V-00001.0 - Canis
“This new genus better be fucking worth almost being partially eaten.”
“You know that’s a pretty shit attitude, Vik; you were being eaten anyway; just be happy you got something out of it.”
“Don’t call me Vik,” I said, opening the mutations page.
[Bone Claws]
[Enlarged Canines]
[Insulated Fur]
[Dense Musculature]
[Dense Skeleton]
[Lupine Auditory Enhancement]
[Thick Pelt]
The list stretched on just like the human modifications, from useful things like enhanced tendons all the way to weird shit like giving me new vocal cords that would let me howl and growl like a wolf.
Looking through some of my other stat page, I ground my teeth seeing that my stocks were all nearly empty. I grabbed the coyote’s body and started eating, tearing into it. The feeling of wrongness in the flavor was far worse than with Adam; the flavor was getting worse with every second; the thing was dead, and I could see and feel this strange ethereal darkness clinging to it; the feeling was chilling like staring into an empty grave.
Finishing the disgusting, hairy creature was an utter chore; towards the end of my meal, the sweet ambrosia taste of fermented grape was completely gone, and I felt like I was just eating disgusting, mushy iron, but my stocks of biomass were up, and that was what really mattered, although I needed to find a use for organ meats since I was building quite a pile of those.
"Hmm, I wonder if there’s a way to filter this shit... Oh well, isn’t that fucking convenient?”
I barely finished my sentence when the list changed, with a new heading replacing the original one.
Mutations Canis Genus – Primary material cost: organ.
[Lupine Auditory enhancement]
[Lupine Olfactory enhancement]
[Lupine Pulmonary Enhancement]
[Enhanced Liver Function]
[Lupine Vocal Enhancement]
This one looks pretty damn useful.
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[Lupine Pulmonary Enhancement – Common]
[This mutation will enhance your lung capacity and increase the efficiency with which you intake air and oxygenate your blood; this will grant you increased stamina, capacity to hold your breath, and hasten your ability to clear lactic acid from your muscles.]
[Cost: 50 pounds of organ biomass absorbed (63/50)
5 pounds of bone biomass absorbed (22/5)
3 pounds of blood biomass absorbed (5/3)]
Fucking yes, please!
[Lupine Pulmonary Enhancement – Common Acquired, please stand by; stocks are being drained.]
Stocks:
[Musculature: 55]
[Bone: 17]
[Blood: 2]
[Organ: 13]
My throat closed as I tried to inhale, and my lungs were burning and filling with slurry as my bronchioles expanded and folded. I felt my face reddening as I spasmed my hands, coming up to scratch at my straining throat. Then a new layer of terrible pain was added as my chest seized. I felt the bones in my chest and ribs fracturing and spreading widening as my lungs expanded and stretched. My bones fused back together in moments, and suddenly my throat relaxed, allowing me to exhale the air steamed with heat as my lungs began to function again. The process took seconds, barely a moment compared to crushing maw, yet the process was so much more terrible.
Inhaling, I felt the cold hair soothe and cool my burning hot lungs, and when I exhaled again, nothing but normal cold air left my lips. It felt amazing; each breath seemed to completely fill me with strength; even shallow inhales through my nose felt like deep breaths, the kind that you have to inhale as hard as you can to completely overinflate your lungs to feel.
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah right? I think this is it, man.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, you said I would need some real firepower. I think this might be what I need—a few more mutations like that. I could be a fucking demon when I hit them next, claws and fangs with the skeleton and muscle density of a goddamn bear; they wouldn’t know what the fuck hit em.”
“I like the sound of that... Well, shit get a move on killer.”
I smiled slightly at the tone in my own voice and the old nickname, “Thought I told you not to call me that anymore.”
"Oh, who can remember with you, Vik? You got so many rules.” I said standing up and getting my bearings, looking around. Really looking around for the first time, I was surrounded by trees in every direction, and I felt... something, something that wasn’t present in the city, or no, it was just subtle, barely present.
There was this sensation like energy was in the air; it tickled a sense I didn’t quite understand, and it felt so alive here that the blood staining the forest floor was positively electric with the sensation of energy. And so were the trees; their leaves felt like they were breathing.
My breath caught in my throat as I took it in, and my eyes widened as the full moon shone upon me through the trees. The pale blue light danced with the swaying branches in the wind; the light illuminated the red splotches in the dirt, and in the distance I could see a lake that glistened with blue light.
“It’s so... beautiful. I never thought... I’ve never seen anything this perfect.”
I was dumb struck by this vision of peace and beauty; it was like someone had carved a slice of untouched beauty from the heavens and dropped it in my lap. and it soothed my soul seeing that not everything is disgusting, violent, and dirty.
“I wish you were here." I said in a whisper while walking towards the lake entranced by the beautiful still waters that held the moon within them, the stagnant blue thrummed with an ethereal, calming, transparent energy.
I dropped to my knees, falling the short distance, letting my knees sit in the water, and suddenly my cheeks began to burn, and my vision blurred as hot liquid slipped from them and cascaded down my face into the water, creating soft ripples.
I cried hard for the first time in a long time. I truly cried—not just a few tears, but I truly wept. I cried for my lost love. I cried for my friend Marcus. I cried that it ended like this, that I never proved I could feel that I could be a real person. That my best friend died believing I was a monster that he had to save the world from.
I wept because I knew I had failed Alice and because I knew that Marcus would never rest in peace... because he had made me what he so feared I was... because now he was right, I was a monster.
A smile I didn’t understand crept its way up my face as the tears rolled away as if they were trying to avoid my quirking lips. I swallowed hard, leaning forward. I put my hands in the water and dipped my head under the ice-cold liquid. I felt it kiss my lips and penetrate my nose. I felt it soak my hair and fill my ears when I fully submerged my head.
Opening my eyes, the cold lake washed the hot salty tears from my eyes; they disappeared into the lake along with the dirt and blood and vomit and sweat that caked my body. The waters embrace felt loving like something I’d needed and never known I was without. As I raised myself from the waters, I felt the bloody horrors being stripped from me as if nature itself were lifting a burden from me.