Reincarnated: Lizards ascension

Convergent evolution theory.

Halflings are a subspecies of Humans, focusing on conserving energy and being capable of eating more niche foods that humans would simply ignore. Less caloric foods, like plant roots and plant seeds, excluding almost all meat in their diet due to accessibility issues caused by their smaller size making Halflings worse hunters.

Orcs are physically stronger than Humans, due to them being larger and more aggressive but with a more carnivorous diet. Goblins follow a similar trend to halflings, as Goblins are smaller than Orcs, focusing on eating more niche foods that would be ignored by Orcs. This means that Goblins eat a lot more herbs, roots and seeds than Orcs. However, Goblins still regularly hunt small prey creatures, diverging but still following a diet similar to Orcs.

Both Orcs and Humans have a smaller subspecies, that eats more niche foods, allowing these species to live alongside their larger and more carnivorous counterparts. This is all happening between two separate species, who have simultaneously had a subset separate and become miniature versions of the original.

-Fascinating Research Journal.

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THREE MONTHS LATER

(Tom has been alive in this world for 232 day's.)

'Life is tough, but I know it's going to get worse before it gets better especially with Autumn bringing in a new set of challenges as the leaves fall off trees and most insects go into hibernation along with birds migrating and suddenly everyone has less food and shelter.'

Currently, Tom has to spend a lot longer on his sunbathing rock in the clearing every morning to get the required body temperature to move at full speed, with it taking longer to wake up and move to the clearing and his underbrush hiding spot becoming a pile of leaves leaving Tom with a lot of worries about his home in winter. The temperature is becoming unbearable on Tom and his instincts bring attention to need of a warm hiding place that is either underground or a crevice somewhere that can hide his entire body. 'There are three options for a home, find someone with it and live there with them similarly to a grizzly bear cave or some magical creature that wont bother him and few will bother it, find a home where he can fit, or kill some creature and take its home like a rabbit or a rats home since the field mouse found around his clearing are a tasty meal but not housed in burrows large enough for a 3 horned lizard.'

With a plan in mind I must say goodbye to my now rather brown patch of a clearing and go find a new home preferably before it snows and I get frozen, so I climb the nearest tree and finally get a view of my surroundings without just leaves getting in the way, the view was stunning with large mountains seeming to go on forever on one side and the other a field of large trees with no leaves and some Noble Fir evergreen trees.

'The journey is harsh as a small lizard with all the new scents and prowling predators still stocking up on fat for winter, which would probably confirm that it will in fact snow very soon and I need to find a hibernation home.

The forest is littered with felled tree, but most are not rotting so I can't dig through them and the others are made of wood comparable to wet cardboard with how they are easily ripped apart by me. However, at least in such cases I can refill my belly and keep my nice chunkiness on the various grubs and insects that had such low standards for their homes.'

It was a week before I found a suitable home in the form of a rabbit running around in some bushes. Then I found some more, so this home will have to be shared accommodations but that will be fine considering the error in my Judgement, as all other three horned lizards are by now no where to be seen and its very cold, should have went towards the mountains as that is probably where I could have found a crevice to hide.

Now that I think about it, a mountain would also fit my colouration scheme of being grey and having good climbing claws but poor digging claws, but then again I should have also realized this sooner and maybe listened to my instincts rather than gluttony for mice and beetles, was a bit of a shame how fast the Cicada went away in summer. As I approach the entrance of one of the burrows at middle of the day I see the rabbits spring up in panic as they raise on their back feet, but I care little for their worries of being eaten even if they look rather juicy I have my priorities and I will be damned if I have to stay outside in this cold any longer, as I near to the entrance there is a sound.

*Thump *Thump *Thump

The sounds of rabbit feet on the packed earth are loud as I can only see five above ground, but clearly hear more from my approaching hole and as I enter I come face to face with a real big bun. It blocks the entire passageway and is clearly intent on making me leave.

 *Grrrrhm *Grrrrhm

The grunts do little to move me as I move down and bite on his nose, causing the rabbit to pull away leaving fur and nose in my mouth and a retaliation strike to be aimed at my head as the large incisors bite down, however my horn takes the brunt of the attack and smashes into the rabbits large front teeth allowing me to quickly pull away before aiming for the top of the head, at around the eye level causing a lot of noise and thrashing.

