In the aftermath of the fresh tide of bodies, the spirit paused to seriously consider something important. It had done...something and came up with 'good,' 'bad,' 'happy,' and all those other things. Yet. What were those things called. Whenever those very fast 'changing' things passed by they left behind some things that stopped 'changing.' Aside from seeming very 'tasty.' Yes, this was another thought the spirit had had. The box gave it 'happy,' but the places that gave it 'happy' were a different kind of 'happy.' Then, the place 'happy' must be different, right? So, the spirit had come up with 'tasty.'

The things that stopped 'changing' and stayed were...things, yes. But, what was over there? How did the things appear? The spirit vaguely understood that it had appeared almost exactly where it was now. It certainly hadn't done that much 'changing.' So then where were the things coming from? Could it 'change' all the way there and get even more 'tasty?' But, whenever it 'changed,' the 'bad' came. Did the things not feel 'bad?'

Wisdom +1

Most of all, why was the 'tasty' becoming harder to find, and the 'bad' becoming...more. Did the things do that? If the box 'changed,' then something else usually followed, so if the things were like boxes, maybe they 'changed' it too? They certainly seemed 'tasty' though, so if it got more it could probably get more 'tasty' and make the 'bad' go away. The real problem was how to make more of the things stop 'changing.'

Wisdom +1

For now, the spirit paused in its intense thinking to float down towards the corpses and stopped right on top of the corpse of a grotesque wolf. It looked like it had been smashed by something, and its remains splattered out over the black, rocky ground.

Soon the spirit started to pulse, brightening and fading, brightening and fading, in a continuous cycle. After a while, the spirit's size seemed to have increased from small peblle to - medium pebble! As if full, it lazily floated down and passed into the splattered remains, stopped by the ground. There it stayed, and settled into a semi-active mode. It had overstuffed itself and was in a mana rich environment - for its relative needs anyway - and could not stay fully active as stuffed as it was.

Normally, the mana dissipated and thinned in concentration by the time it reached the spirit's altitudes, fighting through the void mana. Moreover, the spirit knew no restraint, determined to get as much of the mana as possible. All of that being the case, it would stay there until the corpse ran out of excess mana.

*16 years later*

The spirit 'blinked' and floated up instinctually in response to waking up in...something. Whatever the thing around it was, the spirit wanted no part in it, having taken all the 'tasty' it could. Joyfully, it floated staright up and after the now routine panicking after encountering 'bad' stumbled into 'tasty.'

It had just settled down when 'frustration' suddenly came. The spirit had just realized it could have tried to find another one of the stopped things. Actually, it paused, and then looked all around itself, like really looked around. It had noticed those things because they did so much 'changing,' but even around it there were things, many, many things, that were...things. They didn't seem to 'change' but they were there for sure. In fact, sometimes, the very weird, big thing out there changed, turning a different form. The things down also 'changed' form when they got 'changed' by other things, spraying a weird looking something onto the...thing? Just like that, the big thing 'changed,' becoming small and hitting the thing the other things were on, then going into the other thing.

The spirit didn't know what any of these things it had were good or not, but it knew it needed to be able to know what each thing was. Somehow. Everything was a thing, just that maybe something more...thing! It was thing again! Why!? Why was it so hard to do...!? No! NONONONONONONONONONO...(much, much later)

* 54 years later *

The spirit had rather ridiculous levels of patience and single mindedness, so it had been trapped in denial until the mana pocket emptied out. Then it reset almost the moment the 'bad' came to it, and the only benefit to it after its suffering was that this time it went straight for a corpse. It was starting to figure out food sources, even if it didn't know the word for it.

It was then not a surprise that while immersed in gorging itself again it didn't take any notice of the army that marched past, lined up in clean rows of soldiers. Each humanoid was covered in a full body suit of armor and they marched in ordered columns, heading south. Soon enough they stopped to set up camp, moving around to check out the corpses scatterred everywhere. Some even poked around the bones and scribbled around in little books, while others tried out the bones to see if they had any worth as materials in weapons. They tested their hardness and mana retention, even as yet others tested to check out if they were useful in alchemy.

Gathering information in a new land was of paramount importance in a new land, and they, the army would be damned if they didn't do their job right. That did not however, prevent them from chattering to each other, and so for the first time, the spirit heard 'talking.'

It had been shocked awake when a soldier stepped on it by accident, though the foot had passed through harmlessly, the spirit had almost ran straight up. That it didn't was because it sensed more mana from the soldiers and had excitedly floated all over, sticking to one soldier, then another. All over the camp it went, its glee wearing down when it found that it didn't actually seem to be able to get mana from the soldiers. Only after it had settled down had it noticed the soldiers talking.

