Chapter 12: Thee art a little hatchling

Maxim from the sky stared at a bigger than usual small yeti, its hands bound by rope. Confused and curious about what it was, he flew down casting a large shadow below him, studying it for twenty or so seconds.

Everyone in the village stopped moving and bowed at him, which he ignored. It was strange but since it made a part of him happy he didn't care that much about the overall weirdness of being taken as some sort of divine beast. Which wasn't that far from the truth, to begin with.

'Is that a different species? Subspecies maybe… but on testosterone. No… it or more precisely he smells the same as one of them who froze when I said hello last time… He is way bigger, though. But there is something else. Ah! This might be a bit of a stretch, well a very big stretch but it's one possibility.', he thought, his massive bulk drifting slightly to the side, gusts of wind forming which each flap of wings, his ears twitching at every sound. 

They were the most expressive part of his body and acted on their own depending on his current state of mind and mood. He found it weird at first then annoying before getting used to but sometimes still does.

And they were hypersensitive to touch, particularly behind at the base, which could lead to moments inappropriate for a being such as him.

He could hear some squeaking and muttering repeated words that sounded like a name, a long-ass name in a totally foreign language.

The one leading the group was the oldest, the one he remembered to have walked up to him, it sounded like a weird Satanic ritual not that he particularly minded as long as they kept their distance from him. The only ones allowed to be close to him were his personal cleaning crew.

'So like a zombie but not really… hmm still… Need more observation. Because I know fuck all about whatever really caused this. For all I know it's totally normal for their species to bulk up like a mini hulk and lose half their fur.', with those last thoughts he took off to hunt, he liked the variety and what better variety hunting in the sea, land, and sky.

Today's menu was going to be originating from deeper in the land and it will be a young beotodus served with its split open skull and resting on its own intestines painting the snow in a beautiful crimson red.

Leaving behind a euphoric crowd.

"He is the Chosen One!", one cried out with elation which was soon followed by the tribe while the shell-shocked Boaboa was still feeling his heart was going to burst out of his chest out of instinctual terror, of worship, and need to kill himself and serve his body as a sacrifice to the dragon fish hybrid. 

Maxim's gaze was even if he didn't mean to, full of something truly unnerving and no small amount of contempt for what lay before him, as if everything was below him, simple breakable toys.

Something inherited from his human self, he knew humans weren't more evolved or such bullshit but that didn't change that humans were inherently very prideful creatures, only defective ones though otherwise and this characteristic was twisted and intensified by his body. 

He knew it, but it was natural, so right to feel like this, and he was powerless to change it and didn't want to let that happen anyway. The feeling of always being confident was quite intoxicating.

Having the full attention of such a beast was pretty nerve-wracking for Aput or any being not remotely close to Maxim's size and even then, it was terrifying.

And the bacteria was also influencing his way of thinking, causing a similar but amplified effect to the disease that makes humans love cats to an unnatural degree, the toxoplasma gondii. It originally infected rodents making them suicidal by trying to 'befriend' cats, so they can get eaten by the feline. 

But the target was Maxim instead of a cat for this one and it was a bacteria of his microbiota and not some parasite that reproduced in his gut. The bacteria 'wanted' to be back in their natural environment. The natural environment is Maxim.

Aput didn't become in any way similar to Maxim, an Elder Dragon, he isn't some kind of champion or chosen one either. No such silly concept here. 

Not that it would stop the tribes to think the exact opposite. There was no other explanation than magic and divine for them.

He simply survived the infection from the bacteria in Maxim's saliva, and now this bacteria, or Blessing of Nakon as the Boaboas called it, was migrating in majority to the cells of muscular and nerve tissues.

Its relationship with those cells will become somewhat similar to the one with mitochondria. It will become an organelle that will produce a very low amount of Dragon element and an even lower amount of Water element.

Of course, this process will cause the death of many cells but thanks to this he will have enhanced strength beyond any Boaboas, a better immunity system, better resistance to temperature variation, and a longer lifespan and it will become a hereditary trait.

While it also did come with side effects, such as reduced intelligence, insensitivity to most pain stimuli, and intermittent explosive disorder. Not forgetting the damage done by the infection and integration of the bacteria in itself that will need to heal. He wasn't out of commission just yet.

There was no free meal.

Deeper in the Hoarfrost Reach and two hours later, Maxim just finished his icy land fish meal.

The fight was short-lived and as straightforward as it could get; he roared from the above to indicate his presence and dived right at the space between the head plates and the scaly but otherwise unprotected back of the fish, his tusk going through the scales and muscles like butter to cleanly sever the spine in three. 

