In a cave so dark, it seemed nothing could be seen—if not for those glowy crystals imparting faint light, pulsing and reflecting across the surroundings and hitting my eyes, letting me see in this darkness, yet so little was visible.
I observed something strange, like an energy, as if flowing everywhere and almost ever-present, only those crystals being dense enough with it to glow.
I slowly got lost in that feeling, focusing only on it.
It felt like some sort of essence that could be used to map around the entire place.
Suddenly, a low growl was heard nearby, precisely in front of me, where I stood. In this vague perception, I could only imagine what it looked like—until I suddenly felt the energy mapping its body structure.
It looked like a beast, a—
The beast launched its weight at me with a loud guttural declaration and swiped its claw to my right. I dodged to my left by instinct, a hunch forming as I tried to think of a sphere launching at the beast, yet I failed, and the projectile instead struck the stalactite right above it.
The hanging guillotine fell and struck the beast as it whimpered in pain. In relief, I tried to heave a breath, yet I knew now that it was never safe here. With the experiment of forming that projectile working only by luck, I couldn't forget how lucky I had just gotten.
By the whimpers of the beast, my gut felt as if it was a child. With that thought crawling in, I decided to broaden my view.
By feeling the energy within me and the surroundings, I sensed an ethereal similarity, as if I was becoming one with the cave in some sense, moving carefully with this newfound vision, letting me notice faint outlines with slight texture, although colorless—unless I master whatever this energy is.
With time, I found myself near a large stalagmite, wet with something my tongue soon regretted tasting—too sour, as if I wished I could scrape the taste off with sandpaper, if such a thing existed here.
After moving on from there, silently across the cave, I noticed that as I moved toward what felt like north, the density of those crystals increased along with the temperature. Though it had gotten warmer, I remained vigilant of any beast that could pounce upon notice.
Suddenly, I felt heavy breathing, as if a large creature was inhaling slowly and calmly—either asleep or simply existing that way. I stopped moving at that moment. Luckily, I made the correct decision, as I could have stepped into a body of that sour water, not knowing how deep it went.
Ignoring the thoughts that followed, I focused on the present and moved along the cave wall, gripping it tightly and as stealthily as possible.
As I moved forward, I noticed the cave expanding into a large underground cavity. Through the energy-guided perception, the crystal density there was overwhelming—enough that it felt dangerous to keep this vision active.
Yet the heavy breathing remained.
As I got closer, I finally registered the creature—large, ancient, as if embedded within the cave itself for centuries or millennia.
At that moment, my breath halted—not by choice—as the creature's energy signaled awareness of my presence, yet it did not move, as if waiting, or perhaps baiting.
It felt as if the creature was hinting at something. Considering the abundance of crystals and energy density, and that I had encountered no other beasts except the earlier one, it felt as though none existed here—except this.
Instinct rose within me, resonating with something primal—the will to survive.