Chapter 40: The start of Survival

The scales quickly disappeared not long after. Felix stared at his arm, turning it slowly under the dim, filtered light of the moon.

’Human skin, no plating absolutely no sign of what just saved my life moments ago.’ he pondered.

"...So it doesn’t last." His voice was quiet, but steady.

A faint ache lingered beneath the surface of his muscles...it was not pain exactly, but pressure. Like something coiled beneath his skin and he could feel it now.

That feeling never went, it was just... dormant. Waiting to be called upon.

Felix exhaled slowly and lowered his arm, "Fine," he muttered. "Then I just have to use it a lot better than this."

Felix lifted himself up kicking away the rocks that surrounded him and went back to his cliff.

Morning came. Felix was just standing just outside of his cave in deep thought, ’well now I can control my scales.’ in that moment Felix’s scales erupted all over his body.

’i should learn how to control my eyes too...I have moments when I can see really far ahead, well I do remember the feeling of it. How my eyes felt as if they were widening, if I can replicate it then.’ His eyes immediately changed colour as the pupils split.

"Wow everything seems so close" he said as he moved through the cave.

’Oh is that a swamp’, something caught his eye mid thought.

A smile appeared on his face, "well that’s my new destination."

Felix immediately set off. When he got there he questioned, "well now were is that thing."

His question echoed throughout the swamp but the swamp didn’t respond.

Thick water stretched out before him, dark and unmoving. Gnarled roots twisted through the surface like skeletal fingers. The air hung heavy, damp and suffocating.

The surroundings were quiet too quiet.

Felix stepped forward anyway.

His boot sank slightly into the mud with a soft, wet sound. He shifted his weight instinctively, adjusting before the ground could give way further.

His eyes sharpened as he caught a ripple spread across the water.

Felix froze trying to see what else was there besides him.

There, ten metres ahead.

His head tilted slightly toward the movement he was feeling.

It was like pressure against his awareness, "...I know you’re there."

The water stilled again and for half a second, nothing happened.

Then the water erupted. A crocodile launched from the surface, jaws snapping open with explosive force as it surged straight toward him.

Felix moved away instantly. He pivoted hard to the right, the creature’s bite snapping shut just past his ribs with a bone-jarring crack.

Air displaced against his side as that attack was too close.

With no time to dwell. The crocodile twisted with terrifying speed, its tail whipping across the water as it reoriented for another strike.

Felix stepped back in an attempt to create distance but only after a few paces did he stop.

"No," he muttered, ’why am I running from this.’

Felix stood there with his eyes shut his scales erupting from his neck spreading all across his body, he open his eyes and they were like that of an eagles his long hair tensed up as well.

The creature lunged again but Felix stepped forward this time. The world compressed into motion.

His body shifted again as that now familiar crawling sensation spread above his skin translucent scales.

Black scales surged across his forearms, locking into place in overlapping plates.

The crocodile’s jaws opened wide while it lunged towards Felix but Felix met it head-on.

His left hand shot out and caught the upper jaw mid-lunge.

The impact slammed through him like a shockwave, his arm jolting under the force but he held it with ease.

His right hand drove down and under the jaw, his fingers hooking into the lower jaw.

His grip locked in that position and for a heartbeat....Everything in that moment balanced.

’Force against force....but the greater force always wins...’ Felix thought.

Then Felix pulled on it hard and a raw sound tore from his throat as his arms strained in opposite directions, muscles tightening, tendons burning as he forced the jaws wider.

The crocodile thrashed violently, its tail slammed into his side trying to break free.

Felix staggered aback boots carving through mud but his grip didn’t break for a single moment, "Not—this time—!"

The beast twisted, trying to roll away but to it’s surprise Felix moved with it.

He stepped into the rotation, letting the momentum carry through his body instead of just fighting it.

Then drove his knee down into the crocodile’s snout. He broke it’s snout but the motion disrupted it...just enough.

Felix’s eyes sharpened and then he barked, "this is it!"

He ripped the crocodiles jaw, blood flowed from the sides of its mouth...Felix continued the motion until the bones that supported its jaw broke.

Felix now let go of it, ’its no lion by eyy I did it.’ he thought.

For a moment, the only sound that was heard was Felix’s breathing.

"...Okay," he muttered, staring down at his hands , "...That’s new."

The scales lingered this time. He exhaled, "hmmm well they stay for longer now...nice."

The scales that were left were not fully formed but not gone either.

Felix straightened himself slowly. Then he felt another ripple behind him.

It was a bit to his left. His eyes flicked across the water, "Seems like you had good friends."

The surface broke again.

Two more crocodiles surged forward from different angles, their movements staggered and way too deliberate.

Felix exhaled slowly. His stance lowering without much thought to it.

"...Good." Felix said.

The first came at him with an incredible speed, it was low and direct.

Felix sidestepped at the last possible moment, his hand snapping out to deflect its snout just enough to redirect the bite past him.

The second followed in immediately. It lunged from the side, aiming for his leg.

Felix pivoted hard, his scaled forearm slamming down across its head, driving it into the water with a heavy splash of water.

The first crocodile had already turned to attack but Felix moved first this time.

He stepped in aggressively, closing distance before it could fully reorient, his foot planting onto its back as he used the elevation to shift his angle.

Then drove his weight down on it’s back. The creature bucked violently as Felix’s foot managed to do some damage.

Felix launched off the back using the momentum to fling upward, twisting mid-air as the second crocodile surged back up beneath him...

Felix immediately tucked his knees and he landed on the crocodiles back with his knees, ’phew this one is dead but that first one tho.’

The first lunged again but Felix reacted instantly.

He grabbed the now dead crocodile’s body and shoved it into the path of the attack.

Felix quickly ran up to it and kicked it in it’s face, grabbed it’s tooth ripped it out and drove it into it’s eye.

Felix stepped back, breathing controlled, eyes tracking every movement.

"...Yeah," he murmured, "I’m getting the hang of it."

The scales pulsed faintly along his arms. Felix shifted his stance, gaze locking onto the remaining movement in the water trying to pinpoint it’s location as it was far from him.

The area he was in was cold but he kept his guard up as he kept moving close to the source of the ripples.

Felix kept moving up until something not entirely human flickered behind his eyes.

"Ohhhh shit."