Paralyzing the fish and ending the fight. 

Quite disappointing in his opinion, he might have surestimated it. Then the following hour, as routine he surveyed the territories he claimed and more, he mostly didn't care about who was inside as long as any creatures of his level didn't enter them or it didn't tick something off inside him. And frankly, he was more into the sea than the land.

The fish was, however, delicious. 

A decade later.

Maxim is now in his early thirties and nothing much has changed for him. He was still the same prideful dragon shark fish pig chimera with anger issues, a thirst for blood, and a love for violence in general. Very different from when he was human.

He got slightly bigger, gaining around two meters in length and half a ton of pure muscle. His growth, while slower than in his earlier years, was constant, and will only slow down to a crawl when he reaches adulthood. 

Though he could instinctively tell that he was far from reaching it and that brings a question of how long he will live.

He estimated his age with the help of the sky and his internal clock, he knew he lived longer as he was what he now is than as a human. 

Thirty years old, how much value has his human life at that point? A family in a faraway universe that he will never see, hear or feel the love of ever again. He can't remember most of them by now, and he was at times a bit ashamed of this but this feeling was immediately crushed each time by his pride.

In this decade the, boaboas, the ones that worshiped him as some kind of Divine Beast of War, Hunt, and the Oceans many things changed. The chieftainess, Ahnah's date of expiration was long overdue. 

She didn't die of old age though, she slipped on a piece of fur and broke her neck and she didn't die right there and there she survived for the next winter solstice before finally passing away. It was a great loss for the tribe.

Breaking the belief that some held about her possibly being immortal.

She had an heir for some time already, she had many heirs in her long tumultuous life but they all died, and she outlived them all. 

By their ancestral law, the next chief/chieftainess is put in the position by the last. Most of the time direct blood ties are avoided, seen as dangerous, and a source of bad luck. 

As a rite of passage the next chief/chieftainess has to eat the flesh and brain last, it's believed to pass down wisdom, good luck, health, and a sign of respect for their ancestors.

The population has tripled, less overall death due to Maxim scaring the shit out of most monsters and the new 'variant' of Boaboas pumping their overall strength, though they are no more than 9 at the moment if we don't count Aput. 

Compared to the other usual white fur, their fur was accompanied by black stripes around their arms, torso, shoulder, and back. No patterns were identical, and we're like fingerprints. They reproduced less, ate more, and took more time to grow, but it was a fair trade for what they got in exchange

An adult of this variant could easily kill a popo on his/her own easily and wound-free, the popo being a giant quadrupedal bison-like herbivore with very thick brown fur, and two giant horns growing out of their head.

Their village is now more of a small town, a temple of ice and bone was built in the middle, in Maxim's honor. It was a pyramid that reminded him of Maya and a place where they hold sacrifices for him, mostly the blood of their enemies and the best parts of games hunted by the most valiant hunter of the tribe.

Weirding him out greatly the first time he saw it. Not like he stopped it, he couldn't speak and didn't particularly care to change what ridiculous beliefs they might hold and their traditions, but he didn't judge. He didn't say no to the food though, as long as it was raw.

Cooked and prepared meat was tasteless to him and didn't smell particularly good either. Already eating meat he didn't hunt himself was bordering on his personal limit, his stomach just had a lot of say in this limit.

During those years he learned their languages, mostly the basic and he knew that they called him by a double-barreled name, the name being Dux Ocotzotlatetzauhtli Ch'ak Akheilos Angutarok Ajaga'Al'Balhūt Arvinakon Nakon and some more.

Which he found quite funny and liked some parts of it. And the name he heard the most for what he is.

Deep below the flow Maxim could be seen swimming down until he arrived at the Midnight Forest. There was something on his mind for some time, the forest was shriveling like a rose of Jericho during a time of drought. Entering a sort of hibernation-like state.

A bit worrying, it was an integral part of the ecosystem here and a place with the tasty giant cuttlefish he loved to eat but he felt it was normal and he shouldn't worry about it more than needed. 

The bioenergy of the entire forest was being condensed and purified in one sphere, in the heart of it, as if it was an egg.

At the same time he felt that an important event was currently ongoing, an event that was natural, vital for every complex life form on this planet who want to continue doing their favorite pastime, preserving their continued existence and that of their offspring.

What was currently happening was that the bioenergy in the earth was very active and that the magma streams were pulsing as if it was blood being pumped through arteries and veins by a powerful heart, the primary heart, the planetary core, and a handful of smaller ones helping it, one of such secondary 'hearts' was the Everstream. 

