The looped branch floated on the pond in the dungeon mind space. Dozens of loops coiled around the original red loop. The loops compressed themselves down into the same space in order to follow the original circle, phasing through other loops in a physically impossible way. The loops seemed to churn in place, moving in and out of the layers of loops, but no individual loop made any movement. The looped branch was almost completely covered with ghostly light as ghostly memory branches flickered and overlapped constantly across the many loops.


    Tendrils of white light sprouted from the light around the looped branch. The tendrils stretched out across the top of the pond toward the edges. The white light around the looped branch dimmed slowly as the tendrils reached further and further. A tendril reached the edge and wrapped around a mushroom network fiber. The light from the tendril seeped into the mushroom network. The other tendrils wrapped around various network fibers and the base of the memory vine. Mana and memories began to trickle through the tendrils and into the pale white loop. The light around the white loop grew stronger as it drank in energy from the network. The white light from the tendrils spread along network fibers and connected to the bound information bundles. Mental energy and instinctual reactions flowed smoothly into the loop.


    One area of the network stopped supplying energy or information to the network. The white loop pulsed and pushed a bit of energy back into the network. Energy flowed back to the loop from all the bound bundles, but not from the new blank spot. The white light around the loop swelled in brightness and the loop broadcast “curiosity” along with the concept of the location of the blank spot in the network.


    <hr>


    The owl was nearby and picked up the feeling of curiosity. It flew silently to the location bundled with the feeling. The owl spotted the rabbit on the ground, still bound by network fibers. The rabbit glowed aquamarine. The owl circled above the rabbit a few times, then dove down toward the prey animal like a spear.


    <hr>


    Mental energy flowed out of the blank network spot in a wave. The wave carried the rabbit’s fear combined with the concepts for “green eyed owl danger”. The white loop drank in the energy from the rabbit. The loops churned again and the white light wavered up and down in brightness. A small pulse of “fear” went down a tendril connected to the memory vine. Multiple ghostly branches appeared above memory vine branches. Several messages returned to the loop across the tendril: “danger, fear, hide”, “alarm, danger, defense”, “danger, fight!” The white loop churned for a time before broadcasting, “green owl, danger, fight”.


    <hr>


    “green owl, danger, fight”If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Violet woke up in his art studio. He shook his head slowly, losing the last traces of a dream about green birds. Sitting up, he evaluated his condition and examined his hand. He seemed to have recovered from whatever that ball did to him. Something moved quickly past the open door to his studio, making almost no sound. The underworld snake crashed past the door a moment later, hissing in anger. Huh. Violet thought. He moved to the door and peeked out as a hand of bats flew past in the same direction. He ducked back in the room and closed the door. He summoned up a visual scanner and moved the viewpoint to catch up with the giant snake. The snake was snapping at an owl in the nearby cavern. The bats were also attacking the owl. Violet narrowed his eyes. The owl eyes were glowing green. That’s not good. He thought.


    Violet wouldn’t risk another void-infection quarantine, and it was clear the dungeon wanted the owls dead for some reason. Violet and Yrryth worked together to direct dungeon creatures to exterminate the owls. Violet used his wall of visual scanners to help locate owls that were hiding and alerted Yrryth when a new green-eyed owl spawned. It wasn’t clear to Violet why the dungeon would spawn more owls just to order their deaths, but he didn''t have a way to ask why.


    <hr>


    The tree spider moon cat raced along vine branches as it followed the mismatched flock of birds. The many little songbirds were harassing the green owl, trying to drive it to the ground. The owl spun in the air, kicking and pecking at the other birds. A tiny warbler caught a slash from sharp green talons and was cut in two. The remains of the warbler fell to the ground, where mushroom fibers began to decompose it. Some information from the warblers last moments flowed through the network and into the white loop. The loop churned as it processed the information.


    The moon cat finally succeeded in slapping the owl out of the air. The owl crashed into the ground in front of the tortoise. Before the owl could recover, the tortoise reached its head forward and clamped its mouth down on one wing. The owl stopped glowing green and the tick crawled out from the body of the owl. The tortoise’s eyes widened in surprise as the glowing green tick crawled onto its face.


    <hr>


    The tick-tortoise felt the echoes of a command in the mushroom network: “green owl, danger, fight”. The tick understood that it had been discovered and hunted by the other mental constructs. Its self-defense algorithms analyzed the threats and sorted them by potential danger. An unknown construct, directing the other constructs, was at the top of the list.


    The tick-tortoise slashed green claws at the mushroom fibers that held it in place. The fibers broke and sparked slightly at the claws cut through them. The tick-tortoise strained its legs to pull forward and break the fibers it couldn’t reach. The tick-tortoise pulled free with a lurch and looked around. The moon cat was staring at it but made no move to attack. The songbirds and the owl flew away, uninterested in a tortoise.


    Dismissing the other constructs, the tortoise lowered its head near the ground and sniffed. The tick had gotten a taste of the mental energy behind the command in the network and now it would track down the source. The tick-tortoise lumbered across the ground, following the scent of the white loop.