It's incredible how fast changes could happen to one's body.
Well, having wrapped my head around me being a snake, finally, I had that rat, and the changes were already churning in my gut. Senses were sharp, much clearer than ever; eyes clear even in the dark, my tongue darting out of its own accord, to taste the air around me for smells and dampness. The air was thick with new smells: acrid smell of the cave, the musky, bitter smell of the other animals, and something else-something larger, more dangerous.
I was no longer a snake. I was a hunter.
It was a rustling noise that caught my attention. I froze. And in an instant, I knew the external world-outside my body-shifted, and something was moving nearby.
I might have sworn the ground shuddered beneath my paws. There was something out there, hovering just out of reach in the dark. Threat or opportunity?
I hunched as low as possible, perfectly still, my tongue sticking delicately out to scent the air. Faint, but I could smell it-muskly, from something larger and heavier. Of whatsoever that was, it was not a rat.
Louder and louder slithering, stronger and stronger vibrations. Now I could hear the rhythm in my ear—very slow, very careful, purposeful. A predator.
And then I saw it.
A great snake emerged from the darkness, his body at least twice as large as mine. The snake's scales glittered in the poor light, tinged with a faint green hue. Its eyes were slitted , apparently carnivorous, staring directly at me. Its tongue darted in and out, salving the air with a soft hiss.
I froze of course, smashing my body against the dirt. This was no rat.
It is the thing that has made me feel small, my instincts yelling at me to turn and run, head back before I became food. And yet there was more-curious, the need to show what I could do, not just to lie down and die. Not yet.
The snake, feeling my diffidence, turned its head, and from within its throat, a low hissing sound came out. It was a warning, a threat; and yet, I was not going to be daunted.
I felt it. The connection. The strange pull, a kind of. knowledge. Until the moment when I saw the other serpent as a threat, something clicked. It was as if my body knew what it would do on cue. I wasn't just reacting out of fear; I was preparing.
Time froze around me. I could feel the shift in its muscles, a slight indentation in its skin, ready to strike. But I had something it did not.
I was quick, quicker than it knew.
The big snake made wide coils for the attack, and quicker than quick, whetted by the instincts from inside, whipping my tail to the ground I thrust my body forward and jumped right at its exposed side.
The snake recoiled in surprise at my sudden counterattack but was already onto its side, fangs bared in another swift, hard bite into its scales. I bit to no kill-but did manage to hit a well-sensitive part of its side just rear of the scales.
It let out a low hissing sound, the snake recoiling immediately, striking with a wide-open maw. I was sliding already, barely skirting the deadly bite, my momentum from my attack carrying me. My heart was racing, yet my mind was clear. This all was somehow a sort of dance: a test of quick reactions and wills.
It hesitated a moment and thought; it could have easily crushed me but felt something in my eyes - something it didn't quite understand.
It did not take much deliberation to make up its mind that I just wasn't worth fighting. The snake flipped its tail and disappeared into the shadow once again, but this time, it left me there in the dark, breathing heavily, very well alive.
I lay there, trying to breathe; I don't know for how long. My body was shaking, but not out of fear; because of the excitement. I did it. I survived.
But why?
It wouldn't leave my head-why did I do that? I wasn't strong enough for the serpent; I should have run away. Still, my instincts, my drive, made me face it. That moment, I wasn't thinking of surviving. I was thinking of proving that I was worth this new life, that I might be more than this helpless creature waiting for my death.
But it was too much to really consider now. For now, my survival depended on growth-on evolving. To accomplish that, I needed more.
I had to learn.
What if there were other creatures, monsters, in this cave or out in the wider world-ones that were stronger, which I could study and fight and eat to grow stronger-smacked into my mind like a bolt of lightning.
But first, I had to secure my turf. I needed a place where I could go to and start thinking. Not a single moment was to be wasted. Every moment of idle time brought me one moment closer to death.
I went further in and walked into the cave, still looking around everywhere. The world outside was bigger and more dangerous, but I wasn't going to let that scare me. I would conquer it.