The brittle cold of fear lapped on my skin, as my hands crept with cold and horror.

  The form of the Thing standing in front of me was utterly frightening. Its eyes were sunken in, and is hands were like saws with how they seemed Jagged and sharp with how misshapen and they sat apon its almost normal skin. The hands of the creeping being were covered in blood and entrails, eerily similar to the blood and guts I was too covered in too.

  The voice had me stuck in place as my body completely ignored every attempt to move even the slightest amount.

  "You sure are a strange specimen... From the lower Tier I assume?"

  The instant I heard 'Lower Tier' I knew he was already onto me, and I was scared as I thought back to what the officer had told me before this.

  My heart was beating hard as my mouth was trying to dry up. I gulped down my saliva and kept attempting to move.

  "Oh... And you seem to not be one of the entitled brats either.

  Perfect."

  He crept toward me slowly and reached out when his hand suddenly shifted to a less chaotic mess of blood and bone into a less misshapen, but still disfigured limb that somewhat resembled a hand.

  The transformation was sudden and messy. I could hear the bones squeezing and morphing into shape, and something about it made me feel sick... Or it was the blood dripping into my mouth.

  "Blergg !"

  He looked down to my mess, then back to my lurched over form. I attempted to look up at him, but I kept doubling over and throwing more bile onto the ground because of the disgust that I held deeper in my soul then even I expected.

  Something about the fluidity yet rigidness that the flesh morphed apon the figure made me feel a pain and discomfort that made my body want to remove in any way it could.

  I couldn't describe how much it made me want to tear out my eyes so I didn't have to lay my hand apon them. Just so I could be sparred from the pain that having them caused me when I looked apon the abomination in front of me.

  something about this was wrong.

  Deeply WRONG.

  " Oh... Whatever. You will get over your pathetic little humanity after we are finished with you."

  KRUCH

  My arm crunched as the Horrifically strong arm crushed my thin bones.

  I cried in pain, but the bile still coming from me stopped me from screaming. My eyes burned with tears as my body felt like it was burning with horror.

  He harshly grabbed me by my thin arm and started dragging me along the ground facing upwards.

  SKKCRRAPEE!

  The instant that the hand touched my arm, my body started itching and screaming for me to somehow push his hand off of me but all I could manage was spilling more bile onto myself.

  My body fought against the thing touching me as hard as it could, but it couldn't free its self from the grotesque substance that was holding it from running and cowering.

  My skin turned red with discontent, as my eyes burned and my stomach heaved.

  My heart rubbled, as if it knew that I was about to do something to escape.

  BUM BUM BUM

  BUM BUM

  BUM

  It was too much. Too much for my mind, body, or soul

  I couldn't handle the situation I was in, and...

  I reached a breaking point.

  [Bravery] Lv. 1 → [Bravery] Lv. 3

  I reached the point where I realized that nobody was going to help me, but I screamed anyways.

  "AHH!"

  Adrenaline burned through my veins, seemingly hearing the pain I was in.

  I didn't think as I ripped the abomination off of me. My hand moved of its own accord as I raged against the presence that held me stuck in place.

  I threw my arm at the abominations, and felt a pop as my arm used more strength then it could handle.

  KRUNCH

  I threw a punch right to its chest.

  I heard the breaking of bone as the once ridged bones of this creature turned into a fine slop being held together by its disgusting skin.

  The middle of chest, where the heart was support to be, was completely empty.

  It had no vital organs that I could target to slow it down or injure it. I had no other option then to run.

  I pushed through my legs and flew up faster then I thought I would. My legs seared with pain and I felt light headed as my blood rushed from my legs strait to my head.

  WHOOSH

  I was flying through the air.

  I looked through the sky and found the abomination laying far below where I was.

  It was simply waiting for me to land on the ground before it was going to inevitably capture me again.

  "Why yes! this is the level of effort that those of the higher levels! You will have great potential once you have been baptized by Sir Killinghan...

  Stay still will you?"

