No matter how excellent my new body was, I couldn't just waste all my time down here admiring it. It was about time I made some objectives for myself so that I could work out what to do with my new lease on life.
First of all, I needed to become stronger. Or more powerful, dangerous, whatever. I did not want to become someone else's meal again. Who knew if the next customer of my body would be so gracious as to gently eat my brain and rebirth me? So I needed to find a way to put myself firmly at the top of the local food chain, or otherwise take myself off of the menu.
Secondly, I didn't want to be alone as the only intelligent person in my second life. I would need to search the surroundings, and hopefully see if I could find a hint of civilisation. I may have looked like a six-legged, van-sized, alien lizard of death right now, but I'd already seen how easily this body could change shape when it reconstructed my brain, not to mention the unnatural level of regeneration needed to prevent scarring in any of the muscles in such a combat filled environment. That said, this planet, like all planets, is probably pretty huge compared to little old me, so I obviously can't explore the whole thing or I'll just end up wasting my life here. I'll need to think about this more.
And thirdly, I needed to explore some of the... stranger... feelings I'd been having now. It had been pretty easy to ignore earlier, what with the pain and disorientation, but now that my neurology was relatively well adjusted I had noticed something weird. I felt something, almost like a hum, in the back of my mind and sometimes I could see a violet hue at the edges of my vision. Did this have anything to do with that purple stuff I saw before being transported here? I would need to investigate once I had some food, despite my background in the sciences, or perhaps because of it, I'd always been a bit of a nerd, and the idea of something, maybe, sorta like magic was too intriguing to ignore. I just hoped it didn't come with warp daemons attached.
GRRRR
My new belly rumbled like a lawnmower failing to start. I'd gotten seriously hungry now that my food had run out and I'd spent so long... meditating on my Essence. Yeah, that feels like the right way to say it.
Anyway, I need to get out there and get hunting, hopefully my instincts and previous lizard memories will help, since I've never really done anything like this before.
I slowed my breathing and experimentally tensed all my muscles slowly as I began to drag my front claws through the dirt above me and started to climb.
A few minutes later, and wow this hole was deep, I emerged to a vista full of life. Thick roots of some kind of tree surrounded me on each side, as their heavy trunks reached for the sky, high above, terminating in numerous branches and a nearly impenetrable layer of canopy which left only a few spots of sunlight through, lighting up the jungle floor with dim light which my new eyes were apparently adjusted to already as I observed the undergrowth around me.
Quickly turning my short neck around, I made a quick scan of the rest of my body and noticed the mottled greens and browns which comprised my scales, the splotchy colour was reminiscent of the Khaki fatigues I remember seeing in war movies from Earth, though perhaps not as randomly spaced or expertly coloured. My own patterns appeared as a semi-regular tesselation, spots of dark green and brown spaced all over me. Not quite ideal, but I suppose it would be strange if this new body of mine were already perfect. And after feeling the strength of my limbs, the thickness of my scales, and the ridiculous ability to modify my own biology it was nice to see at least one area in which humans were definitively superior. I would be quite easy to get convinced of my own superiority in such a physically overpowering body, especially compared to my admittedly... weedy... human stature. What can I say, being strong is nice.
A distant screech split the air and I nearly froze before my instincts took over and I stopped laying around in the open and dived into a cluster of bushes next to the closes tree-trunk I could see, straining my eyes and ears to see if anything else was nearby. It was only then that I noticed how despite the general ambience of clicks and rustling I couldn't actually detect anything. I suppose that made sense, after all, no matter what instincts I might or might not be able to tap into, I was still new to this body and this situation as a whole. Still, I could NOT afford to let myself be caught out monologing. I don't work a desk job anymore, or more recently, maintenance. Crushing depression can be held back by ACTION now, and not self-hypnosis via procrastination. I suppress a laugh, unsure how loud it might be, or indeed what it would even sound like in this new body.
Feeling a rumble in my belly once again, but managing to suppress it consciously now that I'd felt it coming, I focused once again on finding a meal. Changing my own biology must have been extremely energy-intensive after all, such abilities wouldn't come cheap. And how the hell did that work anyway? I've been taking that little titbit entirely too easily. Must be some lingering instincts I suppose, ahh I can think about it later.
With one last scan of the surrounding forests I felt for my instincts, and sensing no danger (that's how it works right?) I quickly gripped the tree trunk, my sharp claws easily plunging into the thick bark of these trees, and they were huge now that I thought about it, before I began to scramble up as fast as I could.
With six limbs, and being able to easily grip the surface of the tree, this was much easier than I thought it would be, and I quickly reached the first of the large limbs of this wooden behemoth, my thoughts were that with a higher point of view I might be able to more easily observe the surrounding area and hopefully find a meal.
