by J M Hamm
I could sense the body of the Fisher as its flesh wrapped around my own. With its every pulse, it drove oxygen into my lungs. It augmented my senses and strengthened my body. I could feel the creature pulling on the eldritch energy around us, strengthening us both, and growing its mass as it did so.
My sight extended far into the cold, dark water. I could see my prey, my darker instincts calling out for its blood as images of fangs sinking into steaming flesh flashed through my mind. The creature fled, leaking hot blood into the cold water. Its injury only spurred my hunger.
It fled, and I chased.
The clump of flesh around my face tightened and began to flow downwards over my back and shoulders. Eyes dissolved into protoplasmic bubbles and tentacles merged and lengthened. When the transformation was complete six long tentacles trailed behind me like demonic wings, pumping to propel me through the darkness of the abyss.
Despite being able to see everything in grainy black and white, and my lungs being supplied with a steady flow of oxygen, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. I had an urge to claw at the pale, grey flesh of the Fisher’s current form. Before I could act, a thin, clear membrane had been created in front of my face. It was a simple comfort I hadn’t realized I needed, and yet the Fisher seemed more attuned to my own physiological needs than I was.
The ambient light was almost non-existent, with only the barest hint of moonlight cutting through the shadowed depths, and yet I could see thick lines of mana and eldritch energy swirling around me, adding color to the black and white of the Fisher’s sonar.
My perception and focus had received a boost upon gaining my class, each being boosted by three with an additional point to be gained upon each level up. This, added to the Fisher’s senses, gave me the ability to see in the nearly lightless environment. Even still, my eyes were nearly useless as all I could see where faint traces of pale light filtering through bubbles and murky sediments.
The sonar-sight, however, showed me a vast emptiness floating above a jagged and scarred landscape. Life was teeming there, but it had retreated and hidden away in small crevices and pores the dotted the ocean floor.
Just how far out to sea had I been dragged? I wondered.
I could sense faint movement as water moved around and through these hidden creatures. My senses were strong enough to pick out individual heartbeats, and the low hum of water flowing over gills.
And my prey, I could sense it slowing as it reached the lowest point of the depths.
I could see its misshapen form and the writhing arteries that madly flailed around it. Some dark instinct in me called out in glee to see the panicked thrashing. The Fisher sensed injury and desperation, and I felt a primal desire to strike back at my attacker.
I continued to dive deeper, far deeper than any river could ever be. It was hard to tell if this was due to the terrain warping that seemed to grow stronger as we had grown closer to the dungeon, or if I had indeed been dragged out past the harbor and into the sea. The pressure was immense, I could feel it pressing into me like my chest had been placed in a vice.
I thought it unlikely that an unenhanced human would be unable to survive for long, even I would not have survived long without the Fisher. I could feel the air in my lungs compress, and my bones groan in protest.
My Might and physical resistances protected me, as the Fisher kept my lungs full, but I suspected there was more to the ease with which I had adapted to this new environment. Perhaps, my final class feature was playing a role in my survival. I had yet to figure out exactly how the ability worked, but it had the potential to be my most powerful ability — if I could properly understand and harness it.
I opened my status screen, noticing the staggering amount of FP as well as the remaining stats I needed to allocate. Somewhere along the line, I had gained two more levels, bringing my Hierophant class to level five and leaving me seven stat points.
First, I looked at my fourth, and final, class feature to see if I could gain any further clues as to how it worked. As I did so, my body continued to swim faster, propelled by the Fisher’s shifting limbs.
Chaotic Mutability Ⓐ - Eldritch energy swims through your every cell, leaving them pliable and infinitely adaptable. Your cells drink in the ambient energy around them, changing and evolving over time. Your resistance to a specific type of damage will temporarily increase whenever you take sustained damage, the rate and level of this increase are proportional to the frequency and amount of damage taken.
Additionally, you will occasionally take on the characteristics and abilities of unique, boss, or raid level monsters that you have slain.
