The Dark Hole

The hole had been just large enough to fit his body through, though impossible to turn around in. The smooth and round edges made it pleasant to navigate through, but lessened his grip and made the progress slower than Charlie would have liked. His tongue flicked out in rapid succession, constantly testing and trying to glean any information on what was ahead.

Unable to sense anything, Charlie blindly continued forward. There was a slight downward slope to the tunnel, and the deeper he descended, the more intense the slope became. Though only a few minutes had passed, the tunnel had proven to be quite long.

Charlie couldn't decide if this was made by a creature of sorts, or if this was an intrinsic feature of the cave. Whatever the answer was, Charlie would find out today, and if it proved safe, then he would have solved his shelter issue temporarily. Charlie wouldn't be able to fit into the hole in a level, two at most, as he grew every time in both length and width.

If it proved to be dangerous, well, then Charlie was shit out of luck. The deeper Charlie descended, the more he hoped it was the former, and not the latter.

Ever since Charlie had been reborn, his curiosity had exploded and drove him to many new ways of thinking, and surviving. The more Charlie leveled up, the stronger his curiosity grew, and in finally being able to unravel the mysteries with his own effort, couldn't stop himself from giving in.

The world he had come from was cruel and unforgiving, much like the new world he had been thrown into, but there was very few ways for them to fight back. Very few ways of discovering more about the long gone world without wasting dozens of lives to the mutant creatures that roamed the wastelands.

Their weapons were crude and crumbling, whatever had been left since the Great War had deteriorated to almost unusable levels. It was one of the reasons Charlie had been so useful to his original settlement, having spent years up-keeping their weaponry and making the most out of what little they had.

Now, with this new body and the mysterious System, Charlie had a fighting chance against the beastly oppressors. It was exciting, to finally be able to explore his long suppressed curiosity, and unravel the mysteries of this world to his hearts content.

Excitement was still one of the few human emotions that Charlie continued to keep, whether it was in the thrill of killing prey, or in solving a mystery, it remained with Charlie.

The smooth, but dark, tunnel was not straight either, twisting and turning in random directions. For Charlies flexible and dexterous body, it was simple to navigate, but the lack of grip and angle of the slope turned it into slow progress. Charlie was still weary of something slipping past his heightened senses, the tight bends felt like they could hold untold dangers.

Even if there were unseen creatures behind every corner, Charlies curiosity still burned leagues above the imperceptible danger and carried him forward. And for a long time, there was indeed nothing behind those turns, until a barely perceivable change had occurred.

The quality of the air had... changed. There was simply more of it, and even though it was hard to put into words, Charlie knew that he had reached some sort of opening and slowed down.

Charlies underside had eventually felt the edge of the tunnel disappear from under him, and paused for a moment. There was an unseen drop below him, and in fact, all around him. He had not realised just how much he had taken the unnatural, dim light of the caves walls and floor for granted. Up until this very moment, he had not even realised that it was strange for there to be no light in the tight tunnel. By all means, he should have been able to see without issue, but alas, it was pitch black.

No matter how suicidally Charlies curiosity burned, urging to jump forward and continue to explore the unknown, he was not about to leap blindly into the dark.

It was clear to Charlie that the time was wasted, the dark hole turned out to be unexplorable for the moment, and hoped that he'd be able to return here before getting too large. Except when he tried to shimmy backwards, the smoothness of the tunnel and the awkward angle of the slope made it impossible.

He was stuck.

Perched on the lip of the tunnel and staring into the black void, Charlie mulled over his options. He was currently faced with a drop of unknowable depth, and the way back had been essentially blocked off - too smooth and steep to be used while shimmying backwards.

There was only one real option though, to return back the way he came. Charlie refused to test his body against the lightless chasm, but he would have to be clever about this. First, Charlie tested his teeth and fangs against the stone, but the result had been obvious - they were too weak to pierce the stone.

Stumped on what he should try next, Charlie continued to come up with ways to return back up.

But then, a new scent appeared on the fringes of his heightened senses.

Charlie was sent on high alert immediately and doubled his efforts in turning back, but they too failed. Unable to turn back or retreat, Charlie stilled and waited it out.

The new scent had been light and airy, with a hint of earth mixed into its fragrance. It didn't quite smell like stone, but like the dirt that lay beneath grass - and almost fresh, too. He hoped it was nothing, maybe a distant breeze brought down here from the outside, but... Charlie knew that it wasn't, the scent felt like it belonged to a living being.

Charlie continued to wait for the scent to pass, but it only strengthened over time. If it was a living being, it had been unnaturally quiet, as Charlie only realised that it was in front of it when they bumped heads.

