Tomas had drastically underestimated the outback.

He tripped into mud for the third time in as many minutes. The rain had already completely soaked his robes; his repeat journeys to the ground only served to add mud to the mix. He sat up with a miserable groan. His sandal wasn’t attached anymore and hadn’t surfaced, so he had to search through the mud for it. Eventually finding it buried deeply, he pulled it out with a loud squelch. After shaking off the globs of mud still attached to the sad-looking sandal, he sighed and pulled the other one off as well, choosing to go barefoot rather than risk tripping again.

He made it all of two steps before he stood on a pointy rock, “AHH!” he screamed as he fell over yet again. He checked the sole of his foot and was relieved to see it wasn’t bleeding. He sat there stewing over his predicament and came up with an idea. He transformed, then paired all of his tentacles together so that he had four limbs total and ran on all fours like a land animal. When the squishy octopus flesh stood on a rock, it adapted and Tomas didn’t feel pain at all. It was a neat trick, only made possible by his power. Tomas was elated at how quickly he progressed with each long tentacle stride, “Much more convenient than legs!” Tomas bragged to the air.

However, It was only more convenient until it wasn’t. Tomas felt himself getting tired very quickly. Turns out leg bones are really important in energy conservation while hiking. Exhausted after only half an hour, Tomas transformed back and started walking cautiously instead.

His next big problem was that he had fled into the wilderness without food or water. It was ironic that surrounded by so much rain and water, Tomas’ throat was parched. As the day progressed, his stomach growled like an angry Matriarch, demanding food. Tomas cursed Roy for not providing him breakfast before the ceremony earlier. His suffering continued to grow with every wet step. His thirst quickly became all-consuming. He held out for as long as he could until finally, he swallowed his pride, threw himself down on his hands and knees and drank from the cleanest looking puddle he could find, “Pweh! Tastes like dirt”. This did nothing to alleviate his hunger, no matter how much dirt their was in the water.

Late in the day, Tomas shivered as the weather changed again. Heavy rain gave way to chilly strong winds. He was growing worried until he noticed the scenery change as well. Trees grew greener and he spotted more plants and animals as he reached a river. Tomas thanked the heavens. He had been worried that he had walked out in the wrong direction. The river was actually the first landmark on his planned route to Chook's Creek. The water was deep and clean. He threw himself at it and drank heavily.

His stomach still grumbled but now he was too exhausted to care. He began searching for somewhere to rest, but the cruel winds found their way into every hidey-hole he discovered. Luckily for Tomas though, he didn’t need to rest on the land.

He took off his robes and hung them on a tree to dry alongside the sandals he had been carrying before turning to the river and diving into the water. He transformed mid-air and landed with a graceless splash. The river threatened to sweep him away because the rain had increased its flow. Tomas swam down and found a couple of large rocks to squeeze himself between. His squishy body helped him get comfortable and secure. He didn’t want to be disturbed while he slept, so he used one of his favourite octopus tricks. His skin changed colour and texture to camouflage him into looking just like just another rock. With all that done, Tomas fell asleep immediately.

Destiny could be a cruel thing at times. Poor Tomas was currently arriving earlier than he was destined to, so,

STEP 5: DELAY TOMAS

From the trunk of the tree that held Tomas’ robes, hundreds of magical red strings sprouted. They wove together tightly and took the form of a mouth connected to a single lung. The mouth breathed in a deep breath, filling the lung. Then it screamed. It sounded like a mix between an injured child and a frightened animal. An absolutely dreadful sound that disturbed all the creatures in a kilometer radius. One in particular woke up in a foul mood. The sound had made it feel awfully hungry. Under the water, however, Tomas slept like a baby. He didn't even stir. The lung emptied, and the whole destiny construct unwove. The red strings all dissolved into the air, leaving nothing behind.

Tomas slept for a solid 14 hours. He awoke groggily, his stomach immediately complaining. The river and weather had calmed down while he slept. The sun shone down through the water. Before Tomas could unwedge himself from his spot, he noticed something in the water and stopped moving right away.

A plump looking fish swam right above Tomas. It hadn’t seen him yet. 'Time to show off my great hunting skills,' He thought to himself. He slowly stretched all of his tentacles up, careful not to alert the fish. When the fish did eventually notice one, it turned to swim away. Tomas closed his tentacles in at once and tried to cage it in. Embarrassingly, it easily swam right between the tentacles and got away. So much for the great hunting skills. He grumbled about stupid fish luck as he made his way up to the surface.

Emerging from the water, Tomas saw a mythical creature of legend standing on the river bank, ripping up his robes and eating his sandals.

