The cold hard ground is rather uncomfortable on my back. I open my eyes slowly, realizing I'm not in my bed. It takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. I'm in some kind of cave. The stone walls and lack of sunlight make that much obvious.

  Sitting up, I notice a golf ball sized gemstone. It's a lovely shade of blue--and perfectly spherical. Its unnatural glow is the only source of light in this tiny cave.

  There are no exits.

  It takes me a few moments to double check, but I am almost certain there are no openings in these stone walls. I'm sealed into a tiny cave.

  My breath comes out in frantic gasps as I realize the gravity of the situation. Somehow, I've wound up beneath an indeterminate amount of rock, with no way out. No tools to dig my way to the surface. No supplies to live off until rescue arrives.

  "F-Fuck..."

  I try not to panic anymore than I already have. That's when I notice I'm completely naked. Not in my underwear, or pajamas, but completely nude. It's almost absurd enough to make me laugh. Not quite, though.

  Instead of contemplating how I got here, I start trying to find a way out. The only thing of interest in this little cave is the glowing blue gem. Naturally, I attempt to pick it up.

  Vertigo floods my mind as I spin end over end--everything's a blur for a few seconds--before I finally stop spinning. I'm looking at a naked girl, lying passed out on the floor. She's holding a blue glowing gem.

  I'm outside my body?

  Adrenaline and the absurdity of my situation have desensitized me so much I don't really react to having an out of body experience. Instead, I try to make use of it.

  Floating up, I fly into the ceiling of my tiny cave. The rock getting in my face is insanely uncomfortable. It's like suffocating, but without the risk of death. I thoughtlessly try to push the rock out of the way, having forgotten I'm not in my body, and watch in awe as the rock blocking my way vanishes like magic.

  A quick look at the blue gem reveals something to me. That rock I just poofed out of existence didn't actually disappear, it went into the gem. None of this makes much sense--so much so that I'm starting to suspect I'm dreaming.

  I may as well try to survive, just in case this isn't a dream.

  Knowing I can magically hoover up the stone makes things much simpler. I 'dig' a tunnel upwards, before realizing I can't walk up such a steep incline. I go back and carve out stairs, making the rise of the passage shallower.

  Up I go, carving out space like a machine. As I do this I feel myself getting fuller. It's almost like I'm eating... except I don't have a stomach right now. That blue gem comes to mind. Maybe that's functioning as my 'stomach?'

  My train of thought is interrupted when a cascade of soil crashes down, exposing the brilliant light of day. Bright sunlight filters in through floating particles of dust. I watch the grit settle, my gaze focusing on the blue cloudless sky beyond.

  I'm saved!

  I move back down my tunnel system, and promptly move into my body. My actions bear fruit as I wake up back inside my body. I pause, feeling dizzy after possessing my body. This vertigo fades after a few deep breaths.

  Standing on wobbly legs, I start marching up the steps I carved into the rock. I fumble several times. My hands trace the smooth stone walls as I walk. I'm guided by the sunlight at the end of the tunnel and my sense of touch.

  Upon reaching the mouth of the tunnel I hesitate. It's not that I don't want to leave this awful pit--that's exactly what I want--but something doesn't feel right.

  I take a step outside.

  Something's wrong with me. I feel sick. It's like something in my body is trying to claw its way out, and the feeling is only getting worse the longer I stay out here.

  Trees and grass surround me, but all I see is hostility. Danger. The unknown.

  Stumbling backwards, I trip and land on my ass. I'm inside my tunnel. On the mound of fallen soil. My breathing slows as I sit there in a daze, shivering at the sight of the idyllic world outside. I don't understand what just happened.

  One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes later I stand up.

  Instead of trying to leave the tunnel again I head back down to the place I first woke up in. The blue glowing gem almost feels comforting to see again. I take a seat beside the gem, and let out a sigh of relief. This feels correct, somehow.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I reach out and touch the gem--leaving my body behind.

  I float up and away from my now unconscious body to take a look at the outside world. Hopefully in this form it will be possible, but I won't know until I try.

  Pushing my way through the rock and stone, I surface. Sunlight illuminates a serene forest. There are birds singing. The breeze gently ruffles the vegetation. It feels... peaceful. Nothing like it did when I tried walking out here.

  My eyes land on an animal--a deer of some kind--as it struts through the undergrowth. Two other deer follow it closely, their ears swiveling like radar dishes searching for signals. The lead deer pauses for a moment. It's nose twitches.

  Is it... going where I think it is?

  The deer resumes its journey through the bushes. I watch in ambivalence as it approaches the mouth to my cave. The two other deer follow it, and the trio of animals enters.

  Feeling inexplicably giddy, I follow them. They're cautiously walking down my staircase. Each step brings them closer to me. Each step makes me feel strangely excited--and scared. I get this weird urge to absorb the deer. To make them go poof.

  Floating right up to one of the deer in the back, I try--and fail. There's no effect when I attempt to consume them. It's like they've got a small bubble of interference around them, protecting them from my meddling.

