The fire was all around me burning into my flesh as I tried to crawl to safety under the black sludge cumulating in my throat all around me shadows were screaming… blood was everywhere, and most of the one I could feel was leaking from the stump that where my leg and arm…. My vision was drooping… the loss of blood was getting to my head the last thing I saw was one last explosion in front of my eyesight.

I jolted awake in shock my body shivering tears running from my eyes I tried to wipe them off, but I couldn’t feel my arm... nor my legs for that matter and my vision was blurry… filled with the shade of green shivering…. wait, that right the hole. My attention was focused back on my situation while the nameless horror of my subconscious chased away if not already forgotten in the jigsaw void that was my memory.

Did I pass out? I’m glad at least that I’m still alive and kic… I mean slithering away. My only issue is that silence no more hissing of anger no more noise came out of where I was from… I slowly slithered toward the entrance in a slow delicate way and poked one of my eyes out of the corner of the hole to look at tons of bodies …. Some burned, some pierced, some cut so wide they were decapitated as far as my stomach thought as I threw up acidic bile out of my mouth. How did I sleep when this carnage happened I didn’t know but I even spotted some puncture wound near some head as I started backing off toward my hole.

I crawled as fast as I could back inside …. Shivering from the sight I witnessed… they were all slaughtered some were blackened ash, some cut extremely wide… I… didn’t want to meet those who would cause such destruction against the thing that seemed out of my own nightmarish fueled consciousness…. That hole saved my life in more ways than one I feel. Maybe it would be a good idea to not go back out for now… after all I know this hole is going way deeper into this cave system is at least connected somewhere after all its too smooth to be natural at least compared to the cavern I was from I slowly started to slither toward the path I needed to follow slowly and trying to sense using my tongue flicker any nearby perturbance or menace.

But all I could smell was the blood or burned remains of… blurgh just thinking about it make me sick….

I started turning in the tunnel and suddenly saw bright light far ahead I flicked my tongue again but couldn’t taste anything. I slowly walked ahead my stomach hurting…. Probably from hunger… I can’t handle being picky honestly or I would die from starvation after surviving the red-eyed one.

As soon as I got to the entrance all I saw was a dozen and a dozen of baby light worms.

My stomach remade a growling sound showing it was hungry unconsciously while I was wondering if I should be disgusted or weirded out by the prospect of eating a worm? My body had moved on its own the hunger too strong for my tired mind as the (specie name) instinct took charge and bite the first sleeping pupae beside me and tore it apart and devoured it alive in one fell move tears were running from my eyes as I was internally screaming, I devoured a worm alive… a living being. No worse the taste was foul, disgusting to the point I needed to fight the need to puke cause I needed to eat it was a question of living or dying.

I fight my internal rebellion tearing the instinct apart as I painfully swallowed the disgusting worm and crawled toward the next one…. and tried to bite their head off quickly and painlessly to appease their suffering but I don’t have fand or teeth all I succeeded was to wake them up and they immediately created a massive flash of light which their neighbour jolted awake imitated blinding and searing my vision.

I was crying from the pain and the last bit of my nightmare the flash of light over and over and over going on in my head tearing at my soul and heart mercilessly.

I hissed and ran away as fast as I could my eyes temporally blinded, I smacked headfirst in my panic on the wall and stopped thrashing about from the pain and searing fear.

I had a new sense… I should try to use it… to make sure I wasn’t in danger. I flicked my tongue to my surroundings and tasted only my tear as they ran off my shut eyelid. I couldn’t feel the worm… like they don’t have a scent or pheromone. They probably use those bioluminescent flashes of light to communicate. If I wasn’t in pain my eyes burning and blinded, I would be impressed. But right now, I was defenceless. In their territory, all cause of my instinct deciding to have a teenager crisis and do as they please. I couldn’t sense them, nor could I see them move.

I did the only thing I could do in this situation I curled up into myself spiral after spiral and hide my head under my ring defence segment to maybe let my eyes recuperate from the intense flash of light.

After not feeling any attack on my person, my subconscious stops sending the same loop back to my head and feeling the burn and tears reside. I slowly removed my eyes from under my tail and looked with an even more blurry sight that the worm all tangled together as far away from me as they could. I felt guilty… I felt like a monster… a killer... a murderer and a child abuser. They didn’t deserve me attacking them in their sleep they didn’t do anything to me, yet I killed one of them like those black ones tried to kill me. I wasn’t different from them I was just another monster another nightmare for another living being. I slowly started crawling away from them as gently and delicately as I could.

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I still needed to ‘’eat’’ thought… as much as it hurt to eat like that… I need to at least get some substance in case I needed to run for my life again. I wasn’t a murderer… I hated to fight. I would take anyway to not fight if I could at all!

I slowly came back to the massacre that was now my birthplace and resisting puke made my way toward the charred corpse of my brethren and nemesis. The smell was bad so was the sight, but the burned meat would hopefully be poison or parasite-free from the intense heat.

