Puppeteer (7932 words)

´Well, shit! ´ I think as a look out of the mouth of the cave in which I suddenly awoke in.

The entrance to the cave is placed on top of a hill just big enough to overlook the seemingly endless forest around it.

Lush green leaves and many different kinds of plants form a harmonious picture that gives of the feeling of a fairy tale like world.

A deep frown spreads over my face as I take in the sight of my surroundings, desperately trying to make sense of my current situation.

´How the hell did me performing a puppet theater in the middle of the woods lead to me suddenly blackout and awake in a dark cave filled with luminous moos? ´My frown makes place to a more panicking expression.

´How do I survive in a place like this? I have never been interested in survival stuff nor do I believe I got the determination to hunt/kill anything. ´ I lament in silence as I walk out of the cave into the sunlight which makes the scenery only more beautiful than before and take a deep breath.

The fresh air which was free of any pollution caused by men fills my lungs and once again serves as proof that I am no longer in a familiar place.

Once outside I quickly walk once around the hill and surprisingly find a small pond full with clear and suspiciously luminous water.

I look into the pond and notice the unfamiliar blackish, green eyes staring back. For a good five minutes I stare at the mysterious eyes and the woman which were reflected from the mirror like surface of the luminous pond.

Wild black hair which turns into a deep forest green the closer it comes to the tips falls down to the middle of her back and her light brown skin is so smooth that it almost looks unnaturally perfect.

Sharp check bones and a mellow jaw give her face the feeling of a serious but beautiful woman.

A plain, dark green shirt, which one could buy in any clothing store, covers her upper body and clearly emphasizes her ample chest.

Black pants warp around her hips and long slender legs, leaving the feet bare.

When I got out of my daze and could think clear again, I realized that the woman I just saw was me.

This made another frown appear on my already naturally serious face.

´Has my soul been reincarnated or transmigrated into this new body? If yes, then why? ´ I try hard to come up with anything that could have been the cause for my sudden reincarnated/transmigrated.

The only thing that seems to fit was the last thing I did before I blacked out.

´What could, playing with puppets in the woods, have to do with why I got here? ´Scratching the back of my head I let my eyes wander over the endless forest around the hill.

´I awoke in a cave with a completely new body, which I strangely didn't even notice till I got a good look at it. ´ I pause for a moment.

´Now that I think about it, I don't have any problems with moving around in this body, event thought there are lots of differences, almost as I it has always been mine. ´My frown relaxes, and I make a sharp turn back to the cave.

´Maybe there are some clues deeper in the cave, if my train of thought is correct then there should be some things in the cave that belong to whoever inhabited this body before. ´ Unknowingly my steps become lighter and I subconsciously move my body almost silently.

Once again in the cave where occasionally patches of luminous moos provides some shabby means of lighting.

I move deeper inside and soon pass the place where I woke up from. A short distance further down, I abruptly come to a stop, lying around the cold stone floor are multiply dead animals, ranging from rabbits to birds and even a wolf.

My stomach turns and I almost vomit at the sight of the half rotten corpses, only now do I notice a foul smell which comes from the deeps of the cave.

"Damn! Who would do such a thing? "I curse out loud and my expression turns dark immediately after.

´Looks like the previous owner of this body wasn't a very nice person. ´Steeling myself I walk past the dead animal corpses after waiting for my stomach to calm down.

Not long after I pass the animal corpses the cave opens up into a big expanse, to my utter horror and disgust, hundreds of half rotten animal corpses hang silently from the roof, bound by thin white strings.

The smell that assaults my nose was horrendous and I'm no longer able to resist the urge to vomit.

Bent over, I empty whatever was in my stomach next to the entrance to the expanse.

Once finished, I look at the place where I vomited and freeze up from fear.

Instead of a disgusting liquid with occasional bits and pieces of whatever this body ate, there lies a wet bundle of thine, blackish green and brown worm which have obvious cracks on their skin, allowing me to clearly see pulsating flesh and blood.

The worms hurriedly squirm and wind in the attempt to flee, some burrow into the ground, while others disappear into the dark or slip into crack on the ground or walls.

My mind refuses to work as fear overtook me and I fall down, desperately trying to distance myself as far away as possible from the dispersing worms.

