The crawl down the tree was my first obstacle. It took about thirty minutes to finally get to the base of the tree. Once there, there wasn't much I could see from down here.
'Maybe I was better off in the tree.'
I thought back to my near-death encounter with that red bird. 'Yeah... maybe not.'
'Okay, then! Exploring it is! Maybe on the way I'll find an ancient magical plant that'll give me cool powers, or ancient ruins with a trapped powerful entity that will give me powers in exchange for their freedom!'
'The possibilities are endless! Onward to adventure and power!'
'Sooooooo... where does one even go to find said adventure and power?'
'I guess I'll just choose a random direction and continue from there. Let's see here.' I closed my eyes and spun as hard as I could, which turned into a hassle with my new, not-so-human body.
'Okay! I choose you!'
'Looks like West to me! Probably!'
'Onward, to probably West! Au revoir, birth tree! I never really knew ya!'
I started crawling in that direction. As I moved, I plucked random blades of grass to eat on the way. 'Man, I'm starving!'
'Nothing I eat seems to satiate my hunger. To the god that cursed me with a black hole for a stomach, I've got some serious words I want to share with you!'
A few hours went by, and I'd covered a reasonable amount of distance from the tree. I'd seen other insects wandering around in the grass, but they looked like normal insects—nothing magical about them.
I saw a few more of those red birds in the sky and on tree branches, but they didn't notice me as I hid in the thick grass.
I also observed two of them fighting. I found out that they were phoenixes. They combusted into flames and breathed fire.
The shimmering dust they left behind them were actually sparks. I learned that the hard way when one of them almost burned me... when I tried to touch it. 'Not my brightest moment, to be honest.'
'Let's just forget that last part... and focus on what's in front of me! A lake!'
'Ahhhh, lakes. The perfect place to relax after a long walk. With its crystal clear water, fresh vegetation to munch on growing on the sides, and the local wildlife tearing each other apart...'
'Wait, what was that last part?!' The scene in front of me could only be described as mother nature at its finest.
Two giant beasts were fighting in the middle of the lake. On the left, weighing in at four hundred pounds of pure scaled muscle, give it up for Crocodile!
And on the right, weighing in at twenty pounds of pure feathery bones, raise your voices for Crane!
'Yes, that's right, folks! Right in the middle of the lake, a crocodile and a crane are brawling it out in this competition of Skinny Queen vs. Size Queen! You don't wanna miss this, folks. It's a fight for survival of the sizes.'
'Okay, now that that's over and done with. What the actual hell is going on here!'
Water and wind were being flung around in every direction. The croc shot high-pressure blasts of water into the air, aiming for the crane.
The crane evaded the blasts with grace, retaliating with air slashes. The slashes cut through the air, making a whistling sound. The croc hid underneath the water, shielding itself from the worst of the damage; however, a few of the slashes reached it, cutting through its thick scales but not reaching the flesh.
The croc, seeing the danger in the slashes, decided to stay submerged, inhaling water through the holes on its back and releasing more water blasts from within the water.
With a constant flow of water at its disposal, the croc had the crane on the ropes. The crane flew around, dodging water coming from every direction, leaving it no room to counterattack.
One of the stray blasts of water headed my way. 'Oh no! I gotta get away from here!'
As soon as I started crawling, I was hit with water, washing me into the chaotic waters of the lake. 'Note to self: never observe a fight at such close distances!'
Luckily, I had grabbed onto a leaf and used it as a makeshift boat. I was tossed and thrown in every direction. 'I think I'm gonna be seasick.'
Ignoring my upset stomach, I saw that the waves were carrying me downstream. 'Well, that's not good.'
'I can't really do anything about it right now. I'm too small to fight against the waves, so the best thing I can do now is let the stream carry me and preserve my stamina.'
As I moved away from the fight, the thrashing of the water stopped, and my journey became much smoother.
Looking around, all I saw were trees, riverbanks, and water. 'Well, I don't know where I'm going, so might as well make the most of my free time.'
'I could find out about my new body and what it can do. So let me just quickly pull up all the caterpillar facts I know.'
'Fact one: most caterpillar species are herbivores. I think there is a species that hunts and eats other insects. This means that there's a chance that I'll be able to eat meat, which is a good thing. I don't want to eat plants for the rest of my life.'
'Fact two: caterpillars eat a lot before they go into their chrysalis and metamorphosize into a butterfly or moth. Explains why I'm constantly hungry. Moving on.'
'Fact three: some species, such as the silkworm, produce silk. So maybe I'm able to produce silk as well. However, they do lose this ability in adulthood.'
'Fact four: some species, such as the monarch butterfly, eat milkweed and other poisonous plants when they are young, which makes them poisonous. So I could hypothetically eat poisonous plants, but I'm not too sure if I myself am immune to poison.'
'Fact five: they usually don't have long lifespans, as insects do. However, due to me eating way more than any caterpillar could eat in a day, I think it's safe to assume that I'm not an ordinary caterpillar, so maybe I have a longer lifespan.'
'And that's about it, folks! Thank you for tuning in to today's special episode of Interesting Insects: Five Facts. This is your host signing off. Goodnight!'
'What's that? Five facts aren't enough? Most of them are common facts?'
'Well, the audience signed up for five facts about interesting insects, not five interesting insect facts!'
'Maybe they should have read the fine print! Plus, it's not like they'll actually complain. The media literally consumes garbage; their brains are too malnourished to notice anything wrong.'
'Okay! Back to reality now.'
'So, gathering all that, I've created a list of things I should try to do.'
'One: verify if I can consume meat. Purely for personal reasons and nothing more.'
'Two: see if I can produce silk. This will be a game changer for survival tactics, both offensively and defensively.'
'Three: check if I'm immune to poison and therefore can consume poisonous plants to build a natural defense and offense against predators.'
'And four: find out if I'm truly an ordinary caterpillar or not.'
'These should be good goals, for now. Right now, my top priority is survival and nothing more. So learning what I can and can't do is key.'
The leaf showed no sign of stopping as the sun began to set. The sky turned into dazzling shades of red, purple, and yellow. I watched, slowly drifting with the current. I lay down, observing the beauty of it all.
The tranquil pull of it all put a smile on my face. Whatever that looked like with this new face of mine. With all this calm, I thought to myself.
'Despite a not-so-amazing day, maybe this world won't be so bad. I can really see myself living here forever.'