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Minutes later...

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The swirling, condensing orbs impacted each other more and more, rapidly now, fusing while continuing to obey their magnetic sway.

Two of the orbs that had originated within the location currently considered to be within the right-side house's bedroom fused.

*The squaw heard someone yelling, and recognized it. "No, I'm making a meal now. You can wait." She yanked down hard on the maize, severing it from the stalk. She put it in her basket with the other ears and walked away.*

*"Let me get you some water.", the middle-aged woman said to the middle-aged man. After filling a glass halfway from the faucet, she went back to the room. As she handed the glass and liqui-gel to the man, she said simply, "This will help you sleep."*

From inside the neighboring house on the left side of the overgrown pathway, two other orbs collided.

*He stood inside his garage. Sure, it was only an agate, but the price of the material didn't matter; it was the quality of the artwork. Not that he was particularly skilled, he thought to himself. He put his goggles back on and went back to his lathe.*

*"Damn it!", he thought. "What is wrong with people?" He had spent quite a lot of money on decorations to be festive, but in the end he still wasn't respected. What was the point in putting up the lights if some rando was still going to pull them down and steal them? "No", he thought to himself again. "I won't let them stop me."*

It was a surprise that they didn't impact one another earlier, due to everything going on at this point. It was beyond human awareness, though others weren't so blind. As they approached from the space that could be considered the white building's front lawn, they narrowly avoided one another. By the time they reached the spiral arm's socket, they were no longer separate.

*"It's boring", the boy said. "If you're quiet, then afterwards I'll give you a reward", bribed his grandmother.*

*The boy awoke with a start and cold sweat. His grandmother looked over at him, and very quietly asked, "The same one?" The boy nodded. It was the same nightmare as he had before. A dog who was so big that its head was the same level as own, pitch black and intangible. The details that could be seen easily, creature of shadow that it was, was its glowing red eyes that pierced the soul. No less piercing were its saliva-dripping, sharp and glistening teeth. It had growled before lunging forward and biting.*

There were more of the orbs colliding than could be individually identified at this point, each containing something similar, yet different. Dust had settled on the plates in the sink and the carpet on the floor. Exposure to the open elements had turned the original shag carpet into crust, though the houses across the street faired no better.

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A few moments later...

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There were no longer any orbs, save one. It continued spinning, now only in place, with nothing attracting it nor being attracted by it. The fused orb slowed, slowed. Finally it appeared to stop...

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Instantly!

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It burst. Every orb that had come to it, every single one, was broken back into the fragments they had originally been and were flung forcefully back into place, as if they had never moved beyond their initial lazy drifting within their restricted ranges.

Yet, the place the orbs fused still contained an orb. Invisible, incorporeal, lacking temperature, lacking mass. It glowed there. It glowed and not in a manner of speaking; it actually shed light.

The orb, now containing a copy of the contents of all the orbs in the area, started changing. The wide river rushed along the plain, and the thin stream of dirty water trickled. The land wasn't entirely flat, but its small and gentle slopes made the surrounding miles easily seen. Depending on where one stood, the hills and houses blocked the view of almost everything.

Native grasses and wildflowers were all the plants that lived within vision range, and the nearby trees and bushes were imported. Animals of many kinds came to the clean water to drink, but none of the mammals stayed. The mice living in the house had been there for generations, and mostly drank from morning dew on the weeds outside.

There wasn't any trace of human or animal life in the area when it was purchased. The nearby brown stream was of no particular interest, though if a house was built then the noise wouldn't be loud enough to bother anyone. It was ancestral land, and a new name was adopted when they settled. Selling off a majority of the land was due to legal shenanigans, and the natives had gone extinct when sickness spread to them.

Clay pottery was most of what was used, though some wood was as well. Wood could leave no physical traces of itself with enough exposure and time, but the glazed porcelain purchased in bulk at the store could.

There wasn't really much of a dirt road, really. There weren't many traders to begin with, as every village was mostly self-sustaining, though also lacking. Necessity being the mother of invention shined, contrasted by the dark highway made of tar and pebbles.

Though the orb didn't have a difference between internal and surface, it processed all of this information and more. The sun rose, raced across the sky, and began to set once more.

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The following night...

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