Chapter 12: Still Small, But No Longer Helpless

I landed on a high branch overlooking the river, the lizard still twitching weakly in my claws. Its blood dripped down, staining the bark beneath me, steam rising where it touched the warm surface of my scales.

Without wasting a second, I dug in.

The flesh was tough, muscle-bound, filled with sinew and tension—but it was rich.

I didn't eat because I was starving anymore. I ate because I needed to grow. Every bite was fuel. Every drop of blood, every tendon I tore through, every bone I cracked open—it was all part of the slow transformation.

A transformation into what I was meant to be.

I devoured it until nothing was left but bone and a thin trail of guts trailing off the branch like ivy. My belly was full, heavy, but in a good way. My wings twitched at my sides, and my fire gland throbbed faintly in my throat—like it was getting ready.

I turned and looked at the tree beside me.

Massive. Trunk wider than most houses I remembered from my past life. Leaves the size of my old torso.

I crawled along the branch, claws clicking lightly, and perched at the edge. I looked down at my own body, comparing the length of my tail to the width of the branch, measuring my shadow as it stretched along the bark.

I wasn't small anymore.

Not like before.

A few weeks ago, I was barely the size of a squirrel—weak, helpless, scraping bugs off leaves just to survive another day. Now…

I squinted at my limbs, at the spread of my wings, the length of my tail and torso laid out across the curve of the tree.

If I had to guess? Five feet long. Not standing upright—lengthwise.

It was a massive improvement. I was more than triple the size I had been when I first hatched—or woke up, or reincarnated, or whatever the hell happened to me.

But even now, as I flared my wings and flexed my claws, I knew the truth.

I was still small.

Not just compared to the legends like Godzilla and Kong. Not even compared to the Skullcrawlers or the other apex creatures of this cursed island.

Even the jungle deer were bigger than me.

Even the boars.

I was getting stronger, sure—but Skull Island didn't care. It wasn't going to slow down and wait for me to catch up.

Everything here wanted to kill me. And until I could fight back with real fire, with real power, with dominance—I was still prey.

But not for long.

I spread my wings again, lifted off from the branch, and soared above the jungle canopy.

The air was mine.

The sky was mine.

And one day soon… everything else would be too.