Watched a program on two different parasites, leucochloridium paradoxum and cordyceps fungi. Wanted to try body horror. What are people afraid of? Parasites inside you, being unable to control your own body.
Then saw tekoyo's drawings of Cao Pi. Put two and two together. This is result.
Orochi had approached him months ago.
Oh great. Him again. Another visit. What now, this time? Bear down on the last remnants of Shu? Reinforce against that Nobunaga- again? Go battle an old friend?
"Good evening," Cao Pi said curtly, not rising from his chair. His fingers were curled around the thick stem of one of the strange Japanese goblets. "What do you want?"
"Show some respect-" Da Ji began to snarl, but a baleful glare from her employer silenced the vulpine woman.
Cao Pi continued sipping wine, ignoring both of them until the serpent lord spoke.
"You will do."
"Oh? For what, dealing with the resistance you can't seem to get rid of?" Cao Pi asked coolly, not turning to face him.
A sudden weight fell onto Cao Pi's shoulder.
He jumped, startled. The demon had never touched him before, not even the swipe of a hand or the brush of an elbow. His eyes narrowed, Cao Pi got up to face Orochi. "Yes?"
"What is the rule of chaos?" The serpent king's face was unreadable under the scales and armor.
"That it is always present," Cao Pi answered. "Now, tell me, what-"
"That is one. The other is that chaos begets more chaos."
Cao Pi gave Orochi a long look. "I will keep that in mind."
"I am entropy itself."
"All right."
"You will bear my brood."
Cao Pi stuck the claw-like hand off of his shoulder. "What? What brood?"
"My progeny," the snake replied.
Cao Pi gave Orochi a cold look. "Is this a test?"
"No."
"Get someone else to do it. Besides… I don't know what you know about humans, but I'm a man."
A metallic tail slithered around Cao Pi's legs.
"That is not a problem."
Cao Pi went cold as he realized what was about to happen. "No-"
Orochi arrives every evening to check on him.
The serpent lord looms above him, because by evening, the strain of carrying and supporting Orochi's brood within him always drags him down by the end of the day. He has been taken off the battlefield and confined like a woman, or perhaps a fragile piece of breeding equipment.
"How are they?"
"The same," he always answers, even as the eggs swell and grow, pushing his stomach farther and farther out. Only three months and the weight and size have shot up to the point of him barely being able to walk.
Satisfied with the answer, the serpent lord leaves Cao Pi to his own thoughts.
He eats almost constantly now and is more than often out of breath. The crush of eggs presses against his internal organs, bringing indigestion and all sorts of other digestive pains. He is always hungry- the eggs demand more and more sustenance, and no matter how hard he tries to starve them out, an iron hand comes and forces him to eat, to eat until he vomits, and to eat again. It is a cycle of his resistance and then his collapse; if he waits too long, he grows overly ravenous and gorges himself so horribly first his stomach swells in pain, and then he throws up, only to be forced to eat again, wadding food in his mouth even through trickles of fluid and his own choking disgust.
When he sleeps he can imagine hundreds of little snakes curled up inside of him, under his skin, sucking his blood from his insides.
Cao Pi looks at his distended abdomen for a while. When he presses a hand against his mound, he can feel the bumpy outlines of eggs, each one the size of two fists. If he bumps his stomach by mistake, the eggs slide around, scratching against his innards.
His stomach is a bag of eggs. An egg sac. Like an insect. And his own body is forced to nourish the little demons.
From what Da Ji has told him, the eggs are supposedly surrounded by a thin membrane, a sort of womb, webbed by blood vessels to feed the unborn demons, and placed between his intestines and the slide of muscle beneath his skin.
Cao Pi imagines all his blood whirling to the eggs instead of where it is needed…
His plans. How can they proceed now? He cannot leave Orochi in this state- the serpent king alone knows how to handle his condition.
He grinds his teeth in frustration.
As if to add insult to injury, the overpowering urge to eat, just eat, seizes him again. With a groan, he feels his hand being shoved towards his plate once more.
"How are they?"
"The same," Cao Pi answers Orochi. His abdomen has swelled over his sides now, and the outline of eggs is obvious on his tight skin. "The sa-"
There is a sudden wriggling in his stomach, and a burst of pain. Cao Pi gasps and drops his cup, doubling over.
"Wha-"
"So it has begun." Orochi stands up and pushes Cao Pi on his back in order to better reveal the egg sac. "Congratulations… You have given life to my offspring. Yours ends here though…"
Cold dread shoots through Cao Pi. "Orochi, tell me-"
"You know we are suspicious of your… Loyalities," Orochi continues in his awful echoing voice. "You are talented, yes. But we decided that the risk of keeping you was simply not worth it."
