"Human... haven't seen in 12 y-yea-years..." Staring in bewilderment, I'm made knowledgeable on the fact that this thing can speak. Unaware of how I was to respond, I put a serious expression and began contemplating ways to escape.
"Please... die for me." it said, making its intentions clear.
"Hey, you know, I really don't taste good. I'm sure there's a common solution here, right?" I posit while slowly backing away with both palms showing, making it clear I have no ill-intentions.
"No... y-your body... abundant in s-so-soul spice... eagles too hard to kill..."
Unsure of what it meant, I began to pick up the pace, not trying to hide the fact I'm running away. Just as I turned around, I could hear another 'pthew' sound and, almost instinctively, I duck down, rolling onto the ground.
Ahead of me was another one of the spit balls, moving so fast it was akin to a bullet.
"You do not... run... you... do not scream... you sit there... and let me eat you!" It bellowed, echoing from the deepest parts of its range.
A cold sweat ran down my neck, and I knew that if I didn't fight back, I would die.
I clenched my chest, rubbing the ribs that I'd broken, feeling its effects now. I knew that even if I tried, I would not be able to escape with my life in my current condition.
As the thing began to walk up to me, fear began to bubble up, discarding any rationality.
"Wait! Please! I beg you, I'll do anything, Just don't eat me! Aren't there more delicious, abundant creatures in this forest? I'm still small, so there's no way I can fill your stomach!" I yelled, desperation more than present in my voice.
"No... you have... unlocked the soul... progenitor of all that... tastes good."
The soul... Is he referring to my recent awakening of a soul circuit? If so, he probably tastes based off of the quality of flow of the soul, making me come to a realization.
Humans are probably strong enough to unlock their soul circuits, but weak enough for him to kill, which is why he chooses humans as food.
Coming even closer, it was about 3 feet from my now resting body.
"Let me try... a sample." As it said this, it broke a devilish grin, each crevice of its mouth reaching its cheeks.
Realizing that I was really going to die, I began crawling away, trying my hardest to create distance.
It was then that I felt a drag force pull me back and pick me up, leaving my head dangling as my world was turned upside down.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say that I was turned upside down.
Dangling in the air was myself, grabbed by the foot by the bull-like entity, held up by one of its many legs.
It brought its head close to my chest, sniffing me down until it eventually reached eye level, returning to its normal elevation.
"What… shall I try first? An eye… a finger… or maybe the entire arm?"
Chillingly, I felt death loom over me, warning me of my impending doom.
Desperately, I flailed around, try to shake off its hold and get to safety.
In response, the thing sat me down in its lap and held onto me firmly with four of its limbs, when just one could support my entire weight.
Too constrained to make any movements, I could only take comfort in the warmth, driving me to a lucid, weary drowsiness.
"That's it child… just relax…" it said in a calm, almost reassuring manner. Feeling all consciousness fading away, I relaxed, letting it all go and kicking all thoughts of danger out of my head.
The thing then picked up my hand and rubbed it, providing more comfort to the point of no return.
Falling asleep, the entire world turned black…
-
-
-
-
- SKRRKK!
Immediately bringing me back to reality, I looked down at my hand to see a pool of blood.
Still disassociated with reality, I looked up and saw two distinctly white objects in the thing's mouth.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I roared, pain being so intense that no other sensation was nearly as prevalent.
Hearing a crunching noise, the thing chewed up what I'd just recognized as my fingers.
Looking down again, I saw that my pinky and ring finger were gone, the tendon hanging out as the red, fleshy knobs of what remained were encompassed by great pools of blood surging out with such volume that the entire arm could've been painted with it.
"MY HAND! GHRRR!"
Instinctually, I tried moving again, working to no avail as the thing's grip on my body was too strong for my almost 3-year-old vessel to overcome.
"I am… primordial, child… you cannot escape. The more you struggle… the longer… and more painful your death shall be."
