Stomach

Seth felt around him, he had lost his sense of time. The darkness had overwhelmed him and he had lost it, he hit his head on a falling piece of wood on his way down when he had started flailing his limbs and searching for a target. The piece of wood had knocked him out and he only woke up some time after he had reached the ground. Seth felt the ground around him, it was warm and squishy. Feeling his hand, the ground seemed to move and squirm, as if it were alive. No. It was alive!

Seth remembered the story of the boy and the old man trapped in the stomach of a whale. This very thing must have happened to him, it wasn't a whale though, it was much more dangerous. Seth decided that he needed to make a fire, or he wouldn't be able to see. When Seth checked his status to see if it would illuminate his surroundings, he noticed that his stats hadn't changed since he had met the old man. Which should have been an hour ago, meaning his stats should have gone up by at least a few points. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that the system window wouldn't affect the world as its information was just transferred straight to his soul.

Seth slowly made his way around the inside of the animal. As he did so, he felt a liquid splash onto his leg. As the liquid hit his leg, his leg felt like it was burning. The liquid was acid, stomach acid. Seth was going to be digested alive by this huge animal. Seth ripped a piece of cloth off of his one-piece baby clothes and wiped at the acid. The cloth instantly melted away but his leg felt a little better. Seth started going numb to the pain after a few minutes, he couldn't even feel his leg anymore. Seth was still walking though, so he knew his leg was still there.

After a few hours of walking and finding nothing but small puddles of acid, Seth realized that although the acid was painful, it wasn't actually physically hurting him. Seth was amazed at this discovery, this means that this body wasn't even real! The old man could have just put him in a simulation to see how he would do. Seth thought about it, the old man wouldn't just subject the son of the emperor to bodily harm. And he wouldn't hurt someone that could be his future student. This idea gave Seth a lot of reassurance, he felt like he could do a lot more now that he knew that he wouldn't be harmed.

The old man watched as Seth's expression changed a few times, he knew Seth had found out. The old man chuckled a little, Seth still had no idea what the test truly was. The old man had made all of the tests for different things, one for battle capabilities, one for willpower, and one for talent. Seth was on the willpower test, he would have to spend a full year in the belly of the beast. All without light, all without any growth whatsoever. If Seth tried to kill himself he would fail the test. Although the test may sound easy, it was anything but that.

Seth had didn't know what the old man was thinking, and he didn't really care. He had already been in the stomach for well over a day. Seth's eyes had already gotten used to the darkness by now and he could still only see a few feet in front of him though. He was just trying to find the exit, or anything other than the stomach of the beast. Seth was tired of the dark, he wanted out. It brought back bad memories, memories of Earth. Every once in a while, Seth would zone out and go back to the small cell that he knew all too well. Seth's zoning out was slowly becoming more frequent as well. It had started after a day, then after half a day, now he went back to his cell every few hours. Seth knew he wouldn't last even a week of this. He needed to get out now!

Seth hadn't even eaten yet, his hunger was probably the only thing keeping him from zoning out forever. He could only last so much longer, and his end was coming soon. Seth still trudged on, through the ever-increasing puddles of acid, over the squishy stomach lining of the monster. Seth's entire body had gone numb, the only things he could feel were his stomach and his mind screaming out. Seth's "super strong" will felt like paper now. He hadn't given in to the people in his last life, but he was ready to do so in this one. Seth felt like he was just waiting for death, nothing would be able to save him from this hellscape. He was just stuck here, never to escape.

As Seth staggered along, he tripped for the nth time. Who knows how many times he had tripped on the ever-changing stomach lining? But this time, however, Seth didn't trip on the stomach, he had tripped on a piece of wood instead. He had found a part of the bridge! Finally, now he could do something other than walk until he died. He didn't know how long it had been but he knew he was on the edge, ready to fall and descend into madness. The discovery of the bridge was great news to Seth, shocking him out of his stupor and giving him many ideas for the future.

Seth searched around the wood plank and found ten more usable planks, a length of rope, and a lot of small sticks that had splintered off of other planks. This was good, Seth could probably make a rudimentary shelter and maybe a fire too. Seth thought that the rope would be good when he found it but he didn't know what he would even use it for aside from strengthening his shelter. Over the walk, Seth had learned that he couldn't use magic, further proving that this wasn't real. But being unable to use magic put Seth in a conundrum, he didn't actually know how to make a fire without a lighter.

