//------------------------------// // Visceral Visions // Story: Anamnesis // by Background Bystander //------------------------------// The pressure exploded within him as he found his body violently tearing at itself, doing whatever it could to escape the fire erupting inside. He could only sit back and watch as his fingers became knives, vigorously flaying at his face. Flakes of skin flying all across the bathroom, that same cream fur taking their place. Even this couldn’t come close to relieving his burning body’s anguish, the heat only increasing its intensity. “Put it out! Put it out!” Louis cried out to his adrenaline-fueled appendages, with bits of skin now dangling from his face by thin, fleshy strings. They responded to his calls by clawing away even harder at his facial features. He watched in silent horror as his hands went on to grab fistfuls of flesh, ripping it apart like clay. The sides of his face were now completely covered in the cream fur as he felt his left hand crunch down on his nose. After a few hard yanks, he heard a muffled crack as it was ripped from the center of his face, spraying the mirror with chunks of flesh and mucus; blood slowly streaking to the bottom of the frame. My ears, I can hardly hear anything! He thought to himself, trying to keep a grip on his sanity as best he could. Staying in his head seemed to be his best bet, because thinking about what’s happening outside made him want to scream till his lungs shriveled. His hands remembered that earlier thought of not hearing correctly, as they quickly shot up to grab his ears. Shit, no! He couldn’t watch, clamping his eyes shut to the horror on display. His temples were crushed by the vice grip his hands had, followed by an incredibly loud sshrripp! The amateurishly amputated organs were ripped from the sides of his skull, followed by the feeling of objects…unfurling. Pointing upwards. His fear briefly turned to confusion, still feeling his shaking hands holding the useless flaps of skin, warm liquids lacing between his fingers. He returned his gaze back to the outside world, going from black to an intangible sludge. His vision became super blurry, to the point where he could only make out the light source coming from the ceiling, as everything else was a greyish mush of dulled colors. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where this ship was sailing. “N-no, don’t…” He croaked, finally getting to breathe after millennia of witnessing the previous traumatizing events. Too late. His saw his vision begin to blackout again, as the moist surface twitched under his trembling thumbs. Then they dug in, pressing hard into his cavities as his psychotic phalanges began to gouge his near useless eyeballs. Their squelchy sounds penetrated the orifices on his head. Mushy matter moving over his thumbs, splattering into his mouth and running down his arms. The urge to puke again came quickly, yet only dry heaves came as a result. He tried to scream, cry out for help, yet his vocal chords produced nothing. This is it! He panicked, I’ve gone completely insane, I might’ve actually blinded myself! That’s it, that’s fucking it! You're going clean after this, you hear me? Once you calm down, you’re going to get help for this and go straight right away! I mean for fuck's sake, look at this shi- Perhaps he shouldn’t have said look, as he felt his free fingers grip the rest of the loose skin on his brow, prepped to tear it clean off his face. Guess this is it, goodbye eyesight, he thought, bracing for impact. He felt the final rip, strips of flesh disconnecting and the debris being drained from the sockets. Louis felt these sockets squint, as they attempted to adjust to…light? Light! He could still see light! Soon, his vision managed to get his environment into focus, the bathroom space reappearing around him. His brain was working overtime to make this whole experience as miserable, and horrific, as possible. The off white walls were completely covered in viscera, blood snaking down to make small rivers running through the tiles' cracks. The sink was overflowing with reddish-orange chunks of what was his face. Grey matter laying atop the mounds, bits of green iris staring back in confusion. He looked up to the red mirror before him, unable to get a clear reflection as to his current state. Would he want to know, though? Why not? He'd already gone this far. He gained control of an arm and wiped a streak across the mirror, feeling the lukewarm fluids slide across his fingers. What awaited him behind the bloody curtain made him freeze. From his brow down to his upper jaw were the features of a small, cartoonish creature: Gigantic eyes gleaming with hazel irises, a slightly square