In a heated place in a strange land, there was a trapped monster; trapped in its mind by an unknown being. I called it Andy because I had to call it something.
It stirred the huge pot of soup as it stared at it completely lost in thought; not its thoughts but the thoughts of the unknown being.
As Andy stirred the pot of soup became thicker and thicker and more difficult to stir.
Was that why they were stirring it continuously? To turn it from a soup to something else?
Some of the creatures were growling, not as loud as the one that shoved Andy into the room but loud enough to be barely heard.
As Andy stirred the invader of its mind was beginning to gain an understanding of where it was; Of what Andy was; and most especially the invader could understand bits and bits of each growl made by the creatures that were just like Andy.
I couldn't tell why as time passed I was beginning to understand the sounds made by these creatures but I was glad about it because it was vital to my survival.
As time passed by, the soup got thicker and thicker and the growls didn't seem entirely like growls.
The growls started to sound like a language of its own; with rules and regulations and tones and grammar. Certain sounds had more force than others while some had to be said with the lips shut closed. It was strange but interesting.
Apart from the language, nothing seemed organized or thoughtful. It seemed like their actions stemmed from two things; pure strength or pure weakness.
Those with immense strength ruled over the rest while the weak ones were at the bottom doing the laborious jobs.
Then there was the very top one; the strongest amongst them all who could be rivaled by only one person; Andy.
But being able to fight against it didn't mean that Andy wasn't going to lose. In the fight, Andy managed to keep itself off the floor for a while then ended up with a brutal defeat.
The price It paid for attempting to overthrow the creature at the top was a ghastly demotion to the bottom of the creatures; the ones that turned the soups.
These were the traitors of the creatures; they had opposed the top authority so they were sentenced to turn soups and starve for the rest of their lives.
Trying to overthrow the authority; punishment for trying to overthrow the authority; the establishment of a caste system based on strength ...
This might not seem like intelligence but it had traces of it... Or maybe I was judging from the perspective of a different species.
Eventually, every soup thickened and all the creatures dropped to the floor, looking like they were just a step closer to death's door.
They weren't allowed to go anywhere other than that heated place where soups were being turned or the other room where the things used to make the soups were gotten.
There was only one exception to that rule; the creature that took Andy from the top creature's presence to the heated place.
It was a top creature of the heated place; making sure none of the creatures stopped working when they were supposed to or making sure none of the creatures escaped.
Andy had almost killed it before; when it was sentenced to work at the heated place. But it didn't work out because the Top creature was somewhere nearby and came to its rescue.
Andy had lost some of its resolve after that experience; it never tried anything that they weren't supposed to.
But Andy was different; it had a fresh mind with a bigger purpose other than to fight for supremacy. It had to fight for survival.
Many options were running through my mind, all suggesting different ways to escape from the monsters.
None were as crazy as redoing the fight that Andy fought a long time ago... None also had an increased chance of success as that one.
But to even get to where the top creature was Andy had to leave the heated place and to leave the heated place Andy had to oppose the leader of the heated place.
Even though the real monster's mind was probably somewhere at the back of its mind drowning in its loss of control of its actions, I could still feel the fear it had gotten when it faced the leader of the heated place in a fight.
It had a deep-seated fear of losing that had registered deep into the hollow in its thoracic cavity that was covered with ribs.
Without giving time for that fear to change my mind I made Andy rush towards the leader of the heated place.
With its back turned to Andy it couldn't anticipate the rain of attacks that were about to tear its bony body to tinier pieces of bones.
Reaching for the leader Andy dug its claws deep into its back breaking the bones covering a hollow space. Without giving any time for a reactionary strike back Andy held its head and tore it off from the neck sending the hovering body down to the floor of the heated place.
The brutality of Andy's movement made me terrified. It was much worse than when it almost attacked me in the other room.
What was Andy's full potential that even it hadn't realized?
Not wanting to be next lifeless body on the ground the other creatures quickly hovered out of the room almost getting stuck as they all tried to leave at once, but Andy had nothing to do with them.
Leaving the heated place Andy paused for a few moments to observe the large room. The skinny creatures were moving frantically in different directions and the others were confused.
The top leaders were not in sight...
Even the other stronger creatures like the hunters and the cave pavers were not in the large room.
The only creatures present in that large room were the middle creatures; the ones that didn't have appreciable strength but were strong enough to not be called weak, the ones that were just like the leader of the heated place.
Moving over to the first room I had been in I opened the door and went in. I had to check if Hassan and Sky were still asleep or if they were there.