Chapter 3 A Shocking Mutation

In a continent located in what could be considered the centre of the world, that Eridel temporarily called the central continent, you could see a family of peculiar… lizards. With a total of 71. Most of them were the regular grey colour, but they were a whole 3 times bigger than usual, at around 90 centimetres long. And their heads were certainly not like the average lizard, having a more protruding snout and two suspicious bumps on each side of their forehead. 9 of the 71 hatchlings were a dark shade of red, the exact colour of the essence of Destruction. Despite being asleep, an aura of brutality could be sensed from them, and it didn’t take much to guess the reason why. These lizards were even bigger than the grey ones, being 1.5 meters long, and the bumps on their head had been pierced to reveal onyx black horns. Though they could barely be seen at the moment. Surprisingly, 2 of these dark red lizards were different from the rest, being a shocking 2 meters long and having horns a few centimetres longer. The scary thing about these horns was the fact that the essence of Destruction seemed to swirl around them, looking like red fireflies were dancing around them. Eridel also noticed the 2 ridges on the back of these lizards. Looking at the horns and the developing skull structure, it didn’t take much to guess what they were hiding. ‘Are the lizards trying to become dragons?’ Eridel was both surprised and amused. Lizards could evolve into dragons if they lived long enough, had a fortunate encounter, and kept evolving. But that was when magic energy had been awakened on the planet. That was when all life forms started evolving. Even then, it was still very rare for a lizard to become a dragon. It was very often for them to just keep growing, evolving, and developing some special abilities. Eridel suddenly saw something that made him pause. Something other than the… even more ‘special case’ that he’ll mention later. The brutality around one of the 2 special ‘lizards’ was impossibly calm. It felt more like water, but this water was certainly not innocent and more of an entire sea that could consume you whole without making a commotion, inducing an instinctual fear in those in its presence. This ‘lizard’ was female, so Eridel temporarily called her Calmilla. The other one had the most volatile brutality out of all of these ‘lizards’. It was like a raging flame that sought the destruction of EVERYTHING. This one was going to grow up to be an extremely wrathful being; even now in its sleep, its face was twisted in anger. This ‘lizard’ was male, so Eridel called him Aeshma. Named after the demon of wrath as an inside joke, but little did he know… ‘How interesting,’ Eridel was very pleased with these surprises. Seeing how these 9 hatchlings were the ones that carried the densest residue essence of destruction in their bodies. Eridel had concluded that all of these ‘lizards’ had been mutated. Eridel used his innate ability as a World to look at something that could only be described as ‘World Archive’. Everything that happened from the beginning of the World till now was recorded there. Going back a little more than 2 months ago, a hair-raisingly tenacious female lizard, although dying, had managed to give birth to a whopping 98 babies. But miraculously, whilst the lizards were still in their eggs and they were not completely formed, they had managed to gradually absorb the Laws of Destruction and develop a resistance while the egg shell took the brunt of the Destruction essence. 10 of them even took it as far as to subconsciously develop varying levels of affinity with the Law of destruction, only the Calmilla and Aeshma reaching perfect affinity. It didn’t need to be said that they were extremely talented. Unfortunately, one of the ‘destruction lizards’ was too hasty and died in the process. The only reason these babies had managed to survive the essence of destruction coming in contact with them was because of the simple fact that the fate of the World relied on them. While it wouldn’t stop the eventual end, if a Low World lost all of its residents in that situation, the World would have been finished, no need to wait for everything to break apart. Residents were the World's bread and butter; having no residents was just like having no blood. Only worlds that had just been formed had a grace period of 5000 years to start producing life forms. On the other hand, a Law World was completely fine, whether they had residents or not; all they served was to continue to boost their quality. Facing this precarious situation, the world instinctively saved them. Just this fact showed that the World had the potential to become at least a High World. The fact that its instincts were active showed what could only be called talent. Eridel temporarily pondered only that such a World would self-destruct, but decided to save it for later. When they were born, all but Calmilla and Aeshma began to die. The Laws of destruction were still present at this time, and despite the resistance, even the ‘destruction lizards’ began to die, although at a much slower rate. This was because they weren’t completely affiliated with the Laws of Destruction like their 2 siblings just yet. It would take just 1 evolution to rectify this, and even though the evolution wouldn’t increase their levels of affinity with the Laws of Destruction, they would become beings of destruction, gaining complete immunity. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time. Unsurprisingly, the lizards began to fight amongst themselves, most if not all the fights initiated by the ‘destruction lizards’. It was just in their nature, and they weren’t old enough to control their urges yet. Only Calmilla refrained from initiating fights, while surprising, wasn’t too unexpected, given her obvious traits. But the glint in her eyes as she watched the others was like a snake looking at prey. But this did not mean she didn’t fight. Even though most would not dare to antagonize her, instinctively recognizing her supremacy, the same did not hold for Aeshma. That little shit wanted to fight everybody, resulting in 3 deaths amongst the regular lizards. This made Eridel slightly annoyed, but he naturally couldn’t interfere; he wasn’t even here yet, he was only able to watch the scene through the ‘World Archive’. After that, Aeshma would only pick fights with Calmilla, showing a love for battle more than simply killing. If it wasn't for this, Aeshma wouldn't be able to escape death. Eridel would never leave behind a being that liked to kill that much and endanger the last remaining species on his planet. Luckily, Calmilla was able to fend off the battle maniac and even gain the upper hand every time, showcasing her superior intelligence. But unfortunately, the deaths didn't stop with 3. 1, 2, 3, 8, 13… A whole 20 more babies had died as a result of the Laws of Destruction, leaving their corpses all over the place. The rest of the Lizards were getting weaker too, not just because of the Laws of Destruction, but… but because they didn't know how to eat yet. They were starving and beginning to lose vitality. 3 more of the hatchlings died. But Eridel wasn't worried; he had counted 71 before looking at the Archives and knew no more deaths would occur. He just wondered how they learned to— "I see…" Calmilla had discovered how to eat. And as a result, so did the rest, Aeshma especially, eating with gusto on the corpses of his brethren. The sight was both grotesque and fascinating, a primal instinct awakening within them that Eridel hadn’t anticipated. As they feasted, a strange energy filled the air, a sense of survival that seemed to bind them together in their newfound savagery. Eridel couldn't help but feel a mix of dread and curiosity. This shift in behavior would change everything. Would they become more than mere shadows of their former selves? The Archives whispered of such transformations, but witnessing it firsthand was unsettling. He knew he had to tread carefully; the balance of power was shifting, and he needed to understand the implications of this evolution before it spiraled beyond his control. The lizards had begun to cannibalise. Eridel turned his attention to the anomaly. The only thing he couldn't explain. It was a lizard like the others, but… not like the others. It was a lizard who,o for some reason, chose not to go through any sort of mutation, but managed to survive. Looking like a regular lizard and with no hidden specialties. Yet... Like the others, it absorbed the essences of destruction whilst in its egg. But it did not mutate like the others that were all walking on the path to becoming dragons. And yet… Eridel could see that this lizard was somehow storing the Laws of Destruction, the ones it absorbed from its egg days. Even though this damaged the Lizard faster than the others, it still… managed to survive. The reason it was still breathing was probably because, unless when eating, this lizard barely moved, it would just sit in one place, closing its eyes or watching the others most of the time. The only other time it would move was to stealthily escape when Aeshma came close, surprisingly showing good survival skills. This meant it was not retarded and had a well functioning brain, so why did it hoard the essences of destruction and not fuse with them like its siblings? It didn’t make any sense, did it not wish to evolve? But that was impossible, no primitive species could fight the allure of evolution. It was smart, even Calmilla copied its habits to preserve strength, so why- BOOM! ‘Ah, here I finally revived.’ Eridel watched as the ‘past Eridel’ had started the restoration of the planet. When he watched the ‘past Eridel’ notice the last living species, he instilled them with his Primordial Essence to sustain their lives and put them in a coma. Eridel noticed something. Before the strange lizard had fallen asleep, it suddenly grinned, releasing the essences of destruction and making them… fuse with his Primordial essence. Eridel almost screamed. A mere lizard had fused a Law essence with its Soul essence. It was like trying to mix water with oil; it was impossible. But what was the situation?