by Kenaren
Chapter 2
I explored the dark forest for several hours, but not once did I see an animal. It was almost as if they were avoiding this place for some reason.
So, I made the decision to go for the ‘Tree Boa’ evolution, and while that should have been an easy task to accomplish. I was in a forest after all. But I couldn’t see any plants that I could get to. The only vegetation around was the trees, and I couldn’t eat them because the bark was too hard.
What else could I do at that point? Simple… Climb a tree and eat the leaves.
Now, If I could only figure out how to climb.
I had already fallen off twice, and that was the third time I had fallen… Each fall causing me to let out a grunt of pain.
“This is seriously irritating me.”
Trying to climb the tree like I moved along the ground wasn’t working out. I could go up about twelve feet, but then I would fall.
“How else can I get up there?” … Maybe I could try wrapping myself around the tree?
“Couldn’t hurt to try.” So, that’s what I did. I went back up the tree like I had before, but when I felt I was about to fall. I angled my body, so instead of going straight up. I circled the tree and wrapped myself around it.
“Hey, It worked! I managed to stop myself from falling off!” I celebrated.
So, what if it had taken four attempts? I was new to this body, and I didn’t know how to move effectively yet. In other words. I was like a child again.
Repeating my new ‘technique’ several times. I successfully climbed to the top. Where I then moved onto a large branch to rest.
“That… was much harder than I thought it would be.” I had to rest for several minutes before I could move again.
After my rest, I moved over to the leaves and started trying to eat them. Since I couldn’t chew them. I wound up repeating, what I had done with the Stone and Dirt. Tilting my head back, and allowing them to slide down my throat.
“This tastes awful….” I didn’t stop eating though.
Soon, I had cleared the branch I was on of its leaves and had to move to another.
At some point, after I had begun eating. I realized that it was day time. The sun was shining brightly through the canopy of leaves.
The warm sunlight felt amazing on my scales, and I was beginning to feel sleepy.
“Hmm… Now that I think about it, I have been awake for a while. However, I want to finish off this tree before I go find a place to sleep.”
Even though I almost fell several times. Eventually, I had cleared all of the branches on this tree of its leaves.
That’s when I looked up…
“What is that!?” Towering above everything, and I do mean everything, was an off white, cylindrical structure. So large, I couldn’t see the top. It even reached above the clouds.
“Is… Is that a building?” I wondered.
No, surely not. No way that thing was man-made. Then, that begs the question… If it wasn’t man-made, what was it?
“I’ll head in that direction after I get some sleep.” I made my way back down the tree. Hoping that I would find somewhere safe to sleep for the night. I still hadn’t seen any animals, but I would rather be cautious and alive. Then be attacked in my sleep, and die.
I could finally see what the ground looked like for the first time as I had cleared out the leaves of the tree. I probably should have noticed earlier, but as I was seriously distracted, I didn’t. I had dark green scales on my back, from what I could see, anyway. And my underside was light gray.
“Maybe I should head back to the river? The water there should be fresh, and it could have fish…. Of course, it could also be a hotspot for animals.”
Then again, it probably wasn’t. I had been exploring this forest for hours, and I hadn’t seen a single animal.
So, why would one show up just because a river was nearby?
“Oh well. Not like I have anything to lose by going back. Maybe I’ll clear out the trees surrounding the clearing, and make that my temporary base.”
My decision made, I retraced my ‘steps’ back to the river…. Kinda. I got lost for a while and wound up wasting a few hours trying to find the clearing again.
When I finally did find it, the clearing wasn’t as empty as when I left it.
“Shit!” I hid behind a tree to prevent the animal from seeing me.
The animal had its head up and was sniffing the air. Presumably to detect any nearby predators.
Peeking my head out from behind the tree. I got a good look at the animal.
It was large, warm blooded, and had four legs. Aside from that, I couldn’t see what it was.
“Can I take it down?” I wasn’t sure of this body’s capabilities. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I could eat it if I did take it down.
“Not going to stop me from trying, though. I’m starving…” I slowly moved around the tree, while making sure that I was at its back.
Then, I crept up on it. The closer I got to it. The more I could make out.
It was pretty big. Easily over six feet tall, and covered in fur. Two large horns sat on its head, each with multiple dull points.
“If I’m going to do this, I need to hit it where it’ll do the most damage.” After making sure that it still hadn’t seen me. I moved to its left side.
Then I got even closer. So close, I could touch it if I still had arms. And just when I got into position…. The damn thing looked down.
It let out a startled scream as It tried to run away.
Using my tail muscles, I launched myself at it, and I bit into its neck, then held on as it thrashed about.
After trying to buck me off for a few seconds. One of its legs stomped down on my back. Which was the only part of me it could reach. I had the wind knocked out of me, but I held on.
It tried to do it again, but I swung my tail up onto its back, causing it to miss.
