For once, my hopes and expectations of all being uneventful came true, and I accompanied Took and the rest with a wolfstag’s corpse in each arm before returning for the second and final load. The path was quickly worn down from the passage of dozens of feet carrying hundreds and thousands of pounds of wolfstag bodies. I welcomed the physical effort, the cool rain running over my scales, the gentle burn of the muscles in my arms, legs, and back, and the contented and victorious air of a successful hunt. Though Fria, Khaa, and their packs mourned their dead, their grief didn’t bring down the mood of the rest.

On the trip back to collect the last of the spoils of our hunt, I turned to Fria and Khaa. “What do you want to do with your dead?”

Khaa flicked her tail in an approximation of a shrug before answering, “Don’t care. We usually leave them there, Shalla doesn’t like to see the dead bodies.”

Fria, for her part, didn’t seem to have thought much about it. “We usually leave them where they fell.”

“Well, we can do that with your fallen, or we can do what we have been doing.”

Khaa didn’t look at me, uncaring what I was going to say, but Fria perked up at my words. “What is that?”

“We bury them in the den. We remember where each was left, and remember the fallen themselves.” I knew there was something more that Ytte did beyond that, but I hadn’t paid too much attention to her actions. “We can bring the dead from your packs and bury them with ours. Or, we can leave them there to feed the jungle. You can choose.”

Fria flicked her tail as she thought, but Khaa immediately answered, “Just leave them. They fell, and there they’ll stay.” Khaa seemingly didn’t care about anything but bringing the prey back to Shalla’s den. I’d long wanted to subjugate more of the swarm, but after the conversations I’d had with Khaa today, I thought maybe Shalla’s pack wasn’t worth it. As I thought as much, Fria spoke up.

“We will remember them. Let the land take their bodies, and we will take their memory.”

I’d not heard her perspective on this before, and I found myself agreeing with the sentiment as she spoke. I flared my frills in assent, and returned to carrying the bodies. Again, the journey was quick and altogether unremarkable, and as we entered the den from one of the larger “cargo” entrances, Khaa flared her frills once in acknowledgement, and traipsed off with her and her pack’s load of wolfstags. I thought of something to say in response, but simply decided to leave it and leave her and the rest of Shalla’s pack to their own devices. As we entered our den, though, I was surprised to see a particularly large keelish in there, one larger even than me. Rulac.

Before I could ask what he was doing, he looked me in the eye, glanced at the corner where Arwa and her pups laid, still sleeping, and, while looking surprisedly at me, said, “You realize that if that thing does anything, it’s your fault?”

I flicked my tail as a shrug, “Of course. And her pups, once they grow up.”

Rulac continued to look at me, his gaze heavy and scrutinizing. I held his eyes steadily, wondering what he was thinking of, and then he answered my question, “You’re a strange one, Ashlani. Can’t call you little Alpha anymore, though, so maybe you’ve got some good ideas in that head of yours.” He went quiet but continued to look at me before speaking, his voice dropping to a serious, firm tone, “Keep your thunderfangs under control. If you don’t, we’ll kill ‘em all, and you might end up with ‘em.” His voice changed back to his usual, unbothered tone, “Looking forward to it! Have fun!”

Without another word, Rulac sauntered out of the den and down, deeper towards his own territory. As he left, Arwa looked up at me and whimpered a little in fear. I couldn’t help but laugh a little as I walked up to her and rubbed at her head. “Clever girl.” She leaned into my hand a little before pulling back and laying back down. Taking that as my cue, I walked up to Sybil and asked if there was anything else that needed my attention. Her denial was all I needed to return to my quarters, indulge in a quick, magically-assisted bath, and lay down to sleep.

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The next two days passed quickly, with me taking special care to go on a couple of hunts a day to find something to feed Arwa with. She was more than happy with my continued care, and she quickly began to fill in, her ribs no longer obvious through her fur. Her pups were happy as could be as well, since they had uninterrupted access to their mother whenever they wanted, and her milk didn’t run dry. The rest of the pack could eat until they were full all day long, and still have meat left over, and they did.

Even with our bellies full, though, none of the pack let themselves relax, instead wrestling, digging, training, teaching, and learning whenever we were awake. Whenever I wasn’t out on the hunt, I was giving the best guidance I could through [Evolutionary Guide], and Percral most of all showed amazing progress with his lightning magic. I was beginning to be able to feel what the wolfstags could do to grow, but they were different from us keelish who exited the egg ready to hunt. The pups were able to wander around a little, and one of the pack was given permanent guard duty to ensure none of the nine could leave our territory. My den began to fill with the yips and cries of the pups, and the keelish enjoyed watching the fights, selecting their favorites and preferred canines. I was happy to see that familiarity and comfort, since the longer term plan was to begin to hunt with the wolfstags, and the first step to that would be forging bonds between my keelish and their furry soon-to-be companions.

And, just like that, the sixtieth day came, and I awoke. I’d grown taller, at least six and a half feet tall, and I could feel that I was stronger, more agile, and just more… complete. I planned on immediately looking at my [Status], but something prompted me to step out of my quarters and into the communal area for my pack. I was satisfied looking over them, but then I realized… Some of them were quite different. In fact, most of my “elites” as I thought of them, had evolved.

Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Sybil, Percral, Solia, Shemira, Ytte, and still others had evolved to become khatif. I felt a grin spread across my face as I allowed myself to finally look at my Adult [Status].

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha

Titles: Chosen of Nievtala

Current quests:

-Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2.

-Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 7%

- Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: 4/5

Stats:

-Constitution: 59+5=64

-Strength: 68+7=75

-Agility: 72+7=79

-Intelligence: 59+6=65

-Magic: 57+9=66

Skills:

Adversary: 5/10

Combatant’s Bloodlust: Unqualified, 0/4

Debilitating Diatribe (Cannot Evolve)

Dominance: 62/100

Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve)

Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve)

Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve)

Improved Vision: 0/18

Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve)

Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve)

Pack Tactics: 4/10

Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve)

Profound Sonilphon: 3/5

Quaking Claw (Cannot Evolve)

Evolutionary Possibilities

…]

End of Book 1.