The giant, fleshy mass splashed into the roiling red pool at the bottom of the shaft. Jason winced at the sound which, even through the echo effect of the shaft, reminded him of messing up a dive and doing a painful belly flop.

“That was a weird sound,” Sophie said.

“Yep,” Jason agreed.

“It sounded exactly like when you hit a very fat man with a very large fish.”

Jason, Humphrey and Clive all turned to look at her.

“What?” she asked defensively. “I had a life before I met you people.”

Humphrey opened his mouth to ask many, many questions, but was interrupted by a horrifying alien shriek. It reverberated up through the shaft with a nails-on-chalkboard shrillness that seemed to dig into the group’s nerves. Jason moved to the edge to look down, the others quickly joining him.

The inside of the shaft was dark, the previous red glow no longer lighting up the bottom. The coppery tang of blood had gotten much stronger.

“Do we go down there?” Clive asked. “There are stairs, but I do not want to go down there.”

“Are you scared of a hole just because there’s a weird noise coming out of it?” Jason asked, then frowned as something occurred to him. “You know, I once asked your wife the exact same question in a very different context.”

“Oh, go jump in a hole,” Clive said bitterly. “Look, there’s one right there.”

“Fair enough,” Jason said and leapt into the void. His cloak manifested around him and slowed his descent into the dark. Shortly after he jumped, a thrumming sound pulsed up from the shaft, each beat accompanied by a momentary glow of red light. Like the heartbeat of some long-buried monster starting to wake, it was filled with terrible promise.

Slowly floating down the shaft, Jason couldn’t help but think back to his first day on Pallimustus. Captured by cultists looking to sacrifice him, trapped alongside people who were yet to become his precious friends. The cloak he now used and the perception ability allowing him to see in the dark were the only powers he’d possessed at the time. Faced with a neophyte sanguine horror, he and his new friends desperately managed to kill it before it had the chance to consume its way into becoming a world-devouring beast.

Jason’s soul had reproduced that sacrificial chamber as he called up a sanguine horror inside it. Colin, as a familiar, was limited by Jason's potential compared to the sanguine horror the cult had summoned. Both Jason and Colin gained benefits from their connection, however, especially now the bond was closer than that of a mere summoned familiar. As for limitations, the day would come when that was no longer an issue for either of them.

As he drew closer to the bottom of the shaft, a jolt of excitement passed through Jason in anticipation. Like the original sacrifice chamber, the bottom of the shaft had a ring of open floor around the pit of blood. The floor was wet and red from when Colin’s flesh mass crashed down from above, but the pit was still full to the brim, churning like a witch’s cauldron.

The mass itself was submerged, only seen as a dark shape with each heartbeat strobe of light. The thudding sound that came with it was deafening at the bottom of the shaft, a thunderous echo that hammered at the ears. Combined with the bitter taste of blood choking the air, the bottom of the shaft was an assault on the senses. Sophie and Clive complained about it loudly as they descended on the back of Onslow’s shell with Humphrey and Stash.

Jason ignored them, eyes locked on the blood pool filling the pit, fresh undulations roiling the surface with each pulse of light and sound. More and more, Colin’s transitory state felt like the heart of some vast beast, torn from its body and yet refusing to stop beating.

The others fell quiet as they joined Jason in his vigil. Even Humphrey’s rebellious dragon familiar watched in sober silence. The pulses of light slowed and stopped over time, the thudding heartbeat doing the same. The smell of blood did not fade, even growing stronger as the blood pool stopped churning and started draining like a bath. As it emptied, they saw that the mass inside it was gone.

The liquid continued to drain until it was revealed that there was no hole at the bottom, draining it away. Jason moved to the edge of the now-empty pool, looking down several metres. There was a humanoid figure lying prone and naked. It looked identical to Jason in shape but was entirely blood red. It was the blood clone form that Colin often assumed.

As they watched, the figure started to change. Portions of the body took on other shades, shifting from the monochrome scarlet. The skin texture shifted from the gloss of wet blood, although the hair retained that shine as it turned into Jason’s usual shampoo-commercial black.

When the blood clone completed the transformation into an identical copy of Jason, Colin opened his eyes to reveal one difference remained. Instead of the blue and orange eye-shaped nebulas Jason had instead of eyes, Colin had red embers burning in a void. He pushed himself to his feet as a rust-red robe was conjured to cover his nakedness.

Your familiar and bonded avatar [Colin] has become your [Voice of the Will]. As a [Voice of the Will], the summoned vessel of [Colin] has been modified. The vessel can advance in rank without a new vessel being summoned. The cost to summon a new vessel if destroyed is significantly increased.

Colin lightly leapt the several metres out of the pool as Jason stepped back, his doppelganger standing in front of him as they looked at each other.

“You know what?” Jason asked.

“I’m a very handsome man?” Colin said in Jason’s voice.

“Yes,” Jason said with a grin. “Yes, you are.”

“Neil isn’t here,” Sophie said. “If he was, I think he would say this is true love at last.”

Jason and Colin let out identical chuckles.

“Okay, that’s creepy,” Clive said.

“Compared to the subterranean flesh pit we’re standing in?” Sophie asked him.

