“Evolution is a long-coming transition from what you were into what you are.”

“Evolution needs Time, like everything else.”

“Enough Time that a single creature that lived was but a blip of history.”

“However, there is a way to expedite Evolution by exposing Life to external pressure.”

“Yes. The majority will die, but the survivors will thrive.”

*

World Dream - ???

A shooting star flared through the Dreams of All.

Some noticed it. Some did not.

Those who did wonder what it was.

Those who had wondered what its purpose was.

Those who pondered knew and felt that something significant transpired.

Few knew where the shooting star vanished.

Even fewer realized that the shooting star had carried something.

Only one knew that something had the shape of a creature covered by black fur on the bottom and a white coat on its head, back, and tail.

Yet, even It knew not the purpose of that shooting star.

The creature it had carried off was but a dream construct. The true buddy was still out there in the waking world.

Whatever it was, the Dream Lord ignored it.

Time had the side effect of either revealing the true shape and purpose of everything or turning everything into ashes, Dreams included.

With that being the case, the Dream Lord returned to regulating his kingdom.

*

Thirty-four was a magical number.

What it could represent was not as important as what it symbolized at this time and place.

Thirty-four was the number of children that got born by the action of one Alexander, The Honey Badger, The Conquer of Land and Females, and The Scourge of Li’On.

The number was split into 16 males and 18 females.

The two youngest ones were still being nursed, as they had just come into Life, but the oldest already had cubs of their own.

This increased the count of Alexander's progeny to 45.

If one counted the total number of a species in existence, then that number was very small. But if the said species is a hardy survivor, their number would only increase.

Honey Badgers were a hardy species.

Their skin is thick and loose, providing a lot of protection.

They were omnivores and could eat a lot of stuff to survive most ecosystems.

Their aggressive responses and attitude enabled few creatures to bother them.

Their life span depended on quite a few facts, like the availability of food and the number of fights they participated in.

This meant that their life span could span from anywhere between 5 to 10 years, if unlucky. For the lucky, it was somewhere between 10 to 20 years, yet, in theory, that was not the lowest number of years they could live for.

The luckiest of them all could reach over 30 years of age.

When one combines all these factors, it is easy to conclude that of the 34 children and 11 grandchildren from Alexander’s bloodline, most would succeed and have progeny of their own.

If one included that sometimes, two cubs were born at the same time, it only assured the fact that Alexander’s line would continue to thrive, and that was what it did.

His bloodline thrived, and by the time 50 years passed since Alexander’s first Conquest, their number had already doubled easily. After another 50 years, their number doubled again, at the very least.

The only true boundary between their increased number of progeny was the territories that most Honey Badgers maintained, and the fact that most females only ever sired children once in a few years.

It depended on quite a few factors, as even after a cub was born, the mothers were the sole providers for the cubs before the adolescent came of age and separated.

Those facts throttled any explosive baby-making schemes.

However, while it may not have been explosive, it was steady, especially as Alexander’s line turned out to be very successful in surviving and mating.

Time passed, and soon two hundred years were achieved since Alexander’s first Conquest. The number of his bloodline had passed the four hundred mark.

Then came the five-hundred-year mark, and by that time, there were 25000 Honey Badgers, give or take, descending from Alexander's line.

However, by that time, a few things had happened to the Honey Badgers.

The successful increase in numbers demanded a larger area to satisfy their land requirement, especially as males tended to have larger domains while the female domains tended to overlap with the males.

Their increasing numbers forced the youngsters to slowly expand into different areas.

Some went to the southern jungle below the Mane Savannah. There they found far more vegetation. The forest moistness was trapped because the mountains were shallow enough on one side. This allowed enough moisture from the seas to arrive and stay as the other side prevented the said moisture from leaving.

Inside the Southern Forest, they found quite a healthy bounty of small creatures on which to feast. Most of those were insectoid in nature, but there was plenty of other stuff.

Those that went north met a body of ocean water blocking their path. This rerouted them either west or east.

Those that went west came upon another forest that bordered an ocean. Those that went east encountered a larger body mass on which to spread their territory. That those areas contained a similar ecosystem only eased their expansion.

Like that time passed. The thousand-year mark was achieved.

If Alexander had the capacity to understand what his descendants had achieved, he would probably be very proud of himself.

However, it wasn't all pretty or easy.

Primarily for those that had expanded east.

