Here's another chapter for your enjoyment!

Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.

This wasn't the smartest idea. Okay, this was actually a completely terrible idea. Eating the delicious essence of that rhinophant was a major mistake on my part. I didn't take into account the vast differences in…well, there's this ratio of proportionate/disproportionate essence absorption that I can vaguely comprehend but not explain fully. Simply put, the more essence I have, the better. I'll have more options and fuel for evolution and adaptations.

But the density of the essence changes all that.

A creature of sufficient size and years lived will have absolutely delicious essence that is both powerful and dense. Strong, long lived creatures with a wealth of knowledge and evolutionary adaptations will have powerful essence. But that same essence will have this density that causes those adaptations to pass on to its descendents; the more those adaptations are passed down, the less dense they get and become more likely to mutate.

Highly dense essence is hard to mutate, but ensures a successful passing on of one's genes.

So powerful essence is good for a Zerg, regardless of origin. But density; density can mess up any plans for evolution and adaptation. Dense essence is set in its avenues of evolution, forcing traits and abilities upon the devourer, even if these adaptations are harmful or just useless.
And fuck, that rhinophant had dense essence.

I'm now too fucking big to stick to my tree-hopping lifestyle. The rhinophant imparted its size, muscularity and strength into me. I've long lost my opposable claws, fluid grace, gliding and venomous bite for large size and powerful, physical offensive and defensive traits.

I'm a bioluminescent, twelve foot tall, six-legged, carnivorous mammoth-lion with two sets of jaws, heavy spiked and bladed carapace on my back and flanks. I'm not too fast, but I can turn quickly, tear through anything my size or smaller, take hits and I'm fairly sure some of my spikes are poisoned… Okay, there are plus sides to this, but I wanted to fly!

I lowered my head to drink from a stream, dual-ear sets twitching at the slightest noise. Hmm, sense-wise, I'm pretty well off. I only have two sets of eyes and I've lost much of my color spectrum, but I've retained my infrared and bioluminescence tracking. I can now track more efficiently by scent and sound than before, as well. Good thing, because now I'm so much slower than before.

There's a series of rustling sounds approaching my right, so I turn fully to face the oncoming creature. I snarl as the scent hits me.

It's the panther-eel.

I roar in challenge of my nemesis, my former yowling cry now a rumbling snarl. Heh, I sound like a mix between a lion and a gorilla. The bush explodes and out comes the panther-eel, a bit shorter than I am though I'm sure he's a hell of a lot faster. I crouch a bit and we both circle each other. I can see it's a bit longer that I am, more streamlined. It'll probably be able to strike faster too.

I needed to use my armored hide to catch his claws to get a good hit in. I'm pretty sure I outweigh it by a few hundred pounds but the panther-eel has a lot of experience taking down larger beasts. I see a minute twitch and it comes roaring at me. The exposed maw bites deeply into the hard carapace protecting my left flank. Its four fore-claws tear into me as well, trying to get under the armored hide. I snarl and use the small spikes on the side of my forelimbs to smack its underside, the sharp barbs tearing easily through the exposed flesh.

It yowls in pain and backs off, crouching low and growling in rage. I mirrored its stance and waited for it to strike. Another pounce would leave it wide open…

But sadly that wasn't the case. The panther-eel took off running and I roared after him. I knew I couldn't catch up; the bastard outpaced me easily. But this was a win. My forelimb spikes are poisonous, though not as strong as my bite once was. It'll slow the panther-eel down and maybe even kill it.

I growled and left the area as my wounds healed at an accelerated pace. It'll probably be all healed up in a few days.

The blue cat-people are tracking me.

I can smell them; faint odors of smoke from their cooking fires and treated hide. My ears twitch. They're above me in the trees…
Looking up right at them, I stare at the hunters. Their bows are out, though not trained on me. I'm a curiosity to them. I roar loudly, nearly causing one to fall out of the trees. He (for he lacks the…mounds that the other one has on her chest) is caught by his female companion before he loses his grip. They chitter at each other like those four armed swinging apes and keep their eyes on me. I bear my teeth and I can see the male pale quite a bit.

I snort and pad off, my heavy paws leaving clear impressions of my passing. I needed some way to reduce my size and streamline myself. Flight would be impossible at my current size.

"…never seen such a beast…larger than even the palulukan!"
"Perhaps it comes from the plains far east? To have traveled across the mountains…"
"…should tell Olo'eytkan of it. Surely they would now where…"

I eventually came to rest in a clearing, staring in amazement at…mountains. Fucking flying mountains anchored either by magnetism or those long vines to the area. They were massive, easily larger than any mountain back home on…um…on my original planet. Oh, and I could see a flock of flying lizard-monsters roosting in a few of those mountains.

But still, flying fucking mountains?! Where the hell am I?