I didn't notice that I moved all the way to the back of the expanse till I hit something.

Now full out panicking I jump up on my feet and snap around where I saw what seems to be an altar made from stone with a wooden bowl on it.

In the process of examine the altar I couldn't help but to look at what was inside the bowl.

Curled up inside the bowl a grotesque combination of a worm and a spider lies motionless with thin white strings floating up to the roof.

One big eye that takes half of its head coldly stares directly into my own, immediately after I made eye contact with the horrific abomination my whole body turns stiff and I can no longer move.

I try to advert my eyes, but they are locked in place by an unknown force.

My fear reaches new heights as I notice thin white strings which pierced into my body, I can feel how they move beneath my skin suspiciously connecting to my nervous system.

As if on cue, I feel one of the strings moving up from the back of my neck towards my head.

I try to struggle but all my attempts are futile, my body no longer listens to my me, additionally, at the edge of my vision I notice that all the hanged up corpses have turned in my direction and their eyes or eye sockets observe me in cold silence.

This leaves my mouth dry and all the hairs on my body stand up.

I repeatedly curse at myself for having returned to this horror filled cave and plea for someone or something to safe me.

Unsurprisingly, no one came.

The string moving up my neck has finally reached its destination and I feel how my thought get slower and slower as if my mind starts to rust over.

Just before my mind freezes completely, I realize something that broke my last hopes.

The grotesque abomination inside the wooden bowl on the altar, it blinked.

´Shit! ´ My last thought before my mind grows still.

With this, my blackish green turn blurry and lifeless and the rest of my body relaxes completely.

I now stand in front of the stone altar with an emotionless face and dead eyes, while thin white strings rise from my body up to the roof of the cave.

Under watchful eyes of hundreds of hanging animal corpses I roughly stretch out my arm as if controlled by an amateurish puppeteer.

Once my arm was outstretched with the palm upwards right in front of the wooden bowl, the abomination of a spider like worm thing with one big eye starts to move and slowly crawls out of the bowl onto my outstretched hand.

From there it travels along my forearm, up my upper arm and lastly onto my shoulder.

I meanwhile didn't move even a bit, remaining still as a puppet.

The grotesque thing was the size of my palm and is now standing on my right shoulder, silently eyeing my neck.

The silence goes on for another minute when I abruptly jerk my head to the left, exposing the right side of my neck completely.

With creepily slow steps the horrific combination of a worm and a spider closes into my neck and starts to caress it with two of its front legs.

Then it digs the sharp tips of its front legs into my skin and tears open a bloody gap exposing my bloody flesh beneath.

I didn't even flinch and continued to remain motionless even when the thing starts to widen the gap with its sharp legs.

With part of my shoulder and neck opened up I stood there in the dark expanse while the hanging corpses stare down.

Once the gap was the same size as the abomination it lowers its one eye which starts to split open and reveals a mount full of sharp fangs.

The sound of tearing flesh sounds through the silent expand as a disgusting abomination of a worm and a spider burrows itself in my neck area till only its butt looks out.

At this point it wiggles and turns around, nestled somewhere between my throat and shoulder it uses its sharp front legs and one of the white strings to sew the opening on my neck shut.

Even when closed, one could still clearly see a strange and disgusting bulge on my neck.

The bulge continues to move and wiggle around for a while before it grows still.

Then a blackish tint starts to appear around and, on the skin, where the abomination buried itself.

Through the following twenty minutes the bulge shrinks by more than half of its size and the blackish tint now forms tattoo like markings in the form of winding lines that spread out from the center of the bulge where now a curled up black worm out of strange runes rests.

Once the worm completely took form, hundreds of thine, blackish green and brown worm which have obvious cracks on their skin that reveal their pulsating flesh and blood beneath crawl out of the darkness of the cave towards me.

They come out of cracks in the ground and some dig their way out of the hanging corpses, falling to the ground and then proceeding to travel towards me.

When they arrive at my feet, they don't hesitate and directly pierce through my skin and disappear in my flesh.

Strangely they don't leave any wound behind, differently from the abomination that dug its way into my neck.

Just like this one after the other, these worms burrow into my body till there was no one left.

