The first bed I tried was too thin. The second bed was too firm. The last one was covered in roof, blood, and exposed me to danger.

That wont do a all. I needed a spot where my soft and squishy torso wouldn’t be so vulnerable. With no other choice I went with the sofa in the main room.

The couch wasn’t bad at all. A blanket would be nice, but I was only popping in for a fraction of a minute, possibly less. I still wasn’t sure on the time dilation. It's changed a bunch with all the rank ups the boss went through.

Closing my eyes, I entered my inner world. It was nothing special, just a bloody chair in a void of black. There was a red glow, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

I hated this soul space. No matter what I did it was impossible to change it. This was where the old me was tortured. Well, more like a single moment of that torture frozen in time.

That kind of thing doesn’t go away no matter how much you change. This was what my inner world would always be. I could build around it, but it would always remain as my core. Hiding it under layers would be like lying to myself. That’s why Isaac will forever have that hole inside him.

I thought back to the old me. That weak HuuMAn that lied and pretended to be better than they were. I was so stupid back then.

Then I got all broken up into bits and pieces. My mind wasn’t even fully there. It was only occupied by a single memory after being fractured. Maybe not even that.

An Image of a child on a swing. That fragment was nothing more than a fuzzy ripple in the violent bloody ocean that was my mind. It was nothing compared to the ego that was Squirmy. I was more him than that weak HUmAN.

I seated my spirit body in the chair and tried to relax. From there I took hold of the red thread binding me to the Boss. With a tug, the thread tightened, pulling my ego back to Legion. To the place I called home.

My eyes shot open revealing a blurry white view of the ceiling in my bedroom. It was a simple room. My parents stuffed it full of child-like things. Such as dolls, toys and the like. The wall paper was a light blue with clouds painted here and there.

I wasn’t a fan of the esthetic, but it was important for my growth. This would help me become more than just a copy.

Everything in the room was well organized. The toys were in the chest at the foot of my bed. In one corner was a desk with plenty of paper and writing utensils.

On the other side of the room was a dresser. I didn’t see a point in having it, but it did help fill the room. Inside was clothes that my parents suggested I wear. They spent their hard earned antessence on them. Actually, everything in the room was provided by them.

Even though I made the most antessence out of the three of us. They went out of their way to make me stuff. It was out of nature with the way of Squirmy, but this was important if we were ever going to survive. I usually only wore the clothes whenever we all played pretend family.

I had to keep reminding myself this was my identity and that it wasn’t a game of pretend. My name is Squirmy Alpha 1. Squirmy was technically my last name, but our naming system was different from the norm.

Alpha 1 wasn’t exactly right either. Since I was the only Alpha so far, that meant you could just call me Alpha. I felt like that made me different from my Beta mother and Epsilon father. Individuality was the most important thing for a society of copies.

I stretched my arms and got out of bed. First thing was first. I got up and ran over to my toy chest. Then began pulling out toys and throwing them around The room.

It was all In an attempt to make a mess. Mom needed material for role play too. Trying to get back into my role was hard. It was my identity, so I needed to fall back in line.

To do that I played with some of the toys. Then drew some stuff at my desk. I drew mostly centipedes eating and killing people. I even drew Luca as she was currently. I ended up running out of red pretty quickly after that.

I could have made several red crayons, but that was apart of my parents duties. At least that was what we agreed on when they adopted me.

That was enough drawing for the time being. I was feeling a lot closer to my role. It was time to get ready for that meeting. I headed to the dresser and opened it up.

The mirrors on it’s doors showed Aku Black looking back at me. She was wearing PJs. They were nothing more than a black cat kigurumi. It was super soft and comfortable. My parents copied the clothes from an old memory Centa had.

Whenever one traveled to the material world, dressing in something comfortable while your spirit body gets left behind was a must. Even the boss wore one of those night caps and gowns.

Should I really change clothes? I didn’t really want to, since I was only going for a short meeting with the front liners. Screw it, I’m sure the boss will take pity on my cute appearance.

The memories of me running around and murdering children came to mind and I realized the way of Squirmy didn’t give two fucks about kids.

If anything I found them super annoying and fun to kill. Like a wolf hunting rabbits. The sudden squeal when you catch them was so fun! They make the funniest sounds.

