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"Fuck!" I spat, the word ripping from my throat as pain tore through my chest.
Looking down, I saw the thing latched onto me—a grotesque bug-like abomination, its sharp, needle-like legs embedded in my flesh. Its body was small compared to the larger monster, but no less horrifying. Covered in segmented bone-like plates, it pulsed and twitched as if it were feeding on me, and the sensation sent a wave of nausea crashing over me.
Then came the pain.
“AAHHH!” I screamed. I felt like my chest was being torn open, every nerve alight with searing heat.
“No, no, no!” Panic surged as I tried to pull it off. My fingers slipped against its slick, chitinous surface, and the sharp claws dug deeper, sending another wave of fiery agony through my chest.
The world around me blurred, the oppressive red hues of the forest tilting and swirling. My knees buckled, and I barely caught myself before hitting the ground.
“Get the fuck off me!" I instinctively channeled Exira, forcing the energy to surge through me in a desperate attempt to shake the creature loose. Energy surged from my core, spreading through my body like wildfire, but when it reached the parasite, it fizzled out uselessly.
Nothing.
The monster didn’t even flinch, as though the Exira was nothing more than a gentle breeze against its grotesque frame.
“Shit, shit, shit!” The panic climbed higher. My limbs felt heavier with each second, exhaustion threatening to drag me under. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t just attacking me—it was draining me, sapping my strength with every grotesque twitch, vision blurred, the edges of the forest swimming as the world around me tilted.
My swords. My gaze darted to where they lay, a few precious feet away. Too far. I might as well have been looking at them from the bottom of a well. My body wouldn’t respond, muscles locked in place as if the creature’s claws were siphoning my will along with my energy.
"Move," I muttered to myself, gritting my teeth as I tried to push the creature off with my hands. My muscles screamed in protest, my body barely responding as exhaustion threatened to drag me under.
“No. No. Not like this,” I whispered, the words barely audible as I clawed at the creature weakly.
The world tilted again, my head swimming as darkness crept in from the edges of my sight. My body felt heavy, my limbs like dead weight, and I could feel my mind shutting down, inch by inch.
Then, something… shifted.
It was faint at first, like a whisper in the back of my mind. A source of energy—not Exira, not anything I recognized—but something new, and deeply unfamiliar. It hummed with power, resonating somewhere deep within me, and before I could even think, I reached for it.
The energy answered.
With a surge that was almost violent, it coursed through my body, sharp and unrelenting. It was nothing like Exira’s controlled warmth—this was wild, chaotic, and unrefined, but it was power.
My vision blurred further, the world fading into a haze of red and black as I grabbed the creature with both hands. My fingers locked around its segmented body, feeling the hard, chitinous plates beneath my grip. The energy poured into me, surging to my fingertips as I squeezed.
The bug-like creature twitched violently, its body jerking and thrashing as if it had finally noticed my resistance. But I didn’t stop.
Through the haze, I heard a sound—a sharp, wet pop, followed by the sickening squish of something breaking apart.
The pressure on my chest eased. The pain dulled.
And then, everything went dark.
...
I woke with a sharp gasp, lungs burning as I sat bolt upright. My heart pounded against my ribcage, a wild rhythm that echoed in my ears.
For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. The forest blurred, shadows twisting and bending as my vision adjusted.
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The fight. The bug-like thing—
My chest burned, and my hand flew instinctively to it, expecting to feel claws still embedded in me, draining whatever they’d been after. My fingers scrambled over my armor, searching for punctures or holes. But there was… nothing.
I exhaled sharply, relief flooding me as I slumped slightly.
“It’s gone…” I muttered, my voice hoarse and shaky. My hands roamed the mended armor, where faint marks remained where the creature’s claws had pierced through. They were already fading, and I could feel the material repairing itself, slow but steady.
Out of habit, I brought my left hand to touch my chest, just to double-check, but the moment my fingers moved into view, my heart lurched again.
“What the fuck?!” A scream ripped from my throat as I flinched away from my own hand, nearly falling over in my panic.
The thing attached to my arm—because surely it wasn’t my hand—was monstrous, dripping with an oily black sheen that caught the faint red glow of the forest.
