A jolt forced me awake. I looked around in a panic while I tried to remember what the hell happened. I spotted two of my ‘legs’ stuck into the dirt wall and it came back to me. Apparently before I passed out I absorbed all my legs except the two I was using and used the extra mass to make a large hook at the end of the tentacles holding me in the wall. Giving myself a mental pat on the back for my quick thinking, I get an idea and sprout two more legs with hooks and used them to start climbing. My target was the tunnel not far above me. It was close, and I wanted to get out of this damn hole. I couldn’t even see where I came in anymore. The tunnel tilted a bit and twisted slightly, leaving me with no clue as to how deep I fell. I wasn’t even sure how I could still see but I’m not one to question a good thing.

It took me a good ten minutes of climbing to reach the tunnel. I made sure nothing was there before I entered and noticed that I wasn’t even tired. Even the tentacles that were supporting me weren’t sore or anything. I just added it to the list of good things not to question and moved on.

The tunnels were confusing and seemed to lead nowhere. Forked tunnels led to dead ends and collapsed areas. Whatever made these tunnels obviously left a while ago.

After exploring tunnels for a while, I got bored and sat down to think. Before I could even gather my thoughts, I felt something. I flattened my entire body onto the ground to see if I could feel it better. It took a moment, but it started again. Small and almost imperceptible vibrations spreading throughout the tunnels. I had nothing else to do so I followed the vibrations to the source. My memories were still lost to me, so I decided to figure out more about this world and my new body than worry about it.

The vibrations led me to an oddly flat section of the wall. I used two tentacles as shovels and carefully dug into the wall. It didn’t take much till I broke through to another tunnel. As soon as I poked a hole into the other tunnel the vibrations grew in intensity. I moved through the tunnel getting closer and closer to my destination. The vibrations were so intense I could feel it throughout my entire body. I could handle it but the closer I got the more trouble I had moving. I had to go back, the vibrations were too strong for me. I turned around and headed the other direction. I decided to go the other direction and see what that leads too. On the way I also experimented with ways to move. I wanted to move faster and growing more tentacles just made me clumsy. It still feels weird having no feet, but I had finally gotten used to moving around. With three tentacles on either side and one large tentacle on my back that I always kept sharp, so I could defend myself.

I went through the tunnels as fast as I could, just to see how fast I could go. I was curious about the vibrations but there was nothing I could do about that right now. I sped through the tunnels, going so fast that my surroundings started to blur. I didn’t realize I hit something until after I passed through it. I tried to stop and see what I hit but I couldn’t get any traction and slipped. Falling flat on my body and sliding along the floor before coming to a stop. I felt like an idiot as I went back to see what happened. It turns out what I hit was an ant. It was obviously dead as I tore a huge hole right through the length of its body. I poked it a couple times to be sure and after getting no reaction I was sure it was dead. I realized that its bodily fluids are what I must have slipped on. I rubbed a tentacle on my head to see if I was still covered in it, but it came back dry. I thought this was a little weird and then I looked down. I was standing in a small puddle of its fluids and my body was slowly absorbing it.

‘Gross…. I think I found out how I eat though.’

This is kind of gross, but this is my new body and I must eat somehow. I don’t have a mouth to chew and I’m pretty sure I don’t have a stomach. I guess its lucky for me to find out how I eat before I get hungry.

I used my sharpened tentacle and stab the ant’s body. Which immediately shriveled up and disappeared. If I had a face and a mouth, my jaw would be on the floor.

I expected it to shrivel a bit as its fluids disappeared. I didn’t think that I would absorb the entire thing.

‘Well. Maybe it’s a good thing? I don’t have to worry about what to do about its body now. At least I didn’t have to taste it.’

I shivered a bit imagining the taste. I’m not entirely sure why the thought makes me feel disgusted. No new memories came back or anything. Just a vague feeling of sickness when I think about the taste of insects.

‘weird’

I shook it off and started moving down the tunnel. I went fast but I was more careful this time. Paying more attention to where I’m going. I didn’t seem to get tired to I just kept going. By the time I finally reached the end of the tunnel I ran into seven more ants. They were in the way so I just stabbed them in the head and absorbed them so I could keep going. The tunnel led me back outside and I stopped to look around.

‘I’m still at the fucking river.’

I couldn’t believe it, after all that time. I went so fast and travelled so far and I only made it to the other side of the rocks near the river. I didn’t know what to do. How could I enjoy my life while being this small?

As if responding to my thoughts, my body grew slightly. It wasn’t much but I was happy for any improvement. I even felt like I could grow a bit more. It must be because I absorbed those ants!