“I guess not,” Clive acknowledged.

Jason and Colin smiled at the interplay but quickly went back to examining one another over with assessing looks.

The vessel of your [Voice of the Will] now possesses four distinct forms: swarm, the worm that walks, apocalypse beast, and Voice of the Will. Current form: Voice of the Will.

Form Four: [Voice of the Will]

As a vessel for your soul, the Voice of the Will form has enhanced intellect compared to other forms. In this form, [Colin] loses the majority of his own abilities but can fully utilise the majority of yours. Abilities related to your nature as a nascent astral hegemon cannot be replicated. Essence abilities of the familiar, perception and aura types are not replicated but are replaced with other abilities. In this form, [Colin] may exert influence over messengers you have branded using your authority. Current number of branded messengers: 0.

“Nascent astral hegemon,” Jason said, the phrase standing out. “Do you know what that means?”

“No,” Colin said. “I assume — as I suspect you do as well — that it's related to your progress as a variant astral king.”

“It says that you have enhanced intellect while in this form.”

“Not that enhanced,” Colin said. “Only to the same level as you.”

“Hey…”

“I take it back,” Clive said. “This is creepier than being in a subterranean flesh pit.”

“Does it worry you?” Jason asked Colin. “Your mind degenerating as you take other forms?”

“It’s not degenerating,” Colin explained, “but merely changing. My other forms are all swarm variants requiring different levels of hive mind to function. The 'enhanced' intellect of this form is merely a re-tasking of mental ability because there is only one of me.”

“That was very clear,” Jason said. “And people say I'm not good at explaining things.”

“They’re right,” Colin told him. “That’s why you need a Voice.”

Jason and Colin shared a grin as Sophie groaned.

“This is becoming insufferably smug,” she complained. “That’s tolerable when there’s only one of you, but this is too much.”

Jason and Colin both turned to look at Sophie, then back to one another.

“Another form?” Colin asked.

“Please,” Jason said.

Colin held out an arm that turned back to monochrome red and started spraying leeches into the pit. They kept gushing out like water from a fire hose, half-filling the pit.

“I normally can't maintain two separate forms,” Colin explained, “but in your soul realm, I can use the excess biomass to demonstrate the other states I can assume. Explanations come easier when they aren't just screeching the word 'hungry' over and over in a language that can't be fully expressed in just sound.”

“Sure,” Jason said.

Form One: [Swarm]

Increased biomass capacity and hive mind cohesion range. Absorb life force to temporarily increase maximum biomass. Biomass must be consumed, discarded or stored within a certain period or be lost.

“The original swarm state,” humanoid Colin explained, “doesn’t have any fancy bells and whistles, just a butt-load of leeches. The advantages are that I can use more biomass than the other forms, and my hive mind won’t start losing track of individual leeches until they’re much further away. That allows me to spread out and eat a lot more people.”

“Jason…” Humphrey said.

“Oh, come on, Hump,” Jason said. “Are you going to tell a bird not to fly?”

“If it’s flying off to eat people, yes. You and I have killed bird monsters together so they wouldn’t fly off and eat people.”

“Colin’s a good boy,” Jason said. “He’s only going to eat bad people. Isn’t that right, Colin?”

“It is,” Colin said. “People who oppress others and live a life of violence.”

“Exactly,” Jason said.

“But not Jason,” Colin continued. “He gets a pass.”

“Hey,” Jason said, turning back to Colin. “Who’s side are you on?”

“Justice?” Colin suggested.

“Okay, let’s try another one of those forms. Maybe one with a bit less lip.”

Colin chuckled and the pool of leeches half-filling the pit started to shrink down. As it reached the size of a small mound, bloody rags emerged from the pile to wrap around it, encapsulating the leeches and squeezing them into a humanoid shape until it looked like an old movie mummy. More rags roughly wove together and draped over the figure as a hood and cloak. There were two small gaps in the face where the eyes would be and a larger one in place of the mouth. They revealed the leeches pressed together inside the rags, writhing and flashing rings of teeth. Some fell out of the mouth and eye gaps, tumbling to the floor like fat, carnivorous tears.

Form Two: [The Worm That Walks]

Use rags to encapsulate worms and entangle foes.

“This is another form I’ve been using for a long time,” Colin said. “Nothing new here. Fewer leeches, but more utility. Because I don’t need the range or the multi-tasking of the full swarm, I can think a little more tactically in this state.”

“Didn’t you switch from the rags to red leather straps?” Sophie asked.

“I can use either,” Colin said as the coarse cloth turned into neat leather straps, giving a much less ragged appearance. “I kind of like the rags, to be honest.”

“What about the last form?” Clive asked. “That’s something new, right?”

“Yes,” Colin said. “My first, second and fourth forms are adaptations of ones I could already take. The third form is something new; a result of consuming the world-taker worm queen.”

The leather straps wrapped around the worms turned back to rags and bulged outwards as the worms inside melded into a growing, singular form. The rags burst, revealing red limbs of thick, ropy muscle as the humanoid form bulked out.

“This better not be a Red Hulk thing,” Jason said. “Red Hulk sucks.”

