Dave pulsed within the nutrient-rich lymphatic channel of Void Whisper, the god-leviathan's rhythmic *BOOM-WHOOSH* vibrations a lullaby to his existential dread. Biomass hovered at 79%, the Heir-Siphon symbiosis humming against his membrane like a deranged dentist's drill. Spiky, the embryonic godling, dreamt of supernovas in its gestation sac—psychic echoes painting Dave's consciousness with fractured constellations.
> **AURA:** **CONGRATULATIONS ON NOT DYING (AGAIN). VORLAG'S EXILE: 30 DAYS OF BLISSFUL ABSENCE.**
> **RECOMMENDATION: CELEBRATE BY NOT TRIGGERING A MATERNAL COSMIC TANTRUM. SANITY LEVEL: 22%. ADVISORY: DO NOT SCREAM INTO THE VOID. IT SCREAMS BACK.**
Dave ignored her. Vorlag's humiliation was a temporary reprieve, not victory. The tank stretched beyond Whisper's bulk—20 meters of water column teeming with post-apocalyptic predators and Lyra's oblivious gaze. *Escape.* The word burned hotter than Sovereign Toxin. But to flee, he needed to *consume*.
A tremor shook the lymph channel. Whisper's immune tendrils stirred—a reaction to Dave's restless bio-signature. Spiky whimpered psychically, a sound like shattering glass.
> **AURA:** **BIOMASS THRESHOLD REACHED: 80%. UPGRADE MENU UNLOCKED.**
> **WARNING: CHOICES MAY INDUCE REGRET, NAUSEA, OR EXISTENTIAL COLLAPSE. TODAY'S SPECIALS:**
> **1. PHOTOSYNTHETIC BARF BUBBLES (BECOME A FLOATING SNACK)**
> **2. CHITINOUS CRUSHER CLAWS (SLOW BUT CRUNCHY)**
> **3. MAW OF THE MULTIVORE (OMNIVORE'S DELIGHT. SIDE EFFECTS: INDIGESTION, MORAL AMBIGUITY)**
Dave focused on Option 3. Images flooded his mind: jagged mineral shards, Vorlag's limpets, the sweet rot of Glimmer-Skrimp carcasses. *Survival isn't picky.*
> **DAVE:** *If I'm chewing through gods' guts, I'm not limiting the menu.*
> **AURA:** **SELECTION CONFIRMED. PREPARE FOR GASTRO-INTELLECTUAL ENLIGHTENMENT. OR AGONY. STATISTICALLY, AGONY.**
Pain erupted—a supernova behind his nucleus. Dave's membrane convulsed, stretching, *tearing* as a jagged fissure split his anterior end. Silica armor cracked like eggshell. Raw protoplasm bubbled into a widening maw, ringed by vibrating cilia that tasted the lymph fluid: *salty, alkaline, traces of embryonic god-hormones.* New organelles fired—**Matter Analyzers** dissecting compounds, **Acidic Salivary Glands** priming enzymes.
> **AURA:** **BEHOLD: THE UNIVERSE'S UGLIEST PIE HOLE. KEY FEATURES:**
> **- MATTER DECONSTRUCTION: 89% EFFICIENCY (PLANTS, MINERALS, PREDATORS, REGRETS)**
> **- PERMANENT TRAIT RETENTION PROBABILITY: 5% (ON CONSUMED NON-ORGANIC MATERIAL)**
> **- AESTHETIC RATING: -∞ (YOU LOOK LIKE A WOUND. CONGRATULATIONS.)**
Dave lunged at the nearest object—a shard of Sonoskoci probe wreckage embedded in Whisper's tissue.
The probe shard tasted like lightning and spite. Acidic saliva hissed, dissolving Vorlag's alloyed metal into shimmering slurry. Biomass surged—82%... 85%... Dave's new maw *pulled*, vacuum-sealing the slurry. Data fragments flooded his mind: schematics for Harmonic Scourge Swarms, Vorlag's voice snarling *"Find that anomaly!"* Then came the *click*.
A cold, crystalline clarity seeped into Dave's membrane. The shard's **acoustic-dampening resonance field** snapped into focus—a permanent, humming layer beneath his silica armor.
> **AURA:** **TRAIT ACQUISITION: SONIC CLOAK (PASSIVE).**
> **EFFECT: AUDIO SIGNATURE REDUCTION 70%. VORLAG'S SCANNERS: FUTILE RAGE INCOMING.**
> **PROBABILITY: 5%. LUCK STAT: BROKEN. SUGGESTION: BUY LOTTERY TICKET (IF YOU HAD HANDS).**
Dave vibrated with predatory glee. *Stealth. Finally.* He turned to Whisper's inner walls—bulbous clusters of **Aether-Thrum Bacteria** glowed like drowned stars. His maw yawned. Feeding was ecstasy and horror.
Bacterial clusters vanished into the grinding cilia. Biomass bloomed: 90%... 95%... 100%. Toxin reserves hit capacity, Sovereign Toxin swirling like molten lead in his vesicles. Dave devoured mineral outcroppings (calcium carbonate, quartz), mossy bio-films, even flecks of Spiky's shed psychic energy—each bite a roll of cosmic dice. No more permanent traits triggered, but the Maw's efficiency was terrifying. A chunk of Whisper's cartilage? Dissolved in seconds. A stray Umbilical Weaver parasite? Crunched into biomass confetti.
