At my smaller size, I could more easily focus on attaining flight while I worked. It was a burgeoning addiction, and it was a hard itch to scratch, too. Even with my best efforts, as I ate and evolved, the most I achieved was gliding and fall resistance. I could not do better, not without days of concerted focus which I simply didn't have.

As it stood, I had to keep my priorities straight, with my eyes set on regaining mass.

Hunting in the city during daylight was doubly hard. Wanting to be ready by nightfall to make a move on the Crystal made it necessary, however. So, I figured out a strategy and pressed on.

I ended up forcing myself to adapt to tighter spaces to stay hidden. The best hunting was beneath house foundations, in abandoned buildings which could only be accessed by high windows, and in whatever sewers existed. Naturally, needing both protection and such specific mobility, I began to take on a familiar shape. A snake-like appearance formed, with a gliding flap that would unfold across my bottom.

The sun grew closer to the horizon, and I had even managed to accumulate the total weight of a man. I took on considerable mass with every piece of prey or stolen produce I acquired, but it wasn't quite cutting it. I had only reached one-third of my previous strength.

Luckily, I had gained much from my practice over the last few months, as well as my encounter with the Crystal. I was learning to incorporate the super-material that it had spawned throughout my body. The cells were listening more, as well. Altogether, I discovered a completely new plateau to my Power's development. My muscles were stronger than what biology would normally produce, as well as my skin.

Still, the cells were not taking direct commands as they had been with the Crystal. Not yet, anyway. My consciousness had expanded to include perception of the channel through which they whispered. But my voice wasn't loud enough to reach it.

With the last little critter stuffed in my mouth and the clouds in the sky turning pink, I decided it was time to start heading back. There wasn't enough time to switch from this form, optimized for the dirt and short glides, to one optimized for rooftop acrobatics. The only thing I could do was take care to avoid being seen.

By the time I had gotten close to my goal, the sky would turn from pink to black for sure. But it gave me precious moments to think and plan.

The bar had been cleared out. I had already checked there for any remaining Crystal, and the Heroes had razed the place not long after I had busted down its walls. Once one of their hideouts was popped, it seemed, the gangs moved on quickly and the government cleaned house for them.

There was just one place left with a nice fat bag of Crystal that I could think of. It was just waiting there for the taking, practically.

Daniel would, if all went according to plan, still be sleeping in front of his cowboy marathons. I could simply slither up to the window and slip away with the bag before he even had time to react. Then, I would be home free to fly south of the border.

Of course, nothing ever went according to plan.

The window up above was glowing brightly. The curtains had been drawn back and the overhead light was switched on. Without a doubt, Daniel was wide awake. Not only that but judging by the heightened green tint flowing out, his power was far more charged up than I had last seen.

As I curled up the drain pipe and came to look in, I confirmed my worries.

Daniel was up and he was packing his bags. The Crystal was nowhere in sight, and neither were his parents. He was getting out before they got home, and he apparently overslept, as he was in a hurry to do so. He was throwing the last of his items in his case, eyeing the door the whole time.

I cursed to myself. There wasn't any time left for stealth, now.

If I was going to make a move, I would have to do it fast. But I had no idea what his Power was. Anything could go wrong in this situation, and it begged for more caution than I was about to lend it.

Yet, Daniel was new with his Powers. The likelihood that he was at all competent with them was almost zero. All of this drove me closer and closer to striking through the glass. I would grab his case and run. The Crystal was bound to be there.

Just as I got into position, I heard a noise from behind me, breaking through the dark sky. A murderous "CAW!" sounded. It was directed right at me and, as I turned, I saw its source.

Backed by a million friends, the crow was closing its beak from the cry it had just given, directing a grim stare at me. I heard Daniel slam the apartment door as I was looking away, and I knew it was too late to stop him.

Besides, I had bigger problems now.

These birds had not left his side the entire time. In my stupidity, I had climbed up without noticing them. I had so wanted to write off my interaction with them earlier in the day, I hadn't assumed the obvious. They wouldn't simply let him go, a new Super with resources invested, without protection. 

There was a legion of crows all around me. Covering the visible roofline from where I waited, the birds stretched out like an ichor puddle across the building tops. Every eye on me, menacing.

