My senses travelled slowly through my completed second floor. From the manor on the hill to the base of a mighty mountain with the dense forest in-between. I had created the carved trees and the cave drawings to finish telling the start of the story, and would have to wait until I could make a third floor before I could do the next part. Though it was my favorite part, and there was lots you could do in a twisting cave system with low light and monsters. Still, the second floor was coming along with it's own defenses. Since I saw that human writing with mana, I had given it some attempts myself. I quickly found that it was not for me. In fact I had a thought it was the only way humans could easily work with magic. Since I could create magical effects and spells with enough will and raw power. The experiments I was performing with my ever-growing collection of creatures proved that my method and Intent was best.

It had been a few days since the humans fled from me, and the one I had brought down wasn't awake yet. In fact I had to give it water otherwise it might have died. Which is exactly what my instincts wanted. They had been tugging at me after the first day, and the energy that I had consumed from them was used up in expanding my domain. They made the process of experimenting and creating harder too. Distracting me when my concentration would lapse, leaving me both annoyed and frustrated. I guessed that the one human was costing me time and mana by nearly double of what I normally needed due to my instincts. Yet, it also provided quite a valuable experience to strengthen my will and Intent. And the study time on the human laying there was priceless. I had managed to create trees with human shapes to roam the forest. The teeth were a bit odd, but they did a wonderful job of sneaking up on targets and extending vines to attack. If they had eyes and hair I might have sent them out to by my vessels for travel, but they didn't have the major features needed to get away with that.

Today I was gathering my focus while weaving threads of mana to prepare for another attempt at a pure human. They were much more complex than the Beastkin in their mana patterns. Humans were just odd in general like they were far from natural or something. Beasts had circles, curling lines, and patterns of waves, gentle forms that just felt natural. The Beastkin had some sharp angles and many sided shapes as well as triangles, but all mixed together with the natural patterns. It made the patterns as different as pure copper to aggregate rock. Humans on the other hand, were as different as a magically enhanced tool to the aggregate rock. They were simpler on the surface, but it was tightly layered to the point I was getting more certain that they had to be the creation of another Core somewhere. One with a lot of time and a huge domain, my mind slipped for a moment on thoughts about how much it could see and experience. I focused back down to finish up the mana weave.

The weave was in the general shape of a humanoid creature; two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet, a torso, and a head. I had wanted to alter the number of arms, but felt it would be best to get a success first before making changes. The weave was really only a way to reduce the amount of failures caused by the presence of the human on my instincts. I got the idea when I was trying to write magic and found that a loop or sphere of magic would cause the power to bounce around if it got away from my Intent and will. Which made it a lot easier to maker corrections since it didn't go too far and cause chain reactions. Carefully I took a piece of the unconscious beastkin, a bit of it's fur, and place it within the center of the weave. My will and Intent came together in my words.

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"Grow, divide, become whole." A wave of vibrations shook the air as I spoke, and the fur grew clear and then started to expand. Parts of it changed as I imparted my memory of what the body should look like. I choose a female human this time since I mostly did the males and was hoping a change might get some results. Slowly the clear material gained colors and shapes within it, organs and body structures stabilizing. A spike of hunger hit me as I was beginning the complex magical structures, and I lost all the threads before I got it under control. The weaving proved its value as it kept them close to where I was working on them, and I was able to get right back into the sharp lines and shapes. My instincts hounded me as I worked with care, but my weaving was showing its worth to me.

'I might be able to get it complete this time' I thought, keeping my excitement under control. I was on the sixth layer of complex shapes, and it wasn't time to be distracted by anything beyond the instincts. One line by one shape I finished up the eighth layer before a surge of my instinct caused me to lash out with a spike of earth towards the weave. Rage and will surged with my Intent and I diverted it before it impacted, and I released a sound of rage that, unknown to me, caused the land above to form a series of sharp spikes. The lines and patterns were harder to follow now, and my instincts seemed to be constantly dragging at my focus. Yet, my rage and determination narrowed my vision to the next line, then the next. The dungeon shook, the walls cracked, creatures fell into unconsciousness, and yet I worked. With only the lines to give me sensation, and the hunger of my instincts behind me.

Then I felt something click into place, and my instincts flared to such a degree that I fell into darkness myself.

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The ants who remained awake worked on their tasks, those given by the creator of their world. They gathered the fallen, and cleaned the shattered walls and floors. The tree people grinned their oddly bright, white grins as they did the same for the second floor. Their long fingers smoothing the bark of the trees, smoothing the cobblestone paths, and clearing the bodies of those that died. The spikes of simple rock up above had transformed into long, thin spires of obsidian, with a strange shimmer of color in the light. The eyes of Marshall flickered open in the dim light, and he saw shaped rock walls and writing on the walls before passing back out.

Then, her eyes opened, eyes of blue and silver. A pale hand pushing up a body lighter than it's size suggests, and green hair with swirls like wood and leaves cascades from her head. All around her are broken rocks, hard earth, and a feeling of great comfort in the air.