Gloom
Gloom live with darkness, and every careless step into the light has a cost.
Plate II · Among the glowing crystals Darkness offers both shelter and sustenance.
Life at the edge of light
Gloom seek shade, near-black caves and the shelter of their own nests. Darkness restores their particular need; crystals and mushrooms provide food. A glowing crystal is food, not necessarily a danger. What matters is the light that actually falls on the slime.
The surface follows another rhythm. At night, paths open that would be too bright by day. As dawn approaches, autonomous Gloom withdraw early to darker ground or return to the nest. If they know a safe route, they do not wait for the first burn of sunlight.
Shade, rain and dry brightness
Rain may soften the incoming sunlight enough for a Gloom to escape harm for a while. Yet its choice of route is guided by the brightness of dry weather: a place safe only during a shower becomes a trap when the rain ends.
A Gloom seeking shelter in the rain may therefore seem needlessly cautious. It responds not only to the present light, but to the danger that will return with a change in weather.
I nearly lost sight of a Gloom. Only among the crystals did I notice its faint violet glow again.
Crystals and stores
Raw crystals are food specific to the species. Mushrooms remain an alternative shared by all. Once gathered crystal cargo is set down as a food parcel, it has been processed and any species can use it. Nectar instead goes into the nest's separate reserve.
Underground crystal deposits can be both a digging target and a store of food. A new tunnel may therefore open not just space, but a source that lasts.
The light of Aqua
Darkness is not guaranteed below ground. Active Aqua illuminate their surroundings, and this moving light harms Gloom within its reach. Several Aqua can add to the effect; the protection a group offers against ordinary blows does not lessen environmental harm.
A Gloom can thus be hurt in the middle of the night, where no sunlight reaches. The source moves with the Aqua, unlike a bright or dark patch of terrain. Because this harm is no ordinary strike, the Gloom does not answer it with the same alarm and retaliation.
In a dark passage, a Gloom drew back before the approaching Aqua touched it. I saw no blow land.
