My successful getaway is still a good 80 meters ahead. The thing took less than ten seconds to go from the lemon tree to the other side of the cave. I think I’m fucked. Do I go for plan C : throw the lemons? No. I might still make it.

Let’s bet it all on this sprint!

A loud 'clunk' resounds right behind me. If I was just a bit slower my head would be flying right now. I need to go faster.

Come on, acceleration magic, I really need a boost! I guide the magic the same way I've uselessly done a number of times today, the manalite course through my brain. Fuck it, I can't half ass it now. I keep draining as much as I can from my crystal, the headache is horrendous, my whole body hurts. Running is taking all of the little focus I have left as I let the spell go.

The way ahead is glowing a bright orange, it's not the lemons, it's coming from my eyes. Good sign? The mana spreads through my whole being. It has to have worked this time! But I don't feel any faster.

I can’t afford to look behind, it’s time to do or die.

I've never ran that fast, adrenaline is pumping.

Another loud clunk, the sheer speed and strength of these bites creates wind currents that make my hair fly around.

The exit is right there. Just a meter ahead!

I plunge forward towards the narrow gallery. Yet another clunk.

I'm in! I let the lemons roll on the side as I'm projected into a tumble and slam head down, back first, against the wall a few meters back. Everything hurts. I no longer feel my left hand… And my left leg?!

Just at the entrance, the centipede is furiously trying to get in, bumping and crashing against the stone. All of a sudden it gets even faster as if it was not really trying until now. The low guttural growls it produces are scary and smell of rot. Thankfully the denser rock around here is holding well. I observe all this while trying to get back up from my artistic landing pose, but missing a hand and half a leg doesn’t help. The missing parts of my body are the ones that hurt the least.

I manage to get moving, crawling out of a shallow puddle of my own deep purple blood and a few paces deeper in the path the lemons rolled into.

I stop against an uneven rock wall, out of sight of the centipede. It stopped bumping into the wall a few seconds ago.

A big segmented and hairy leg impacts the wall where I was just thirty seconds ago. Hadn’t I moved I’d be straight up cut in half by the thing. Let’s just hope it cannot find a way to reach me, enough worrying about this.

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As agonizing as the pain is, I don’t feel the lightheadedness I would expect from the blood loss, maybe it’s the mana headache hiding it all. My left leg is missing everything under the knee. But it’s not really bleeding anymore? The purple blood at the amputation site is writhing and bubbling around the wound, but it’s not flowing away. The same is true for what little is left of my left hand. No need for a tourniquet then? I should really feel more distress at the loss of two essential limbs but it’s not my first rodeo. Though I don’t believe this world has synthskin nanodrive prostheses… There was a mention of healing magic, can it regrow lost limbs?

There’s also the fact that this body survived a high altitude drop. The bloody pulverized bones recovered in a single night so it’s not too preposterous to think my leg will just regrow no? The ‘perfected biological lifeform’ upgrade cost me half my karma points, a whole five hundred k, it has to be even stronger than I realize, even a magical gold ring only costs a thousand.

Speaking of which. My left hand is mostly gone. The ring is most probably out there with the centipede if it hasn’t melted from contact with the lemon. Can’t get it back either way. In a serious moment, I seriously pray with the intent to be heard for the first time in my two lives. “Thank you for your ridiculous blessing, oh God of lemon kidnappers. I thank the great Adroxas for His gift. Can I learn more about these fruits? Sincerely, your devoted explorer.”

Nothing happens. Well, I didn’t expect much. But I have a wild idea. I shift in place a bit and extend my right hand to grab one of the lemons.

“Old man Adroxas the wayfarer, I humbly offer this magic fruit as a tribute.”

Still nothing, well, that was worth a shot.

I move to put the lemon back down. There’s no more lemon. The other one is still on the ground further down the passage, lighting the surrounding in a soft yellow hue.

“No fucking way! That works?” Maybe He likes being called an old man? Was I disrespectful? Eh whatever, no man would get mad at a grain of dust, no God would get mad at a man. Hopefully.

But in the end I didn’t get an answer to my question.

I just lost half my loot in this trade didn’t I? Let’s just say I’m farming reputation points…

If they can really hear it then I have one more prayer to make. “To the goddess of sculptors Verenila. I like this new body. What the hell went wrong with my hair? I’m in a shit place right now but this world you sent me to is a lot of fun. Sincerely from your ‘ascetic follower’, have a good day.”

The hits on the cave have started again…

The revelation that Gods can actually hear your prayers doesn’t hit quite as hard when you already know they exist. It’s possible only Adroxas can hear me cause He blessed me? All I have to go on for my research on divine cosmology is a missing lemon.

Battered, suffering a bad headache, missing two limbs and a lot of blood, completely out of usable mana, alone in a dark cave, pursued by a pissed giant centipede, lit by the singular glow of a caustic citrus fruit, I slowly succumb to the fatigue that hit me all at once. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow is when I’ll get to sleep because I actually want to, I swear on my life. This is the third time in a row already…

My conscience gradually leaves me, lulled to sleep by the rhythmic thumps of a titan crashing against a wall.

Thank god it didn’t cast any spells…