《Searching for Salvation》Arc 1 - Shaken - Chapter 1

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I need your help.

But NOT the monetary kind. This fiction has been plagiarized. It is being sold on Amazon under the name of "Bringer of Justice" by Karey Williams. THIS IS NOT ME. I am not selling this fanfiction. I am currently in the process of turning it into an original work and remove the Harry potter parts from it.

The help that I do need from you guys is just a comment. Please go report on the amazon page of the fake book, and comment that it is not the original. That it is fake. That it is plagiarized. It will take not more than 5 minutes of your time but it might help me. If this story has ever entertained you, then please considering helping me.

It might help. I do not know. I do not know what to do. I have contacted Amazon, so let's see what they can do. In the meanwhile, please help me protect my work.

It is quite ironic that the thief has renamed this book under the name of "Bringer of Justice". Did the idiot not feel humiliation when he/she named it that? And secondly, there is no sense of justice in this character of mine.

Now, to give you all the kind of work that I have been doing on this story, latest chapter is the prologue of what will be my original work. I hope you enjoy it.

A/N: This story can also be found on Fanfiction.net under the account name Spectacled Man. This story is written by me and published on both the sites by me. It says so on the other site too.

DAY 1

I woke up with a start; my mind slow, muddled and hazy. Turning my head, my eyes were greeted by the vision of an unknown darkness; like the one that had, for a long time, greeted me in my cupboard.

'Where am I?'

I did not know the answer to that thought, in fact, I-I… couldn't remember anything at the moment; anything at all. 'Wh-what! W-why!'

Confusion took over my sanity. 'J-just what is happening!? W-where am I? Wh-who am I?'

And so did irritation. 'Who is doing this to me!? WHO?!'

I tried moving around but, for some reason, all I could do was squirm. I felt confined and restricted, as if I had been rolled in some kind of fleshy meatball and then thrust into some sort of container.

I wiggled around and fidgeted; trying my uttermost to free myself and, in case that wasn't possible, to try to understand the limits of my prison; for that is what it felt like, a prison. I felt the walls -which restricted me- expand, like jello, before they retained their shape with equal fervor.

Hope smiled down on me. 'There is potential here; potential to break free.' I smiled grimly; I could break out of my prison after all.

I squirmed, ferociously, and tried to use my hands and legs but, for some reason, instead of 4 limbs, multiple limbs moved. I frowned. 'Just what is going on? Just wha-?'

I stopped my struggles and tried to remember the last thing before I woke up. It was …it was …hazy and confusing. It gave me a headache just by trying to think about it. But something was very wrong here. I could feel not just my hands and legs but multiple other limbs protruding from my body; limbs that I should not have. 'Something is wrong. Very, very wrong.'

Through the haze and confusion, I tried to force myself to remember, but all I got was more and more pain. Panic began to set in me, no matter how I tried to fight it off. 'Has someone tempered with my memory?! Have I been attacked?! Where am I?! Why was I restricted?! What is going on?! W-what! Why!? How!?'

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I tried to remember again but failed as pain assaulted me and consumed my senses. But I couldn't give up. No, I needed to know; I just needed to!

I continued trying but kept failing again and again and again, that is, until something finally came through. I remembered choking on air, being unable to breathe; pain exploding in my ears as they popped and blood trickling down my face.

'I died.' My memory cleared. 'Poison. Poison was what got me finally.'

'I died.'

Sadness crept up on me -'I died'- and, slowly, I became -'I died'- overwhelmed with grief. 'I died.' I had lost all my friends. 'I died.' My family. 'I died.' My newly wedded wife. 'I di-'

Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!

A sharp pain hit me at the thought of my wife, as if, as if my brain was reminding me of something, something that I didn't want to remember. I pushed my grief aside, no matter how hard it was, and tried to remember. 'Was my wife dead too?! Oh dear Merlin, please don't let her be dead! Let her live! She didn't deserve to die! Not for the life that I have lived! Please! Please...'

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

I tried again and again and, finally, I remembered.

A smirk. A self satisfied smirk.

Confusion filled me. 'Wha-!?Wh-?! Ho-!?'

