Vivi’s breathing was rough. She stood half-hidden behind the tree, assessing the situation. Lucius’s presence was still connected to hers, though she hadn’t seen the spirit dodge the rabbit’s attack. Was he alive?

A few seconds later, Lucius’s disgruntled figure flew up from the hole. Dirt stuck onto his translucent fur. He shook his body. The dirt was stuck to his fur. “Get this off of me,” he said, looking disgusted.

“Is it dead?” Vivi asked in awe. “The death rabbit.”

“Come take a look,” Lucius said.

Hesitantly, Vivi stepped out of her hiding spot. The mossy ground had totally collapsed, revealing a hole. Peeking down, Vivi saw the bones of a rabbit cluttered amongst spikes. The bones were regular rabbit bones, far smaller than the death rabbit had been.

The hole was filled with dozens of spikes. They were shaped like icicles, glowing white. The rabbit had been thoroughly pierced, dying without a struggle.

White obsidian? Vivi thought, seeing the material. The spikes looked exactly like white obsidian—the same material Vivi often used for runesmithing back on the surface. The material was ideal for shaping the veins of a runesword, while being fairly affordable. It seemed the same material had been used for crafting spikes.

More importantly, wisps of ether rose from the rabbit’s bones. The sizzle was cathartic. Vivi had the urge to collect the ether, though she knew that would have been a stupid idea. Any ether that she collected would be wasted on her mountain of debt. Lucius was the only one who could use ether for growth.

Vivi swiped the cat’s fur free of dirt with her hands. Lucius smiled at her, then flew down into the hole. He sucked in wisps from their kill.

“I can’t believe it,” Vivi thought. She lay down on her back beside the hole, staring at the daylight gems. There was enough light to see, but the light sources themselves didn’t appear too bright. Vivi could stare at the sky without an issue. “We defeated it.”

Lucius’s reserves grew and grew as he collected the ether. He rose from twenty to fifty, reaching nearly to the hundreds. His reserves read ninety-seven when the wisps stopped coming.

“That was worth just over seventy,” Lucius said, ascending from the hole. “A good kill.”

Vivi blinked. “I thought you said the monster wielded four hundred ether?”

“It did,” Lucius said. “But not everything can be collected. Monsters use weird ether, Vivi. Not all of it is edible. I guess the gods of ether decided that life would be too easy if every bit of ether we defeated would become ours.”

“Right,” Vivi said, recalling her studies. “Monsters wield mostly void ether. We can only collect balanced ether.”

Lucius tilted his head, confused. “Nevermind science. Look at this, Vivi.” With a grin, Lucius showed his claws. The claws glowed a little brighter than before, ether flowing within.

Lucius swiped at a nearby tree with all his might. The claws left a small mark on the tree-bark. Lucius grinned. “We’re growing. At this pace, we can soon fight real monsters.”

“Real monsters?” Vivi asked. “The rabbit wasn’t real?”

“Well, it was a real monster of course,” Lucius said. “But it was still a basic monster. Death rabbits are common around these areas. Any real fighter can reliably one-shot death rabbits.”

Vivi gave Lucius an awkward smile. One-shot. To kill in one blow. “How can anyone kill a being like that in one blow? Your claws wouldn’t have scratched it.”

“Once a hunter grows strong enough, they’ll realize death rabbits are nothing compared to the actual monsters lurking within the lower levels,” Lucius said. “We’ll need to kill maybe a few hundred rabbits, and we should be strong enough to kill them without problems. For now, this camp is our best friend.”

“Yes, the trap is perfect,” Vivi said. “If we encounter monsters, we’ll run back to this place. But staying here will be difficult.”

“Why’s that?” Lucius asked.

“This place attracts monsters,” Vivi said. “I can’t sleep here. We’ll build another camp nearby. But first, we need to find water.” She stood and stretched, then headed back to the forest to grab her only weapon: the elk’s skull. “Let’s get exploring.”

***

Vivi survived for the next few hours. She considered that a success.

She’d wandered around the area in hopes of finding a river. Or some other moving water. Or just any water at all. As someone who lived on the surface underneath endless dark clouds, Vivi found it insane how finding water could have ever been a problem. In Fellwater, one could simply leave a bucket outside and head to sleep. By morning, they’d have enough water for the next week.

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Eventually, one source of water revealed itself. Not a river, but another crack in the ceiling of the fourth level. Water dripped at a steady pace. Problem was, the only item Vivi had that could collect water was her scabbard. And her boots.

She didn’t want to drink anything from either, but she figured the scabbard would be less disgusting, and she wouldn’t need an empty scabbard for anything else. She balanced the scabbard on the ground with its mouth angled to collect dripping water. Vivi left the scabbard there, and the search continued.

