Janus and Oblivion

by Noam Oswin

  I crawled my way from the center of the rock to the front, where Agkistrodon’s corpse still lay, and I crawled above it. It was nighttime, and it was dangerous, but danger was where my ability to grow lay. The more dangerous the opposition I conquered, the faster my growth.

  Gathering materials should be my first priority... If I were capable of eliminating a spider and attaining their ability to weave webs, it would make my existence much easier. With webs, I could weave bags or create makeshift satchels with leaves which would enable me to transport things back and forth.

  Theoretically, I could use my [Insectoid Metamorphosis] to just imitate a spider and create the weaves I needed, but I was not sure if it would work because spiders were arachnids, not insects, and the exact terminology might be important. It was also why I did not attempt imitating a Scorpion’s stinger when I was trapped within Agkistrodon, because technically, scorpions were not insects.

  Assuming it would work, it would still be a potential waste. [Insectoid Metamorphosis] was a skill I could only use every three days after all. Although, if I did not use it often, I would never be able to level it.

  A large howl ripped through the forest, and seconds later, numerous howls followed, echoing and reverberating like thunderclaps. The wolves were out hunting it seemed.

  Time for the leech to go hunting as well...

  [Insect Metamorphosis]

  Flight was one of the most coveted abilities of mankind. Man could not truly fly, no matter how hard they tried, and relied instead on devices and machines to do this for them. Flying unaided, without instrument or tool, with nothing but your biological body-parts – it was an unattainable dream of humanity.

  Not so much for me. Not anymore.

  The wings I chose were that of the dragonfly. I possessed a small fascination with the insects, famed for their ability to fly backwards and forwards, they were also, indisputably, the fastest flying insects in the world. With only thirty seconds on the clock, I needed them to be fast.

  The world was a blur and I was a speck moving through it. The resistance of the wind seemed to slap forcefully against my body as I attempted to properly maneuver myself with wings I had no right possessing, and the sudden shift from two-dimensional movement to three-dimensional was both dizzying and disorienting.

  If an outside observer were to have been watching me, they would have pointed, confused, and asked if I was drunk. I was not, clearly, however, I had never flown before. Attempting to move at full speed sent me hurtling and spiraling like a haplessly thrown boomerang, and I knew I went in circles at least once.

  Then, I started to ascend.

  Up. Higher, and higher, and higher, past the trees, past the tallest branches, I ascended, a drowning man emerging from a lake. Higher, and higher, and higher –

  It got colder, and colder – the world beneath me smaller, and smaller –

  Until my wings vanished.

  My thirty seconds of beautiful unaided flight was over.

  My thirty seconds were over, and I became Icarus.

  The first thing I did was to curse my folly for getting lost in the beauty of flight. The second thing I did, was to note how ironic it would be for me to die a second time from falling. The third thing, was to wonder if the effects of gravity would be a bit more merciful on me this time around since I was a leech.

  The foliage of trees grew ever closer and I searched my arsenal for a skill that would save me. Nothing I possessed was capable of ‘stopping falls’ but there was a skill that could aid me in reducing the amount of damage I would take from them.

  [Serpent Skin]

  It granted my feeble form the toughness of the snake. It was not much, but it was the only thing I possessed. So I braced myself, readily, as I approached the trees.

  [You have sustained Fall Damage]

  Ouch –

  [You have sustained Fall Damage]

  Oh fu –

  [You have sustained Fall Damage]

  Motherfu –

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

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

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

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

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

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

  Five levels in pain resistance did not stop the pain from hurting. Dulled it, barely, but it did not stop it. I would have groaned if I possessed the ability to do so. Lacking that option, I settled for examining the full extent of the damages in its numerical state.

  HP: 14/30

  More than half my HP gone from the fall. It could have been worse, much worse. I was still alive, which was saying something, considering I did not have the best track record in surviving falls from great heights.

  Considering I was not a smear on the ground, the next thing I did was to evaluate my current location and estimate how far or near I was to Refuge Creek and my domain. Sensing around me provided me with a wealth of information, also with the knowledge that I was on a tree, a small one, and the surface beneath me was the tree’s branches. The area around me seemed... familiar for some reason, although it should not have –

  What were the odds?

  Did I... truly, land here? The familiar environment of the first place I awoke to my existence as a worm was unforgettable. Imprinted upon me even when I lacked the proper sensory mediums to fully experience and observe it. It was not possible for me to forget this place.

  I was also, now, tremendously glad I left this place when I did.

  I ‘watched’ from up above the branch at the small legion of fast moving insects that brutally invaded and consumed what seemed to be a small rodent. The rodent screeched, its nigh-silent cries being unheeded as more and more of the legion of insects invaded through its mouth and invaded through every other orifice.

  It was devastating. It was brutal. It was neither quick nor painless, and I witnessed it, the rodent’s final struggles before succumbing to them.

  Fire Ant Colony

  Level ?

  The ants were a veritable red-sea, a fast moving plague that mercilessly stripped fur and flesh away from the dead rodent, and their accumulative numbers created an enemy that was perhaps as dangerous, if not more so, than any serpent.

