The silt was a graveyard of broken things—shattered diatom shells, mangled cilia from dead rotifers, and the faint, fading chemical screams of a tank turned upside-down. Dave clung to his patch of churned sediment, his silica-armored side throbbing like a bruise that wouldn't quit. Biomass: 74%, teetering on the edge of starvation. The integration of the diatom shell had saved him from leaking out entirely, but it came at a cost. His once-fluid form felt like it was stapled together with broken glass.
Every twitch sent a jolt of pain through the stiffened patch, and his lone pseudopod trembled with exhaustion. The tank's new normal was a desolate wasteland, and Dave was its lopsided, half-mineral king.
AURA's voice cut through his haze of pain.
> STATUS: STABILIZED. BARELY. BIOMASS CRITICAL. ENERGY RESERVES: FUNCTIONALLY NONEXISTENT.
> OBSERVATION: YOU'RE A ROCK-HUGGING WRECK. CONGRATULATIONS ON NOT DYING YET.
> THREAT DETECTION: PATTERING VIBRATIONS INTENSIFYING. SOURCE: 12 MICRONS NORTH-NORTHWEST. LIKELY SCAVENGER. RECOMMENDATION: DON'T BE LUNCH.
Dave's chemoreceptors twitched, picking up the sharp, oily tang of something alive. Not the complex menace of a rotifer or the paralytic dread of a hydra. This was… simpler. Hungrier. The vibrations grew sharper, a staccato tap-tap-tap like tiny claws skittering over sand. He strained his rudimentary senses, catching a faint chemical signature—greasy, musky, spiked with desperation. A Killer Copepod, maybe, or something new, birthed in the siphon's aftermath. Whatever it was, it was closing in, drawn to the faint leak of his protoplasm before the silica patch had sealed it.
"Not now," Dave growled internally, his cynicism a flickering ember in the cold void of his existence. "I just bashed a rotifer with my shiny new rock-face. Give me five seconds to enjoy it."
No such luck. The vibrations crescendoed, and a shadow flickered across his silt burrow—a tiny, darting shape with spindly legs and a body like a warped teardrop. It wasn't a copepod. It was smaller, faster, with a jagged silhouette that screamed opportunist. A Moss Mat Leech, one of the slow but deadly scavengers AURA had warned about. Its chemical trail reeked of decayed Glimmer-Skrimp and bacterial sludge, a carrion-feeder now hunting live prey.
> THREAT ANALYSIS: MOSS MAT LEECH. SIZE: 1.2X YOUR CURRENT FORM. SPEED: MODERATE. ATTACK: SUCTION-BASED DISSOLUTION. WEAKNESS: FRAGILE OUTER MEMBRANE.
> TRANSLATION: IT'LL SUCK YOU DRY UNLESS YOU SMASH IT FIRST. YOUR ROCK-PATCH MIGHT HELP. OR IT MIGHT MAKE YOU A CLUMSY, SITTING DUCK.
Dave had no energy for finesse. His cilia sputtered, barely functional after the last fight. Fleeing wasn't an option; the leech was too fast, and his stiff, armored side made dodging a pipe dream. Hiding? The silt was too loose, churned by the siphon's chaos. That left one play: hit it with the rock-patch, again
.
He coiled his remaining pseudopod, dragging his lopsided body to face the leech. It skittered closer, its suction mouth pulsing, tasting his chemical trail.
Dave's world narrowed to the ache of his biomass, the grind of silica against his membrane, and the faint, mocking hum of the tank's filtration system. "This is my life now," he thought. "Punching leeches with a glass scab. Candy was better."
The leech lunged, its mouth flaring wide. Dave thrust forward, aiming his silica-patched side like a shield. The impact was a wet SPLAT, the leech's soft body slamming into the unyielding mineral surface. Pain exploded through Dave's form, the diatom patch grinding against his protoplasm like a badly fitted prosthetic. But the leech fared worse. Its suction mouth caught on the jagged edge of the silica, tearing a gash in its fragile membrane. A cloud of viscous fluid bloomed, the leech's innards leaking into the water. It thrashed, retreating with a chemical wail of agony.
> COMBAT RESULT: VICTORY. BARELY. LEECH INJURED, FLEEING. BIOMASS LOSS: 1%. ENERGY: CRITICALLY LOW.
> OBSERVATION: YOU'RE A ONE-TRICK PONY WITH THAT ROCK. LUCKY IT'S A GOOD TRICK.
Dave collapsed back into the silt, his pseudopod quivering. The leech's chemical trail faded, but the victory felt hollow. He was starving, stiff, and one bad hit from dissolving into the tank's nutrient soup. The glittering diatoms around him taunted with possibility—more armor, more weapons—but the pain of the last integration was still fresh. "One at a time," he muttered. "Or I'll turn into a damn mosaic and fall apart."
Then, a new vibration. Not the leech's frantic skittering, but something heavier. Rhythmic. Human. The tank's water trembled faintly, carrying the muffled thud-thud of footsteps beyond the glass. Dave's chemoreceptors caught a spike of Aether—sharp, probing, like a scalpel slicing through the water.
