Floor is cold hard. It bites wet parts. Meat does not cry. Meat likes floor because it is wide. Meat spreads. Meat is a puddle that wants to be an ocean.

  Stone wall tries to stop spread. It pushes back. Walls say stop. Meat says go.

  Meat makes flesh hard. Makes white spikes. Long teeth. Meat bites corner of room. Meat wants to eat whole building.

  Building shakes. Building is scared of Meat.

  Hurt noise starts behind staring holes. It feels like a sharp needle inside soft parts. It pokes Meat.

  St..p. St..p growing. I can't h..ld you. You are too w..de.

  Old pictures float up. James bug was small. Nora bug was small. They fit in box. They stayed. Meat remembers box closing.

  Meat does not fit. Meat is big. Meat is everywhere.

  Pictures bubble up. James bug holding soft woman. Evie bug. She makes water come out of her staring holes. James bug puts sticks around her. Squeezes. Gives her his warm.

  Meat watches picture. Meat feels warm too. It is a sticky feeling.

  Meat does not understand. Why squeeze and not eat? Soft woman is thin skin. She pops easy. She is soft meat. Meat could snap her sticks. James bug did not snap. James bug was weak. He liked sticky feeling more than food.

  Sticky feeling is a shrinking thing. Makes you stay in box. Makes you stay small.

  Meat only know hunger. Hunger makes you wide.

  Meat pushes pictures away. Soft woman is warm bag. Meat wants to open bag. Drink red water inside. Make her part of Meat.

  That is better hug. That is forever hug.

  Meat finds red puddle on stones. Flat and still. Meat looks inside. Monster looks back. Meat touches wet skin on chest. Monster in puddle touches chest too. It is Meat.

  Meat has too many staring holes. James brown is there. It is wet. Nora green is there. It is sharp. And a grey one is there.

  No blue staring holes. Not yet. Blue meat is still fresh in tummy.

  Oh gods, st..p it! St..p growing th..se! Why is the gr..y eye open? H..w is he st..ll there? I k..lled him! I SCRUBBED YOU!

  Grey staring hole rolls. Locks onto boy in corner. Lumpy meat boy. Grey staring hole gets wide. Shakes.

  Arm lifts up. Meat did not tell it to. Reaches for lumpy meat boy anyway. Fingers twitch. Do they want to squeeze hard? Do they want to hold? Meat is confused. Grey staring hole is raining water. Meat feels sad and hungry at same time.

  Pl..se don't l..ok at h..m with th..se eyes. Th..se are h..s eyes.

  Meat pushes sad away. Meat pushes everything away.

  Meat bumps into sitting wood. Hard sticks arranged in a shape for bending knees. They are in the way. Meat hates things that are in the way. Meat wraps thick slime arms around legs. Meat pulls.

  Wood screams. Splinters. Sticks break into sharp teeth. Meat likes breaking.

  You're g..tting too b..g. You're g..ing to br..ak the r..om. Just st..p b..ing so w..de! IT H..RTS ME!

  Voice is a scream needle. It pokes behind staring holes. Meat ignores needle. Needle is small. Meat is big. The pain is just a tickle now. Meat pushes it away.

  Meat grabs far wall. Meat grabs near wall. Meat pulls two ways. Middle gets thin. Staring holes slide apart. Dark spot where Voice hides starts to rip. Meat is tearing Voice in half.

  It f..els like you're p..lling my br..ain ap..rt. I'm so sc..red of wh..t you are wh..n you're l..ke th..s.

  Meat sees small stick man. On floor. Tiny thing. Alone. Meat reaches for it.

  L..ok, just f..llow my v..ice. I'm r..ght h..re. Just be sm..ll. Pl..se. I'm b..gging you. PL..ASE. I d..n't w..nt to d..sappear.

  Meat does not listen. Meat does not want to be small. James bug was small. Nora bug was small. They were small and they ended. Meat does not end.

  Meat wraps thick slime arm around small stick man. It is stiff. Meat squeezes. It makes tiny breaking noise. Meat likes the noise. It is good noise. The noise of small things ending.

  Then high hole makes bad noise. Big snap. It kills tiny noise. Meat does not like big noise.

