Born a Monster

493 Not My Bed

I am told that the first thing one becomes aware of when waking is whether one is in one’s own bed or not. For me, it has always been whether I’m on my belly or back.

Some well-meaning person had put me on my back. Oh, and I could taste broth.

[You have 6/1920 biomass available.]

Damn it!

“I think he’s awake.” said one female voice.

“I’ll go get the master.” an older voice (also female) replied.

“Meh.” I said. I tried to sit up, but only sank deeper into the soft mattress. I rolled to face the young female. Her face was red, by which I mean hobgoblin red, not that she was blushing. “Good morning.”

“Afternoon, I think.” She looked at the roof of the tent. “Fine. Good morning, how are you?”

“Famished.” I said.

.....

“There should be stew here soon.” she said.

My stomach growled its acceptance.

“The master?” I asked, “Malkin?”

“Don’t say his name in that tone.” she said. “He’s been nice to my mother and I... Loki be praised.”

I squidged my way toward the edge of the bed.

“You look wrong, like someone molded a person out of clay and did it all wrong.” she said.

“Could you be more precise?” I asked, finally reaching the edge. Using the bed frame, I was able to pull myself into a seated position. Next time, I warned myself, slower. “Uh.”

“Are you okay? You don’t look okay. Like you’re about to vomit. Not on me!” she threw up her hands reflexively.

I let out a prolonged belch. “Is there more food?”

She blinked twice. “Oh. You’re some kind of brain damaged. Yes, there is stew coming.”

I placed my hands on the bed frame to help stabilize me.

[System History has not been unlocked. Focus on...]

The girl kicked my leg. “Don’t get mad at me.” she said. “I’ve done nothing to you.”

“I’m not... I’m not angry at or with you.” I said. “My anger is from other causes.”

“Is it because you look ugly?” she asked.

“No.” I said. “I’ve always looked abnormal. Unique.”

“Yeah, if my face looked like that, I’d call it unique, too.”

“Tyranda Freya!” her mother said, entering the tent. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?”

Tyranda pursed her mouth and said nothing.

“I’m not offended by...”

The mother held up her hand. “When I want you to speak, I’ll ask you something. Just because you aren’t gagged and in chains doesn’t mean you can’t be.”

I grunted, but lacked the will to fight. Besides, she was right. It could be a lot worse.

“Now, Tyranda, what do you say to your mother, who worries about you?”

“Loki’s goats bite your heels!” Tyranda spouted, “You aren’t my real mother.”

While her mother inhaled, she fled the tent.

The mother glared at me, as though any of this was my fault. Eventually, she spoke. “The master will be here shortly, with a small kettle of stew. You WILL leave enough for my daughter and I, do you understand?”

“How much do you eat?” I asked.

“Together, about four servings.”

I scrolled my reticule over her.

“You are already in stage one hunger.” I said. “I will leave five servings or more.”

She stuck out her lower lip at me, then said. “You will not.”

“I am a Truthspeaker, and cannot lie.” I said.

“I’ve known Truthspeakers to lie before.” she said. “You may mean well, but when the stew is in front of you, your will shall change.”

I shook my head. “I can joke, so long as all present know it for a joke. I can tell tales as they were told to me, provided I mention the tale is not mine. I can even, Loki be praised, use culturally common phrases. But when I try to lie, or some times even just exaggerate, my System shuts down my voice.”

“It doesn’t work like that!” she snapped.

“It does for me.”

“Thrice damned are the liars.” she said, turning her head and spitting.

Merciful gods, the curses that woman could throw. It roiled about in the air for a bit, and then caught scent of a liar.

Malkin flung open the door flap, and the curse attacked him. I would say engulfed, but the truth is that it was stopped well short of his aura, and he tore it with a simple prayer. He turned a not quite smile on the mother.

“Sibbe. Have I not asked you to mind your cursing?”

“I... It was not intentional, my lord.” she said, lowering her gaze.

