*tskskskskt*

 

My mandibles click as I excitedly scuttle over the desert dunes, searching for new prey. Fine grained sand is blown all around me, propelled by the soft desert winds, piling it high atop the many dunes that seem to rise and fall like the waves of an orange ocean.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

  I click excitedly with my pincers as I scuttle, looking for food. For prey. I wonder what I’ll get today? Maybe a lizard? Maybe some lost goblin? My sharp little feet clatter over a heap of old, sun-bleached skeletons. Their bones tumble down the dune behind me, before coming to a rest down in a crevice. Sand blows to cover them back up like a blanket being laid over sleeping children by a caring mother. Like a cloth wrapped over a dead body to hide its cold visage from the world.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

My tail swings around behind me in the air, the stinger slicing through the heat.

 

Dead body?

 

Dead body.

 

I look around myself. Guy? Are you there, iyoume?

 

  The lonely desert winds howl on, giving an answer to my call. A resounding no. But it’s a liar. You can’t trust the desert, guy, it’s full of lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Eyes? Eyes. Eyes! My pincers dig into the sand as I see eyes below me. I clutch the little lizard, clenching it tightly in my claws. It scurries, trying to escape, but its legs are already crushed. It’s too small to be worth injecting with venom. So I opt to squeeze it instead.

 

CRUNCH.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

  I tear into the tiny lizard, eating it's delicious red meat, as I think. As I think with my eyes, as I think such sussurant thoughts. Sussurant is an anagram you know? You can make a lot of fun words and phrases with those letters, but none you need to know about, guy. Especially with eyeyoume here listening to our conversations. Gotta keep it professional, you know?

 

Wait.

 

I look around the desert, feeling the wind on my chitin. I feel something. Something…

 

I slurp the lizard tail inside of my mouth, swallowing the rest of it.

 

I wonder if Madison is enjoying her vacation? I bet she is. She really deserves it, she’s such a hard worker, you know? And what a good friend she is. I have such good friends! I really am blessed, you know? To have so many good people in my life.

 

Should I be doing something?

 

The desert winds blow on, ever-present. I close my eyes to just feel the heat on my body for a while. It’s nice having a body again. I was floating for a long time there. I don’t know for how long. A lot longer than I usually would.

 

A lot longer.

 

  I’ll spare you the details, guy. Anyways, do you think we should get eyoume something? As a welcoming gift. No? Hmm… Yeah, you’re probably right. Upper management might think it’s weird too. You know how they get about things like this. Besides, what would we even get? eyeyoume already has eyes.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

Should I be doing something? I look around myself.

 

  Oh. Right. The stairs. Haha, silly me. I’m a little forgetful these days, guy. You understand. Come on, let’s go. Do you want me to hold your hand? I have a really strong grip. My pincers click in excitement as I turn around to go back the other way, to head towards the real staircase. They’re open now, so I might as well go up them. A shadow of something flies over my head. It’s just a harpy. Good luck harpy. I hope you find a lizard too.

 

We mostly leave each other alone. I’d sting her if she gets too close and she’d shred me if I get too close to her. So we opt to agree to disagree. But I don’t hold it against her. It just is what it is. I like her eyes though.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

Approaching the real staircase, I place my little pointy legs onto it and scuttle up and off into the darkness.

 

Not much later, without any further events, I enter the hydra’s lair. Oh. Right. I forgot about this. Nervously, I look up towards the leviathan, but to my relief, it seems to be facing the other way and by the sounds of things, it’s asleep.

 

Happy about my luck, I scuttle onward and around, making extra sure not to touch any of its garbage. Garbage is precious. I wonder if that’s how the dungeon-master feels about me? You’re the best, dungeon-master, you’re so kind.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

Eagerly, but quietly, I pass the titanic hydra on the right side and head up the next staircase. Easy peazy eyeball squeezy.

 

That was fast. This is a good body. It’s strong, sturdy and it has a lot of legs that scuttle. I click my pincers in excitement. Plus there’s room for all three of us. Worst case, you’d have to ride on top, guy. What? No. Shut up! You know I didn’t mean it like that. Will you knock it off?

 

Sheesh.

 

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person in this dungeon with a healthy work ethic.

 

I scuttle up the stairs and reach the floor with the black-water and quickly scuttle along through it.

 

I spare a glance at the faces in the water. They spare a glance at us. I nod. They nod back.

 

Everything is fine.

 

Everything is fine.

 

  Following the right hand path, I quickly make my way to the next staircase and rise up it as well. Man, I really made a lot of progress in that last life, huh? We haven’t had a good old fashioned trek like this in a while, guy. We’ve been so productive that we’ve only ever had good ‘free’ respawns for a while now. Still, this one isn’t bad. Imagine if we spawned all the way down at like… uh…

 

What was after the goblin outpost?

 

I scratch my head with my stinger.

 

Ah, it probably isn’t important. So what if a little fungus spreads down there.

 

All that’s down there is… uh… hmm… I forget.

 

Huh? What’s that, guy?

 

My eyes open wide as I listen and I sharply turn back around to face behind me, down the way we just came all the way up.

 

Floor ninety-seven has WHAT on it?! My legs scuttle as I quickly hurry back down the staircase, going back towards the hydra in a sprint.

 

I don’t know if it's bad if the fungus gets to the hero-grave, guy, it probably is, but- what? Huh? Shut up, iyoume! You don’t get it! Mama is on floor ninety-seven! You weren’t here! You don’t know!

 

My body spasms as something inside of me conflicts with itself. I want to go back down, eyeyoume wants to go further up. But she’s just a soulless construct, I’m the hero of this party.

 

My eyes spasm and twitch as I hurry, as I descend down into the darkness. As I scuttle my way all the way down to floor ninety-seven. I’ll spare you the trip, guy, I know you get bored easily. Don’t worry, I’ll get us there.

 

*tskskskskt*

 

 

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