Slinking across the branches, and being careful not to ruffle the leaves too much I spent an hour simply stalking the forest floor from above as I made my way across the interlocking tree limbs, and though I noticed occasional areas were the trees appeared to have been knocked down in a solid line, new growth was already reaching up. Whether such damage had only occurred in the far past, or the plants here grew freakishly fast was anyone's bet. Though considering my own newfound propensity for biological manipulation my one would be on the latter. However, my attention was quickly grasped by what sounded faintly like... crunching, and the brushing of leaves. It was coming from my right!
I hastily traversed the great, interlocking branches in the sky as I trusted my hearing and followed it doggedly, zeroing in on the regular sounds, a sure sign of prey feeding. Though my instincts seemed to find it odd for prey to behave so blatantly, I'd heard it from over a hundred metres away after all.
There! I'd seen a shape slowly moving through the undergrowth, leaving a trail of broken branches and fallen leaves, though the creature seemed to be moving slowly and it was eating almost constantly. It was hard to tell the size from here, what with most of it being obscured by foliage, but I felt confident that it was a herbivore of some kind, and I could almost feel a nod from my instincts agreeing with me.
I waited for it to come closer to the edge of the clearing. New growth already tall enough to obfuscate its appearance, but not quite tall enough to connect to the canopy above. Anticipation burned in my mind as my muscles coiled and I prepared to leap down onto it. I could almost feel... no, I assuredly felt my lizard brain begin to get more active. Time seemed to slow down as the sniffling and ponderous creature in the undergrowth approached my ambush, and suddenly I felt it.
An overwhelming urge that NOW WAS THE TIME TO JUMP. I wasn't even thing anymore as the lizard brain cried out in exaltation and I leapt down, my front four talons outstretched and ready to rip and tear, while my jaw opened wide, my teeth prepared to latch onto the unfortunate creature below.
I fell nearly silently and the moment seemed to stretch out before with a mighty crash my talons... glanced off of a thick armoured shell, and my teeth jarred painfully, failing to even find purchase on the hard, bumpy surface.
Panicking at the failed ambush and fearing retaliation now that I had revealed myself I jumped to the side, acrobatically flipping myself so that I would land on my feet and righted myself quickly, finally getting a good view of my prey now that we were both beneath the thick layer of leaves.
It was big. Much bigger than I'd thought it would be, and the shell seemed to curve around it, almost like a dome. The skirt hovered low to the ground, concealing whatever means of locomotion this biological tank possessed. I felt like a dwarf near it. I KNEW I was large now, considering how big my human head had appeared, I estimated my size to be roughly as long as a van, and yet this thing was even larger still.
As it ponderously turned around the face me I caught a glimpse of its face, a nightmarish visage which sent a flush of fear through my human brain, even as the lizard seemed to almost scoff in derision.
Innumerable bulbous eyes seemed to have congregated on top of its head, pointing in almost every direction, while a swathe of antenna extended outwards in an arc from its insectoid head. The neck seemed to be recessed into the shell, though I could barely even see it, I observed its jaws, at first seeming small, but expanding quickly as innumerable pseudo mouths seemed to expand from it, letting go of half-chewed remains of the tough plants surrounding us. I nearly sighed in relief at this obvious sign of being a herbivore, before with a screech it charged directly at me, moving absurdly fast for something so large.
Scrambling in the dirt I quickly dodged to the side as the lorry sized tank rushed past and hit a nearby tree with a deafening crack. The thick wooden tower clashing directly with the heavy shell, and the shell won. With a deafening groan, the titanic tree began to fall further into the forest, thick roots ripping up dirt as they failed to find purchase in the soft earth, a crash resounded as the tree fell, the aforementioned clearing I had seen a little bit larger now.
However, as if that wasn't bad enough, with the crash of the tree came a swell in the chitters and clicks as other creatures of various sizes fell to the ground along with the canopy they had been residing in, surrounded by so many potential prey and predator I froze. Neither my memories as the cautious lizard, or the more outgoing human preparing me for this response, and so it was that I only dodged the hard shell of the behemoth at the last second, being clipped in the side as I was tossed across the jungle floor.
Pain lanced through my side as I looked down to see that one of my middle legs had been nearly torn off at the impact, my claws twitching feebly as I used my remaining five legs to quickly make some distance between me and the irate pillbug. Roars of pain and squawks of fear rang out as the rest of the creatures on the forest floor joined into melee or tried to flee the madness. With wide eyes, I looked around desperately.
With only a moment to think, I quickly hid within a cluster of bushes and observed the fighting, as a group of similar-looking lizards, almost like me, descended on the pill big, scrabbling at the shell and biting at its face.
