It was never aware of the walls around it till they started to crumble, nor the existence of walls at all. In all it had known, there was itself and no more, any sort of other was a shocking change to its perception of reality as a whole.
Experiencing any sort of shock was a change as well, only increasing the new sensation. In all of its time, it had been aware, but it had been so long since it truly felt. When it first began to perceive itself, there had been curiosity at its own being, hints of excitement when it learned more, satisfaction when it discovered all there was to know and understand, leading to the eventual sadness at that same fact, until it reached boredom and what lied beyond, something that surpassed ennui as it faced that truth. With nothing else, it would simply carry on.
Or so it had thought when it would bother to think, but the presence of an existence outside of itself had changed all of that, making it realize even more. When it first felt the walls around it begin to break it had been confusing to make sense of as it strained against that boundary, adding another discovery to the list. It was a thing of substance, capable of straining against its environment.
That somehow managed to be just as shocking to it as the walls were. There was more to it than it had known. Before there was never a sensation of being pushed against anything, without the sensation to work off of, how was it to understand that? But now that it did it wouldn’t stop.
Movement! It could move and pulse, feeling the boundary around it crumble just a little more as shock turned to excitement. There was still more it had to learn about itself, but beyond that, there were things to learn beyond itself. How could that be anything other than exciting, leaving it poking at something it hadn’t realized it possessed until then.
Imagination. If there was one thing beyond itself, perhaps there would be more. Another wall beyond it to feel, another to break down. If it could have that, wall after wall to push against then that would be enough for it. It would be able to strain against it when it wanted, relax when it didn’t and even think back on the times it strained when it wanted to relive the moment without pushing itself. Paradise, at least compared to its existence before.
Its imagination didn’t end there though, even if its other thought was of a negative variety. What if there was no other wall to enjoy? What if that was it and once it was gone it would have no choice but to return to its previous existence, but after a moment's hesitation decided that would be fine too. It could waste away eternity trying to make it last as long as it could by only pushing it when it really needed to, but then there’d still be the eternity after.
And even if it left it alone like that, the wall was breaking on its own, that was the very reason it was even aware of the thing’s existence. Why let it crumble by itself without enjoying the feeling of helping it along?
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So it pushed more, taking in the sensation for all it was worth if that was to be the last time it would get to enjoy it until it experienced something else. What stood beyond it.
It didn’t have eyes to see, nor other sensory organs to perceive existence around it in a normal way, but as cracks formed in that which contained it, it was able to interpret what was beyond in a way it never had within its confines.
Eternity. Not of the mind as it carried out its existence, but of a different sort, one it had only begun to have an inkling of as it strained. An eternity of space, stretching out forever in all directions, but not empty. This eternity was filled with more, things so far they couldn’t be properly understood from where it was but it wanted to change that, it felt a desire to change that unlike anything else in its history.
Before it had dared to dream of further walls, now it could see how limited the thought had been. It was no longer going to be dreaming of walls but whatever laid beyond them, mysteries it couldn’t begin to imagine after the limited existence it had dealt with for so long.
It was stimulated, it was enthralled, it was all but hungry to push beyond into whatever was next and wanted nothing more than to make it happen, straining with all it had to be freed just a second quicker. The reveal of something more had just recontextualized its entire existence. For as long as it had been, suffering in its boredom, that had only been the first part of its time and it was more than ready to move onto the second, into the great beyond that was waiting for it.
Crack!
Whatever that had just been was also something new, but it had come with progress as more broke against it and it found itself having to stop, just to take in that new experience. With so much new already surrounding it, it needed to appreciate every bit it could and forced itself to wait to see if it would happen again.
It was a perception of a different sort, not the touch it was learning to love, nor the not-quite sight as it peered into the infinite abyss beyond, but instead something else. Something that wasn’t repeating itself no matter how long it waited so eventually it gave up, returning to its pushing.
Crack!
Once more it froze, hoping for more of the new thing but not getting it until an idea slowly began to form in its thoughts. It had experienced it as it pushed the last time and had gotten it again when it started, had the two been connected?
It waited longer just to be sure before putting the idea to the test, instantly getting the result it craved as another crack came out, springing to existence with the large breaks that were beginning to fill the walls, compelling it to keep going as it pushed itself farther and farther, enjoying every second more than it had any other part of its existence until then, with it all topped off by one final change, not getting more cracks but instead a shattering in response to its efforts.
The walls of its universe crumbled and the creature within was finally free.