  It ran faster then my eyes could see, and before I had the chance to blink I was already back in its arms as it held me like newborn baby.

  I felt horror to be in its hands, but I had already completely depleted my energy with my prior stunt and the most I could do at this point was trying to escape slowly and painfully.

  I cried in pain as it brought me towards what was certain to be doom. It looked down to see my sobs and smiled with a joy only seen by a father holding their newborn child.

  "NOO!"

  I screamed in Agony, but I knew nobody would save me this time.

  Not Appa.

  Not Balif.

  Not anybody...

  I had to do it.

  [Rebel] Lv. 0 → [Rebel] Lv. 1

  My muscles burned more then before, I could feel the blood in my veins turning colder and thicker as I could feel my skill burning me from the inside.

  I did what I had too.

  Just Like I always have.

  KRUCH- CRACK

  I felt my jaw snap out of place, but my pain was completely ignored as I bit off the entire arm of the abomination holding me.

  CRACK

  My brittle legs cracked as I fell to the ground, but I simply stopped thinking about what was happening to me.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I had to stop it.

  I had to stop it or nobody else would.

  I ran forward with all of the momentum I could. My legs felt like slime but I used it as an advantage while I brought my leg up into a forward jumping knee kick.

  WHAM KRACK

  I hit the tall bony legs of the abomination and saw them as they bent backwards hard enough to have bone SNAP out of skin.

  I could barley tell whos bones had shattered as my left leg was unable to move as I fell to the ground in shock.

  The abomination held a large, toothy, and bloody smile from one end of his face to the other.

  "Don't Fight it ! I just know you will be absolutely amazing once we remove all those useless organs and show you Sir Killingham's ????????????????????????????T???????????????????R??????????????????U?????????????????T?????????H????????????????~???????????????!?????????????? ??????????????????? "

  Something about how his mouth bent out of its original shape when he said those words made my stomach crawl with bugs all over again. Its body was being beaten and crushed by my fist, but it just seemed to heal the more its devilish smile rang across its horrible face.

  GRRGlle..

  My stomach threatened me with its leaching and groaning, but I held it down as I looked down to the abomination.

  The once sunken in eyes of it decrypted face erupted from it false skull as it contorted and shifted with uncanny speed. I didn't even think as my arms started pummeling it down.

  WHAM

  WHAM WHA- Crack

  My finger had broken and bent backwards like it was trying to dethatch from my hands as I attempted to crush whatever brain matter the creature had.

  I screamed in pain, only on instinct.

  I put down my arm as it hung by my side and started punching with the other.

  WHAM

  WHAM WHAM

  WHAM WHAM WHA- CRACK

  Multiple of my digits bent as blood started pouring from the holes in my hand from the shattered pieces of sludgy bone I had pounded from the creature.

  blackened blood covered my oozing fingers as I challenged my disgust against the matter coving my injured body parts. my breath was baited and ragged as I struggled to inhale enough to push back the feelings trying to overcome me.

  My heart was still racing as pain started flaring from every spot on my body.

  I felt something turn off.

  "AGGAGGAAGHHHGHAHGHHGHGHHGHGHAGHGHHGHAG!!!"

  Pain broke through me and shattered every amount of courage I had within me.

  I writhed on the ground as I clawed at the pain burning through my soul. My mind saw shapes and colors made of the shattering pieces of my sanity as my body and mine continued to fall apart.

  the pain was unbearable... But I already knew that no amount of praying or pleading I did against pain would fix it.

  I was too stubborn to just accept this could leave me crippled for life. If I continued to abuse [Rebel] I would die, but if I didn't then I was doomed.

  I knew that this was the best case scenario even if it left me bleeding and shaking on the floor.

  My realization stopped the crumbling of my spirit as I started pushing back the pain inside of me. I refocused on the world around me.

  My mind was still in shock, but I had one goal.

  Find safety. Some kind of home or place that I could rest finally.

