the centipede final act

He woke up, again, he was in pain. This time it was the pain of craving becoming yearning becoming a need becoming an ignored necessity. His arms felt heavier than they had, for that matter, his entire body felt heavier. It also felt that he had lost some of the control he had originally gained.

He thought about going back into salamanders hall, but he didn't know if that was the right course of action for him. What he really needed now was water, any more days without it and it could spell the end. He decided to stand up for the first time in days, in the real world at least.

He fell down instantly after he had stood up.

He didn't have the power to balance himself properly or the mental capacity. He laid down defeated, if he was going to find water he would do so crawling. After mentally preparing himself for the torture he was about to go through he went back to the salamander's hall.

He walked back to the anxiety-ridden door and opened it. He found himself at the exact same spot as before. In a plain with an Ice ball in front of him.

He started the challenge like before: he warmed himself up using his ability, he crushed the ice and then used his hands to melt the ice.

Whilst he was melting the ice he saw the water that dripped out of his hands, it looked so delicious, so smooth, so appealing and really attractive. He took a small ice cube and chucked it into his mouth. It was painful but it was even more satisfying to taste a liquid. He dealt with it, and before the test had ended he had finished the ice inside his mouth. He chucked another piece and sucked on it.

Before he knew it, there was only one ice cube left. Just as he was about to melt it, the timer had run out and he was sent back to the floor. Alexander had craved water for such a long time, he had gotten it, only to let it get ripped away from him. For the first time ever in his life, he felt a bit of despair.

However, that was not all he felt, his will to live had not given up on him yet. He returned to the hall. When he was inside of the hall he was able to access his full mental power. He was struck with an idea, the salamander had said use your body to complete it, not only his hands. He had used his mouth and that was completely fine, maybe if he used his thighs as well it would be quicker.

He entered the test, did everything he had done previously. This time, however, he chucked ice into his mouth. He put ice between his thighs, he grabbed ice that he could fully cover with his hand. He also put some ice in his armpit which hurt like hell.

After a mere 15 seconds, everything had melted.

"How could such a stupid sub-entity capture me," the salamander said, strangely, with a sense of poise.

Alexander did not even bat an eyelid towards that statement. He felt a sense of euphoria from succeeding. Before he could celebrate further he was ripped back into the real world. Again, he thought about his hands having a flame on them and it happened. his entire hand was surrounded in a flame, and it didn't hurt Alexander at all.

Moreover, he felt that he had gained more of his mind back. He tried standing up, he succeeded, he tried walking, he failed.

The thirst had deprived his senses too much.

His forehand ability gave him a light source similar to that of a torch. It was enough to light about one meter away from him. He started crawling towards a random direction, but he crawled in a straight line.

His old friend wouldn't let him go that easily though. From behind him, he heard the same small repeated steps. He turned his direction towards the direction he had heard the steps form. The steps continued to approach Alexander, Alexander's eyes were wide open staring towards that area.

Then it exited the darkness and went into the light produced from the fire hands. Its huge mandible was the first thing he saw; they were vivid and sharp. Underneath them he saw the centipedes mouth, it had two large pitch-black eyes, on it sides were multiple long legs that looked as if they were made out of metal, they shined from the fire.

It silently looked at him. It's intent was clear though, "what a pleasant surprise, a free meal". It took a aggressive position by rushing straight at Alexander. A centipedes attack strategy would be to quickly reach its prey and dig its legs into its prey to restrict it before biting into it.

Alexander wasn't scared, nor was he worried. Desperation brings out the primal self hiding within us, Alexander leaped at the centipede. The centipede wanted to get close to Alexander, in its eyes this simply helped achieve its goals.

This was a huge mistake. Alexander leaped his hands towards the centipedes eyes like a praying mantis. Alexander grabbed its juicy black eyes and he put all his energy into burning them apart. The centipede stopped, it was going through mind shattering pain. It started screeching, "stop, stop, I give up, please, stop" , Alexander didn't stop. The centipede shrieked so loud that it reverberated throughout the entire cave. Nature played a survival of the fittest game, the centipede had lost, it was simply a bad loser.

Alexander kept on burning its eyes until they didn't exist, then he burned through its brain. The centipede stopped shrieking, but it's legs seemingly still moved, the centipedes muscle memory was separated from the brain.

Alexander saw green blood leaking from its incarcerated head. His mind which was fully functioning on instincts instantly started slurping it up.

Only when the entire centipede was drained out of blood was Alexander finished. Then he started cooked the meat using his hands and ate it. Alexander started regaining his lost humanity. He looked at the scene which had played out in front of him, he wasn't disgusted with himself at all. In his mind he had to do it, and there was no further reasoning.

Afterall, when you are truly hungry everything tasted great, and when your thirsty any liquid would do. Alexander was slightly worried however, the blood of a centipede had to have some sort of consequences.

Alexander decided to not think about that any further, he was feeling better by the second. He decided to rest a bit, the fight had been mentally straining.

After he had rested, Alexander stood up and tried to walk. This time he had succeed, now all he had to do was find a way out of this hellhole.

Little did Alexander know that there was giant spiders, venomous snakes, and other evil beasts waiting for him to give them a shot. They had all heard the shriek, whilst some shrivelled, others had gotten excited.