58. Snakeskin drift
In the back of Celia's head, there was a part of her that realized that she may have incidentally, and unintentionally let something loose. And that something may have been the part of her that was a monster. Either that or she had developed an even more monstrous case of the munchies with a penchant for a side of fear.
She also had no idea how to feel about that. As there was something far too enjoyable about soaking in the fear frog - that was what she was calling her new recruit until he identified himself - gave her as she scarfed down a tree.
She also had two issues with that. The first was with the enjoyment she derived from the fear. The second was the fact that she ate a tree. Not an oak sized tree, but rather a small skinny one. Still, it was a tree nonetheless. And eating them just wasn't something anyone did.
Except for her apparently.
And according to her Mimic sense it wasn't even all that 'nutritious' for her. All it really accomplished was filling her always, detestably always, hungry gut.
That and make her wonder if this is what a starving hippo felt like.
And after a moment of thought, she decided that it was. Maybe it was a bit worse. Seeing as she was still hungry after that whole tree incident.
And after the small feast the villagers had given her. A banquet consisting of vegetation and what few creatures they had the might to bring down. Which weren't many.
A feast they also had joined in on. Eating both the meat and the greenery provided. Which Celia was half certain counted as cannibalism.
Then again, this was the Beyond. So really, what was a bit of cannibalism in the grand scheme of things?
At least that was what she told herself rather than speak up about it.
Not that she was one to talk.
She still hadn't stopped eating herself. Bark, leaves, and practically everything she came across was either added onto her waistline or collected by the tribe of plant people for her to consume later. And it was very quickly becoming a vicious cycle.
Or to put in more appropriate terms: Celia was growing. With every meal eaten and indulged there was a bit less of the human that she was. Her mind remained.
But it remained in a changed state. Memory preserved as the flesh was traded out. And the worst part was that she was slowly, reluctantly, growing to like it.
She liked being big. there was something empowering about it. And maybe that was the parasites influence on her, or maybe some long held desire she kept secret from herself.
Either way, Celia wasn't sure if she could go back to how she was before.
Not when it felt this good to simply indulge. To shed the skin of the rabbit and adopt the shape of the bear.
"We need to stop. Now." Discipline urged. The ghost of her appearing in the corner of Celia's vision. Pointing. "I beg you, look at us. We are becoming something other. Giving in to the infection which seeks to consume us!"
"Mayhaps that's for the best. It's not as if our 'humanity' will help us to survive. It's not like it will drag us back home and chart a way. No, my dear self, what we need is the loss. To shed and be born anew again and again till we have achieved perfection. After all, it's what you wanted, right?
Celia didn't answer right away. Which was probably for the best. She wasn't sure she really had an answer yet, because, at the end of the day they were both right.
The woman Celia had been was dying.
It was a slow insidious thing. Rot eating at her from within and all the way without. Soon the old her would perish. And she wasn't sure there was anything she could do about that. To refuse it was stagnation, a death of its own kind. To embrace it was a betrayal. A turning back on who she was before in a way that couldn't sit right with her.
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So, after a minute of thought, Celia birthed a new idea. A blasphemy of both kinds.
Nurture.
She would nurture the nature that sought to consume her. Grow it into something else. A better reflection perhaps. Which, the more she thought about it, the more it sounded like a trap. Like some sort of ploy laid out by the forces that be. By the giants who had their eye on her.
But what choice did she have but to choose one poison for another. And just maybe, she might be able to add her own taint into the mix.
She brewed on that plan the whole walk back to Sel'ci. The wires and workings of it deepening as she returned "frog" to Haet, checked up on Dreg and went on her merry way in search of another recruit for her war.
A search that gradually expanded. Going from one side of the forest to the other. Feet taking her across all it's many strange sub-biomes. From the tropical to the cold and to the coast.
The ocean stared back at her there. The promise of a portal beneath the sea pulling at her. Desire begging her to dive in and search. A pull.
Celia discovered that it couldn't be answered. There was a shimmering line of runes guarding the forest from all sides. A barrier that assaulted anything that tried to pass it with streams of rock melting acid. Which she discovered the hard way.
Her lower left arm still bore the burn marks from when she tried. Marks that would heal the moment she got herself something to eat. Preferably without feeling guilty about it. Both because it was a further sign of her transformation and, well...
She was getting worryingly big as of late. As in the time since she recruited "frog" she had grown over a foot taller and about a foot wider. Her hips were well beyond any human limits she knew of at this point. Providing her with two jutting shelves of flesh that her arms couldn't avoid contact with, as well as a rear end that seemed more likely to crush a chair rather than fit in it.
It was the exact sort of physical transformation that had her worried. Both because it was too fast and it made her feel like she was losing control. Like she was drifting.
Nurture. Both her twin selves whispered into the back of her mind. Their voices having been in strange alignment ever since she had proposed the idea of nurturing her changing nature. Which was, well strange was putting it lightly.
Seeing as they were both parts of her, opposing parts but still parts nonetheless, it was more than alien to feel so completely out of sync with them. And for them to be so in sync for once. Weirder still was how they no longer truly responded to her beckoning.
Issues that Celia had decided for later. For now she distracted herself with the fruits of her labor.
The search. It had gone well so far. In the same time that she had grown another foot taller and began to boast a booty that would put even her great aunt to shame, she also "recruited" eleven more members of Haet's crew. Finding half of them hiding in the same general area.
And of that eleven, she had set one aside for some questioning.
He was a thing of dark grey slime, his body boasting limbs of half flesh and dozens of eyes that could seemingly appear and disappear at will. More importantly, her instincts screamed at her that there was something off about him.
So the questioning. Very subtle questioning that she had brought him to the coast for. Steps thundering in the sand as she pretended to search for another crew member.
And idly wished she had something to eat that wasn't bark.
"So," she began, "uh, I was wondering how long have you... Been a part of Haet's crew?" She asked, only realizing then that she had no idea how to subtly interrogate someone.
"Been in crew for year. Curious bout you, though. Why bring me with you search. Strange, question?"
Celia slowed for a moment at that. Unsure how to respond. So she hummed a bit, while leafing through a bush.
"Uh, well, um, you just... You seemed, uh. I guess I was just kinda curious about you?" She said.
And they both paused. Staring at each other in silence for a moment.
It was the slime who spoke first.
"Terrible sneaker. Ask questions, Beri no traitor."
Celia didn't even pretend like she hadn't been found out. "My nose is telling me somethings off about you. Can't put my finger on what though. Also kinda getting used to having instincts like these so forgive me if I'm wr-"
"Nose is right. Beri compromised. Slithering thing sneak in, make him watcher. Watch you."
Again, Celia froze. Muscles tensing with the expectation of violence. Or for her sense of understanding of the universe to once again be violated by some impossibly powerful thing. Instead Beri kept speaking, voice changing.
"Watching you grow right now. Oh thing of violence. For favor has placed her hand upon you, turning point. Boiled out weakness in place for a new vessel of this Beyond. All who witness and know throw their schemes within. Try to claim fire, twist it for themselves.
"I, [Boundless cataclysm] throw my own wood to the fire. No time for slow growth. No time to longer on human. Be beast. Exceed cage built for you. Spark, spark, SPARK!" The thing that wasn't Beri spoke. Words invading the space of Celia's mind.
Words ripping into her alter egos. A bridge that connected them to the horrific thing speaking to her. And as the connection grew firm the voices of her mind screamed. Wailing in agony as a higher perspective was superimposed upon them. And through them upon Celia herself.
She fell to her knees as vision took her.