Lab C: Chapter 15 - What's even in a preference?

In a surprising turn of events, the monk discovers a very primal preference he had never faced. The preference of not being mauled in the dark by unknown beasts. This desire prevented him from slipping into the void again.

While they could not chew through his body, they did try quite a bit. Some treated it like a game and would gnaw and him to sharpen their teeth. Little ones would nibble between the cracks. They overpowered him and kept their toy in place.

His only move was to wait for a time they got close enough, and he would bite them. Their flesh tender enough to rip off, the monk took every chance he could and kept himself sustained in the total darkness of their bodies of unwisened creatures which gnawed at him, hoping to one day return the favor.

As he does this, more and more creatures become wise to the danger he presents and become more tentative in their attempts to eat him. One day, the grow cautious enough of him that he has the chance to drive his hand into them, very hard. As the apex predators of a totally dark environment, they had become very soft and it forces the tougher ones to do double duty holding him down.

One day, the stars aligned in this absolute dark environment and he punched a hole straight through one of the creatures. The creature made its version of a quiet scream and fell to the floor. The others jumped back as the monk lunged onto it and began to feast.

This taught the monk a new preference. One he relished and desired to hold onto. The joy of punching through something which has been trying to eat you for an unknown length of time.

This he did for whenever he had the chance. The misplaced step near him, something brushing up against him, he struck. When he struck something living, he ate it.

All was well, until one day, as he bumbled along in the dark, his rocky body unable to really adapt to this environment, he accidentally walked off a cliff and into a big lake. His skin now made of rocks, he sank very deep, very quickly. Here he discovered yet another incredible preference that reminded him of the void. And that was his ability to breath. It dawned on him how much he had actually missed it when he was nothing.

So immense was his preference for breath that he knew not what to do and he flailed. Life was slipping from him and a faint smile grew over his face, perhaps the point of it all had been to learn the joy of simply breathing?

Suddenly, there was a glow. He thought to himself that it was happening. He had reached the end and this was true enlightenment. He had done it. But when he finally opened his eyes, he gasped.

A giant glowing eye of something like an octopus stared at him.

Would ya believe it? He forgot his preference for breathing, and wished only to look at this glorious beast in an undiscovered space in the Earth. He began to twitch from lack of breathing, but held his eyes open with sheer will to continue looking into the eye of the squid like thing.

Seeing his state and not wanting to contend with what ever this thing in front of it was, the glowing squid like thing lifted the monk out of the water, and returned him to the shore, where his body was left for days, unbothered by the beasts which had come to fear him, and thought this might be a trick.

Things like crabs, because there’s always crabs, made shelter in his seemingly safe body almost immediately. The monk laid in absolute twilight, flickering thoughts of a reason to continue on came and went. Why remain in this realm? What could be so good to endure all of this.

He is about to pass on when a crab crawls over his face, it gives off faintest smell of rice pudding. Desire unlike he has ever felt explodes through him. He shoots up in frustration, killing all of the crabs accidentally. He looks down and can not see his body, but can feel that he has done something. He screams.

Wanting to rid himself of the feeling he looks to bury it under the joy of punching. However, as he has no way to find anything in here aside from touch, and everything in here has learned very well to avoid him, he merely bumbles through.

Frustration overwhelms him and he falls to the floor. He stares into the nothingness and thinks. He reminds himself of himself and begins to meditate. Desire, emotion, need, want, these are all things he has conquered. He has merely forgotten himself and it is time to remind himself of who he is.

He meditates. Over time, the beasts forget him graze by him, allowing him to take a bite. Some beasts begin to worry for him, tales of his existence echoing through the herds. The worry of what he will do if he is not fed over takes them. Beasts walk up to him willingly and he is able to take a bite.

The world wants him to continue. Through this, he is able to find the peace again and he disappears. The beasts mark the spot as holy.

The monk floats, thinking of the Earth. His awareness comes back in a flicker and the first thing he sees in an unknown amount of time is the glory of space. He turns around and sees the Earth, the place with rice pudding.

Realizing this causes him to fall down back into like a commit. He lands into a jungle with a small explosion and is so incredibly thankful for it.

Many many years ago, the was a nerdy guy, who was without preference for like 2 minutes. Then decided, nope, I really like being around and did so until he died naturally.