And then Rage hit me, -'she killed me'-at that moment -'she killed me'-like a rampaging bull. 'She killed me.'

'She killed me.'

'She killed me.'

'She killed me!'

'She killed me!'

'She killed me!'

'SHE KILLED ME!'

I struggled in my prison. 'She killed me!' I wiggled and I squirmed and I struggled with all my might. 'She killed me!' I channeled my rage into freeing myself. 'She killed me!' I had to. 'She killed me!' I just had to. 'SHE KILLED ME!'

Coldness hit my head with a rush of air. This was my chance, my chance to be free. I struggled and thrashed and pressed at the opening, to expand it, and finally I pushed myself through it. 'I am free. Finally fucking free.'

But all of my excitement, my joy and my happiness turned sour at the sight that greeted me in my freedom. And what a fucking sight it was.

In front of me, lay huge balls, almost the same size as me. And out of many of them, things were crawling out. Green and black and elongated things.

'Insects.' My mind supplied before it corrected itself. 'No, not insects. Caterpillars.'

Horror descended on me as I looked around.

Eggs. Eggs. And more eggs. 'Those round balls are eggs! They aren't prisons! They are eggs!'

And I was surrounded by them! Wherever my eyes looked, the sea of eggs stretched! And out of most of them, things were coming out; things that were caterpillars.

My mind told me to look down, to look at myself. But my heart didn't want to, for it was afraid. No, it wasn't my heart, it was me. I was afraid; afraid of what I'd find.

Before I could do anything about my fear, something primal hit me and took over me and my mind. It was all I could think about as it overwhelmed me. It forced me to look down, look at what was beneath my body.

Hunger had overcome me and it was forcing me to eat whatever it was that was beneath my body.

But as I looked down, I saw what I had become.

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No, not me; my body.

What my body had become. It was green and black and elongated like all the other things crawling around me. 'I-I a-am a c-ca-caterpillar!' My mind supplied as it began to shut down.

I couldn't think. I couldn't feel. I couldn't imagine what had become of me. Caterpillar! Insect! Insect was what I had become! 'H-how! Wh-what! Wh-why!'

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

!

!

!

Eh!

What!

What the unholy fuck!

My mind broke out of the stupor, that it had spiraled into, and I looked down at what I was doing. Somehow, when I mind had stopped working, the baser instincts of my new body -'Uggh!'- had taken over and had devoured whatever it was that had been beneath my body.

I looked around. A long stalk stretched up from beneath me. It seemed I had moved from my original position. There were other caterpillars around me. 'My siblings. Ugghh.' And they were all devouring the green thing beneath them. 'Did insects even have the concept of siblings?'

Leaves. Of course it was leaves. Caterpillars consume leaves. That must have been what I had eaten too. And judging from the change in height, I must have eaten quite a few.

B-but, but, but what was that noise and that blue screen? It had said that I had leveled up. What did that mean? What was level? How had I leveled up? 'How! What! And just fucking how?!'

Hunger overcame me again and I bent down to eat the leaf that I was hanging on but my mind continued to spiral, work and think. 'Something is wrong here, something besides me being a caterpillar.''

As my mind continued to think, my mouth continued to eat. From one leaf to another I moved. Eating, consuming and devouring. On and on I ate but my hunger never grew dim. It was never sated.

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

I paused, both eating and thinking.

There it was again; the noise and the blue screen that was already fading away. What was this? It seemed like a notification from those videogames that Terry had always talked about; the same ones that he had been able to show me only after we had won the war. But it couldn't be that. That would be stupid. So, so stupid.

Life was not a game; especially not a video game.

But, for the life of me, I couldn't think of any other explanation. Feeling incredibly stupid, I decided to give it a try. 'Wha-what was it called? Class? No. Rank? No, not that either. Status wa-'

Ting.

[Unnamed] [Skills] [Spells] [?]

I gaped and I continued to gape for a while, not believing the ultimate bullshit floating in front of my eyes. 'Ho-How? Just how is this possible?!' Such was the shock that I had received that I even forgot my hunger.

