Assassin Crow Evolution

As Jimmy tended to the enemy flames, he was so locked in the task of protecting his brother, that his body synced into autopilot. His brain fired neurons faster than his conscious mind could catch up on.

He didn’t know why, but within this trance-like state, he snapped into a more human-like awareness rather than the average bird brained schemes he indulged in.

Almost like every human at some point in their existence, he wondered what he was doing here, and what the point was.

He knew what he was doing right now, he knew what was at stake, and he even knew why he was overheating himself to protect his brother, and yet his brain still asked why.

The state he was in right now was almost meditative. Whatever inkling of humanity remained within him, once more questioned why he was a crow, and yet he was horrified by that question at the same time.

The answer, in a way, didn’t interest him, but the question did. It was a harrowing paradox.

Jimmy was nearly a genius amongst crows.

His brain was so densely packed with neurons that sometimes he felt like it wanted to leap out of his head, and yet comparatively, he was perhaps tens of times dumber than the average nose-picking human. This bothered him quite a bit.

The question of intelligence, and overall belonging was something he chased after at the dead of night, and it had cost him a couple of naps.

The system helped him understand that his pallium bird-brain could never fully comprehend human logic and desire, despite the fact that he used to be a human in his former life.

The mammalian cortex of a human had plenty of things at its advantage, including mass. Over a kilogram of brain mass that the average human had, easily outcompeted the few grams of a crow’s avian brain.

It would take a miracle for Jimmy to be equal to a human intellectually, as what was left of his former intelligence could never fit in his current, thirty gram brain.

Comparatively, his brain was more densely packed than that of a human’s. He figured that his brain power would be superior to a human’s if he was as big as them, but for now, he could only stick to that idea, and nothing else.

For now, he had to live with this horrifying intellectual bracket, that could, or could not be a question of brain mass. His question as to why he was a crow, remained unanswered.

"I’m not supposed to be here," He often thought. "But I can’t lose my humanity. I gotta figure out what to do with this brain of mine. Maybe I should grow bigger, give my brain a bit of space to breathe?"

When he snapped out of his trance-like state, he realized that he had been flying in circles for no reason.

Virena had killed the remaining ten giant mantises. She saved the lives of her friends in every way that mattered, and yet he had been none the wiser.

"Are you okay, brother?" Vorin asked.

"Yeah," He shook his head abruptly, "The heat messed with my brain a little bit, but I’m okay now."

Vorin dismissed Jimmy’s odd behaviour. Compared to what he had seen his brother do before, him flying in circles was the least of all evils.

That aside, with what remained of the enemy being littered across the forest, their focus shifted back to their mission.

There was nothing standing, or floating between them and the top of the mountain. Subconsciously, they knew that their hunt for the Sentient Feather progressed one step closer.

The trip up the mountain became as short as it was supposed to be. It only took them a few more minutes to get there, and once they reached it, they didn’t land right away.

They circled the top of the mountain from above.

"We could get pounced on down there, by god knows what." Jimmy said, "Let’s try and spot what those mantises were trying to hide before we land. It’s more efficient this way."

Their plan was sound, but try as they might, the forest remained dense even at the top of the mountain. They couldn’t see past its trees.

With that considered, they eventually decided to take a risk, and approach the ground slowly.

First they landed on the trees, and then they made their way down.

Once they were on the ground, they sadly discovered that nothing unique waited for them here.

Whatever made those loud, heavy thuds earlier on, which was the same thing that drew them up here to begin with, was nowhere within their line of sight.

They expected some sort of giant at the very least, but now, they realized that it wouldn’t make sense for the giant mantises to hide, and or protect another bigger giant.

It didn’t add up, and since they didn’t find anything worth noting up here, their feelings about this place grew more and more mixed.

"Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place?" Jimmy said, and as he pointed his beak at a bundle of rodents, he added, "I never thought I’d see mountain beavers, but if they’re the most interesting thing about this place, then we wasted our time."

Regardless of his complaints, giving up was not within his radar. He and his friends nearly got burned alive just to get here.

"We have to be close to whatever those bugs felt that it was worth protecting." Vorin said, "Let’s scout the place. We’ll figure out if we’re in the wrong place soon enough."

Leaping and floating from one branch to the other, Jimmy and the team scouted the area.

The utter lack of danger they experienced here, ironically got them worked up more than the actual danger that they faced before. They were instinctively expecting for something to go wrong, and so they were on high alert, and kept scouting.

At some point, this place started making sense again. At least, as much sense as the mountainous forest was willing to make.

Jimmy spotted a Crawler Tree, then another.

Vorin spotted two more.

"So all of the crawlers were making their way up here?" Jimmy smiled, "I hope they didn’t come here to breed."

"I don’t think trees breed," Vorin tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, birds shit out fruit seeds, unintentionally planting trees. That’s how it usually goes." He followed along, "But trees aren’t supposed to walk, Vorin, so we can’t ignore the theory that Crawler Trees might have penises, or vaginas."

"Okay?" Vorin squinted, "Let’s follow them, then."