Alamota, Kansas - July 17, 2020

In Kansas, corn isn't just common. It's an intrinsic part of the landscape, an endless horizon of waving gold fading into the peripheral vision of pickup truck drivers and farmers. Planted in coarse dirt that's been tilled and plowed a hundred times over, and will be tilled and plowed a hundred times again into the future. Swaying in the mild breeze produced by miles and miles of flat ground.

Above a certain massive field of yellow stalks, a tear opened and an invisible something fell out of it. The something dissipated the moment it encountered the air and dispersed throughout the corn. The corn, naturally, didn't care. It just grew, albeit very slowly.

With agonizingly tedious movements, desperate and impassive at the same time, the something pulled itself together. Faint strands of nothing tugging and weaving between green pillars to collect in a wavering gray shape.

There is no form.

The something decided to identify itself as a being, and as such realized that a form was needed to survive, to live, to observe in this world. Forms were difficult to make, to say nothing of all the unusual rules they were required to follow in this unusual realm. Three dimensions were much harder to move around in if you were used to... well, more than three.

It paused, considering its options with the all-powerful might of logic. Above it was nearly empty space, occupied by copious amounts of nitrogen and tinges of oxygen, along with a variety of other elements. To its sides (an interesting concept) was a lot of green life. The green didn't seem very helpful, but it memorized its makeup regardless. Only one direction left to go...

Cautiously extending its self into the ground, it searched for a suitable format, an old blueprint that it might be able to use for itself. It was doubtful that it would find one so easily, but options were options, and it only had one left.

To its mild surprise, it found an extremely complex format nearby. It was a quadruped, carbon-based and decomposing. Carnivorous, if the teeth were to be believed, and well-suited for dealing with multiple environments. A sleek, powerful form when properly operated, but it was presently inactive, so whatever had previously used it would hopefully not be missed.

Over the course of the next few minutes, the being slowly invaded the body, carefully identifying what was necessary and smoothing over the things that seemed to be missing. It was soothing, the relaxing process of fixing something that needed fixing. Filling in the cracks and gaps, the being continued its cautious operation until the format was as close to perfect as it could manage.

The corn was disturbed as dirt upheaved, stringy weeds and stray patches of grass rising up from the crumbling earth. A lean, gray form emerged.

The timber wolf blinked, pure black eyes dilating and shrinking in rapid, disconcerted movements as the being asserted its control over the unfamiliar body. Its gray shape seemed to fade at the edges, blurring slightly as it experimentally moved around, as if there was an afterimage following it. Swaying its thick, furry tail and stretching its muscular limbs, the timber wolf calmly rotated every joint in its body with a crack.

The being winced inwardly. It hadn't been aware that these creatures had such strict limits on which bits could and couldn't turn around, and it berated itself. Certainly, it could have examined its body a little closer, paying more attention to the literal as opposed to the technical.

Shaking its head with a ragged ring of not-dust orbiting its neck, the timber wolf took a step forward and slammed onto its jaw. Annoyed, the wolf wondered what it had done wrong. All of the muscles were working at the same time - wasn't that how creatures worked?

Several moderately frustrating moments later, the wolf realized that it had to use specific muscles at specific intervals to enact specific actions. They all had to follow one another in tandem, or else the entire action would fail. The whole process was needlessly complicated, and it resolved to find a more efficient way of operating while using the wolf's form.

Tentatively, with a sore jaw rapidly repairing itself, the wolf took a trembling step forward, and then another. Its tail began wagging from some unconscious instinct buried in the format's inner coding, and the wolf began pacing through the corn, facets of its shape blurring and shifting at impossible angles as it shoved parts around to make room.

All things considered, creatures were quite a pain to maintain, but a necessary one. Its form had an extremely difficult time existing in three dimensions and would easily dissipate if left unfocused, which was why formats were so helpful. In this case, it had already learned quite a significant amount regarding the denizens of the universe.

One, that they were primarily material and composed of atoms, as opposed to quarks and the spaces between space. A detriment to their potential overall, but allowed quite a lot more interaction with reality on a physical scale. While uncomfortable, it would likely become familiar in a small amount of time. Or at least, it hopefully would.

Two, that the living green sticks rising from the ground were the dominant species, albeit not the most intelligent one. It had no doubt that the green could easily overwhelm any physical creature without an issue, simply through sheer numbers. Even as it concentrated on walking on new legs through the thin creatures, avoiding coming into contact with them, it could only detect a massive spread of the entities extending for as far as its senses allowed.

Wait, that wasn't quite true. In a large, square construction some distance away, two living formats were wandering around, performing tasks that it couldn't quite understand the purpose of. Perhaps they were the dominant species' assistants?

It resolved to see what they were, and confidently took a step in that direction.

One fall later, it also resolved to make walking a habit.