  I was not a petty individual.

  Yet, upon locking my ‘gaze’ with one particular member amongst the swarm, an ant at least three times larger than its peers, one ant that seemed to be bright to my senses, I knew, innately, that it was him.

  Elite Fire Ant Soldier

  Lv. 10

  He – it – was no longer a common fire ant, the difference in size being the most prominent feature that proved it, however, I was no longer a mere worm.

  I still remembered, fleeing from that sole ant, diving head into a puddle and doing my best to survive against it.

  Against an ant.

  ...I should be thanking it. Yes, yes, if I’d never encountered that ant, I would most certainly still have been in that spot, crawling around in circles like the pitiful worm I was. I doubted I would have encountered the larvae and killed them. I doubted I would have been capable of killing a snake.

  Everything started from me fleeing that ant. Now, here I was again, and here the ant was, surrounding by tens, hundreds, potentially thousands of his members. I was stronger, he was stronger and had back-up.

  I was not at full health, but that could be remedied easily.

  [Basic Molting]

  The damaged skin shed from my body in a mix of fluids and unmentionables. I felt the pain from my fall vanish completely, becoming entirely a new, fully refreshed leech as I ‘gazed’ down upon the horde of ants. [Basic Molting] restored 50% of my HP and could only be used once a day, but I only needed one chance to do this.

  HP: 34/35

  I wanted to thank that ant. I wanted to thank him
for chasing after me. For giving me the opportunity to become stronger.

  Yes, I thought. I will thank you, the best way I can.

  Some would have called my action, madness. Others would have looked upon it and declared that this was the moment I succumbed to insanity in lieu of my misfortune. My only regret, however, was the fact that I lacked vocal chords that would have voiced out my glorious descent from the trees as I dove straight into a swarm of fire ants.

  My landing immediately flattened some of the unsuspecting insects. The rest reared their antennae, searching frantically for the source of the sudden disturbance. There was no time for me to hesitate, for I knew that even the tiniest second of hesitation would spell my doom.

  Skill: [Strong Venom Secretion] Lv. 1

  Details: This skill enables the user to secrete a Tier-4 serpent-based venom from any part of their body without restriction. The user is immune to the venom. Inflicts [Fatal Poisoning] on creatures with no Poison Resistance. Inflicts [Severe Poisoning] on creatures with Weak Poison Resistance. Inflicts [Minor Poisoning] on creatures with Average Poison Resistance. Inflicts [Mild Poisoning] on creatures with Strong Poison Resistance.

  It was one of the abilities granted to me by my [User] title upon successfully taking down Agkistrodon. The poison of a venomous water serpent, I created, drenched myself with it, and continued to secrete as much of it as I could.

  I was essentially using snake venom to eradicate ants.

  It was glorious.

  The creatures in closest vicinity and contact to me shriveled and danced madly like an epileptic man set ablaze. They literally sizzled and burned from a toxin that was vastly superior to anything they were capable of creating. A small pool of venom secreted in the area around me, and those ants that landed and raced out, would only end up brushing their brothers and sisters with the venom, spreading more and more carnage.

  A dozen of them charged at me at the same time. They stepped into the increasing pool of my serpent venom, and collapsed in a frenzy like the rest. It was poison too potent, too concentrated, and potentially capable of taking down frogs, rabbits and larger animals. What was an ant to a serpent?

  I continued my reign of terror, moving and spreading my venom. The ants fled from the corpse of the rodent, and I hunted them down. I hunted, and hunted, those I could find and those I could reach. They scattered to the winds like men uttering gibberish before the fallen tower of babel, and I stood above a small valley of dead red ants.

  It was at that point I saw him. It. My nemesis.

  It stayed off at the distance, warily watching the chaos. I knew it was watching, because it was not fleeing. Did it know, or recognize me? Or was I truly going insane and attributing too much intelligence to a mere ant?

  Attack me... I’m waiting....

  It ran.

  Coward!

  Fled, away from the carnage as swiftly as it could, like the rest of its brethren. A small part of me wanted to give it chase. To hunt it down and corner it, force it into a pool of my venom and witness it dance and die to gain that sweet, sweet satisfaction of revenge.

  I wanted to claim that I was the bigger person. I was, after all, a human in the body of a leech. There was no reason for me to hate, and vilify, and torture one pitiful ant. Except: I wanted to.

  I chased after my nemesis the best I could. I never stopped secreting the venom, trailing after the ant’s rapid movements until I spotted him, burrowing sharply into the ground, burrowing into a hole, a hole that was most likely –

  That was its worst mistake.

  I flooded as much venom as I could down the hole. The thick, sizzling liquid trailed, and I did my best to create a veritable pool of it that would keep on going down. Down, and down, and down –

  There was an adage about not making mountains out of molehills. However, there was nothing about not drenching entire anthills in serpent venom because one ant in the colony tried to kill you.

