Three days.

How do I know it’s been three days and not two or four? I don’t! It just feels right! And feeling precedes emotion, so I’m sure that it’s right. And during this entire time…

5 689 -> 13 788

Yeah. And then I used it all to upgrade my size, recovery and resistance, so…

2 642

Size: 13

Cores: 29

Tentacles: 196

Eyes: 42

Mouths: 29

Carnivorous

Gastrolithic

Fungivorus

Increase

Regeneration

Immunity

Resistance

13 788 -> 988

And then I spent the remaining points on Immunity, just for the heck of it.

988 -> 208

For once, for just a moment, things are pretty calm. As I predicted, after three days of shovelling asteroids down my gullet, the process has become entirely automatized. I could probably play any number of songs without needing to think too much about it. Ah, if only I had my trusty clarinet… Guess that guy’s just going to rot in my bedroom now, huh? I wonder if anybody will take care of him. Maybe donate him to that marching band I was a part of? They were neat fellows.

...Ah, man, it’s getting easier and easier to zone out. Eat. Look at stars. Eat. Think. Maybe this is purgatory?

And I still have no idea how big I really am. All I can compare myself to is other asteroids, in which case I can tell that they generally seem smaller than before, but that isn’t much to go on. Some asteroids are small like pebbles and dust and others hit me like trucks, but it’s gotten rarer and rarer for these to do any actual damage to me. In fact, I can’t remember any time that I was harmed grievously in the last few hours? Which, considering the speeds everything is going at, is actually pretty impressive.

I’m making steady progress. Gettin’ bigger. The largest asteroids seem more around my size, but that’s really-,

Ah, apart from one. See, every so often, I catch a glimpse of it.

Iilsa. A protoplanet in this asteroid belt. Smaller than most planets but with a strong atmosphere surrounding it. Large.

Where that crystal I ate came from.

...I’m not greedy. I’m really not! But every time I look at that planet, seeing how I’ve gotten just a little closer to it, I feel a certain sense of excitement. It takes two days of floating to get around as many points as a single one of those crystals gave. There have to be more over there on that planet, I’m sure of it. But it’s still far away. And even if it does come closer, what am I supposed to do? It’s a whole-ass (proto) planet! I’m just a little boy, just a little gu-,

...Huh? Wait, hang on. Something just happened, I can feel it.

My direction shifted. I’m no longer going straight along with the asteroids, circulating strictly around the suns, no, I’m…

I glance suspiciously at Iilsa. Still pretty far away. But, maybe, just maybe… It’s close enough to pull me into its gravitational field?

That is… absurd. It’s still super far away! Like, just to give a perspective, I think it might be around twice the size of how we see the moon from the Earth. The only reason I even know it’s Ilsa is because of its round shape and striped white surface, which are its telling markers, according to the memories that aren't mine. I know that it's Ilsa, I’m assured of it.

...In the same way that I’m absolutely assured that it’s got me in its grip. Yup. That has to be the case here.

Man, I’m really getting closer to it, huh? In a matter of hours, its size seems to have tripled, giving nice details of its surface. Although the stripes are white, it also has these deep blue chasms. It honestly looks really cool, but as I get closer, a little problem chews at the back of my mind.

Say, entering the atmosphere of planets usually sets things on fire, right? I mean-, I can’t possibly know if this guy has an atmosphere, but even if it hasn’t got any, I’ll still be entering it at immense speeds. I can’t remember any specific numbers, but I don’t think my survival is entirely guaranteed?

...Hm. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.

I can’t be sure of anything, but now that I’m getting closer at an exponential rate, I can tell that my speed is increasing as well. It isn’t doing any damage, but I’m basically flying in a crescent shape around the edge of it, several other asteroids and the such at my sides, uncertain of what I should even do. Maybe I should bundle up my tentacles to protect my inner core? Or maybe I should-,

I eye the asteroids at my sides. I can’t know if it’ll be enough, but just a single upgrade to resistance will be enough.

I start shoving the nearest asteroids into my various faces. I sadly have to ignore the larger ones. If I could crush them into smaller pieces I might be able to eat them, but as I’ve come to find, I’m not that strong. Iilsa grows closer, wider, more detailed, and I grow faster in its orbit. Asteroids start flying faster. Massive, moon-like asteroids eclipse me and fly past me, spinning like basketballs. I pay them no heed because, for once, I am fully focused on eating.

Asteroids that would otherwise merely pass me by are swiped from their place and shoved into my mouthhole.

