Something ahead of me is weird. There’s something glowing there. And not like the cold glow of the crystals, more of a warm, fire-like glow. Just beyond the bend in the path ahead. My mangled body perks up, eyes flashing. Is it-, might it be a person? A human?? M-, making a fire, taking it easy, existing, being a human?!

I drag my battered body faster. Speeding up.

It could be a person. It doesn’t have to be. I get closer, seeing the light flare. But what if it is? What if they get scared? The bend is close now. It won’t matter! I’ll prove I’m not a danger, I’ll make sure they know I’m not dangerous! I grab a hold of the wall. I’ll greet them with a smile! Turn the corner.

Burning, searing heat assaults my body, but I remain, eyes glued on the source of it all.

A pool of magma. Lighting up the whole area with warmth and light.

Meanwhile, I stand here, transfixed, burning, in pain and completely empty.

Nobody, huh? Yeah. Guess so. Heh, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. This whole place is deserted, and that remains true for this cave as well.

...Other than that, this place isn’t actually uninteresting, not at all! See, although one of my two tentacles has almost completely dissolved now, I can still see the incredible sight before me. This place is like a large, dome-like room, containing not only a few more small pools of lava but also, surprisingly, life. The floor is covered in thick green vines, bushes sprout from the floor, massive flowers erupt from the ceiling, green leaves grow from the walls… It’s like in the heart of this planet of ice, there’s a place where life can still thrive, despite it all.

And that’s the last thing I see before my consciousness melts fully.

I awake standing outside the temple with a bit of a startle.

Whoa-, I-, who-, where-,,,

Oh, right! I’m trying to get inside the mountain. Right.

I turn around and face the pillar of light again.

...I guess going straight through the ceiling is the only way, huh? No, wait, maybe I should upgrade strength first? Hrm. Or, maybe, before I do anything, I should check and see whether or not jumping will even help? Just standing around and thinking was enough time for my tertiary tentacle to heal back, so this should be enough.

...But first, I’ll take some distance from the temple. Wouldn’t want to ruin it by falling on it.

Right! Let’s grab some distance!

I start walking. Hm. Just walking is kind of boring.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

...I wonder if I could-, no, that would be-, but maybe… There will be no answers if I don’t try.

I remove my weight from my other tentacles and stand on a mere two. Then, I point every tentacle away from me like a flat disc. Lean onto one of my other tentacles while releasing another. Next one. Faster. One after the other until I turn into a wheel of tentacles, flying up a wall and onto a mountain and over it and straight over a glacier until I finally can’t keep an eye on where I’m going anymore and I crash straight into a wall, all my tentacles flying topsy-turvy and landing on top of me and under me and around me.

Ghhgrjehg. Y-, yup. I can cartwheel.

Hehe. Nice. Looking at the pillar of light, I actually got pretty far! I probably won't do it again though, that was really nauseating.

Alright. I’m far enough. Let’s do this.

With my main body in the middle, I crouch down, all my tentacles squeezing down onto the ice, pressing and pressing until the ice starts cracking, my tentacles grow tense, channelling strength and power and mirth, and I lean down, down, down, until my main body almost touches the ice and all my tentacles are tense and strained like coiled iron springs, and just when I feel like my whole musculature is about to lock up fully and explode…

I release.

And fly.

Up, up into the sky, the wind roars past me! The ground beneath me grows distant and the air grows thin. High, high up until the temple is a pin and the pillar of light is a needle.

Up, up, up, until I bonk my head on the purple bubble-like barrier.

I stretch against it for a minute, almost breaking through it, until it has slowed me enough and I no longer push against it. I fall.

Well. Uhuh. So that didn’t work then? Right. I’ll need more strength.

But first, I should probably deal with this landing. I spread my tentacles out in a star formation, making all my tertiary tentacles spread out as far as they can to slow my descent. And it works pretty well! Heck, if I just lean here or there, I can even control where I’m going!

...Such as, to go to the pillar of light?

Oho. Ohohoho! Let’s goooo!!

I feel like a flying squirrel, just straight-up plummeting while also heading right for my goal. As long as I make sure not to smash into the temple it should be fine, right? Right.

Everything is going well. Getting closer. Wind rushing past me.

Getting closer.

...Maybe I’m getting too close? That pillar is starting to look pretty close. Like, really close.

I think I might be too clo-,

GRAGGAHG

As I hit the pillar like a mosquito striking an electric bug catcher I tumble away, my body smouldering and hot as I crash successfully onto the mountain, none of my tentacles too harmed, but all of them spread across the mountain like a flattened jellyfish.

Good god. “Maybe I’m getting too close,” I said. “I think I might be too close,” I thought.

Damn it. I shouldn’t play with fire, yo. Damn fire pillar of ass. Grgrh.

-But, this does mean I won’t have to cartwheel back here. Hooray.

Urk, I guess I’d better be careful of that pillar. Bugger can fry me in seconds. Like half of my body is covered in crispy charcoal, although it’s mostly on the surface. It’s barely healing though, so I guess I’ll have to eat the burnt parts while I’m walking. Man.

After an hour or so of slow trekking, stopping every few minutes to bite off a piece of unappetizing charcoal, I get to the top of the mountain. This would probably have taken longer if I wasn’t around 400 meters tall. My first observation is that it’s very hot to stand around the pillar. Also, apparently, although the pillar of light indeed does protrude from the middle of the mountain, it does so through a hole. And the base of the hole is surrounded by what seems to be some sort of glass.

Since I don’t want to destroy the glass (God only knows what it’s for) and since my Resistance and Regeneration aren’t high enough to handle going through the pillar, I’m left at a bit of a standstill.

Hrm. This is… Unexpected.

I didn’t really plan for this eventuality, so for a moment I just kinda sit down. At a fair distance, of course. The pillar of light is actually quite pretty. I feel like a moth. Wanna touch.

I lean back. Close my eyes. The mountain is steep. I tumble like a snowball. Going down, down down, until, finally, I crash onto something. Something kind of hard. I peek an eye open. Is that… one of those racks? Yeah, it is! One of those they used inside the cave, for building and seeing and stuff! What the heck is this doing out he-,

Only now do I notice everything else. There isn’t just one rack, no, there are many.