked.]
I hissed out a hot sigh of air between my teeth. This system was as much a distraction as it was a codex.
The egg in front of me had begun to strain forward, the wet ragged tear finally releasing its spawn. From my vantage on the cliff face, the poor wretch looked small and vulnerable. As horrified at its life as I was.
It mattered not. Tensing the sinews of my arms, I willed myself to leap down, catching the creature staring out into the abyss. The motion was fast, carrying both of us right to the edge of death from a fall into eternity, but it was effective. Empowered from my meals, the demon never had a chance.
[Stamina 20/20]
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Wailing Cliff Hugger]
[You have gained a new level. 2 unspent ability points]
A level. What were ability points? Did they improve my stats or unlock new skills? And what of souls? I tried to will more status information up. As the information unfurled, one message overrode everything.
[Observation: Local activity increase]
All the eggs were hatching.