Darkness.
That is the only way to describe it's surroundings... a darkness... no; a void absent of everything. That is not hot or cold. A place where there is no difference between real or false. A place where things simply are... and are not.
In this place of darkness an entity stirs as it feels something change. It feels... Something.
As it stirs it can't help but be drawn to this... It does not understand. This existence is drawing it in, taking it from the void and showing what could be. What it means to be. A small light, a small window into existence, and just as it is drawn in things are drawn out... and the entity feels its first true thing, the first proof that it exists...
It feels... Hunger.
Endless trees covered in mist thick enough that nothing but the tops of some can be seen. There are periodic gaps in the mist, showing no real rhyme or reason... and in fact some appear to be slowly moving. One such gap reveals an unconcious human man in the midst of a clearing in the trees. Dressed in clean albeit worn clothing he is a complete contrast to the surroundings.
Like someone hit a light switch the man abruptly sits up blinking before looking around frantically.
[Where... the hell am I?]
Off in the trees a large creature that looks like a wolf perks up, its attention drawn by the nearby noise.
The human walks up to a tree hesitantly, touching it slowly while looking confused. He runs his hand up and down the trunk muttering to himself before pulling back and punching it.
The wolf reaches the edge of the clearing in time to see the prey start making loud noises once again as it clutches its hand. The wolf freezes in place for a moment because it smells fresh blood, hunger momentarily overwhelming it.
The human hears a low growl behind him and freezes, slowly turning around to see a massive wolf staring at it from the treeline. He starts backing away slowly, his eyes locked onto the massive predator. Almost against his will he picks out details... The wolf looks about right, but two to three times the size it should be... and as it growls there seems to be frost swirling off it. Further, the wolf as massive as it was seemingly cast no shadow.
The wolf keeps pace... the prey is small, weak and most importantly afraid. It angles itself so the prey backs into one of the surrounding trees causing it to make another noise, this one with distinct notes of despair.
[Fuck...]
The humans back hits the tree causing him to curse softly. Almost as if it was an invitation, the wolf jumps at him mouth wide. He dives desperately to the side only to see the wolf smash through the tree, barely slowing down.
Climbing to his feet the human scoops up a chunk of wood, moving it point first in front of him as the wolf spins and lunges at him once more. The wolf lands square on the human crushing him beneath as its growl becomes a wet wheeze.
Time passes before the wolf finally dies, dissolving into light which drifts into the unconscious human. The piece of wood is still intact and had been driven through his arm into the ground. As the light enters the man's body, the various wounds quickly heal, pushing the makeshift spear out to fall to the ground next to him.
From darkness to light. Still not quite aware, but watching the creatures hunt. Fight. Die. Learning from their last breath of false life what it means to exist. It watches as potential slowly collapses and reality attempts to assert rules and limitations. Bit by bit all that could be is whittled away to leave only what is.
The human sits up in a tree, mostly the same nondescript entity it had been all those... days? Weeks? He shakes his head. Like everything else, time seems to function oddly here. Whether it's day or night changes seemingly at random. He's figured out some of the rules, as little sense as they make... if he's paying attention and focusing on something it seems to change some... more detail? He shakes his head.
(How do you even test something like that?! This entire situation is insane! Or at least it's going to drive me insane.)
He shudders - that thought being perhaps more true than he would like. There's been nobody around, reality isn't right and nothing functions in a fixed... He has to figure it out to survive, but trying to figure it out is... dangerous.
(One thing at a time... Don't worry about the overall and how impossible this is. Just one day, one fight at a time.)
One of the things thats very clear is whatever this is... There is no running, and there is no hiding. All he can do is survive... Mentally and physically.
He looks below him at a creature pacing around obviously looking for something... looking for him specifically. His grip tightens on a makeshift spear... current circumstances dictating that he travels light, as anything not directly to hand is basically worthless.
(Including defenses... fuck this place)
Cynical or insane... those seem to be his only two options left. Shaking his head, he studies the creature for a moment more. Large. something along the lines of a cat built to the scale of a bear.
[Well, No sense waiting!]
He drops out of the tree as he says this, spear angled down and braced. The creature looks up at the noise, shifting slightly as it realizes that the thing it was looking for is voluntarily trying to land on it... Which is never a good sign.
Reacting in time or not, all that happens is the spear doesnt end up in its mouth, throat or eyes... and instead gets lodged deeply in its shoulder. Roaring with pain the creature rears back on its hind legs, trying to crush him against a tree. The man however rides along to the high point then lets go of the spear allowing himself to be flung off to a rolling landing, not even looking behind him as he hears the sound of objects breaking behind him...
Another roar follows as the creature rolls back to its feet, most of the spear (and the tree) gone, crushed into rapidly disintegrating splinters as it gives chase.
[Good] the man grunts [Now it /really/ wants me dead. Gotta be thorough!]
Constantly breaking line of sight from the creature so it cant just run him down as easily as something three to four times his size (At least!) should be able to... he hears an only partly remembered song float through his head.
He hits a nearby clearing and barely glancing up he dives underneath a nearby tree with exposed roots before letting out his own scream which deteriorates into a sob of pain as he punches into the tree as hard as he can.
Screams of abject rage and frustration drown out his pain though as the bearcat thing claws at the tree. This one tree that it can't break. This one tree that is preventing it from reaching...
A massive impact stops the attack, followed by whimpering noises undercut by ripping and crunching.
It felt like minutes, no hours of staying silent and hidden under the tree.
[Silence falls and is broken by the roc screaming, before taking flight]
The flickers of awareness are coming more often as the creatures die and merge... all except one. One refuses to be refined? No... to be optimized. Like all the others the entity is seeping in slowly, but no matter how great its hunger... it holds firm. It would rather create things... tools? Rather than be more. Be better. But somehow it's working. Everything that finds it, that hunts it dies. Despite its hunger, it doesn't hunt. Why? How does such a weak creature function and survive...
(Understand? No... No Under... I? Do not understand...)
It comes closer to the light of this strange small things mind. In this light it becomes more and more defined, a shadowy maw scenting a delicious meal... but more than that confusion. The light of the... humans mind grows in detail under its gaze, a convoluted web flickering and sparking to throw back the encroaching darkness.
The light from the other creatures isnt being refined into its form... instead its reasserting what it is with every death.
(Useless. Why?)
Weak. Fragile. Unyielding. Yet more fresh emotions - Confusion, Interest... things that distract it from the endless hunger.
