Even though the being's smarts had recovered more than enough to understand the gravity of its situation and the futility of its actions, it still kept flailing around uselessly. Because the very world was ending, annihilation creeping on its back, while everything it had ever wanted, everything it had fought for - it still couldn't remember exactly what, but surely that everything must have been important - was about to be lost forever!

  But this obstacle was not anything that could be fought against with brute strength and violence. It wasn't even a true enemy, so much as a misguided piece of the essence of the world. Usually it would be welcome. A friend, even. Yet that friend had become something deadly now, confused by the being's deficiencies: it was respectful and obedient enough to cling onto its form and not let go, but not so much that it would heed to more complicated orders.

  It wouldn't budge more than a bit in the direction the being wanted. It wouldn't part for it, allowing escape. It wouldn't even loosen up a little bit, giving some space to think and reposition!

  In a fit of rage, the being even tried to cut the tip of a tendril and hurl it away, hoping at least a little part of itself could break free. But the thing got stuck immediately after leaving its grasp, in the exact same way as its main body. Too tough for the blob to absorb, too far for the being to reclaim: a constant, floating reminder, to taunt it with its failures. It was trapped, with no way out.

  Nothing it tried led anywhere. And the being was starting to crack.

  It was a peaceful and happy and hopeful thing, but facing total defeat, looming ever closer with no chance to fight back... that could eventually shake even one such as it.

  With nothing else to do, it started feeding, clutching its things inside to find solace. Though it still had no idea what they were for, they felt important, and pleasant to hold. A comforting reminder and reassurance. All the while, it kept trying to rein in its now involuntary flailing.

  There had to be a way out.

  The being only needed to calm down enough to concentrate and find it.

  There had to be.

  After a good session of feeding - which felt quite peculiar when drawing in from this blob - and thorough clutching of its precious things, the being finally calmed down. It had especially liked having close the spiky ones and the tiny, round pebble, the one that gave off a feeling of triumph.

  Now the being was disappointed with itself: it definitively shouldn't have taken so long to recover. It was a good creature, and it had experience. Probably. It should've learned to endure and act under stress long ago.

  Of course there was a way out. There always was. It was just hidden right now.

  All the being needed to do was put in its best efforts, and everything would be clear.

  But it needed to be smart. And if no solution appeared readily, then it should endeavor to build its own, not just flail about pointlessly.

  Now, its obvious and most natural tools were out. So what could it use? What did it have at hand?

  Obviously it need to reach outside, but couldn't get through the blob on its own, with this form. So what if something else reached in and pulled it out?

  ...But what? It didn't know any creatures out there that could lend a hand. Even those it had felt before, if they were willing... could little things clinging to it for safety be any help? It it wasn't mistaken, some had even got trapped along.

  No, the only thing it could rely on that was currently outside was, as always, essence. That one would obviously respond to its summons. But essence too, how would it help? Even if the being could somehow project enough of its will past the blob's interference, the essence outside would be far sparser, and thus incapable of affecting its denser likeness. And even if the being could compress it more, then wouldn't that just be worsening its problem, adding more mass to the blob?

  Once again, far sooner than it should given its profound abilities, the being was stumped.

  Could it really come up with nothing else? Was there truly nothing smart it could come up with, besides messing up with essence?

  Well... no. Nothing that it could do with its current body - and why was its mind always adding that 'current'? - with the strength and precision required.

  ... but what about something that was closer to a breakthrough? Something that it had craved for.

  What about the principle?

  The thing had never truly behaved and let itself be discovered and wielded. Always a bit out of touch, always something else more pressing to do. But if the being could finally get that last bit of inspiration, it might make all the difference. And if there was ever a time that it could freely dedicate complete focus to the task, it was this one.

  Once again, it started with what it knew, and immediately tried to control the principle the same way it did with essence: with all its strength and conviction, enforcing its will upon the stuff in natural way, already knowing it would come...

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  and having its assumptions firmly denied.

  No luck. Though it already knew: the principle was just different. But how to approach it, then?

