《A different point of view》


 Chapter 1: The arrival

    A chorus of screams wakes me up. I begin to stretch myself, and start to get up from the pile of sand that I was resting on. The rest of the forest is silent, which leads me to believe that one of the creatures around me started its hunt. I consider going back to sleep, but the idea of being disturbed once more makes me choose to go to another place to continue my nap.


    As always, I can only see sand around me, and, further back, vegetation flourishing everywhere. It seems that the aether of this land is quite thin, so the mana I am emitting is enough to turn nearby lifeforms to dust.


    I stand up. Mana fills my wings, and I take off.


    I see bipedal beings through the foliage, and it seems that they are the culprits of my early awakening. They are fighting against what seems to be descendants of a narasimha. I thought I was the first to step on this land, but it seems that others were just as curious as me.


    I look at the fight for an instant more, long enough to see the pseudo-narasimhas take the advantage, and I leave.


    I fly long enough for the sun to reach its peak. It seems that a full rotation will last as long here as it does back on the other side. Nothing surprising, as different phases do not necessarily function on a different time axis, but I am pleased to see that I will not have to go through too much change at once.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Finally, I find a place that seems appropriate enough for another nap. I flew over several volcanoes on the way, but even though they were giving off enough heat for me to be able to fall asleep without exerting myself, I neglected them. The location where I slept previously was situated just above a heat source. It was not really hot enough, but it allowed me to rest for a bit. Here, though, the situation seems a bit different. It seems that a young elemental is going to form soon, and by the fluctuations that the ambient aether is giving off, it will be attuned to the sun. A chance for me, as the process should last long enough for me to feel wake up feeling refreshed.


    Once again, as I land, the nearby lifeforms turn to dust, and I gather their remains to form a big pile, upon which I settle myself comfortably. As a new phase, its components are brittle, but they will acquire a resistance to my mana as soon as the aether begins to grow thicker. As such, I will enjoy the privilege of being able to make myself a pleasant place to rest as long as it lasts.


    Everything seems perfect: there is nothing around that could disturb me enough to wake me up, but I can still hear the sounds of the forest. It is a guilty pleasure of mine, as I find that the consonances of a newly born world are some of the most exquisite that one can find, especially that of forests.


    I look around one last time and imprint what I see in my memory, as most of what surrounds me will have changed once I wake up. Once I feel that everything is ready, I yawn, and I let myself drift off to sleep.

 Chapter 2: Soaring

    As I wake up, a harsh light falls on me. I am dazzled for an instant, but it doesn¡¯t last long, and I am left facing an elemental bigger than he should be. Considering how long I slept, it should not have such a presence yet. It seems that it used my mana to grow faster, draining me of what it would consider an immense amount, but not enough for me to feel disturbed.


    As I direct my attention in its direction, I notice that it stares at me back. For all that it has grown physically, it seems that it did not mature enough, as I do not see the spark of sentience in its eyes yet.


    Briefly, I consider letting it come with me. We could have a symbiotic relationship, as I would be giving away my mana, and by draining it, the elemental would allow me to loosen a bit the restraints I place on myself. However, I quickly abandon this idea. If I were to leave for another phase, it would not be able to come with me, and the quantity of energy it would need to sustain himself at this point might be big enough to drain this one dry. No, I better leave it be for now. It should be able to survive by draining the aether of this place anyway, but until this phase matures, it will probably be stuck in this place. Still, it seems like an acceptable fate for him, so I cut the flow of my mana and I shoo him away.


    An instant later, the consequences of this act are apparent: the lush forest we were in is drained of its aether, and I can already see the young shoots around me wither. All of it flows towards the elemental, who struggles to maintain its existence.


    I face away and I take to the skies once again. I fly over what is left of the forest. Most of the trees lost their leaves, and I can guess that this place will become a desert soon.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    It seems that the beings that made this forest their home have felt the depletion, and most of them are running away from its source. I can see some of them staying their ground, though. They will most likely try to stay and live on this land void of aether. An interesting development, as species that adapt to such environments become able to survive aether deprivation for far longer than most other lifeforms. However, I see no such potential here. They will most likely go extinct by the time this the trees of this land turn to dust.