By the time the last worm found its way into my body, the bulge has disappeared completely and the winding black lines traveled all the way down my arm and fused into a spider entirely made from the same strange runes as the worm on the back of my hand.

As soon as the spider formed completely on my hand, all the white strings in the expanse abruptly retract into my body.

The half rotten animal corpses that were previously suspended in the air all fall simultaneously to the ground.

Some splatter into a mess of rotten flesh while others break most of their half-decomposed bones.

It was at this moment that my mind awakes from its frozen state, the reason for this is the forceful invading of another consciousness into my mind.

While frozen, I was still able to receive all the different things my senses send me, but I wasn't able to understand the information I received as my mind stood still.

Now that my mind once again starts to move, all these information crashes at me at once, throwing me into a very confused state.

The invading consciousness uses my confusion to rip parts of my mind off and incorporating them into itself.

Normally most being in this situation would become even more confused as the sheer amount of information throws their mind into a downwards spiral as the invading consciousness continues to rip apart their mind and weakening them further.

Luckily form me, I am very proficient at pushing all unimportant things(or actually important but not to my liking) to the back of my mind, which allows me to throw all the unprocessed information form my senses to the side and concentrate on the invading consciousness.

I have always been a timid and introverted person, this was only amplified when I became obsessed with puppets and puppeteering, because of this I rarely say the things that I think.

On the outside I am shy and don't talk much while inside my head I'm an extremely temperamental maniac.

And now some unknown consciousness is attacking my mind, I don't even try to think about who or what they could be and instantly fly into fit of rage, throwing strings of curses at the enemy which actually take on the form of a lightning bolt that crashes into the invading consciousness.

It freezes up for a moment as if hit with a hammer, I took it as a sign and continue to throw out one curse after the other.

´The fu*k do you think you are doing you little sh*t! You think you can just walk in her and do what you want?! ´

My cursing successfully interrupts the invader and slows down the pace at which it tears apart my own mind.

Taking a page out of the enemies book I reach out with a mental arm and grab onto the invader and rip off a small piece of it.

It shudders and immediately increases the ferocity of its attacks shredding parts of my consciousness and stuffing them into its own.

I throw the torn off piece the invading consciousness into some random part of my mind and jump into a violent fight with the invader where we rip apart each other's mind and incorporate these pieces into ourselves.

After a while the differences between us starts to show, where the invader surpasses me in ferocity, I stomp him into the ground with my dirty tricks and reckless tactics.

For example, the place where he shreds into my mind has now a clear dent as he rips me apart faster than I do, but on the other hand, there is a whole cloud full with all the curses and insults that I can think of silently hanging above him.

Additionally, my mind slowly starts to encircle the invading consciousness the deeper it advances into my mind.

An almost demonic grin spreads over my imaginary face when the invader finally reaches the center of my mind.

I long moved my more important memories to the far back, turning the center into a death trap.

Right at this moment, the invader freezes up and looks back only to see how the path which he dug closes up, then he shifts his focus upwards where a heavy cloud radiates, full of ill intentions.

Lastly, he looks at my imaginary avatar and sees the demonic grin.

Then I let the cloud full of curses and insults crash down and simultaneously rip at his body from all sides.

Just before the cloud crashes to the ground, I take hold of the invader and raise him up to hide under him.

With a mental explosion the cloud full of insults and curses floods the main battlefield not only completely shattering the invader into tiny pieces but also tainting my whole mind with a lingering malevolence.

Thankfully I moved the more important memories to the far edge of my mind where it only got hit by the aftershock of the cloud.

Once the imaginary waves died down, I slowly start to collect all the shattered pieces together and incorporate them into my core personality.

I don't know how long it took, but when I was done it was pretty clear that I was no longer the same person as before.

My and the invaders consciousness mostly fused together as none of us had the time to fully absorb the ripped off pieces that we carelessly stuffed into ourselves.

Destroying each other in the process and only leaving bits and pieces of our former self's which then came together under the control of a small piece of my old consciousness and formed a new consciousness based on the remains.

´What the hell did just happen? ´I mutter in a tiered voice which resound through my mind which still reeks of the malevolence that I used to destroy the invading consciousness.

