After it woke up the next day, it thought deeply about what happened yesterday and sorted through all the different insights and truths it had discovered.

The first truth was most certainly that all living things under the sky partook in essence in one form or another, and would seek it lest they suffer from the hunger it had felt when it first woke up. This was an immutable truth of this earth.

The second truth was that it needed to find and develop means to inflict violence upon another, and to protect itself from violence in return. This truth was closely connected with the first one, for as all living things needed essence, it also meant that all living things were in a constant battle to acquire it, be it from the earth and sky or from each other. Therefore battle would come sooner or later, and so it would fight. This was an immutable truth of this earth.

For now, that’s what it had managed to gather from yesterday’s conflict. It would make sure to engrave these truths deep into its mind, and never let what happened yesterday happen again.

As it finished sorting its thoughts, it realized that its body had changed during the night. It was a little taller and its core had grown, and on the ground around where it slept there were many pieces of pale fragile crystal. It seemed that the potent essence of its foes had been enough to elevate it to new heights, and that gave it another idea.

It had felt that if it ate the fish every day, eventually it would grow, but if this process could be quickened by defeating being of strong essence, then it must do this, for the faster it could grow in strength, the faster it would be too strong to be eaten. Yes, like it was to the fish, it would be for all essence hunters under the sky, so it would never be preyed upon again.

With its goals set, it went on to spend a couple of weeks inside its hollow, trying to master its force by splitting it or exerting as great a strength as it could. The task was steep, especially the dividing of its force felt like trying to part its head in two, and then making it stay that way was a whole other problem, however with much focus and persistency it eventually succeeded. It simply clicked one day, its mind parting as banks to a river, and staying so with much less strain on its faculties.

As it was learning the ways of its force the strikes it could conjure were made stronger and faster, wasting less time and energy, so much so it was forced to stop this practice altogether when it opened a new entrance in the backside of its home. That had been … enlightening as to its strength, though finding a way to fix the huge hole had been a stressful endeavour. Hopefully a couple of big branches and leaves would be enough.

When it finally felt ready to leave its den for more than just its fishy meals, it had grown a bit more and felt more settled in its own body. More at ease and nimble. The thought made it happy, as if this new, wonderful world had finally accepted it into its fold.

Although now was the time to leave the nest and have a greater presence on the forest, it was not yet time to wield its violence. No , before that there was one last step, and the great earth would be the one to teach it.

As it wandered through the forest with caution and focus, it looked around it, trying to follow the creatures, big and small, that wandered up the trees or wound through labyrinthine roots. It observed how a small creature with many legs weaved a net to catch unwary passers-by, how a minuscule being defeated one far greater than it by the great quantity of its brothers and mastery of teamwork, and how a strong shelled beast claimed victory by showing its biting opponent the futility of its actions.

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It had become aware a very short time ago, and thanks to the wolf ambush it’d also become aware of how small, new and inexperienced it was in this world of hunters. But even as a newborn it was sure of one thing ever since it laid eyes on the world around it. the forest, earth and sky live in essence and breathe its life and knowledge across its infinity, and the creatures born and raised within this, each carry a fragment of this lore. This was most certainly an immutable truth of this earth.

It would collect all the pieces that it could from them, and it would learn to wield it for its future, for the time when it finally grew beyond this cycle of violence and essence hunting and reached a new place where violence was a choice, not a prerequisite for living. In these past weeks it had decided it didn’t enjoy the act of violence all that much, but it knew to be a necessity. For now.

And so it set out to scout the areas all around its hollow in order to learn more about the hunting of essence, the ways it can be used and to assess its opponents, as well as their habits and methods. It would strive to learn of all hunters in this forest, and in doing so overcome them.

From a tortoise it understood the great importance of an impenetrable defence, to the point of having no need of violence to drive its assailers away. With that insight it tried to spread out its force in a semi-circle around itself and putting it to the test by standing underneath a waterfall and falling branches, to moderate success. Its shield was able to deflect things without a problem, but when a log went down the waterfall it smashed right through its defence and almost ripped half his body off. It would have to be very mindful of this limit and maybe find a way to improve it.

From the ants skittering along the ground it learned the advantage of great quantity and superb coordination, finding the things they did to be incredible despite their small stature. It tried to imagine if it would be able to do those things were their size the same, and found itself wanting. Unfortunately, even after weeks spent in this forest it didn’t see any other being similar to itself, so it would have to apply this knowledge to its force and see if it could improve the number of times it could be divided and its dexterity with each piece.

And finally, the spider. It was fascinated with this creature that was so different from the others, almost the exact opposite. It weaved a web from a substance within itself, then hid in a concealed position and waited, completely immobile, for other creatures to entangle themselves in the net, where it would finally devour them. It didn’t have a very strong shell like the tortoise, and it was a very lonely creature bringing violence upon its own kind unlike the ant.

That spider made it realize the myriad ways a creature can use to achieve their goals, and that all of them, no matter how antithetical, are valid paths to follow. So from the spider it decided to take the knowledge of its web. This material it produced within itself that seemed to be at the core of its way of life, it could not stop thinking of how useful such a thing would be for itself.

As soon as it returned to its hollow it lay on the ground and searched deep within itself for that thing that would become a part of its way of life, that like its force would provide it with what it needed to take a step beyond violence, and become the core of this forest. It couldn’t tell how much time passed, how long it searched for the spark that would grant it a new, dazzling path to follow, but eventually it came, lighting up its inner mind with blinding light, bursting forth like a repressed waterfall eager to crash on the stones below.

When it finally opened its eyes again, it saw that its hollow, the inside of a dead tree at the top of a small hill, was completely covered in a transparent crystalline substance. All the walls as well as the entrance and the hole it hadn’t been able to patch, were completely blocked by the transparent crystal, and the faint light that filtered through it cast the interior in a wonderful new appearance, looking as if stars shined from above as well as below.

It could not have hoped for anything better.