I’m back in control… I won’t act again as an animal without any thought behind its action then needs. It smells horrible thought … but it should be poison or parasite-free at least as far as I could see with my blurry vision and the tears from what I needed to do.

I flicked my tongue over the meat and almost recoiled from the foul taste of its blackened and bloody remains. I Then took one long breath and took a bite as big as I could, feeling my jaw over open wasn’t pleasant as I tore a bit of the meat off the body and just swallowed it as fast as I could… but not fast enough as the taste spread to my tongue and palate and I reeled in disgust.

This is so awful…… I don’t want to eat moooooooore……!!!!!

I slowly reached for another bite and as soon as the skin was torn apart the blood flowing made me almost vomit. As a flash of my nightmare came back and all the blood started to drown me in its horror.

At the sight of the blood, I coughed the meat out of my mouth and slithered away teary-eyed.

I needed to get out of this cave, of this hell…. And find some fruit or something that wouldn’t make me guilty for eating or sick both in and out.

I slithered as far away as I could from everything and deeper into the cave where hopefully the exit lay ahead. All there was where the bright worm still lighting around them. It was just a boring cave… other than the magical worm. I then flicked my tongue a couple of times and detecting some cool breeze with it I slowly crawled toward its better vigilance than rushing in.

I slowly came across the entrance where I stood still… unmoving as in front of me was what I could only describe as an adventurer asleep by a campfire. While one who looked like an elf saw the blurry shadow on the side of her head quickly, she quickly looked in my direction. I could not move…. Nor did I want to as any wrong move would sound the bell of my death. I did not dare move but not moving would help anyone. Plus I was smaller than any of the black ones by a large gap and a completely different colour if their job was to kill the black one they have done it, I wasn’t black either but a vibrant green and showed no sign of aggression. Plus, as an elf animals shouldn’t be something they attack for fun, right? least I hoped. So, I slowly slithered toward the fire camp under the watchful eye of the elf.

As soon as I was touching the fire camp’s warm embrace I curled up on myself and closed my eyes to sleep.

If I understood one thing it was that trust gives trust back. At least I hoped it did as my thought was chased away as I fall into a dreamless slumber.

I was startled awake by a very thin stick poking me awake. I hissed in disagreement as I opened my eyes to look at my tail over my left eye and the blurry shadowy form of the adventurer? standing around a smaller one that was crouching and poking me with the stick once more.

I very carefully removed my tail from over my head for whatever reason it loved to end up there in my sleep. And flicked my tongue at them. And to try to show I was not a monster I waved my tail in a waving gesture as I yawned and stretched, my eyes closed in the process still half asleep.

I heard them gasp with surprise and felt

À

some movement around me but before I could react.

1 hand lifted me while another forcefully open my mouth by applying pressure on my jaw muscles and nerves and hissed in disapproval, tears flowing from my eyes.

Either they felt I did not like that because they immediately stopped and started rubbing the top of my head at which I purred in bliss my hissing turning into a rumbling.

It felt so good my gosh, it was a gentle caring touch. From which, I felt warm explode in my chest and my soul tingle.

I was gently handled and set in some pouch on the side of the waist of the one that picked me up. I did not understand until the next system message

Congratulation, u have been successfully tamed by %$@#!##$%@$

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo……..!!!!!!!

Why meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! My poor freedom !!!!.....

Tears flow from my eyes and I felt a sense of worry flow in my mind, so I looked up to see my…. Tamer? Look at me worried.

If I could feel their emotion the link was probably 2 ways… so they could feel my fear my sadness my worry increased as I looked at them and quickly hid away into the Satchell. Away from the gaze of my new master. I was way too stupid I was now a monster or animal being someone’s pet was one of my possible fates…

I just decided to ignore everything around me…. I was in no state of mind. yes, I was safer? A hell lot safer but also way more vulnerable than before I didn’t… love the trade-off. Also having peaceful humanoid contact was a plus. But I was seen as a pet or a tamed monster, not…. whatever I was before. I was so sad I did not even notice the slim and caring finger poking me worriedly as I just tried to filter out my new master emotion and just wanted to curl up in a hole and disappear.

I heard them spoke to their party or I guess heard her as the sound of her voice made it more precise what gender she was.

But there was no way for me to understand anything that was spoken around the party that consisted only of girls. I was surprised but at the same time wasn’t, they were strong that much I knew as they killed the black one without much issue it seemed.

Maybe they had a healer tough, but it wouldn’t change the fact they were only 6 and seemed to have easily succeeded.

They kept talking and Master kept pointing at me with what I could feel was worry or pain?

I couldn’t tell as one of the girls gently covered the pouch with her hand and seemed to say words in once again another language as I started to feel a probing warm all around my body… probably a healing spell? So I guess that is the healer huh. What I hated was that the warmth was invasive.

And it wasn’t something of a great feeling, it scared me…. Why I don’t know. But the mistress immediately asked her friend to stop as she looked at me worried. I just ignored it and crawled back into the satchel wanting to be left alone.

And slowly fell back to sleep but one that didn’t chase my anxiety away.