Tail between my legs, crouched and head bowed, I try to look as submissive as possible. It's not that hard, I feel very submissive at this point. The last words of the serpi person were 'just do as you're told' and it seems like the best thing to do for now. The dungeon fairy speaks again. Her tone is much less threatening now I seem to know my place.

"Taku has set out a path for you to where you must go. You'll receive further instructions there. Now go."

And with that I'm dismissed. Looking around I can see at least three exits from this room, but there doesn't seem to be any path which is marked until I breathe in. There is something in the air on a path to my right. I inhale deeply, but it isn't really a scent and doesn't give me any more information. Since I don't get yelled at when I head in that direction it is probably the 'path'.

The corridor quickly changes from smoothed stone to rough cavern stone. I hear and see bugs moving around in the darkness. It's darker here than in the cave chambers back home, probably completely dark. There are some luminescent plants or fungi here an there. They don't taste like anything special and I can still see, so it's not that important and I continue on my way, slowly chewing.

How broad and high the tunnel is varies and for my own variety I use the walls and ceiling to move. Occasionally the ceiling has traps on them which require me to use the wall or the floor, sometimes the floor is trapped and sometimes the walls. I think they're traps at least. A trap, an ambush by something not alive, or sometimes something alive. Seems like a usable idea. Idly studying what can be seen of the things, I make sure to keep moving as long as it's away from the fairy thing.

It's quite some time before I meet the first creature other than the cat and the fairy. After the long and windy corridor of traps comes a bigger room, chamber would be a better word. It looks more official than a mere room, with worked stone, pillars and arches around the sides, a light on the ceiling and some furniture over the place. There is one thing I recognize as a bed and another is another desk. The path ends here for now. Since I am not to sit on desks as yellow hair instructed me, I take my time to study the creature in the room.

It's wearing another of those robe things and I can see some pointed ears poking out from under yet again hair. This hair is not very long, I wonder what it is for? It might be another of those humans, I won't know for sure until I get closer and smell it. I need to get closer because the air in this chamber barely moves and is laden with all kind of weird things and smells that tickle my nose, so I can't tell from here. Those two-legged things all look almost the same. I can see it doesn't have the red skin or horns from the Talkers at least, but that is as far as recognition goes.

Whatever in the air finally wins and I sneeze.

The creature turns around and it looks human, but with a much thinner and longer face than what I've seen before. I'm starting to learn that the differences between individuals is often in the faces with these creature, rather than the skin-patterns. A rather strange idea, but it makes sense if they always cover themselves with clothing or armor. You have to tell one another apart some way, don't you? And with the changeable outer skins, a face would work. It's probably easier to see the differences if you grow up with it too. I just don't see it. The thing begins to speak. To my surprise I actually manage to understand it.

"Well well, what have we here. Let me take a look."

I stay still as he... Is it a he? Who cares. He prods and pokes me, examines my claws, pulls on the spikes that will be my third pair of limbs, stretches my other limbs and my tail and generally makes me want to claw at him. Which I don't. The first real lesson I've learned is to sit still and not do anything in an uncertain situation. The little imp on the second day, the moment with the queens, when I came to in the strange place. Just do nothing or things get worse. This creature is really testing my resolve though. Finally the prodding stops.

"You can 'talk' back at me, I'm fluent in Daemon and Daevil, if I say so myself, though the subtler nuances of Daemon are beyond me with this body. It's something only the beast-bodied manage. Now, let me introduce myself first." At this he makes a small bow from the waist. "My name is Tarvinder, though that is not my given name. As you may not have guessed, I'm an elf. I reside here in this dungeon for my studies and so I won't be pestered by wanna-be apprentices. You, on the other hand, are a swarmling of the imp type. Quite affected by the demonic side of your species as is evident from your lack of wings. Hm, yes, and you've already been summoned at least once before, those muscles didn't quite make themselves."

The 'elf' stands up straight and looks at me expectantly. I have no clue what he, I'm fairly certain it's a he at this point, wants from me, so I return the favor and stare at him expectantly. Since I can blink without closing my eyes, I easily win the staring contest.

"You're supposed to confirm I'm right and introduce yourself now. What is your name?"

It takes me a while to collect the phrase. My body is not well suited for this kind of speech, a lot of the sounds still beyond my capabilities. Finally I manage to croak out the basics. "Yes. What, name?" How can I tell him what my name is when I don't know what it is? I'm fairly certain it's not part of my body, there are names for all the parts I can think of. It takes a bit for the elf to reply. The vaguely pleasant expression is gone and has been replaced by what I'm starting to recognize as 'irritation'.

