Killa waved at the piles of slime I cut from her. “Are you going to eat that? That’s a lot of food to waste.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way I can eat it. I don’t have an appetite right now, and eating that will feel wrong after how much I hurt you to cut it off.”

Killa frowned. “I needed you to do that. I messed up and let myself slip again.” She lowered her head. “I needed to be punished. Look, to you, Aquantula’s methods may seem extreme.”

I held up a hand. “Don’t. You don't have to rationalize her behavior. What she did was abuse, plain and simple. We don’t need her—you don’t need her.” I walked up and grabbed her shoulders. “If you ever fall back into old habits, I will get you back on track. No one will ever hurt you again, and if they do, they will regret it.”

My hands sank into Killa’s shoulders. “Rina, you don’t understand. Do you know what it’s like to know you’re missing out? To see others enjoying simple senses that you never will. Like right now. I know you’re touching me, but I don’t feel it. I eat and eat, but I never taste a thing. I can’t smell; my sight is based on magic; and my hearing is based on how sound connects with my body. What senses I do have are nothing more than a crude facsimile.”

I pulled my hands out of her. “But Killa, I do understand. On Earth, I watched everyone live happily, interacting with one another. Anything I did or said was almost instantly forgotten. Even to those I saw regularly, I had to practically reintroduce myself every time. Trust me, I know what it’s like to feel like you’re living only half a life.”

Killa sighed. “Yeah. I suppose you would. But that’s why I love you, Rina. You understand me in ways few ever have. When you broke down and told me your story back when we first met, I felt the connection between us. I care for you, just as you care for me. So, for your own good, eat the parts of me scattered on the floor. If you want me to clean them off for you, I can do that.”

I grimaced as I looked at the closest piece. “I can’t do that.”

Killa stepped around me and scooped up some of the pieces and placed them into her bag of holding. “Then at least we’ll save them for when you need emergency energy.”

I rubbed my temples. How can she just act like everything is fine? “You know, you’re right; I don’t understand you. And I don’t understand why you aren’t more upset with me for hurting you.”

Killa dropped her arms. “There are only two things I feel: pain and hunger.”

“Does this have to do with Aquantula’s mention of your 'sin?'” I asked. “It seemed odd that she used that word so intentionally.”

Killa nodded slowly. “It’s easy to forget that monsters such as myself are new to you. Slimes normally can’t grow beyond a certain size. What makes me special is a curse. You know that there are different worlds out there, but there are literal heavens and hells to go with them. In hell, there are powerful demons known as sins. Pride, wrath, lust, and so on.”

I can see where this is going. “So you had a run-in with a sin of gluttony, correct? How did it curse you?”

Killa rolled her eyes. “If it were only that simple. The sin used me to fulfill their end of a bargain. I was conveniently nearby.”

“What bargain?”

“Some bureaucrat was defamed and wished that the city would fall to the ground without him,” Killa said with more than a little venom in her voice. “The demon ordered me to consume the entire city. And I did. The demon thought it was a fun twist to use me to consume the bureaucrat too. I wasn’t even fully in control; I was nothing more than a puppet. I was aware of everything. By the time I regained control, I was far from the city. Hoards of armies were chasing and ripping me apart. That’s when Aquantula found me.”

She folded her arms across her body. “I had eaten a lot of people. And not just the people—the buildings and the plants around them. There was nothing left when I was done. There was a ravine of destruction left behind me as I traveled. I was a menace that needed to be destroyed in the eyes of the world. They didn’t care that a demon made me do it. Aquantula saved my life by taking me to the bottom of the ocean, where they couldn’t follow.“

Killa then slunk away from me. “I owe Aquantula my life. She taught me magic and took care of me while I learned to deal with the curse I was now stuck with. Slimes don’t have a limit on what they can eat, making us natural gluttons. The demon made it so that the more I consume, the easier it is to consume more. The side-effect? I can only think about consuming more.”

“I don’t know what to say. That…that’s a lot.” I could only gape at her for dumping her entire life’s story in my lap.

She then tilted her head back up. “You know, I thought that was it. But because of me, slimes were nearly eradicated from my world. Coming here has been nice. Seeing people not fear me for what I’ve done. And people like you, Shadara, and even Bark treat me like a person. It makes it almost possible for me to forget my curse.”

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“Can’t Aquantula remove the curse if she’s so powerful?” I asked.

Killa shrugged. “She can’t. I‘ll never ask her to either.”

“Why?”

Killa’s eyes darkened. “Because I earned it.”

“But you said you were forced into it.”

“By a demon who has long since paid for their sins,” Killa countered. “I have to pay for mine. Before the demon, I ate whatever I wanted whenever, desperately searching for sensation. It could use me because I was already gluttonous.“

“Killa, you had no choice. You can’t blame yourself for that.” I stepped towards her, but stopped when her eyes shot daggers at me.

“No, Rina. This is something I have to live with.” Killa shook her head. “Only the demon who cursed me can remove it, and it has no reason to. One, I consumed it; two, because it doesn’t call it a curse, but a blessing.”

