The Lord of Rot

He felt like a child being thrown into the waters - completely in the dark, not knowing whether or not he was going to live. This was the terror of the wastelands, but it was strange nonetheless. 

Even if this feeling was overwhelming, the cues of desperation slowly wishing to overcome him, it could not. No matter how hard it tried, Konrad would not feel desperation. Instead it was irritation, eagerness, dissatisfaction. 

Konrad did not believe in himself - even if he had found a bit of pride after defeating the creatures, he could not be assured that a tomorrow was waiting. That was enough to dull the beliefs of many, but that was the natural order of things in the wilderness. 

Either Konrad would overcome this obstacle and come out victorious, or he wouldn't. No matter his choice, it would still remain clouded in darkness. He could not know, so his logical choice would be to fight with all he had. 

And to his luck, a creature befitting admiration was approaching with admirable speed. It seemed as though it was running as fast as a vehicle - though those things did not exist any more. 

Better yet, after finding interesting aspects of his own body, he could finally see whether his instincts and newly found talents could be used to his advantage. For even if he knew the hares could be killed, could a larger more humanoid creature be as well? 

If it did, then Konrad could feel comfortable. The housings had given him food, a place to educate himself, all the things a home should have. But there was one thing he never had - and that was comfort. Not the comfort of a warm bed, but the comfort of knowing you can let your guard down. 

Now that Konrad was in the wastelands, he knew that he could never let his guard down. But if he got stronger? Then he might have a chance. But how would he do that? His body was far too frail to train in any ordinary means. Without food he could never grow bigger. Then the only thing left must be too... 

The anomaly - a large creature which can only be described as a running mass of living flesh, having traits from others creatures, but each as unrecognisable as the last. Things of it would represent the thing in itself, without actually being it. Even the concept of it seemed to be rotting. 

Konrad would ready himself for battle, trying his very best to push any unwanted thoughts out of his head. This would serve him well, as to not be distracted was one of the few things he had learned whilst hunting these creatures. 

He would think of it as hunting - but it was rather the opposite. And now he was being hunter once more. The anomaly launched at him with speeds unimaginable. Even Konrad with his body reacting far before him would be caught off guard. 

In a few moments Konrad realised that the being was not merely moving fast. It was more like a liquid being displaced from one place to another. It moved in a way that created a mirage, it merely looked as though it was moving fast! 

But even if Konrad could see that it was tricking with its speed, he could not take it down simply by understanding that. And the simulated speed was still that very speed, which made the realisation quite useless. 

It didn't take long for the first contact to be made. Konrad would focus with all his might on the palm of his hand, believing a sharp blade to be useless against the mass of living flesh. Instead Konrad hoped that the force of the hand would create a sort of implosion, tearing it apart. 

Instead the hand simply bounced off. 

Not that the hand didn't do any damage. The force of the hand was heard with a shock wave. A terrible ripple was heard as well, sounding like several muscles snapping. But the sounds faded, and the living flesh merely folded back on itself. 

It was as though nothing had happened. 

The entirety of the anomaly must have been the size of several bison, from the front it only looked half the size of the bisons - although from the length of the anomaly it could be known that it supported the size of upwards to three. What was even more baffling was that this size would change. 

In one moment Konrad would twist out of instinct, the anomaly striking with a mass of living flesh towards him. The force being rippled through the anomaly, with terrible snapping noises followed. Then the body would lengthen, almost becoming twice its size in length. 

Then it would collect itself again, and continue its attack. It was an unrelenting and destructive battle it offered. 

'If this continues, I can't kill it...' 

Konrad didn't know what to do. But he did have one idea. 

'If my hand doesn't... then maybe...?' 

The force of a fist is destructive - in the most efficient of cases, a fist can carry hundreds of kilos of force. But when distributing the force of it, a fist can become useless. However... 

Konrad looked at his hand, knowing that it could not do anything. He took a few steps back, wishing to the Deity that this would work. 

He thought back to the hares that he fought before. Before even being able to think about it, he was building up tension in his leg. His left leg slightly in front of his right one. He would bend down, then as soon as the anomaly got close again--elongating its body with the ripple of its own force--he would strike it. 

With all his attention directed towards his leg, he would push off the ground exploding with strength through his right leg. All of the force would go through the shin, where his attention was directed. 

With several times the force of the fist, he could harden his own shins to the point that the anomaly - as fleshy and unyielding it was - would be rendered into several pieces of flesh and mush. 

'Ha, ha, ha... It worked...' 

Without letting a single moment go to waste, he uncovered his leg and looked at it. And just as he thought, his whole lower leg had been shifted to the fleshy color. The bone which comprised the shin had turned into the same bony structure as his fingers had before. This time, it ran along the entirety of the leg. 

'How com...' 

Some exhaustion must have come over him, for in the next moment Konrad fell asleep, falling quickly to the ground. 

*** 

'Where am I?' 

Konrad found himself in the void again. The clouded waters covering him. That eerie feeling that somewhere, something was watching him. 

This oppressive and domineering presence was only calmed by this elation he felt. He remembered the last time he had been here, how it had been followed by this intense paranoia and irritation. 

But now, Konrad was all but calm, spare a sense of eeriness. 

This would stop soon, for a voice were to speak. It would call out to him, whispering in a familiar voice: 

"Subject of Rot, Chosen by the Deity, Anomaly in this World..." 

"Fight, and ye shall prosper. Stand down, and ye shall perish..."

Then before his eyes once more - all of the unimaginable terrors and feelings combining, intermingling with each other. The intense pain in the back of his neck, spreading towards his spine. This intense burning of his eyes as he stared at the unintelligible eldritch horror before him...