And so, Theo began wandering through the first layer. His campfire burned out quickly and without any oil or magically enhanced cloth, there was no way to preserve it. The first thing he did was find a glowing blue crystal and break it. Light remained in the smaller pieces for less than five minutes. Chunks the size of his head could last for over thirty minutes, but they still ran out before he found a second crystal.

In the dark, the biggest threats were monsters called packers. Theo couldn’t tell if they were dog-like rats or rat-like dogs, but the tallest ones stood at waist height and were extremely fast. Just as Kaiya said, they didn’t attack head on. Instead, they stalked their prey with frightening patience. Chasing them through the darkness was impossible, but Theo took solace in the fact that he could easily ward off any brave packers with a boot to the nose.

Eventually, Theo found another crystal. He broke off a large piece and moved forward for half an hour. Afterwards, he retraced his steps, broke off the largest chunk that he could carry, and then sprinted back.

“Retracing my steps from a day ago might be impossible, but this much should be safe.”

By traveling with crystals and then quickly backtracking through the darkness, Theo almost always had a light source. However, a lack of light was nothing compared to his largest problem. To put it bluntly, he was lost. At this point, Theo couldn’t even prove that he was heading towards the second layer.

“Kaiya was using some sort of compass…” Theo mused aloud. “But I don’t have anything like that, and I can’t buy one, even if I did have money.”

“I guess there are three solutions. One, find another group and steal their tools. Two, reproduce the compass with materials I find. Three, find some other means of navigation.”

Theo decided that solution one would cause more problems than it would solve. Plus, robbing other raiders without a weapon could easily be fatal. Solution two was likely impossible, since he had no idea how Kaiya’s compass was made. Solution three couldn’t be rejected. Though, that was mainly because it was so vague.

“Leaving marks on dungeon walls is notoriously unreliable…Anything I place on the ground will be eaten by packers…”

“But this place isn’t endless! I can move while keeping a mental map. It won’t be perfectly accurate, but at least I can avoid going around in circles.”

Two days passed in slow agony. Theo had eaten everything he could while traveling with Kaiya’s group, but it wasn’t enough. His body had been malnourished before reaching this dungeon and he couldn’t hold out for very long without a meal. Water could be found in thick vines throughout the dungeon. These were extremely common in areas that couldn’t support large bodies of water. Theo frequently saw solid food as well, but it was a lot more skittish. It was almost impossible for him to sneak up on animals that lived in this darkness. Chasing them through narrow, monster-made tunnels would be asking for death. In fact, running quickly through any unexplored area carried a significant risk of death by slime.

By the end of his third day in Naraka, Theo’s stomach was empty, save for a few pale mushrooms. These fungi weren’t very healthy, but they were the only edible thing that he recognized. Theo grimaced as he heard the pitter patter of paws behind him. The crowd of packers was growing. He tripped, stumbling from a mix of hunger and sleep deprivation. Low growls broke out in the darkness. As the packers advanced, Theo could see that there were more than enough to overwhelm him.

The haggard raider broke into a sprint. Yes, running through the darkness was risky. But Theo decided that unknown danger was better than the known danger scampering behind him. He abandoned his mental map and moved as efficiently as possible. In desperation, Theo ducked into a narrow passageway. He climbed an uneven section of wall until he reached a small hole. It was obviously a burrow of some kind, but Theo thrust himself inside without any hesitation. He crawled until the burrow led into an area where he could stand. Theo looked around, but it was too dark to see anything. After listening carefully and catching his breath, Theo pulled a chunk of glowing crystal out of his pocket. It was about to expire, but he would be able to see for a couple of minutes.

Theo sighed in relief, just before a tentacle shot down from the ceiling and wrapped itself around his arms and waist. A second one covered his mouth, silencing his half-formed scream. A shadowy figure dropped to the floor with a splat. Theo watched it congeal into a vaguely humanoid shape under the crystal’s faint blue light. Its slender body was covered by a dark green cloak while its face was hidden behind a white mask. Theo struggled violently, but it was futile.

The figure approached him in silence. Theo redoubled his efforts to escape as he watched it lift one hand. A dark blue finger pointed at the trapped raider. The figure moved forward until they were almost touching and then…it tapped him.

Theo froze in shock as the slime poked and prodded. It pulled lightly at his hair and tugged on his cloak. The slime inspected each and every part of his outfit, leaving Theo feeling a bit violated. Then, it raised its head and looked him in the eye. Theo didn’t want to show any fear, but it was impossible under these circumstances.

“Hu…Human.”

Theo’s eyes widened and his pupils constricted.

“No…fear…Ah, I…no…harm.”

“Am I dreaming?” Theo thought.

The first dungeon that Theo explored had a very unique structure. Unlike Naraka’s nebulous layers, Jigou was cleanly divided into numbered floors. Out of all those floors, number thirty-six was by far the most famous. It certainly wasn’t the deepest, in fact, it was only about halfway to the current bottleneck. But, there was a species of bird there that caused a massive stir on the surface. These birds were the first and only monsters that could mimic human speech. Countless researchers flocked to Jigou when they learned about this. For a few months, Jigou became the most popular dungeon in the continent. Even after the excitement died down, those birds continued to be priceless commodities. Almost ten percent of all trips into Jigou were made for the sake of capturing or researching avian monsters.

