Chapter of Blooming Fate: The Opened Box

"Souls?"

"Yes, souls."

A leaf green, slightly unstable light flickered in the Elder's chest. Her own soul, apparently, if her words were to be believed.

I stared at my own chest. A similar light flickered there, albeit a little different. It was bright and soft pink in colour. But... It wasn't flickering... It was bright and stable... Except for a small thread that extended from it, pointing into the distance.

The direction where Karen had gone off to...

"... Are you for real?"

"... You truly have no idea, do you?"

"If I had, I wouldn't be asking what this means..."

"Hmpf, that is true as well..."

The Elder furrowed her brows a little.

"Have you never attempted to ask that Witch? She might be fickle but isn't she the one who you should be consulting?"

"... That fickleness is the problem. I... I honestly don't know whether I can trust her. Also... She scares me."

"Scares you? Her own kin? Pff... Ahahahaha!"

The Elder's eyes went wide before she broke out in loud laughter, holding her own belly.

This was the first time I heard her laugh like this, full of emotion.

"Ahahahahaha! Hahahaha! Hahaha... Ha... Scaring her own child... As expected from the witch... I can scarcely believe it..."

Shaking her head, the elf sat down on the ground, her back against the wall.

"Scaring you... And yet, you still confide with me? Cursed brat, did it never cross your mind to doubt me?"

"Doubt... Uhm..."

Doubt...

In the beginning, sure, I was even a little scared of her as well. Worried about what she might do. But when I saw how much she cared for her brethren, how she cried when she lost her home... I couldn't help but sympathise with her. Those were my feelings, although it was a little hard to actually put into words...

"Uhm... I don't think you are a bad person, so..."

"... Not a bad person. You're quite naive, aren't you?"

"..."

Yes, I was. Sorry about that...

Maybe I should be more careful. But, in that case, it wasn't only me, this time.

"The others don't really doubt you either, right? And the Captain wouldn't allow you here if he was doubting you."

"Mhm... Well, I guess those words are mostly true as well. But, your captain is a cautious one. He might not have reason to doubt us at the moment, but he sure doesn't trust us."

Well, it probably came with the job, not to trust everyone arbitrarily... Shouldering so much responsibility... I wouldn't be able to do that.

"Uhm, there's one thing I still want to know, Miss Elder."

"What, cursed brat?"

"... You said that seeing souls is what made the Cursed so scary... But, why is that?"

"..."

The Elder didn't immediately answer, only staring at me. After several seconds had passed, she let out a sigh.

"... That is something I will not tell you."

"You... won't?"

"Yes. Cursed child, you may not doubt me as much as you should, but the reverse is different. What I have told you so far is nigh inconsequential to me. In fact, I am certain you would be able to find out those things yourself, given time. But... That is a different matter."

"So, you say... You don't trust me enough to tell me?"

"... That is correct, cursed brat."

"I see..."

Somehow, being told she doesn't trust me, hurt a little. I understood what she meant but... Nonetheless, it hurt and made me a little sad to hear.

"Brat, come closer for a second."

"Nn?"

The Elder gestured me to come closer. Although a little confused at the sudden request, I walked over and bowed down to face her, the green eyes staring straight at me.

"Brat, let me give you a single piece of advice."

"Nn?"

"The Cursed are neither humanoids nor fairies, they scarcely even resemble people. With time, you will change, straying further from the path of the living. Do not reject that path, you cannot escape it either way. But no matter how far you stray, never forget your human heart."

"..."

A small smile formed on the Elder's lips.

"I will be watching for as long as we journey together. If you find yourself troubled, I am willing to listen. Let me repay the kindness you and your friends have showed us."

With those words, she stood up and walked past me.

"The elves are a race that is distrustful and withdrawn. But we will never forget those who helped us and those who showed us kindness."

And then, she left, leaving me alone in the wagon.

"Never forget my human heart... huh..."

With a wry smile, I gazed at the door through which she had left.

"I'll try my best, Miss Elder."

Well then, now onto the next problem... The more immediate one...

