“It was. I actually created the blanket to help draw the remaining traces out of you now that just eating this version of you has become so… inefficient. As to why it works, in case you are wondering, the... ‘you’ here is… like a… Hmmm…. it's been a while since I had to explain this…. Ah! The you here, is like a concentrated reflection of the ‘you’ in the physical realm. The version of you here only contains the essence of your current state rather than any actual material form. Anything that happens to you here, is reflected in your body when you return and vice versa. I also have full control in this space as well, but it is your mind that defines what happens to you and how you perceive this place. However, what either of us can do right now is very limited. As we get more familiar with each other and the power you receive from your Fate grows, it will become more defined and varied.” He explained and I snuggled into the blanket while he talked.

  “So, if I pictured the counter under me, I would see be able see it as that?” I asked him and he nodded. My eyelids were feeling fairly heavy by then and I yawned.

  “Maybe I can try that later. How… restful is sleeping in here for me verses outside?” I asked him next.

  “Adequate as far as I know. I think it would be best if you spend most of it outside though. A lack of ‘real sleep’ isn’t a problem for demons or demonics for the most part but, since you are neither and still very mortal, I would err on the side of caution. Now, if you don’t have any more questions, I have work to do.” He told me.

  “Not right now. If I did, I don’t remember them.” I replied.

  “Then I will leave you to your rest.” He said in return with a nod of acknowledgment before going over to what was left of the monster’s heart.

  I watched him finish his prepping of the heart’s meat with sleepy eyes before he returned to lean against the ‘counter’ once more. He cleaned himself and his weapons of the resulting monster gore and when he was almost done, he began to draw in the ‘not-air’ with a claw. Curious, I felt myself focusing on what he was doing and, eventually, I started to see it trailing faint lines of light following his claw’s movements. It was absolutely mesmerizing and relaxing to watch in my mentally exhausted state and I ended up drifting off to dreams of dancing lights and of the demon feeding them to me.

  The dreams felt really weird to me but at least they weren’t nightmares like they usually tended to be due to my abused past. It was a mostly restful ‘sleep’ because of that, and I could have slept for a bit longer but a familiar gnawing hunger that hallowed my insides made it hard to go back. The brief thought that last two days or so had just been a dream crossed my mind and the need for proof made me force my groggy eyes open. It was something of a relief to see the demon leaning over me.

  Not so much when I thought he was going to gut me with one of his mini-meat hook claws and that there were bindings tying me down to the ‘counter’ under me. The blanket had been pulled back to expose the top part of my body while the bindings on my arms, legs, and neck held me down and still. They felt like thin cloth wrappings and were soft, but they had very little give to them when I tried to strain against them. My efforts didn’t amount to much, but they were enough to draw Gluttony’s attention to me and he lifted his claw away from my abdomen, much to my relief.

  “Ah! You are awake! My apologies if my work on getting your modified skill settled into you disturbed your sleep.” He told me before pausing thoughtfully for a moment.

  “Unless it was a nightmare that disturbed your sleep?” He inquired with concern, and I shook my head.

  “No… I want to sleep some more but I’m too hungry for that now.” I replied, my voice still rough with sleep before straining against the bindings again.

  “Why am I tied down anyways?” I asked him.

  “Because I need you to be still for this next part. That said perhaps it is better that you are awake. Tell me, how are you feeling right now? Besides hungry, I mean. I did not need you to tell me that for me to know. It is the one thing I am acutely aware of in other beings.” He told me, tapping a knuckle against my chest when he asked his question.

  I pushed away the last dregs of sleep from my mind to focus on what I was feeling going on inside of me other than the hunger gnawing on me. It had grown with my wakefulness but considering how familiar I was with it; I was able to push it away along with my sleepiness. Beyond it, was what would be the usual hallow feeling but it extended far beyond its usual spot, filling my chest and going all the way down to my waist. It also felt weird too, like the inside of it was soft like mouth without any bones or teeth.

  It didn’t stop there either. The more I ‘felt’ the insides of the fleshy hallow, the more it felt like it was over lying my normal ones. There was more to it besides the ‘fleshy mouth’ too. There was a throat and stomach as well and maybe guts too but I wasn’t certain. All of the new parts were interwoven with my original ones, somehow existing in the spaces between my normal organs, over laying them without replacing them, and being far too large for my body yet being able to fit inside of me just fine.

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  Just thinking about it made my head hurt.