The next problem was fire and a place to sleep. Vivi wandered around the forest, searching for a spot that she could somehow call secure. No such spots came. The forest was monotone and flat with little changes to her surroundings. She constantly felt like she was walking in no direction at all, trotting past leafless trees and a hard stone ground. The whole place felt like a wasteland of ether and danger.

The only sense of direction Vivi had was Lucius’s sixth sense, the ability to sense ether. Lucius could sense the trap of the camp from a few miles away. If nothing else, he could point Vivi in the rough direction of the trap for them to eventually return.

“I don’t think we’re going to find a good spot,” Vivi said with a frown. She had circled back to the field of balm worts. Her stomach growled from all the walking. “We’ll need to settle with what’s available. This looks like a decent enough spot to me.”

A few paces from the worts lay another cave-like burrow. Vivi glanced inside, finding the hole comfortably empty. She could have easily filled the place with hay, or something soft and cuddled up inside. She nodded, intending to do just that.

Lucius watched as Vivi got to work. Impatience shadowed his face. Vivi ignored him.

Building a campfire was easy. Any long-lasting forest was bound to have dead wood sitting around. Vivi formed a ring with stones and balanced the best sticks of firewood she could find.

Soft materials for a bed were harder to find. Vivi considered cutting vines to use as a mattress, but a quick twist on the stalks proved the vines too hard to cut, let alone sleep on. In the end, Vivi’s only choice was the balm worts. Their stalks were like grass, and the buds, though uncomfortably bulky, were a lot softer than stone. The area had more than enough worts to fill the whole burrow. Vivi got to work, crafting some sort of pillow by tying the buds together with stalks.

Lucius sighed. He had sprawled on the ground to sleep, offering no help. “Humans…” he muttered. “Do we really have to do this? Can’t you sleep under a tree? We need to hunt! Why are we wasting time playing with plants?”

“We wouldn’t have problems if you had teleported my bed with me,” Vivi said. “Bring me more worts if you want to speed this up.”

Lucius rolled his eyes and lay back down. Vivi continued to work, while her cat tapped around impatiently, complaining about the wasted time.

***

Some hours of diligent work later, Vivi stood proudly to examine her camp. The burrow was covered in worts and stalks. The bed was fitting for an oversized fairy from a tale. Outside, Vivi had found a slab-like rock to use as a bench by the campfire. It, too, was covered in a wort-cushion. As for decorations, the elk’s skull lay atop the burrow’s entrance. Beside it stood a long stick of wood that Vivi thought looked like a cute staff.

“We’ll need a canopy next,” Vivi said. “Rain might fall inside otherwise.”

“Rain?” Lucius gushed. “Are you stupid? We’re underground!”

“The ceiling leaks,” Vivi said. Glancing up, sizable cracks were visible within the stone. “The balm worts must get their water from somewhere. What if the bed gets wet?”

Lucius groaned with the voice of someone who regretted choosing Vivi as their pawn. “You surface humans are such freaks! There is no ceiling on the fourth level. What’s above us is a sky. And this sky is not going to rain any time soon!”

“It never hurts to prepare for rain,” Vivi said. “We’ll build a canopy later. Let’s have a break first.” She pulled out a box of matches from her raincoat’s inner pocket. Grandpa had ordered her to always carry matches around.

“Later?” Lucius asked. “How long do you plan on staying here? We’ll need to focus on hunting and laying more traps.”

“If we’re going to live in the area, the least I need is a nice place to sleep, Lucius,” Vivi said. “Humans don’t just need ether and food. I’ll fall insane if I set my home in a forest as boring as this.”

“Decorations are dangerous within the fourth level,” Lucius said. “For the same reason that the twilight elk’s bones are dangerous. Remember, anything that is dead will reanimate when provided ether. We really should get rid of the skull.”

“We will,” Vivi said. “Once your claws grow strong enough to replace it as a weapon.”

Nobody had informed Vivi on whether lighting a fire was safe in the underground, but Lucius gave no warnings as she lit her match. She lit the campfire and made sure the fire spread evenly, then stood to gather more worts. She’d gathered everything from her immediate surroundings. The next patch was a short walk away.

Lucius flew after her. “We’re hunting right after this. I need food, too. Spirits live on ether. If my reserves drop to zero, I’ll disappear back to that Ythar guy.”

“You still have over ninety ether,” Vivi said, picking up a stack of worts. “You’ve lost one.”

Lucius frowned. “But I’m so hungry. Ninety ether is… It’s almost nothing. I feel myself slipping out of reality.”

And why didn’t you choose someone who isn’t in debt? Vivi wished to ask, but kept her mouth shut. She filled her pockets with worts and turned back towards camp.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Lucius paused, his eyes opening wide. Vivi shared the reaction. Was something bad going on? The rumbles steadily grew worse.

“An earthquake?” Vivi asked.

“No,” Lucius said, eyes wide in horror. “An ether surge!”

At that moment, thousands of wisps of ether shot forth from the ground below Vivi’s camp, covering her newly built home in active ether.