In my dreams I hurtle through the sky eastward, towards a massive chain of mountains. I dive in between two of the mountains down to a raging river. The river flies by below me as I approached a massive waterfall, plunging through I find myself in a cave. A single egg sitting in a cave much like my own. I hear a receding *Click Click Click* of high heels behind me as the dream fades.

My eyes snap open my right wing still sore from being a chew toy yesterday, I try to stretch it to relieve some of the soreness. The stretching bringing new pain before the soreness slowly recedes.

*Was that real or is she just fucking with me?*

The thought flits across my mind as I remember the dream, trying to keep the images in my mind as I begin assessing my surroundings. Two of the lizards are in their usual guard spots I start turning up my Aura sight to check on the wolves. None are visible seeming to have left during the night I begin walking towards the cave entrance. The wolf bodies are in the same spots that they were the night before, my cave entrance beginning to look like a zone of death. Chunks are missing from most of the bodies, showing that scavengers have already started to make meals out of the wolves. I move to the one close by the cave entrance on the right, eating my fill before taking a few massive chunks back up into the cave. I drop the chunks by the lizards as I move to the back of the cave thinking about what my next moves will be. The lizards begin feasting as I lay down.

*I'll need to go test the Space Bag on the fish. Should be easy enough to catch them but how do I get the lizards to kill them?*

I watch the lizards eat, enjoying the moment of relaxation after the constant anxiety of the night before. After a few minutes of enjoying the moment I get up and begin moving towards the pond. Quickly arriving at the pond I take stock of the fish, their numbers seem to have not dropped at all.

*Where are they coming from? I've had multiple rounds of fishing and no matter how many I take it seems to not make a difference.*

Filing the thought away as another thing I will need to investigate I dip my tail in, beginning the now familiar routine of fishing. Instead of using my breath this time I slip my folded space bag under the group of fish as they stare at my tail. I snap it open and the water and fish rush in as I fold it back up. Moving the folded Space ribbon up next to me I begin slowly unfolding it. A fish jumps out, slapping off my snout as it makes its escape. Chuckling I fold the Space ribbon back up grabbing the fish in my mouth and beginning my trek back to the cave. The walk is short enough that the fish is still fighting within my jaws as I get back inside but is clearly starting to fade.

I drop the fish between the two guard lizards, hoping they will catch on. They both skitter away from the flopping fish though. Which makes sense as I watch because the fish is easily three quarters of their size.

*Kill it* I project at the nearest lizard. It tilts its head in response.

*Kill it* I project again, this time shaking my head back and forth. The lizard seeming to have caught on picks the fish up in its jaws and begins thrashing back and forth. The fish's tail slapping the ground causes the lizard to flip over but it doesn't let go. It continues to shake its head back and forth before eventually managing to bash the fish's head off the ground of the cave. The fish goes limp, its aura dissipating. The lizard drops the fish from its mouth and tries to lick the air.

*Holy shit it worked, it must be trying to lick the system window.*

It licks the air two more times before I notice an immediate change, the Aura around the lizard solidifies slightly, it's muscles growing before my eyes. The muscles finish growing and then the Aura of the lizard as a whole starts to condense. It's Aura density easily fifty percent denser than the others now.

*So it chose strength... Was that intentional or did it just happen to hit it? What was that with its Aura too??*

Unfolding the Space Bag I look in and see that the fish are still swimming but seem lethargic. I pull one out and hold it out to the lizard.

*Choose INT this time* I project as I push the fish to it. The lizard snatches it up by the tail and vigorously shakes its head back and forth. The fish rebounding twice off the cave floor before its aura dissipates. The lizard licks the air again, unsure as to what it picked I watch intently as the denser spot that represents its brain seems to condense further.

*Yes! If I can get them to be more intelligent they might be able to respond!*

Pulling the final two fish from my Space bag I project again *Choose INT both times!!*. The lizard grabs the first fish by the tail and arcs it over its body, slamming it into the cave floor. The move seemed intentional where as the previous two kills seemed to be just coincidence. The lizard licks the air again but the Aura showing it's brain doesn't seem to alter that much if at all. It picks up the final fish and does the same move, arching it up and over before smashing it down into the cave floor. Licking the air for the fourth time I watch as the aura around its brain condenses again. Its easily triple the density of the other lizards brains at this point.