On second thought, the Boss might just call me lazy for showing up in PJs and send me back to the torture chamber for ‘re-education’. I shook my head and decided to wear business attire.

With a thought my clothes melted back into antessence. Then changed to a neat suit. I even had a clip-on-tie and some square framed glasses-That I stole from Julia’s image-to make me look extra professional.

On third thought, this might have been too much. What if I end up looking better than the boss? He might get mad. He was a very impulsive guy and would probably eat me out of spite. I should know. It's what I would do.

With that thought I got rid of the glasses and went with a skirt, turning the outfit into a school uniform of sorts. I actually really liked how it looked. It was both professional and fashionable.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Actually, It was missing those long sock things. With a bit of antessence my white socks turned black and grew all the way up to my thighs.

This look will help with my identity, but I still felt like it wasn’t enough. I needed something more. That was when I remembered a certain cat plush doll and immediately cringed.

I looked over the toys scattered throughout the room. Then tried hugging some of them, but didn’t really feel a bond there. This would help with my identity, but it didn’t feel right. Finally I came across a floppy eared dog.

Maybe this could work. The dog was a noble and brave creature. They were respectfully loyal and didn’t lie like filthy hUMaNs. Now what should I name you?

He…he? Sure… He had yellowish brown fur with a white under bottom. I wasn’t sure on the breed. “You can be, Franklin… hmm. That might be too grown up. It needs to be something a child would think of. How about… Doggy.”

Feeling angry and embarrassed, I chucked the doll into a wall. “Yeah right! Like I’d feel fine referring to it in public by that name!”

The door to my room opened, as my mother poked her head in. “Oh, your back sweetheart. How did it go? Did you conquer all the filthy HuMans?” mom’s form was that of Isaac’s mom.

Isaac’s mom was considered a god among Squirmy kind. Her appearance was actually pretty popular. There used to be a group of Squirmy’s that worshipped her and would hunt down Squirmy’s that took on her looks. That ended pretty quickly when the Boss got mad though.

“Oh, mom. Hi. No, not yet, but it’ll be done soon. The boss wants us all back in for a meeting.” I explained.

“Oh, I see. Do you want to eat something before you head out?” She asked.

“I think I’m okay.” I responded, then asked, “Where’s dad? Is he home?”

“Your father is out working.” She got a look at the actual room and looked irritated. For a second she almost dropped character, but instead, she sighed and said, “My goodness, you sure made a mess in here.”

What was the proper response here? “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry.” I apologized. “I drew lots of pictures!” I added.

“It’s alright sweetie, mommy will take care of it.” She patted me on the head. It wasn’t very comforting. Actually, the experience felt very harsh. It was like my skull was cracking under the pressure. I don’t think she knew how to be gentle. We were both in new roles after all.

Feeling uneasy I said, “Okay. I should leave then. Um… also I ran out of red crayon again.”

“Don’t worry honey. I’ll get you more crayons by the time you get back. Maybe a whole box of reds. You go through them like tissue paper.”

I giggled because it seemed like the proper response, then grabbed Doggy and left the room.

After that I headed out of our house and went straight to the bus station, but not before pinching a slice of toasted bread in my mandibles… I mean… totally hUmaN mouth.

I don’t remember where the memory came from, but it was of a bunch of school girls running down the street while late for something, with bread in their mouths. I was simply just completing the esthetic.

The area was very residential. Each house was perfect and the people I saw smiled and waved back at me in a super creepy sort of way. Some of them had skin that seemed to shift, as if something was crawling inside them.

While on the bus, I hugged Doggy to try and bond with him, but it still felt like an inconvenience to me. I added antessence to it to make it fluffier and softer. This helped a little making it feel better in my arms.

What was the point of carrying this thing around? I know why I’m doing it. It’s for my role, but why do little kids do it? The only example I could think of was Isaac and that ridiculous winged buffalo.

He was nervous of people and the world, so he hugged that thing because it gave him comfort. Did I need comfort? I don’t think I do. Even though I gave this thing a name, I still don’t feel anything. Isaac and Aku both pretended like their toys were real though.

I couldn’t see myself doing that. I think I’ll just carry it around and see what happens. It wouldn’t hurt I guess. It’s not like I looked strange holding this thing. If anything it looked right at home in my arms.

