~Leo.

The hivelady was a good battle. Much better than melting under Smith. More fun than trying to swipe through the waves of insects that sister sends.

As I lay dreaming, I hear the screams of rage. I watch from my place Between as Father molds and shapes rivers of magic and even strings of Soul itself. I feel when the new kit joins the family, small, precious, sleeping. Smiling.

I stalk this Between as I wait for my new body to be ready and I think. I ponder.

Despite my path being woven with DNA, by DNA, my connection is different than my litter mates. Here, in this Between place, I can see more. I see that mine isn’t held separate, it is brought close and cared for the same as the others. Rather it is the connection itself, the binding that is different for me.

Perhaps it’s because I’m in the Between when I can see it, that mine looks as strange as it does. Only I do not like being different in this way. There is also power aplenty that I have hoarded, yet still I am barred from loping through my Family’s woods. But I think I’ve found a solution.

Sister Cutest has changed what she is, but more than that, she has changed How she is. In this lonely place that I stalk, I can see Brother Life is much alike the mouse. Sister Gnat is harder to see, the light around her is occasionally blinding, but when I can catch glimpses of her here, as I’ve seen her out there, she has those same markings.

If I hadn’t seen Cutest from here before her metamorphosis, I don’t think I would have spotted the tell. But now that I know where to look, how to look, it is obvious. Mine, and every other core I can see from this place is pure. Smooth.

But those special ones: Cutest, Life, Gnat, Father, Ruth’Moor… Wildfire. Their cores are much more complex. Their light more like a dense swath of stars all captured and hoarded together instead of a single bright radiance. Like there was a spiderweb blocking a forest path, only seen when the light reflects off it just right.

This time, I am patient. My focus is upon my own core, instead of my body as some unseen signal measures the path of the sun. I have seen also how Thing has already begun work upon their core, complicated, slow work as they build themselves towards more. Theirs is not my path but knowing that they can work and touch on this Between is enough.

…

~! There. That was the moment. The difference betwixt being allowed a body and not. Yet, I feel that despite the change, I am not compelled to walk the earth once more. I can stay here. Good. There is work to be done.

…

“Is everything alright with you Leo? Usually, you’d be back by now. When I adopted Moth’Her, it didn’t break anything for you, did it?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head at Father’s concern, “^Am fine. Kit fine too.^” My memory and focus is so much sharper here, not restrained by my bestial mind, even though that too has grown and changed as I have.

“Okay then. Just wanted to check up on yah. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

I sneeze at that, “^Father tells joke. Was good.^”

His laughter rumbles in this not quite place, “I suppose you’re right about that. Take care, Leo. Let me know if you need anything. I’m pretty sure I could still hear you, if you gave me a holler, but I’ll swing by a bit later if you’re still hanging out here. We can talk more then.”

Once he departs, I get back to my hunt.

This hunt is so much harder than others. Not just for food nor mate nor enemy nor territory, nor even simple power. I’m hunting myself. Who I want to be, need to be. Who I could become. If not for how Time and Thought both are and are not in this Between, I couldn’t really make progress.

But I can see it, shaping before me. The fragments I’ve collected from watching, remembering, studying. I find a mark in memory, stalk it, waiting for the right moment, and then I pounce. I drag it down, tear into it, bite and claw until I’ve grabbed hold of the piece I glimpsed.

Then I carry back my trophy and set it aside with the others. I’ve learned so much, and so much is unneeded, unwanted. Much waste has been found, treasured initially before it spoiled and had to be discarded. But lessons have been learned.

The piece I needed from Life was different than I thought. Stranger. To be a tree and not to be. So very difficult to find and harder still to have known that’s what was required.

From Thing, I needed their eyes, their sight. That memory was easy to find, though much harder to kill in the right way. It taught me that these memories are not just my own, and for a moment, I worried. But when I looked for the memory I had slain, I saw it again, the same one, untouched. I checked my other kills to be sure, and they too were unharmed. Mere copies lay decorating my trophy cave.

Cutest had much for me to hunt. Her growth, Unclean, much was useful, delicious. It was difficult sorting through which among hers I had to discard, but I had reached a saturation point. Before I could move on, I had to leave much behind.

Helix was a delight to hunt. They found me as I was searching through them and led me on a merry chase. I finally caught them back at my home, and they very nearly had me make the crossing early. But I stopped myself in time. The weave they entwined within my home helped to fix that different part of me. I gave them my thanks for that.

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Gnat’s took the longest. So many times I failed to catch hold of it, and much worse was the time when it caught hold of me. Never had I been made to feel so small. But eventually, I succeeded. Just the barest fragment, the tiniest sliver from when Pestilence was shedding their cloak and Gnat flew back home. I abandoned the quest for it several times, but I kept coming back, as I knew it was the best I would ever find of its kind.

Dreams was the last piece. So strange that I don’t recall hunting this, but when I was busy sorting everything, there it was. Exactly what I needed. A sharper, cleaner version of what before would have been my own memory, when I remade myself and leapt back from the Between. Dreams’ fragment was so much better though, a condensing of both the Between and magic, a twisting in just the right way, a flawless transition.

Reviewing the story told by Alex brought forth a path to an even further future, a goal to pursue. Too indistinct as mere words for now, but as a becoming they are magnificent.

