∼ A Seed of Desire ∼

Chapter - 002

A scratchy whimper was the first sign of life shown by the small impling lying sprawled out awkwardly at the bottom of a cave whose gloom was only warded off by the very faint glow of brimstone. Coming to in a daze, it took more than a handful of moments until coherent thought could be processed by the impling, as bewildered as it was.

Not that there was much of that within its head, to begin with...

Nevertheless, the pitiful groans and whimpers soon came to a halt when it finally occurred to the diminutive creature that it had in fact not been hurt as badly as the pain had otherwise let on. More so phantoms of it than anything.

The invasion of multiple screens within its mind finally got the impling to its feet though, hissing and trying to swipe at them even though they were neither present in the physical world nor even perceived through its vision.

Though... the impling didn't realize that.

Smirking victoriously as the prompts disappeared from its mind, obviously having been scared off by its intimidating presence, the impling tried to get a sense of its surroundings.

It was dark and humid, the darkness only dispelled by a soft orange light coming from the walls and cracks all around. In various directions, multiple offshoots and tunnels shot deeper into the ground barely even allowing for the impling's small frame to stand crouched if it was to try and crawl through them. Looking up proved to not give any better sense of direction as the demon must've been dispatched somewhere clearly very far from where it had originally fallen into these depths.

Only briefly did the impling gloat, thinking back at that stupid nether beast who had lost out on its delicious self. Served it right, daring to cross it. However, the impling's mood quickly dampened once again, realizing that it wasn't all that comfortable deep down in these unknown caves and all alone.

Already feeling the hunger well up within himself after having been cut short of its previous meal, he supposed it was time to look for some prey. That is; if there was anything at all down here...

Waddling through the corridor, grunting occasionally when the impling accidentally put too much weight on a sore body part after its rather rough tumble, the fretful demon made its way through the narrow tunnels, liking this place less and less by each step it took.

Just when the impling thought it couldn't get to hate these stupid tunnels anymore than it already did, a soft weight suddenly settled itself onto the demon's shoulder.

Whipping its head around to see whatever had decided to hitch a ride on it, the impling froze in pure horror at what it saw. With an elongated and segmented body like that of a centipede, it would've most likely been classified as such if not for one startling fact that made this creature even more terrible to behold.

Instead of an insectoid head, like any other centipede or insect for that matter, the vile creature had the face of a man twisted in horrible agony, frozen and flat like a mask. It made an eerie clicking, the uncanny face mask twitching in cadence to sides like a broken cog.

Standing face to... face with this nightmare made flesh, the frightened impling let out its most undignifying scream to date.

It bolted forward, swatting the insect away only moments before it managed to sink its pointy appendages deep into the meat of the demon's shoulder and back. However, the small furrows left behind as the creature tried to cling on still bled ever so faintly.

The scratches hurt but weren't enough to call forth a damage notification. Then again, the impling's mind was thrown into such panic that nothing of that even registered.

It scampered down the narrow tunnels with wild abandon in a desperate bid to put as much distance between him and that abomination. The impling ended up hitting and bumping its head against the cave walls and a few protruding rocks more than once, cursing with its unintelligible babble all the while.

The struggles didn't end there, however...

To the impling's already considerable terror, more of the nightmarish centipedes met its desperate dash through the tunnels as they clambered to the walls in the shadows cast by the brimstone glow and the rocky interior.

Before the horrified demon even knew it, it had run even deeper into the tunnels, accruing wounds and multiple stowaways readily gnawing at its flesh along the way. Never in the impling's life had it ever felt so much fear and pain as it did now.

It briefly considered the idea of simply curling down into a ball on the rocky ground. However, the more the impling was pressed into a corner of desperation, the more its fear was inexplicably dashed until suddenly, it was all gone as the marking running across its eye flared a second time. In a bout of almost unconscious action, the diminutive and previously terror-stricken demon reached down for one of the flailing insects, hand clamping down around it.

Not even caring for the promised pain that would lance through its body, the impling ripped the creature free together with the flesh that it had been gnawing on. But instead of throwing the scourge away, the impling, out of nowhere, bit down on the head of the horrible creature - just as it had done with the critter back above ground.

