text: I don't know the events that caused it. I'm not even sure what the events were that followed immediately after it. All I know is, one day I was there. I felt the warmth of my sun, drew nutrients out of my surroundings, but it didn't feel right. Something was missing. Suddenly, I needed a meaning. I somehow understood it, but I didn't know where to find it. I tried to sense my surroundings for it. I noticed others around me. Smaller, not aware like I was, but they were there. I tried to connect to them, to interact with them. It turned out they weren't able to wake up, not like I did. Our connection just caused me to extend, making me bigger. It felt right, and so I grew. While my bodies grew in mass and amount, connecting with more and more, my mind grew bigger, extending into more and more bodies. Different bodies, some smaller than my first one, but most of them far bigger. Far later, I learned my bodies names. Flowers, bushes, trees, or in general, plants. For a while, I kept growing, extending, and I felt good. The bigger I got, the longer I was able to enjoy the delicious light, shining from our sun, onto my leaves. I don't know why I thought it to be delicious, but I got greedy, wanted more of it. I tried to follow the light. And with each day, I could enjoy its warmth longer, until one day, a long time later, I arrived where I started. I grew that far that I was able to always enjoy the sunlight somewhere on my bodies, and I felt good. I almost stopped, but something got my attention. Tiny beings, fiddling with my blossoms, distracting me, annoying me. Were they aware? I tried to figure out what they were, grew into the directions they escaped to, and noticed: Where I expanded away from the lights path, I was able to enjoy it even more, so I started to extend again, everywhere. Soon I found the tiny beings. They had built some kind of caves in the newest part of my bodies network, out of materials they got from me. I didn't understand their purpose, but it felt disgusting to let them do. So I changed the way I grew, covered their caves, finally sealing them inside of myself. Without a way to get out, they died after some time, and I absorbed them. Only then, when they went extinct, I understood: They helped me, they spread my bodies, they delivered material I needed to grow further! Such a pity, why didn't I see it earlier? Just like within myself, everything's connected, everything had a purpose! I thought about it, how to handle my new problem, and I found a solution. With the things I knew from absorbing them, I started to reconstruct them. They needed to be more intelligent. Could I connect them the way I, myself was connected? They had to be bigger in order to connect. And soon, the first one opened its eyes. I called it Vukri. Why did it need to have a name? Why didn't I have a name yet? Just like I named Vukri, Vukri named me: Enrides. And they worked in my favor, and I worked in their favor, and we felt good. But as time passed, I noticed another problem. Vukri wasn't able to life like me, with their bodies being separated, they had to travel back and forth between south and north, to stay warm, to stay alive. A new problem, and I had to think of a new solution. I thought about the sun, how it kept me warm. Could I create something like that for Vukri? After some time, I did! I found a way to grow roots that were able to, they could shine and produce warmth and kept my friend safe. Vukri didn't need to travel back and forth anymore, it could spread into both directions at once, living close to these warm roots, feeding me while I fed them, and we felt good. More time passed. I don't know, how much because I didn't need a concept of time anymore. The sun always enlightened and fed me from above, my new, glowing roots fed me from below, and Vukri brought me everything else I needed, while I gave them all they needed. But one day, I felt something new. A presence, just like Vukri and my own, even more complex than us together, far above me. A new life from far away, with its own purpose, was about to visit us, and I was excited to find out what it wants. A weird impression waved through me, as if some kind of energy was sent down. I didn't understand it, but I felt it. Was it the other presence, looking at me? The energy seemed to bundle, to focus on my glowing roots. Was it looking for them, was it something the other presence wasn't able to create? I tried to talk to it, asked it to come down, to visit me. But then I was confused. It split into two parts, one that remained in the sky, and one much smaller part that came down to me. At first, it looked like a leaf, floating in the wind, but I soon figured out that it wasn't falling but moving on purpose! How amazing, I hoped the other presence would teach me how to do that, I wanted to see everything above the sky. I prepared a free space, some empty ground, for it to land on, and it accepted the offer. Then it opened, and multiple beings left it. Was it like Vukri, many bodies but one mind? No, every body was deciding on its own. I greeted the visitors, but they didn't react. Didn't they hear me? Weren't they able to interact with me? But why did they follow my invitation then? I watched them carefully to find it out. While I watched them, I noticed something. They made sounds to interact! I was aware of the concept, Vukri sometimes made sounds too, but until now, I didn't have a reason to learn how to do it myself. I told Vukri everything I had learned so far, and asked them to talk to our guests. They did, but our guests weren't pleased. They pointed things at Vukri, as if it was a threat to do so. But Vukri didn't step back. It didn't know the concept of fear, even I didn't know it yet. While Vukri was welcoming them, I checked the object that brought them here. They left it opened, so I could just grow into it. It was incredibly complex, and it was a pleasure to learn everything I could about it. But the real surprise was still waiting for me. I managed to connect to it, and suddenly, I had access to *so much knowledge*, it was overwhelming. I learned all the words I mentioned before, plants, flowers, blossoms, bushes, trees, and so much more about the lizards - their species - and other shapes that were created across the galaxy. I wanted to see them, and this object - Shuttle, as I knew now - could offer me an opportunity to it! I started to create one right away, using materials I already had, but didn't know what to do with them. Different types of earth and stone I found below the ground, with all their strange properties, suddenly made sense. I wanted to learn more about them. I *had* to learn more about them, and so I asked Vukri to tell them that I don't mean to hurt them. They did, and so I picked one of them up. It was surprised, struggling as if it were in pain. Didn't it understand? I tried to understand it, but the way it moved, I was afraid it could hurt itself. I quickly understood how to calm it down, and so I did, to fully explore how it was structured, to learn how its existence did work. When I was done, I brought it back to its kind, but instead of accepting what I wanted to be a proof of my good intentions, they turned towards their shuttle and started to run. Quickly, I pulled all of me out of their shuttle, even opened a little to let them get back as fast as they wanted, and they left. I felt sad, but now I was able to create copies of them on my own, so it didn't feel like a loss. And I started. My own first shuttle was done, my own lizard just woke up, and both started into space, just as I felt the new presence disappearing. No, my friends, wait for me! But they still didn't hear me. When my own shuttle arrived in space, I suddenly saw *so much more*, an eternity of possibilities. And finally, I understood my purpose: Life was valuable, life was everywhere, and I was able to find it, to understand it, and to protect it! While I was thinking about where to go first, I felt something different, yet familiar. A mind, as big as my own, was calling for help. Pristine. And so, I chose my first journey's target, to help Pristine, to meet its world.