Devouring the Neverglades: (Beta Version) Chapter 13

I ended up writing down everything I learned while waiting for my spell to end naturally. The length of time for my transformation was kind of important, you know?

But the longer that went on the more I noticed it was sticking around for a long time.

An hour later, long after messing around learning how to write with my goofy ass evil fingers I checked it. Looking at my fingers and just…

They were still alien digits. They hadn’t actually reverted. Like at all. I felt it out, the spell circle was still there. Still sort of active I could feel it swirling around, holding the spell… Structure? Together even still.

But… It wasn’t really burning mana. In fact the mana my fingers seemed to naturally pull in was seemingly fueling the spell circle quite well. 

I think… Even fighting against the pull of the bucket next to me, I was still pulling in enough mana to stay transformed.

Or maybe the transformation didn’t actually cost any mana once it was completed?

The mana that slipped into my digits… I couldn’t really tell what happened to it. Yet it was definitely happening.

Hmm. Okay. Fine. I’m fairly certain there wasn’t really a time limit. I could transform and stay that way for a while.

I looked at the bucket, the bucket holding enough mana that… Probably would let me fully transform.

What would I become?

Well, actually I looked at my fingers, I had an idea of what I would become. Horror movie monsters probably weren’t good choices usually, but at the same time… Better that, then some tentacle monster.

No wait, I stood up and brushed myself off having been rather focused on everything for a while. I checked the door and found Old Man William still waiting inside. Working at his desk, but he was obviously here to check on me.

“Well… It worked.” I opened with, and he rose out of his chair and walked over. I kept my hand out of view for now.

“You seem normal?” He teased me. “But I think I can see the monster parts.”

“Mean!” I laughed at his words and stuck my tongue but then I got a bit awkward. “I only have my fingers transformed for now. It’s safe. I’m going to try a full transformation too, but I figured I should…” I shrugged and slowly pulled my hand out from around the door and showed my fingers.

William took a step back seemingly without thought at the sight. 

“That’s! You… You said you’re okay?”

“Yep! I can cancel the transformation whenever I want. But it seems kinda permanent otherwise. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m absorbing mana from the air, or if it’-Well…” I stopped rambling and shook myself. “That’s not important.”

“Right, right…” He sort of walked forward faux casually as he came up to examine my hand. “

“Ah. Don’t touch it… I don’t know if there is something dangerous about it.” I pulled back as he got a bit too close.

“Still worried about that? I thought you said it was safe?” He asked, looking me in the eye and I looked away. 

“Safe for me.”

“Well… You should test it.” He decided and I realized that was probably a good idea. “You’ve got a croc right there.”

“Wha-! I can’t do that! What if it kills Bitey!”

I was given a very flat look and felt like I should start sweating. “But… I can test it on him and make sure it’s safe for people, because he’s just a monster.”

“You can’t keep him.”

“I know.”

“Do you still need him for your research?”

“Probably… Not.”

“Alright. You’re a responsible girl Victoria.”

“Yes sir.” I pouted a bit but willed myself back up and turned to the enclosure. Bitey was still hiding in the water, but it wasn’t deep enough, and I’d played this game. With a bit of work distracting him with one hand, I snapped forward my eldritch fingers wrapped around the back of his head so he couldn't bite me, and pulled him out.

Then I held him. My fingers touching him to see, and…

Nothing happened. He wiggled and hissed in my grip, but there was no melting or anything. I guess only the raw mana had that effect?

I relaxed as I held him for a bit before nodding. 

“It’s fine.” I felt confident. Nothing weird was happening and Bitey was grumpy at being picked up but not any more than he always was.

I settled Bitey back into the Enclosure and he opened his mouth to do a cute little hiss at me, as he fought his way back into the water to hide.

“I don’t think he likes you.”

“I called him Bitey for a reason.” I agreed and then looked at my hand. Despite the fact it was a literal horrorshow. It felt fine.

It was a little numb, but more like wearing gloves than having a distorted body. 

