Chapter 41: 2.22

What big ears I have…

Towered over everything. Everything small below. So small. But big ears could hear everything. Voices talking. Machines. Gears grinding. Explosions. Gunfire. Even scratching of pebble against another.

Could hear. Everything.

But did not care for any sound. Sound all noise.

Very noisy…but everything muffled. Could hear all…annoying…but all sound distant. Those that made noise…some were near. Some on me. Many of them far. Screaming from afar. Dying? Screaming. So many…many…making noise.

Noisy but couldn’t hear. Chose not to hear.

Insignificant sounds.

What big eyes I have…

Could see everything with big eyes. Very easy. A strand of hair. Insect scurrying inside crack on wall. Drop of blood drying. Speck of dust. All bright as day. Big eyes make everything clear. Nothing could hide from my sight.

Saw creatures…many creatures. Creatures on me. Creatures around me. Inconsequential. Puny. Every one of them. I could see. Every movement. Doing…something. What were creatures doing? Attacking me? Weak creatures. Attack. Me.

I did not understand. Could not feel them.

At all.

What big teeth I have…

Rip…with my big teeth. Big teeth tear…chew anything. Long and sharp teeth. Could eat everything with big teeth. Any that attack me…to be eaten. Eat those that bothered me. They food. Have to be eaten. Food? Where food?

Creatures attacking me. On me. Around me. Trying to hurt me. Trying. Failing. Were they food?

No. Not food.

Could not harm. Me. This was nothing. I could not feel them. What they doing? They not see they weak?

No pain…not food. Not bother me. Did not crave them.

Not hungry for them.

I had eaten many. Many preys. Those that bothered me…I ate. I grew big. Big and strong. With what I ate. No other prey worth eating now. All weak now. Boring. Nothing bothering me.

Something dangerous…

A black mound.

Big mound…dark…moving shadows. Writhing creatures gathering. Shadow creatures on me ran away. Gathered bodies. Then ran to mound. Joined black mound. With bodies they brought. Tentacles wandered all over the cavern. Absorbing bodies. Take heads, not whole body.

Black mound…it wanted heads? Eating and growing as I did.

Might be dangerous. Might be good to eat.

Black mound growing fast. Ate to grow. Growing as large as me. Grow to call something.

Something coming.

Inside darkness.

But black mound didn’t bother me. Tentacles kept away from me. Did not touch me. Only took heads around me. Brains? Wanted brains? Not interested in me.

Me not interested in it then.

Simple.

Two creatures attack black mound. Two…small…trying to stop mound growing. They not bother me.

No one bothered me.

I want to sleep…

KABOOM! BOOM!

A massive force hit me on the chest,

“GrrrROOOAaarr!” I bellowed with fury, sending shockwaves outward. Ripples of air pushed away from the smoke and fire, stirring up dust clouds. An attack! Someone dared to bother me. As the intense heat spread all over my upper body, blue flames singeing my fur, my senses sharpened like I was waking up from hibernation.

Tuned to fight. To kill. To eat.

The world slowed to a crawl as my concentration heightened. I could feel the minuscule stones and individual cracks on the concrete under my feet as I took a step back to steady myself after taking the brunt of the massive explosion. My feet sunk a few inches into the ground, the earth breaking under my tons of weight.

The rancid smoke in the air fought with the stench of blood and death. But what enraged me was the smell of burnt hair and flesh. My own hair and flesh! I quickly regenerated my injury, flesh mending itself, skin blanketing the muscles, fur bursting forth from my skin. Good as new.

Who attacked me? I roared.

Those two creatures! The ones attacking the black mound.

I focused for a second on the mound of squirming dark sludge. Unstoppable in its growth, the mound already covered an entire side of the cavern. Parts of it branched out into the ceiling, hanging on to the stalactites with its numerous appendages.

Dangerous was what it was. Instincts told me as much.

But it didn’t bother me so I wouldn’t bother it.

Those two creatures, on the other hand…They were evading the thrashing tentacles that were as thick as tree trunks, endlessly sprouting out of the black mound.

One creature had the appearance of a human, but he didn’t smell like one. What was a human supposed to even smell like? I suppose I’ll consider him a fake human. He was dressed in plain coat and tie attire; but his clothes were torn, revealing a skintight black bodysuit underneath. The other was a humanoid creature with bizarre proportions encased entirely in metal. It had cannons pointing at me. It was the one that attacked!

I snarled at them.

“Brody, conserve the rest of the plasma disruptor charges for the Cocoon, it doesn’t seem effective on the Titan,” the human said. “Our priority is the Cocoon. That one may be a Titan, but it’s not a Manifested.” Even though they were far from me, I could hear them talking.

“Copy, Sir. But we cannot simply leave it alone,” said a deep voice with robotic tones. “According to scans, it is not an Aggregate. The Cocoon might try to absorb it for the Bridging.” The metal man’s head was fully covered by a boxy helmet, but I assumed it was him replying to the fake human.

