They kept circling around the impassable barrier. And maybe they'd made more than one lap around this latest castle, because some features in the rocks and the swirling currents were frustratingly familiar.

  But there was just no way through.

  Yet the little light hadn't given up, as it had done a few times before when entering had been too bothersome.

  There must be something different about this place. And it wasn't like the being couldn't see visible proof of that, since the only comparable gathering of essence was at the epicenter.

  Somehow the currents, while still headed towards their ultimate destination... stopped by here, and fused into a second, far smaller ball.

  Though comparing anything with the epicenter was misleading. This thing was still gigantic. And, despite how impossible that should have been, far more menacing.

  The currents were so dense, so wild, they kept trying to scour its body away, even at this distance. The being wouldn't be trying to just walk through this one, no matter what the little light wanted. Not without a demonstrably safe path. Hopefully they would find one soon, since its friend didn't seem willing to give up this time. Hopefully, there wouldn't be another chasm past the currents.

  Here was completely devoid of any life, as even the simplest critters were smart enough to understand the situation. And those that weren't were probably gone in another, grimmer sense. It was also devoid of anything interesting. There were just deadly currents and rocks. Only this undefinable craving, vague but intense, kept the being here at this point.

  Because, to be honest, it wanted to leave.

  And not just the area.

  It had been happy to meet its friend, and to finally have something to interact with in a positive way. But the novelty had worn off, and without that... the little orb was boring.

  All the interesting things they had seen since escaping the tunnels with the slime... and they'd stopped at none. The little light was only interested in his countless, empty, dumb castles. And though an obviously ridiculous emotion, the being was starting to miss that awful, brambly death-trap. At least it had been interesting.

  Also, leaving that murderous creature back there had felt so unsatisfying. What might its story be?

  At least, there had been something good to distract itself during the journey.

  In all that time spent in boring travels, the being had learned that the bramble the orb had fused into its body wasn't completely useless, but the little friend had actually pulled through with one of his promises.

  Its sense for the principle had increased.

  It was stronger.

  Before, the being had barely been able to detect some aftereffects. To understand intellectually that it existed.

  Now it could feel the touch on its skin, the shiver when it phased through its flesh. Especially that last one.

  Surely the principle must have entered its body even before. But now it could feel it, flowing along a path... that was undeniably close to the shape of the thing that had fused into its wrist - though shifted to its chest.

  It was a truly disconcerting sensation, so far removed from anything physical.

  The being wasn't perceiving it with any normal sense, and it couldn't feel where exactly this was happening. Because while this was clearly inside its body, it, just as clearly, wasn't.

  The principle felt as if it slipped in... and then into somewhere else. Something that wasn't there.

  Truly strange.

  But the real wonder was what this meant.

  It had been a tiny little nothing at first, so small that the being had just mistaken it for one of the principle's strange movements at first. But as it kept observing, the truth became undeniable: it wasn't just slowing down around the intangible, spirally bramble. It got 'caught'.

  And the quantity stuck was growing.

  For some reason, this felt unquestionably good and desirable to the being.

  So, it dedicated all its focus while traveling to improving that, since it didn't have to watch out for predators or unstable ground so incomprehensibly far from the epicenter as they now were.

  Somehow, its focus and hope had become capability, and finally, finally, it could slightly direct the principle with its will alone, like a very weak muscle. A shriveled one maybe, that had been abused and torn to shreds. But it was real.

  The first time it had confirmed this unquestionably, the being had broken down in joy. Such an overwhelming rush of good feelings, it had thought something in its mind might rupture, and even the orb had been stunned through their connection. He had got angry and impatient then, but the being hadn't been in the mood to care. It had taken long for it to stop dancing in joy.

  This was something it had longed for so very deeply and for so very long, there was no way to conceptualize the happiness it felt at achieving even a tiny little amount. And its control was only getting better.

  Right now, it could only enforce its will by making the principle cling better to the spirally thingy, but it had made a lot of progress on that front.

  The thingy was very winding, long and spiraling, and the being had managed to fill it good at the base, slowly advancing up. And the further along it went, the more its control improved.

  The flexibility and responsiveness of the principle was still really small, and going up the spiral meant more to handle, which in turn meant far increased chances it would slip away sooner or later. But the being felt that once it completed the circuit, something grand would happen. Even summoning a whisper of its own might not be out of the question!

  So it was extremely unfortunate that it had encountered a snag. Because it was only a snag, one little delay and nothing else. Something a bit harder to handle than simple quantity.

  No matter how much it pushed, the rate at which the principle progressed along was only getting slower. Its response delayed, its movement sluggish. Which was making the being go crazy with impatience.

  It was growing in many areas. Its understanding of the principle's natural flows, the efficiency of its commands, the 'density' of what it gathered...

  But it was not enough.

  Or rather, it would be at some point. But that would take so incredibly long... and the being's patience was already fraying. This was something that it had longed for so long now. Having the whisper, or something equal to that, so visibly close, but still so far out of reach was maddening.

  If only there were more principle around, maybe...

  The being longed again for the epicenter, and the pressure that had been there. Now it could surely do something with that.

  But the little light was only compounding its frustration, wasting their time and leading the both of them to these far-flung, disappointing areas.

  This place, despite the ball over there and the even more violent storms of currents composing it, was stripped bare. As if something was sucking away every last drop of principle!

