The being kept rummaging around, weaving between the columns, overhangs and more complicated structures that the pseudo-bramble was arranged in.

  It had been a long time now. An excruciatingly long time. Yet the little light didn't seem any closer to accomplishing whatever had caught its fancy this once. Worse, the being had almost finished looking over the entire cave: soon, there would be nothing for it to distract itself.

  Finding out that the tendrils could stretch so much with no more downsides than the occasional complaint from the orb had been exciting at first.

  Less so when it turned out that there was just nothing interesting around.

  Maybe a few boxes were hiding treasure, as their kind were wont to do. But luck wasn't on the being's side, lately. And more importantly they were locked, and it just didn't have the patience to painstakingly pry them open when there was something so much more alluring, taunting it just ahead.

  Something so very much fundamental to everything that the being was and was meant to be, that...

  ...

  ... maybe it should try to explore the other tunnels, to distract itself?

  And there went that idea.

  The little light was really way too grumpy lashing out like that, when he wasn't even the one that was forced to stay put just out of reach of the ultimate treasure, while his friend did everything.

  And trying to backtrack would probably anger him even more.

  Hopefully some form of entertainment would come up soon, because the being's need was really scraping away at its patience.

  Splayed onto the ground belly down, the being traced nonsensical squiggles in the dust with a spike, trying to impress all its frustration onto the hard surface. All the while, it kept stealing quick glances at the blob every time the orb seemed too distracted to notice.

  Alas, not only had the cave turned out completely boring, but its subsequent idea to find comfort in self-improvement had only managed to bring its mood down.

  Crushingly bored, the being rolled over, again and again, until it smacked against a column of bramble.

  Training its control over the essence was an exercise in mental self-harm: the next, fundamental step was just as blindingly obvious as it was forbidden by the little light's requests. How long the being could hold its friend's desires above its base needs was up in the air, but for now it would stay.

  The principle was similarly out of reach, in this environment. Perhaps there was some. Perhaps there was a lot. Perhaps the spirally thing inside was brimming to the point of bursting! Yet it might explode and the being still wouldn't know any of that, clouded as its senses were by the essence pressing down.

  Lately, the way it often felt on the cusp of greatness, of many wondrous breakthroughs in multiple areas, and then something always happened to deny its progress... it was starting to feel more than a little grating.

  Rolling onto its back to face the blob, the being hurled the spike in its hand forward-

  -and watched it get caught onto the substance without causing even a little ripple, and then slowly sink to the ground. Beyond the barrier the being needed to cross, yet was absolutely forbidden to. Unreachable.

  ...

  It really needed something to occupy its thoughts.

  With nothing else to do, its eyes went to the closest box, a hand reaching for another spike.

  The being jammed its trusty spike inside the last corner and pushed and pulled with with all its strength.

  This one was a good deal sturdier, which stood to reason, given that it was the closest to the orb's spot.

  Filled with anticipation, it secured the tool and climbed on top. Something really hard to do with these much shorter spikes, but the being wasn't one to back down from such a small challenge!

  It started jumping up and down, putting in all its weight and strength. This box would be different from the rest!

  Up and down, swaying with just the right rhythm.

  Up and down, like the outcomes of its ongoing quest for strength.

  Up and...

  ...and down!

  The cover finally snapped away violently, and went flying through the air, passing right next to the little light-

  - before slamming loudly against a brambly overhang and then down onto the ground.

  The orb was, once again, angry at the interruption, but the being wasn't really paying attention at the moment.

  Finally looking inside the box...

  There was nothing much. Mostly the same kind of pointless clutter that was in the others.

  Going by what it could garner from the connection shared with the little light, these things might possibly be useful. But not to them. Not in their current circumstances. Which in no way meant the being wouldn't grab each and every one, on the way out.

  Though there was one that was different...

  Its hand hovered above some... stuff, that had seemed completely normal at first sight, but that was now reacting to its approach. They were some kind of scraggly, glowing lines... and they floated up! As if trying to reach back to its hand!

  But before the being could even start to wonder if this was a good idea, they ultimately rejected it.

  They dimmed again, going slack. And no matter how it tried to scoop them up, they flowed away, refusing to wake up again, lying down motionless and boring.

  The little light floated away irritated, but once again the being paid it little mind.

  Another failure. Another thing that couldn't catch its interest for more than a moment.

  But this time was worse: this box had probably been the last mysterious thing around. And the little light looked determined to go back to its pointless pastime.

  Dread started creeping up its chest.

  The being stared at the orb, finding that it looked the same even from this strange perspective. Its friend was truly convinced he was doing something, wasn't he?

  That rang true from their connection. The same connection that had steadily become deeper and more intimate ever since the slime's cave. Ever since the spirally thingy. The being would feel strange about this unprecedented closeness, but surely every pair of friends did that with each other, at some point.

  That gift must have been an expression of deep care from the little orb, so it should absolutely try to show its gratitude as soon as possible!

  In any case, it could now understand many things about the little light: it was definitely a bit quirky, and definitely more than a little old. Much older than the being. Much, much older than the being.

  It had roamed around since far before the frog had crawled out of its ravine, looking for... a way out?

  From the world?