“You’re right, we’ll have to keep them away from each other. I’ll do my best to hold the Titan. Focus all your firepower on making sure the Cocoon doesn’t grow more.”

“I have destroyed all the brains it has not absorbed in this area.”

Their conversation…the words, their identities, a gut feeling pestered me that I should be concerned. But why? I didn’t understand. I had no reason to care. Right?

I simply wanted the metal man.

Eat the metal man, then go to sleep.

Whatever the metal man hit me with, it didn’t only cause an explosion and burned me. It also sent a massive jolt throughout my body, a thousand swords poking me all over. The muscles on my chest twitched uncontrollably. A burning sensation crept under my skin, like the flesh underneath was on fire.

I flexed my entire body and howled. An inexplicable force erupted deep within me and drove out the paralyzing charge. Then I stomped over to the two creatures, each step making the earth tremble. Tables and chairs crumpled like brittle twigs. I also squashed a few of the shadow forms that weren’t lucky enough to get out of my path.

“Destroy the tendrils branching out of this cavern," the human said. "Especially that big one that followed Lexis into that tunnel.”

“It is looking for more heads. In her haste, Lexis might have left plenty of brains intact.”

“Dammit. She didn’t know one of these abominations turned into a Cocoon. Make sure none of those tendrils reach her.”

The heavy tentacles of the black mound crept away from me as I passed, but not fast enough. I tore through them. Dark, thick juice spurted out of the severed tentacles. Revolting flesh, not food. Not food at all.

“It’s cutting some of the tendrils. Lucky us. Let’s do this, Brody. The residents of the city above depend on us.

“And it is only the two of us here.”

“I’m going now. Good luck to us both.”

Whips of crackling light coiled around the fake human. He ran across the cavern, over the rocks, black tentacles, straight for me. I stomped on him. But he suddenly disappeared.

WHAM! A powerful force hit the side of my head. My dense fur, thick muscles, and heavy skull absorbed the blow. I barely caught a glimpse of the fake human when he zipped out of sight. WHAM!! Another blow to my neck. I roared and tried to catch him.

The bastard was a flash of light in the dimming cavern. Zooming on the ground, the walls, even on my body. Hitting me and then running away before I could catch him.

There he was! To my left, on a tall pile of coiled tentacles. I slashed down at him. But before my claws could reach the ground, he dashed away. I ended up chopping the tentacles he had stood on.

He repeated it a few times, luring me into the tentacles that were exiting the cavern. I knew what he was doing. But I was biding my time so that he'd get used to my movement. One wouldn’t expect speed from something as large as me.

But I knew. I knew how fast I could get.

Another blow to my flank, and the man once again ran, leading me to another location. I followed him and roared as I slashed at him. Expectedly, he jumped out of the way. But I held back the downward motion of my claws, twisting them to the side with blinding speed into his escape route. My claws connected. The fake human was flung away. He expertly rolled as he hit the ground, quickly stood up, and ran to put some distance between us.

I held up a claw. Skewered on it was the fake human's arm. I put it inside my mouth, chewed, and spat it out in disgust. There was barely any flesh! I wasn’t even sure if the soft, chewy parts I ate were flesh. The arm was mostly metal. Metal wouldn’t give me nourishment. Eating the arm didn’t satiate me at all.

This prey was a waste of time!

I’ll just destroy him.

I charged on all fours at the inedible man, bounding over giant snake-like fleshy growths in my path that weren’t there before. He didn’t try to hit me anymore but decided to flee, going up the tiered levels of the cave. The energy inside me…I could feel it. It flowed into my muscles, waiting to be released.

Now!

My coiled muscles sprung with energy, giving me an incredible burst of speed. I leaped at him, jaws wide open, biting down where he stood.

Earth, concrete, those black fleshy things—everything, including a leg made of inedible garbage—all got crunched by my fangs. I spotted the man’s body flailing in the air, a surprised expression on his face, narrowly avoiding being swallowed whole. I slapped him away with my backhand.

His body collided with the wall of the cavern, breaking apart large pieces of it, and then fell to the ground. Slabs of rocks dropped on him.

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“Stop that! Stop what you’re doing!” a small voice struggled to be heard. A puny creature was calling to me.

Who is this? A morsel of thought prompted that I should be able to recognize this voice, but it was quickly gobbled up by the raging instinct to kill. The human mishmash of metal and flesh extracted himself from the pile of rocks. Only his right arm and left feet remained of his limbs, yet he was able to stand up, balancing perfectly on one leg. He looked up defiantly at me, then at the tentacles inching towards him, climbing over the rocks.

A clump of blasts slapped my face, knocking my head back. A minor annoyance. I huffed out a gust of air and shook my snout to clear away the smoke.