  I was laying a fertile green field with blood and amorphous body parts that almost seemed to seep slowly into the ground like those little cold stars that fell on my skin melted away into droplets of water. its gruesomely crushed face simply disappeared entirely despite me seeing the rest of the body still there.

  I had a feeling this wasn't over.

  I sto- PMFP

  I landed back on the ground before I could stand as pain tore through every muscles in my broken leg. I groaned and shook on the ground for what felt like forever,

  After the sudden spasm, I decide to stand slowly as to not land on my broken leg,

  I slowing tried to rise as carefully as possible, using my hands as a can-

  KRRK-

  My already bloodied fingers crunched as they made contact to the floor, crushing under my minuscule amount of weight because of the shattered state they were left in.

  "AHHGHG!"

  I screamed in pain, but managed to not fall to the ground completely again. my legs were completely limp on the ground, but I knew that I had to go somewhere.

  I started crawling.

  I had no idea where I was going, but I needed somewhere. I didn't care where, just somewhere.

  My hands were covered in blackened blood with strips of my dark red coalescing through it.

  I raised my arm, and dragged forward.

  my whole body crept with a soreness that left my arms heavier then anything I had ever experienced. heavier then the loads of chores that Appa would throw at me, the long hours of dragging things around the town to scrape by any money Balif and I could get so we could afford to eat meat from the local venders... Thinking back all of the stuff that I saw a monotonous and useless to my dreams of going into the higher tiers, I only saw times of joy and happiness compared to now. I missed those times when I was begging to be here, in this horrible place.

  ...Stay focused.

  My mind clicked into place. The pieces that had fallen apart were starting to stretch and bend to fit my new perspective on my life.

  my arms buckled with each little movement I made, and blood continued to pour from them.

  I raised my other arm, and dragged forward.

  .

  ..

  ...

  "# 6778... You dare to fail me?"

  The servant of Cruel King Balthazar's lowest ranking, stood before his masters host.

  The room was filled with tension as the stupid parasite felt his punishment for letting go of such a good host. The air around his spun and coagulated like blood as the air seemed to have life its self enchanting it.

  The Consort of the 2nd tier punished his foolish son.

  SQUASIH.

  The force of the Insane Father crushed the failure of an experiment, as his lab cleaners absorbed the remaining essence of the crushed Blight worm so they can be reused to create a new one.

  Sir Killingham stood before his experiment chambers, proud to see his children feeding off of the bodies of the ones that weren't strong enough to handle the parasite introduction. They were sure to grow strong and eventually consume him, just as he had did to his creator.

  He watched with all the happiness that his grotesque mind could muster in its dark soul, as the already cold blood strung down to the ground with every bite they took out of the weak and spoiled flesh of those who were unable to land themselves in the real education center.

  He snickered and laughed.

  KSH~!KSH~!KSH~!KSH~!

  "what stupid humans..."

  Sir Killinghan was simply befuddled by the idea that even the weak were given the chance to spread their ineffective genes among the truly worthy that would be allowed to go higher in the tower. How could they not realize they were being guided to slaughter like birds of prey? None of them had training or technique, they were too vulnerable to not use to evolve my babies.

  As far as he could tell, he was just improving gene quality of the humans by spreading the T???????????????????R??????????????????U?????????????????T?????????H????????????????.

  He sat down onto his Thone, resting his host head as he started eating through the chest of the already long cold body.

  QUASHEK !

  POP-

  Blood spilled as the true form of Killinghan had emerged with the flesh of his prior host covering his body.

  HIs babies had finished their meal, and the core of an apple fell from the young corpse of their meal.

  My arms felt like they were falling off.

  I couldn't tell how long I had been dragging my self against the ground in agony, as each time I digged my fingers into the soft grass, it felt as if they were being cut by thousands of little blood suckers with massive sharp needles.

  I begged my arms to stop and let me just rest on the comfortable ground so I could sleep finally, but I knew it was just the blood loss and physical exhaustion that was talking to me in my beaten and tired state.

  I've been through worse...