"What do I do about this... egg?"

The answer was exceedingly simple: Nothing.

At least, there wasn't anything I could do now about that egg and its remains. Although, it was quite interesting. The shell was hard but the inside had some fluffy, soft stuff that was quite comfortable to touch...

Maybe we could make something out of this?

But that's something I can worry about later.

I was a little tempted to go join Karen and Lily right now. The Captain wanted to talk with them about Rina, after all. But... While I sure wanted to know about that, I didn't have the composure to just go there right now. In a way, I was astonished that Karen could just stand up and leave after we got stuck in there together for days...

I sure couldn't. Well, looking at it positively, I heard quite a bit form the Elder about my situation. There had still been various questions I wanted to ask but she already left so... Nothing I could do about now. Next time.

For example, what the heck is this weird string of light that connects me and Karen? Or that connects Lily and Rina?

If these were really our souls, then something had happened that connected our souls... Or something like that?

"Haa..."

Too many weird things were going on...

Either way, I heavily doubted that being able to see souls and those fangs were the only things that had changed. The Elder told me that with time I would stray further from being a human... Together with what she told me about the other Cursed I had a bit of an idea of what else might have changed.

"Mhm... does the door have a lock?"

It actually had one. Well, not the kind of lock I was imagining, it was just a small piece of wood that was blocking the door from opening... Better than nothing, mind you.

Now then, off these go.

I threw off the clothes that I had put on just a little earlier. Depending on what would happen now, they might only get in the way.

Mhm... Freedom!

I stretched my arms, relishing in the newly acquired freedom.

Hopefully, I wasn't going to turn into some kind of nudist. Seriously. At this rate, I was going to turn into some kind of pervert. Well, maybe it was already a little too late for that. Just... Maybe...

Mhm, I guess it'd be better to sit down.

Didn't want to hit my head or something. Even I was learning, okay?

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"Here we go..."

First, my eyes. The slitted pupils that I had. Then, my arms, the odd feeling of my arms splitting and turning into tentacles. My legs, just like my arms, they split.

"Woaaaah! OUCH!"

And of course, I lost balance. Falling backwards, the back of my head had an unpleasant meeting with the floor...

Good thing I sat down... Ugh... My head...

Yeah...

Note for the future to be even more careful. Sitting with tentacles might be a little... hard.

I waited for a while until the throbbing pain in the back of my head disappeared.

"Nn... This is about the level that I already knew about... Before this little incident."

Lying on my back, I lifted my arm tentacles as well as my lower tentacles, stretching them towards the ceiling.

"Damn... This is creepy..."

Wriggling around in front of my eyes were well over a dozen tentacles, all of them coloured in a fleshy pink... It was creepy. It was creepy but... Oddly, not as much as I would have thought. Heck, I was certain I would've thought of this as disgusting even back in my old world. But all it did was giving me some slightly uncomfortable feeling.

Still... I wonder... Is this really all?

To be honest, if you thought about it... A human body with the limbs replaced as tentacles. That was just... weird? Weird and incomplete. Like, something that's not quite either. And, if that feeling was true...

Then it means, this isn't all there is to it.

But, did I really want to try this out? Maybe... Maybe it was better to forget about this. To pretend this thought had never occurred to me.

No... I'll do this. Even the Elder said I shouldn't reject this path. And even before that, I kept telling myself not to run away anymore. If I stop here, I'd be doing the same I have done before. Running away.

This was something I had to do.

It definitely was.

I took another deep breath. I still had to brace myself. Bracing myself for the inevitable.

"Here goes nothing!"

I closed my eyes again. First, there was the one thing I already knew that had changed. My teeth.

The feeling of my own teeth moving around in my jaw was beyond uncomfortable, like, seriously. I already knew that I effectively had no bones but that didn't change that I got goosebumps from this...

Ahh... Why the heck do I have these fangs?

Just what kind of monster was I turning into? Well, I was going to find out soon. Probably?

Actually, what was I going to do now? I went all the way and transformed everything. Everything I knew about, that is. But how was I going to figure out the things I didn't know about? Assuming they existed.

