Chereads / Inheritor Of Humanity / Chapter 2 - Who Am I?

Chapter 2 - Who Am I?

The appendages of this alien being pinned down the arms and legs of the inheritor of humanity for hours after the human had died, its body shaking, its singular eye bloodshot and dilated as it struggled to put its great intelligence and memory back together. 

"Ghhhhhhh" A low throaty rumble erupted from the being's vocal chords as they slowly freed themselves from the grasps of rage. 

It looked down at the body of the human that had died without answers. 

"I'd like to ask you the same question…." 

"Who am I…?" 

The being's appendages shrunk and retracted back into the singular eye that made it up as it started toward where it assumed the horizon lay. 

It drifted off into the distance, eye and movements lacking both purpose and motivation. The being wandered through the dimension for an unperceivable amount of time, appendages coated in blood, mind blank of all non informative memory.

Its life, its ancestors, its descendants, its place in the world, all things personal to it had been wiped from its mind. It felt lost, as though it never had these memories. There was no chaos in this being's mind, there was nothing to cause chaos. This poor being's mind was simply falling apart like a palace without pillars, or a house without stilts. 

One by one these pillars shattered and crumbled into nothingness. 

And as these pillars crumbled away, so did its body, slowly giving way and crumbling away, leaving a trail of blue blood and appendage shards. 

Soon, it wandered the pure space without a body, an ethereal eye, flickering in and out of existence as it floated through the endless dimension. 

I never would've guessed my meeting with that human would turn out like this. Ohh. I feel so sluggish. 

Why did I ever get involved with that human…I should've known…that being around that accursed race would lead me to ruin…

I…How did I even get here…

The creature wandered the empty space for an incalculable period of time. 

A space devoid of all things.

A soundless, sightless plane.

That was until a high pitched shriek pierced through the auditory organs of that nameless being. 

It seemed to solidify and regain some focus as it focused its mind on the strange noise that permeated the space that was meant to be empty, void of anything. As the being's body and mind began to regain some clarity and solidity, its senses returned as well, though in a dulled form.

The being looked toward the direction which it believed housed the source of the strange sound, and in an attempt to save its crumbling soul and body, forced its newly solidified appendages to move it toward the sound. 

With frantic and mostly unnecessary movements, the being shot toward the source of the sound, uncaring of any damage it was doing to its body, moving purely out of hope. Slowly, the disordered scuttling of centipede-like appendages against the hard white floors was replaced by the gentle, regular thumps of human feet against solid ground. The creature's body, a sole eyeball formerly held in place by its dozens of appendages, now rested in the socket of a human skull. The creature's new arm appendages flailed as it ran, and yet the creature itself was completely unaware of this new body it had. 

The mind of this creature was entirely focused on the thought of reaching that sound, so much so that it had managed to ignore the horrendous pain that transformation must have put it through. 

The creature ran and ran till its new appendages formed calluses. Until those calluses even gave way to the continuous sprinting. Until its muscles were twisted and torn. Until its bones and tendons wore down.

And finally, it stood before the source. A small black orb that lay floating in the air. The loud, piercing shriek still erupted from the orb, no louder than it had been at any other point in the creature's path.

But it didn't matter. It couldn't afford to care. Mindlessly, the creature reached out to the orb, tip-toeing on destroyed feet to touch the thing that it was sure would grant it escape. It grasped the orb, bringing it down to its face and gazing numbly at it. The creature's mind raced with a million muted questions, lost in the abyss of its empty memory. 

It brought the orb closer to its face, close enough that its forehead touched the orb. Suddenly, the core of the orb flashed an alarmingly bright red before the piercing shriek that so clearly erupted out of it before had turned into a voice. 

A human voice. 

crackle "Te-" crackle "-est!" 

The eyes of the being shot back to attention, and it leapt backwards, bringing its new body to a crouching stance, instinctually preparing it for battle. 

Cold sweat rolled down the back of the creature's new body as it focused itself on the orb, which now was erupting in sounds of static and buzzing. 

"Hyamu-" The unused vocal chords of the being's new body let out a low, disfigured word as it attempted to address the voice, only to be interrupted by a high pitched whine from the orb.

"Test 2." A low, monotone voice sounded out of the orb, grating against the being's new external auditory organ.

"Successful. Good." the voice seemed to breathe a light sigh at its achievement, seemingly relieved, but quickly seemed to drain all human emotion from its voice. 

The human voice in the orb coughed before starting. "Hello, potential savior. If you are hearing this message, then there are two possible scenarios."

A fading voice echoed from the mouth of the creature "ScenareAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" The low grumble quickly transformed into a screech of terror as the creature's mind finally focused enough to notice its new body.

"I'MMMMM HUUUMAAAAAN?!"