I wasn’t sure if it was an upgrade to Reactive Adaptability, but it sure as hell was just as promising. I had a fantasy of using it to become immune to attacks, weathering constant barrages of bullets as lead bounced off my chest.
I doubted it would be so straightforward a protection, but a guy can dream. I still had to test how much damage it resisted and what the cooldown was before I could rely on it in battle.
I looked back to my stats, I knew my best option to was to increase two stats that didn’t have the tutorial bonus. Each time I was about to allocate the points, however, I would freeze. I couldn’t shake the idea that I was making a mistake and somehow gimping myself by not choosing something better.
Fuck it, I’ll get them all eventually.
I didn’t have time to debate and think through each choice, so I would instead choose to follow the advice of someone I trusted. Tiller had advised I put points into Focus, so I did.
I was met by the usual congratulations informing me that I had earned a new feat, but I dismissed them, instead, skipping to the description.
Focused Mind ® - Your early training has taught you the importance of focus, bringing clarity and intention to every thought and action you take. Your ability to focus on multiple tasks has doubled, and your mental constructs and attacks have gained greater clarity and strength (+25% damage and duration).
A solid and easily understood ability. I wished more of them were as obviously useful and as straightforward about what they did.
The remaining four stat points I decided to hold on to until I needed them. I enjoyed the flexibility of being able to instantly increase a single ability and gain a related feat depending on need. I might regret holding back, but at the same time, locking myself into a feat and then needed something else would also be regrettable.
I was curious to see what would happen if I could gain the tutorial feat for each stat, would the system recognize it? It seemed likely that there would be an additional reward, but gaining them all should be impossible as the tutorial supposedly gave three stat points — unless I was not the only one to have avoided the tutorial.
My attention was torn away from stats as I felt an angry bloodlust flow into me from the Fisher. I responded with a howl, and I dove faster — kicking against the water as thin tendrils pulsed behind me.
I looked out with my sonar, trying to gauge the distance between my prey and me. I had crossed maybe a quarter of the distance, though the distance was beginning to shrink more quickly. The creature was slowly dragging itself across the sea floor. Far in the distance, I could see its goal, a massive crater that stretched down into the earth.
I increased my speed, the Fisher’s limbs spinning behind me like propeller blades. My prey’s attempts to flee excited the darkness within me, prompting The Fisher to redouble its efforts. I gave more control to the Fisher, my mind again distracted by the immediate rewards of the status screen.
That monster might be injured, but it was massive and cornered. I couldn’t afford to give up any advantage, or so I rationalized.
I still had yet to allocate the FP I gained during the bridge battle, leaving me with twenty points. It was a number much higher than I had expected. Checking my skills, I noticed that Eldritch Mimicry had increased by three points, while Eye of Madness had gained a single level. I had also gained points in Pain Tolerance,
Dodge, Arcane Shield (minor), Tanglefoot, and Arcane Missile.
The obvious way to spend my points was to finish Erudite, but I took my time and looked through the rest of the abilities in the Feat Store; Novice (0/4), Warrior (0/3),Acrobat (0/3), Inspiration II (0/50), Swordsman (0/4), Sniper (0/4), Illusionist (0/25), Circle Mage (0/25), Erudite (6/25), Corruption (0/???), Avatar of Madness (0/100).
Corruption was new, and I saw absolutely no reason to put points into it. Throwing away good FP just to corrupt myself seemed like a poor trade. It was also disturbing to contemplate why the feat had only just now become available. It was almost as if the system was judging me — or sending me a warning.
Avatar of Madness made me salivate just on the coolness factor alone, but in truth, it was an enigma. I could guess it had something to do with my Hierophant class or my link to the Fisher. The cost, however, was too high for me to contemplate at the time.