    I fly up, higher and higher, until I am stopped by an invisible barrier. It seems that theVeil is as impenetrable as always. I hoped that it would not be consolidated yet, but it seems that the age of the phase has no influence on its strength. I feel disappointed, as it seems that once again, I will not be able to see what lies beyond the skies.


    Movements on the ground catch my attention. I dive closer to take a look, and I can see a flock of quadrupedal animals running away from a group made of the bipedal creatures that woke me up previously. They seem to use sharpened branches to increase their offensive capabilities, and they are launching them with surprising speed for such small creatures.


    However, after watching them for a bit more, I end up disappointed: for all that they seem like sentient beings, they have yet to master the art of weaving mana and aether. They may learn with time, but for now, they don¡¯t interest me.


    I decide to land, which scares all nearby creatures. The ones closest to me die off, but the others look like they may survive. Interesting, it seems that the ambient aether has indeed grown thicker during my sleep, for them to survive being so close to me.


    Be that as it may, I did not land to scare them but rather to stretch my legs a little. I choose to go south, and I go on my way, leaving them behind.

 Chapter 3: Light

    As I walk, the night falls around me and I find myself gazing at a sea of stars, stretching far beyond the horizon. No matter the phase, I always find myself attracted to the starry sky, in all of its vastness.


    Moments like these remind me of my homeworld, back when I was but a youngling. I remember dreaming of the stars, of going beyond the Veil to explore everything over there. Back then, our world was still young, but some of us had already reached a level equal to that of members of phases in the middle of their development. Such a fact made some lose their minds to the prospect of their growing power, but simply staring at the endlessness of the stars was enough to make me remember that we are no more than a passing thought, in the eyes of the universe.


    Today, I can only think about it with nostalgia, and a bit of bitterness. After all, this place is long lost to me, and will soon be nothing more than a memory. It will then become a legend, and it will finally fade into nothingness.


    A current in the aether brings me back from by thoughts. It seems that while I was daydreaming, I let the control over my mana slip a little. I rein myself back once again, but it appears that I acted too late. I can see the aether contorting itself in a way indicating that it is trying to create life.


    The creation of life in newly born phases is not a much documented subject, but I know enough to determine what is happening. By mistake, I imprinted my presence on the aether of this young world, which is trying to reproduce the lifeform it originates from, as it is much more complete than its own. However, due to this factor, it will only be able to form inferior copies of the original being.


    As such, I can see a scaly being of about seven meters in length appear bit by bit, until it finally emerges from a whirl of aether. A younger member of my species would likely be outraged by its appearance and eradicate it immediately, as it is but a pale imitation of our form. However, I have grown past such pride and arrogance eons ago, and so I do not care about it. What¡¯s more, some have probably already spawned all over the globe, and I have no wish to exert myself to the point that would be needed for me to exterminate them.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The being, a wyvern, sees me and tries to approach. It seems that its primitive brain could understand the fact that I am, in a way, its progenitor. Be that as it may, I do not care about this pseudo-descendant of mine, and I make sure it knows this fact by sending it my intent through my mana, conveying my message in an understandable way to this beast. It flinches and tries to answer back, but its inability to use mana prevents this from happening.


    I take my leave, and I choose to go west. The night is still young, and I take the time to appreciate the light wind that flows on my scales. I notice that the aether present in the breeze is starting to gain an attunement, which indicates that a wind elemental must have surfaced not far from here. It seems that for all that I complained about the lack of competence of the local species, the growth rate of this phase is far from slow.


    The plains seem to stretch as far as I can see, and as much as I appreciate the moment, I can feel boredom appear. I hesitate at the idea of moving too quickly though. As much as I know that the most interesting part during the growth of new phases happens later on, I still intend to appreciate the beauty that lies in front of me as long as I can. After all, who knows if I will ever see such a view again?


    I stay in place long enough for the sun to rise. I can feel its heat on my back, timidly growing until the point where the first ray illuminates the plains. The instant seems to stretch forever, as the dew that formed during the night reflects the light, and it is as if a thousand suns rose up among the blades of grass.


    The beauty of the moment amazes me. It had been so long since the last time I assisted to such an event and took note of every single detail there was. Yes, I definitely made the right choice when I decided to come here.