Morphling

In a clearing beneath the canopy of a great white tree, clamoring could be heard as the great beasts of the Noctus Lagoon are lost in their revelry.

They frolic, roar, and noisily chitter as they celebrate the strength of their new lord that would bolster the might of their troupe even further. They cheer not only for the lord’s strength, but for the miracles their new lord had brought them.

This was the scene the changeling had to endure for the past few hours.

Sitting under the gnarled great white tree, the position once taken by the white Tyrant, the changeling had been lazily watching the primatus in their merriment.

After the events of the battle between itself and the black Tyrant, the changeling suddenly became an object of worship by the ape-beasts. Unsure of how it needed to act at first, it began by deciding to process a thorough biological scan of the black Tyrant’s body under the guise of rejuvenating it while it was unconscious.

The process was similar to when it reconstructed the black wolf pup’s body. By taking small tissue samples from every possible region of the primatus’ body while maintaining its biological integrity, the changeling eventually came to possess its gene data along with its racial memories.

Or at least it tried to. What it got instead was its regular memories and knowledge of the troupe. What it defines as racial memories were simply the instinctual behavior ingrained into the creature through evolution, but it gained far more than it bargained for instead. It didn’t know if this was a sign of growth regarding its abilities, but it seems like as long as enough biomatter is absorbed while the subject is alive, then it is able to see into their memories.

It isn’t sure if the same results can be gleaned from a non-living sample, but it’ll have to figure it out when an opportunity arises.

Seeing that their former troupe guardian’s wounds were healed after what seemed like a disturbing assimilation of flesh, the sick, injured, and lame primatus of the troupe were more welcoming to the changeling’s “treatment”. The large white Tyrant was of no exception.

Healing its fractured leg, which seemed to have been caused by an accident involving its rotundness, the changeling had gotten a better understanding of these creatures’ social structure.

From what the changeling had learned, a lot of these primatus were actually several different species. Due to the limited knowledge it possesses, it can only understand that despite the differences, they were all classified as primatus by scholars due to them sharing similar traits and working together as a group.

The strongest of them were the giant four-armed primatus that work as their sort of militia. Possessing great size, strength, and the ability to fire calculi out of their knuckles, outside of the Tyrants, they were the backbone of the troupe’s might.

After them were mid to large sized primatus that possessed a pair of massive forearms covered in a dense shell-like carapace. Despite being smaller than the four-armed giants, they were much heavier and denser. They also possessed a unique ability to form up into a ball that would allow the giant ones to pick them up and throw them like a rock at their foes.

The smallest among them possessed four arms as well, but were more slender and agile like monkeys. They were around the changeling’s neutral size – the regular state it usually maintains – and their bodies had a pigmentation that allowed them to blend into their surroundings easily. They also possessed an odd ability to produce a web-like fluid from openings in their palms. They acted as the troupe’s trappers and scouts.

Lastly, the species that consisted the majority of their troupe were small to mid-sized horned simian-like species that had varying armored limbs and parts. They were the most diverse of the groups and had the most distinguishable individuals. No two individuals had the same features. Not only did their sizes vary, but so did their horns and the carapace-like shell that grew on their limbs.

Based on the gene data the changeling possessed, not only was the troupe composed of different species, they were likely composed of two different families as well as genus.

Both the multi-limbed species seemed to belong to one family with the giant ones being one genus while the tiny monkey-like ones were another. The same can be said with the horned simians along with the armor-fisted ones.

What’s more was that the creatures didn’t adhere to their own species, but mingled with the rest of the troupe. It’s a wonder how four completely different species could possibly form a such a group despite the varying needs of survival for each species as well as clashing natures. This was already beyond the scope of symbiosis and already at the level of a societal structure.

The changeling believed that the key lies with the Tyrants. It believes their presence brought about a significant change within the group’s psychological capacities and perhaps somehow altered their natural instincts to a certain level.

It is currently unknown to what degree the presence of the Tyrants directly influences the creatures, but at the very least from what the changeling could find, the multi-limbed ones still listened to the two Tyrants despite lacking a Tyrant of their own to represent them.

