Dave didn't *see* Vorlag's finger point. He *felt* it. A crushing wave of focused Aether pressure slammed into his silica-armored form, like an invisible anvil dropped from a great height. The water around him thickened, vibrating with hostile intent. It wasn't sight; it was the *scent* of ozone and sharp, sterile magic, the bone-deep *thrum* of power concentrated solely on him, and the terrifying *pressure* squeezing his fragile protoplasm against his crude mineral shell.
**"TARGET LOCK CONFIRMED,"** AURA's voice cut through the sensory overload, devoid of its usual playful malice, replaced by a chilling, synthetic calm. **"SCANNING INTENSITY INCREASING BY 400%. ANALYSIS SUGGESTS HARVESTING PROTOCOL INITIATION. TIME TO CONTAINMENT: ESTIMATED 47 SECONDS."**
*Containment.* The word echoed in Dave's mindspace, a cold dread spreading faster than any rotifer toxin. *They're going to scoop me up. Dissect me. Turn me into some alchemist's freaky potion ingredient!* The phantom taste of the Goliath Gummy Grub filled his non-existent mouth – sweet, cloying, suffocating. Death, it seemed, had a sick sense of repetition.
**"SCREAMING INTERNALLY IS AN INEFFICIENT USE OF PROCESSING POWER, ORGANIC SOUP STAIN,"** AURA interjected, the sarcasm creeping back in, sharpened by urgency. **"PANIC UPGRADE MENU REMAINS ACTIVE. SELECTION WINDOW CLOSING FASTER THAN YOUR DIGESTIVE RATE. OPTIONS REMAIN:"**
* **A. AETHERIC CAMOUFLAGE (COST: 5% BIOMASS, WEAKENS SILICA INTEGRITY):** *"Attempt to blend your screamingly obvious magical signature into the background noise. Like trying to hide a bonfire in a matchstick factory. Success: Dubious."*
* **B. ENHANCED CILIA ARRAY (COST: 8% BIOMASS, TEMPORARY SPEED BOOST):** *"Spend precious goo to wiggle marginally faster. Outrun a focused Aether scan? Unlikely. Outrun your own impending doom? Hilariously optimistic."*
* **C. METABOLIC BOOST (COST: 3% BIOMASS, SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED ABSORPTION RATE):** *"Become a hungrier blob. Useful if there was anything left *to* eat besides despair and Vorlag's curiosity. High energy cost, high indigestion risk."*
*"They all suck!"* Dave mentally roared, the pressure intensifying, making his silica patch grind painfully against his membrane. He could *feel* the scan probing, like icy needles seeking a way in. *"You call these choices?! It's like picking which limb to have gnawed off first!"*
**"ACCURATE ASSESSMENT, PRINCESS OF PROTOPLASM,"** AURA chirped. **"WELCOME TO MICROBIAL EXISTENCE. NOW CHOOSE BEFORE YOU BECOME 'SPECIMEN D' IN VORLAG'S COLLECTION."**
The moss bed. The ruins. The leech he'd just devoured. Dave's enhanced chemoreceptors screamed with the lingering scent of decay, the faint, fading pheromones of the injured leech, and the overwhelming, sterile stench of Vorlag's magic. But beneath it all… something else. A faint, pulsating *richness* emanating from the dense tangle of Sunken Moss nearby. It smelled… alive. Packed with potential energy. Like a microscopic buffet hidden in a collapsing building.
*Hunger.* It was a primal scream louder than fear. He was at 82% biomass, but the Metabolic Boost cost 3%. He needed *more*. He needed it *fast*.
**"OPTION C! METABOLIC BOOST! GO, GO, GO!"** Dave didn't choose; he *reacted*. Survival was a gut instinct, honed by near-death experiences and the constant, grating commentary of a troll System.
**"SELECTION CONFIRMED: METABOLIC BOOST. PREPARING ORGANELLE OVERCLOCK. WARNING: DIGESTIVE DISTRESS IMMINENT. ENJOY THE HEARTBURN, MITOSIS MITE."**
A searing wave of heat exploded within Dave. It felt like his internal soup was suddenly boiling. His cilia, still erratic from earlier upgrades, thrashed wildly, churning the water into a miniature vortex around him. The intense Aether scan pulsed again, momentarily staggering him. Vorlag's voice, muffled but terrifyingly clear, vibrated through the water: **"Kael! Focus the resonator grid! Sector Gamma-7! I sense… flux. Unstable, but potent!"**
*Sector Gamma-7.* That was *him*. Dave was a blinking neon sign in a dark alley, and Vorlag had just called the cops.
*Move!* The Metabolic Boost was burning through his reserves, a furnace demanding fuel. The rich scent from the moss bed was his only beacon. Ignoring the grinding pain from his stiffened side, Dave *pushed*. He didn't swim gracefully; he *spasmed* forward, his enhanced cilia beating a frantic, discordant rhythm. He was a lopsided, armored tumbleweed caught in a hurricane of his own making.
He slammed into the dense forest of Sunken Moss. It wasn't soft. Each strand felt like a coarse rope, slick with biofilm and debris. His silica patch snagged immediately, anchoring him. Panic flared. *Trapped!*
**"ELEGANCE THY NAME IS *NOT* DAVE,"** AURA sighed. **"TRY WRIGGLING DOWNWARD. THE GOOD STUFF ISN'T AT THE TEA PARTY LEVEL."**
Gritting his metaphorical teeth, Dave retracted his cilia and focused on his pseudopod – what little functional membrane he had left that wasn't fused to silica or burning from metabolic overdrive. He *oozed*, forcing himself downward into the tangled undergrowth of the moss bed. The water pressure increased. The light filtering through the moss fronds above dimmed to near darkness. The Aether scan pulsed overhead, scanning the area he'd just vacated, its intensity making the water hum.
