By the time it made it to the next wall, or was at least close enough to it that it filled all it could see, the creature was faced with new encounters to go along with it.
One was the difference in the current wall compared to the last. While it hadn’t been able to perceive the one it had been born into from the outside, the first it had seen after its escape had been firm and solid, something it had to work to make its way through until escaping again from the rules that existed within, but the new one before it seemed different.
The wall it now approached seemed thinner, giving the feeling that it would take little more than a touch to break down compared to the others it had pushed against, with that prospect exciting it plenty as it wondered what lied beyond.
But that wasn’t the only thing to catch its attention, far from it. As it drew closer, it found things it didn’t recognise in the journey it had taken so far. Not more walls for it to enjoy, nor the stuff that seemed to come and go with the changes of the chaos around it. No, the things it was sensing had a permanence to them that only it and the walls had so far, and strangest of all, like itself, they were moving.
The unknown things were acting in a way it couldn’t properly understand at first. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for any of it, some looked to move together in groups or follow in lines, others kept bumping into each other, with pieces of each drifting away with the collisions. More still looked as though they were taking in some of what was there too, growing larger with each bit.
The creature observing all of it lacked the frame of reference to understand what any of it could mean, and through that lack of understanding felt no hesitation in approaching, not realizing that some of the creatures it had been witnessing attack each other had turned their focus onto it, nor realizing that they were thinking creatures at all.
In the reality it had been born to, there was only itself. The idea of anything else with a mind or internal world was foreign to it, so foreign that it was something it wasn’t able to realize itself. The things approaching it were just that as far as it was concerned; things. Posing no more danger to it than any of the stuff that had been constantly popping in and out of existence, right up until one got close enough to try and eat it.
After the first bite taken from its flesh, it realized a number of things at once. The first of which was that it hurt terribly so, more than adapting to the chaos and more than pushing through its first wall. A piece of itself was gone, never to be returned and it recoiled away from the thing that had taken the bite.
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That led to other realizations. While it still didn’t realize that the things before it were conscious beings, it did recognize that they were a danger to itself. That what it had just gone through and witnessed amongst the others was a constant swarm of attacks, and that now, not only was one of them going after it, but hundreds.
It was like all at once they’d spotted an easy target and began to move, giving it no choice but to flee. The wall it had been going towards was all but forgotten in its rush to get away, all the while feeling the things living within the chaos tearing away at its body.
Unlike before in its journey when it had moved at its own pace, content to make its way only as fast as its enthusiasm would push it, now it moved out of a need for self-preservation. It rushed as long and as hard as it could, even if it wasn’t enough. It still felt bits of itself being torn away.
With each piece it lost though, it left it moving just a little faster, with its pursuers fighting amongst themselves helping it gain only a little distance, and with that, it tried to escape into eternity.
With no proper sense of time to it, it didn’t know how long it had been trying to escape, but it felt like forever. The chase had taught it a new feeling, one it hated just as much as the pain it had suffered through, namely fear.
As a creature that had been born alone, still not fully understanding that the ones chasing it were as alive and aware as itself, it didn’t actually have a concept of death, and given the uniqueness of its existence there was only one way to prove if it was even capable of losing its life, but without the knowledge of such a thing that wasn’t where its fear lied.
No, instead it feared the pain, feared that if it got caught, the rest of its existence would be nothing but that, having pieces of itself ripped away as it shrunk and shrunk, being forced to feel every bit of it as eternity rolled on.
There was a terror that came with being consumed, but with its pursuers still behind it, the gap between them nowhere near as big as it would have liked, the creature made a choice.
In its mad dash to get away, it had come upon a different wall. Not a thin one like the last it saw before it had been attacked, one it hadn’t even gotten to touch, but something thicker, reminiscent of the first it had found in the chaos.
There was no way to know what would be beyond it, be it pain or paradise, but in that moment it didn’t matter. With all the energy it had it rushed towards it and began pushing through, just for the escape.
It could feel the rules it was forcing its way into eating at its body but it didn’t care. It just wanted to be away, safe from the dangers beyond and back within a universe like it had been born to, before the concept of danger had ever found it.
If that meant taking a risk then so be it, it no longer cared for whatever wonders the multiverse held. It had seen enough.
With everything it had, it took the final push it needed through, feeling itself fracture as it did and leaving it unable to make sense of anything, all while something else within took notice, the hint of sanity the watcher still held feeling a pawn fall into its lap.