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Description

apex

/ˈeɪpɛks/

noun

“the highest point or most successful part of something”

As Agathe fed and grew, she firmly secured herself a place high up in the food chain. There were few predators that even posed a threat to her, fewer still that were actually bold enough to challenge her. All but one. The one under whose radar she easily flew as nobody with no presence. The one who seemed to ignore her as she grew in notoriety. The giant snake-thing that could easily bite her in half or swallow her whole, that never bothered to go out and hunt opting instead to stay in the biggest lake of the swamp, content to feed on whatever swam by.

The beast that surprised her in her own pond, in her own lair, with its big yellow eyes staring intently at her.

She wanted to laugh at the despair of the situation. She would have, but then the snake-thing was striking, an she was too busy vanishing under and between the twisting roots of submerged trees where it couldn’t reach her, escaping from its jaws. But it didn’t leave, or get discouraged.

It left it’s lake for her, after all, and now, easily gnawing through the roots of trees older than Agathe, older than it too, perhaps, it was hunting for her. And the only way for Agathe to survive was to kill it first, whilst she had no hope of getting through its scales. She looked at the snake-thing through the roots and grasses, at it’s menacingly, mockingly glowing yellow eye, and snorted.

Its fangs were as long and thick as her forearms; one bite from that thing, and she was dead.

How many of her kind have fallen prey to its kind? The only reason this swamp was uninhibited and hers for the taking was because of this thing. Would she share the fate of all of her brethren that tried to settle in the swamp before her?

No matter. She had a lot to gain and a lot to lose, and that thing, which she could only barely outswim, and which could move on land much better than her, was going after her with malice. And so, she took a page of its book, and did the same.

And, when a very exhausting game of chase and hide later she dug her arm through its eye, piercing through the socket and bone and breaking her fingers in the process, but persisting to claw at the soft tissue of its brain, she almost couldn’t believe it.

But the snake-thing thrashed, once, twice, jerking so hard it catapulted both itself and Agathe out of the water when they fell on the riverbank, her, exhausted and bruised but miraculously alive, and it, spasming still, half submerged and half beached, before it finally, finally went still, red blood seeping from the gored eye socket.

But Agathe didn’t rest. She hoisted herself up on her hands and crawled forward, ignoring the pang of cracked ribs, ignoring her mangled arm radiating with pain. She slithered to the thing, and shoved her arm through its eye again, and again, and again—until she was certain it was well and fully dead.

Then, and only then, she turned around, sitting next to the creature with her back against it’s bleeding carcass, and took a breath full of evening air.

The last light of the day danced through the leaves of the swamp trees, glittering across her face, and Agathe rested.

---

Seasons changed, one after the other; the hot one, the wet one, the cold one, and the one where everything flowered after the cold. Agathe grew with the passage of time, no longer in size, though she realized she was bigger than most of her kind. Her scales grew to cover more and more of the skin of her abdomen and face, and they, along with her hair, dulled in colour with age

One day, Agathe chanced her reflection in a puddle, as she basked in the morning sun after the raid.

Gone was the youthful roundness of her face, and her eyes no longer seemed so huge. Her hair, once vibrant enough to rival blood, has gotten duller and greyer. She knew this was happening—her scales grew harder, her skin grew rougher, her nails became so hard they could go through stone if she wanted, but seeing it, it was different. It finally made her realize.

She was no longer a juvenile. She was no longer a child. She managed to do what so few of her kind managed every generation, that so many died trying to achieve.

She lived long enough to become an adult.

She smiled, sitting comfortably on the top of the bleached skull of the snake-thing, with her back against a stone pillar of a nice small cave at the bottom of the biggest lake in the swamp. She had to move her lair after the snake-thing thrashed her old home, and she felt it only right to take over where it used to live. And the swamp knew that the order of things had changed.

That there was a new apex predator in the food chain, and that this one, for its smaller size, was smarter, craftier, and much more determined.

And thus, all was well. For Agathe, at least.

Miss Villain Round Five: "True Potential" - Agathe, but an adult this time.

(Yes Agathe up until now was little more than a baby.)

