"Hooooonk!"
The honk of a tank truck resounded in the open, winding road, the glow of the purple moon casting a beautiful shade over the land.
At this moment, to the side of the truck, one could see the silhouette of a figure leaping from the forest onto the moving vehicle, clutching onto protruding metals.
This figure was, of course, Mr. Valen, who was still very much exploring the capabilities of his body. 'Hmmm, I didn't die,' he thought, the wind catching his hair as he observed the deserted road ahead.
Fortunately, a few hours later, Mr. Valen found himself on a path he knew, and when he noticed cars streaking by, he decided that it was time to get off.
'The less people see me, the better,' he thought but did not immediately act on his impulsion, the reason being that the tank truck was moving at too fast a speed to safely unmount.
But after a moment, the truck slowed down, at a police checkpoint.
"Hello officers," The truck driver (an obese man wearing a baseball hat) greeted the police officer who approached him in an attempt to make conversation.
By his expression, one could tell that the police checkpoint was a minor inconvenience for him, but a perfect opportunity for Mr. Valen.
As the truck slowed to a crawl, he dropped from it with a soft thud onto the asphalt, his knees barely buckling.
"Huh?" The police officer hummed and pointed a torch in the direction of the soft thud, but he found nothing.
"Eh, is there a problem?" The truck driver asked, his brows raised until he heard the sound of bushes rustling.
"Probably some wild animal," the police officer scoffed before turning his attention back to the truck driver. "Why do you smell like weed?"
Meanwhile, Mr. Valen had dove into the shadows of nearby hedgerows, his steps light as he sprinted into a small farm.
The ground beneath his feet was bumpy, soft at times, the smell of cut grass and manure wafting through his nostrils.
"Whoosh!"
"Woof! Woof!" He streaked past a farmer walking his dog, startling the man, who shouted a curse after him.
Fortunately, the dog was leashed, so it had lost the opportunity to chase him.
Scaling the walls of this farm, he found himself at the outskirts of his own suburb.
The scent of cut grass now carried with it the fumes from distant traffic, a stark contrast to the wild, metallic odor of the forest and the truck.
'Should I take a bus? No, My Clothes,' Mr. Valen thought as he looked around, but shook his head and began to run, taking every alleyway and back road he knew.
He wasn't hiding per se, just moving through the spaces where no one was looking.
His current state was a problem; the rags he wore were little more than tattered, mud-stained strips of cloth that smelled of earth, blood, and grass.
Suddenly, he stopped at the dark open road.
'My clothes will draw attention to me,' Mr. Valen thought as he moved, disappearing from the open road where he stood.
At that moment, a car's headlights were turned on, but he was already across the street and into another alley, a blur of motion too fast for a casual glance to register.
In hours, he was on his own street, a place where the houses were dark and silent. His own home stood at the end of a cul-de-sac. Light bleeding from the living room window.
'They are awake?' he thought as he moved closer, his eyes unreadable.
He wanted to observe from a distance, but his view was blocked by the mighty tree by the side of the house, so he approached his home from the back, through the neighbor's yard.
The six-foot fence was barely an obstacle; he didn't even climb it. Rather, he placed a hand on the top and vaulted over, landing in his own backyard with a small thud.
At that moment the neighbors family dog next door, (a yappy terrier), tilted his head as he noticed the homan before him, watching it jump over the fence.
It recognized this homan as the creepy youth who was always peering at his owner, but something was different. It looked bigger?
Nevertheless big or not, the homan appeared to be sneaking in and it was time to get it in trouble.
"Yi-"
The bark caught in its throat as the homan turned to look at it, his eyes like terrifying vortices that chilled it to the bone.
Fortunately, Mr. Valen paid him no mind and moved to the back door, but he didn't go inside. 'How do I explain my current state to my father? Wild party? Bullying perhaps? It would be better to avoid being seen altogether.'
With that thought, he crouched low and crept to the side of the house, beneath the large living room window.
He knew that the window would be slightly open, as his father liked to sleep in the living room, but at the moment it appeared that he was not alone.
"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!' The rhythmic thump of flesh hitting flesh filled his ears, overlaid by stifled moans of pleasure.
"Cheap slut," a guttural, almost animalistic voice broke through the noise, prompting Mr. Valen to raise a brow.
'My father would never speak like that, did he develop new... Preferences?' he asked himself, his pupils adjusting to the dim of the room.
And he saw the back of a man, muscular with hints of stretch marks that told of his age.
He was naked, pistoning into a female figure who had been bent over the chair, her moans of pleasure coursing through the room.
Mr. Valen tilted his head as he stared at this man's butt, and his avatar (the shadowy humanoid) did the same beside him, having materialized once more.
'Who is this man?' Mr. Valen thought again, curious as to who had entered his home; it certainly wasn't his father, as that man was younger, a bit skinnier.
Meanwhile, the unknown man suddenly increased his pace, his butt clenching as he groaned, "Argh!"
His body spasmed once, his breath coming in thick exhalations, "That was amazing, Amanda," he said, pulling out of her.
'Ohh, so it's my stepmom,' Mr. Valen noted, his face expressionless as he thought. 'Well this is boring-'
Just when he wanted to turn away, he noted something that caught his attention immediately.
Slumped over the professor's shoulders and back was a large, pallid, maggot-like thing. Its semi-translucent form was faceless, with only a circular mouth full of tiny, rasping teeth constantly biting at the air. It was an avatar.
"Now this is interesting," Mr. Valen muttered faintly, a certain hunger assaulting him as he stared at this man, so much so that his stomach churned, he felt a bit excited, but he knew not what to do with this feeling.
He had seen people with avatars before, like the man on the bus, but they never elicited this strong a reaction, not from a person he knew nothing about.
'I really do have to get to the bottom of my current existence, what changes have occurred in my body?' Mr. Valen thought.
By now, both figures stood tall, and the man had already begun to clothe himself, wearing his pants with a satisfied grin on his face.
He had brown hair and a beard of the same color, both matching his eyes. His face was more rounded, and his form, when looked at from this angle, looked more robust as he wore his long sleeves.
The woman, on the other hand, was a lady with long blonde hair and black eyes. Her face was slightly angular, her features soft.
It would be difficult to imagine her as an adulteress, but that was the reality.
"Professor Albright," she began, draping her robe around herself without hurry, "I assume this means you'll be reconsidering my promotion?"
"Haha," Albright chuckled at her words, drawing in closer to kiss her, and as he did, he muttered. "Anything for you baby."
'So she's doing this for a promotion? Seems like a reasonable transaction to me, nevertheless, from what I know, normal people won't think the same,' Mr. Valen mused as he watched them for a moment more.
When he noticed that the professor was about to leave the premises, he pulled away and ran to the tree by the side, taking cover.
He then watched him get into his car and leave.
Watching the car drive into the distance, Mr. Valen then began to scale the tree, an act he found much easier than usual thanks to his newfound physical ability.
Walking down a thick branch, he opened the window to his room and slipped inside, finally returning home after a long while.