That other creature of metal.

He couldn’t wait his turn and was bothering me again.

The metal man danced on the black mound, cutting off tentacles with blades of concentrated plasma extending from his arms, displaying impressive speed and agility despite his bulk and size. Ignoring his efforts, the mound was growing ever larger. Missile launchers extended from the metal man’s back, but he wasn’t using them to shoot at the mound. Instead, they were trained on me.

Another round of missiles came. I lazily held up my hand. The missiles detonated on my palm, barely scratching me. The metal man had probably expended his more powerful weapons on the black mound and only had failures to show for it.

“Brody, focus on the Cocoon godammit! Delay the Bridging,” my injured prey called to the metal man. “I can take care of myself here.”

Take care of yourself? This was going to be your end, you inedible thing.

“Madame Blanchette! Please!” An urgent pitter-patter of tiny feet on something soft, the creature telling me to stop running closer. “Don’t kill him!” the tiny creature cried out. “Get away from here!”

My ears turned in the direction of the sound. The pleas made me halt for a breath, my hand already raised high in the air, claws stretched out, ready to deliver the final blow on this unpalatable garbage that dared attack me. I made a throaty growl as I considered what to do.

What was the smaller creature saying? I should know her. Her?

A woman. This woman…someone I should know...important I should listen to her...why? As I turned my head to look at her, I saw in the corner of my eye the inedible man take his chance to escape. I roared and brought down my hand backed by the tremendous weight of my body to squish him.

“No!”

My entire body seized up. Myriad thoughts rushed into my mind. Images. Memories. Flooded…FLOODED INTO MY MIND! My head hurts!

[This will happen if I do that. That will happen if I do this. This. That. Many things happening. The injured human will do this. Will do that. A female human in white. She will do this and that and that. The metal man. A woman with a ponytail. All of their actions. The consequences of their actions. The black mound trying to devour us. The metal man and his companion. They will do something. Violent shaking. I fight. I continue to fight. Rocks falling. Rock will drop there. Drop here. Explosion. Collapse. Fire will consume the cave. Future. Possibilities. Everything was rewinding. Replaying. Different scenarios. What will happen if I do this? This and that will happen. Everything ends in an explosion. If I fight. All possibilities end in an explosion. Burned by fire. If I fight. If I stay. Buried under the earth. Everything is a dead end. NO! Not all. Human body. Escape explosion. All exits will close. Cave collapse. Fire fills the cave. Explosion destroys everyone in the cave. Escape before that. Need to escape. Back to human. Human! The form I can see it. It is me.]

I am human.

I am Erind!

As I came to, I was on my knees. I had my tongue out, panting like a dog. Saliva dripping down from my tongue formed a pool on the ground. I was seeing double, it was difficult to concentrate. My mind still reeling. What happened?

I am Erind, that was the important thing.

A hint of movement to my right. A woman in a white dress, but the dress was not so white anymore. She was curled up in a fetal position. She hugged herself, trying to stop her seizures. Small vines grew out of the black fleshy floor and crept up on her body.

Deen! I reached out and realized I was still a giant monster. A single finger was as big as her body. I might injure her and make her situation worse if I touched her. But I needed to get her away from those black things. A figure dropped down beside her. A woman in a suit with a black mask, her hair in a ponytail. It was Xazary.

She picked Deen up while observing me warily if I was going to attack. I noticed she injected Deen with something using a needle sticking out of her finger. Deen stopped trembling after that. Xazary mouthed, “Go. Now,” before leaping from one tentacle to another, blasting smaller ones out of the way as she made her escape with Deen’s unconscious body over her shoulder.

“We have failed the residents of this city,” a voice announced.

The inedible human! The metal man saved him while I was incapacitated. They retreated to a small ledge high on the cavern wall. Tentacles were trying to reach up to them, fended off by the metal hulk, shooting at them or chopping them off.

I didn’t notice—or didn’t care to notice, to be more accurate—just how big the black mound had gotten. No longer just a mound, it was a humongous blanket of black slimy flesh laced with throbbing veins covering the entire cavern. The mound, the source of it all, was pulsating as if a beating heart. Dozens of heads surfaced and submerged across the gelatinous membrane covering it.

“Lexis is not coming,” the metal man said in between shooting. “Something untoward might have happened to her. Or the way to the surface is exceedingly far.”

“Yes, we are alone. How’re the readings?”

“The Cocoon will finish Bridging soon.”

“A narrow Bridge? We managed to prevent our Titan friend from getting absorbed.”

“A narrow Bridge.”

Did they mean me? I stood on my hind legs, looking up at them. I could get to them if I wanted to, but the shock from Deen cleared my mind. I didn’t need to fight them. I had more pressing concerns if the visions I had were accurate.

