In a plane where the concept of civilization itself was wiped off a long time ago, where places in which a being could exist without strife were rarer than the number of original denizens left, was a forest that had many names, but all the same meaning.

The forest originally was a simple place, filled with beings that would try to ruthlessly kill anything that moves, just like any other forest. But that all changed a few centuries ago.

If one could go past the roaming red giant in the outskirts, could get past the great spirit that lulled anything to its death, could get past the hundreds of creatures that roamed inside, then one would find a simple hut.

The hut was something that made its place in the Center of the forest a few centuries ago by a certain being, a mixed descendent of the true species that roamed the land before the coalescence with the other plane. Though one could hardly recognize the being as an original denizen that ruled the plane long ago.

The being’s anomalous path had taken its form and molded it into something very different. Something that occurs to every being to a certain level and something particularly noticeable for those that stray from their species typical path.

The being who lived in the forest that was named after it was melding the soul of a wendigo with that of a baby lycanthrope to make it its new servant, when suddenly its bodies line started to blur. Its old eye widened as it saw through the animus, fluctuating and moving unnaturally.

Before it knew it, it was in a completely different place. With surprised onlookers staring at its sudden arrival. Its eyes scanned the creatures in front of her and noticed the lack of any strength for their being, and smiled.

A new coalescence has begun, and this time, it was on the other side of the story.

Two days after the fight.

A set of lifeless eyes slowly gained light. The body that appeared to be in a comatose state was firmly placed within the guts of a large dead snake, mixed between its flesh.

The body looked to be joined together with the dying flesh. Appearing as something that was part of it. But only the body started to spontaneously regain its color, contrasting it from the dying flesh as it moved ever so slightly.

The open eyes that stayed lifeless slowly glimmered with life as the conscience behind it returned.

The first thing I saw again was the ceiling.

In that brief moment of waking up. Was a moment where I forgot where I was, what I was doing, and how the world had changed so much from before.

It was a tranquil moment where the new harsh reality had yet to hit me. I tried lifting my arms to rub my face to notice that I couldn’t move it.

I moved my head towards my hand to see it half enveloped in flesh along with my entire body. I screamed as I tore my hands away from it, painfully.

I tore away my body from the flesh I was joined with as well; the flesh tearing away a piece of my skin every time I did so and fell onto the floor, head first.

And that. Was all the reminder needed of my new harsh reality.

I looked at the sun rising from the horizon, making a streak of light as it was hitting me.

Guess I slept through the night inside it.

I could still feel my legs and move them, though they felt like jelly. And my body felt oddly sensitive, almost like it might break apart from the slightest disturbance.

But I looked at myself and couldn’t help but be surprised.

Huh? All things considered; I was in a good shape. I was half expecting to wake up as a paraplegic, but stopping the aura in my back must have done something to prevent the venom from flowing into my body.

I tried getting up and got shot with a severe pain in my back where the snake injected its venom. It felt like a flaming rod was inserted into my back, all the way to my lungs.

Ahh. There it was!

I landed on my knees in pain while my hands caressed my back. Not only did my back feel like jelly, it actually felt like jelly when I touched it.

Things to check out when I reached back home.

I got up with a grunt and was about to turn back, but took a moment to enjoy the view. I was already in a foreign country; it would be a shame if I couldn’t enjoy its sceneries, though the situation is as it is.

I watched as the sun peeked over the buildings and skyscrapers, creating a line of shadow and sunlight over it.

If you could ignore the reason and implication for the sky’s multicolored appearance, it looked almost picturesque as it hanged above the beautiful metal city.

I could see the white tip of the cathedral located in the center of the city from here. That was at the top of my list of places I wanted to visit when I arrived here.

I swear I could also see parts of the university I was supposed to attend as well, even though it was located on the other side.

I enjoyed the alien and novel landscape until the sun’s ray hit my face, where I had to look away.

I saw the body of the large monster laying on the floor with its guts spilled out. I ignored it as I walked with a visible effort towards the room where I tried to have a single night of rest. It was half broken from the snake’s rampage, but thankfully my bag was still unhurt and undamaged.

I tried picking it up and leave but my back protested in pain from the extra weight. I tried a few times to put it in a position where it didn’t hurt my back, but that only made it worse. Eventually, with an even more painful back, I left my supplies on the floor to be abandoned.

I almost left the kitchen knife that was lying on the floor next to the giant body, but due to sentimental reasons, I picked it up for me to bring back.

I appreciated the knife in my hands that saved my life. It felt really good to hold. Almost like a magnet being drawn to iron or like a piece of a puzzle that fitted in neatly.

I placed the knife in my side pocket and walked out staggeringly.

