Collin could not say how long he had been inside his chrysalis for, time felt strange when he was in that state. It felt like the awareness of a light sleep where you can hear conversations around you.


    When he finally wrestled his way out of the chrysalis, it was apparent that he had gotten larger. Instead of being the size of a water strider, he was now somewhere between that and the caterpillar he had eaten. It wasn’t merely his size that had changed, though, his exoskeleton had softened to closer resemble the caterpillar’s more plush exterior while somehow feeling more resilient. He did a lap around the hyacinth petal, testing out his new body. He still had six thin and lengthy legs and his body was now firmly two sections made of a head and thorax.


    As far as his overall composition went, he felt more stable than before. His mind also felt sharper. He was more self aware than before, but there was a feeling of having much further to go.


    He admired his new body after going over the changes. It seemed that he was able to incorporate parts of the caterpillar into himself given enough time. That made him wonder what would happen as he ate more things. The possibilities seemed endless.


    Collin looked within to his life pulse and the surrounding pulses that orbited like a small solar system. There was a new pulse there and when he observed it he found that he was able to understand the caterpillar more. What he had done with the chrysalis came in a time of panic, but after consuming and incorporating the caterpillar, he was now confident that he could withdraw into the chrysalis with ease next time.


    Collin chirped in delight. Exploring his own development gave him a craving to expand his understanding. The instinctual hunger inside of him resonated with the craving for more creatures for the sake of survival, but Collin found another motivation within himself. He watched a dragonfly wizz by overhead and felt a yearning. The sky called to him like a long lost loved one.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Loss


    Collin whimpered as he felt a deep sense of pain at the thought of losing a loved one, but he didn’t understand why. The feeling faded quickly as his hunger grew.


    hungry


    It was time to move. He could feel his hunger swelling. It wasn’t too bad yet, but it was slowly demanding a front position in his mind.


    He crawled to one of the raised edges of the hyacinth and looked around. The sun was high in the sky and the water was thankfully still. He tried to tap into the life pulse from yesterday and failed his first attempt. He could feel it just out of reach. On his second attempt, he reached for the pulses within himself first and was successful.


    It had felt so automatic for Collin yesterday; So simple, but now it took effort. He concentrated on the elevated sense of self awareness for a few moments, then slowly let it expand outward. He couldn’t expand it much farther than a thirty foot bubble without losing focus, so he settled on maintaining one of about ten feet for now.


    Immediately, Collin sensed the Pulses of a few fish below, but they seemed inactive; Possibly asleep.


    There was insect life above the water that thrived without the presence of the fish.


    Water striders glided over the surface of the water, Mosquitos layed eggs and dragonflies mated. Cicadas cried in the distance and though he was unable to sense their pulse, he somehow knew what they were.


    It bothered Collin that barely understood what or who he was, yet somehow the world around him made sense. He was smart enough to understand that something wasn’t right, but frustratingly not smart enough to figure out what that meant.


    Hungry


    His hunger continued to grow and was pulsating more aggressively now. He shouldn’t let himself simply eat anything now that he knew it affected him so much, but thinking straight was getting harder as his hunger grew.


    With the fish asleep, he was safe to move along the water, so he hopped down and onto the surface of the water and fell through.


    Collin realized too late that his new body was no longer optimized for moving on the water’s surface as he started to sink.