Chapter 12: Battle For Addiction.

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"Addiction begins with the hope that something ’out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside." — Jean Kilbourne.

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Tessa’s voice was solemn as she said, "The fact that you survived the transformation only means that your mind is too powerful to be eaten. But the worm has another tool to use to gain control of your existence. It is an indirect tool called addiction."

"The worm is now connected to your mind and will become an inner demon influencing your mind and decision-making. This is the second price you have to pay for power." Her eyes were stern as she said, "When the worm is hungry, it will compel you to find food by flooding your mind with hunger and pain. What’s worse is that when you find food and are eating, it will flood your mind with pleasure, making you lose yourself to the food."

"If you get lost in the pleasure of eating, you will become a puppet for the worm to control, and you will become a ravenous beast who only knows to eat. If that were to happen to you, you are no longer human, and any Apostle is free to kill you and put you down.

"No one will think twice about putting you down. Especially since you’re flesh titans and are a threat to everyone else. In fact, the whole town will go on a manhunt for you if you lose control and manage to escape," she said, looking at them one by one to drive the point home.

"Do you understand me?" she asked as she stopped glaring at them.

"Yes, Boss Tessa," they shouted as they bobbed their head.

After pausing to let her words sink in, she said, "Good. This brings me to the third and last price that you pay as an Apostle."

"The third price is that the worm can never be fully satiated. It will always clamor for food, compelling you to find food every day for the rest of your lives."

"The hunger pangs will be your eternal companion, and every time you eat, your mind will be flooded with pleasure beyond sex. And the stronger you get, the stronger the worm becomes, and the worse the pressure becomes."

"So you will always have a chance to lose control, and that chance will only continue to increase over time. The only way to escape is to die or have a Tyrant help you control your worm."

The red Big Boss interjected, chuckling as he said, "You could also become Tyrants."

"Let’s not start giving them ideas," the green Big Boss said with a snort. "Besides, being a Tyrant isn’t easy either. They have their struggles and the price they pay for power."

"Fine, fine. I just want to let them know that it is possible," the red Big Boss said with a shrug. "What’s the harm of a little dream and optimism?"

He continued, "I think it is good for them to have hope and dreams. It might help them to keep the monster at bay. I know I need something to hold on to."

The green Big Boss rolled her eyes at him. But she didn’t refute him.

Meanwhile, Tessa was saying to them, "Ignore those two. Let’s talk about your restraint training."

"Because of the immense risk of losing yourself to food, it is very important that you be supervised during your first time eating. It is also important that I teach you restraint if you lack it."

"This is food," she said, pointing at the headless corpse. "You will eat it when I give you permission to."

"You are free to eat however you want. But there are two rules. The first rule is that you can’t interfere with another person eating. If you break this rule, I will hit you with this," she said, throwing the baton up and catching it in her hand.

As she tossed the baton, a savage grin appeared on her face. The grin made Alex question her claim about how she didn’t enjoy beating people.

"The second rule is that you have to stop when I tell you to. If you keep eating when I say stop, you better hope my Baton is broken and my arms are crippled, because otherwise a terrible beating is coming your way," she smiled wider, exposing her three jaws.

"Any questions?" she asked with that same terrible smile.

Robert and Alex both raised their hands. Only Barnabas seemed to understand everything needed for the training and looked at the other two in confusion, wondering what wasn’t clear about the rules.

Tessa pointed her large and thick baton at Robert and said, "What’s your question?"

"When can I go home to see my sister?" Robert asked, his tone a plea.

In response, Tessa smashed the Baton against his head and said, "I meant a question relevant to the restraint training."

Robert recoiled in pain, gasping as he held his head. She didn’t use much force, but his skull still cracked and began to bleed.

As the wound on his head began to heal, the feeling of hunger within him increased by a notch, making it difficult for him to restrain himself from pouncing at the corpse on the table.

His second pair of eyes were now laser-focused on the corpse. They ignored everyone in the room and acted as if the corpse was everything in the world.

The hunger was so bad that if not for the fact that Tessa was there and had just hit him, he would have pounced at the corpse. But even though he restrained himself, his body had become restless, and he was fidgeting like an addict suffering from withdrawal.

When she saw that he wasn’t going to take a leap of faith to test, she said, "Do you have a more relevant question?"

Robert shook his head from side to side without looking at her. At this point, his original pair of eyes were also focused on the corpse.