A silver mushroom stared into my eyes, saying something I was too confused to understand.

Afterward, my eyes shifted about, attempting to make sense of my surroundings. Where am I? What am I doing? My memories answered sending me into a panic as I jolted upwards to continue my digging.

The bright beam of the sun reflecting off my hands froze me in my tracks. The silver mushroom turned out to be Aslai, silently watching me and judging my movements. Turning towards her, I waited for her to explain how I am here, or express anything. Rather, we sat there staring at each other in a relaxed stalemate until I couldn't handle the suffocating silence anymore.

"Am I dreaming?" I muttered under my breath while scrutinizing my muddy metallic exterior.

"Not to my knowledge" she responded swiftly while turning away to monitor our surroundings. "How do you feel? "she asked indifferently.

"Everything's hazy and numb. Weren't I buried alive?" I answered amidst resisting mild nausea after recalling being digested alive.

"Yes, you were. I dug you out after you became unconscious. Then I dragged you to a relatively safer location." Aslai asserted in the middle of a deadlock with a particular tree.

"Thank you." with those words our conversation stopped completely. I didn't know what to do, so I simply sat there staring at the oxygen timer slowly ticking up. Slowly but surely I felt the fogginess in my head subsiding and slowly rose to my feet. Not out of fear of me tripping over my legs, but because I cannot trust the ground anymore.

"Are you sure you are ready to move?" Aslai asked from the perch of a tree branch, staring down at me.

"No" I answered back honestly. "But I know we can't stay here, the sun is going down. I grimaced at the thought of running into another nocturnal creature. I nearly died from the one this morning while I was practically at full strength.

"You don't have to watch your step anymore. I'll tell you if there are similar traps through my suit functions. Also Kit," Aslai announced, her voice tinged with a confusing mix of emotions highly unlike her usual self. We both stared at each other in silence, waiting for her to continue. "… I will tell you more when we find a shelter," she added.

We moved a pace quicker than I was comfortable, at a weird in-between jogging and walking speed. Right before my hand reached her in an attempt to ask her to take it slower, she quickly diverted to the right. My confusion was short-lived as she pointed out a similar trap to the one I fell for directly ahead. My suit picked it up as well, illuminating the ground in a vivid red around 10 meters in front of us. My eyes lingered on dying trees surrounding another bright blue flower at their center. I rubbed my arms trying to ignore the shivers going down my spine.

The sun dipped further in the sky, out of sight from our angle but still giving enough light to dye our surroundings in its red-golden hue. Aslai started a unique zig-zag pattern as we both became more desperate for shelter. I allowed myself to hang back slightly to give the land a closer look, sticking as close to Aslai's path as possible.

As we searched the sounds of the forest slowly died off, becoming deafly silent besides the occasional tree swaying from the wind. We were no longer dyed in the comfortable golden hue, but inky darkness that enveloped everything. My vision shifted to compensate, allowing me to navigate easily but further unnerving me. Thankfully at that moment Aslai quickly called me over to what she found.

Tucked beneath a set of roots was a hole the size of a watermelon. It was camouflaged against its surroundings in a way that made it hard to notice until you were on top of it. I studied it further, confused why my brain couldn't see the hole at certain angles until Aslai snapped me out of it.

"Go ahead and dig, I'll keep watch," Aslai commanded.

I didn't want to be encased in the earth again, but I knew the alternative was the belly of something lurking around, hunting for its nightly meal. I started chipping away at the sides to widen the hole. I knew it was our best shot at surviving the night, but it was hard to fight the creeping feeling of disgust and panic racking my brain.

"Are you sure there aren't any caves nearby?" I implored, surprising myself with the quick pace of my digging. I caught a glimpse of my hand claws extended without any command from me. It allowed me to cut through the dirt like butter, but I still had to push the dirt out of the way, slowing my progress just so slightly.

"There are no safe alternatives, your state is not ideal currently," Aslai stated. Soon sounds of conflict rang in my ears. Growling and snarling breaking up soft thuds and wacks. I started to turn my head only for Aslai to stop me as she nearly shoved me into the dirt. "Just keep digging, don't look. That’s my job." she directed, refocusing me on the task. I currently dug enough space for a waist to slip through, but unless our arms could dislocate our shoulders it was useless.

The sounds edged closer to us, the volume deafening as I felt the vibrations through the ground itself. Gunshots went off with loud wailing from the opposite side of me, an entirely different battle. "Focus Kit," Aslai ordered.

"Why don't you come to help me then?" I argued, my voice tinged with fear that I tried to hide. Aslai hesitated putting my guard up. "Aslai?" I questioned mildly confused.

"Kit, focus on digging. I'll tell you once we are safe." I shifted my position so that Aslai was in the corner of my eye as I dug.