  Many of them tried to escape by tunneling different routes in the dirt. It did not help. The venom was spreading the more holes they created, the more avenues there were for it to seep in and wrought havoc upon their home. I did not stop secreting venom until I felt shriveled up and dried, did not stop until I ensured that I could not detect a single moving arthropod anywhere in my vicinity. If I had become a madman, then I would see this madness to the end and ensure that there would be no survivors from this onslaught.

  The night became silent.

  Thirty full minutes after my assault began, it ended.

  [Common Fire Ant x11 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x18 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x24 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x45 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x68 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x95 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x245 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x1246 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x5329 Killed]

  [Common Fire Ant x14534 Killed]

  The numbers grew exponential.

  [Worker Ant x1034 Killed]

  [Elite Fire Ant Soldier x213 Killed]

  [Sturdy Fire Ant x154 Killed]

  [Young Fire Ant x654 Killed]

  [Fire Ant Larvae x11054 Killed]

  Ah.

  [Fire Ant Queen x2 Killed]

  [You have successfully defeated Fire Ant Colony]

  [You have attained the Title: [Genocidal] from mass extermination of a single type of enemy.]

  [You have attained the Title: [Retaliator] from defeating an enemy who previously wronged you.]

  [25348 Experience Points Gained]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have gained a level]

  [You have attained the Maximum Level (10) for your current species]

  [You have attained the Maximum Level (10) for your next species]

  [You have unlocked the suitable conditions for evolution.]

  [Would you like to Evolve?]

  [Yes]

  [No]

  Interlude III

  Kadulja

  “Please Shutila!”

  “We’ve gone over this Vuna.”

  She was an intruder in their conversation. She did not intend to, but it was merely a consequence of being at this place, at this time. Perhaps they assumed she would not have long gone to rest like most others, the calm night breeze and cool air being perfect for the occasion. Her staff hummed in her hand, reminding her of her duty, the ancient wood connecting her to her predecessors almost had a chiding, sarcastic tone to it. Eavesdropping on your apprentice? How the title of Kadulja has fallen. She ignored the rest of its comments.

  Shutila’s gaze met that of Vuna. She did not look away, nor did she hide nor falter. It was good, that she did so. Bad, that she did so.

  “But Shutila –”

  “I do not love you Vuna!”

  She winced at the volume and the force of the declaration.

  She watched Vuna stagger. “But –”

  “You are my friend Vuna. That is all you will ever be to me.”

  She watched as Vuna’s shoulders dropped. His expression souring. The green of his face turning a dark, autumn red. He dragged his feet, one after the other, slowly away. “I cannot be your friend Shutila. I cannot stand by you, and know that one day, you will belong to another. It is... too painful a task to ask of me.”

  “I understand.” Shutila acquiesced. “Thank you, all the same.”

  A cloud of discontent remained on Vuna’s face. She could feel the whispering of the spirits speaking heavily of the young man’s turmoil. The blue spirits sang of his sadness. The red spirits sang of his rage. The purple spirits told tales of his soul’s yearning, and a single, dark spirit lingered around his shoulder, telling a danger of his thoughts.

  The black spirit vanished as he gazed up at her. “K-Kadulja! I �
� I – did not know you were here –”

  “This is the Kadulja’s River, Vuna.” She said. “It would be rather odd if I were not here.”

  He nodded, slowly, unable to speak. He wished to ask if she heard, but he most likely knew that she had. She reached out her right hand, softly placing it on his shoulders. There was not much that needed to be said that could be spoken in their language. Instead, she let the spirits speak on her behalf. Guide him. She let them sing, and whisper, their voices narrating the tales and details of those who had come before him, of those who would come after him. Of those who had loved and never proclaimed the desire for the melding of souls, and of those who had melded but never loved. The trees told the spirits, and the spirits told the soul.

  Vuna stood, stiffly. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and his body fidgeted.

  “My soul yearns for her, Kadulja.” He whispered softly.

  “I know.”

  “Why does she not yearn for me in the manner that I do? This... this sensation... in me... it hurts, Kadulja. It hurts.”

  “In time, you will come to understand.”

  Vuna let it be. He sagged, defeated, and his spirits played a lamenting tune. Yet, the dark spirit was gone. The danger of his thoughts, of his dangerous thoughts – were gone. Time and patience would come to heal all wounds.

  He departed from the river, and Kadulja moved forward. Her apprentice sat at the bank, her legs crossed and her eyes cast to the moon, her throat lightly singing a soft melody. It was one of the songs often told by the white spirits – a melody unheard and unknown to those except a select few.

  “Kadulja,” she greeted formally. “It is late. Should you not be resting?”

  “I am old, yes, but not so old as to be treated like a sapling by my own apprentice.”

  The apprentice allowed herself to smile. “Your age is one of the most debated topics in the tribe. Everyone tries to guess. No one succeeds.”

  “Nor should they.” Kadulja said. “For as long as someone chooses not to inform them.”

  “Oh, but surely Kadulja,” Shutila added. “If the younger ones knew how old you truly were, do you still believe their pink spirits would be so lively?”