Indeed, the changeling had discerned that the white Tyrant was from the armor-fisted species, while the black one came to be from the horned species. But what was more mysterious was that despite knowing their baseline species, they somehow possessed traits and abilities belonging to the other two species.

For one, the white Tyrant possessed the same projectile firing mechanism in its fists that the four-armed species possessed. It even had the ability to produce a web-like substance like the smaller species, which it displayed by currently lazing about in a web hammock it created.

The black one though mutated in a weird direction. While it possessed horns, it had no external carapace or shell-like coverings throughout its body, yet for some reason its muscles were incredibly dense in its forearms. So dense, in fact, that they weighed three times its own body mass.

With so many fibers jampacked together, it’s no wonder it had the ability to enlarge its arms and harden them to a point akin to metal. Its bone structure was also on par with the changeling’s current evolution, which showed how much power this creature already possessed when carrying its own weight.

As another creature worthy of notice, the largest of the giant four-armed species, the one the changeling had fought first, wasn’t a Tyrant but seemed to be on the verge of becoming one. At least, this was what the changeling could determine based on the changes its body was undergoing compared to its kin.

So many things seemed illogical to point out in their anatomy, but one thing always eludes its ability to comprehend these points as well as being the answer to their absurdity. And that is the presence of mana.

Mana is always at the core of these absurd and unsound genetic structures and capabilities. If no organ or biological structure can answer for a creature’s illogical ability, then the answer always seemed to be mana. How does it know this? Simply because it can sense mana flare up whenever these absurd abilities are put in motion.

Whether it is mana or whatever the answer may be, it didn’t change the fact that a mysterious force seemed to be drawing these creatures together and the presence of the Tyrants is the core that binds them.

If it was the intelligence of their kind that allowed them to be able to come together as a unified group, then perhaps that was why they were pretty open to the changeling “taking over.”

If the changeling had been a more violent usurper, who’s to say how the troupe would’ve acted instead. Given their nature, the answer would have been quite clear. As for now, the changeling was satisfied with the status quo.

Currently, it could see the wolf siblings playing with the younger ones of the troupe. It could even see some of the young primatus challenging them in contests of ability then losing miserably to the duo’s impressive coordination. From what the changeling has seen, not many beasts can directly contend with the wolf siblings’ abilities especially when they’re working together.

It could also see their little green companion seemingly communicating with some of the older primatus. From what the changeling had clarified with the ape-beasts, it seems that their initial confrontation was a misunderstanding.

Some of the primatus enjoy feeding on a certain fruit growing in the region. However, it seems a disease had struck the fruit-growing plant population. Finding out what their companion was, they simply wanted its assistance in saving their favorite snack.

From this it understood there was more to its little green companion considering how the primatus acted in front of it. In the end, regardless of what happened, the results were for the best as it had achieved more than its original purpose. Even Gultrave, the sarcodilan Tyrant, was for some strange reason still hanging around the lagoon.

It no longer acted aggressively as it used to and even approached the shore a few times, but never close enough to threaten the primatus hanging by the shoreline. Whatever its reason for its behavior, the changeling couldn’t feel any threat, so it let it be for the time being.

It’ll have to confront it at some point, but higher on its list of concerns was the black Tyrant. After it woke up, it immediately went to a corner by its lonesome and started what it could only describe as… sulking.

It was clearly upset over something. Whether it was because it lost or something else entirely, the changeling will have to address it eventually. For now, it was taking its time to digest its new strength as well as the new abilities it had gained.

That was until a terrible scream rang out from across the clearing.

Becoming silent and alert from the cry, all the troupe’s attention went to its origin. From the source, they saw that one of the young horned ones was at the edge of the clearing and seemed to be pierced in the chest.

Still flailing, the primatus continued to screech while it was lifted into the air by its attacker, still hidden by its unfortunate victim’s body. As soon as it went limp, it was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground like a wet rag; revealing the culprit.

The creature was skeletal thin and bipedal, and possessed long sharp elongated talons situated among the digits of each of its hands. Its triangular head possessed no features other than the wide gaping maw filled with sharp teeth. Its shriek was hoarse and grating, making other creatures feel as though things were squirming beneath their skin. Lastly, there was a red pulsating crystal situated on its back that seemed to glow eerily in the color of blood.

