The dark tunnel was filled with noises. Scurrying feet, the sound of water dripping on stone and in water. Very faint glowing lichen covered the walkways and brick walls of the sewer sporadically, giving an eerie otherworldly feeling.

A very faint streetlight shone down from a drain hole in the ceiling. A blazing source of light in the absolute darkness of the sewer. A steady stream of small droplets fell from the opening and pooled on the walkway. At the edge of the light, a small pink snout with large whiskers could be seen sniffing the air carefully, not trusting to enter the light where it would be exposed. With a flick and the sound of scurrying feet moving away the nose vanished from the light circle.

The drops kept falling to the small puddle, the puddle congealing slowly on the walkway. A tiny fragment had embedded itself within the pool, its luster hidden by the congealed blood falling on top of it. Moments later the stream of drops stopped falling from the ceiling, time passed and the streetlight from above turned off, first rays of the false dawn not penetrating the alleyway, covering the sewer in near-absolute darkness if it were not for the lightly glowing lichen covering the walls.

It was at this moment that a young male rat dared to approach the puddle of food. It had been hungry for days, having been chased away by stronger rats from the food hole. The rat didn’t know that an inn was using the sewer to illegally dump its kitchen waste. Its thoughts didn’t reach that far, all it knew was that there was good food at that hole that kept you healthy. The older rats had taken offense to this youngling for some reason and had chased him away. Feeding on soggy small scraps that floated in the sewers it had managed to survive so far, but he was still hungry. The puddle of congealed blood was too good a bounty to let lie there for others.

He approached the puddle carefully and sniffed at it, body poised to run away as fast as his little legs could carry him. His ears perked up as he stood frozen for a moment, having heard something, but then it relaxed and started to gnaw at the congealed blood. Tiny claws digging in the congealed mass to get to the more fluid center which was much tastier.

Blood had spread over the face of the little rat and covered its fur to up between the ears. A little shard the size of a grain of sand had found its way there too, still hidden by the blood covering it. He took his time to eat his fill before moving away from the food source to a dark hidden corner where he couldn’t be ambushed. There he started washing, licking his tiny paws and then rubbing them over his ears down to his snout, then licking them clean again.

The little shard got caught up by one of those washing movements and got licked clean off his paw along with the blood. The rat swallowed the little shard with the other rests of the blood. It had swallowed much worse than a little bit of sand, and the blood was too precious to its survival to waste.

After a while of meticulous washing, he settled into sleep for a bit and to enjoy the feeling of a full stomach.

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Sunlight shone down from the hole, but the puddle of blood was gone. Some other hungry creature had come by and scoured the place clean of the nourishing substance. He felt disappointed, but that was how it was in the sewers, you snooze you lose. He scurried away from the crack in the wall where he had slept and huggled the wall whilst moving forward cautiously, the only sound made by the claws clicking on the ground. Every now and then he would stop to sniff the air and listen for dangers, but the sewers were remarkably empty for the night. Maybe some big dangers had come by whilst he had slept and killed off parts of the other creatures that lived here.

He didn’t mind that the sewers were this empty, less danger for him and fewer fights that might end up with a mortal wound. The rat kept checking the air multiple times, but it felt strangely at ease knowing that most of the dangers would be gone for the day. They would return fast enough, repopulating this part of the sewer from other parts, but for now, the dark paths were his.

It decided to check if the older rats were still around the scrap dump or if they had also been cleared by the big bad things that seemed to have cleared everything here. Slowly making his way back, ever cautious for things moving in the darkness that weren’t there anymore, he made his way back to the scrap pile.

He could smell the delicious smell from far away and his tiny heart started beating faster with anticipation for the rich scraps that were to be had there. Sometimes there was even the juice that made your body warm and head fuzzy. Just the thought of the food made his mouth water and it rushed forward, forgetting about caution.

He arrived at the spot where the scrap pile was supposed to be, but it was scoured clean of all scraps, the only thing remaining was the scent of what used to lie here. Disappointment filled its tiny heart as it sniffed around the place desperately, hoping to find a crumb or two that might have been missed, but the big dangers had been thorough in their scouring. At least the older rats were gone. It moved to the wall and found a crack where he nested and tried to sleep to forget his disappointment.

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He woke up later from a loud noise and he pressed himself against the wall in his cubby hole. Light streamed in from above and loud noises could be heard, something big scraping over stone, the sound reverberating throughout the sewer. Shivering from fear he tried to vanish into the wall unsuccessfully.

Suddenly something big and heavy smashed into the sewer grimy floor, with a loud wet noise. There was more noise from above and darkness returned moments later. A delicious smell came from the big thing that had fallen down. Hunger winning from caution he moved carefully out of the hidey-hole sniffing at the air. He moved closer to the big thing that smelled so good. Just his luck! There was a bounty of boned-out carcasses with all kinds of scraps of meat leftover. Hunger gnawing at his insides with an unexpected ferocity, he raced to the nearest carcass that had been disposed of here, which happened to be a skull with sinew and large patches of meat glistening still with moisture in the faint light. The tongue had been cut out, but there was still enough flesh inside the skull to start feasting upon.

It ate its way through everything it could reach, more than in its stomach could fit, but still, it was hungry, so incredibly hungry. Every scrap of meat attached to the bones it would scratch free and eat it, every tendon, piece of entrail left, cartilage, it ate everything its teeth could scratch free and its mouth chew and gnaw, the tiny rat stomach a bottomless pit that would fit everything it would put in it. After several hours the bones were picked clean, licked clean, and a neat white pile that almost shone in the darkness so clean they were.

Other rats had approached whilst the little rat had been eating, but it had been eating so ferocious and aggressively that they had been scared away, afraid to be eaten by accident. Finally with no more food to be found on the bone pile the hunger subsided, and the rat was overwhelmed by a notification its tiny mind could not comprehend, and it fainted on top of the pile of bones, falling through the rib cage, rolled up unconscious it whilst its chest moved up and down rapidly.

[Ritual of reactivation progressed]

[New ritualist found for active ritual]

[Ritual 2 out of 4 completed: Assimilation]

[Two days remaining for ritual completion]

[Host Charisma +10]