The cries of the spawnlings surrounding me filled the caverns we passed through, the echoes filling the space and letting me know that there was much of the den I’d yet to have seen. Regardless of whether there was more of the den to explore, I didn’t and couldn’t bring myself to care. Instead, I focused on the opportunity that I hoped had indeed been placed before me–the opportunity to hunt and to kill.

With the screeches and excited growls of my broodmates echoing through my bones, I felt my adrenaline begin to pump, my body growing more and more twitchy in anticipation. We continued to ascend through the tunnel, it branching a couple of times before I began to hear basso croaks rumbling up ahead. The croaks… were familiar. I’d heard them before. Without a moment’s warning, I remembered a flash from my childhood as a human.

Splashing in a marsh near our ancestral gravesite, I was maybe six summers old at the time… I had run off from my caretaker while she’d been busy answering a question from another child. I’d always loved the water, and I’d been able to smell the damp from a ways off. So, with Viilor, my ever present friend, dragged behind me, off I’d tromped and, before too long, found myself a nice little pond with tons of mud and the constant chorus of frogs croaking.

The marshes here were filled with Toothy Bullfrogs, a somewhat large prey creature that wouldn’t stop their croaking during the mating season. The amphibians were larger even than my head, nearly so large as my torso. I loved chasing them around, and I’m sure that my actions served to further agitate the natural denizens of the marsh, though I’d never have known before Viilor spoke up.

“Athlani,” he lisped, “I don’t think that you thould bother them. They bite. Pluth, it’th muddy and dirty. We’ll get in trouble.”

I laughed in response. “They’re too slow to bite me! Come on, come on! It’s fun! If you take off your shoes it’ll be fine! We can just wash up after!”

Sullen, Viilor simply shook his head no.

“You’re such a wimp! Wussy wimp!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Yuh huh!”

“NO I’M NOT!”

“Then come on!” I screamed, and, to further draw him in, I slung some mud at Viilor. It did the trick, and, with a squeal of outrage as he kicked off his moccasins, he was chasing me more than the frogs. Before long, we were joyfully tussling and wrestling in the marsh, both occasionally getting the upper hand, until he flopped down into the muddy grass next to me.

“... That wath fun.”

I smirked. “Of course it was. I’m always right. Now, you need to chase a frog and then you’ll see how I was right about that too.”

Viilor sighed. “Do I have to?”

I nodded solemnly.

“Ok.” With a grunt and a couple of careful steps, Viilor set to carefully stalking close to a nearby Toothy Bullfrog. He wasn’t really chasing it, but I supposed it was ok, since he was going to have to chase it eventually. He was always good at sneaking like that…

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It took me a moment to realize that he was within arm’s reach of the frog, but before I could say or do anything, he’d leapt forward and caught it around the belly with both hands! With a scream of victory, he lifted his prey above his head and looked back to me, grinning widely. I cheered as I got up and began to run towards him with my arms above my own head. Almost in slow motion, I watched as the frog was able to slip out of Viilor’s grasp and, with a writhing twist, got its massive jaws onto his left arm.

Suddenly, the cries of exultation were filled with terror. The full bodied wrenching of the frog dragged Viilor to the ground and there it quickly chomped down again.

“ATHLANI! HELP ME PLEATH!” Viilor looked to me, tears streaming down his face as terror threatened to overcome him. I could see a couple other of the frogs beginning to approach, and I was sure that they were coming to eat my friend.

“NO! I WILL PROTECT YOU!” I jumped forward and began stomping on the frog’s flabby torso as Viilor continued to thrash and try to extract himself from its jaws. I could feel it squish disgustingly beneath my bare feet, but I wouldn’t let it keep Viilor down. I needed to be the chieftain’s son and protect people!

With two more wet, mushy stomps, the frog gave up all struggles, and Viilor was free. With full-body wracking sobs, he scrambled to his feet and huddled behind me as I squared off with the remaining approaching amphibians. They quickly retreated back into the water as I screamed in defiance and victory.

“I’ll protect you, Viilor. It’s my job.” Grinning, I turned back to my friend, expecting him to look at me as the hero I was. Instead, I was greeted with the view of blood coursing down his arm, left by the dozens of sharp teeth that filled the Toothy Bullfrog’s maw. Panicked, I tore my shirt off and wrapped it around his arm.

“No, don’t cry. We got it.”

Sobs.

“Um… are you ready to go back?”

With tears staining his cheeks, Viilor nodded and began to ready himself to go back to our caretaker.

“Wait!”

“... What?”

“Don’t you want to bring the prey? It was your first hunt!”

Viilor shook his head. “I didn’t do anything. I jutht…” Tears began to bubble up in his eyes again as his lip trembled. “I jutht got hurt. And it’th your fault.”

Shame washed over me for a moment, before I grabbed the Bullfrog by its rear legs and held it up before Viilor. “No, you caught it. I never could have. You did that, and all I did was… was… hit it. I was like… your weapon. Yeah! I just was your weapon. So this was your first hunt! And that’s your first battle scar! You’re so cool! I’m jealous!”

With a sniffle, Viilor began to smile. “Yeah, I did hunt it, didn’t I?” Then, with my support we’d gone back to where, contrary to our expectations, we’d both been heavily disciplined for our “hunt”...

How had that little boy changed to be my murderer? We’d been the closest of friends, and I truly thought of him as closer even than a brother could be. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not any more. I wouldn’t allow him, or anyone else to hurt me. I needed power, strength, influence to make sure that I could do back to him what he’d done to me. Except my jaws would be the ones that closed around his throat, and I would watch as the light drained from his eyes. So, the next step was to evolve, and to do that… I needed to kill the Toothy Bullfrogs herded in before me, into a seemingly specially made little arena in the den.

Now, instead of comparatively somewhere in size between my head and torso, the beasts were as tall as me but easily four times the weight, at least. The squishy, weak body I’d seen as a human was now a bulky armor that would prevent my fangs and claws from piercing into their vitals. This defensive, hard to pierce torso was then capped off by a massive maw that could almost certainly consume me in just one or two bites. I felt a grin involuntarily begin to spread across my face.

Disregarding the incidental and accidental fratricide, my first hunt in both lives would be the same: a Toothy Bullfrog.