'What in the world!' I gawked at the blue screen, which, by the way, was floating on its own in front of me. 'It worked! It actually worked! I don't believe it! I fucking don't believe this cluster fuck!'

But being a caterpillar, that I was, hunger made itself known by the way of immense burn that was raging in my belly. And dutifully, like a meek little servant, I began to eat. I hated that something else, than my mind, no matter how primal, had control over me but, at the moment, I had bigger fish to fry.

So I ate and munched and ate like there was no tomorrow; which -considering that I was a caterpillar- might actually be very true. As I chomped on the tasteless leaves, I focused on the one option that had disturbed me the most; the option, [Unnamed]. No sooner had I focused on the option, that the floating blue list changed.

Ting.

[Name: Unnamed]

[Species: Caterpillar]

[Race(s): Insect]

[Level: 3]

[HP: 8/8]

[MP: -]

[Titles: {Sentient}, {Reincarnated}, {Hungry}]

I made a face in confusion. 'That makes no sense.'

I had never played those games that Terry had kept on talking about, as I had more important things to worry about; things like trying to survive Hogwarts for instance or finding out what new trouble Malfoy was planning to cause.

Of all the things written on the floating blue screen, one caught my eye, {Reincarnated}; I focused on it and another blue screen popped up.

Ting.

[Title {Reincarnated} allows memories and experience of previous birth to be transferred to the new body.]

'Well, that explains it.' I sighed. 'But what reincarnated me? Or who? And why?'

I shook my head. 'Focus. Focus. Focus.' I told myself before squinting and focusing on [Name: Unnamed]. Just like before, another box popped up.

Ting.

[Names can be bestowed either by your sire or your master. You are an unnamed creature.]

I made a face. 'I couldn't name myself? What sort of absurd rule is that? What is its purpose? Why can't I name myself?' This made no sense. And also, this was, by far, one of the most idiotic rules that I have ever encountered in my life and I have lived through the rules that Umbridge had imposed.

Stupid Blue Screen.

Focusing on returning to the previous screen, I moved to another leaf; I had devoured my current one in its entirety. The current screen closed and the previous one popped up. I focused on [Species: Caterpillar].

Ting.

[Species is the current form of your body. You are a Caterpillar.]

'Huh. Brief.' I moved onto the next option, [Race(s): Insect].

Ting.

[Race allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path available: Insect.]

'Wait, what?' This was getting more and more ridiculous. 'What is evolution?' I focused on the word.

Ting.

[Every monster has the ability to evolve. Evolution is the ability to change one's species, to a more powerful one, when one reaches Level 100.]

'This is such a bullshit system!' I thought, for what felt like the hundredth time, before focusing on the word Level. I did not know what it was.

Ting.

[Level is the relative power level compared to one's first evolution form. You need experience to Level up.]*

I focused on the word Experience. I did not know what that was either. This was kinda making me feel stupid. And angry.

Ting.

[In the world of Kill or be Killed, Experience is what you gain by killing other living beings.]*

'Well, that was clear.' I huffed but moved onto the next option nonetheless, [HP: 8/8].

Ting.

[Health Points is the maximum damage you can take. Zero HP results in death. Current HP: 8/8]

I frowned and focused on [MP: -] next.

Ting.

[Mana Points is the maximum mana available to cast magic spells. Your species doesn't allow usage of Mana.]

'Buuuuuuuuullllllllllsssshhhhhhiiiiiiiiitttttttt! I call Bullshit!' I scowled. 'I was a wizard in my previous birth, how can I not have magic?! Magic has nothing to do with anybody's body! It has everything to do with one's soul! I was reincarnated! I have my soul! Give me my magic, dammit!'

I ranted. I ranted for a while as I continued to eat. But, as I had expected, it did not have any effect. So tired of my mental ranting, I moved onto next option, [Titles].

Ting.

[Title is a label awarded by the Will of the World, to the living beings, for performing specific tasks or for meeting certain specifications.]

That explained the {Reincarnated} title. I focused on the next one, {Sentient}.

Ting.

[Title {Sentient} grants standard Intelligence and Wisdom.]

I frowned at the capital letter for both intelligence and wisdom and focused on Intelligence. A red screen popped up this time.