Mhm... Guess I'll just have to try it out. Trial and Error and so... Haa...

Not like anyone could teach me. Sure, Yumias was probably able to teach me. After all, she had done it before once. But I didn't want to rely on her too much. She was just... Confusing. I seriously had no idea what she was thinking. Should I trust her? Should I doubt her?

Whatever, I could continue those thoughts some other time.

For now, it was time to figure this out.

My limbs turned into tentacles... so... Guess I'll try my lower body then...

It felt like the next logical step. To me, at least.

The question now, was, how was I going to do this? I might repeat myself but... I seriously had no clue. The most I could do was, trying to do the same thing I did for everything else.

Oh well... What could go wrong...

Yet again, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I concentrated on my lower body, specifically, from the part the tentacles connected to the rest of my body. My legs up to my thighs had turned into tentacles, but everything else, like my butt, was still normal. Now it was time to change this as well. Assuming it was possible.

I'm going to cry if I do this only to find out later that there's nothing more to transform...

Not that long ago, I probably would've thought the complete opposite. Huma— I mean, people sure are adaptable.

Mmm... Nothing's really happening...

I had attempted to just do it the same way I had done it with... everything else, really. Yeah... Too bad this wasn't working out. Too bad.

Okay, that meant either it was impossible or it was something else. But, in what way was it different?

Somehow, I really doubted it was impossible. I had the feeling that there was something, for sure. I just had to figure out what. And most importantly: How.

"Haaa..."

I stretched my... uhh... my tentacles... As far as I could stretch them, that was. They were quite long so I covered a rather big portion of the floor like this.

The wagon feels a little smaller if I stretch out like this...

I retracted the tentacles and instead tried to sit up. In other words, trying to lift my upper body.

With a rather severe lack of results. They were way too weak.

What point do they even have... Aren't most of the tentacle monsters catching their prey with the tentacles? How is that supposed to work if I can't even lift my own body? Even assuming I were to catch someone, which I'm obviously not intending to do, I couldn't even keep them restrained.

When Karen got drunk the only reason I managed to restrain her was because she had been drunk. Intoxicated as she had been, she had been simply unable to get rid of my hair and only entangled herself further. But at any other time, this wouldn't have worked out. Maybe if they panic but that was quite a dangerous assumption to make in a situation that'd warrant this.

Or... do they get stronger as well? With time. Or maybe with something else?

Now that I actually spared a thought on this... Yeah, sure, they were intended mostly for sex and so... Actually, yeah... These were clearly not intended to grab hold of anyone. Then, maybe there was a kind of tentacle that could grab things?

Right, once you consider their purpose... I don't think a needle or a penis is that good at grabbing something...

I'd seriously be creeped out if the latter was. The mere thought made a shudder run down my back.

But... a tentacle that is good at grabbing things, huh...

There was that sucking tentacle but... Yeah... That wasn't going to work either.

But... I never really checked all of them in detail and I sure didn't try to find out if there was one stronger than the others...

Well, now's as good a time as ever. If I can make some progress that's already something.

And with that, it was time to... do some more tentacle experiments...

Mhm... What to do...

A thorough investigation of my tentacles led to... nearly no results, at least in regards to their strength. They were all about the same, strength-wise. Strong enough to do their respective jobs but not strong enough to hold anything.

On the other hand, though... There were a few other results.

It releases something... I can guess what this is but... Mh...

A little bit of experimenting allowed me to find out that there were new kinds of tentacles I didn't have before. How did I find them? Well, the same way I had found the others before. Somehow or another, I just knew about them. Most likely, this was yet another effect of what Yumias had done to me before. To think it would have such a far-reaching effect.

I actually kind of like it when it's this easy but... Haaa...

Just like most others, they were mostly for sexual activities. Half of them were also in the form of a needle for injection... What did they inject? Something that sure didn't sound reversible. Although, if someone ever had problems in their chest department, this might help them out. In exchange for their dignity and some other things.