Tomas remembered an exert from the Wolf Chronicle:

The Matriarch has never met another creature as vicious, as blood-thirsty, nor as dangerous as that beast she met in the bushlands of Australia. It thought itself worthy to hunt the Matriarch as if she were prey, not the predator. This was its first mistake. The Matriarch hunted back and surprisingly, found herself challenged. After a great battle, she defeated the beast and left it lying broken and injured. Out of respect for its strength, she let it live. Only to find it tracking her again, days later. This was its second mistake. She learned that it was so relentless in its drive to hunt, that the only way to put an end to it was through death. To this day she considers it and its kin to be the greatest hunters in the world, excluding herself, of course.

Tomas mentally cursed. He eyed the 2.5-meter monster covered in shaggy dark fur that was currently swallowing his sandals. It’s pitch black simian face expressing anger at the lack of flavour the sandals provided. There was no mistaking what he had just bumped into. A Yowie.

Yowies are extremely rare, Australian yetis. Some conspiracy theorists have spent their lives trying to catch a glimpse of one without success. Those unlucky enough to find one were hunted and eaten. Stories of yowies had given him nightmares as a child. Unfortunately for Tomas, he had just encountered a hungry one.

Tomas may have considered himself a great hunter, but he was no Matriarch. He knew that yowie’s outrageous strength and supernatural senses were a force to be reckoned with. There was no way he was going to risk going against one. He tried to sneak back into the water.

What Tomas didn’t know, however, was that yowies have a 6th sense that let them know when they are being looked at. As he tried to leave unnoticed, it stopped what it was doing and looked straight in his direction, spotting him immediately. It let out a wild roar. Throwing his ripped up robes into its mouth, it kicked up dirt with the sheer force of its initial dash as it began sprinting for him.

Tomas stopped sneaking and quickly dove down, shooting ink up behind him. Then, as he reached the bottom of the river, he kicked up as much dirt and rocks as he could then camouflaged himself.

The yowie dove into the water. Because of its crazy strength, It was a very strong swimmer. It swam down through the ink and examined the river bed. As octopi were masters of camouflage, Tomas held no fear that it would be able to spot him. He hoped it would give up. Instead, it started grabbing random rocks and smashing them together furiously.

If Tomas moved now he would give away his position. He sat still and prayed despite desperately wanting to flee. His patience paid off, the yowie tore up a huge part of the riverbed before running out of air and swimming back up to the surface. Tomas took that opportunity to move several meters away before the Yowie swam back down and started smashing rocks and digging up soil again.

For hours this game of cat and mouse continued. Every time, Tomas looked back to see if he was clear the yowie would sense him again. Once he figured that looking back brought it to him, he kept his eyes forward. It ended up taking him the entire day to get far enough away from the yowie to consider himself safe.

That night, he managed to successfully catch a fish. He used a different tactic to last time. The last one was too elaborate, simple is best he discovered. Just by camoflaging and moving closed enough he was able to snatch it with a single tentacle. He was too starved and exhausted to care and ate it raw. Initially he found it gross but quickly realised that he quite enjoyed fish this way. Exhausted after eating, he slept camouflaged on the bottom of the river again. He had not travelled very far at all that day.

The next day was sunny again, ‘The weather may have returned to normal’ Tomas thought, ‘Maybe even for real this time’. He felt like he had gotten far enough away to begin travelling on land again. Leaving the river cautiously, he transformed, and began walking naked.

Only an hour later, Tomas felt despair again. He heard a thundering sound as something large was coming in his direction from behind. He already guessed what it was but turned to look anyway. The yowie must have picked up his scent with its supernatural nose as soon as he left the water and was now sprinting towards him.

Tomas transformed and began using his new paired limb trick to dash on all fours. When the distance between them grew enough that Tomas couldn’t see it behind him anymore, he dove back into the river and continued onwards submerged. It had become apparent that the stories of Yowie's relentlessness weren't exaggerated. Tomas considered what to do as he continued upstream.

It took him a few days to reach the lake that the river was fed from. Tomas believed it was called Lake Chance or Lake Luck or something like that. From here he would have to travel overland to reach his next landmark. And so it was time to do something about the yeti. Deep within the lake, he considered his options.

“I could try hurling rocks at it… na, if I miss it's over. Besides what I really need to do is get close to it. It’s OP that its nose is that powerful. Stealth is what I do best. Maybe I could build a trap to hold it in place… Na too much work. What I really need is…” Tomas’ thoughts were interrupted when something in the water caught his eye. In lakes, everything is always green and brown. However, Tomas had just spotted something bright white within the murk. He swam over to investigate.

He was surprised when he came across a stunning marble statue on the bottom of the lake. His eyes sparkled as they got lost in the statue’s life like eyes. It was one of the most beautiful things Tomas had ever seen, “This could work!” he exclaimed. Not only was it a masterpiece, but it would serve as the centerpiece in an elaborate plan Tomas had just made up in his mind. He grabbed it and began dragging it behind him as he made his way out of the lake.

