[You have been assigned the ?????? ?????, Terror]
[Welcome to Enemies of Corruption!]
A wild, grating noise woke Peace up from his tranquil slumber, and he couldn't help but feel the unnatural brush of wind against his cheek as if he'd fallen asleep outside…
Peace slowly peeled his eyes open.
'Wait…'
He was outside!
It was pitch black all around. The trees, the grass, everything was a shade of inky, swirling black. Yet, despite the darkness, he could see perfectly, although without color.
'Am I dreaming?'
But it felt real. Very real.
Peace slowly picked himself up off the ground, only to barely reach the height of a nearby bush. In surprise, he tried to speak, but all that escaped from his throat was a high-pitched bestial snarl.
That's when he noticed it… his arms. No, everything. Everything was wrong.
His arms were rail thin and short, but most importantly, they were a sleek black of felted fur that ended with wicked claws of onyx colored, sharp nails.
As for his height, he seemed no taller than 60 centimeters. He was the height of a damned toddler.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was all wrong!
Peace slowly brought his claws to his mouth and turned them around, and using the back of his hand, felt at his teeth. His teeth were unnaturally sharp. He felt his cheeks, which were tough like leather.
'Serene… Mom…'
Peace tried to cry out for his sister and mother, but the only thing that escaped his throat was a series of inarticulate gasps.
He slowly brought both of his clawed hands to his head and cupped his oddly shaped face. Then, he dug his nails into his thin felt, giving way to a torturous pain that caused him to let out a shriek and jump away and fall to the ground.
It had to be fake.
'Why does this feel so real?'
Had he finally lost it after his sister died?
Had she gotten it wrong? Was she the anchor and he the sail? Yet, now without the anchor, he drifted into hell?
Peace raised himself and stood still, letting his arms fall and dangle to the side…
'What a joke.'
Where was he? Why would he care?
…It didn't matter.
Nothing mattered to a man who'd lost something he loved more than he loved himself; losing his body and being transported into a foreign realm was heavily outweighed by the loss of his sister.
Reality or not, the world had already killed him, so why would he care if it did it again?
Awkwardly, Peace tried to use his taloned feet to step forward. Yet, his body was too uncoordinated to control properly, causing him to fall face-first.
After an unceremonious faceplant, he tried to stand up again, but his body felt too wrong, too out of place to control properly.
For the next ten or so minutes, he kept trying and failing to walk, but eventually figured out that he could better balance on all fours. But, no sooner than he learned to move did a horrifying roar emanate from somewhere close by, accompanied by thunderous footsteps.
With no time to rationalize anything, he willed his small body to lumber into a nearby bush.
Soon, his decision to hide revealed itself the right choice as a hideous monster stumbled through the forest and passed nearby.
The abomination was the size of an adult male, even on all fours, and had black ooze flowing from its disgusting maw. Not to mention the voidless, pitch black eyes it had. Then there were the bones protruding from its body, and its skin seemed to be slipping off its frame.
All of a sudden, the abomination stopped and reeled back on its hind legs, scanning the area…
A vicious growl sounded for a moment before a black flash shot from the tree at the tall abomination and latched onto its neck. It looked like a highly deformed monkey, once again with the inky black dripping off of it.
The monkey-like creature bit into the abomination's neck and thrashed around, tearing out a sizable chunk of flesh.
Unperturbed, the larger amalgamation of flesh and bone tore the monkey monster from its body and slammed it into a tree.
All while Peace sheepishly hid in the bushes, watching the spectacle, wishing he were back with his sister.
He was witnessing something inexplicable while dreaming of something impossible.
All of a sudden, the monkey monster broke free and scurried up a nearby black tree, leaving an inky trail of blood behind. Then, it dissipated into the shadows.
Peace looked up, but with his view shrouded by the shrubbery, he could only listen as the leaves rustled as it bounded around. Yet…
'Hungry…'
Peace… all he could think about was food. Watching these two abominations duke it out made him oddly hungry.