Another contraction grips Cao Pi. "What are you saying?" he demands, panting.
"You die here. Given their time, my children will come. It is simple. They will chew their way out. Have you ever seen the female sea louse?"
Cao Pi lets out a groan of pain.
"The contractions do nothing… I based the design off of a human womb, and this was one part of it. "
"You- you-" Cao Pi gasps, squirming as if under torture.
This is how I die? The thought of it, the disgusting humiliation, chokes Cao Pi. This is how I die? Like this? By this? More than the pain was the disgrace of it all, the feeling of utter defilement and defeat. It was crushing, even more so than the physical pain. "No!" Cao Pi screams.
"We will watch you die," Orochi states. "And-"
Crash. The sounds of roaring and battle echo in, pouring in like a landslide.
"What is it?" the snake demands, turning to Da Ji.
Da Ji's eyes flicker across a globe in her hands. "My lord-" she gasps. "The resistance forces-"
"Enough! Let us go!" the serpent snarls, turning around and ripping a portal in the air. He turns to Cao Pi before leaving. "I will see your body when I return."
There is no way he was going to lose without a fight. Cao Pi's thoughts race- how was he supposed to save himself?
Ah-hah. His eyes narrow as in his mind's eye, he sees a large wooden cabinet stocked with poisons and potions Da Ji enjoys experimenting with so much.
The demons sucked and sucked fast, he knew. If they are still connected to him…
He rises up and begins to sprint to the room before a burst of pain fells him again. A sharp sting nudges against his insides, and his eyes widen. They are starting to gnaw already? His huge belly wriggles again of its own accord, and Cao Pi snarls as the wriggling feeling begins anew, as if things are slithering under his skin. And as the clear imprint of a snake's body slides across his stomach, Cao Pi realizes that they were indeed hatching.
It is no use trying to run. He simply collapses every time he attempted to get up. Slowly, he crawls his way into the hallway, stopping every so often to gasp in pain.
At least the contractions seem to halt the demons for a few moments, probably from the squeeze. Another burst of pain clouds Cao Pi's eyes, and he strikes his stomach as hard as possible to dislodge whatever demon had sunk its fangs in from the inside.
It is agonizingly slow progress before the familiar cabinet looms into sight. Hauling himself up, Cao Pi grabs the nearest bottle off of the poison shelf and with one fell movement, uncorks it, and swallows it.
He realized that he is, for all intents and purposes, drinking poison. It burns on the way down. He realizes his gamble; that the demons still suck sustenance before allowing their host any.
A familiar hand clamps over Cao Pi's abdomen again, and he feels a familiar bulge in his throat.
Someone- something- somehow, the demons knew! The damned things knew! Cao Pi resists the urge to vomit before he becomes so dizzy that he does throw up anyways. Purplish fluid splashes all over, trickling down his lips like a foul sewage.
Never. Cao Pi grabs the next bottle before a voice- a human voice- comes through the door.
"You! Are you Cao Pi?" the voice bellows.
Cao Pi freezes in both fierce hope and dread. Father? Cao Cao? The remains of his pride flinch at being seen in such a state, trumping his sense of self-preservation for a moment- but only for a moment.
He turns around, ignoring the pain.
"Father! I am over-" he chokes up again as another contraction forces its way through him.
"I see you!" His father runs over. He wears some sort of strange armor- what is that, a full metal casing or something? His mustache and beard are also different-
"Are you Cao Pi? Your father is on his way," his father reassures him.
Cao Pi's brows knit in confusion. "Father, what do yo-"
"I'm not Cao Cao," the man says bluntly. "I am Oda Nobunaga. It's confusing. Trust me."
Cap Pi studies the man's face. He looks like his father- just like him, in fact, save for a few differences- a wrinkle here, a freckle there.
"We had received intel that a man was being used as a host for Orochi's progeny. We had no idea it was you until…."
"What?"
"A young man, Mitsunari, defected and informed us."
Cao Pi freezes. Mitsunari had begun his plan without him? That little- Another sharp pain cut off his thoughts again.
"Cao Cao!" Nobunaga shouts as footsteps approach. "He's here."
A flash of blue robes, and finally. There stands his father, definitely, a bit dirtier and worn out, but the Prime Minister Cao himself.
"Son!" Cao Cao drops to his knees, grabbing Cao Pi's shoulders to get a better look at him. If he has any horror or shock on seeing his son's body, he does not show it.
"Father, the eggs-" Unwillingly, Cao Pi groans in pain again. "Orochi… Orochi sought to kill me this way, having his children eat me from the insid- Father?" Cao Pi stops when Cao Cao draws a knife.
