《The Change》Chapter 3
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A new day dawned and Evan woke up well rested; after all that had happened, it almost felt like a miracle. However, it lasted little. As he rolled onto his side, his chest exploded into a fit of itchy skin. He sat upright against the wall and scratched ferociously, hoping to cease the irritation; his skin got instantly smoother, yet its density felt...firmer, . His belly was strangely firm at the touch, a firmness that upon further examination extended to his neck and the rest of the frontside.
Evan struggled to get out of bed in his upright position, but once he got on his feet he found it less difficult to move about. He examined himself in the mirror; his pectoral region was barren, as he no longer had nipples.
“The fuck is this?!”
His fingers brushed against his smooth skin. His body was changing and he didn’t know what he was changing to, nor did he know to stop it, but one thing Evan did know: he couldn’t let anyone see himself like this.
That day, focusing on his job proved to be too much of a challenge. His mind was elsewhere all the time, to whatever was happening to his body: from his abdominal cramps to his reptilian eyes and now his chest. Thoughts swirled around his head of him being forever closed off from society as a mutant that would disgust regular onlookers. Thoughts of never being able to see his family and his own unrecognisable visage being but a twisted husk of what it once was. He began to hyperventilate as the panic from his thoughts sent him on a downward spiral, just in the middle of his workday...
CRACK! A wet pop sounded off in his chest and his heart rate skyrocketed. Clutching his chest as he fell to his knees, terrorized by that horrible sound, CRACK! Another sharp crack sent pain up and down his spine as he yelped in pain. CRACK! A third one sounded off in his chest. Evan struggled to breathe as he felt his ribs being forced outwards, out of their sockets; his heart pounded in his growing chest, as he convulsed onto the ground as each forceful push inside his body sent waves of pain throughout his body; with both hands he desperately pushed against his sternum in the vain attempts to force his ribs back into their normal position. He heard voices around him, but could not make sense out of them; he just writhed on the ground, while his chest pushed outward forcing itself against his hands - and CRACK! Evan to yell in pain until he had no more air left in his lungs.
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He lied flat on the ground, breathless, helpless and speechless. His heart was like it was going to explode out of his chest. His chest swelled and pressed outwards while his ribs grew and expanded, becoming twice as large as before together with his lungs. Each breath he drew felt enormous as they worked to inhale as much as it could. Only then did he notice the pain had ceased.
Evan hadn’t noticed the tears. His brief respite would give him time to look over his enlarged chest: he couldn’t see past it like he used to, although his ribs were still pronounced underneath his skin.
Evan couldn’t handle it anymore and broke down into tears. He was becoming more of a freak by the second and as he cried he heard his own voice go down in pitch making his voice deeper in tone.
He didn’t even get the time to scream out his struggle that from the core of his being something else began to build up. He could have tried to cease his crying and brace himself for what was coming - but how could one ever be truly ready for it? The scream of crying became quickly a scream of suffering as the sensation of an explosion went off inside his chest, pressing itself against his ribs and forcing them outward as his chest grew in size. The first volley of this attack pressed on his lungs, forcing all the air trapped inside him to get out; he was breathless once more as he experienced the horrific pain he was forced to endure.
Unnatural sounds originating from his chest reverbated off the walls as they popped out of place and cracked into their new ones. The push in his chest forced him into unnatural proportions. The groans and yelps of pain descended another pitch, while his vertebrae pop once or twice as he struggled for air.
With futility he clutched at his sternum while his heart burned and thumped in his chest with a ferocity he hadn’t experienced. With tears in his eyes, Evan for the first time in his life begged for death.Please, he thought, take me and free me from this, I’d rather not feel anything at all and this, all alone...
Without warning the pain stopped.
For a very short moment, Evan thought his prayer had been listented. However, he quickly came back to reality once he reconnected with the world around him. He was lying on the ground, drawing huge breaths for his enlarged lungs and reeling from the pain.
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He convulsed as he broke down into a bigger fit of tears. His newly deep voice felt so wrong to his ears, and only increased his despair further.
He rolled onto his back and saw his barrelled chest. At the same time, the itching returned but after what he went through it didn’t feel as bad as before. His belly had rhombus-like plates forming; the itch itself intensified as Evan stared at himself and saw his smooth skin and his navel disappearing replaced instead with plates hardening on his chest and belly. Nothing of his front side resembled what it used to be.
And then, everything began once more.
The immense pressure in his chest forced itself up into his neck. The pops reverberated echoed in his mind while his head moved further away from his chest. It slowly inched itself further away while his once flat chest bulged outwards beyond its natural shape. His neck grew in length yet his head, which felt ready to explode, remained untouched. The itching took a hold of his neck as it had with his abdomen, the front of his neck firmed up into smaller plates of keratin. The skin around it started to constrict as if he was being choked by an invisible hand, forcing him to claw at his neck as if to somehow stop the feeling of being strangled to death until it stopped all of a sudden, leaving Evan taking ragged, shaky breaths.
Getting up on his trembling hands and knees, Evan, tried once more to get up. His heavy chest made it more difficult to stand upright. He wobbled side to side like a pendulum trying to maintain his upright posture, with no success. His enlarged organs added to his dilemma of being able to stand perfectly.
He leaned on the kitchen bench for support as he made his way to the bathroom, reaching his mirror. He knew he had to do it. But what was going on had left his mind incapable of preparing himself.
There, he found the mirror.
