Fuck.

FUCK!

I don’t even know how much time passed while I was looking for a means to save myself in that chamber.

All I knew was that there was nothing I could do to stop my inevitable re-death.

I had reread the tablets so many times that the information stored within them looped endlessly in my mind.

I wanted to punch or kick something but, although my doll was durable, I didn’t want to risk damaging it in any way so I stood up and left the chamber only something was different in the air.

It smelled… fresh. Not like the usually dusty, foul stuff I had been inhaling for aeons. It was clear and every breath felt refreshing.

I frowned deeply as I entered the lobby and I let out a deep gasp upon seeing, hanging from all over the ceiling, vine-like plants.

Something that resembled moss also covered the floor and I carefully stepped on it while slowly making my way outside where I was greeted by a salty ocean breeze and the sound of chirping.

“Huh?” I sounded while looking out into the surface of the island which was now jungle-like. Tall trees with gigantic leaves dotted the landscape and thick brushes lined their feet.

But, what shook me most, above anything else since the moment I was reborn and the collision, was the presence of a flock of gargantuan creatures which flew across my skies.

They resembled dragons as depicted by Asian cultures back on Earth but one key difference was the countless legs which lined their long bellies.

The creatures varied in length and colour but they all had lizard-like heads which had gigantic tree-like horns.

I wanted to get a better look at them and so, without wasting a second, I leapt into the sky and carefully landed on the head of what I felt deserved no other name than a dragon.

It let out a low drone, shaking the skies as it did.

This one was about fifty meters long and flew through the air while its many small legs waved back and forth, although it would be more accurate to call them arms since they had opposable thumbs which were tipped with claws.

Something else that fascinated me about the dragons was the fact that their backs were lined with scales that glowed purple.

I wondered how it was even possible for living organisms to not only use the power of Glass but to also integrate it into their bodies.

This would explain how such a large mass was able to stay in the air without falling apart.

“Haha!" I unthinkingly giggled as the dragon flew across my skies.

I wondered foolishly if it could speak and so I sat on its forehead and gently tapped its hard blue scales.

“Hello!” I yelled although my voice was almost inaudible over the rushing winds.

The dragon didn’t reply but I didn’t expect it to.

I was fine just being able to ride it and so I did.

We flew over the ocean and around the Mega Crystal for a few hours and it was within this time that I saw that the dragons got their water by flying through clouds with their mouths wide open.

I waited for one of them to breathe fire but that never happened.

I was a little disappointed but it was fine.

I instead turned my attention towards my two central continents.

The northern one was now covered almost entirely in trees but the trees were so tall and their branches so wide that the forest floor at their feet looked like it received almost no light.

The southern one was mostly Savannah with large swathes of land being covered in thin patches of grass and a few thicker patches of forest.

A singular tall mountain fed water to a river which made its way north, eventually coming across a valley which it cut through before making its way to the northern coast.

I spotted something curious at the foot of the mountain and the delta on the northern shores of the southern continent.

My eyes narrowed as I gave the dragon a final pet on the head.

I then flew towards the curiosity.

My oceans were filled with life that swam along great currents but I kept my focus ahead and eventually came to a stop upon seeing something that filled me with both excitement and dread.

I saw a settlement built a few kilometres south of the shore atop a hill. It consisted of several small huts that were encased in a tall wooden wall.

I took a closer look and saw several humanoid beings walking about only their skin was pale grey and their hair was straight, white and almost transparent, regardless of their age.

Their only clothing was a loincloth worn by both men and women.

A small number of them could be seen patrolling the area around the foot of the hill armed with spears and clubs.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

This was... amazing!

Not only did my surface have life, but it also had a seemingly intelligent humanoid species!

But... What then?

What did this mean for me or them?

My death and the fact that humans can only live for about a hundred years meant that I never got to see how the story of the Earth ended.

Maybe mankind became a spacefaring civilization like the Pāttiram.

Maybe they left the earth to die as the sun expanded...

Mmm...

I could not let such a fate befall me.

I didn’t care whether my humanoids would one day leave me but I was determined to use them to find my salvation.

My thoughts were interrupted by a scream that came from further south, in a distant forest.

I rushed towards that direction and beheld a most gruesome sight.

Several kilometres south of the first settlement was another only this one was far smaller, sitting in a clearing in the middle of a thick forest of trees that were hundreds of meters tall, and I watched as it was attacked by a pack of what looked like giant fire breathing pangolins.

They crushed the wooden hunts beneath their heavy paws and burnt the remains of the humanoids who couldn’t escape in time.

A few brave men stood their ground and tried to fight back but their spears couldn’t piece the hides of their attackers and they soon met a painful death.

This proved to me that animals and possibly other organisms could use magic.

I turned my attention to a group that had managed to escape the pangolin attack.

I looked closer and saw that it consisted mostly of women, children and the elderly.

One of the pangolins was hot on their heels and it was steadily catching up to them and I, for the briefest of moments, thought about helping them but these humanoids would one day harvest my surface for resources and eventually leave me to die.

I owed them nothing.

Also, I recalled a certain law of nature.