A quick woosh followed by a deafening crack that traveled up my fingers paused my digging and the rest of the fighting in the forest. We all paused and looked toward the source of the sound. "Kit, Dig," Aslai demanded. I did but the rest of the forest remained quiet until the familiar sound of a falling tree woke everyone back up again to resume their fights. My eyes caught different groups of red outlines, some of them edging further away, others edging closer.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Thankfully, the hole was large enough for us to slip through and the pathway forward was much wider than the entrance, enough for one of us to crawl through at a time. Before I could speak, Aslai shoved me in the opening. I crawled forward, surrounded by dirt. It was uncomfortably warm, stuffy, and hard to breathe. I could feel sweat dripping down my face, some drips getting caught in my eyes.

"I'm right behind you, keep moving," Aslai announced warmly. "My suit is mapping out the tunnel, we won't get lost," she added reassuring me slightly. I made a mental note of what happened before, unwilling to revisit the topic until we are safe. After a brief moment of crawling, the tunnel forked, the left path dipping downwards while the right path remained mostly straight.

"Let's go right?" I hesitated, my head swayed from left to right. "It'll be a pain to slowly make our way up again"

"The tunnel widens further down and leads to an opening, the right path is filled with confusing twists and turns," Aslai said matter of factly from behind me. "In the case of combat, an open area will be preferable."

I thought it over for a bit before veering left and descending deeper into the abyss. Vibrations from the surface knocked loose dirt from the ceiling from time to time, impacts lessening over time as we descended. The path widened enough to allow us to squeeze side by side however Aslai still kept to my rear. I took it slow and did my best not to slide down. A low noise shook my focus and nearly made me slip.

"Grrrr"

The growl was low and soft, feeling closer to a small dog rather than the beasts we had seen outside. A distant small outline appeared in my vision. The creature was obscured by a bend in the tunnel making it hard to judge the distance and the size.

"Do you think it's far away and large or close and small?" I pondered out loud. I ran quick simulations in my head about how hard it would be to fight here. I'm currently tilted downwards so it'll be harder to run away, my range of motion is limited and my head would be an easy target. The positive is that I'm not alone, maybe if I descend feet first I could leverage-"

"It is around 4 meters away." Aslai confidently stated, shaking my thoughts.

"… how do you know that?" I probed, feeling the tension slowly melting away.

"The suit's sensor array, you can access this information through the command menu."

If she was correct that means the thing that growled at us is barely the size of a hand. My muscles relaxed from a surprising wave of lethargy that hit me.

"Is there something wrong?" Aslai inquired.

"Nothing, let's just keep moving." I sighed, trying to fight the exhaustion.

"Greerrrr" the animal continued growling at our slow advance. I scanned my surroundings again. The lack of other red blips showing up put me at ease and further discouraged me from harming whatever is ahead. Its growling overlapped with a small dog my friend kept around, it would growl at everyone but was completely harmless. Although the creature ahead definitely isn't a dog, I knew I would feel guilty if I harmed it. The pragmatic side of my brain argued that it didn't matter, I needed sleep more than it needs to growl. I recoiled at the thought I just had, making a mental note to take a relaxing bath once I return home.

"Grrrr to you to," I said back, absentmindedly attempting to rub my temples but instead hitting my helmet. A headache was forming on top of my exhaustion. I noted the small vine-like plants lining the sides of the cave wall, absentmindedly gazing at them before moving forward.

"It can't hear you."

"We aren't that far away, unless it's growling at something else," I thought out loud, stopping in my tracks again.

"If you want to be heard, you need custom commands, the suit hides our voices from outsiders," Aslai revealed confidently, sounding proud of herself. Should I praise her?

"How can you dig so deep into the suit features while still keeping an eye on our surroundings?" I replied, noticing my eyes were getting heavy.

"I had a lot of practice before I came here." Aslai hinted, revealing nothing else.

I was too tired to press the issue, instead diving back into my suit's commands. "Custom Command : External Speakers?" I said unsure of myself, "Wait, what do I say to-" I stopped hearing my voice twice. The sound exploded off of the walls and disoriented me for a second before I realized it was my voice.

"Yeeelp" the creature responded to the boom. It scurried into the distance as another red outline came into vision. Smaller and very blurred before fading into a softer red. Aslai softly prodded me forward while I deactivated the auditory weapon which is my bass-boosted speakers. My mind quickly flashed to possible uses to scare off others or potentially use it as a weapon. I flashed Aslai a smile in thanks before remembering she can't see my face and facing forward in embarrassment.

After a half minute of a slow crawl, we were greeted by a large opening in the dirt. A large circular room carved out into the dirt, tall enough to stand in and long enough to fit a few large mattresses in. Its walls were dressed with different plants like a small underground terrarium. Coconuts and red pineapples grew from the ceiling and the ground respectively. Several animals' positions were given away by whatever radar system this suit had despite them slinking further into the recesses of the room and plant life. After confirming nothing was bigger than the size of a sub sandwich, I found a nice wall to lean against.

"Aslai, sorry I'm very out of it. Could you take the first watch?" I yawned, fighting the urge to lie down.

"Sure." was all I could hear before my body melted into the floor and I fell asleep.