The worst week of my life had come to a close. The second worst week, to be exact.
Truth be told, my perception of time had gone haywire, so I could only assume how long it's been.
But the exact timing never mattered - what did matter was my essence saturation.
I was now at my peak, stronger than I'd ever been before. The trek there was long, and mind numbing in every way imaginable, yet I somehow persevered.
I made it. This is game over for you, Malrik.
There was a good reason for my definitive statement:
Every time Malrik made physical contact with me, it was accompanied by the emissions of flames.
In other words, he was expending essence.
And I, all throughout, subtly siphoned a portion of it into myself, saturating my body.
But, even angered and hurried, Nether's Prince would've noticed the unnatural energy consumption speeds.
To combat that, I sent threads of my own essence, demonic in nature, into his reserves.
While my power only grew, Malrik's mind slowly deteriorated under the demonic energy's influence.
Once his brain was muddled enough, I picked up the pace; every next torture session had me draining more and more essence, as I no longer needed to be subtle.
Demonic energy corrupts the mind. Doesn't apply to me, of course, but for a regular human like Malrik? Well, the results speak for themselves.
He didn't even notice his own, broken state, oblivious to any changes happening within.
So far, I'd been dedicating my mental prowess towards processing the influx of essence, and towards corrupting Mal's.
Until now, that is.
Once the plan reached its fruition, and I grew accustomed to the intense nature of Mal's essence, the pressure my mind's been under finally eased.
I listened to his footsteps, getting further and further away as he ascended the basement's staircase. I laid in wait.
It's an amazing feeling, to have clear thoughts again. Ya never realize how much you've relied on something until it disappears - ain't that the truth?
Gaging that it's been long enough, I scanned my body's condition.
I'm a goddamn mess. Can't thank my durable physique enough in times like these.
Injuries of this level would require an astronomical quantity of essence to mend.
And wouldn't you know it, I have just that in my possession.
I let out a slow breath, now tinged with Nether's trademark, untamed heat…
And sharply inhaled.
*Heup!*
I forced the energy to permeate every fiber - every thread - of my being, and got to work.
My already broken form unfurled further still, until I became but a vaguely humanoid pile of threads.
It hurt, yes. However, I could bear it.
Funny how that works; normally I'd be wailing in agony by this point, but it seems I'd become damn near impervious to pain.
Should I be thankful that..?
The heap of fleshy threads that was my body pulsed with life.
Stings of muscle, bone, tendons, ligaments, and everything inbetween - all of it moved according to my will.
One piece of knowledge had been drilled into me since childhood, under the elders' stern mentorship.
A vital piece of the puzzle, and the biggest contributing factor to our tribe's survival.
Not like it saved the Threadrippers, in the end…
The image of the rundown village flashed through my mind, but I didn't allowed myself to linger on it during such a delicate moment.
There will be time to wallow in sorrows. But now ain't it.
They spent decades, centuries even, getting to the core of what made one 'function'. Many were injured in the experimentation, and even more outright died.
But it wasn't for naught. Through the sacrifices of my ancestors, generation upon generation, the Threadripper race finally reached a breaking point, gleaming deep insight into the true nature of living beings.
And now, it was my turn to benefit from it.
I'll show you, my late family, just how valuable your sacrifices were. So watch me.
Watch me, and know that your lives were not extinguished in vain.
What I was putting to use now was information that no human on the planet possessed.
In fact, with the Threadripper's extermination, I could very well be the last one.
What a ridiculous twist of fate. So many people could've benefited from this knowledge. Millions of lives could've been saved.
It just had to be someone like me, a rotten piece of shit, to end up as the last inheritor of these groundbreaking discoveries.
What a fucking joke…
The world, of course, wouldn't wait for me to complain.
Neither would Malrik.
And so, I pushed my mullings aside, and concentrated on the task at hand.
Mammalian bodies, innately, possessed an interesting trait - nearly everything was built from the same foundational building blocks.
Heart, brain, liver, skin, bones… all of it was, at its core, a miraculous amalgamation of regular matter.
And beneath it all was water.
There was a good reason I never neglected my daily serving, even asking Kaela to force me awake. Though I gotta say, it felt awful in the moment…
First came the eyes. I moved my blood, and numerous threads of flesh - so thin that they appeared almost transparent - into the hollowed sockets.
The new pair of eyes was given form and function through proteins and lipids, and stability through a carefully selected combination of minerals.