Its elongated, claw-like fingers flexed and twitched involuntarily, sharp points glinting as though mocking me.
I scrambled back, shaking my arm violently, as though the creature itself might dislodge and fall off. The sharp claws only clicked together in response, and the oily substance clung stubbornly to my skin.
“Get off, get off, get off!” I shouted, shaking harder, sweat beading on my forehead.
My breaths came quick and shallow, panic rising in my chest like a tidal wave. Whatever this was, it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t right.
But the more I stared, the clearer the horrifying truth became. This wasn’t something latched onto me. This was my hand.
"No, no, no… What the hell is this?" I whispered, staring at the mutated appendage. My claws curled reflexively, and I could feel every movement, every subtle twitch. The claws were sharp, dagger-like, and dripping with an inky, viscous liquid.
“Da fuck is that?” I muttered, my voice filled with both fear and disgust as I clenched and unclenched the claws. They moved perfectly in sync with my thoughts, as though they were a natural extension of me—except they weren’t.
My thumb remained relatively normal, but the other fingers… elongated, sharp, and alien.
I glanced around frantically, trying to reorient myself. The area where I had collapsed was littered with blood and shattered bark, and not far from where I sat lay the remains of the bug-like creature that had attacked me. Or rather, what was left of it.
It was a squished, punctured mess, its body ruptured and mangled beyond recognition. The faint glow of its bone-like armor had faded entirely, and the oily ichor that coated it was eerily similar to what now coated my claws.
My stomach churned at the sight.
“Oh, great,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I squished the damn thing to death, didn’t I?”
The realization that the chaotic energy I’d felt earlier, the raw, untamed power—this must’ve been it's doing.
“That’s just fantastic,” I said bitterly, staring at my hand again.
The claws gleamed faintly, still dripping with that dark substance. I took a deep breath, trying to calm the frantic pounding of my heart. Panicking wasn’t going to fix this.
“Okay, Lexi,” I muttered to myself, clenching and unclenching my claws as though testing them. “One crisis at a time. Freaky claw hand first. Existential dread later.”
Closing my eyes, I forced myself to focus, letting the flow of Exira calm me. The energy coursed through my body, steadying my nerves as I sank into a meditative state.
The claws twitched again, and I directed Exira toward my left arm, searching for any anomaly. As the energy flowed, I found it—a faint, unfamiliar strand of power interwoven with my own. It wasn’t Exira.
"Great," I muttered, narrowing my focus on the strand. "So, that’s the essence I picked up."
I think El forgot to mention this in his memo...
It was chaotic, pulsing with a rhythm that was distinctly alien. It radiated the same raw, primal energy I’d felt when I crushed the bug-like creature, a fragment of something violent and alive.
“Cool,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm as I flexed my clawed fingers. “Love the whole demon-hand aesthetic, but I kind of need my normal hand back.”
Taking another deep breath, I focused on the strand of energy, willing it to stop. Nothing. It pulsed stubbornly, completely ignoring my attempts to suppress it.
“Of course, it doesn’t work,” I muttered, frustration creeping into my voice.
Shifting tactics, I held both arms out in front of me, focusing on my right hand. Its normal, familiar shape was a stark contrast to the monstrous claws of my left. I visualized the right hand’s image, clear and precise in my mind, and then superimposed it onto my left.
"Come on," I muttered, gritting my teeth. "Work with me here."
I felt the foreign energy resist for a moment, writhing against my will like a caged beast. But I kept pushing, forcing the Exira to sever the connection between it and my body.
Finally, with a sharp snap, the strands of energy broke.
The claws retracted instantly, the inky blackness evaporating like smoke in the wind. My left hand returned to its normal form, fingers flexing weakly as I stared at it in relief.
“Hah,” I said, letting out a shaky laugh. “At least I didn’t fuck it up entirely.”
Still sitting on the forest floor, I leaned back and rubbed my temples, exhaustion beginning to creep over me. The energy I’d tapped into had left me drained, and the strain of forcing it back felt like running headfirst into a brick wall.
But at least I was me again.
For now.
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