His chest had expanded to look too large for the rest of his body. His front plates had firmed up, upon touch they felt as though he was bullet proof. His belly plates had a vibrant yellow colour made more vivid by his enhanced eyes, going from underneath his chin down to his flattened out stomach. The skin surrounding the plates had even begun showing signs of discoloration.
He pried his fingers underneath the plates, trying to pry them off and barely lifting the plates before he felt as though he was peeling his skin off, hurting. How ironic that after everything he went through, this would still hurt him. He stopped immediately.
Leaning on the ball of his heels helped him maintain his balance immensely. With shaky steps he practiced walking around normally. His eyes became watery as he worried at what “Normal” meant for him now. Throughout the day Evan tried to return to his duties but he discovered each task he performed he had to relearn because of his new condition. Soon, night fell on his home and Evan stared restless at his twisted form in the mirror, his overlapping plates and his discoloured skin. His vertebrae poked underneath his skin, as if his spine wanted to poke out of his back.
And there, his mind fell into dizziness. He held his head as if to stop it, sitting on his couch while his head grew heavy. And slowing his breathing to slow his intake of air. His growing body had drained more energy out of him than he thought at first. His whole spine ached in each joint. His eyelids grew as heavy as his head and before he knew it his body pulled his mind to a deep slumber.
As Evan fell to his slumber little did he realise that his body had begun growing a brand new appendage.
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RPG: Blithe
Mateo was your typical 21 year old college kid from Colorado, he had everything that he had ever wanted apart from a good financial status, in fact everything seemed normal from a persons perspective, he had a loving mother, great friends, a job and a place he could call 'home'. However, that all came crashing down when he gets brutally murdered by an unsuspecting individual of the night. Follow Mateo on a crazy rollercoaster ride as he meets a God of sorts who bestows him a second chance in life across a different dimension on a planet known as "Greiss". This particular world is out of the norms of physical reality as he soon finds out that it is inhabited by strange mythical creatures such as dragons, vampires, werewolves, giants, angels and demons. A utopia of magic, swords and beauty filled with exciting adventures in undiscovered environments. He soon finds himself under a different name: Apollo, reincarnated as a newborn baby in the hands of a rich and stable family who adores him for who he is as a person. His only ambition is to explore the vast expanse of Greiss, visiting various areas of interest filled with unexpected dangers and adventure. He also delves deep into the powers of the world including magic, swordsmanship and other crafts in order to gain the required power to protect himself from the dangers lurking in the dark. Watch as he slowly develops into a cunning, logical mind as he begins to adapt to his new unforgiving environment.
8 138Orivar: Deep Black
Atara Korrell, a retired Navy captain, is called back into service after a gifted scientist loses everything. Is she serving her country? Or is she just a pawn in a great game? Orivar is a web novel series set in the distant future. Humanity has all but mastered the exotic material known as omnium, the most common of which is called orivar: the original variety. That clear crystal is a transmuter of mass and energy, and the very existence of contemporary Civilized Space depends on it. Deep Black, the first book in the series, begins a classic story of light versus darkness. A novel variety of omnium–one with the potential of sending Civilized Space crashing down–is stolen from a research station just beyond the Federation border. Atara Korrell, a retired Navy captain, is called to command the fastest starship ever made to chase the thieves and retrieve the stolen sample. Meanwhile, enemies both near and far vie for the omnium sample and the advanced technology powering her ship. Can Atara remain loyal in the face of seeming betrayal?(Cover art by Loputon https://www.deviantart.com/loputon)
8 135The Humanity Initiative (discontinued)
Virtual gaming has been around for ages. Many live their entire lives online, not caring about what’s left of the real world. The few who do, fear nuclear annihilation. The risk of an unfortunate chain reaction is too large to ignore, but as of now, prevention is impossible. Humanity, in its biological form, would never survive as it is. That’s why the UN has its full focus on “The Humanity Initiative”. The field of genetics shows promising results, but are years from ready. If bombs were to fly tomorrow, something must survive. Recent VR technology has a potential candidate for that something.Farah Al Farzha never plays online, she loathes the very idea of it. She is in love with reality, and competitive fencing is her way to prove it. But when she reluctantly went online, she couldn’t exit, or at least a copy of her consciousness couldn’t.Human, but juridically speaking no more, Farah struggles in a game that would’ve been illegal. To her only consolation, the game is modeled after reality, a place foreign to the gaming brats around her. But what demands do the UN put on potential ‘human’ survivor candidates, and how will natural selection be replaced, when reality is no more? _______________________________________________________________________
8 244Interdimensional Resource Collector in a Fantasy World: (A LitRPG)
The Strada republic has been fighting the Klada High Oligarchy, another multi-solar civilization for over half a century. The law of their dimension permits the conservation of the dimensional properties of items from different dimensions; however, they cannot recreate them in their own world. As such they rely on IRC, Interdimensional Resource Collectors to seize items such as weapons, or raw resources from different dimensions. Orion Dandillon is one of these billions of workers. He has been working as an IRC for roughly two centuries and is now sent to a type-M/22 world. In other words, a fantasy world with a system. Release schedule: Minimum of 3 chapters a week, however, I’ll release more at the start. I’ll decide on a more consistent release schedule later.
8 199no title | rosekook
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Do you remember Akbar and Birbal ki jodi?Who doesn't, right?😅The witty and entertaining short stories of them has always fascinated everyone.😄 But what's new?🤔Now you can enjoy those interesting mistery solving short stories of Akbar and Birbal mixed with rhyming and sweet poetry essence.Get ready to sing Birbal's unique solution to every problem like a song to travel in time and reach your childhood days like a miracle.😊
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