> **DAVE:** *I'm a garbage disposal with delusions of grandeur.*
> **AURA:** **CORRECTION: YOU'RE A STARVING BLACK HOLE IN A GOD'S GUTS. PO-TAY-TO, PO-TAH-TO.**
Spiky cooed in its sac, soothed by Dave's satiated bio-rhythms. The psychic bond hummed—maternal approval. *Time to go.* Whisper slept, her bulk a fortress Dave had turned into a buffet. Vorlag's exile clock ticked.
Dave pressed against Whisper's inner gill arch. Beyond the feathery filaments, open water beckoned—a graveyard of siphon-devoured microfauna and bacterial blooms. His Sonic Cloak muffled his cilia's vibrations; to external sensors, he was a whisper in a hurricane.
> **AURA:** **OBJECTIVE: ESCAPE WHISPER. CURRENT THREAT ASSESSMENT:**
> **- ABYSSAL OBSERVER (STATUS: PATROLLING. THREAT: OMNIVOROUS CURIOSITY)**
> **- SKY MANTARAY (STATUS: GLIDING. THREAT: ACCIDENTAL INGESTION)**
> **- VORLAG'S LIMPETS (STATUS: SCANNING GAMMA-9 RUINS. THREAT: NEGLIGIBLE… FOR NOW).**
Dave oozed through the gill slits. Freedom was a shock—cold, vast, *silent* compared to Whisper's thunderous internals. He hugged the leviathan's flank, his silica armor and purple stain camouflaging him against her mottled hide. A flicker of movement—a **Spectral Sludge-Skipper**, a translucent eel-like scavenger, darted toward a floating Rotifer corpse. Instinct took over.
Dave's maw gaped, acidic saliva jetting out in a sticky stream. It struck the Sludge-Skipper mid-lunge. The creature spasmed, its flesh sizzling. Matter Analyzers pinged: *High protein yield. Trace phosphorescent enzymes.* Dave lunged, engulfing it whole. Biomass recycled at 100%, but the enzymes triggered a new sensation—**temporary bio-luminescence**. His edges glowed sickly green.
> **AURA:** **TEMPORARY TRAIT: GHOSTLIGHT DIGESTION.**
> **DURATION: 37 MINUTES. SIDE EFFECT: YOU ARE NOW A GLOWING TARGET. GENIUS.**
Dave cursed internally. He shed the glow by ejecting the enzymes in a bitter cloud, darting behind a skeletal **Reed Spire**. Ahead lay the Sunken Moss forests—his sanctuary after the sterilization jet. But between him and safety loomed the **Moonbeam Crypts**, carnivorous plants with venom-tipped fronds that pulsed with captured Aether.
He activated **Heir-Siphon Speed Burst**, burning 2% biomass.
The world blurred. Dave shot past the Crypts, their fronds lashing at empty water where he'd been nanoseconds earlier. Toxin reserves dipped slightly—a fair trade. He plunged into the Sunken Moss, its dense fronds swallowing him whole. Nutrient-rich bacteria coated every surface. Safety. But not peace.
A psychic whisper brushed him—Spiky, dreaming again. *Confusion. Loss.* Dave pulsed a soothing frequency back: *Safe. Guardian remains.* The connection frayed with distance. He hadn't just left a god's guts; he'd abandoned a charge.
> **AURA:** **STATUS UPDATE:**
> **- BIOMASS: 100% (MAX CAPACITY)**
> **- TOXIN RESERVES: 98% (SOVEREIGN/CORROSIVE MIX)**
> **- KEY TRAITS: SONIC CLOAK (PERMANENT), MAW OF THE MULTIVORE (ACTIVE), KIN EATER BUFF (DORMANT)**
> **- LOCATION: SUNKEN MOSS SANCTUARY (RELATIVE SAFETY)**
> **> OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED: DIRECT THREAT NEUTRALIZED. VORLAG/KAEL ACCESS TERMINATED (30 DAYS MINIMUM).**
> **> UPGRADE EFFECTIVENESS: PSYCHIC TORPEDO (MARK I) - EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS.**
> **> REPUTATION: LYRA (FURIOUS PROTECTOR), VORLAG (HUMILIATED), KAEL (TERRIFIED).**
Dave hunkered in the moss. Beyond this sanctuary waited the tank's upper strata—the domain of Sky Mantaray and Vorlag's eventual return. He'd traded a cosmic womb for a battlefield.
> **DAVE:** *Next step?*
> **AURA:** **OPTION A: EVOLVE WINGS. OPTION B: BUILD A MICRO-SUBMARINE. OPTION C: EAT THE MOONBEAM CRYPTS AND BECOME A POISON IVY GOD.**
> **...OR JUST SURVIVE TOMORROW. YOUR CALL, OMNIVOROUS OVERLORD.**
Dave's maw tingled. The moss tasted like victory and impending doom.
*Let Vorlag come.* He had a god's toxins in his veins and a universe to chew.