Survival of the fittest.

If they weren’t fit enough to survive on their own then they weren’t meant to survive at all.

I watched as the pangolin caught up to the group and I watched as it burnt the frightened humanoid until their flesh melted from their bones.

I then watched as it cruelly stomped over their remains which turned to a muddy mush under the dimming light of the setting sun.

As it ate, I wondered if there were other humanoids on the northern continents and so I flew towards it.

I eventually reached the coast and I was taken aback by just how tall the trees were. Some were tens of kilometres tall and tens of meters wide.

I looked at their feet and saw that life was indeed growing down there.

I entered the forest and was immediately engulfed in darkness.

None of the light my moon reflected reached this place but, beyond the darkness, a few meters ahead, I saw a light.

A dim but vast array of colours.

And so, I moved closer.

I took a looked at the forest floor and was surprised to see an assortment of creatures crawling across it. Each of them radiated dim bioluminescent light.

From the smallest of bugs to a four-legged creature which vaguely resembled a deer only stood almost four meters tall and instead of antlers, it had long transparent hairs that reached the ground.

Streams of bright green light went from their tips into the deer’s head as though it was absorbing life from the forest floor, from flowers to grasses to the very roots of the Mega Trees-

Wait!

My eyes widened upon seeing that the deer was making use of the second Law, the law of Vāḻkkai – the law of Life.

I took a closer look at the ground and saw that even insects, who could not possibly chew through the trees in any meaningful way, use their antennae to absorb life from the trees, weakening their bark and carving holes for themselves using their pincers.

I took a step back and let out an impressed scoff.

I then jumped with fear as something touched my back.

I turned around to find the deer from before staring at me with wide eyes.

I didn’t know what else to do and so I gently placed my hand on its large nose.

The deer responded with a slight nod but before our interaction could continue any further, a loud explosion filled the air and I watched as the deer was torn in two by some unseen force.

Its gory death covered me and the area around me with blood and entrails.

I looked down to find a small, blood-covered creature which vaguely resembled a mantis shrimp only it was half a meter tall and had sideways-facing legs.

It crawled onto the steaming carcass and proceeded to eat the deer by grabbing pieces of its flesh and ripping them off with its large pincers.

It even ate through bone with its mandible, filling the once serene forest with the sounds of breaking bone.

I looked at my blood-soaked self and suddenly felt sick.

I had no stomach and yet I felt like vomiting but I bit my teeth and slowly made my way to the coast all while digesting all that I had learnt.

However, try as I may, I couldn't focus on any singular thought as a needle-toothed dread gnawed away at my stomach.

I eventually reached the coast and stood at the edge of a sheer cliff that overlooked the northern part of my central ocean.

I felt my vision and perception darken for a moment but, after taking a deep breath, I took a step forward and fell into the ocean where the blood that covered me washed away.

My eyes then widened as I saw a familiar black smoke rising from my skin and robe.

I caught a glimpse of two terribly red eyes in the murky darkness below and they were housed in the dark smoke.

Those eyes seemed to be trying to tear away at my psyche.

I knew that they weren't an illusion or the product of some evil magic but I just couldn’t shake away the feeling they gave me.

They frightened me so thoroughly that they were all I could see as I floated out of the ocean.

I then made my way back to my island and entered my chamber where I paced back and forth while trying to conquer something which had sworn to haunt me from within.

I let out a groan upon realizing that pacing wasn't helping and so I stood completely still and took several deep breaths all while trying to keep the dread within restrained. It was something I had learnt to do in my previous life. Tucking aside what was unnecessary and focusing on what I needed to do.

I scoffed at my pathetic state.

Capable of so much and yet hampered by something that didn’t even physically exist.

Maybe this was the price I had to pay for this life.

If so, then... I guess there was nothing I could do about it.

I glanced at my robe to find that it still had bits of blood here and there.

So, I stood up and cautiously made my way back outside as the sun steadily rose.

I found a clear pond a few meters away from the temple where I promptly undressed and washed my robe.

While I did, I gently and unthinkingly swayed from side to side.

With each sway, my perspective shifted from that of the doll to my fuller one.

This proved to be just enough to further distract me from the dread.

It gave me something else to think about.

My mixed perspective also allowed me to hear a song.

One that came from the far south.

After seeing the things that lived on the northern continent, I concluded that few to no humanoids lived there.

I slipped into my damp robe and flew south as the song continued.

It belonged to a feminine voice and was somewhat sombre with the singer taking long breaths between every word.

I flew past the first settlement from before, past the valley and I followed the river until I arrived at another settlement.

This one was built at the northern foot of the central mountain but it too was in a state of disarray.

The mountain itself was covered in trees but the area beyond was nothing but Savannah for hundreds of kilometres.

It looked as though there was a food shortage and I could see people fighting for scraps of dried meat but that wasn’t brought me here.

The river was lined with houses and docks.

I looked at one of those docks and found a woman sitting atop it.

It was she who was singing the song.

I flew closer to her and saw that she was pregnant but before I could make any more observations, she stopped singing and jumped into the water.