“Want to touch?” I offered and Old Man William looked at my offered fingers for a minute before seeming to make his own decision. 

“Alright, let’s see.” He reached out and his hands touched my fingers and I shivered, because while my fingers were slightly numb they still had feeling and it was weird. 

“Hmm. A little cold, but I don’t feel anything weird.”

“I do.” I muttered, shivering and pulling my hand away, so uncomfortable I even wiped my hand on my shirt which didn’t seem to help. “That was weird. It felt-” I looked at my hand at the mana that was slowly trickling in.

“Vicky?”

“I think you were stopping the mana in the air from reaching my hand and I felt it. Felt weird.”

“Huh. That going to be a problem?”

“Well as long as I’m not touching anyone I don’t think so. I didn’t feel it with Bitey.” Hmm. Another question.

“So what now?”

“I.. Don’t know. I was kinda hoping this transformation would have a bit more… Purpose? Use?” I mentioned looking at my fingers. “Then again, I’m not fully transformed, maybe something will change?”

“Hmm. Maybe hold off on that? I don’t think I want to get everyone used to whatever… You’ll look like.”

“Okay. I can store the bucket of mana for now, and… Well I guess if I show everyone while it’s just my hand everyone will calm down.”

“For now at least.” He agreed, and then looked at Bitey. “Gives you some time to deal with the croc. Eat it, or release it.”

“I know.” I agreed a bit petulantly, at least William knew I wasn’t really planning on killing Bitey. “I’ll… Get him ready to go.”

“Alright.”

—--

“Eeeew!” Sammy squealed as I wiggled my fingers at him. 

“Huehuehue! Evil claw is going to get youuuu!” 

“Stop it! Vicky!” Sammy jerked back as I skittered my hand across the table towards him. “Nooo!”

“Enough tormenting the poor boy.” Mama demanded from beside me, although she was watching me with a side eye as well.

“Okay, sorry Sammy.” I told him as I pulled my hand back. 

He just shivered as I brought my hand back. 

“Does it hurt? It looks like it hurts.”

“Nope. Actually, it doesn’t really feel like anything, just cold.” I told Sammy who was looking rather uncomfortable with my transformation spell, despite being the one who wanted to see magic the most.

“Does it have to look… Like that?” Mama asked, still trying to distract herself with some sewing she was doing.

“Well… This is the better version.” I mentioned looking at my evil monster fingers. “Trust me. At least I’m not dripping goo everywhere… Or worse.”

“Goo?”

“Worse?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I think the transformation is partially based on what I want, and I’d rather have actual fingers than like… Oozy goo body.”

Sammy made a face of disgust that I couldn’t help but snicker at.

“Not so bad after all huh?”

“It just looks scary.”

“Good.” I decided firmly. “I’d rather be scary than not. This is the first spell I have that seems to do anything so I’ll take Scary.” I said and Mama hummed but didn’t argue with me, and Sammy sort of looked uncomfortable still but nodded.

“It’s still you?”

“Yep!” I assured him. “Still me. The spell turned Bitey into a Rock Crocodile. But my magic isn’t rock, so I get spooky monster.”

“What is your… Magic?” Mama asked, and I went silent. 

“I don’t know. Not exactly, but… It absorbs mana, which Bitey didn’t do when he transformed. I think instead of the hardness of a rock I get mana absorption… Which is great! I wonder how much Mana I’ll suck in when I fully transform. Can I cast a bunch of spells that way? It’s gonna be great!”

“Well… As long as it’s safe.” Mama said and I looked at her and smiled.

“Here watch. I’ll cancel the spell. I’ve had it on for more than an hour, but it’s easy to stop.” I closed my eyes and breathed, the spell circle still flowed around, and I once more just started pulling at the strands, disrupting the spell until it broke with a pop feeling that sent a tremor up my arm as the mana released and I had to gasp a bit.

Smoke trailed out of my fingers, dark and sinister, but trailing up and fading into the air. Everyone jerked back which was probably wise as I quickly realized the danger.