In the east, they had come across domains and settlements that they failed to understand what it all signified.

At that point in time, no matter where the Honey Badgers lived, aside from the center where they originated from, all have at least once in their lives come across creatures that defied the norms of their original species.

Not only were they bigger, stronger, and smarter, but they also seemed to possess various abilities that the Honey Badgers had not met before nor could understand.

Those that failed to conceive their situation died. Those that somehow survived learned to avoid the danger to some degree, but the march of the expansion was ongoing.

The Honey Badgers' smaller stature meant they effortlessly found a way to integrate themselves into an ecosystem. Being Alexander’s descendants, they had gained better instincts. Especially those that sired at the end of his life.

That their number one food source was those smaller creatures bothered few.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

However, it was also true that those sired last had a bigger appetite for flesh than those that had come earlier.

Still, at some point, even the eastern expansion had to come to an end, but by that point, it mattered little, as when it happened, the Honey Badger species had achieved a critical point in their evolution.

This evolution was not of body or mind. It was one of psychic relevance.

Numbers for a species counted just as much as the quality the said species had evolved.

In this case, the physic depth of a collective unconsciousness manifested by numbers creates an impact on the World.

In return, that impact would be spread among every single member of said species, regardless of where said species resided in that World.

What it does is simple. Some individuals will generate an idea. That idea will propagate the impact upon the World, and in return, that idea would root itself into the collective unconsciousness of a species.

As a result, a shadow imprint of said idea would be available to all connected to that collective unconsciousness.

How effective this is, depends upon a lot of factors. Generally said, the greater the quality of the mind looking for the shadow imprint, the easier it is to generate the same idea.

But when the species was still primitive in their actions, that fact mattered little.

However, this Honey Badger species possessed something special. Something that usually appeared in a different form and was only achievable after a long and painful road of Evolution.

Being of Alexander’s line, they all possessed a tiny bit more quality than they should have, but most of all, they had something else.

The impact they generated upon the World by their collective unconscious had an epicenter.

When the psychic impact was generated and met this epicenter, a unique partnership was created between them.

Every tiny psychic impact the Honey Badger species generated was absorbed by this epicenter. In return, this epicenter countered with its own impact upon the Honey Badger species.

However, this impact was different. It had little consequences on the daily life of any Honey Badger, but what it did influence was their Dreams.

That was what every single Honey Badger had sensed. In that brief moment, they generated a psychic impact big enough to cooperate with the epicenter. None of them could even entertain the idea that something strange had happened, but the moment they fell asleep was a different story.

Every single Honey Badger, whatever they dreamed of, had a tiny presence in the distance that drew their attention.

For some, it was in the night sky generated in their Dreams.

For some, it was the sun that shined down upon them.

For some, it was hidden in the distance.

For some, it came from down below.

All in all, every single Dream dreamed by a Honey Badger manifested a version of that psychic impact and the epicenter that reflected it on them.

What was it? That was for the future to be witnessed.

What did it change? Nothing. It changed nothing. From that day on, they all continued accomplishing their daily routines as they had done all their life before.

What was its purpose? A mystery to be studied in the future.

Every time a Honey Badger slept, the presence would be there, like a constant reminder that there was something. At some point in time, there would be individuals, who would seek that presence, even if they never reached it.

Nor was it possible for them in their current evolutionary standard.

Their bodies were still small. Their minds were still primitive as they mainly relied on instincts instead of the conscious thought which was needed to dive deeper into their Dreams.

However, there was a shortcut for any species.

If you did not have the natural capability on your own nor the mental integrity to travel Dreams, there were always psychedelics that forced one's biology to work wonders at expanding one's understanding of their Consciousness.

By careful examination and understanding of food indigestion, every species will come to understand what something does to one's body.

After that, careful usage of psychedelics worked wonders, and with studies there, no permanent harm to one's body.

That being the case, the Honey Badger species was endorsed with one unique advantage compared to anything else. Their bodies were innately resistant to toxins, and while it may presently work on venom, it did not mean the immunity had no way to be improved.

Already there are a few pioneers of what would be in the future called The Shamanistic Tradition of Crafts and Rituals.

*

Mane Savannah

Where the origin of today's Honey Badgers began. There was one female Honey Badger that could be called fortunate or unfortunate depending on the angle of understanding.

This female was out looking for snacks when she came across a snake. The snake was deadly for any other species but her.

In fact, all she would experience was sometimes sleeping before resuming her life.