The creature shrieked once again as dozens more of the same creature appeared from the wood and started rushing at the primatus in the clearing.

Panic ensued within the primatus at the forefront, but a rallying cry from the white Tyrant suddenly brought them out of confusion. Like clockwork, the regular members of their troupe systematically retreated as the front line became instantly filled with their fighters.

The strange agile creatures were undeterred as they struck at the primatus at the forefront with their blades. The result was a simple slaughter.

While these strange creatures were fearless and quick, the primatus were the rulers of Noctus Lagoon for a reason. Before the armored shell of the armor-fisted primatus, the talons of these beasts simply bent and broke.

As the armor-fists acted as a shield wall, the giant multi-armed primatus fired at their foes with their knuckle protrusions. The initial attackers were simply shredded by their projectile calculi.

Some of the creatures were able to reach the backline and fearlessly attack the multi-armed giants, but being only a quarter of their size, their attacks couldn’t really do much damage. Not to mention the primatus themselves were also quite nimble for their size along with orders being continuously barked by Oneris, it would only be a matter of time until the beasts were completely finished off.

Suddenly, an intensely loud shriek was heard at the back of the rushing creatures. One exceptionally large variant of the beasts came rushing forward ahead of the stragglers.

Twice the size of the other creatures, it seemingly rushed with reckless abandon no differently from its kin, but just as it had almost reached the wall of shields, it suddenly leapt into the air.

Dazed by its sudden action, the primatus were unable to react in time as it leapt over their line of defense while cutting up anything in its path. Its blade seemed sharper and sturdier than the others so it was able to cut the flesh of the giants with relative ease.

Its focus seemed elsewhere, however, as instead of finishing off the beasts along its path, it suddenly reared its head in the air towards the direction of the little green fae.

With another resounding shriek and preternatural focus, it leapt over the heads of the primatus to instantly reach its quarry. The little fae cried as the creature dove with its talons raised and ready to tear into its hapless prey.

It would have been successful if it weren’t making its presence known and easily observable by a certain individual.

Instead of the sensation of tearing into fae flesh, the creature instead felt the pressure of being slowly crushed. Already by the little green one’s side while waiting for the creature’s arrival, the changeling had simply caught the beast while it was helpless in the air.

Possessing a new sample, the changeling quietly observed the ferocious entity within its grasp. In a word, the creature can be described as fearless if not vicious. Despite its predicament, it continued to tear and bite into the changeling’s hand without a care while it kept shrieking at its little companion.

Seeing the fear in its little companion’s demeanor and having quite seen enough of the beast, the changeling indifferently crushed it without pity. The palms of its hand formed a mouth as it consumed the beast entirely without waste.

The changeling was suddenly hit by a weird feeling of intense hunger just as it had fully consumed the creature. It managed to keep this sensation under control, but it couldn’t help but find it strange.

Oblivious due to its musings, it failed to notice the joy in its little companion’s eyes as it hugged its leg on the side. No longer did it fear for its life as the object of its fear was dealt with in such a simple manner.

A deep cry from Oneris brought the changeling back from its thoughts as it witnessed the remainder of the beasts fleeing while dragging away some of the corpses of the primatus that were initially slain.

Silently, the primatus looked towards the changeling as they all gave it a look. Even the black Tyrant was there by its side.

Seeing their bloodshot eyes and tense breathing, the changeling understood their desire. In response, it raised its head and let out a resounding roar that echoed across the lagoon. All the primatus roared in return as hundreds upon hundreds suddenly rallied from across the region to join in their cry.

Their primary nature was that should one of their kin be slain, they would repay it back in kind. Now that their brethren’s bodies were taken, no mercy will be shown to their defilers.

The lords of the lagoon would move and the whole of Noctalum would shudder in their wake.

To the natives of Prismordia, it would simply be nature taking its course. To the changeling, however, after having tasted this strange beast, an unknowing hunger had taken root.

This grand procession of beasts is but a prelude to a grand feast.

***