I felt cold.
My body felt like it was sinking in water. I slowly opened my eyes and saw I was back in the empty void I first woke up in.
Not wasting any time, I began to swim upwards towards the surface to try and escape.
And in what felt like hours, I began to see a faint white light shining above me. With haste, I swam faster, hoping to reach it, and with one final push, I reached the surface.
I floated above the water and looked around. Yup, this was definitely the empty void.
I began swimming around, trying to look for ground but to no avail.
As I swam, I noticed that whenever I paddled over the water, it had more resistance than it should.
This got me thinking… It wasn't the most logical, but being here… logic is in short supply.
So, with nothing to lose, I placed both my hands above the water and began to push myself out.
Surprisingly, it worked. I was able to get out, and the moment I did, a flash of light revealed itself in front of me.
I quickly ran towards it to escape, but before I could cross it, something smacked me in the face.
I fell backwards, hitting the watery floor below me. When I finally got my bearings, I saw something floating in front of the light.
It looked like… me.
Though it didn't have legs—instead, it floated just above the ground with black tendrils that moved erratically without direction.
Its form was shrouded in shadow, and its eyes shone with a bright light.
As I finished examining it, it lunged at me with the same speed I had, intending to strike me down.
Thinking quickly, I rolled to the side, dodging its tentacles.
Moving swiftly, I grabbed my nail and began to attack it. With a quick motion, I struck its head, hoping to end the fight quickly. But as my blow landed, it only staggered backwards before charging at me once again.
It swiped at me with its tentacle, aiming for my chest. Thinking fast, I slid under the attack and aimed for its head again.
Once more, it only staggered backwards from the strike.
But curiously, its head was starting to form cracks, and from them, a bright white light was seeping out.
Suddenly, it screeched in what I could only assume was pain and summoned a gigantic ball at me.
It was shrouded in darkness, just like the thing I was fighting, but it looked like it had eyes connected to it.
And only one thing came to my mind as it approached me—
I can do that?
Dodging the attack, I retaliated by throwing my nail directly at its head.
The attack connected, and with one final scream, it exploded. It quickly turned into white and black particles that floated gently in the air before flying straight towards me.
They entered my body like a tidal wave, and to my amazement, I felt… stronger—like my strength had doubled.
I looked at my exoskeleton, and it felt slightly harder than before. After I finished examining my body, I picked up my nail off the ground and walked into the light.
---
I suddenly woke up back in the cave. I felt around my body to check if the cracks were still there.
And to my relief, everything seemed to be intact. The cracks were gone and healed.
Getting up from the ground, I saw Charlie crying?
She was sitting on the ground, curled up, bawling her eyes out. Did something happen?
"Hey, princess." I greeted the princess with a small wave to get her attention.
She looked up towards me, and her eyes immediately shined.
She quickly got up and began running—fast.
She dived straight at me, her eyes still watering.
She pinned me to the ground with a tight bear hug, almost desperate.
"I thought I lost you! When you turned into a puddle, I didn't know what to do! I… I…"
"It's okay, I'm here." As I said that, I felt her grip tighten. To comfort her, I decided to stroke her head.
This lasted for a few minutes—just sitting in silence, Charlie hugging me and me patting her head.
Once she finally stopped crying, I asked her if she could let me go. Reluctantly, she loosened her grip, which allowed me to get up. Though she didn't completely leave my side, it was enough for me to move around and check the surroundings.
Slowly, I was able to find another opening for us to pass through.
I asked Charlie if she could let go of me so I could check if it was safe. Charlie, not wanting to separate from me, insisted that she should stay with me.
Not wanting to argue, I told her to stay quiet and follow behind me. We didn't know what was in here, and the last thing we needed was me dying again.
We moved through the crack in the wall slowly, not wanting to cause a shift that would crush us to death.
After twenty minutes, we finally got out and found ourselves in a wide-open cave. It was too dark to see anything.
But Charlie suggested she could use her magic to make me see in the dark. She only had enough magic to cast it on me for half an hour, and after that, she would need to rest before doing it again.
I asked her if it was safe, and she only shrugged.
Great.
Having no other choice, I accepted, and she began casting the spell.
Red light came from her palms, and it quickly flew straight into my eyes.
Staggering back a bit, I opened my eyes and checked to see if it worked—and to my amazement, I could now clearly see the cave.
I looked towards Charlie to tell her it worked, but she was already on the ground sleeping.
I walked over to her and fixed her sleeping position so she was comfortable and didn't wake up with a backache.
Once I finished doing that, I explored the cave for a bit until I found a large opening.
I cautiously entered, and to my surprise, I found piles upon piles of golden coins.
The sheer amount was amazing. In all my life, I had never seen this much gold.
But my attention was quickly caught by a lamp in the middle. It had an intricate design and seemed to burn brightly.
Moving quickly, I picked it up and examined it more closely. It didn't have fire burning within; instead, there were fireflies inside.
I turned back to return to Charlie so we could finally get out of here.
But as I moved, the ground began to rumble and shake.
"Going somewhere, little one?" a deep and ancient voice spoke.
Slowly, I turned—and to my horror, a towering dragon with bright red scales emerged from the pile of coins. It had wings attached to its arms, a tail with sharp spikes at the end, and piercing yellow eyes full of malice.
"Uh… hi," I said, hoping my voice would make it faint.
"Hi… and goodbye."