My first memory was when our mother dropped us into the wide world. A giant creature bigger than the hundreds of us siblings combined, she taught us briefly before leaving. She taught us how to cultivate and grow, how to feed and breathe, and that there was another world above us, one far more dangerous. Many of my siblings immediately tried to go up to it, but our mother had already left.
They flew up into the sky, as quick as they could, but giant monsters came by and swallowed them whole. The beasts were long and cylindrical, covered in scales and carried a giant maw nearly as big as they were. All that came down were some dismembered limbs, but one managed to break through and reach the heavens. Then a shadow appeared in the heavens and they were gone.
That's not to say that our current world was safe. I was saddened every time my siblings left, taken away by the currents or worse, the monsters that lurked below our fields. Every day a few more siblings would disappear and the beasts below were only growing bigger. Those that stayed managed to break through, but it wasn’t enough. They were bigger and stronger, but nowhere close enough to fight off the beasts below or above.
I chose to leave as well after my first breakthrough. I used the excess energy to travel far away from where we were born, passing many similar fields. Many beasts tried to devour me, but I managed to get away, even if not in one piece.
I found a small cave for myself, with a smaller heaven beyond it. I stayed away from the heavens, focusing on recuperating. Eventually I had recovered, and left to eat from the fields nearby. After a few more cycles, I had my second breakthrough. I was bigger, stronger, but it was still not enough.
I spent many nights foraging when the beasts were quiet, or running back to my cave if they saw me. Time passed as I explored the lands near my home, learning which fields were safe and which had beasts lurking nearby. After a few more cycles, nearly double the last, I broke through again.
After my third breakthrough, I saw something. A great creature from the heavens had invaded our world and torn a beast asunder before swallowing it. It gave me some sick satisfaction to see a beast die, but fear quickly replaced it when I realized that this world wasn’t safe from the heavens either.
As I returned to my home, the cave with the heavens, I mustered my courage. The heavens beyond the cave had remained untouched ever since I had occupied it. I pushed through my fear, since this world was not safe no matter what I did, and broke through the small heavens. The first thing I noticed was that I struggled to breathe. It wasn’t impossible, but it was incredibly painful. My body was also much heavier, as though it were made of stone. The pain only grew each second that I left my own world, so I used the last of my energy to go back to my world.
Each day, I practiced breaking through the heavens. I slowly got accustomed to the pain, and tried to look around. My vision also seemed to be blurred by the heavens. All I could make out was a source of light on my left and right. This heaven was much darker than the other wider heavens. Still, I practiced, slowly cultivating my ability to resist the heavens themselves.
On my fourth breakthrough, I had grown considerably, nearly the size of my mother. I would’ve flexed my new body if there was room for it. Many days were spent carving out the cave so I could escape, nearly dying of hunger before I succeeded. I feasted on the fields nearby, and met one of my siblings.
They were a dull brown color, a new concept to me. My eyes had also grown more powerful with my recent breakthrough. I tried to communicate with them, but they seemed to barely notice me. They simply grazed off the field, hiding whenever a beast got close. I gave up soon after, deciding to test out my new body.
I lurked among the fields, waiting for a little beast to pass by. These creatures even ate each other, so I felt no remorse in trying to eat one of them. Eventually, a little one passed close enough. I tried to reach for it and grab it, but they slipped out of my grasp. No matter, the beast was stupid and came by again after some more waiting. They seemed to have forgotten I was here.
This attempt was better, as I grasped onto the slippery beast. I gave it a quick bite before it could slip out again, causing it to stop moving. I nibbled some more, relishing the new flavors. Unfortunately, the smell was spreading so I quickly left the beast behind and ran away before a bigger beast showed up. I saw my sibling heading towards the slain beast, but my attempts to drive them away failed. If they were destined to die, who was I to stop their destiny?
The journey back was safer than usual, since many beasts were lured to the dead one. I could tell that those few bites were enough for me to breakthrough once more, so I did. This time, I tried to direct my breakthrough on staying smaller, redirecting the energy from my entire body to my lungs and eyes.
Something was different with this breakthrough. Instead of the relief I usually felt, my eyes and lungs had a burning sensation before I lost consciousness. When I awoke, the first thing I noticed was that I could see much better than before. I could see the entirety of the cave for one. It was a dark cave where I could only sense a body length or two before. As I righted myself, I noticed more things. I was still the same size as before, which was a relief since I didn’t need to expand the cave. I also felt more energy than before, but a different energy from when I broke through.
