The toothless maw did very little to him as it used its frail arms to push more of him inside.

“Are you done? I don’t know what you're doing, but it is not very pleasant for me.”

It grabbed him by the sides with more force and pulled with all of its might.

“Okay, that's quite enough.” He used his front legs to push it off his face. The strange thing merely pushed right back, refusing to let him go.

“I said that is quite enough!” Egosum put as much force as he could into his arms and sent the long salamander flying through the air and skipping across the water's surface like a stone.

“Woah, that was a nice little surge of strength. I don't remember that being included in the genetic modifications, but it is definitely welcomed.” He wiped the spit from his nose and hopped away from the scene of the fight

The lack of food was really starting to take a toll on him. Considering the length of time he had gone without any, he was surprised by how much energy he still had. Small frogs usually eat every few hours but It must have already been a full day and he was still hopping along.

The genius of Quetulopus must strike again. That was the only explanation.’

A jittery motion caught his eye to the side. Almost on reflex, he launched forward with his maw agape and pushed the squirming creature he had just caught down his throat.

Reason returned to him as the still-moving creature struggled deep in his stomach. Whatever it was would soon meet its end deep in acid that called his stomach home.

The food was welcomed but the lack of impulse control was not. The only things that had such poor control were his basal cousins some of the warriors back home would use as war mounts or for public services.

The massive siege toads, lithe salamounts, and vigil watchout frogs made up the most basal members of their society and were treated well but still only acted as the tools they had become.

A new fear leaked into his mind. The fear of beastialization. Reverting back to before they had become truly civilized.

He was terrified of being nothing but a mindless creature that lived to serve the more intelligent members of society. Even worse than that was the possibility of monsterifying.

To gain a monster core in their society was a sure sign of death. The monsters that grew amongst them refused to live in the society that raised them out of squaller and actively fought the expansion that their people sought after as a whole.

They were quickly detected at a young age or found living amongst them if they somehow evaded the warriors' watchful eyes and were sacrificed to their patron deities.

If he were to become one of them, he would be better off dead than rescued. It would be a betrayal of the grandest proportions.

He pushed the thought deep inside of him, refusing to even humor it now that he brought the horrid fear to light.

He had to focus on the now and the him of now had a full belly and a clear goal. He needed to find a way out of this cave as quickly as possible to meet up with any survivors.

Egosum took large hops forward. His legs had quickly adapted to their new use. The path was barely bright enough for him to see ahead with the strange dangling lights lighting the way.

His small stature caused the journey to last for what must have been eons.

His legs had gone from aching to sore to jelly and now numb. He needed to succeed no matter what it took. The willingness to just give up and resign himself to his fate might have been included into his pool mates, but not him.

He finally saw more light start to funnel in at the end of the tunnel he traveled. His exhausted leaps gained a new energy he didn’t know he had. His legs pushed him higher and farther with each hop he took.

He finally made his way to the bend in the tunnel to find the light source. A few hundred hops down the lit path was blinding bright.

Pure white poured in, illuminating everything in view. He wasn’t sure if it was the exit or if it was death welcoming him into the great swamp up above, but he felt wrong just staring at it.

With large bounding leaps, he drew closer and closer to the endless white. Only a few more leaps and he would reach it.

His legs finally gave out on him as he reached the proverbial finish line. His appendages acted only as weights now that he couldn't use them. The final burst of energy gave out on him as he reached his goal.

He clawed forward on the muddy rocks in a slow crawl. With the light overcoming him more and more with each second of effort. His eyes finally began to adjust to the flooding light after his day long stint in near pitch black darkness.

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He plopped his body on the edge of the cliff before him and gazed out of the cave he found himself in and looked over the world below them.

A bright white sun hung in the sky just like the familiar sights of his home while the ground below was covered in a vibrant blue for as far as his eyes could see, much more expansive and darker than the water he had grown accustomed to in his lone pool.

A sigh of relief left his mouth as he relaxed for the first time since the attack began. His relaxed body started to slide forward. The rushing water to his side lulled him into the sleep that he so desired.

The mud underneath him acted as a nice slide for him as he moved forward and over the edge, entering a free fall state. The cool air and loud whistling startled him awake as he realized what was happening.

‘Holy shit, I am so dead! Noooooooo!’ The fall ended abruptly after a few seconds of abject horror crept into him.

Egosum made contact with something below him and he was forced back into the state of darkness that he had just left a few hours prior.

