The screeching roach golem stomped through the mush. It picked up a bite-bite-mite that wandered in front of it and tossed it against a fecal stalagmite. A long-winded whine of protest escaped from the dozens of toothy maws extending from the giant insect. The creature shakily pushed back up on it’s eight long legs and began feeding from the floor while the roach golem splashed onward. The broken delivery truck at its center groaned with the sound of rusty metallic brake friction.

The panoramic roaches spat Circe onto the roof of the truck. The golem ran forward through the caverns as every bump and jostle rubbed Circe against the rusty roof. Her body bounced up and down like a marble as she heaved and spat. One hand pressed to try and stabilize herself, but her other hung on by a thread of spirit tendrils. The flesh had been chunked out of her arm so thick and jaggedly that the tendrils weren’t reattaching or closing it.

She coughed as her body bounced around. Then she finally gave up trying to hold onto the roof with one scratched and flayed hand. The pain was so much that she curled, then went limp with her mouth forced open. She needed to get the pain under control, but the constant bouncing destroyed her concentration. All she could think to do was let the brown roaches crawl into her hands and get a color upgrade. A silent laugh escaped a throat with eviscerated vocal cords.

They’d taken everything from her. Sure, her life had been bad, but it wasn’t this bad. She wanted to go home. Her dehydrated eyes could barely open and yet she still cried. Why should she have to die here in this place? What would be waiting for her on the other side? Could she finally rest in peace? But she didn’t want to die. She wanted to live. Her twisted body bounced up and down. The back of her nearly bald head with its abused scalp smacked the rusty ceiling panel. If she fell into the jagged hole of the roof the sharp metal would likely lacerate her wide open.

The roach golem disintegrated. The great monster sloshed and sunk as roaches fell back into the ankle-deep slush or flew away from the body. The truck rolled forward on three tires until it hit a stalagmite. Glass flew in dirty shards from the front windows as Circe’s body smacked into a cave wall and then fell face first into a soft pile of mushrooms growing in muddy soil. The roaches didn’t abandon her. A wall that looked like moving candy rose in front of her culvert.

Circe tried to get onto all fours. Somehow, she managed it. Her stomach hurt like a tiger clawed her from the inside. Her arms and legs burned. Her head felt like it was on fire, in a vice, and being flayed alive at the same time. The pain had eased when she fought for her life. Useless! Fighting for her life cost her limbs. Her right hand now severed from her body, hair torn out, lungs punctured, throat torn open, nose bashed in, tooth knocked out, and skin flayed from her hands. Anymore fighting for her life, running for her life, and she wouldn't have a life to fight for!

The roaches had done so much for her, but she practically looked like one of them at this point. One more roach needed a glamour increase. Maybe green wasn’t a creative color, but Circe decided she liked green for this little lady.

[Skill Level Increase]

Skill Description Alteration Properties Novice 25

Can change coloration of another subject’s body as desired twice daily.

Must make physical contact with target for thirty seconds to take effect.

The change will register over a period of twenty minutes or longer depending on mana consumed and severity of the change.

[New Skill Acquired]

Skill Description Alteration Properties Novice 01

Once a day, you can apply a minor change to the physical properties of a living being that applies a permanent one percent buff or debuff of a chosen statistical property.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Must make physical contact with target for one minute to take effect.

The change will register over a period of twenty minutes or longer depending on mana consumed and severity of the change.

Something broke, it felt like a tight seal wrapping her body tore. Circe felt the pain subside. It still hurt badly everywhere, but instead of consuming her, it felt more like when her body had burned before she attacked Azoria. A rearview mirror broke from the metal support and swung down. It swayed as it barely held onto the truck. Circe saw her face and gasped. Now the torn flesh of her bloody fingers covered it. It wasn’t recognizable in a mirror as anything but a hideously broken zombie.

“Nobody will ever love me,” she cried, “I might as well just die.”

She sobbed for a few moments, then got her thoughts together. She could think again. Circe rolled onto her side and then onto her back over the mushrooms. A spiritual tendril rose from the back of her severed right hand. The fingers still moved, though if she wanted, she could pull it out of the collection of tendrils, just as she did with that lady who attacked her earlier. But removing it might hurt the chances of the tendrils healing it. Instead, she used her left hand to pinch at the half-moon tendril from her right. To her surprise, she caught it! It squirmed between her fingers and couldn’t get back into the glowing brand! Fingers pinched it shakily but managed to hold the tendril despite it wiggling and slithering to get out of her grip.

I’m going to practice my skill by de-buffing these troublemakers, she thought. A voice whispered in her head, but she couldn’t understand it. Images raced through her mind. Her severed hand, her punctured lung, her broken body barely holding together, a leg that still needed time to heal, dehydration, hunger.

Need shhhhhhh us you.

If the tendrils stopped working on her body, Circe knew she would literally fall apart. They were stuck together. With a defeated sigh she released the tendril of her hand. She raised a broken right hand connected more by these tendrils than her own flesh to her forehead. Slowly she rubbed the mark, enduring the pain it jolted into her head. This was nothing compared to what she’d been through when she might die soon anyway.

Her fingers caught the glowing spiritual tendril based in the brand on her forehead. They pulled it upwards as it stretched and pulled back until her palm clutched the thing.

“You’re in charge of the others,” she coughed.

Her fist trembled as she gripped with all her might and held the tendril until certain more than a minute had passed. The roaches swirled around at the wall and made a rather irritating shuffling noise. The green roach crawled in her mouth because she wasn’t thinking to close it and she had to wait for it to crawl back out over her missing tooth. The pinching edges of those legs distracted enough from the ever-present pain to feel good. She slowly pinched the thorax of the insect and raised it above her face. The shade of evergreen she’d used was different and it had a purple leg. She squinted hard enough to see it by the dim yellow light of the glowing mushrooms. Legs flailed about as she poured some mana into it, then she put what remained of the green roach into her pocket.

[Glitch Detected: Infinite Spiritual Resistance]

“Ooooohhh for freaks sake not this again,” she croaked, “can’t you let me have one thing!?”

Her stomach rumbled. The pain of these marks interfered with her sense of hunger and thirst. It didn’t help that she couldn’t keep food down. How smart were these tendrils? How many of them were there? Circe tried to stand up but her legs trembled and her arms flailed now that her adrenaline stopped flowing. Dry mouth hung open. A drop of clean water fell into it. The shock made her eyes opened. The roaches had formed a cylinder and were pulling water from the cave, directing it into her mouth. Circe never thought that water on her tongue, just a few drops, would feel so good.

Nobody deserves to live, she thought, life is for the strong. Life is for the persistent. How long would she stand here with her mouth open to gather water? Until she no longer felt so dry?

[Glitch Patched: Infinite Spiritual Resistance Nullified]

Here we go again. The tendrils extended gleefully to wrap her skin in the most glorious pain she could possibly imagine. Her body collapsed onto the mushrooms as her mouth remained open. Legs and arms stretched and tensed. Circe put the wrist of her severed hand into her mouth and bit down as hard as she could to endure the surge.

Drip...

A drop of water smacked into the bridge of her broken nose. She squinted and huffed but didn’t have the concentration to move her arms against the pain.

Drip…

A drop of water smacked against the bridge of her broken nose. This could prove to be a problem if it kept happening.

Drip...

The sensations over her body magnified her deep annoyance. Her body flailed slightly but failed to move out of the way. The face became red with tension.

Drip...

Circe released a long croak in an attempt to scream through shattered vocal cords.

Drip...

[Spiritual Resistance: 999]

Drip...