The caves around me rippled, roared, and cracked with the quakes of the nigh-unstoppable predator behind me. My footing is poor due to the rolling rocks beneath me, yet I must run. Fiery hell courses through my chest as I take in a breath to continue my sprint. The sharp stones on the ground have ripped my shoes to shreds, yet I must run, or else the monster behind will crush me, break me down, then pull me back from the brink of death. She's done so three times already.

I see many lights on this run, many mushrooms, moss, lichen, and crystals glow as I pass them and glitter once Sura tears them to shreds. Prey and predator alike have been sprinting alongside each other, fleeing the giant that barrels towards me. She is going 'slow' for her, a speed she deemed barely enough for me to grow. I can and have run near these speeds before but never for such a distance or up sharp inclines... or with a giant cat chasing me, threatening me with near death if I fail.

My exhaustion has finally caught up to me. My foot catches on a rock, and I faceplant, skidding across the hard floor into a pool of water. As I try to lift my head, I feel Sura's massive paw on my back, pinning me under the water, and I panic. Just before I start flailing, she removes her paw, and I rocket my head out of the water, taking a sharp inhale. My lungs burn and ache in protest to the new air.

"You did well, child Jaune! You finally made it to the watering pool," Sura purred as she trotted into a patch of soft glowing moss, which she stretched over then plopped herself down onto it like a house cat.

The watering pool is a beautiful sight. It's the size of a lake, surrounded by large brightly glowing crystals and white stone on all sides. Waterfalls flow from caves on high, and a type of lily pad floats in the water. An incredibly tranquil place.

"Why did you pin me!?" It took me a few minutes of nothing except breathing to finally spit the question out. Sura didn't bat an eye at my accusatory tone; she simply looked at me, with her tail flopping back and forth.

"You may have made it here, but you still collapsed. If you were running from something trying to kill you, you'd have a bite taken out of you. That deserves some punishment," the glowing beast replied matter-of-factly. I glared at her and grumbled incoherent curses under my breath, unsatisfied but knowing she will not relent. To my antics, she paid no mind.

With a great sigh, I lay on my back to rest and stare at the bejeweled ceiling. I still don't know what the deal is with this cave system; Sura was adamant that I didn't come from the surface, as 'That is the realm of higher beings,' or something. I rested for a while before getting my fill of water from the lake, looking down at my reflection I see myself. My blonde hair dirty and matted, blue eyes puffy and bloodshot, and my torso has a massive red marking on it like a blackout(or redout) tattoo. The red goes from a few inches lower than my left armpit down in a diagonal almost all the way across my body and back; this is where I was bit in half, the thought of it still makes me sick. The remnants of my shirt hang around my neck like a cloak.

"Jaune, your rest is over; come to me!" Sura beckoned me, so I went. When I approached, she lifted a paw, and under it was a large loose milky white crystal. "We're going back to Zakiri; I want you to carry this back to get stronger." Zakiri is where she took me to heal; she claims it's the safest place this deep for a weak 'son of Adapa' such as myself.

"Oof!" The crystal weighed about one stone... du dun tss. No, it was maybe in the ballpark of a hundred pounds? Not too sure; I don't have anything for reference, but it's heavy, and I'm going to be carrying it pretty far. So now I have it, Sura and I begin to trek back to my temporary (hopefully) home. As we pass the parts of the cave Sura destroyed, I noticed a suspended glitter of sorts, resembling the northern lights.

"So what's that?" I ask, nodding my head towards the glowing dust.

Sura's gaze went up for a second then to me, and she said, "The tunnel is mending itself; those are shards of crystal like the one you carry now."

I nod my head and accept the madness. As we continue, I can see shards of the dull grey stone pulling themselves to a final destination before locking themselves into place. I can see stalagmites and stalactites reforming from the bottom up and top down. The only things that haven't begun to return are the flora; the fungi, moss, and the lichen aren't here anymore. Whatever magic is reassembling the cave itself is unsympathetic to all but the cave.

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Soon, I notice an offshoot of the cave that I hadn't paid any attention to when I ran past here before. A strange breeze flowed out of it. Sura, who noticed my staring, asked with an amused expression, "What have you noticed, Jaune?"

"A breeze, but it's weird," She nodded in agreement and laughed, I continued, "It doesn't move but it does? I can't explain it." With a smirk, she turned to the offshoot.