´Right, that spider-worm thing took control of me and then dug itself into my neck…´I grow silent as I notice that I not only processed the previously unprocessed information, but also have a set of memories of how I crawled up my own arm and used my forelegs to cut open my skin.

´Well that answers the question of who the invading consciousness belongs to. ´I then start to skim through my memories and pick out the one which belong to the spider-worm thing.

From these memories I learn a great deal about my current location and how it ended up here.

´From the looks of it, this thing was originally a fusion of two mutated magical creatures, a spirit puppeteer spider and a parasitic spirit worm. ´I seriously scan through the memories with an unfamiliar patience.

The spirit puppeteer spider is a creature that can produce a web that catches even bodyless creatures and souls within. This particular spider has undergone a mutation which allowed it to use its spirit catching web to turn beings with a spirit/soul into puppets or marionettes connecting and control them with its spirit threads.

Its only glaring weakness was that it had a very weak body and all the threads originate from it, so it was rather easy to find it and kill it.

The parasitic spirit worm on the other hand is a nasty little thing which can invade the body and control it, it doesn't matter if the body is alive, dead or possess a spirit/soul, once it enters it will take complete control of the body, spirit and soul. What makes this thing even nastier than the spider is that it can produce more of itself which then work as a hive mind.

The weakness of this creature is that it can only produce more worms when it has parasitized a body and once it leaves this body, all the other worms die, but to survive it has to change host every two days because it survives by eating its hosts soul/spirit and once it has done so it needs to change body.

Each of them is already scarry on its own but on one fateful day these two met each other and because of their similar nature of taking control of their prey and being purely predatory beings with no other desire than to hunt, they fought and then fused with one another.

Giving birth to an extremely horrific being, the previous weakness of the spider was canceled out by the ability to posses a body with great endurance so that even when found it was still hard to kill, as for the worm, it lost the need to change host because it could now eat the souls from beings turned into marionettes directly through the spirit threads.

This new being then went on plague like rampage as it spreads its influence over a vast area till it got lured into this forest and sealed inside by a group that I suspect to be sorceress or druids.

Imprisoned inside this forest with only its own puppets and a low number of animals that were unlucky enough to be in the forest when it was sealed, the many beings which spider-worm thing controlled slowly died or rot away with time.

Without a new supply of prey, it could only go into a slumber to sustain itself.

And then the previous owner of this body came, it noticed her, tried to parasitize her by turning its long dead offspring worms into marionettes but it failed and the worms ate her soul within seconds killing her before she could come close enough to its main body.

Next, my soul took over the body and I made the mistake of coming down here where it then turned me into a marionette and started the process of making me its host.

Sadly, something went wrong when it was trying to take over my mind, and it perished in the fight.

´The only reason why I somehow managed to win was because it used its main body to parasitize me and it doesn't have any experience in fighting with the consciousness of a sapient being. Till now it only personally parasitizes big buffy animals which don't have much in the brain department.

Otherwise if it used its offspring, it wouldn't matter how many I defeat in a battle of the mind, there would always be more and slowly their remains would corrupt and taint my mind till I can't resist anymore.

All the while, my body would be controlled by the spirit threads of the main body which is in safe spot. ´Thinking about it now I truly realize how terrifying this creature which was only the size of my palm was, if not for its animalistic mind and dire situation it would be impossible to resist like I did.

Finished with reviewing my new memories I blink my eyes a few times and look around the dark expanse full of the rotten corpses of animals.

Surprisingly, my vision seems to have improved greatly and I could see clearly even in the darkness of this cave.

´Must be one of the benefits of fusing with a magical creature. ´I glance at my right arm and follow the winding lines from the spider tattoo on the back of my hand up the strange curled up worm on my shoulder.

´Its body fused with my body in a strange way, I am the main body giving me all the abilities of the spider-worm thing, like controlling spirit threads and parasitizing other creatures. But on the other hand, I'm also the host, allowing me to produce offspring parasitic worms.

Another benefit is that my need to eat the souls/spirit of others has fallen into an endless loop because I am the parasite and the host at the same time, causing me eating my own soul/spirit only to replenish myself by doing so. ´By now an evil smile has spread over my lips, form the looks of it I have become an even more terrifying being than the spider-worm thing.

I stop inspecting my right arm and instead look over the mess of bones and rotten flesh.

