Devil's Chosen

Discovery

The darkness swallowed me and the creatures; the part of the cave I had once been in now disappeared, replaced by the endless black. Now that I had been freed from the monsters, I felt my body begin to regenerate at a constant rate, patching the many holes the monsters had left in me.

My legs shuddered as the bones started to heal the cracks left after realigning themselves. In my vision, the walls flew by in an instant, giving me no time to search them. A gust of wind flew past me, sending a cold breeze through my body. Falling through the air, I watched as jagged rocks began to appear on the cave walls, creating massive, deadly obstacles.

The monsters that had fallen with me screeched in horror, flailing their spiked legs out, trying to cling onto something. The ones near the walls were unlucky, as they crashed into the jagged protrusions. With their weak bone density, the creature basically exploded upon contact, soaking the rocks in black goo that sizzled and burned.

Some tried to grab onto the rock wall, but with the momentum we were travelling at, their legs snapped like sticks, causing them to wail in agony. Eventually, the remaining beasts had perished, flattened against the hard rocks. I myself floated through the middle of the giant hole, flying down towards the bottom without encountering a single obstacle.

The rush of falling made my heart race, and my chest grow hot. I felt terror, as I had no idea when the floor would arrive, or if I'd even live to get back up once it did. The darkness below seemed to go on forever, although I knew that was not true; there had to be an end. With the amount of time that I had been falling, I was sure the bottom was near.

My mind raced, realizing that my speed was too great, that if I encountered the ground now, I would most certainly end up like one of those creatures, a broken corpse, or worse, a splatter of blood and flesh. I could end up as another cave monster's food if I died, or worse, be converted into one of those mindless beasts.

As I thought, I looked upon the jagged rocks that stuck out of the walls, giving me an idea. If I ran into those, yes, it would hurt a lot, maybe even rip off a limb, but it would slow me down enough to the point where contact with the ground wouldn't kill me!

I needed to trust that Demonic Regeneration lvl 4, and Pain Nullification lvl 3, could get me through this, because if I passed out or lost mobility in all my limbs, I would most likely meet my end.

Fuck... this is going to hurt.

I pushed my weight forward, sending my body drifting towards the nearest wall. Once I got close enough to where the jagged rocks would be without being too close to the wall, I pulled back, evening myself out and continuing a direct descent. I focused directly below me, using my skill Heightened Perception lvl 4, to help locate the next protrusion. Each meter mattered because once I saw the rock, there would be only a few seconds at most to adjust to it.

I flexed my eyes, straining them to see maybe just a few centimetres lower, and after a few moments, a rock appeared. It was bigger than expected, which meant I had to lean back to avoid smashing my head against it. A mere second after I saw the rock, I brought all my weight backwards, causing my body to tilt and drift slightly.

The adjustments seemed perfect, and as the rock got closer, my hands reached out to meet it. Time felt like it had frozen as I made contact with the stone, my eyes locking on my arms, which began to bend unnaturally. They turned purple instantly, and my skin ripped as the bones shot out. I felt my mind go blank for a second as it registered the pain.

My vision began to flip as the impact with the solid object sent me spinning. The speed of the flip almost made me lose control, but thankfully, it only disoriented me. Looking at my disfigured arms, I saw the true damage that had been caused.

My right arm was bent completely backwards, with a bone sticking out of the side, blood dripping from multiple cuts and ruptures. Even where the arm wasn't directly impacted, my beautiful skin had been turned a dark purple, showing deep internal bleeding.

While my right was mangled, my left arm faired much worse; it had snapped in multiple places, bones tearing through the skin, whole pieces of flesh were missing, and on my forearm, a whole chunk was gone, leaving my wrist to dangle, only being attached by a few ruptured tendons and muscles.

My hands faired no better, both being completely ruined, fingers snapped, and hot blood dripped down from parts of the skin that had been torn.

Looking at the destruction, my brain struggled to comprehend it. The pain had not yet registered, but as I looked upon my ruined extremities, a scream erupted from my mouth. The c*****e was terrible, and as thoughts rushed through my mind, the pain finally came. I cried out as it did; the pain was so excruciating that I thought I was going to die from just experiencing it.

I convulsed mid-air, shaking in pure agony. I screamed for relief, but it did not come. I could feel Demonic Regeneration lvl 4, trying its best to heal me, but the process was extremely slow due to the severity of the damage. My cries echoed as I fell, creating a cacophony of pure torment in the air. I knew that Pain Nullification lvl 3, was reducing the pain by a lot, but it was not enough; it still felt as if I was being tortured.

I closed my eyes, trying to will the pain away, but it was to no avail. As they reopened, the purple box had appeared in front of me, staying perfectly still as I fell.

Pain Nullification lvl 3-> 4

I grunted as the skill increased in level, reducing the pain by a small margin, but not making a real difference in the level of pain I was feeling. With a pained expression plastered on my face, I tried to focus on what I needed to do.

I looked over my shoulder, down below, another rock appeared. I gaped as I knew what I needed to do; my speed had decreased when I used my arms, but it had begun to pick up again as I descended. With my back now facing down, and my arms completely out of commission, I fought through the agony and pushed my still-injured legs out towards the incoming rock.

With a loud bang, I had flipped myself over once again, my face now looking back at the ground. The impact's shock caused me to yell out. My arms moved slightly, which caused me excruciating pain once again. While dealing with the pain in my arms, I looked over my stomach and down towards my legs. I saw that they were destroyed as well.