******

What’s this, you ask? Well, Agathe you’ve followed up until now was a baby, that’s what. Freshwater mermaids have a natural lifespan of give-or-take five hundred years, but due to their predatory and solitary nature, and their preferred environment as well as where they place in the food chain initially, few of the juveniles actually make it to adulthood, which they reach at between seventy and ninety years of age, depending on individual.

Not-part-of-the-challenge but still, some biological information on freshwater mermaids of Magix:

Freshwater mermaids breed only roughly every twenty years, and not all of them at that (for that, females must be tolerant enough to let a male or two in their territory, and they’re territorial as all hell unless you’re just passing through) and have a brood of about ten tadpoles they nurture for first couple of years of their life, usually between eight and fourteen, until the tadpoles grow big enough to fend for themselves, wherein they’re promptly kicked out of their mother’s territory and told to never come again please and thank you. If even one of these tadpoles lives long enough to reach adulthood, that’s already a big success.

Juveniles tend to wander around for the next couple of years after being kicked out, alone or in groups before parting, but as they reach about twenty years of age, the females start getting territorial and looking for their own pond to live in, and since they’re big predators, they require a lot of space. Males remain migratory unless they’re allowed to stay in a female’s place.

Despite their highly aggressive temperament and territorial instincts, freshwater mermaids tend to enter lifelong relationships with their partners, though it’s normal, expected even, that a female has more than one partner to pick from.

(Of course that isn’t always true; there have been recorded instances of two or even more female freshwater mermaids living together in one territory in peace. Agathe’s territorial instincts are too strong for that to happen, but mermaids forming relationships with other, non-aquatic humanoids also aren’t unheard of.)

Thank you for coming to me nerding about my fantasy creatures.

******

Oh hey I actually made it, and in time. Damn, I'm proud of myself.

Credits:
Agathe belongs to be, Winx belongs to Straffi.
Agathe's upper body referenced from: www.pinterest.dk/pin/394909461… (the first sitting pose)
T-Rex skull referenced from photographs of fossils.
Moss clipart: www.pngegg.com/en/png-bsnfh
Seaweed clipart: www.pngegg.com/en/png-npiet
Scales: www.deviantart.com/jojo-ojoj/a…
And PTS2 in-built effects.

Description

apex

/ˈeɪpɛks/

noun

“the highest point or most successful part of something”

As Agathe fed and grew, she firmly secured herself a place high up in the food chain. There were few predators that even posed a threat to her, fewer still that were actually bold enough to challenge her. All but one. The one under whose radar she easily flew as nobody with no presence. The one who seemed to ignore her as she grew in notoriety. The giant snake-thing that could easily bite her in half or swallow her whole, that never bothered to go out and hunt opting instead to stay in the biggest lake of the swamp, content to feed on whatever swam by.

The beast that surprised her in her own pond, in her own lair, with its big yellow eyes staring intently at her.

She wanted to laugh at the despair of the situation. She would have, but then the snake-thing was striking, an she was too busy vanishing under and between the twisting roots of submerged trees where it couldn’t reach her, escaping from its jaws. But it didn’t leave, or get discouraged.

It left it’s lake for her, after all, and now, easily gnawing through the roots of trees older than Agathe, older than it too, perhaps, it was hunting for her. And the only way for Agathe to survive was to kill it first, whilst she had no hope of getting through its scales. She looked at the snake-thing through the roots and grasses, at it’s menacingly, mockingly glowing yellow eye, and snorted.

Its fangs were as long and thick as her forearms; one bite from that thing, and she was dead.

How many of her kind have fallen prey to its kind? The only reason this swamp was uninhibited and hers for the taking was because of this thing. Would she share the fate of all of her brethren that tried to settle in the swamp before her?

No matter. She had a lot to gain and a lot to lose, and that thing, which she could only barely outswim, and which could move on land much better than her, was going after her with malice. And so, she took a page of its book, and did the same.

And, when a very exhausting game of chase and hide later she dug her arm through its eye, piercing through the socket and bone and breaking her fingers in the process, but persisting to claw at the soft tissue of its brain, she almost couldn’t believe it.

But the snake-thing thrashed, once, twice, jerking so hard it catapulted both itself and Agathe out of the water when they fell on the riverbank, her, exhausted and bruised but miraculously alive, and it, spasming still, half submerged and half beached, before it finally, finally went still, red blood seeping from the gored eye socket.

