Only. A. Little. Further. There!

With a final thrust of my arms I pierce the last piece of the One Above holding me back. Finally, after what must have been months of boring, I, Ellenoor Schipper the Third, First of her name, have conquered the great One Above! If by conquered you mean dug a tiny, insignificant hole through it, hehehe.

Aaanyway, freedom!!! Just have a taste of it! With a comical *pop* I wriggle myself out of the One Beneath (previously the One Above, but no longer deserving of the title.) Immediately a large gulp of water enters my mouth. And I get a great idea of what freedom really tastes like. It’s salty. Extremely, fucking, salty. The good news, I apparently had working tastebuds. The bad news, not anymore, the salt has completely conquered them. This must karma. ‘Conquer and be conquered yourself.’ - Tsun Tsun, the art of conflict or something.

At least it doesn’t take long to get used to the saltiness. I can finally focus again on me surroundings. And it’s still dark, well, almost dark. There is a faint blue glow coming from somewhere to my right, but the rest is just that all-encompassing black. I can change that, though. Not visually, but pulse the second should come in handy in situations such as this. I say pulse, but it’s not really a pulse anymore, more like a continuous vibration. It does allow me to channel the energy extremely fast. Like this.

With a simple thought I guide some energy into my front legs, let it gather for a while and will it to release a simple pulse outward. That was the plan at least. I severely underestimated how much energy I’m now circulating. With a massive shock the pulse pushes outward, colliding with everything in its way. I get a greatly distorted scan from everything in this apparent cave. I can’t make out any details, probably because the release was to rough. I did see some passageways to the outside and even a bit of that outside at the far end of that pulse. I could release another pulse, but my front legs have heated up immensely due to that release. And thanks to the physical vibrations I now feel in the water around me, I don’t think the cave appreciate the super pulse. But the rumbling takes only a moment and all becomes quiet again.

I mentally breathe a massive sigh of relief. How dumb would it be to be the instigator of my third imprisonment in a row. A massive underwater cavern collapse is not one I want to add to the list. So, the control is definitely going to need some finetuning. Preferably to the levels I’m not an immediate danger to myself anymore. Might as well get right on that, I don’t think that glow is going anywhere anytime soon. And I do need that radar to see if anything is disturbed by that pulse and comes to investigate.

I get an idea to enhance it right away. Since the pulses are a continuous vibration now, I can try to passively slip some of that out so I have a constant vision going. That just leaves the problem of possibly absorbing energy from the water. At least, that’s what I think might happen since water has a surprising similarity to the energy and matter within the One Beneath, the greatest of them being that they’re both influenceable with the pulses from core the second.

But this theory can easily be tested, I just need to be prepared to act immediately. I put my full focus inward, homing in on core the second and my front legs. Okay, I just need to let it out somehow. Hmmmmm. It feels like water, so maybe I can let it flow like a river? That should be doable. I picture a great flowing river in my mind and try to impress that feeling on the energy in my front legs, with immediate results. The energy starts to hose out without directions or meaning. Too big a river! Good thing I was prepared for such a thing, and with a swift thought the hosing stops.

Alright. River is too much, but that is as good as a proof of concept as I’m going to get. It is totally possible to let it out continuously. What is kind of unexpected but better for me is that I don’t seem to have absorbed anything from the water. Not energy nor matter, it just took a shitload of mine and then nothing. So no instant inflation from just interacting with water, always nice to know. Which means I can work on my control with significantly less risk. Let’s try to turn that river into a creek. Picture the gentle creek and impress it.

The energy from the vibrations once again immediately pours out. In way smaller quantities as with the river but still as an uncomfortably large amount. But I can work with this. Now to throttle it further. Something smaller than a creek. Just a small stream maybe? What if I make it like rain, that could work.

So I mentally pull up the image of a gentle drizzle and try to once again impress it on the flow of energy. It gets throttled hard, only a small amount still gets released from my legs. A small enough amount to form a coherent, real-time image of my surroundings. I’d say the range is about ten times my body size, which is just far enough to see the hole I came out of and the slowly approaching jaws above me.

!!!

