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Chapter 01 – The Little Leader
My thoughts were fuzzy. Muddled. I couldn’t make sense of anything.
My vision was fuzzy. I was unable to perceive the world around me. It was all a mess of colors and light.
My hearing was fuzzy. An amalgamation of sounds bombarded me, at the same time both a whisper and a roar.
My body was fuzzy. With only a vague sense of shape, it was impossible to tell where my body began and ended.
I only had a faint sense of self-awareness. I was confused, but not panicked; curious, but still cautious.
My sense of time was warped. I was unsure how long I stayed like that; days, years, seconds?
But suddenly something started to come into focus. The sense of constantly shifting colors around me started to solidify and take shape. The sounds lessened, I could no longer hear everything, just certain things. That sense of self-awareness became greater the more things came into focus. I was no longer just existing, I was observing.
And then I could see them.
They were simple creatures, much like lizards. The first one that caught my attention was a young one using its scaly claws to lift a small rock and slam it down against a dark brown shell resting on a large rock. Lift, whack, lift, whack. Eventually a definitive crack resounded, then the little lizard creature dropped the small rock, and gobbled up the soft contents that had been protected by the hard protective shell.
What a smart little creature.
I was captivated by him. Drawn to him. I wanted to help him flourish and grow.
I felt myself reach out to the first lizard, now of a breeding age. He was special, and with a little influence could greatly help his colony. The colony was largely autonomous, grouping together for protection from larger enemies, but otherwise staying to themselves. But that wouldn’t do. If they didn’t come together as a group, they couldn’t learn from each other.
To the first lizard, I gave the essence of a leader. I don’t quite know how I did it. By now I realized I had no physical form, I was simply there. I had no eyes, but I could see; no ears, but could hear. I could not touch the rocks, nor the grass, nor the trees. But I could touch these creatures, touch them in a way that didn’t require hands. And it was in that way I touched him, and inspired him to be a leader.
The Little Leader used his knowledge to repeat his success with the shell cracking, over and over. Eventually, he began to teach this art to others who flocked around him. Slowly, they began to mimic the action, and soon the whole colony of little lizards were able to get at the delicious innards of the large nuts and seashells. It was quite beneficial to their society, as they were able to have a stable food source that they didn’t have to catch first to consume, which allowed their population to increase.
The Little Leader was quite popular among the ladies, and had no shortage of mates during the breeding seasons. I was saddened when he finally died of old age. He had led a very fulfilled life. Over his lifetime he had brought the colony together as a functioning group. And they learned from him that they could teach others, and that others would teach them. They showed their colony-mates where to find food, and dangerous places to avoid. The concept of sharing was created by the Little Leader, and his legacy lived on in all his children.
I would watch his children, and his children’s children. I would watch over them until the end of their days. I could not protect them from danger, but I could give them inspiration on how to defend themselves. I could not give them food, but I could tug them in the direction of a rotting log with many bugs to consume. All of my essence seemed devoted to watching these creatures. Wherever they were, I was, and whatever they did, I saw them, heard them. They were my world, and I was very endeared to them.
I was not some great and powerful God who could punish with hellfire or reward with rain.
I was simply their Overseer.
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Nice to see this series here as well