Shocked and caught off-guard, Charlie let off an instinctual [Hollow Fang] into the sudden, and unwelcome guest. A harrowing shriek pierced the silence as the unseen creature was filled with cold venom.

The unseen creatures cry had been strange, shrill and piercing like the Sklite, but wrong on many levels. It didn't quite sound real, muffled and distorted by something out of view. It came from everywhere in front of him, and not from just its mouth, like the tunnel itself was shrieking at Charlie.

The creature started its wild thrashing almost at the same time as Charlies attack landed, driving his already sunken fangs even deeper. Sweet and savoury blood filled Charlies mouth, though it was different, thicker and more viscous than normal. Yet, even more strangely...

It was... delicious?

Even though Charlie had fed not too long ago, the sweet flavour and appealing texture of the blood had stirred his appetite - He wanted more.

In the beginning, Charlies new fang-like teeth had come as a surprise, but now that he had time to get used to their presence, he could no longer live without them. Especially now, the hook shaped fang-like teeth latched on to the creature and forced it deeper into his gluttonous maw.

The serrated edged made light work of the flesh and tore it off in clumps, only for Charlie to bite down again, to bite deeper. The meat of the creature was soft, but firm at the same time, yet the sweet blood was the most delicious part.

The shrieking creature retreated backwards and carried Charlie with it off, and over the edge. Charlie felt the wind rush past him and before he could even fully register what had happened, the fall ended abruptly. The creature had hid the floor and thrown soft sand up into the air as Charlie then landed on top, still latched on to its head with his fangs.

The creature violently shook its body and threw Charlie off into the sand. Without being given a moment to compose himself, the creature landed atop Charlie with a creepy shriek. It had been surprisingly heavy, and weirdly smooth to the touch. It's cylindrical body reminded Charlie of an earthworm, but far, far larger.

The worm-like creature wasted no time in launching an attack at the stunned Charlie, ripping apart his torso with what felt like a bundle of knives. The soft scale that covered his underbelly was turned into mincemeat and his muscles were quickly exposed. Enraged, Charlie was about to launch a [Hollow Fang] but the creatures body had suddenly gone limp.

Charlie uncoiled his body from the worm and created some distance between them, trying to catch his breath and soothe his aching chest. The sudden, but short, encounter had been intense and quickly made Charlie aware that he was at a disadvantage down here. They had failed to sense him at the beginning, but their bodies are equipped to tear through his flesh like butter.

Though, something was amiss. The way the creature had shredded his torso was strange, it didn't lunge forward, nor did it feel like it had extended itself to attack him with their teeth, but he was still ripped to shreds.

Charlie approached the corpse and prodded it with his stub, checking for any remaining life in the stilled body. After a few moments of stillness, Charlie was satisfied that it was completely dead. Without being able to physically see the creature, Charlie decided that he'd use his head and prod about.

Its skin was smooth to the touch but had a callous-like feel, it was soft yet tough. There were some strange appendages stuck to the top of what Charlie assumed to be the worms head.

The tips of the appendages were covered in something sharp, tooth-like or maybe some sort of saw-like weapon. It was unclear and Charlie was unwilling to truly figure out the exact shape with his face.

The wound on his chest still needed immediate attention and so Charlie set out to utilise his new fang-like teeth. Ever since [Desecrated Thief] appeared and he had gained the new fangs, Charlie had continued experimenting with them and gained a better understanding of their capabilities. They were perfect for ripping and tearing if there was any force applied, but their hook shape allowed for Charlie to stick to the target for as long as he wished.

[Devour] would only respond when he was in direct contact with the Translucent Gems, whether in his stomach or exposed to the air as with the Skullker, back out on the surface. There was no time to wait for it to finish digesting, so only one option remained.

Charlie had torn up the bodies of the Sklite in search of their Translucent Gem and had gotten pretty good at using [Devour] outside of his stomach. The body of the worm proved to be strange in more ways than one. Unlike the worms in his old world, not only was it massive in comparison, but its entire internal structure was alien to Charlie.

The soft and mushy insides of a worm was nowhere to be seen, and instead Charlie found bone that guarded what felt like organs. He couldn't see what the insides of the worm looked like, but right now, he didn't need to. Using his fang-like teeth, Charlie tore through the flesh and bone in search of the Translucent Gem.

The bones were flexible and much softer than expected, but it was obvious that they would be. The more time Charlie spent with the corpse, the more he realised that the worms were probably what had created those smooth tunnels. Their saw-like tools were perfect for breaking down the stone.