Several days later, I came crashing through the forest. I roared and pushed myself harder; I could feel myself evolving and adapting with each burst of speed I put on. I was running down a horse of some kind. It was green, had six legs and twin tentacles trailing behind it. I had been trailing after a few stragglers of a nearby herd, getting closer and closer to it. But a freaking flying lizard-monster swooped down and snagged one, causing the rest to flee.

Now I'm chasing after one for both lunch and its essence.

*smash*

I bulldozed through a fallen tree and sank my fangs into the hindquarters of the horse-thing. It staggered, giving me time to smash its hind legs with my primary forelimbs. Lacking a set of working legs, the horse-thing fell. I clamped down on its throat and death followed soon after. I let go and roared as loud as possible, scaring several creatures in the vicinity. Hopefully that would keep any other predators from seeking out the scent of blood.

I turned my attentions back to my kill and feasted on both its flesh and essence. The meat was filling and the essence…actually, the essence was bland; thin, tasteless and zero use to me.

I got absolutely nothing from this horse-thing that I could use. Multiple stomachs weren't needed. Compact muscles I already had. Senses were inferior to my own.

Nothing but a store of bland essence added to my own reserves, so there was that.

I snarled and looked up where a small group of those cat-people were nestled in the trees. They were watching me again. I roared at them and loped off. One of these days, I'd catch one of them for their essence. Hopefully their adaptations would fuel my need to get smaller and more streamlined; another step closer to flight.

[Essence][Powerful][Nearby]

I stopped, dead still and concentrating my sense as best I could. Something big nearby; it had a powerful and dense store of essence that practically echoed with each beat of its heart. I crouched and glanced around. It was close…

*whump…whump…whump*

Beats of wings…? SHIT!

I sprinted to the trees as something big crashed into the ground behind me. A blur of orange, red and roaring fangs was all I saw before I took off. The thing was big, easily twice my size without counting its wingspan. I needed a plan to take it out. If only I could fucking think straight!

[Essence][Kill][Consume]

Shut Up!

I drowned out my Zerg half and crouched in the shadow of a clump of trees. Looking to the sky, I caught glimpses of the beast. Not enough to get a clear picture but… It was big and fast. There were these…horns? Protrusions on the top and bottom of its head. The wings were like the flying lizard-monsters but it was so much larger than them.

Whatever this was, it was an apex predator like the panther-eel. It was also definitely above me in the food chain right now.

I was gonna kill it and take its essence for my own.

Concentrating my senses again, I could hear it circling around the area. It was searching for me. Good. I padded close to the clearing it almost caught in. There was a deep trench and a large rocky outcropping near me. Maybe if I…?

[Essence][Close]

I looked up and saw the bastard fully. Orange and red with blue and black stripes. Blue crests on the top and bottom of the head. An arrow shaped head and razor sharp teeth. Enormous wingspan and clawed hind legs. And a long tail.

It was an apex and it was gonna die today.

I moved close to the outcropping, keeping myself between it and the apex. If I timed this just right… It roared and swooped down at me, clawed legs outstretched. I crouched and moved so that my rear was braced against the rock, ready to dodge as late as possible.

It loomed closer and closer, the shadow covering me entirely. It was bigger than I originally thought. And just as it was within biting distance, I threw myself to the side and the beast smashed into the outcropping. It roared in surprise and fell stunned by the impact. I wasted no time and tore into it, using my claws to rend holes in both its flesh and wings.

Just like a wise…someone says, "It's the wings…you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. And a downed dragon…is a dead dragon."

I don't remember who said that and this thing isn't actually a dragon, but the principles are the same. I tanked a few hits with my spiked hide and went for its long neck, aiming to take a big bite out of its breathing tube. I failed and was smashed away from the flailing monster, landing heavily on my side. Dazed as I was, I was helpless as it flipped itself over and began tearing over to my body. I shakily got to my feet and met it head on. The apex flyer was grounded and bleeding heavily from my assault though I was sure I had several crushed ribs and other internal injuries. Its head crests smashed my back, knocking to ground. It repeated this several times, breaking more ribs and I think I felt a leg break.

Snarling, I rolled and pushed forwards. With great effort, I sank my fangs on the back of its head on the next smash. I wrapped my forelimbs around and tore at the soft neck. If I didn't kill it now, I was dead…

It roared and thrashed; I was nearly thrown but renewing my grip tore more holes into the neck. More blood coated the clearing and me… Slowly, its thrashing ceased. The combination of its wounds, my slow acting poisoned barbs and loss of air led to its death.

I waited until I could no longer feel the beat of its hearts or the movement of its lungs before I released its neck. I sagged against it as the fight took its toll on me. I could feel my broken ribs piercing my organs and my broken legs failing to support me. A coughing snarl left me tasting blood and I knew there was no way I could heal from this.

I stood as best I could and roared with all my remaining strength…then everything went dark.

[Essence][Evolve][Rebirth]