Assassin Crow Evolution

The trip back home was perhaps more tiresome than everything Jimmy had suffered through throughout the rest of the day.

The chest he carried wasn’t exactly too heavy, but paired with the hammer that he carried, the weights he had to hold on to really wore him down over time.

The equivalent of this task for a human would be sprinting with an overloaded backpack. Even if they did so for a mile, it would push their bodies past limits that they did not see as possible before.

Nevertheless, he made it home, and with some effort, he placed the chest full of cores in his favorite tree.

The tree had a large hole somewhere close to the top of the tree, and it had likely been inhabited by squirrels before, but now it was his. He considered it his safe spot.

Jimmy crashed near the chest, more exhausted than he had ever been. He was breathing hard, which almost knocked him out, and nearly every muscle of his body burned. He hasn’t felt this much pain and burden even when he evolved. It was new.

He ended up crashing minutes later. He took an involuntary nap, and Virena once more watched over him, not knowing what to do.

When he woke up two hours later, he suffered through a light headache that refused to go away. His regenerative abilities couldn’t quite dispel it.

He ignored the headache, and said, "Ah, the sun hasn’t set yet. Vorin gotta be awake."

"Do you want me to go get him?" Virena asked, "Are you looking to share the cores with him?"

"Yes," He nodded, "I know he didn’t help us get these cores, but I was the one who didn’t invite him. Besides, I promised him that I’ll help him get stronger. I don’t know if these cores are linked to magic in any way, they shouldn’t be, but I think they’re a good start nonetheless."

"It is," She nodded, "Your brother is very weak. He’d choke on a bug if he swallowed it wrong."

Virena took off shortly after, leaving Jimmy with the cores.

Jimmy tried his best to focus, which was quite the challenge since he just woke up, and was fighting a headache, but he tried nonetheless.

"They look so random," He shook his head, frustrated, "So many damn colors... I don’t recognize a single gem. Who the fuck knows what kind of monsters swung their balls around here four, or five hundred years ago? For all I know, the cores could make me explode."

With that considered, he was really tempted to give some of the cores to random crows, and have them be his test subjects, but then he remembered how dangerous that could be.

The last time the crows got their claws on a few of his cores, one of them melted away, and one of them turned into a massive monster.

Granted, those cores used to belong to rats, whose physiology was extremely foreign, but these cores could be the very same thing. Or they could be helpful.

There was no way of knowing.

"Those fuckers will start another war over fifty cores," He figured, "So I should try to keep this a secret. I don’t think I’d be able to forgive those fuckers if someone stole all of my cores."

As Jimmy ogled over the gems, and spent most of the time talking to himself, two crows floated in front of the open-wide entrance of his home.

One of them was Vorin, and the other, Zoey.

Virena flew between them, and landed shortly after.

"You’re back!" Zoey excitedly said, "I thought you left this place for good."

"Why would I do that?" He asked, "I was just out hunting for treasure. Come on in, and have a look at this."

Zoey and Vorin landed. They were instantly impressed, and yet intimidated by the steel chest. They’ve never seen this many cores in a single spot before.

"You managed to kill this many squirrels yourself?" Vorin asked, rightfully oblivious.

"Nah, that would be a waste of time," He said, though he did not wish to elaborate, "But I think you’re on to something here. Some of the cores do look like they belong to squirrels."

There was barely enough room for the three of them to have a serious conversation here. They were basically slapping each other’s beaks, as the chest took too much space.

Yet, they still managed to circle around the chest somehow. They realized that walking in circles helped them focus, it helped them think.

Vorin tried to help his brother figure things out, but there was something else in his mind.

He said, "Maybe you should hide these cores for now, if you’re not going to absorb them right away. I saw a large crow resting near the creek. He seemed dangerous, and I fear that if he gets a hold of your cores, he’ll be an even bigger threat to deal with."

Jimmy’s focus snapped just like that. He knew that someone would’ve spotted Gundor, he just didn’t expect to deal with this matter today.

"Oh, he’s harmless," He said.

"Do you know that for sure?" Vorin asked, "I told White Blade about it, and he’s gathered some fighters to deal with the crow. I don’t think they’ll fight, but you know how us crows can be when we see strangers in our meadows."

"Well damn, I didn’t think I’d have to deal with morons today, but here we are." He sighed, "Go tell White Blade to not do anything stupid. You can quote me on that. Now I don’t think he’s dumb enough to start another war, but he shouldn’t get himself killed for no reason either."

Vorin did not expect such an answer. He did not think that his brother would protect a foreign crow, and so he found this suspicious. He could tell that there was something his brother refused to tell him, but he knew well enough not to try and pry an answer out of him.

Internally, he wished that he could get his claws on some of the cores, so he knew that he couldn’t afford to piss his brother off.

Instead, he said, "Alright, I’ll go and see what I can do. But just to be sure, I shouldn’t mention the cores to anyone, right? Not even White Blade?"

"Of course not," He answered, "That goes to you too, Zoey. Don’t tell anyone, not even your little bestie. Cores are not meant to be shared, and our fellow crows are greedy enough to fight us for them."