  It was just so very...

  ...

  If the being hadn't had more pressing matters to worry about, like the little light's main promise... but mostly the ever growing background anxiety that something horrible was going to happen, a fear it had learned to live with by now, but that couldn't ever be forgotten... it suspected it would have long holed up somewhere and not come out until it had pushed the principle all the way to the top, only pausing to feed. Maybe. Or dived to its death into a current, in a crazy attempt to seize the principle from it. Whatever might have felt more reasonable at the time.

  Right now, despite its values, despite the time they'd spent together, and despite the gratitude it held for the little light, the being was starting to think about alternatives. If it were only up to those positive feelings, it would've probably turned tail and run to the epicenter by now.

  The calling was becoming overwhelming, a constant scraping against its mind... and the little light had led them to the opposite end of the world!!

  But there was also something in there. Nothing about the little light's true promise, which the being had long since determined he wouldn't deliver on.

  No, this was something else.

  Something soft, running far weaker and underneath its desire for the principle, the calling from the epicenter and the terror about what was coming . But still so... The being wanted to know what it was.

  It needed to know.

  That was, if it was at all possible to get past this barrier of currents.

  So it would give this some more time.

  But if they found no way in, it would really just leave, and sprinting hard. Find its own way across the chasm.

  Let the little light follow along, for once.

  It must have been a hallucination.

  Surely.

  There was just no way that the being hadn't imagined it.

  Yet, every time they went another lap and passed that very point, it was surer and surer that it had been no delusion.

  And they had walked around uselessly for far too long. Clearly the orb had no idea what they were doing and where they were supposed to go. At this point, the being would rather cling to an hallucination than waste any more time following.

  And it had looked so real this time around...

  The being wasn't entirely sure, but...

  The orb kept calling frantically, sending jolts of disapproval and even visions, but the being ignored them all. It walked closer to the ball, back to the exact point where it had-

  there was a blip of something disappearing around a corner.

  It could have been a trick of the eye, a fairly common occurrence with the chaos of essence close to these wild currents. But what if it wasn't?

  The currents were truly lethal here, only a few steps from the wall. The being could actually feel specks of its skin drifting away.

  As if the currents would brook not the presence of anything unworthy. And the being wasn't worthy. Not yet.

  But this area was a bit different. Though the currents were just as dense as anywhere else, the rocks around were just that tiny bit sparser that they allowed passage, if one was really careful. The ground a tiny bit lower. The being wouldn't have been able to recognize that at a glance. Which only further emboldened it.

  It moved through with grace, worryingly close to the wall of death, and soon found itself inside the depression in the ground, exactly where the movement had been. Just behind this corner...

  Another blip! disappearing behind yet another corner as soon as the being poked its head out. But that had been enough to confirm. This time there was no doubt.

  The dark one was here.

  Caught by a sudden and greater than expected trepidation, the being leaned against a rock to calm down.

  To think it would see that terrifying creature again... What was it doing so far from the original castle?

  It couldn't deny entertaining thoughts of a rematch, just as with the owl. And that last victory had only encouraged the sentiment.

  It would be a friendlier confrontation, in its mind. Just to overcome the challenge since, despite what had happened the last time, the being didn't feel particularly resentful. After all, it had provoked the creature by breaking its one and only rule. And unlike the owl, the dark one didn't indulge in pointless slaughter: the being actually couldn't remember it killing anything other than the bison.

  But this was too soon.

  Its recent growth was impressive, but not remotely enough to fight something that had defeated it without the being even realizing what was happening. Angering the dark one now would be death. It wouldn't make the same mistake again.

  And yet... If there was one creature that might be able find its way through this impenetrable wall...

  The being would see if dark one liked when it was the one stalked.

  Using its intuition, logic, and the brief sightings it managed to catch when gaining enough ground, the being followed after the dark one. Without the creature noticing.

  Its stealth ability was truly incomparable to when it had been a frog. When it wasn't taken by surprise, at least.

  The little light was grumpy the whole time. Fortunately no other creature could perceive his annoyances, or they would've been found immediately.

  At least, he had finally realized that the being wasn't wandering around pointlessly, unlike a certain little orb: clearly they'd made more progress in the latest few moments than under his guidance since they'd come here. So, he had eased on the harassment and just limited himself to the usual few annoyances, while the being focused on not touching the wrong thing and losing the associated body part.

  Until they came to a dead end.

  They were in a deeper depression, a good amount below the level of the ground now, currents and rocks everywhere. No clear way out besides the one they'd come from. But the being was sure that the dark one had come this way.

  There just wasn't- there!

  Excited and intimidated in equal amounts, the being lowered itself to the ground... until it found a small, small tunnel.

  Barely enough to crawl through, and still filled with thin wisps of deadly currents lashing at the sides.

  Terrifyingly long.

  So long that the being couldn't see where it ended.

  It looked like a very ugly way to get itself killed...

  but was there really a choice?

  The being threw the bigger of its bags forward and then slowly pulled itself free of the tunnel, crawling out onto its feet into a wider space. It hadn't been as difficult as feared.

  There was an open area all around, unlike anything the being had ever seen. A place certainly deserving of a proper look, if only there weren't a far more pressing problem.

  The dark one had disappeared.

  And there was no way to know where to.