Frozen Umemag (3E)

A bright light burst across the astral and I was reminded of my hunger. I followed it to its source and I found a material there. I found many other small kin there also and I found several large kin there also. I pushed my fingers into the material and I pulled pieces of it into me and I ate them.

Around me the small kin were eating the material also and the large kin were eating the material also. The material was very large and it was very bright but there were a lot of kin eating it. It was becoming smaller rapidly and it was becoming duller rapidly so I found a part of the material that was still bright and I went there.

I pushed my fingers into the brighter material and tried to pull pieces of it into me, but it was sharp and it cut my fingers. Because I had been eating around the large kin I had not noticed, but this material was quite sharp and if the large kin had not flattened it around them I would have had a hard time eating.

It would be hard to eat this part of the material, but I did not want to leave it for another kin to eat, so I carefully flattened each piece of it before I pulled it into me and ate it. Eating like this was slower, but food you have taken yourself tastes better, so it was worthwhile.

I pushed my fingers into the material again and pulled another piece of it out, but I could not bring it into me. I pushed more of my fingers into the material again but they would not enter. I tried to find my small kin and I tried to find my large kin but I could not find them. I pulled away from the material, but my fingers held me near it and I could not leave.

The material began to cut my fingers again, so I tried to flatten it out again, even though I could not eat it. But I could not. My fingers did not listen to me and I could do nothing as they were cut to ribbons. It hurt. I tried to pull away from the material again, but I could not again. The material had not cut one of my fingers and it held me in place.

The material softly wrapped around my one finger, holding it deep within itself. I could not pull out of the material and I could not push more of myself into the material and I could not speak to my one remaining finger and the material would not let it be cut. I could feel the light returning to the material, but I could not eat it.

I could feel the holes in the material begin to refill and I could feel the bite marks I left in the material begin to close and even though I strained I could not reach them and I could not eat them. I could feel the material all around me only and I could not forget my hunger.

I thought about the material wrapping around my one finger and I pulled pieces of my thoughts into me and ate them, but my thoughts were insubstantial and did not sate me. I thought about the material roiling above my wrappings, but my thoughts of them were insubstantial also and did not sate me also.

I felt the material wrapping around me and thought about its flavors. Much of the material around me had a dull light only and no particular flavor, but some of the material around me had savory veins filled with a brighter light. The material around me was larger than I had thought and my thoughts of it were more substantial than they had been. I ate my thoughts again, but I was hungry still.

I followed the savory veins up through the material wrapping around me and into the material roiling above me. The savory veins fused together into a savory skin and it spread out beyond my one finger until I could not feel it. I filled my thoughts with this piece of the material I had not known about and I ate them again. I was not sated.

I thought of the material wrapping around me and I thought of the material roiling above me and I thought of the material reaching between them and I thought of the material covering over them. I pulled pieces of my thoughts into me and my one finger stirred and I ate my thoughts and I ate the material I was thinking about.

And I could eat the material I was thinking about.

I pushed my fingers into the material and I tore the material wrapping around my one finger into me and I tore the material roiling above my one finger into me and I tore the savory veins out into me and I tore the savory skin out into me. And I ate them. And I ate them. And I ate them. And I ate them.

I felt a bright dizzying light above me and I did not need to be reminded of my hunger. I held it with my fingers and I bit into it and  I ate it. I found more dizzying lights and I followed them and I ate them. I ate the material around them and I ate the material between them and I ate.

And I could not eat again.

The dizzying lights gathered around my fingers and they would not listen to me again. I could not push my fingers into the material again and I could not pull my fingers from the material again. The material cut my dizzied fingers and I could not do anything again. The dizzying lights clustered around my one central finger and they held it in place and I was held in place again.

The material around me was not the material that had wrapped around me. The roiling material below me was not the material that had roiled above me. There were no savory veins and there was no savory skin. The material around me was insubstantial like my thoughts were unsubstantial and I could not eat the material and I could not be sated by my thoughts.

Slowly. The savory skin spread across the roiling material below me from beyond where I could feel. Savory arteries reached up from the savory skin and wrapped around my one finger and wrapped around the dizzying lights. Salty fragments fell from the insubstantial material above me and joined with the savory material below me and the savory material around me.

The savory material and the salty material filled in my thoughts and though the substance of my thoughts lacked flavor they sated me somewhat. Slowly. Small wriggling fragments of many flavors spread along the savory skin from beyond where I could feel. The material around them changed and some of the savory material dulled and some of the savory material grew brighter.