The guard kept lunging forward, piercing fur and poking the flesh beneath with its spike. The being let it, as dangerous this was not.

  What it definitely was though, was annoying. And tolerating such a treatment without getting results was starting to get on its nerves. So when the guard came again - with even more zeal than before - the being grasped for that little something that had been roiling in its mind, fully congealing it into concreteness. And acted.

  It was an awareness of motion and weight that went far beyond what it had wielded before. And that it used immediately to grab the arm proffered so conveniently, to take one little step forward - putting its foot just in front of the guard's - and to pull forward, hoisting the creature by its armpit and hurling it away.

  Watching the guard fly through the air and then crash to the ground, the being had to admit: not exactly what it had been aiming for, but still nice. So nice that it couldn't help but start throwing the remainder of the useless guard contingent the same way.

  This confirmed its suspicions: it wasn't just that it was getting used to it, but its very body was changing, growing in accordance to its wishes, which this time had been about getting rid of a pesky little nuisance.

  Though it had been aiming for some kind of defensive improvement, something like the shell these creatures had - which would have made for a far more irrefutable proof - even this little change had been too sharp, too sudden. It would still be better to wait for something more explicit to be sure, but for the moment, the being accepted that its body could adapt to conform to its wishes. Yet another advantage it had gained with the transformation.

  Or was it? Didn't it start using its claws a bit out of nowhere, back then? Though everything too far back was so jumbled together in its memory...

  In any case, this meant big opportunities for further growth, but also that it should really focus on guiding the process along. This change was very interesting and funny, but what if its body decided to adapt after a random thought it had? There had been a time it had admired the bison's strength and size too, after all, even though in no way did it want to become so huge and clumsy now.

  While the difficulties it was having with growing a shell seemed to indicate that changes so dramatic were ruled out, better to avoid discovering the hard way just how much it could screw up if it weren't careful. And if it was smart enough, with a few targeted improvements... maybe some other things would become available, that seemed unreachable right now.

  Like its moves, the progress on which had been nonexistent. Even a closer look at the dark one - still disappointingly unrequited - had awakened nothing inside but frustration, and some strange thoughts that were frankly bizarre. And better not to even think about the whisper...

  As the last guard landed in the middle of their line, the being pulled a good way back and went to find a little corner to laze on.

  The surge was coming anyway and training during one would be a pain. Even if everything around were careful to stay away from it just as they had with the late titan - at least those smart enough to feel the difference between them - the sheer number and pressure would overcome even that instinctual fear. They would end up crowding it, closer to the lines. Luckily for them, the being wasn't like the bison, and simply nudged them along - not that the small mercy did them any good when they were walking to their deaths. Still it was quite bothersome.

  But not here, closer to the sides, against the almost vertical flanks of the hill.

  As the frog, it had thought that creatures knew the sheer walls were simply too steep to climb, outside of the trails the guards barred. How it could have thought something so ridiculous was a mystery. Of course, the lookouts on top of their outcroppings would have sniped anything that tried, but the simpler things around here wouldn't even have acknowledged the threat. And with the pressure of the throng, even some of those that knew better should have been trying.

  The actual reason - pretty clear to its now superior self - was that a foul... something, percolated throughout the walls. So horrendously repulsive that nothing around dared come close, even if to escape death. The being was above such trifling, simple reactions of course, and could enjoy the peace on top of a comfy boulder, only slightly perturbed by the proximity.

  Why it was yet to even look properly at the substance was entirely due to the fact it had better things to do, and nothing else. Things like planning the best approach to proceed towards the whisper and the moves, or cleaning dust and guard residue from its majestic fur.

  Besides its exalted self, the only creatures that still ventured towards the walls were those too small and simple to understand much of anything. The being had grown so used to them that it had mostly stopped even acknowledging their existence, since it had been the frog. So simple were they, it was a wonder they'd even managed to get here, close to the collateral, in the first place.

  Its attention was currently on one such thing, out of sheer curiosity - certainly not because it was willing to look anywhere but behind.

  After the being nudged it away from its foot, the little mouse stumbled upon a pile of bodies nearby that must have been abandoned by a retreating patrol long ago before it could be brought to the palace - something which was itself another mystery.

  Nothing really interesting, by all means. But what the little creature was doing, was different.

  Though the mouse had seemed confused at first, now it was doing what most of the being's companions had failed to: digging in, finding a gem and feeding on it.

  Fascinating.

  Of course, this was actually the norm, that happened basically anywhere something died of any cause, sooner of later. But with the being's evolved intellect, and now that it was watching closely, it finally understood: feeding on a gem allowed a creature to become stronger.