Perhaps it was time to check the heavens again with my new body. This time the air only hurt a bit, and I could see what the light was. One the left was an orange flower, and the right a white flower. I tried to get close to the orange flower, but it got too hot before I could even take a couple steps. I turned towards the white flower, but the air grew cold as I tried to take steps towards it.
While it saddened me that I couldn’t progress at the moment, I was also happy that I had something new to train against. I spent each day near the flowers, and the night foraging for more little beasts. After a dozen days, I felt my next breakthrough coming. This time I tried to direct the energy to my outermost lower in an attempt to strengthen my defense. The same pain arrived and I passed out one more.
When I woke up, I could hear something near my home. It sounded like a pair of beasts were fighting, so I carefully approached to take a look. There were two creatures fighting, one a long scaled beast, and the other, a smaller feathered creature. I was unsure if they had both come from the heavens, but the struggle between them rocked our world. Every thrash and struggle sent out waves that pushed apart the fields and split the earth.
I continued to watch, waiting for an opportunity. Many beasts were scared by the commotion, but some tried to join the brawl. They were splattered by the slightest brush against the rampaging beasts As the air filled with blood, I filtered it with my breathing technique, consuming more and more energy. I would need to rest for a while after this.
As the fight continued, even more beasts crawled out and tried to join. Fantastical beasts similar to the long one appeared, but much smaller and slower. The feathered beast merely swallowed them when they got close. A large swarm of smaller beasts attacked and tore the scale and feathers off the two before they were also consumed, turning the air redder than ever.
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All this blood revealed some creatures I hadn’t seen before. While they were still, they were invisible, but the blood outlined them enough to see that they looked like my siblings. Some were bigger and some were faster, but they all looked similar to myself. Some of them stirred, either to flee or join the fight, but many didn’t seem to realize they had been revealed and soon were attacked by more beasts.
The fight continued until one new beast, a creature with 4 limbs that walked across the ground and carried a long stick, joined the fight. The creature emanated a pressure that prevented me from even moving. Every step sent fear coursing through my body, and every look they gave cleared all the beasts from their path. They simply swung their stick, splitting the world and the two beasts at the center. As our world collapsed on itself, a strong force was created, knocking me back.
I took the opportunity to flee back to my home and quickly pushed mud and stones to block off the entrance. I then held my breath, waiting for the pressure to pass. After a few moments, I could feel the pressure getting even heavier. I moved back through my home, making sure to put up more walls. I quickly reached the little heaven at the end of the cave.
The pressure only continued to grow, so I had to act on my only option, fleeing to the heavens. With a leap, I broke through the barrier to heaven. I waited, noticing that the pressure couldn’t be felt up here.
At this point, I could tell that all the energy I had absorbed was threatening to split my body apart. The stronger body from my last breakthrough let me store much more energy than before, but it had backfired since I could no longer control my breakthrough. There was no way to move the energy when it overwhelmed me to such an extent. Thankfully I blacked out before the pain hit me.
When I awoke again, I felt that energy within me had split into two. My left half was burning hot, while my right half was chillingly cold. Even my appearance had changed, with the hot half turning a dull red, and the cold half a dull blue. The flowers only worsened the sensation, so I flipped around to balance it out.
The next thing I noticed was that breathing no longer hurt up here. If anything, it felt like I could finally cultivate within the heavens, as if it had accepted me. Still, I couldn’t right away. Not before I checked if the 4 limbed beast had left.
I dove back to my world, trying to sense for the pressure that had existed before my breakthrough. After a moment, nothing. I carefully dug out the walls I had put up, stopping if I heard even the slightest noise. I broke through the last wall and looked around. The fields had been devastated, but they were growing anew, while the beasts had settled back into their normal routes. I emerged from my cave, but I felt something new.
Two claws seemed to crush my sides, except they failed to penetrate my flesh. With a swipe, I kicked up some mud and revealed the assailant, an invisible sibling. I tried to speak to them, but they would not listen. Instead, they seemed to writhe in pain, the claw grasping my left side shivering, while the other had stopped moving. I quickly retaliated with my own claws, reaching for their head. My left claw failed to pierce their shell, but my right claw easily sliced through it. After a couple more attacks with my right claw, the sibling had stopped moving. I dragged their body into my cave, and started replenishing my energy.
A few bites revealed that the area my left claw had hit provided a lot more energy than the rest of the body. I paused for a moment, before deciding to spend some time hitting their entire body with my left claw. Afterwards, they gave off an enticing smell. Using this newfound energy, I went back to the heavens and cultivated.
