Ch2: Beginnings, Part Three

"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

Ven angled his body, one arm braced against the smooth surface of the tube. He arced the other back and punched the glass. The surface splintered, a few small cracks less than a centimeter long. Ven raised his eyebrows. This material is durable... Vendak gave a mental shrug. His fist pulled back again and sent a second blow, followed swiftly by several more. After a few minutes of continuous assault, the glass finally gave way.

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As the first shards touched down on the floor a savage man twitched awake. An intruder in the old laboratory? His eyes snapped open. Two galaxies circled his pupils of light, a patch of stars trapped in his gaze. That door should only open from the inside. Perched in a lotus position, he rested within a simple hut, hidden in a peaceful forest.

He brushed away a layer of dust and straitened the tattered animal skin robe that wrapped his bulky frame.

I can't detect anything within the lab, yet the wards triggered an alert.

The spirals that lit his gaze flashed, and he shook his long, brown hair. Nothing that lives can avoid my gaze, even that foul creature's spawn...The huge man rose, his polished skin a healthy bronze in the evening light, a frown on his face.

They cannot be allowed to return.

He stepped forward. The air around him buckled and cracked, subjected to horrible pressure as he vanished into the horizon. His small hut, now shredded into pieces, was all that remained behind as he hurtled towards his target.

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Vendak fell into the long-abandoned laboratory. He spilled alongside his birth fluid, across the gritty surface of the floor. The rush of liquid somewhat cleansed the surrounding dust, and left him in the center of a murky pool.

Ven inhaled for the first time, This place smells foul, but it's better than rotting mushrooms. An involuntary snort pulled free of his nose, which wrinkled in distress. It's a bit like a welding shop set to max. He tasted metal in the air, but it did not smell of blood. It was more like the sharp tang of ground iron, or perhaps steel.

Vendak stood, and his body jerked. It failed to follow the orders of his mind. Ven took a moment. His foot stepped forward. He walked in yet another body that was not his own.

Ven looked around the room, a cloud of dust surrounded him, and the fine powder flowed with each of his movements. Through the haze, the filth-ridden lab lay in shambles before him, covered in unrecognizable lumps of wasted metal. One short workbench, the only clear surface in sight, gave up a few interesting trinkets.

A small pouch of strange violate silk, matched by a long, smooth belt. Both were stored in a small box. The untarnished grey container also held a plain white ring and a rather unusual coin. The lack of dust showed it was handled recently, but the contents were enough that he placed this aside.

A magical storage device? Ven's joy expanded to eclipse his ever-present resentment. Finally, I have my magic equipment! Bonus points to you, system god, not bad at all. He wasn't sure how much it could hold. As Vendak looked inside, he didn't see a bottom.

A chunk of scrap he grabbed off the ground appeared and disappeared in his hand. If he shoved an object he intended to store towards the bag's opening, it would warp inside. Or, he could deposit and withdraw an item by thought alone. It was extremely useful. Ven sinched the pouch around his waist using the belt.

The ring was arguably more beneficial for his current self, as it created an illusion around the wearer. It's too bad this can't change my size, or shorten this ridiculous hair. He could use it to change his appearance, within reason, and his arms and hair appeared human under its effect. Ven pocketed the helpful ring. If this world has a prejudice against my...kind, then this thing is invaluable. Even if he only used it when needed, the option was a huge boon.

The ring exposed a more serious issue, however, as it drew his attention to his physique. He gazed at the lower half of his body. Ven was at a loss. Congrats system god, you got me. Vendak's new, relatively slender form, had nothing to speak of below the belt. I asked to be strong, but I didn't specify being a man. The smooth genderless patch, where his... manhood should have been, shocked him for a moment.

Nice work, really... If I had a hat, I'd tip it to you, you sadistic gremlin.

Although his mind numbed at his discovery, Vendak placed the discontent next to the pile, shoved deep within his mind. When he died, he'd already been old. His mind aged beyond the more simplistic desires of the flesh. Vendak hoped that this new body didn't plague him with the drive of youth. He shook off his bleak mood and turned to the last object within the box.

Black iron made up the coin's body, with countless runes that covered its surface. They coated it so densely that one might mistake it for a silver coin at a distance. Although Ven's instincts had not reacted to the bag, or the ring, his skin crawled at the sight of this strange artifact. It repelled him, like a man who encountered an unexpected spider.

Ven had long learned to trust his gut. Over his many years of life, this faith never failed him. He obeyed the imaginary insects, as they scurried across his spine. This coin was dangerous. He wanted no part of whatever curse it contained within.

Ven took care to avoid the thing. He shut the metal box securely and turned his back. About to leave, he paused for a moment and went back to the box. Ven reached out and stored the small cube within the bag at his waste.

I have a feeling that leaving you here will be bad for business.

Best if this thing rotted at the bottom of his pouch, and not come back to bite him in the ass. After he shoved the mental spider into a metaphorical jar, Vendak moved to the door, which stood in the center of the chamber. He pushed the rusted gate aside with a screech and winced.

Surprise is overrated...what's up with the ground?

Ven inspected the silver layer, previously hidden beneath the corrosion that covered the ground. Centuries ago, this whole place had gleamed of the same shining silver metal. The passage of time had degraded it into this. Little more than a shadow of what it had once been.

The halls revealed beyond the door were similar enough to the construction of the lab, solid metal coated in a thick layer of black corrosion. No other large rooms existed, only a few small chambers, that may have once been a living space.

This place is like a tomb. No one had been here for centuries, maybe longer. Everything is dust.

After he found nothing within the rooms, Ven continued his exploration and came to a much larger door. With a height of over 14 feet, the expansive gateway was the only thing within the structure that was untouched by time.

Made of silver-white metal, it was barred by a thin rod of the same type. Smooth and clean, this metal was like the coin he had found, covered in finely drawn complicated runes. However, unlike that sinister coin, this doorway caused him to feel nothing at all.

Ven trusted his instincts and gripped the metal bar. With far less effort than expected, it pulled free from the door. He was about to toss the rod aside, but stopped himself and weighed it in his hand.

While he had his claws and reasonable physical strength, Vendak was technically unarmed. He swung the 7-foot-long bar to test its balance.

Satisfied, Ven nodded his head and stored his newfound weapon away. He placed his hands on the shining gateway, shoved the silver door, and revealed the outside world for the first time.