But Agathe didn’t rest. She hoisted herself up on her hands and crawled forward, ignoring the pang of cracked ribs, ignoring her mangled arm radiating with pain. She slithered to the thing, and shoved her arm through its eye again, and again, and again—until she was certain it was well and fully dead.

Then, and only then, she turned around, sitting next to the creature with her back against it’s bleeding carcass, and took a breath full of evening air.

The last light of the day danced through the leaves of the swamp trees, glittering across her face, and Agathe rested.

---

Seasons changed, one after the other; the hot one, the wet one, the cold one, and the one where everything flowered after the cold. Agathe grew with the passage of time, no longer in size, though she realized she was bigger than most of her kind. Her scales grew to cover more and more of the skin of her abdomen and face, and they, along with her hair, dulled in colour with age

One day, Agathe chanced her reflection in a puddle, as she basked in the morning sun after the raid.

Gone was the youthful roundness of her face, and her eyes no longer seemed so huge. Her hair, once vibrant enough to rival blood, has gotten duller and greyer. She knew this was happening—her scales grew harder, her skin grew rougher, her nails became so hard they could go through stone if she wanted, but seeing it, it was different. It finally made her realize.

She was no longer a juvenile. She was no longer a child. She managed to do what so few of her kind managed every generation, that so many died trying to achieve.

She lived long enough to become an adult.

She smiled, sitting comfortably on the top of the bleached skull of the snake-thing, with her back against a stone pillar of a nice small cave at the bottom of the biggest lake in the swamp. She had to move her lair after the snake-thing thrashed her old home, and she felt it only right to take over where it used to live. And the swamp knew that the order of things had changed.

That there was a new apex predator in the food chain, and that this one, for its smaller size, was smarter, craftier, and much more determined.

And thus, all was well. For Agathe, at least.

Miss Villain Round Five: "True Potential" - Agathe, but an adult this time.

(Yes Agathe up until now was little more than a baby.)

******

What’s this, you ask? Well, Agathe you’ve followed up until now was a baby, that’s what. Freshwater mermaids have a natural lifespan of give-or-take five hundred years, but due to their predatory and solitary nature, and their preferred environment as well as where they place in the food chain initially, few of the juveniles actually make it to adulthood, which they reach at between seventy and ninety years of age, depending on individual.

Not-part-of-the-challenge but still, some biological information on freshwater mermaids of Magix:

Freshwater mermaids breed only roughly every twenty years, and not all of them at that (for that, females must be tolerant enough to let a male or two in their territory, and they’re territorial as all hell unless you’re just passing through) and have a brood of about ten tadpoles they nurture for first couple of years of their life, usually between eight and fourteen, until the tadpoles grow big enough to fend for themselves, wherein they’re promptly kicked out of their mother’s territory and told to never come again please and thank you. If even one of these tadpoles lives long enough to reach adulthood, that’s already a big success.

Juveniles tend to wander around for the next couple of years after being kicked out, alone or in groups before parting, but as they reach about twenty years of age, the females start getting territorial and looking for their own pond to live in, and since they’re big predators, they require a lot of space. Males remain migratory unless they’re allowed to stay in a female’s place.

Despite their highly aggressive temperament and territorial instincts, freshwater mermaids tend to enter lifelong relationships with their partners, though it’s normal, expected even, that a female has more than one partner to pick from.

(Of course that isn’t always true; there have been recorded instances of two or even more female freshwater mermaids living together in one territory in peace. Agathe’s territorial instincts are too strong for that to happen, but mermaids forming relationships with other, non-aquatic humanoids also aren’t unheard of.)

Thank you for coming to me nerding about my fantasy creatures.

******

Oh hey I actually made it, and in time. Damn, I'm proud of myself.

Credits:
Agathe belongs to be, Winx belongs to Straffi.
Agathe's upper body referenced from: www.pinterest.dk/pin/394909461… (the first sitting pose)
T-Rex skull referenced from photographs of fossils.
Moss clipart: www.pngegg.com/en/png-bsnfh
Seaweed clipart: www.pngegg.com/en/png-npiet
Scales: www.deviantart.com/jojo-ojoj/a…
And PTS2 in-built effects.