“It matters not where you Live.”

“It matters not when you Live.”

“It matters not how you Live.”

“It matters not why you Live.”

“What matters is this.”

“As long as you Live, you will be in constant Resource demand.”

“To Live is to Die, and to Die is to Live.”

“There is no one without the other.”

“Same applies for everything that once existed, exists now, and will exist in the future.”

“Communities included.”

#27 - Books of Races and Species.

*

Dream Realm - Ho’Ney

A Goal was there. A Goal was made. A Goal got pursued.

Yet, I wasn't stupid to make contact with a World Spirit just like that.

There were plans to be conceived.

There were preparations to be made.

And there was a resolve to be addressed.

I wasn't totally sure how to make a phone call to a World Spirit.

A few ideas had come to my mind, but all those contained negatives, as I would have to do some stupid things like messing with something to catch its attention.

No, the best way was to use what already existed.

With that said, I would be exposing myself to the Ascension process.

After going over every point of data I had on the Honey Badgers Ascension, the trigger was easy to guess.

However, what comes after is my biggest problem.

I'd be a fool to not consider the possibility of The World Spirit recognizing that I was cheating IT. At least, in regards to Ascension.

Nevertheless, it is true that I would appear just like a simple mortal when my Auril… Engine no longer works its magic. Therefore, giving me this opportunity.

“Yet, despite all that, it's a risk worth taking, Alexander.” I say out loud in the blackness of the Galaxy Core of my Dream Realm.

Right in front of me was a dormant little Honey Badger ethereal mind.

Alexander’s Consciousness shed no Light on anything else physical. But to me, he was, without a doubt, there.

“Listen, Alexander, my dear little Conqueror of Land and Women.” My snout nudges his little ethereal blob-like existence. “If this works, and I acquire the final ingredient and achieve the optional reword, and I succeed in making everything, your reincarnation will be the first thing I will implement.”

With that said, my Honey Badger head nodded. “So wish me luck, I won't get splattered like a fly buzzing around an annoying human with a flyswatter in its hand.”

No reply came, but I did my best to assume that he wished me luck.

With a thought, I was outside the Galaxy Core and back at the Observation Platform.

Goldy, in his Mirror form, watched Magi, Maximus, and the Cubs.

A tiny little miracle happened with the family. Maximus somehow plopped himself into their education.

In all honesty, I still couldn't understand every single thing about the Proud creatures. But if I exclude my preconceived notions of a human, then without a doubt, Maximus had begun educating his son on how to flirt with the female kind.

Whether I interpreted it correctly or not, it did not matter. But it was true Maximus actively involved himself with his cubs, if not as much as every female Honey Badger is.

That aside, I placed my right-hand paw on Goldy, and the projection shifted slightly. It wasn't by much, but out of caution, I had him point me close, but not too close, to the first Honey Badger family.

Once a decent place got located through Goldy, I acquired the Spatial Lock of the area.

Not much technical know-how is involved with teleporting. At least in my Dream Realm. It was more feeling based. However, outside it was a whole different story.

I didn't even want to imagine how it would be without Goldy, so the visual interpretation of the area he provided helped a ton.

Within moments, I commandeered the wacky Spatial Laws of my Dream Realm and fed them through me, through Goldy, to the brown and slightly dusty ground the projection pointed.

It was not instant, as I took it slowly, but a few moments later, a shimmer appeared just where I wanted.

“Master, are you sure about your intentions?” Goldy asked, just as the shimmering Portal grew enough for me to pass through on the other side.

“Yes, yes, don't worry. It will be fine.” I reassured him.

“Yes, Master.”

With that done, I vanished from the Observation Platform and appeared beside the Arched Portal, which I made for the Honey Badgers. I could have done it from anywhere in the Dream Realm, but this was the first time I would actually come into Reality.

Therefore, it had to be grand, if to pep talk my ego, at least a slight little bit.

