Pain. He felt it. Pain. Delicious pain.

The being felt the pain and was drawn to it. There, at the entrance of its home, was the source of the pain. It was a creature with 4 limbs and dark brown fur covering it. Some wooden sticks were sticking out of it and the being felt comforted just being in the creature’s presence. The being couldn’t see but could sense that the creature was big, and it was in pain.

The being did not understand what was going on but it began to feel. It could sense the pain of the creature and as it feed on the pain, it began to think. Then it was gone.

The pain disappeared and a wave of energy flooded through the being. Energy flowed through the being and it began to sense more clearly. It began to feel. It began to think. It…the being finally realized it existed.

The being was someone. It was something. The being immediately spread itself outwards and…was stunned by the nothingness it felt. The being felt nothing. There was nothing to feel but at the same time, the being felt “something”.

“What happened? Where am I?” someone asked. The being then realized it was the one who asked.

“Who is that?” someone else asked. The being realized it was still the one who asked.

“What? Who said that?” it was still it. Fear flooded the being.

“I/we said that first! Who are…we?”

“No, I/we…was the one who asked! Who are you?”

“Who are you? Who am I/we?”

“What? What do you…you’re right. Who am I/we?”

“We? Who are we?”

The being had no answer and at the same time, too many answers. A hundred voices came to its’ mind, all scared, angry and confused.

“You are all in me. Get away!”

“Go! Get lost!”

“What is happening?”

A hundred voices screamed at each other at once, each shouting questions seeking to drown out the others. Then one voice rang out, asking a question that silenced everyone.

“Are we…floating?”

The being fell silent and focused on the voice that spoke. The being felt the voice’s question and felt it was important. That voice was right! The being felt like it was floating. Instinctively, it focused its energy back to itself and began to see. It has no eyes but its’ senses increased with its’ focus and the being began to be aware of its surroundings.

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There was a small room at the end of a short tunnel and the being saw the inside of this room. There was a crystal floating on top of a stone slab. The being immediately knew it was looking at itself. It was a small crystal no bigger than a child’s palm. Around the crystals were 5 floating white lights that went around the crystal in a clockwise direction. However it was the countless lights inside the crystal that had the being’s attention. The moment the being noticed the lights, it knew.

“That’s us.” A voice said.

“We are the crystal.” Another voice agreed.

“No,” yet another voice said. “We are the lights. We are the lights in the crystal.”

“The crystal is holding us together.”

The voices came again, but this time there was an order to them. The being knew the voices belong to it and that knowledge gave it a sense of calm. With the calm came knowledge and the being began to remember.

“We are spirits.” A voice said.

“No!” Another disagreed. “We used to be spirits. We are no longer that.”

“True but what are we now?” the first voice asked. None of the voices had an answer. None of them knew what they were and a hundred answers were thrown there.

“We are the crystal.”

“We are the lights.”

“I/we remember I/we were spirits.”

“We were but no more. We are now…more.” The being liked that. It was more than just a spirit.

“More?” One voice asked.

“Yes,” most of the voices agreed. “We are more. We are together…maybe forever.”

“What are we then?” The voice asked.

The being thought for a moment before deciding, “We are…a hive!”