His own father? What? Was Cao Pi such a threat to him that he sought to kill his own son, his own heir?
"Father! No-"
Cao Cao pushes Cao Pi on his back and raises the knife, tracing the edge of the blade slowly on his protruding stomach.
"Father, you don't-"
"Be quiet, son, I am thinking," Cao Cao snaps harshly, anxious sweat beading on his temples. A second later, the knife flashes down.
Rip. Cao Pi feels the blade keenly, and he bites back a gasp of pain. Dying by his father's hand? Better than by these little-
To his surprise, his father has only cut a small slit, right below his navel. Cao Cao hauls his son to his knees and leans Cao Pi against his own shoulder.
"When the contraction comes, push with it," Cao Cao instructs. "Nobunaga- you know what to do."
The Cao-look alike nods and readies his own blade.
Unsure of what to do, Cao Pi follows his father's instructions. The buildup of cramping preceding a contraction comes, and right on time, he pushes downwards.
The pain rips a shriek from his mouth. But even afterwards, the pain continues, as if the knife was cutting into his again-
Cao Pi looks down to see the front half of a wriggling black snake protruding from his abdomen, through the hole.
"Father-"
"Push again."
Cao Pi obeys, and Nobunaga grabs the snake and with a wrench, pulls it out, through the cut in Cao Pi's stomach.
His vision blanks for a moment, but when it clears again, Nobunaga kneels with his sword behind a beheaded, dead demon snake.
Oh. So that was the plan.
Mustering his strength, Cao Pi pushes again.
It isn't along before a pile of dead snakes builds up, and Cao Cao is forced to cut the hole in Cao Pi's stomach larger in order to let the empty eggshells through.
Rip. Cao Pi screams as something cuts him again, and more blood trickles down his stomach.
"Be careful." Cao Cao wipes the blood away and points to the enlargement on the cut. "It's starting to rip…"
With a groan, Cao Pi forces the head of another snake through his abdominal wall.
Hours later, Cao Pi lies in his father's lap, spent in every way possible. The empty, expelled membrane lies a few feet away, as Nobunaga finishes cutting the demons to even smaller pieces, just to be safe.
"It is done. You can open your eyes."
Cao Pi has never before realized how glad he is to hear his father's voice. He hates that he was not able to save himself on his own, but…. That is a thought for another time.
"I thank you, Father," he says. "And… Nobunaga, I thank you as well."
"The demon is dead," Nobunaga said solemnly. "And with it, its offspring."
From the recesses of his robes, Cao Cao draws a needle, thread, and firestarter. Cao Pi tiredly watches as his father starts a fire with kindling, burns the needle, and runs the thread through the eye.
He is too numb and tired to move when Cao Cao begans to sew the cut closed.
"Do we have any oil?" Nobunaga asks.
"Obviously not on me… Why?" Cao Cao answers.
"I believe it to be a bad idea to touch or handle these corpses… It is best if we burn them here."
"There is cooking oil. On the table, two doors down in the hall," Cao Pi says quietly, too tired to speak louder but too aware of the importance of proper disposal. He closes his eyes, but his ears pick up the sound of armor clattering away.
"Zihuan…" Cao Cao says softly, addressing Cao Pi by his style name.
"Yes, Father?"
"…Never mind. Rest for now."
"What were you going to say?"
"It can wait. We will have time later."
Nobunaga returns with the clinking of metal. "I found it."
"Set up a fire barrier first!" Cao Cao warns. "We don't want to toast ourselves in the process…"
"I was thinking the exact same thing," Nobunaga answers, pulling in the stones from the furnace nearby.
"We best not inhale the smoke. Zihuan, we must not wait any longer."
Cao Pi felt himself being lifted all of a sudden.
"You've lost weight," Cao Cao commented neutrally.
Cao Pi doesn't answer but keeps his eyes closed. Every part of his body feels limp and unmovable.
"I've lit it. Let's move!" Nobunaga barks.
Together, they set up a fast pace for the exit.
It is the first time in a long time that Cao Pi has seen the sky, Blearily, he opens his eyes and looks around. A breeze ruffles his hair as it streams past.
Beyond, the sounds of victory ring through the air.
Cao Cao sets Cao Pi on the ground, using his cloak as a blanket.
"We'll wait for you to recover first," Cao Cao explains. "It won't do you much good to be seen being carried in."
Nodding, Cao Pi turns his head and stars up at the sky. Perhaps it is autumn. Although he cannot identify the strange constellations, the stars burn just as bright as at home.