´Most of them have become fragile but I should still be able to get something out of it. ´With a wave of my right arm, thousands of thin white strings shoot out of my fingers, hand and forearm, flying into the mess on the cave expanse floor.

Shortly after, different bones and animal skins fly up, the bones start to assemble themselves, bound and connected by thine white strings.

The animal skins warp themselves around the 3-meter-tall abomination of animal bones hiding away most of it except for the stage skull who only has one horn.

I then dexterity move my fingers and the abomination out of animal bone raggedly starts to walk over to me.

´I never thought that my knowledge about how to make and control puppets would ever come to use in such a situation. ´I look up at my new creation, inspecting its yellowish white stage skull.

´But even with my knowledge of puppeteering it is not easy to move such a big thing. While simultaneously holding it together. ´I ponder for a while before I suddenly have an idea.

´What if I use parasites as nod points and connect the spirit threads to them, some are responsible for holding it together and others move the whole thing while I only have to control a single one that is connected to all the others. ´A strange feeling of excitement overcomes me as I come up with some more ideas.

When I finally made up my mind I didn't hesitate anymore.

Tens of blackish green and brown worms with bloody cracks on their body burrow their way out of my hand and arm, crawling along the white spirit threads over to the abomination of animal remains.

When they arrive, they split up and move to different parts of the body, I then connect each of them to some of the threads that hold the abomination together.

Thanks to the hive mind linkage between me and the individual parasites each one of them knows what they have to do.

I fully concentrate on netting every parasite together, making sure no thread was forgotten and no parasite has more threads connected to them than they could handle.

It is hard to tell the time inside a dark cave, so I wasn't sure how long it took form me to finish, but the end product was satisfying.

"I think it is appropriate to give you a name, how about Ethan? "Right after I said that I lament inside my head about how bad I was at coming up with names.

´It really doesn't matter, he is just a puppet controlled by a bunch of worms that are directly linked to my mind, so what does it matter? ´

I let out a sigh before letting my eyes wander over the rotten mess on the ground. There are no more intact bones or animal skins hidden within it, I used them all to make Ethan, so there is no need to remain any longer in this hole.

"Come on Ethan, lets leave this dirty cave and look around the forest a bit." With steady steps the 3-meter-tall bone abomination walks in the direction of the exit while I follow behind.

By now the sun has set and the nights embrace turned the fairytale like forest into a horror scene.

The bright pale light of the moon, creates long and deep shadows even in the middle of the night, giving one the feeling that there are untold dangers hidden within.

It is a lot less scarry for me, as my new night vision allows me to see through the shadows created by the moon and also, I know for a fact that there is nothing other than plants alive in the forest.

All the animals are inside the cave or next to me in the form of Ethan.

While looking at the seemingly endless forest which I now know is an illusion caused by the seal which surrounds this place, I recall that next to the cave, there is a pond with luminous water inside.

Walking over to the pond I once again inspect my reflection inside the clear water surface.

Not much has changed, except for the tattoo which runs up from the back of my right hand all the way to the side of my neck.

As I inspect my reflection, I notice that my blackish green eyes now give off a more primal feeling, as if a dangerous hunter is hiding inside.

´Hmm, this must be a side effect of my fusion with the spider-worm thing, I already noticed that I have changed greatly, for example, I no longer feel disgust at the sight of death nor do I have any reluctance at using animal corpses to make a marionette.´ After taking in my change, I look through my memories in search of any information about this pond.

Surprisingly it seems that when spider-worm thing went into its slumber this pond wasn't around.

This brings up a whole bunch of questions, with the main one being, what is it?

I look over to Ethan and without saying a word, he separates one of his bones and hands it over to me before walking down the hill to the forest to gather some branches and plants.

With the bone in my hand I crouch next to the pond and dip the tip of the bone in the luminous water.

Nothing happens and I pull the bone out again patiently observing the now wet tip of the bone.

´There is no immediate reaction to biological matter, maybe it's because it isn't alive anymore or it wasn't exposed for long enough. ´

I shift my eyes from the bone to a peddle at the edge of the pond, it is half submerged into the water.

