The muse returned to the human and swam in its waters. Staring at the titan in the sky, the muse pondered how to take it down. As it did, it got flashes of the human doing the same thing. The human was curled up in bed, sketching as the muse watched the idea soar through the sky.
As the muse studied and picked out pieces of the idea, the human could see the same thing. When the muse was younger, it would have thought this was impossible. Never had the muse connected with a human in this way. With electricity running through it, a voice rang in its ears.
“I can do this,” the human said.
Like a pulse from the muse’s heart, the sentence rang again through its body. A sense of resolve washed through it.
“This is my human,” the muse said. “This is my human! This is my human, and my home!” The muse bellowed with resolve. It splashed in the water and sprang into the air. Flying through the sky, it circled the human several times. It built up speed, going as fast as it could. Laughing and roaring in excitement, the muse shot into its cave behind a waterfall like a bullet. It stopped on the other side of the water and hovered there.
Upon further examination, it was hardly even a cave. There was space to stand on the ledge and grab a weapon, but not much more. This was no home, not yet. The muse turned the space it had made long ago into an entrance. Past the entrance, it created a large room. There, it placed a bed, armor, and weapons. There was nowhere to put the drawings the human made in this world. So, the muse created a desk with drawers.
Every day, the muse walked the forest, eating its fruits and drinking its waters. It destroyed bad ideas and crafted good ones. To learn about the human’s life, it talked to the plants. From all this work, the forest flourished.
The muse also stalked the low-flying beasts and expanded its armory. It crafted higher-quality weapons and armor. Soon, it needed another room to store it all. Every day, the muse floated in the waterfall’s lake, watching the sky titan. Then came the day a strong wind swept through the forest.
The muse hurried out of the water to put on its armor, then flew off to find the creature. A large gray duck with sparkling blue wings and no legs flew over the treetops. Its snake-like tail coiled down to pluck the fruits of a large tree. The creature’s feathers eclipsed the muse in size. Still, the muse grinned with excitement and gripped its spear. Before it had come up with a plan, it flew in. It knew it needed to prune the dangerous ideas living on the creature’s body.
Like the first time, it found itself alone and swarmed by dangerous ideas. Forced to retreat, the muse tended its wounds in the lake. When it was ready, the muse hurried off to find a vine. It adopted the same tactic it had learned with the hermit, tying a vine to its spear. The second attempt was a success, and the duck went down.
This time, when it planted the vine and spear, the shape of the spear changed. The pointed tip flared out and curved like a crescent moon. The plant then spun and unfurled like a fan into a tall flower with moon-tipped blades for petals. At the base, the vine grew into a tall, rubbery tree.
After taking down such a big idea, the muse took down one creature after another. Sometimes it was bashed to the ground and had to try again. In the end, it always conquered the beasts. The muse grew taller and stronger. Its muscles toned, and the branches on its head grew leaves and flowers.
The muse lost count of how many big ideas it had taken down. Unlike hunting dangerous ideas, hunting big ideas never became boring. When a strong wind swept through the forest, the muse swelled with excitement. It was time to welcome yet another big idea to its new home.