New Earth 1

I do not know how much time has passed.

Since the feelings disappeared, in that flame, the sense of time also disappeared there. I stopped perceiving the past and the future. I only know that my hatred has subsided, and the flame has cooled, turning into coals, smoldering only with a sense of loss. It was as if I was falling into an endless abyss. Without a goal or desires. My life was over, but it didn't bother me. There was nothing left in it for which I could continue to live. And my revenge has been accomplished. And, to some extent, I was even glad to plunge into this abyss with my head, disappear into it and find peace…

I seemed to have completely disappeared. There was not a single thought, only emptiness…

Until there was an annoying burning sensation.

I had not yet come to my senses, as this irritation turned into a furious stream of burning flames! It gripped me, and for a moment I felt the pain again, which quickly subsided, replaced by a burning anger. And then there was a blow, from which my whole being was shaken and I felt like I was splashed on the ground.

The views of the surrounding world were thrust into my mind.

A crater in the ground, burning trees nearby, and bright lights somewhere in the distance. It looked like the place where a small meteorite fell. When I sat up, I felt a strange tremor all over my body. And due to this impulse, I felt my body itself, which spread out in a shapeless blob in the center of the crater, between the stone fragments.

I just wanted to exclaim "What's going on?", but instead of coherent speech, a squeaky quiet squeal from my almost vibrating jelly-like body spread out from me in all directions. For a moment, fear flared up, but it immediately subsided. I mean, I'm still alive, in this incomprehensible form. Or has he gone mad? In fact, after the first shock, I no longer felt much excitement about this. But, for some reason, I already didn't care about everything…

After shooting a powerful stream, I strengthened part of my body, creating a long, hard bundle of dark mass, with which I grabbed the ground and pulled up the rest of my body, which simply poured over the ground in the right direction. And all this happened on a certain reflex level. As ordinary people do not think about what kind of muscles they use to walk and how exactly they do it, they just walk. It was about the same here. I didn't have any strong rejection due to a completely different body structure from what I was used to. But, there was some strangeness, accompanied by the clumsiness of my movements. Because of this, I touched the flame of the burning grass with a new tentacle, with which I wanted to pull myself up to completely get out of the crater.

And, it was strange.

My body jerked in a reflex effort to avoid the fire, but I didn't feel a burn.

On the contrary, I felt only a pleasant warmth, with which the flame itself reached out to me, gently licking its fiery tongues. And I lift the tentacle, capturing this flame, which begins to crawl from the grass right at me.

I can feel it…

It seemed to be alive, crawling over me like a gentle cat looking for a more comfortable place.

But, in the end, this flame quickly calmed down and went out, disappearing.

I don't know what it was, but it seems that I'm not afraid of fire now. Just noting this, I got up a little more, getting out of the crater, and that's when I felt hungry. It's like this sucking feeling in the stomach, demanding food, but I felt it immediately with my whole body. And, it did not appear just now, it was just weaker until that moment, and I did not pay attention to it. And now I have to wonder how I can eat at all, when I don't even seem to have a mouth.

And it just happened.

Reflexively.

I saw a large figure on four legs emerge from the darkness nearby and, opening its mouth, let out a powerful bark. The sound made my ears pop, muffling all sounds, and my body reacted by itself, shooting several tentacles at the giant dog.

There was a startled squeal, but I was already clutching at the living flesh. Part of my tentacles hardened, turning into something between fangs and claws, digging into the dog, penetrating inside and biting into the meat. Pushing off from the ground and pulling myself up to the victim, already with the obvious intention of capturing the target, I completely clung to the dog.

- Grrr…

A bright pulse shot through my nerves…

Or not…

Having satisfied my hunger a little, having actually dissolved and absorbed part of the animal, I somehow connected with its nervous system. And suddenly I felt like I was standing on all fours. A lot of smells hit my nose at once. And my vision was instantly transformed. Instead of blurry figures nearby, I saw the world through the eyes of a dog, which made the picture clearer.

The lights in the distance turned out to be the light of the city. But, it's far away, in fact, it wasn't that far away. And the dog itself was not particularly big. It's just that I was little. But, my former "vision" has not disappeared anywhere. I could still see everything around me with my jelly-like body, most of which was now stuck to the dog, covering his fur with a black substance.

And then, a series of impulses suddenly passed through the nerves, and the dog rushed somewhere!

I was directly hit by the realization that I had not completely, as it were, captured the animal's body, I connected to the control panel, which was still owned by the animal itself. And in fear, he rushed where his eyes were looking. I could have added my own impulses here, forcing the animal to move differently, but since he controlled his body himself, this simply created a chaotic movement, which caused the dog to stumble and roll around on the ground like that before jumping back on his paws and running on.

So, I decided to calm down a little, letting the beast run wherever he wants.

And himself…

I was trying to figure out what's going on at all?

The transition from oblivion in the abyss to these dog races took place very abruptly, and I still did not have time to orient myself in what was happening. When and how did my body become like this? I'm supposed to be dead anyway. But, here I have landed somewhere…

Meanwhile, my host got out of the park, returning to the familiar city streets.

Yes, this place... where the meteorite fell, was just a city park, quite large, but still. And, along the way, through the eyes of the beast, I noticed several cars. The fire department, the police, they were on their way to the crash site. I think I did the right thing by getting out of there. I don't know how ordinary people would react to such a strange thing that I turned into.

- Urrrr... - the dog's stomach made a noise.

Well, if I satisfied my hunger a little, then the beast, on the contrary, wanted to eat very much. I could feel the echoes of his hunger already, and even pop-up images of thoughts. The dog knew where to get food and immediately went to his favorite place. A trash can near the restaurant.

Ugh... is he going to eat here?

Yes, he stood up straight on his hind legs, leaning on the garbage can with his front paws, and buried his face in a pile of food garbage, quickly finding something to his taste there. I also noted for myself that I didn't bite the dog very much, it almost didn't affect the animal's health. Moreover, having connected to the internal organs and circulatory system of the animal, my body naturally began to absorb some of the substances that the dog received from food. But, this mass went not only to feed my body, but also to restore damage in the animal's body.

However, even though I was repairing the damage, I could feel this strange symbiosis draining the dog. While it's not even noticeable, it will take some time, but... he will start to die…

I felt that this animal was not suitable for symbiosis.

But, I also began to clearly understand that my body already needs such a union. The hunger I was experiencing was not just a physical hunger that required food. This feeling was also combined with something else. A new sensation that I have never experienced before in my human body. And, with this feeling come vague images…

It's like I'm remembering my past…

I remember images of other creatures... almost the same as this amorphous form. And these images respond with strong recognition. I also remember the gloomy and cold space. I remember a bright flash, the death of a planet... the home planet of these creatures. Damn it! I somehow got into the body of an alien! Moreover, it is absolutely not of human nature. These creatures have a physical need for symbiosis with other organisms. Although, it is strange that they themselves can extract all the substances necessary for life. They can hunt independently, but they can exist separately from the carrier for no more than a day... after which they begin to slowly die. And the only thing that saves here is the ability to fall into a kind of suspended animation. It was from this state that I woke up when the meteorite fell.

And, this state is practically no different from what I thought was my death.

Now I can't even say exactly when I ended up in this body. Quite recently, when I fell, or I have become this alien for a long time, I just did not realize anything, floating in the abyss of a lethargic dream. But, what is important, these creatures are intelligent. And the real ... owner of this body, has not disappeared... forever. His dim memories are dissolving in my mind... but, in fact, it's not so bad. It seems that only thanks to these remnants I can control this body and even feel it quite naturally. And also, now I know at least something about his unusual physiology.

That's just…