´This peddle should have been exposed to the liquid for a long time, maybe it shows some abnormalities. ´

With this thought I stand back up after laying the bone onto the ground while making sure no to touch the wet end of the bone.

With careful steps I walk over to the peddle and intently stare at it.

It was then that Ethan returns with a bunch of different sized branches, plants, leaves and some dirt.

He takes two thin branches that are similar in length and hands them over to me.

I take them and use them to pinch the peddle that was half submerged into the pond and lift it up.

With squinted eyes I observe the peddle intently but ultimately fail to see anything abnormal.

Without letting this result bringing down my mood, I proceed to dip different plants into the water and laying them out on a big stone with a flat surface.

Next, I use the same plants again but place instead them half submerged in the pond.

I continue to do all sorts of things in hopes to gain a better understanding of the luminous liquid inside the pond.

A strange feeling deep in my mind is silently telling me that this liquid is very strange and even dangerous.

Motivated by this small voice at the back of my mind I dig out small channels surrounded by earth of the forest and plant different things in it, planning to observe if there is any change to the plants if the grow in close proximity.

While I was doing this, Ethan wanders around the forest scouting the terrain and collecting some wood, which I intend to use to make wooden puppets as there are no animals or even intact remains left to make more of them.

After finishing all the test which wield immediate results, I start to collect some rocks which I then hammer against each other to sharpen them.

I need a sharp object to carve the wood that Ethan brough into functionating puppets or else even when connected with spirit threads and controlled by parasite worms they won't be able to move fluently.

I soon sink into a state where I always have something to do, be it observing the developments of the experiments concerning the luminous liquid or carving puppets and marionettes out of wood.

This trance goes on and the number of marionettes around the hill increases, groups of four to five walk around the forest and search for any possible fracture of weakness in the seal, while others went back into the cave and started to dig down with two goals, first, dig underneath the seal and find a way out, second, unearth possible useful resources which are hidden underground.

I get more and more proficient in handling the spirit threads and parasites, also the puppets I create become more detailed and complex.

When the number of puppets reaches forty, I stop making more and go over the results of the research about the luminous water.

´From everything I could gather till now, it doesn't have and direct effect on nonliving things, including plants. There is a high chance that it has more prominent effects on animals, insects or humans, but I'm still very unwilling to test its myself. ´I rub my chin while thinking.

´I could try to throw one of my parasite worms inside, but they are still connected to me through the hive mind link, so I fear that it will still affect me. ´I squint my eyes.

´Maybe I can try to find a way to separate individual parasite worms from the hive mind and then use them as test subjects. This will need a deeper research on my own abilities which will benefit me either way. ´A small satisfied smile spreads over my lips and I go bac to work.

But before I can begin, I get a notification from one of the groups wandering around the edges of the forest.

They found an illusory vortex between two big trees.

´This sounds awfully like some kind of gate. It is fairly close to the seal, but at the same time it isn't connected to it so I'm not sure if it where it could lead. ´I hum for a bit thinking about if I should let my puppets cross the gate or first proceed with my research concerning my abilities.

Then I realize that I don't know if I could even cross the gate, so I use one of my marionettes in place to throw random stuff through the gate.

The random stones, branches and dirt effortlessly pass through the gate and disappear, but when I try to extend one of my spirit threads through the gate, it collides with an invisible resistance.

´Objects and plants can pass through, but things with or out of spiritual energy will be met with resistance. I can try to send out messages, but the problem there is that I don't know if they can understand what I write. ´Another minute of brooding silently I come up with a simple plan.

Pictures.

I'll send pictures over, but for that I will have to prepare stone plates or try to figure out how to make paper.

With something new on the table, I order some of the puppets digging underground to prepare some stone tablets, while working on finding a way to separate an individual parasite worm form the hive mind link.

The research on my abilities is slow as I have hardly any understanding of the concept of spirit and soul, without any test subjects except myself I'm literally trying to dig a tunnel through a mountain with a spoon.

Ethan, the abomination out of animal bones and skin walks out of the cave, carrying seven stone tablets, each six centimeters thick sixty long and forty wide.

I glance at the three-meter-tall bone monster and sigh at the clear signs of decay, his stag skull was now completely yellow and lots of his bones I already had to replace with wood.

With a wave of my hand Ethan moves back into the cave leaving the seven stone tablets behind.

