…

…….

………….

I’ll take your silence as a gleaming yes!

Clay the Crayfish looked at me with what seemed to be cautious curiosity.

Slowly, carefully, I approached him, my bulb hopping like a little ball on a string, which it pretty much was.

If he had eyelids, I’m pretty sure he would squint in sheer confusion.

Now, don’t panic, I’ll just put my hand on your leg here…

My small, slimy hand softly grasped one of his less intimidating legs, aka, not one of his pincers. Those were too spooky, even for me!

Hm, on closer inspection, all of his legs seemed to end in very small, underdeveloped pincers supporting him.

I could feel his entire body twitch ever so slightly at my touch, however, he remained stationary. I take that as a sign that he is pretty much okay with this.

I took a couple more step towards him, placing my other hand on his leg. Just one of his legs were about as long as my whole body, including my tail, and it had the thickness of my tail. The material was tough and stern, almost like a rock, which was really impressive. Then again, I didn’t know much about crayfish, so it might just be ordinary.

With new-gained confidence, I continued my climb, grabbing onto a higher part of his leg to support a bipedal stance. It felt really weird, to stand on two legs but in such a bad way. My legs felt like spaghetti, al dente!

I placed my right leg on his leg as well, and hoisted myself up.

And there I stood for about five seconds, shaking nervously, entirely perpendicular, feeling like a chameleon with parkinson's.

Clay moved a little, most likely somewhat uncomfortable with the sudden added weight.

Hey, don’t do that, I might fall!

Balancing myself once more, I decided it was time to get up. Imagining pleasant nonsense, I took one step, and then another, and after much less hustle than expected, I was up on his back. But not up on his big stalagmite.

Looking beyond said stalagmite, I could see the all-seeing black eye of Clay peering curiously at me. I smiled and waved. He seemed pretty content with that, since he didn’t move much after that.

Well, only one thing to do…

This isn’t my first time climbing a stalagmite, I’ll have you know!

A fire of passion for sugar burning in my eyes, I started the last part of the climb, my feet and hands now very used to the feel of tough rock. My ascent went off without a hitch, and within only a minute of climbing frantically, I was at the top!

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Gaping wildly in awe of just how high up I was, I happily took in the sight.

I had entirely lost my fear of heights.

Looking down, I came to notice Clay looking up at me almost expectantly. I waved at him and looked up, entirely prepared to see a delicious stalactite peering down at me.

And yet, nothing but darkness.

H-, huh?!

Where in the world did it-, aha!

Over there, just a little ways to the left of Clay, the stalactite hung proudly.

Oh, right, Clay didn’t exactly find me too friendly and moved a bit…

Ummm…

Clay?...

I look down at the pearly crustacean.

He looked back up at me.

Uh, could you just, move over a bit?

Like over there?

I pointed at the stalactite with my whole arm, fully expecting my Clay-mountain exploration to end there.

Clay looked over at where I was pointing, and then back to me.

I continued pointing.

Clay looked away.

And then, everything started shaking violently. I could even see some small pebbles falling off of Clay!

Gazing down curiously, I noticed the reason for the earthquake: Clay was moving.

One tree-trunk like leg at a time, he was walking!

It was like being on the back of a giant, moving slowly but surely towards the great stalactite in the sky!

My mouth curled into a great big smile, I happily shouted:

“You go Clay!”

Which he didn’t exactly respond to, but I could feel the contentment through his back.

It took a while, to be sure, but eventually, the stalactite came into almost-grabbing distance.

Curling my tail around the very tip of the stalagmite, I reached out, grasping in the air, when finally, I got it!

The smell of sugar and bubblegum wafter through the air, hitting me like a cool breeze in the heat of the summer, and I grinned. Without a hint of fear, I leaped, curling the entirety of my body around the stalactite, burrowing my face in whatever silver-like metal this was.

It was delicious! It tasted like cotton candy, smelled like bubblegum, and when you bit into it, it was chewy and somehow sparky, like a chewing gum filled with popping-rocks!

Unable to contain my delight, I went around and into the stalactite, both removing great pieces of rock from it’s surface as well as making it almost entirely hollow. Eventually, on cue, the voice spoke:

“Mysticism +1”

Hmmmm, mysticism… you know what? I’m not even going to question that, let it be what it is, I’m sure it’s fine!

When I had finally eaten every piece of silver-like metal in the stalactite, all that remained of it was a hollowed-out point, pretty much on the edge of breaking off.

Hey! Clay!! I’m done let’s go and escape!

I almost felt drunk, my heart beating swiftly and my brain moving slowly, resulting in the hypocrisy of my whole being making me feel like a teenager on a late friday night. Not good, that is.

Clay looked at me strangely.

What? You don’t want to go? Well I mean that’s your uhhhh decision and all but I thought we were friends!!

Switching between sorrow and anger, I jumped carelessly from the hollow and cracked stalactite, noticing only in the back of my mind how this support came off. But the “CRACK” from when it did come off did bring me back to my senses, and somehow, I instantly realized what I had done.

Time went in slow-motion, the cracked tip of the stalactite falling slowly towards the head of a slow and unresponsive Clay, my heart in my throat, I cried out his name,

“CLAY!!!”

Every bone in my body shaking in despair, my entire being focused entirely upon that dreaded piece of rock I had allowed, no, forced to fall.

But, when time came back to me, when I could feel my body moving again, and the smooth rhythms of Clay’s swaying feet made the little mountain sway, the stalactite did not move. It was suspended in the air, dead and inanimate, surrounded by a strange, blue glow. Much like the glow my lure created.

I dreaded the thought, but it made sense, this was a fantasy world after all, but could it truly be so kind…?

In my head, I prayed, asked over and over again, for the stalactite to move just a bit to the left. Just a little, and Clay would be out of harm’s way.

And, lo and behold, it moved!

Ever so slowly, with only the faintest of change, it moved, it hovered, it flew to the left, and my will was rewarded, because despite the strain this caused on me, despite how heavy my legs and body felt, when it finally fell, it didn’t fall on Clay, but instead, right beside him, with a crash that felt like it could crush a mountain.

Clay flinched boldly, and his movements made me lost my balance somewhat, however, I remained, my mouth formed onto a goofy, sad smile, tears in my eyes at how close it had been. How close I could have been to killing my friend.

I looked at Clay meekly. He looked back up at me, seemingly uncaring. Yet, I knew he understood me, and I understood him.

W-, well! Enough with the moping, it’s time to get Operation: saving Clay the Crayfish into the works!