Even when the snake finally lied motionless on the ground, all curled up, the frog didn’t let go. And for good reason.

  It had seen in its travels that some creatures liked to feign death, only to surprise their attackers and turn the fight around, and even if predators did it rarely, better be safe than sorry. Luckily what came next would ensure the creature wasn’t pretending.

  It started digging even more enthusiastically into the flesh below... and pretty soon found itself embedded deep within, removing the last bone and sinew in the way.

  The snake’s gem was… peculiar.

  A cluster of smaller elements – pointy but soft pebbles, each different – that felt like they had nothing in common and yet were clearly irreplaceable parts of the same whole.

  They were impossible to pull apart, kept together by some mysterious attraction for each other. But they could move around a lot, making the gem act similar to a patch of fur. Only much more obscene, of course.

  Simply holding this thing felt repulsive. The thought that it would soon be a part of itself in some ways…

  But this was what it needed.

  As had already been clear even from the outside, these spoils were good enough to transform. The filaments all around, brimming with potential for something greater, were the final confirmation. The snake really had been much stronger.

  And the frog had overcome such a creature in a straight fight, without tricks. Sort of.

  This was what it was capable of when it really tried! And it was about to become even better.

  Its grasp on the gem became unbreakable, which meant that it was stuck here now. Something surprisingly unnerving, that made it falter.

  Strange... It had known this would come, and hadn’t been particularly upset back then, with the otter’s gem. This should have been fine too.

  But for some inscrutable reason, there was something very uncomfortable with this situation, and its instincts were usually on point...

  At least, this was better than last time: it could move the rest of its body just fine. Effectively, it was as if the filaments were holding it tied by an arm. And while damaging those bindings in any way was absolutely forbidden, lest it invalidate the whole process, with some careful twisting and wiggling it could get into a better position to decide once and for all if it should proceed.

  Perhaps it hadn’t been stuck even with the otter and had just been overwhelmed by the situation? Or it might have been a consequence of looming death, essence wafting away by the moment.

  Soon, it managed to reach out of the snake’s flesh, and was immediately surprised by a loud and annoying sound. And by movement, out of the corner of its eye.

  It struggled to pull itself free as fast as possible and check what exactly was happening. Unfortunately, the snake had decided to be a nuisance to the end, and had curled up in a way that blocked sight all around.

  Despite this, it soon recognized the the mini-owls’ obnoxious screeching. What was up with them now? They’d been perfectly quiet even while they were being slaughtered!

  It couldn’t even check, with the gem still lodged firmly, forcing it to reach inside the snake’s flesh elbow deep. But while trying to delicately pull further free, it caught sight of the probable cause of the movement: the snake itself.

  A panicked jerk in reaction almost ruined everything. It was just that sudden and unexpected! … though the creature couldn’t still be alive, obviously, even if it was twitching this way. Not after such clearly fatal damage, not when the very center of its essence had almost been dragged outside and was feeding another.

  Whatever was causing these sudden spasms must have another reason. Was this why the critters were complaining? Couldn’t they understand the snake was very, very dead?

  No matter. There were more important things to worry about. It was time to decide: either it went through or gave up now.

  Truthfully, it was a foregone conclusion.

  Though the screeching would be annoying; though it might lose a good part of what it had gained since becoming the frog; and though there was still this distinct feeling that something was off, like it was forgetting an important detail...

  The snake had been more than strong enough to justify the transformation. It might have had its weaknesses, but so had the otter. And the frog had managed to make a… well, a frog, out of it. If it stayed on course and didn’t change too much, it would be an all-around upgrade.

  This was its prize, that it wouldn’t abandon for almost anything. A chance that wouldn’t be coming again any time soon.

  It had to be taken.

  The gem slipped out of its grasp to float in the air as the filaments started to unravel from the snake’s flesh below,

  wrapping around the gem,

  and then through the gem into its own flesh.

  However, they didn’t unmake it as the ones from the otter had. Rather, they started filling its body. Padding and embedding within it.

  Also, it didn’t lose consciousness this time. It didn’t go back to that state similar to the before, but simply felt its mind fill with possibilities and his body becoming more… responsive. As if it could give any order now, and its flesh would obey. Or it would soon enough, once the filaments finished untangling below and merged completely.

  Already, it felt that it could hazard some changes, and that the filaments holding it had loosened quite a bit. Allowing for more freedom, that it decided to use by wiggling over the snake towards the small owls.