jutting snout where his nose and upper lip were once located. He could even see the blurry, rounded protrusion in the middle of his field of view. Through his stringy, sweaty hair sprouted two ears, standing high and alert. All these new features were covered with the cream fur, except with a brown streak running up the muzzle center, with a few more spots dotted around his face. Louis was perplexed, to which the warped reflection aided in giving a face. All that intensity for this? Seemed awfully out of place compared to everything else surrounding him. Maybe his brain was finally starting to calm down, and this was its strange coping mechanism under the influence of those Elements. What the hell is this is this supposed to be anyway? He traced his hands around his cheeks, fingers careful not to get sucked into the black holes that were his pupils. The fur was soft and warm, like a stuffed animal. He brought them forward to run them over the snout, slowly making a mental sketch of his new form. His tickled his nose, causing an agitated snort to sound off, making him jump. “I-I’m guessing this is supposed to be a hors-auck!” He choked, as he soon lost control of his arms once more as they clamped down on his lower jaw. He longed for those brief moments of deafness and blindness, as he witnessed the figure jerk the mandible loose. The sound of teeth clacking on the tiles could be heard, as blood slightly pooled inside his mouth. A deafening crack signaled the fragments departure from its once secure spot on his skull, showering the bathroom with more crimson rain. His dismembered tongue hit the ground with a meaty thwack, jumping sporadically as nerves went haywire. The giant gaping hole was quickly closed off by a lower jaw to match the other equine features. Louis barely had time to process his new jawline, as the top of his head was set ablaze. Streams of sweat and blood poured from the strands, now stringy from the heat. Though his entire scalp was searing, there was a strong concentration at the top of his forehead. “Please be over...please,” he groaned. Hands gripped his hair to begin scalping himself. At first, they tried to rip his head in half to very little success, only seeing a few loose clumps fall in front of him. Alright then, plan B: pull it off like a bad weave. It would take a bit more force than his face trying to get it all in one motion, but he had stopped caring…or thinking at this point. After a few hard tugs, he heard a ripping sound, hairs pulling loose. Finally, he felt his hands pull back as the last bits of his human complexion slid off his head, and what took its place was even more hair. A large mass obscured his view as the new helmet was unsheathed, digging into his nostrils. He quickly parted the curtain to clear his vision, who knows what would happen if he were to sneeze. The initial impact of seeing the new face lost some punch earlier, so getting a second look at the now complete complexion could sink in easier. Now that his human face was…removed, in its place was now a complete caricature of a cartoon horse. Along with the established bits, his hair, once a shoulder-length mess, now replaced with waves that rolled down to the floor. It was now much brighter, almost as if it were bleached. Now matching the fur stuck to his face, with a few streaks of brown connecting to the dots. The hair sat behind some odd object shooting out of his forehead, spiraling up to a point. Louis reached up to see if tactile hallucinations also applied to this strange appendage. He tapped the tip, causing an unusual shock through his nervous system. “A…horn?” He pondered, “This thing’s supposed to be a unicorn then?” He tested the vision's capabilities with a facial exercise; he lifted an eyebrow, it lifted an eyebrow. He closed an eye, it closed an eye. He even managed to swivel one of the ears slightly, cringing slightly as he felt it wiggle. The whole resembled something out of a little girl’s overactive imagination. A toy that was used to spread joy and happiness to children, only at the expense of others halfway across the world slaving away in sweatshops. A drop of blood streaking down broke him out of his trance. The room was still covered in fleshy bits, with blood spattering the walls and floor. He gave his reflection a displeased look, “I'm really supposed to believe this is the end result?” He worked his jaw back and forth, eyeing the massive molars, “Honestly, it’s creepier than the blood.” Upon finishing this thought, that burning feeling came over his body once more. “Oh no! I’m not tearing at my body this time! I got a better idea.” He threw off his sweaty, blood-soaked clothes and pulled back the shower curtain. He meant to just