Right at the same time I realize the jaws are there it shoots forward and clamps down. I’m just quick enough to dodge it with the majority of my body, but not the entirety. Searing pain spreads to three of my legs as they are caught within the jaws, and with a simple twist are ripped right out of my body, leaving only short stumps. But compared to hitting the water at 200 km/h and breaking almost all your bones at the same time, this is nothing. My mind remains clear enough for me to pull myself towards the hole and go in, just in time for another set of jaws to clamp shut right above the hole, missing me by only a hair. I quickly go deeper into the hole, stopping only when the edge of my vision is just outside my new hideout.

The jaws are lurking right outside the entrance, hanging almost perfectly still while waiting for me to come back out. But that’s not going to happen any time soon! It’s quite amazing how calm I still am. I’m not panicking or anything. Just a little agitated, but not nearly enough for when I’ve just narrowly escaped death. Strange. Another one for the list of things to figure out.

The priority now though, is to somehow get rid or bypass those things above. And for that I’ll need some more intel, so I open the metaphorical tap a little more. I slowly increase the intensity and the range of my vision while still being able to form a coherent image. It is slow progress, but bit by bit the range increases, until it encompasses all of the jaw-monsters. All three of them… They seem to be some kind of cross between a crocodile and a catfish. Cute yet terrifying. And they’re fully focused on my little sanctuary. Great.

But at least I now have an idea of what I’m dealing with. They seem to think they have me in a checkmate leaving me no way to manoeuvre but up to them, but this little squoctopus has some tricks up her sleeve. With nothing else to do but digging, one tries to find something, anything, to entertain them. I found some enjoyment with screwing around with the pulses and the energy. One of my greatest discoveries during that time is that my arms are extremely malleable. They can even stretch to a ridiculous length, something that seems particularly useful at this time.

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While keeping a part of my attention on my three adversaries, I focus the rest of it in my primary core, this one now also releasing continuous vibrations instead of pulses, and my arms. I start building up a charge in my right arms and with a bit of struggle split them into two distinct charges. One to propel my arm forward. And the other for a nasty surprise. The catodiles seem to sense something is up as they start to slowly back away from the hole, but they’re too late and the closest one is about to find out how big of a mistake attacking Ellenoor Schipper was.

I release the first charge, willing my arm to extend at great speed. And like a torpedo it shoots through the water heading right for the flank of my target. It extended with such speed that the big fish can barely react, and my arm pierces right into it. It immediately starts flailing around trying to get my arm out, but unfortunately for it, that was just phase one. With a thought I send the second charge right through my arm and I release it all at once into the catodile. There is a split-second of push-back from the catodile, almost like it has some innate resistance, but it is futile against the sheer power of the released energy and like a tidal wave it floods the catodile’s body, literally dissolving the entire fish in a few moments. Nothing remains when the shockwave is over. Nothing that I can sense with the radar at least, but a moment later I start tasting something metallic, almost bloodlike. Oookay. I did not think it would be this effective. It even scared of the other two, because they’re quickly making their way outside of my vision.

I, I am way more dangerous than I thought! What kind of animal can easily destroy something more than ten times its size with minimal effort? The thin eggshell was one thing, but these were huge compared to that and it disintegrated just the same. Which means it should be safe enough to go explore, right? If I can just instantly melt my assailants into a puddle, what do I have to fear?

Something fast, that’s what! Those catodiles thankfully took their sweet time approaching me. If something were to swoop in before I can react, well, that’s just end of story. Wouldn’t that be a shame. I just have to keep in mind that they’re still able to hurt me if they reach me, which means I’ll need some greater radar range to give myself enough time to react. I look at the leftover stumps of my legs with regret at my carelessness. It really was pure luck those catodiles approach slowly. If they actually were fast... Ah well, it’s better not to dwell on it for too long. I just need to get this radar at a sufficient range. Let’s work on that for a little while.

====

Aaalmost. There! I stop pushing my newfound organs right when they feel at their limit. With which I mean my front legs and core the second are only a little away from getting painful. But this gives me the greatest radar range possible as of now. Not that it’s small by any means. If I had to guess it is about 200 times my body size, and still I can’t see the entirety of the One Around (previously One Beneath (previously One Above)). The hole I’m in right now is merely a fraction of its entire size. I’m beginning to think I am in fact way smaller than I initially thought, because if I were of a human size right now, the One Around would be larger than 400 meters! But how large am I then? There is nothing to make an accurate comparison, not that I can see. Another thing for the later-list.

