Chapter 14

I'd been expecting dawn's light as we ascended enough within the den to begin seeing daylight. In fact, I'd been looking forward to seeing normal light, and to see how my vision was different now, since in the total dark of the depths of the den, I saw the warm bodies of keelish as brighter reds and oranges, transitioning to cool blues and deep violets for the cooler walls and floors. As we continued our ascent, I could see the walls begin to warm up in color and slowly shift to ever warmer colors, finally settling on a light green. The thought of changing the way my eyes worked crossed my mind, but I wasn't sure how to, or even if it was possible. We continued moving, and I could see that one of the walls was actually warm, a bright red. I reached out, and it was indeed warm to the touch. I sighed, enjoying the feeling before again turning my mind inward and trying to figure out how to change my vision.

With my concerted thought and "effort", I was finally able to figure out what it was that could change the way I saw. I was able to "switch" my vision to what I had had in my previous life, and I realized that it was something to do with actually using my eyes instead of what I had been doing instinctually. The heat-focused sight wasn't actually sight, but instead had something to do with a mixture of smell, sound, and a different, sixth sense. I hadn't been aware of it before, given the cramped quarters of the den, but that "vision" was severely limited in the distance it could perceive, maybe fifty to seventy feet away?

My perception restored to true "vision", I slowly adjusted to the light, my eyes clearing and becoming less blurry. The light from the setting suns was beautiful, the clouds up above burning reds and oranges. I couldn't see them clearly, but the variation from what it had been for the entirety of this life was more than welcome. It had only been… looking at my [Status], five days since I'd been reborn, but it had felt that my previous life was far further than that. Now, I welcomed nightly cuddles with keelish spawnlings, ripped animals to bits with my teeth and claws, and devoured raw flesh with relish.

Yes, life had changed, and it was much more simple now. I welcomed it, in part, though I did miss different parts of my life as a human…

I didn't let myself continue to dwell on my past, instead focusing on what I needed to do today: ensure that I participated enough in the killing of three creatures, so that I could evolve as soon as possible. Nodding to myself, I pulled myself back into the present and observed my pack around me, finally seeing them in their actual color instead of by their radiating warmth.

Oncli was a typical brown and green mottled color, his look altogether unremarkable in every way for a keelish. If one was to think of a keelish, he was exactly what you would expect. Took was a somewhat uncommon earthy brown, with black speckled individual scales throughout her body, nearly no green to be seen anywhere on her. Treel too was more brown, but she had a healthy swathe of deep green gradient across her back. Vefir too was a mostly unremarkable mix of green and brown, though his wasn't so much a gradient so much as striations like the stripes of a tiger. Foire, however, was the most interestingly colored of my pack, his body such a deep brown as to be black, with some of his frills brightening to a nearly red tan and framing his face quite beautifully, the thought of a keelish being beautiful taking my by surprise with the natural way the realization came over me.

Curious, I looked down at myself. My claws on both my feet and hands were a dark black, coming as an accent to my grayish silver scales that lightened the higher up my arms they went. My belly was lighter still, nearly without color at all, compared to my more gray than silver body. Turning my head, I could see a slight part of one of my frills, which were almost white with how light of a gray they were. I'd… never seen a keelish that color. Sure, I'd never paid much attention to the pests, but I also couldn't remember ever seeing any not at least partially dark colored. I thought it was sure to be somewhat striking.

Having taken in the view, I continued to lead the pack out of the clearing where the exit from the den was, towards the adult keelish that was guiding the rest of the spawnlings. Ahead of us, I could see Tieran, and my blood began to boil as I looked. He was a tan to brown striped color, and at his side, again fawning over his every move, was the more in-favor female. Behind her was a male I'd never seen before, and behind him, the ever more out-of-favor female. Seeing her, she was a plain sort, as unremarkable as Oncli, but somehow unattractive. I didn't care.

As we entered into the jungle that surrounded our little clearing, I could smell the wet, the stink of marshes. We were close to the breeding ground for Toothy Bullfrogs, and I was sure that they would continue to be our primary source of food, at least until their breeding season was over. Before long, their croaks filled the air, and I whistled through my teeth at my pack. They knew what I was trying to communicate, and quickly we all assumed a battle ready position.

The male leading us spoke up again. "Here… you all will… hunt for… yourselves. You will… not be… protected… after today."

So we had one day's worth of protection. That was all I was going to need, before I evolved… and took my place at the head of the spawnlings as a whole.