The world is covered in the darkness of the new moon. Mana vision, vibration sense, soul sense, smell, all of those became my guides. If I wasn’t a slithering creature I would have stumbled upon myself multiple times.

(“Yey! Already getting stronger!”)

(“Hunting is the best.”)

“I’m worried I will get lost”

As such I decided to slither along the lakeshore. There are usually tons of bugs along the water aren’t there? I seem to remember seeing some bees and beetles, though the latter were too big for me to eat (“too crunchy”)

(“Look, fishies!”)
Indeed, I recognise those souls and mana signatures. Close to the shore, in the shallow waters among some kind of water reed (“slightly magical water reed!”). I came closer, out of curiosity. (“They noticed ussss”) (“They are wary of ussss”) (“Is this MAGIC?”)

As we were approaching, the school stirred as its more evolved members noticed us (not that it was hard to notice a careless, delirious, trip happy idiot). One of the moon-catfish, the biggest of all (about third size of mother), with 6 pairs of whiskers moved closer to our direction, followed by a slightly smaller one with 5 pairs..  breaching water with its beak. But when it saw a tiny snake, all the tension went out and it… laughed? Then it turned to its adjutant, moved up and down, and went back to the lake-facing part of formation.

The minion fish, however was slightly more wary, and after seeing me it looked around, searching for something (“Mother not here stupid. We are self reliant adults now!”). Not being able to find anything, it.. Poured its mana into its whiskers. 

They started glowing with a dim gray-blue light, I could see mana in its core (near heart) swirling, and concentrating on one spot. When it reached density levels making it feel more like a liquid then a vapor, it got sucked in by some kind of pipe leading to the whiskers, and a thin membrane expanded out of them, covering the school.

I looked at it mesmerised. It was magic! (“magic?”) (“MAGIC!”). Some kind of force field I guess? I tried to look at the mage-fish… but I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see any of the fish! Or the magical field! It must have been some kind of concealment spell… 

Curious, I came closer, inspecting the shore, slithering left and right. When very close, my mana sense could pick up a very slight distortion.. A bit like looking through transparent foil, it was more obvious when there was something very bright on the other side, like the being at the center of the jungle, its mana radiating like a dim sun. But when facing the dark part of the lake, I wouldn't be able to notice it. I came even closer.

SWISSSH

A kind of mana bullet attacked a place just next to me. I got so surprised, I jumped, dropping my eggmet. 

“You missed!” “Sir, this is an Arak Snakeling, before its first molt most likely. Its mother must be near, and we don’t need more trouble, just make it go away” “Bwah, with the great me, there is no need to fear anything!” “Still, sir” “We could’ve had some entertainment! Some hunting! We were sent here from our wonderful moon, because these cowards thought they saw the Black Koi, and yet”

Thoughts! (“Complete Sentences!”)

It seems that the barrier, while mighty, didn’t block the thoughts completly (“see! Egg better!”). “Fine, if you are a coward I will do it! Come a little closer to the shore you little… don’t make me jump to get you…”

I instinctively moved back. My mind, lagging, realised that I should be afraid, only after I moved far enough to not read minds anymore, and, too slow to realise that we are most likely safe now, made me play dead with my belly up. (“Body, stupid”)

After I calmed down, I turned around and looked at the fish again. This time helmetless, I tried to find where they were. A weird .. fog? now noticeable around reeds. It looked like one of those patterns used on high security envelopes, except moving. It felt red, and blue, and white, mostly smooth. I came closer once again. (“Eggmet! Let’s take it!”). Now no longer fog, it was more like a blob of water, me getting closer to its wavy shore, my mind occasionally hit by its waves. (“He…. back!”) (“.... me… hunt… glory of the moon!”). Not wanting to risk being eaten again, with part of my mind partially panicking already, I grabbed the shell with my mouth and ran away.

I moved towards the meadows, to hide, and calm down (“scary!”) (“stupid fish… should we ask them to teach us magic?”). But as I just passed the plant line, too busy with my thoughts to pay attention to anything, I didn’t notice. Didn’t notice that I moved from the wavy sea of fish thoughts, to a singular black stream, mind and intent facing one direction.

“Eat eat eat” “kill kill kill” “hunt hunt hunt” “hungry”

I immediately froze. A familiar pair of yellow eyes appearing through the thicket. Yes, this soul, this body… It was the lizard-thing that hunted moon fish before!

Reisinling

A Yey for 100 readers post later today, with short animation and updated map (name your country if you haven't done yet and want to be included), maybe one more dream chapter? Also, to those of you who voted for me to rewrite the previous chapter - if you could tell me which parts you liked the least so that I could fix them (either paragraph or general tone or stuff)