High above the wet jungle, beyond the reach of claws and scales, a world of motion danced between the branches.
Birds chirped. Wings cut through hot air. Branches shook with song and movement.
Narakul crouched in the mud below.
Still. Watching.
The frog-body was strong. Quick. But earthbound.
He felt a flutter overhead, it wad fast. Gray feathers, streaked with yellow. Small. Aggressive.
A shrike.
Agile. Carnivorous. Territorial. Dangerous.
And perfect.
[Compact nervous system. Fast reflexes. Binocular vision. Aerodynamic structure.And enough aggression to make it vulnerable.]
He tracked it for hours.
Watched where it perched. How it hunted. How it stabbed frogs and lizards on thorns to eat later.
Efficient. Violent. Good.
But this one wouldn't be fooled by stillness or scent alone.
Narakul would need more.
The trap was simple.
He shed the frog host in silence, retreating into the loam like a second skin slipping away. No motion. Just a fluid shift.
Then, using residual worm segmentation, he divided.
Into two parts.
One pulsed. One hid.
The largest waited inside the hollow of a rotting branch.
The shrike came, as predicted.
It spotted the twitching frog husk, a lifeless mimic, but rich in scent and warmth. It chirped, cautious. Circled once. Then dove.
Its beak stabbed forward.
That was the opening.
Narakul hiding in the bark, launched its strike.
A liquid spear, faster than its wings could fold. He struck beneath the feathers, into the underbelly.
The shrike screamed.
It twisted, tearing its beak across the bark, thrashing in mid-air. Its claws raked his form, sharp, slicing, tearing.
Pain. Real this time.
But Narakul segmented, split apart like a fluid muscle. The torn tissue detached mid-battle. Regrew.
[Worm adaptation engaged. Non-fatal separation achieved.]
He surged upward again, went through the open wound, wrapping himself into its hollow bones and around its twitching spine.
The shrike fought harder than anything before, wings flapping violently, muscles tensed, heart hammering like a war drum.
For the first time, Narakul struggled to take control.
He didn't overpower it.
He outlasted it.
Slowly, pulse by pulse, he paralyzed the nervous system with microscopic venom traces. He curled around its brain like a whisper, turning each signal from command into static.
Then came silence.
And Narakul opened his new eyes.
The sky.
It stretched above him like a map unrolled, vast and screaming with motion. Trees became cracks in a green ocean. Rivers glinted like threads of silver. The jungle, his maze of prey, now lay beneath him.
[Altitude secured.Visual cortex: double resolution. Thermal sensitivity: enhanced.Feathers: flexible, regenerative.Wingspan: 68 cm. Lift-to-weight ratio: high.flight acquired.]
He tested it with one cautious beat of his wings. Then another. The air bent around him. His body rose, steady and unnatural.
He circled once, just above the tree canopy.
He spotted old kills, lizard bones, frog husks. He saw nests, forgotten and full of blind, soft prey. He saw a small pack of mammals, clever, coordinated.
"Mammals… brains. Communication. Warm blood. I will need them.But not yet." he thought.
A branch snapped below, a predator moved.
He could see it now.
He could choose now.
And from this height, for the first time, he felt not just survival…
…but ownership.
He landed softly, testing the claws. Hollow bones braced well.
His segmented body had fully adapted. No tear remained from the shrike's fight, marking victory.
His mind rewound the fight, frame by frame.
He didn't feel relief.
He felt certainty.
Each victory now came with risk. But also with range.
He wasn't just building a body anymore.
He was building dominance.
Current Trait :
Venom delivery system (Spider)
Balance & bristle sensors (Spider)
Segmented split + regeneration (Worm)
skin respiration (Worm/Frog)
High-jump muscle coils (Frog)
Surface grip & vertical climbing (Beetle)
Sprint + predator reflexes (Lizard)
Binocular aerial vision (Bird)
Flight-capable skeletal system (Bird)
Aggression-calibrated neural reflexes (Bird)