Chapter 2
He could not see, he could not hear, he could not smell, he could not taste. There was only one sensation left to him, which was touch. The world that was once open to him in five different ways was now only open in one. He was blind, deaf, and mute to the world.
He could feel his body, the long, slimy shape it now existed as. It was far too stubby to move anywhere, even the feelers he felt the area around with contained little more strength to move themselves. Never mind even crossing distance, he could barely move as it was with slow, deliberate and easily telegraphed movements that even the lowest of vermin would not be caught in. His body was covered in some sort of viscous fluid, and the slick surface of his body slid harmlessly against cooling blades of grass beneath him, at first prickly sensation before it gave way to softness. From the way it no longer became prickly, he knew that his pathetic struggles had only flattened the grass within his radius, and he had not budged even an inch.
Why? Why did this happen?
Moments before, was practically at the top of his world! He'd slain every Great One that opposed him, fellow hunters that had sought to make him prey, and even his former mentor…
Now he was at rock-bottom, maybe even lower than before, if the loss of functioning limbs counted as one.
This place he landed in was not the Hunter's Dream, but neither was it Yharnam. The air was different here, it was vibrant, fresh, alive, and most of all, untainted. If he could only see the world, he knew it would have been a beautiful sight to behold.
He didn't care where he was, but he knew it had something to do with the defeat of the Moon Presence, the Great One inhabiting the Hunter's Dream. Somehow, the creature's defeat had robbed him of everything but his mind and sense of touch, replacing it with something akin to a slug. Perhaps it was a curse he had to live out for defying a god-like creature? To die completely helpless, in a foreign land, in a foreign body?
If it was meant to break him, they failed.
If it was meant to make him bitter, they certainly succeeded! He was not going to let those he defeated get the last laugh!
Around and around he writhed, struggling to get somewhere, anywhere. He tried to roll, but he could neither twist his body fast or far enough to do so. He tried grasping at the grass blades, but the feelers he used only brushed up against the blades instead to gripping them. If he could compare it to a human body, it would be akin to having only a deformed arm to work with. It was a terrible existence, but one he would not perish into without a fight.
In this form, he could do nothing but slowly thrash around, and hope for something to happen...
Suddenly, he stopped, feeling vibrations getting stronger, from the ground. They were getting louder, which meant that they were heading towards him. They were rhythmic beats that seemed to carry a large weight with much grace, more than a normal human could hope to achieve without dedicated training. So it was either a human, or a beast…
A sharp pain lined his sides as a duller one stepped down upon his back to hold him down. He knew now that it was a beast, one that was tearing into him, and he was helpless to stop it.
Surprisingly, the skin of his new form held together quite well, and the slick surface made it so that the beast had to readjust its grip every moment to keep biting down. He was in great pain, however, as the fangs still scraped across his incredibly acute sense of touch. One that had been enhanced due to the lack of any other senses.
Was he to die here? To a nameless beast, when he had taken down those that lived in a higher plane altogether?
No.
He refused to die, he would not be broken.
Suddenly, knowledge he knew could not exist flowed into him. This was forbidden knowledge, an intellectual construct that could not exist in this plane of existence, the very laws of the lower plane would seek to set it free, and destroy any who sought to contain it. Only madmen and those of the same plane could ever hope to attain Insight.
Yet here he was, completely sane, yet inhuman.
That probably made him something of an acceptable host.
As the Insight he once thought lost filled him, he began to understand more and more. He did not need eyes, for he could now see. He did not need ears, for he could now listen. He did not need a nose or a tongue, for he smelt and tasted the world. Through this, he gained an understanding that could never have been possible by regular means. Like just how to operate his new body, to begin grasping at its potential usefulness... which was still unfortunately quite limited at the moment.
His new Insight allowed him to claw out the secrets of the arcane that were once barred from him, it allowed him to tap into and make use of the-surprisingly- vast amount of Blood Echoes within his stubby frame. He remembered the Old Hunter's Bone and how he had used it to mercilessly hunt down beasts, and eventually its own creator.
It materialized in one of his five feelers, and with the limited understanding of this new body, he managed to somehow to hold it firmly in place. Once again, the beast lost its grip on him, but this time he was ready.
The ancient bone activated, and he was now out of danger.
The beast let out a howl of anger at its escaped prey, but quickly stalked away, disinterested in a tiny prey that was far too difficult to keep a grip on. As it left however, the newly awakened Infant 'Observed' it through its new 'sight'.
This new sixth sense felt strange, it filled the gaps left by his missing sensory units. It was like a visual precognition of the world around him. He tasted the moonlight shining down upon him, heard the fresh breeze passing through, and smelled the darkness around him. He was in a mess, a sensory jumble, but he had enough insight to begin comprehending how to portray the mass of information into a basic shape.
The creature was lupine, with a bone mask over its skull and various parts of its body, it stood on its hind legs, its broad hunched over frame was lined with fur. Its claws swiped the tree bark in irritation, and left a very sizable gash in its wake, it threw one last growl before leaving altogether. He felt fortunate that his body was tough enough to survive such a mauling.
The surroundings were vibrant with much animal and plant life, but it was night time. The moon watched overhead, but despite its beautiful sheen, it was in a sad state.
He wanted to find out what happened to the moon that was once whole. Perhaps killing the Great One that represented a celestial body triggered such a thing?
He didn't know, but he needed to find out as soon as possible.