Hate.

All-consuming hate and hunger and rage.

It fueled. It sustained. It drove. It empowered.

It awakens.

And so it was that beneath an ocean of sand, the remnant of something ancient finally returned to consciousness.

It moved, and the desert above quivered ever so slightly, but refused to yield its grip on the thing buried underneath its vast weight.

Undeterred, the thing below continued to move, from small twitches of its muscles to miniscule flexes of a digit or an eyelid. It would not be contained in yet another tomb, in another world that had not yet known its touch or its domain.

Its senses pushed through the sand that buried it, and spread in every direction upon breaching the surface, searching for what had awakened it from its forced slumber. It was small, a tiny, pitiful thing, that was barely even a spark or an ember...

But it had, somehow, entered the thing's dreams and the iteration of its domain within those dreams.

And this mere excuse for an ember had been able to resist the thing's influence, had managed to hurt it with the flame within, and above all else, had managed to escape its domain, its dreams, the one place where it had ultimate authority over all that existed within it.

This pitiful little spark had piqued its interest and earned its ire, and it would find that spark again, and consume it.

Even if it had to wait yet another eternity, it would have what it desired. It would have that spark, that light and power and darkness within it. It would be free.

It would see its domain - its HOME - take back its rightful place in this world, and all of the worlds that it had touched in past, present and future alike.

It would not allow another failure, like that of the pawn it had touched and bound a mere fragment of itself to over a millennia ago, when the hate and hunger and rage and darkness and NEGATIVITY in the world had been enough to briefly wake it up.

It would succeed.

Starting with the creature that was burrowing towards it, attracted by its movements and the possibilities that movement posed.

When the creature came close enough, it effortlessly peered into the creature's mind and searched for the information within.

A tribe, a dysfunctional and tumultuous facsimile of a family kept together only by the strength and intimidation and fear of the leader, the king, the chieftain, the alpha male.

This particular tribe member left after an argument, displeased with its - no, his - place in his tribe. A mere digger, one miner amongst many others in the tribe, just another drop in the pond. He wanted more, his kin were content, they disagreed, and argued, and he ran out in anger.

Then he felt its movement, felt something that wasn't a predator beneath the sands. It felt something POWERFUL.

Possibly powerful enough to become the leader of his tribe.

And so he dug down, down and down below, towards where it was trapped.

He wanted power, did he? It pushed this question into his mind, malleable and simple as it was, to which he answered eagerly, greedily 'yes.'

Then he could have power, beyond anything he could imagine. All he had to do...was bear its mark and a fragment of itself, and it would become more powerful than his 'leader' could ever be.

He accepted, blinded by his greed and ambition, and was summarily Taken by it.

It broke off a piece of its finite yet endless self, and placed it deep within his heart, against the dormant fire within.

The fire was instantly caged, surrounded by its Fragment as his body was contorted and twisted to suit the needs of his 'boon.' Sandy-colored fur gave way to coarse, dense hair the color of the darkest black, paws evolved for digging now lengthening and reshaping into clawed hands that could rip through solid rock. Dull brown eyes were reborn sharper and the color of pure blood. Bones and muscles tore themselves apart and put themselves back together, larger and much strongee than before.

A new pawn was born, and this time around, the Fragment it planted in him would not affect only its host. It would affect, influence, corrupt, seduce and ensnare all those in his presence.

From small beginnings, it would grow stronger and its domain would begin to take form once more.

It would possess what its pawn possessed.

The pawn's thralls and servants would be its thralls.

The pawn's power would be its power.

The pawn's seed and the offspring sired by that seed would be its own.

And soon...everything in this world would belong to it, would be one with it.

As it was meant to be so long ago, in the world it once called home.

Author's Note

Since some of you in the comments apparently think that I have the slowest update schedule, here's a damn follow-up to the previous few chapters so that they'll stop complaining.

Because it's either (A) I can post long/short chapters of good or SOME quality that MIGHT take a while, or (B) I can post long/short chapters that are utter shit but can crank out like a fucking machine gun.

So take your pick: Quality chapters that take time, or crappy chapters I can pump out fast.

Or maybe some of you will bitch and whine anyways, no matter what I do. In that event, I can just cancel or delete this story and my other story, and save everyone the time.