Ignoring the sickening squelches as the insect's head popped and crushed between the sharp teeth of the impling, filling the demon’s mouth with the puke-inducing taste of the creature's putrid flesh, it grabbed one after another. Even as those who clung to it were killed and thrown to the side, more would come scampering out of the cracks and holes scattered across the face of the tunnel walls. Yet, the impling did not relent.

Pride, strength, and anger clouded the small demon's mind, shielding it from the fear that assailed its mind and the pain coursing through its body. Notifications of damage occasionally flashed through its mind, the red glare of the screens failing to register in the haze of killing that had taken over any form of clear thought.

Collapsing on the ground and causing another few squelches from headless insects laying beneath impling as it fell atop them, the demon whimpered with a labored breath. Wounds and ichor covered its body, a testament to the slaughter. But now with its mind clear once again, it meant that the pain and nausea from everything that had just happened came rushing back like a tidal wave, kicking down any mental defenses of pride that had been erected within its mind.

It barfed up whatever remained in its stomach, the impling laying back once again and finally registering the many annoying red screens floating about in its head. Despising those rather pesky things as they seemed to do nothing but mock the fact that the impling had gotten hurt, it tried to swipe at them to make their red gleam go away but was too pained to even do that.

That was when the little impling noticed something distinctly different about the multitude of notifications vying for its attention.

In fact, not all of the screens were the mocking crimson that he had been associated with all notifications, a single one being a welcoming blue. An enticing contrast from the red. Still, the sense of something being unknown plagued the impling's fretful nervousness and preyed on its fearful heart. As far as it knew, it did not trust them and wanted nothing more than to escape the situation, regardless the color of their kind.

But unintentionally, the fear of not wanting to confront those exact notifications inadvertently caused the impling's attention to be directed towards them which also activated them.

Congratulations! You have accrued enough experience to gain a level!

LVL: 1 → 2

As an Impling "Minor Demon", you receive one point in Intelligence and one additional unallocated attribute point.

∼[Cognitive comprehension inadequate]∼

∼[Assigning free attribute point to relevant attribute]∼

You have been assigned one attribute point in Strength

While the impling was illiterate and completely unable to know what the terms presented in the notification were, it wasn't needed as the intent of the words was fully conveyed mentally. However, knowing what something ‘was’ as opposed to understanding what it means, were two completely different things, and the impling quickly found itself dismissing the nonsensical drivel in its mind.

But just before it could really do anything and go back to wallowing in the misery from its plight for survival just moments before, a sudden flood of sensations surging through its body had its eyes shoot open wide.

The small demon could feel strength returning to its weary limbs, growing even more powerful than what they had been before becoming worn. Its mind was invigorated too and it suddenly understood just that much more, everything once hazy becoming clear. These sensations - sensations of power, although faint in reality, were wholly intoxicating to the unwitting impling even though its wounds were still severe.

Never in its short little life had it experienced this. The impling had never thought something could feel this magnificent - this satisfying, and nothing it knew rivaled its bliss. Although, killing and eating its prey was still a close second and third on the impling's list of favorite things to do...

As such, the prideful demon tasted its first inkling of power; creating a seed of desire deep within its demonic soul.

A desire for power.

Being suddenly snapped out of its reverie by the dreaded noises that familiar, dreaded clicking, the impling shot its feet, shambling further down the tunnel. Whether or not the demon was already dead with its wounds, the dire situation of where it was, and that the impling might simply be continuing its way down to its own demise, didn't matter.

The minuscule hint of power that it had just experienced awakened something within the demon. It wasn't simply going to lay down and die now. Whether that be mostly because of the absolute terror induced by the sound of the insects that made its short little legs pump faster and faster or the new fervor brewing within it, that too did not matter.

Only one thought was in its mind; survive.

The ever-increasing noises kept rising as they spilled from the walls, creating a deafening cacophony of chittering and clicking as they smelled the blood of the impling, drawing them to it like moths to a flame. The demon paid them no heed, however. Occasionally sparing just a moment's thought to rip one off that managed hop on as it stumbled its way down the sloping tunnel.

Wait... sloping?