“Don’t touch it!” I called out and started running my hands through the smoke to try and keep it away.

“What was that?” Mama asked startled huddled a bit away from me.

“That… Was all the mana I’d been gathering without realizing it converting into my mana element and then releasing when I stopped absorbing mana… I knew I was absorbing mana but I didn’t realize that would happen. I’m sorry.” I stammered feeling my heart pounding with adrenaline, that could have been really bad! 

What if they touched it, and it hurt them, or if they breathed it in?

No, that wouldn’t happen. Flats push mana away… They were probably okay…

Probably.

“Sorry! I’m really sorry.” I told Mama, I think I was freaking out a bit but she reached out the mana having dissipated and pulled me into a hug, which I accepted gratefully. 

“Well, it’s okay. Just be careful.”

“I will! I promise.”

“It was kinda cool.” Sammy offered and I sent him a wobbling smile as he attempted to make me feel better.

“Just make sure if you ever see me stop transforming you back up. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Right.”

I looked at my hand. “At least it’s back to normal… See?” I offered my hand to Mama, and she reached out and squeezed my hand, which felt weird because she felt super warm.

“Ooh. You’re freezing.”

“You're just really hot.” I grumbled and then she smiled and squeezed my hand all the tighter so I couldn’t escape.

“Ah, stealing that cold from you, feels nice.” She teased me, and I squawked as she was in fact doing just that. 

“Nooo! It's hooooot!” I whined and she laughed at my pouting.

—--

“So… Why aren’t we eating him?” I pouted as I held Bitey, we were on the river bank the sun was setting and… It was time for him to go. 

“Because… He helped me. A lot. He deserves at least some chance at survival because of it.” I told Erik who didn’t look super impressed.

“Didn’t you feed him a bunch of mana fuel.”

“It wasn’t a bunch.” I argued, but it sounded weak to my ears too.

It was totally a bunch. I’d fattened that little croc up with Crawdads and Mana.

He was still such a little baby though.

“You should just eat him. Maybe even do it fast enough to take his Mana Core.

“I know. That’s what I should do. But… Sometimes what you should do just doesn’t feel right. He taught me a lot about magic, now I’m paying him back. He gets a chance to survive.”

Erik looked at me for a while and then just shrugged his little shoulders.

“Whatever. C’mon hurry up. I want to go back. Suppers probably already out.”

“You didn’t have to come with.”

“Sure I did.”

“Thanks Erik.”

“Yeah yeah.” He waved me off, the grumpy little pre-teen. I dropped to my knee and Bitey felt something was off as he was looking around. 

“Good luck Bitey. Maybe we’ll pass each other along the river banks again someday.” I placed his little feets on the mud, and then let go as I backed up. Just avoiding his snapping as he twisted around.

“He doesn’t like you.”

“Bitey to the end.” I said instead, and then seeing much bigger things than him, Bitey turned and slipped into the river.

“Well that was fun. Glad we don’t have to feed him anymore.”

“Totally worth it Erik.”

“So you say.”

“Magic transformation.”

“I heard it was just creepy fingers.”

“Sammy doesn’t understand the art involved in magecraft!”

“Uh-uh.”

“I’ll show you later.”

“No thanks. I want to sleep tonight without creepy fingers in my nightmares.”

“That’s so mean! I’m not going to haunt your nightmares Erik! Erik!”

I chased after him, both of us laughing as we raced into the compound. I’d miss Bitey, but maybe my help had given him a better chance at survival.

—--

I’d ended up showing off my creepy transformation fingers to everyone that night, and explained I was going to try a full transformation later. Mostly so everyone wouldn’t freak out if a creepy thing came into the compound.

Although, considering that I now knew. Long term use could make an evil mana smoke cloud come off me, I wouldn’t release my transformation inside the compound. 

But the next morning after a few early chores helping Mama put things away and clean up some of the dishes after breakfast as Papa prepared to leave. I gathered everything I would need.

The boys helped me, and I was definitely getting some attention as I carefully carried the bucket of dark mana I’d stored last night outside. 