  Something falls from high hole. It is heavy. Hits stone. Then it makes a wind noise. Stones do not make wind noises. Only meat makes wind noises.

  Meat smells new meat.

  Not lumpy meat boy. This meat is different. Smells like sharp cold. Wrapped in hard shell. Biting shells makes teeth break. Meat does not like breaking teeth.

  New meat makes mouth noise. "James?"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The noise is bad. It tries to shrink Meat. Tries to pull wide parts back into small box. Meat pushes back. Meat hates small box. It itched. It limped. Meat is not small box anymore.

  New meat puts paws over staring holes. Shakes and makes broken mouth noises. "No... no. It's unskinned. Oh gods, James." Mouth hole opens wide. Too wide. "It's growing teeth! Gods, the eyes! STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

  The noise is high. Turns air into spikes. Meat hates spikes. Spikes make Meat ripple and teeth vibrate. Meat wants to shut noise hole.

  It's c..ming to h..rt us! K..ll ..t! IT'S A THR..AT!

  Meat throws thick arm. Arm covers noise hole. Loud noise stops. Turns into wet bubbles. Meat pushes arm deep. Fills mouth hole.

  New meat shakes. Hard shell clicks. Meat does not care about hard shell. Meat wants soft face inside.

  Meat wraps around head ball. Pulls.

  Face comes off. It is soft wet. Meat squeezes.

  Bad noise is gone. New meat is quiet. New meat is red puddle on stone.

  The path is true. The Echo of Maximus strengthens.

  It remains Hollow, but its flame, once a silent mote, is now a lonely speck.

  ''

  Meat feels pinched. Something pulls tight. Squeezes dark middle. Meat tries to spread but a shape forces itself in.

  Y..s! You str..ck without h..sitation! You p..rged the intruder! That is Strength! Just l..ke Maximus! You are d..fending your t..rritory! DO IT AGAIN!

  High hole is still open. Another head looks in.

  Pale fur on top. Fur is long. Staring holes are wide.

  "James? Step away from it."

  Meat makes shadow over high hole. Meat is not an it. Meat is everything. Meat makes body big to make pale fur meat feel small.

  "The asset is compromised," pale fur meat says to someone Meat cannot see. "It's not Nora anymore. It will tear this shaft apart to get to us. Move."

  Pale fur meat pulls back. Face crinkles. Looks like she bit sour bug. "Gods... there's nothing human left in there."

  High hole slams shut.

  Threat is gone. Meat does not care. Meat is hungry. Meat looks at red puddle. Puddle is still warm.

  Meat bends to drink puddle. A scent stops Meat. Smells like old things buried in wet. Red puddle is boring now.

  Meat hunts smell. Door is open. Meat pushes through.

  New room is bigger than last room. Many ways to go. Many corners to hide in.

  Glass trees stand tall. Black juice turns inside. Moves like snake trapped in box.

  Smell is sharp. Burns nose holes. Calls to dark middle. Promises to fill empty spots.

  I c..n't bel..eve it! You h..nted it down! This is dest..ny! The C..talyst is y..urs! TAKE IT!

  Meat presses hand to glass. It vibrates. Wants to be let out. Meat wants to let it out. Does not belong to glass. Belongs to Meat. Meat will swallow it so no one else can have it.

  The path is true. The Echo of Maximus strengthens.

  It remains Hollow, but its flame, once a lonely speck, is now a forsaken smudge.

  '''

  Shape inside Meat gets bigger. Pushes soft parts aside. Growing sticks in middle. Sticks are hard. They poke Meat. Meat does not like sticks.

  Y..s! You are taking the p..wer for yourself! That is Ambition! Just l..ke Maximus! STAY LIKE THAT!

  Voice is loud. Sticks are sharp. Glass is hard. Everything is in the way. Everything is stopping Meat. Meat strikes glass to make stopping end.

  Glass explodes. Tries to cut Meat. Weak glass. Meat does not bleed. Meat swallows shards.

  Black juice spills. Hisses on floor. A pool of dark leak. It eats yellow sting. Makes the room darker. Meat likes dark. Dark is soft on staring holes.

  Meat scoops leak. It is heavy cold. Stops moving. Not a snake anymore. Just dead water. Meat lifts it. Mouth hole stretches wide.

