The air blurred around him. Sparrow’s eyes were not built for fast motion. Tears welled up in Sparrow’s stalk-like peepers. If I can just…

He hit the plate of cabbage leaves, bounced, and settled there.

It took Sparrow a moment to work out what had happened. He was on top of a cabbage leaf, in the open. The guards were looking. His body would move out of the way if he tired to crawl towards it. Sparrow shook his little eyelets. His body would’ve had centuries to come up with a new solution to keep him prisoner. This time there would be no escape.

Sparrow sagged and wished that just for once he could end it all. A little fall onto a sharp stake would be welcomed.

The cabbage leaf was lifted up. The guards were shouting. Only, it was his body that had picked up the cabbage leaf. His body hadn’t seen him fall. Sparrow rode the cabbage leaf right up to his own mouth.

The teeth stood gaping like giant pearly gates. The lips closed around him. And Sparrow disappeared into the black tunnel beyond.

****

The sensation of falling lasted a long time. He was weightless and spinning as his body transformed. His shell melted away, as did his eyestalks until he was left as a simple sphere of flesh falling ever further down his own throat.

Then he heard the laugh.

‘Well done hoo-man. That one took a while.’

The demon appeared to his right. A black flame was wrapped around it.

‘What next?’ Sparrow asked, glad to be rid of his slimy foot, ‘Gluttony?’

The demon nodded, ‘Gluttony. And hoo-man, I don’t think you’re mind is quite ready for this one.’

‘I just spent a century as a snail. Try me.’ Sparrow replied.

The demon cackled and tore its claws against the lining of the tunnel they were falling down. Sparrow felt a sharp pain in his throat area, even though he no longer had a throat.

‘We are inside your body hoo-man. Diseases have waged a war against your immune system. Every second they grow bigger and stronger.’

The demon spun Sparrow around, ‘You are just a little cell. But every cell you eat will help you to grow. The aim for gluttony is to become the biggest cell. To take back control of your body.’

Sparrow groaned, ‘Man, all of this is hurting my head. Can’t I just enter a bean-eating competition or something? I’m good at eating beans.’

‘Just two more challenges to complete hoo-man. Then the Demon Queen will reward you with lust.’

Sparrow felt a heat grow in the body around him, ‘She’s… ahh… you mean, she’ll be overseeing that one personally?’

The demon nodded, ‘Her lips are hot and dark and ready to bite you Sparrow. They crave you.’

‘Oh… oh…’ Sparrow felt like jumping into an icy stream.

The demon disappeared and Sparrow dropped into a large circular arena. Only there were no spectators, and the walls were fleshlined.

Ready to bite… Sparrow shook his head, tried to remove the image of the Demon Queen and focus on the task at hand.

Around him little orbs about the same size as Sparrow whizzed around. Some chased each other, others worked as team, herding circular orbs towards larger circular orbs that swallowed them up and grew bigger.

It took him a while to realise that there were a few distinct teams.

The red orbs seemed to be going about their business without attacking anyone, but were attacked by everyone except the white orbs.

The white orbs were trying to protect the red orbs and were getting hammered by a force of blue, green and orange orbs.

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Sparrow looked down at himself. He was a white orb - so obviously on the white team. The white orbs had a lot of numbers, but none of them were growing very big and were easy fodder for the other colours.

He watched as one white orb ate a green orb and grew slightly, the other white orbs seemed to be cheering their friend on. But a moment later the white orb was swallowed up by a green orb.

Well… Sparrow thought, nice of the demon to put me on the losing side.

A blue orb swung close to Sparrow and circled as if to check him out. The orb was twice the size of Sparrow and definitely beyond his ability to eat.

Sparrow shot away from the blue orb. He found that being smaller made orbs faster and better able to dodge.

Orbs of all colours whizzed around him. Sparrow dodged a giant green orb, then bounced against the flesh-coloured walls.

A group of blue swarmed him and as he passed by one of them ate a large chunk out of his side.

Sparrow got even smaller.

And then he spotted a tiny green orb being chased down by two whites.

