NOVEL WEB Chapter 002: Awakening
I feel viscous liquid covering my whole body, so I sit up. I cough it out and clear my face. Only then can I open my eyes.
A confusing sensation overcomes me. All my senses feel as if they are in an overdrive. My vision is so sharp I can count veins on wings of a fly on the wall opposite of me. My hearing is so tuned I can hear the flow of air in the room. I can feel every drop of liquid running down my body. I can feel its salty and sweet flavour, reminiscent of strawberries, caramel, sea and meat jelly. I can smell everything in the room – from the subtle odour of rot on the fly to bizarre but enticing mix of smells from the liquid still covering my nether body. I can feel my every muscle and organ, brimming with energy, as if I am filled with fire. It feels good. Really, really good, unlike how I was feeling my entire life. As if I am filled to the brim with vitality.
I am euphoric.
Before I get a chance to examine and explore myself, I hear something unexpected.
“Stop wasting time sitting there. Get up.”
The voice sounds flat with a smidgeon of smugness, as if its owner have just proven something. I immediately turn to the source. Standing there is a… person. They look sharp and extremely androgynous – as if someone took absolute averages of possible human shapes and gave them form. Their smooth face is so perfectly ordinary and forgettable that it's uncanny; the only feature standing out being their glasses – round in shape, lenses violet with circles, glowing red and rotating within, hiding their eyes from being seen. Their skin is slightly darkened, but it is impossible to tell if from tan or by nature. Their hair – and their brows of medium thickness – is black, neck long, slick and combed so it sticks to their skin. Their nose looks average. Their lips are of appropriate, medium thickness and natural colour, with a left corner ever so slightly turned up.
They seem to be slim and of average height. They are dressed, sharply and elegantly, in a white, long-sleeved formal shirt, black vest, black suit trousers and polished black shoes. On their hands are red gloves covered with white symbols. They have golden jewelry, including necklace with giant, red stone, and thin chain connected to something in their vest pocket.
What disorients me about them is how I can perceive them only by sight; I can’t smell them, so I can’t determine their sex, nor can I hear their breath; I also haven’t seem them move even a single muscle yet. Their absolute stillness is quite unnerving.
“Enough gawking. Get up.”
Their voice brought me out of stupor and I realize I was staring at them with open mouth. I snap it shut and notice another problem.
“Wait! I am naked, don’t look!” I exclaimed, covering myself.
“I know your Body significantly better than you, since it is I who created it. I watched it grow throughout the entire formation process. Now, for the last time: get up. Your body functions require practical examination. Theory can only go so far”
I reluctantly listen to them and finally exit the… pod I was in. I am still covering my breasts and crotch, although… I don’t feel any arousal coming from them, not in their smell and not in their look.
I glance down, at my hand covering me, and get stunned from the sight: my hand is not human. It is thicker and bigger than what I remember. It is also covered by a coat of black fur, and my fingers are topped not by nails, but black claws. I am lucky I didn’t scratch my face earlier!
“Look to your right”
The command from my self-proclaimed creator shakes me up and I glance to the right: I finally see myself. I don’t recognize the being in the mirror to begin with. One thing becomes apparent pretty quickly, though: I am no longer human.
To begin with, I am taller, much taller than in my previous life. Without proper reference point I can’t really check my exact height, but I would guess it’s above 2m. At least partially a result of my new legs, furry, digitigrade and clawed. The coat of fur is covering them till my thighs, and my arms up to my shoulder; I also have a long, bushy tail. My whole fur, as well as hair on my head, is orange-tipped black. In addition to that, there is a pair of erect, triangular wolf ears, twitching on top of my skull. I know those are my only ears. They are also covered in the same, black fur.
My skin also has nonhuman colour – it is a shade of dark gray, with my nipples, lips and… nether lips being black. And my eyes… are glowing. There is an orange light coming out of my golden irises, contrasting neatly with my black sclera and matching the colour scheme of my fur perfectly. They also stare very sharply, making me look intimidating. When I open my mouth in awe, I see that my teeth are sharper and similar to canines – in addition to actual canines being enlarged. I also notice I have balls of flesh on my palms and fingertips, softer, more sensitive to touch. I move my leg up; my feet – where they touch ground – also have similar parts.
Other than those changes, the rest of my body looks fairly human. My face is overall similar to my face from previous life. My nose is on the smaller side, matching thickness of my lips. The sharp teeth, glowing eyes and thick eyebrows give me overall fierce and wild look. But what excites me the most is the shape of my body. I have an hourglass figure, breasts bigger than the ones in my previous life – they are at least orange-sized now – wide hips and toned butt, with no pubic or armpit hair. And – most importantly – I am absolutely ripped! I gently caress my six pack, in awe with my physique – only slightly disappointed that my thick fur obscures most of my leg and arm musculature – and wonder if the constant heat I feel inside, as well as my desire to just move around are the effect my new body has on me. I also notice I don’t feel cold, despite being naked.
I have no idea for how long I was admiring myself in the mirror. But one thing is certain.
“I am beautiful… And strong…” I mutter, as tears of joy flow down my cheeks.
“Obviously” I jump at that, startled. I completely forgot about them! “Your Body was made to be perfect in every way. But that’s beside the point and we are wasting time. Tests need to be performed. Begin with stretching.”
“Umm… I’m still naked…”
“Stretch.”
I stop arguing and do as I am told. They claimed to be the one to create this body of mine - I see no reason not to believe them. And they admitted to already seeing me naked. Besides, as I am doing exercises, I can feel their gaze on me. And it does not feel like a lecherous leer, but more like… An artist, admiring their freshly finished work, looking for any last imperfection, or a scientist, meticulously examining the results of an experiment.
