The Smile - Math Arnottir

Ah... why does everything hurt?

I feel a bit numb and cold... my ears are ringing... what happened?

I can't remember anything... no... retrace your steps. What happened?

My nose burns... shit... I can't think.

Everything is cold and numbs, I can't breathe... is that blood?

*****

As I expected, the dream came back. Since the competition is coming in close, I'm pretty lucky to have all of these things happen now.

The Serpent slithered out from the darkness, teeth glistening due to the torches situated near the door behind me.

"So... what now? I have my weapon, now what?"

It chuckled, "Congrats..."

"Um...?"

It chuckled more, it's laughing booming throughout the cave, "Yes... that's what progress feels like. A string on your heart is now straining against the pull."

"What?"

"I'm saying, you made progress."

"Now what?"

"Let me tell you now that when you are here, that string on your heart is gone, and that limitation put on your body is gone with it. You can train and become stronger now... but... it won't transfer when you wake up."

"What are you talking about?"

"You can become stronger here, but there is a test needed to get out."

"So... you're gonna test me?"

"Yes... I'll tell you now... you will have to eat me. When you do so, that string in the real world will disappear."

"So... can I wake up? Like, come back whenever I need to?" For some reason, it didn't click with me immediately that it told me to eat it. "Wait, what!?"

"You will not be able to leave until you consume my entire being."

"W-wait, no, hold on! How!?"

"What? What do you mean how!? You eat!"

"But like, your scales, and your size!"

"HAHAHAHA! ALL THE MORE REASON BOY! All of that flesh will become one with you, and you will be able to use my power!"

"Why are you doing this for me?"

"You are the last of our kind, why wouldn't I?"

"Huh?"

"You are half Giant."

"Huh!?"

"Haven't you noticed? You've eaten unusual things after all, including things that'd typically not be edible."

"That means I'm a Giant?"

"No other race can do it, so..." I can almost see it shrugging, but it had no shoulders.

"You are a Giant?"

"Indeed, Giants are shapeshifters whose original form is large in size, though... since you've been cursed and limited, are small, and will remain small. But that small to us is large for humans, so the more you train, the taller you'll come, and eventually, you might become taller than that Ego Weapon of yours."

"O-okay... you're making me real hopeful right now."

"You're gonna need it because I'm not just gonna sit around and let you eat me."

"Huh?"

Its massive form retreated into the darkness before quickly speeding up and slamming into me.

I couldn't remember what happened afterward and I found myself in a stone room lying down on a horribly uncomfortable bed.

I had no choice but to lay there for a while, trying to process what happened and calming myself down due to the initial panic of what just happened.

The room has a bed, a bathroom, and an open room with nothing in it except books.

The books had a lot of martial arts and tips regarding magic in them but only went over the basics.

Then, the stone door.

I pushed it open, greeted by the smile of the serpent.

"What just happened!? What did you do!? You scared the shit out of me!"

It laughed at me, "Look behind the door."

I felt my heart sink to my stomach. I didn't want to look but I felt that I had to.

I walked out into the open cave system, pushing the door back in place only to be met by my own corpse smashed against the door, still sticking on it, blood pouring from the nose, hollow-eyed - organs poking out from this skin popped open... God... there was so much blood.

I couldn't hold the bile back, spilling it across the ground before looking at the serpent in horror.

"W-what... wait, huh? W-was, that...?"

"That's you."

"Wait... w-why am I, wh-why am I d-dead?"

"No, that's just a 'you' from when you died, you're still alive now, but... I can kill you again."

"W-wait, why?"

"You have to eat me if you want this to stop."

"W-wa-"

Before I could finish what I had to say, a hand crept out from the darkness and bisected me, being flung myself into the air and landing on the ground, my ears ringing and my nose burning. I could feel my eyes shutter in the socket as the pain came across my body like shivers.

Saliva dribbled out from within my throat and out of my mouth before I finally died.

When I woke up again, alive, I felt shivers come across my body.

I gripped my arms as hard as I could and brought both of my knees to my chest. It was horrifying, death was horrifying, and each time I am brought back, all feeling returns to my body as if I was unfamiliar with it. It hurt, it hurt so fucking bad.

