The enormous creature was squatting at the center of its secluded area with such a domineering countenance that it felt as if the very mountain had voluntarily caved in and moved its rocks away to make space for it. Rendering the area all around rugged and craggy, and generally inconvenient for every other creature, just to make the smooth, comfy center for the sake of this one.

  It was huge. Not the biggest the frog had seen, but certainly up there. And not in the way of things like the crab. It was simply... better arranged: as if every little bit of its flesh had a reason to be the way it was. And so, it didn’t feel like it would be slow or clumsy in any way, despite the bulk. And those claws – as long as the frog’s entire chest – would certainly hurt.

  Looking at it from here, it didn’t seem special. Dangerous sure, but no more than anything else its size.

  That was far from how it felt.

  In its travels since leaving the beaver’s plateau – so long ago! – the frog had run from many creatures and tested its instincts plenty. Now they were very good at not underestimating things: if something felt weak, it might still be dangerous. If something felt dangerous, then it definitely was.

  And this creature was easily one of the most dangerous it had ever encountered, if not the most dangerous.

  Staying anywhere close was a terrible, terrible idea. There must be so many other places worth investigating. Some vague feeling, and its decision to approach the very next interesting thing it found, didn’t make this a good idea.

  But it just had to see. What the thing was hiding underneath looked very promising... If only it could have arrived before the creature had squatted down! But no matter. Just one little step to the side, a better angle, and it should be able to-

  The predator’s head snapped in its direction.

  The frog dove back down – no hesitation – and darted away in panic through the trenches, trying its best to stay covered. It slammed against rocks and tripped a lot in its hurry, but it didn’t care.

  The sheer danger it was feeling right now... What had it been thinking!? This creature was going to maul it!

  It scrambled aimlessly, trying desperately to build as much distance as possible… and when it realized it wasn’t making any progress in its panic, it dove into the very first cranny that looked safe enough, going as deep as possible. Then it laid still, keeping completely silent and listening intently.

  It had made a mistake. A terrible mistake! The way the creature had turned its face to look behind, but only its face! without moving the rest of its body, it was just so…

  Hadn’t it promised itself it wouldn’t be in such a situation ever again? When it had found a creature so much bigger and stronger, it should already have run away. But when another one had easily killed the first one and then hauled it away into the air…

  How could it ever think that following was a good idea? Trying to be more adventurous was one thing, but satisfying curiosity wasn’t worth dying over!

  There was no guarantee that the owl had brought the first creature back for any specific reason. It might have simply wanted to feed on the gem later, or any other useless motivation that certainly wasn’t interesting enough to get itself killed.

  Which was going to happen anytime now. The creature must be stalking around just outside, trying to be sneaky. But the frog had good hearing, practiced throughout all its life in the wider world. It would hear the thing approaching easily!

  ...

  But all was silent. And the frog found itself slowly calming down.

  The creature had been frighteningly, impossibly silent, but there was no way it could dig without making noise. It seemed that the owl couldn’t – or hadn’t bothered to – follow.

  For now.

  No matter that this creature felt more significant than any other it had found, and by far. No matter that facing terror to uncover the truth was so terribly thrilling.

  It should be glad for this chance and make itself scarce.

  And learn to pick its battles better, before curiosity got it killed.

  It had been just about to lay down and relax when its patience was rewarded, in the form of the owl suddenly getting up. So sudden that the frog barely stopped itself from diving down again. Which would’ve ruined everything, as the creature didn’t seem to be heading for it. Just shaking its arms wildly in what might be stretching.

  … of course it hadn’t been found! It had circled around and approached from a trench in the ground, much more sneaky this time. Not even that thing would know it was here!

  In fact, the creature was soon stalking away. On the ground, it was much less graceful, but still so clearly deadly the frog couldn’t allow itself to look away, not even to check what it really wanted to see.

  It kept staring as the predator easily jumped on top of an outcropping... and then into the air, towards the outside of this area. Even knowing what it knew, it thought for a moment the owl would fall like a rock.

  Instead, as the frog’s high intellect had insisted, it kept its elevation and glided away to terrify something else, faster than any living thing in this world had any right to move.

  All this in complete, utter silence. Which didn’t bode well at all.

  Would it even realize if- when the owl came back?

  However, with the giant horror gone, it could finally uncover its secret!

  It had been hard to notice, with the murderous thing on top, but something was moving right under. And surprisingly, it turned out to be…

  Rocks?

  Obviously they must be something else, as it was sure it had seen them move, and rocks that moved on their own were prohibitively rare.

  But right now, they looked nothing more than peculiar stones. To know more, it would need to get closer. And it would! Even if it was an immensely scary prospect, it had chosen this path and would have to walk it. And be quick about it, because there was no better time than right now, when the thing had just left.

