Chapter 165 - Headhydra VI

She was not always a powerful predator, or even a predator at all. When her mind first formed, she was just another one of the many worms that dug through the soil, a tiny, insignificant maggot that mindlessly slithered about, eating whatever she could find. Because she could not see, smell, or hear, the only things her world revolved around were movement and flavour. That was why she liked to eat. Eating always filled her with vigour and blessed her with new experiences. She soon learned that not all food was hard or salty. Some of it was sour, some of it was soft and sweet, and some of it would wriggle around whenever she bit into it. And that was the kind she liked the most.

The primeval joy that came with eating drove her to slither around and look for all the squirmy things she could. And it was through her wandering, her ravenous feeding-frenzy, that she discovered the ability to form complex thoughts. Consuming one of the extra sour things she found cleared her mind. It gave her eyes, ears, and a nose. The ability to sense her environment in ways she had never thought possible before.

When she made use of her senses, she found that the thing she was eating was one of many strewn throughout her world. She didn’t know exactly what they were, but they were big and made up of six main pieces, sometimes seven. The enigmatic seventh part was always the toughest to eat. Her jaws had difficulty getting through it, and she would have to chew for days on end. But the insides were worth it. They were often tasty, just like the other six parts. Eventually, she decided that the seventh parts were egg sacks, like the one that she had emerged from. Because they couldn’t have been anything else.

Unlike her, the strange tasty things weren’t fully hatched. Even though they were bigger than their shells, and many many times her size. A fact she didn’t think much about. Strength continued to flow into her as she ate. Enough strength to chase away all the other hatchings that wanted to rob her of her meal. Those that didn’t flee from her, she ate. Because they were wriggly and delicious all the same.

And it was precisely after eating one of the aforementioned hatchlings that she found herself changing again. Even without being able to see herself, she understood that she had suddenly gone from being one thing to another. Parts sprouted from her core. The pieces of her body grew separate and more distinct. And she even found that she no longer had to crawl on her belly. Eating was easier too. The pieces were smaller, and more easily broken apart when she opened her mouth and chewed. Even though they were the same size they had been before.

But though the change simplified her life, not everything was as easy as it seemed. Many of the things she tried to eat tried to eat her back. Some of them stood on two of their parts. While others stood on four. But they were all the same, food in her belly at the end of the day. The only difference she noticed was that the ones that made themselves look taller had stranger roars. And that they varied more in size.

A particular encounter with one such big thing nearly ended her journey. The one she found was different from all the others. Wider. Taller. Its shouts were even longer, and it would sometimes throw strange things at her. Things that appeared out of nowhere and carved into her flesh. That was how she learned the meanings of panic and death. It smashed something into her eyes. And made it so she couldn’t see. Only hurt.

She didn’t know what happened after that. But she woke up again, her body was whole and her consciousness was intact. She had the vague recollection that something had roared at her after the thing that beat her walked away. And she didn’t know if it was because of that or some other reason. But the thing that defeated her had failed to eat her.

So she tried to chase it down. To make it known that she was the eater and that it was the eaten.

It took a long, long time for her to find it. She ate many, many things along the way, and her body grew stronger and tougher. But even then, it was still the victor. It beat her down the same way it had before. By slicing her head apart.

When she woke up the next time, she did so in a blind fury. Retracing her steps, she rushed it. Again and again. But each time, it was the one who won. It wasn’t until she stopped to think, to understand that her mistake was running right at it, that she was finally allowed to partake a flavour beyond the bitterness of defeat. And so sweet and savoury it was. The taste of its flesh, as it slid down her throat.

A taste that came alongside another change in her form.

Her body grew even bigger. Bigger than any of the other creatures that thrived alongside her. And with the increase in her brain mass came an even greater increase in her understanding of the world. The creature she had killed was one of the many invaders that ran rampant within her home. They were plenty. Just like the ever increasing number of her kin. And knowing that was what prompted her to hunt them.

She was not always successful. Some of them would kill her in return, but each of her deaths would end in lessons learned. Mastery of combat was ingrained into her bones, fused into the very essence of her being as she continued to fight against the interlopers. Because, according to the divine being that preserved her consciousness, it was not yet her time. She still had a task to see through. And see through it she did. She not only attacked the intruders that dared to venture within her home, but also those that happened to be near it. All that dared to cross her were slain.

Eventually, they seemed to learn their lesson. They came to understand that she was their superior and refrained from wandering too close to her territory. Until one day, when she was slain again.

She tried to chase down her murderers immediately after her death. But she couldn’t. They had placed something in her path. An immovable object that she couldn’t squeeze through. Her attacks almost didn’t seem to register. Not even her trump card, the rotting flame that ate even the organ that produced it. Something about the barrier made it impervious. She couldn’t break free. No matter how she struggled.

But while the chains had her at their mercy, the intruders did not appear to share her restrictions. Most of the ones she sensed remained beyond the barrier, but those that wished to wander past it often did. And some were even successful in seeking her residence and putting her down. Others were not as lucky and found defeat, perhaps by her hands, or those of her roommates. Either way, her life went on. With more peace and sleep than bloodlust and violence.

She soon settled into the once unwelcome change. Lazing away the days and nights. Until the next sudden shift.

