In the deep heart of a forest, on a bed of gnarled roots and moss, a strange creature suddenly formed in a burst of vibrant light. It was a small insectoid creature about six inches long. It had a fat round body, a white glowing abdomen, two silver wings, and a pair of large red eyes. The antenna of the creature twitched, feeling the world around it for the first time. For a long while, it simply sat on the tree root, as if afraid to move. 

“Where am I?” the little bug thought. “Everything feels… hazy…”

The little creature looked around, stretched its wings, and started to fly around. It was unsteady at first, but short wing-assisted hops soon became proper sustained flight. As the creature flew, it tried to think about its situation, what and where it was.

“I feel like I should be remembering something… like my name. What’s my name again?”

The insect flew through huge clusters of branches, wandered across long, creeping vines thick with moss. The vitality of this rich region of the world was palpable, with a light mist in the air. Even with this tiny bug body, the odd creature could sense the pulse of life rippling throughout the forest through a unique sense. Of course, this odd creature was no mere bug.

You see, in places where the life of the world flourishes, the energy of the universe itself concentrates. Known as “Ki” to many, this forest happened to be one of the places where life energy pooled quite well. When the Ki got particularly thick, and certain events allowed it, the energy could suddenly coalesce into a living form. Thus this little glowing bug wasn’t just a bug, but rather the larval stage of a most rare creature, a near mythical being known as a Ki-beast.

Eventually, the larval Ki-beast found itself at the edge of a small pond, with water rippling below. It sat upon a lotus floating in the water, and gazed down at the reflection of itself.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“Tong. Tong sounds like a nice name…” The beast thought idly, rubbing one of its antennae with a forelimb, thinking hard. It wasn't quite sure where such a name came from, but something about it just sounded correct. Tong would work, for now.

Suddenly, Tong noticed just in time as the water rippled. Ancient bug instinct kicked in, and the little insect shot upwards just as a frog leapt out of the water towards it. Thankfully, Tong’s sudden life wasn’t cut particularly short by a common frog. The amphibian, having missed the easy target, noticed some smaller, stupider bugs, and instinctively went to hunt them instead. Tong landed on a leaf higher up, out of the reach of any others, and buzzed nervously. 

“How stupid am I?" Tong thought, glancing around for anything else that might be dangerous. "Of course, things want to eat me, and I can’t let them. Although, now that I think about it, I haven’t actually felt particularly hungry myself…”

Tong pondered this, leaping off of the leaf and flying around a little more. The light filtering through the canopy was more than enough to see by, and Tong found itself easily traversing the trees. Suddenly, some motion caused Tong to cling to a tree trunk, waiting silently.

Two new creatures slowly walked through the forest. They were strange hairless bipeds, with two arms and two legs each. Rather than fur, they wore rough cloth tunics, and simple boots to protect their feet from the dangers of the forest floor. One held a sling armed with an egg-sized rock, and the other had a spear. Tong let them pass by, not even making the slightest of movements.

"Strange creatures." Tong thought, zipping away once they had moved away enough they wouldn't notice. "They feel different from everything else here. Something about their Ki is odd..."

Tong had no way of knowing it at the time, but the little insect's instinct to hide had immediately saved it from a cruel fate, just like its luck with the frog. Many humans would kill for a chance at capturing a larval Ki-beast, and many would pay fifty coins just for the shell of one. Thankfully, however, their natural skill at hiding protected Tong from instant capture. Despite the little bug's carefree nature, this forest was full of threats, and the challenging life of a Ki-beast was just beginning.

Next Time: The ability to "Cultivate" is first tested...