My left leg bent upward, with my ankle being completely detached from the bone, and my heel now turned into a lump of red flesh. The skin had ripped fully in areas where muscles shouldn't have possibly extended; the only thing keeping my foot from falling off was the tendons, which somehow hadn't been destroyed.

My right leg fared much better, with only my thigh having a massive bone sticking out of it alongside a completely ruptured foot. My veins on both legs bulged to great sizes as they tried to find a way to pump blood through portions of my legs that did not exist, only to end up clotting and bursting like dams.

The pain entered my brain with a fury. I thought that my arms had it bad, but I was completely mistaken. I could feel every little splinter of bone in my leg. Every little movement caused me to wail in agony, and the worst part of the entire thing was that as my eyes fogged up, the thing I had been looking for finally appeared in my vision, the ground...

I plummeted towards it; my speed was now half of what it had been, but with the injuries that I had sustained, I did not know if I could take the impact of the ground. I couldn't stick my arms out to brace myself, I couldn't use my legs to absorb the impact, because if I did, I am pretty sure I would no longer have any legs to use afterwards, so there was only one thing to do: wait and believe that luck was on my side.

As the floor got closer, I clenched my body and shut my eyes. With a loud crash, my body made contact with the hard floor. My already destroyed limbs snapped more, and blood flowed faster than before, gushing from old and new wounds. I felt my face cave in slightly, and my teeth shatter from the impact, my left eye popped from the pressure, and the sensation of hot liquid started to drip beneath my right.

Below, my ribs were shattered, and my right lung collapsed due to the impact. I tried to cry out, but my throat had been ruined as well. I felt my body start to fail, as more of my blood started to pool beneath me. My ears rang, but I could slightly hear the sound of sizzling as my body began to descend deeper as the stone melted away.

With a long, shallow breath, my mind went blank, and the world went black.

My mind flickered as I dreamed, from images of the leviathan that I faced in the ocean of blood, to the disgusting flying creatures that descended upon me once I had finally escaped, to the horde of monsters that nearly crushed me inside this hellish cave.

Then they flickered again, now to my injuries, my snapped leg, my body when it was corroded and infected, even when I watched as a creature implanted itself inside me and began to dissolve my flesh from the inside out. When I was stabbed and bitten a hundred times. And after, while I was falling, I used my own limbs as cushions to slow my fall.

The images were horrid; they made my very soul quake, but they were what made me. They were my experiences and my adversities; they were the challenges that I had to overcome.

My mind flickered again, dimming as the scene changed. I saw my siblings, the ones who I watched die, and the ones who I had no idea if they had escaped the flying monsters. From my bull brother's face, to my dog brother, to my red-eyed sister that I had killed... Then, to my dark-skinned sister, who was the only reason I got a chance to live.

Finally, the image in my head changed once more, and the person I saw was beautiful, with gorgeous white hair and pale skin tinged with a red hue. A bright smile plastered across their face, no dimples, no imperfections, just pure honest joy. They radiated an aura of beauty and strength, even though, in their heart, they had experienced so much pain.

The person looked at me, golden eyes staring deep into my soul. And that person... The person I saw was me...

With a loud gasp, my eyes snapped open. I could only see out of my right eye, as the left side of my vision was completely blank. I could not move, and it hurt to breathe; all I could do was lie still and wait for my body to heal.

Hours passed, maybe even days, but each second throughout was agonizing. I waited, and as I did, I felt every little change. The feeling of bones snapping back together, skin reaching itself, repairing whole tears, and completely regrowing certain areas. The feeling of flesh hardening and sticking together with chunks that had fallen completely off the bone. I felt my ankle and wrist gravitate back towards their proper position, eventually even ending up in the perfect position to heal.

As time passed, my vision slowly began to improve, from outlines to a blur, to eventually perfect sight. I felt the tendons throughout my body regrow and snap into place. I felt as my lungs began to fill like a balloon, no longer causing me pain from each breath I took. My organs finally rested as my ribs snapped and regrew, restoring their defence.

New teeth grew in my mouth, pushing old, broken ones out, and as I gained the strength, I spat out the ones which had found a home in the back of my throat. I felt my face push out slightly, compressing my head. As it did, my brain rumbled, as it took back the space that had been stolen from it.

Finally, after so much waiting, so much pain, I had healed, I had survived the fall, and from it I had grown even stronger.

Pain Nullification lvl 4-> 6

Demonic Regeneration lvl 4->7

One With Acid lvl 1->2

My skills have improved from the torment I endured. Since I had been through so much pain, Pain Nullification levelled up, and because the wounds on my body were so severe, and the amount of them was so high, Demonic Regeneration increased as well.

Those were obvious upgrades, but the real surprise was that One With Acid increased as well! As I looked at where I lay on the stone floor, I realized why it had. I was lying in a hole larger than my entire body, and which was also at least a meter deep. My blood had dug so deep into the cave floor that the skill had gone up in one whole level!

I closed the notifications and took a long, deep breath.

I had done it, I survived.

I hesitated for a moment before slowly moving my arms; they felt slow and heavy, but other than a little irritation, the pain had completely vanished! Next, I moved my legs and pushed myself to stand up. Once I did, I almost toppled over in exhaustion, my eyes going blurry for a second.

I wheezed as I caught my breath, letting myself adjust to the sensation of standing once again. With a loud thump, I put my arms on the side of the hole that my blood created and pulled myself out. Once I had left the hole, a strange sight appeared in my vision.

What stood before was not a cave, but instead a giant stone door...