When I awoke, more than ever before, I felt wholly different. Changed. For the first time, I looked at my bed and was, at least a little, disappointed. Someone like me, laying in the dirt like an outcast or vagrant? Why had I never kept one of the hides from a wolfstag, and made a bed? Or even brought in some boughs from a bush or tree for my bed? Regardless, some things were necessary, and my bed had been and would continue to be a non-necessity for a while yet.

I stood and stretched, the cracks in my joints and spine sounding out almost like a strong rainfall. As my arms reached up, they struck the ceiling easily, much more easily than I’d expected even after an evolution. I couldn’t look as much at myself as if I’d had a clear stream, but with my thermal perception I could see myself more than with just my eyes.

My chest had broadened—before, I, like all keelish, had a rather narrow chest compared to a human’s. Among keelish, my chest had been broad, but still my shoulders had been hunched forward and narrow, built for easily pushing through thick brush and fitting in narrow tunnels. Now, my shoulders were like those of a human, broad and heavily muscled. The best part of that, I realized as I continued to stretch, was that my right shoulder was now completely whole. Every movement was easy and comfortable on my previously injured shoulder, and I relished in it.

Beyond simply broadening, my shoulders now were more upright, more nearly above my hips. My spine had changed to be more upright, and my body had changed accordingly. My tail now didn’t stick out nearly directly behind me and above the ground, but instead pointed diagonally towards the ground, and had become more prehensile to allow me to easily balance myself, much more simply than before.

Though I tried it, I could not stand straight up. My body wasn’t made for it, but my natural stance had shifted from nearly parallel to the ground, to a halfway upright position. When I first stood like that, I thought it would be uncomfortable, but the more time I spent standing, the more naturally the stance came to me.

My legs had thickened, and my hips had moved forward while my feet had lengthened, making my legs look like they now had an additional knee. Similarly, my arms had also grown thicker and more muscled, like a human’s. A keelish’s arms are useful for digging and dragging things, but they were weak comparatively to their necks, backs, and hips, where all the force and strength for biting and moving our tails came from. Now, as a khatif apparently transitioned away from a hunched creature and more towards a person in silhouette, they didn’t focus all their strength directly following their spine as a keelish did.

With these changes in shape and form, I realized that I wasn’t anywhere near as comfortable under the ground now as I was as a pure keelish. I saw, and, beyond that, felt that my body now glowed even warmer than it had before, and I longed to see the skies above me. I did, however, still want a nice sand bath, and I quickly stepped over into my bath that continued to grow to be too small for me. With both arms, I scooped up the sand and began to scrub my arms first with it. Skin and shed scales flaked away under my ministrations, and I, as always, felt myself melt under the feeling.

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Unable to wait any longer, I flopped down into the sands and rolled over and over, allowing the sands to get under every scale before sending a quick pulse of sonic magic vibrating through my body. I idly noticed that the magic flowed even easier than before, a further improvement upon the benefits offered by the [Profound Sonilphon], and sand and skin flakes alike fell from my body. With nothing calling my attention, I rolled back into the sands and, once my body was satisfactorily coated, stood and sent another pulse of magic. Glorious.

Maybe being scrubbed by someone else, someone who could give special attention to the parts I couldn’t reach, would be even better. And with heated sands? I could feel my eyes roll back at the thought. For now, though, I could make do with cleaning myself in these cool, familiar sands. I closed my eyes and raised a double handful of sand to my face, gently scrubbing at the tender skin around my eyes, nostrils, and the base of my frills. My frills… had changed.

Before, there had really been three frills on my face. One just behind each cheekbone, and one along my spine to the crest of my head. Now, the frill along my spine seemed to have shrunk, or transitioned to more of a ridge than a frill. The frills accenting the sides of my face were now much firmer, the delicate bone that had made up the ridges within having doubled in thickness, nearly becoming bone. Before, I’d occasionally worried I would damage or even break those bones, but now they were nearly weapons in their own right. Not to the level of Took’s blossoming horns, but I would still consider them weapons in a pinch.

Also, as I ran my hands over my face and head, it seemed that my snout had changed, broadening at my jaw and shortening a bit. My face was capped less with a snout now, but still, my face was distinctly reptilian, and I was surprised to find I appreciated that. Disregarding the battle cry I had taken up of “victory by FANG and blood”, my keelish face had saved my life in burrowing through the Martanimis python’s head, and had killed many of my foes, especially before evolving my “new” hands and claws. Notably, I thought that my hands and claws were one of the few parts of me that hadn't seemed to have changed at all.

So much had changed. But, finally, I was sufficiently cleaned and I was no longer itching everywhere. I had grown, I knew, and, beyond that, I was standing much taller and more upright. I guessed I now stood about six feet tall, a foot taller than before. And another growth period awaited me in five days, which I was excited to see. But before that, my [Status]–

Sybil stood waiting in the entranceway to my quarters, and her interruption sent an immediate and hot flare of rage through me. How dare this lesser creature think to disturb me when I was learning all about how I had changed? Did she not know that I was better than her? Better than all of them? These thoughts, immediate and jarring, chilled me. Sybil was my Beta, and, beyond that, my most trusted supporter. She was not below me, and I knew that she had approached not to disturb but to check on me. Why would I feel that way about her? As I questioned myself, a communication from the [System] appeared.

[The Administrator speaks: You are beginning to understand why I wanted to delay this evolution. There are a great many wonderful things this evolution will offer you, but beware–there are no gifts given without their price.]