I remember catching a worm once, one of those that slivered in the ground. It was the size of my thumb and the length of my arm, and very slimy. It slithered back and forth. I grabbed a sharp stone and cut off its head. Despite this, it didn’t stop moving for another four hours.

I shouldn’t be shocked that I and worms are similar.

I was more or less ten meters away from the overworld with the mandibles of an ant around my neck, and my eyeballs rolling around on my cheeks.

The feeling of eyeballs popping out wasn’t like I thought it would be. I thought they’d plop out with a burst of pain and ache, but no, instead, the sensation of dryness grew very quickly. Another surprising element was the fact that my sight was now pointing in a direction which my face was not. My right eye pointed towards the floor, whilst my other eye pointed towards my skin. There was very little pain, but perhaps that is only because of my unique situation.

The ants mandibles shut close.

The rest of the skin, and muscle, and whatever it was inside of my neck, ripped. My head, carrying with my detached eyes, bounced on the floor. and the rest of my body felt limp. Was this how death felt?

The feeling of giving up took me. I don’t know if its a feeling, but my thoughts fought about it. I could only think that it was over, but the thought in the back of my mind, which always mocked me, was strangely the only thing still refuting the irrefutable. Pathetic, I heard the inside of my head say. I won’t accept an ant killing me. No. That won’t happen.

My body burned.

Red flames shot towards the ceiling of the cave. The pieces of skin within the ant’s head turned aflame. The ant shrieked. Its head jerked left and right throwing away the pieces of me in its mouth, but it had already swallowed some. Its legs shook and kicked and it ran up the wall, on the ceiling, round and round, panic completely overwhelming its mind.

I saw all of this. Only when the ant stopped moving, and its exoskeleton started turning black did it occur to me that I should be dead. Why wasn’t I? I tried turning my eyes to see if anything was off but they refuted me, and threw pain my way instead.

I knew the ant had decapitated me. I couldn’t move anything. Not my lips, not my eyes, nor my body. I was entirely stuck, yet I could still think. I knew the thought which plagued my mind as an intrusive thought had acted with autonomy for a moment.

“Hello?” I thought out, but my mind was silent. I felt like an insane person, as much as a decapitated head on the floor could feel. This is pathetic. I finally heard, and I shot back. “Who are you?”

Before I heard a response two windows popped up in my sight.

_____

Notification!

You have killed 1 Giant Ant. 23 experience points have been gained.

_____

_____

Quest completed.

Reward: 50 experience.

_____

They were followed by three other windows. These ones were very simple and carried only two letters, the meaning of which I had no clue.

_____

Level up!

_____

The windows faded away leaving me with the window at the very top right. The bar which had been filled completely green was now barely a sliver long, and it was red. I wondered what it meant.

I opened up the original box to see if there had been a change.

_____

Stat Page

Current Species: Imp

Active Title: Blind Sheep

Total Power Level: 3

Level = 3

Level Up = 0/80 Xp

Unallocated stat points: 3

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Intellect: 10

Magical Aptitude: -3

Stamina 3:

Toughness: 1

Vitality: 2

Skills: Primal Adaptation,

_____

I noticed two things after staring at the screen for 5 minutes. Firstly, my total power level went down by ten, but it was still not 0. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Secondly, I saw that I had 3 unallocated stat points.

I figured death was taking its time in coming to grab me. It must take quite some time to travel from hell to the overworld, but I figured before it would, I’d take a chance to perhaps cast a spell. So I slotted in all the points into magical aptitude.

_____

These changes will be permanent.

Magical Aptitude -3 ===> 0

Confirm/Deny

_____

I clicked confirm and my head passed out.

***

I found myself back in the white space with two eyes staring at me. I would have screamed out in terror again. This was not usually how sleep came, but the feeling of resignment still trenched me.

I found that I could speak, and I asked the only prevalent question in my mind.

“Can the first devil hear us?”

“No?”

“He doesn’t want me talking to you:”

“No, he doesn’t want to see you to see us talking.”

“I see… I have a question.”

“Ask it.”

“Why am I not dead?”

“I’ve tied your life or rather consciousness to the system. The health bar at the top right of your sight should tell you how much hp you have. Unless that drops down to zero you can’t die, and despite all of your blood leaking out, it still doesn’t seem to be enough to bottom it out. Lucky you.”

“Why are you here?”

“There’s no other space for me to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m inside of you. You can see me when you sleep.”

“Aren’t you the primal devil?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you just kill me and take over.”

“Your body wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of doing so.”

“Will it be able to if I grow stronger.”

“Not until you achieve my level of strength. “

“Oh but can you help me do so? Like when my body started burning. That was you right?”

“No, that was your soul.”

“What?”

“Your soul and your consciousness are two different things. We can go into it more next time, but you’ll have to wake up now. You’ve got a new quest.”

***

The headache in my head could only be explained by water boiling in there. My dry eyes, which ached like mad, were nothing compared to the pain ravaging around there. My face involuntarily twitched. It would be voluntarily screaming at the top of my lungs, eyes wide, tongue out but I had no control or lungs. No you’re pathetic.

