Interlude: Awaken (Patreon)

Far beyond space and time, something woke up. Maybe it was an ancient entity, with an impossibly long memory, a being that had forgotten more than any mortal would ever learn. A being that had slept so long, all its memories had faded away, washed clean by the endless stream of time, until nothing but instinct remained. Or maybe the being was a newborn, only now emerging into the wider and wilder world, experiencing the world for the first time, with nothing but instinct to guide it.

The being's nostrils flared, its mouth opening slightly as its tongue flicked out to taste the air. There might be dangers out there, hidden and waiting to pounce on an unwary creature, hoping to make a quick meal out of it. Or the danger might come from the environment, as the world could kill the unwary just as much as any other creature, only that the dangers from the environment might take a little longer. But evading them was much harder, especially since they could be much more subtle. 

With each flick of the being’s tongue and each breath drawn into its nostrils, more information flooded into its brain. Though no matter how much information one gathered, it was hard to make sense of it without context. And yet, even without context, the being’s instincts allowed it to classify some scents as safe, familiar and comfortable, while others were considered unpleasant or even dangerous. But no scent, uncomfortable or not, would keep the being cooped up in the strange place it had awakened.

And so, with determination in its heart, the being started to push forward, small claws tearing at its surroundings, opening the way to allow a long, sinuous body to slither out. Once it escaped its original confines, its wings spread on its back, flapping to remove the sticky residue of its earlier prison. Finally, the being opened its eyes, observing the world for the first time. Or maybe only for the first time in its memory. 

Only, there was nothing to observe. The world, or at least the being's surroundings, were completely empty. Behind it, there was only a quickly fading crack within reality, a gap it seemed to have slithered out of moments before, but now that opening was almost gone. Or rather, by the time the being was able to consider returning into the rift, reality had closed up again, leaving the being isolated in an endless, strangely white void.

No matter in which direction it looked, it could see nothing other than its own body. White scales with colourful accents, a number of wings and two pairs of short, almost dainty-looking feet with sharp claws. For a moment, the creature looked around before flapping its wings, trying to gain lift. Somehow, it knew that being in the air would always be preferable compared to remaining on the ground. 

The sheer number of wings made flying a little complicated; the motions needed to be synchronised, or the draft from the larger wings would destabilise the smaller pairs, but the being’s instincts allowed it to adapt quickly. However, without any visual feedback, it was hard to tell whether it was actually moving, especially as there seemed to be no air to resist the being’s passage. No matter how fast the being thought it was flying, the world didn’t change in the slightest until it started to slow down. 

Soon, it wasn’t trying to fly forward any longer; instead, it was simply gliding on a non-existent wind, slightly weirded out by the fact that it wasn’t falling. Its instincts insisted it should start falling unless it maintained altitude or there was enough of an updraft to keep the being aloft while gliding, but here there didn’t seem to be any such issue. Or maybe the being was actually plummeting, and completely unaware because there was no air resistance, so it might be heading towards the ground at terminal velocity. 

That thought caused the being to feel fear for the first time, and its body began to thrash, its wings beating frantically and completely out of sync, only adding to its problems. Rationality didn’t return to the panicking being, and as it was filled with an existential, primal dread, it started to lash out. Roars of anger echoed through the void, followed by rapidly expanding billows of freezing air as the being was desperately trying to strike at its enemies. Not that there were any enemies to strike against, or anything to destroy, really, so it simply expended its energy, flailing around in the void and putting out enough energy to devastate a small country. Or maybe even a decently-sized one; it was hard to tell. 

However, in the endless, empty nothingness the being was trapped in, nothing came of it, nothing but the being’s quickly growing exhaustion. 

Eventually, the being settled down. Not so much because the source of its existential dread was gone, but because exhaustion managed to return rationality to a sluggish mind. It realised that if it hadn’t already hit the ground, there might not be any ground at all; there might simply be nothing around it. Not that the prospect of being trapped in an endless void was all that appealing, but compared to the fear of crashing into the unforgiving ground and ending up splattered all over the place, it was tolerable.

Floating in the air, the being started to breathe deeply, slowly regaining its equilibrium. Now, instead of focusing on the one sense that didn’t help it or give it any information, it focused on those that might help, namely, its nose, tongue and ears. Even its scales would be more useful, though, given the lack of air or wind, there wasn’t anything to sense with them. Similarly, there was nothing to hear, nothing but the being’s breathing, still slightly laboured from the earlier panic, the quiet beating of its heart and the rushing of blood all throughout its body. Beyond those noises and a few more produced by the being’s body, all was quiet. Even its massive wings didn’t produce any auditory disturbance in the air around it. 

With its tongue flickering out of its mouth, the being finally managed to detect something. Scents, not all that many, but there were some scents in the air, enough to make it curious. Some of those were strong, but immediately discarded. The cool scent it could detect everywhere in the air was only a remnant of the attacks the being had unleashed earlier. Similarly, a few other scents clearly came from the being’s body and were thus useless for any exploratory purpose.

But slowly, with a great deal of care, sniffing and tonguing the air, the being started to make its way forward. Strangely, it didn’t really matter whether it was flying or if it was pushing itself forward with its sinuous body. Even its claws could be used for locomotion, pushing off from nothing, which was a distinctly weird sensation. But not the strangest one it had experienced in this strange space, so the being didn’t panic; it simply continued, carefully following scents that tickled something familiar deep within the being’s brain.

How long the being continued on its journey was impossible to tell; there was nothing to mark the passage of time in the void, nothing that could be used to determine whether the being was moving at all. It simply continued onwards, following those scents while trying to understand what was going on. 

Eventually, the void started to change. Not all at once, but it wasn’t a continuous process either. At first, the scents around it simply grew stronger, the flavours more intense, until some sort of threshold was reached. Then the experience gained texture, as if a cool, soothing liquid were running all over its body, making the sensations even more intimate than smelling or tasting them. At the same time, the being became distinctly aware that some of those scents were a little unpleasant, making it want to bathe in some of the others and focus on only those. So, it began plotting its course to primarily glide through the good sensations and avoid the unpleasant ones. 

Finally, the being began to feel pressure against its head, forcing it to push forward with intent and effort, as if something was trying to hold it back. But the scents had guided the being so far, and it had tirelessly pushed forward, simply to find out where those scents led. Slowly, maybe due to the seemingly endless journey before, the being began to tire, its will draining away and its body fading. 

With one last, desperate push of effort, the being forced itself forward, ignoring all the aches, the tiredness and even the strange pressure all over its body. And with that last push, it came free, tumbling into a completely new experience, only to look in a pair of large, jade-green eyes as its consciousness faded away, exhaustion finally claiming its due.

And the being slept once more.