Hello everyone, Sorre here. I wanted to try my hand at a fic that was based on survival. Re:Monster and similar stories always interested me so I figured why not?
Chapter 1: Mask
Cameron "Cam" Gold was never much of a philosopher. Sure, he had taken a few courses, but those were the result of a liberal arts undergrad. He appreciated the works of Thucydides and Descartes as much as the next millennial, which is to say, none whatsoever. No, his interest lay in things a lot smaller than the principles of just war or the complexities of freedom of will. He was an entomologist who specialized in winged insects. Modern day airplanes and helicopters flew by cutting the air. Their wings were curved on top to ensure that air traveled more slowly over the top than the bottom, allowing the plane to rise. Insects… didn't do that, nor did they have feathers like birds. Still, they were the most efficient fliers in the world and he was fascinated. After getting his master's, he immediately applied for a certification in aerodynamics so he could compare different methods of flight. Needless to say, the dubious existence of an afterlife couldn't be further from his mind.
So when he was bumped into an oncoming subway, he did not expect to ever wake up again. Surprise, surprise, he opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of a forest. No, in a way, he could live with the idea of life after death. That was, after all, the point of so many religions throughout history. He figured at least one of them had to have got it right. What he couldn't reconcile was that he was no longer human. Sure, there was no cosmic law that says he'd be a human again, or any cosmic law that he was aware of at all, but he deserved to at least be human again, right? Assuming the trees surrounding him were roughly the same size as the ones from his previous life, he was about the size of a chihuahua. He could barely stumble over some of the larger roots.
Any grief at his own death was cut short with the trembling earth. Remembering he was now about the size of a football, he quickly ducked behind a large root and dug into the soft, moist soil. An instant later, the tree he was hiding under shattered like a marble pillar that pissed off Kratos as an elephant was thrown through it. Cameron paled. The elephant had three pairs of tusks that curled around its head. What was more striking however was its rough, blue hide and mask. The mask was bone-white and shaped distinctly like a human skull with its teeth wrapping around the elephant's trunk that he looked closely, the "tree" he was hiding under was not so much a tree as a ridiculously large stalagmite made of some pale, unknown quartz that somewhat resembled a tree. 'Oh, fuck, that's a hollow,' he thought to himself. This monumental revelation was immediately followed by, 'Oh fuck, I'm in Hueco Mundo. I died. I'm a hollow.'
Then, a second hollow, undoubtedly the one that threw the first through Cameron's tree, burst through the underbrush. It was shaped like a gorilla with a mask reminiscent of three pieces of driftwood tied together. It lunged at the elephant hollow, but its opponent recovered in time and lashed out with a whip-like trunk that struck the ape across its torso. The two hollows fought on while Cameron connected the dots. All around, he could see lesser hollows flee from the chaos that was quickly devolving into a slugfest. 'Do I move? How fast am I? For that matter, what the fuck am I?'
He could, of course, tell he was no longer human. If the obvious lack of height wasn't a jarring clue, his drastically expanded vision would be a massive clue. At the moment, he was lodged into the earth foot below the tree with his head pointed down, the direction he had been frantically digging a few moments prior. Even so, he could see perfectly fine above and behind him. From that expanded field of view, he concluded that he was an insect of some sort. No other animal, except a handful of fish, had such a wide field of vision and he was most certainly on dry ground. Or in damp soil, as it were. Then again, Harribel was most certainly a fish… landshark… thing... He also squirmed and felt two extra appendages that grasped the earth with trembling claws. 'Please don't let me be a cockroach,' he prayed. Seeing how he had no idea how fast he was, he decided that it'd be a bad idea to begin testing now. Hollows were as diverse as individual souls and he had no intention of finding out he could only hop around vertically like a crazy cricket.
Eventually, the fighting came to an end. The gorilla had triumphed and devoured its opponent with repulsive glee. Cameron was filled with a ravenous hunger as he watched the carnage. 'This is my life… at least the food is aplenty?'
Author's Note
As always, constructive feedback is appreciated.
Pat reon Sorre