Janus and Oblivion

by Noam Oswin

  OBLIVION! THIS WAS NOT WHAT I DESIRED!

  He could have merely reset the clock. Take me back to the loathed days of my childhood where my three older brothers outshined me in every way and won the adulation of my father. Where being the ignored fourth son of the owner of a multinational business conglomerate turned me into an awkward pubescent child obsessed with fictional worlds as a form of escape.

  No. I was not back to my childhood, to the days I wanted everything, to the days I groveled in the sand, as a boy larger than me pressed his foot at the back of my skull and ordered me to eat sand while my older brothers told me to fight my own battles. This was not the galling, trying times of my infancy. It was far, far worse.

  A pitiful human was at the very least, still human.

  An extraordinary worm, was still a worm.

  Was this supposed to be some form of karmic irony? Was it Oblivion’s way of teaching me ‘humility’ or making me regret not choosing a peaceful afterlife?

  OBLIVION!

  Nothing. Utter silence left me with nothing but the solitude of my own thoughts. The lack of communication with the being did not calm me, nor did it settle the bubbling pit of fire I felt within.

  The fire died, eventually. Its smoldering embers lost to the ravages of time as all things would be, and it left me feeling cold. Cold and naked. Cold and naked and alone. Cold and naked and alone and silent.

  In this cold and silence, a sharp piercing sensation stabbed at me. The realization of what it was came afterwards.

  Cold and naked and alone and silent... and hungry.

  Chapter 2

  Hunger

  What does an earthworm eat?

  Given the task of figuring out what the basic diet of a common annelid was something that I never entertained contemplating. I knew, perhaps, that there were individuals out in the world who possessed this knowledge. There were people who cultivated and grew worms for the purpose of aerating the soil or perhaps as bait for their fishing trips. I, unfortunately, was not amongst such individuals.

  Hence, my answer followed deductive reasoning. They were not predators. I knew this for a fact because it would have been notable if they were, with news stations informing about worm bites and people referencing it. I did not believe they were capable of consuming meat or flesh. If one was not a carnivore, then they were clearly herbivores. Hence, I deduced that they thrived on eating leaves and other greenery.

  Fruits, also, were a possibility. I could not count how many children books or cartoons I’d seen with the evocative image of a worm being found within a shiny red apple. I believed I had one such coloring book in my prepubescent days.

  [Intelligence has risen by 0.1]

  I desperately wished I possessed the ability to scoff. For goodness sakes, deducing that a worm ate fruits and leaves was not worthy of an increase in my base intelligence. A child could have accomplished such a feat.

  Ah, but I suppose a worm could not have. A worm was clearly dumber than a child after all. Regardless, I needed to attain more information about the basic nature of my abilities. I started immediately with the ‘titles’ I had attained.

  Title: [Reincarnated]

  Details: A unique title. As a reincarnated being, you are granted access to select skills, memories and knowledge of your past life.

  Indeed, it seemed to provide me with nothing other than telling me what I was. I mentally commanded the information to dissipate, and focused on my second title.

  Title: [User]

  Details: A unique title. Grants the ability to attain the specialties of any being or object the “User” has conquered, dominated and/or consumed.

  The ability to attain the specialties of any being or object I conquered, dominated or consumed? That was... vague. What exactly entailed in the act of conquering and dominating? Lying flat upon leaf could be construed as ‘dominating’ it. Conquering, indeed, was perhaps significantly vaguer. Conquer, in the manner that armies overtook nations, or conquer, in the manner that men did women within the bedroom?

  [Warning!]

  You are suffering from the Negative Effect: [Starved]

  You will lose [0.1] HP Every Hour until [Starved] is mitigated.

  I calculated. I possessed a meager 5 Health Points, if I lost 0.1 HP every hour, then in fifty hours, or, two days and two hours, I would die from starvation. However, because I regained 0.5HP every twenty four hours, I had an extra ten hours added to that, which brought my total up to sixty hours, or two and a half days.