How did I know? That was a good question. One that I wasn't quite able to answer either. It was something like... instinct. You simply knew. Like how one knew how to move their hand. You just did. Well, most of them, at least.

Sure wished it were this easy with the other parts of my body as well. I was still some mixed thing of a person with tentacles for limbs.

Anyway, the more immediate tentacle of interest was the one right in front of me, though. It mostly looked rather plain, except for multiple small holes in it. And those holes released some kind of gas.

A sweet-smelling gas.

Now I'm craving something sweet...

Instinct told me it was just some sweet smell for baiting and nothing else. If that was true... Maybe I could make use of this in some way? It sure had a nice smell to it.

Speaking of which, there was also that one tentacle with the aphrodisiac...

I changed one of my tentacles to this particular kind. A small thin needle, secreting small, sweet-smelling droplets. The smells were actually quite similar...

Grabbing a nearby small cup with a tentacle—with much difficulty, mind you—I let a few drops fall down into it. A little dissatisfied with the amount, I concentrated on the tentacle. With a rather disgusting sound—as if you were smacking raw meat together—it released quite a lot. Barely a minute later, there was a small pond of liquid in that cup.

It sure is a lot...

This much of that liquid was bound to be working quite well... Made me wonder if we could do something with this. Selling was... I had a little bit of apprehension to selling this, so I'd rather not. Might be good to keep in mind, though. Just in case we were strapped for money.

The small pond was swaying in the cup. Karen had noticed its effects nearly immediately, just through her skin. In contrast, even this much liquid did nothing even when I dipped a tentacle into it. It was just like scented water for me...

Good thing that Karen noticed it. Otherwise, I might have really thought of it as scented water. That could've spelt disaster...

I returned the cup back to the table in the corner. Had to remember to get rid of that stuff later. Although, maybe I should secretly give it to Lily or Rina. That surely might turn out to be interesting.

No, Karen wouldn't like that. Neither would the two of them, I bet. Better let it work out naturally between them... Maybe later down the line.

"Haaa..."

A deep sigh escaped me.

While the new, and admittedly weird in parts, tentacles were nice and all, they weren't useful in the least. I shouldn't reject the path, but what was I even going to do with this? The only person I wanted to do anything sexual with was Karen. In other words, there was nearly no use for most of these. Well, unless Karen took an interest in some of these. While I wasn't exactly against it, I was sure going to object about those that were injecting something.

But... Maybe we can find some use for them in the future. Who knows? But right now, I just have no use for them...

Well, anyway, for now, I still had no idea what kind of monster—or Cursed, as the Elder called my race—I even was. Although, I seemed to be related to ropers and their ilk, whether I liked it or not.

But from what I knew, I wasn't much more than an immobile body sitting around and waiting for prey to come by. That was assuming I would do such things in the first place...

Immobile, huh... What am I, some kind of living trap? That'd be completely usele—

A trap.

Yeah, no way. Most of the ropers I saw in those books were all mobile and could, in some way or another, move. But...

I guess it is worth a try.

What if I wasn't the kind to move in the first place? I could, after all, move around as a person. And an immobile trap didn't sound completely unlikely now, did it? There were plants that did similar things, after all.

With those thoughts in mind, I decided to give it another try. Even if it was wrong, maybe a clearer image allowed me to figure it out?

Once again, I closed my eyes after taking a deep breath. If I wasn't mobile then maybe something was needed to keep me in place instead? Like... roots? Although that sounded a little wrong as well. Whatever, I concentrated on my lower body again, with the thought of rooting it in place.

"..."

Yeah, it would've been too easy if I were to succeed immediately now, right? Right...

Well, guess it's time to wrap this up then. I bet Karen and Lily are already wondering where I am... A little disappointed that I cou—

I froze once again. But not because of a sudden revelation. Although, in a way, it was a revelation.

My lower body was stuck.

Now, one might think, of course, it is stuck, you can't even move away, after all. But it was different. Like it was glued to the ground.

... Seriously?

"Haha... Hahaha..."

I couldn't help but let out a broken chuckle.

Like, really? Really really?