I was so excited. I found a way to get bigger. I just had to hunt. I didn’t have a problem with it. I mean, they are just ants. Who cares right?

I immediately went back into the tunnel to begin. I shrunk myself back down a little bit to make it easier to move in the tunnels and descended. The vibrations got a little stronger since I started my journey, but it didn’t bother me much. I was just focused on finding all the ants I could. It didn’t take me long to figure out the ants were coming from where the vibrations are strongest. It was weird but I didn’t really give it much thought. I had to figure out some way to deal with the vibrations, so I decided to give something a try. I focused on my body and imagined it growing a soft fleshy layer to absorb the vibrations. I didn’t add too much so that I can still move without difficulty. But just enough to help, if I need more I can probably add it later.

I headed towards the source of the vibrations once more making sure to kill and absorb any ant I passed by. The closer I get, the more ants I run into. Its weird but they are not just more numerous, they also seem to be getting stronger. It was simple to kill them before, now they seem to be covered in a strong carapace. They also have long, sharp mandibles which ended up cutting off several of my tentacles. They were getting faster and it was almost impossible for me to pierce them now. I had to use my tentacles as hammers and smash them against the tunnel wall. Crushing their carapace and exposing the soft flesh underneath. Absorbing them afterwards was easy. I could feel myself getting a little stronger with each ant I absorb. I mean, I’m pretty sure that I would still die if I was stepped on. But to things that are my size I can put up more of a fight. I also found out that I can heal my wounds instantly, which to be honest didn’t surprise me all that much. Being a shapeshifter, I can move my flesh around easily so, it makes sense that I can close wounds without worry. I also made a weird discovery. I do feel pain, but it is extremely dull. Even when an ant managed to cut off one of my tentacles, it was like stepping on something sharp. It hurt but I could just re-attach it and the pain went away.

I reached a large empty chamber that was filled to the brim with ants all working on digging more tunnels in various directions. These ants were rather small and seemed to ignore me. In fact, they seemed to move out of the way as I walked through. I thought it was a little weird, so I just ignored them and moved on. The closer I got to the source of the vibrations the more my curiosity grew. This couldn’t be caused by something organic. It reminded me of my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. It would vibrate strongly for a couple seconds and then softly for a little bit before starting over again. I grabbed my head as I suddenly got a huge headache.

Memories flooded into my mind. I remembered more of my life. From the elementary school I attended to the high school I went to. I even remembered some useless things like my old bank account and the contents of my hard drive. The memories abruptly stopped as soon as the headache stopped. I even tried to force myself to remember for a little bit and only succeeded in giving myself another headache. It was good that I regained some memories, but they weren’t exactly useful. Except one memory that caught my attention. The day I was going to go in to my new job.

I remember most of the day, right up to the interview and then everything goes blank. The pain mostly subsided but I was still confused. Why does that memory feel so wrong to me? Something about it just isn’t right. I snapped out of it just as a large ant ran straight into me. Stabbing me with its thick mandibles, tilting its head to smash me into the wall. The pain was dull as usual, but the impact was jarring. This ant was a lot stronger than the ones I have been fighting. This ant is black, and its armor is stronger than anything I have run into so far. I immediately started smashing at the armor with hardened tentacles, but it didn’t even scratch it. Despite my flailing it was still smashing me into anything nearby. Even crushing its fellow ants in its frenzy.

I had already closed my wounds, but with every smash I get more. I tried tightening my body around its mandibles. I wrapped as many tentacles around its head as I could and squeezed as hard as I could. I also made myself shrink to increase the pressure. It didn’t seem to mind at first and just kept running into walls and other ants.

*CRACK*

I heard a loud sound from underneath me and the ant froze. I could tell that its armor was starting to crack. The ant emitted a weird screech and using everything it could to try and get me off. I held on with all I had and squeezed until I heard one of the most satisfying sounds I have ever experienced.

*CRUNCH*

The ant’s head was almost completely folded in half and leaking juices that were absorbed as soon as they touched me. It spasmed a couple times before it finally fell still. I waited a little longer before I was comfortable letting go of it. The smaller ants were still in the chamber and they were staring at me. So I changed back into my spider-scorpion form and got ready for another fight. But they just turned around and ignored me again. They didn’t seem to want to fight so I ignored them and shot a tentacle into the large ant to absorb it.

When I was done, my body changed a little bit. My body was kind of pale before, but now its gotten a little darker. I could feel certain changes in my body but I decided to wait till I get out of this nest to figure out what exactly has changed.