  It felt simple for failing to realize this, before. Of course predators, scavengers and basically anything else if it got the chance, wouldn't be so intent on getting the gems if the only reason was that it was pleasant to feed on them! They were somehow taking some of the dead creature's strength for themselves.

  ...And the being had done that itself, when it had been in the owl's nest! That was why the coyotes, that had been so incredibly strong before, had felt so very weak after it left! And if it had done that before, maybe now...

  No, even a casual glance revealed that it was impossible. The gems here were far beneath its exalted station. The same thing must have happened back in the nest, where the gems around had gradually felt less and less desirable, until they'd started to feel repulsive. Clearly, as a creature got stronger, it needed stronger gems to empower itself.

  ... That was why the owl had left so many gems lying around! They were useless to it, and it was defending them out of sheer spite and the desire to be a nuisance for everything else. Which made the frog's petty revenge on it feel even more petty.

  Though by pursuing it, it had built its strength! That had been quite a lot of gems pilfered...

  In any case, considering how strong the being was right now, this whole subject was interesting, yes. But useless. The only creatures of comparable strength to itself might not even have gems. And the being wasn't a predator, besides. It should rather focus on the possibilities at hand.

  And it would... in a bit.

  A sudden commotion shook the being out of its very involved and very necessary contemplation. Quite a feat, when it had easily lazed through two hummings already. Its first suspicion was that it might be another, even stronger one... but this didn't have that all-encompassing feeling to it, and came from a precise direction, rather than all around. But the sheer underlying unease was more than enough to jolt it.So, it looked upwards...

  to find the knight slaughtering its way down the hill, in one of its usual charges. That was what the sound had been: it was the terrible thing that blared out each time the thing came out of the palace and often again when it was out for long enough. Over the cacophony of creatures dying of course, but that was a constant.

  Hearing it for the first time since the transformation, there was a new... richness. An entire new layer of wrongness. The being felt a bit shaken that it taken so long for it to realize this was happening: for the knight to be so far down the hill, it must not be the first time the thing had sounded. And after a cleaving strike that annihilated everything around, that discomfort became something worse, as the knight's attention descended upon the being, without the creature ever even turning the right way. But some of the guards had. And that was enough, wasn't it?

  It was clear from its disposition that the creature knew the being had been the frog. The knight remembered.

  Rationally, the thing wouldn't come down. It never went far past the most forward line of guards, and that was still a way off from here.

  And yet, the being couldn't help the terror trying to seize it, under the knight's attention. The strength that creature had shown... even now, the being wasn't sure if it was ready to face it, yet. But there was something more. To think that it had ever thought the knight and the dark one were anything similar, even with its dull senses as the frog...

  The latter had felt wrong, but mostly because it didn't feel like anything at all. As if it was so different, it was something else entirely.

  The knight just felt like a monster. Like it was exactly what most creatures were supposed to be, but twisted so much that it lost all meaning. It felt so wrong, the being couldn't even understand how it could exist.

  Even from here, it could feel the whisper coiling about the creature, incomparably stronger than in its lessers. But the being didn't feel any of the joy it had expected at this chance to see it again. The mysterious power was too... hostile for that. Like a cruel, barbed thread binding the knight together with each and every guard. Lashing out at anything else nearby, but also tormenting its very masters in the process. Shaping up into a mess of vile, corrupting thorns hanging over the entire hill. A promise of disfigurement and agony.

  How could they all ignore something like that? It looked like barely a touch would be death. It was true that the frog itself had been there and even survived a few strikes without any disfigurement, but what it felt now was something else entirely. Maybe the lethal wounds had distracted it from a more abstract threat, but still-

  the whisper suddenly lunged, and the being couldn't help leaping back in fright... but the thing stopped long before it was able to reach, clearly incapable of reaching too far from the knight.

  Still, the being decided to strategically reposition and slid over the boulder to land on the other side, lying against it and - completely coincidentally - hiding from the knight.

  It was safe here.

  ...

  ...

  But did it want to be safe? After all it had gone through to get this strength? Was that all to cower in fear?

  And what about the very thing it had come for in the first place?

  Even if the usefulness of the collateral was dubious at best, it should at the very least see what was inside the castle. It needed to understand those secrets, even if it didn't want to dive in there anymore. And for... its companions? It didn't know why they mattered, but it felt like they did.

  And to get in there, it would have to face the knight. If the bison had managed to stand up to the creature, then the being should be able too, shouldn't it? It should do far better, actually, with its advanced, strategical mind.

  ... still, it could afford to train some more. The guards seemed to be endless, so it was only natural to take advantage of that. For example, attacking at range was something it had speculated on for quite a while, and watching the sentries up there...

  it had just gotten a good idea.

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