Damien awoke in absolute darkness. As he slowly regained his senses, he was confused. He had been in so much pain just moments ago. Yet now all he could feel was the cold hard earth beneath him. But that pain, that unbearable, torturous pain... How could it be gone?

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He had fallen... A missed step and a poorly timed gust of wind had seen to that. He was falling. He was going to die. From almost a hundred floors up, there wouldn't be anything left below. A terrible drop cut short by his harness. As the tether reached it's limit, he was brought to an abrupt halt. As he groaned at the thin straps digging into his groin, he laughed at his foolishness. Then he heard a horrible tearing noise. The strap strained against the edge of the cradle railing, and the old and worn fabric began to give out. He frantically tried to climb the tether, struggling to get a grip on the rapidly deteriorating lifeline. But before he could reach the bottom of his high rise lift cradle, the final fibers of his tether gave out. And again, he fell.

Disbelief came first. As his cradle stretched further and further away, all he could think of is how he had spent 10 years in that metal box, cleaning the high rise windows of the city every day. For the first time in 10 years, he had taken overtime pay to stay into the night. For the first time in 10 years, he had slipped. And for the first time in 10 years, he had been assigned to a coworkers rig. If just one of those things hadn't happened, he wouldn't be falling. He wouldn't be here, or he would still be cleaning, or he would have had his own gear that he maintained meticulously and been hanging safely by his harness. As regret gnawed at his heart, he turned to see where his bad luck would take him.

The city had sprawled out below him, towering buildings and countless lights straining against the darkness, denying it's sovereignty over the night. The rich ocean air caressed his skin as he plummeted past dozens of floors, the strong smell of the sea drowning out the smog of the congested city below. It was a beautiful view, and in this moment it seemed to be the most beautiful view in the world. As the pavement grew closer and closer, the regret was torn away by the wicked claws of terror. He had taken this job because of the pay, and that he had no fear of heights. He was steady on his feet. He had excellent balance. He loved the feel of being a thousand feet in the sky surrounded by nothing but wind. But no one could see the streets coming closer and closer and react calmly. He flailed his arms, scrambling as if he could get some purchase on the air, and he finally remembered to scream. Closer and closer, the street was rushing up to meet him.

The pedestrians heard his cry, and looked up, powerless to help him they stared at the plummeting man in shock. For a brief moment, he thought someone might save him, but what could they do? And then he saw the last thing he would ever see. The object that would break his fall. He closed his eyes and groaned. "It's a fucking Prius." And then, his fall came to an end.

Somehow, he survived. The roof of the flimsy car had cushioned his fall. But not enough, it was nowhere near enough. Pain exploded throughout his body. Every bone he could imagine was shattered. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't breathe. His entire front had been crushed inwards. His eyes, his face, his lungs, his arms, his legs, it had all been completely pulverized. His heart still cruelly pumped what blood wasn't staining the seats of the prius into his brain, drawing out this horrible pain. He slowly departed this world, to a chorus of screams and sirens.

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As he relived the final minutes of his life, a terrifying realization swallowed his consciousness. He should have died. No one could have survived that... but he was still here. Wherever here was. It was pitch black, but slowly his vision was returning. It was hard at first, but the more he strained to see through the darkness, the more aware he became. First the ground he rested on, and then his view slowly expanded. Crawling along the floor. A few feet away from his body and he reached a wall. It was hard packed dirt, the same as what he rested on. He was underground. He tried to rise, but he couldn't move. He couldn't feel his body at all. As he began to panic, his view of the room rapidly expanded, he found a second wall, and then another, and then the ceiling, and then the final wall. He was trapped. He had been buried alive.

As his terror mounted, he did what any normal person would have done. He clawed at the earth ahead of him, frantic to escape. He scraped and gouged at the walls of his grave, pulling out huge piles of dirt and loose rock with each thought. He knew he should have been digging up, but his instincts told him that if he just made it a few more feet forwards he would be free. His frantic digging began to slow, he grew tired, but his fear drove him onwards. He would not die like this. Not trapped under a mountain of dirt. Even as he felt on the verge of collapse, he plowed on. Even if it would kill him, he wanted to die in the open air. And then he broke through. Sunlight poured in through the hole, bathing his grave in light.

Damien reached out into the open world, but the moment he left the tunnel he had carved out he grew dizzy. He pushed blindly forwards, until he grew weak, his consciousness fading until he collapsed.

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When he came to, he was right where he started. From the center of his grave he could feel the light blazing through the small hole he had made. And once again he threw himself out into the world under the blaze of the mid day sun. The same dizziness returned as he pushed out from the tomb, and less than a few feet away, as he strained and strained to keep himself above ground, his mind gave out, and he retreated back into his grave. As he rested on the verge of collapse, he examined the grave that he was trapped in.

Now that it had a tunnel and an entrance, Damien figured it would be more appropriate to call it a cave. Something quickly caught his eye, it was a huge ruby the size of a fist, just resting in the middle of the room. But as he looked at it, something began to bother him. He wasn't looking at it, not in the normal way. It felt like he was around it, feeling it, seeing it from every possible angle. And then even stranger, it also felt as if he were inside it. Then he noticed something missing in the room. He could see everything in it, from every angle. He could feel the walls. But the only thing in this room was the brilliant red gem. His body was gone.

As panic took hold of his mind once more, he rushed out of the cave again, even more franticly than the last time. Straining and straining. He made it further than he had before, a whole two feet, before his mind gave out, and he faded into the void of unconsciousness once again.

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As Damien awoke, he was exhausted. He felt empty, and weak. He hungered. Just as before, he was in the same damned cave. But his perception was... narrower. It was just like when he had first awoken, all he could feel was the earth beneath his body, this cursed gem, and maybe a foot around that. The moonlight from the entrance allowed him to see the tunnel out, but the rest was shrouded in darkness. Moonlight? Then it was night? He wondered how long he had been out, but there was no way for him to tell. Before, his perception had slowly expanded however compared to now, it had raced to fill the room.

Hours passed, but he had grown only a few inches. With every particle he took hold of, his hunger grew. He was so weak he thought he was going to die again. But then he felt movement. In the dirt below him, something wiggled. And as he focused on it, he saw it. A worm had crawled into his domain. And with a primal fury, he used every ounce of strength he had to pounce on it. It flailed as it sensed the attack, but his presence surrounded the insignificant creature, and he dragged it to the surface. Then he began to feed.

There wasn't a single mark on it's body, but it's life was quickly siphoned away. it's pathetic struggles slowed, and then ceased as it's meager life force was taken in by Damien. After devouring the worm, his hunger lessened. It was an insignificant fraction, but it was enough. With this tiny bit of energy, Damien flexed his perception, and gained half an inch all at once, and with that he knew what he had to do.

He abandoned the air of the cave, and directed his entire perception at the ground beneath his body, reaching into the soil. And he found dozens of worms wriggling around in the fresh soil. And once again, his hunger took over. He slaughtered them all. Each and every last worm was smothered and drained, one after the other. With each worm he drained his territory grew, and more and more worms fell at mercy. Within a matter of hours, he had mercilessly massacred dozens of worms, and his territory had more than doubled. From the center of his body he now controlled almost three feet in every direction, and his hunger was finally sated.