He could tell the hunger was his, but at the same time, the hunger felt foreign and wrong… Like it wasn't a lust for food but…
A sonic boom sounded, and another black flash shot into the neck of the abomination, knocking it down.
The large abomination tumbled to the ground while the smaller one ravaged its mangy flesh. Biting and clawing.
It looked all over when the larger abomination stopped moving, seemingly succumbing to its wounds. Its body was twitching and its black eyes losing some of their luster.
The monkey-like abomination finally let up its assault and reeled back to collect itself, but that was a fatal mistake.
In an ungodly quick thrust, the larger abomination slung its arm forward and through the torso of the monkey monster. After a few wild, untamed groans, the monkey spat black blood from its mouth and keeled over, held aloft by the larger abomination's claw.
Peace watched from his hiding spot as the heavily injured abomination rose, then shook the corpse from its claw. Then, it slowly lowered its disgusting maw and started chewing and mangling the corpse.
Peace should have been revolted, disgusted. Well, he was, right? But, he couldn't look away.
'I want some…'
'What?'
What was he thinking? And why…
Why did that dead monster look so appetizing right now?
Seemingly satisfied, the heavily injured, larger abomination began to lurch away, leaving half of the corpse still there.
Slowly, once the coast proved itself clear, Peace crawled out and up to the abomination's corpse. Cautiously, he brought his face and whatever excuse he had for a nose close to the beast.
It smelled awful, but it was a tantalizingly horrendous scent. Peace needed to eat it. He needed to!
Driven by pure instinct, Peace descended on the corpse and began munching. Each bite was transcendent. Despite how disgusting it looked, it was tasty, beyond tasty even. Delicious!
An ineffible taste… in a good way.
Yet… as Peace ate more, he slowly began to question himself…
'What am…'
[???] — (condition to unlock 1/100)
'Oh god!'
All of a sudden, his revulsion returned, and the revelation of his deed sparked in his mind as fetid black blood dripped from his lips.
'What's wrong with me!'
His mind was all sorts of wrong. Why had he lost himself! What could have possibly possessed him to eat that rotten, vile thing's corpse!
Only about a quarter of the beast remained with its bloody, rotting guts strewn across the bleak ground, alongside a weird black shard that fell out of its body while he was consuming it.
His stupor was only interrupted by a light… an incandescent light that seemed to burn brighter and brighter until it exploded and sailed over his head and off into the distance.
Peace looked toward the light and saw the larger abomination writhing around while ablaze. It screeched in low growls until all noise finally ceased except the bubbling of its flesh.
Then, he heard a human shout. It started nonsensically, but eventually morphed into a comprehensible language.
"**** *****. **** shot! Perfectly done, Lacan! As expected of the Duke's child!"
The accent sounded off…
"Thanks…"
It also sounded close.
Peace breathed an awkward sigh of relief momentarily before remembering the state of his own body.
'Wait! They'll kill me if they find me!'
With his rationality back, he could carefully observe the surroundings now. He could hear the footsteps of the humans drawing closer. He needed to hide, now.
With the bush being too far and the risk of him being spotted if he tried to run, the only option was right in front of him, one of the black trees.
With a tenacious fervor, Peace used his claws and talons to climb the tree. Surprisingly, it was almost effortless, as if his body was meant for it.
"Did you guys hear that?"
Peace barely hid himself in the myriad of branches before three humans appeared below at the corpse of the monkey-like monster.
Not a single patch of skin was showing from any of the people. They each wore skintight clothing with armor on top. One had a bow, and another had a sword, and the third had a shield and a sword.
The one with the sword kneeled and picked up the weird black stone.
"Seems like that corrupted bastard left us a souvenir too!"
He put the stone in a small pouch that was attached to the waistband of his armor, then the group carried on toward the larger abomination's corpse. Before standing and looking toward where they killed the abomination.
"An essence of a Vanadar?! It's our lucky day!"
'Vanadar?'
'Isn't that…'