“How do I get it to stop!?”
An image of me climbing up the tree flashed through my mind.
“That’s it!”
I started trying to wrap myself around the animal’s waist and neck. And though it took several tries, I succeeded. Then, I started squeezing causing it to whimper in pain.
It continued to thrash around, hoping to either throw me off or stomp on me again, neither happened. In fact, I started squeezing even harder in response. I was probably squeezing harder than necessary, but better safe than sorry.
A few minutes passed before its struggles grew weaker. Then a few more passed before it finally collapsed to the ground. Still, I refused to let go.
I planned to continue squeezing until I was sure it was dead, and only a few minutes later, I was sure.
It’s breathing slowly came to a stop, and it didn’t take another…
” Finally. I was beginning to think it would never die… Now I just need to figure out how to eat this thing.” I sighed.
I released my hold on the creature and circled around it. I was trying to find the best place to start.
“I guess I’ll just start at the back” Moving to its hind legs, I bit down on its rear. That’s when my body’s instinct took over, and it began to pull the creature into my mouth.
It took a long time, but I had finally managed to swallow over half of the creature when I developed a problem.
The creature was too large for me to swallow it in one go. However, as I could already feel it dissolving inside me. I decided to just wait for it to dissolve before I swallowed the rest of it.
Which took a while.
I actually fell asleep while I was waiting, woke up, and it still wasn’t completely dissolved yet.
This was made even more problematic. When I saw something coming towards me. It was similar in appearance to the first animal. Only not as big.
“Damn… That’s not good.”
I could only think of one thing to do in this situation…. I spit my meal back up and made a break for it.
By the t
ime I had made it to a tree I could climb. I started hearing some odd noises behind me.
Ignoring them for the moment. I climbed up the tree until I reached a branch I was sure I could reach. Only then, did I look down at the creatures.
“Oh, God… What are those things?” The second animal had found the corpse of the first, and had started Eating it!
A pop-up answered my question.
Alpha Deer
The Carnivorous cousin of the common white-tailed deer.
Tier 2
“Ah… That’s probably why I haven’t seen any other animals. These things have been eating them.” I decided after that to just wait up in the tree for the other deer to leave.
“The most depressing thing about this… Is that I’m hungry again.”
Chapter 3
*Sigh* “Well… This officially sucks.” I was still hiding on the tree branch. The Alpha Deer that decided to steal my food was still hanging around.
But it gets worse. Two more Alpha Deer showed up to join the feast. One had horns like the first two, while the other did not.
And it didn’t look like they were going to leave anytime soon.
Now, If it was only one or two of them around, maybe I could do something. Whether it be escaping or trying my luck at taking them down.
But with three of them here, I would rather not take the risk.
“Hmm, What are they doing now?” Two of the deer were staring each other down. They would stomp one of their legs down, then huff at the other.
This repeated a few times, and then they would step towards the other before stepping back again.
“What are you doing?” It almost looked as if they were getting ready to fight, but…. Surely they won’t, right?
They repeated the cycle a few more times before I got my answer. The larger of the two raised its front legs into the air and kicked a few times. Before it ducked its head down and charged. The other followed only a moment later.
*Crash!* Their horns clashed together and interlocked. The smaller of the two buckled under the force for a moment. Before it straightened and stood its ground.
The two’s horns would come apart for a moment, only to be slammed back together in a fight for dominance.
While they were doing that. The much smaller deer without horns was walking around the clearing.
And if I wasn’t mistaken… It looked as if it would walk directly beneath my branch.
At the moment, I was much too high up to take advantage of this. I could change that, however.
“Is it worth the risk, though? If I somehow manage to pull it into the tree with me, I might be able to stay up here until it’s dissolved. Of course, I might not be able to bring it up here. The branch could break under our weight…”
Well… If the other two stay distracted long enough for me to haul it up here, that is.
Deciding to give it a shot. I slowly moved to a branch only about twelve feet above the ground. Once there, I waited for my chance to strike.
Thankfully, I was correct in my assumption. The deer walked directly beneath my branch, and I struck.
*Pained grunt* my teeth latched onto its neck, and with my lower half still wrapped around the branch. I started to pull its struggling body up into the tree.
Of course, it’s cries alerted the two other deer that something was wrong, but instead of trying to help like I thought they would. They bolted in the other direction.
“Looks like I was worried for nothing.” Though the branch creaked a few times. I managed to pull the deer into the tree and wrap my body around both it and the branch. After I secured it in place, I slowly squeezed the life out of it.
After two or three minutes of this. It lay still, and never took another breath.
*Sigh* “This would be so much easier with venom.” I maneuvered my head into position near its hind legs and began my meal.
As this deer was approximately half the size of my first deer. I somehow managed to swallow this one whole.
*Whew* ” I didn’t think I could do it, but I actually managed to swallow it whole.”
