Sybil had been a little hesitant to begin eating, seeming to want to wait until the rest of us had eaten our fills, but I’d insisted and forced her to join with the rest of us in eating. If she hadn’t been allowed to eat like she’d said, then she had gone longer since her last meal than the rest of us, who were stuffing ourselves when it definitely hadn’t been altogether necessary. Once she began eating, though, Sybil ate voraciously and nearly seemed to lose control of herself in her hunger.

As always, the feed was quick and, once we had finished, I was ready to move, to do something. My [Status] still showed that the fifth day since my hatching had yet to pass. I wasn’t sure when exactly the day ticked over, if it was a day’s passing since the moment of my emergence from the egg, or if it counted the dawn of that same day, or some other way that didn’t occur to me. I didn’t think that it would matter, but there was the slim chance that I would get to the end of the 59th day and need to do something quickly before that final evolution before adulthood occurred, so that knowledge was potentially valuable.

Thinking about it, it had only been maybe six hours or so since we’d returned from our hunt. None of us (minus Sybil) were especially hungry, and that would probably benefit us on our upcoming hunt. Without pressing hunger, we could better take our time and be patient. I realized that some of the smaller packs had returned to the den and were resting, maybe without any intentions to hunt again before tomorrow. If that was the case, they could only stunt their own growth for a while longer, because once I became the Alpha of the entire brood, I would ensure that every single one was eating more than enough every meal.

After all, I needed to raise this brood to be superior to the rest, if I wanted to rise to the Alpha of the swarm.

I did welcome that reality, that strength of fist alone dictated leadership among the keelish. I could remember how I’d spoken to my mother just before my death about how I refused to be given a position due to the strength of her fist, and I laughed at my own hypocrisy. Power mattered to me now, not much else. Maybe that was something I’d always carried in me, or maybe it was just my new keelish self. Regardless, I knew how to continue to build my support structure.

As I led the pack back up the entrance and out of the den, Sybil initially took a step to follow at my left. Took snapped her jaws once, and Sybil quickly relented and was relegated to the back of the pack. I’d never seen Sybil do anything physical, so I couldn’t say for sure, but she definitely was Took’s inferior when it came to mass and strength. As before I’d led her down into our den, Sybil firmly mastered herself, showing nothing more than a contrite acceptance of her place at the bottom of the hierarchy.

I let it carry on for a while. After all, the hierarchy was intrinsic and key to keelish society’s function, so far as I could tell. There weren’t really “equals”, just an ever-shifting melange of “superior” and “subordinate”, and I couldn’t dissolve that in my pack. Nor did I want to, at least in its totality.

Eventually, though, we did leave the den and found ourselves back in the open meadow. Looking up, the skies weren’t yet beginning to lighten, so I knew it couldn’t be summer as it had been before my death, since it had been at least ten hours since the suns had fully set. Who knew how much time was left before the sun rose, and we would be forced to retreat back to the den?

I shook the thoughts from my head, literally shaking my head as I gestured for Sybil to approach me. After a moment’s hesitation, she did.

“You give… advice, you said?”

Flare of the frills.

“What is… your advice?”

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She cocked her head, thinking for a moment. “I do not… know the hunt. I know… I understand… the mind.”

I nodded, indicating she should continue.

“Tieran… will push you… again after he returns. He will… seek to push you… down further. I said… he should not. He wants… to prove himself… to the rest.”

“What will… he do?”

Sybil flicked her tail in uncertainty. “I said… he should be careful. If he… wasn’t then… the others would… rise against him. He might… try to… prove me wrong. Take everything… from you… or kill you.”

My jaws spread in an involuntary grin. That would be my opportunity.

…

The rest of the night passed quickly, with me asking one of the supervising adults if we could hunt outside the bounds of their protections. He hadn’t said no, but he’d advised against it for now, that the night was much more dangerous than dawn and dusk, and if we’d wanted to hunt outside of this area, to do so earlier or later. At least, that was what I gathered through his own stilted, slow manner of speech. As I suffered through his attempt to communicate, I wondered if there was a way for me to elevate the levels of the rest of the swarm. I didn’t particularly want an intelligent revolution, but they should all be able to communicate, at least.

With the warning received, I wasn’t yet able to complete my [Quest], and instead we were able to hunt three more of the Toothy Bullfrogs. Two of the hunts were performed entirely without me, as I watched the rest work together to bring down the prey. Sybil tried her best, and wasn’t a problem or impediment, but she did only slightly more than Treel, even though she was significantly larger than the diminutive female.

The third… had been my hunt. After watching the others work together, even without my presence, I’d finally been unable to hold myself back and had commanded the rest to stay back. After all, I wanted to test out my new body’s capabilities.

Now that I was taller and more densely packed with muscle, I could more easily wade quietly through the marsh, my feet nearly sinking into the mud below. With just a few steps, I was able to close in on my prey and, with a quick lunge, bit deep into its back. With my new height, I could easily rise above the frog’s head, and my fangs sunk deep into flesh, the vertebrae beginning to creak under my initial attack. Then, my mind changed.

In retrospect, I could understand that it was the activation of [Bloodlust], but in the moment, I smelled and tasted blood, then there wasn’t much of me left. I began to savage the back of the frog, bones crunching beneath my bites as I fastened my fingers together and began to plunge my hands, like knives, into the prey. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in my ears and the satisfying crunch of bone in my mouth. Nothing went down my throat, I didn’t want to eat or feed, I just needed to rip and tear, to continue, long after the body had relinquished all semblance of life.

With a long cry of victory, I raised my head and observed the end result of my rage. The viscera of the frog floated around me, I could see the warmth of blood being dispersed in the water, I could smell and feel that same blood coating my face, my arms, and beginning to congeal around and under my scales. There had been no person left within me during that. Just ferocity.

As I shook myself from my temporary insanity, I rinsed myself off in the water. With the scent of blood coating me, I could feel that the unwilling activation of [Bloodlust] was uncomfortably close. Fortunately, I was able to clean myself sufficiently to keep that from happening. Looking at my prey… it would be impossible to carry it back in any efficient way. With a sign, I invited the pack to come and eat their fill before leaving the corpse where it floated.

Oncli and Sybil approached me while the rest of the pack slowly set to the body. None were particularly hungry, so the eating was slow and deliberate as I changed my perception back to my eyes and noted the bare hint of light beginning to show itself in the skies.

Oncli spoke. “That… scary. You… strong.”

“You are… the better leader… if you… control yourself.” Sybil echoed.

I sighed. The insanity of my [Skill] had grown, but I hoped I’d be able to better control it the more I triggered it.

“Let’s… go home.”

At my command, my pack and I returned to the den, bellies full, two Toothy Bullfrog corpses in tow, and ready for the inevitable.

I couldn’t wait.