Chapter 30 Sushi, Tartar
I dive into the ocean with my new friend, Shelly. She tells me the current is too strong, so aquatic creatures and weeds tend to grow and thrive in specific places, especially near the shore. This area is higher and has fewer underwater features to break the flow of the currents.
I follow her toward underwater trenches, slightly naturally shaped, like desert dunes formed by sand. Lots of plants grow between each dune. The black sand fills the cavities of these features and provides food for the different plants growing there.
I do not want to spook whatever creatures might be hiding here, so we crawl our way slowly between the weeds. Of course, it is harder for me to swim than to walk along the bottom, with all the things living inside my body. Ammit easily fixes this by reshaping my hands and feet into fins using keratin.
I start seeing faint lights in the distance. As we move through the darkness, I notice a cave diving deep into the ground. The light is coming from inside the cave.
("This is perfect, Shelly. Wait for me at the entrance of the cave and hold on to something.")
I turn back toward the giant trench and swallow everything in my path. Weeds, crabs, lampreys, underwater spiders, fish, everything.
"Burpwpwpw!"
I shiver.
(Erk… that burp was disgusting. Burping water underwater…)
I turn around and see Shelly with her eyes bulging. She rubs them, trying to see if this is some kind of hallucination. It is not. The trench in front of her is completely empty. She shivers a little before calming herself down. If I wanted to eat her, I would not have saved her.
(So this is my new master. Interesting. In all my years, I have never seen anything like this,) Shelly thinks. ("What are you?")
("Well, I am just a special human. Think of me like that.")
Before going into the cave, since it has been over an hour without breathing and I still do not feel panicked yet, I decide to surface and breathe once before the descent.
I cannot see the coast anymore unless the waves lift me high enough. That part is unsettling. I have never been on the ocean in either of my lives, so this first experience is extreme, in its own way. I shiver while staring into the darkness below me. The unknown is frightening.
I return to the entrance of the cave, where Shelly is waiting patiently for me, calm and still, like she has all the time in the world.
Sam says, ("Alright, let's go!")
We dive into the cave. Luckily, turtles are faster underwater. We cross paths with a multitude of organisms, but they do not seem very filling. I would need way too many of them. I already aqua-cided the entrance of the cave anyway.
There are all kinds of seaweeds here. Some of them emit light, mostly yellow, but all chromatic colors are present, glowing softly in the dark water like scattered embers.
We enter a chamber with air trapped at the top, so this becomes my temporary camp. The ceiling is dark, and only the faint glow of the water illuminates the empty cave. The air feels old, untouched.
There are five passages leading deeper inside. I mark the entrance where we came from, just in case.
"Shelly, you will stay here until I return. Just hide or something."
Shelly replies calmly, "I'm a turtle. I don't need to hide, Sam. Ha… ha… ha."
Her slow laughter is strange... I chuckle despite myself.
"Just stay safe. I'm going to stir up some trouble. This might be dangerous."
Shelly simply finds a comfortable spot in the air pocket, resting peacefully. I dive deeper into the cave alone.
...
Now I truly splurge and eat almost everything I see. I leave patches behind here and there, like a veteran forager. Which I am. I give myself some credit for surviving years alone as a normal boy, before all this madness.
The more I eat, the more control I gain over this strange power I carry. I can tell now that it is not suction, but space bending itself. Being underwater is incredibly helpful for learning this part of it. Sadly, Ammit is a poor teacher for now, more instinct than explanation.
I gain so much control that once I realize it, I can open just a small corner of my mouth and target something within a range of twenty meters. I also stop burping out loud every time, since I can focus on a single target, my space perception sticking directly to the surface of the object or living thing. The power finally listens, and for the first time, I feel like I am the one holding the reins.
If I force it, things almost vanish on the spot. I can feel the space around me and my stomach being connected, then I imagine the thing getting compressed as it follows a path into my stomach, where the pressure is already equalized.
Barabas ("Hey! Sam! The little guy is waking up!")
