Invisible Reaper Dragon (A Reincarnation Story)

Chapter 52 - The Choice

Now that I was here I needed to find a place that was both far away from nearly the entire city, and yet close enough I could get to the edge of the forest if needed in case I needed to flee quickly or something. I knew that--based on my last experience with Evolution--it was not going to be a very nice experience for me, so I might as well try to make wherever I was going comfortable for the while I was here. 

I started North, wanting to get to the other end of the forest, while also trying to find a good tree or something where I could either stand or lay down on comfortable, or a good place I could hide under while I went through this. It took me a good hour just to get to the other end, and the entire way there I was wondering if I was ever going to find a good spot, or if I was lost and just walking in a giant circle. 

I looked at the fencing separating the edge of the Sanctuary from the path and houses on the North end of the area and turned back to head into the forest. I needed to be probably at least a good running distance in from the clearing, so I ran for a good five minutes before deciding that this was probably far enough. If I did have to run from something it would definitely be a long five minutes, but I would most likely be much faster and much stronger so I think that it would be worth it in the end. 

Trees. Dirt. Or Roots. That was the question.

I surveyed the area for a good twenty minutes and decided that it would probably be best if I dug a small spot under a tree, and extended the area underneath until it was at least three, no...four times my own size. Which meant that I needed to dig down pretty far, as well as hope that I didn't get too big as to need to take down a tree in order to get out. 

If I needed to do that it meant that I would probably be bigger than most of the streets leading through the city, and so it would mean that I would have an incredibly hard to get around the city...and stay hidden. It didn't matter if I was invisible if I was big enough to cause buildings to crumble underneath my own weight...

I looked around for a bit longer and decided on a tree that I'd seen earlier, nearly at the start of beginning my search here in fact. It was a large, reddish brown tree who's trunk was at least twice my length and the roots were clearly visible above-ground, looking to nearly strangle the other area clean of any other trees. I looked down at where I could feel my claws: hopefully digging like this wouldn't cause my venom to kill the tree; I mean, it would probably help me out if that was the case and I did need to break my way out, but it would suck that I couldn't control what they effected in any way. 

I also still had those claw-sleeves on--those would most likely need to come off before I evolved, and I would likely not be able to wear them afterwards due to growth...unfortunately. 

I quickly got to work, scooping out the earth a bit away from the tree: aiming down at an angle so that when I felt I was deep enough I would hopefully be either directly under the tree, and I would have an exit-point decently far away from it as to not be discovered. It took me a good five hours to work my way around the roots, sometimes meeting a literal wall of them and having to carve my way around it carefully, and then I discovered that there was a me-shaped opening in the roots leading closer to the center underneath the tree and took the chance of excavating the entire area underneath. 

I now realized how pointless it was to clean myself off before-hand, because my scales were just as dirty, if not more so doing this than they were just from the soot and grim of that damn chimney...

Hopefully Red was recovering well. 

I cleared my mind and focused on finishing the task: when I was done I found that the tree had created a sort of cradle around the area I'd excavated and it turned out to be exactly the size I wanted...a little bigger even. I checked the roots to make sure I hadn't damaged them, and that they hadn't been accidentally infected or something and then I went to the middle of the small cavern and sat there pondering how to see what I could evolve into while getting out one of the cooked meats I'd 'rescued' from the basement.