One of the richest areas in bioenergy of the world as a whole, outside of the core and deeper part of the planet of course.

Maxim could feel nearly everything happening in this part of the world through his very acute sense and it was driving him beyond nuts. It was so glaringly loud for lack of better terms and he couldn't turn off his senses. It perturbed him on an instinctual level. 

After all, it was the first time he felt an Elders Crossing, quite an intense experience for a juvenile like him who never experienced one before.

Such events lasted on average one or two years and happened every one or two centuries. This event was characterized by high volcanic activities, chaotic weather and sea, frequent earthquake,s and a rise in Elder Dragons' activities.

Elder Dragons were extremely rare but not lacking in number; the planet housed on average thousands of them at the same time. They just preferred to hide from the world and slept most of the time. Kept themselves into their territory and generally not bothering anyone.

This event steered the older ones to give their essence back to the planet, some to reproduce/mate, and in general, they became more active and dangerous.

New Elder Dragons were also born around those periods, which Maxim was a prime example of. A mutation of a species giving birth to an Elder Dragon.

Through this event, the six elements and level of bioenergy will be greatly enriched for the next centuries up till it goes down again and the next Elders Crossing happens to repeat the circle all over again. 

If it were to be greatly perturbed for an extended period and for whatever reason most species will be wiped out in a cataclysmic mass extinction event, fatal for even some of the Elders, and after this a new era where life will bloom once more. It already happened, multiple times, most caused by humanoid sapient species.

Maxim swam closer, nearly entering the inverted kelp forest, studying it. But his body snapped to the right as he sensed something.

'A leafy sea dragon… horse? So that the ruler of this place… Awesome!', his yellow-slitted eyes went wider and wider as the creature he caught a sense of appeared right in front of him. 

For him, it was as if it just popped into existence in front of his snout. He would have sensed it earlier if not for the constant buzzing of his senses caused by the Elder Crossing.

Per Maxim description it indeed was horse-like, the head was similar to the skull of one, but instead of white it was covered in deep blue plate, and a mane of long wavy algae of the same color trailed behind. It had two icy blue eyes filled with intelligence and a way of seeing the world foreign to humans. The head was the most remarkable feature.

Its near skeletal, ghostly, and elongated body is covered in algae of deep midnight blue with a light tint of bioluminescent green forming a long and complex robe flowing alongside the current. Hiding and protecting most of its body.

Lacking hind members it possessed a twisted serpentine tail with small translucent fins on top and bottom letting the creature slowly propel itself with its small rapid and repeated motion, like a seahorse

The foreleg was also covered in this same algae, hoofs replaced by a modified finger with a long membranous skin connecting to the back of the limbs, serving as flippers.

The closest comparable being would be a kelpie, an often undead horse, living in water and covered in algae, drowning its prey in the depth.

It was of the same length as Maxim but it was skinny, ghostly, and skeletal compared to his stocky, muscular body, that didn't mean it was weak, no, it was the creature that controlled this forest. 

However, it seemed weaker, somewhat exhausted, than the last time he sensed it, not that it made much of a difference. Inside the forest it's near unbeatable, he assumed. But the forest was in the sea and so it evened out.

It still was stronger than anything he encountered thus far. And it made his heart pump in excitement, his body itching to fight it. There wasn't the feeling of superiority when facing it and it was surprisingly refreshing.

Maxim instantly took on a more defensive and threatening posture, flippers flexing, showing their full span, moving slightly backward, his yellow draconic eyes glowed intensely in the dark water, he snarled and growled, making the water surrounding him vibrate and thrum with energy.

The icy blue eyes of the Older Elder stared into his own, slowly moving to the side, ignoring Maxim's want for a fight, it simply swam a bit closer, exciting the forest of its own volition. 

~Thou art a very curious little hatchling, aren't thee?~, it, she, he, they spoke? The voice was serene androgynous, completely inhuman, with rasping melodious sound, and a hint of amusement.

'Whaaaat…?', caught completely off guard he could only stare in shock at the horse that just 'talked' to him. Bursting the bubble of tension that Maxim built up, soon followed by anger as it reached his reptile-fish brain as what he was called. 

A hatchling, a kid, not even an insult or something condescending, it was a cold hard fact. It was what he is physically and also mentally to some extent, no denying here. It simply was an irrational response. 

Reigning in his anger he glared even harder at the horse, the said horse then graciously glided on the water current Maxim made while ignoring the latter childish tantrum.

~Mine own name is Bäckahäst Däŵr, sovereign of this forest from times forgotten coequal by We. Little hatchling how may We calleth thee?~