The air changed one day. Because the barrier was disrupted, and not in the usual way. It failed to return to normal, as it always did, and provided instead an opening that led to the surface. Another chance to destroy those that had dared to infringe upon her property, to place their homes above her own. Seeing no reason to hold back, she took the change in stride. Turning the same colour as the wind, she snuck past all three groups of intruders, squeezed her way out through the tiny hole in the barrier, and examined the settlement established on the other side of the door.

Upon silently observing it, she found much of her rage quelled. She did not understand it. But something about it roused a strange feeling within her chest. The intruders were not just intruders. They had added something to her home. Even though it meant taking away the lives of many of her kin. And hers on occasion as well.

She wandered through the streets, scanning the various buildings and gazing upon their inhabitants. Strangely, most of them were centered in one of few places. It almost seemed like a waste to have so many strange structures made, and most of them outright abandoned.

But before long, she found that she was the only one that was willing to coexist. They attacked as soon as she revealed herself to them. As they always had, since the first time she met a premature end.

With a betrayed, angry roar, she forged blade after blade of wind and cut the town to pieces. It was a shame that she had to destroy their beautiful structures, but they had brought it upon themselves. If they were unwilling to be good neighbours, then she would put them down and drive them away. As she always had.

They tried to poke at her with pointy sticks and pieces of sharpened rock. Some even made flames like the ones that lined her walls. But none of them could so much as scratch her. She could—would—have wiped them out had another group not suddenly appeared in the midst of her rampage. The reinforcements were less numerous, but more powerful than their allies. The strange floating creatures among their ranks were able to make things that she had never seen before. The world itself almost seemed to obey their commands. Just as it did hers.

The cliffs that they summoned were not powerful, but they got in the way. Her winds could not blow past them, no matter how hard they raged. So frustrated was she that she soon began to bellow, to use the rot that burned the insides of her throat. And surely enough, they fell. One by one. Each time her rot gland returned.

Even more reinforcements arrived on the scene just when she thought the floaters to be on the verge of defeat. The new pair to join the fray looked different from the others. Much different. But they were harmless all the same.

The first one to attack struck at her rear without knowing that she could see from each strand on her tail. Thinking the attacker a fool, she lashed out. The attack failed to land, but she could not be bothered to seek out the reason. There were too many rocks hitting her, and they stung just enough to irritate her and redirect her focus.

Though the rocks were annoying, she soon found that they paled in comparison to the gnat in front of her face. She tried to strike it with her tail, but the wind she blew would never reach.

Still, she was unbothered. They were weaker than the last ones to slay her. She did not even need to think to cause them any harm, only react to whatever antics they were looking to attempt.

That was what she thought, what she knew, until the strange gnat suddenly joined the many floating creatures hovering through the sky. The day began to darken as clouds gathered from all over, their rain soaking her through. But she didn’t mind it. Even if it was cold, it did nothing but harmlessly wash off her scales.

Because it had proven itself inept, she ignored the gnat landing on her face. When it tried to strike at her eyes, she closed them and watched it through her tail instead. It was a minor inconvenience at worst. The rocks hurt more than whatever the gnat was doing. And the other newcomer’s attacks would eat through her scales. She never backed off, even when struck by her tail. Having grown weary of their presence, she raised her head to look at the floaters still pelting her with rocks, snatching one in her jaws to be devoured.

Accompanying the attack was a searing pain that started at the base of her neck and traveled along its length. Looking through her tail identified the source. The gnat on her head had slid down her back. And following in her tracks was a long bloody gash. The entire wound suddenly found itself encased by a translucent blue substance. The same thing that another one of her attackers had used against her in the past.

It sent shivers down her spine, the spine exposed to the air.

And for a moment, she was concerned.

But then she recalled that there was no need to worry. Because she was close to changing again. She could feel it. It was almost there. All she needed to do was defeat a few more intruders before the gnat on her back followed through on its plan.

An easy task.

Opening her mouth, she unleashed her breath and destroyed the remaining floaters. They were completely obliterated. Just like the back of her throat.

But there was still a problem.

Two problems.

One was that she could no longer feel half of her body. Her tail had stopped listening to her; most of her vision had suddenly turned black. Her hind legs and tail obeyed her orders no longer. And without her tail, she could neither see the gnat nor the other thing carving up her hindquarters. Most damning of all though, was the lack of things to kill.

All the floaters in front of her were dead.

A familiar primal panic welled up from within her core as she desperately moved her head and looked around for another thing to kill. And thankfully, she found it. Three its. A short fuzzy thing was running towards her, followed by two things that were mostly covered in cloth.

Her insides the way that they were, it was difficult to produce another breath. But she forced one out from within her. And aimed it right at the group.

Two of its members managed to dodge out of the way. One of them grabbed the third by the hand and attempted to pull it to safety. But they were not quick enough to escape her rot. Both were fully enveloped.

Strangely, only one of them died. The other had somehow ignored the rot.

But it mattered not.

One was all she needed.

A burst of energy erupted from within her chest and sent her attackers flying away. It went on to wrap her up, to envelop her in its warmth as it presented a list of options. She had not the slightest clue what any of them were. So she chose one at random. And felt her body change. The world grew larger. Her bones shifted around and forced her into the same sort of stance adopted by her first killer. Limbs, heads began sprouting from the base of her neck. A second, a third, a ninth. Each came with its own thoughts, its own interpretations, but they were all her. And they were all seething to kill the ones that had invaded her territory and stepped all over her hospitality.

That was her purpose.

The reason that she, the monster known as Farenlight, had acquired her third ascension. And earned herself the rank of Legendary.