N4, Cycle of Rebirth

‘Ugh!’

I had had a nightmare. I had dreamed I was being dragged by a water current. I wanted to fight back but the stream was too strong and had dragged me mercilessly.

‘Thankfully it was just a nightmare…’

Suddenly I remembered where I was.

Blergh.

I tried to vomit but my stomach was empty. My dream had not been nightmarish at all, it was nothing compared with the reality that awaited me now that I was awake.

‘I was…’

I couldn’t forget, I wanted to forget, I needed to forget.

My body was shivering.

I had been eaten, I had been eaten by those rats, I had been eaten alive.

Just the thought of it made me sick.

Terror, disgust, panic, my mind was frozen by a myriad of emotions.

‘I died. I really died.’

The fact struck me like a boulder. I had died and had come back to life, there was no way I had survived that.

‘But how?’

It took my brain some time, but I thought about many possibilities. Maybe I had come back in time, or perhaps I had been reborn, I also could have taken over the body of another creature or my body might have reconstructed itself.

The first one sounded ridiculous. In fact, all of them sounded far-fetched, but it had happened, there was no way my previous death hadn’t been real, and it hadn’t been my first death, that warrior from before must have ended my life too.

My head started to spin, for how long had I been here? Had I died more times without realizing it? I couldn’t even remember my name, what had happened to me? Was this a divine punishment for something I had done?

‘Alright, I have to calm down, let’s see where I am.’

My priority now was to assess my situation, I could have an existential crisis later. Still breathing heavily I examined my body, it was slightly wet but I wasn’t missing any limbs and I could move without problems, my sight and other senses were also working well.

‘Good, now let’s take a look at the place.’

I had left the most troublesome matter for last. This time I found myself in a sizable room, it didn’t look very different from the hallways, but I could see something strange from the corner of my vision.

‘Uh… what’s that?’

A very big entity was occupying the ceiling and the back wall of the room. It was a bunch of hairy skin sacks that looked like some kind of horrid fruits. Most of them seemed to be full to the brim and from time to time one trembled slightly.

The sight was awful, but this had to be a clue as to why I was alive. I didn’t seem to be in imminent danger, so I decided to wait for some time and watch.

Splash.

‘Oh! So that’s it… It’s disgusting.’

It had taken quite a while, but I had finally found what this was. One of the sacks had split open and a wet rat had fallen to the floor, like a mature fruit. After birthing the creature the hairy skin bag slowly closed again.

The soaked rat looked exactly like the ones I had seen before, it seemed a bit disoriented by the situation, but it quickly composed itself and started looking for food

‘I guess this answers one question.’

I had been reborn inside one of these awful sacks, just like that rat.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘But… what about before?’

I remembered coming back to my senses twice, but in neither case had I seen a nursery like this. Did something prevent me from waking up immediately after being born? I imagined myself acting like the other rats in the hallways until something snapped me awake.

‘Hmm… that’s more credible than being reborn.’

There was just another thing bothering me at the moment.

‘Will I revive again?’

That was the most important question and I could only hope that was the case.

There wasn’t much more I could find out in this room. So with my research done, I left the place using its only exit, one of the small sewer-like tunnels that connected to the hallways.

…

I had been wandering the underground hallways, being careful not to approach the territory of any dangerous creatures like the lizards. The area was starting to look familiar, I could kinda tell where I was going and what things I could find in the stone corridors.

‘And food isn’t one of those things.’

I was getting hungry again, really hungry.

I had been observing the other rats, my brothers and sisters, I could say. All of them seemed to be in the same state of famine. I had seen some eating crabs while others tried to munch the moss on the walls or the small insects on the floor, anyway, it clearly wasn’t enough. I guessed when one of them was close to dying of starvation the others would feed on it, continuing the cycle. That would probably be my fate if I couldn’t discover a source of food soon.

‘No way!’

I refused to die like that again, I would rather go find some humans, they would finish me swiftly with a thrust of their spears.

‘Who knows, maybe one will take me as a pet.’

Now I was being delusional, my mind wanted to escape from this bleak reality.

I could also attempt to join a pack and hunt along with them, but I was quite reluctant after my last experience, I wanted to avoid interacting with my siblings as much as possible.

I looked at one of the unappetizing gray crabs. These little fellows had it good, they could easily feed. This one was eating a rat skull alongside its companions. Little by little the bone was being eroded, they had no problems breaking it with their tiny claws and mouths. When other creatures stopped devouring a corpse the crabs would come in full force to finish whatever was left of it.

Crunch.

I started chewing one of the crabs. Certainly, the taste had not changed. It was like eating a walnut without breaking the shell. I spat the creature on the ground and tried licking it, this way the flavor wasn’t so bad. I kept catching crabs and repeated the process.

These critters couldn’t sate my hunger, but they were better than nothing. After I was done with the ones feasting on the skull I sniffed around and found a lot of them hiding in the cracks between the stones of the wall, it seemed this place was full to the brim with them.

I continued tasting them for a long time, I couldn’t call it a meal, but it was the best food I had had since I had awoken in these corridors.

In the end, I got bored with the scarce morsels and decided to roam the hallways once again.

…

I stumbled upon a familiar place again, I was near that awful nursery where I had woken up before.

‘What a coincidence.’

Or not, I had wandered here because I had something in mind. It was a silly and risky plan, an idea my slow mind has been contemplating while I walked along the halls.

I wanted to try two things, first I would attempt to mess with that nursery. Luckily I might be able to eat it or make it spill an unborn rat. Honestly, I wasn’t very excited at the notion of eating a fetus, but I couldn’t be picky, until I found a steady supply of nourishment my fate would be a constant cycle of starvation and death.

‘It’s better not to think about it…’

If that didn’t work I would try ambushing one of the newborn rats. If I had been almost able to kill that bastard I should have no problems with a newbie. Even if something went wrong I might be able to flee. In any case, it would be a valuable experience.

I cautiously entered the small tunnel that led to the hatching room. I had to be careful here, if things were to go awry I could die. Once inside I inspected the big cluster of hairy wombs, wondering about the best way to tackle it.

I decided to try and touch one of the sacks near the floor, this one was remarkably close to the exit of the room, so I could escape in case of an emergency.

I slightly pushed the hairy bag…

Nothing happened, I waited a bit, but I saw no change.

‘Nice, let's get bolder.’

I took a little nibble at the sack.

‘…’

Once again, there was no reaction.

‘Um, it seems to be safe.’

I was about to take a serious bite out of the furry bag when I sensed a fast movement coming from the back of the room. I had no time to react.

“Shriik!”

All of a sudden a black tentacle was coiled around me, even worse, I could feel something digging into my flesh. I looked at it, the dark appendage had two rows of sharp fangs, colored like coagulated blood.

I struggled desperately, but the tentacle was grasping me tightly. If this kept going on I would either suffocate or get crushed. I didn’t want to think about it, I bit as hard as I could. I sank my teeth again and again, but I wasn’t even capable of drawing a drop of blood.

I was already panicking, I had no way out of this mess. I could only hope this thing would release me.

“Shriik shriik!”

‘Let me go! Please! I’m sorry!’

Far from forgiving me the black thing was applying more strength to its grip, the pain was starting to be unbearable. Suddenly, the creature pulled me to the back of the room, where a mass of twisting tentacles was waiting for me.

“SHRIIIK!”

The tentacles moved away, revealing a dark round mouth with several rows of teeth, the next moment I was thrown inside it without contemplation. I blacked out the instant I felt my body get crushed.