Okay, walking may be a problem.

It would seem that feet are pretty important for mobility, and since I don’t even have shins, I’m pretty unbalanced.

But now I have to get out and about. From what I saw happen to my former fellows, it’s only a matter of time before my tantrum life-forms come along.

So, hugging the walls, I hobble on all threes until I find a tunnel going somewhere I didn’t know. I guess it’s time for an adventure.

It’s slow going and I’m getting weak quick and often, but it could be worse, I could be getting attacked.

Suddenly another colour comes into view. It’s not as tall as the other colours, so it must be a different kind of creature.

It’s wobbling an awful lot. And getting bigger. Oh heaven I think it’s trying to attack me. It’s getting closer and closer and is about to leap at me.

Whoa where’d this thing come from!? It just jumped the thing that was about to re-kill me. This one has the strangest shape. It has a poisonous violet life force, large bulbs on its front and its tail is curling high over its body.

It jabs the creature that attacked me and I watch as the life-force fades at a scary rate. That tail is deadly efficient.

Oh crap, it’s turning on me, I thought we were buddies too.

Don’t attack me friend, I helped bait your kill

As what happened with the other bone piles, it either didn’t hear me or didn’t want to talk. I see its tail rearing to attack so I block with my only arm.

In an unexpected twist the tail slots right between my ulna and broken radius, catching o my bone. And as it pulls back, I go with it. I end up lifted on top of its back, my arm still stuck on this tail, which I now see has a spike of some kind at the tip.

Understandably, this thing freaked the heaven out. Not only was I not dead (I am but humour me here), but now here I am, on its back and blocking its means of attacking prey.

It struggles. A lot. It’s only by sheer luck that I don’t get thrown off and smashed against a wall. But by the amount of bouncing I’d guess it was running around, but everything has become a blur. I’m being rag dolled around too much to focus on the lines that make my vision.

And to boot I can feel myself being shaken apart. All the splinters and fragments that I used to be haven’t fully fused together and it’s only getting looser.

It doesn’t take me long to figure that I should probably get off this ride before I shatter. Shattering’s no fun when it’s you. So I am now playing puzzle trying to get this thing’s tail spike out of my forearm, and doing a tremendous job considering how much it’s moving beneath me, which doesn’t help coordination I’ll have you know.

Get out of my arm dammit.

Seriously just go through the gap in my radius, how hard can that be?

Whoa okay here we go.

*thud*

*rattle*

Okay well I’m not moving. That’s a good start.

And apart from my kneecap cracking from the land I think I’m still in one piece.

Or in as few pieces as I can be.

Getting up I see the creature’s colour quickly shrinking as it retreats from me. Too bad, it would’ve been dead useful if I’d been able to get it on my side.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Anyway, now I have no idea where I am and even less idea about the threats I might come across

Well this is just peachy, isn’t it?

From what the lines are telling me I’m at a fork in the road. Or would it be a skewer? One of those two pronged forks. Because apart from the direction the violet creature left in, there are two open directions.

What do you think compulsion? Haven’t heard from you in a while.

You want me to go right? Okay then.

Left it is.

So one my way down the left tunnel, slow going but with purpose (my purpose being to find a purpose), I find myself bearing witness to a constant array of colours appearing in two’s and leaving as one. It’s a constant death match around me.

Take this poor angel over there. It looks about the same shape and a similar size as the thing that re-killed my fellow bone piles, but its life energy is almost as dull as mine. An acid green orb is slowly making its way over the dull life-force, taking all colour away. My guess is it’s having a snack on its latest prey.

Oh? At the far end of this dull colour, furthest away from the green lifeforce, there was something handing out of the bulbous growth coming from the main mass.

I should check this out, it looks like it’s an inside that pulled outside, and might be useful. So scraping myself along the ground towards it, I get a finger ready to sever the connection to its original owner. And with a pinch and a tug, whatever it is is mine now.

I roll it over in my incomplete hand, trying to figure out what it could be. I’d chew it a little but I have no jaw so it’d be a little hard.

Hmmm. What can you do with something you just took off a dying thing?

No idea, so let’s put it places until something happens.

In my pelvis?

No it’s not that kind of squishy part.

My hand?

Seriously I’d need to be an oracle to figure this out.

Well how about the four holes in my skull?

Not the Caved part, not the one in the middle of my face. That just leaves the too above it. Here we go, nice and easy.

Well once I get the positioning right it should stay in place, so let’s wait for it to adjust

***

Okay so it feels like it’s all hooded up in my head, so let’s see what this thing can do.

Well this is certainly new. I can see a bunch more stuff now. I think it might even be 20 vision.

Now let’s see, what do I look like?

I LOOK AWEFUL!!!

Like I’m at deaths door because I forgot my coat the last time I came round. The ribcage is almost entirely blackened, with the rest flaking ash. Anything that didn’t come from there is more cracks than bones. Did I seriously make it this far like I am now?

Enough of me and my narcissism, now I can see I should look at where I got this Satan sent gift.

Oh well they don’t look very impressive. It’s a pink bag of squishy stuff, getting eaten by a blood red slimy blob, with visible sinew inside its jelly body.

Well if this is sight then I feel overhyped, this isn’t anything spe- wait, the slimy blob is leaving something behind. Something white, and strangely familiar.

Its leg bones. As happy as I am that I’ll be able to take them after, I can’t help but groan internally that I came from one of these things. The slime is taking its sour time getting done with its meal too.

It’s still eating at the meat-bags ankles. Well nothing to do but wait for it to do its business.

So how you doin’?

No response

You been here long?

*blug*

Ohhh I see (I don’t I just want to feel noticed)

Well this may take a while, it’s a good thing I’m not dying anytime soon isn’t it?

*sssss*

Strong stomach you have there, I’d have thrown it up by now

It’s bubbling more as it speeds up for a long haul of digestion.

Chug chug chug chug

A little encouragement never hurt anyone right? I could wait for It to finish and enjoy the smorgasbord of fresh parts, but I don’t know if I should be staying in the same spot like this for so long.

So as soon as the shins are at least half revealed I’m gonna start pulling them out.

…

…

….

Nope, I’m not strong enough for that I guess.

Well at least I came up with a proper name for the blob eating it.

Sir blobsworth the first esquire.

Or just flesh-slime if you’re a close friend.

…

Well it certainly takes it’s time eating, I need legs Satan damn it!

… *blub*…

If this is what time feels like then time has no sense of imagination. Spice things up a bit, fiddle with the speed settings, anything that will get me those legs sooner.

*rattle*

Huh? What?

Looking over at flesh-slime, I notice it finally passed the knees, and the glorious sight of shins not encased in slime met my gaze. I reach out for them with my two fingers, only to land them short of the target.

What? I thought sight was supposed to help coordination. I have an eye, so why am I fumbling over something as simple as depth?

So I scoot my hand forwards until I reach the bones making up the first shin, with a bonus kneecap to boot. I then get to work piecing them onto myself. Everyone loves additional content!

When that’s over and done with I watch my colour spread into my new shins, at a much more satisfying rate than flesh-slime, and I began to test how standing up felt.

Very wobbly. Not like flesh-slime though, more kind of like getting given a new set of limbs, like wings or fins, and told to go from there.

At any rate, now I can stand up, let’s get to walking.

I take a step. And promptly fall forward on my face (my very bony face).