The Despair of a Parasite

"Why, why did everyone have to attack me?" Pondered Imogen as she climbed onto shore.

 "I'm not even a demi human... I guess that's just how my life has been going lately." Despaired Imogen.

 "Well, now I know that I should hide my scales better; so it wasn't a complete waste of time." Thought Imogen enthusiastically as she pulled a lily pad out of her bra.

 "Egor seemed like a nice guy, it's a shame that I had to kill him." Regretted Imogen.

 "But It's a hard world and you can't survive by being a hero to all." Assured Imogen.

 "It's sad, but people will inevitably die." Whispered Imogen. 

 "And to be honest, I've already lost that bit of regret I once had about killing Egor." Admitted Imogen while she was ripping off a leech.

"To get off that track, what am I supposed to do now?" Questioned Imogen.

 "I can't just head back into town, some of the people there will remember my face." Worried Imogen. 

 "All I can do is wander around until I find another town and if I'm lucky; the people there won't try to kill me on sight." Thought Imogen as she kicked a tree.

 "First off, I need to get out of this swamp; I hate leeches." Muttered Imogen.

 "And while I do that, I could look for bigger and better prey; it's not like I'll be doing anything different than normal." Thought Imogen.

 "Dumb leeches, who said you could walk on land now!" Yelled Imogen. 

 "Oh great, now I'm starting to talk to leeches too; the road to insanity is paved." Sighed Imogen as she squashed a leech.

*System Notice: You've slain a Lamented Larval Life Leeching Leech

 "Who the hell would lament a leech!? I sure wouldn't." Thought Imogen as she squashed two more leeches. 

 "It's not even dead, what idiot even named these leeches." Laughed Imogen. 

 "Anyways, maybe I could find a leech lord or something like that around this swamp." Thought Imogen.

 "Why are there so many goddarned leeches here, they're even jumping out of the trees!" Shouted Imogen.

*System Notification: I am no longer accepting the lives of any creature considerably weaker than the creature named Imogen

 "Well, I guess that's only fair; I could just kill all these leeches and earn tons of danger free experience." Thought Imogen.

 "It does make me sad though, a lax life is still something that I want." Complained Imogen as she tripped on a tree root.

 "I'm shifting back into a tick, I hate the proportions of humans; being a tick is so much easier." Thought Imogen while she shifted back into her tick form.

 "I shouldn't have wished that trees were more diverse, because I definitely got my wish." Mused Imogen as she examined the short and lanky trees, which had huge spindly roots jutting out of the ground. 

 "Purple doesn't really fit these trees, I think that a good healthy brown would look better; but who am I to question the architecture of a god." Thought Imogen.

"It seems like gods can just do whatever the hell they want." Raged Imogen. 

 "They can be like, ooh; guess a nuwmber one thwough twen and that nuwmber will be the new colwor of my twee." Thought Imogen, mocking the gods. 

 "I don't even know why I went off on a tangent there, I just had an urge to express myself!" Exclaimed Imogen. 

 "Wait, should I head right or left; hmm. Wondered Imogen.

 "I wasn't left handed; so I'm picking left." Thought Imogen as she turned left.

"I was right handed, but now I think I'm ambidextrous; it feels weird." Commented Imogen. 

 "But then again, everything in this new life of mine is weird." Thought Imogen, contradicting herself.

 "The only thing that hasn't changed is my virginity status and now that I think about it, that's kind of sad." Chuckled Imogen. 

 "Huh, could that be a giant butterfly? I call dibs!" Screamed Imogen as she ran towards the butterfly.

As Imogen ran, she saw the butterfly get picked up, ripped in half, and eaten by an owl.

 "What the hell, you can't ju-." Thought Imogen, but she stopped when the owl gazed at her. 

 "I was just kidding, enjoy your meal mister owl, I'm getting the hell out of here!" Shouted Imogen.

 "I'm a miss! You bad-mouthing; good for nothing tick." Screeched the owl. 