My face slowly turned to the door, horrified... I didn't want to leave.

At some point, I had no idea how long I was inside this room. I was hungry and thirsty, there was nothing to drink or eat.

I decided to try and open the door one more time to see what'd happen.

The serpent wasn't there so I saw my opportunity. I lowered myself to the floor, hugging the walls, trying to avoid my dead corpses as much as possible.

As I made my way down the hall, a claw caught my shirt before I could notice, bringing me up into the air and slamming me into the stone ground below. All air left my body and my eyes grew wide as pain and shock spread throughout me. Trying to breathe was painful, trying to blink, move, and even trying to twitch my finger only resulted in more pain.

I couldn't even hear the serpent speak, probably mocking me.

A claw was brought down onto my stomach, piercing me. I could feel it slowly enter me, blood building up at the tip of the claw before entering me like a needle. More pain, more and more pain. Blood started pooling around my lips, bubbling wildly as I attempted to breathe before having my own intestines torn straight out of my body.

I woke up again.

Hm...

I know how I died but I can't remember how many times at this point.

All of it was so incredibly painful.

It would either take off an arm or eat me alive.

Smash me into a wall until I am nothing but paste.

Sometimes I don't even remember if I really died or not, I'd just find myself in the room.

It's horrible, having dreams. I don't like sleeping here.

Every time I dream, it's either a vision of me dying or a dream of me being back in reality only to be awoken to the horrible reality that lies in front of me.

I can feel my mind breaking, I'm trying to stay sane but the only way to keep that sanity is by scratching at the walls until my fingers are stubs.

The smell is wretched, I've tried clearing it with my clothes to no avail.

I've decided to try and eat my own clothes. It works.

I can eat inedible objects, as it said. Clothes, my own flesh, I can eat it all. I've been stuck in the room for a while now, way more than before and for a while, I've either killed myself, died of blood loss, or have been in there so long without eating that I die of starvation and or dehydration.

I make sure to suck on the buttons of my clothes to keep saliva in my mouth so I don't go mad, even going so far as to drink my blood if I'm dehydrated enough, or even my own piss.

What a fucking mess.

Eat... I have to eat it. I've tried, but it didn't work, my teeth broke on the scales, and I feel like I'm missing something.

I've read the books, even went so far as to eat them.

I worked out, practiced whatever was in the book, and managed to get somewhere with that, but I knew I'd lose all of this progress as soon as I'd die.

At some point, I thought of an idea. Take off all of my clothes, open the door, die.

The clothes would still be there and at some point, I gained a collection.

I would even collect the bones from my corpse.

I started training.

Honestly, though, I'm surprised I haven't fully lost myself yet. I mean, memories and the like. I'm still me, somehow...

After I'd memorized something, if I was tired of eating clothes, I'd eat the book.

I managed to learn how to make a Mana Core.

Getting it to the first stage was difficult and also the fact that I had inner mana didn't help due to how clumsy the process was.

I continued to practice until I was out of things to eat.

Then I'd kill myself.

This was repeated multiple times until I fully figured out how my mana should work.

First, Mana Core, then Inner Mana, then, Mana Circuits.

Mana Circuits are very different between Outer and Inner.

For those who use Outer Magic have Outer Mana, and the circuits they have are spread throughout the outsides of their bodies compared to Inner Mana, which is spread across the nervous system and muscles.

I managed to get halfway through the process but failed, causing my Mana Core to explode and kill me inside out due to my feeble body.

It took me a few times but I got it right at some point which made the process quicker.

At some point, I exhausted all of the knowledge I could gain from the books which luckily brought me to the 2nd Stage.

I'm starting to barely remember what I'm doing.

It feels like I'm just running on instinct at this point and I think my brain has shut me out as a coping mechanism.

Then I woke up.

My body felt weak, and I felt like I was breathing in normal air again.

I'm in my room.

Is it real?

My body doesn't feel floaty or anything.

I woke up...

What is real? I can't fucking tell anymore.