I understand now, the dark material is an indicator of suffering and death.
I took the small being out of its hole and laid it on a lump of material in an opening in the forest. It never moved, even when I waited long enough to see the colors of the forest go dark and indistinguishable.
Forest. How do I know that word? A forest is a collection of trees. I looked up at the tall, dark columns that spread out into the sky. These are trees. I recalled my first moments in this world. Just then, I was a much simpler being. I must be learning about this world, and quickly so.
The dark material on the small creature's body had dried and I became aware of unpleasant fumes coming from it. Why does learning have to be so painful? I focused on the dark material and I tried to learn it. Immediately, the word appeared in my mind: Blood. Despite the grim nature of the knowledge, acquiring it gave me a rush of excitement. Suddenly, the world I was lost in became far less scary. I learned about the being, it was called a bird, and it was classified as an animal. Animals were multicellular beings made up of flesh. The trees were plants, unmoving things that build up from the ground, using nothing but the air and sunlight to gain extreme amounts of mass. Bits of information came to me like memories.
I learned so much in a short amount of time, but some questions remained unanswered. What am I? And what happened when I was at the infected strip of earth with those upright animals? I knew I needed to find out.
Before I went back to that spot, I picked the bird up, brought it back to the tree I first emerged from, and set it in its hollow center. I don't know why I did that, but strangely, it felt like the action relieved a part of my guilt.
With my newfound knowledge, I had the courage to go back to that spot at the infection to learn what happened. When I arrived, I found the whole area outlined by a long strip of yellow material, and small orange structures were placed evenly around the hulking corpse of the creature I killed. I watched for a while, not knowing what to do next. I tried learning about it, but nothing came to me.
I settled for a little longer, and eventually, another one of its kind rolled by. I followed it again this time, curious about where it had to go in such a hurry.
I was amazed by the endurance of the creature, it never seemed to lose its pace or weaken even as time went by. It was most unnatural.
I moved closer to it to learn more when I realized that parts of its hard shell were slightly translucent. The beast didn't seem to notice when I slid up next to it and peered through its sleek shell. Inside I saw an upright creature, staring passively ahead. The upright creature didn't seem to be harmed in any way even though it was in the belly of another creature. I thought it must be some sort of symbiotic relationship.
I continued to follow the beast until the path of the infection curved into a valley that seemed to house strange shapes that stood much taller than the trees. It was breathtaking in a way, and fear made it hard to continue, but I kept following because I needed to learn more about these strange animals. The yearning for knowledge was almost as unbearable as the fear.
As the beast coasted down toward the valley, I could see multi-colored swarms of its kind clustered around the base of each gigantic pillar. They seemed to crowd in the middle between the pillars while droves of upright creatures moved about at the edge. I was puzzled by it, one of the three entities in this valley is superior, but which would it be? I went up to touch one of the large structures. It was dense and hard, just like the infection and the beasts. Parts of it were smooth and translucent, revealing dozens of upright creatures moving about.