“I’ll take that as a victory,” the inedible man missing two of his limbs said. “We can manage a narrow Bridge. There is only one thing we can do in this situation.”

“Yes, sir. Our last duty to this country.”

“Prepare to overload your Greaves Reactor at the exact moment the Cocoon opens and connects the Bridge to our world. Both our reactors should be sufficient to collapse the Bridge before the Manifestation.”

“With this narrow a Bridge, my calculations show that, yes, we will succeed. I am going to begin charging.” the larger metal man stopped shooting and switched to punching away the tentacles still trying to grab them.

The inedible human looked down on me. I bared my fangs at them. “Relax, dear Titan,” he said. “I’ll take you with me to the afterlife.”

Over the groans and other disgusting sounds the black mound was emitting, I could hear a faint mechanical whirring that was slowly getting louder. It came from inside both of the people on the ledge. I didn’t fully understand what they were talking about, but I certainly didn’t want to die here with them. These fuckers were the cause of the explosion in my vision that ended the vast majority of the future possibilities!

The black mound, which they called a Cocoon, grumbled as if a giant was speaking gibberish. The cavern once again shook, more violent than ever before, black tendrils burrowing deep into bedrock. The remaining red emergency lights that weren’t covered by the encroaching flesh flickered were turned off, and a veil of darkness covered us. Only the lights coming from the sparks on the pistons on the metal man’s armor were the source of light.

But it wasn’t a problem for me, for my monster eyes could see extremely well in the dark.

This was it.

Time to bail. I jumped down into the arena and landed on a bed of flesh.

The only way out that could accommodate my size was the door used by Mr. Ogre.

Oh, Mr. Ogre how I miss you so much.

This night started so simply, now what the fuck was going on? Even though the black stuff covered everything, I remembered the location of the large steel doors. I dug through the patchwork of tentacles, hacking them away with my claws like pruning aggressive weeds. Subduing my disgust, I resorted to using my teeth to rip away the veins and flesh hiding the door.

A glint of metal.

Finally! I swept away the black flesh to reveal the exit.

A terrible realization came to me. I was still too big to fit through the door. How the fuck do I get small?

Turn back to human! I screamed inside my head.

I tried to force myself into the hole, but it was too tight. Still, I didn’t give up. I pushed forward, dragging my body inside with my hands and elbows, forcefully expanding the size of the tunnel. Large patches of fur and pieces of flesh were ripped away from my chest and back as I persisted in crawling further in. I didn’t care if parts of my body were torn off by my furious tunneling.

The inedible human and the metal man were happily chatting on the ledge, a couple of idiots. I could faintly hear their voices. 

“Decades fighting Adumbrae. It’s a pleasure serving with you, Brody.”

“It’s an honor fighting by your side, sir.”

And that was the last I heard of them as the opening of the tunnel collapsed behind me due to my digging and the fierce earthquakes caused by the Cocoon.

I dug faster. Faster! I didn’t know if I could survive the Greaves Reactor explosion they planned to do. And if I did, I doubted if I could survive getting buried here even in my monster form.

Fuck I don’t want to die like this.

At least let me die in my own body.

I positioned my claws beneath my jaws, my other hand continued carving a path, my legs pushing me forward. How do I change back? Remove the mask? My claws pierced my flesh and met my lower jaw bone. I tried pulling and then roared in pain. I only succeeded in removing flesh from the lower half of my face.

Where the fuck was the mask? How do I turn the face back into a mask? How in fucking hell was I going to remove it?!

My head burst into a large room full of machines and equipment. Three tunnels branched out of it, and these were narrower than the one I passed through. It might be my imagination but I think I was getting smaller. But I still couldn’t fit in these tunnels. No choice but to force myself in again.

Become smaller and smaller, I chanted in my head.

I picked a tunnel and dove into it, ignoring the pain as my body was squished and bones were broken. I concentrated on digging even though the earth was shaking non-stop.

Dig. Dig. Dig.

Was I even following the tunnel or was I digging a new one?

Dig. Dig. Dig.

I didn’t even know whether I was the going right way up. Where the fuck was up?

Panic gripped my heart.

What if I’m digging downwards?

But good news, I was indeed becoming smaller! I found it easier to navigate the tunnels.

Then it was as if the entire world was turned upside down. A mighty wave washed over me. Rocks fell, threatening to bury me alive.

Was that the reactor? I gritted my teeth and steadied myself as the earth churned like I was in a concrete mixer. I didn't know how long the explosions continued. I just stayed still and prayed it would be over soon.

When it calmed down, I pushed the rocks and noticed my hands and arms were only partially covered with fur.

Finally!

The tunnel began to grow hot. Flames squeezed in between the rocks and licked my body.

Wait! This wasn’t a good time to turn back into a human!

Dig for your life, you bitch! I screamed at myself.

And I did.

I dug and I dug even as I was getting roasted alive.

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