-

The blackness around him finally began to lighten as he came to. The pearly gates of frog paradise failed to welcome him. The grayscale landscape of the swamp he experienced during his earlier bout of unconsciousness dominated the landscape.

“What the hell is this place? Just let me out of this shit hole already. Hmmm, maybe if I try channeling the qi into my surroundings, it’ll allow me to assimilate with the land and move on, possibly without being eaten by that glutton.”

The wisp floated in the near distance. Just out of reach from tongue range.

“You are very loud when you think, you know that, yes?”

“AH…. You startled me. Um, this is quite awkward.”

“Yes, it is. Mainly because you wished for my death not long ago.” Egosum slowly inched forward each second they spoke, trying to get closer into eating range.

“Not long ago? It's been years since I've been stuck in here after you left. I….. whatever. Well, that is that and this is this. Now, can you please stay away, I am closer to leaving now than I have ever been before.” The muck around the wisp started to undulate up and down as it started to do something with the strange light that surrounded it.

“Well, the pit in my stomach is now empty so you are looking mighty appetizing now.” He lunged forward at the light and missed as it disappeared into the mud below.

“You stupid toad! I shall roam this realm and find the exit even if it takes me eons. Muahahahaha. The celestial demon shall arise again.” The mud glowed slightly and trembled.

“You do not look like you will be traveling very far.” He looked down at the earth and stared the spot down as if it would have some effect.

“I… I… what is this place? Ugh. It feels like some kind of soul domain, but that doesn’t make sense. It should be much more nebulous and colorful, orbiting around an astral projection of the user. It's like the space of someone that hasn’t begun cultivating a technique somehow gained a qi core.”

The ground slowed down with each thought that left it before it began glowing red once again.

“No way. I refuse to believe it. Is this your soul? How?! Why were our souls funneled into you….Oh my self. I TRAPPED MYSELF IN YOUR SOUL! No. I refuse reality.” The glowing mud went silent, leaving Egosum sitting in silence.

“So you’re part of my soul now? You are soul soil. Heh. That's a good joke.” He pushed himself into the ground to get comfortable and waited for something to happen.

The silence was palpable after a few hours. He swore he could hear the soul soil below him simmering in anger.

“I…I…I hate you! I hate you! Stupid toad and his stupid soul. If you hadn’t solidified your basal form with the other souls, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. I despise you!” It burst out into a tirade as the dam of its emotions burst, flooding the air with insults.

Out of all of the strange rambling and inconsequential stuff it spouted, something caught his ear.

“Core? What do you speak of? Are you accusing me of being a monster? How dare you! That is the most grievous of insults. I have no such thing!”

“Uh dummy, you have a whole qi core for cultivation or damn near it at least. I can’t believe some ignoramus that doesn't even know about cores is the person I melded with.”

“I refuse reality then. Isn’t that what you said?” Egosum stuck his head up in denial.

“Do not use my words against me!”

The world around them started to fade out of existence. The grayscale environment slowly flickered out of reality as it was replaced by a weird tingling sensation. His entire body felt the same strange tremors.

He opened his eyes only to be rewarded with darkness once again He was floating in some warm liquid with rancid air surrounding him

“Owa Owa! Argh. Damn you darkness. Always thwarting me.” The cursing did little to help, but to ease his frustration. “I will end you one day!”

His ramblings ended and he tried to move around. He pushed against the ground and was met by some strange fleshy feeling . The tingling sensation had begun to elevate into a burning one as the seconds became minutes.

“Have I been condemned?! Was the soul soil right? Do I have a detestable core?” The walls encompassing him tensed and moved in waves as if to answer him.

He had angered Quetulopus and now he must pay. A sudden jerk sent him smacking into one fleshy wall and then into the other. The rapid movements sent him around in circles with no end.

The moving prison left him burning alive accompanied with a horrendous stench as he came up for air from a particularly vigorous thrashing.

He resigned himself to his fate. Soon enough he will be burned to death and pay for his crimes for all of eternity.

Another vigorous jostling ended abruptly. The feeling of movement was gone. The contractions had disappeared and now a momentary silence overtook his prison. Could he be redeemed?

Suddenly the prison was invaded by a blue light and the burning sensation started to disappear, replaced by cool water

‘Freedom!’ The thought flew through his mind as he was offered an escape from damnation.

He kicked with his sore legs and found himself swimming through a refreshing liquid.

Had his devout feelings and dreams gotten to his patron deities? Had he been absolved?

He swam through the water, feeling the cooling sensation cover his skin and soothe the torment before he turned around to take in his surroundings.