When I opened my eyes for the first time, I was greeted by a peculiar world. At first, all I saw was darkness, and I accepted it. Eventually, I realized that I was encased in an odd material. I moved about the material until it began to change. It grew warmer as I moved faster. Strangely, the material started to corrode and die. I began to wonder; if it dies, will I die?
I got my answer when a new sensation came over me but in another place. The sensation allowed me to see the inside of the dark, dirty material. But the sensation only came from a small opening on the side of the material. The sensation was strange, but I still came closer until it surrounded me. I could discern different flavors of the sensation, which I understood to be color. Now I could see all of the different parts of the material that was my birthplace. I looked around, clumps of the material stood around me in big columns that were split apart at the top. They were different, taller, brighter, and greener. Were they all birthplaces? Were there others like me? I wandered around the world of color until I found another birthplace like mine, but the hole was shallow, and it contained a group of small creatures nestled into a pile of strings.
They screamed at me as I approached. I must have disturbed them. Curiosity got the better of me as I picked one up and rolled it in my hands. It flailed around pathetically and I wondered how such a creature could survive, perhaps its screams were fatal to other predators? I closed my hand around it, and its soft body squished into a paste, revealing a darker material that stained my hand. I guessed it was some form of defense mechanism, maybe the material was poison? I politely set the creature back into its hole, but I realized that it was no longer screaming. Was I no longer a threat to it? I thought about it more as I drifted through the forest. I eventually came across a long patch of black ground. When I looked closer, I noticed that all of the ground in the patch was hard, unlike the softness of the forest. Was it some sort of infection?
I thought it would have to be a powerful infection, in the way that it seemed to cut through all of the hills and imperfections with little resistance. I wondered how long it spread so I followed it for a while. Suddenly, I came across something far stranger. It was a creature that seemed to be moving while on top of its hind legs. I thought it should be very unstable from what I've seen from the creatures in the forest, yet it kept moving at a swift speed. From its speed, I deduced that it was fleeing something. That's when I saw the creature with gold fur chasing after it. I thought that must've been it, but when I looked closer, I saw that it was not lashing out at the upright creature despite it being so close. I also saw that the golden creature was tethered to the other creature by a thin strip of material. It was a very peculiar thing.
I followed the two creatures down the path of the infection, gradually getting closer and discovering new things. The upright creature had this strange, colorful fur that seemed to be separated into different colored flaps. The fur looked like it was latched together so that it would stay on the body of the creature. On the top of the creature, there was a tuft of long fur that looked much more natural. I guessed that the creature did not have much natural fur, so it had to supplement it by wearing the fur of other creatures. This upright creature must be very powerful in order to harvest the fur of such exotic beings. But if the creature was so powerful, why was it running? I drifted behind the creature in search of its pursuer, but I did not see anything for a while. But suddenly, a large, brightly colored creature came by. It was horrifying, hard like the infection and it seemed to be roaring perpetually. Its gait was particularly strange, too, it did not bob or kick like any other creature. In fact, it did not seem to have any legs, yet moved incredibly fast. I was unsure how the other creature would be able to evade it at all. I hovered alongside it as it hunted the upright creature.
Should I interfere? Should I stay to watch the destruction of such a marvelous creature? The beast charged closer to the creature, but it kept running, refusing to give up. That's when I made my decision. I leaped in front of the path of the beast in an attempt to stop it. The beast hit me with so much force that it hurt itself, flattening the shell on its nose and spilling its hardened insides everywhere as it threw itself to the other side of the infection. The beasts' roars were silenced immediately. I looked to the upright creature in a moment of triumph, but it looked past me with a face of horror, not gratitude. The creature stood still, shaking subtly in place. It looked to the fallen beast, following its gaze. I was about to remind it that the threat was gone, but then I saw the shell of the beast open, and another upright creature came out. Parts of it were oozing the same dark, red material I saw earlier. The other creature suddenly ran towards it in an effort to help it escape.
Confusion forced me out of the scene. I went back to the trees, away from the infection and the stranger creatures. I weaved through the forest and found myself at the other tree where the screaming creatures sat and I saw the one that was covered in the dark material. It stayed silent, even as the others screamed. I pulled it out of the hole and it sat motionlessly in my hand. Did I cause harm? Is the dark material not self-defense but an indicator of destruction? The thought gave me a terrible sensation.
