The Thing That Devours
It had started with the ritual. Alex could say that much.
Rudeness. The thing in his head hissed at him.
"I was trying to live."
There was a faint hissing noise. Alex could tell that the thing was thinking.
I am He Who Devours.
Yes, Alex had gotten that the first five hundred times. If only he could tell what it was trying to do.
I will eat you from the inside out and then I will eat your reality.
Alex was pretty sure that after it ate his brain, he would be rather indifferent. The thing twisted inside of him.
I have a name.
Yeah, Alex was not going to call it "He Who Devours" every time he wanted to think about it. "Sure thing, Devourer."
It hadn't liked being called a parasite. And it tended to yank on his organs like puppet strings when it was unhappy.
This is acceptable. Being consumed is simply a fact of life.
Alex let out a sigh. He would prefer to be consumed by mushrooms after dying of old age, thanks. For now, he just wanted to watch some football. Chelsea was on.
Food! Food! I must have the food!
"I just ate. You're going to have to wait."
There was a grumbling noise in his head. The thing sort of understood about three concepts. Food, waiting, and names. Alex wasn't sure if it could measure the passage of time. He switched on the TV. Alex began to watch the game. He grinned slightly as the players lined up and the commentary began.
Alex jumped as he felt the thing borrow into his leg muscles. It felt as though his muscles were being squeezed from the inside. He felt his stomach twist as he resisted the urge to vomit. There was no pain. There should be pain.
Alex lay back and gasped as he felt it move deeper and deeper into his leg muscles. It felt like there was an eel moving inside of his legs. "Goddamn it, I just wanted to watch the football game."
FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
Alex squinted. He was unsure whether he could walk, given that his leg muscles just got eaten. His leg twitched out and whipped wildly over the couch's edge.
Alex winced, even though no pain came. He should be hurting. That should have at least strained a few ligaments. Especially without warming up. What in the ever-loving shi-
FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
Alex gingerly rose from the couch with his other leg. His left leg had sensation. The right one felt numb. The skin felt cold. He pressed down on his skin. There was no sensation. Just a light pressure. Alex could only feel his skin on his hand and not his hand on his leg. This was fucking bizarre.
FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
Alex rolled his eyes. Alright. Time to feed the monster before it ate anything else. Then again, it was probably going to keep eating him. He was pretty sure he should be crying. Maybe even screaming. Or desperately begging the NHS for help.
Alex felt like doing none of those things. He walked over to the microwave and tried to ignore the lack of sensation in his right leg. Not feeling the ground underfoot was utterly terrifying.
POP!
Alex jumped as his popcorn began to pop.
POP! POP! POP!
Alex watched as the popcorn popped and shut off the microwave as the pops began to slow. The fluffy buttery popcorn looked delicious. Alex dumped it into a bowl and got back before the commercial break ended. He leaned back against the couch and crossed his legs. Devourer seemed satisfied with the popcorn for now. The warmth of the popcorn was gently warming his left leg. He experimentally touched his right thigh. It was still cold. And numb.
"Does it eat energy?" Alex wondered aloud. He took another bite of popcorn. It was a shame that the cultists had burned all of the fourteenth-century manuscripts they had been using right before the summoning. A bit unhelpful, that.
Energy? I eat everything. I eat beings. I eat worlds. I eat realities.
Alex was going to go with "probably yes." It wasn't like he had a physics degree. It wasn't like he even had a decent foundation in the subject, given the school he had missed. Alex grinned as the striker from Chelsea was lined up for a penalty. C'mon. C'mon.
"Aaaaaaaannnnnd goal!"
Alex let out a cheer. It was the first game he'd been able to watch since the whole Drevin ordeal.
We will eat him eventually.
Alex was torn between a strange sort of euphoria, laughing, and crying. Drevin was dead. Then again, if the thing ate Earth, it was eating all the corpses in the ground. He got up to put his dinner in the oven. It was okay to eat crap every once and a while. Alex planned to eat nothing but absolute garbage today.
It was going to be an early night. Alex sighed as he tucked himself into bed. His leg was still numb. He couldn't feel the socks on his feet. Alex ran his hands down the covers. He stared up at the ceiling. Maybe he would sleep at a reasonable time tonight? Wishful thoughts.
Alex jumped as the thing began tunneling into his other leg. The eely texture against his own muscles was not something he would get used to. He could feel it chewing through his leg. There was no pain, but the numbness was spreading through his entire body.
Alex felt himself gag as the thing twisted inside of him. A second eel-like tendril began moving into his chest. Alex let out a gasp as the cold spread through his stomach and chest.
I am ready.
"Ready for wha-"
Alex's flesh burst open and the blackness seeped out. He opened his mouth to scream but found a solid tendril-like object erupting from his mouth. His vision went dark.
From his body, a thing emerged. The ruined, desiccated corpse was left behind. The bones picked clean and the eyes burst open. The skin dropped in shreds to the floor. The black mass emerged to devour. It was He Who Devours.
Fin
Based on a prompt by mediaboy (see story summary). This is the 287th work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!