...There’s something in the road. Should I even be surprised anymore?

It’s as large as I am, which, by this point, is quite large. Bipedal. Long, heavy arms. White fur to meld with the surroundings. Like a massive white gorilla. Just standing there. Menacingly.

Is this the father of monkeys? Monkey boss-boss? Boss squared?

He opens his mouth wide, baring his teeth. I think he might be roaring, but I literally can’t hear it. He pounds his chest threateningly, but I don’t really mind that either. And then, as expected, he charges. I’m prepared. My arms are slung out wide, ready to claw and tear into the boss’ flesh. The thudding vibrations of his charge reverberate through the ground and I stand firm.

He crashes into me.

At the same time, spread wide by the impact, my tentacles swing around his body like a fishing net cast around him. He, in turn, fights back. His thick hands are easily strong enough to tear off several of my arms, but at the same time, I put my everything into crushing whatever it is I can grab, which in this case happens to be his arm. An eye for an eye.

He grinds his teeth and attempts to slug me off of his body, but all it does is allow me a chance to move from the front of his body to his back.

Three of my tentacles claw into his chest and the others wrap around his limbs. But he is stronger than I am. Although any single one of his limbs isn’t enough to break out, when he concentrates his efforts on escaping with one arm, he’s able to not only wring his arm free, but also tear off several of my tertiary tentacles in the process. Still, his body is far from pristine.

His left arm is broken. I redouble my efforts into crippling this part.

But when I release my hold on his legs and right arm to do just that, he in turn takes his chance to attack, sweeping his own feet from under him and slamming his back, and myself, into the ground. It’s far from painful. I’ve had worse pressure. With his back on the ground and my arms freed, I focus all of them onto the left arm, and in a massive effort, I successfully rip it off at the broken area.

The boss struggles immensely, rolling out from over me to retake some form of distance. Red hot blood splashes from his arm, flesh and blood colliding with the icy ground, instantly billowing off of it in massive clouds of vapour.

He’s standing up and I’m crouched on the floor. He has the high ground, but I have the advantage of surprise. Most of my tentacles have already recovered. I tense my limbs.

From my low position, I jump at him from below, taking another grip on his chest and limbs. The boss tries to fight again, pounding at my main part with his one good arm while I increase the pressure around his torso, digging my tentacles into him, using all the strength I can muster, until…

Crack.

His ribcage and spinal cord both snap under the pressure and the boss goes limp in my grip. I begin feasting on his still-alive body when I suddenly notice something in the corner of my eye. More smaller monkeys, all watching me with big eyes. They approach slowly. Arms stretched out. Maybe for a handshake? Maybe to honour the dead?

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-I take no chances.

My arms flash out and I grab a hold of as many monkies as I can muster before the rest take to flight. I let them flee, eating the ones I actually captured.

320 -> 650

And then I eat the boss.

650 -> 3 150

...My trek continues. I’m almost there. I can see it now, actually.

I’m not exactly sure what I expected? Ignoring the pillar of light, this area can be described as a sort of carved-out rest in the middle of everything, squeezed in between snowy mountains. As a matter of fact, the pillar of light is shooting out of one of these mountains; a mountain so large I can’t compare it to anything I’ve ever seen before, because I’ve never seen such a big mountain.

More interesting, there’s actually a building here. Sort of. Almost.

It seems like it was in the middle of construction, but even then, I can’t really compare it to any architecture I’ve ever seen. Not European, not Asian, not modern, not ancient… It seems to combine square, strict forms alongside soft, swirling details, all topped off with high rising spires. It feels awe-inspiring, but much of it is incomplete, exposing the inner parts.

Just the sight of it sets my heart alight.

Is-, is that-?! A building?? A human-something building?! In the middle of God-knows-where, right at the base of a damn mountain! Holy mother of fuck! Maybe I can find-, maybe there are people here!

Heck, even if there aren’t any humans, there might just be aliens or something! And if they’re advanced enough to create buildings like these… I have to be able to communicate with them. I’m not entirely sure, I never did learn sign language. Body language should work, right? Right.

I approach further, getting even closer.

There’s a vague hum in the ground that seems to intensify the closer I get to the pillar of light. As the building gets closer, I see more details. I can’t tell why, but it seems somewhat religious in nature. There’s just something about the fervour and devotion that every corner is carved with…

Whooaa. This is-, this is genuinely a really cool building. And I don’t even know what it’s for!

Whatever it was made for, whoever almost completed it, whatever hindered its completion… I need to see the inside.

See, this is where I run into a problem. It’s a very detailed and nice building. Now that I’m right by it, I’m even able to peek inside the shimmering windows, getting very good views of the beautiful interior, filled with elegant things whose use I can’t even begin to imagine. The problem is that this building, as large as it is, is also small when compared to myself. The main entrance at the very front of the building consists of two colossal doors that are as ornate as a king’s crown that only barely fit half of me.

See, I don’t know how large I am, but all and all, this building is maybe four times my size. Going by the size of the windows and doors other than the main entrance, it’s like the whole building was made for mice.

Option one: the temple really was built by very small or at least tiny people and I'm not that big.

Option two: the temple was built by humans or human-like aliens and I am, tragically, very big.

I’m leaning towards the second option, but I kind of hope for the first one. If it is the second option and this building really was made for humans, I’d have a height of around, maybe 70 meters standing like this, and maybe 140 while spread out. A scary thought. W-, whether it’s the first or second option though, the fact remains: I’m too big to enter. As I am, that is. If I hunched down and squeezed through, I could likely get past the grandiose door, but any further than that…

-Well, I have an idea. Not one I like by any means, but one that’ll let me explore the inside without having to cause any destruction.

...I bite off one of my primary tentacles.

It’s not cloning. I’m not two, I’m still one, it’s just that I also happen to be over there as well. I breathe a non-existing sigh and shift my consciousness into the separate primary tentacle. And then, I rise.

I make sure to half-fold myself and braid the secondary tentacles dangling behind me. A primary tentacle is still almost 70 meters long, but it hasn’t got much girth to hold that up, so if I fold myself a few times and let the longer tertiary tentacles drag behind, I can find myself with a general height of only around five meters. Still very tall, but if I enter most places like a slithering snake, it won’t matter too much.

Alright. I’m ready.