TRAAAAAAANG!

[SPECIAL attributes are blocked for monster races. Access Denied.]

I scowled. 'What the Hell!' I tried to focus on Wisdom with the same result. Grumbling at the stupidity of this Will of the World, I moved to the last Title, {Hungry}.

Ting.

[Species only title; forces the creature to eat continuously. It also allows the creature to gain experience from the act of eating.]

'What does that mean? Does that mean it will be removed when I evolve?' I frowned for a moment before moving on; there was nothing I could do about it anyway.

With another thought, I focused on going back to the initial screen and when it appeared, I focused on skills.

Ting.

[{Crawl Lv.1}]

[Ability to crawl on your body.]

[{Molting Lv.1}]

[Ability to shed the exoskeleton/skin and come out as new. Cost depends on the size of being.]

[{Poison Resistance Lv.5}]

[Ability to reduce the effect of poison and delay being poisoned; it develops sub-resistances for different types of poisons.]

[Weak-Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. Max]

[Poison: Bug: Resistance Lv. 1]

[{Poison Creation Lv.1}]

[Allows creation of poison and at Level N, allows N poisons to be created that have Maxed out sub-resistances.]

[Available: Weak Bug Poison]

I frowned again. All the rest of my skills started from Level 1 but my poison resistance skill was starting from Level 5. I focused on it.

Ting.

[Ability to delay being poisoned; it develops sub-resistances for different types of poisons. Due to the Title {Reincarnated}, the skill takes into account previous births.]

I scowled as I remembered the Basilisk and that I had been poisoned by my dear wife. I knew there was nothing I could do now. I was dead. At least in my world. Trying to suppress the anger and rage, I stopped eating and took a deep breath in, before exhaling. It helped. I resumed eating.

Ting.

[You have Leveled Up! Level up bonus of +1 HP granted.]

Startled, I checked my status, and sure enough my Level read [Level: 4] and my HP read as [HP: 9/9]. Giddy for the moment, I turned to the second last option, [Spells] and focused on it.

Ting.

[Your species doesn't allow usage of Mana. No spells allowed.]

Once again scowling, I turned to the last option, the most ominous one, [?].

A golden screen popped up this time.

Ting.

[? #%^#&*+/ %!&#$&* $ & &$%& $^!*!%$#& ? ?#?%?#?]

[? ?: 100]

[! #$: 100 *&^%: 100 ^%$#: 100 & % : 100 & %^:100]

'What the hell!' I gawked. I did not understand anything. And what was with all the numbers! How was I supposed to understand it?

Fuming, I tentatively focused on the second line and another golden screen popped up.

Ting.

[ %$* ^$!*$ ?#/ #?$$$#?#$%##?#$ ?#$#?$?#$##]

'Fuck you too.'

I focused on the first option in the third line, expecting the same result as the last time, so of course, that did not happen. All of a sudden, the number in the second line went to zero.

Ting.

[Skill {Observe Lv.1} acquired.]

'Wh-what!' I gaped. 'I did not buy anything! I do not want to buy anything! Take it back! Take it back!'

But of course, it wasn't taken back. So I focused on it to know whatever it was that I had apparently bought.

Ting.

[Gives details of the target.]

'How very detailed.' I sighed. It made two things very clear though; first, that the last option was a skill market of some kind. And second, that I should remain clear of it until I have an idea of what was actually written there.

Still, I got lucky this time. I could have bought some useless skill with those 100 points, instead of {Observe Lv.1}. I decided to try it. 'Observe.' I mentally whispered but a red screen popped up as soon as I finished thinking.

TRAAAAAANG!

[No Mana detected. Skill cannot be used.]

'What the fuuuuck!' I fumed. I fumed for a while before I stopped and took another deep breath. It helped. I returned to eating. My mood sour, after all the bad news.

DAY 2

I woke up. Not because the shining rays of sun had hit me softly, creating a perfect scene, no, none of that bullshit. I woke up because, after the amount of leaves I had eaten, I had to shit; I had to shit a lot.

With that bit of unpleasantness done, I resumed eating; it was not like I could do anything else.