 "I'm going to eat you for that comment, prepare to join the fallen." Snickered the owl.

 "I'll do anything to live, including eternal servitude." Begged Imogen, reverting to her shameless ways. But the owl wasn't even listening as she dived down at Imogen.

 "Hah, pathetic; you already died." Sneered the owl. 

 "Or you would have died if I was trying to kill you, I always find some joy in getting young ones like you to run for their lives." Joked the owl.

 "What?" Asked Imogen who was tricked, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled.

 "Are you wondering why I just mercilessly killed a butterfly while I let you live?" Inquired the owl.

 "Yes." Said Imogen finding herself unable to speak more.

"That butterfly was soulless, it hadn't developed it's soul yet and I needed food." Answered the owl.

 "What's so important about a soul and how could you tell I had one." Questioned Imogen.

 "Huh? Oh; well think of the body as your eyes and think of the soul as you squinting to see more." Explained the owl.

 "Your body already has the primal urges and feelings, but a soul refines them into higher thought." Taught the owl.

 "When I kill something, I like to know that the creature I killed only has the instinct to survive and not the want to live." Grinned the owl. 

 "That may not be a good reason to kill, but it's the only option in this world." Said the owl as she tried to smile.

"You still haven't answered my other question." Inquired Imogen.

 "Well that's simple you dummy, I heard you talk." Scoffed the owl as she pulled a tick out of her fur and ate it. 

 "If that's not a sign of higher thought, then I don't know what is." Said the owl. 

 "Yum! That bug was good, I was saving it for a while; giving it a false sense of hope." Smirked the owl, seemingly full of malice.

"Yeah, I just realized that I have somewhere to be; so I'm going to have to leave you hanging…"

"I'm just messing with you! I like to do that." Jested the owl as she snapped her mouth down in front of Imogen.

 "Looks like I missed... not reacting huh, you're no fun." Fake frowned the owl. 

 "Well I've got to go, I got too many little owlets to take care of to be talking to you all day; the name's Anastasia by the way." Hooted Anastasia as she flew away to the north.

"That was less than anticipated, Anastasia makes me uncomfortable." Gulped Imogen as she scanned the sky for anything out of the ordinary.

 "If anything, this shows how weak I actually am; I can't even kill an owl." Despaired Imogen.

 "Wait! How is an owl stronger than a guild master and a guild master of a biggish looking town at that?" Wondered Imogen was totally confused.

 "Questions for another time I guess, for now I have to focus on getting stronger." Announced Imogen full of vigor.

 "But first I have to find what I need to kill, more boring walking; yay!" Silently cheered Imogen.

 "Oh my god, Anastasia is back; I know for sure that I wouldn't want to be her child." Stammered Imogen as she watched Anastasia drop down by her.

 "I forgot to ask your name, small one, how rude of me." Apologized Anastasia.

"Uhh… my name is Imogen... why do you want to know?" Asked Imogen.

"Well I have to know the name of a creature to have my husband put it on the hit li- I mean it was just out of pure curiosity." Giggled Anastasia amused.

 "No? Not buying it? It was worth a shot." Groaned Anastasia.

 "Well, I hope we meet again, tiny one, you'll probably be big enough for me to eat then; goodbye." Saluted Anastasia as she flew off to the south this time, which was strange.

 "Why did she even ask my name if she wasn't going to use it, what a weird bird." Observed Imogen as she saw Anastasia come back. 

 "Oh no, not again." Wailed Imogen.

"Oh, fancy meeting you here; how did you get here so fast." Questioned Anastasia as she landed next to Imogen.

"I haven't moved since you left." Replied Imogen.

"Oh come on, you're supposed to play along and help me stall going back home so I have someone to blame it on." Complained Anastasia.

 "Well, goodbye for real this time!" Yelled Anastasia as she headed east.

"I really hope I don't see her again, I might lose a few brain cells." Thought Imogen.

 "I never thought an owl could be so scary, what the hell." Cried Imogen as she stared off into the distance.