I could hear my target rushing down the stairs and out towards the street level. Sensing that it was now or never, I could only make my move. I was in this to win, now. "Fuck it."

I burst into the apartment and started in pursuit. Not a second later, the crows moved like a flood after me, practically tearing the window frame and wall apart.

I wasted no time bolting straight through the flimsy wooden door and down the stairwell. With my newfound strength, it was easy.

I would have thought that the door at least would give them a problem, but the flock tore through the wood just as rapidly. The first few that caught up to me while I was slithering like mad down the flights clawed with painful effectiveness. Their little talons were sharper than razors.

I was fast, though, and I made it to the street before the mob of them were on me. Each time I burst through a door or window, they were bottlenecked. Only, I saw this effect wouldn't last outside. 

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My heat vision let me understand what I was up against. Directly above me, like a swirling tornado of vultures, the rest of the crows had been waiting. Thousands more than what I had seen before on the rooftop. As soon as they saw me, they swooped in to start taking this fight seriously.

I only had a moment to scan the street before their shadow engulfed me. But at that moment, I caught sight of Daniel's course. He ducked down a side alley. With his scent and that knowledge, I could follow the trail. I only had to survive the flurry of a thousand gashes as my enemy descended, and then that Crystal would be mine.

I didn't know who the guy was, controlling these birds, but neither did he know me. Though I was quickly losing chunks out of my tail and back, I stayed low and kept moving. They couldn't possibly hope to raise me off the ground as I slid along, gracefully ignoring their damage with my healing.

Maybe with a few hours, their papercuts would kill me, but not at this rate.

Suddenly, the birds backed off. Whoever I was fighting seemed to have figured this out as well. And so, they flowed as a single mass over the rooftops again and out of sight, seemingly having given up.

Little did I know, they would soon be back with a solution.

Daniel, however, had not gotten far. He had run straight down the side path I had seen him take, only to go right back onto one of the main roads, headed south.

Following the smell of poor hygiene and the strangely strong heat trail of my glowing man, I caught sight of him yet again. Through the busy bustle of vendors, his heat shone clearly among the crowds of the bizarre.

Now that my prey instinct was in full drive, I put away all thought of letting him go in favor of patiently searching out another source of Crystal. Those doubts had chewed at me while I was catching up, but they quickly died. There was a lot of Crystal in this city, but this bag, in particular, was going to be mine.

Without hesitation, I moved speedily into the crowd after him. The sound of panicked screamed erupted as a ten-foot snake twisted around people's legs.

Surely the Heroes couldn't react fast enough for this to backfire. Only, it wasn't the Heroes I had to worry about. It turned out, I wasn't the only one in this fight with a vexing aspect to my Power.

A single, massive blot of darkness strafed overhead, looking for a chance to get close. I barely slowed a second to look at it. It was as if every single one of the crows had coalesced into a single, titanic bird. A colossal crow.

His eyes that glowed a deep purple were fixed on me, and in that instant of slowing down, it had all the gap it needed. The rush of the crowd to get away from me had opened up the avenue to the sky, and in a single swoop, its talons threaded into my long body, getting a strong grasp.

I instantly struck venomous bites at his legs and body, but to no effect. My entire length flailed in the wind after that, as I tried to figure out a solution. The earth fell away with each flap of the huge wings above me. My healing could not expel me from his hold, only stop the blood loss.

Maybe he only plans to drop me, I thought. He thinks my healing has a limit. What an idiot.

While my head tossed about, I caught one last glimpse of the green glow. It passed into a small building with boarded-up windows. There, all trace of his heat disappeared, yet without transferring to any of the nearby buildings or streets. There was only one way he could have gone, and it spoke of a very juicy fact.

They had tunnels beneath the city, I realized. What better way around a wall?

That was the last ounce of satisfaction I was going to have this night, though. It all turned to ash as the bird did finally drop me. In my distraction, I just now noticed where we were.

He had flown straight out over the wasteland beyond the wall and promptly released his claws. Everything overturned and I watched the crow sail away, leaving me to my fate.