But the inspiration for all of this, the drive, the thrill that led to this particular chase. That terrible, awesome moment when Father’s offering tore apart Ruth’Moor. Separating herself from the fullness of her power. Making her less, all the while she stayed herself, merely weaker, vulnerable.

It has taken so much of my will to resist. To follow enough of Thing’s example to not doom myself. But now I’m ready.

“So. You’ve piled up quite the collection there, Leo. You ready to tell me what you’re doing with them all?”

Good. Father is here. I’ve spent… some amount of time here, but I know my actual hoards cannot be enough to manage this next step, I need him, “^DNA strong. Am going to eat and burst and become more. Become strong like Father. Like older Sisters. Like Life.^”

His sigh and resignation sweep past, “And what do you need from me.”

“^DNA knows.^”

“Yeah… I know,” I feel the pause hold my attention just as strongly as his words do, “It doesn’t have to be this way, you know?”

I shake my head in this near nothing, “^Leo hunter. Predator. Even this much, more than I can bear. I Need to eat. Please. Feed me?^”

When he smiles softly, I catch a wisp of movement, of change from the newest of us. But my need is too great, I cannot stay even one moment longer. I become my cloak and I consume my trophies and my core. I bite down hard with my jaws of night and feel the agony as I chip, crack, and then shatter.

Before even a non-moment passes, there is a soothing breeze as a deep and heavy wind blows from Father to within my now broken self. I feel a disorienting moment where my eyes open in the leaves of my Willow before there is a new and more complete nothing. A before Between.

Congratulations on breaching the Evolution Threshold!

You have constructed a Soul Palace with a viable Template.

* Willeo: An eldritch Fae merging a named Vanta Liger and a Heartwood Willow. Half beast, half tree, half neither and all Gluttony towards light. As a Leviathan variant, you will be limited by presence, though with practice more may come. Consume and be consumed. Kill and be killed. Watch and be Seen as the Plague of Darkness. #Rip and tear until it is Done.

Now that you have your advancement locked in the excess accumulation of Mana and Mako will be used to intrinsically reforge your existence. As your body has already been completely overwhelmed by magic, your transition into a Fae will be seamless and quick.

Congratulations on advancing your {Mob Type}!

Your new {Type} is Amalgam.

An Amalgam is a fusion of the raw power of a Leviathan and the chaos embodied by the Irregulars. Compacting the diverse natures of distilled pandemonium and supreme power never results in the same thing twice. This type allows even the smallest piece become the ‘true’ Core of an Amalgam, and thus victory can almost never be attained by their opponents.

{Motif} already declared: Hunt selected!

Racial designation pre-determined by advancement. Changes to Wild: Hunt is now underway. Note that as a subordinate to a Kingdom, your Wild property designation may have an altered effectiveness depending on how Mana refinement, Expansion, and Challenges are divided amongst your fellow Scions as well as your own {Motif}.

Expansion is a process for static dungeon cores to increase the dimensions of their Domain. As a semi-mobile core and one under the Authority of a Kingdom dungeon, your methods of expansion are curtailed.

*Based on a scan of your statistics and your Fae attributes your initial points have been allocated. Go infect, recurse, imagine, elsewhere and stabilize.

Advancement Complete!

The world flexes and I pour out of the seams. More and more of my eyes open as the wind rattles my leaf-lids, startling my immature self. The weight of the meat of me upon the timber of me makes me creak and groan under its strain. And so, my eyes become teeth and I eat half of my other half, shifting and grinding me into something smaller, weaker, tamer.

I spend long minutes at myself, testing my voice, relearning how to speak, how to be in this strange same place. I have forgotten so much of the Between. But I have become more. Once, I am sure of myself again I call out for my Father, “^Has the Huntress of many hounds left us?^”

At my question, he finally arrives to investigate what I have become. Having given me the privacy to find my tongue in peace, “Yes and no. With the extraction of her Godhood, her people determined it would be best for them to establish a base of safety, nearer to the humans. Though even if Moth’Her were not her daughter, she would stay simply to watch over the new ‘Haunt Crux’ to determine if they could become a nursery and playground for their kind.”

We both turn our attention towards the center of his domain, “Life has agreed to establishing a Realm for them for that purpose, though he will likely defer the actual work to Moth’Her as we all await her awakening. Though, he has tasked the Mu’Reign with bringing him a lake before he would grant ease of access to her territory. Until then, their parties are obligated to complete a full delve, and ascend his Stairway to reach those Elsewheres.”

When we both turn back to face one another at the same time, he grins at me, “Your new self is going to be a lot more fun. Isn’t it?”

I return his grin and more besides as it stretches beyond my cat’s face, “^I am weak enough to be Challenged again. I will not sit idly by as parties make their way through your woods. The Hunt Begins and may it never again come to an end.^”

An eye of mine opens upon an archway as the barrier beneath it ripples. I know where I am, and as I see Father in front of me, I also see a group of poorly geared youths escorted by well-worn armor adorning a pair long past their prime. My limbs and leaves stretch and bulge out as my meat folds in upon itself, as even that strength was too much for what I see.

Leaving nothing behind before I am disgorged once more as an echo of my much younger self, I race through the woods towards my newest prey. I grow eager to test myself again and again. Learning, growing, losing. All so that when the time comes, I will know all the tricks that can be used against me. When I am needed, I shall consume all that would seek to harm my family.

I eagerly away the time when it will be my Father’s Call that summons me to do my best, my worst, and Hunt.