The Womb

Viktor awoke to a girlish squeal as his vision was filled with that of a vast, open cavern lit only by dim red lights that moved through the dark. The darkness did little to obscure his vision, nor was it limited to what was in front of him. The entire cavern was subtly moving and writhing. Even the floor beneath him was formed from a mass of wriggling fleshy tendrils. He found his sense return to him moment by moment. Those moving red lights were small round creatures moving across the living cavern surfaces with tentacles that sprouted from their bodies; they looked to be a foot or two in diameter. The source of the noise was a cyan-haired figure with white feathery wings that was keeping himself off of the fleshy ground. That was no doubt Ariel, who wore a strange outfit that showed a surprising amount of skin.

“What is this place?! What are you?!” The small angelic form asked, which made Vic finally take notice of his form as he struggled to push himself off the ground. He was a mass of black flesh and oily tentacles, the same red glowing eyes as the smaller creatures were all across his body, allowing him a view of everything around him. As he got to his ‘feet,’ he found himself huge, more than twice the height of Ariel, who was only at ‘eye’ level because he was flying. Vic had never thought about looking at one’s face with your own eyes, but he was now capable of it. His ‘face’ was centered around a single large red glowing eye. Tentacles sprouted along the bottom and sides of his face while a stiffer, bone-like structure crowned his head.

Despite Vic’s brand-new body and countless tentacles, he had no issue controlling every part of himself with delicate dexterity. Yet when he tried to speak, no sound came. Almost instinctually, he knew how he could communicate. With a speed that surprised Vic and clearly Ariel, a single slick tentacle grabbed and wrapped around Ariel, stopping his wings from beating and leaving him in the air merely by the strength of Vic’s appendage. “I am something… Very interesting, don’t you think, Lion of Heaven, Lord of Air?” Vic’s voice thrummed from his body and directly into Ariel’s head. “Hey! Let go of me, you big ugly monster! You were supposed to take my offers.” Ariel complained, wiggling as he tried to escape the hold of the single tentacle. Despite it being slick and oily, it was surprisingly good at restraining the angel. “Do not fret. I took your Oaths and am bound to them. At least now my inner self and exterior appearance properly match,” Vic said to him. Vic liked how much control he had over his telepathic voice. There was no chance of his tone ever betraying his deceit.

“Well, can you at least let me go?” Ariel pouted, seeming to accept his current conundrum. “And like I asked before, where are we?” He added, his head turning and looking around at the vast open chamber. “I must be touching one to speak with them, but very well, I will allow you movement. As for where we are, I believe this is my Dungeon merged with the Pure Land. The power I feel flowing through it is addictive.” Vic said, lowering Ariel to the ground and retracting the tentacle until it was only wrapped around his small, very soft hand. Ariel looked at the tentacle and shivered as he tried to find a place to stand that wasn’t squirming beneath him; he had no luck with that. “Right… Thank you? So, I’m… Your guardian angel now?” He said more as a question than anything. Ariel’s naivety was apparent. Vic didn’t know what Angels were like, seeing as Ariel was the only one he’d met, but it was safe to say that Ariel didn’t have much experience. He reminded Vic of a new intern in a way, and there was one way Vic knew to break in new interns.

“What is it that you can provide me as a guardian angel?” Vic asked, “You said, ‘guide, heal, protect, comfort, and care.’ What does that mean?” Ariel took a moment thinking before he stammered, “I, well, I already told you… I haven’t done this before. I guess I’m supposed to make sure you don’t get into trouble. Or killed? I don’t really know.” Ariel explained. Vic could tell he was honest, that God’s Eye was something else. Ariel was overwhelmed, but he had to give props to the angel. He sure was earnest, like most other interns Vic had met. Vic could ‘see’ that Ariel had never done any real work as an Angel. He was essentially just being trained up until the two of them met. Even his titles weren’t real. Not to mention that Ariel’s Light Magic was only slightly better than Vic’s own.

Vic let go of Ariel’s hand with his tentacle and began walking the chamber, his large form seeming to merge with the fleshy ground instead of stepping on top of it. Ariel let out a sigh of relief as he watched Vic quietly stomp around the dark room. Vic found that numerous pathways were running out of there, and while the fleshy surfaces continued, the center circle he woke up in was the most dense. Interestingly, several small pools of dark liquid dotted the large chamber, similar to what had dripped from Vic’s body. That’s when he noticed a few of the creatures he saw earlier emerge from said pools.

The little tentacle creatures skittered out of Vic’s way as he moved past them, though he could feel he could move so much faster. Deciding to see something, Vic snapped a tentacle out in a flash and captured one of the creatures. “What are you?” He pressed into its mind when, surprisingly, a telepathic answer came back. “Humble servant, unholy one! Nightcrawlers we are! Protect your lair, we do!” Its internal voice was terrified but one of utter loyalty. These creatures… These Nightcrawlers weren’t the brightest, but from what he could tell, they didn’t have many emotions beyond loyalty, fear, aggression, satisfaction, and desire. Vic sent a pulse of appreciation to the tiny creature, which seemed to make it shiver, before letting it go as it zoomed down one of the tunnels—funny little things.

He also caught with God’s Eye that they were his basic minions that came with the dungeon. They were weak and more orientated towards stealth and ambush, but their numbers made up for that. They also knew the dungeon's layout, which Vic happily absorbed for himself. He was currently in the center of the dungeon, with that center mass of tentacle flesh being the heart. Beyond were elaborate labyrinthine tunnels with the tentacle flesh slowly giving way to ‘natural stone’ caves. There were also several other rooms like this with similar masses, which served as breeding pits. There were also smaller rooms within the walls of these rooms, hundreds in each one, all hidden behind the fleshy walls—those served as captive cells. Vic was already liking this as he moved towards the center of the chamber, Ariel flying over it with a look of nervous disgust as he looked at it.

Stepping into the center, Vic let his form combine with the very heart of the dungeon. It was then that he saw everything within his domain.