Devian couldn't remember anything before that moment. He couldn't even feel anything around him. He was in the void. Alone with his thoughts. Where was I? What was I doing?

He didn't stay long though. Soon he felt something shift around him, like he was moving exceedingly fast, until finally, he hit.

He still couldn't see, hear or even smell anything. But something felt different nevertheless. He could feel the landscape around him somehow, but it was missing something. He couldn't move.

I don't have a body

So he just floated there, helplessly, like a spirit.

With nothing else to do, he investigated his surroundings. The land around him felt flat, sorta like a plain, empty, but for the tiny living creatures walking around in the grass. He started to closely inspect one of them, a fast one walking towards him.

Using his strange sensing-ability, he figured out its form. A small round-ish body with six legs and about 12 eyes. Curious, he focused on it for a while, watching it walking throughout the grass, until he noticed he was actually following it, floating above it like an invisible god.

So he flew, above the lands, a soul without a body for years, losing track of time. The euphoria he felt while flying was unbelievable, and for a moment he truly believed he was, in fact, god. He discovered nothing could stop him, he could fly though material, like a ghost. Animals didn't notice him, and his reflection didn't show in the water.

Although a bit lonely, it was amazing. Being a spectator wasn't all that bad, he saw the incredible wonders of the world: enormous mountains with waterfalls,  powerful rivers that carried away trees and oceans as wide as the sky. He also saw some villages and cities, but left them alone preferring the wildlife. He watched thrilling battles between the creatures: a big wolf-like animal struggling against a scorpion, packs of griffins hunting all kinds of birds as well as huge animals as tall as elephants. Mammoths.

Why do I know what mammoths are?

He noticed that he knows quite a bit of geography and the creatures around him. How could a mindless spirit know that?

Thousands of question drowned him, but finding no clue to any of them, he gave up his pondering slightly disappointed.

Moments later, he found quite a lot spiders in a small cave out of sight. It looked a nest, with the biggest one in the middle surrounded by two dozen of them.

He liked spiders. Of all the battles he witnessed, the only creature that always emerged victorious was the spider. Although smaller than most (2-feet), their bites are poisonous enough to slow the enemy down, if not immediately killing it.

They didn't hunt in packs though, that was what surprised him when he saw the nest.

They seemed to regroup once in a while, on their webs. For breeding perhaps?

he continued to sulk around them, for their battle intrigued me like none of the others did. The way they used their surroundings to hide and followed their prey without making a single sound was ingenious since they were as big as a dog, and the traps they created with their webs were unbreakable once the prey was caught in it.

As such, he thought they were the kings of the forest, the top of the food chain. Unbeatable. But, no creature was perfect of course, and he got to see their weakness one day when their primitive strike didn't work

It was an average-sized animal with scales and a shell on its back. The spider that had been following it for a mile now must've decided this was the best chance, and he dashed, aiming for the tender meat on the joint of the leg between the scales.

The animal, which resembled a turtle, had somehow sensed the attack just in time to block it with its leg. The spider, confused and unprepared, didn't stand a chance against a full front attack. It fled, but the turtle must've had more muscle than armor, for it was faster than it appeared. Determined to crush the spider, it lunged at it when it was near enough.

Flustered, Devian closed on the spider and tried to push it out of the way. He raced the turtle and reached the spider just before it.

he had, indeed, pushed it. But it was more than that.

For the first time since he could remember, he possessed a body.

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Being a spider was weirder than he expected. Walking on eight legs was definitely harder than floating around, and he kept dripping poison from his fangs everywhere.

Meanwhile he had to deal with a freaking turtle desperate to hunt him till the end of the world.

The lunge slowed it down a bit, for it was struggling to get up carrying its weight. Seeing it now he wouldn't have believed it could run as fast as it did.

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He took off in the opposite direction, trying to run without bumping his legs into each other.

It followed, just like he expected, and lunged again. He stopped immediately, tripping a bit.

The turtle, now in front of him, was again vulnerable. swiftly, he dashed just like he saw countless other spiders do before him.

He missed the spot he was aiming for, and instead his fangs bit into the scale breaking it a bit and plunging into the skin.

It wasn't deep enough, he knew, but any drop of poison in its system would slow it down.

The fight dragged on, the turtle doing the same predictable moves over and over again, and Devian trying to get used to his new body.

He kept missing the lethal spots he aimed for, but he was nearer each time.

Finally, the turtle obviously overdosed with poison fell down.

My first victory!

Walking was easier after that, the less he thought about it, the more natural his moves are. He just had to count on instincts.

He returned to the dead corpse, inspecting it. The scales covering its body were lightweight, enough for Devian to carry it at least. So he spent half an hour tearing a piece of it with his legs and fangs, and another half hour to carve a proper spider armor out of it. Of course, by "spider armor" he means a round scale on his back.

And that was just what he made. He knew the armor wouldn't protect him much but it was certainly better than nothing. Now that he has a body the least he can do is protect it.

Finally at peace, he sought to create a spider web as a home. He chose a tree near the cave he saw the spiders in, hoping to find some company. Getting there, he found the cave empty, but he did find a suitable tree for settling.

Weaving a web took great precision, Devian discovered. It was certainly difficult, producing the string and tying it over and over then sending it to another branch was tiresome.

By the time he got it done it was already twilight.

Well I must've been a better spider than I expected! 

So he hanged from his web all night, thinking about his life. He can't just keep living like this. No goals. No ambitions. He wasn't doing anything really.

I don't even know who I am. But still, I know I'm human. I have at least that. That was all I kept with me, when I came to this world. I'm human.

I can't keep living in this body, even though I like it, it isn't normal. I might even lose my humanity. Might give in to instincts. I had already spent enough time as a spirit.

he dosed off then, only to wake up at the loud band of trees falling minutes later.

It was a mammoth gone berserk.

It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. It was furious, he felt its anger radiating, and so did every animal in the forest. Every bird 30 meters away flew away, covering the light of the moon. The only light was from the red of the mammoths eyes, which was now breathing heavily knocking a couple more trees.

And then he saw the torches.

The mammoth was practically surrounded with human warriors carrying spears, and in the back archers nocked their bows, readying another wave of attack.

At a loud shout, they shot all at once. It didn't matter though, the mammoth was already riddled with arrows. From everywhere.

The warriors at the front were divided between shieldmen and spearmen, cooperating to tear chunks of meat from the mammoths legs.

It was struggling, he noticed. But it certainly wasn't going down easy. With a loud roar that shook the ground, it brought its huge horns down on the humans, crushing a bunch but absorbing a spear in the process.

with a thud, more arrows flew.

The mammoth, now more furious, if that was even possible, tried a new tactic. It ran over the fallen men, but it didn't flee, instead it turned around and flung a tree right at them.

You didn't need light to see the terrified looks on the men's faces right before they met their deaths. They clearly didn't expect this, thinking the animal to be stupid. That showed them.

Not all of them died, but those who lived were too shocked to run, and were eventually crushed by its legs.

The mammoth, its breathing steadied a bit, looked a up at the stars and cried a victory roar.

It was truly breathtaking.