Hoping that it worked I project *Did it work?*

There is a moment before I hear a timid *yuss* back. I jump for joy, finally able to communicate with the lizards or at least one of them.

*Do you have a name?* I question the lizard. It's head tilting to the side in response *Fuck, I guess it's not that much more intelligent I'll need to got get more fish, but if it's anything like my attribute gains it's going to take more and more to increase it's intelligence further.*

*Can you communicate with the others?*

The lizard shakes its head in response.

*Damn, I guess that was a little to much to hope for. Stay here I'll go get more fish, make sure the others eat and try to stay in the cave.* Hoping the message wasn't to complicated I move to the back of the cave and dig a small bowl, unfolding the ribbon of Space I upend it over the bowl. The water pours out quickly leaving an empty pocket of Space. The bowl quickly fills with water, unintentionally giving me a metric to measure the capacity of my Space bag. I dig the bowl even larger so that I can fit my torso within the bowl. After completing the excavation I gather up the debris and move back to the front of the cave.

Dumping the debris at the entrance I survey my surroundings. The sun is still high in the sky, imbuing the world with a pink aura. I can see bugs and insects flying around as well as crawling all over the wolf corpses.

*So that Aura sight increase must have also increased what I can see on top of the greater control of its intensity.*

Seeing nothing that looks like it could threaten me I make another trip to the lake. After a short time with my tail dipped in the water a group of six fish have come to check it out. Maneuvering my Space bag beneath them I unfold it and watch as they get sucked into it. Quickly folding it back up I move back to the cave. Trying to move quicker this time I use my wings to do small hops and then glides, staying below the top of the bushes that are nearby to prevent me from being spotted again.

Arriving back in the cave I unfold the bag and upend it into the large bowl, the water and fish falling out. The water is not nearly deep enough for the fish to thrive but they still seem to have a lot of energy left.

Moving up to the lizard from the previous test I project *Kill these too, choose INT again*

The lizard moves into the shallow puddle and grabs one of the fish by its tail and smashes it into the ground. Repeating this process two more times I watch as the density of its brain slowly grows before rapidly gaining density on the final fish. It moves to the last three fish and I watch as its brain density slowly grows again.

*Interesting, so rapid density gain must be when it gains the full attribute value. That puts it at three increases in its INT since this started, the density is now easily quadruple the density of its fellow lizards. Does that mean it's now at a four INT and the other lizards are at a one? It was able to respond at three if that's the case. It also seemed to become much more efficient at killing them after gaining a single point.*

Thinking of how I can test its increase in INT I project *Can you understand me better now?*

*Yess* The responding mental voice seems much more coherent, previously it sounded closer to a mouth that was full responding to me.

*Can you speak more than just Yes?*

*I try* Its capability still limited but clearly more advanced than it was before these fish.

*Can you tell how many more fish it would take to level up your INT again?*

Its head tilts to the side at my question.

*Well that was worth a try but I guess I should reduce my expectations. I'm guessing one more fish to five based on the amounts that it has taken so far. Then it will probably be roughly five fish to six INT. That's a lot of trips to get them all to that point. If I can get them to the point where we can all communicate that would be hugely beneficial. It would also provide a constant food source if I do it slowly over time instead of just all at once.*

*Do you need to leave the cave if I bring food?* I project to the lizard

*Water* It sends back.

*Okay, can you drink this water?* I project while pointing with my wing to the puddle.

*Yess*

*Stay in the cave then, I don't want any more of you getting injured.*

It nods its head in response, feeling that I have made massive strides with the lizards for the day I turn back to my magic. Connecting a Space ribbon to the large sheet of the unfolded Space bag, I try to stretch it more, the strain on my mind less than the previous day allowing me to stretch it further. Thinking that the capability with my mana must be like a muscle I continue to stretch it. As I slowly stretch the sheet of Space my head ache continues to grow, I push myself to where my vision begins to blur before releasing the attached ribbon. The sheet of Space is only marginally larger but it feels like a step forwards for improving my capabilities. Giving me at least a direction to work towards with my Space affinity.