I passed through the monkey’s den, which seemed further demolished, having the signs of something big trying to force its way inside. I walked inside the building to see it completely remodeled, including the closed room which had its walls completely destroyed.

Naturally, there was not a trace of the infants I’ve spared yesterday, but there was a glimmer under the rubble and piled leaves that made a bed. I moved the natural-made crib to see my revolver.

Almost forgot one of the reasons that I came here.

I picked it up and strapped it into my empty holster, which was no longer empty. And also picked up a stick to use as a crutch.

The walk back home was brutal, and I had to stop several times because of my back, but thankfully since no monster was an early riser and the night prowlers had already gone to sleep, I didn’t encounter anything.

That was the case until I almost reached base where I was blocked by an animal that looked a lot like a fossa. Except it was a lot larger.

It had marks of blood on its mouth, signs of its successful night hunt, which unnerved me a lot. Just as it registered me as its prey, it sprinted towards me, concluding me as its next kill.

I took out my revolver and aimed, but didn’t active vitality. I had an inkling that if I did so, I would be writhing on the floor in pain. My unsteady hands pressed the trigger and completely missed the sprinting target.

Just as I fumblingly took out my knife, it leaped at me, aiming for my face. I swiped the knife clumsily and saw it pass through the fossa cleanly like a knife on butter. Blood sprayed in the air as its face was cleanly cut in half and landed on the road with a thud. While I stared the kitchen knife I held in amazement.

Did it get supercharged or something?

Energy flowed from my kill and my thoughts moved towards it, from the knife. I had begun to feel the same familiar feeling from before. The same feeling of something almost spilling from inside of me.

The next stage was close.

Ignoring the bisected body, I walked towards my house.

Even though my body was still in this state, where I could even hardly walk. I was tethering on the need to go out and kill something to satisfy this feeling.

I held it in with great discomfort and went inside the house where I could finally get rid of all this snake goo that had dried up on me.

"What the hell!!" I screamed at my reflection in the mirror.

I had just taken a bath and was drying myself when I saw a stranger’s eye staring right at me from the mirror. It was mine!

I stared in surprise. My previous light green eyes were now a mix of yellow and green, but the two colors were not touching each other.

They appeared like broken shards, with some parts being occupied by green and some broken parts occupied by yellow. The sight of this new anomaly made me remember the vague message that appeared before I passed out.

Something about permanently changing. I quickly examined the rest of my body, especially my back. Looking at it in the mirror, which was extremely hard because of its position, I saw 2 patches of purple and yellow skin on my back. With two big puncture wounds in the middle of the patches.

Ok. At least that was due to the venom and not something else.

After looking at more embarrassing parts, I crashed down into the sofa, concluding that the eye was the only thing that was changed. The next was to check the inside.

I closed my eyes to have a peek at my soul to see that it took an appearance that mirrored my face, scarred and with tears. I opened my eyes in shock and closed right back in to take a closer look.

On a much closer inspection, I noticed that rather than tears; it was more accurate to say that the flow had been disrupted. I saw some parts of the aura avoiding touching other parts, almost like the meeting of two seas with different densities. This made an illusion that made it seem that it was covered with scars or tears.

Concerning. Hopefully, it would heal with time.

I would have originally wanted to have a week-long vacation after all that happened, but I doubt that I could hold the feeling back. It was urging me to be completed.

But I couldn’t just waltz out to die without being able to use vitality, so I decided to take a rest for a few days till my soul was healed- if it even would heal, but that was another bridge I would cross if it came to it.

And thus the days passed in a blur while I rigorously trained my body while waiting for my mind and soul to heal. By the time my soul was fixed I came out of my rest with a body tempered by extensive training, and with a mind resoluted to do what needs to be done is what I would like to say, but it was just boring. Tiresomely boring.

I passed the time mostly just looking inwards, trying to move my aura and then painfully squirming on the floor, sketching out plans for emergencies for different scenarios including the extremely far-fetched ones that had no chances of occurring, exercising which mostly comprised of push-ups, and finally sleeping. Lots of sleeping.

And so an entire week had passed just like that and I had inadvertently fulfilled my wish for having a week-long vacation, though it was a lot mundane and boring than I imagined.

I originally had ignored the super sharp knife, thinking that it was just super-charged with my aura or something and that it would return to its normal state after a while, just like how objects retain their enhancement a few seconds after I stop enhancing it.

But even after a week had passed, the knife still kept its unnatural sharpness. And I had to admit that the extremely sharp kitchen knife was going into my permanent arsenal, no matter how uncool it might be.

With the short-range more than covered and a gun which took care of long-range along with the discount Morningstar, which seemed a lot worse in comparison. I had the weapons department more or less covered.

Now all that remained was for me to be pointed towards my next target and either die or whittle them down as I get stronger.

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