While everyone was trying to deal with this new crisis as you don't see someone become a hot volcano every day, I was going through the worst experience of my life, dancing on the thin line of life and death that barely held me from falling to my fateful end.
All of my organs were probably already burned or smelted from the heat and my skin was already scorched to an unrecognizable extent.
My screams of agony and pain also stopped since my throat was already burnt too. I, for the first time in my life, wished for a quick death more than anything else to spare me from this hell. Even after years of pain and suffering, that was by far the worst experience of my life.
Then, while everyone watched me wither away like a dead leaf, I felt something different. A huge surge of energy engulfed my body and made me restore some of my senses, that surge of energy was unexpected and almost popped out of nowhere. I couldn't bother to comprehend what happened.
I was able to at least get some sweet oxygen into my already black lungs that looked like the result of 30 years of heavy smoking. Then, as if the resting was over, the energy disappeared and my body was submerged again in pain.
[Update is initiating!]
[Life essence required for updating: 150.]
[Scanning host...]
[Body is not compatible.]
[Auto-mode activated!]
[Body transformation initiated...]
Some weird rectangular shapes appeared in front of me. I wasn't able to give them much thought as I was barely able to hold on to my consciousness.
The moment all of the notifications disappeared, my body underwent another modification.
My red, lava-like skin started to cool down quickly and The cool air around me blowing on me was like heaven.
I was still gravely injured but the pure bliss I felt at that time was more than enough to make me forget about my nearing death.
I tried to move my hand but obviously, it was impossible to do so. All I could do was try to open my eyes, which was a difficult task on its own.
Everyone around me watched the miracle of a lifetime unfold in front of their eyes as I fought my own war with death.
All of this happened in a few minutes, it was an event no one saw before and no one will probably see ever again in the future.
[Body transformation completed!]
Another notification occupied my retina, this time it was followed by something else. A weird black liquid started to seep out of my skin. I couldn't feel anything of it or what was happening to my body.
The black, thick liquid didn't fall on the ground but stuck to my skin like an armor. The transformation was quick enough to cover my whole body before anyone could do anything. I was submerged in some kind of warm bathtub.
'What...is...happening?' I shifted my hazy eyes to look at the students and the teacher. Inside the liquids, my injuries started easing up so I was able to generate comprehensible thoughts and not only whines and cries.
"Elijah...are you ok?" My anxious teacher who was sweating profusely approached me with fearful steps. He probably cursed the day he became a teacher because of this.
Closing up enough, he bent down to touch me. From an outside point of view, I was a big humanoid-shaped black slime.
His hands made contact with the liquid which made them drown in the liquid instantly.
"What is this?!!" He most likely exhausted every ounce of courage he had so he rapidly tried to retract his hand from inside.
I could see his frightened face become even paler when his attempts of withdrawing his hand failed miserably.
He pulled away with all of his strength but his hand was stuck like glue.
I was also starting to panic slightly, I still didn't understand what was happening but I was rational enough to see that something gravely wrong was going on.
I was still paralysed so I couldn't do much. The students soon came running to help their teacher. Who knows maybe this will add a few marks to their score.
But, even with the struggle of a dozen or so people, the black liquid didn't let his hand go.
"Let me go...Help!!!" The teacher's screams of panic were mixed with the shouts and yells of the other people.
"I...need...to do something." My dry lips parted slightly and I muttered quietly.
As my mind raced around, trying to find a way to help this poor man, the liquid had a whole other plan of its own.
What was at first just half of his hand slowly became his whole hand and it kept on creeping on his arm basically eating it away.
"NO?!! WHAT IS THIS?!! NO! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" His screams increased up a notch and even his eyes became wet with tears.
Somehow, no one came for help at that time, even though there were a lot of teachers and school staff around the area.
one minute passed and the teacher was already half-submerged inside the liquid. The rest of his body became invisible and no one, not even me, could know what happened to it.
What we did know is that it was something horrible. The teacher that was twisting and turning like a mad man a few moments ago stopped resisting and he suddenly fell unconscious. It was quick as if he lost all of his strength in a matter of a second. Even the way he stopped moving was odd.
I became more and more shocked at what was happening. No matter how much I try to do anything, my body refuses to move as if I lost control of it. This black liquid was like a prison that held me inside, separating me from the real world.
Claire and Luke, who were also pulling the teacher were the most affected by this. I could see the pure worry in their eyes as they looked at me. They couldn't see me clearly but, I knew for a fact that if they didn't see for themselves what touching that black liquid could do, they would've done everything they could to help me.
"Come on...move...Damit!!" I gritted my unexisting teeth and used all of my body to move. This time, my limbs actually moved and I felt my legs curling up.
At first, I was overjoyed yet that soon turned to confusion because my limbs were not following my orders. In fact, all of my body seemed to have consciousness of its own.
As I stood up in the middle of all of the students while the teacher was stuck to the liquid looking like a heterogenous ramification of my body.
Then, without any hesitancy, both of my hands extended and covered the teacher. He was now fully immersed inside the black liquid that somehow increased in quantity and size to accommodate the newcomer.
"ELI!!?" I heard Claire's voice behind me but I couldn't look at her since all of my senses were focused on the weird phenomenon occurring in front of me.
A full-grown adult suddenly disappeared inside the liquid. Nothing was left, not even a shred of his existence could be seen.
"It...ate...him" My horrified eyes couldn't believe that. This was the first time someone died in front of me and it certainly was also the first time I murdered a human being.
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated...]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for updating: 149]
"No...No!...NO!!"
My mind went into haywire. The hard truth finally weighed on my mind. I killed a human being. I obviously knew that I wasn't the one to kill him but in that particular situation where my mental strength was at its lowest, a mere passing idea was more than enough to turn my emotions upside down.
I couldn't be bothered with the pop-ups that kept living in my retina rent-free. I should've probably given them some attention since they were the reason for all of this. But, hey, what could you expect from a 15-year-old brat?
After that, my body started moving again. It turned rigidly left and right, seemingly searching for something that it found quickly. In front of me was a random student from my class who had the unfortunate opportunity of being the next victim.
I instantly knew what was about to happen and I started making a fuss hoping for some godly luck that would get me out of this black cage. I was barely holding on with all of the pressure weighing on my mind.
None of that was useful of course. My body just continued to do whatever it wanted.
"FUCK?!!! Ran Away!! Quickly!!!" I shouted at the student who was frozen in his place from shock. With each step, my body took, his face grew more and more scared.
Then, his survival instincts probably kicked in as he started retreating slowly.
*Swop*
In a quick instant, my rigid body made a move barely visible to the human eye. Bending down, it launched itself on the student like a tiger.
"NOOOO!!!!!!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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