After the head ache subsides to a dull ache at the front of my skull I reattach the ribbon from my core of mana to the sheet of Space, this time I try to push in further on the sheet of space. This dimension already being stretched to the maximum the head ache immediately come back with force, not relenting though I continue to push. I try to keep focus on pushing in more as the head ache becomes all consuming and my vision begins to blur. Knowing this is my stopping point for the exercise I stop. I cant tell if I made it any deeper and I don't have a great way to experiment on how much if at all it's changed. Hoping I didn't just give myself a head ache for no reason I lay down in the main room of the cave and try to relax.

I watch as the lizards explore the cave expansions, shooting up the defensive side tunnel on the West side of the cave before shooting back down and splashing around in the puddle. The enhanced lizard watching protectively as the others splash around in the puddle it never joins in though.

*Do you have a name?* I project to the lizard

*Name* It sends back as it tilts its head.

*Something I can call you*

It stares at me for a long time before the response comes *Grek my name*

*Grek, I like it! I will need to go get more fish and water to help the others become more powerful as well, can you make sure they don't leave while I am gone?*

*Yess Grek watch* The response coming quickly, giving me hope that the lizard understands more than it can communicate.

My head ache having subsided I being moving back to the entrance of the cave. Making sure there are no threats close by I turn East to the pond and launch into the air, staying just below the bush tops hoping it prevents me from being seen. The single launch allowing me to glide to the edge of the pond. Setting up again I begin fishing, this time only four fish take the bait, I move the Space bag under them and unfold it. I manage to catch them all in the bag folding it back up and moving it beside me. I slowly unfold it trying to prevent them from getting out and peer inside. I can see that there is a lot more water than what I expected there to be inside.

*So that stretching made a lot more of a difference than I thought.*

I launch back towards the cave taking large hops with the assistance of my wings I quickly arrive back at the cave. I walk to the back and upend the fish and water into the small puddle. The fish having enough water to swim around gives me confidence that they wont just die due to not enough water. I take two more trips back to the pond, only catching another six fish between the two trips. More importantly the puddle grows significantly in depth, the ten fish now swimming around happily inside. The lizards having finished off most of the previous fish before getting their fill leaving three untouched fish, I scoop them up and eat them.

My head ache having subsided to a dull ache I reattach a Space ribbon to my bag and being stretching it again. I stretch it slowly but the headache begins immediately, the pain growing quickly but I can feel a small degree of progress being made. I end the mana flow as my vision begins to fade again. The head ache raging doesn't stop me from feeling like I am still making progress. This progress making me feel like the pain is worth it even if it is only incremental.

As I wait for my head ache to subside I decide to keep digging out the cave, focusing on my defensive area. I make the room behind my small shooting hole even larger, the room now allowing me to spread one of my wings out while inside. I continue using the Space bag to dump the debris out of the small hole. My head ache slowly recedes as I work on the space.

Feeling that I'm ready to continue practicing with my mana I start pulling threads of Raw mana. I attempt to pull five threads at once but it is still beyond me to have five going at once. Using all four of my available threads I try to make missiles as quickly as possible. Making them as large as I can before the threads begin vibrating within the missile. I then compress them down before wrapping more threads of mana around them. I find that I can do this process twice before the missile feels incompressible, turning my aura sight down to the minimum I see the missile as a sleek blue cone. With Aura sight turned up to the max I can see the individual threads that make up the missile, each layer spinning in an alternating direction.

This first construct giving me confidence I begin working on another, each missile taking a significant amount of time to create. I finish my fourth missile as the world outside of the cave begins to darken significantly. Checking my core of mana I see only wispy mana left my capacity still seemingly limited at holding four missiles, even though these are significantly more advanced constructs.

I move back to the main room of the cave, the lizards still playing around in the water even though they have to swim in the middle. The ten fish are still alive but they seem to be swimming much slower than previously.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

*They seem almost sick, I wonder what is causing that. I thought it was just the amount of water but they have a lot of room to swim in there. There must be something else going on.*

Focusing on their Aura I don't notice a difference leading me to believe there is something I'm not understanding about their needs.

