Madelaine 'Maddy' Martin was a middle aged field zoologist who had spent her life studying animals in their natural habitats. Her home was crowded with indigenous species collected from journeys across the world. She married a man who supported her education and paid every expense, only for her to discover a year later that she was infertile. The abuse followed relentless and unbearable until the day she fought back and killed him.
Now… she had been reincarnated as one of her favorite animals: a worm.
"NOOOOOO!!!"
She screamed inside her mind, struggling to understand what had happened. She had died. She had killed her husband. Now, as far as she believed, she was in hell and worse, she had become a worm. Panic scrambled her thoughts until her gaze landed on a large rock jutting from the ground.
"There. Hide there, Maddy. You know how to inch along. You've spent your whole life studying worms use it. Move."
Adrenaline surged through her tiny body. Fueled by terror and instinct, she forced herself forward. After watching the demons slaughter one of her kind, she summoned every ounce of strength and crawled behind the massive rock, pressing herself into the shadows.
From the rear of the cave, the brown skinned demon girl carried the massive, lengthy worm alone, hoisting it with one arm as if it were nothing more than a log.
The others followed behind her, hauling a large cloth sack stuffed with smaller worms creatures just like Maddy's new form. A green skinned demon spoke sharply.
"Make sure we don't miss anything, especially the mineral worms. They're packed with dense magic. They're valuable food for the chief's firstborn. If I catch anyone taking a bite, I'll make sure you get scorched."
Two smaller demons, identical in frame and height, stopped fighting over a crystal like worm when they heard the green demon's threat.
"It was him! He wanted to take a bite, and I told him not to that's why I was trying to take it from him!"
The other, more timid looking, shot back,
"Liar! You're the one who wanted to eat it whole. Stop twisting the story!"
The two continued arguing over the worm, each insisting the other was the one who wanted to eat it. Nearby, a pink skinned demon woman carried a beautiful mineral worm that gleamed like rose quartz. Her eyes sparkled as she admired it.
"This one. I'll give it to the princess. We should let her eat too, if we want her to give birth to more. Right?"
A purple skinned demon woman answered her, struggling under the weight of a bundle of grotesque worms.
"No way. You're as dumb as those worms. Why give her precious mineral worms? She already has high magic. What she needs is man eater worms. She needs meat, not rocks."
The pink demon scowled, clearly irritated by the purple one. Before the argument could continue, the chief cut them off with a sharp command.
"Enough. Stop fooling around. You're not mindless monsters to waste time fighting over worms. We still have a grand feast to prepare. My firstborn is waiting for me at home. We're heading back to the base."
The demons answered at once, lifting their hauls and moving out together. Hidden behind the rock, Maddy listened, her body trembling as she slowly understood their words.
The thought dragged up an old memory. Long ago, as a child, she had eaten raw worms she dug out of the mud, hiding them in her hands. The memory made her recoil as she caught sight of her reflection in the mineral's surface a fat, six eyed worm, its mouth able to stretch wide like a great white shark's jaws.
She stayed still, listening, waiting for the demons to leave through the large exit hole. When she finally dared to peek out, her blood ran cold… The chief had stopped and was scanning the area, his gaze sweeping the cave.
"What… what's that red and blue aura coming from him? Why does it feel like space itself is bending? My heart it feels like it's being crushed just looking at him. Every sense in me is screaming to stay away… is he Satan?"
The chief took one last look around before finally turning away. Only then did Maddy let herself breathe.
"Whew… holy sh*t. What was that? That sensation… it gives me the creeps."
The feeling dragged up another painful memory… her husband's face, his aura, the way he used to beat her.
"Yeah, that was familiar. My husband… he really did a number on me. Is he here too? Reborn in hell? Of course he is. Beating your wife probably earns you a golden ticket to damnation. I just hope… I hope he didn't come back as a worm… or something as low as that."
Despite everything… the abuse, the fear she had loved him. And that love still lingered, tangled with worry. Memories surfaced unbidden: starving days when she filled her stomach with raw worms dug from the mud, even scavenging through trash crawling with them. Then came the change.
He pulled her out of that life. He supported her education, her career, her success. She had clung to him, idolized him, blamed herself when their marriage shattered when she learned she could never bear a child.
The weight of it crushed her…
She cried.
But in this new form, after what she had just witnessed, it looked less like grief and more like a worm mourning its home and kin slaughtered and harvested by demons, leaving nothing behind but blood.
Her sorrow was cut short by a calm, computerized woman's voice speaking directly into her mind. A game like interface materialized before her eyes.
[System Announcement]
[Congratulations! You've been successfully hatched and born.]
Maddy paused, her eyes still wet from crying. Confusion replaced her grief as the voice echoed inside her head and a floating box appeared in front of her.
"What now… Well, thanks for congratulating me on being reborn as a worm, you freak."
[Initiating scan…]
"Scanning? For what? Oh my god, are you an angel? Are you scanning my faith? I knew it! You made a mistake putting me in hell! Yes, take me to heaven! I don't want to be a worm, please! I'm in danger those demons are drooling over me!"
[Scan complete. Your species is… Chimera Worm.]
"Chimera Worm?!"