In the City of Light, underneath the manor of the Lightbringer, the Human God, there was a dark and miserable dungeon. Small flickering flames, so weak they looked like they could be snuffed out at any moment, were the only source of light within this wretched place.

The rattling of chains as well as the maniacal laughter and insane ramblings of the one branded as the 'Traitor' were the only noises in this miserable cell, until another one joined the morbid orchestra.

GGGGRRRRRMMBBBB

Byron's stomach growled loudly, already starting to consume itself in a desperate bid to keep him alive with whatever energy his body had stored as fat, as was its natural survival instincts.

But there was little energy left. What had once been a tall, robust man was now replaced by a withered skeletal figure, with pale and clammy skin that clung tight to the bone. Small amounts of fat deposits still existed, but his body was desperately rationing them for dear life. Even with those, however, his cheeks were sunken and his eyes had deep, black circles around them.

His body hair had withered and snuffed out, leaving only the feeble flames atop his head to light up the room. Just enough to light up the food that rested on the floor in front of him. Just within his reach.

His hands were still resting in the shackles that were bound to the wall, but they had decayed and withered with his prolonged lack of food that the once tight shackles were so loose that he could slip his hands out without much effort.

Yet even with his freedom coming so easily to him, he stayed exactly where he was. Slumped against the wall, his hands above him as his weak wrists hung on the shackles and his head hung down.

He could have ran, but his legs had shrunk to nothing more than twigs, and even if they still had the strength to carry him, he didn't have the energy to stand never mind make it up the stairs, where there would ultimately be a guard waiting for him. Who knows if they even bothered locking the door anymore.

Byron stared at the food on the floor blankly, his eyes lifeless and starting to cloud over as the perpetual dim was starting to eat away at them. Every blink took the effort of moving a mountain, as he stared at it with his mouth watering.

He had once read that it took nearly two months for someone to die from starvation, he had no idea how close he was to that total. Part of him was hoping it was soon, that he would be put out of his misery soon. But life wouldn't be so kind to him.

By this time, he had toned out the mad ramblings of the devil across from him. He had seen him eat what little food they brought down to them, a few times now. The sight always made his stomach turn, every mouthful the madman took made him want to vomit. On a few occasions he actually did, only hastening his doomed situation. I mean... how could anyone do something so vile? How could anyone be so low as to do that?!

But now, as he stared weakly at the food in front of him, the food that was just within his reach and just out of the madman's, he finally understood how he could bring himself to eat such vile things.

He had no other choice. Even now, Byron's mouth was watering and the logical part of his mind, the part that held his consciousness and his humanity, was being snuffed out and replaced with pure, feral desperation.

Removing his hand from the shackles, they offered no resistance, as he reached forwards. His hand trembled as his slender fingers creaked from the simple act of stretching out. Every inch feeling like a mile until he finally grasped his prize.

Dragging it over, he lifted the food to his lips and opened his mouth, his lips trembling and, as he took his first bite and the flavour of the meat exploded in his mouth, tears dripped down Byron's cheeks.

A screen appeared in the air beside him, but he ignored it and continued to eat. Every crunching bite accompanied by the soft sound of sobbing, as his tears mixed with the maniacal laughs of his cell mate.

With every bite, the system tried to warn him, but all he could do was keep eating as his stomach screamed for nourishment.

[WARNING! Incompatible food source consumed! Further consumption will result in Gene Collapse. Cease all actions immediately or suffer permanent consequences!]

[WARNING! Incompatible food source consumed! Further consumption will result in Gene Collapse. Cease all actions immediately or suffer permanent consequences!]

[WARNING! Incompatible food source consumed! Further....]

***

Stiffened step after Stiffened step, Seth pushed himself through the fields of lifeless puppets and forced himself towards the fortress. If he could just get to the fort, he might be able to convince Woe to give this all up and come be with his family.

At the very least, talking to him might be enough to stop the brat from creating this damn suppression field so that his men weren't helpless lambs to the slaughter, acting as nothing more than feed to a Cannibal Abomination.

The puppets arms had given up at this point, hanging limply by his side as he advanced step by step. His grasp was rapidly slipping and he had no idea how much longer he was going to last, but still he continued.

So what if his arms gave up? That wasn't new to him anyways. His legs could still carry him. And if those failed? He would drag himself across the ground with his chin. There was no way in hell he was going to see his family again and not do everything in his power to save them from the claws of this cult.

His sister had done it for him, now it was his turn. He had all this power, all this responsibility. But what damned good was it if he couldn't save his own family?

Ahead of him, a Treant and the Abomination that had sprouted finger based spider-legs were entangled together, literally. The Treant had grown its hands into a mass of ensnaring roots and was holding the Abominations arms at bay, while others were hacking at its finger-legs.

The tragic Abomination roared in annoyance, wriggling in the Treants grasp but was unable to free itself from the wooden shackles.

It's torso split open once again, making way for the slobbering maw of blender style shark teeth that were snapping at the air in a futile effort to try and eat the Treant. It seemed all was going well for the Tree man, before the Abomination's melted, playdough flesh began to shift once more.

From either sides of its slobbering maw, like the mandibles of an insect, a pair of hands sprouted. Hands was being generous, since they barely contained more than three fingers and each of those was mostly a long, sharp fingernail made into a talon.

The arms extended outwards, bending at multiple points as if the person trapped within the Abomination couldn't quite remember how many elbows they should have, but knew that they should indeed have them, and so settled on three as their final number.

It reeled its freshly grown arms back and plunged them into the chest of the Treant in front of it, the living tree only able to let out cries of pain as its hands were too busy keeping the Abomination in place.

Wood creaked and vines snapped as the talons ripped open the tree's chest cavity, revealing a wooden heart beating in the middle of the tree man's trunk. The talons eagerly stabbed through it and tore the heart from the Treants chest.

Glowing green sap spurted from the heart as it beat for the last time, before it was eagerly tossed into the salivating mouth and grinded into nothing but nutrition for the unthinking beast.

The Treants head fell backwards and his body slumped limply, the vibrant green colouration starting to fade from his leaves as he slipped into death. Without the resistance holding it back anymore, the Abomination easily tore free of its wooden bindings and threw away the corpse in disgust.

Seemingly, it had become enamoured with the taste of meat and didn't appreciate the taste of something green for a change.

The wooden colossus flew through the air like a discarded ragdoll, its towering corpse sailing directly towards the stiff body Seth was currently possessing. If his legs were working properly, perhaps he would have been able to dodge, but they weren't.

So instead of a brilliant last minute dodge, the wooden corpse slammed into him at full force and sent his body flying. It bounced across the ground a few times, before exploding into multiple parts as they finally lost the cohesion binding them together.

Yet even as the body he had been possessing exploded into a hail of limbs and useless body parts, Seth stood up from the ground and rubbed his head.

The stiffness in his body was gone, replaced by a sense of overwhelming vibrancy. He felt alive again, but not like he was in his proper body. He felt strong, overwhelming powerful and... tall.

Standing to his full height, Seth opened his eyes and looked at his hands curiously, only to be met with the sight of tree roots twisting themselves into a mimicry of human hands.

'Well now... This I can work with.'