The Journey of a Slime

There was a place, in a dark cave far away from civilization, where a small slime used to live. Slimes were weak creatures, often used as lab rats for mages and alchemists, or as training dummies for aspiring adventurers and warriors. They reproduced fast, so the intelligent races didn't care how many they slaughtered for fun or science, they knew more would soon show up.

This particular slime lived with its colony, not bothering anyone. They were too dumb to do so willingly anyway. Their only instincts were to flee in face of danger or eat. They posed no threat to anyone, as they mainly ate plants and eventually corpses they found.

One day, a group of people, ‘researchers’ as they called themselves, went to the cave, capturing a group of slimes and bringing them to a laboratory specializing in studying monsters. The slimes were experimented on, given strange potions and spells being cast on them. Despite their body composition, slimes could feel the pain they went through, but these experiments awakened something in them, a weak form of consciousness.

This continued for a while, until, one day, a group of humans attacked the research lab and destroyed the cages containing the slimes. Most were killed in the attack, a few managed to escape back into the wild. One was lost in the laboratory, separated from the group and unable to find its way out. Afraid, it searched for a place to hide from these dangerous beings. It found the still breathing body of one of the researchers, , with her mouth wide open.

Without any hesitation, the slime slithered inside, hoping that no one would find it there. Something unexpected happened as the slime fully entered the researcher's body, though. Some sort of instinct was telling it to move towards the brain, and, panicking, it followed. The slime felt itself dissolving, wrapping itself around the brain, penetrating it. It was scared, but this fear didn't last long, as it lost consciousness.

When it awoke again, it was complete silence. It groaned, pain coursing through its whole body. But this pain was… strange… not like the slime was used to. It opened its eyes, only afterwards realizing that it had eyes. And a mouth, and a nose, and ears, and arms, and legs… It jolted awake, observing its body. It looked like the researcher it hid inside of…

Memories were flowing inside its simple mind, memories of an elf named Jade. Memories of the woman it took the body of. Memories of a childhood spent fascinated by monsters and magic, of disappointment at not having any talent for the latter and excitement at being a prodigy in alchemy, of being taken under the wing of an influential mage, of researching various ways to utilize monsters’ components, and of being offered a job in a private and remote laboratory.

“J-Jaaaaade…” The slime spoke slowly, overwhelmed by this afflux of memories.

It stood still, holding its head in pain, trying to process everything. It didn't have a head before, only a small core inside itself. Its new body was completely foreign to it, but it was starting to understand how it worked thanks to these memories. It attempted to stand up, its legs wobbly, using a nearby desk as support.

“I am… Jade…” It spoke again, more fluently this time. “I am Jade, an elf…”

It realized what happened thanks to its newfound intellect.

“I took control of my-” It started before shaking its head and correcting itself. “Of her body…? How…?”

It wasn't something its new intelligence was able to explain. Multiple experiments were conducted on the slimes captured, but nothing that could explain this situation. But it didn't care too much about the how for now. What mattered was that it was alive, and safely hidden. It could live among sapient species easily if it wanted to. And it wanted to.

“First, I need to leave this place and take care of my injuries…”

Guided by these memories, it weakly walked towards the exit, where light could be spotted. But it felt its consciousness weakening again, and, as it briefly noticed the silhouette of a person approaching, it fell.