The being burst out of the blob, chunks of almost solid essence spraying out with it, while the unfortunate creatures that had happened to be immediately above plummeted to their deaths. Its current trajectory would lead it to join them, since it had come out on the wrong side, but a quick command to the blob had a tendril grab around its waist and safely drop it off onto a stable rock.

  The being was far from alone here: creatures surrounded it on all sides - surely the very strongest in the entire world, to have made it this far - staring aggressively and growling.

  The being did not care one bit. Instead, it used its time better by looking over its new form.

  It was a bit... feathery. And something in its mind did feel a little more belligerent, a little more vengeful. Though that might be its prejudice, given that it could never internalize abilities and mindsets from the gems and filaments it transformed with.

  Other than this, the being was very much the same as before the crystal incident. A perfect recovery. Yet, at the same time, it was obviously completely different.

  The original annoyance! A welcome old friend now, since it confirmed again that something truly must have changed. And there was no doubt it had changed for the better.

  There was a power in the being now. As if each and every one of its movements held more behind them than sheer physicality. In a way similar yet different from the late moves. For this power was not constrained by specific motions. It was... free. The being could express anything, from the finest, smoothest maneuver, to the dullest, simplest stumble, and still that act would carry a whisper of something more. Even the hummings didn't faze it at all!

  In the end, it had still not got its desire to be able to affect the principle outside of its body. But this would do.

  This would definitely do!

  Though there was a little crack. A weak point ringing out of tune...

  As if not everything was as it should be. As if a mysterious something was missing... But there was one obvious thing perfectly matching that description, which-

  One of the creatures suddenly lost patience and lunged for the being. It was an enormous, immense thing, full of teeth and barbs. It was... It wasn't even worth describing.

  One unconcerned, disdainful slap, and the thing fell to the ground, back the way it had come. Dead.

  With its will broken, there was nothing holding the corpse together any longer, and the pressure around started making the flesh wobble. But the being easily took control of that essence, and beckoned the gem inside, already feeding on it as soon as the disgusting little thing emerged.

  The being was all for technique, smoothness, and grace. But there was no denying the satisfaction in just slapping a problem away with overwhelming force. Winning, just like that.

  Such an impressive show of strength had surprised even it. The other creatures should be more than cowed: they should be fleeing as far away as they could. That was far from the case. Now that their comrade had broken the stall, they all jumped in at the same time, with nothing but anger and desire to hurt. While the being dodged around them, dispensing death left and right, it couldn't help feeling sad. But it understood. The only others that had ever mattered, like the owl and the bison, were dead. They had been defeated.

  There was only the being now.

  So everything else had lost their purpose. And with their purpose, they had lost their everything. They could only nurture. Truly a pitiful condition, but that was all they'd ever been, wasn't it?

  When the last creature lay dead, only a few moments after the scuffle had started, the being stood above them completely untouched, feeding on all their gems at the same time, and couldn't help a little happiness with itself.

  Other creatures were coming, likely the entirety of what remained in the world, but it just didn't care. They could never threaten it now. Again, not the exact change it had hoped for, but...

  Yes, it would definitely do.

  When the being had darted forward, those creatures that could had given chase immediately, trying to be as annoying as possible before they were inevitably left behind. The real nuisance were the ones that had gone ahead and were now dropping back to lay ambushes, forcing the being to slap them away and add their gems to its growing collection.

  Any other time this kind of bounty would have overjoyed it, but right now they were just a means to a higher priority end.

  Because if the being wanted to stabilize the slippery principle inside and recover the caged thing - which might be even more important - then it would need to fight the dark one. It had been foolish before to even think about following after the strange creature, because whatever mastery of the principle the being had conquered, the dark one surely had it too.

  It found itself wondering once again, now with much better understanding, how truly different that creature was.

  Of course the dark one would feel superior to the mindless things of this world! And it wasn't just a matter that it came from somewhere else, because the little light had been the same, and... well...

  In any case, such a lopsided confrontation would have meant death before.

  But now, finally, finally in view of the epicenter...

  the being promised itself that things would change.

