As my hooved servant began to wander in the direction of the cragodile, I started to ponder the possibility of constructing real defences. A wall possibly, or maybe a series of trenches which could funnel visitors towards a single well marked path which would be easier to defend. I didn't really have a reason for this desire, but being rooted in place had made me rather paranoid given the fact that I couldn't simply run away.

This annoying fact plagued me most of my waking hours, but I took solace in my small army. Though composed mainly of insects, and rodents, it was at least enough to fight off the majority of the creatures that called this forest home. My thoughts were interrupted wehn I heard the sound of large wings somewhere overhead.

Far bigger than a bird’s, I knew that either a pegasus was nearby, or some new beast had wandered into my territory. With this thought firmly in mind, I willed the deer head high into the air, levitating it above the tree line. Sure enough, there were a pair of pegasi idly flying off in another direction, their pace lazy and relaxed.

I couldn't tell much about them other then the fact that they were larger than the thestral child and wore respeldnat golden armor. These interlocking plates covered their entire bodies, and obscured their cutie marks or any other notable features. All I could see was white fur, gold armor, and a pair of swords strapped to their sides, even their conversation was too muddled to pick out anything meaningful.

“Damn,” I muttered in the deer tongue. “I would have liked to at least watch them, or find out where they came from.”

I observed them for a few minutes but discovered little, as their pattern was lazy and seemingly random. That was until I remembered a random detail from my past, namely what a search pattern looked like. The pegasi’s path did indeed resemble a grid based effort to find something within my forest home.

What exactly they were looking for was beyond me, but they had yet to find it, obviously. Either way I did my best to put their presence out of my mind for the moment. Though intriguing, I was about to go hunt down the largest prey yet, and would need my focus.

Even if it took every ounce of restraint not to follow the pair.

I really need someone to talk to. All this silence is beginning to wear on me. I thought to myself. Come on, get it together. We got shit to do.

Focusing once more on the task at hand, I gathered up the thestral, the deer skull, and the small swarm of insects. The result of which was a sight which probably would have unnerved the average passerby. As I balanced the skull on the back of my hooved servant whose hair was absolutely filled with undead winged beetles.

I didn't care about appearances though, and swiftly made my way over to the more swampy area. There I made my group spread out, and begin scoping out the area from nearly all angles, while the thestral stayed in place. Acting like my base of operations, the foal hid itself in the nook of a large, and quite ancient elm tree.

There she remained while the deer skull floated up above the canopy, and the swarm fanned out in all directions. Once I had managed to locate the cragodile I brought my lost soul in for a closer look, inspecting the beast intently. Only to immediately kick myself for not paying more attention to the creature the first time I saw it.

Sure I had managed to figure that it was old, and big, but I failed to comprehend just how large the beast was. What I had assumed was a boulder was actually part of its tail, and furthermore, it was probably the size of a pickup truck. It likely was about as heavy as one, if not more so given just how rocky its exterior was, and how big the stones adorning its hide were.

Though mostly a greenish grey, it had a good number of colorless splotches on it, and it stuck out quite easily from its surroundings. Or aleast it did now that I was looking for spots of white which were incredibly rare in the swamp. With that in mind I was better able to make out its full bulk and estimated that it was at least fifteen or so foals measured from end to end.

I know that was a silly method of measurement, but I was struggling to come up with a more suitable alternative. Either way it left me with the impression that this big guy was unusually large, given the couple other cragiles I had spotted. Unlike them, his eyes werent a bright yellow, but rather a milky white, signifying that he was either blind, or was nearly so.

As the deer skull rested in the boughs of a red maple tree, I continued to inspect the beast, and soon realized something important.

I was not about to kill this thing the old fashioned way.

It was simply too large, and there was no chance I was going to be able to drag it back to my lair, even in pieces. It would take days to hack apart, provided I could even do so, given how rocky its hide was. That was without even factoring in the fact that the wood wolves would likely find it by then and likely snap up my kill.

And there were other predators to think of, plus it might rot in that time.

The worries just kept coming, but I was determined to beat this beasty so I decided to shift focus. Leaving my deer skull up in its perch, I focused on the foal, and the swarm, using the insects to find some prey. Which didn't take long at all, though it turned out to be a set of adorable looking otters, So I chose to keep looking.

After finding a lone snake which I recognized as a cottonmouth viper, I commanded the thestral to sneak up on it. A plan which was fairly simple to accomplish as the snake obviously wasn't expecting to end up as prey. Snatching it from its resting spot, I tried to bash its head against the exposed roots of a large tree, but it managed to squirm out of my grip.

Thinking itself smart, it spun around and sunk its fangs into the thestral’s forehoof, pumping venom into the undead creature. Who was, of course, utterly unaffected by the attack. The animal never managed to realize where it had gone wrong though, as I stomped its head in a moment later.

Though a little grim, I took some solace in the fact that I had ended its life quickly and cleanly. I then reached out with my aura, pushing my magic to the limits as I grabbed the reptile. In the end I managed to reach it, and with a bit of energy I managed to bring it back from the dead under my thrall.

Though I gained no nourishment from its death, it didn't take much to force its return to the realm of the living. With that thought in mind, I made the snake crawl up the foal’s leg and wrap around her neck where it remained for the moment. While I recalled the thestral back to its nook, I sent out a fox towards the cave with the intention of securing a few choice mushrooms.

Once I had managed to gather up a good arm load of the things, I used a bit of extra fibre to bind them together. Then I secured them to the ribcage of the critter and sent him out towards my scouting party who were still observing the cragadile.