He chuckled. “And I forgive you. Here, let me ladle out a portion of this stew for you, and another for your daughter.”

“They need three servings each.” I said.

Malkin blinked, his smile disappearing that fast. “How can you possibly know that?”

I shrugged. “It is one of many things my reticule reveals to me.” Because of my Lifeshaper powers, but not all truths need to be spoken.

He looked like I’d forced a lemon down his throat via his nose, but he did dish out the servings. Heaping ladles of them. I swallowed to keep from drooling.

He then ladled out three servings for himself, and gave the pot with its two servings of stew to me, along with the ladle. It was all the same to me. I’d eat grass if I had to. I drank straight from the ladle.

“Barbarian.” Malkin said, “Perhaps you would like a bowl?”

[You have made your save against rating four poison. Rating reduced to level three. You have taken six points of Toxic damage. After ability activation, you have received three. 27/60 health remain.]

“Why would you poison the stew?” I asked.

“Why would...” he sniffed at his bowl, and flung it to the ground. “TREACHERY.”

I tried to rise, and instead fell to a kneel, more than half leaning on the bed. “Tyranda.” I said. “This poison could kill her.”

“You DARE speak to me about a mere servant? Someone has poisoned my food!”

Crap. Of course he didn’t care. What had I been thinking?

[Stalwart Health, Stalwart Mind, Stalwart Soul activated. For the next hour, you may ignore...]

I sent, trying to stand.

Again, I failed, this time coughing up a breath misted with blood.

“I... I cannot stand. We must warn them.” I said.

“Oh? Why must we?” he asked.

“They are still of the people, whatever their current standing.” I said.

“Don’t you DARE go anywhere.” he said.

“Truthspeaker!” I snapped at him. “I literally cannot stand. I’m going nowhere.”

“Heh.” he said, and walked... yes, WALKED... after them.

I waited for the toxin to run its course, then gobbled down the remaining serving. THAT was when I noticed my health total.

“What in the unholy abyss?” I asked. Then, I phrased it more politely for my System.

[Might: 4, Health: 5 provides a maximum health of sixty points.]

[Might Traits: Durable, Fast Healing, Athletic, Well Fed.]

It sat silent.

I sent.

[You have no tier two tissues evolved for this form.]

For this...

[You have no tier two tissues evolved for any human form.]

.....

I did the same for my default form.

[Tier two evolutions: Scales, Tier Two.]

What? No. No, no, no, no, no.

[Transformation: Default form]

How far back had I set myself? Loss of body mass, of critical evolutions? So deprived of nutrition that I was literally willing to take poison just to eat?

When he returned, Malkin mistook the nature of my tears. “You may relax. Tyranda tasted the poison, and spat her food out. Sibbe was still comforting her when I came upon them. They have been sent to gather proper and safe nutrition, and Tigrin will deal with the food server who delivered the tainted food.”

Was it stress or poison that caused my heart to beat quickly? Right, probably the poison.

“That,” I said, “is good news.”

I tried and failed to get myself into the bed.

“So.” Malkin swept his robes upward, to sit without accidentally pinching them around himself. “You cannot lie, but you don’t have to tell the truth, either, do you?”

“Neither do you.” I said.

“Are you a hobgoblin?” he asked. “Are you in your true form right now?”

“Are you serious?” I asked. “What hobgoblin has my eyes? Which can transform as I can? Who else has a natural form like this?”

“So,” he asked, “what do you think your species is?”

Crap. I could have told him Demigod, but that’s not an answer I was going to give any inquisitor while I couldn’t even walk. How little could I tell him and still be truthful?

“I am a Protean.” I said. “A shapeshifter. The earliest form I remember...”

He raised a hand. “That does not matter. A Protean, and not a Titan-Spawn. In spite of the similarities, you are NOT the unholy one.”

I managed not to laugh.

No, I didn’t notice those numbers at first, either. Oh, I would have been so mad if I had. That additional health did NOT come easily... at least the first time around.