A Whimper III

As you’re digging, you pause to look back and see if the pup is eating your offering. It is not. It is still just sitting and staring at you. The food and water remain untouched. Apparently, your efforts to help it eat in peace are not working. You thought for sure that if you turned your back and got back to work, it would feel safe enough to eat. Maybe it just needs some time. You decide to keep trying and you turn back to your work.

As you’re digging, you wonder what sort of puppy it could be and how it could have gotten so deep into the mine. And why isn’t it eating?

A red gleam catches your eye. You found another blood crystal!

Before you can keep digging, the whimper returns, more intense now. Your skin crawls from unease in unison with the intense whimpering. What is going on? Does the puppy want the crystal? You decide to find out.