I reach out my left hand and a single spirit thread shoots out, I then pull back and a crude stone chisel flies over, pulled by the spirit thread.

With the right tools at hand I start to draw simple pictures on the stone tablet.

On the first tablet I draw a woman on a hill with some trees around it and a swirl between two of these trees.

On the second I try to draw a scene which explains how the woman tries to enter the swirl but fails.

The third one shows how the woman is working on stone tablets, with the fourth showing how she throws them into the swirl.

In the center of the fifth tablet I make a big swirl where the tablets fallout.

The sixth one features some men and woman without facial features finding the tablets and reading them.

And on the seventh they all hold hands and reach into the swirl behind which the woman takes hold of the hand that reaches into the swirl.

´Well, I hope this will be enough to bring over the message of me needing help from outside. ´I mutter and bring one of my wooden puppets over to carry the seven stone tablets to the vortex near the edge of the forest.

´Now that I actually had to work with stone tablets I don't want to do it again, as luck might have it, I run into a corner in researching my abilities and nothing else is urgent enough so lets try to make some paper. ´

I let some of my puppets cut down trees and shred the wood into thine pieces, as my research of the luminous pond has confirmed that to nonliving things there is no danger, I use it as a water source for my paper creation.

As a magical creature I don't have to eat or drink anything other than souls/spirits, but my convenient endless loop of continuously eating myself has that covered, so Im not forced to drink from the pond.

Other than trying to make paper out of wood I also try to make it out of some other plants, but I gave up on that rather fast.

The first few tries of course end in failure, I have never tried something like this, so I didn't expect to succeed so easily.

But after my fusion with the spider-worm thing I changed a lot, one of the things that changed is my sense of time.

Without the need to eat, drink or sleep I try to occupy myself with whatever reaches my hands, the obvious loneliness might also play a role in me trying to not give myself time to think too deeply about my current situation, but that is something for another time.

After many tries and an additionally project where I created fire so as to dry the wet paper faster, by making my puppets try out all the different kind of fire making techniques that know of, I finally got some rough sheets of paper in front of me.

´Now that I have paper, I only need something to write with. I could use coal from the fire, but the paper is rather fragile so another solution may be appropriate.

Skimming through the forest with my puppets and some parasite worms I collect many different berries and some flowers.

With the help of crude stone tools, I stamp all the similar colored berries into a pulp and add some water to the mix before placing it next to the fire.

I'm purely improvising, but with the standard amount of knowledge and logical thinking of a citizen coming from the information age, the results aren't too bad.

I do something similar with the flowers and even try it with ash and grounded charcoal.

The results vary greatly but it works in the end rather good, next step is making a better pen than just using a stick.

For this I first go into the cave in hopes of finding some dead birds whose feathers I might be able to use, but they were either to small or already rotten.

Next, I try to carve a spiraling groove into a stick so that more ink remains on it, the effect was only okay, but it was good enough for me at the moment.

Now with the required things to draw and write I let myself go for a bit and start writing down my research about the pond, my abilities and the area.

While I was doing this, my puppets are busy to make more paper and ink while also replanting the needed plants to make sure that in case of an extended stay the material don't run out.

If the spider-worm thing had done this with the animals trapped in the forest with it then it would have been in a much better position, but it is too late for that now.

Anyway, by now the puppet which carried the seven stone tablets has long pushed them through the vortex and is waiting there together with two other puppets and some parasite worms.

It is then that there appeared a sudden change in the illusory vortex, it bulges outwards as if something is trying to get in.

As soon as the puppets on duty notice this they inform me about it and I immediately drop my pen and rush over with half of my puppets including Ethan.

While running through the forest on direct course to the vortex I continue to observe the changes in the gate through the eyes of the parasite worms near it.

What happens next can only be accurately described as, the gate vomited out, a boy which then promptly crashes onto the ground.

I lift an eyebrow at the comical sight of the boy rolling three to four times before he finally stops.

The boys age is around 14-15 and he has dark brown hair that is wildly standing off in all directions, his body is of rather light color and he has a surprisingly amount of muscles.

As for his clothing… rags would be the most appropriate, dirty and torn, revealing some scares on his skin.

