I saw light about twenty meters away. The hole I traveled through ended in a large circle. Through the circle were yellow and green colors. I heard leaves rustle loudly against the variad of different monster and creature sounds.

The cave worried me. It became smaller, and smaller, the walls pushing in against each other and forming a smaller circle. I wondered if I could fit through the hole. The opening stretched about one meter across, but it was rapidly closing. It could be a sign that the rest of the cave was closing.

Damn it. The centipede rushed towards the exit, and I found myself dropping full control of myself, and letting gravity take over and pull me downwards. The hole retained the same size despite me getting closer to it. I passed it, the edges brushing up against my few strands of hair. It closed the moment I’d left.

Lucky me. Any later and I’d be dead. Brains and bone and skin splashed into a mess on the wall, I wonder if walls ate. That would certainly be how. It would mean that they were alive. They needed to poop. Maybe that’s how monsters are created.

I grabbed control of my body and looked around. Plants of different sizes and shapes filled every direction. They were mainly the colors green and blue, but occasionally a bit of red crept in too. Some of the plants were tall enough to touch the sky, with large brown stems supporting them. The forest continued as far as I could see, which was about two hundred meters. I imagine evolution must have worsened my sight.

It felt bad to have one of the few organs left on my body worsened. I was a floating head with two disconnected eyes. Of course, now only one. And I had two spikes which I could thrust at people. I was also exceptionally tough yet despite all of this, many different creatures could grab me and lock me up. I wouldn’t be able to do anything then.

The caterpillar had fallen to the ground, landing with a whack. Its body bended to look like a “C” at the collision but then it straightened out, and ran around in a circle. I hadn’t thought about it, but it couldn’t look upwards.

I floated down to the ground. A tingly sensation spread over my body. Only now did it strike me how far up in the air I was. It was a first for me. All my life I’d been down on the ground, that was simply how imps operated.

“What’s ya name bastard?” I said to the caterpillar. “If we’re sticking together I better know your name.”

“Alfred. What’s yours?”

“I don’t have a name. Imps don’t get names.”

“Then I’ll call you Head, because you’re a head.”

“That’s genius of you.”

“Ahh! My head is hurting from all that straining.”

I chuckled. I didn’t know caterpillars could be funny. I never had the chance to talk to one in hell. Those ones were huge. If I’d so much as hear rumors of a caterpillar heading out of the way, I’d flee. It would never hunt me of course, but one of its many feet was enough to press me flat. And it would do so accidentally.

I noticed on the floor an ant staring at me. The ant was barely the size of a little finger, nothing like the other ant that had attacked me. Yet something in me didn’t like the way it looked at me.

It’s looking down at you, I heard a voice said. It thinks you’re pathetic. It thinks it could take you in a fight. It’s going to run to its friends and tell them all what a coward you are. It thinks you’re pitiful. It’s right.

Before my thoughts shut up, the ant’s neck snapped. Its body fell down onto the floor. No sound came. For a moment, my focus lost track of the ant. It blurred into the brown ground littered with tiny pebbles barely the size of a chopped off fingernail.

I wasn’t weak anymore. A thought I repeated over and over in my head. It wouldn’t stick. If the thought was oil, my mind was water. But I knew I was powerful. I had evolved. I crushed everything in my path. Nothing could stand in front of me.

The trees were tall and thick but I could float above them. I wanted to prove it. My eyes scanned the area for a creature. The strongest creature. The one the others feared and avoided.

In the distance I saw a giant almost six meters tall carrying a boulder of stone heavy enough to make it bend its spine. It heaved loudly as it stepped, its feets sinking deep into the brown material. The brown material was soft like skin, wet like the tongue and consisted of many smaller parts like pebbles. Small blue strands covered it.

But it didn’t have the aura of a ruler. The devil carried himself in a certain way that made it clear he was above everybody. I needed somebody who seemed careless, yet screamed danger and threat.