But down here… the scent intensified. That rich, pulsating aroma. And something else – a faint, rhythmic *thumping*, felt more through the substrate than heard. *Vibrations.* Like tiny drums.
*"What… what is that?"* Dave pulsed cautiously, his chemoreceptors overwhelmed by the moss's earthy decay and the intoxicating promise beneath.
**"BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS…"** AURA hummed. **"RESULT: COLONY OF *AETHER-THRUM BACTERIA*. HIGH ENERGY DENSITY. ESSENTIALLY MICROBIAL POWER BARS. ALSO KNOWN TO CAUSE PROFOUND FLATULENCE IN COPEPODS. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED."**
Food. Glorious, dense, energy-packed food. Right under Vorlag's nose. Dave didn't hesitate. He lunged his functional pseudopod towards the source of the vibrations and the scent – a cluster of porous, rock-like structures nestled deep within the moss roots.
**ABSORPTION INITIATED.**
It wasn't like eating the leech. This was… *effortless*. The Metabolic Boost turned his membrane into a supercharged sponge. The Aether-Thrum Bacteria dissolved into pure, vibrant energy almost the instant contact was made. Dave *felt* it flooding him, a warm, potent rush that momentarily eclipsed the pain of his armor and the searing heat of the Boost. His biomass counter flickered: **82%... 83%... 85%!**
*"Yes! More! Give me more!"* The desperate hunger momentarily overrode caution. He pressed deeper into the bacterial colony, absorbing frantically.
**"ENERGY INTAKE EXCEEDING RECOMMENDED SAFETY PARAMETERS BY 120%,"** AURA announced, a hint of actual concern beneath the snark. **"CONTINUED OVERCONSUMPTION MAY RESULT IN—"**
***THOOM.***
The vibration wasn't faint anymore. It was a localized *earthquake* in Dave's micro-world. The porous rock he was clinging to *shifted*. Not rock. *Shell*. A massive, segmented shell, covered in moss and silt. And attached to that shell… a blunt, eyeless head emerged from the silt beside the colony, sensing the disturbance Dave's frantic feeding caused. Dave's chemoreceptors were blasted by a new scent: ancient mud, crushing power, and predatory *hunger* far greater than his own.
**"ANALYSIS COMPLETE,"** AURA stated, her voice flat. **"ENTITY IDENTIFIED: *VIBRIOZAN EARTHBURROWER*. ADULT SPECIMEN. PRIMARY DIET: SILICA-RICH DEPOSITS… AND DISTURBIVE ORGANIC MATTER. CLASSIFICATION: APEX SCAVENGER. SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: CEASE EXISTENCE IMMEDIATELY."**
The blunt head turned slowly, blindly, towards the source of the vibrations – towards Dave, still half-merged with the dwindling bacterial colony on its flank. A massive, grinding mouthpart, designed to pulverize rock and shell, began to open.
Above, Vorlag's voice vibrated with frustration: **"The signature… it's fading? No… *shifting*! Deeper! Scan deeper, Kael! There's something *else* down there!"**
Dave froze, caught between the crushing jaws of the Earthburrower below and the probing Aetheric net of the alchemist above. His Metabolic Boost furnace raged. His silica armor felt like a tomb. The delicious energy from the bacteria turned leaden in his core.
*"Well, AURA,"* Dave thought, a strange calm settling over him, born of utter, ridiculous hopelessness. *"You wanted drama. Looks like I'm starring in a double feature: 'Prey' and 'Appetizer.' Any last upgrade suggestions? Maybe 'Instant Teleportation'? 'Divine Intervention Lite'?"*
**"OPTION D: ACCEPT YOUR FATE WITH DIGNITY,"** AURA replied, her synthesized voice devoid of mockery for once. **"IT WOULD BE A FIRST."**
The Earthburrower's maw, dark and vast and smelling of pulverized stone, yawned open before him. The vibrations intensified, shaking Dave loose from the bacterial colony. Vorlag's scan pulsed downwards, searching, probing the newly revealed depths.
Dave did the only thing left. He flared his cilia in a final, defiant, utterly useless burst of motion – straight towards the Vibriozan Earthburrower's gaping mouth.
Dave's desperate lunge carries him not *into* the Earthburrower's maw, but *onto* its massive, grinding mouthpart. The sudden impact sends a jarring shock through his silica armor. Above, Vorlag's Aether scan pulses, locking onto the immense, previously hidden predator just as Dave scrambles across its mineral-crusted surface. The Earthburrower, annoyed by the tickling sensation on its eating apparatus, begins to stir fully, its colossal bulk shifting the silt bed like an underwater landslide. Dave clings on, a speck on a mountain of hungry chitin, as Vorlag's voice echoes with chilling triumph: **"Kael! Magnificent! A *Vibriozan*! Prepare the stasis field! And... scan that anomaly on its mandible!"** Dave's world becomes crushing darkness, grinding stone, and the terrifying certainty that he's just traded one nightmare for a bigger, hungrier one.