Naturally it didn't understand them. Nor did it understand the hand gestures or body language they made. It did however, see a soldier point somewhere and say something as its mouth moved and the other soldier had actually moved that way!

So in the spirit's head, it had made a rather logical jump in thinking - were the weird new things that these other things seemed to be doing telling each other what they thought!? It felt excitement, because while it could care less about the strange new things, the things that they were doing were an entirely different matter. Could it do that and think with them? Would they finally be able to tell the spirit what everything was?

Wisdom +1 Intelligence +1

Passion ignited it once again went soldier to soldier, yet again its attempts were foiled and dreams brutally crushed. The soldiers simply didn't notice it.

Soon enough though, the spirit decided that it could certainly still 'look' at them and remember the things they did. And remember it did. Something like "ground" for the...well, the ground. There was also "rock" and "rocks," but they were also apparently the ground, so that didn't make much sense to the spirit. And what was the "s" for? Nevertheless, it picked up many useful things. "I" was weird (another new thing) and they seemed to use it for "myself," with a myself being a, well a thing. "A" was new too! It was "one" thing. "One" was...one. OH! Was "s" for "more" than a "one?"

Wisdom +1

Moreover, the huge thing at the "up," which was going up (it felt rather happy using all these new things) and then "down" was a "the sun." Even other "sides" existed! There was "left" and "right." Though those were confusing. The ground was on the down and the sun was at the up. However, left and right didn't seem to have anything special. What was a "the mountain" anyway? They "moved" their "hands" somewhere, but wasn't it just a rock? What was the difference. Was it size? How big could a rock get before being a the mountain? Also what was this "wolf" they spoke of? They had pointed at a "dead" (this meant it had stopped changing) thing and called it a wolf. An "ugly" "monster" and "freak" as well. Though why not just pick one? They called other things like "boars" and "rats" all of those things as well so maybe it was like how a the mountain was a rock and also a the mountain. "Big" was just more than a thing. Weirdly (its new "favorite" thing) enough, it had discovered that when "night" "fell (moving down fast since the thing that fell called it that)," it became "dark" and the "moon (the weird big thing)" came out. Also, a big wolf was a "dire" wolf. Why dire, it had no idea. Also, the "steel" "weapons," like "swords," "spears," "axes," and "shields" were used to "fight (making other things "get" die)" and "armor" was used to "stop injury (getting die)." Why not say used to stop fights, it didn't know either. Actually, it found that its knowing things were a lot "less" than the knowing things. Which was sad.

Wisdom +1

Soon enough though, as "morning" came, and the things "broke camp (the many "tents")," the spirit felt the change before it saw it. While the things had been very "functional (this meant good, a very functional thing and so another favorite thing)" the spirit had no desire to get stepped on again and new things always came eventually.

Merrily, it floated up, up, and away.

The soldiers on the other hand were unaware of the oncoming danger and formed ranks as they marched further south. They intended to leave the Voidlands within the week; surely such disgusting lands wouldn't extend that far, right? So they went south, where they knew their target was.

Before that could happen though they would have to get through the Voidlands, and soon enough the residents came to show their guests some hospitality. From every which direction came the hordes of imps, undead, and twisted abominations, seeking the target that announced itself. Every living thing in the Voidlands, and most around them, sought violence and blood, and the new humanoids had made themselves a target for literally everything at once. Their impressive looking lines crumbled fast when their enemies simply threw themselves onto their weapons to get even a little bit closer to the tasty meals. Then, the poor saps hanging off of weapons were torn apart by their own comrades, who happily took their places on the pikes and swords and spears.

This made sure the menagerie of monsters killed each other more than the soldiers, but that didn't mean there weren't those that made it to the soldiers and so the soldiers lost people fast. They weren't just killed as they would be when fighting each other; no, they were shredded as they were eaten alive by the endless hordes of monsters. They were an army, yes, but not one that had fought insanity.

And there was only so much insanity that a common creature was okay with before it turned tail and ran, so soon enough the humanoids broke ranks and ran for their lives. Some small pockets here and there as well as those soldiers gathered around important looking people retained some semblance of order as they fell back, but fall back they did. No one in that army wanted to stay in this land of death anymore, however the hordes begged to differ, tearing down soldiers as they chased; relentlessly continuing the hunt.

Up above the world so high, the spirit twinkled, feeling some strange sense of enjoyment at the carnage below. More "food" was always welcome.

Max Mana +1 Spoiler: Spoiler Unnamed Corrupted Spirit Level: 0 Age: 380 years Titles: Health Points (HP): NA Mana Points (MP): 5/5 Intelligence 10 Wisdom 7