*Are they hungry? I'll have to investigate it later.*

*Grek, come kill fish until you get to the next INT level.* I project towards them

They nod as they jump into the water, dragging one of the fish out of the pond. I notice that the fish doesn't even fight that hard against Grek. Grek quickly dispatches the fish, licking the air I watch as its brain rapidly grows in density.

*Huh Grek was only one fish away...* The other lizards move over to the fish corpse but defer to Grek before eating.

*Grek can you show the others how to kill fish?*

*Yess* The response comes quickly. I watch as Grek shows them each how to grab a fish and then slap the fish off the ground, the five lizards quickly picking up how to do it. They all have the same response after the fish dies, licking at the air in front of them. I watch as each lizards muscles grow in thickness making them all look significantly stronger.

With only four fish left I project to the nearest lizard *Kill the rest and choose INT*

It looks at me confused for a minute before diving into the water and pulling a fish out. It dispatches the fish much quicker with its increased strength. It pauses after the fish dies before licking the air. I watch as its brain grows in Aura density and it moves back into the water repeating the process three more times its brain only growing in density once more. The final fish only marginally increasing the brains density.

*Good job, Can you understand me better now?* I project to it.

*Yuss* it responds. The same speech patterns that Grek had before their intelligence was increased more.

*Well that means this is repeatable and I have a good way to increase their capabilities. It comes at the cost of my own progress but this certainly feels worth it. I will have to make it a regular part of my time to bring back fish for them. Hopefully the Space bag will continue to grow and I will be able to bring back more fish for them to safely gain attributes from.*

Noting the difference now in the Aura density between Grek and this second lizard I notice that Grek's brain is still roughly two thirds more dense. I try to communicate with the second lizard to get a name from it but after repeated attempts I can't seem to get it to understand what I'm asking. My attempts to get it to understand are interrupted by a loud howl that seems to be very close. Maxing my Aura sight I can see the Auras of another group of wolves, much larger than the previous nights moving towards me. I move to the front of the cave to mount a defense, hoping they will be foolish enough to come in range of my breath.

The wolves spread out, giving me a moment to realize there are twelve of them tonight. The wolf in the middle is larger than the others, as it moves into the clearing before my cave I can see that it is easily thirty percent larger than the other wolves. Making it so I would barely come half way up its legs if I were to stand next to it. It sees me immediately and it lets out a howl that rocks my bones. The sound causing dust to rise slightly from the loose soil around it.

I flare my wings out to the side and roar back, my attempt at being threatening comes out as a loud hiss-croak. The wolf tilts its head in confusion as I do this, sitting down and just staring at me as the other wolves complete their surround of my cave. Pulling my wings back into their protective layer I watch intently as the wolves stay out of my range.

*Why do you keep attacking me* I try to project to the larger wolf, hoping that it's within range of my telepathy and understands. It tilts its head again as I project the thoughts to it but it either doesn't understand or choose not to respond. The two wolves closest to the cliff begin slowly edging towards me. My expanded vision cone allowing me to easily see them as they creep closer.

*Well I guess that explains why my vision is set up between a predators vision and a preys vision.*

I take a step back into the cave to see what their reaction is and they both stop right as I move. Trying to pretend like I don't see them I keep my body relaxed staring at the lead wolf. I move one of my advanced Raw missiles out into the space between us, raising it up into the sky until my control on it begins to slip. All of the wolves turn to look at it, as they do this I shoot it down at the lead wolf. I can see it's muscles tensing through density changes in its aura giving me a hint as to what direction it is going to try to dodge. I try to alter the course of the missile but find my control of it has fled. Realizing this I immediately shoot the other three missiles at where I think the wolf will be landing from its dodge. The missiles shoot off at incredible speed, much faster than the previous missiles I have created.

The first missile impacts the ground where the wolf was originally, its sharp angle causing it to impact the ground sending dirt and debris flying in a wide arc into the bushes. The impact creates an audible boom as air is displaced around it. The three missiles I sent at the wolf are almost at it as it realizes they are coming, the detonation of the first having caused its attention to slip. The first missile impacts its shoulder blasting it to the right as a cloud of bloody mist sprays from the wound. The other two missiles flying through where the wolf was and impact a tree behind it. The wood cracks as the missiles explode into its trunk. Causing the tree to being to creak as it starts to lean. The trunk is so massive that even the power of those missiles weren't enough to drop it.