  It could be affected indirectly through essence, but so what? What would wielding a secondary effect ever achieve? The being already had difficulty controlling the essence itself through the blob, so how would it ever use that to make the principle do anything useful?

  Then there was the spiral of course, the thing most related to the principle in its possession, clearly containing secrets within...

  But how could it help, right now? It was already filled, its objective achieved. The being just didn't know what more to do with it. And, as a matter of fact, there was a strange contempt it had started feeling for the thing.

  ... It would come back to this, but only if everything else failed.

  Next, it tried to dance in various, specific ways, thinking - as it had done before? - that something would react to its moves and come help.

  Yet after countless bizarre arrangements, nothing happened. But the being had suspected so already. There was an important piece missing for that, and besides, this stuff felt subtly but fundamentally different from what it wanted to achieve.

  It tried moving essence in patterns, feeding on different stuff, scaring the principle into submission, pulling it out from the spiral...

  Nothing worked. And the worst part was that the being had expected as much, for each and every failure before even trying. Because they all felt familiar. As if they were things it had tried before. And though it still couldn't remember anything clear of its past, methods from back then would obviously be useless, or it would've never even needed to try again, would it?

  It needed something different. Something new. But what new approach could it come up with that it hadn't found in... however long had been before, when it had surely been even smarter?

  But there must be something. There must be. Even if it was so much different and simpler and overall less effective than it had-

  Different? That could be important. Because if it was different, then it might be capable of different things...

  ...Yes, the being definitely felt different, from... it felt different.

  But in what ways? What manner of thing could it even have been before? Not that it could begin to fathom, when it had no idea what creatures existed besides itself, other than that they might be more limber, judging by the quick pricks it could feel on its skin before getting caught.

  What might they look like? What might they be able to change into? What where their limits, their reach, their flexibility?

  ... There was something wrong with that thought. Something like... Were normal creatures even capable of changing themselves, or was the being special? Well, of course it was special. But was it also special in this specific way?

  That could be. It didn't feel like it had ever tried to tweak its body, other than during rare, specific circumstances. Certainly not to train with the principle.

  An excitement surged inside, really hard to contain: this might be something new!

  The being didn't waste time and started tinkering with its flesh. Not to try growing outwards this time, since it had verified extensively how useless that was, but tweaking its own insides, which the surrounding blob had no effect on. Of course, it knew nothing about what it should be doing exactly, but with its advanced mind, perfected intuition and overall awesomeness, it quickly found that...

  This was not going to work at all.

  It really had no idea whatsoever what it was doing. Without some kind of clue that could at least start its effort in the right-

  The spiral!

  The being quickly pulled the little thing into its focus and started growing along its motifs, engraving them deeply into its flesh. And though they felt subtly off and limiting, as if they did not quite fit... this was a start! The principle was actually reacting!

  So, discarding its hesitation, the being pulled the spiral towards its center and-

  In a panic-inducing moment, its control over the spiral was contested. Still, the being would fight for-

  the spiral was wrested from its grasp and quickly ejected not only from its own body, but from the blob entirely. Lost forever in the forbidden pits of the receding world.

  Yet there was no time to feel wronged or hurt, because the changes continued unabated. Much quicker and... appropriate in fact.

  Something unknown was now guiding its efforts, far better than the being itself ever could have. Twisting its flesh along paths that were completely normal, and just the exact same as before. Yet profoundly, undefinably different. Brimming with undercurrents of... of...

  Of principle.

  Finally!

  A sensation of something immense rushed through its flesh, pulsing everywhere throughout its body, that it couldn't wait to examine and experiment with...

  The being felt just so much better, smarter, faster... so much more! Even its memory was back!

  ... Yet it couldn't escape. Because though it had learned to make its body better in every conceivable way, it was still the very same shape. Which was very much trapped.

  Really!? Had it really achieved one of its greatest objectives - sort of - the first item it could remove from the list of things to do... and it wasn't even useful? All because it didn't have the right... shape?

  Far slower than they should have, its thoughts shifted to the 'round thing' still jealously clutched inside.

  To the gem.