Little happened while they waited for the fox to arrive, and the cragadile remained in the exact same spot. Heck it moved so little that I half considered the possibility that it had simply died of old age while I was waiting. Then it twitched, snorted, and wiggled its body into a more comfortable position, sending ripples of water across the pond it called home.

Oh yes. You are going to be quite useful indeed. I thought to myself. Now all I need to do is time this perfectly and you’ll be mine with nary a fight.

Focusing on the thestral, I retreived the fibrous rope, as well as the mushrooms before dismissing the fox. It wouldn't be needed, unlike the deer skull, and the snake, who would be the only two animals I required at the moment. But before I could start my attack I needed to tie the mushrooms to the snake’s body, a process which took longer than I would have liked.

I really need to make some real rope, rather than this fibre stuff. It's barely holding together. I noted. It should be strong enough for my purposes however.

I shifted my attention into my lost soul, and used it to scoop up the undead reptile before levitating up into the canopy. There I did a few calculations before depositing the snake into a rather thin branch above the cragadile’s head. I then began to descend down on the beast, my many, many eyes watching as the beast continued to remain motionless.

That was until the lost soul was only a few feet above its head, then it began to stir and sniff around. Its snout raised up into the air, and its body shifted into a more battle ready stance, preparing itself for a fight. That wasn't what I had in mind however, so rather than bite or headbutt the creature, I merely nipped at his snout.

The creature growled, and snapped at the deer skull, but its bite went wide, missing by a considerable margin. I continued my attempts to move it into a better position, and zipped around to its right before biting its cheek. Another failed attempt to chomp my lost soul in half followed a split second later, though the cragodile was getting closer.

Each slam of the beast’s jaws was loud, so much so that it was audible even to the thestral foal. Thankfully I was able to keep out of its reach, and angle the deer skull around its bulk with a bit of luck.

Staying ahead of the thing, I continued to work it into a better position by niping at its face. This worked for a little while, but then it stopped, seemingly having grown bored with my presence and given up. I tried to egg it on by biting its snout, but was surprised when it suddenly lurched upward in an attempt to swallow the lost soul hole.

Perfect. I though to myself.

Using a bit more power then I would have liked, I maneuvered the skull out of reach while also releasing the snake. The cragodile didn't know this however, and as it tried to follow the bothersome deer, another reptile was quickly closing in. Then, just as the great beast was about to make a snack out of my floating servant, something long and thin landed on the crocodile’s tongue.

The enormous creature recoiled in confusion, its attempts to crush the deer skull all but forgotten. It didn't have long to contemplate the sudden change however, as the snake surged towards the back of the cragodile’s throat. It didn't get far before the large reptile tried to spit it out, but I had seen that coming, and reacted instantly.

Sinking the snake’s fangs into the roof of the cragodile’s mouth, I pumped what venom was left into the larger reptile. The ensuing roar of rage echoed for what felt like miles, though I was less than intimidated by this show. It mattered very little how strong you were when you had a mouthful of poisonous mushrooms and a face full of venom.

Sure enough I could see that its normal, slightly pinkish tongue was turning purple, as was the rest of the cragadile’s mouth. Spores covered every available surface, depositing enough poison to fell a small city, or at least one large angry reptile. My target seemed to realize what was happening at about this time, and plunged back into the murky depths of the pond it called home.

Water however, could not stop the mushrooms from doing their work, nor did it neutralize the poisonous spores covering the inside of its mouth. It tried anyway though, swishing and swirling the brackish liquid in an attempt to remove the snake. This nearly worked, but also incidently allowed me to mash more of the mushrooms against the cragadile’s tongue.

This continued for several seconds before the beast shuddered to a stop, its jaw falling open. It wanted to close it once more, as evidenced by its twitching and shaking, but the beast couldn't do it. The muscles in its jaw were almost completely paralyzed, and the rest of its body was swiftly following suit.

It was almost a little pathetic watching as the cragadile tried to drag itself out of the water with only its back legs. By then its cries had turned into slurred warbling, its throat unable to form the sounds it wanted to utter. Not like that would have done it much good, as I knew the poison was likely only a few seconds away from completing its deadly work.

The cragadile seemed to realize this as well, as it stopped struggling a moments later. Instead it merely laid back down in the swampy water, its eyes closing. Whether this was a reaction to the poison, or the response of an aged predator finally accepting its demise, I couldn't know.

What I did know was that it was on the brink of death at that moment and a few seconds later it toppled over the other side. Its heart stopped, and its brain soon ceased functioning, marking the end of its no doubt quite long life.

“May you find rest eternal,” I muttered in deer.

I didn't know why, but it felt appropriate to utter a few words before extending my aura once more. Gripping the great beast, I pushed a bit of magic into its body, then a lot more magic a few seconds later. In the end I had to expend nearly a full three fourths of my remaining pool of energy but I had done it.

The great rocky beast rose from the waters seemingly no worse for wear despite the lethal amount of poison that had to be coursing through its body. That didn't matter though, it was no longer living in the traditional sense and didn't require the use of its muscles to move.

I took a moment to look over the enormous apex predator with no small amount of pride.

“You are perfect,” I muttered in the deer tongue. “Now then, let us return back to-”

My little one sided conversation was interrupted when I felt a strange pulse come from another one of the trees in my grove. Following it back to its source I found that a wooden wolf had managed to breach my defences and was making its way close to my true body. Worse still, it was the largest of the bunch, and behind it were a good number of its pack mates following at a safe distance.

In response I recalled all my servants save for the swarm of bugs which monitored my border, hoping against hope that they wouldn't be needed.

Here it is, the moment of truth. I thought to myself. Time to discover if these beasties are intelligent, or not.

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