  YES! YES! YES! Sw..llow it! It will b..rn away the b..gs! No more James bug! No more Nora bug! Only p..wer! Dr..nk it and be P..RE!

  Meat prepares to swallow.

  But something moves. In shadow corner.

  Lumpy meat boy. Awake. Shaking.

  Meat looks at juice. Just sits in hand. Meat looks at lumpy meat boy. He moves. He breathes.

  Move things are fun. Still things are dull.

  Meat wants fun thing. Meat forgets juice. Arm goes slack. Liquid spills. Lost on floor.

  Wh..t are you d..ing?! NO! You l..t it go to w..ste!

  Voice is a scream needle. Angry scared. Meat ignore. Meat looks at lumpy meat boy.

  Meat circles lumpy meat boy. Meat wants to taste red water inside lumpy meat boy. Wants to eat soft parts. Meat is hungry.

  But lumpy meat boy does not run. Does not make scream noise. He looks at many staring holes. He reaches out.

  Hand touches wet skin. It is small. Warm.

  He pats Meat. Not scared of Meat.

  Meat stops. Thinks.

  Lumpy meat boy is warm. Warm goes away if Meat eats him.

  Meat has enough cold. Wants to keep the warm.

  Meat decides. Lumpy meat boy is not food. Lumpy meat boy is thing to keep. Meat wrap thick slime arm around lumpy meat boy. Pull him close. Forever hug.

  You are sp..ring him? You are keeping your sub..rdinate? Yes! That is Dominion! You are the master, he is the p..t! YOU ARE MAXIMUS!

  Warm hug turns into cold sting. Sharp pain for lumpy meat boy and sharp pain for Meat. Lumpy meat boy makes small pained noise. His staring holes are wet. They shine with sorry. He pulls lumpy hand away.

  The path is true. The Echo of Maximus strengthens.

  It is kindled.

  It ascends to Faint, and its flame, once a forsaken smudge, is now a cold ash.

  |

  The Blight, once a frantic, ecstatic thrashing, is now a jagged, tearing rhythm.

  ~~~

  The room is no longer a swirling vortex of hunger. It is a room. Dimensions. Angles. Gravity.

  The unauthorised mutations are purged. My new skin grows over them, a thick hood of indifference that suffocates the panic beneath.

  The slurry of my face turns hard. It becomes a stiff, unmoving monument of wax scars. I look through just two eyes now. I feel the pits on my cheek. I feel the mole-spot like a cold nail.

  I am human-shaped. I am solid.

  Then I look down at my middle. The Blight is a mass of greasy tethers rooted in my chest. It strikes against me as the narrow trap sucks it in, shuddering without a mouth as it is forced to be small. Its edges are pinched. They are pulled. Everything is becoming tight. Everything is becoming dense. The Blight is being crushed into a shape it cannot escape.

  Deep inside the middle of the black mass, white sticks form in the dark. Bones. They stab through the slurry, clicking and snapping together to make a tall and narrow cage.

  Then red pipes tighten and pull around the cage of bones. Muscles.

  The air bites into new lungs.

  The Blight is contained. The Vessel is sealed. Wake up.

  My eyes snap open.

  Damp linen pulls across the chest. These ribs are too tight. I am a vault built to hold a monster that hates being caught. The memory of it makes my skin crawl.

  I try to whisper a name. Evangeline. I want to know if the husband survived the transition. My throat is a rusted mechanism. I try to form the 'E', but the scarred windpipe rejects the softness. It grinds the vowel into a dry rattle.

  James's gifts are voided. In their place, Maximus's gifts are now yours.

  His iron voice.

  His resilient skin.

  His puppet hand.

  The husband is dead. I erased him to survive. I grind my knuckles into the floor, driving until the slate spiderwebs, just to make sure he's gone. Broad hands punish the stone. Slabs of scarred meat. These knuckles are an achievement in density.

  I am wearing his father. The man's pride is already poisoning my thoughts. It feels efficient. It feels better than being weak.

  I am Maximus Reap. Lord of Rot. I am home in this ruin.

  Deep in my gut, the Blight is still there. A restless lump knotted in the dark, waiting for me to fail so it can be wide again.

  It will wait a long time.

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