As I walk, the night falls around me and I find myself gazing at a sea of stars, stretching far beyond the horizon. No matter the phase, I always find myself attracted to the starry sky, in all of its vastness.

Moments like these remind me of my homeworld, back when I was but a youngling. I remember dreaming of the stars, of going beyond the Veil to explore everything over there. Back then, our world was still young, but some of us had already reached a level equal to that of members of phases in the middle of their development. Such a fact made some lose their minds to the prospect of their growing power, but simply staring at the endlessness of the stars was enough to make me remember that we are no more than a passing thought, in the eyes of the universe.

Today, I can only think about it with nostalgia, and a bit of bitterness. After all, this place is long lost to me, and will soon be nothing more than a memory. It will then become a legend, and it will finally fade into nothingness.

A current in the aether brings me back from by thoughts. It seems that while I was daydreaming, I let the control over my mana slip a little. I rein myself back once again, but it appears that I acted too late. I can see the aether contorting itself in a way indicating that it is trying to create life.

The creation of life in newly born phases is not a much documented subject, but I know enough to determine what is happening. By mistake, I imprinted my presence on the aether of this young world, which is trying to reproduce the lifeform it originates from, as it is much more complete than its own. However, due to this factor, it will only be able to form inferior copies of the original being.

As such, I can see a scaly being of about seven meters in length appear bit by bit, until it finally emerges from a whirl of aether. A younger member of my species would likely be outraged by its appearance and eradicate it immediately, as it is but a pale imitation of our form. However, I have grown past such pride and arrogance eons ago, and so I do not care about it. What’s more, some have probably already spawned all over the globe, and I have no wish to exert myself to the point that would be needed for me to exterminate them.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The being, a wyvern, sees me and tries to approach. It seems that its primitive brain could understand the fact that I am, in a way, its progenitor. Be that as it may, I do not care about this pseudo-descendant of mine, and I make sure it knows this fact by sending it my intent through my mana, conveying my message in an understandable way to this beast. It flinches and tries to answer back, but its inability to use mana prevents this from happening.

I take my leave, and I choose to go west. The night is still young, and I take the time to appreciate the light wind that flows on my scales. I notice that the aether present in the breeze is starting to gain an attunement, which indicates that a wind elemental must have surfaced not far from here. It seems that for all that I complained about the lack of competence of the local species, the growth rate of this phase is far from slow.

The plains seem to stretch as far as I can see, and as much as I appreciate the moment, I can feel boredom appear. I hesitate at the idea of moving too quickly though. As much as I know that the most interesting part during the growth of new phases happens later on, I still intend to appreciate the beauty that lies in front of me as long as I can. After all, who knows if I will ever see such a view again?

I stay in place long enough for the sun to rise. I can feel its heat on my back, timidly growing until the point where the first ray illuminates the plains. The instant seems to stretch forever, as the dew that formed during the night reflects the light, and it is as if a thousand suns rose up among the blades of grass.

The beauty of the moment amazes me. It had been so long since the last time I assisted to such an event and took note of every single detail there was. Yes, I definitely made the right choice when I decided to come here.