Now… I could either stay up here and wait for it to digest, or I could make my way down and leave.
After thinking about it for a while. I decided to wait up here until it was completely digested before I left the tree.
I didn’t want a repeat of last time, after all.
With my body still wrapped around the branch, and a digesting deer in my stomach. I thought I would get a bit more sleep while I waited, so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
I’m unsure of how long I slept, as I still couldn’t see the sky from here. However, when I did wake up. Another Pop-up was floating before my eyes.
You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Gluttonous Water Boa Would you like to Evolve?
“No.” The window disappeared, and another took its place.
You have eaten the following species for the first time. Alpha Deer: Tier 2
“I guess now would be a good time to go. *Rumble* Hmm?”
It started out as a slight rumble in the distance. Then the shaking got progressively worse over the course of a few minutes.
“What’s going on!?” The tree was now shaking violently. *Crack!* Then the branch snapped, and I fell to the ground.
After landing on the ground. I heard trees being knocked over, and something heavy coming my way.
“Ooh, that’s not good.” Raising my head up as high as I could. I looked into the darkness of the forest for any sign of what was coming.
*Roar!* I could see a large heat signature running in my direction.
“I’ll… I’ll be going now!” The large heat signature entered the clearing at a full sprint, and I got a good look at it… Before I started to flee.
“It was an Alpha deer like the others. Well, it would have been, If the others had been twenty feet tall, and weighed several thousand pounds.
Following in its footsteps were two more Alpha Deer, and they looked almost like…
“Went and tattled on me, did you!?” It looked like the two from before had gone and gotten either the dad or big brother to come and fight their battle for them.
The big one stood before me and was staring me down.
“Uh… Hello. My name is- *Roar!* And you obviously don’t care!” It tried to stomp on me, but luckily I managed to dodge around it.
Weaving through its legs, I got around behind it, and bit into its back left leg.
*Grunt of pain* The beast began to kick its legs out in panic. One of the other deer, while trying to help the large beast, attempted to bite me while I was distracted.
It received a kick to the face from the big one, for its trouble. The kick snapped the much smaller deer’s neck and sent it tumbling into the river.
The big deer stopped thrashing around after feeling its kick connect. It looked between its front legs to see what it had kicked, and it saw the much smaller deer floating down the river.
” I think that’s my cue to leave…” I released the leg while the deer was distracted, and attempted my getaway.
*Growl*
“…Damn it.” Moving to the side as fast as I could. I just barely dodged the deer’s hoof as it impacted the ground. It then continued trying to stomp on me, and it was getting closer every time.
“Think, Think! What can I use to get out of here!?” I kept weaving my way around the beast’s legs, and occasionally biting into a leg. While I came up with a plan.
“… If I’m going to do this, I only have one chance. Otherwise, I may be too tired to escape.” I bit into its leg one more time, before making a break for the river. My plan was to see just how well this body could swim, while hopefully not dying from either drowning or the deer.
I was moving my tired body as fast as I could for the river. When I noticed the other deer charging at me. I used my tail to propel myself the final few feet, and I narrowly dodged the smaller deer’s charge and hit the water.
> After landing in the water, I tried to swim, but the current was too strong. So I just relaxed as much as possible, and let it carry me downstream.
“Hopefully, I won’t run into anymore Extra large deer, for a while…”
I could see the two deer chasing after me in the distance, but the current was too fast for them to keep up with for long, and I managed to survive my first encounters with the Alpha Deer race.
Chapter 4
It wasn’t long after I escaped the Alpha Deer, that I figured out how to swim. Except, unlike when I was on land, in the water, I had to move my body side to side in order to move around.
I also quickly caught up to the Deer the big one had killed, so at least I had a snack for the road…. Er, river.
However, since I couldn’t swallow this one whole. I wrapped my body around it and pulled it along with me.
I swam through the river for about an hour. Before I’d had enough, and wanted out.
Though I didn’t see any fish while I was swimming. I did see several underwater plants, so In order to eat as much vegetation as possible. I didn’t plan on straying too far from the river for a while.
“Alright, I should be far enough away now. Come on snack, let’s get to shore.” Tugging my snack along behind me. I swam over to the river bank.
Once there, I had a little trouble getting the deer out of the water, but I somehow managed it.
*Whew* “You’re heavier than you look. Did you ever think of dieting?” I asked the dead deer…. What? I was bored and alone out in the middle of a strange forest. Talking to a dead body wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d done today.
Dropping the body at the base of a tree. I climbed up to a branch near the top to get some rest, and I ate some leaves while I was up there.
After I cleared out some of the leaves, I was able to look up at the night sky.
It was… Beautiful. I could see the innumerable stars shining brightly in the dark space above. And the two moons were… Wait, Moons?
“I guess, I really am in another world…” The two moons were on different sides of the sky. One was an extremely large, bright orange moon. While the other was a much smaller, green moon.