A Tale of New Sentience (act 1)

chapter 3: be

Hi! Random here. normally I don't do this, but I wanted to give a warning about this chapter, as it will contain a... Detailed, very bloody scene, this may be uncomfortable for some or most, so I decided this warning was necessary, you may skip this chapter entirely or read on, I simply wanted to give a warning as I usually don't do very detailed gore scenes, so it would be departure from my normal style.

   I was once again taken forcefully from my, admittedly relaxing void, colorless, or maybe full of color, or perhaps both, maybe neither, all I know is I was now back in the moldy and admittedly haphazardly cared for cabin of a home my opposer resides in. "you know the process, let's begin challenger." Was all he said, before the parchment was placed in front of me, my figure being present thankfully, as I look it over, taking in the details I can, before glancing at my items, a dagger, a squirrel in a bottle, and the item I dreaded the most, the pliers, I had no clue what the dagger did, but I was positive it couldn't be as bad as the pliers had been, and with that thought, I rubbed me job as I remember the surging pain from before, glad that it wasn't present anymore. Without a word, I look back at the map,as my figure had already moved onwards, allowing me to choose my first card to add to my deck, or so I thought, before my hand all to familiarily lurched, grabbing one of the other two cards I hadn't wanted to choose, as it was added to my deck, and my figure on the parchment returned, with my figure bouncing along, going to my first battle of this session of torment. The parchment vanishing, as the board returned, I looked at my starting hand, the stoat, stinkbug, a squirrel and a wolf cub once more. "ah, it would appear i am in the starting hand." The stinkbug began, it took me a second to remember, and then process that the stinkbug was the new addition to my deck that could also speak, like the stoat. "Well, isn't this a sense of bad deja vu." The stoat responds, as the stinkbug seemed to frown. "well, it was only inevitable once he had retrieved that fragment..." The stinkbug says in response, before both cards went silent, and after a moment I went on with my plays for the duel,and it wasn't long before it was finished, much like most of my fights, wether in my favor or against.

    I take a slight breath in of the moldy air, looking at my deck in front of me, I have been staring at it for several minutes now, much to the apparent annoyance of my opponent, opposer, captor, whatever he prefers, or didn't. "Your menagerie is adequate, but doesn't earn this amount of captification of your attention, Challenger." He says after a few more moments of me simply staring, I simply let out a silent sigh, before looking up at him with an equally annoyed look, as we stared at each other for several moments, before he gained a look of amusement, for what reason I couldn't hazard a guess as I looked back at my cards, putting them away moments later, as I got up, and walked around the cabin, looking at the oil painting, and noticing it had changed. 'an ant, and a squirrel? Why did it change?' I think to myself as I look at it, before slowly continuing on my small adventure around the cabin, it didn't feel like I was being forced to, but being compelled to do so was more accurate, though the feeling only left while I was in the void, in between my visits with my captor, or my first time making my supposed death card, I wanted to speak, maybe ask the only person with me in this accursed and Ill kept cabin questions, where am I, why is my memory so shoddy, and so much more, but I always felt like speaking would be a bad decision, at least while this ever present compulsion was, well, present.

    It wasn't long after my investigation around the cabin, that I returned to my seat, and sat, watching the parchment present itself along with my figure, as it bounced along it's chosen path, I was once again presented with the sacrificial stones, and after some debate in my head, I placed the sacrifice, and the one to receive the power chosen, as it was soon finished, I looked at the card I had created, and grinned,as it was soon set away in my deck, and my figure once again bounced along it's way, until it reached it's destination a few stops away, yet another fight, though I had a unnerved feeling for this one, for what reason I could not so much as guess towards. As soon as the fight began though, I realized why, as my hand I went to the right, grabbing the familiar metallic handles, before it was raised into my view, and positioned above my mouth, the metallic taste returning, as the same surge of panic rang out through my body, I wanted to stop it, though once again my body refused, as my tooth was gripped, and ripped out without a moment's hesitation from my body, as my mouth once again filled with the taste of iron, and the unseen bright red coloration of my blood, my vision going red not a moment later, as I took a sharp breath in, only for a much more pronounced surge of pain to go through my jaw once the cold, moldy air hit the spot my tooth once was, though soon enough my eyes focused in, it felt much longer than it actually was,I could tell as I heard my tooth get placed on the scale, and it went a singular point in my favor.