The Changing by Jeremy Laszlo Read Free Book Online Page A

greatly from that of a human, but Seth could puzzle out no way to remove and replace it without instantly killing the beast. So for now Seth ignored the skull in an attempt to try and locate some of the actual facial features.
    Upon close investigation, Seth realized that most of the smallest and tiniest patterns were similar to those of nerve connections, and so associated them with either the spine or brain and as such steered clear of them at all costs. Some of the larger pieces, however, had their own connective patterns to both muscle and bone and so could be the mouth, lips, eyes or nose, but there were more puzzle pieces than the creature had facial features, so it was a process that cost Seth four more bats. He had already dwindled the population of bats in the room down to only nine more. Seth worked smart after losing the most human of the bats. He began with the facial features of each of the ensuing bats, saving him immense amounts of work each time and he finally worked out all the facial features and inner mouth and throat muscle structure. Seth re-mutated this final creature’s arms, legs and ribcage as well.
    Although very happy with his progress, Seth simply could not get his mind around the alteration of the skull. He could attempt to locate and change the bat's own skull pattern, but the slightest mistakes could cost him several more of the few remaining bats, if not all of them, and if they were all lost, so too was Sara. Seth believed he had located the swirling web representing the skull, having had to attach the connective patterns of muscles from the facial features all to the same bone connections. But just knowing where it was, was of little use. Seth pondered the dilemma for hours as his miniature man creature worked out some of the finer details of using his new arms and legs as well as sight. This, however, forced Seth to close his eyes to better concentrate without the distraction of an apparent toddler in the room. Seth was lost deep in thought pondering his predicament when he was struck simultaneously by both his solution and a great pain in his leg.
    Opening his eyes to see the cause of the pain Seth was momentarily frozen in shock and disgust. The small bastard had apparently managed to crawl or waddle his way across the room to Seth, and apparently had chosen Seth as an acceptable food source. It had sunk his little razor sharp teeth into Seth’s calf muscle where he now began to gnaw viciously. Appalled at the beast’s actions, Seth kicked out at the creature with his other leg, sending it somersaulting across the floor to crash in a heap against the far wall with a scream of pain and a crunch. Seth, fearing his work ruined, watched the creature a moment to assure himself he had not killed it before looking to his own leg.
    Seth bled from the dozens of small penetrating wounds, but overall the damage to his leg was not major, so retrieving his tunic he wrapped it around the injury and cinched it tight to keep pressure on the wound. Returning his gaze to the creature, his solution in hand, he simply waited for the bat to heal before he continued. But before Seth had the opportunity to progress further, the creature revealed its true nature. Seth had in fact witnessed the process before but hadn’t thought too deeply into the implications of how it could affect his work until now. For not only had the creature fed upon his flesh, but in doing so the beast had somehow siphoned off a very small portion of Seth’s immense life force. Without giving Seth the time to react to the realization, the bat creature twisted and altered Seth’s life force creating of it a small replica of its own original life force before allowing the two sparks of life to intertwine and become one. The beast began to mutate again.
    Seth watched in horror as his hours of work were destroyed. He could perform it again he knew, but it was a loss none the less. Restoring to a small degree a portion of its prior