It's jaw then extended down towards my head, its legs slowly clawing at me, antsy at the fact that it'll get to eat me.
Feeling the seriousness of the situation, I turned to darker, much less hopeful thoughts.
Was I really going to die after getting a new start?
Is this really the end?
If I die in this world, what'll happen to me? Will I cease to exist?
'You'll go to the world of nothingness, where you were originally supposed to end up.'
Turning around, I found myself surrounded by the void that I was in when initially sent to this world.
I was face to face with Terminus again, although, this time, the world was red and not white.
Looking at myself, I saw that I was in my old Earth form from before I'd died, still missing genetalia.
'To think that you would already be this close to death. You've really betrayed my faith, you know that?' They said playfully, signs of teasing evident in their tone and expression.
"Hey, do something about this! Can't you think him away or something? Don't just let me die!" I remarked, expecting some explanation as to how they can't interfere, or how I'm supposed to do it myself.
'Yeah, sadly that's out of the question..' Terminus said blankly, being unsurprising to me yet still a bit disappointing.
"Well, then why am I here?" I asked, confused on why he'd even brought me here if he couldn't do anything to help.
"Because you already died~" Terminus said, playfully flying around in the air in a manner unbefitting his serious, scary form.
Subsequently, a video of my headless, blood drenched body flowed through my brain, and in a fit of disorientation, I fell to the ground, a surreal feeling of disassociation flooding my body as I'd just viewed the lifeless, mangled vessel of what used to be me.
A plastic bucket appeared below me, with Terminus flying right in front of me.
Picking up the bucket, I let out the puke that I'd been holding in out of fear of dirtying the ground.
As I'd finished my last spew of puke, I looked up at Terminus, signaling that I was okay.
'Anyway… you're already dead, so there's not much I can do. In this real-'
as Terminus had been talking, I went straight for the bucket to let out another pint of vomit, interrupting him out of a reflexive need to puke.
'You done yet?' Terminus asked, as I'd really finished throwing up.
Going quiet, I smile at them to signal that I'm really done now.
'Yeah. You'll get used to that feeling of disassociation… trust me.'
Intrigued by this line, I opened my mouth to inquire, but they spoke over me.
'Continuing on my last point, the only thing I can give you in this realm is information, but as seen, you're already dead, or at least, you would be if I hadn't dragged you here right before he consumed you.'
Curious but still listening, I let them continue.
'See, it seems that you figured out the soul at a young age, meaning I chose the right person for the job. The problem now is that you're too young to defend yourself… which wasn't how I calculated things…' Terminus muttered his last statement, almost as if to be a remark to himself.
'So this time around, I'll hand-hold you a bit more! So do this for me, try closing your eyes.'
Doing as Terminus said, I closed my eyes, sitting down into a meditation stance and engulfing myself in the warm darkness I'd been used to when meditating all that time to unlock my first soul circuit.
'I'm sure by now, you've gained the ability to recognize your soul circuits, especially the one you opened up by your heart. That's actually the hardest one to release, so color me impressed!'
That statement shocked me, but made sense as it was the most complex and lengthy, requiring more precise thoughts and mental processes.
Returning a smile, I let him continued.
'See, usually unlocking the first soul circuit would result in soul flow equivalent to an entry-level tardus, but your acquisition of the cardinalis—the soul circuit responsible for the flow of soul energy to every organ and cell in your body—should hypothetically allow you to deal with mitis level threats. You have the necessary soul flow, you just need a deeper understanding, specifically of what constitutes soul energy.'
With a thirst for understanding burning as brightly as the biggest star, I began to ask questions, hoping for answers I wouldn't have been able to find in the books at home.
"How do I achieve magic like the healing my mother couldn't do? How exactly do I utilize soul energy to amplify myself physically? What usages does it have outside of combat!" I questioned, wanting to know how to make best usage of the gift this world has given me.
'That will be answered in due time. But first, you must acclimate your soul to the feeling of death.'