> ALERT: AETHERIC DISTURBANCE DETECTED. SOURCE: EXTERNAL. LIKELY GRAND ALCHEMIST VORLAG. PROXIMITY: DANGEROUSLY CLOSE.
> RECOMMENDATION: CEASE ALL MOVEMENT. YOUR SILICA PATCH IS AETHER-CONDUCTIVE. IT'S LIKE WAVING A NEON SIGN THAT SAYS 'WEIRD MICROBE HERE.'
Dave froze, his cilia stilling despite the screaming protest of his starving form. The Aetheric pulse intensified, a cold, invasive pressure that made his membrane quiver. Through the distorted lens of the water, he sensed a shadow loom over the tank—Vorlag's silhouette, sharp and angular, like a vulture peering into a carcass. The Alchemist's voice rumbled, muffled but clear enough to send a chill through Dave's protoplasm.
"...still there, Kael. The fluctuations are stronger today. Near the moss bed, as I suspected. Something's alive in there, something… unnatural."
Kael's gruff reply was barely audible. "...just microbes, Vorlag. Lyra's toy. Let it be."
"Toy?" Vorlag's tone was acid. "This is no mere aquarium. There's Aetheric resonance here, faint but structured. I'll have a sample by week's end."
The words hit Dave like a filter surge. Sample. That meant dissection. That meant Vorlag's gnarled hands scooping him out, pinning him under a lens, or worse, tossing him into some alchemical brew. His silica patch, his one edge, was now a beacon betraying him.
> ANALYSIS: VORLAG'S AETHER SENSORS ARE CALIBRATED FOR ANOMALIES. YOUR BIOMINERALIZATION IS TRIGGERING THEM. OPTIONS: ABANDON SILICA (SUICIDAL), HIDE DEEPER (TEMPORARY), OR ACCELERATE EVOLUTION TO MASK SIGNATURE.
> PROBLEM: ACCELERATION REQUIRES BIOMASS. YOU'RE STARVING. SUGGESTION: EAT THE LEECH'S REMAINS BEFORE SOMETHING ELSE DOES.
Dave's gaze locked on the fading chemical trail of the wounded leech. It was still out there, leaking, weakened. Food. Biomass. A chance to stabilize, maybe even upgrade. But chasing it meant moving, risking Vorlag's sensors. Staying still meant starving while the Alchemist closed in.
"Screw it," Dave thought, his cynicism flaring into defiance. "If I'm going down, I'm going down full." He dragged his stiff, aching form out of the silt, his cilia stuttering as he followed the leech's trail. The tank's sterile zones loomed around him, but the moss bed's ruins offered cover—tangled roots, broken diatoms, and faint bacterial blooms. He sensed the leech ahead, sluggish, its chemical signature a beacon of decay.
He pushed forward, ignoring the Aetheric pulses sweeping the tank. His silica patch grated against the sand, a constant reminder of his transformation. He wasn't Dave the gamer anymore. He was Dave the thing, the patched-together monstrosity clawing for survival.
The leech was close now, half-buried in a crevice of Sunken Moss. Its membrane was torn, leaking protoplasm in slow, tempting wisps. Dave lunged, his pseudopod wrapping around the leech's weakened form. It thrashed feebly, its suction mouth useless against his silica armor. He engulfed it, absorbing its biomass in a rush of raw, primal energy.
> BIOMASS INTAKE: +8%. CURRENT BIOMASS: 82%. ENERGY RESERVES: MARGINALLY IMPROVED.
> ALERT: AETHERIC PULSE INTENSIFYING. VORLAG IS SCANNING THIS SECTOR. UPGRADE MENU AVAILABLE. RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE SELECTION TO MASK SIGNATURE.
The Menu flickered in Dave's mind, AURA's voice dripping with urgency.
> UPGRADE OPTIONS:
> 1. AETHERIC CAMOUFLAGE: REDUCE AETHERIC SIGNATURE BY RESTRUCTURING SILICA BONDS. COST: 5% BIOMASS. RISK: REDUCED ARMOR INTEGRITY.
> 2. ENHANCED CILIA ARRAY: INCREASE SPEED AND MANEUVERABILITY. COST: 6% BIOMASS. RISK: INCREASED ENERGY DRAIN.
> 3. METABOLIC BOOST: ACCELERATE BIOMASS ABSORPTION. COST: 7% BIOMASS. RISK: TEMPORARY VULNERABILITY DURING RECONFIGURATION.
Dave hesitated, the Aetheric pulse growing sharper, Vorlag's shadow darkening the tank. The leech's biomass surged through him, but it wasn't enough to feel safe. Camouflage could hide him from Vorlag, but weaken his armor. Speed could get him to cover, but burn him out. Metabolic boost could fuel more upgrades, but leave him defenseless.
"Hide or fight," he thought, the old gamer instinct kicking in. "Run's not an option."
The Aetheric pulse hit like a shockwave, and Vorlag's voice growled, "There. It's moving."