step in, but this new head of hair had other plans. He tripped on the hairy mass and ended up falling into the shower. He winced from the pain as he quickly grabbed hold of a valve. Upon turning it, he heard multiple cracks as three of his fingers broke off, falling into his lap. He stared wide-eyed at the gushing stumps, “Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me-“ Panicked thoughts were cut short by the hailstorm coming from the shower head. ColdcoldcoldcoldcoldcoldcoldHOLYSHITTHATSCOLD! His whole body was shaking. Shaking loose. He watched as his hands split and cracked, falling off bit by bit to reveal the stubby stumps of hooves underneath. His chest became extremely heavy, watching as the mass melted off his body, disconnecting from his body and smacking the floor with a loud thwack. Then came the shoulders, arms, abdomen; all giving way to his new furry innards. He fell onto his back, legs trembling and spasming. He watched as a pair of hind legs cracked through their meaty shell, flicking off his calves and feet as if they were a pair of shoes. He managed to get the new legs underneath, lifting up and propping himself on the wall. Water ran down his back, shivering the spine and shaking more body parts loose; each one giving an audible thud. A small trail continued to trek down his body, eventually making its way down to hair near his rear. He cranked his neck, finding a long tail hanging between his legs. “Oh yeah, that felt gooood...” He moaned, finally feeling like he could breathe again now that his human parts weren’t draped over the horse’s stature. Whether it was the cold shower, or his body finally done changing, his entire being began to calm down. The fires inside his body began to fizzle out, shakes starting to cease as he returned to a semi-normal state. He took in a deep breath, allowing the water to wash over him. “Ok…ok, I think I’m good now.” Now, he could get a good look at this new body forced upon him, thanks to the trip. Heh, for a sec there he almost forgot why all of this was happening. It was about what he’d expected at this point: he now had the full body of a horse, from hooves to hindquarters. That now too familiar cream coated his body, with brown spots on his sides and chest in a swirling pattern. Underneath all that fluff, he noticed that he was slightly more muscular than his meek human body, flexing his pecs and legs. “Hmm, kinda odd,” Louis said, “I don’t do any heavy lifting, and I sure as hell ain’t pulling any plows.” He was significantly smaller than he had anticipated, even smaller than what he was in reality, which was already tiny at a measly 5' 3''. These new limbs seemed to resemble lumpy, furred tubes rather than the bony makeup of their regular horse counterparts. Perhaps that’s a good thing; normal horses wouldn’t fit into this cramped shower, and they definitely didn’t have eyes that big. Or a horn. However, there was one thing that seemed stranger than everything else he had endured: a marking of sorts on his backside. He would’ve passed it off as just another discolored spot, but it had more detail. Something you wouldn't find on any other coat. An image. He couldn’t make it out entirely, as the water created a translucent tarp over most of his body. Yeah, should probably turn that off now, before the gore clogs the pipes. He went to turn the knob off, reminded of one crucial detail: hooves can’t grip. “I still have hands, brain.” He looked down at the dismembered pieces, then to his hooves, “Fine, have it your way.” He placed the knob between his front hooves and cranked both his arms, slowly but surely stopping the polar precipitation. “Ok…are we done?” He huffed. Stillness came as a response. “Alright, we’re done.” He crawled out of the shower, hearing his steps make a distinctive clop sound on the tiles. He sat down and took one more look around the room, now a serial killer daydream of fresh flesh, “Oh man, this is insane! I’m a petite little horse…a fucking unicorn!” He was about to leave, before realizing he was now completely soaking wet. He looked around the room for a second, "Damn, no towels." He then looked down to his discarded clothing, "Guess this'll do." While he tried his best, trying to hold them in his hands was a lot harder than it looked, considering it looked like he didn't have hands to hold them with. But sure enough, he eventually went from soaked to slightly damp; even managing to get most of the blood off, though the shirt could suck up so much blood, so he shrugged and tossed it to the side. Heh, what would Amby think of this? Any sliver of positivity came to a screeching halt. Shit! Ambrose was still in the living room! Suddenly, a shriek filled the air, “LOUIS!”