´He looks like a beggar; I somehow doubt that he even looked at the stone tablets I sent over. If this is the case then he must have been in a hurry and accidentally entered the vortex or deliberately entered it to escape. ´While I am pondering, the boy managed to get up and now looks at his new surroundings.

He is clearly scared and exhausted, but he still vigilantly observes the forest around him, thanks to that he immediately notices the three wooden puppets standing not too far away.

"%&()?/%!!" He shouts.

Not understanding a word, he said, my mood dumps a bit as this means I will have to learn this new language.

I don't like learning languages, that's just a personal thing that I don't like.

Arriving near the gate and the boy who just prepared to bolt into the woods I whistle to gain his attention.

The boy turns his head and directly looks at me, I haven't been able to wash myself since arriving here as the only water source was the glowing pond so I look rather dirty, but from the expression on the face of the boy not too far away, it doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

He looks absolutely smitten with me as his mouth flops open and he wordlessly stares at me.

´This reaction seems a bit extreme, is it my exotic look or are the woman outside just not nearly as ascetical appealing as I? ´I think while slowly approaching the boy.

I already thought about turning him into a marionette and then parasitize him to absorb his mind or keep him as a test subject for multiple experiments which require a living being.

While I think about what I should do with the boy, he finally gathers his thoughts again, but then he does something that I haven't expected.

He boldly marshes up to me, leans over and starts to speak in a voice which makes it very clear that he is trying to flirt with me.

I blankly look at his childish face which is good half a head lower than mine and is trying hard to look seductive, my mind races trying figure out how to proceed from here on.

´If the world outside the seal is in an era similar to the medieval times I know of then it is highly possible that this brat is already considered a full adult by their standards, so trying to flirt with girls shouldn't be too strange. ´With an explanation at hand I quickly calm down and reach out with my left arm.

The boy looks puzzled for a moment before a hint of fear flashes past his eyes when my fingers close around his neck.

Before he can try to pry my hand of his throat, thin white strings warp around him and pierce his skin.

I rapidly turn him into a marionette but leave his head untouched.

Frozen in place and unable to move, the fear in the eyes of the boy becomes more prominent and he starts to plea.

Unable to understand what he says I bring Ethan over, which silences the boy immediately.

The three-meter-tall animal bone and skin abomination effortlessly grabs the boy and throws him over his shoulder.

Together with Ethan and the boy we walk back to the hill with some of the puppets I brough with me, the rest of them remains near the gate in case more come through.

The whole way back, the boy remained silent and only looks around the forest without attempting to escape.

´I'm gonna try and acquire as much information from him without absorbing his mind as I can. This will still require me parasitizing him so it's better to restrict him and I'm absolutely not gonna do it myself. ´The sole reason as to why I managed to defeat the spider-worm thing was because it tried to parasitize me personally, so I obviously want to avoid that.

Once we arrive at the hill, Ethan roughly places the boy with his back to a rock, maliciously standing at the side.

I sit down directly in front of the boy which is fearfully glancing back and forth between me and Ethan.

Not caring about what the brat is feeling at the moment I lift one of my palms close to my face.

´I need to make sure that I fully control the parasite before I let it into the boy's body, or it will possibly eat his whole soul which I don't want to happen. ´Soon a blackish green and brown worm with bloody cracks on its body burrows out of the skin in my palm and curls up inside it.

The boy blankly stares at the worm in my palm, trying to process the current situation.

With a light twitch of my fingers I connect the parasite worm with some spirit threads turning it into marionette, freezing its mind and instinct so that it doesn't act without my permission.

'Good, now to the next part. 'I glance up from the worm and directly lock eyes with the boy.

He stares back for a moment before he realizes what I'm planning to do.

With erratic movements he desperately tries to distance himself from my open palm.

"Don't worry boy, it won't hurt much." I say with a calming smile showing him my two empty palms.

The boy looks confused for a moment when suddenly all focus left his eyes and he no longer resists.

'Hmm, parasite worms don't need to enter through any body opening, skin contact is enough.' With that I close my eyes and focus on controlling my marionette parasite.

Soon I find myself in a strangely illusory place.

'This should be his mind, not too impressive from the looks of it.' I look at the glowing sea which represents the boys consciousness.