The ground was rushing towards me. The guns on the wall immediately caught sight of the motion, training in on the giant serpent falling from the sky. Mines and gunfire awaited me at the blackened earth, to rip and tear me down to the last cell.

Time seemed to slow down as I fell.

At that moment, I was taken back to the fires where this all began. I was granted a vision of my birth. It was a defense mechanism, to temper the panic that rose in my veins at impending death.

Hickory's arm had reached forward to take hold of my neck, his fingers burrowing into flesh like putty. The blood that spurted out and down his limb bubbled and popped as if it was boiling. His own skin then peeled back in the same way that old wallpaper would. It rolled up and his exposed muscles began also to boil. It all coalesced into a blur of red, meat and fire.

Everything turned to flames shortly after that. But in the darkness, after my eyeballs melted out of my skull, there came a new voice. It wasn't like the chorus of the cells. This one was specific and familiar.

In a friendly southern drawl, it congratulated me. "You took my teachings to heart, boy. You took after the will of God, just like the Fit always does. Damn if it weren't for the dying part, I reckon I wouldn't have changed a single thing."

I was dimly aware of the cacophony of explosions that began to erupt around me. The ground shredded my sensory organs after a mere instant, however. Then the vision was crystal clear again.

It was none other than Hickory himself, sitting in an old leather chair. He was the one that had spoken. I asked the cells what was going on, but they were dead silent.

"Where am I?" I said.

"Hell if I know," Hickory grinned. "But I ain't the only one in here, you might be interested to hear. In fact, there's a whole lot of us."

As if by cue, pale eyes opened and closed in the infinite abyss which surrounded Hickory's chair. Each was attached to a distinct silhouette. Some fat, some emaciated. Some normal and some warped. I wasn't in control, here. The many figures were.

Looking down at my own hands, my heart almost stopped. They were grey and fleshy, but they were... human. Five fingers, blue veins, and untrimmed nails. "I just got minced," I told him, looking around in confusion. "Every one of my brains turned to smolder. I can't be experiencing this right now. Not like this."

"No, you're right." Hickory leaned forward in his seat, a devious look in his eyes. "Or, at least, you would be. See? Listen to that sound. You've been here before."

Like in many of my visions, there were waves crashing in the distance. I could smell cinnamon. "I know!" I shot back, trying to focus. He was missing the point. "I know that when I'm dead, I see nature and it's all beautiful. And when I start to think and judge it, that's when my brain is back. When I've got a Self to relate to it. But this isn't that. I'm actually here. How does that work?"

He treated the question as if I was a moron for asking it. He simply kept his smug demeanor and dismissed me, dusting off his black jacket and sweeping his perfectly kempt hair. "As if you're any different. But don't you worry about such big questions; it ain't necessary. Very few people have ears to hear anyway, least of all an academic type such as yourself. You just gotta know. The day I met you was the best day of my life, Walt. You'll come to feel the same in time. There's literally no other way, not in the face of death. Whenever it happens, you only grow closer. Suffering brings a man to the light."

Finally, the cells began to report again. Terrifyingly, there were just a handful of voices responding. We had taken the form of a fungus. But we were alive.

Hickory was beginning to fade. "I don't regret what happened," I told him. "But that doesn't make you any less of a bastard. Nor the Heroes. You're both the heart of the problem. All you people trying to control others for your own Power. I make my Power on my own."

"None of that will matter soon, I reckon. You'll come to realize in time, those who can't make something of themselves will be caught up in the gravity of greatness. It's the natural way that man serves Glory, boy. Either by worshipping it or by embodying it. You can't change who you're bound to become now, with your Power. A master, for sure. Maybe even... a God."

My eyes widened. As they did, the dissonance between the form my mind had chosen here and the reality of my body increased the fracturing of the vision. I tried to protest Hickory's madness, but no sound came out.

He merely waved goodbye. "It won't be long."

And then, I awoke. Only, I wasn't some smear of cells on a wall somewhere.

I sat up in the gutter, covered in refuse and mud. It was still night, I saw. But from where I lay, I could look out over the rolling hills of the Favela. Straight to the wall, a mile away. Back from the pit of hell, I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, I had really thought I was dead.

Now my only question was, what the hell happened?