"Ah, yes. I had expected you to be a bit older, a bit more advanced, given your muscle and bone development. It's not for me to name you, so we'll skip the pleasantries. What to do with you... I see. Let's get you on your way then, shall we?" With that the elf turns away and uncovers a smaller tunnel halfway up the wall. It'd been hidden by something that looks like wall-clothes. "These are the traffic lanes for the smaller creatures like you. Not all the tunnels and walls are the dungeon, it connects to other caves both to the Underground and the Aboveground. Dungeons are basically earth elementals, with all the consequences thereof." He looks at me for a moment before he continues. "Not that you'd understand any of that."

"Lots of pests crawl into these ducts, attracted by the waste mana the dungeon produces as it consumes primal energies. Much like myself, really. They are both defenders of the elemental as it grows and a drain on its resources, some are outright harmful and a contamination. Kill anything small and weak enough for you to do so. Stay away from the eight legged spiders. I'm fully aware they have more legs on your world, but they should look about the same." The elf is standing next to the hole in the wall now and I can read impatience in his body.

"Yes," is my simple answer and with a few leaps and a hop I move myself into the small space. It's still big enough to move mostly comfortable, but something like the elf would have a lot of trouble moving. For a moment I picture it. Face first, arms stretched out in front of him to pull him forwards. Defenceless. It's a nice image. The only trouble I have is the limb-spikes on my back hitting the occasional low part and my tail blade bouncing off the walls. Once the wall-covering is back in place and the corridor is devoid of light I try if I can turn around. Just in case. It's not easy or very fast, but do-able.

It's not far at all until the first intersection. My corridor stops and opens in a slightly bigger one that turns a bit, so I can't see very far at all. From what I can tell, one fork heads roughly in the direction of the room where I appeared, so I take the other direction. Forewarned about critters making their home here, my ears and sense of smell are on high alert. In a place like this where I can't see very far ahead, those are more reliable than sight.

I pass other intersections and take turns more or less randomly. The most I've found is some moss and normal insects. Somehow I doubt they called me in for that. I'm no expert on summoning yet, but nothing ever comes without a price and these bugs would pop from me licking them. They taste like bug, but have an interesting crunchy texture with a spicy after-taste. It also gave me a bit of a nasty surprise. The moss makes my tongue glow. For a few minutes I just move my tongue around and admire the show.

For now I'm not facing anything dangerous and I'm not worried about getting lost - being by far the smelliest thing travelling these tunnels I can easily back-track by scent alone. I could also look for the occasional chip my tail leaves in the wall. Still, this is not the moment to lower my guard. Every time before, bad things happened when I did.

A waft of differently scented air alerts me to a larger space up ahead. I've been avoiding these branches, the elf specifically told me to go to the smaller places. Curiosity gets the better of me as I hear some scritching noises I haven't heard before and I crawl to the opening. I'm approaching a room from slightly above. It seems the hole is hidden by a ledge and moss, making it hard to find and reach. As I peek through the beard of moss hanging from above the opening, my eyes take in my first glimpse of the actual main dungeon tunnels. I'm not impressed.

It looks almost the same as any other tunnel, maybe with a few more glowing fungi and other plants. It's the same rough rock here as anywhere else. From ceiling to floor it is as high as the elf and about as wide as it is high. On a second assessment, this is probably a branch from the main tunnel as I can see multiple holes like the one I'm peeking from at various places. About halfway down the area is an opening to a much larger space. The sound I heard are bugs, similar to the pop-bugs but quite a bit bigger, almost half the size I am.

Movement on the opposite wall close to the ceiling attracts my attention. A spider bigger than me is waving a leg way closer than I'd like it to be. Back home there were three types of spiders. Weavers, which I never saw because the area was a death-trap of webs, ambushers which we learned to bait and hunters like the one I'm staring at right now. Strong legs, armored body and excellent sight. I notice its mandibles are on the smaller side, which makes me think of poison and my mouth begins begin to salivate. It's feels like its been ages since I've had poison glands.

Unfortunately, the elf told me to stay away from them, though it may have been out of concern for me and not the spider, it's still quite a bit bigger and heavier than I am. This spider is waving one of its legs at me, then waving another at the bugs. I wait and watch to see if it has other tricks. It waves at me, at its mandibles and at the bugs below. The longer I wait, the more complicated the show becomes and I wonder how I show appreciation in Spider.