It looks like it’s safe outside for now, though. Nothing to see except a few snakelike fish, but they’re a lot smaller than me, so nothing dangerous. Time to check out that blue glow! With renewed spirits I exit my hidey-hole, demoting the One Around back to the One Beneath, and crawl my way towards the glow. I probably could swim there, but I don’t want to learn how to do that just yet. I’ve done enough learning for now. Crawling suits me just fine. It actually goes quite well, despite missing three of my legs, but not that fast. It takes a while to approach the glowing area, giving me more than enough time to do a thorough scan of the One Beneath, both inside and out.

And because of that I finally recognize what the One Beneath is when I approach the glowing area, and its apparent head close enough. It’s a me! Or rather, a gargantuan version of current me. The reason why it’s dead gave me some difficulty figuring out some of the parts I was looking at. See, the glowing area is in fact three large, spherical craters. Craters that extend from the environment into the One Beneath. Huge parts of the One Beneath’s head and tentacles, as well as the bedrock cave floor are simply obliterated. There’s nothing left, not a hint of what was once there. But having entire section’s of ones head blown of will kill anyone. The incident even exposed part of one of the One Beneath’s cores to the open water. That’s what’s causing the blue glow. The core is leaking some residue right into the bottom of the pits, creating a lake of a blue glowing liquid and making all of this visual to my eyes.

It is a gruesome sight. The One Beneath seems to have died instantly, since the edge of the crater in the ground and in it’s body still align. But that doesn’t take away that half of its tentacle lay scattered to the side while some of its insides are slightly hanging out. Going by the position of the exposed core, I guess this must be the One Beneath’s second core, as it is right in his forehead.

Despite having such a lovely environment, it is nice to use my actual eyes again. Radar shows a lot, but just the sight of colour brings a nice feeling in my cores. I take a small moment to enjoy just seeing again, before I start pondering at the question on my mind. ‘What killed it?’ It probably was the same thing as my annihilating touch. But that doesn’t explain the identical craters within the bedrock, nor that all of these parts of the One Beneath were annihilated. Neither the waterlike matter or the organic matter. I can hardly believe it did this to itself, especially since there are three distinct craterlike holes, though they do form one giant hole together. It must have happened in an instant, though, giving it no time regenerate itself.

…

I, Ellenoor Schipper, am a dumb, stupid, idiotic, simply moronic piece of calamari. Why? Watch this. I focus on my to cores and their associated energy and start directing said energy away from my front legs and arms. Instead I start guiding it to the one of the three stumps, and will it to extend outwards. Slowly but surely, the limb grows back, just like my teeth did. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?! This could have saved me so much time! What’s in the past is in the past though, but before I do anything else I’ll make sure my legs are fully regenerated. Thankfully the glow of the pond gives me enough light to see by, if only just barely.

====

With a mental sigh I stop focusing on the regenerating. It took way more focus and more time than the teeth, but I got there. I flex my three new legs, improved, better than all the ones before. That’s a lie. They’re the same as the other five. But I’m now a complete squoctopus again. Nothing attacked me either while I focused on my task, nothing even came close. And I can get why. There is an immense amount of energy radiating from the pond below and the exposed parts of the One Beneath. I seem to be somewhat immune, though I can feel a slightly uncomfortable tingle on my skin, but I’m apparently way more resistant as all other life around here. Some of those snake fish did approach to closely once, but they quickly turned around when one of them simply died.

But this does make this a prime safe spot for yours truly. And I am going to need one for what I have planned. Is it dangerous? Shouldn’t be. Is it beneficial for me? Oh, you bet it is. Is it consuming a large part of the One Beneath so I can have a lot more security while exploring the cave and beyond? Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. But seriously, this is a prime opportunity. And I do need to grow larger if I want to enhance my abilities with the energies. And I do want that, cause the range of my radar is still a rather shitty and maybe some better understanding will help me figure out what happened here. Better control over the organic energy is also a must. If I can just regrow limbs, maybe I can even shape myself.

But most of all, I just want to talk to someone again. It must have been at least months since I’m down here. I don’t want to be alone any longer…