D'aath looked up at the rather frail beast standing there. The creature had appeared suddenly through a passage between some nearby plant life and caught it during the transform.
D'aath had never been caught completely surprised in it's entire existence. At countless worlds, after countless transforms, this was new.
The thoughts of the Father, and the power of the pod did a lot to assure it remained secure.
In the pod, the only requirement to not be cast into the All was the light, and a trace of mass.
The pod stored the energy of Suns.
Secure in that monstrous power, with the dreams sustained, the Father's comfort was always there.
What was now abnormal was the odd nothingness in it's mind.
The brief instant of confusion during the initial moments of transform was that point of most danger to one of the Children. It was impossible to control anything until completion.
Following the transform, it normally quickly sensed much of the nearby world as it was, fed by those calming thoughts of the Father.
The pod was the key, it held that power of Suns.
But now there was no Father in it's mind, only this strange nothingness.
Then the being was suddenly there.
The life form did not crouch, tense, or prepare to spring, instead it simply held motionless.
Lack of motion should be an attempt to hide for protection, blend in with all that surrouned, yet the gaudy stripes of coloring in what appeared to be a wrapping around the beast's body contrasted completely with the back ground?
That did not make sense, why freeze to hide when colored for display?
The orifice in it's cranium was open, but it was a suggestion of surprise, interest, rather than any threat.
After now countless visits to strange worlds, D'aath had learned the norms of species body language. From the tinest being to the largest and most dangerous, nearly all offered suggestions of their thoughts by reaction.
The steady slight motion of the creature's upper body told it...him?...that this beast drew nutrient, sustenance from the atmosphere.
It was at that moment that D'aath felt the transform complete.
+++
As always, he became a carrier of the seed of a dominant creature of this world.
Then inside, the fierce need for atmosphere, D'aath felt that. He allowed the body he now was to relax, it began to absorb. Soon there was a steady flow, it contained moisture, atoms.
Such an odd sensation, requiring no thought of effort once begun. None of the Children of the Light had any need for atmosphere unless in the form of a creature of some visited world.
The blur of confusion passed. He now also sensed the nagging need for additional nutrient.
The trace of matter carried with the pod held all the nutrient his normal body form required, combined with the light.
Now, in the form of a being of this world, other requirements for sustenance became a pressing need.
D'aath checked the range to the creature, it was sufficient that if defensive motion was required, there was enough.
Once the transform was complete, D'aath inspected himself quickly, while maintaining his attention to the creature.
It still had not moved.
He realized now that this creature was obviously one of the dominants of this world, as he could visualize that his own form was similar to the being that had appeared.
Similar yet vastly different, D'aath visually inspected the beast closely.
The creature must be female.
He knew that he should have already been aware of what the creature was?
D'aath was aware of the mistake, he had allowed the pod to run far too low on energy.
That understanding came as a shock, never before had D'aath been completely on it's own.
Such a odd being this body he had become was? Pitifully soft, no protection of any kind?
There was the feeling of warmth from this planet's tiny Sun on bare skin, D'aath felt grateful for that. It was weak, but enough to maintain the soul.
Soft and no armor of any kind, and he knew he was a carrier of the seed, he could sense that. He could always sense that, in literally thousands of transforms in it's brief lifespan, it was always to male.
The lack of armor meant perhaps, just perhaps he had found what the long search had sought?
No armor meant there was no danger, a lack of need for protection.
D'aath moved the long upper appendages, they reacted readily to the thought of motion, but slowly, so terribly slow?
No armored hide, no claws for defense, no sharp fangs for war? Combined with only the ability for slow and ponderous mothion?
This species must be peaceful then, if so, perhaps they were the ones who could join with the Children of the Light and assist in control of the All.
D'aath felt a sudden pleasant burst of sensation at that thought.
So few Children remained, the need was pressing.
The creature was upright, that alone was odd. The evolutionary requirement for elevation suggested either available nutrition was also elevated, or danger could be close by.
But that also meant it was very slow, another key. Being slow meant it had no need for speed for protection?
The visual was conflicting with his experience of other life forms.
D'aath was now confused, that was another odd sensation.
No Father. That meant disaster, D'aath became aware that he was on his own, at least until the pod could restore. Without that power, he could not sense the Father.
There was only one thing to do, and that would be to continue to seek, discover. Perhaps if promising, pass the DNA.
It was the way.
Of course D'aath knew he must be male to bear the genes to seed quickly, as female there would be all of the trappings of fertilization, nurturing, then separation, as male he could spread genes rapidly and far more diverse.
D'aath's only goal was to find a species, the ones with potential that could join with the Children of the Light. Sharing in knowledge, they could together learn the secrets of the haze surrounding the universe.
It was the way of the people, the duty they had taken as their own.
He looked again carefully at the being, it still simply paused as if surprised to see him.
For the first time in D'aath's entire existence, he had no real idea of what to do next.
+++
BEFORE
{This world the Children had visited before, and D'aath had a fascination with it. Such a tiny little planet so vastly away from nearly all others, yet every visit the self aware were there in monstrous numbers.
Resource, always in short supply nearly everywhere in the universe was abundant here, life overwhelmed the senses.
The blending of the atoms that created water, balanced precariously in the only form where it could flow readily?
In vast amounts? This was the most rare of all worlds visited, no other visited planet had held flowing water in such volumes. Rather they were solid matter, frozen, or simply a gaseous ball.
Life was also everywhere on other worlds, but nearly always completely engrossed in basic survival. Very few lifeforms had any other function.
This world also retained a unique atmosphere that created oxidation, the combination meant life in forms more vast than any other ever visited.
The tiny planet held a fascination, it was balanced precariously between the bitterness of the universe and the hellish energy of it's tiny Sun.
It's rotation allowed for continuous bathing in energy, the constant change of it's angularity created a world that was unique. There was even a moon, it's gravity causing an ebb and flow of the precariously balanced liquid water, nutrition then abundant at the shorelines.
More creatures, vast numbers and shapes, sizes in nearly unbelievable volumes lived in those seas.
+++
[[In the beginning everything was a turmoil of nothingness. Order came eventually to the birth world.
With one smaller Sun close, the giant one far, mass formed to a tedious balance.
The giant Sun lay far from the closer smaller one. They blended into one periodically in the birth planet's sky, the larger one peering out creating seasons before retreating out of sight again.
There were no self aware to witness that beginning, it only was.
D'aath had not been witness to that solar system's final blending with the All, the first world had passed eons before as the gravitational mass of the twin Suns joined. That blast of energy consumed the home planet, nothing remained as before.
The visual of that was placed into it's mind by the Father.
On that one single first tiny little speck of mass, bathed by the power of the twin Suns, the accident of life occurred. Lacking an atmosphere of any real consequence, the main source of energy was light, and the basic nutrients of the tiny planet itself.
That world, once settled into a near perfect lock with it's Suns, had a thin band that was safe from the utter cold of the dark, and the all consuming heat of it's Suns.
That thin band moved continuously as the birth world rotated ponderously, with close to imperceptible motion.
In that thin band, life began.
The Children of the light could not at first withstand the cold, and could not bathe directly in the light.
Trapped, unable to traverse since all were embedded in the rock, evolution brought the ability to move as the planet's slow rotation forced the blessing of motion.
To survive, motion was an evolutionary requirement, the side of the slowly rotating planet facing the dark was in constant progression towards the light.
To not move was to blend into the All.
At first the motion was slow, the feeding tendrils reaching into the planet's mass to draw nutrients.
Ponderously slow, the bitter cold side of the planet approached the Children, their deep tendrils reached further, then drew their accident of life further towards the light.