  Struggling against its instincts, the frog jumped up to the edge, and then down towards the clearing. The crunch of its landing rang painfully loud in the deathly silent hollow.

  Already regretful, it started walking, unable to stop constantly checking around and jumping for cover at the slightest shift. Still, it managed to keep an eye on the center, which allowed it to notice minute movements. They truly weren’t stones, but… smaller copies of the owl? All huddled together and trying to pretend they were rocks?

  … It seemed absurd, but there was no denying it. Somehow, the thing had found smaller, much weaker versions of itself, and was guarding them.

  What was it keeping them for? They looked pretty simple. Critters, even. How had it managed to keep them docile during the humming attacks?

  Should the frog try to find some smaller copies of itself, too?

  But its thoughts ground to a halt, when it realized it was not the only one approaching.

  The thing had appeared out of nothing, as there wasn’t anything to hide over there: no rocks to offer cover, no cracks in the ground. It must be much better at hiding.

  Scarily long, and as big around as the frog was tall, it felt forbiddingly strong.

  Yet, despite having a bad feeling, the frog couldn’t help but stop to watch. The creature wasn’t headed for it anyway.

  And maybe it was strong, yes, but with the same peculiarity as the crab. Even more extreme perhaps: its limbs must be so small that it looked as if it had none, forcing it to crawl awkwardly on the ground in a strange, back and forth way – though it was quite fast at it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  It was a struggle to reconcile the awkwardness of its appearance with how threatening it felt.

  As it drew near the critters, the frog had an idea about what was going to happen, and wasn’t disappointed.

  The predator darted in – biting down on one of the mini-owls, leaving a huge wound – and then immediately back out of reach. The attack was shockingly quick, sudden and violent, quite a good explanation for its purported strength. Good enough that the frog found itself having involuntarily taken a few steps back.

  The other mini-owls stopped playing dead once they realized what had happened, but didn’t do much more than that. They backed off even more, huddling together in complete silence, but refused to leave their little nook.

  Somehow the wounded one hadn’t died immediately, even with such a vicious strike from a much greater predator. Though it wouldn’t last much longer, with how steadily weaker it was getting: there was a soft wail coming out of it and a slight tremble, and that was it.

  The snake clearly knew this and approached again.

  The critters started screeching a loud, grating sound, swelling up and trying to ward the thing off. But they were far from the terror that was the bigger version. They just looked funny. The predator ignored them of course, and just bit down again and again, until its prey went entirely still.

  The scene was upsetting. As always with predators, but this time even more so than usual.

  This snake felt strong. Not remotely on the level of the true owl, but still easily stronger than the frog. What use did it have for such a weak gem?

  And then the creature did something completely unexpected: it opened its mouth wider than seemed possible and just… took the small owl inside itself. The whole creature, not just the gem.

  It was such a... bizarre thing to watch. Why would it ever do something like that? So deeply disquieting, that the frog found itself stunned.

  By the time it recovered – to its increasing horror – the snake had done that again and again, and was starting to look funny: the small owls were only small compared to the bigger version, but they weren’t really tiny in an absolute sense. Actually, they must be almost as big as the frog itself, if not bigger. Having a few of those inside was making the snake look sluggish. Ridiculous.

  Yet, it seemed intent on finishing off the rest, and the things were too simple to understand they should run away, and too weak to fight back even against such a slowed down opponent. They just huddled against each other, uselessly leaning away from impending doom.

  The frog realized it didn’t much like that.

  It didn’t know why, but the idea of… such a disparity of strength? felt uncomfortable. It had seen the like happen sometimes, but very rarely. And always in a much more reasonable context.

  Complex creatures attacking critters unprovoked was a first, and added another layer of depravity. Their kind was lesser than almost anything else in this world, down to what the frog had been in the before. Actively seeking their death was so completely pointless that it felt unnatural.

  Obviously, they were as many as they were fragile, and there wasn’t a moment in this world where a horde of them weren’t dying. The frog wasn’t about to get into a fight to save a few, no matter how upset it was or how unfair their end.

  However, this whole situation felt… significant, for some strange reason.

  The owl was still the center of it all, but what was happening was related.

  The frog was curious to understand the snake’s place in it, and now that the thing was so clearly impeded by the critters inside… In fact, it was so awkward that it even failed its next attack on the little owls, with them getting out of the way in time.

  If a fight came out against a creature it disdained so much, during that very creature’s moment of weakness, well…

  It had decided to be more adventurous, after all! At worst, it was confident it could run away. Though it shouldn’t come to that.

