Looking up at the trees on the other side of the clearing, where the other two creatures vanished moments ago, I feel my breaths stabilize enough for normal actions once more.

I worry about those two, they retreated too quickly for my liking. While facing them would be mildly dangerous I am concerned that it would be even more dangerous should they return later with reinforcements. Even three of these things facing me at once could likely kill me unless I had extreme luck and was at my best, or they faced me one at a time such as this creature did. With this lethargy from sending out those sparks, and my mind still muddled after awakening as I have, I am far from ‘at my best’.

I peer down at the corpse of the Armordillo then back at the Room with reluctance, knowing what I must do. Having just escaped from that place I am loathe to return, but for now at least it offers a touch of safety that is lacking out here. My pride is stung once more at the need to retreat, but pride comes before a fall.

Standing with a humiliating grunt of effort, I grab the surprisingly tiny front legs of the creature and begin to pull it back toward the Room, straining at the things massive weight. The plates on its back make things more difficult as the edges pull and snag at the weeds and plants on the ground. Eventually I approach the massive stone that was once the doorway and maneuvering it on top of that takes even more effort, enough that I have to pause to gather my breath again once it is on top.

After a moment I look out again at where the others left and instantly regain my wind, pulling once more inside. I can suffer later, when I am out of immediate danger.

Once it is just inside I drop the arms and it hits the ground with a thud and head back out, feeling light as a feather without the thing holding me back. Since I intend to return to the room I have decided not to do things halfway.

Heading into the closest trees I grab one of the many fallen branches before I return to the entrance and use it to brush at the blood trail leading to the room, muddying the trail a little bit. Once done I place it in front of the exit, blocking vision a little. Several trips and several more branches later I have formed a crude camouflage, not one that would withstand more than token scrutiny but hopefully enough to confuse animals or at least give me a moment's warning should anything approach.

Back inside I pick up the creatures front again and drag it to the opposite end of the Room from the doorway, instinctively sitting under the comfort of the lit stone in the wall.

I am exhausted by this point, utterly shattered. It is hard to imagine that it has only been less than an hour since I awoke here. It feels like days.

Pride roars and I force myself to action, turning to the corpse to study it.

Moving to the mangled head I pull back its lips to investigate the teeth. They are varied and many, looking quite terrifying. Somehow though I know this kind of teeth is not really intended for eating meat or plants but insects and other small creatures. Small bits of such bugs caught among them prove this hypothesis to be correct.

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The claws are next, and I find that they are much smaller and blunter than they should be, perhaps due to its fairly unique method of defense? Large and sharp claws would be problematic when they are rolled up inside a wheel shape, placing them right next to his own belly and head. When making contact it could inadvertently gutt itself. Playing with them a moment I press on the pad and find that they are actually extendable, growing perhaps three times as long as what is obvious, they are thick and blunt ones probably intended for both peeling back bark and striking from the side during a roll without breaking off.

The shell is next and proves to be lighter and more malleable than I had initially thought. One of the plates near the tail is loose and after some straining I manage to pull it completely free, finding it fairly light and mutable, bending much like a slightly more stiff form of aluminium. The edges are fairly sharp, and the entire plate is perhaps a few millimeters in thickness, about twenty centimeters in width and perhaps a third of a meter long.

I fold a part of the plate over on itself with effort then stomp on it, thickening it before twisting it, forming a crude handled blade. I test it on the creature's flesh and it cuts, though with difficulty. The strain bends the blade slightly, proving how little durability the thing has. But it is better than using my fingernails and will do until I find something better.

Over the next hour I use the blade, and its replacement when the first bends beyond use, to cut away all the plates. I set them to the side for now, then focus on the rest of the corpse.

Deciding I might as well prepare the meat for later, I first peel off the skin and set it aside before starting to clean it, pulling out its innards as I leave it to bleed nearby. I stand and head to the exit, planning to cast them outside so the bloody scent doesn’t lead creatures in, when I see a small spark of something…

Searching through the remains I spot...

A stone.

Perhaps a quarter the size of those in the wall and connected to the innards of the creature is a small pebble in the same vaguely tear shaped form of those on the walls. It is a yellow green color speckled with blue and red, looking like a much smaller and duller version of those I have already seen.

Huh?

Pulling the stone from the remains, I toss the guts outside, then head back in. Sitting under the light of the stone I examine this find, wiping away the blood with a bit of spit and the skin of the beast before holding it to my eye.

The thing has the same strange weight of the others, as if it were lead instead of the glass like substance it seems to be. I can also feel a strange energy within it, something hard to miss after I accidentally consumed the flame from the other earlier. This energy seems gentler but also far weaker than the other.