Chapter 1
All chapters are for improving my writing skills.
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Splitter ... Patter
A gentle hum of the rain and carcass of Mother Nature continued around Ravik. The dew of the sky poking at his faintly raised hand, holding his phone. A distant travelling wind stopped for but a moment to observe what this little creature was doing, to the point it ignored the hum of the distant cloud.
[Dream world – Create your character!!!!!]
A simple character creation add, an insignificant one that wouldn't attract any attention from most people. Yet this particular person was glued to the screen and was observing the simple character creation menu intensely. A distant passerby who observed him wanted to invite him into his house but hesitated. Not knowing who he was and wondering if he was awaiting someone. So he, still unsure but also wanting to extend help, left bearing both emotions.
Yes, in truth, he was awaiting someone.
His dear sister, who was probably having too much fun playing around to the point that she ignored the importance of timekeeping and left his brother to wait in the soon-to-intensify rain. Ravik's eyes twitch in annoyance before relaxing into their calm state.
Ravik pulled his hand and swept his hand across the display of his phone. Cleaning the screen and displaying the morbid character he created for fun and amusement.
[Name: Not given]
Age: Random()
Race: Demi-Human (Harpie)
Special perk: (Ugly one) - Beauty - a concept that defines the attractiveness that their species or even beyond has towards that particular individual. But you...you have another idea.
[Effect: For every permanent -10% charisma growth, you shall gain plus 20% growth for all other stats – MAX 9/9] {Warning: the more you stack the effect, the more unforeseen effect would follow, some faction who was supposed to be friendly might become hostile}
Perk: (Foul and disgusting) - You are a creature of sin and the opposite of beauty; all who bear witness to your appearance shall feel profound disgust, and their subconsciousness shall view you as a construct of what you look like. {Intimidation is 300% effective; fear and terror effects are much more likely to spawn. Unlocks unique jobs later on. Warning: neutral NPCs are much more likely to attack you, and the trust would be much harder to cultivate for every character.
(A feeble one who ate the apple and flew to the sky) - (You are, a part Ashburn bird, a bird that flies without wings and eats left over ash of beings.) (Effect: You gain unique gravity magic but will gain an unknown mutation that would result in -40% to -80% Charisma, -10% to -20% Strength, -20% to -30% Perception, and +25% to +40% Vigour and Endurance in the base stats.)
Ravik shook at the morbid, disgusting mass of flesh that was his character.
It was a monstrous abomination who looked more like a construct that came out of Lovecraftian horror than an online add. Part of it amazed him in how much AI had grown and part worrying him, if it was too advanced.
The creature had two arms, two legs and one head, a basic template for every demi-human, and unfortunately, all the familiarity ended there.
The creature he had created bore an extra exoskeleton surrounding all his body parts, including his skull. It had no eyes on its head; only in the middle of its chest there lay a disgusting pulse of what seemed to be an eye. It had a beak that was too big for his head and claws that looked like they could do precise surgeries effortlessly. Its leg wasn't that of a human but more like a bird's, just with veins that pulsed like it was drawing upon the essence of the earth and life. And that is not counting the countless lumps, holes that moving and breathing as if they had a life of their own.
Even Ravik, upon witnessing this, had half the mind to just blur and reset the character creation, but he pressed on and added the last inhale talent of this body.
(Phantom) - (An image, a thought that always lurks on the edge of one's eyes. You can see it, and it knows you can see it, but you pretend otherwise. (Can, at will, greatly reduce presence and remove any clues you left behind in your path.)
Ravik shook his head and turned off his phone. Not wanting to look at what he had constructed for the fun of it.
"What was I thinking?" He shook his head.
His mind while crafting this ... 'thing' had some sort of plan. He wanted to, in the low levels, hide and level up fast using the ugly one and Phantom perk, then use gravity magic and foul and disgusting to fight, as he imagined that intimidation would make charisma useless, as he could take what he wanted using intimidation and fear tactics. Then fly around throwing around rocks and anything in the game at people.
But in the end ... it is only add of an soon to release game, and technology hasn't advanced enough for this much freedom even in the greatest of games.
Twik
Something solid and weighing about five kilograms suddenly weighed on his shoulder. Faltering him as he deviated to the left, his left shoulder suddenly hanging lower than the right.