  This worked under the assumption that the traditional “0 HP Equals Death” rule that seemed to be prominent amongst videogame media of all types. If so, I possessed exactly two and a half days to find food and eat – or I would die.

  This was problematic.

  I needed to find leaves, fruit, or other greenery in the next sixty hours. This was a difficult task when I had no eyes to see, nor ears to hear. I knew not how a worm was capable of navigation if they could neither see nor hear. Surely this was not how they existed, perceived the world, blind and incapable of perceiving auditory information? Evolution was not so unforgiving to have allowed such a being to exist and thrive for millions upon millions of years if such was the case.

  No, a worm, most likely, was capable of some way of perceiving the world. As I could feel the earth beneath me, I could sense the moistness of the soil, I knew that I was capable of feeling tactile sensations. My sense of touch was nowhere near as complex as it should have been, but it existed, it existed and in its own way... it was... acute.

  Boom.

  When I focused, truly, unmoving and still, I could feel the soil beneath me shake. Tremble. It was almost unnoticeable, but the stiller I stayed, the more I could... feel the earth.

  Boom.

  There was something, dropping unto the ground. Heavy, large.

  Boom.

  When it landed, it split, separated, creating smaller, tinier versions which created even smaller, tinier vibrations. Almost as if – almost as if it was –

  Boom.

  A droplet.

  [Skill {Vibration Sensing} has gained a Level.]

  [Skill {Vibration Sensing Lv. 2} acquired]

  My world exploded in a cacophony of ambiances. Different, echoing, countless tiny objects that I could now feel around me. There was a droplet of water, landing, intermittently, ahead of me. The soil around me, everywhere, as far as I could sense, resonated with the sensation of microscopic organisms. I contemplated how I knew they were microscopic, but no answers were forthcoming. I just knew.

  I could not see, no, not truly, but I could sense the world. I could sense the word via vibrations.

  Worms could sense the world around them via vibrations on the soil.

  Of course. Worms were creatures of the earth to begin with – this – this was how they navigated, this was how they knew what was ahead of them and what was not. Blind, they sensed vibrations across the soil with their body, and they reacted, moving in response.

  It reminded me of the days in my youth when I enjoyed a series about the elements and individuals who molded the elements to their wills. Those attuned with earth could sense the vibrations on the floor to pin-point precision levels of detecting heartbeats. What I could do was clearly nowhere near the levels of that fictitious ability... however, I set up that image as my eventual goal. Reincarnation had been nothing but a fictitious, unproven event once upon a time... I could no longer act as though the word ‘fiction’ had any true meaning.

  Basking in the success of being able to ‘see’ around me, I immediately planned my next task, which was to find food.

  Being able to sense vibrations aided in navigation, but it was unlikely that it possessed any practical use in finding meals, as worms were neither hunters nor predators. So there had to be another sense... a sense that enabled them to perceive their food and then move in the general direction of it.

  Evolutionarily speaking, the most appropriate ‘sense’ for this task would be the
sense sight. However, as a worm lacked that, the next most appropriate would be that of ‘smell.’ I already knew that I possessed no nostrils, but, it was entirely possible that worms could smell using another organ.

  So I focused.

  Smell. Smell. Smell.

  ...

  Nothing. No reaction. No matter how much I tried to ‘smell,’ I could not compare my previous ability to perceive smells as a human to that of a worm. Truly, I doubted if worms were indeed capable of smelling at all.

  Then how? I pondered. How does a worm find food?

  In the end, I decided that it mattered little. It mattered little how a worm did things, because I was not a worm. I had the knowledge and experiences of a human being, and that would certainly be more than enough to make up for the deficiencies that I could not fathom in my biology.

  There were currently sixty hours before I would die of starvation. To prevent that, I needed to be well-equipped to begin my search for food. If one was giving eight hours to cut down a tree, one needed to spend seven hours sharpening their axe. People feared not the man who had practiced a thousand kicks once, but the man who had practiced one kick a thousand times.