“Who the fuck are you?” I thought. Of course you’d ask that question despite knowing the answer. “What do you want?” For you to be better. Not to be so pathetic. “I know I’m pathetic, you’ve been screaming it in my ear forever, but any idea on how to fix that?” What a stupid question.

Before I could think of anything else, the box in my sight grabbed my attention. It was a quest just like the other one except it wasn’t urgent. I almost couldn't believe what was being asked.

_____

Quest

Through the use of the skill Primal Adaptation learn the magic needed to levitate.

Time Limit: 4 hours.

Success will trigger metamorphosis.

_____

The quest window was different from the last one. The other one didn’t have a time limit. But it did have a penalty for failure, namely death. This one lacked that, but the success was completely different.

The skill Primal Adaptation, didn’t make any sense to me. I fought for my life, and strained my body with everything I had. I think it more than qualified for ”intense stress,” yet despite that nothing happened.

Now they were asking me to use it to levitate. I didn’t have the first idea on how to go about it. The only thing I could do was think, so maybe that was the path on how to succeed. I guess I'll just have to imagine myself floating.

I strained, and strained, and strained. I felt a headache, but I continued pushing. I strained some more, and I think something happened, but then I realized I was wrong. So I strained more, and my eyes started moving! I’d done it.

Only one of my eyes moved. The movement came with pain, as if something was pinching my eyes by the sides. They slowly turned around. I saw different cracks in the roof, and then, a face came into view.

I tried to scream but nothing happened. Whatever it was, its face was completely horrifying. Its face was the shape of a goat, except its eyes that were completely white, were the size of four of mine, and its mouth had no lips, only spiky teeth showing.

“Hello there imp!” It said with a crazed tinge to the voice. “You shouldn't be here.”

I tried to say, “Hello, what are you?” but my tongue and mouth were limp. The creature smiled.

“I am an agent of chaos, my name is Gokooo. and you my friend are the very best thing that could have happened. hihihi.”

You can read my thoughts. Isn’t that obvious idiot? The creature’s in this cave are really scary.

“Don’t worry. I come from deep down. I teleported to the spot filled with magical residue to see why there was a demonic energy there. I’ve been searching for the demon for quite some time now and it looks like I finally spotted what I was searching for. Sadly, if I could spot you, other people less inclined to your existence also will. I’ve already cast a cloak on you but we’ll have to teleport somewhere else in the cave. Somewhere far away. Otherwise, what are you doing?”

I have to learn how to levitate. Apparently immense stress is the only way to get it, but I don’t know how to go about how to increase the amount of stress.

“Oh, I was thinking about healing you, but it seems that would be counterproductive.”

Idiot. No no no. Please heal me, I’d appreciate it a lot.

“No. I won’t heal you, I’ll do you one better.”

Goko gra-

“Gokooo actually.”

Gokooo grabbed my skull by the few hair strands I had, and lifted me through something rippling with black edges. And then, gravity lessened for a few moments, as I saw the ground become smaller. My eyes entwined together, and the sight of something blue entered my sight. Splash.

“That goes down for 100 meters. The faster you learn how to levitate the better.”

The cold water enveloped my head. I saw the glow-vines running around on the walls. I didn’t hear much. Barely anything. I felt the water travel deeper into my ears.

Fear filled my heart like nothing else, or at least, that’s how it felt. Every sense in my body screamed. My head grew warm. My eyes reached upwards for the ceiling of the eyeholes , the water allowing the movement, starting to spin around.

Each second I’d sink further into this wretched liquid. A liquid worse than death itself. I needed to get out. I needed to try harder. I pushed. I don’t know how, but I pushed upwards with everything in my being. Levitation.

Something inside me cracked, and I found the sensation of pushing evaporating. For a few moments, my body entirely forgot how to do anything similar. A warmth coming from somewhere in me, and nowhere at the same time. It felt like honey spread and filled the cracks.

_____

Alert!

Primal Adaptation has been activated! The skill Weak Telekinesis has been gained.

_____

The water’s pressure slowly grew smaller. Splash! My head exited out of the water my eyes were still deeply submerged in. I pressed my head higher, and my eyes came out, touching each other, both pointing at the same place.

Before I could go any further, another window popped up.

_____

Quest completed.

Reward: Metamorphosis will commence now

_____

My neck fell off. It toppled down into the water with a loud splash. An itch that made me want to explode spread across my entire head. I also felt my head start to expand until I controlled my urge to explode. The itch spread across my eyes too. The red wires connected to my eyes grew three feet longer and the eyes.

My eyes stopped itching however. They also felt more instinctual to control. I made them turn towards each other. I saw some sort of gelenatus subject cover them. I turned them to look at me. My skin color had changed from white, to whiter. Devil! A step backwards.

But we had first taken five steps forward. I’d learnt magic. The type the devil used too I think. I’d lost my body but I could regain that. Take that soul. Call me worthless trash again. I dare you. That’s what I thought. You’re talking to yourself. Crazy.

