I believe in something that's called balance. Balance is everywhere: a balance of power, a balance of structure, a balance of good and bad, a balance of karma, and most importantly, a balance of resources.
What is taken and gained must be equal to less than what is given. Nothing can come from nothing.
That applies to me as well.
Everything I did took energy. When I made mucus, my black bar would flash. When I did something that required physical strength or stamina. To recover the stamina I had to use more of the black bar to recover my yellow stamina bar. Yes. I believe my black bar was my energy level. Unlike my stamina bar, it was constantly ticking down like a timer, it showed me when... I would die.
I didn't understand it at first - gluttony, what was it? I didn't understand what it meant to be a gluttonous snail and why I was hungry all the time. But I found out later that it was because I was a snail. Every creature is born with its base stats. And let's face it. A snail won't have any base stats that are remarkable in nature. Although I was a rainbow-shelled snail, I was still a snail. Blessed with superior intelligence and no physical stats, it wouldn't even take a tiny wind to send me to my doom.
For a lowly snail to maintain my stronger and larger body, I needed food. To produce mucus... I needed food. For the system to run, I also needed food. For a gluttonous snail like I was, I needed a lot of food. I mean a lot.
I didn't understand that during that time.
Ever since I became gluttonous, I was in a perpetual limbo between living and dying. I was living on the edge. And I came to realize it that day that the actions that the Frostfangs committed, they did it for survival...
Just being born, they were definitely hungry. The beetle was their first meal, wetting their appetites. I was supposed to be their second, but I wasn't poisoned. I resisted. In fact, I did more than just resist them. I ate them. Fearing death, they devoured the beetle endlessly and forced themselves to become larger. To become stronger - to defeat me.
A rushed evolution.
Flimsy bodies that crumpled when they were hit.
The evidence was clear.
They weren't balanced at all. Their bodies - too big to sustain with their tiny amount of energy.
When their sibling became crippled from my hit, they acted on their instincts. They had a means of getting more energy - sustenance. And they took it.
But it definitely wasn't enough and I knew the feeling. I knew the feeling of not having enough. I knew the feeling of not being whole.
Their eyes showed it all - they lusted for more. They needed more. They needed me just like I needed to eat them. They continued to act on their instincts as they screeched to each other.
'Are they making up a plan?' I guessed as I watched them communicate.
But soon after, they began to jump around in a crazed manner completely different from what they had been. Energized from eating their falling sibling maybe? Crazed from a prion infection?
I didn't know.
But they didn't waste time in committing to an attack as they jumped at me from all sides. Fangs outward and dripping I knew they decided to throw away all tactics and taunting for a frontal attack. An all-out attack. An attack that they put everything into.
I also launched forward as well. Opening my gaping mouth wide in the process.
A touch.
I bit down as one of them jumped into my mouth. I felt a slight resistance as it tried to push itself out of my mouth, but it was too late. Crunch. I crunched the Frostfang between my teeth. Soft and chewy its body showed almost no resistance as I ground it to a pulp and swallowed.
Ouch. Pricks. on my back and sides.
As I devoured one of their own, the rest sank their fangs into me as I felt my blood and bodily fluids being sucked out of me.
'This is bad I thought.'
Without savouring the flavour of the Frostfang that had jumped into my mouth, I turned my head around and lashed out at the other Frostfangs. Jumping back immediately from my head, they backed off and crouched in preparation for another attack.
Dizziness spread through my head. Lightheaded and a bit woozy, I felt my body weaken for a split second before it recovered - the aftermath of digesting the Frostfang that I had consumed.
Now it was three against one.
The three Frostfangs wasted no time as they jumped at me once more.
Swish.
They attacked again with the same strategy. They came straight at me from all sides. With no way to block all the hits, I lashed out once more towards the nearest one that I saw coming.
Faster. They were faster, but not fast enough.
Opening my mouth, I tried to bite at the closest Frostfang.
Tilting towards the side, it tried to change its trajectory, but unfortunately for it, I was quicker. Biting down, I ripped it two shreds as it entered my void.
Two more pricks.
The two Frostfangs that had launched an attack from one of my sides and behind me took another sip as I felt my blood being drained once more.
Swinging backward, I swatted at them with my head. The one on my side let go. The one behind me did not.
'Greedy' I thought as I tilted my head backwards and attacked it.
Crunch. A tasty leg. Swinging my head back and forth, I knocked its body around before its leg snapped off and it flew backwards squishing some of its tiny siblings in the process.
Now there were two - one of them injured.
Recovering from its position, the one that had lost a leg stood up. Unlike the first Frostfang, it didn't crumble to the floor. No. Its exoskeleton had solidified and it was getting stronger.
It stared at me with its eyes. I saw its hunger, I saw its anger and it's determination to kill me and live.
I stared back at it as I anticipated another attack. But it didn't go for another attack. I bent down instead then backed off. It moved its mandibles. Tiny chirps and screeches filled the room as it tried to communicate with the other uninjured juvenile.
I could only watch as I was still stuck as I waited for them to move.
But the attack that I didn't expect didn't come.
No.
They acted very weirdly instead.
Fangs hanging out they scrambled across the room in a weird dance as I heard tiny screeches fill the air.
'What are they doing?' I asked myself until I saw what was happening.
Trampling. The answer was tramping.
With precise steps, they jutted their sharp feet into the tiny Frostfangs below them. Those that weren't able to react in time were punctured. Those that did react in time were too slow. Soon the tiny things fled across the floor away from their larger counterparts like they did when they ran away from me.
'Why...?' I continued as I watched the larger Frostfangs continue to slaughter their siblings. 'Did they go mad?'
No. They weren't mad. They were herding.
The larger Frostfangs continued to dash around the room. Like shepherds, they managed to coerce the young spiders into the corners of the room.
Still confused, I continued to stare at them as they jutted out their fangs and lunged downwards.
Slowly the sounds of popping filled the room as they did.
With each pop, another dried carcass fell to the floor.
Knowing that I was too hard to handle, they decided to power-up by eating their vulnerable new-born siblings.
Another example of the survival of the largest I guess.
...