<I… I’m a gem. I’m shiny.> I was unsure of how to answer, Kantor's words were confusing, intricate, and hard to understand.
<While... technically true, you are much more. You are a dungeon Core, a Beast Core that has gained the first level of its own sentience, and has realized the consequences of life and death. This awareness is why you are able to hear me now, though I have whispered for weeks. Already I reach the furthest range of my ability to communicate.> He spoke, sadness tinging his grand voice.
<Sentience?> I questioned, trying out the word.
<It means you are aware, young one. It means that you understand that things beyond yourself are alive. Also, it means that you want. Food, knowledge, power. To stay alive. You can now think of the future, and make small plans, retaining memories of your own.>
I realized this was true. I did want things. I wanted to be alive. I remembered that I planned on eating the moss just out of reach.
<Good, you understand.> Kantor seemed satisfied. <To allay your concerns, I am not right next to you, little one. We are communicating with ‘mind speech’. This allows us to bypass the limitations of our bodies, in order to talk to those we wish. I have no wish to hurt you, but to help you become smarter, and stronger. Although, before I explain too much further, you must satisfy my curiosity - what color are you?> Kantor probed me far too casually.
<Color? I’m…> A word popped into my head from somewhere deep in my mind, as well as hundreds of subtle variations. <...Blue? Mind speech?>
<Blue? Good! Good. Yes, small one, mind speech. To talk to someone, all you need to do is intentionally send your thoughts to them, you can send words, pictures, ideas. Whatever thoughts you have, you can gift to another.> A tension I did not realize it had before seemed to vanish from Kantor’s voice.
<I am going to help you, tiny one. I am moving along, and it will be a long time before you hear from another one of your own kind. I wish I could do more, but it would do more damage than good. If fates are kind, I will speak to you again someday.> He paused, thinking. I feared he had disappeared, when his voice sounded again. <To survive, you will need assistance. I am going to send you a helper, this is the absolute limit of what I can do for you currently, I… I wish it weren't so. Please don’t absorb her, her mother would be furious with me.> He… joked? I think?
Kantor’s voice was fading, becoming more strained as he worked to speak with me.
<I don’t understand… But, thank you Kantor!> I cried out, desperate to continue hearing another voice in the darkness.
<Best of luck.> I could feel the satisfaction flowing from him.
~Two~
I wonder what kind of help he was sending me. This thought occupied my mind for a spare moment until my hungry gaze returned to the feast of moss waiting just out of reach.
<Soon, my scrumptious ones.> I thought to myself, chuckling with a slightly maniacal undertone.
“Wait, you're not evil are you?” a voice questioned me.
<What is evil? Wait, what are you? Where are you?> I glanced around, two voices in the same day?
“We’ll talk about evil later. Much later. I’m above you, making sure you don’t try to eat me.” The voice called, echoing slightly, making it hard to pinpoint the exact position it came from.
<Why? Are you delicious?> I could go for a snack, I supposed.
“No! Nope, not even slightly tasty. I’m a wisp. As in ‘will-of-the’.” The echoing voice assured me.
<What is will?> I was a bit disappointed. The voice sounded tasty.
“Oh boy.” Now that just sounded condescending. “You really are a newborn aren’t you?”
<What is- >
I was cut off as I began speaking. “Yeah got it, you don’t know too many words.”
<...> Really, I had no idea what to say to that.
“Here is the deal. We are going to make a pact, a bond. This is more than an agreement; it is a sharing of power. You need help, and knowledge, and a friend to keep you from going insane. That can be me, if you will allow it.”
<...> Now coy, the voice seemed to be trying to seduce me with gifts. I do like gifts I guess. Really, who doesn’t? I was about to answer when it spoke again.
“You have to agree to give me protection, and Essence. In return, I will do everything I can to make you strong and prosperous. If you die, so do I, because nothing else can give me the Essence I need to survive.” Seemingly frustrated, the voice was talking faster and faster.
<Please! Slow down! Can you just answer a quick question, it's just… Why do I need you?> I thought it was a fair question, I was doing fine on my own.
“I promise you that it will be worth it. Besides that, Kantor is too far away for me to return to, and no one else is coming to help, or would even want to.” She guaranteed.
<Well, when you put it like that… and Kantor sent you…> I trailed off. I really did not want to let down Kantor. <Sounds good! Teach me those big words and it’s a deal. Um, I don’t know how to do all the things you want, but if you teach me I am... amenable.> I could already feel my intellect growing, just being in her presence. I was proud of that new word. Amenable meant that I was agreeable to the situation. I think. Yes. Whatever, the voice was talking again.
“Deal. Here I come.” A bright ball of softly glowing pink energy resolved itself from behind a stone outcropping that had been blocking my view. “Hello tiny dungeon, I am Dani. Do you have a name yet?”
<Not that I know of. What does a name look like?> I knew that everything around me had a name, but I thought a name was just part of what a thing was. Wait! Was my name ‘gem’ then?! I was about to ask, but...
“Well then,” she blatantly ignored my question, “since you are surrounded by calcium, I hereby name you ‘Cal’.”
<I like it!> I shone brighter for a moment to show my happiness. I had a name! A real name, not a description! I suddenly knew the difference! I felt like I was shaking in excitement. Actually, I was shaking? Vibrating really, the water around me moving enough to splash.
<What’s happening?!> I was so startled that I even stopped eating the brown energy for a moment.
“Looks like I got here just in time. Quick Cal, repeat after me! ‘By the agreement we have made, I become your bonded partner’!!” With that pronouncement, and a resounding splash, Dani came down and entered my puddle. I followed her instructions, repeating her word for word. As I did, a beam of blue light shot out of me and a beam of pink from her.
As they touched, they fused into a beautiful light, which traveled along a shimmering path in the air that connected both of us. The fused pink-blue light entered her, filling her with light and energy. A blue blot formed in her body, surrounded by her natural pink coloration. Now the glow coming off of her was a light purple, and far more intense, lighting up the air around her. The beam entered me as well, and I became a darker blue, nearly violet. I lost a lot of energy, the vibration subsiding as the link was formed.
<What was that?> I asked offhandedly, far less tense now. I was pretty hungry again. She had entered my pool, and just like when my water washed over the rocks, now I knew everything about pink will-of-the-wisps. I still didn’t know the knowledge she contained, the experiences she had lived through. I hoped she would tell me stories. Hmm. Is it important that I only know about pink wisps? Are there more colors? Do they do different things? Oops, I hear Dani talking again, I guess I’ll have to save my questions for another time.