Standing beside the Arched Portal, I looked at the Stars representing every single Honey Badger in existence. One paw on its illusionary interpretation, and I connected it to the shimmering Portal out there in Reality.

Licking my lips, I smiled and spoke my carefully rehearsed speech before actually stepping through.

“One tiny step for a Honey Badger, One giant leap for Me.”

*

Central Continent - Wild Zone - Maximus

Maximus, in his new and unfamiliar role as a Father and leader of a Family, patrolled his territory.

A territory that usually took constant effort to maintain lest another male began to contest it. But so far, with their arrival and establishment, few of his kind ever even dared to tread on his territory, much less contest it.

Still, old habits were there for a reason, and he was patrolling and marking the territory when in the distance, hidden by a few bushes, an unfamiliar scent caught his attention.

Sniffing and closing in on it, Maximus found a peculiarity.

It was one of his kind, yet its form was slightly different. It was smaller, much like the others beside his mate and maybe his cubs, since they were superior to others as they came from his mighty self.

Slightly cautious about it, Maximus edged closer and closer to it.

Sniffing and circling it, he found out it was male, so definitely an intruder.

Yet, this slightly weird intruder produced unfamiliar feelings inside him.

Sensations of caution and something else Maximus was not familiar with.

Still, there was one thing that he was familiar with. This male was producing very loud growls from its stomach as if it had not eaten in a long, long time.

Maybe, it was the caring feelings he learned when interacting with his cubs, but Maximus gently nudged the slightly weird intruder. His snout kept touching the right side of the stomach to see if it would react.

When nothing happened, he tried harder. And when that happened, Maximus used his claws.

His front claws raked across its back, and as a result of the pain they induced, even if no blood flowed, they finally enacted a change.

The slightly weird specimen of its kind trembled before Maximus felt something pass it by.

“Grrr” Maximus growled for a moment.

His head swiveled left and right, up and down, to identify the origin of the feeling. But the only thing that came to his mind were the feelings he often had when he found himself in that strange colorful place with the White Flame.

“Hngh.” Resounded from below him.

Maximus instantly oriented himself to stare at it, all while he growled deeply, yet no true hostility erupted from him.

As a result, the smaller strange specimen below him growled in return, but the sounds that his ears heard were unfamiliar to him.

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“What the FUCK happened.” The sounds were indeed unfamiliar to him, but the meaning they contained was a different something.

Although Maximus only understood the What and Happened.

“Grr” Maximus growled back.

His growl contained quite a few tones of aggression and dominance.

In response, a head turned towards him, and its beady eyes centered on him.

“Oh, Maximus, it's you. You scared me there for a second.”

Moments later, the strange specimen stood up, but Maximus’s mind was bothered by something else.

It wasn't the recognition that it sent his way. No, it was Maximus.

Maximus resonated inside him like nothing before ever did. It occupied his whole mind with wonder and realizations.

Wonders as the sound pointed at a simple thing, HIM.

Somehow he knew it had always been there. He was just never aware of it.

*

Mir stared at Maximus, who had entered a trance of sorts.

For a single moment, he reasoned to either leave him be or interrupt him.

Ultimately, Mir left Maximus to his own devices and looked around himself.

Nothing changed. I haven't moved one single step since I deactivated my Auril Engine.

So what happened? Why was I knocked out?

Hmm, it happened so fast that I barely recognized something happening.

Filled with wonder, Mir began pondering on a likely cause. When everything external got eliminated, for the time being, he wondered that it may have been something about his body.

Moments later, a paw moved and slapped him on the right cheek.

Ok, that was very stupid of me. To not realize my body was starving? And, maybe for millennia? Ok, maybe not millennia, but definitely for a long time.

Still, it looks like Auril is delaying the physical signs of starvation. Dehydration as well, probably.

Sigh

Lunch before Business, it is then.

With that concluded, Mir considered Maximus for one more second.