Circle Mage was almost as much as a mystery, but Illusionist looked promising. It seemed likely to contain new spells, which would create new FP in a glorious cycle of buying feats and leveling skills. If I had had enough points to finish it, I might have taken it right then and there, just to see if it synergized with the illusions created by Eldritch Mimicry.
None of the choices called out to me enough to delay purchasing Erudite, however, as I had already started investing in it. It was also the highest-level feat I had enough points to complete. I was running out of time to contemplate, so I put nineteen points into the skill, waiting for the results.
As I brought the skill to ten out of twenty-five, and again at twenty, I gained two points to Intellect, for a total of four. I paused at the twenty-fourth point, waiting a moment before clicking a final time ...
Erudite ® - You have chosen knowledge and self-reflection as the path to power. The speed at which you assimilate and internalize knowledge has increased, giving you a further boost to the rate at which you advance skills and acquire new ones. Additionally, the effects of this feat will become greater as you increase your Intellect.
It wouldn’t immediately impact the battle ahead of me, but it was a welcome ability that seemed a satisfying conclusion to the scholar and able learner line of feats. I especially liked the way it would continue to grow more powerful as my stats increased.
By this point, I had covered almost half the distance to the fleeing creature and was no longer descending, instead brushing against the sandy floor. I could sense the ground vibrating, but It wasn’t clear what was causing it. I tried to get a better view beneath the earth, but the hard stone beneath the sand blocked my sonar sight.
A feeling of dread, a hunter’s unease at being hunted, alerted me to danger. I immediately slowed and began swimming up, trying to put space between myself and the vibrating ocean floor, until several thick tentacles of dark slimy flesh burst from the ground to surround me.
My escape was blocked as a weave of thick tentacles burst through the rock, surrounding me in a cloud of murky water and black, writhing flesh. I was cut off from both above and below, as the space between the tentacles quickly shrank.
The creature had stopped fleeing, and I could sense it charging towards me at incredible speeds. It had been baiting me in the whole time, and I had allowed myself to get distracted. I had let my darker half take over while my own mind wandered.
It was a mistake I vowed to never make again.
Chapter Thirty: The Mournful Sigh of Victory
Three long, writhing limbs wrapped around me. I felt the pressure increasing on my chest and heard snapping as my ribs exploded in pain and my vision turned white. I desperately looked for an escape, but all avenues had been cut off as sinuous flesh continued to surround me.
I screamed in pain and struggled against the powerful force of the tentacles as they wrapped around my legs and right arm. I could feel the ligaments in my arm throb in burning pain as they were twisted and pulled beyond their limits.
Sand and small pieces of rock had been kicked up from the ocean floor when the tentacles had begun their ambush. The lithe appendages continued to thrash around me created fizzling bubbles and small vibrations in the water. The noise from these distractions, combined with the distortions caused by sand and debris in the water, essentially blinded my new ability to perceive the world through the Fisher’s sonar.
There was too much ‘noise,’ too many distractions for me to sort through. Everything was just static blending together. My new senses perceived the world as chaotic, fragmented images that quickly overlapped and fused into a singular mess. It looked like an underwater blizzard if the ice and snow spun and howled like a hurricane.
I closed my eyes and breathed. My sight and other senses were useless, but I still had an almost perfect memory due to the increases in my Intellect. I just had to calm down and visualize the terrain around me. I drew a mental image, but it was destroyed almost immediately as a sharp pain shout down my arm.
Acknowledge the pain, but don’t let it control you. Breathe, focus, act. Again, the lessons of my father appeared when I need them the most.
I breathed and let my mind focus as I exhaled. Now I needed to act.
I could remember where I was in relation to the seafloor, and my ability to sense eldritch energy was enough to get a rough location for the closest of the tentacles. I saw a quickly changing group of images, but it took prodigious amounts of concentration to hold them in my mind.
I gritted my teeth, working past the pain. I could feel my limbs being pulled tight, threatening to dislocate as ligaments and tendons were stretched beyond their natural limits. I screaming, no longer trying to fight against the pain. I felt myself begin to shake as adrenaline flooded my system, somewhat lessening the agony.