No, I am talking to you. I am I.

I did feel slightly mad at the notion of arguing with thoughts coming from my own mind, so I stopped.

My eyes spun around to see the room. I floated three meters above water. The walls were rough and covered with glow-vine which looked like yellow vines swirling back and forward on the walls.

The water was in the middle of a vast space. The circular room had three tunnels in its walls, each entry way as possibly far away from the other two as possible. I also realized that I wasn’t alone in the room.

Three very small figures, looking like hedgehogs, looked at me. I slowly floated over, my eyes staring right at them. I floated quickly but that became tiring almost immediately. I could float at about a snail's speed comfortably. If I pushed myself too hard, I’d fall into the water below and that was something that scared me like nothing else.

Every single time I’d seen water in hell, a terrifying large creature as big as a mountain, or at least that’s how it felt, swam around in it. My eyes swung down to see if there was any creature like that in this water.

I didn’t expect to find anything. After all, two minutes ago I was in the water, and I had not been eaten. My eyes scanned the whole of the water but I didn’t spot anything. I couldn’t help but wonder where the fish had gone.

I saw it then, in the corner of my eye, lying beside the edge of the water there was a thiry fished stapled ontop of eachother like pebbles. Each one with a deep cut in it. I also saw many different smaller creatures jumping over and in the fishes, to get bites off them.

There was only one explanation. Gokooo had done it in the few seconds he held me. Or maybe he’d done it before that. No that didn’t make any sense, after all, he wasn’t planning on throwing me into the water.

I’d have to be careful around him, if I ever saw him again. I floated closer towards the hedgehogs which began to close into spiky balls, but still kept their eyes open. “Hello?” I shouted at them.

They didn’t respond with words but with squeaky noises. That would work. Now when I squeeze them to death, I can tell my effectiveness by how many squeaky noises I get. That should be good enough.

I was more than eager to test my telekinesis on another person. I wanted to see if I could make them pop, just like the devil did. I visualized one of the hedgehogs becoming smaller, and I pushed for that to happen.

I heard it start to squeak but at the same time I dropped floating downwards. I pushed harder, and harder, and then I gave it my all. The hedgehog squeaked blood coming out of its eyes. It rolled into a ball.

I dropped to the floor, my eyes slamming with a plop, but the gelatinous substance protected them from any damage. I hadn’t noticed it but the hp bar in the top right had become fully green again, albeit smaller.

I felt that part of my mind grow more and more tired, and my eyes spotted the other two hedgehogs rushing towards me with wide eyes. They screeched, and I realized that I had to get up very quickly lest I wanted to die.

I dropped my hold on that hedgehog and floated upwards as fast as I could. My sight turned black for a moment, and I got dangerously close to passing out. I’d have to be more careful with my telekinesis in the future.

The hedgehogs got up and floated away.

Something rushed my mind then, some sort of feeling I’d never experienced before. It felt great, like I’d really done something. It stayed there for a few moments before fading away despite me trying to keep it in my grasp.

I had to get more powerful, and stomp on more creatures. That was the way. I had to use the Primal Adaptation skill to its limit. The question was how? How should I go about it? I thought back to it.

I decided to shelve that thought and float to the creatures eating the many fishes. From that view, far up in the air, I saw many different shapes all gorging themselves. I wanted to kill one of them.

I also saw an ant, and all of a sudden, I felt that I had to kill it. To give a touch of revenge. I focused on its neck, on it snapping in the wrong direction. Nothing happened. Its exoskeleton was hard, I’d have to push harder.

It grew panicked, and stopped eating, waving its head around, its black eyes looking for the source of the hurt. It spotted me, and started running away from me, but I would not let it go away that quickly.

Before I had a chance to follow it though, I saw a small baby with white wings and an expression of pure panic. An angel! Its finger pointed at me and shakingly the little angel said, “a…a… a IMP!”

Its wings flapped and it rushed towards the exit. Many thoughts kicked into my mind, one won out. It would tell the other, more dangerous angels of my location.

I can’t let that happen. I felt energy the likes of which I’d never had before rush into me as I rushed towards the small baby angel. Exhaustion piled up but I’d have to hold it back.

I had to catch that little thing or it was as good as over for me. But that wasn’t all there was too it. It wasn’t just the fact that the angle saw me, but also, that I saw the angel, and if a demon sees an angel, in all of demon kind, we must kill them. A real demon would kill me if he heard me referring to myself as a demon.

I rushed after the angel into the tunnel. Its tiny white wings flapped quickly like a bug, and I could see its shiny little bum sticking towards me. It glanced back at me every now and then, letting out a small scream.

“I’m going to tell everybody about you, I’m going to!”

I got closer. My eyes were almost touching its heels. My consciousness swam out and into the world. The black dots filling my vision became stronger, as if that part of my vision had been burned of by an ever growing flame.

“The whole heaven will turn this place upside down to get you. Hahaha!”

My eyes wrapped around his legs. They pushed his legs together and my eyes made a knot with themselves. The angel and I fell onto the ground, and the angel started screaming at me.

I passed out.