Many cycles passed before my next breakthrough came. I left my cave many times, relearning the terrain that had been transformed by the fight, and catching more beasts to feast on. More beasts attacked me, being able to spot me easier than before, but I beat them all and feasted upon their corpses. With some experimenting, I found my left claw much more effective in the heavens, so I started tapping my food up there.
This time, I aimed to focus the energy to my shell, trying to gain the same abilities my siblings had. My shell itched like a thousand little siblings were underneath attacking me, but the breakthrough passed and I avoided passing out.
With a little testing, I found I was able to turn clear like my siblings, although it was not as effective as theirs was. I could still be spotted due to my coloration, but it would prevent me from sticking out as I had before. Interestingly, my red and blue halves had started to mix a little, creating a purple band across the center of my body.
I spent some time expanding the cave, so that dragging in prey became easier. I planned to grow more for my next breakthrough, so that I could feast on even bigger beasts. My breakthroughs were getting further and further apart despite the new techniques I had created. It would take a very long time before I was capable of taking on the giant beasts if I did not grow bigger.
As the cycles passed, the weather turned warm. There was one day where absolutely colossal beasts appeared. It only took 2 or 3 to block the sky, but there were hundreds if not thousands of them. Luckily they didn’t stop to eat the surroundings or I would have died, but I stayed in my cave until a new scent passed by.
A few cycles later, the colossal beasts had died and were drifting back. I and every other beast in our world crawled out of our homes. We ignored each other in the face of such a feast and ate side by side. I even saw how the beasts grew, shedding their scales like I lost my shells.
I spent some time during the feast attempting to communicate with the other beasts, but they all ignored me in favor of the food in front of them. Even attacking them didn’t draw their attention, fixated on the colossal beasts that they were.
As the feast neared its end, many tiny beasts passed by. A few were eaten, but most passed safely. Perhaps the way these colossal beasts lived was similar to our mother, giving their young a chance to survive in our dangerous world. I avoided eating them, out of respect for the feast their parents had given us.
I retreated back to my home for my final breakthrough for a while. Unless another feast appeared, it would take a very long time to get enough energy for the next breakthrough. I headed back to the small heavens, breaking through as planned. There was only one small problem. Instead of the relief I had expected, all the parts and organs I had selectively strengthened robbed a portion of the energy in my body. My entire body burned this time, and I passed out.
When I awoke, I was disappointed to find that I was only a size bigger than before. It was nothing like the jump in size I had achieved from my fourth breakthrough, but it would have to do. The purple section had also expanded, covering nearly half of my body. I had a feeling that when it completely covered my body, a qualitative change would happen.
I spent the next few cycles calmly fishing for beasts, revealing a small part of myself as though it were a tasty morsel. I also spent some days seeking my siblings to see what had become of them. Many had turned invisible, but those who hadn’t were easy enough to find. They resembled our mother, with slight variations. Some had bigger claws or a thicker tail, but none of them changed as much as I had. My attempts to communicate with them fell through and I ended up leaving them alone.
When I returned home, I found many tiny bright red siblings had taken up residence. I considered killing them all, but it wasn’t worth the energy. It didn’t hurt that they also cleaned me when I arrived, as well as any scraps lying around. One of them seemed to lead the rest, so I tried to communicate with them.
I waved my limbs at them, and they did the same. They almost reminded me of my younger self, although they were much more successful at keeping their siblings alive. I directed them towards some more scraps I had buried in the walls, and they happily feasted upon them.
We quickly fell into a routine where I hunted beasts and brought them home, while they kept the place clean. I watched over their own breakthroughs, noticing some differences from my own. For one, they weren’t growing much larger. They were also becoming more active, but only the leader seemed to understand me. My suspicions that they weren’t the same species as me grew, but perhaps it was for the better.
The cycles passed until one day, another beast from the heavens plunged into our world. They were a very different beast from the previous ones, a smaller 4 legged beast covered in hair. They were also bleeding all over and not moving.
I took a risk and swam up, fending off any nearby beasts with my claws. I was quicker than most of them and had a better grip as well, dragging the beast from heaven back to my cave. Luckily the beast was only a little bigger than myself. My little clean up crew quickly swarmed the beast, although they just cleaned their hair of blood rather than dig deeper.
I fell into my routine of dragging the beast to my little heaven, tapping them all over. I almost bit into them before they let out a noise. A noise completely foreign to my own, yet I understood it all the same. ”Thank you.”