My eyes landed on a small chimpanzee on the branches just as I had the thoughts. It snored loudly, and its arms were pushed far to the side. Its skin was red. I don’t know why, but my sight wouldn’t leave the chimp, as if there was something my instincts were trying to tell me.

I floated over to the chimp. A large drop of snot hung on its nose. Its fur was a mix of fire red and grape purple. There were splotches of black on its stomach. A bit of electricity crackled silently and subtly over its fists. It pushed outwards and inwards as the chimp breathed. Different thoughts of what made it so special flooded my mind but one stuck.

I slept so peacefully. It was the type of peace a baby who had never been submerged to the dangers of the world sleeped with. The devil liked to be the one to ruin that innocence. Sometimes he brought in a baby only to wake it up with his most despicable face. It was a bit of a hobby he had.

His cruelty is truly something to aspire to, I thought. It wasn’t just the cruelty. It was the capacity to be capable of such cruelty. I mean, it’s always struck me as something to be proud of to have complete and total control over your heart. I’ve always felt bad at treating humans poorly. I think everyone does, but its still doing it that makes you a real fiend. And that’s what I want to be.

It was my turn to ruin that innocence. At ones I put all the psychic energy in me towards one goal. Twisting his neck. I imagined it and I pressed reality for it. His chin would spin to the left, further than it could ever possibly hope to achieve and he’d die.

Nothing happened.

I felt the exhaustion radiate throughout my body. I tried again, and this time I got a response. Slowly the chimp’s hand rose up towards his head. It approached the forehead, then went past it, and scratched the tip of his skull before falling down again.

I snapped his neck in my mind over and over but it didn’t budge the slightest. Alfred, the caterpillar, decided to come over. He wanted to find out what I was doing. He saw the chimp on the branch, and went to bite him.

His mandibles wrapped around his neck, just like the ant had against my neck. He bit down, as hard as he could. His eyes widened, and his mandibles opened, before shutting again. I heard the last noise I expected. Ouch.

“What the hell is wrong with this guy?” Alfred said.

“A lot. The whole of heaven is wrong with him.”

“Shut it,” the imp said with such dominance that I felt compelled to sleep. His right eyelid slid up just a sliver, enough to see his pupils, which were slits, staring right at me. “Another noise and you’re both dead.”

Sweat coated my entire head, and after a few seconds began dripping off my neck onto the ground floor. Alfred looked at me, probably confused. Can ants even feel stress, or bloodlust for that matter? If no, lucky them.

At once, every part of my head strained. The pain was awful, like a nail slowly crawled through every part of my brain at once. The physic wave I sent towards was powerful enough for reality to bend just slightly.

He’d die here because I was strong.

The attack hit him. He sneezed.

Heat that scratched and hurt and ached, flooded my head. It had to die now. My pride as an imp forced me. What am I saying. I’m worthless. My consciousness went white as I gripped the spikes with everything I had and shoved them into the chimp.

The chimp didn’t open its eyes. Its left hand flashed an arc in front of its face, and suddenly both my spikes were in its palm, and it was clenching hard. What the hell? It wasn’t even looking at me.

Look at me! If you respect your enemy in a fight you look at them. Everyone knew this. The chimp probably also knew it. This was a clear offense. It wasn’t just not looking at me. It was purposefully not looking at me.

“I’ll slaughter you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Its arm shot to the right. The air shrieked. My head spun. I found myself flying a far distance, the world passing around me in a blur, until my head slammed into the moss of a tree.

I didn’t pass out but the world spun as if my head rolled down a hill. The many different noises that filled my ears morphed into each other. The I’s and E’s and U’s blended together and the pitch raised and lowered, alongside the volume which in moments was really loud, and otherwise silent.

I’ll kill you. I heard the voice without even thinking about it. My soul was just as harsh at me, as people who disrespected me. It didn’t make much sense. Did it hate me or like me? Or maybe I’m just realistic and think you’re trash.