  Grunting in confusion and discomfort, I tugged at my right arm, wanting to physically check that everything was in the right place. Seeing the motion, Gluttony had the bindings on it vanish so I could use it. My inspection didn’t last very long, starting with my ribs to make certain they were all there and not squishy. My abdomen was next, followed by my hips and other bones.

  Once I was certain everything was in the right place, was the right shape, and the right number, I relaxed and gave Gluttony another disgruntled look. All I got in return was a waving of his fingers in a prompting motion. I glared at him for a few more moments in defiance before giving in and telling him what I knew.

  “One toothless ‘mouthless’ ‘maw’, throat-” I paused briefly to wince in my telling as I felt something I had missed squirm inside of the a fore mentioned tube. “-A tongue, – I think – one ‘impossibly large for my body’ stomach, and maybe intestines. I’m not sure because it gets all kinds of wonky after that. Also, my head hurts just from thinking about it.”

  “Sounds like everything has settled in and connected correctly… For the most part at least.” He told me, nodding in approval at what I told him before tilting his head thoughtfully.

  “I think I know why your head is hurting. May I check the skill’s... ‘connections’ in there? It should help with the pain.” He asked me as he brought his hand over to my head.

  The mouth in its palm opened and its ropy tongue slithered out of it on its approach. The sight and memory of what happened with it during my ‘trial’ made me cringe away from the appendage and eye it with suspicion with what he was implying he was going to do with it. Guessing what I was thinking, he sighed and refrained from the action to reassure me first.

  “I am not going to be rifling through your memories and thoughts like I did during the trial. I am only going to be nudging a few things into place. That is all.” He told me to reassure me, but I remained wary.

  “You promise?” I asked and he nodded.

  “I promise.” He replied. I resisted for a moment longer before half relaxing.

  “Alright. Just… make it as quick as possible. It still feels weird.” I told him, bracing myself for what I knew was coming.

  I squirmed in my bindings as I tried and failed to resist squirming at the painless, itchy ticklishness of the tongue worming its way into my head. I didn’t care how ‘careful’ the demon was in there, it still felt weird as fuck to feel something wriggling around where it shouldn’t be. Despite my misgivings though, the demon kept its word, and I felt it slide past the main part to a spot somewhere ‘under it’ that I wasn’t consciously aware of before now.

  I somehow knew on and instinctive level that this spot in my mind was new, and it was where my brain kept track of my skills and abilities once they were discovered or otherwise acquired in this new world. I also understood that the newest addition to this spot was wrong and was giving me trouble because of it. The demon seemed to know this as well as the tip of its tongue targeted that spot specifically for some rather delicate work.

  I felt it nudge and tweak it and the areas touching it until the new thing finally settled into place properly. When it finally did, the… ‘awareness’ of my new organs and parts faded to the back of my mind. The pain also faded to more bearable levels but, no matter what the demon carefully prodded, it wouldn’t go away. I had a feeling it was more of something I was lacking than anything else and I tugged on the demon’s wrist with my free hand to get his attention.

  “Please stop. I don’t think you can do anything else.” I croaked to get him to stop. He paused for a moment and gave the spot a few more cautious prods before nodding in agreement.

  “I do believe you are right Samuel. It looks like this new skill will have some requirements in order to use it properly. Requirements that you currently lack but you should be able to use it just fine in your demon form or in here. Also, the main one, intelligence seems to be the same one you have a high affinity for. It’s gone up by three just by the skill fitting into place properly. Endurance too but that may be just from what we’ve been doing in here and the condition you are in.” He explained as he took a careful look around in that area.

  “Requirements? Is that going to be a problem for me?” I asked as the demon continued to poke around in my brain.

  “Yes and no. All advanced skills, spells, and abilities will have them as well as higher quality items. Using something that is just beyond your current limits is a good way to improve them. Conversely, if the gap is too large, you can severely hurt yourself as well. A good example of this is when you resisted my efforts to find the answer you were trying to give me. Not only did you not have any of the appropriate buffs, skills, resistances, or other abilities required for such things, but you also challenged a being far beyond your current capabilities. You were lucky not to have been immediately turned into an invalid by your folly. Even so, I still had to use a skill to patch the damage enough that you could function normally in the mortal realm.” He explained to me, turning it into a bit of a lecture halfway through as he turned to scolding me for my earlier foolishness. In my defense, I had no idea what was going to happen to me at the time or what was going on for that matter and he didn’t really know I would or could do that. Since we were both technically to blame for my injury, it came off as more of a warning not to do it again if I could help it rather than an actual ‘tongue lashing’.