[center][h1][b][u]The Lifeblood[/u][/b][/h1][/center] [hr] It lived in the darkness, in a place where light dared not go, one safe from the chaos of the world being forged above. It hadn’t been for long, but that didn’t stop it from being. It skittered across the cold rock walls of its home, foraged for fungus that grew only in these depths, and fought with the others that called the darkness home when it came to it. Not that such happened often, but when it did the winner was always promised a meal. Nothing went to waste here. It had just won one such battle, the first of its brief existence, and it feasted on the flesh of its fallen brother. It took no pleasure in the act, but food was food. There was little enough of it in the darkness. So it bit down, its chitinous jaws digging into the soft flesh of a brother of the darkness, and in that moment something happened. A presence it had felt once before overcame it, and a thousand thousand voices began to whisper in its ear holes. It was overcome, paralyzed, and helpless against what happened next. Without warning it began to hurt, its body exploding in pain, but with every agony it felt itself change. The voices argued, grew frantic, and the pain intensified. It was tiny, but it grew and grew and soon it barely fit in the cave that it was its home. A dozen thin legs grew heavy and powerful, and its mandibles grew longer, sharper. It was in agony, but a thought drawn from the cacophony of voices began to dominate its mind, a mind which began to think more and more with every second. It was [i]hungry[/i]. So terribly, unimaginably, hungry. At the realization the creature tried to move, and the whispers grew faster and more emphatic still. Its flesh began to twist and change again. Gnashing, vicious, teeth grew behind the cruel hooks that had replaced its mandibles. Its legs grew awful spikes that captured anything that came close, and its body grew tough. Unimaginably tough. It writhed and where it struck rock the caves walls gave way, when it bit down on an obstacle to its bulk the stone was all but pulverized. The pain began to fade, and the whispers began to fade with it, but before they were done something intangible fell over the mutated creature of the darkness. It had never noticed such before, but there had been an order to the world in the past, when it was small and helpless and it wasn’t so hungry. There had been mystery, wildness, mana, magic, the unknown. Now they were gone. It felt nothing from the world around it. It was alone, and with that thought, and it could [i]think[/i], it resolved not to be so. The force that had created it had left it with a knowledge that it alone could spawn its kind in uncounted numbers. It wished for nothing more, but first it had to eat. It knew it had to eat. It needed the strength to do what was to be done, and it was ever so hungry. So, so hungry. With that in mind it surged forwards in the darkness, and it began to devour. It wondered when that had become so fun. [hider=Summary] An insect that lives in the deep darkness of the world’s cave system is beset upon by the lifeblood, which mutates and changes it into something horrible. It grows vast, but it is still restricted by its confines. The monster below may, will, grow and grow until there is no space left or it perishes, and it will devour any and all it can to grow and multiply. Moreover, it is a creature rendered insensitive and resistant to the magic and mystery of the world. Spells may well falter and fail against it, and its tough body will repulse most mundane weapons. [/hider] [hider=Might Summary] Created The Ones Who Hunger: -1mp Extraordinary Species (Immune to most magic, immortal if allowed to eat and grow, immensely dangerous and deeply antagonistic, native to the caves below Galbar but able to adapt to most environments (Hi Klaar)) 2mp remaining (Thanks Zee) [/hider]