Vera spent her time placing newly created bugs throughout her influence. After placing the small cricket, she found that the process of placing them was quite easy. Each individual creature she placed seemed to have a kind of link to her core. She had placed over a hundred of the bugs down on the floor. Max had tirelessly killed a large number of these critters in an effort to do something. Well maybe it was wrong to think of it as tireless. He still was sleeping a good ways away from her core. Glancing at him she did notice that her border that had spread in the cavern, seemed to have shrunk. It hadn’t shrunk much, but the rock near max was most certainly closer to the edge than it had been before. She created a catfish and it plopped to the floor. The slimy creature twitched as it suffocated on the cool cave floor. The edge of the border had moved back nearly touching the rock.

The fish dying in the open air had little effect on Vera. She could feel the death, but it felt remote. The link she had with it felt the same as each individual link she had with her insect army. The link she had with Max felt more real. She hadn’t been sure if the connection she felt was more because of her history with him. With a bit of reasoning she guessed that it might be because Max wasn’t just the sleeping cat, goblin, gremlin thing sleeping on the floor. She could still feel his presence when she looked inside herself at the mana flowing out of her core.

She directed the insects to start murdering each other in some kind of weird battle royal. It had amused her at first but eventually grew tedious. She didn’t really want some small robotic army of bugs. She painstakingly controlled each insect to inflict a deathblow onto each other insect until it left her with a single centipede. Each insect had to be compelled in the same way as the first cricket. She hadn’t been happy with the experiment. First it was annoying with a large group of numbers. When the one hundred insects’ numbers started to fall it had been a bit easier to control them, but it was still far from ideal. She figured that if she were to control a creature she created it would best to just do it one at a time. She looked at the lone centipede as it sat motionless on the ground, surrounded by it’s dead rivals. She didn’t want to wake Max to kill it. She wondered if there was a way to remove it, there was. It was almost as easy as placing the creature on the ground. The centipede vanished with a puff of smoke. There hadn’t even been a crystal left over.

Vera was growing bored. With Max sleeping, she didn’t have anyone to talk to. The cavern was pretty. The red glow of her core’s pulsing light sparkled off of the damp rocks within her influence. She knew the cavern was cold, but Max hadn’t shown it. His short hair seemed to be sufficient to keep his body warm. The various insects and other living creatures that Max gleefully dispatched within her influence seemed pretty well adapted to the underground life. Many of the creatures had been albino. Some had no eyes, while others had large ones. Vera did miss the sun. The fact that Max called her a dungeon irked her a little. It made her think of a forgotten prison system deep underground and quite dank. It would most certainly be filled with goblins, skeletons, or some other weird monsters. She looked around the cavern. It most certainly was deep underground and cold. If she had a mouth she would grimace. With the addition of Max she also had the weird monster covered. That was two out of three.

With a sense of resignation she wondered if she should really build a weird prison system. The area where her heart had been growing certainly wasn’t all that safe objectively. There were two walls both north and south, and it seemed to be opened to the east and west. Vera was really just guessing the directions. She had no way to tell what was where. She had no frame of reference. She did feel a little naked just having her core sitting relatively in the open. She needed to build walls, or maybe carve some rooms into the rock walls surrounding the cavern. She had watched the bodies of the various creatures being broken down and absorbed into the floor. She wondered if she could start to eat away at the wall using the same process as breaking down the creatures. She started by focusing her mana and carving her name into the rock wall. It was slow going at first, but once she got the hang of it each letter took seconds to form. She decided to carve a little more. ‘Vera was here’ was carved into the rock with little additional effort.

With her hand tested at carving into the rock she grew confident enough to start on a bigger project. She cut a doorway into the south wall with three steps leading into the entrance. She gave the rocky steps a rough texture to keep the surface from becoming slick. She started work on carving a large room immediately after the doorway. That too didn’t require much work. When she finished creating the room she decided to place a door at the entrance. She was at a loss. She clearly understood how a door worked and what a door would be created out of, but there had been a disconnect between her and her ability to create in the world. She couldn't tell if it was because she lacked access to the materials, or if it were the fact she had never encountered a door in this world. She would talk to Max once he woke up. He seemed to be rather knowledgeable about the whole process.