Two of the wolves that were towards the back of the pack run at this exchange. Seeming to have decided this isn't worth it. The wolf on my left begins to rapidly get closer trying to close the gap as all of this is going on. It pounces when it gets close, I release a quarter of my breath at it as I launch my self backwards. The stream of my breath surprises me, instead of the billowing cloud it is closer to a stream of cloud with a central column of liquid in it that quickly evaporate. The liquid causes the cloud to expand outwards as it evaporates into the usual smoke that I expected. This change in consistency leads to a massive increase in range to my breath, easily going fifty percent farther than I expected and impacting the wolf mid leap.

I watch as the dark veins invade its aura but I can immediately tell that they will not be enough to kill it. The pained whimpers immediately start coming from the wolf even before it impacts the ground in front of my cave. The pain seeming to cause it to lose its control of its body momentarily. I quickly form a single Raw missile, making it as large as I can before it tries to get back up. I manage to compress it once before the wolf starts to get back to its feet. Realizing my moment is slipping away I release the missile into the side of its face, aiming for its eye. I miss the eye, the missile impacting just below it explodes into it's cheek bone. From this close of a distance I can see the bone of it's skull showing through the large hole that is now below its eye. The eye doesn't re-open as the wolf scampers away.

*Well two cowards and now that wolf is definitely fucked. Even though it probably won't die it certainly won't be joining in on this fight again.*

Forming one missile at a time, limited by my mana's regeneration I slowly form an advanced missile. The wolves seem to be debating if this is worth it or not as the first missile is completed. I find that I can complete the advanced form of the missile much quicker than previously but it still takes easily two or three minutes to complete even focusing on just a single missile. I create two more missiles that are only a single compression before I start on another advanced missile. Planning to use the two single compressed missiles as distractions. I focus on the lead wolf, the blood pouring out of its shoulder having caused a large puddle of blood at its feet.

I lock eyes with the lead wolf, sending a single compressed missile directly at its face. I follow that missile with one of the advanced missiles, hoping that it reacts before the missile leaves my control. The wolf lunges to the right, its injured leg clearly slowing its movements. I curve the advanced missile towards its new location and see its eyes open with surprise. The missile slamming into the left side of its face. The spray of blood temporarily blocks my vision of the wolf as it howls in pain. When the bloody mist clears I can see that its jaw is now hanging loosely on that side, blood pouring from the new wound. I launch my last single compressed missile at it, once again following with the advanced missile. It sees the first one coming and tries to dodge left this time. I correct the second missile for its new position but have to pull my focus early as the wolf to my right lunges.

The wolf clears the distance to the mouth of my cave quickly, but its mad dash leaves it open. I unleash a third of my breath capacity, surprising myself again with the increase in distance. The liquid not even fully evaporating before it hits the wolf. The difference in the liquid form is immediately apparent, it sticks to the fur of the wolf. The wolf backs away as the dark veins begin to permeate its aura, the splotches of liquid evaporating as it pulls away. The liquid doesn't evaporate into clouds though it evaporates into the wolfs Aura. Instead of veins I can see the dark smoke clouding the aura near the liquid. The veins continue to grow until the liquid breath has completely evaporated. The wolf doesn't even make it to the edge of the forest before it collapses and dies.

Turning my attention back to the lead wolf I see that my second advanced missile impacted its back right leg. The wound just above its knee gushes blood as the wolf tries to back into the bushes. I immediately being forming two small missiles, sending them once they are completed at the wolf. They are only wrapped four times making them as weak as the initial missiles I made but allowing me to continuously make more. The first two half way to the wolf before the second set complete.

The wolf tries to dodge the first two but its two injured legs prevent it from moving very far. Both missiles impact its front left shoulder, causing a small amount of blood to spray from the wound. This wound seeming almost superficial compared to the others. The second set of missiles fly wide, managing to hit another wolf that was in the bushes that was seemingly unaware of the missiles and unlucky enough to be in the wrong place.