  How was that even possible? Could it be that the frog's musings held some truth? Could there be a bigger world outside this one? That would be all kinds of wonderful... But ultimately not important, at the moment.

  What mattered now was that its friend had been striving for this goal, and something else even more obscure, for a long, long, long time. Without achieving either of them.

  That didn't bode well for the results of whatever he was planning right now, and for its timescales. And the being would sooner rush back out and try to cross the chasm by jumping blindly between the floating stuff there, than laze around in here for those amounts of time, waiting.

  Which meant only one thing: it was time to stop playing the good being, and take matters into its hands.

  It quickly reached out to the essence and commanded it with a lasting instruction: it would keep avoiding this area even if the being left it, and not crush the little light.

  The feedback was immediate, accepting and eager. Enough that the being actually felt satisfied and proud of its idea, rather than simple for having tried something so ridiculous.

  Then, it bounced a rock in its-

  it fumbled badly and almost lost balance and fell down, in its rush to catch the thing before it was lost and gave away its plan.

  Evidently, juggling things while hanging upside down from the ceiling was not easy.

  A rock bounced loudly onto something else in the tunnel outside, where they'd come from.

  A thrill of alarm. Threads of being's flesh went still in air, as the little light floated nervously towards the disturbance.

  The being jumped down and made for the blob as sneakily as possible.

  Stealth was one of its specialties, so it was quickly approaching its destination... when the orb's interest started fading away much faster than expected.

  The being did the only reasonable thing in this situation: it quickly reached down, and threw another rock.

  It hurried up, trying to cover the rest of way quickly... but the orb's interest was fading even quicker this time. It must really be eager to get back to its game.

  So, after checking one last time that its command on the essence had truly taken hold and was stable enough not to crush little light, the being dropped all pretenses and ran.

  Ignoring every input, it dove headfirst into the blob, annoyances and anything else immediately fading away at first contact.

  Finding itself totally immersed in strange substance... didn't hurt. It didn't feel like anything special, actually. It was just normal. Natural.

  So exceedingly natural and obvious that the being couldn't really identify the difference with before, beyond the fact that there definitely was one.

  Dismissing the pointless thoughts, after quickly grabbing and stashing away the lost spike, it easily floated through the tunnels, towards where the fragment would be. With this amount of control, its trip didn't take long.

  There was no visual cue to distinguish its objective from the surrounding blob. No feeling or anything else. They would not be needed.

  And neither would there be challenges or such: the being had already proven itself long ago.

  Just one touch. And the minuscule, infinitesimal nugget of amrit disappeared, as if it had never been there. And something else started to coalesce inside.

  The world shook, blob and essence perturbed all around. But this was no humming.

  It was something natural. Obvious. That kept going until the pressure around disappeared entirely. Replaced by a mounting eagerness inside. An old need to be somewhere, but much stronger.

  This time the being was truly ready, and it would wait for nothing. The tension inside kept mounting, greater and-

  The little light kept spouting nonsense, but the being was far too focused on keeping the pressure in and not slapping him away in the hurry to get moving.

  Though when something tried to affect its insides, even its single-minded focus faltered a bit.

  It was the orb, trying again to reach inside, like he had before. But he must have exhausted all his principle or something in his pointless efforts before, because he felt weaker than a critter now. So weak that, if not for their connection clarifying the intent, the being might not have realized something was happening at all.

  Still, what he was trying to accomplish was smart: sharing the burden might actually give the being some form relief!

  So it decided to help him along, giving actual strength and control to the orb's weak flailing, and soon felt tendrils form around the bursting thing inside, corralling it into something more manageable.

  Even if he was sustaining basically none of the effort, the little light was clearly invested in this, and struggling hard. So not only did the being patiently help him form his cage, but also shaped it as close as possible to the way he wanted, to let him believe he was the one responsible.

  Soon, the 'cage' was closing up and the crushing pressure diminished.

  There was something a little wrong with containing... whatever this was: it felt like something that should pervade its body. Gradually merge until there was no distinction between the being's existence and it.

  But with this hurry, it would probably end up stumbling into the chasm!

  No, for now this was the best arrangement, and the little light was smart for coming up with it. Maybe he wasn't that clueless after all!

  There was a peculiar, gentle tugging, from nowhere and everywhere...

  It must be the orb, checking that the safety cage was stable!

  A rush of gratitude filled the being, for the little light really had his friend's best interests in mind!

  Alas no sharing of the burden was happening at all.

  But that was understandable: the being wouldn't want to carry this either, if it could avoid doing so. Better that the little light didn't struggle too.

  The little light quickly buzzed away, but the being stumbled a bit when it moved to follow: the blob was gone.

  ... Right, of course it was, otherwise the orb wouldn't have been able to come in here, would he?

  But where had it all ended up to?

  And not just the blob.

  As they backtracked along the tunnels, it found that the mist was gone too.

  Even the pseudo-bramble had receded into small, wilting growths along the sides!

  And when they emerged back out into-

  What was that?!

  The being turned around, looking back suspiciously...

  Just now, wasn't there a...? But it was probably nothing. And though the orb's little trick had allowed it some respite, the being still felt more than eager to reach its destination.

  They darted forward, much faster than ever in their travels. Towards a new future!

  Yet the being couldn't shake the feeling that it had forgotten something…