Chapter 8

"While the Saharliard could live up to the translation of their name, "the scaled equal people" (which is so frequently mistranslated as "scaly friend". Honestly, the ignorance of some of these so-called "historians" is absolutely dreadful, I must say. I realize that the direct translation leaves much to be desired if one is simply looking for a pithy line, but the name of the Empire was deliberately chosen to invoke respect and, eventually fear. The Saharliard were not some supposedly cozy and friendly people, but equal to the Sunkindred in their passion, the depth of thought of the Moonchildren, and the versatility of working violence of the Misti Hawar. Why would a "scaly friend" rule over ninety percent of the continent, answer me that. Regardless, I return to my letter.), what remains of their people cannot. Their degradation is most pronounced in their intellect, or lack thereof, as their fall from one of the peoples of Elioloi exchanged their famed scholars for ravenous fiends. No longer were the warrior-poets of Nievtra frequently found in libraries, unless there were rodents to be consumed within. Nonetheless, there is a certain beauty in the degraded Saharliard, the keelish. Their bodies are built for two things: mobility, and ferocity. I can appreciate the singular focus in their weakened design."

-Excerpt taken from Eldara di'Frandara's letter to the Red Abbey's Archeology department.

After the hunt, or maybe after I'd given the spawnlings names, Oncli, Took, Treel, Foire, and Vefir became acknowledged as my followers by the [System]. I'd begun to worry about if I accidentally became an Alpha and deprived myself of the opportunity to become a Bloodletter. After all, that would offer me the greatest focus on combat prowess, or so said the [System]. My mind had cleared significantly since those first moments of hatching, but still present was the need to move, to act, to hunt. And, driving all that, was my personal need to grow.

Looking at my [Status], I could see what the growth I'd experienced was.

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker

Titles: none

Stats:

-Constitution: 3+1=4

-Strength: 4

-Agility: 6

-Intelligence: 4+2=6

-Magic: 0

Skills:

Bloodlust

Evolutionary foresight

-Adult Keelish Bloodseeker: Survive 60 days. Progress: 3/60

-Young Keelish Bloodletter: Kill 10 creatures. Progress: 2/10

-Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 5/10

Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen.]

So, a little growth in the stats, and it had been three days since I'd hatched. Only three days? Would the stat growth have been from my followers beginning to follow me, or from the hunt? Would I always grow with every hunt? That couldn't be the case, because if it was, then all keelish would be monstrously powerful as well as numerous and fierce. But was I now allowed to know why it was that I was able to grow?

[The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information. However, that decision may be rescinded, depending on your future growth.]

Maybe I could ask again after I evolved… Would I be able to evolve into an Alpha and then into a Bloodletter?

[The Administrative body has deemed–

That was enough of that. So, for now, my goal needed to be to hunt more, and make sure that I wasn't closing off my opportunity for most efficient growth. Speaking of hunting, I looked down at the hunt currently ongoing.

It was the second one after ours, it would appear. There was a picked clean Toothy Bullfrog carcass not far from the similarly picked clean remains from our hunt, and the group of ten or so keelish below was quickly swarming down their still standing prey. The other three frogs huddled in the corner as the hatchlings simply ripped into the struggling beast. They hadn't gotten a good hold on either of its back legs, so it successfully hopped up once. It wasn't able to get very high or far, but it was able to rise high enough to come down on a hapless aggressor's leg. With a snap, the keelish collapsed and wailed in agony as the rest of its pack did not care and continued to tear and rip into their prey.

Before long, the Toothy Bullfrog collapsed and began to be eaten. Its croaks were ignored as the hatchlings chomped out gobbets of flesh bite by bite. The injured keelish struggled and was able to get a couple of bites of food before succumbing to the agony of its wound and collapsing. It lay whimpering as the meal it had helped to hunt was reduced to nothing before its eyes. There was no mercy shown, and I was reminded that the brutality of this "society" went both ways and was no respecter of persons.

With their meal complete, the pack left the arena, their lamed companion left in the blood-soaked dirt. After a moment, my stomach turning with what I was about to ask, I approached the large female.

"What… do?"

She glanced down at me. "With him?"

I flared my frills. 

"Well, a hatchling that breaks their leg like that will never walk again." Her tone was inflectionless, dispassionate. The flick of the female's tail communicated the indifference she felt as she spoke. "He'll live if someone takes pity on him, but it won't be me that does it. He'll be a parasite as long as he lives, can't contribute to anything." She glanced down, her expression and body language suddenly unreadable. "If you have something you want to do about it, you can."

I weighed my options. I could bring him along. He would immediately be dependent upon me, which would probably mean commensurate loyalty. He would become a follower of mine, bringing me closer to an evolution, even if it wasn't the one I preferred. I could guarantee that there were further evolutions from the Alpha, since the [System] had said that the Alpha has "the greatest variety in evolutionary possibility and progress" among the options that I was able to see. 

But I couldn't rely on the other keelish as an Alpha, I could only rely on myself. I could see that here, that there wasn't any loyalty beyond immediate benefits here. I needed to be stronger, to be more capable, to be more dangerous. Individual capability ruled here, I could already tell. Could I change that?

Did I want to change that?

If I left things as the status quo, my pack, and then the swarm, would be most easily influenced, and I was the sole keelish in all of Elioloi that knew how grow stronger. The sole keelish that knew how to evolve. The sole keelish that had the [System]...

I was overthinking again. I had already made my choice, and now I was just trying to justify it. Slowly, I stepped into the Arena and approached the lamed keelish, who looked up to me with hope while continuing to keen softly in pain. I felt myself begin to take pity, to want to save him, but I steeled myself and my heart. For my future, I couldn't care about those who were to fall by the wayside.

"I… am… sorry…" I couldn't keep myself from apologizing as I leaned down and, with a deliberate and strong snick of my jaws, bit the head from the body of the suffering keelish.

My head hanging low and deliberately ignoring the flashing [System] notification in the corner of my eye, I returned to my pack on the edge of the arena. I expected to see them pull back a bit at my presence but they didn't. I supposed that taking care of a "useless" member of the swarm wasn't the same as what I'd done to the hatchling that had taken my food. Before I could try to sort out any thoughts on the matter, the adult female spoke up again.

"I didn't think you had it in you. But, I'll tell you now that you did the right thing." I looked up at her. "Nobody in here was going to help him. Then, he would starve. Even if they did, eventually they would stop. And then, he would starve. Or, if someone was exceptionally foolish, they would keep feeding him forever, and then he would feel entitled to the food he received, even though he would do nothing more than stay in the den and be fed, cleaned, watered, and spoiled until the day he died of old age." She lowered her head so that it was level with mine. "The best time to remove a parasite is the moment that they're found. Don't let them fester."

She made a point. In this utilitarian world, the world of keelish, one who couldn't hunt or walk couldn't contribute… But could I call one of my brood a parasite? And why did a part of me agree and enjoy the feeling of superiority?