Basil walked, but all around him were walls made of rock. He kept walking more, trying to find something. What exactly? He didn't know, but little thoughts in his head just kept pushing him forward. His well-being didn't matter right now. Even if he was hungry and injured, he needed to keep walking in that tunnel.

He often tried to call for Auriz, but the only response he received was a dim glow from the crystal. He didn't know what to expect by this point, so he kept walking to whatever place the tunnel took him.

Two days passed, and what Basil could look in front of him was only darkness and rocks covering all. Basil didn't see a mushroom or other plants that he could consume, and the ground was too hard for him to try to dig a tuber or something eatable. He could only keep going with his status worsening with each hour.

Another day passed, and the path was more inclined than before. Basil didn't have nutrients in his body by this point. A human or another creature would be delirious if not dying at this moment in time. Basil's regeneration and stomach managed to maintain him alive long enough for him not to perish, but the delusions were another thing.

An intelligent creature would be spouting gibberish to the air or murmuring to nothingness. Basil's case was not so different as voices entered his mind. He didn't understand most of them because he focused his attention on going forward in the tunnel, but some got to him.

"Awaken."

"Awaken the blood."

These words were the ones he didn't understand. What does it mean? He still kept walking. Sometimes he could listen to other phrases and words different from those.

"Keep moving."

"Stay in the course."

It messed up his mind. He couldn't see anyone besides him. There was only the fragment of Auriz, and it didn't seem to be her. Still, the voices kept coming from time to time, and sometimes they weren't words at all, just complete incoherencies.

Sometime later that day, Basil decided to rest and activate his vision. Maybe there was something near him? And as he thought, it was. Dots of sky blue permeated the space. When he noticed this, Basil could feel the temperature change. It was cold.

Basil never experienced changes in temperature in his short life, but because he was so focused on the journey, he forgot to feel the changes in the environment with his body. This course of events must mean something, so he kept stepping forward.

Sometime later, he could feel a breeze, a gelid one to complement, as well as a dim light at the end of the tunnel. He reached somewhere finally, and with even more determination, he pushed towards the light.

What received Basil was the cold night of a frozen wasteland. Rocks, snow, and spikes of ice covered the landscape's surface, and up in the sky could be seen three giant moons covering the sky, each one with a different color.

The giant moon was of a golden yellow color, the second had a violet hue, like the place he left behind, and the last one had a deep gray color permeating it, like shadows dancing on its surface. It was a unique sight, and Basil couldn't help but see it. It was shiny.

Basil passed some minutes seeing the night sky until it fell asleep from exhaustion. He tried to rest various times on his journey, but stopping for him was not an option when he was scaping the Fungal cavern, so he decided to keep going even if his body protested. He couldn't know if something could snatch him on his adverse state.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Basil slept some hours until his stomach awakened him, sensing he at least rested somewhat. Basil felt pain inside him from the strenuous situation his body could feel now that he was not delusional and focused on a single thing. To stop somewhat the pain, Basil started to eat snow to fill himself with anything.

With the knowledge Auriz shared with him through their psychic link, he knew some materials that could be eaten or used in other ways, but natural stuff only, which was sufficient for him. Snow, if melted, transformed in water, and what he needed the most was sustenance or at least something to keep going.

Basil would need to get out of this wasteland if he wanted to live and find a way to get stronger, but the climate and the place he was in could kill him faster than the beings living in this place. He needed food first or would die of starvation. By now, it was daytime, and Basil could see the sun high in the sky.

The other problem was the temperature. Being a reptile made things pretty tricky for Basil to stay warm in this environment, so for now, he remained inside the cave until something occurred to him. Luckily the sun was in a position that made the landscape somewhat warm but still not enough.

Basil began to observe the surroundings of the cave and whatever could call his attention in the vicinity. To the west, a giant spike made of ice and rock was visible in front of a mountain range, and with Basil's energy vision, he could see bigger dots of sky blue moving at ground level. From what he could understand, those were creatures without a doubt. Basil wasn't going near those.

Basil could see a descent of the mountain to the east, or what he thought was one. To the north, the mountain range continued, and Basil could see rifts and cracks from afar. To the south were the same thing, more rocks, snow, and ice, but with mist covering the ground. Also, some creatures were patrolling that zone. They looked like orbs with pieces of ice and snow revolving around them.

Seeing his options, Basil knew that going for the cracks was not the correct one, knowing what happened last time, and the south and west were a fat NO. His only option would be to escape this frozen hell by going to the place with no monster on sight.

Basil ate more snow to fill himself with water, at least a little before moving out from his safe zone. Basil took Auriz fragment with his mouth and began to move out with the sun still high in the sky.

When his paw touched the snow, the cold felt like it could freeze him all over. Basil found a dangerous weakness for himself. Because his metabolism was strong, and the regeneration was still working even with his nonexistence of nutrients and fat, he could survive the cold environment, but eating snow and maintaining his warmth were two different things.

Basil scrutinized the landscape again and began to see with more detail some things he didn't notice before. For starters, there were creatures in the sky hunting some monster on the rifts of the mountain.

In the snow, he could see two different kinds of animals. One was a woolly boar with all its fur white like the terrain it traversed and didn't seem harmful. Maybe he could hunt it when he had enough energy, but what picked his interest was the tiniest being in this environment.

The last creature wasn't something you could expect because it was a bunny made of tundra moss, and as it looked harmless, Basil decided to hunt it. He needed sustenance, so this creature would have to do for now.

Basil looked around for any of these creatures that are called Mohanyul. The Mohanyul is a conscious plant with a soft life-core inside, from where a series of fibrous moss originates, giving it the form of a harmless animal and the capacity to move from where it was born.

Basil, after some observation, managed to find one near his position. The cold would be a problem, but having food and shelter was the priority in this situation. The moss bunny was walking near the tunnel entrance; the plant even imitated the same aspect of what you could see in a living animal.

Basil left Auriz fragment on the cavern's floor and, after some waiting, pounced to where the Mohanyul was. Basil tried not to think about the cold that attacked his body and endured. The Mohanyul tried to escape, but the gecko was above him before it could react.

The thing that surprised Basil the most is that the body felt hard at contact, like a real animal. With the spike in his arm's place, he penetrated the layers of moss that surrounded the core, making the living plant stop moving.

That thing didn't disintegrate or collapsed even, but a hot green liquid permeated the snow and soaked the soil beneath. Basil didn't have time to analyze this and just carried the carcass to the cave. He finally got something to eat.