When the child awoke from its slumber, it was a completely different creature than the infant who had entered the caves. She had grown to half the size of her mother, her skin had turned gray with blotches of black that seemed to move in accordance to her emotions, her hands ending in claws more suited for digging or tearing into flesh than anything truly productive. Her torso had a keratin layer overlaid over her upper chest and ribcage, thin enough to not destroy any mobility while just thick enough to provide an extra modicum of protection. Her bald head bore her face, a changed thing that one would not even recognize as coming from Man without closer look. Her nose had flattened, leaving only slits behind, while her mouth was full of rows of teeth, sharp and flat, with a long fat tongue that seemed to secrete an acid of some kind, and her eyes had turned into pits of darkness.
The Curse the child bore was a mighty one, having been borne from the unceasing hatred and desire to survive of an entire species. If the last remaining Gods of Man hadn’t interfered, the infant would’ve become a true blight to the world, as Magic itself would use the resulting monstrosity as a club to ruin those who had let such a thing come to pass. As it was, Magic had let the last wishes of the Gods of Man take hold first, for it felt the outcome would be more poetic that way, even if the new creature was far far weaker than it should’ve been for the magnitude of the Curse it bore. Magic would witness how far the creature would go, and when the time was right, it would have its vengeance against those who had dared to think they could escape its wrath. But that would come in due time, first this creature, this “Hive Queen”, had to survive the dangers of the deep underground.
The child was aware of none of this however, for she was far too busy inspecting her own body, memories, and surroundings. She could see in this lightless place, it wasn’t clear by any stretch of the imagination, but she could see just enough to understand the area immediately around her. As she kept looking for the calming presence her vague memories told her was just there and finding nothing, she put two and two together and realized the corpse that had temporarily slated her hunger was the very presence from her memories. This realization sent her into a frothing rage, acidic spittle splattering against the rocks. In an attempt to direct her rage, she tried digging through her few foggy memories for something to latch onto. After only a moment of introspection, she found it. The source of her rage, someone on the surface had injured that calming presence and driven them deep into the dark. This abominable revelation pushed the child to crawl through the caves, rush to the surface and simply kill in a blind rage. The only thing stopping her from losing her mind to this rage, was the back of her mind screaming out at her to actually stop and think, for whatever killed the calming presence could almost certainly kill her too. Whatever was on the surface was clearly waiting for her to make such a rash decision, it's why they never bothered to follow them into the tunnels, they were clearly laying a trap for her. She would need to prepare, and grow strong enough to simply ignore any traps they had dared to set up. Not that she really knew what such traps might entail, but whatever they were would clearly be overwhelmingly powerful, for how else did they kill the presence?
This line of reasoning slowly brought back the child's mind to the present, as well as giving her a new goal. One other than simply trying to satiate the hunger still gnawing at her stomach, a goal of one day being strong enough to return to the surface. When it happened, it would be a glorious day, but for now…what was she going to eat? A quick look around the small crevice she was in, and she noticed the rocks her spittle had landed on during her rage. They had dissolved slightly in the time it took her to calm down, their surface pockmarked with little holes. If her spit could dissolve it, then it was probably edible. Picking one of the loose rocks up, she shoved it into her mouth and started trying to chew. It was a little harder than she expected, but nothing impossible. While the taste was horrid, she could literally feel her body working to extract what was needed and storing what wasn’t being used. It was a good sign, even if there was a shockingly large part of the rock that wasn’t being used. Still, something was better than nothing. While she continued to snack on the loose rocks in the crevice, she finished exploring her body. Some of the things she knew instinctively what they were for, such as the slit between her legs and her clawed hands. For creating more of herself and for rending flesh and bone respectively. Other parts though, not so much, like the retractable stinger from the small of her back. She hadn’t quite figured out what that would be used for, no matter how much she thought. Perhaps its use would make itself known when it was time, it probably had something to do with hunting for food if she was to take a guess. Not that there was anything to actually hunt in this crevice, but still, could be useful.
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The child spent nearly an hour simply eating loose rocks, until there was none left in the crevice. By then her hunger had abated slightly, though her body cried out for something different, something more, of what she didn’t quite grasp. She reckoned that she would likely have to figure it out through actually finding it. That didn’t stop her from trying to find it though, carefully working her way through the nearby tunnels, including some rather tight areas she could only just barely fit through, she found something truly wonderful. A plant, or rather a type of fungus that grew deep within the bowels of the world far from any light. In her desire to taste the newly discovered food source, she almost missed the fact that one of the mushroom stalks had been eaten already. Something else lived down in these tunnels, which meant she could eat more meat in the future. The child drooled at the very idea, her saliva created a small pool of acid around her chin, she remembered the sweet taste of blood and the delightful crunch of bones. The very idea that she could have more of that untold bliss was simply divine in nature. That would be for the future however, for now, she simply grabbed all of the mushrooms and wiggled her way back to her crevice, for it was a safe location.
She laid out each mushroom onto the floor, spaced apart from each other so she couldn’t just grab multiple at once, wanting to savor this new, non-rocky food as long as possible. The very idea left her mind the moment the first one hit her tongue. Whereas the rocks had been bland beyond all measure, with only the slightest hint of something useful, each mushroom was simply a divine feast of flavors and information. She could feel how each part of the mushroom interacted with the other, how the building blocks were put together, how each material was efficiently used, all of it perfectly coming together in a symphony of euphoric flavors. One mushroom after another was devoured, each time renewing the delightful experience and providing even more understanding. She felt her body break down each piece of the mushroom, continuing to fuel her body and development by a slight amount. Yet even the mushroom had parts that weren’t used and were thus stored, which perplexed her slightly, it wasn’t like she was that different from this food, was she? A matter for a different time, she wanted to know what meat tasted like, now that she could truly experience such a delightful thing.