I don’t know if it was terror or the adrenaline, but my entire body was trembling. I focused on it, using it as something to focus on other than the pain — it worked, buying me a brief moment of clarity.
I had instinctively activated Arcane Shield as soon as the first tentacle had shot up from the sea floor. The spell still held steady — my own mana being augmented by that of Fisher had greatly increased my survivability. The slight gap the spell created between myself and the tentacles was welcome but did nothing to lessen their grip as they snaked around my limbs and torso.
I knew the shield would not hold out forever no matter how much mana I had. I couldn’t win a one-way battle of attrition. It was also useless in stopping the creature from stretching my limbs, even if the shield did save me from being crushed.
I would need a more offensive strategy if I was going to survive.
I felt the moment of lucidity fading as pain caused my vision to blur, but I forced myself to remain calm — I needed to wait for more tentacles to attach themselves to me. Just a moment longer, I had a plan, but I would need to wait.
A few more seconds.
I waited, letting more and more of the impenetrable appendages grab me. The pressure on my torso and limbs increase with each moment. I felt like an overcooked sausage that could explode at any moment. Just a few more … each tentacle that grabbed me immobilized itself as clearly as it bound me.
The slimy flesh surrounded me like a ball of writhing worms. I became isolated from everything else, blocking out all noise except for the sound of my own breath and the pounding of my heart. The beat was growing faster as the pain threatened to overwhelm my consciousness. I couldn’t wait any longer.
My eyes snapped opened, narrowing in concentration. I let out a long breath, before slowly filling my lungs once more. The ritual calmed me, allowed me to center my mind enough to visualize my intent. I could only create that which I could see.
I used Eldritch Mimicry to copy the Arcane Shield spell, creating an additional barrier between the writhing ball of flesh and myself. It momentarily reduced the tension on my limbs, but the tentacles quickly readjusted their grip until the pressure on my joints returned.
That is exactly what I wanted, the harder they squeezed t
he more likely my plan was to work. I poured as much energy as I could into the shell of eldritch energy around me, thickening and reinforcing it with every heartbeat.
The eldritch energy had grown thicker the deeper I had dived. It seemed to flow up from the sea floor like a dark crimson mist before it then spread out into the water like a cloud of sediments that were slowly being dissolved into the water. The marine life hiding beneath rocks or buried in sand absorbed this dark energy, allowing them to gradually change their form and nature.
I pulled on the energy, willed it to obey me. I consumed and guided the energy as it slowly formed a shell around me. When the energy of the shield became too dense to be strengthened further, I bent it around itself to create layers of folded energy.
The swirling eldritch miasma in the surrounding water quickly thinned, consumed faster than it could be replenished. The energy flowing into my spell slowed until only a trickle remained. I took the final drops, squeezing all I could, before finally releasing my hold on it and grabbing onto the energy of the shield itself.
The eldritch energy within the shield reacted to my will, gladly calling out to be shaped. Its nature was chaos, ever-changing and mutable. My nature was to command it. I was the hierophant and I commanded it to obey, for a moment I felt the will of the Madness as if I were still staring into the all-seeing eye of swirling fire.
The shield expanded outwards as it changed into long thin needles of black and crimson energy. The spikes pierced flesh and drew forth streams of blood; black ichor flowed like hot tar. A high-pitched screech rang out, muffled by the ball of tightening flesh that was slowly constricting around me.
Rather than loosen their grip, the thick limbs squeezed harder impaling themselves and tearing free chunks of flesh. I didn’t release the spikes, instead of driving them in deeper. I twisted the spikes, once more changing them — this time into spiral blades like the head of a drill bit as large as a fire hydrant. I could feel the tentacles begin to weaken as more and more of their flesh was ripped away — slowly drifting down onto the seabed below.