I saw a black figure that bended towards my way. It held a human skull attached to a metal chain in its right hand. A crazed smile spread across its face. The top of its head was the head of a bull skull. Two large brown horns sticking out.

“Get this through your head,” the figure said, “The only person who’s killing Jeffrey is me. You’ve been warned.” The figure walked away towards the bushes and I couldn’t see it anymore.

My headache. What type of strange world had I fallen into now. They had rules here just like in hell. Actually, now that I think about it, the terrain here was unique unlike the rest of the cave. There was certainly something off about this area.

His warning didn’t matter to me though. I’d be the one to kill Jeffrey or that little chimp. I’d have to train first though and become much stronger than I already was. The chimp had beaten me without so much as a sweat.

After a while, I floated up and looked around. I could only see the strange tall plants and nothing else. The chimp must have flung me far. I’d have no chance of finding Alfred, but that’s the best. If he was going to stick with me he’d also have to get stronger.

My goal was simple then. Me and Alfred would meet up in some time, but until then we’d have to grow much stronger. He won’t recognize me the next time he sees me. No. I’ll be a completely different beast. One that puts that little chimp to shame.

That meant killing many different monsters in the forest. I didn’t wait, but flew up. The air brushed against my cheeks as my eyes scanned all over the ground. My ears were attuned for any noise too. If I heard anything, or sensed anything I would attack immediately.

_____

Urgent Quest

Blood lust aimed at you has been detected. Escape or kill its source.

Failure will lead to death.

Success will lead to 500 XP.

_____

It seeemed something else found me first. The “500” said this creature was much more powerful than the ant that had attacked me. Then it had only 50 experience points.

I looked to the left and right at the same time. Nothing. I felt safe for a sliver of a moment, but I remembered that all angels had not been covered. My eyes stared upwards, and there, sticking against the roof of the wall, was a squid which was falling quickly towards me.

An instinctual urge attacked me. I handed over the control of my body. The sense of my brain controlling my floating jerked to the right with a speed I hadn’t previously thought possible. It was different from my other movements. Despite the high speed, I didn’t get exhausted.

The squid splashed on the floor. The tentacles spread as wide as possible. The ground sizzled from the acid produced by the squids mucus. The last thing I wanted were those tentacles on my head.

With my physic powers, I pressed down on the squid but like with the imp, it wasn’t effective at all. Why wasn’t it as effective? It was a question I’d have to save for later. Fortunately I had another weapon.

I sent a spike shooting straight for the squid. It pierced its head and blood oozed out. The squid cried out in pain and one of its tentacles reached out for me like the tongue of a toad. I just barely dodged it. A part of the tentacle grazed my cheek burning me like hell. The pain sharpened my focus. I could not die. Not to this squid.

_____

Urgent Quest

Blood lust aimed at you has been detected. Escape or kill its source.

Failure will lead to death.

Success will lead to 5000 XP.

_____

It wasn’t that the window flashed again, but rather that an almost identical copy showed itself. Instinctively my one remaining eye pointed upwards. I saw a squid at least three times the size of the one on the ground falling towards me.

I rushed towards one side, and I would have gotten away but its tentacles wrapped around me, and pulled me in. Thank me so much for spending those extra points on toughness. My skin barely sizzled unlike the ground. However, I could see the acid eating up on the slimy substance defending my eyes.

I had to get away. I kicked and pushed. The tentacles bent but held me tight. The squid seemed furious. The smaller squid laid in a puddle of its blood now, but the bleeding had slowed down a bit now, whether that be due to a lack of blood or a lack of injury I don’t know.

With one especially powerful jerk, I kicked myself up and away from the squid. I floated high up in the air, to give me ample time to avoid its tentacles which it shot out rapidly like a frogs tongue. These were dangerous. A single hit would kill me.

My mind was blank. I hadn’t thought of it but this was fun. I was invested in the fight like nothing else, because at this very moment, nothing mattered, it was simply me against momma squid, and I was planning on winning.