  This was the mantra I forced myself to believe, as I began the admittedly degrading task pf crawling in circles.

  I’m training. Yes, yes, it was training. Crawling forward, inch by inch, around and around and around in circles, this was my strategy to improve my ability to crawl. Improving my movement would be crucial to avoid or evade predators, which were a more formidable threat to ending my existence than mere starvation.

  So around and around and around I go.

  I knew I would look back at this moment and laugh. I knew.

  Admittedly, right now, crawling in circles was not amusing. This will be funny in five years’ time. It will be funny. It will be amusing, and I will laugh. Yes, in time, this would all be humorous. This would be humorous.

  Chapter 3

  Vulnerability

  An ant was faster than a worm.

  This perhaps, was common, obvious knowledge. Ants were insects and were gifted with legs which enabled them to traverse terrain at a much quicker and rapid pace than worms. While my movement consisted of making my lower body grip the soil, coiling and stretching my upper body, then gripping the soil with my upper body, and allowing my lower body to follow, an ant’s movements were steps.

  [Skill {Crawl} has gained a Level.]

  [Skill {Crawl Lv. 3} acquired]

  I was scarcely done celebrating my achievement of attaining an increase in my speed and ease of crawling against the dirt, when I ‘sensed’ the presence of a fast – fast moving being rapidly approaching me. My skill to sense vibrations was not fine-tuned or high enough to sense all the details, but my brain was capable of taking note of the number of legs and basic shape to deduce what the unwelcome visitor was. Furthermore, the ‘system’ practically spelled it out to me.

  Common Fire Ant

  Lv. 4

  It was effortlessly at a higher level than me, and the fact that an ant was stronger than me did not particularly grant me any ease. I had a feeling that the ant was not here for a casual inspection of its new “neighbor.”

  [You have attained the skill: {Sense Danger} from anticipating a potential threat.]

  [Skill {Sense Danger} has gained a Level.]

  [Skill {Sense Danger Lv. 2} acquired]

  Fantastic. How, utterly fantastic.

  The ant charged at me, and I attempted, pitifully to escape. Alas, an ant was marginally faster than a worm, and such was a foolish endeavor. The ant charged at my lower body, and I braced myself for the sensation of a tiny ant bite, which would –

  –2HP!

  Pain! Pain!

  Maddening pain!

  I thrashed around as pitifully as I could in order to stop the burning, stinging, sensation that poured itself through my entire body.

  [You have attained the skill: {Lesser Pain Resistance} from enduring significant pain.]

  [You have attained the skill: {Lesser Poison Resistance} from enduring enemy venom.]

  [Skill {Lesser Pain Resistance} has gained a Level.]

  [Skill {Lesser Poison Resistance} has gained a Level.]

  [Skill {Lesser Pain Resistance Lv. 2} acquired]

  [Skill {Lesser Poison Resistance Lv. 2} acquired]

  The words were meaningless in lieu of the pain – irritating pain – and the ant, the god-forsaken ant responsible had not released me.

  [Warning!]

  You have attained the Negative Effect: [Minor Poisoning]

  You will lose [0.1] HP Every Minute until [Minor Poisoning] is mitigated.

  HP: 2.8/5

  Ridiculous! I wanted to roar. Ridiculous!

  I was fighting against a god-forsaken ant! An ant! I would die if it bit me again. I would die if an ant bit me. Oh, more than that, I would die within twenty-eight minutes from being poisoned by an ant!

  Think! Think!

  Combat was not an option. What was I supposed to do? Smother it to death? It was too fast to be caught. I lacked combat abilities, and did not believe myself capable of winning against the ant even if I did. I was slow, incapable of defense, lacking offense, lacking durability, lacking everything.

  The ant’s mandibles tossed me to the side and I writhed across the dirt. It stayed back, I could tell from the vibrations that its antennae was scanning the air, searching for information on me, its prey, waiting, most certainly, for my death. I was not going to bloody sit back and watch an ant wait for my death!