Yes, I had been trying to find out about myself. That didn't mean, however, that I had to like it. And now, here I was, legitimately stuck to the ground because my wild guess had hit spot on.

"..."

I kept staring at the ceiling for a while. Quite a long while, probably. I had to digest this first. Though I had to admit... It was a lot easier to digest than I expected. In fact, I didn't even mind that much after my initial shock ebbed away.

Not sure if I'm just slowly growing resistant to these things or if it is just because this is my own body we're talking about...

My lips formed a wry smile, even though nobody was here to even see it.

... If I'm already here, let's... let's just see how far I can go with this.

Right now, I was only a little stuck. Like my butt being glued to the floor. Nothing more. But it was some progress. Important progress.

I concentrated on the spot where I was stuck to the ground. I wanted to transform, to expand it and do whatever else it might be able to do.

Oh? Oh? Something is happening.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see it, since I was still lying on my back, but something was... expanding. Or rather, something grew? I could feel it creeping along my back. It was something fleshy, so it was definitely mine.

It continued to grow and after a few minutes, my back wasn't lying on the floor anymore, but instead on whatever just grew under me. The odd part was, while I could feel it with my back and my tentacles, I couldn't actually feel it in another way. If I touched it, there was no sensation coming from it. It was just there.

"Nn? Woooohhh?! Ouchouchouchouch!"

I had decided to just continue with whatever was happening. At this point, I was far enough that my instinct was able to carry me the rest of the way.

And that resulted in my finally leaving the ground sitting upright again. The spot I was stuck on had pulled me up. I was far from heavy but  I still had the weight of a proper person, so being pulled up like this actually hurt quite a ton.

"Uhhh..."

A groan escaped me.

But, finally, I was seeing what was happening. My body sure was stuck and my lower body had turned into a wrinkly mass of tentacles as well. These tentacles looked distinctively different from all others. Their tip was far from something. Some formed mouths with long teeth, others split three-way and were adorned with rows of small but long teeth.

Found the one for grabbing...

"Oh? Ohhhh?"

I hadn't stopped the whole transformation, and so I was a little surprised at the next part. My arms had returned. Albeit coloured in an unnatural, soft pink from the tip of the fingers up to my shoulders. The tentacles, by the way, were still there as well, growing from my shoulder around the arm.

And that's where the whole thing stopped.

Well, I sure don't look human now anymore...

Only my upper body, from just below my belly button upwards, was still human. The rest of my body was firmly planted on the floor. The new tentacles that had sprouted on my lower body were wriggling around. I was a little interested in what way I was even rooted in place, but obviously that was a little impossible to find out.

That my arms had returned was a slightly welcome part though. Even if I clearly wasn't human anymore... It gave me a little bit of relief that not my entire body turned into something completely monstrous.

Now... Let's see how these tentacles fare...

Moving the tentacles that were once my legs and arms was a feeling I had become used to by now—although the legs not as much. Even my hair wasn't a big problem anymore. But the new tentacles that had grown out of me were... a little hard. To be honest, it was already weird that I knew how to move them—even if it was clumsily—in the first place. One didn't simply grow new arms and knew how to use them.

Forget that. Don't think too deeply about it, Yumi... Just be grateful for it.

Albeit a little clumsily, I managed to make one of the tentacles move. Towards the previous cup with the liquid.

My other tentacles could barely carry that much, after all.

And here we—

Crreeeaaaakkkk!

"..."

Casualties: One cup.

THAT'S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED?!

Instead of grabbing the cup... The tentacle had effortlessly crushed it. Well, at least that solved the problem of getting rid of the liquid in there.

Still, that was... a little bit too much of a difference.

Okay, no grabbing with that mouth part for now...

I might have to practise before I could use that. Although, I had no idea when and how I was going to practise...

As the cup was clearly too easy for the tentacle, I decided to try something heavier. The chair at the table was the first thing that came into view for that.

Carefully, I had the tentacle pulling on the closest leg of the chair, without using the mouth part.

It's moving... It doesn't even feel really heavy.