I do not need to be unconscious to see my mindscape, I just view things from a third person perspective. They can hear me talk and actually see what I see and feel what I feel. Of course, I still split my focus, like a bird sleeping with one eye and one side of its body awake.
Khonsu is finally waking up. He rises from the bed by floating above it. Right now, he looks like a bright white angel or ghost. His white hair dances in a fake wind, and it seems to phase through whatever it touches, just like Gary does.
Once the light recedes, he opens his very light blue eyes. He has white sclera and a thin line around the pupil, glowing blue. It looks the same as Ammit's eyes, but inverted, like they are connected through them.
In fact, since they are twins, they do share a connection. Their abilities are opposites of one another. Khonsu looks at his small white hands and lets out a quiet sound.
"Hum?"
("Hi, mind. Welcome back. Your new name is Khonsu. You have a sister, Ammit. Bes is…")
Khonsu ("Tsk. Aren't you ashamed to use the Egyptian gods' names?")
"Hahaha. It's good to have you back. Check what you can do. We can chat later. I need to keep going for a while."
Khonsu ("Screw that. I can come out now, hahaha!")
He phases out from between my eyebrows, and I can feel the connection working overtime now, clear and undeniable, like a second heartbeat suddenly kicking in.
Khonsu ("You know us, right? The only reason I tricked you back then was for this.")
He looks around, realizing where we are.
("You look pretty good. I wonder what you will look like later?")
The only sad thing for him is that he is stuck a hundred meters away from me, and unlike Gary, he is still a ghost until he materializes, which comes at a very high cost. One thing I notice is that Ammit has creation ever since we made her, so Khonsu must be different.
One thing he can do is use raw power. I am jealous right now. He can just point his finger and fire a beam of pure energy, which drains me too, by the way. He summons it straight out of me without pain or knots, but it is still dangerous to my body.
I feel curious, so I try to swallow him, and it works on him too. Inside my belly, the twins meet for the first time.
Sam "Ammit, this is your brother, Khonsu. Be good to each other."
Khonsu ("Tsk. Like I'm stupid.")
(Who the hell does he think I am? She is a little girl!)
I ignore his usual pessimistic mood and continue with the task.
Khonsu ("Not pessimist. Realist, you jerk!")
Ammit ("Kussu, do you hate papa?")
Khonsu (think) (Erg. Critical hit!) ("No no no! Papa and I are having fun like this! Don't worry! Right, Sam!")
("Hahaha! She is good, huh! Yes, he is always grumpy like this, but we love him that way. Hehehe.")
Khonsu ("What are you, gay!?")
Sam "Hehehe, you know I'm not."
Khonsu ("Well, it seems little sis and I are sharing this place somehow. It's dark and gloomy, but it feels really good. I can feel my batteries recharging and my thoughts clearing up. This is a subspace in your stomach? Crazy. I'm taking a nap here. Call me if you need me.")
(Hmm. Maybe I can try my power now.)
I try it, and I can use it, but only internally. Trying to push my power outside makes me feel like my blood is turning into magma. At least I can use inner vision to see what the hell is happening inside me.
(This is a good start. A burden on my body is gone, and I can feel my cells awakening slowly. More food!)
After clearing five kilometers of caves, I can feel spasms running all over my muscles. I need to stop for a day at the camp and let my body get used to it, or I might regret it later. As my tissues become filled with energy, they gain strength, and the inner webs untangle themselves as they swell and bloat. If I push too fast, I could cause real problems.
Once the involuntary movements fade away, I get back to my feast.
I choose a path, and this time I intend to explore a bit deeper. I might find bigger prey, something that has its power awakened already.
I make sure to mark my way carefully. Even with my good sense of orientation, it is better not to take any risks down here.
…
As I go deeper, the colors slowly change from yellow and green to blue, then purple and red. The pressure starts to have a noticeable effect on me. If I can feel it, that means I am deep. The pressure should be measured in tons by now. My eardrums have long been blocked with hardened keratin cartilage. I also made a mask covering my nose and mouth to prevent involuntary swallowing of water, leaving only a small opening in my mouth to eat.
