I'm so glad you like it so far. I was thinking about giving someone a unique power, but giving them a heavy burden as well. I'm hoping to make this story quite exciting and interesting. Imadaeth's personality will be brought out into the open in this story.
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A Vykker enters the room, I look at him. "Why are you wearing armor?". The Vykker gives a nervous laugh and walks towards me. "Well, I wasn't sure what mood you'd be in by now". I gave him a scowl, "Well let's see, I think I'm alright considering I have a tentacle instead of an arm". His anger was definately present in the last few words of his sentence, but the Vykker shrugged, "At least you have an arm now Zale".
I was getting annoyed now, "Alright, so what do I do now?". The Vykker looked at him, "Well... you were given this tentacle for a reason. I trust you are aware of the massacre that happened a month ago?". I nodded, he continued speaking. "You are one of three super-Sligs created in order to try and take him down. The reason I'm wearing this armor... see for yourself". The Vykker approached a cage and took out a chunk of meat, he threw it at the table in front of me. "See what happens when you put your new arm in front of it... and tense your muscles". As my 'arm' moved towards the meat, it suddenly gave a little twitch as if it was out of my control. I held the arm in place, tensed up my arm muscle like he said, the mouth opened and a thin jet of acid squirted out of it. I jumped back in shock, keeping my arm steady, "Acid?!". The Vykker smiled as the meat was slowly dissolved away by the strong acidic substance. "DX4249... A very powerful substance which can erode most metals. We're hoping this'll be strong enough to defeat that rogue Slig.
I shrugged, "How should I know? Why did you choose me anyway?". "We needed a test subject to test the new arm on, we waited until the right opportunity before unleashing our plan. People lose arms here all the time". The Vykker was pacing up and down the room as he spoke. "You need to look at the bigger picture here. If a super-Slig can do twice as much work as the regular Slig... don't you think that eventually everyone will be like you?". I gave him a sharp look. "I sincerely hope not, this thing is disgusting". "You may not believe me, but one day you'll grow to love it". I doubted that, but I heard what he had to say. "Allow me to demonstrate the hidden powers of this arm of yours". I nodded reluctantly, he approached. "Now, as I can apply pressure to it...", he pressed his armored glove against my arm, "You'll notice, that it doesn't feel any resistance... in fact, it flattens out to an astonishing degree". As he said, his glove was pressing down further and further, but I was not in any kind of pain... the tentacle was becoming more flat, but still retaining all functionality.
"Handy little micro-processors in the arm regulate pressure and distance, it's perfect for finding little objects, or searching through a small hole for something". I looked at the Vykker, "Is there anything else I should know?". "Two things, your codename is Reacher. Secondly, you'll find the rogue Slig somewhere along the little river down south, I'll give you the GPS co-ordinates".
As I walked out of that office, I really doubted that I would be able to return to normal life. I'd be called a freak by the Sligs, and even the mudokon workers would point and laugh... until I pressed it against their faces and threatened them. I was sent out blindly to hunt for a rogue Slig that I don't even know anything about. Reacher... what a joke. I'm more like a freak then anything else. Oh well, I have to start somewhere...
A few days of travelling pass, I can't believe I'm saying this... but I actually got used to the 'Reacher'. I don't need to clean my teeth as much as before, since I can just eat food from the arm-mouth. It felt like a burden before, but now I can see how useful it is... Like the Vykker said, I can use it to grab things out of reach, use the acid to burn away metal fences... I even killed a Scrab with it once. The acid is very powerful and can melt it down to the bone in seconds. I may be a freak, but at least I have power. Those worker Sligs get pushed around, but not me... I'll be feared and respected.
I think I'm close to the rogue Slig but I can't be sure. Might be a couple more days...
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