This is my chance.

Sparrow zoomed after the little orb. Whizzing past gigantic lumbering blue and orange orbs. The little green orb was speedy, it was leaving the white orbs behind as it used the wall like a race track.

The centre of the arena was a scene of chaos with orbs pounding into each other with speed.

Sparrow headed to the edge of the arena and built up speed. He was travelling in the opposite direction to the tiny green orb, so he figured at some point they would collide on the circular arena.

Around the corner it came, a tiny flash of green. It tried to avoid him, running high on the wall. But Sparrow changed his course to match it. He ramped up his speed as the green orb tried to slow.

Sparrow hit the green orb at top speed. He hit it so fast he didn't even have to open his mouth. The green was simply absorbed into his body.

Sparrow felt himself growing and the two white orbs, which were now slightly smaller than him started following him.

‘Okay guys,’ Sparrow said, ‘Time to eat.’

Their trio swept through a group of small oranges feasting on red orbs, then rounded up the rest of the green, growing, growing. The orb on his left was eaten, then the one on his right. Sparrow barrelled towards the final orange orb, consuming it. Out of the corner of his vision, he spotted a giant lumbering orb. When he turned he found it was on his side.

‘How did you get so big?’ Sparrow asked it.

But the big lumbering orb gave no reply.

‘I think I’ll call you Bubble Bill.’ Sparrow said to it, ‘any objections?’

The orb just floated, saying nothing.

‘Alright Bill,’ Sparrow said, eyeing the giant blue orb which was being attacked by an army of white minions, ‘Let’s go kick some butt.’

Sparrow rounded up all the little white orbs clamouring to attack the big white orb and pushed them into a corner, ‘Look, every one of you that it swallows up makes it harder for me and old bill over there. So please, stay out of this.’

The white orbs stayed in their corner for all of five seconds before they followed Sparrow out into the field.

Sparrow sighed.

The little white orbs raced towards the little blue orbs who were racing towards the red orbs. The big blue one lumbered behind them.

If I can just get enough blue orbs in me, I should be able to match him for size.

The little blue orbs were growing quickly, first, they ate the reds, then when the whites hurled themselves against them, the blues, which were already twice the size of the whites, ate them up.

Sparrow dove into the middle of the feeding frenzy and started sucking up the blue orbs. They were big and took a moment to digest. And he’d only eaten three of the six remaining when the large blue orb lumbered in.

His minions herded the remaining reds straight into the giant orb’s mouth and the thing swelled in size.

‘Hey! Bubble Bill!’ Sparrow yelled, ‘Get over here.’

But his giant teammate kept hanging on the fringes, trying to track down a pipsqueak blue.

Sparrow charged through the big blue’s minions. He grew bigger and bigger, until he was almost the size of the giant blue orb, which in turn was consuming some of Sparrow’s followers.

Bubble Bill was still larger than the big blue orb, but only just. Sparrow circled the Big Blue, watching it shimmer as it moved.

The giant orb was trying to stay away from Bubble Bill, while also trying to track down Sparrow.

Sparrow looked around for other orbs to eat, but there were none, apart from a small stream of tiny red orbs that Big Blue was able to suck up.

He took a deep breath. His large white teammate couldn’t catch the blue orb, and the blue orb was growing thanks to all the little reds he was eating. Sparrow tried to think of a plan and only one idea would come to mind.

And it sucked.

Sparrow got between Big Bill and the blue orb. The blue orb came towards him, ready to consume, but hesitant to get close to the giant white orb behind Sparrow.

Sparrow circled around the blue orb until he and Bill had the blue orb surrounded. The blue orb started to chase Sparrow, but instead of running, Sparrow held firm.

The Blue orb started to absorb him, pouring over his body with an acid-like ooze.

Sparrow was half in half out of the blue orb’s mouth when Bubble Bill reached it. The force of the two colliding was like falling from the top of a very high mountain.

Sparrow saw the blue orb go half into the white orb’s mouth at the same time as the blue orb clamped its mouth down and Sparrow slipped inside the giant creature’s mouth.