(I should not go deeper. Otherwise, the organisms might become too strong for me if they can survive at even higher pressure.)
The regular creatures at this depth are already stronger than the average woman back at the camp. Then I see it. A huge shrimp, the size of a grown man. I rub my eyes in disbelief. My mouth starts salivating just thinking about the roast I could make out of this thing. Still, out of sympathy for Barb, I will not grill something like this alone.
(I barely tasted the raw shrimp. It is so so. Sigh… let's get to work again.)
This time, I am getting ruthless and fed up with eating like this. After a few square kilometers emptied, I suddenly feel a change in the water pressure.
Sam ("Finally, something worth… whoa. You've got to be kidding me!")
A giant catfish tries to eat me in a single bite, something it could have very well accomplished with that ultimate mouth of its. This thing is huge, and it contains a lot more power than I do right now.
I grin with pure satisfaction at this find. It is perfect.
(This must be freshwater for a catfish to be here… whatever.)
"Ammit, make a complete fish tail for me, please."
She complies immediately and proceeds to dislocate my joints, filling the gaps with flexible cartilage. My legs bend backward now. It is painful, brutal even, but I do not have time to complain. I need to keep my attention on the dumb fish trying to circle me. Once that is done, she switches my hand flippers into claws.
After getting used to the tail, I can almost keep up with the angry, hungry fish, but I do not need to keep up.
The next time it tries to gobble me, I grab one of its whiskers and stab my claw deep into its flank. The battle is decided right there. If you ask me to describe it, it flaped around, while I hold its wisker, gobbling me, but by then, I cut his fins and could come out this way... I just rip it apart slowly until I feel it weaken enough for me to eat it safely.
Unlike before, when I created a vacuum by awkwardly bending space, now I connect my stomach directly to the space around the fish. I analyze its movement in space, every twitch and every surge of power. That is when I realize why I could not eat something more energetic than myself before. Large amounts of power combined with movement bend space too much and make it unstable.
Then, poof! The fish simply vanishes.
My control over space increases again, strengthened by this breakthrough in understanding the laws of space itself. I can probably eat prey stronger than me now, if I find a way to paralyze them first.
(I should be able to resist poison with Ammit's help. I can even remove it from my body if I need to. well, if I just touch with one extremity. Let's find something nasty.)
Of course, the two best choices should be something that looks like rock fish, or jellyfish, maybe sea snakes. In the end, I find the nastiest snail in the world, I think. It does not even act like a snail. It catches a fish and crumples it inside its shell in under a minute. It has two big eyes with golden, square irises and a very rugged belly. The shell is bright blue and covered in spikes. In this almost totally red environment, it screams danger. The thing is only the size of my fist, but every fish or creature that spots it swims away fast.
("Ammit, make my hand skin as tough as you can and get ready to suck out any poison in my body. Make sure none of it reaches my heart, brain, or spine.")
I take it and go back to camp to tame it. Of course, I poison myself while swimming. Just being close to it burns. It is absolutely horrible. Even with Ammit's treatment, my very soul hurts in the area closest to the snail. I pity the fish eaten by that thing. It must feel like hell's torments.
It is the first soul poison I witness in this world, and I shiver at the discovery. When my hand starts burning through my protection, I have Ammit make a keratin cage around it. I feel stupid for not thinking of that sooner, but I wanted to cowboy through it.
Ammit can keep parts of the aliments we eat, especially hair, nails, teeth, shells, and scales, inside her subspace. Most of what we eat melts into energy and becomes mine. She can use it to mend my body or do things like she just did. Keratin swords, armor, and similar tricks.
Since the creature is living and partly mineral, it resists corrosion better than other parts of the body. Bones also remain, but they turn to powder when touched, the inside already gone. Only by eating a lot could she realize this and learn to control the ambient energy in the pocket space, making sure she does not dissolve everything. She gains more control over her digestive abilities. Khonsu and Bes also get fed different energies through this process.