  Think.

  I remembered the water. Yes, the water. The droplets. The giant droplets that splashed and vibrated against the ground. I began a desperate, fast paced crawl towards it. My top crawling speed was at least twice as slow as the ant’s rapid strides.

  It chased after me, catching up with little effort. It attempted another bite from the side, and I managed, only by luck, to curl my lower body sharply in order to avoid being stung. An idea sprung to me in that instant.

  If I can –

  I curled my entire body, tightening and compacting it, then, I did my best to move every muscle that I could, and –

  [You have attained the skill: {Roll} through concentrated effort.]

  I would have cackled with glee if I possessed lips and lungs capable of the action. My rolling speed was not particularly impressive, but it was, however, significantly faster than my crawling speed. I rolled across the soil, now managing to match the pace of my nemesis, the accursed fire ant.

  It took me six seconds for my roll to eventually come to a stop upon feeling the familiar cool sensation of liquid moistness.

  Water.

  [You have attained the skill: {Swimming} through concentrated effort.]

  I moved deeper and further into what was most likely a shallow puddle, however, as a worm, it felt like a lake. Deeper and deeper still I ‘swam’ until I was certain that I was beyond the reach of the ant. Worms were considerably harder to drown than ants, and if it made the foolish mistake of attempting to follow me into water –

  It didn’t.

  The ant stayed at the edges of the puddle, moving, back and forth, but it did not enter. Eventually, I sensed it leave, scuttling off in the distance, out of the range of my ability to sense vibrations.

  I hesitated to rejoice, waiting, watching, for the creature’s familiar vibrations. Thirty full seconds passed with nothing disturbing my stay upon the still water, and I allowed myself to relax.

  To think I almost got done in by that ant. Fire ants, now that I remembered, were notorious for being one of the most aggressive species of the insect, and a swarm of them could often take down frogs, snakes and small birds –

  A swarm of them.

  That realization instantly turned my short lived victory into a moment of dawning horror.

  Ants travel in colonies.

  They did not move alone. That ant, however, that attacked me, it had been alone. Or, had it? Had it been alone, or
was it merely a ‘scout’ sent on ahead? Barring that, it was most likely separated from its colony.

  I cannot take down a colony of ants.

  I barely managed to survive one lone ant. Against dozens, against hundreds – it was an unmanageable task.

  You will lose [0.1] HP Every Minute until [Minor Poisoning] is mitigated.

  HP: 2.7/5

  I hissed, mentally, as the familiar throbbing pain from where the ant bit me flared. A painful reminder of the fact that I was still poisoned, and if I did not find a cure within the next twenty-seven minutes, then I would not need to worry about facing a colony of ants, because I would be dead.

  This could not do.

  This could not do!

  I could not continue like this. A worm was prey to all and predator to none, and if I were a predator to nothing, I would not be able to become stronger. Already, I was on the verge of dying less than a few hours after being reborn, because this was the nature of the world I found myself in. In nature, the strong preyed on the weak: no exceptions.

  I needed to become a predator. I needed to shake up the natural order.

  But how? How?

  What in this world was potentially weak and defenseless enough for a worm to defeat? In the scale of things that were considered pathetic, a worm was only ranked marginally higher than maggots and –

  The answer struck me promptly.

  I ‘jerked’ in the water, trying my hardest to feel around me for what I hoped to find. I swam around the shallow puddle, ripples washing against my skin and sending further vibrations out that helped me form a vague outline of the puddle.

  You will lose [0.1] HP Every Minute until [Minor Poisoning] is mitigated.

  HP: 2.6/5

  Fortune smiled on me, as I was able to find that which I was looking for at the shallowest edges of the puddle. I swam, slowly in its direction, spurred by the realization that a solution was finally within my grasp. An answer to my problems, in the shape of a small creature with a well-developed head, a body, formally called a thorax, no legs, and a segmented abdomen. ‘Large’ as it was, it was still smaller than a worm.