  This fight would have a very different outcome.

  The dreg lay waiting, staring at the rift right in front of it. Still and uncaring, letting the occasional strange beast pass by and precede it onto the outside. Though the tide had all but receded now.

  Through the hole in reality was a now frustratingly familiar landscape: yellow, bleached rocks extending into the distance under a cape of thick dust, so that if one didn't know what they were looking at, they might even believe it just a different part of this strange place.

  But the subtle distortions framing the view, and, much more, the different biome fading ever closer, painted a far different picture. The dreg thought it could see trees in the distance, and a smattering of other green stuff. Finally a different color.

  It should be the Anukarana. Quite lucky. Maybe the best outcome, in fact: a stable net that worked with predictable rules, few if any surprises, and not many sidhas that would bother to wander around, in such a weak sector. Because this realm was a weak thing, and unless the dreg's sense of time had truly got messed up - which wasn't that unlikely, to be fair - it should have survived long enough to drift towards equilibrium. It must have, otherwise everything would have collapsed much sooner under the pressure.

  Which meant no monstrosity would crawl out to smother its rebirth in the cradle.

  It should probably get in already. The excuses its responsible part kept pushing forward had stopped making sense long ago. There was no rational reason to hesitate. Even if the nucleus it had stolen had still not integrated yet, whatever time was left would not be enough to improve that in any meaningful quantity. Let the Forge force matters along.

  Because there might just not be a way to complete the process properly. At least not one it could find without help or tools in such a short time , when many others had failed.

  Judging by the ramblings that little gnat had kept screaming at the wind, this thing had been a fortunate accident that an entire organization, and probably much more than that, had tried to crack for decades, if not centuries. Though the vast majority of their logs and equipment had been lost, and though their civilization was from so far away that language and such were a harsh barrier, the dreg had still perused enough remnants to reach a good understanding. Why, that was how it had managed to recover this 'token' hanging on its wrist, a little something that should guarantee even safer travels through the net. Because it had really needed even better chances to cause disasters...

  In any case, the dreg had understood enough to know that they had no idea what they were dealing with. Whoever the 'effort' was, their higher ups must have been either not that high in the grand scheme of things, or busy with something else. Or maybe this place hadn't been that interesting back in their time, which might be millennia ago for all it knew?

  A charitable way to excuse their sheer stupidity in not taking an interest in this place beyond how it could benefit them - which they'd also failed to discover.

  The dreg, though, found itself curious. This was all so very bizarre.

  Why did the little critters want to get out? Could they understand they had no future here, even though they were clearly non-sapient, and perhaps non-sentient in most cases? Besides that one...

  And why did the realm destabilize in this specific way, with a main rift slowly pouring out its contents? From its understanding, such an event was supposed to be way quicker and far more brutal. Not that the dreg had read much literature on the subject, or seen other realms die from the inside. For all it knew, this could be entirely normal for alien worlds.

  But it was just rambling now. It should really just walk in and be done with it all, either way.

  ... Yet that part of itself just wouldn't let go.

  It was weak and nonsensical, and would likely be smothered soon enough when the Divine Forge did its thing. But by the looks of it, it would fight till the end, and keep the dreg rooted in place, probably until the very last moment the realm had to-

  a little beast slammed violently close by, splattered all over the ground.

  Strange. They'd stopped coming long ago. And they were usually quite alive when...

  The dreg turned back, and found itself astounded in a way that it had not ever been in its broken memory.

  It was the familiar creature. The very same little monkey it had stolen the nucleus from and left for dead, thoroughly defeated, on the other side of the abyss.

  The dreg had thought it done for, and almost forgot about its existence.

  And yet the thing had not only found a way to cross the obstacle, but looked better than ever. Intimidating, even, with pieces of its kin floating around it, slowly absorbed into its body.

  And more, so much more, there was a familiar telltale distortion in the essence around it: prana infusing its flesh.

  The little thing had become a sidha.

  And it was staring back.

  What might pass for the dreg's lips slowly curled into a crooked grin.