And yet, this monster in front of him was speaking.

“Words…hard…you…understand?”

Theo nodded slowly.

“I…release…no…attack?”

Theo nodded again. Considering this creature could easily snap his neck, attacking was the last thing on his mind.

The instant he was released, Theo turned around and dove towards the hole that he’d crawled out of. Another tentacle coiled around his leg and lifted him into the air.

“Very…rude.” The slime huffed.

Theo felt his scalp tingling. Although most of that tingling was caused by blood rushing to his head, some of it stemmed from a new question that was burning inside of his mind. He kicked the tentacle with his free foot, and to his surprise, it recoiled. Theo slipped out of the slime’s grasp and fell head first into the ground.

For a moment, all Theo could see was white. He writhed miserably as pain reverberated through his body. This reaction only lasted for an instant. Soon, Theo was forced to relax as his consciousness slipped away.

“Why…” Theo muttered as the slime loomed over him. As his mind spun, a strange question rose to the surface. “Why is that slime’s voice so…angelic?”

Whether that creature was a masked outlaw or a monstrous slime, Theo felt that it was common sense for them to have an intimidating voice. Instead, that creature’s clumsy hesitant words caressed his ears like fine silk. If Theo had heard its words in pure darkness, then he would have assumed that a beautiful young woman was hiding just out of sight.

When Theo opened his eyes, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. However, he did know that this was the first good night’s sleep he’d had in ages. He groped around in the darkness for a wall, until his hand brushed past something unfamiliar. Theo recoiled and just barely prevented himself from yelling in surprise. After collecting himself, he recognized the herbal smell in front of him.

Theo’s hand ventured out once more, and he found a few types of plants and fungi lying in a neat pile. He had seen all of them at least once while trekking through the first layer. There was a pale mushroom, which Theo knew was safe, but the rest were plants that he hadn’t encountered in Jigou.

He devoured the mushroom and then stared warily at the other herbs. His stomach growled fiercely, as if it was trying to burst out of his chest and consume the food in front of him. After some hesitation, Theo decided that he may as well risk it. Dying from poison wouldn’t be much different than dying from hunger.

They tasted too good to be poisonous. Or at least, that was the excuse Theo made while shoveling them into his mouth.

“Ah…human…awake…”

Theo’s head snapped towards the small hole that he’d crawled out from. The reason he found it so quickly was because of a bright blue light. This light was leaking out from the hole and it grew brighter every second.

“Not…die…glad.”

A featureless white mask left the hole, followed by a green cloak and a mass of blue slime. Cradled within that slime’s arms was a chunk of glowing crystal. The slime slithered over to Theo and formed legs as it sat down.

For a moment, the two of them stared at each other in silence. In Theo’s case, he had frozen up and was desperately trying to not panic. Meanwhile, the slime seemed to be searching through its limited vocabulary for something to say.

“Head…not…die?”

The slime cocked its head as Theo processed that question.

“My head is fine.” He nodded. “Um, thank you. For giving me food…and not, uh, eating me.”

“Your head is fine…” The slime repeated happily. “Good.”

“Now that I’m wide awake, that voice really is…” Theo thought, hesitating.

The raider quickly shook his head.

“So, why did you help me?”

The slime paused. Its hair-like tentacles whipped about for a moment, and then they suddenly lay still.

“Want…talk.”

“You want to talk to me?”

“Yes…I want to talk to you.”

“Well, ok.” Theo shrugged. He couldn’t exactly run away. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Just…talk.” The slime sounded confused. “No…about.”

Its tentacles undulated again and then settled.

“No…about…what…”

“You don’t know what to talk about?” Theo guessed. “You just want to talk?”

The mask nodded fiercely.

Theo put a hand to his chin. It didn’t feel like he was talking to a child. This slime could understand him…probably. However, it had trouble putting words together on its own.

“How did you learn to speak?”

“…Learn?”

“How do you know words?”

“Ah!” The slime exclaimed. “I listen.”

“To raiders? The humans in here?”

“Yes…raiders…in dungeon…Naraka.”

Theo blinked in surprise. The gears in his head began to turn.

“It even knows where we are…You can’t compare it to birds that mimic human speech. This thing is very intelligent.”

“So, you learned from listening…” Theo thought out loud. “That’s why you understand words, but not grammar or syntax.”

“Eh…grammar…syntax?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“…Worry?”

Theo sighed. “It’s like fear.”

“Ok…I don’t worry.”

Theo crossed his legs and cracked his knuckles. He realized this ‘talk’ might take a while.

“I said it earlier, but learn means ‘working to know’. Why are you learning how to speak?”

“Want to…go…live…human…place.”

“A slime wants to live in a human town?”

The slime nodded cautiously and Theo burst out laughing. This alarmed the slime, but Theo held out a hand, signaling for it to wait.

“Well, what do you know?” He grinned. “We want the same damn thing.”