The process was heavily assisted, if not entirely fueled, by Malrik's essense.
My unfurled frame shrunk ever so slightly. An imperceptible change, but also undeniable. After all, I'd effectively repurposed the other threads of my being to create a new set of eyes.
I'd have loved to make use of the bits Mal tore off of me, but they're basically just ashes now. As always, I'll work with what I'm given.
I moved my eyes up and down, feeling an indescribably strong sense of exhilaration well up.
My vision was cloudy - a reflection of my unremarkable skills when compared to the elders - but I couldn't care less.
What's it matter, anyways? I can see again!
Still, I didn't dwell on it for long.
Right. Get back on track, ya dumbass. I have to finish before Malrik returns, or I'm screwed.
With those thoughts, I focused once more.
Second came the right arm. Its stump, to be exact, torn at the elbow.
This should be easy enough. Just gotta move the flesh and bones from the rest of my body to the arm.
I did just that. My frame shrunk by a noticeable margin.
Uh oh… I might end up even shorted at this rate.
I already had some insecurities about my height, so the change was far from welcome.
Well, what choice do I have, really?
Third came the kidney; water, proteins, and lipids, along with a specific set of minerals necessary for the kidney's filtration function.
In this manner, piece by piece, I slowly reassembled every missing part of my body.
My lungs could expand without causing pain, and my toes moved on my command. I could smile, frown, move my fingers.
I could walk again.
Incredible. Truly incredible, my dear ancestors. Better be proud of me for using your knowledge so well. But if not, that's okay too. Because, let me tell ya, I am my own number one glazer.
Eventually, I got to fixing my skin. Didn't take long at all.
This was something I'd always struggled with immensely, in no small part due to having terribly low quality of essence.
No matter how many demonic beasts I devoured, the only thing that grew was volume.
But now? It's a different story altogether.
Mal's essense was pristine.
He must've gone through hell and back to cultivate such purity.
Only, it's too bad, my dear Malrik; your life's worth of cultivation is mine now. How will you feel, I wonder, when I crush you under a house of your own construction? I'll be delighted, that's for sure.
I kicked my head back in laughter.
For the finishing touch, I gathered the numerous steel appendages littering the floor, and wove it back into my body, this time creating two backwards folded, scythe-like blades. One per arm.
I chose not to wrap any around my viltals for protection, instead option for maximum offense.
Ahh, it feels good be whole again, after all this time.
***
Around an hour later, I was done acclimating to my refurbished body, and also finished fixing any inconsistencies I happened to overlook.
Of course, the shackles no longer bound me.
I also noted that I seemed to have shrunk quite significantly - a direct result of discarding a massive portion of flesh, now too scorched to be of use.
My reach's gotten a little shorter, huh? Meh? could've been worse.
With a satisfied stretch, I got up from the sitting position and looked around, ready to bask in the freedom of mobility...
"Uhh, the fuck? No, actually. What the fuck?!"
However, the first words to leave my mouth were a confused exclamation, followed by a string of curses.
My eye level was low. Stupidly low. It was to the point that I felt like I'd become a child again.
In a panic, I briskly brought a blade to my face and gave the reflection a stare.
The sight left much to be desired.
"Urgh… No, why?!!"
I looked younger. Significantly younger.
If I had to guesstimate, I'd say I look around eighteen? Seventeen? Yeah, somewhere around there.
Fuck.
I'd always been a more of a shower than a grower.
Ah, who am I kidding? I was basically a midget for the first 30 years of my life.
Threadrippers already grew slower than humans, and I was exceptionally short even compared to my peers.
And now, by a cruel twist of fate, I'd reverted to my late teen appearance.
In other words, your average human would think I'm a sixteen year old, at best… It'd be appropriate to break down in tears right now, yes?
But - as I've developed a habit of saying - the world wouldn't wait for me to wallow in self pity.
And so, pushing those concerns aside, which I've done one too many times in recent memory, I walked up to Kaela.
It's time to let all hell loose. And if shit hits the fan, I'll welcome it.
I was itching to try my new body out in battle.
Plus, I bet Kaela would be over the moon to escape with me. Can't wait to see her reaction.
Suddenly, a bad premonition settled in my chest. It wasn't unfounded, either:
I don't think Kaela is 'that' insensitive, right..? No way she'd make fun of my young appearance. Surely she wouldn't…