As I ran through the forest, I reveled in the newfound power in my legs. While it was only a fraction of the difference in strength between myself as a young chimera, and that of a dire bear, the sensation left me feeling giddy. This giddiness was a new sensation, too. What limited joy I had experienced in the past seems so shallow and cloudy in comparison.

Pushing that aside, I made note of the changes to my physical body that were still settling into place. I’d grown slightly. Where I was previously of similar size and overall shape to an average wolf, my body had become a bit bulkier and my limbs a bit longer. My hide was still a patchwork of scales and fur, although thicker. My tail still arched and curled over my back, with its scorpion stinger. Then there were my forelimbs. My paws had changed shape, with the digits becoming longer and more flexible. I approved, since it would make it easier to grab onto my prey. My throat and mouth had changed as well, but to what extent I was still uncertain. Since my fangs were still intact and my jaw still felt strong, I ignored it for the moment.

I began adjusting my course as I approached, trying to get downwind of the fight, to see if I could learn more about what was happening. I didn't have to circle too far around before I started to pick up on traces of blood. I smelled some unfamiliar things as I crept up, and one thing I knew very well and would normally steer clear of: a troll.

I slowed my pace and crept through the forest, coming up on the sounds of battle. The troll was in the middle of a clearing, flailing about with the trunk of a small tree. Three creatures surrounded it and circled around it in a seemingly coordinated fashion. I climbed a tree to better hide myself and for a clearer view of the battle.

The troll, as was typical of its kind, had rough gray skin, long thick arms, and a head that was more like a mouth with eyes and ears tacked on as accessories. This troll was covered in scratches and deep gouges, which could be seen visibly closing.

Its assailants were not something I'd seen before in this forest. Two of them were bipedal reptiles, that seemed like a blend between the human I had eaten earlier, and some kind of fierce lizard. They both were carrying weapons similar to the spear I’d seen earlier, but the shiny metallic tip was much larger, and clearly used more for cutting than stabbing. The third was like a larger version of the human I ate earlier. A dire human? The dire human was only a head or so shorter than the troll, and was swinging around a giant piece of metal, which my memories identified as a sword.

I settled in and made myself comfortable and continued watching. The three attackers nimbly avoided the troll's wild and clumsy attacks and darted in to make attacks as opportunities presented themselves, so they were definitely skilled. It’s a shame they were idiots. They seemed to be trying to wear the beast down by inflicting numerous smaller wounds. A proper predator would have known that would never work. Trolls heal too quickly. You must incapacitate it quickly, then finish it off. Otherwise, they can continue fighting until they run out of stamina. A well fed troll could keep up such a fight for many days.

As I watched, I committed the scents of the creatures to memory. While I still felt an odd reticence to hunting the dire human, I felt no such qualms about the lizard humans. As I associated the scents with the individuals, I became concerned. There were two more creatures hiding out of sight. One smelled slightly similar to the human I’d previously eaten, while the other smelled of something else.

I scanned the underbrush and trees around the clearing, searching for the other two. There they are, the sneaky little fuckers. A human draped in hides, with a curved piece of wood in its hands, which my memories identified as a bow. That one smells strongly of the forest, but only a little of this forest. The other one also looks like a human, but with reddish fur, a tail, and ears atop its head. It held a long stick in its hands, a staff, maybe? This one didn’t look imposing at all, but it had a very condensed magical aura about it. Curious, I watched these two while they watched the ongoing battle. They were making low growls at each other that seemed to have complex variations and patterns in them. Talking, it’s called? While my acute hearing could pick it up, and differentiate the sounds even from this distance when I focused, none of it made any sense to me.

After studying the pair for a bit, I turned my attention back to the fight. Exactly as I’d thought, the troll was showing no signs of slowing, while the others were. As I studied the fight a bit closer, I saw numerous sticks on the ground, with bird feathers on one end, and troll blood coated points on the other. Many of them had been trampled and broken. As I did, my mind seemed to draw a connection between the arrows and the bow the human was holding. That must be why the human isn’t helping then. Those arrows couldn’t possibly cripple the troll, other than maybe blind it for a short while if an eye were hit.

The watching pair roared out more of their talking noises, seemingly directed at the other three. The fighters stopped trying to strike at the troll and began to focus solely on evasion and defense. I felt a change in the furred human’s magic aura, and my attention snapped to it and focused. Magic aura was flowing out of it and into the staff it carried. The aura moved in strange ways as it swirled around the staff, then streamed out to wrap around the troll’s head. The furred human’s magic aura weakened significantly. The troll dropped its club and began pawing at its eyes. The three fighters ran to join the two in hiding, and the group fled.

I hesitated for a moment and considered. The troll was weakened somehow by what the furred human did. I was curious and wanted to follow the strange group, but I might never get a chance to do something like this again.

I leapt from my perch and charged at the troll. I scaled its back like I would a tree, then bit down hard on the back of its neck with all my might, trying to break its spine. The troll didn’t even react, but continued to ineffectually paw at its eyes. The strangely patterned aura was dissipating, and would be gone in a few more seconds.

Hot damn, this spine is thick, and does not want to break. Plan B then.

I’d eaten many snakes and other beasts with venomous fangs, and naturally incorporated that ability into myself. While trolls are naturally resistant to such attacks due to their prodigious healing, I figured I might be able to overwhelm it by sheer quantity. I pumped venom through my fangs, and struck it with the scorpion stinger on my tail to inject even more. While I pumped in venom and strained to break the beast’s very sturdy spine, I began ripping and tearing with all four of my limbs. Relying on the vise grip of my bite to anchor me, I gouged at the troll’s flesh, faster than it could heal. I used my forelimbs to tear at it around the shoulder, hoping to dig deep enough into the flesh to sever tendons. My rear legs trying to tear deep enough to reach its organs.

The patterned aura clinging to its head faded, and the troll finally became aware of my presence. It let out a roaring howl of rage and began to awkwardly bat at me, trying to grab a solid hold of me so it could tear me from its back. However, its movements were clumsy. Several times, its fingers brushed against me, but did not begin to close until several moments later. Good, my venom was having an effect. As I continued to savage the troll’s back, I felt something in the bloodied mess I was making of the troll’s right shoulder. It felt like a thick cord. Without thinking, I began to tear at it with my claws, and was rewarded with a snapping sound, which was followed by that arm falling limply to the troll’s side. Seconds later, this repeated again with the other arm.

Without warning, the troll toppled backwards, unconscious. I was so focused on keeping up the damage, that I didn’t notice until it was too late.

Crunch.

Fucking shit! That hurts so fucking bad!

With great effort, I dragged myself out from under the troll’s form. My rear legs, which had been extended to try and claw their way into the troll’s kidneys or liver, were broken. Badly. There was a spike of white bone protruding from one of them. My tail dragged limply behind. I couldn’t feel anything from it at all.

Shit. This is a really fucking bad situation.

But then again, maybe not as bad as I thought. I’m a chimera, after all. Normally, I could heal from any wound given enough time and food.

Judging by the damage I had done to the troll’s arms, and the rate it was healing, it’d probably take it hours to heal. And I’d pumped enough venom in it to kill a herd of aurochs. It was still alive, but I was sure I could fix that, and myself in the process, by doing what a chimera does best.

Eat.

I thank you, furred human with the strange magic stick, for this feast.