The winding tunnels would have required an incredible degree of flexibility to fit through its tight corners, and much like Charlie himself, the worm seemed to posses plenty of such. Charlie didn't have a chance to inspect his own bones, but if the worm was anything to go off of, then he too possessed a soft and flexible bone structure.

Charlie had torn the corpse to shreds and finally came across the Translucent Gem embedded deeply at the bottom. It had been encased in some powerful muscle that proved to be tough to get through, rather than bone. Charlie had expected the Translucent Gem to be embedded in its chest just like the rest of the creatures he had come across, but with this discovery, Charlie started to wonder if he'd have to mutilate every new creature in his grisly search.

He could simply just eat the corpse, but there would definitely be times where that wasn't an option. His body could adjust to fit a corpse larger than himself, but even that had limits.

Dark green flame suffused Charlies mouth and lit up the dark interior, giving him a moment to take in his surroundings before the fire flashed out and Devoured both the gem, and the surrounding flesh. The nourishing power coursed through his body, counteracting the exhaustive pull on his being when using [Devour], and stemmed the bleeding - or so Charlie hoped.

The worm was large, thicker but shorter than Charlie. It still posed very little issue as [Devour] had taken a considerable chunk off of the corpse. After cutting off the sharp appendages, Charlie swallowed the whole worm, and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it had been. Moving around would be impeded, but it still felt better than leaving an easy meal down here to rot into nothing.

When Charlie consumed the Translucent Gems he would receive some of its power as nourishment, helpfully closing up bleeding wounds and helping against infections. He wasn't fully certain of the extent of the healing, but he was happy to receive any down in the dark. There were no doctors for monsters such as him, nor limbs to apply medicine for himself.

In the bright, but short, flash of [Devour], Charlie was able to take in a bit of his surroundings. Charlie had been in a sort of hallway, with tall and flat walls that extended further than the light reached. There were light lines, evenly spaced, extending from both directions layered atop each other, reaching beyond what the light had exposed.

Either the worm had been here a long time, or there were more of the creatures that regularly passed through here and moved down the floor to the current state. The hallway extended into deep darkness in both directions, so Charlie wasn't sure which way he should continue as there were no other significant markers to follow.

The sand below his underbelly was pleasant, and was probably the debris that was left behind by the worms chewed through the rock. Charlie would have expected to see plenty of sharp gravel, but clearly these worms were thorough with their work.

Now that he knew what to look out for, Charlie felt better equipped to continue down in the dark. Deciding on a random direction, Charlie chose left and continued down the path incredibly slowly, tasting the air with his enhanced tongue for any notes of fresh earth.

The sand had muffled the sound of Charlies movements, making them almost entirely silent, but to his alert senses, it felt like he had been slithering atop glass - alerting everything nearby. Yet, Charlie knew not to panic, his head was right above the sand so he was bound to hear everything better, he just hoped that the worms senses would be duller than his.

Living down here without light would make the creatures senses far more developed. If there was no light, there was no use for eyes, so the worms would have been equipped with other ways to sense their surroundings. On one hand, the worm was as surprised as Charlie when they bumped into each other, but they clearly had failed to sense him.

Charlie had been moving slowly, which gave him plenty of time to think and assess the situation - his heightened ability to multitask had come in handy once again.

So if they don't have sight, and certainly couldn't smell me until they had collided with my face, what do they have?

On the other hand, they could have enhanced hearing, and since Charlie had been entirely still in their encounter, unable to move backwards, it was likely they had simply not heard him. Additionally, that didn't stop them from having another form of sense that Charlie was unaware of, but there was little information to go off of.

Charlie had never spent this long in total darkness, and as he traversed the sandy floor of the dark hallway, he noticed his eyes playing tricks on him. Initially he was a little shocked by the strange flashes of light and colour in his vision, but as time went on he had realised they were just hallucinations.

His mind had been focused for long periods of time before, but not like this. Down here it was perfectly silent, entirely pitch black and as of right now, completely empty. It would have been terrifying for any normal person, but after having already fought one of the worms, Charlie felt calm about the situation. There was great strain in spending hours focusing for any stray sounds, but it was also... peaceful.

There had not been many times that Charlie could say he had heard silence. Ever since coming to this world, he was surrounded and almost overwhelmed by the unending sound of the living.

It felt nice, for once, to hear nothing.

Charlie was not sure for how long he had been traveling, or how far he had come, but there was finally a change. The sandy floor had slowly turned sharper and sharper the further he went, and there was something in the air, too.

The familiar earthy scent could vaguely be picked up, though it was still distant as of this moment. There was a worm somewhere relatively nearby, so Charlie got himself ready. After approaching one of the walls, and slightly bumping into the hard stone with his nose, Charlie plopped himself down and relaxed.