Done, he just left him to his personal enlightenment.

With purpose in his steps, Mir searched for food, but with who he was and what he had achieved, finding food was as easy as walking.

The field, domain, aura, or whatever else it was termed surrounded Mir like a perfect sphere of 30 meters in radius.

It permeated everything around him. It delivered information with every step he took alongside everything that came or left his Sphere of Perception.

Definitely handy to have. Although, the range could be improved upon.

Though, first, I'd need a bigger body.

What followed was a small frenzy of a hungry Honey Badger with the memories of a Human.

However, compared to a regular human who would immediately barf the moment somebody told them to eat raw insects, Mir took it in stride.

The reason for that was simple. A long time ago, when Mir got confined to Alexander's body, in his bid to feel anything physically, he had shared Alexander’s senses. One of those resulted from eating things raw.

But that did not mean it did not bother Mir at all.

No, this was closer to ‘I Better get this done with’ and ‘The Sooner it Ends, the Better’.

With conviction, Mir found tiny prey easy. Nothing was off limits, as his stomach and body were in massive debt. And it would stay that way before all of it got paid off.

Unfortunately, with a Honey Badger's original body size, there was only so much food it could store before the stomach was bloated. As such, it had taken multiple sessions of stuffing down enough meat.

Thankfully, Mir could accelerate his digestive speed, so while it took hours and hours, there would come a point where enough physical materials got stuffed into his body.

Alongside those, the blood of the creatures replaced his fluids, so Mir recovered decently enough.

The perfect test for that came when Mir shut off all Auril generation, and his body behaved as it should when Reality told him how it should behave.

Good. Now all that is left is to make a phone call.

With a final mental tick of preparation, Mir stood on two legs.

He flexed his body a bit before mentally entering a trance, as his Conscious thoughts echoed with that of Reality.

Nothing grand would happen, but at that exact moment, when Mir's thoughts echoed the Rules and Laws of Reality, a tiny ripple-like effect manifested.

The ripple passed through his body like it wasn't even there.

What came next wasn't a surprise for Mir as it was what he hoped would happen.

Almost instantly, the attention of the World Spirit settled down on Mir, and just as it wanted to follow the established protocol for Honey Badgers, a discrepancy appeared.

The Honey Badger talked back.

~We meet again, my friend.~

There was no sound to transfer the meanings.

No Power got used. The same ripples that had called The World Spirit forth were the same ripples carrying the message.

Pure Consciousness interaction.

A very rare event to see and even rarer to initiate it.

It was rare because it was a dangerous form of communication. After all, in this way, one deliberately exposes himself to somebody, or in this case, something.

The World Spirit, surprised for the first time in forever, regarded the tiny being that spoke to IT.

For a moment, it wondered what to do. Should IT reply at all?

Usually, nothing actually interacted with IT, whether its attention was magnified like this or not.

Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the encounter, of a tiny being, knowing how to interact with IT like this, caused a spark of curiosity to arise.

As such, in eons upon eons, The World Spirit replied.

“Hngh”

Mir winced instantly when the reply came. Not only was it heavy and loud, but also crammed with meaning that took a few moments for him to unpack and understand.

~Can you dial down your message a bit more? It's hard on my current self.~

“Hnghg” Once more, Mir winced as the reply came.

~Look. I know it's disrespectful of me to say this when you're probably already stretched to the limits. However, I can't magnify my own self to match you since any use of my Power will interrupt the procedure that called you here in the first place.~

Another wince and a physical twitch of Mir’s right paw occurred.

~Ok. Ok. Alright, I understand. Then let's do it like this. I will talk, and you reply with a very short YES or NO. How about it?~

A slight pause occurred, and the World Spirit considered it.

~Good. Then let us introduce ourselves.~ Mir sent to IT. ~Now, I am not sure if you even possess a name, but I assure you, I do know that You Are a World Spirit. I, on the other hand, call myself Mir, a young Individual Realm Creator of a Realm that is attached to the Dream Layer of yourself.~

Auch. Goodness, I can't even be angry when IT.