I watch as their Auras slowly pull back from the cave, taking this as a a sign they have decided it isn't worth it tonight I decide to go on the offensive. I pull back into the safety of my cave, and begin crafting an advanced missile. After I craft four new advanced missiles I find that my mana is regenerating density at a faster rate than previously. Not wanting to miss my opportunity I push the thought away. The wolves were getting towards the edge of my Aura range and I didn't want to lose them.

I launch from the entrance of my cave, flying slightly North West in pursuit of the wolves. My upgraded wings allowing me to gain more altitude and speed per beat. My stamina drain still seems to be consistent with my previous findings. Gliding though, takes almost no stamina now, my stamina drain is so slow that I feel I might be on the verge of gaining stamina while I glide. I try to keep my missiles between my hands as I fly, hoping to prevent the glow from being too obvious to any observers. I catch the wolves quickly and decide to stick to gliding to hopefully prevent them from noticing me. It seems to work because they don't respond until I'm almost on top of them. The first wolf that notices me jumping up towards me but I am fortunately far out of its range.

The largest wolf looks back and sees me flying above it, it tries to move faster but its wounds prevent it from moving all that much faster. As I fly above it I unleash all four missiles at once, I have full control of them all the way to the wolf, sealing its fate. The first two missiles impact its two uninjured legs, causing massive damage to the tops of its shoulders. Hoping that by injuring them I will prevent it from getting away. The last two smash into the back of its skull, causing the wolf to go rigid for a moment. Before the Aura of its brain explodes outwards, the little starbursts of dense Aura causing the rest of its Aura to dissipate.

*RUN!* I project to the rest of the wolves. Still unsure if they actually understand me I watch as the death of their apparent leader and the telepathic scream cause them to dash in all different directions, the only common theme being away from me. Hoping that this has ended the feud I bank back towards my cave. Mid bank I see something that causes my heart to skip a beat. Three giants are at the very edge of my aura and are headed in this direction.

I push my body hard to get back to the cave, I impact the ground outside hard and run up the slope into the cave. I turn to see the giants are no longer within my aura sight. I survey the ground outside of my cave and feel that they will be investigating this area thoroughly. The four day old wolf corpses, and fresh wolf corpses showing that something is clearly killing wolves near my cave.

*Fuck.*

I launch down to the nearest body and being shredding it as best I can with my claws and fangs. Chunks of gore flying around as I rip the body to shreds. Checking to see if the giants have come with in range and not seeing them I move to the next body. Shredding it quickly and then moving to the third and fourth. As I am finishing the fourth body the giant Auras appear at the limits of my vision, clearly moving towards me. I use my Space bag and fill it with blood from the now massive puddles on the ground before grabbing one of the wolf heads.

I launch myself into the air dragging the wolf skull beneath me. The brain and blood dripping out as I travel west, away from the cave and pond. After traveling a short distance I drop the head and barely unfold the bag and upend it, causing a small stream of blood to pour out as I fly, periodically closing the bag and then opening it for a short time. The blood trail is easily visible behind me as I continue flying away from the cave. The giants still have not arrived at the cave as it leaves my Aura sight.

I continue doing this as I travel two or three times my Aura sight before the blood runs out. When the blood runs out I stop flying low and begin gaining altitude. I crest the top of the trees and then the cliff quickly. I drop onto the top of the cliff and being watching as I allow my stamina to regen. The mad dashes causing my stamina to drop below twenty percent. I rest there until my stamina is full and begin doing short flights to conserve it as much as possible. Launching myself into the air and flapping once before I glide until I land. I then walk for a short distance as I regenerate my stamina and then repeat the process. I only do this two times before the Auras of the giants appear again. They are moving slowly through the bushes, one of them periodically bending down to look at the ground before continuing to move.

I stop my journey back to the cave to watch their progress. It takes them a significant amount of time before they reach the end of the trail. They continue for a bit before turning around to where the trail ends. They stand there seeming to talk to each other for awhile before eventually splitting into two groups. One of the groups continues along the cliff face going west, and the other heads north back into the forest.