Several kilometres away the yowie sniffed the air. Its prey had finally left the water again. It began running in the direction of the smell. After a few hours of following his scent, it came across a strange scene. All the trees by the lake had been stained in octopus ink. This meant that they all stunk like Tomas. The yowie slowed down and kicked a pile of suspicious rocks. Several similar piles had been placed everywhere on the ground and in the trees. They were just rocks. The yowie growled.

It sniffed the air. On land, no matter how tricky he was being, it was only a matter of time before Tomas was found. The yowie followed its nose, kicking rocks and smashing trees in its path. Shortly after, it felt some eyes fall upon it with its 6th sence. It followed the sence and came across an oddity. A pure white fish sat on a pure white rock in the middle of the forest. It could tell that this was not an ordinary fish. She (the yowie could just tell the fish was a she) was more beautiful and more divine than any other fish it had ever seen. Something was off, she was staring right at the yowie, and yet its 6th sense didn't react at all. The yowie cautiously approached.

While approaching the strange fish, the yowie felt someone look at him. Not from the direction of the fish however, it came from straight above. It was too slow to react. Tomas fell on the yowie from the branches above. Eight strong tentacles wrapped around its various body parts and tried to squeeze its life out. Tomas’ skin became bright yellow with flickering blue rings as he bit down on the back of the yowie’s neck.

A slow, grappling battle began between them. The yowie struggled as its breathing and movement were restricted by the coiling tentacles. They weren’t strong enough to stop it from moving entirely though. Bit by bit it slowly began to overpower the tentacles. Its muscles strained as it reached up to grab the tentacle wrapped around its face. The tentacle was held on by Tomas' strength and suction pads. Slowly, the yeti pulled it off one suction pad at a time. Each time one came loose there was a loud ‘pop’'. A suction cup, right on its eyeball, threatened to pull the whole eye out, but the yowie managed to wiggle it off and keep its eye.

Growling through its constricted throat, the yowie clenched down on the free tentacle it now held in its hand. Now began its counterattack. It opened its mouth wide to reveal dozens of jagged yellow teeth. Then it strained to slowly pull the tentacle in. Another tentacle unwrapped from around the yowie’s waist and coiled around its wrist, pulling tight to save the other one. It wasn't enough, bit by bit the tentacle drew closer to the mouth until it was all the way in. The yowie bit down.

"Aaaahhhh!" Tomas screamed out in pain.

Its sharp teeth bit all the way through Tomas’ meat. The yowie let out a muffled laugh around all the octopus flesh in its mouth. But its laugh stopped short. Something in their power struggle had changed.

Tomas body spasmed and flexed in pain. The tentacle around the yowie’s neck tightened, it was having greater difficulty breathing now. Its grip on his tentacle began to weaken and its ferocity diminished.

Another tentacle unwound from around its leg and reached up and grabbed the yowie’s face. Tomas successfully squeezed its jaw open and pulled his damaged tentacle out. Slowly, Tomas unwound all of his tentacles from around the yowie. Despite now being free from constraint, it didn't move to take advantage of the freedom. Or rather, it couldn’t. Its body was frozen. The last tentacle to release was the one around its neck. Tomas hopped down off of yowie and nursed his wounded tentacle. The yowie fell backwards, struggling for breath and stared up at the were-octopus.

A blue ring octopus has enough neurotoxin in one bite to kill dozens of men. As a were-octopus, Tomas possessed a venom several times more potent than that and could deliver significantly more poison per bite. He only needed the opportunity to get close enough to bite his foe and then to live long enough for the poison to take effect in order to win just about any fight. Against the yowie, he had needed a distraction.

Tomas ignored the yowie and focused on his wound, "Noooo, not this tentacle!" Tomas whined.

Tomas transformed back to a horrible shock. His hand was missing from the wrist up. Blood started pouring out of the stump as soon as he was in human form. He swore loudly and changed back. Octopi could regrow limbs. It took time though. Time Tomas didn't have if the Matriarch was making a recovery.

This would complicate things, how long could he afford to wait before giving up his powers? Should he give them up at all? They had just saved his life after all. He decided to think on it further on his way to Chook’s creek.

He turned back to the yowie one last time. It still lay there, its life draining. Though it was icky to do, Tomas was a big man hunter now and he’d always been taught to put prey out of their misery. With a bite to its throat, it was dead.

He turned to the fish statue. It was such a mysterious thing. Who made it and left it at the bottom of the lake? And what were the odds of Tomas finding it? An enormously lucky coincidence. Tomas couldn’t get over how good the statue was, “That’s a good statue!” he exclaimed to the air. He left it there to watch over the corpse of the Yowie and continued on his journey.