"Amusing" A dry, deep voice that sounded like it was being strangled sounded, and the smell that came out of it was that of a rotten rat that had exploded right beside his nose.
His eyes unconsciously tightened, and his face took on a shade of wrinkles and lines as he turned to the busybody who had, without care, put something on his shoulder and blasted him with a horrendous smell that Ravik never thought possible.
And yet when he turned his head, he saw an impaled head?
Before his eyes could fully capture the picture, he fell dead onto the asphalt road. A drunk Prius 30 driver drove over the dead corpse of Ravik, a twenty-three-year-old young man with a bright future ahead who unfortunately passed away in silence on the night of 20xx xx xx.
Perhaps his sister would learn to not make others wait.
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"Squeak!" "Squeak!" "Squeak!"
An relentless and urgent chirp that sounded like scream of an dying bird blast upon his ears as he regains consciousness. His head felt like it got crushed and eaten alive by an bear and his body shook and vibrates in response to the cold wind as it ruthlessly tore at his, sensitive skin.
Ravik pulled out his hand that for some reason felt fluffy, no , featurely ? and cluched his head hard.
Harder
And harder
Hard until he can't feel his head anymore.
Hard until he couldn't even perceive the merciless pain anymore.
As if the pain was finally giving up after it's goal became too boring to continue tormenting, the pain recedes like a tide and some fragmented images flashes across his eyes.
Hatching
Meeting the red, crimson sky akin to an blood and awaiting for his caretaker, no, mother for food as it followed the subconsciousness that was inherit in his body. His beak parting and crying out to the sky, signaling to his mother that he was alive and that he needed ... food.
Which unfortunately never came as he, despite his loud and shrill cry, was born too weak and ugly.
Food that his supposed mother managed to scavenge, went to his competent and stronger siblings. While he left as is, together with another two, who was also born weak and thin.
And they, after a few days of being ignored, died and became an extra meal on the stomach of his 'Father'.
But he, for reasons unknown to him, continued living and struggling. And he still continued opening it's beak open in hopes of eating even the left over. Even a puke would be appreciated as it didn't care in the slightest where it came from, as long as it fills it's stomach.
Swish Swish
Wings spirals around him and the air shifts as an being that was bigger than them all, lands on the nest that was his new...home ?.
Wait, what home ?, am i in hospital ? Some part of Ravik that was still in the mirage induced state question in confusion.
And this seemed to allow his instinct to take over as an shrill cry that was several times worse than the annoying sound his new siblings made comes out as he crawled closer to the being who landed on the entarance of the cave. While he was in the most far back.
Despite Ravik's mind being muddled, his eye that was for some reason seemed like it was on his chest turns and notices that he was the last one to approach ....'her'.
She already started feeding the biggest and strongest of Ravik's sibling. An still red, yet brown feathers just sprouting chick that was almost half a size bigger than Ravik.
Yet in the feeding that ensued, no matter how shrill he cried, no matter how many times he crawled closer, he just got kicked away by his possible 'Father' and 'Siblings'. And each time an crimson light that felt too deep to be mere reflection and too light to be blood accumulated.
At his mother
At his father
Yet most of all, his siblings who were taking what was 'his'.
But with a prop, he suddenly fell onto the wooden nest while his normal though process returns to him.
"Where ?" Ravik observed the wooden nest and group of monstrous creatures in front of him with human face.
"How?" He observed his red and black body that didn't have even the slightest of feature sprouting.
"What ?" He observed how an humanoid looking bird that his subconsciousness concluded as mother glanced at him before flying away. Her human like feature visible to his one and only eye. But still, his mind did not so he just stared with wide eyes at this unknown monster.
The monster in front of him was an monster through and through. it was an giant owl like bird that had morbid human like features like face and little bit of skin here and there. It wasn't an beautiful sight as he glanced at the sharp and weird abomination.
Well, unknown to him, the monster that he though as a monster also though of him as an 'monster'.
(Harpy: POV)
The harpy was an youngling whose eggs just hatched quite recently and it was her first time to boot, so it was given that she would be quite nervous. But result was quite satisfying to say the least, as the mate she choose for herself as was quite strong and the number of eggs that hatched was numerous as eight.
From the eight, she choose the strong ones and left the other three alone, thinking that it's resource isn't plentiful enough to feed all eight of them. And out of the three left alone younglings, two of them died just as she expected but one, that extremely annoying and morbid looking was still alive and moving about.