I sent out my spikes. They pierced the head multiple times, and blood gushed out, but unlike the little squid those wounds healed very quickly. It didn’t stop the squid from squeaking out in pain each time, and that powered me further.

Die damn you. Die. I sound completely insane. I am completely insane, I agreed with my inner thoughts. I was concentrating on nothing else but winning. The humiliation the chimp had put me through still tainted me.

About ten spike shots later, the squid's arms failed to gain the strength required to reach me. It was easy pickings from there on. The smaller squid crawled onto his mothers arm to support her, but it wouldn't do anything.

_____

Urgent Quest

Blood lust aimed at you has been detected. Escape or kill its source.

Failure will lead to death.

Success will lead to 6000 XP.

_____

Fuck. Me. I looked up to see the largest squid yet falling. The feeling from the first time took over me except for one vital difference, the previous time it had felt like a flash of luck but now it was skill.

Instead of trying to doge the squid I sent some sort of blast out of my body. It was like a part of me leaving myself. A sharp pain stabbed my eye, making it unstable and fizzy for a brief moment, and then when my sight opened up again, I saw that the squid was splattered against the cieling.

Only one small problem. I was falling down towards the ground.

My psychic energy had depleted completely, and my head bounced against the dirt floor. No matter how much I pushed for it to come back and work, nothing happened. Slowly I saw bits of the squid's body unstick from the ceiling. When its entire body had unsticked it would fall down right at me, and kill me.

And, there another one of its tentacles went unstuck.

I needed to do something now. Otherwise I’d die. Fortunately for me, it seemed that my luck hadn’t stopped just yet, because just then, the little died, giving me 500 experience points.

_____

Quest completed.

Reward: 500 experience.

_____

I leveled up six times, and I brought up my status almost immediately. I needed to spend my six points on something that could get me out of this scenario.

_____

Stat Page

Current Species: Kimp

Active Title: Blind Sheep

Total Power Level: 79

Level = 19

Level Up = 60/320 Xp

Unallocated stat points: 6

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Intellect: 10

Magical Aptitude: 0

Stamina 3:

Toughness: 11

Vitality: 2

Skills: Primal Adaptation, Average Telekinesis

_____

I needed to think about this. Intellect wouldn’t work as that only helped for magic, and I’d already been explained to that this wasn’t magic, but something else. Increasing Magical aptitude had allowed me to unlock this.

If I increase my stamina, perhaps I’d gain more energy to throw around. It’s either that or putting everything onto vitality and hoping I survive long enough for my energy to regenerate. Yup, stamina is the way to go, I thought.

_____

These changes will be permanent.

Stamina 3 ===> 9

Confirm/Deny

_____

I clicked confirm, and for a few moments, I felt like the lung had been pulled out of my lungs, which I didn’t have. I choked, and black dots swam in my vision. It made the squid blurry, who had gotten three tentacles loose.

For two minutes I felt completely useless. The squid hung off the roof and one of its tentacles was still stuck. It had been slightly shaking that one limb for the last minute, trying to drop down on me. A bit of its drool dripped on my forehead, burning.

Then, it dropped. I didn’t care if my body wasn’t prepared. I pulled energy from my body. I’d tripled my stamina, it must be there. But it wasn’t there at all, and what I’d feared was true. Increasing stamina didn’t lead to me getting free stamina, it simply meant that regenerating and keeping stamina would be different.

No, I couldn't accept this. This was complete bullshit! The squid traveled down lower towards me. I swear I could see a smile on its face and I hated it. I needed energy. My body would give me energy, even if it broke.

I pulled from an empty well, and when that didn’t give anything, I pulled harder, and when that gave nothing, I ripped the well out of me. In the end something happened and it saved my life.

_____

Alert!

Primal Adaptation has been activated! The skill Magical Companion has been gained.

_____