It was time to find out what happened when I transformed for real.

We set up near our usual camp. I moved a bit further away from the river, I was carrying a bunch of mana, and while Bitey hadn’t been interested I didn’t know if other monsters would be attracted to it. With that. I brought out the transformation block and then placed the bucket in the place.

Right. First off. Think of what I want. Think of what the transformation would be…

I breathed in, and could once more hear the hiss of a Xenomorph in my ear. That movie had given me nightmares as a little kid, and I’d loved it once I got a little older. 

So… Become the Xenomorph. If I was going to be a dark mana monster I wanted to be a good one.

With that I looked at the boys, all three of them standing a bit away.

“Okay. I’m going to transform. Just… Don’t freak out unless I start freaking out.”

“Right.”

“You can do it!” Sammy called out. And I smiled as I knelt down, one hand just thrusting into the bucket, and the other pushing against the spell circle. I breathed in, and everything got cold. 

The spell circle surged, as I dumped all the mana I could into it, and more.

Drawing from the bucket, I felt ice shoot up my hands, my breath came out in stuttered stops as the cold was almost shocking to my system, but I didn’t stop. Letting it surge. The circle under my right hand was almost fighting against me with so much mana flowing through it, but I did everything I could to keep control, even if I could feel the mana being wasted, spewing away from me, and yet.

As the mana I was failing to properly control shot away, I felt it then come floating back, entering back into the system that was mana to circle to spell.

And the more that ice spread up my arms, then over my shoulders, feeling my lungs bathed in ice water as it flowed over me, the more it spread, the stronger that suction became.

“Oh!” I managed to gasp out, as I felt it flow over my face.

As it flowed down my spine, sending a numbing cold down my legs.

I breathed, and I couldn’t quite hear it. The noise was a muffled rattle that felt distant to my ears.

If I still had ears.

I could feel the mana in the bucket, being sucked up through my hand even though the spell circle finally slowed to a stop. It felt… Refreshing like the cold kept getting colder on the inside of me.

I tilted my head, realizing, despite having closed my eyes before they weren’t closed anymore.

Everything was dark. Like looking through sunglasses, but worse, and… The boys were there I could barely make out their shocked looks as they stared back.

Transformation complete… The temptation to immediately get up and run at the boys to scare the shit out of them, because if what I was feeling was right, I looked terrifying, was really tempting. But instead I raised my other hand, and waved.

I got a small wave back from Sammy, and…

I could barely hear.

I could barely see.

This kinda sucked?

How does it look? I tried to ask, but my tongue and throat only made a hissing, exhale noise. Huh.

I pulled my hand free of the mana, despite there still being more and started checking myself over.

My flesh was dark, slightly rubbery, none of the cool hard shell of a Xenomorph. I had to bring it close to my face to get a good view and even that was hard to make out.

Then I realized the boys were talking. I looked over and made a cupping motion at the side of my head. 

There were a few words but I couldn’t hear it.

“Vicky, are you okay!?” Sammy yelled at the absolute top of his lungs, loud enough even the compressed sense over my ears made out the noise.

I shot him a thumbs up.

The boys continued talking. But I ignored them for now. Instead reaching up to my head. My mouth…

Well that felt, through the numbed senses about what I expected. I opened my jaws, and felt my teeth separate. My mouth was definitely full of scary teeth. I reached up further and felt only a sort of spongey, flesh covering where my eyes were. I could see my own fingers pressing down a bit. It was like…

Wearing a motorcycle helmet.

But I could barely hear or see through it… This kinda sucked.

No… This did suck.

Where was my scary horror movie monster that was an apex predator that could kill anything!? I was… I was a creature that shouldn’t exist cause it was too stupid to evolve right!

I stomped my feet a bit which felt weird and then got a bit distracted.

Huh. I don’t have a tail. I should totally have a tail. And my feet were like… Normalish. I looked like a human dressed up as a Walmart Brand Xenomorph for halloween.

This… Definitely sucked. Why was my magic constantly so trash!?