As Lucas practiced movements with his body for hours on end, he eventually became weary and fell asleep. He drifted off to slumber like a switch being flipped off. His mind simply could not keep up with the high levels of focus needed in his current situation.
As he slept, he had a dream. Lucas found himself back on a familiar street, the evening light casting long shadows as he ran. He felt the thrill of speed, each leap and turn precise, the rhythm of his movements second nature to him.
He launched himself over a railing, tucking and rolling before springing to his feet. People walked around him, oblivious to his stunts or outright ignoring him—just the way he liked it.
But then he caught a glimpse of a face in the crowd, twisted in a way it's not supposed to. It was only a flash, but his heartbeat stuttered. He shook it off and kept moving—his pace going up a notch, but the faces of those around him started to change, one by one.
Each stranger’s eyes grew hollow and empty, their features morphing and shifting impossibly, their heads following his movements even when their bodies were facing the opposite direction.
He stopped dead in his tracks to make sense of what was going on but suddenly, one of the malformed people lunged at him, their arms lengthening grotesquely, fingers clawing at him viciously.
Lucas stumbled as he dodged frantically, barely catching himself as he began running away at full speed. But his limbs felt heavy and unsteady. When he glanced down to figure out what the problem was, his hands were no longer his own neither were his feet. They looked entirely alien to him.
They rippled, shifting and transforming, becoming slick and unnatural tentacles. His fingers twisted into strange shapes, betraying him, refusing to respond the way he wanted them to.
Panic began to set in but he kept moving, feeling the world around him begin to pulse and writhe. This created a disorienting effect that made him feel nauseous. The people surrounding him now looked so horribly disfigured that they did not even look human anymore. Their facial figures contorted to degrees no human could possibly bare.
With each step, his body continued to change, warping into something unrecognizable. His muscles betrayed him, their strength and precision he relied on dissolving into weakness. It felt like he was trapped inside himself, unable to control this new, grotesque form.
The creatures closed in, their forms merging, twisting into one overwhelming mass of dark, slithering shapes. Watching this happen, his fear spiked dramatically. In an attempt to hasten his escape, he stumbled and fell to the ground.
Just as the mass of writhing flesh swallowed him whole, he felt the memory of his last moments, his death, flashing through his mind—the terror, the helplessness, the final, agonizing collapse into darkness.
Lucas jolted awake, his form writhing in his confusion and panic. To add to this confusion, he felt himself falling off the narrow outcropping he was on. If his level of panic before was an eight out of ten, it immediately shot up to an eleven.
Instinctively, numerous spiked tentacles burst out of him and he hooked himself to the wall. He took a few moments to calm himself then he climbed back up.
Lucas sighed internally, his numbed emotions had certainly spiked in that brief moment when he was falling.
As he rested, his thoughts began wondering.
He mulled over the nightmare for a while, his mind eventually drifted away from it as it became hazy in his memory.
He eventually thought of how he just clung to the wall instinctively, it oddly led him to a cherished memory from his childhood, the day he first learned how to do a front flip.
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After watching a video online on how to do a front flip, he just went to his backyard and tried it. His first attempt was a very painful face plant but he improved on his subsequent tries and after a few hours, he could do a front flip easily.
With that in mind, he proceeded to try manipulating his body even more. This time not craving instant mastery, but simply understanding the process itself.
He didn't know if it was because of him instinctively clinging on to the outcropping due to his nightmare or him framing the experience as a flip but, he was improving much faster than he was before. His fear of his new form being pushed to the back of his mind as he let his body follow its instincts.
Hardening his tendrils was getting easier and his limbs were more responsive. This shift excited him and he began testing just how much he could do.
After about half an hour, while he was almost gleefully practicing his movements, he began feeling a familial but almost forgotten sensation—Hunger. It was different than what he was used to though, he could quite literally feel like the 'core' of his being was empty.
This sensation rapidly damped his improving mood as Lucas thought to himself
As he thought about the issue, he could feel dread building up within him.
He had lived his whole life as a human with all his basic necessities met without him having to even think about them. His biggest concern back then was whether the type of food he was craving at the moment was available or not. But now... he didn't even know when he would get his next meal or even how to eat in his current form.
He tried to ignore the feelings of hunger for now but with the floodgate of memories of his past opened, he began reminiscing on places and people.
As his mind got to this point, memories of his mom came flooding in. The sense of dread he had begun to feel spiked.
The things he had been subconsciously ignoring sprang up in his mind one by one. Everyone and everything he knew was gone. Without any rhyme or reason, his whole life had been taken away from him. And now he didn't even know what he was anymore...
His form sat on the outcropping deep in thought when suddenly, he smelt a sharp, metallic smell in the air. It instantly drew him out of his thoughts because he knew what it was. Blood.
Before he could process this new information any further, he heard some soft, shuffling movements from the cavern floor below. Lucas tensed up on his small outcropping given how unfriendly his previous encounter with a life form in this new world had been.
He focused on his hearing as much as possible and began picking out some details about the movements. They sounded like heavy footsteps from something bipedal and there were at least four of them.
As he listened, the steps got closer and closer. About two minutes later, he could tell there were five creatures moving in his direction. He could vaguely make out their humanoid stature but nothing else.
With each step they took closer to him, the more panicked he felt. He could feel his tendrils hardening and piercing into the rock beneath him while his body pulsed and flexed with anxiety.
Lucas told himself, doing his best to calm down his fraying nerves. As he calmed himself down, a chilling thought crossed his mind.
Lucas felt his nonexistent heart drop and he froze in place like a grotesque statue. Each passing second was excruciating as his mind grappled with the possibility that he had been spotted.
He suddenly heard a low, rough, and guttural voice beneath him. With his heightened hearing, it felt like the sound was being transmitted directly to the core of his being.
Almost immediately, a different voice equally guttural voice responded.
The creatures then seemed to move around for a bit almost like they were searching for something.
Lucas’ heart somehow sank even lower. Even though he could not understand them, just their mere presence and the fact that they were searching around frightened him. His mind scrambled as he felt subtle, rhythmic vibrations on the outcropping he sat on.
Lucas thought to himself as his panic grew to new heights, he had no clue how far he had climbed up the wall or how bright it actually was. For all he knew they might be staring at him directly.
As the steps grew closer and closer, a third voice suddenly cut in, causing the other four creatures to stop their movements.
The others just grunted something in response before a weaker, almost elderly fourth voice said.
The other creatures grunted, the creature who was closing in on Lucas seemed to move away as the vibrations of its steps grew fainter.
As Lucas felt a wave of relief, one of the creatures suddenly said.
< It's moving away.>
The first creature who spoke grunted and responded with.
As it said that, they began moving away from Lucas. Lucas waited until he could no longer hear any sounds around him for a few minutes before he began moving again. His tense nerves and tentacles unwinding.
Lucas thought about what just happened for a few moments before thinking to himself.