How many days has it been since.
Or maybe it has only been a few hours?
I don't know.
The torture that seemed to repeat without end was the last thing I remember.
Since when did I lose consciousness?
Still fresh on my mind, there’s the hazy feeling of being submerged in an eternal darkness.
And before I knew it, once again, light enters my eyes.
My body is incredibly sluggish. It's not that I was lacking sleep, instead I felt as if I have slept far too much. However, right now I could not muster any strength in my body, being able to open my eyelids like this might just be all I am capable of.
Huh? Eyelids? Do I have those?
No no, I'm supposed to have them, of course.
But I'm having a bad feeling about this.
Let just leave that kind of thing for later…
Right now all my strength has left my body, and I'm incredibly hungry.
No, even more than my hunger, I'm thirsty...
My throat is so dry just talking might tear it apart.
Fortunately, there's a river flowing in this place.
Summoning whatever strength I could, I drag my body near the water source, crawling on the ground.
Haa...haa....
-Slurp-
Haa...haa..
Delicious.
Has water always been this delicious?
All the drinks I've had in my life until now could not compare.
The clear liquid wets my mouth, seeps into my throat. Water is supposed to be tasteless but to me it’s as sweet as nectar. The cool stream of water flows in as if raining down on a desert, revitalizing my body.
Yes, at this moment, I can truly say that I've been reborn!
However, what is this? I'm having a strange feeling again…
Was my mouth supposed to be like this? My drinking posture is also abnormal.
While I was pondering about, it seems that the sun has started to rise outside of the cave. The morning light goes through the cave's entrance, hitting the water surface, and reflects my figure.... my... eh?
What the hell is this!?
Reflected on the water surface is a figure I know very well.
Two big, muddy, oval eyeballs with no eyelid to cover them. On the forehead there're 6 smaller dark eyes that have the same shape. There's no nose, in the place where my mouth would be now has sharp jaws just like that of an ant's.
It's exactly like the face of the monster that ate me.
No… or should I say it's the face of the previous owner of this body?
As soon as I vaguely understood what happened, it's as if a hazy veil was lifted from my mind.
A sense of dread pierced at my lungs, making it hard to breathe.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to grab my shaking shoulders and wail myself to sleep.
Strangely, the fleeting sensation of terror was being overwhelmed by something else.
Something that has been lurking at the back of my mind, something violent.
Violent and vicious.
Yet, so comfortable.
So free.
http%3a%2f%2fimg09.deviantart.net%2ffefa%2fi%2f2016%2f...a0x4pn.jpg [http://img09.deviantart.net/fefa/i/2016/121/f/b/insectumchronica10_by_amano_m-da0x4pn.jpg]
.
.
.
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It's not like I was attached to my previous face.
It was girly, it was problematic, it was un-cool, and it was girly.
Incidentally, my first love was my own face that was reflected inside the mirror.... keep this a secret kay'?
Anyway, as a man, I wanted a cooler looking face.
But this… isn't this totally different? It's not even a human face anymore!
Aahh...How did it become like this?
No, I get it, I really get it.
It's all because of my stupid.
[Arte]
__________________________________________________________________________
In the first place, I did not know if I had one or not.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Class-rep seemed to have a rare one. Considering we're all in the same situation. As in we’re all resident from another world who aren’t supposed to be here. It’s normal to suspect that our abnormal circumstances might have a link with [Arte] somehow. There was a chance I would have one too.
It was all just possibilities though.
Of course, we did not know anything about our own [Arte], only class-rep who had her skill activated was able to know the identity of her skill. In fact, even if we were awakened to our [Arte] it’s not like we can use them. Class-rep’s [Arte] displayed the effect through simple conversation. Therefore she was able to use it without having prior knowledge. All she needed to do was talk with people using an unknown language and her [Arte] would naturally do its job. Other [Arte] might not be so simple. Even if we had one, we didn’t know what it was or how to use it.
However, when I died.
My own [Arte] activated, and I came to understand the true nature of it.
[Iron Will: The owner of this Arte is able to come back from the dead no matter what kind of condition his body is in at the time of death. One time effective]
Um....
How do I say this, is this ability amazing, or is it not?
No, if you think about how you are able to cheat death once, even if your body turns into ashes, it is certainly an amazing power.
However, you can only use this once.
Eh? So if the monster did not eat me, and left my body as is, wouldn't it just kill me again when I revive? What if I died of starvation in some valley, wouldn't I just die to hunger again after I was revived? Not to mention the skill becomes useless after it's used once?
I have to question why did I awaken to this [Arte] to begin with… Does the type of [Arte] have something to do with each person’s unique character?… I’m aware that I’m a stubborn person… but still…
Rather, I'd very much prefer an offensive ability instead, if I can defeat the opponent before it gets to me I wouldn't die in the first place.
Eh? Then what's with this half-assed ability!?
It's a miracle I actually survived.
My digested flesh actually fused with the monster's own body and my soul won the tug of war.
I wonder if this was an intended effect, or an unprecedented accident?
Not that there's any one here to answer me…
________________________________________________________________________
Since my head became such a state, what about my body? While I was crawling I certainly felt the limbs were similar to a human's. I remember the majority of the monster's body rejected me and the rejected flesh tore itself apart from the main body.
I have cold sweat thinking about how my body might be a grotesque unrecognizable mess of flesh if anything went wrong during the transformation process.
Turning my body around sluggishly and lay my back down the ground, I take a look below.
Un, I can't see it.
I can't see my lower half.
Something is blocking my view.
Something that I have always treated as an object of worship. As a man, it's the symbol of hopes and dreams. But never do I want one of them actually attached to my own body, much less two…
Yea, two of them.
I move my hands and squeeze one out.
~purunn ~
Soft.
It can’t be…
This, there's no doubt about it…
Then, what about down below there?
I silently pray inside my head. Please not let my worst dream comes true. I was never a believer but only this once I pray to you, God, Devil, or whoever is out there.
Slowly, I move my hand to check my most important place.
My heart is weighed down by a heavy feeling as if I'm walking along a dark corridor, reaching for the door to my execution site by myself.
And when I finally arrived…
Ah...
My son is gone...
http%3a%2f%2fimg07.deviantart.net%2f7b93%2fi%2f2016%2f...a0x4r8.jpg [http://img07.deviantart.net/7b93/i/2016/121/4/1/insectumchronica11_by_amano_m-da0x4r8.jpg]