Though there were two things that I had achieved yesterday. First was that my skill, {Crawl}, hit Level 3 and became {Crawl Lv.3}. And second, was that I had hit Level 15, with my HP reading [HP: 20/20].

I smiled slightly. If I continued on leveling like that, soon I would evolve.

And while that was happening -because believe me, there was not a lot to do when chewing leaves- I had counted the number of leaves it took me to reach next level -I really, really, had nothing better to do- and while initially, it had been 7 leaves per level, but as my level grew higher and higher, the number of leaves required to level up, increased.

Now that I was on level 15, I estimated it would take me 10 leaves to level up. So I chomped and chomped and chomped.

And while I was chomping, I sensed a disturbance. I stopped eating and looked around; trying to find the source of disturbance.

Screeeeech!

I turned to face the sound. It was a bird of some sort, coming down faster and faster, aiming at the plant that I had been devouring. It was, obviously, aiming for breakfast.

I knew I was not fast enough to crawl away from the creature, no matter how much my crawl speed had increased due to the skill's new level. And that bird, that creature, was honing in on us, our plant, faster and faster.

I panicked. My tiny little caterpillar brain couldn't think of anything beyond the approaching death that would soon descend upon us. I felt my heart race miles a minute and I felt my body shiver in fear in horror.

My death was near, that was all that my instincts screamed at me; overwhelming me with the desire to flee because they knew, because I knew, there was no option to fight.

Seeing no other option but to flee, I let go of the leaf, which I had been hanging on, and felt myself fall. Air rushed by me for a moment before I hit the ground with a thump.

Ting.

[-5 HP]

I shook myself, trying to shake off the shock of the fall.

I winced.

That hurt; that hurt a lot but it successfully broke me out of my instinct induced panic. That didn't mean that it didn't hurt a lot, no, it hurt like a motherfucking bitch.

Clamping down on the pain, I turned around to see where my body had hit the ground, and sure enough, my soft bulging body looked bruised and pulped. I swallowed. 'That had been a bad idea. A very bad idea.'

I turned back to watch the plant, which had been my home and source of food for the past day, and saw the bird…thingy…creature chomp down on the rest of my brethren with little mercy. It was devouring every caterpillar in sight. It was nothing but a massacre. I shivered.

'Kill Or Be Killed.' I remembered the blue screen had said.

Having noticed the situation, I turned around, unable to watch the carnage and tried to find someplace to hide from the eyes of the vicious thing decimating the population of caterpillars. My eyes fell on a pile of dead leaves that cast a shade beneath them, far away from the prying eyes.

I tried to crawl towards the shade but the pain that erupted in my body felt like lightning racing through my body.

I bit back the scream that wanted to leave my jaws; this was not the time.

Forcing my tiny limbs to support me, I lifted my body. But that little effort left me breathing hard and gasping. Still, I pushed myself. If I faltered now, I would turn into birdfeed. Literally. And I had no intention of doing so.

The jolt of red hot pain, which ran through my body, had my tiny legs refusing to move but I had no other choice. It wasn't a choice of life and death.

It wasn't a choice at all for I refused to die again. I will not die; not here; not at the hands some random bird.

I crawled forward, barely making it. My body almost refused to move again but somehow I made it through. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I had no choice. I crawled again and, again a bolt of screaming pain pulsed through me. I bit down on the flesh of my mouth and tasted blood.

Ting.

[-1HP]

[Skill acquired {Pain Resistance Lv.1}. Your pain tolerance has increased.]

I heard the chime and felt the pain, from my wound, decrease just a tinge but I ignored the pain and the screens; I did not have time for this silliness at the moment.

Breathing in a shaky breath, I pushed myself towards the shade. I moved, just a tinge and my breath escaped me with the soaring pain. I took in another breath and tried again. I moved and I pushed myself again, not wanting to let the breadth escape me this time.

Ting.

[-1 HP]

The pain hit me again and again as bolts of it soared through my body. It reminded me what a stupid decision it had been to fall from the height in the soft body of a caterpillar, but then, I turned around to look back at the plant. And the half vanished population of caterpillars told me that though stupid, it had been the right decision.