  ...

  no I haven't.

  Not in a million cycles would I think I would have evolved my useless skill and it would leave my body in this state as I dragged my body across the green grass in the second tier.]

  I can't believe I used to dream for these days... How could I be so stupid?

  why would their ever be a better life for anybody here?

  This tower isn't a safe haven from the torturous deserts, its a Prison.

  I understood more then others in my position were probably supposed to.

  Those in the first floor were doomed from the second they were born if the weren't part of some family of powerful individuals.

  Were bring raised weak like livestock...

  My face showed my anger faster then I could think, and my fist closed itself whilst ignoring the pain it shot through me.

  A burning feeling placed its self under me, and all the pain felt meaningless.

  My heart felt like it was boiling, as some of my wounds opened back up, making blood teeter onto the ground.

  I fought through the pain as my body gave a verbal reaction of my anger of being humiliated since birth due to being frome the first Teir.

  I had seen what the second Teir had, they had all of this but couldn't give at least a little to those who needed it on the first floor?

  No once had I seen a single person being robbed, or stolen from as we walked through the second Teir. If it was the first Teir, you could turn a corner without seeing it.

  This was unfair no matter how you looked at it.

  I was just being lied to about the truth.

  Even more reason to continue... To climb.

  My blood stopped bubbling, I knew that getting mad at something I couldn't change right now would only waste my already dry energy.

  I struggled harder to move. My joints locked painfully as my arms gave out completely.

  I started using my jaw to drag myself further across the ground. Each time I sunk my top teeth into the ground, I felt small amounts of blood spot out of my nose and felt sleep attempt to grab at me further.

  My eyes felt even heavier.

  My brain started slowing down to halt. I relaxed my body completely as sleep found its way into my bones.

  Suddenly, a notification appeared before me.

  - Archivement Unlocked.-

  -[Breathing Corpse]-

  [Stay at minimum condition for 24 Hours straight]{(24/24}?

  [Have a Constitution below 5] {2/5}?

  [Break 2 bones in combat] {3/2}?

  Rewards:

  -You Have developed the skill [Exhaustion resistance] Lv.0-

  -[Exhaustion resistance] Lv.0

  [Whist at minimum condition:

  Exhaustion amassed over time is dropped minutely per level

  Endurance replaces Constitution for body stability by 5%

  *Additionally gain 1 Endurance per level]-

  -Endurance +10% (.6)

  I read through the achievement. It wasn't something I hadn't seen before. The reason that Dex was so high for me was because I had gotten a few achievements that increased it while I was running from some Guards after stealing some stuff.

  Thinking about my time at the first floor dragged me out of my analysis of the achievement.

  This would have been a cause of celebration before... but now I don't even know what to think.

  I felt my body grow numb to the pain in few moments, as my skill kicked in immediately.

  My heavy eyes snapped open as I felt lighter then before.

  My arms stoppee shaking uncontrollably, and I started dragging forward as fast as I could.

  Cush. Cush. Cush.

  The soft grass crushed under me as I crawled at my sand snail level speed.

  My mind had calmed slightly as the pain lifted off of me. The numbness that I felt was heavenly copaired to what I was suffering through.

  I raised my head, just looking forward for somthing.

  I raised my head slightly above the lush grass, and not 50 strides ahead there was something poking out of the ground.

  My smudgy vision struggled to show me what I was seeing, but I saw a familiar looking shape, and relized that it is was one of the little hatches that I had crawled out of.

  My eyes registered as my face shifted up into a smile that I would be able to be somewhere safe finally.

  All the pain was washed away by my relief, and I quickly moved myself up to the hatch.

  It was the exact same as the last one I had been in, just not as messy. Like it hadn't been used for a long time.

  Perfect.

  I shifted my head above the hatch, and instantly grabbed the handle with my teeth.

  "Ugh!"

  Clang-

  The circular hatch came up easily, and I used my head as a hook to pull myself to just before I would fall in.

  Zero Hesitation, I drop into inky blackness.