~Remember, Yes or No, Please, or I won't be able to sustain this conversation.~

~Alright, I have a few questions and theories of mine. I will say them, and if you don't mind, could you confirm or deny them for me?~

~Ok, here is the first one.~ Mir sent. ~The Ascension that happens when an Individual undergoes. Is it a natural Law, or has a Divinity placed those Laws upon you?~

~I see, and was it consensual?~

*

Maximus knew not for how long he had been in his trance-like state.

All he knew was that he had never felt so complete as he did now that he recognized his name as Maximus.

When he did come out of his trance, he instantly realized that the smaller specimen of its species was gone.

Maximus stared left and right, but it was nowhere in sight. That being the case, he considered what to do.

Should he chase after it? Or should he just ignore it and leave it be?

Yet, the instant his mind posed that question, his instinct made him realize a simple thing.

Just because it told him his name, there was no need to share a territory.

As if the answer was that obvious, Maximus nodded and began sniffing for the intruder, and moments later, his big but still stocky build chased after it.

Time passed in his search when Maximus felt something.

Out there on the trail, he had been on, something heavy manifested.

Maximus knew instinctively it was not a physically heavy feeling like he was.

Nonetheless, it was what he felt. Once more, a debate began in his mind. The decision once again was delivered by his instinct.

So, Maximus cautiously made his way forward.

When he passed enough obstructions in the form of bushes and trees, he found the intruder standing on two legs.

Its paws were animatedly moving as if searching for something in the air, yet never finding it because there was nothing to be found in empty air.

For a few moments, Maximus observed it.

He looked for understanding, and he did not find it.

At the same time, his instinct was unusually silent. It made no reminder of doing something about the intruder.

Confused, Maximus decided to do nothing.

However, just because it was nothing did not mean he would leave it alone.

“Yawn” With a big yawn, Maximus stretched his jaw, muscles, and spine before simply laying down on the ground.

Time passed, but not that much when Maximus realized something changed.

The intruder of the same kind, but stranger, began to grow in size.

It was a gradual transformation, but that was not all. As it grew, its shape began to change as well.

By the time the transformation finished, Maximus stared wide-eyed at the being not far from him.

It was of his kind. There was no doubt about it in his mind. Yet, when it stood on two legs as if it was the most normal thing in existence, Maximus felt extremely weird.

And that was not the end.

The next moment, this being on two legs began to move strangely. Its front legs constantly moved around its body. Then it began to… stretch in weird forms and positions.

After that, it somehow bent its back at an impossible angle. Its spine folded and extended enough for its front paws to touch the ground, only for the back legs to reach for the sky. It stayed like that for a bit before it began pushing itself up and down.

Everything Maximus' mind comprehended defied his understanding.

Moments passed. The being stopped everything it was doing.

Instantly, its gaze shifted to Maximus, and that alerted him.

Maximus stood up in preparation as the dichotomy of the being and what he felt was far too big. Nonetheless, his feelings of alertness began to die down when he felt Calmness and Safety emanate from it.

It emanated Calmness to reduce his hostility.

It emanated Safety, so he knew nothing would hurt him in its presence.

Feeling those two, Maximus failed to realize the being had already reached him.

It towered over him in pure height, but in sheer bulkiness and mass, Maximus was still greater, yet when it outstretched its front paws towards him, Maximus did not react.

In the next moment, the paws changed directions.

One went on top of its head and one below its chin near the throat.

Another vulnerable mistake that could cause it harm, yet still Maximus did not react.

The feelings of Calm and Safety overrode his base impulses like nothing he was familiar with. Yet, when the gently scratching reached his mind, only feelings of contentment remained.

“Who’s a good Honey Badger?” It growled at Maximus. “You, Maximus. You are a good Honey Badger.”