  The excitement fizzles away to leave only pure terror. They're coming to get me. I know it! They're going to kill me if I don't kill them, right now!

  Panicking, I rack my brain for options. I can't directly touch them, nor can I touch things next to them. That leaves a few options. The best one is probably to create a pitfall which they'll be unable to avoid.

  Acting fast, I zoom down to the bottom of the stairs and carve out a massive pit. The stairs are kept intact--the space beneath is not. Once I finish digging I adjust the stairs so that they're as thin as they can possibly be. Hopefully this will ensure those stupid deer die!

  It's kill or be killed- wait, why am I scared of a deer?

  Before I can really reflect on my current mental state, one of the steps on the trap. The two deer in the back don't realize what's happening until the first is already tumbling down the pitfall. With a crash, the first two deer in the group fall down to their deaths. The one in the back flees--bounding up the steps--never looking back.

  Oh my god.

  I quickly move into my body, repossessing it. Feeling myself in my own skin is little comfort when I've just brutalized two innocent wild animals. Herbivores, even!

  Tip toeing my way to the edge of the pit, I peer down into it. It's hard to make out the details from here, but the mangled corpses of the animals are lying lifelessly at the bottom. It makes me feel sick. I turn away, dry heaving for several seconds.

  My eyes land on the blue gemstone.

  What is it doing to me?

  ~

  I'm sitting cross legged, staring down at a golf ball sized blue gemstone. It glows with an unnatural aqua light--as if by magic. Every time I touch this gem I leave my body and float freely. When in this state I can absorb the terrain at will.

  But, something is very wrong.

  When I try to leave the cave I woke up in, I feel as if my world is closing in around me. Rapid panic attacks follow anytime I try to leave.

  Stranger yet, I feel an urge to kill and consume living things that step inside. This happened with even something as small and innocent as a worm.

  I'm afraid these oddities will change me. I don't want to become something I'm not--especially not whatever this gemstone wants me to be. So I will do my best to stay grounded. Think things over. Consider what I'm doing before, during, and after.

  The smell of the deer corpses is getting hard to stand.

  I hesitantly reach out, and grab the gem. Once outside my body, I float down into the pitfall. Therein lie two deer carcasses. I reach out and absorb them. Their bodies turn into the same stuff as the stone and dirt--a 'something' that fills the gemstone.

  Unlike eating stone and dirt, eating the deer bodies actually made me feel satisfied. Like I'd eaten a good meal.

  That reminds me of the fact I have yet to get hungry or thirsty. As if I'm not entirely human.

  Maybe the gemstone isn't altering me. Maybe the gemstone is a part of me?

  Looking at my core with a new perspective, I sigh. I've been filling it with energy as I absorb things around me. Why haven't I stopped to consider the ramifications of that? I may as well try the obvious: emptying my core of energy.

  Pushing out the energy from my core rewards me with a pile of sand. The fine white grains spill out of thin air, forming a little pile. I stop to consider what else I could make. Stone? Wood? Paper, even?

  Armed with new knowledge, I renovate my cave. The room I woke up in gets carved into a nice square chamber, complete with a pedestal for my core. I carve out a proper hallway connecting my core chamber to the stairs--a transition between the outside and inner worlds.

  Inside the corridor I create a new pitfall. This one is much cleaner in design, a simple fragile plate of rock that will shatter as soon as anything with substantial weight steps on it. The deep pit will ensure nothing survives the fall.

  I don't like killing, but I have to eat to survive. Even if that eating is a little unorthodox.

  With this, I should be able to survive for the foreseeable future.

  ~

  Panting, I push one foot in front of the other. I can hear those damn hounds hot on my heels! Each time I think I've lost them, another chorus of barking starts up. I think Skinny is dead. Toothy is ahead of me, but he's losing steam fast. We have to find someplace to hide before the damn dogs get to us.

  "Ah... There's... a cave!" Toothy rasps.

  I squint at the old man with suspicion. A cave? Here? I haven't seen anything like that in my time poaching, so it comes as a surprise. Toothy limps up ahead a few paces before disappearing behind some bushes. My jaw drops.

  "W-What? How in the hell..."

  Stumbling forward, I push the branches aside to see a very artificial looking stairwell cut into the ground. Toothy is nowhere to be found, and I can hear the dogs hot on our heels. I jump into the mouth of the tunnel before they can spot me.

  The scent of soil is thick here. I do my best to quietly creep down the steps, finding the floor irritatingly made of smooth stone. Toothy is still nowhere in sight.

  "T-Toothy?" I whisper.

  "Help!"

  Confused, I hurry forward. I stop when the floor flattens out. There's almost no light in here. The setting sun isn't doing us any favors now that it's dipping below the horizon. I have to squint, waiting on my eyes to adjust.

  "Sh-Shanks! Help me up!"

  My eyes widen in surprise when I finally discern Toothy in the dark. He's clinging to the edge of a pit, nary a few paces in front of me. I suck in a sharp breath of air as I crouch down and grab ahold of Toothy's wrists. The old man clambers up with my help, joining me in sitting at the foot of the stairs.

  Just what did we walk into?