The Life Giver instructed, “Come. Observe.”

  Irkith obediently stepped beside them and carefully watched as they took one of the small, metal hexagons in hand. They concentrated to pour a second measure of life into the object, which quickly took on a complex, but regular pattern. They established the outermost layer of the pattern, but when they stopped concentrating, the pattern drew upon the inherent power of the material itself, producing intricate, new layers, each finer and more complex than the last, with an overall repeating quality, the whole of the earlier pattern repeated within each layer, but at greater quality than before.

  Filled with awe, Irkith stared into the heart of the living fractal! It soon grew beyond his ability to even perceive, with each deeper iteration more beautiful than the last. It was impossibly complex and yet, at the outermost level, elegantly designed. Even more impressive was the way it was self-healing and self-replicating. To destroy it would require destroying the entire pattern, all at once, because nothing less would ever succeed and the longer it was allowed to grow, the more impossible it would become. Not even destroying the object would work, for the inner pattern would soon repair it, if he was interpreting correctly.

  The humbling skill of the Life Giver was incredible, to say the least, and he felt overwhelmed to know what was coming, knowing his creator expected too much of him.

  “Demonstrate.” The Life Giver instructed.

  Doubt filled the mind of Irkith as he hung his head, low, with shame, “I can’t.”

  “Try.” The Life Giver requested, “I have great faith in you.”

  Irkith picked up one of the small hexagons with his mandibles and concentrated. He poured a measure of life into the object and desperately tried to shape it into the initial pattern, just as he’d been shown. In the end, he saw the pattern was misshapen and inexact, due to his inability to be as precise as the Life Giver, but the pattern soon began replicating at deeper and deeper iterations, with each layer coming to more closely resemble the version the Life Giver had produced, until the differences were negligible. Eventually, energy pulsed upward from the deeper structures, quickly re-aligning the outermost layers, healing the pattern a little at a time, until both patterns appeared identical. With great relief, Irkith realized the Life Giver had known his limitations and planned around them.

  He set the copy down next to the original. They were identical in every way.

  The Life Giver sat on the bare earth of their work area and, with a gesture, invited Irkith to do the same. He relaxed his back four legs, allowing them to sprawl out to the sides, while keeping the front pair standing firmly, the closest he could get to sitting.

  His creator looked him in the eye and spoke softly, “Irkith, you are the first of the Ulkun, rightful King to the kingdom that will come.”

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  Irkith had no idea what that meant. What was an Ulkun? What was a king or a kingdom? Knowing how wise the Life Giver was, he chose to remain silent, for if they explained, all was well and if they didn’t, then he would figure it out for himself, just as they intended.

  One of the hexagons was laid on the bare earth and with a pulling motion, drawing one finger on the top and one on the bottom, the hexagon partially slid apart. This was then lightly tossed away, to land some distance from them. The metal of the hexagon flowed outward, as though it had melted, until a larger hexagon formed, big enough to stand on with plenty of room to spare. The reaction finished and the metal solidified. It was a plain, empty metal platform, with a brassy-golden color, just like the small bit of metal it had grown from.

  Pointing at it, the Life Giver explained, “This is Kurg.” Pointing to the other, tiny hexagon, they added, “This is also Kurg. However, each is incomplete. Build for me the City of Kurg, greatest of all cities, because you, Irkith, are both the Architect of Kurg and King of the Ulkun. The task you were constructed to fulfill is before you. Show me what you would make of this small piece of my city.”

  Irkith was humbled, once more, but this time he didn’t hesitate. The Life Giver had taught him what a city was: a large place full of people, with many structures for those people to inhabit. If he was to build a city, then he would first require better tools. The crude work area the Life Giver had built with his help was a good beginning, but with the living patterns inside the metal of Kurg, he knew he could do much more.

  He imagined a building housing a furnace at the center. He stepped over to the edge of the wide, metal plate and touched it with a mandible, imprinting into it the image in his mind. The metal melted again and flowed upward. He was soon looking at the hexagonal building, which took up all the room on the plate. Stepping through the open archway, he found the interior exactly as imagined; lit from above by a ring of hanging lights that illuminated through the energy of the inner pattern, with a forge that didn’t require fuel at the center, suitable both for smelting and forging. It was already warming and would soon be ready for use. At a thought, the heat increased and decreased, responding to his desires, just as designed.

  Irkith tested the facility by smelting some ore and when he was satisfied that all was functional, turned to the Lifer Giver. Having given it thought as he worked, he now knew what an Ulkun was and what it meant to be a king, because the instructions of the Life Giver implied the answers: a city was not just a structure. To have a city required people. He was the first Ulkun, which implied more were to follow. He needed to build others after his own design and just as Irkith required guidance, so would those he built. Therefore, he reasoned, the role of King was to guide, teach and lead. However, he was missing a small detail, because he had no idea how his life stone had been made.

  He requested, “Life Giver, please instruct me how to reproduce.”

  The Life Giver gestured Irkith close and began whispering to him, sharing the secrets of imparting life to unliving stone.

  When they were done speaking, Irkith turned away and got to work, preparing the blank hexagons by imbuing them with patterned life energy, just like the first he’d worked on, stopping only to feed himself, since the work was taxing. Several tireless days of work had gone by, before he realized the Life Giver was gone. He consoled himself by doing as he’d been told, but deep down inside, he fervently believed they would someday return, to give further instruction and complete the Great Purpose, which they hadn’t even begun to explain.