Ting.

[-1 HP]

I winced and pushed myself through the hurt and the blinding pain; somehow I managed to reach the shade beneath the pile of leaves. I took in a deep but shaky breath.

Ting.

[Skill {Pain Resistance Lv.1} has leveled up to {Pain Resistance Lv.2}. Your Pain has tolerance increased.]

Ignoring the screens, I turned back to look at the plant. The population of caterpillars was dangerously low now. Soon the bird would come down, looking for any that fell and were left. I could not let the bird find me. I cannot let it eat me. I cannot let it kill me.

No. I refused.

I refused to die.

Taking another deep breath, I shoved my head into the soft ground and bit as much dirt as I could. I pulled back and spat the dirt out and shoved my face again into the dirt. I could not use my legs or my other limbs; they were short and stubby and useless in this situation.

I repeated the process again and again and again. All the while, I thanked the gods that a caterpillar's mouth was much larger compared to its body than a humans. I cannot imagine doing the same thing with my original body.

Soon the hole was large enough for my tiny body to fill it in and through the pain and hurt I, somehow, managed to shove myself in, with my mouth down the hole and my ass facing the world.

Ting.

[-1 HP]

I was tired, so very tired. And hurt. But I could not give up, not yet. I was still vulnerable and had no way to hide my ass. I was out of my wits and there seemed to be no way to hide myself completely.

I felt the disturbance, once again, just like when the predatory bird had attacked my plant.

Thump. Thump.

I felt the soft landing of supple feet and knew, I just knew, that the bird had come looking for the ones that fell. Fear finally got its clutches on me, and my heart, which had been already racing on pain and hurt, now was fed fear; it raced, faster. I even felt my bowels move in fear.

And then it hit me. Shit. The answer was shit.

Yesterday, and today, I had eaten so much that I was bulging with shit even though I had already shat once. So I shat. Through pain, fear and hurt I shat. I shat all over my ass and tried to cover my hideout with it, as much as I can. I wiggled and squirmed, shaking the mounds of shit and letting it spread.

I knew I was covered in shit –rolling in it, even- but, at the moment, I could not begin to care. My survival depended on that mound of shit.

Thump. Thump.

The bird moved and I felt the distance between us decrease. My breadth hitched and my heart felt like it would run out of my body.

Thump. Thump.

The claws came closer and I shut my eyes. I tried remembering if there was anything in my skill list that could help me right now. I tried and forced my brain to remember. '[Poison Creation].' I remembered and activated the skill without a second thought.

I felt the hairs on my body become wet with the poison secreting from the pores on my body. But I didn't stop, I continued to secrete the poison, without stopping; I hoped to take the bastard down with me, if it ate me.

Tired, I took a deep breath. I had done everything that I could do as a caterpillar, and then some, and if, now, that nasty bird found and ate me, at least, I hoped I would take it down with me. I smiled in satisfaction.

Thump. Thump.

I felt the bird come closer and held my breath; I did not want to do anything to alert the nasty thing of my presence.

Thump. Thump.

I could feel the bird standing right over my mound of shit. It paused over the hole and my heart stopped. Would it look past the shit and move on? I hoped it would. I prayed it would, after all, my life depended on it.

Thump. Thump.

The bird passed me over, yet, I held my breath. I did not move. I could not move. I dared not move. At that moment, there was a flutter of wings and the bird flew away.

I remained there, still; not believing that I had survived, that I had lived past that encounter. A shaky breath escaped me and I smiled a watery smile. I had survived.I was alive.

I laughed. 'I survived! I am alive!' I laughed and laughed and I gasped. And then I laughed some more.

I gasped again as my heart finally slowed down and the pain that I had been ignoring finally caught up to me. I winced and yet I smiled.

I breathed in a deep breath and searched for a specific skill; hoping it would do what I wanted it to do. I remembered it and with a sigh of relief, I activated the skill {Molting}.

Ting.

[-10HP]

'Oh shi-'

* Not the best explanation, I know, but it was the best that I could come up with.

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P.S. Unbeta'ed but edited to the best of my ability.

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