At the same time as the tests are proceeding, I wonder how fantastic I feel. I can run - and fast at that! I can easily jump about as high as my height! My coordination, agility and strength are also all extraordinary! But it is my resilience and stamina that truly amaze me. I have no way to measure exact time, but I know I was exercising for a long time. And I barely broke any sweat! Honestly, I expected I would pant and get all sweaty by the end of first few repetitions, but no! I am overflowing with energy! And it is so much fun! I had no idea simple physical movement can bring so much joy.
“Stop.” I got startled, having forgotten about them again. Their lack of presence and my constant forgetting about them start to annoy me. “The performance, so far, satisfactory. Further testing will now proceed.” They move their hands and a hole openes in the wall. A crude, wooden mannequin comes through. “Fight.”
It takes me a few seconds to register what is happening, as the animated training dummy comes at me swinging. I panic a little and instinctively jump back, to avoid its attack, and then to the side, to avoid another. I quickly notice I am faster than it. It helps me calm down, so I decide to be methodical. As I am avoiding the next couple swings, I am observing my attacker, looking for patterns to exploit. They soon become clear to me and I decide to counterattack. When the next swing comes, instead of dodging to the back or the side, I duck under its arm and punch with all my might.
To my shock, the mannequin is sent flying into the wall, with cracks all over its body and the indention in the shape of my fist where I struck it. I don’t know what surprised me more: my strength, agility, coordination or my fighting knowledge. It is as if I know how to fight and have experience doing it.
The damaged facsimile is slower now, but still aggresive. Now, since it is weakened, I decide to test something else. Instead of avoiding its attack, this time I block it with my arms. To my surprise, the strike is quite light and I have no problem getting hit in the arm. I don’t know if it was the fur on my forearm that blocked impact, but I felt no pain. I block a few next swings and results are the same – even when attacks land on my exposed skin, although they are slightly more painful. It seemes that my coat really offers some defence.
Satisfied with the results I go on the offensive, and soon enough I am standing above a pile of broken wood. I manage to test my claws and legs and they work very well. I am powerful.
“Expectedly suboptimal. Next.” Two new mannequins come out of the hole “RAGE.”
As soon as I hear their words, I react. FURY fills my entire being, spreading through my body. I feel as if heat I have felt since I awakened spreads to the outside. My senses, sharpened even more, focus solely on two dummies, moving in what from my perspective appears to be slow motion. I howl, and in what feels like an instant, I am tearing them apart, quickly.
Soon, I am standing by the pile of destroyed, charred timber. As my senses return to me, I realize I am growling and orange tips of my fur are glowing. I blink, the rush slowly washing away. There are flames dancing on the tips of my fingers. I stare at my claws, knowing that any strike with them will ignite whatever they hit on level even deeper than material. What’s more, I realize I know how to do this.
It makes me pause for a second. Ever since waking up I have not questioned anything. I’m pretty sure I did not have any know-how on fighting, or using magic. How am I even able to tell, that I was using magic? What about my memories? What is…
“Implanted knowledge seems to be taken in well, as expected. Primordial Soul infusion also seem to be a splendid success.” My alleged maker’s voice interrupts my thoughts and reminds me of their existence again.
“What do you mean? And where are we? Who are you? What is…”
“Not now.” They said, interrupting me. “Continue fighting.”
As they said that, I smell something new. It has sickening stench of dirt, rot, mushrooms, musk and wet fur. I also hear scratching. When I look in the direction of those new sensations, I see… a monster.
It looks like a disgusting, damp rat. It’s fur is covered in dirt and fungus. Some fruiting bodies, purple with green spots that shine slightly, the same as the gills – are popping here and there on its body, including a large one on its head. Its eyes are green and radiate green light. And it is big. Way larger than a rat should be – seems to be more of a size of a dog than a rodent.
I am stunned for a moment, not knowing what to do. It doesn’t last long, however. When the monstrous rat spots me, it shrieks and jumps at me, trying to bite me. I dodge its attack, but it doesn’t stop. Its attacks are relentless, but I evade all of them. Then, it stops. As I am thinking what to do next, the green glow intensifies.
It looks so nice I can’t look back. I start relaxing, as the rat is coming closer, but something is bugging me. Something in my mind feels off. Something is wrong. I try to think that through, identify this foreign feeling as my opponent is closing in, but my line of thought escapes me.
And then it jumps at me.
Immediately, my instincts kick in and I duck to the right. It is, however, a little too late – while I evade the teeth, I am not fast enough for its claws. They scratch my side and left hand – there is little pain, but enough to disrupt whatever effect its light has on me. Recognizing it as an enemy, I focus on the fire in me. It somehow dispels whatever magic the fungus used. Additionally, they start shriveling, as if from heat, and the rat screeches in pain. Using this distraction, I kick it in the head – which lands, severed, on the wall.
As I stand there, it dawns on me. I have just taken a life. For the first time in any of my lives – I killed a living being. I look at my hands, not knowing what to think about it. The realization is slowly setting in, however. Will I have to kill other animals? Probably. Even if I were to go full vegan, if rats, in whatever this world is, are like this, I will have to defend myself eventually. But… what if I am attacked by a sentient being? Would I need to murder a person then?! Would I be… able to?
“Real combat performance as expected.” My line of thinking is once again interrupted. “No wounds despite received attacks; instinctual use of banefire aura on adequate level; movement correct and efficient after initial stupor; good.”
I look at my maker. I want answers. I want explanations. I want to know, what really happened to me. I want to ask those questions, but they are faster.
“The final test can now be performed.”
