NOVEL WEB Chapter 17: Falling Apart
The first thing he felt was the pain.
It was dull at first, like a distant echo, but with each passing second, it grew sharper, more insistent, until it consumed him. His entire body throbbed, pulsing with the kind of pain that seemed to come from every direction, spreading through his limbs like wildfire.
I'm alive... somehow.
He blinked slowly, his vision hazy, barely able to make out the shapes around him. The world felt distant, disconnected. His body was numb in places, screaming in others. But there was something strange beneath the agony—something faint but undeniably present. A flicker of energy, a quiet hum that pulsed through him.
Level: 3/10
The notification had come at some point, but it meant little now. His body had healed, at least in part, but the trauma—both physical and mental—still clung to him like a suffocating weight.
He tried to move, but his body refused to respond properly. His legs twitched feebly, barely managing to shift his position. The last thing he remembered was falling, the world spinning in a blur as he tumbled through the air, the sharp sting of being split in two still fresh in his memory. His lower body had been severed by that damned baby bird, and somehow, somehow, he had survived.
But just surviving didn’t feel like much of a victory.
How did I get here? The thought swirled in his mind, jumbled and disoriented. He had been an ordinary person once—on Earth. A different Earth, a simpler one. Then, everything had changed. Now he was stuck in this nightmare, trapped in the fragile body of a caterpillar, fighting for his life against creatures much larger and stronger than him.
Why am I here?
The question gnawed at him as he lay there, too weak to do anything but think. He didn’t belong in this world. This wasn’t his life. He wasn’t supposed to be crawling through dirt, dodging predators, struggling just to survive. The memories of his past life felt distant, like a dream he could barely remember, but they lingered at the edges of his mind, mocking him.
I didn’t ask for this...
He felt the sharp sting of despair creep in, the weight of it pressing down on him. Everywhere he looked, there was danger—giant birds, ravenous predators, a world that didn’t care about his existence. He had been tossed into it with nothing but his instincts and a few measly skills, forced to fight against overwhelming odds.
I’m going to die here.
The thought echoed in his mind as his body trembled. He wasn’t strong enough. Not fast enough. Everything was too big, too powerful. How long could he keep going before something finally finished him off? The baby birds had nearly killed him, and if it hadn’t been for his level-up, he would have been gone for good.
But even with the level-up, the trauma lingered. His body had healed, but the memory of that fight, of being torn apart, was burned into his mind. Every twitch of his body, every movement, brought with it a fresh wave of fear, as if his body was reliving the moment over and over again.
Mental Pain Resistance – Level 2/10
Physical Pain Resistance – Level 2/10
The notifications were faint, barely registering in his mind. His resistance to the trauma was growing, slowly, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet. The pain—both physical and mental—was still there, still gnawing at him from the inside.
Why does it hurt so much...?
His thoughts drifted as he slipped in and out of consciousness, his body too weak to stay awake for long. Each time he blinked, the world around him seemed to shift, twisting and warping as his mind struggled to make sense of it all.
He saw flashes of his past life, brief glimpses of the world he had once known. Streets filled with people. The familiar hum of city life. The warmth of sunlight on his skin. But those memories were fading, slipping away like sand through his fingers.
Why am I here?
The question wouldn’t leave him, no matter how hard he tried to push it away. He had been an ordinary person once—someone with dreams, with a future. But now? Now he was a tiny, fragile creature, crawling through a world that seemed determined to destroy him.
I don’t want this.
He shivered, his tiny body trembling with a mix of exhaustion and fear. Everywhere he looked, there was danger. He couldn’t trust anything—not the ground, not the sky, not the creatures that surrounded him. Everything was a threat, waiting for him to make a mistake.
He felt so alone.
Is there anyone else here? The thought came unbidden, a desperate hope that somewhere, somehow, there was someone like him. Someone who had been thrown into this world against their will, struggling to survive just like he was.
But the world was silent.
His breathing—or whatever passed for breathing in this body—was shallow, uneven. He felt the weight of everything pressing down on him, the enormity of it all crushing his spirit. There was no escape, no way out. He was trapped here, stuck in this tiny, vulnerable form, forced to endure every painful moment.
The darkness crept in again, pulling him down into unconsciousness, but this time it was slower, more suffocating. His thoughts grew sluggish, heavy, as if his mind was sinking into a deep, inescapable pit.
I’m hurt...
I’m scared...
I’m... lonely...
His last thought before slipping into the abyss was of home, of the world he had once known. A place that seemed so far away now, almost like it had never existed.
And then, the darkness swallowed him completely.