The wind pressed against the membranes of his wings as he descended through the canopy.
Below him, something moved.
It was Heavy and Armored.
An Ankylosaurus herd pushed through the ferns, their bodies like mobile fortresses. Muscles rippled under stone-like plates. Club tails dragged trenches in the dirt with every slow step.
Narakul circled once. Twice.
Then he saw it.
A juvenile.
Lagging behind. Smaller. Weaker. Still powerful, yes, but vulnerable in the way young beasts often were.
He landed in the trees above, wings folding against his back.
Then he waited.
"This body has served me well. Hands. Flight. Language.But it's time I shed the monkey. That frame is nearing its ceiling.What I need next… is weight. Resilience. Defense.I need to walk among monsters without hiding." he thought.
His spider hairs twitched as the juvenile paused to chew.
Narakul dropped.
He hit the ground silently.
The juvenile didn't notice.
He moved low and used camouflage, behind a tree root.
Then, with cold precision, he struck.
A small gap, just beneath the rear armor plates, where the skin was softest.
A bite. A pulse of venom.
The beast flinched, gave a low groan, and staggered.
Then stood still.
Eyes blinking. Breath slowing. Then Narakul waited, after hours trailing behind the dino.
Narakul surged forward, exiting the monkey body and entered, not just into the wound, but into the bloodstream of the dino.
He moved through tissue and muscle, spreading along neural branches, climbing towards the spine.
The Ankylosaurus shuddered, legs trembling.
Muscle by muscle, he assumed control, not wresting it through force, but wearing it like armor.
Minutes passed.
Then…
Stillness.
A twitch of the tail.
A blink.
A heavy breath.
Then the motion.
Slow. Ground-shaking.
But controlled.
Narakul had risen.
He flexed one leg, thick, heavy, armored.
He swung his tail the weight surged with terrifying force. It took effort to stop it once in motion. Like trying to halt a landslide mid-fall.
His vision adjusted, no longer high or fast, but low, shielded, panoramic.
He was now no longer the predator who avoided threats.
He was the threat now.
He stepped through the trees, feeling the ground tremble beneath him. Smaller creatures darted aside. Birds screamed and fled.
The herd had already moved on.
He did not follow them.
He was never meant to be part of a herd.
He was meant to be alone, but unassailable.
By dusk, he stood at the edge of a ridge, staring down at the other end of the compound he had scouted for days.
He has seen old watchtowers. The broken fencing. The exposed cages.
He took one slow, thunderous step forward.
Cumulative Traits (Now within Dinosaur Form):
Spider: venomous fangs, vibration sense
Worm: body segmentation, tissue repair, skin breathing
Frog: amphibious lungs, explosive leg power
Lizard: predator reflexes
Bird: binocular vision, altitude orientation
Monkey (now shed): cognitive reasoning, spatial mapping
Ankylosaurus (Primary): dermal armor, club-tail, ground dominance