*Screee *Screee

The rabbit thrashes and squeals as it tries to pull back further into the burrow, but my teeth don't let go from their purchase on his skull, the serrated teeth are soon followed by my front claws.

I tear blindly at what I assume to be a rabbit in front of me in this messy tunnel fight until after a long while the screaming dies down and we are back to a peaceful atmosphere and the scent of a fresh kill.

I push the rabbit down further into the burrow to a T intersection where I leave the body for now and go left in the tunnel where I reach what appears to be a brooding room filled with fluff, straw, hair, feathers and twigs making for a lovely and warm bed along with a meal that I left just behind me.

With a good stroke of luck I eat the rabbit in 2 days and finally head off into a deep slumber hoping to avoid the bitter cold and any other unwanted violent renters for the burrow, although that is rather hypocritical considering that I am the said unwanted company. But you never know if one of the other rabbits will want revenge as they don't hibernate like I do but here is to hoping the bones outside my new suit are enough deterrent for them.

Before the hibernation I decide to pray again, "I pray to the dragon God, so that I don't have to live in this small tunnel and so that I may grow into a fearsome beast someday, but I will take an uninterrupted hibernation too, good night!"

Slowly, falling asleep inside the warm, comfortable bedding.

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As the lizard falls asleep somewhere far away and yet in a very familiar area a seed falls from a flying beast and hits a stone bouncing from it before quickly rooting itself in the soil, what it is and what it does is unknow but that is a mystery for later.

*Raaaw *Raaaaw *Grrrrr

*Scrrrr *Scrrrr *Scrrrrr

"Oh, dam it not again," the lizard says as it wakes up.

Tom has not had a good hibernation yet as waking halfway through due to the sounds of the long-legged foxes walking above his home, and constantly yapping.

 This home is not as peaceful as initial thought, the sounds of burrowing coming from above are what finally rouses him. As the little lizard looks up, it sees the ceiling drop dirt down on top of it and has to shake its head to clear to dirt, and close the slit eyes to blink the dust away.

As Tom looks up again, there is a snout popping into the lizards room and heaving in and out, so it gives the snout a good bite causing a *raaar and as the fox jerks its head up the slightly larger lizard than the hole gets stuck, quickly letting go before it can get pulled out of the hole and dashing out of the chamber past a pile of bones the lizard moves forward past the exit and further into the maze of this rabbit warren, although this run is much slower than usual, due to still being cold.

After making it to another chamber the lizard finds a nice spot near the wall, with some sticks and grass, curling in on itself to go back to hibernating, into a deep slumber that is slightly less comfortable than before.

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FOUR MONTHS LATER

The lizard is only awoken again after a restful slumber and once it exits out the same way that it came by following its scent the outside world has already begun to bloom.

It is the middle of the day as the burrow has only just now warmed up enough on the inside, but it looks like the rabbits decided to relocate and for nothing because now Tom has to go all the way back to his rock and territory a whole week away, luckily this time it should be much safer, and Tom would be much faster in the rising spring temperatures.

The journey back is put on hold for a day though as Tom hunts a mouse and some insects to get rid of his starvation from hibernation before setting up a record for getting back home in under 3 days with a few large fuel stops at rotting logs that were packed full of larva like insects that were almost ready to leave their rotten homes. Looking a bit like meal worms, with long bodies combined with a tiny head and a few legs at the front, resulting in their back halves almost snaking after the front in the rotten tunnels of the logs.

However as the lizard reached the edge of its clearing it spotted something that did not know what it was, as it looked over at its basking spot there was a flower that looked like a dragon orchid, such a rare plant with a mesmerizing aura that immediately caught the lizards eye as it was just beside its now second favourite thing in the world, before the lizard even knew what had happened it had crossed the clearing in but a moment and the flower was gone, eaten whole in a single bite as all that was left was the stem and roots around the rock that held no interest of the lizard.

Power slowly filled the lizard until a new equilibrium was reached in its body, however what changed would not truly manifest itself until later when Summer fully finished. In the meantime, the lizard said a prayer of thanks and left its basking rock to go out hunting for more food as it felt a need for more sustenance causing Tom to impromptu smirk by raising his lips, inadvertently causing a large toothy grin to appear shortly after on the lizards face for the rest of the day.