His plan was to wait out here for a while and see if the worms reacted to his presence from this distance. It would be even luckier if one passed by without reacting to him, but he'd have to wait and see.

Not having to pay attention to both movement and his surroundings, Charlie felt the tension ease. He had not been overly tense, but it was still pleasant to be able to relax after a few hours of intense focus.

The fresh earthy scent had stayed relatively faint and distant, but there was another scent that had made itself known after some time. This one felt different, still earthy and fresh, but somehow more... pungent. It was difficult to describe what Charlie had picked up, but all that mattered was that there was something else beside the worms and Charlie.

Charlie had laid still for some time without anything happening, but the new earthy scent had eventually faded into nothing. Whatever had been there had left, but the fresh and earthy scent of the original worm had started to get stronger, alerting Charlie of its approach.

Surprisingly, the worm moved quicker than anticipated, but Charlie supposed he didn't really have a good idea of what they were physically capable of since it died so quickly.

The scent was becoming more and more powerful, it would be passing Charlie in a few moments at this rate. Then, it slowed down, moving forward with a bit less gusto. Of course Charlie wasn't certain, but the scents passing by had slowed down.

It was frustratingly slow, but the worm had eventually passed Charlie without ever truly stopping. It was hard to conclude that it could sense him, or if it was doing something else that Charlie was unaware of, so he refrained from coming to any strong conclusions. Charlie would follow it and maybe get the chance to learn more about how these worms worked.

The sand this far out from his original entrance had turned a lot more rough and sharp than before, so when Charlie shifted his body and felt them move with him, he froze. The scent of the worm had stilled too.

Fuck.

Charlie stopped, and waited for the worm to continue on, or for it to approach.

Tense silence had permeated the dark hallway and Charlie couldn't help but hold his breath in the hopes of staying hidden. Though Charlie was more confident in his ability to deal with the worm, his chest had still hurt and he was hesitant to pick an unnecessary fight.

The worm eventually continued on its way, but Charlie refused to move while he could still pick up its fresh scent. Only when it had been completely clear again did Charlie let out a heavy exhale.

There was a bit to learn from the experience, the enhanced hearing theory was proving to be more and more plausible. There wasn't enough information to be certain yet, but it was getting there.

Charlie continued on his own way, opposite the direction of the worm had taken, and continued to explore the dark hallway. After a few more minutes, Charlie felt something change in the air - there was a light breeze.

Finally given some direction, Charlie decided to investigate, as a breeze could mean a way out. It strangely carried no scent, just the slight wisps of its cooling touch could be felt.

From the direction of the breeze, Charlie had seen some light, but initially thought it to be another hallucination, or a trick of the light deprived eyes. Though, no matter how many times he shook his head, it persisted. Charlie didn't want to raise his hopes too high, but continued towards the light with some renewed vigour.

The closer Charlie approached the dreamy light, the stronger the scent of fresh earth and grass became, yet it was strange. It must belong to the other creature that was with the worm earlier, as its sent was more poignant, and had a stronger pungent flavour - Like a field of rotten leaves on a cold autumn evening. Weary of the other creature being close-by, Charlie stepped out of the direct path of the breeze and found that the scent became noticeably weaker. Thankfully, he was still alone.

The closer to the light that Charlie approached, the stronger the breeze became. Finally, after having slithered through the dark hallway for hours, he had been once again bathed in the dim light of the cave.

Charlie had come to the source of the light, a large crack in the wall that brought wind from somewhere far away. The crack in the wall was large enough to fit a few Charlies through, and behind it lay something that shouldn't have been seen.

Charlie could see hundreds if not thousands of worm creatures slithering across the ground, walls and strange rocky outcroppings. They were of the same colour as the stone and rock that surrounded them, but every now and again, Charlie could spot a larger worm among their ranks. Their skin was still grey, but had a strange tinge to them, though it was hard to truly be certain from this distance.

Though, now that Charlie could see and truly take in the strange bodies, he could finally make sense of what he had felt. Long and spindly appendages extended from their cylindrical bodies, topped with sharp and triangular shapes that tore into the stone with ease. The debris would then be swallowed by a circular mouth that opened up beneath one of its creases. It looked more like some sort of pan than a mouth, sweeping up all of the dust and rock into its gullet.

Charlie didn't want to think about it, but now that he was forced to see, he also found the source of the sand below him. The same worm creature would then expel the finer debris out of an open hole in its back-side.

Only for the fine debris to be swallowed by another, smaller, worm creature, and expelled finer again.

Charlie, unknowingly, had stepped in shit.

Typical.