'I did it, I made it out of that stupid dungeon!' I mentally shout with glee, my vision filled with the starry night sky.

'Speaking of light…' I think and search the sky for a moment, only to be disappointed. 'Hua, I can't see the moon. Or -A- moon, if this world has more than one.'

I stand in the entrance to the cave, taking time to enjoy nature; a well lit sky, a cool breeze blowing with the scent of plants in the air, and … wait.

I stop and listen for a moment, my ears catching the sound of a stream babbling, the sound of air rustling the vegetation, but no sound of bugs chirping, frogs croaking, or anything I've long considered normal to hear at night.

'Maybe it's out of season? But the plants are all green…' my mind tries to rationalize the silence as the breeze suddenly feels colder than a moment ago.

I move to stand by the wall in the entrance as I continue to look up and down the valley, my sight occasionally seeing signs of things moving amongst the trees.

'There must be a lot of animals deeper in the– wait!' I think with a sudden realization and look up 'There's no moon. How can I see so well without a moon!'

The entire valley is lit as if there was a full moon out, with enough light that I can recognize colors instead of being limited to the "black and white" sight of darkvision.

I hold my arm out and lower it closer to the floor, finding the faint shadow it casts on the ground when close lacks any form of direction.

I look over and follow the wall to the top of the cliff in search of an edge, only to find the top of the wall just– fades away.

'No, that's not right.' I think, squinting my eyes and cursing my lack of depth perception.

With little other choice I look around to be sure I'm safe and shift back to Mimic form. Following the wall I look up to find– 'Wait, it really does fade away?'

Squinting again I follow along the length of the cliff area, the entirety of it having that "fading" look, when I notice some of the stars float within that twilight zone.

My eyes dart between those stars for a moment, then between those and the ones fully in the dark areas of sky. It takes a minute of focus to recognize I can not only make out the stars– but the shape of the darkness itself.

'It's… solid. That's… not the sky.'

Realization begins to sink in that it isn't the sky above me- but the ceiling of a larger cave, black and filled with some kind of glowing crystals.

Sadness, fear and disgust set in to my features. 'It's just a bigger cave. Like an underground version of the Grand Canyon.'

It's easier to see now: knowing what I'm looking at, I can barely make out the shapes of the ceiling. And the lights flickering isn't like how stars flicker; instead, it's just when they're blocked as something passes in front of them.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My eyes go wide a moment before they're shut and bug like eyes grow as I activate both the Disguise and Stealth skills, my form flattening against the ground as I take on the pit shape. 'No, not something- somethingS. A lot of things.'

As I gain a dome like view of the world I notice many instances of the lights being blocked at the same time and am barely able to recognize some of them create a path as they pass in front of the lights.

I slightly panic as I take stock of what's around me and begin searching the nearby walls for danger: checking, double check, triple check.

'I thought I was out; I thought I was safe. It's not that I forgot caves could be this big, more that I hadn't considered it. Why would I? There's trees growing here! And grass!'

My attention is drawn back to the woods as roaring echoes through the valley, the sound of two beasts fighting until one loses. It's only a few minutes, but that's all that's needed in a life or death battle.

'And then there's things in the air and in the woods ready to rip you apart.'

I sit and think about what to do next but ultimately I have no information to go on, meaning I need to figure out whats out there before I can figure out what I need to do. 'It'd be easy to just sit here and hide, but eventually somethings going to find me and I'd rather be prepared when that happens. For now, how am I going to get down there?'

Like a vibrating pancake I udulate my underside, slowly moving across the floor with little visible distinction. The small cave is near the ground of the larger one, leaving only a small slope down to the grass. 'Now, what would be the best form to take? Without Earth Mana I can't use the Bullet Roach form. Iron Spider is a mix bag for the same reason. Fire Roach could work, same with Armored Dire Rat- though I'm afraid I'd be a big target in that form.'

I look into the grass before me, the trees looming nearby filled with unknown danger. "Hmm, maybe I need a new form? I'm not looking to pick a fight, I just need a good defense in case something finds me; I'd about guarantee anything that does is gonna be much faster than I am.'

If I'm focusing on protection, start with the Iron Pill Bug as a base, and thicken its carapace for better armor. Add teeth as spikes… wait, make them longer and thinner with spider legs and add spider venom to them like a porcupine, or a sea urchin!

Now, magic: what can I do with that? I'm still limited to fire mana. Hmm… ah! I've got "poisonous Iron spikes", can I launch them at things? I'll have to redesign the spikes: I can't put joints in them with this change… but I can put a bug leg joint beneath them to help aim! OK, so there'll be a joint, then a shelled chamber. The "spike" will grow inside it and mostly detach once grown, sealing the chamber, but allowing fresh venom to fill the needle. Ooh- let's add in tiny backward spikes near the tips like porcupine spines have; that'll make them harder to remove. And finally, eyes around the body so there's no blind spots.

I kind of want to keep going and design an upright body, but doing so would hamper the point of focusing on defense. With that in mind I'll stick to the pill bug base so I can have a near "perfect defense".

I mentally finalize the form, opening up the Mimic Modification Menu to review.

10: World Dungeon Fire Urchin [1]

* A large gray Urchin like insect

* Size: 22 inches

* – Slashing Resistance +1

* Damage: Poisonous Iron Spines [+2 piercing, +3 DoT poison]

* Skills: Archery, Explosive [Fire]

* Racial Traits: Ranged poisoned Spines, Amphibious,

* Display Information:

* – Description: a spike covered iron bug.

* – Detailed Description: A bug with poisonous iron spikes capable of long range attacks