The youngling in question didn't have any feature sprouting, nor any eyes on it's 'head'. Instead, it had one in it's 'stomach'. Was it chest ?, Harpie shook her head, it didn't matter and it had coiling veins that was coursing through madly and some chalk white thing sprouting all over it's body, like an bone and the most disgusting of all. Numerous lumps and boils that was
all over it's body, going in and out, sometimes even exploding and spraying the juice onto her 'strong' youngling.
She dared not imagine what would happen if she were to feed him and help him grown up.
Unfortunately for the harpy, what she was seeing was the cutest and most adorable form of her son, as he would only fall downright spiral towards the abyss of ugliness, never to be seen again.
.
.
It has been several hours since Ravik's new reality. And several hours of continues existential crisis as he looked at the crimson sky through the cave opening and his father in the distance. Who was lazily resting beside a rock.
And he also noticed his appearance through observation and it wasn't an good blow to be honest. Not only is he in probably hell and he was ugly as shit, literal shit. But at least he had an beak, instead of an human face on his bird like body, though the fact that his eyes was literally on his chest didn't matter much. As it revealed that he could quite possible reincarnated as his add creation character. As he remembered the monstrosity that was and the disgusting eyes that buried in the layers of flesh in it's flesh.
Some part of him wished that he created some handsome elf character and not an literally monstrosity given form as he wanted to be handsome and live long life without worry. But main part of his brain was focused on important task at hand.
"Shreeek" "Shreek"
"Huff" Ravik turned to the entrance and made sure that his father wasn't nearby and continued escorting his brother?, siter ? out of the cave, down to the soft ground. Just that they have to endure almost forty or so meters of fall.
He though long and hard about what he should do and how to live through this , though about an hour and decided to be the only one left alive among his siblings and grow up strong and mighty.
Weren't given any food by mother ?
Well, she would have to give me food if i am the only one left right ?.
Quack
Ravik's leg faltered for a second as he almost fell but he endured and continued pushing his sibling who was desperately trying to return to the warmth of the little nest inside the cave.
But Ravik didn't give him/her a chance as he with a twack smashed his beak to the human baby like face of his sibling. Straight towards the little ones eyes, spray little bit of white liquid and blood in the process.
Instantly the crying increased in volume but he/she stopped resisting as much and instead began convulsing madly. Leaving a drop of blood every few steps.
After a few back and forth on the edge of the cave, he managed to drop him/her and looked at his next sibling. The second smallest one as he had just dropped the smallest.
Which with the already gained experience, dropped much faster as he just continued shoving his beak towards the sensitive areas of his delivery item. And while it was convulsing and crying, push him a bit and repeat the process.
And just as he finished with his goal and returned to his nest for another, his father came back on watch duty.
So Ravik shrugged and fell asleep to converse energy as he didn't know if he will truly eat to his fill as only two of his sibling is gone. He would need at least two more before he became reassured that he would not be left to die.
Well, he hoped that his father would leave soon as his mind still felt muddled and foggy.
And after another hour or so, his supposed mother did come back and her reaction wasn't anything nice to say the least.
The moment she noticed that two of her children was missing, she madly started looking around while screaming like a banshee, pushing his father and fro as if she was blaming him for his carelessness and oversight. And his father took her blame silently, just like an human family. Making Ravik pray for his father as judging by her reaction, she wouldn't forget this easily.
But still, after looking around and not finding anything nearby even on the ground, probably something or someone had eaten it, she returned to the cave with remorseful expression.
Well, let's just say, he was given some amount of food, not much but still considerable enough for his starved body.
His beak parts and dives to the body of squarral or something and starts eating the intestines and organs. His double mouth that was inside his outer beak chewing and swallowing with deep fervour. "Well, this is disgusting" He though while allowing his body to guide and eat on it's own as he endured the nausea and puke that was threatening to spill from his mouth. But he endured it and let the starved side of him continue eating.
oooofff
His biggest sibling and the only one among the group of little ones that had a bit of an humanoish body with four finger on her/his wings pushes him aside as she dives into her second meal.
"You are next " Ravik observed the fat bastard who stole his meal and turned and walked towards rest of his sibling. Hoping that they left some little bits and pieces, different from this ravenous pig.