Someday, Xibalba thought, he would figure out why some people got fun, pretty worlds and wonders while others (coughcoughMARSKNIGHTScough) got what was basically outback Australia. At least in terms of not a lot of color variation and dust.

So must dust.

But, for all his wonder lacked in whimsy, he couldn’t hate it. It was his and some deep part of his soul would always love this creepy, ******** jail. And make no mistake, he’d visited enough and examined the place as thoroughly as he could. Based on what he could physically see, he couldn’t imagine how it could be anything but a prison. Someday, he hoped to find something that could tell him what, exactly, had been imprisoned here. The sheer size and scope of the cell indicated it had been pretty bad.

The long, ragged scratches on the stone walls inside the cell were also pretty good indications that whatever had been locked up had been bad, bad news.

He honestly tried his best to stick with the little room off to the side that had clearly been his past self’s living quarters. But every once in a while, he felt drawn to that cell. And each time that feeling hit, he would go in only so far, feel dwarfed by how big the bloody thing was, stare at those scratches that reminded him of that one Indominus Rex enclosure scene and nope right back out. The Code hadn’t seen fit to bless him with many memories, and this was one of the times that Xibalba was exceedingly grateful for that.

What had drawn him to the cell today though, had been the faintest whisper of movement deep within. He’d been willing to dismiss it as a trick of the light, only… Well. There wasn’t much in the way of lighting here, artificial or otherwise. And he’d still seen something move in there. He might have been content to chalk it up to the weird cricket-like bugs he’d seen popping through the sand on occasion. But those didn’t have a faint glow. And he really hadn’t seen anything else alive up here.

Which meant something new, potentially dangerous and thus, needing to be dealt with.

As he edged into the ancient cell, he held his slingstaff at the ready. He didn’t think that anything bad could attack him here, but he wasn’t willing to take the chance that he might be wrong. So he would be watchful and move with wary deliberation. And, for a few moments, he wondered if he had just imagined the movement after all.

But then he saw it again. Deep within the shadows of the cell and glowing ever so faintly. Whatever it was merely bobbled in place, about five or so feet up from the ground. Drawing in a sharp breath, Xibalba prepared to attack, only to freeze in place as the glow moved closer to him and he was finally able to see it for what it was.

And that wasn’t much. It was the merest wisp of gently glowing light and it moved like a tiny, unsure animal might if it was curious about its surroundings. Relaxing slightly, Xibalba considered things before banishing his slingstaff and holding out a hand like he would to a nervous dog. Much to his surprise, the wisp seemed to emit a strange, pleased sounding hum as it approached and proceeded to bounce itself in his hand.

Word Count = 576