The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

These cubs have no idea how close they came to being snake food, still blissfully dozing in a fur pile. This is in stark contrast to this 9ft long silvery white serpent that's been skewered through the mouth and body, its head slowly sliding down the length of the spear with a sickening but quiet squelching sound as the weight of its head brings it to the floor.

That's another thing… I made those spears, didn't I? To think I'm able to do stuff without a body. I wonder what else I could do. I don't get to hold onto these thoughts for long as Momma Cat storms in. Her steps are silent despite the apparent speed and power she's exuding.

She doesn't even look tired as she stops beside her cubs and me. I can feel anxiety, just oozing from her as she looks over the situation. However, she relaxes soon enough, nosing her cubs and my gem with a murr. That's right, Momma cat. Sorry for worrying you. It seems I am more useful than I thought.

She looked things over a little more with a huff before deciding to head back out; apparently, she intended on bringing her kill back to the cave so she could eat in peace. Fine by me, don't take too long.

Alright… So that warmth and energy I've been getting are essentially the same as the 'air' I've been 'breathing' as far as I can tell, just from a different source and concentration. Can energy be used to strengthen animals, heal them or even bring them back to life?

With that thought crossing my mind, I look back to the giant fucking serpent still skewered in my cave. I'm still angry with it, but then again, it is just an animal, and I shouldn't blame it for its nature.

The more I watch the snake, the more I get an odd feeling about what I'm about to do—words forming in my mind with my intent for it.

Staring down at the face of the dead snake and begin to focus some more as I direct part of the energy I got from it back to them, but only a fraction of it. I name you Oururu. My now golf ball-sized gem convulsed with a burst of light, and despite my trying to restrict how much energy was going into the serpent, it took a little more after I named it.

What comes next is an odd sight, to be sure. The serpent's corpse starts to sag and deflates in a way as if the insides were hollowing out. After a few minutes, there was movement around the head of the serpent before Oururu burst out of what now looked like shed skin.

What was once a 9-foot serpent is now a little 3-foot snake. Instead of the silvery scales he had before, he now had an intricate array of nearly pearlescent white scales and scales that looked obsidian black. On Oururu's head scales was a pattern of an emerald green diamond. His eyes were originally as silver as his scales, and while one eye still is, the other adopted the same emerald green as my gem for whatever reason.

Looking at him now, he seems rather charming compared to earlier. His tongue flicks as he rests in a coil. Thankfully he has no hard feelings about how brutally he went out earlier but seems grateful for his newfound awareness and intelligence. Now, almost politely, he excuses himself to find something to eat as he slithered out of the cave.

Well, that was a surreal experience and a half. What else can I do? My attention wanders around my bubble of influence, which has practically doubled. At least from where I am, I can see near the cave entrance and the back of the shallow cave itself.

My curiosity is piqued, and I take in my surroundings again before going up to a wall and reaching out as I try to picture what I want to do. Gradually I feel the energy leaving me, but at the same time, it's being replaced by the ambient energy in the air I'm already absorbing.

Before me, a neat rectangle is carved out from the wall, the stone vanishing into thin air, yet it feels like I'm carrying it even now. Maintaining my focus I pull several more bricks from the wall, the material vanishing to wherever I'm keeping it.

Now with the materials in hand, I go over to another part of the cave and begin setting out the stone. Still, instead of laying them out as bricks, I try shaping the material, the rock being formed like clay in my metaphorical hands as I build myself a crude-looking sphere the size of a basketball, the surface rough and unpolished.

Experimentally I strike at it with my energy, the stone cracking into multiple pieces as it crumbles into a heap. Huh… That took more power than outright pulling and shaping the stone.

As I'm mulling over these new things I've learned, Momma cat returns, dragging in the corpse of the white-furred deer animal she hunted earlier, settling between where the cubs were and the mouth of the cave, seemingly standing at guard while she digs in.

I should probably name you as well, now that I think about it… Hmm, I name you Basti, my right hand and second in command. As my first real ally in this world, I put my trust in you. My gem convulsed with a shimmer of light again, and I could feel myself being drained again as another portion of energy poured into Basti. She develops further to the point where I can confidently say she's probably an ideal specimen of her species.

She's now larger in build yet sleeker to balance her speed and strength. She stops eating, noticing what's happening to her as her tail swishes. Basti is now looking at me with new awareness and intelligence. Strangely enough, one of her slate grey eyes is also emerald green. Her gaze now has a feeling of some reverence as she bows her head slightly before going back to her meal.

For now, the night goes on as I begin to practice manipulating my surroundings. Random bursts of energy come over me as Oururu hunts throughout the night.