World Genesis Volume 1 Chapter 11

“Hruum”

She lay within her nest, a deep cavity in the earth. It was not formed naturally but rather shaped by her flames and claws. Here and there were cracks in the otherwise smooth crystalline walls that let out water falling majestically into pools and waterways she created intentionally.

Beneath the surface of the water were large sparkling ovals that could only be eggs. Close by there were other pools but unlike the ones filled with water these were filled with hot magma and of course eggs of various sizes and their smooth, scale patterned multi coloured shells seemed to drink in the light from the molten magma. They were children that would bleed fire and soar high in the sky.

Hundreds of eggs and dozens of different species slept within them. Tiny lives that would one day master the heavens and the earth… but now were so fragile. Even Adam, with his little body could easily smash them and extinguish their light forever. When She had sensed him the first time, she was truly afraid for her young.

The first clutch had been upsetting, her heart still screamed with grief over the little ones that would never be born. Hatred so intense burned within her soul for the blue skinned demons that killed them and forced her to flee her nest that she might protect those still within her.

At the time she met him, it was true she was conflicted whether or not to simply smash him and burn him to ashes on the spot. However… something about him… reminded her of the little ones perhaps? He was not a Dragon by any means, yet a look of a lost soul was on his face, like a newborn looking for its place in the world. Tinged with a fair amount of terror but that was to be expected in her presence.

Were she younger and not as filled with grief, perhaps she never would have bothered connecting with his mind. Yet If she had not she would not have learned to speak. She would not have learned of other worlds and the complexity of such a small life. Arumarra lay among her young, thinking of the mind that she had simply meant to touch, but had instead been sucked into completely. She had not meant to read his past memories; her intent was solely to learn how to communicate with him. Yet it was impossible to ignore them.

This was not normal… usually in order to read a person so thoroughly one must unlock said memories and indeed his more current memories were guarded.

The past ones were not however.

In order to guard ones memories they must have an emotional attachment to those memories. Every memory no matter how insignificant has a lock set on it, the combination could be as simple as the feeling of joy or sadness, but more complex memories have many different emotions connected to them.

For some reason Adam was without these emotional ties… he didn’t lose them intentionally, She was sure no being alive could simply discard their emotional attachments so. It was more like he simply lost them.

She surmised that during the rebirth of his soul on this plain, they had faded away but his memories had not. They had protected his memories but were exhausted in the process. Now only feint echoes of the feelings remained. Enough to know they were there but not enough to feel them anymore and she knew Adam had not yet noticed this change.

She absorbed his knowledge without even wanting to, and by the time she had finally learned to speak she had also gained a full two years worth of memories copied from his mind. These memories were tied to concepts and ideas she had never thought of before, art, culture, mathematics, science and more. They allowed her to instantly understand things she had dwelled on for years.

At first it was confusing, she needed time to absorb the ideas and concepts but through meditation she now comprehended so much more. It was frightening how much a small creature could attain through sheer intellect alone. Her size and power seemed diminutive by comparison.

Though they were not intentionally copied she still found them intriguing, it was priceless knowledge in this fledgling world that would only aid her in the future. However, she felt guilt for taking what belonged to him without permission, language was one thing but his memories should have been his and his alone.

Since she had taken more than she meant to, she had left something behind as payment. It would manifest as minor telepathy for now, but its true nature was a lock. She formed a psychic bubble around his memories and gave him the ability to protect it from invaders.

She felt it would complicate things if she revealed to him just how unprotected he was during their… interaction. And she knew he did not feel her pry into his past because there was nothing preventing her from doing so.

In the end she decided to not mention it to him, nothing short of a World Dragon would be able to break that lock on his memories. And even if others tried, he would now know of their intrusion.

A terrifying expression that could only be called a draconic grin revealed itself.

“Hruun, perhaps the other gift will awaken in him too, only time will tell.”

He’s unpredictable, there’s no telling if he has the constitution for it… one thing is certain however; through the process of reincarnation Adam had become a little…

~v~

“Crazy! I’m completely nuts, what the hell was wrong with me!? Thinking I could separate the Raptors so easily then kill one without them noticing? Damn shit fuck, my arm!”