As much as I want to continue watching just to annoy the creature, the bugs below are probably what I'm after and I need to observe them. Rushing in comes later. The noise I heard is them scraping at the wall and eating what little bits of dust or pebbles comes off. After considering the speech from elf, at least the parts I understood, this would mean they're eating the dungeon. Probably not good. After a glance at my tail I refuse to think about the scratches and chips I left in my wake.

Now the bugs are bigger they're easier to study too. They're a vague oval shape with banded armor over the top. Peeking out from underneath are more than a few legs on either side. They tend to move, slowly, in one direction only. I assume it's the front, but there is nothing else I can see to tell me which side it is. Then one pops. It's not a pop like when I licked the small ones, but something clicks, opens and puffs out something from its behind which makes for a foul contrast with the dungeon air. I am now no longer the smelliest thing around here.

A glance at the spider shows me it seems to be staring at me. I've already-out stared the elf and since this thing can't blink at all, I don't challenge its stare. What I do take a good look at are the tips of its legs and the mandibles. It must have a hard time against those bugs. Part of the rock they eat goes straight to their carapace and the spider doesn't look equipped to deal with it. Oh well, more for me. I am absolutely confident my claws can pierce them. If I can get to the softer part on the bottom.

The bugs look to be stuck at the floor level. I can imagine the heavy stone on their backs is to blame for that. My tactic is to approach from above, grab one on any edge I can reach and flip it over as far as I can. Then I kill it. It is the most complicated plan I've ever thought of. It may be the first plan I've ever thought of too, but it's something I know how to do.

Sleeping on a ceiling by preference has its advantages as my claws easily find little notches and pits to hook into, without crushing the stone beneath. That last would probably get me in trouble. My first course takes me to directly above the things. They don't seem to be able to look up very well and I don't like being seen. Claw by claw I move closer. The occasional bits of dust are dislodged, but the bugs are ignoring everything. My movements are even slower and more careful on the descent. Still none of them have noticed me. Or if they did, they don't care. Once in reach, I pull back one limb and launch it forwards.

I feel my claws sink in just below its upper shell. As expected, their under-side is quite a bit softer. Yanking my arm back I prepare to drop on the exposed belly. As it notices it's being attacked there is another pop and a foul stench. While it makes me feel a bit light headed, there is no other effect. Unfortunately the creature is quite a bit heavier than expected. It's lifted up, off balance and teetering on the edge of falling over, but so am I. My grip on the wall has slipped due to the unexpected weight and I'm scrambling to recover, with one claw still hooked in the creature. I'm the one who falls first and with my claw still stuck in its carapace the blasted bug teeters back, on top of me!

For a moment I fully expect it to crush me instantly and though I feel some creaking, it doesn't happen. I don't want to give it time to react and hook my other claw in solidly. Bending my spine and tucking in my legs is the work of a moment and just like I did with the talker, my rear limbs heave. The first attempt leaves deep grooves, the second detaches detachable bits and the third time I rake my claws along its bottom the chitin cracks and I'm splattered with bug guts.

Pushing the heavy thing off of me, I roll away and jump for the wall, scrambling for height. For nought, as the remaining bugs make a run for it. More or less. I have learned an important lesson right now. Don't just make a plan, count your enemies. This could have gone a lot worse. There's quite some bug stuff on me and I scoop some up with my tongue. It has quite the tangy taste to the point of being uncomfortable. The small ones have my taste preference, so I'll focus my efforts on making sure they don't get this big.

There is a sound of retching behind me. I'm very sure spiders don't retch, so I immediately make for one of the smaller tunnels leading away from here. Before diving in, I take a quick look behind me to identify the attacker. It's the fairy. She's holding some kind of crystal again, a round one this time, but it's also glowing. The voice of the elf is coming from it, somehow. She's ignoring me for now, which suits me fine. Just in case I shouldn't run away, I stay and listen to the conversation. The elf is speaking a language I don't understand, but I can understand her at least.

"It actually ate some of it! Don't they have a sense of smell or taste? Uhuh. Hmm. I see. And what about the poison? Serious?" She turns her head to look at me.

"Thank you, Tarvinder, this has been an excellent contribution. I'm sure you'll find your stay much more comfortable for the foreseeable future. Lets see what other uses this creature has." She starts to smile. I don't like this smile. My heart beat is speeding up and I can feel the fear rising as the fairy approaches. For some reason she's breathing shallow too and there is a bit of a paleness to her skin. Does it really smell that bad?

I can see the color of her eyes now, it's purple.

I don't like the look in her eyes.