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As it stood, self-awareness was completely useless, but I didn't care. I asked Hazel, the brown-haired beer-gutted fellow to carry me over to the trees. I couldn't believe it, I was seeing it in its entirety, from the trunk all the way up to the leaves. It was truly fantastic, but there remained a lingering question.
"Hey, Hazel. One more thing before we move on," I explained my curiosity about how this affected my exterior appearance.
"Sure, let me turn you—oh my God!" I fell to the ground and hit again without a defense boost.
"It's just as I feared—"
"You have eyeballs popping out of your head!"
I figured as much. With all of my previous abilities being internal modifications, (though I don't believe I grew lungs to speak) it was a tunning question on how external changes would mutate a rock's physic. Now. "At least tell me what color they are."
"Oh God," he glanced between his fingers for a moment. "They're beautiful baby blues but don't look good on you!" His voice muffled once more as he recovered his face.
It was then that I realized that Self-Awareness wasn't entirely useless, but I refused its final use. I just couldn't bring myself to lay witness to the horror I had become.
#
"Moving on," I said. Enough time had passed after all. Hazel was either going to keep the fistful of nuts and berries in his stomach or not; enough gagging. "Now that it has been proven a fact that my body is capable of gaining appendages, our focus has been made clear."
"We have to grow your pe—"
"Woah! Twenty steps too many, Hazel!" though he had just brought up a genuine concern involving the gender assignment of a rock. "No, instead of that, we are now tasked with something far more crucial. We must grow my limbs."
From the look on Hazel's face, it seemed he had just witnessed the rise of Frankinstein's monster for the first time, though I doubt that tale has yet to be told in this world, neither film nor book. Curiously, the man's face changed to his previous of holding back rising bile. Hopefully, they don't have zombies in this strange land either.
#
We had thought for a long while but nothing came of the time spent lazily listening to the water hit the banks, but I was thankful to have Hazel by my side. If not for him, I would have surely returned to my true state: a measly rock. But with my newfound partner, it didn't come to that... and now I'm kind of hoping it never does.
"Where do you think we should start anyway?" he said. I assumed his mind had wandered so far he had forgotten the objective.
"Well, I believe it would be beneficial for both of us to have arms and legs for travel and combat. Do you not agree?"
He waved his hands before picking me off of his stomach, "No, I agree that'd be more than helpful on a journey of unknowing perils. What I'm referring to is our destination. It might do us some good to travel in the direction of our destination."
Truer words had never been spoken. For someone liable to lose a sword, Hazel seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Speaking of which. "What about your lost blade? If we leave now, we may never find it. Now that I have eyes—"
"Forget about it," he said with a cold tone and a far gaze over the horizon. "If I'm leaving with you, I won't need it anyway."
"Are you sure, man?" The words of confirmation came, but he looked as if he were a man who just changed the course of his entire life. With an invisible nod, I indulged his request.
But... where should we start?
I hadn't a clue. All we had to go off of was the memories provided by Recall, and what good were those? They covered millennia on top of millennia. Boulders, war, a plaything, a stone in a wall. The only clue we had was the fairy who possibly redirected my soul or something, but even that was a guess and could land us at a dead-end all the same.
"What about the top of the cliff?" Hazle said, pointing upwards. "Didn't you say you were kicked from there by some frisky hikers?"
No! Do not speak of it! The dreaded cliff!
I didn't ever want to think about that terrible place again. However, Hazel seemed to be on a winning streak of good points being made. If the ledge was the last place I saw the fairy, that'd be the best and honestly, the only place to start.
With an audible sigh, I asked, "Did you bring your hiking gear?"
"No."
"Have you ever hiked before?"
"No."
Ah! He's impossible!
We had no choice, we would need to obtain some food for the fleshy being with a stomach.
- Writer
