Chapter Text
For a while, just leaves blew in the wind.
No birds chirping, no wolves howling.
Eerie silence from the fauna surrounding the tranquil pond.
...
Then, a gasp for air.
A panicked look around the area.
So, so much pain.
Next to the large rusted containers, murky water and small, misshapen bodies, an indescribable mass remains.
Clearly it was once an animal. There's a bone here, some flesh there.. you could probably find the eyes if you looked closely enough.
It writhes uncomfortably. Skin filled with even more irregular bumps than it had previously looks like it is about to slide off, bones grinding against each other and disappearing into the mud, a tongue barely still connected.
Everything hurts. Everything burns.
The broken body that was once simply amphibian stills.
...
A week passes.
...
A month passes.
...
A year passes.
...
The thing attempts to crawl into the pond.
splash.
Immediately it threatens to fall apart as the water moves around it.
Though, just in time, a bone latches onto clay, the rest of the parts quickly following.
It holds onto the clay for dear life and soon enough, becomes one with it.
Whether it is something new, or simply changed, is not certain.
Regardless, a complex consciousness slowly develops, and it becomes something completely different.