As more of the rags burst, the figure in the pit diverged more from the humanoid. The arms grew longer and a second pair grew out. The rag-wrapped head sank into the torso. What looked like closed eyelids all over the exposed flesh opened and closed, revealing themselves as mouths covering the body. Leeches emerged from the tooth-filled maws to crawl all over it and long, prehensile tongues emerged, themselves ending in toothy mouths. When the transformation was complete it was a headless, four-armed monstrosity covered in gaping mouths, standing twice as tall as Humphrey even hunched over.

“Well,” Clive said. “I guess that’s my next nightmare covered.”

Form Three: [Apocalypse Beast]

The [Apocalypse Beast] form has a large biomass with enhanced physical strength. When the [Apocalypse Beast] form feeds on enemies, powers belonging to them are randomly sealed and become available to [Colin]. Weaker abilities are absorbed at first with additional and more powerful abilities absorbed with extended feeding. Using the abilities restores their use to the enemy they were stolen from, with any cooldowns for those abilities triggered. The [Apocalypse Beast] form is strenuous. Feeding on life force or consuming biomass is required to maintain it or it will break down into a swarm state.

“This form is physically powerful,” Colin explained, “but also more agile than it looks. It’s a form that will allow me to take some fights head-on while also bringing some of Jason’s signature unpleasantness to the opponent.”

“What do you mean by signature unpleasantness?” Jason asked.

“Jason,” Sophie said, “your powers make people’s flesh rot and blood leak out like sweat.”

“I guess that is relatively unpleasant,” Jason conceded.

The blood giant then turned into blood that splashed over the floor of the pit.

“Completing my transfiguration into a Voice of the Will consumed most of the excess biomass I had stored up,” Colin said. “The blood giant form will consume it quickly as well without something to feed on. If you need a combat form that doesn’t continually eat into my reserves, this Voice of the Will form can use most of your abilities.”

“That’s all very impressive,” Humphrey said. “Now it’s time to get out of here so you can show us your new abilities in the field. We have to find some shape-shifting flesh monsters and kill them.”

Humphrey’s expression turned awkward as he looked at Colin.

“No offence,” Humphrey said, drawing identical laughs from Jason and Colin.

“What do you think is creepier?” Clive asked. “A blood ogre covered in mouths with tongues that have their own mouths, or there being more than one Jason?”

“I’ve got avatars all through this space,” Jason said.

“Yeah, but they’re just perfect copies,” Sophie said. “It just feels like some magic power. The Colin version of you is more real. He’s just different enough to feel off, somehow.”

“Uncanny,” Clive agreed.

Colin walked over to Onslow where Stash had been sitting cross-legged, peering at Colin the whole time with an uncertain expression.

“What do you think, Stash? You’ve turned into Jason enough times.”

“Don’t know,” Stash said. “You’re weird.”

Colin plucked a large biscuit out of the air, taking it from Jason's inventory. Stash grabbed it and bite half of it off in a single chomp.

“Welcome back Colin,” he mumbled happily, spraying crumbs.

***

In the Pallimustus equivalent of what Jason knew as the Pacific Ocean was an island named Jorganis. A small island almost entirely covered by a grimy city, it was a haven for those operating outside of the auspices of the Adventure Society, the Magic Society or any form of legitimate government. The city was ruled by whatever groups could take and hold territory, with districts changing hands regularly. The only permanent institutions were temples to gods that weren’t allowed to set up in civilised society, at least not openly.

One of the local factions currently holding power was a coterie of vampires, mostly the ordinary variety but led by a group of energy vampires. Another group, currently pressuring the vampires hard, was a handful of messengers that had moved in and rapidly claimed a section of city, despite their small number.

One of the messengers, a gold-ranker, had decided to put an end to the vampire clan and invaded their core stronghold, which was an old stone manor. He broke through the roof, into the lounge used by the energy vampires. He laughed derisively as they grabbed him and tried to drain his energy. He tossed them away to all corners of the room.

“Pathetic,” he mocked. “Your feeble powers cannot consume me. I am a gestalt being; inherently superior. You should kneel and be honoured, but killing you all is acceptable as well.”

His disdainful expression turned to confusion as an ornate black and red blade jabbed out through his chest, having impaled him from behind. A hand gripped his shoulder and started draining his mana.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?” a voice whispered in the messenger’s ear as he fell to the floor. The other vampires scrambled over and now found themselves able to feed.

“I wasn’t sure what to do with this sword,” the leader of the energy vampires said. “It came into my possession under some rather unusual circumstances, at a time when I was going through some drastic changes. One might even say I was born the moment I devoured the soul containing it and claimed it for myself. I went searching for its origin, hoping to find some kind of identity for myself.”

The messenger lay helpless and twitching as the vampires fed.

“As it turns out,” the vampires continued, “it’s designed for killing your kind. The Builder, apparently holding some sentimentality for your kind, sealed it away. Until he inadvertently handed it to me.”

The colour had faded from the messenger, his skin and wings turned an ashen grey. The vampire leader pulled out the sword and stood up while the others stayed crouched over their prey.

“Don’t kill him,” the vampire once known as Thadwick said. “We need to find out what he knows about the Purity relic.”