208 -> 567

How much do I need for the upgrade? Iilsa is closer, much closer. It feels like I’m an astronaut, looking down at the Earth.

Upgrade Resistance? Cost: 2 000 (you have 567)

That’s gonna take some time, time I’m not sure I have. Things are really starting to get fast. Iilsa is humongous now, closer than ever, the world seems to be blurring together, and yet, I keep my eyes on the prize, on the numerous asteroids around me, whether they’re made of ice or rock or crystal, I eat them all.

567 -> 799 799 -> 923 923 -> 1 123

I’m happy I don’t have a stomach. If I did, I’d puke. Everything’s spinning. Keeping my tentacles straight is no longer possible. My vision is so split. Into a hundred different places. I see so much. I grab so many asteroids. I just keep eating. There’s a pressure around me. Not like that creature. Not like what it did to me. Different. Faster. Worse.

1 123 -> 1 354 1 354 -> 1 443 1 443 -> 1 491

Asteroids slip from my grip, moving too fast for me to grab, escaping as the protoplanet overtakes my gaze. It is half of everything I see. I spin faster and faster, invisible nausea dissolving my insides.

1 491 -> 1 512 1 512 -> 1 548

My body starts being forced together, tentacles yielding and folding onto each other, crushing me into a sort of pebble. I’m going fast now, faster than I ever have. Eating asteroids is hardly possible anymore, no longer viable. They whizz by too fast and my tentacles can’t move to catch them. I don’t think this is going to work. I’ll splat, won’t I?

I might not even-,

A large asteroid, about a third of my own size, crashes into me and a light-bulb goes off. I may not be able to eat small ones, but I have to be able to eat a big one!

I can barely force my tentacles to wrap around it, but once I do, I get eating.

1 548 -> 1 567 1 567 -> 1 609

...It’s good, but not enough. I’m still hurling towards the planet, and by this point, I see more planet than sky. It seems to stretch around everything, taking up most of my vision. I’m getting close, and it scares me. See, my mouths aren’t made to chew up big rocks and swallow, they are made to take in singular larger rocks. If I was only strong enough to crush this rock, I would be able to eat it much more efficiently, if I was only-,

Buy Skill Strength? Cost: 50 (you have 1 609)

There is no question in my mind. I’ll take it, even if I’m not sure if it’s worth it at all!

1 609 -> 1 559

Unlike every other time, this time, I can really feel it. I can move easier, despite the pressure. I can feel the rock in my hand, softer, but far from soft enough for me to crush it fully. I’m much closer now, I can see individual, peaking mountain-ranges, stretching across the entire planet like tiger-stripes, I'll upgrade this damn skill. Give me the prices! Twice!

Upgrade Strength? Cost: 100 (you have 1 559) Upgrade Strength? Cost: 175 (you have 1 559)

Both of them, buy them!

1 559 -> 1 248

Strength envelopes my tentacles, but I don’t spread them wide as I now know that I can. Gritting each and every one of my teeth, I take a hold of the asteroid I’m clinging onto and crush it within me, keeping all the shards in my grasp, making my countless mouths and tentacles work overtime, shovelling more and more inside than should be physically possible.

1 248 -> 1 367 1 367 -> 1 539 1 539 -> 1 788

The ground is approaching rapidly, but I keep eating. There’s something strange about the atmosphere, something shimmering, but I can’t tell what it is, it almost looks like a transparent bubble covering the whole planet.

1788 -> 1 863 1 863 -> 1 998

Almost there-!

I stick one last asteroid chunk into my mouth.

1 998 -> 2 000 Upgrade Resistance? Cost: 2 000 (you have 2 000)

-Buy it!

2 000 -> 0

And then, knowing that I can’t possibly afford the next upgrade, I let go of all the asteroids. They fall at my sides and the world starts stabilizing, giving me a proper view of where I’m headed. At this point, I’m no longer in orbit, more so skydiving. Without a parachute.

I use my newfound strength to spread my arms wide. There is more resistance this way as I fall, but I know that this means my descent is slowing. It also means that this planet, despite it all, has an atmosphere of some sort.

The ground approaches. Faraway mountain ranges become singular mountains, unidentifiable blue blocks become massive wall-like glaciers, and strange structures I hadn’t even noticed before seem to jutt out of the mountains, and for a long moment, I’m left wondering: what the fuck is that?

And then the ground comes too close and in a faint attempt to defend myself I curl everything there is of myself into a single ball, protecting my consciousnesses and cores and everything I am.

I slam into the ground. Hard.