*Either I tricked them, or I am fucked. If those two from a few days ago mentioned my cave to these ones then there is no way they don't eventually figure it out. I really hope that isn't the case and this is just a group hunting wolves.*

Hoping my ruse was successful I continue flying back to the cave, trying to stay low and out of sight. When the cave comes back within my Aura range I drop over the cliff face and fly just above the bushes. Arriving at the cave I see the scene I caused for the first time without being fueled by panic. It looks like massacre took place, blood and gore paint the cliff wall and the bushes ringing the opening. The foot steps of the giants are the only thing that break up the puddles of blood, causing it to pool in the depressions of their foot steps, leaving prominent ridges of their foot prints. I notice a single patch coming from the cave entrance that is small. It only seems to leave the cave not go back in though.

Panicking I check the lizards, seeing the Aura of Grek stand out immediately and the second lizard I had begun leveling up, but there are only three other normal lizards. Hoping that the lizard that foolishly left the cave made it away I jump back into the air and fly into the cave. Snapping my wings in as I reach the cave entrance and landing hard. My gamble pays off though because I don't have a line of blood following me into the cave.

I move up to Grek and project to them *What happened*

They stare at me, their sadness rolling off them in palpable waves. *Friend no listen, die.*

*FUCK!*

All of my effort to prevent this cave from being investigated more probably wasted by the presence of the lizards. On top of losing one of my companions my rage fills me. The roar comes from deep within my chest, coming out as a true roar this time not a meow-croak. The sound reverberates through the cave as my rage is replaced by deep sadness.

*I'm sorry* I project to all of the now frightened lizards. Moving to the back of the cave I lay down next the large bowl of water. Two fish corpses remain and I snap them up, slowly chewing before I swallow them. As I lay there the lizards all come and lay down next to me, pressing up against my body. Their presence helps me control my emotions but make me even more sad that I wasn't able to protect them. After awhile of just laying there my mind doesn't stop turning, preventing me from being able to sleep.

I slowly lift myself off the ground and get Grek's attention. *Come help me* They follow me without responding as I move off into the west cave.

*Stay here* I project as we reach the large room with a small hole looking out into the forest. I being digging, excavating upwards and away from the cliff. I fill my Space bag over and over with debris as I continue digging, making trips back to the room with Grek before dumping the bag out of the small hole. I keep digging until I am back even with the lizards sleeping in the main cavern before I make a room that I can turn around in easily and then dig upwards back towards the cliff face. As I approach the area above Grek I slow my digging insuring I only make a small hole in the cliff face. It takes me two more trips before I break through the cliff wall. I only leave a hole roughly two claws wide before I stop allowing me to easily start dumbing from my space bag out of the hole.

I create another large room here before before going back to get Grek. *Come with me*

They follow me up the new path the steep slope giving them no problems. When we come to the new room I stop and tell them to wait there. I travel back down the slope and out into the main cave, passing the sleeping lizards. I stick my head out of the entrance and look up, searching for Grek's Aura. I see it, roughly a third of the way up the cliff.

*So another three or four of those and I'll be at the top of the cliff. That will at least give another exit, but could lead to problems with things entering from the top.*

Walking back to the top of the path I collect Grek and move back to the sleeping lizards. *We will work on that more tomorrow. For now we should rest*

They nod back to me so I go lay down at the back of the cave. As I am laying there brooding over the events of the day the lizards slowly move to lay up against me, the pressure of their little bodies allowing my mind to finally relax as I drift off to sleep.

*Click Click Click*

I shoot out of the cave again, curving straight up into the sky before flying South over the cave. I can see the mountain range now in the distance to the East even though it is far out of my normal vision. I fly over the much shorter forest that covers the top of the cliff, the trees seeming to be stunted version of the trees below. Accelerating as I approach another mountain range to the south I dip down to ground level. I shoot along the ground as a massive gate appears before me set into the side of one of the mountains. The gate opening as I approach I shoot into sprawling underground tunnels. Massive worked caverns open before me as I go deeper and deeper into the ground. Eventually arriving at a gilded set of massive doors, they slowly open revealing a large cage with a dark purple dragon inside of it. The room is cluttered with tools and crystals, the dragon I notice has the Physical mutation. It's wings lack the front digits that would allow them to wrap around its body. The snout of the dragon has a silvery metal chain wrapped around it, with gems set into the chain every few links. It makes eye contact with me, its eyes going wide before the dream fades to black.