"That is where the Alfar live; what you felt was not wind. You felt Zitu, in your tongue magic. This is wonderful news, child!" Sura exclaimed. "You are progressing just as I believed you would." The massive panther purred in happiness. She then suddenly stopped, turning back to face me. Sura placed her front paws on the ground and stood tall with a powerful jump, landing perfectly on all four feet in front of me. Her golden eyes gleamed with excitement. "Now to celebrate this milestone, you must run! Run with the stone and grow strong, or I'll bite you!"

Her excitement was my dread. Sura raised her paw to swipe at me, and I ducked under and between her legs. She stays still while I do, not trying to actually kill me but very willing to put me into enough pain to try everything to not fail again. Looking over her shoulder, she waits for around a minute before giving chase once again. By the end of my stay here, I'll be an Olympic athlete, if I survive that is.

By the time I get back to Zakiri, my lungs burn, my gums writhe, my arms, legs, and back feel like they're about to give out. But before I'm able to drop the heavy crystal, I hear Sura say, "I will bite you if you give up now, child! Now you must throw the stone!"

Shit.

With that command, I begin to rotate my body and take a few steps forward and finally heave the stone weighing me down into the air... It went three feet. Behind me, I hear the monster who is guiding me land, and a wave of dust coats my sweat-covered back; her glow is very intense after chasing me.

"Well done, child Jaune; you're weak, but you'll be like the Lugal who roamed so long ago!" The cat beamed with pride. I smile weakly and make my way to my living area; Sura cleaned the place of that I didn't eat by consuming it herself so I don't have to worry about 'filth eaters' or the smell of rotten flesh. My little crawlspace home has been filled with moss so I have a cushion to sleep because well, stone isn't great for sleeping. I crawl into my hovel and drift, finally beginning to cool off from the extraneous exercise.

I wake up just in time for dinner when a heap of mystery flesh is dropped in front of my abode. This time I start to dig into it with my bare hands not too pleased with having my face stuffed into a pile of bloody flesh. Eventually, I eat enough flesh for Sura not to complain when I stopped, and she inhaled my leftovers. This time she didn't feed me mysterious orbs, however she demanded I start working out again.

The next day (not that I could tell the time), we followed the same routine until the after-food workout. Sura had me climb atop her back as she claimed to be bringing me to the place to practice the next stage of my training.

"Stay here," Sura told me as she jumped, with total disregard to gravity, onto the ceiling of a circular chamber with many small tunnels leading into it and a wretched stench about. It was dark; I can just make out whitish piles around the room; I can't tell what they are though. Soon I heard a chitinous clicking sound coming from all around the chamber. "Get on all four legs, Jaune," Sura ordered sternly, dimming her bright glow, causing me to lower myself.

"What's going on?" I asked, very confused.

"To grow stronger, you must face this challenge, Jaune. Survive!" The cat's words echoed through the cavern as wolf-sized, green-glowing insects emerged from the narrow tunnels. Their eerie glow obscured any distinct features, sending a shiver down my spine. Out of the twelve creatures, three advanced toward me.

"Why on all fours?" I protested. Fighting in a quadrupedal stance felt absurd for a human, but Sura seemed unfazed.

"I've found it to be the most effective. Why do your kind run on two legs when four is superior?" Sura's logic was as confounding as her ability to speak. "Hurry, or the Eh-uh will feast on your flesh."

One of the monstrous creatures lunged at me, slower than Sura but formidable nonetheless. I shifted my posture, narrowly evading its pincers, only to be flanked by the other two. A pained cry escaped me as the left bug's claw sank deep into my arm. Circumventing the chitinous assailants, my body instinctively swelled with terror, slowing my movements.

Tripping over a pile I had noticed earlier, a bone-chilling realization hit me—it was a mound of human remains. Disturbed by this revelation, I barely had time to react as the Eh-uh closed in. Desperation fueled my actions as I grabbed a rock, using it to bash the bug that wounded me. Despite the creature retaliating with a forceful blow, I managed to shatter its exoskeleton and spill its luminescent blood.

The remaining two Eh-uh closed in, relentless. Unyielding, I continued to strike the dying insect. The moment the other two attacked simultaneously, I shifted the dying bug to shield me from one, sacrificing it to the voracious appetite of the other. With a bite to my shoulder, my strength waned.

As one of the surviving Eh-uh tore into me, I jammed the rock into its eye, prompting a scream. Although it released my shoulder, it stabbed me in the stomach and upper back. Gasping, weakened, I fumbled, the stone lodged in its eye. Collapsing, I glimpsed Sura descending to my rescue, a bitter acknowledgment of the danger she had thrust me into.

Damn cat.