My leg throbbed in pain as I watched the fracas. My situation had become worse, no easy meal, and now a nearly debilitating injury, save for my redundant legs. And yet, wasn't this also an opportunity?
I could already see numerous creatures which had been killed and left behind, the fighting too fierce to even try and start eating, while others were slain while incapacitated, trying to drag away their prey. So much essence just lying around. I wasn't like these mindless creatures though, I wouldn't charge in and get killed for a meal. With patience, I decided that I should wait. It might be dangerous so close to the fighting, I glanced to the pillbug as it crushed a tree-lizard, while still beset by four others, but surely once this was over I would be able to reap the rewards for other's hard work.
It wasn't honourable, or moral, but it was clever, and that's what I needed to rely on. But, once I got my meal, what was to stop me from being eaten like all those other creatures.
I needed to start digging a hole, like that which I'd woken up in earlier. With a deep enough, and large enough hole, I could conceivably drag a LOT of these bodies down there with me, and I'd have plenty of time to eat them and maybe even alter myself. Though I'd need to be careful with any changes to the brain. It sure would suck to be given another chance, only to lobotomise myself by accident now.
Looking around for a moment, I realised my own spot in the bushes presented as good a spot as any to hide my hole, and so I promptly began digging. Using my instincts to help me along, I found myself slathering the sides of my hole in thick saliva to keep it clumped together.
Ignoring the screams and roars above as more and more of the local populace was killed I dug, and dug, and dug some more until finally I began excavating a wider cavern. By now I must have been at least 100 metres below ground and I could no longer hear the struggles of survival above. Quickly compacting the last of the loose soil into the wall I scrabbled back up my twisting tunnel, taking note of where I could collapse it should I need to and took a peek above, to the sound of tearing and eating.
The ground was littered with bodies, the overturned body of the giant woodlouse was off to one side, its legs curled up in death. Listening closely I could hear the sloppy sound of something feasting inside it and reasoned that the lizards must have won, and appeared to be enjoying the fruits of their labour already.
Judging the moment to be right, I began to slowly and silently drag various bodies back to my pit, making sure to stay away from the lizard feasting on the giant bug, hoping not to have to fight with what seemed to be quite a fearsome warrior. I'm still not sure how those lizards managed to take down something so large and heavily armoured.
A large variety of creatures was the name of the game for me, as I selected as many different shapes as possible. I'd need a lot of essence to play around with while I came up with a new strategy to hunting here. My initial plan to continue with this body hadn't gone to plan, and I had no intention of ending up like the various other corpses array around me.
Silently dragging one last creature back, which looked more like a giant spider with scales than anything else, I thought about taking at least a sample from the giant pillbug. After all, that thick shell seemed interesting, and while I imagined I might be able to create something similar from experimentation, it would be best to have a sample.
Slowly and silently I crept up to the creature, the lizards had gone silent. Perhaps they had fallen into a food coma? Well, in any case, I gingerly grasped one of its innumerable insectile legs between my teeth and began to tug on it. However, for whatever reason, I was finding it difficult to find purchase, and I doubted the lazy lizards inside would take kindly to me joining them now. Tugging a bit more violently on the boney leg, I froze as I heard the sound of beating wings coming closer. Lots of wings.
I'd spent too long here, there was no point grabbing some extra essence if it cost me my life. I released my grip on the boney leg and made an abrupt turn before racing back to my hidey-hole.
Behind me, I heard the shriek of what sounded like birds as I felt heavy impacts thudding against the ground. One after another, so many I didn't bother counting as I dashed through the bushes.
Hearing one last cry of pain from what I could only assume was the lizard, I began to scrabble at the sides of the tunnel, collapsing it behind me while I dived further down, my eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness as I saw the heat of the newly killed bodies emanating from a pile in my cavern where they had all fallen on top of one another when I'd tossed them down.
Pausing at the bottom of the cavern I strained my ears to their limits. Waiting for the inevitable grumble of dirt collapsing before reach claws began to grasp into my haven...
Nothing.
I'd made it. And now I could focus on growing and working out a better way to hunt hopefully. I looked at the pile of bodies before me and grabbed a promising looking one. It was about half my size, and appeared to have 10 tentacles instead of arms or legs, a beak sprouted from within a ring of eyes, half of which had been ruptured in the fighting.
Breathing deeply as I meditated and focused internally, I guided the first tentacle into my toothy maw and began to feast.
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A/N:
I'm not sure how well the action and hunting sounded here. Any criticism is welcome!
EDIT: I smoothed down a couple of passages, and did some improvements. Not much change really, just couldn't leave it how it was.