It was effortlessly able to pull the chair. I did feel some resistance, though. About as much as if I were to pull it with my arms. So, most likely, it was about as strong as my arm, in the pulling department. That... was at least something.

At that moment, the door behind me rattled.

"Huh? It's locked? Yumi? Yumi, are you in there?"

A familiar voice called out to me.

"Shish?"

Ah, I was still lisping because of those stupid fangs. Time to change them back... Hopefully, it wasn't going to turn out that I couldn't in my current state...

Oh, they changed back without an issue...

"Sis, you're back already?"

"Already? It's been over half an hour already. I was worried something happened."

"... Seriously? ... Ahhh, sorry, I lost track of time."

"I see. Well, can't be helped. Could you unlock the door?"

"Nn, just a mo—

I froze.

Unlocking the door... Was actually not an option right now, was it?

While I didn't mind Karen seeing me like this, I didn't want anyone else to do so.

"Ehh... Sis, right now is a little bad."

"... Bad? Yumi, did something happen?"

"Nn, no... Or well, it kind of did..."

Actually, maybe I should just let Karen in...

"Sis, is anyone else around you right now?"

"No, not really."

"Then, I'll unlock the door. But close it immediately, okay?"

"... Okay."

Bracing myself, I loosened the small piece of wood blocking the door.

Nearly immediately, the door opened and a person slipped in. The door was already shut again before I could even so much see more than a glimpse of the bright outside.

"..."

"..."

"Yumi."

"Nn?"

"Did you turn into a flower?"

"If a flower looked like this I'd be surely be creeped out more than just a little bit."

Karen stood in front of the door, her eyes wide.

Once her initial confusion seemed to have died down, she slowly approached, squatting down on the floor.

"The heck is this..."

"If only I knew..."

With a wry smile, I explained to Karen what had happened and how I had arrived at this point.

"I see... Well, Yumi is still Yumi."

A smile on her face, she patted my head and ruffled my hair.

"Nn, thank you, Sis."

"Still... Uhm... Does it hurt if I touch those?"

"No, I don't even really feel them, actually."

"Oh? Then, is it fine to sit down here?"

"Nn."

Karen slowly sat down right beside me.

"This is... a weird feeling beneath me. It's better than just the hard floor but..."

"... Is that so."

Really...

I wasn't looking for an impression on my use as a cushion. Regardless, if it was better, that's good too.

"That's what the Elder meant, huh..."

"Nn? Did you talk with her?"

"Yes... She wanted to talk with me for some reason..."

Karen stopped, then stretched out her hand and gently touched one of the tentacles.

"She said that I should prepare myself for this, that you would become less and less humanoid with time."

"I see..."

"Well, as long as I get to see your cute face, I don't mind such a minor thing."

She stopped touching the tentacle. Instead, she spread her arms. And hugged me.

"She also said that things might happen to me."

"To you?"

"Yes... She... knows about the demonkin that are like me... She refused to say anything specific, though. The only thing she told me was, that our situation is quite unique. Because the two of us are so close, we'd influence each other. And in that way, she has no idea what might happen to us."

"I see..."

"She... She even suggested it might be better for us to distance ourselves."

"Eh?"

Karen's hug grew stronger, holding me firmly.

"But I told her that wasn't an option. I'll stay with you. And if I turn strange as well, then so be it!"

"Sis..."

"That's why, Yumi."

"Nn— Ouchouchouchouchouch!"

Karen's fists were suddenly grinding my temples.

"Didn't I tell you that you should call me for these times? I am here for you, aren't I?!"

"Ouchouchouchouch! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I am sorry, Sis! I apologise!"

The fist left my temples.

"I hope you learnt your lesson."

"Nn... I did... Sorry, Sis."

Once more, Karen hugged me.

"We'll be together, Yumi."

"Nn."

"No matter what happens, I'll stay with you. I promise you."

"Nn. Thank you, Sis. And I'll stay with you. I promise."

We parted a little, facing each other. And then, we kissed.

Rinne

Everyone, keep safe and healthy! Wish you all the best!

Thanks for reading!