The scenery changed as we entered the city. Tall buildings and lots of signs for advertisements. It made me wonder how much they had advanced. I wasn’t gone that long was I?

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud cough from someone in the back of the bus. The only thing I hated about public transportation was that I had to ride alongside a bunch of Squirmy’s.

Normally on a bus you'd take a seat and if it was full you'd wait for the next one or if the driver was cool he let you stand at the front, but in Squirmy society no one really cared about that. They all wanted to go somewhere and the bus driver wanted antessence.

It was a bit annoying to be crammed in like that. It looked like the population had grown since last I was here and some of the Squirmy’s looked strange.

For example, there was an odd fellow sagging his pants. He was shirtless and looked like he needed a hand out. His antessence level was so low. I think he was at rank 1. Was that even possible, we all started at rank 2 after all.

For some reason he bumped into my side. He pushed me with a good amount of force, but because my ego carried so much antessence, I didn't crash through the windshield. In fact I didn’t move at all.

He turned around clearly in a bad mood. “What the hell is wrong with you! Do we have a problem! I’ll cave your fucking exo in you piece of shit! You think just because your in a child body you’re safe! You aint no kid, your just a copy!”

“Huh?” I questioned while tilting my head. Why was this tiny bug bothering me? Was he trying to suck out a little blood? He didn’t even have enough antessence to afford a belt. Not even a shirt bro.

The entirety of his antessence was being used to buff up his appearance. That meant nothing when it came to strength. Taking a smaller form was the best way to utilize all your antessence. We all learned that one the hard way.

If I wanted to, I could rip him open and drink him like a juice box. Hell! I could break his spirit body take the antessence, turn it into a Capri sun, and drink it on my way to the office!

I wasn’t going to do that though, because it was illegal to harm other Squirmy’s. That’s why he had no Issues antagonizing me. Because he knew I wasn’t allowed to hurt him. Just like a narcissistic women, or Karen for short.

“Hey knock it off, Psi!” The one speaking was an Epsilon. I could tell because of her uniform. She wore the appearance of one of Isaac’s old teachers. A woman with big boobs tan skin and brown hair.

The man's eyes went wide as his spirit body began to shift uncontrollably. “Fuck you Epsilons! I’m Squirmy! I’m the god of this world! Your all just copies of me! This is fucking bullshit!”

“Everyone stand back. It’s an Omega.” The Epsilon formed a black spear out of antessence. The guy tried to attack her turning into a swirl of darkness and blades. The woman however ran the thin dark form through.

He reverted back into hUMaAN form right after. Once inside him the spear changed into multiple spears all exiting his body from different places. I was able to avoid it all by hiding near the front door.

With his low amount of antessence, I watched as his body collapsed in on itself and tried to reform into something new. It was all he could do to prevent his antessence from leaving him.

The form he took was that of a small centipede. Well, not really small. More like the size of a mid sized dog. “No! No more! I can’t take another one!” he cried. His voice had the background noise of chittering.

“Sorry, but you know the rules. All Omegas are to be scattered.” Said the Epsilon.

He tried to run my way, but the spear entered his back causing his ego to crumble into red antessence. As it happened, I felt my arm vibrate and shift as my eyes spun in my skull.

Not wanting to be next, I closed my eyes and held my arm. It stopped a moment later. Everyone seemed to be thanking the Epsilon at the moment, so no one saw me almost go omega.

The way they thanked her. They all sounded so scared. We weren’t allowed to read each other’s souls, but I knew at that moment everyone on the bus was absolutely terrified. Even the Epsilon.

I could hear the chittering of shifting flesh coming from the passengers. It was a mad world. My skin was still vibrating. It wouldn’t stop. I need to focus. I’m not Squirmy. I opened my eyes and saw Doggy in my hand. I gave him a hug reminding myself what my role was.

My name is alpha 1. I live with my mom and dad in district 11. Mom cooks delicious foods and dad plays with me sometimes. Sometimes I sneak cookies from the kitchen when mom and dad are asleep. I like sharks because they eat HumANs and look really cool. My favorite color is red.

I’m my own person. I’m my own person. My thoughts were interrupted when I almost missed my stop. Luckily someone else pushed the stop button to get off.

“Oh, the meeting!” in a panic I rushed out of the bus. Then made my way down the street. Through the city of rock, metal, and glass.