Although Seth had been homeless, he had still lived in the modern era. Even if though he was poor he could still get enough heat from jackets and indoor heating. He had practically no need for a fire. Seth was also a child and was able to gain more sympathy from pedestrians. He had been able to get most of the stuff he needed from begging and stealing. This meant that he didn't know anything about surviving without the basic necessities. Seth was in a tight spot, he had no idea how long he would have to go without food or light.

Seth's hunger was getting worse, it had been almost two days since he had been swallowed. And he had spent the entire time without food or water. Seth wasn't that tired because his physique was very strong and had a lot of energy. Seth was starting to see the cell way too often, it almost appeared every hour now. His throat was parched and he had a headache, the nonstop walking hadn't helped him at all. Seth just wanted to leave, he would do anything to just get out. His will had been broken long ago, it was nothing in this world, no matter how strong it had seemed on Earth.

Seth stacked his wooden planks into a bench and lay a few on the ground. He now had a small wooden floor and a long bench, the acid and the squishiness of the stomach wouldn't bother him now. He could even sit down and rest, that was even better news. Seth had a base camp now, he could go scavenge for a little while then come back and rest. He just needed to find a source of light, water, and food. If he did that he would probably be able to survive for any length of time. Seth was starting to go a little delirious, his thoughts were erratic and sometimes nonsensical.

Seth started wandering around his base, not really looking for anything. He had already searched the area multiple times and found nothing. He was just walking in circles, not thinking. Seth's thirst had taken over and he was dehydrated, if he didn't drink something soon he would collapse. Seth had never been dehydrated before, he didn't know the signs. He just knew he was thirsty and that something was wrong.

After almost an hour of walking in circles, Seth fell to the ground. When he hit the ground, Seth felt something inside of him change. He couldn't control himself as he opened his mouth and bit at the stomach of the monster. There was no blood, the stomach lining was too thick. When Seth swallowed the meat, a little bit of clarity returned to him. He could tell what he was doing, but he still couldn't stop himself. Seth ripped at the stomach lining of the creature and ate its flesh. Seth ate almost three pounds of the beast's meat before he was able to stop himself.

The flesh had some water in it and was able to satiate his thirst a little. He would need a lot more if he wanted to fully hydrate himself. Seth's immediate hunger and thirst had been taken care of and he just needed to find a better source of water and a source of light. Seth walked back to his base, his mind had cleared a lot from the food and drink. Seth felt empty, he felt like something inside of him had broken. He felt that had become inhuman when he had eaten the raw flesh of a living animal.

Seth was disgusted with himself but he still knew in his heart that he would need to do it again if he wanted to survive. This new life of his would be so much harder than his last, he would have to do things that go against his conscience if he wanted to endure till the end. Seth felt that living with a broken conscience was better than dying just to keep hold of your pride and beliefs. He was now ready to do anything he could to survive and kill his enemies, the number of which was speedily increasing.

Seth stepped away from his base and sat on the stomach lining, he decided to fully satiate his hunger and thirst. He dug into the stomach and ripped chunks of flesh from the beast, stuffing them in his small mouth. He chewed very little as he inhaled almost five more pounds of the stomach. After he had eaten his fill, Seth still felt thirsty so he ripped off a few more chunks of meat and chewed them without swallowing, allowing the juices and acid from the stomach to dribble out of the meat and down his throat. The acid hurt a lot, but it wouldn't harm him and it was the only thing he could drink down here, he knew he would have to just get used to it.

Now that he had found a food source, he would just need to make a good shelter. Seth shifted around the planks and made a large square wood platform with a few planks left over. Seeing the leftover planks, Seth had an idea. He would break the wood into shorter pieces to make real furniture. Seth broke a plank in half and split one of the halves two more times. He now had one-half plank and 4 eighth planks, he could make a big bench. Seth did, he used the rope he had found to tie the pieces together and had made holes in the wood to hold the rope.

Seth wasn't good at building things, his plan never came to fruition as the bench, if it could even be called that, broke down under its own weight. He would have to find a better way to make it stand up, but he was too exhausted for that. With his new base and a full belly, he had lost the drive he had before and soon fell asleep.