Of course, the two best choices should be something that looks like a rock fish or a jellyfish, maybe sea snakes. In the end, I found the nastiest snail in the world, I think. It is not even acting like a snail. It caught a fish and crumpled it inside its shell in under a minute. It has two big eyes with golden, square irises and a very rugged belly. The shell is bright blue and spiky. In this almost totally red environment, it screams danger. The thing is only the size of my fist, but every fish or creature that spots it swims away fast.
("Ammit, make my hand skin as tough as you can and get ready to suck any poison in my body. Make sure none can get to my heart, brain, or spine.")
I take it and go back to camp to tame it. Of course, I poison myself while swimming. Just being close to it burns. It is freaking horrible. Even with Ammit treatment, my very soul hurts in the area closest to the snail. I pity the fishes eaten by that thing, it feels like hell torments.
It is the first soul poison that I witness in this world, and I shiver at the discovery. After my hand starts burning through my protection, I have Ammit make a keratin cage. I find myself stupid for not thinking about it, but I wanted to cowboy through.
Ammit can keep part of the aliments that we eat, especially hairs, nails, teeth, shells, and scales, in her subspace. Most of the stuff we eat melts into energy and becomes mine. She can use it to mend my body or do stuff like she just did. Keratin sword, armor, and such.
Since the thing is living and kind of mineral, it resists the corrosion better than other parts of the body. Bones also remain, but they are like powder when touched, the inside gone. Only by eating a lot could she realize this and control the "ambient" energy in the pocket space, to make sure she does not dissolve everything. She gains more control over her digestive abilities. Khonsu and Bes also get fed different energies through this process.
Ammit is a bit young and does not grasp her powers yet. I am better than her now at controlling space. I just cannot wait for her and Amy to work together. I can imagine the stuff we will pull together.
Once I get to the air pocket, making sure we do not die from hydrogen overdose, Shelly spots the thing and tries to run away.
Shelly("WoaWoaWoaWoaaa! Are you crazy! I do not want to suffer hell and die today.")
("Do not worry, it cannot get out of the cage, but stay away from it, it is even poisoning me by radiation right now. This thing is nasty. I like it. I will call you Scyther hehehe. The agent of death and bringer of hell, woahahaha WOAHAHA...")
Shelly("Sigh.. you are definitely crazy.")
("No pain no gain.")
Before I can tame the thing, warning bells ring through mine and Bes mind, and extreme fear, like butterflies in my stomach, stops me in my tracks.
Bes("No need to tell you, right?")
Khonsu("I feel danger, but not as much.")
I shiver uncontrollably. If I had touched it with my current vitality, I would have died.
Bes cannot do like Ammit and get rid of poison attuned to vital energy, Yang, at least not yet. I just need to find something less powerful to train it first.
My soul can clearly withstand it because of its age, my training, and the overstimulation I went through. It still burns though. My hand and thigh, which were close, burn like fire.
I cannot tame it yet, so I resign myself to making a keratin poking stick, with the live snail at the tip. I can even grow it like Sun Goku staff. And I go back to eat.
This time, in the next cave, I find a squid. It almost escaped at the sight of the snail, but it died because I had already poked it. Once it gets into my stomach, the poisoned vitality gets sent through my system. It still burns in all my cells, but I know I am not going to die from this, even though it feels like dying. I have to go back to the cave and rest for a day before diving again.
Bes("You are fine, actually better than fine. If you do this a few more times, you will be able to tame the thing with your vitality strength. No need to get a second source of poison.")
I try to ignore him and endure this freaking pain. Every cell in my body is shivering and spasming, from both the poisoning and the powerful energy coursing through me. On top of that, I am underwater and cannot focus on my breathing to make myself more comfortable.
("Fuck. I should just continue and bear this pain. This is just diluted and filtered poison, damn it. This is the best training ever for my body, with the pressure and all. I have a long way to go before the next cave and depth.")