It felt like it didn’t take long for Max to wake up. She had, of course, been busy at the time. She had been carving out the fourth room when she felt Max leave her influence. They still had a connection, but it wasn’t a strong one. She finished up her work and left the rooms that she carved. The border of her influence had shrunk due to her work. She hadn’t felt worried as she worked because inside the rooms the influence was quite strong, but back into the open cavern she felt a wave of panic when she saw how close the border of her influence had come to her core. Max was on top of things though. He returned with three fish he managed to capture held close to his chest. They had been quite injured and were generally not doing well as they suffocated in the air. Max dumped the three unceremoniously onto the cavern’s cold floor. He gutted them and then ate a portion of each leaving the remainder to slowly absorb into the floor. A few unpleasant memories flashed into Vera’s mind. She remembered waking up with her bare feet meeting severed mouse heads on the floor. Max still appeared to be a proficient hunter.

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Max licked his paws clean from the fish guts and then set about grooming the wet spots of his fur. While Max hadn’t had the same facial characteristics of a human, Vera could very well see the upturned corners of his lips. She looked at his tail. It twitched contentedly as he licked off the damp fur.

“Max, why can’t I make doors?” Vera asked.

He ignored Vera’s question. He was busy. He would talk on his own time.

Still a cat, Vera thought to herself.

Max got up to explore the newly formed rooms.

“These are big.” He stated, ignoring Vera’s question.

“How do I make doors?” Vera asked.

“You need a door to make a door.” Max answered.

“That’s what I thought.” Vera answered.

“Don’t worry, tall friend, I’ll get a door for you.” Max said, ”Lots of stuff for you.”

Max walked out of the rooms. He seemed quite pleased with rooms Vera had created.

“What do you mean lots of stuff?”

Max didn’t answer, in fact, he didn’t hear the last question because he had already moved out of her influence. Vera didn’t worry with Max leaving. She had Max for a pet for years. Just like any cat she knew he would be home once he had finished whatever cat business he had set himself to. She diverted her attention back to the creature problem. She was not content with having mindless puppets to control. She encountered this problem before in the endless forest. When she first created deer they stood about just like a bunch of deer shaped mannequins. Through hard work she had finally been able to get them to act on their own and actually move. She wondered if the same thing were possible here. She created a test centipede that had been modified to increase its size and increase the effectiveness of it’s paralytic venom. When she finished, it was nearly as long as Max was tall. She created a couple more copies of the centipede. Vera wasn’t feeling creative when she decided to name the species.

<>

There had been a creature description, but Vera ignored it. She had already learned everything considering she had been the one that had actually made it. The large centipedes sat motionless. She wondered what would make them move. It seemed like she had discovered more she wanted to talk to Max about. He certainly hadn’t revealed much about what he was doing. He had barely talked to Vera before he had taken his nap. She gave up thinking about Max. He certainly seemed like her cat, but there was a whole lot that she needed to know. She looked back at her creations. She would figure it out. If Max would help her, fantastic. If he wouldn’t, she wouldn’t mind. Any ulterior motive that Max had wouldn’t matter. She would still accept any help he’d provide. She still trusted him, and what cat wasn’t secretive and mysterious?

——

Hungry Max wandered the cavern system. The twists and turns in the dark excited him. He especially liked finding the animals and bringing them to Vera. She was still pretty weak from forming her core. It was just like the laughing man had told him. Vera would start to make a home for the both of them. He desperately wanted to be near her, just in the same room. Her presence had always brought a sense of security. The changes the laughing man taught Hungry Max were quite useful. Hungry Max hadn’t been as tall as Vera, but he did enjoy his small size. It was perfect for hiding in places. The body was mostly Hungry Max’s work, but the laughing man had placed him on this path. His job was to guide Vera down the right path. Hungry Max would gather as much as he could until Vera was able to take care of herself. Once she was able to do that Hungry Max would be able to rest.

Light filtered in through the broken wall. It hadn’t been much light but it was something. He squeezed through a hole made by broken bricks then carefully climbed the decaying ladder. Being far from the core was draining. Hungry Max could feel the slow cool drain of mana from his body. He knew he wouldn’t truly die, but, if this body were there was a chance he might not be able to recover all of the memories. The laughing man had shared as much information about the area as he had been able. Hungry Max was a little skittish at first, not quite understanding what he was trying to accomplish. With his constant help and teaching Hungry Max was forged into the perfect guide for Vera. Hungry Max felt he owed her a lot, and wanted to repay her. The cottage he found himself in looked old. Rusted utensils lay on the rotting wooden table. Chairs that seemed to have collapsed under their own weight surrounded it. The structure was empty except for a few items. Just as the laughing man had suggested a satchel was hidden under the leaning bed. It was small, meant for a human child, but with minimal adjustment Hungry Max fitted it to himself. There were materials in the satchel he needed to bring to Vera. Hungry Max looked around to make sure he was not spotted. He found a small cabinet and took its door off the hinges. Satisfied, he rushed back to Vera with his gifts.