Vel'Koz

I pass into the sudden glare. Blink. Blink, blink, blink. My eyes adjust and evaluate the landscape before me.

There's a scurrying. I look down to find a small, white creature standing on its hind legs, sniffing at my body. It intrigues me.

What use are you?

I analyze the creature. A flash of hot magenta light, a dust pile where it was quivering.

Mammalian... Nocturnal... Impeccable hearing. Incredibly weak. Yet they breed so prodigiously.

''Hm,'' I mutter to myself. Hopefully there will be more complex things to be found; those fascinate me.

Consume and learn: this is my purpose. The others who travel with me are primitive: kill and eat, kill and eat. I need to gather all available information - harvest any valuable resources.

Eventually, we come upon a destroyed city, save for one pristine tower. It appears to be protected - or intentionally left standing. I deconstruct the composition of the ruins. My analysis suggests this habitat was a place of great magic; I'm not surprised it was a target of such destruction. There is something compelling about the tower. While the others are off scavenging, I enter the citadel.

Cryptic instruments are strewn about. I examine one. Another flash of hot magenta light, another dust pile.

Fascinating: a tool to alter their concept of time.

Strange.

Unprecedented.

From the state of the tower, it seems the owner departed only recently. The artifacts left behind have existed in more than one time and place. Some are more complex than others; all are more impressive than anything I have seen on this plane. Clearly, the owner knows things I have not encountered in any of my travels.

I require such knowledge.

Leaving the tower, I find the others closing in on the entrance, ready to destroy it as they have destroyed everything else we have met. They will only get in the way of my goal. There are some things the Void should not consume indiscriminately.

Without warning, I lash out a tentacle, its tip glowing white hot. Lightning arcs through the first creature, knocking it back. Its screams fade as I extend all three limbs, energy crackling between them, scorching the air where the streams meet. The other two run; they know what's coming.

Must they always flee?

I open my eye wide and unleash a beam of energy, following the escaping creatures. They are instantly reduced to ash. ''Hmm. Void-native melting point is inconsistent,'' I note.

But that is of no consequence. The hunger inside me grows. I am ravenous. Insatiable, as never before.

I have glimpsed the ultimate knowledge.

And I will have it.