Part of me started thinking about how her class played in her whole situation. Before her class, she could eat anything physical. Now her class has given her another thing to consume, playing into the curse. So did she choose that class willingly, or did the curse push her towards it? I’m sure she doesn’t want to think about it. It seemed powerful at the time.

She threw her arms out wide. “Even my wish is me trying to satisfy my gluttony. I want to taste what I eat. It’s what I am. This curse and Aquantula keep me in check. So when I fall back again, I want you to inflict pain on me. The pain lets me know my mind isn’t too far gone.”

I stared at her for a moment. She wants me to hurt her? I can’t. “You’re a mosaicist?”

Killa chuckled. “Good try, but you can’t change the subject that easily.”

I took a deep breath and stepped toward her. “But I can’t hurt you. You’re my friend. It tore me up inside to do that to you. The pain was excruciating.”

Killa’s face turned as solemn as her voice. “Pain isn’t something to be feared. Unlike you, I don’t run from the pain. Maybe you should stop running from it too. It becomes a warning that you’re heading in the wrong direction. And pain fades away quickly. You don’t have to be scared of it.”

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You hurt me, yes, and it sucked. But you did it for my sake, and I’m thankful for that. In fact, I’m grateful for you. That’s why I trust you to hurt me if I ever fall too deep. You won’t let me become that monster again.”

I shook my head. “How can you be okay with this? You are asking me to be your abuser. That’s not okay.”

Killa placed a finger on my lips. “Because that’s not what you are. You are my friend, and you just want to help me.”

“This is so messed up.”

“No, Rina. This is just how things are,” Killa said. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing this for a very long time.”

I looked down at my feet. “I don’t know. This is a lot.”

“If it helps, you don’t have to hurt me,” Killa added. “I just want you to be there to help pull me back if I do. That’s all.”

I sighed. “Let’s never get into this situation again, okay? I don’t want to make that decision.”

Killa nodded. “That’s fair. I hope I can live up to your expectations. Anyway, we have some unfinished business to take care of. We need to find a way out of this dungeon. But Shadara’s going to need a long time to rest. She looks rough.“

Shadara did indeed look rough. Her fur was a mess, and her ears were still bleeding. She was leaning against the wall where I laid her, breathing heavily.

Killa went over to Shadara. “Hey, Shadara. How are you feeling?”

Shadara gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine. I just used up most of my magic, and I have a splitting headache.”

Killa placed a hand on the top of her head. “You need rest. You pushed yourself too hard. Why?”

Shadara glanced away. “I didn’t want you to hurt anymore.”

Killa knelt down to be at eye level with Shadara. “You too, huh.” She smiled back. “Okay, okay. Just don’t go to such extremes yourself. Hurting yourself on my behalf isn’t something I want.”

“And watching Rina be forced to hurt you isn’t something I wanted either,” Shadara said meekly, without turning to face the slime woman.

Killa drooped her head forward. “What’s done is done. Come on, let’s get you back to bed. No more interruptions, I promise.”

She lifted Shadara up and carried her over to her bedroll. After tucking her in, she gave the panther woman a gentle kiss on the forehead. “I’ll keep you safe. Don’t worry.”

Shadara’s eyes slammed shut. She’s probably beyond exhausted. It’ll take her a while to recover. I can’t leave them now. But we need a plan to escape this dungeon. If we keep blindly working our way through this place, who knows how long we’ll be trapped here?

I paced around as my mind ran through different possibilities of how to solve the pattern of the dungeon, but always came up short. I didn’t have enough information.

Killa’s tap on my shoulder made me jump.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “What are you thinking about?”

“How to get out of this dungeon,” I whispered back, mindful of Shadara still sleeping. “It’s just that I can’t figure out the pattern of this dungeon. I need more information.”

Killa nodded. “Okay, go get it.”

I furrowed my brow. “How?”

She pointed to the door. “Go out and scout the place. Don’t get into any fights if you can help it, but try to see if you can learn how this dungeon operates. It has to have rules.”

I scratched the back of my head. “What if the layout changes again and I’m too far away? What if I can’t find my way back to you?”

Killa tapped her chin. “Back in my world, there was a magic item that would help people not get lost in mazes.” She held her hands out in front of her as if she were holding an invisible ball. “It was a ball of string that would keep track of where you'd been, so you could always find your way back to the beginning. One of those would be very useful right now. This place feels like a labyrinth.”

I pointed at her. “Couldn’t you do something similar with your tentacle magic?”

She shook her head. “Not for nearly long enough. Maybe for a short distance, a few rooms at most.”

I blinked and checked the description of my shadow magic again.

Shadow Magic Power—Manifestation Level 19:

This power allows the caster to create a physical representation of their magic. This base magic has no physical properties beyond being visible. Other shadow powers may alter its properties. It requires the caster’s concentration to maintain its presence. Increased levels will allow the caster to manifest larger amounts of mana in the future.

Level 19: A maximum of 65,536 cubic feet can be manifested at one time.

That might work.