In my haste to run away from the Hedge Raptors I didn’t forget the supplies I had dropped not far from the fight. Inside was a wooden cup with a flat carved lid that held a purple paste I had created using Yellow Algae and Suerte Dolorosa mushrooms mixed with a bit of spring water.

What I got was a paste that I could put on an open wound. It killed the pain and healed it rather quickly leaving a little scar behind. It didn’t heal as quickly as ingesting the mushrooms directly but it did stop me from getting knocked out. The algae killed pain and the drowsiness effect too.

So by the time I got back to my hill my arm was almost healed, the one thing I didn’t like about the concoction was the smell, it was incredibly potent for some reason and smelled like horseradish. Odd seeing as the only ingredient that smelled was the algae, for this reason I was reluctant to ingest it though.

The information window only said it would heal open wounds of minor to intermediate intensity. It never said I had to drink it, and thankfully I didn’t have to try it.

I thought about climbing up my hill but instead decided to just sit down near the entrance to Arumarras area. I caught my breath and thought about where to go from here.

I technically won that fight right?

I wouldn’t want to go through that again though and I did make the battleground work in my favour… a real fight would not be like that at all I’d wager. I can’t just sit here though… there is someone from my race out there, possibly another reincarnated person too. I need to move. I can’t just make a beacon and wait; Arumarra would probably not appreciate me drawing attention to her nest either.

Standing back up I started to walk up my hill, when I finally reached the top I gazed north. North is my best chance… According to Arumarra there are more plants and animals in the north. If she was looking for me then most likely she would start there. I just hoped I hadn’t wasted too much time here and missed her.

“I’ll focus on survival and not seek out fights, if I can run I will run. If I absolutely need to fight, I focus on distraction then running away. I don’t have time for distractions, I need to find her.”

The sun was setting… I hadn’t realized how long a day it had been until that moment. It really did look beautiful… this world.

“This world…”

Something came to me in that moment… this world didn’t have a name? I remembered in the beginning when I first awoke a message had said something to that effect.

Welcome to the newly created world of (Unknown)… that was what it said. Kind of sad, that such a beautiful, if a little dangerous place like this has no name. It even gave me a name, though I could have just gone by my old name.

Still…

Looking at the world spread out in front of me, I got the sense that this is all just the beginning… like there is some goal or objective to reach one day. Like the whole world is pushing me to move forward, or maybe I’m just drawn to the unknown? I know I have a goal, to find Eve… not because she is my destined partner or because our species depends on it but because she’s alone… and its dangerous to be alone.

I know that better than anyone.

“Telos, I’ll call this world Telos.”

With a wry smile I took a small step back, I would rest then leave at first light. Or it would have been a step back but it turned into a stumble. The ground was shaking for some reason.

Confused, a worried voice echoed in my mind. “What is happening up there?” Arumarra seemed genuinely worried; perhaps her eggs were at risk? Her telepathy is something else to reach me all the way up my Hill and still sound so clear.

“I don’t know either, it’s an earthquake maybe?”

[World has been named… Finalizing… Name accepted]

[Final World Update in progress]

[Updating please stand by]

In that moment creatures in the world saw those words floating in front of them in their own language or a form they could understand. A light formed within them, a feeling of understanding.

My status screen came up and flickered a few times, then changed dramatically, condensing into a bead of light then molding into a shape. An amulet floated in front of me after it was done. Shining with three different gems and an opal in the center.

Suddenly the amulet opened up revealing the opal underneath was much larger, and words formed from the swirling colours.

Everything was still there… but different, the amulet resonated with me, imparting understanding. It was me… the amulet was in a way my soul… or something very similar.

It also dawned on me finally… something I had always suspected but never truly believed until this very moment. It was testing itself… the whole world up to this point was one big Beta Test and I was the final tester! It was using me, pushing me like I suspected to do the one thing no other creature sentient or otherwise had done yet.

Because they couldn’t…

Because they didn’t know how…

The world was alive, and it wanted a name… It wanted to be complete.

And I completed it.

Stunned… I just knelt there with my mouth open and my eyes wide.

[Update Complete]