Thus I looked and behold

Ten and seven arrayed in gold

Kneeling before the one all silver,

The one before whom all men shiver

Leader of one and leader of all

The emperor, bringer of the fall.

Divine words on his tongue

That which he spake and sung

Words of Power

That do Devour

The final Hour

That soon will scour

All those who cower

Now ground to powder

And made a coward

Below the claw, where they must kneel

Before the emperor, The One True Keel

–From the ravings of Siegfried the Sighted

The blood thundering through my ears slowing, I whipped my head back and forth, watching the rest of the brood. All around me, they backed away with frills flared in fear and mouths opened threateningly. I hissed low, the threat obvious in my posture. A primal part of me fought to exert its will as I stepped threateningly toward the nearest spawnling.

“That’s enough of that.” Like before, out of nowhere a massive hand like that of a god swept me from my feet and into the air. Reflexively, I snapped at the fingers holding me, each one so large as to be a struggle to fit into my jaws. With a crunch… nothing happened beyond my fangs and jaws hurting.

“Yes, you’re very fierce and powerful. We like that. It’s good.” While the voice wasn’t any language I knew, the growls, chitters, screeches, and so on were unfamiliar yet still intelligible as language. I looked up at the giant keelish holding me, something about the slant of his jaw that I instinctively understood as a smile. This one was different from the last–even larger, and the instinctual quailing in my blood was immediate and powerful. “I’m sure she did something to piss you right off, but you can’t kill the rest of the brood. You gotta work all together so…” The large male sighed, a surprisingly human action as he set me down and held me there.

“Look, I know you don’t really understand. You.” He poked me in the forehead. “No.” Shake of the head. “Kill.” A harsh clack of his teeth. “Brood.” A sweeping gesture at the surrounding spawnlings. “Got it?”

For the first time, I tried to talk to one of the mature keelish. With a strange click and hiss, I somehow spoke.

“Who?”

The large one’s head startled back and cocked to the side. “So you can talk! Fierce and smart! I like that!” Slowly, the massive head lowered until it was level with my own. “I’m Rulac. Hope you make it to adulthood, little one.” Then, with a chuckle and a sweep of his tail, Rulac was gone.

The silence of the little hovel slowly was broken by skittering feet and the sound of small bodies settling to rest against the walls and away from me. While the human part of me was revolted, the loud, primal, and mostly in charge keelish part of me was still… hungry. Fortunately, I was able to prevail against the raging beast within and, instead, settled against a wall. The predator within noted that the spawnlings nearby subtly and slowly retreated from near me. I supposed a kin-killer isn’t usually welcome in their sibling’s space.

Finally, I forced myself to think of something other than setting to the cooling body of my first kill–one of my own kind. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that there were a couple of the other spawnlings slowly edging towards the corpse, but I forced myself to settle into my [Status] instead of lashing out and taking another life, as the slowly surging rage inside me demanded.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

[Status:

Name: Ashlani (unofficial)

Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker

Titles: none.

Stats:

-Constitution: 2+1=3

-Strength: 3+1=4

-Agility: 6

-Intelligence: 4

-Magic: 0

Skills:

Bloodlust

Evolutionary foresight

-Adult Keelish Bloodseeker: Survive 60 days. Progress: 1/60

-Young Keelish Bloodletter: Kill 10 creatures. Progress: 1/10

-Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 0/10

Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen.]

Why am I stronger now?

[Beyond evolution, there are certain tasks that a System user can accomplish that will directly correlate to immediate growth. You have complied with and completed one of these tasks.]

What are the other tasks? I need… to grow stronger… to take revenge…

[The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information. However, that decision may be rescinded, depending on your future growth.]

So I need to grow stronger… to know… how to get stronger?

[The Administrator agrees with your statement and the circular logic present in your question. Nonetheless, She is unable to defy the Administrative Body.]

I forced myself to notice–one day had passed, and I was following on my path to ideally evolve into a Bloodletter. There were definitely further evolutionary possibilities beyond that first evolution. Just one step after the next… then I could find Viilor and return the favor.

How strong is Viilor?

[The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information.]

So… how strong are humans in general? Or, at least, compared to keelish? How strong are keelish?

[The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to… The Administrator has reminded the Administrative Body of your past. The Administrative Body is willing to give you that information given your previous life and memories thereof. The general standard for Constitution, Strength, and Agility for an adult keelish is 10. The general standard for Intelligence is 4. The general standard for Magic is 0. The standard for Constitution, Strength, Agility, and Intelligence for an adult human is 50. The general standard for Magic is 60.]

So much stronger than I am… I need to get stronger. I need to grow. I need… to kill things. Echoes of my mother’s voice, of strength tempered by understanding, tried to bring rationality to me, but I tamped them down. Whether it was my human side or keelish, I didn’t care. I NEEDED to grow stronger, so that the betrayal I’d experienced at Viilor’s hands would never, could never happen again.

Hunched in a corner, I wondered how I could get the opportunity to kill more things without slaughtering the rest of the brood. I was fairly certain that Rulac or some other adult keelish would put a stop to that, and possibly my life, before I made any real headway. Plus, even with my recent growth and apparently above-average status compared to what I could guess a normal hatchling would be like, I would probably be killed by my fellow members of the brood either during my rampage, directly after, or while I was asleep. After all, if I introduced them all to the potential benefits of killing the other spawnlings, I would have to live (or die) with the consequences of that.

I didn’t want to slaughter my own brood anyways, I’d need them long term to help me in my progress towards finding and killing Viilor. I couldn’t even tell how long it had been since I’d been murdered, or how far my newfound swarm now was from the Viertaali tribe. Could I even find them? Would I have to face any other friends or… my family? Could I?

Did I need to ask Rulac to help me find things to kill? Was that a good thing, if I asked him that? Or would it be too eager, even with him saying that he and the swarm liked fierce and powerful spawnlings? Could I ever grow to compare to what I was before?

Without realizing it, I slipped into unconsciousness, my mind occupied with worries about how to grow most quickly, frustration at my current impotence, and, still simmering and glowing, rage and hatred towards the one I’d once called brother. My dreams, unformed, lonely, and confusing, flitted from impressions of violence to the feeling of falling, the twisting feeling of being caught under a river’s swift current to a heady sense of victory, from there to the bowels of desperation, and so on. If I’d still been able to, I’d have woken in a cold sweat.

Instead, I awoke to the echoing vibrations of a call from the mouth of the cave. It wasn’t Rulac this time. The voice was somehow feminine, something about the snarls and squeaks. “Now, you begin to learn to hunt. Follow me.”

With a whip of her tail, she was gone, and just as fast, I was behind her, with the rest of the brood squalling and following behind me. Maybe I wasn’t going to need to ask anyone for help after all.