Levi watched in horror as the creature inside the containment cube began to swell.

  The mass of flesh and fungus expanded rapidly, inflating like something being pumped full of pressurized air. The yellow gas around it thickened, condensing into a fog so dense Levi could barely see the shape inside anymore.

  The creature kept growing. Larger. Pressing against the invisible walls.

  "Oh fuck," Levi whispered. "Oh fuck oh fuck oh—"

  The creature exploded.

  This wasn't a wet, fleshy burst. This was a real explosion. Fire and force and concussive energy that slammed into the barrier with the impact of a bomb.

  BOOOOOOOOOOOM

  The sound was deafening. The shockwave rippled outward, shaking the entire reading alcove section. Books fell from distant shelves. The impossible stars overhead flickered and pulsed.

  The barrier held, but barely. Cracks of light spiderwebbed across its surface before sealing themselves.

  Levi was thrown backward, his body tumbling through the air. He hit the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop. His hammer clattered away across the floor.

  "What the fuck is happening now?" He struggled to his hands and knees, gasping. "Shit!"

  Inside the barrier, yellow and purple haze lingered where the creature had been. Thick. Viscous. Moving like it had intention.

  Then the System's voice rang out.

  PATRON HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPREHENDED THE BOOK.

  RETRIEVING BARRIER.

  The invisible walls dissolved.

  Levi scrambled backward, eyes wide. "Wait, no, don't—"

  The yellow and purple haze didn't disperse. Instead, it began to move with purpose, condensing, pulling itself together like mercury gathering into a sphere.

  It clumped toward a single point in the center of the alcove.

  The colors swirled together, yellow and purple mixing into something that hurt to look at. The mass compacted, compressed, reshaping itself into an oval form about six feet tall.

  A cocoon.

  The surface was wet, glistening, the color somewhere between rotten meat and infected pus. It pulsed rhythmically like a heartbeat, and with each pulse it grew slightly larger, then smaller, breathing.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Levi stared at it, still on his hands and knees, too shocked to move.

  The cocoon began to wiggle.

  Small movements at first. Twitches. Spasms. Then larger convulsions that made the whole structure shake.

  Something inside was trying to get out.

  The cocoon split.

  It tore open with a wet, ripping sound like flesh being pulled apart. Thick liquid gushed out, brown and yellow and streaked with purple, pooling on the floor in a spreading puddle that steamed slightly.

  A body fell out.

  The figure hit the ground with a wet slap, limbs splayed at awkward angles, covered in slime from the cocoon.

  Levi's breath caught.

  It looked nothing like Reven.

  The body was tall, maybe six and a half feet, but impossibly thin. Skeletal. Every rib visible beneath skin stretched so tight it looked translucent. The limbs were too long, the fingers extending into points that looked more like claws than hands.

  The skin itself was pale gray, almost white, with patches that were darker, mottled. The texture was uneven, rough in some places, smooth in others.

  But the face.

  The face was the worst part.

  It had no features. No nose. No lips. Just smooth skin stretched over a skull, with two deep black pits where eyes should be and a mouth that was far too wide, stretched into a permanent grin that showed too many teeth. Sharp teeth. Needle teeth.

  The creature lay there for a moment, motionless.

  Then it sprang up with inhuman speed.

  It moved like a spider, all jerky angles and too-fast reflexes. It fell upon the remains of the cocoon with desperate hunger.

  And began to eat.

  It tore into the cocoon flesh with its hands, ripping off chunks and shoving them into that too-wide mouth. The teeth ground and chewed, brown liquid oozing between them. It made wet, smacking sounds as it ate, gulping down pieces without pausing to breathe.

  The cocoon was tough, rubbery, but the creature bit and tore and swallowed anyway. Its throat bulged obscenely with each gulp. Pieces of the membrane stuck to its face, its chest, its clawed fingers.

  It ate with single-minded focus, devouring everything. When it ran out of large pieces to grab, it got down on its hands and knees and licked the floor.

  The tongue that emerged from that grinning mouth was long, far too long, purple-black and covered in tiny barbs. It scraped across the ground, gathering up every drop of the brown-yellow liquid, making wet slurping sounds that echoed through the alcove.

  The creature pressed its face to the floor, tongue working frantically, chasing rivulets of fluid into cracks and crevices. It moaned as it ate, a sound of pure satisfaction, of hunger being sated.

  It didn't leave a single drop.

  When the last trace of liquid was gone, the creature sat back on its haunches, chest heaving. Pieces of cocoon flesh were still stuck in its teeth, brown bits lodged between the needles.

  Levi found his voice, though it came out barely above a whisper.

  "Re... Reven?"

  The creature's head snapped toward him with mechanical precision.

  Those black pit eyes focused on Levi's face.

  Then the mouth opened even wider, and a voice emerged. Reven's voice, but distorted, layered with something else underneath.

  "Good morning, Mr. Levi."

  Pieces of brown cocoon flesh were still visible between the needle teeth.

  The creature that had been Reven smiled.