One day I noticed that the puddle I was in had slowly shrunk as temperature increased, but now water was coming down from above and refilling it! This made me really happy. That is a good thing I think, having my puddle full. I like my puddle. But now it is getting too full? This had never happened before! My puddle was about to spill! Oh no, would that ruin it? *Drip* A final drop hit and the puddle spilled over its stony boundary, pouring down the sides of what turned out to be a hollow stalagmite. Water must have taken the core of this rock and hollowed it out before I got here.
Something was happening, something... odd? Not bad, I don’t think, but certainly odd. I was at the bottom of the small puddle in my rock, and whereas previously I could only see in a direct line of sight around me; I could now see everything where the water had overflowed to! Neat! More than see, actually! I could sense everything in that area perfectly - as if all of my senses were attuned to the space around me.
I tasted the salty stone, smelled the earthy fragrance, saw every flaw and nuance of the stone, and heard echoes of falling water. The perception only went as far as the water had drained, so it wasn’t true sight or hearing, or... but really it was... better! More fulfilling and satisfying somehow. For some reason, I also really began to understand the rock I was on. After all, now I knew the word “stalagmite”. I also knew it was made out of limestone, mostly calcium carbonate. Fun, new words! Even when the water that had spilled eventually dried up, my perception of the area remained.
What was that? There was a dark earthy color moving through the rock, wriggling in set sequences like a worm moves through dirt. I reflexively reached out and touched it with my mind, and little sparkles of it pulled away from the stone and drifted toward me! What was this? How did it follow my mind? It kept coming closer, now of its own accord. In an act of defiance, when the dark color touched my crystalline surface, I grabbed at and pulled it in, absorbing it. Shock rippled throughout my being.
It. Was. Amazing. The most delicious thing I had ever eaten in my life. To be fair, the only thing I had eaten in my life. I wanted more. I tried to reach out to that brown energy again, but it kept slipping away before I could “touch” it again. Was it mad at me? I kept trying, again and again, but I got so tired.
Refocusing on myself again, moving in disappointment, I looked at the energy I had absorbed. I “ate” what I could, savoring every bit while the light within slowly faded away, until there was only a filthy brackish-brown color remaining. Trying to “eat” this as well, I found it tasted horrendous, like roasted turds. Disgusted, I tried to “spit” it out, and surprisingly it quickly streamed out of me and floated back to the rock around me, which drank it in like rainwater falling on desert sands. Wait a sec, what is a desert...? Meh. What was I thinking about? I forget. There is food to be eaten, hopefully I could get more!
Surprised at how quickly the brackish energy vanished, I watched as the brown energy in the rocks returned to a normal look, and the clean energy seemed to wave at me again. I tried to reach out, and success! I was able to make a few more sparkles flow toward me! A little more than last time too! Was that the secret? I just had to return the waste, then it would like me again? The energy I had already absorbed was pure white, slowly gaining color toward my normal blue.
Taking in the brown energy, I really focused on what I was doing this time, instead of just eating as quickly as I could. I was actually pulling the white energy from the brown, separating the two until only a dull brown color remained. “Spitting” out the filthy tasting remainder, I again pulled the earth colored light from the stone around me, continuing for a time I didn’t know how to count.
Rain came infrequently; every time it did, the depth of my vision, my knowledge of the surrounding world, increased. Each stone the water washed over increased my knowledge. Soon I could tell you the names of everything in reach, and their properties. For instance, I knew just how much energy they contained, allowing me to calculate the sustenance I would be able to draw from them. I knew what they were made of, how tightly bonded they were, their density, and which of them would float (none of them). From this knowledge, I found more efficient ways of ‘eating’. Pulling the brown stuff from sand released almost no energy, while more dense stones like quartz gave off larger amounts, so I made sure to focus on them.
During a powerful rainstorm, my knowledge of the world suddenly and drastically changed. The water had come again, and I was happy that I would be able to see farther soon. As my puddle finally overflowed, more rocks appeared to me, but the water also sloshed over moss. Moss… I suddenly knew everything there was to know about it. How you could grind it up and put it on shallow cuts to help wounds recover, how it grew with abundance when it had access to water and space, but most importantly, that it was alive. The life in it sang to me, tantalizing my senses with the knowledge that there was so much to learn and taste. In simple astonishment, I realized a new color was suddenly visible to me. Green… What a beautiful, vibrant color this tiny plant exuded. I stretched my mind over to caress this unknown, gorgeous emerald light, when it suddenly reached back. Shocked, I pulled away, and the light returned to the moss, seamlessly re-integrating with itself.
Tentatively, and with great trepidation, I reached out again. So did the light! Connecting with it, the contained energy flowed toward me, similarly to the way the brown energy moved, though much faster and far more powerfully. I drank it in, then began to “eat” it. The most crisp, flavorful salad in the world could not compare to the pure, delicious energy this small plant willingly gave to me.
I gorged myself, eating so fast I would have choked if I were able. Unlike the stone, the green energy just kept coming, and I ate it until there was no more light coming in. Just as I thought it was over, a moss-ive burst of energy flew into me, so much that I nearly shattered! Terrified, I quickly absorbed the energy, simultaneously releasing the waste to return. When I finally had processed everything, I was full, something that had never happened as far as I had been alive. Also, I had made a pun, another first for me.
I looked back at the moss and was horrifically shocked at what I saw. It was no longer vibrant and living. It was crumbling before my eyes, turning to dust. I was disgusted with myself that I had killed it - not the death itself, which was just natural part of life - but the fact that I could no longer pull the yummy food to myself. Ruminating over the loss of this huge source of mouthwatering energy, I quickly brightened when I noticed that behind it there was a veritable carpet of the stuff, growing across the floor of this crevasse. I returned to the brown energy, slightly disappointed now by how hard it was to keep forcefully pulling it to myself. Hungrily, I waited for the rain to come again, so I could reach that tasty, tasty treat just out of my reach.
<Hello, little dungeon.> A measured, powerful voice reverberated in my mind.
<What?! Who... how?> I looked at everything I could see, but there was nothing around me.
<I am Kantor> the voice continued.
<What is a Kantor?> I panicked a bit, a potential threat could find me, but I could not see it.
<Ha. So much to learn, and we have but moments. I wish I could explain all to you, but already the wind moves me along. I must go as the wind takes me, and the air is turbulent in recent times. I digress. Youngling, do you know what you are?> The words Kantor gave me reverberated in my mind like a clarion call, so full of power I was afraid I would be killed by his speech, let alone whatever he could bring to bear against me.