I really should have thought about that before, I mean, axolotls aren’t exactly the most self-conscious species, but…

Whatever!

This is so cool!!

It’s like that little antenna that angler-fish have, except on me!

And there’s a little gem in it, to boot!!

Obviously, I have been reborn into some sort of lord of the rings-esqe fantasy world where eating rocks gives you strange and positive mutations.

I think?

Then again, chances are I’m not in a cave AT ALL, and I’ve just been imagining this the whole time.

I guess there’s only one way to find out!

Swimming upwards using mostly my tail, I quickly and smoothly emerged from the murky waters to take a big breath.

Oops.

...However, unlike before…

I didn’t choke.

No, despite knowing fully well I was not the water anymore, I could still, somehow, breathe. And, curiouser yet, my skin didn’t feel prickly at all from the dry air, like before, but was instead moist and nice as usual.

Hm…

My thoughts immediately flew to the strange rock/gem.

If it could make a weird antenna grow within seconds, something like this should really be quite obvious when you think about it.

My thoughts all set on the how and why, I excitedly turned to my real reason for surfacing: checking out my surroundings!

And, to be sure, it was a cave.

By the dim light of my little bulb, I could see bony stalactites hanging from the ceilings, stalagmites right below, hoping to meet-and-greet each other. I couldn’t see much further than the very brim of the pond, which really wasn’t that big, and anything further than that was just complete darkness.

And by complete darkness, I, of course, mean: previously unexplored territory!!

If just one weird tasty rock could give me light and air-breathe, imagine what another one could do!

In fact, now that I can smell the air properly, I can already feel a delicious scent reaching my nostrils… not as intense as the rock, but definitely not a smell you would associate with being hundreds of feet underground. Rather, the smell made me think of something much more homely…

Namely, raspberries and milk.

Yeah, I’m as confused as you are, but…

That does mean that there’s more to find here, right?

And, plus, an exit would actually be pretty nice, so there’s that as well.

Sniff sniff sniffing the air once more, I found exactly which way was the way towards the breakfast-y smell.

Hmmm, that way.

Turning my head to the left, I start swimming slowly, using almost only my tail. It’s surprisingly effective as a rudder. This had to be how mermaids feel, right? This has to be that, right?

Right.

I reached the end of the pond within only a matter of seconds, which tells quite a bit about how fast I am as a swimmer. Or, about just how small this pond I was in was.

Crawling my way onto the bare ground, I found the rocks underneath me to feel quite a lot better than before. Less cold and course, and more smooth. It’s probably the rock’s doing.

You know, anything supernatural happens, I’m going to blame it on the rock.

The place I had crawled up on proved to be a little opening in between a bunch of stalagmites, showing a clear path to wherever it was I wanted to go.

Laughing evilly to myself, I clumsily crawled my way between the stalagmites, which opened up into a larger space.

Looking up at the stalagmites, I happened to notice just how extremely large they were. I wasn’t sure about how large I was, but if I was the size of a man, crawling on all fours, then those large pillars of rock had to be at least 200 meters tall, larger than the tallest of skyscrapers!

Then again, I might just be very small.

Who knows, really?

Whichever was the case, I was already hungry for more, and that smell sure was right around the corner.

Going around a corner or two, I realized that I was probably very small and the cave was pretty normal-sized. At least, that was the feeling I got. The ceiling was high and the walls were broad, the floor littered with stalagmites and numerous stalactites dangling hazardously from the ceiling in correspondence to the stalagmites below. And I could swear that these caves looked just like those you saw in the pictures. And if a man was able to stand upright in a cave like this, I must be… around 1 cm? That can’t be. Then again, maybe I’ll grow?...

Wandering slowly, thinking about my situation, I failed to notice that I had reached my destination. That is, until I walked into it, quite literally.

Owch!

Pain rang though my body, especially my head, and I fell back, surprised and hurt.

But in the light of my little lure, I saw not a normal wall, but a glimmering, shining network of… something.

This had to be the source of the smell.

Reluctantly, yet knowing this was the right decision, I licked the wall. It was course, as expected, and rough, as expected, and tasted like… oats and blueberries!

My eyes flared open, and without thinking, I tried to take a big bite of the wall. Which I did.

Chewing happily and intently, I forgot the fact that A, axolotls aren’t exactly known for their biting capabilities, and B, this would be literally impossible in any other scenario. But I was hungry, and according to my biological clock, it was morning, so blueberries and oats it was!

I must’ve sat there, chewing the wall, for at least an hour. There was always more, and I always wanted more. I would have called it an evil circle if it wasn’t so delicious.

Eventually though, I heard something. A voice like no other, neither young nor old, female nor male, like a snake trying to speak though it’s hisses,

“Endurance +1”

I immediately snapped out of my preoccupation, turning around so fast that I might as well have called myself “speed-o-sound”.

Nothing.

Nobody.

But I couldn’t take any chances.

I was scared, and that I would remain until the chances of a threat was gone.

I could neither see nor hear anything. It was all still.

I stood entirely still for a good minute until I turned back to my meal, one eye over my shoulder at all times.

And after only a couple of mouthfuls…

“Elasticity +1”

I didn’t turn around this time. I just stood still. Listening.

Nothing.

Then… it must be in my head.

Am I going mad?

Well, there is always the chance that I’m just in an asylum, imagining this whole thing, but I’m not going to assume insanity. That’s just dumb!

Maybe, just maybe…

What I’m eating right now causes that voice to speak?

Well…

Only one was to find out!

I shoved my face into the wall, chewing energetically, sadly noticing how the amount of flavour slowly diminished as I went along, eventually leaving me with a whole mouth of nothing. But I still chewed it. And, finally…

“Size +1”

And the exact moment I heard that voice, I could swear the cave got smaller.

Then again, if I’m to trust that voice…

It might be that I got…

Bigger?...