And that was what happened.

This female had found a snake, she played with it, she got bit, but the snake found its end.

The female Honey Badger entered the dreaming dance of her body stilling as it began to fight off the toxin that entered its bloodstream.

Whenever the body fought off the toxins and venoms plaguing its inside, the mind of the Honey Badger would enter a comatose state as a result.

Usually, nothing would happen. The female would wake up later with no problems at all, but today was special.

Today was the day, a critical moment, in the Honey Badger species was achieved.

A psychic impact of their collective unconsciousness resonated with the World. Specifically, it resonated with one particular epicenter. When the resonance returned, if changed, it echoed upon the mind of the female Honey Badger, and the unexpected happened.

The resonance triggered the Consciousness of the female Honey Badger.

It should have provoked a slight response from her waking self. But she was in a coma-like state.

There was no waking her physical body.

What happened instead, the awareness of the female Honey Badger woke inside a Dream instead of staying comatose.

The unbelievable stillness of no physical stimuli distracting her increased the exposure to the resonance. It became more substantial than any other Honey Badger. In fact, the resonance was so strong that it lulled her awareness deeper into her own dreaming self.

Stuck in a dream-like trance, the female walked towards that presence.

At one point, she felt the presence inside a burrow. Once she entered, she continued to travel until an end came. Before her, packed earth, and beyond, the presence.

Still, in trance, this female cared for nothing and began to dig. Dig and dig, she went at it with her claws, yet the presence always stayed a tantalizing distance away.

The dig continued slowly when her time ran out, and her trance subsided.

For a while, she stood there in that dark burrow and wondered what she was doing.

Then she became aware of that presence again, if weaker to her awareness.

Her simple mind did not understand, but the emotion of seeking was ingrained in her now.

For a few moments, she looked behind. She even walked a few steps back only to return to the wall blocking her from the presence.

Moments of indecisiveness passed as her claws began to dig again.

Time passed inside her Dream when the impossible happened. Her claws and paws found light. With more effort, she broke through the last wall packed with dirt, and a new scenario came into her eyes.

It was a new scenario. However, it stayed relative to the idea of the last one, as that was all she knew. In this one, the presence that had lured her to dig no longer came from the earth.

It came from beyond the bushes and the trees that blocked her vision.

Not caring to bother with anything else, she walked in that direction.

Time passed as she walked and walked when something else happened to interrupt her march of indulging seeking.

Her physical body began to wake up. Every twitch it did only tore her faster from her quest until the trees and bushes before her eyes began to vanish one by one.

When everything vanished, and her real eyes opened, she came into a foggy world.

It took a few moments for her vision to work properly alongside her slight disorientation vanishing as her body recovered.

Soon her nose smelled meat, and snacking time ensued.

However, her eating habit was slightly absent as part of her mind remembered that presence. It did not occupy much of her attention.

Like a reminder that there was something there that she could not remember.

The rest of her day was typical if a bit unfocused. It was not until she fell asleep that everything came back to her.

The presence once again became the beacon that lured her somewhere. Soon enough, another burrow came upon her. Moments later, another digging session began.

Dig and dig, she worked hard. Yet, compared to how it went last time, she was not even halfway through the tunnel when Reality demanded her attention.

Like that, it continued a few more times before she got bit one more time, entering another coma-like state. Usually, nothing would happen, but the rapid experience of entering her Dreams had conditioned her little mind to manifest inside her Dreams.

Another digging session happened, and once more, she reached the other side and began to seek the presence.

However, in her little mind, an association was created between this Dream and being bitten by a poisonous snake.

That association was the critical point upon which Shamanism was born.

*

This critical point was essential, for the simple reason that it was a female exposed to it.

This female Honey Badger was notable because she was the only female which had the misfortune or fortune to be at the right place at the time.

There were a few males to whom the same happened, and they experienced the same behavior.

Males had a statistically higher chance of being bitten as they sought larger prey, number-wise, than the females due to their size. That exposure meant there were a few that entered the same trance and had reached the next layer of their Consciousness.

This also meant they were far more likely to reach deeper and attain something as they did.

But that meant little in the grand scheme of things.

The reason was that a female Honey Badger would pass on her experience to her children, and her children would pass on that experience to their children.

So it would be, until one day, all Honey Badgers knew of this significance, and a new tradition was born.

The Shamanistic Tradition of Crafts and Rituals.