  It started approaching carefully – trying to appear non-threatening – but quickly enough to get there before another critter disappeared.

  It was clear when the predator realized its presence, and was planning to-

  rows of teeth filled its sight. The frog almost failed to jump out of the way in time, and the enormous head went crushing into the gravel just behind, a few stones pelting its back.

  It scrambled back hurriedly, trying to make distance and avoid a repeat… But the creature didn’t attack again. Rather, it slowly dragged itself back over the ground, all previous springiness weighted out of it. Allowing for a safe retreat out of range.

  … That had been scary. It could almost feel those fangs closing on its skin.

  Wasn’t the snake supposed to be slowed down? It had become so clumsy with the small owls! But that attack had been so fast, the frog might have been unable to jump away in time, if it hadn’t been expecting it.

  Because, like with the crab back then, it had tried to remain open to peaceful alternatives, but knew deep down that it would end in a fight.

  And a fight the frog would give it. The creature was already vile enough for picking on the critters, so it wasn’t any loss.

  It stood ready when the snake finished coiling back… and dove forward again. Dodging was easier this time, the giant head missing its mark by a good margin. But it had no delusion this would be easy.

  This snake was by far the strongest thing it had… well, not the strongest it had fought, if the times it had run away were included. But certainly the strongest it had stood up to, and by far. However, it shouldn’t be impossible: the creature had already done it the favor of crippling itself badly, and didn’t seem to have a hard shell like the crab. It was just a matter of getting closer.

  But if it did get closer, it would be vulnerable to its diving attack. And getting hit by that felt like a bad idea...

  The snake was of course uncaring of this quandary and kept trying its luck. But with its unimaginative approach, that did little more than reveal its patterns and limits.

  The annoyance almost caused it to get hit, even with its abundant experience in getting interrupted so. Slapping the thing away while twisting out of reach of the hurling head was even more satisfying than usual.

  It had been a while since one of them had attempted to get it killed so brazenly. It was lucky that the snake seemed unwilling to move, coiled in a twisted form of protectiveness in front of the critters. But at the very least, it confirmed that this was the best moment to fight: no way the snake would have failed to punish that stumble there, had it been at its best. It was just a matter of time before it figured something out to attack back, if the creature kept at it.

  And then it didn’t.

  Suddenly, its course changed midair, and the frog’s jump went from precise and smooth to not enough. A desperate kick at the ground managed to adjust in turn and avoid it getting bitten. Still, a painful sting flared up on its flank.

  It jumped a good way out of the strike zone, eyeing the creature warily. The snake seemed content to just stand there and stare with a cruel expression, confident and self-satisfied. Out of the corner of its eye, the frog checked the wounded area.

  A very shallow gash – it had dodged effectively all things considered – but with some kind of slimy substance coating it. Not painful or doing anything nefarious, really. And yet the frog felt uneasy looking at it. That if this thing entered its body, it would do unimaginable damage.

  Had the snake managed to bite down…

  But the frog wasn’t so easily scared off! This was just a warning not to play around too much: this predator wasn’t like the crab. It was dangerous.

  Time to stop taking it lightly or trying to be too fancy. There was a clear moment of weakness, after all.

  It walked back into the strike zone and dodged the obvious attack – this time jumping much further away than before, to be sure. Then, rather than waiting for the snake to coil back, it dashed forward after the head.

  The predator tried to angle its opened mouth for a bite, but it was weak and slow without its wind-up. Despite the thing trying to arch its body away... the frog reached its neck, with surprising ease.

  The snake was very upset about the situation of course, but there wasn’t much it could do now. It shook its head and complained loudly, but it just didn’t have the strength to fight back as the frog straddled its head.

  Now, for the otter strategy: it dug itself in and bit down hard.

  The snake immediately hissed and thrashed around wildly… accomplishing nothing at all. It could have tried smacking its own head against a rock. It wouldn’t have worked, as the frog was nimble enough to twist out of the way, but it would at least do something. Better than rolling over uselessly, almost crushing the critters behind.

  The snake just wasn’t made for this kind of fight. The best it had was twisting its neck, trying to bite down, but the frog was experienced and had positioned itself too close to the nape to reach. The only downside was that it couldn’t also help with its hands: it was lame and needed all its limbs to hold on hard and not get knocked off.

  It was astonishing how weak a creature the snake was, once put in this position, even if it felt quite stronger than the frog.

  It was the crab all over again: a creature that had put its all into one extremely dangerous thing. But if that didn’t work, it was defenseless.

  It was just a matter of biting down harder and harder, the wound dripping wildly… and before it knew, the thrashing grew weaker, the hissing softer.

  The snake seized up one last time, and then its head started lowering to the ground.