  They were making more and more noise, which was ruining its moment! The transformation might go on for some time, and it would rather not suffer through it.

  Even with the gem floating and extending the bindings, this was possibly its most awkward bit of crawling yet - and it had done quite a lot of crawling - but it was slowly making progress.

  What kind of shape should it choose? Many powerful creatures met during its travels came to mind, but it knew instinctively that these filaments were limited in what they could do. They were far from enough to aim for even the least of those titans, let alone something like the owl.

  The snake was the obvious next candidate as inspiration. And promptly discarded.

  Obviously these filaments had the power to turn it into their source, but why mimic a creature that it had defeated so easily, even if with a tremendous advantage?

  … maybe it should simply try to improve on its current form? After all, it was something it had liked, while also having many elements that could be refined with new experience.

  And many things that it had waited long to repair: with barely a thought, a new arm started growing where one should have always been.

  It knew it shouldn’t. Not yet.

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  This was something fragile, that must be done properly: all filaments were needed.

  The agonizing slowness of the growth compared to last time was confirmation. Though it might also have been the result of a different perspective, or that it was fully aware during the process: it couldn’t pretend to change shape instantly and however it wanted in the real world.

  It knew it should have waited, but it was just impossible to resist: this had hindered it so much, and for so long! It had been a long time coming. And even this relief was nothing compared to the euphoria of the transformation itself. Of feeling the boundless potential roiling just under its skin.

  More! There were so many features it had observed in its travels, interesting and useful things that-

  It finally crawled high enough to have a look around, and understood why the critters were screeching: they were in trouble,and playing rocks was useless now.

  Predators were stalking in all directions.

  Not many and not powerful, but more than enough to threaten critters so weak. The little owls were trying the same strategy: huddling close together as if trying to appear bigger, and screeching loudly. It was just as effective as with the snake.

  Or rather, the vast majority of the scavengers really was holding back for some reason. But it was just a matter of time.

  Already, one critter was getting pulled away by an enterprising mouse.

  The scene would have been funny, with a thing so weak and small dragging around the much bigger critter as if it were nothing.

  It would be funny, if it weren’t so frustrating. From up close, the mini-owl really was as big as the frog, and yet it couldn’t fight back even a little. The biggest threat had just been dealt with for them.

  Couldn’t they even try a little?

  And almost as much as it was frustrating, it was wrong. What had these things even done to deserve this treatment? The predators around were much lesser than the snake, so it wasn’t as bad, but still. And the frog couldn’t do anything about it.

  Or rather... there was something it could try.

  It might be locked in place, but its form wasn’t so constrained right now. The filaments might not be finished unraveling, but there were already many more inside.

  … it commanded its body to elongate, to reach forward as much as possible and-

  Sheer horror made it stop immediately.

  That way lay ruin. Just briefly thinking about the end result, what it would become once it committed too much… It hadn’t done all this to destroy itself over what was basically a whim. And that shape would be way too slow and unpractical to be of use in this emergency, anyway. A complete dead end.

  Which left it back to the start: stuck in place with an ongoing transformation that could not be interrupted now. The small critter was getting mauled and dragged to the sides, while the frog had only wasted time.

  But if leaning on the transformation itself was impossible… what of the filaments themselves? They might be alien, more snake than anything, but they were part of the process, slowly becoming one with the frog. It should have some measure of power over what they did.

  It commanded them to hurry up, to unravel from the snake faster… but they were already going as fast as possible. Trying for more speed would have terrible consequences.

  At the same time, there was something to do in a counterintuitive direction: they could be slowed down.

  The filaments stuttered a bit… and then loosened, in response to its desires. Which was wonderful! This shouldn’t have any particular consequence other than delaying things a bit, allowing the frog to deal with the situation and get back to transforming in no time!

  It dashed forward-

  and got immediately snapped back, lucky not to have done real damage.

  … In exchange for slowing things down, it had managed to grant itself a scant few steps of progress. Very far from enough. Completely useless.

  The scavengers were closing in, the little owl was being hauled away lifelessly, and the frog had only wasted time.

  Worse, more predators were rushing in, and more dangerous. A few in the back felt threatening enough that even the frog would have to be wary. With its recent victory and the transformation ongoing, it wasn’t particularly worried for itself, but better not throw away caution.

  Leaving the critters to their deaths would sting, but… perhaps this really was a lost cause.

  It should at least start thinking about an escape plan, if there were more creatures like that coming. If only there were a way to attack from here, maybe-

  A crushingly loud screech echoed in the clearing, stopping everything in their tracks.

  Dazed, and with mounting dread, the frog turned to see an enormous figure descending in the clearing.

  Oh. That was what it had forgotten.

  The terrifying thing dove amidst the others in a whirl of death. As it glided towards the critters, everything in its path - and quite a few that should have been far out of it – were torn to shreds.

  The frog pushed back panic and immediately jumped away, fighting against the filaments still entangling it to run for its life. The owl might be grateful to it for handling the snake, but better not stake its life on that.

  No matter its recent triumph, it wouldn’t be a fight the frog could take in the best of circumstances, let alone in this most vulnerable state.

  ...but the filaments stopped it dead pretty quickly just the same. No matter how much it struggled.

  They had become a trap.

  It turned to check the situation just as the owl reached the one that had been dragged away. Whatever the predator did next, it looked as if the mouse had simply ceased to exist. The frog couldn’t help feeling a small sense of satisfaction at that, though it probably wouldn’t be any help to the critter which had been mauled for so long.

  Everything around had understood the situation and was sensibly backing off, but the frog didn’t believe that would save them in the end. And about that…

  that left only one creature still stuck close, didn’t it?

  Predictably, the owl’s head snapped right here. Only fury in that gaze.

  The frog spun back and started to push hard against the ground, clawing at the filaments. Trying to tear them off, uncaring of the horrible consequences.

  Anything to reach the trench it had come from. All as claws scratched painfully against the rocks behind, getting closer and closer at such an unbelievable speed that-

  A giant talon closed around a leg and then everything went black for a moment.

  When it came to, it found itself on the ground, getting dragged back.

  Instinctively, it latched on with everything it had. It was lifted off anyway, and terrible pain followed as claws squeezed its leg harder and harder. It tried to turn and push with its hands against the claw. To fight back.

  It was all useless. The owl was destroying it, and didn’t even care, its gaze elsewhere.

  Another distracted squeeze and the frog crashed back to the ground.

  A leg fewer.

  It didn’t know where it had ended up. Everything so confusing... Its trench wasn’t there anymore… but there was one small crevice against the mountain, barely big enough to crawl into.

  It started pulling itself away as best as it could with another limb missing towards the only possible refuge, keeping an eye on the enemy now screeching in the other direction.

  Another predator was backing off of the smaller owls, maybe having tried something similar to the snake. The big one was furious with it, and hopefully would get distracted enough for the frog to escape.

  It turned its back on danger, and focused only on the destination.

  Safety was almost within reach!

  This situation was terrible, but it wasn’t as bad as the otter: what the owl had damaged wasn’t its body. Not yet at least.

  The transformation was lessened greatly, with many filaments torn. Its options and overall strength would be limited. But there was enough to recover, and then some. Getting out of this better than before and with the right amount of limbs would be success enough. It had to be.

  One hand finally closed around the mouth of the crevice and started to pull the rest of its body inside. It really was narrow, but widened immediately past the opening into a dark, rocky pit. Getting down would be painful, but it should be able to survive the fall. Then, it was just a matter of completing the transformation and any damage would be fixed. Once past the opening, it dove-

  A talon closed once again around its lower body, stopping its fall.

  The frog found itself upside down, clinging to the upper rim of the crevice with all it had. But the owl was too strong.

  Fingers snapped the wrong way as it was dragged back inexorably, while another claw joined the first in squeezing.

  Still, the filaments were holding up. As long as it managed not to get dragged outside the crevice... It just needed to get free and all would be fine.

  Then there was an almost paralyzing screech, and the frog looked back, with dread, to find the owl up close. Its terrible beak approaching.

  It was having a hard time fitting into the crevice, but once it did...

  then, the creature turned back once again and started screaming in another direction. It was incredibly painful even when the target was something else.

  There was some predator looming over the smaller owls now – impossible to make out from here - clearly emboldened by the owl’s distance.

  The grip holding its body weakened, the owl’s attention elsewhere.

  The frog prepared... and pulled the hardest it could, with everything it had at once, to get free.

  The owl fortunately let go, already rushing off.

  … but not before one last, brutal squeeze, a claw piercing something important deep inside. Then, the frog was falling down into the darkness.