I begin to send it images and sensations about the shape of itself and try and make it understand what it is using myself as a comparison.
I spent at the watering hole eating Ums meat not bothering to train.
I feel like I picked up a gold mine, the little thing was like a hard drive, retaining everything I sent it.
It learned basic language within that week, and the second week all it did was ask me questions.
It's first question was 'what is a name' when I explain why things are called what they are called.
It would use the same mental voice as me which made my hairs stand on end.
I would send back brief explanations or a sensation.
It took a while but I could sense it growing with each night, I was scared to sleep around it at first.
Scared that my thoughts would reach it but no such thing happened.
Whenever it reached out to me while I slept I would be awoken immediately.
As It's knowledge grew the the mana crystal it resided in began to thin.
Until one day as we where watching the sun set yet again the thin membrane disappeared.
I sat quietly a ball of silver looked like jelly floating next to me watching the darkness spread across the sky.
"Thank you" it said I can see it vibrating like someone threw a rock into waters surface.
"Any idea what you will do going forward" I asked.
"Everything" it responded with a childlike excitement.
"I don't know if that will work you need mana to survive" I said sending it images of all the mana stones below.
I racked my brain for a while then I explained to it how to draw in energy.
'If your going to survive you need to learn to draw in energy'.
'First you need to shape yourself into a sphere' I said after some thought'.
'Second you need to move your energy downward from the top of the sphere to the center.'
'You don't have a mana core so use your... jelly to follow the motions.'
'Then let it flow to the bottom and release, repeating this process should make a sphere with one tendril in the center under your complete control.'
I tried my best to explain what happens with my mana core but it didn't get it.
So I began breathing and sending it the sensations I felt, soon the little blob turned into a flowing sphere gathering energy.
That's when something odd happened, all the energy that was coming towards me and my core was being absorbed by the little jelly.
I stopped but it kept going, even the ambient energy usually collected by my mana core rushed towards it.
For any other mage that might have just condensed their core this would be horrible, but for me it was a whole different story.
My growing body was being overloaded with energy causing me extreme hunger pains, a weird craving and at times unconscious bursts of energy.
I had to go to great lengths, maiming myself even just to adapt to it.
I was powerful for my age but that power was a sword that could cut both ways.
But this little thing could act as a hilt or at least a dull edge.
I thought about including it in my travels, what would it be like to travel with a parasitic jelly?
"Together" it replied feeding off my thoughts.
It wanted me to continue showing it the world.
I didn't say no even though my instincts told me to.
It shot straight to my arm sticking to it and rolling all over from my shoulder down.
It's excitement was overwhelming and it was sending waves of energy my way making me feel like someone was boiling my blood.
Studying it would be great but my paranoia is giving me a hard time allowing something to be connected to me like this.
Suddenly a wave of sadness overcame me from our link and it slides off rolling in the sand.
I sighed and decided to commit to this but to study it in depth.
"What can we do about your form here" I pointed to the rolling silver plasma that was rubbing up and down my arm.
'What can I do'? It asked.
It was a genuine question that I had a hard time answering.
I activate mana vision and begin to study it, giving it commands that it had a hard time understanding unless I performed the action.
I had it spend as much energy as possible, it looked like a huge bonfire in the night.
Without the mana it held in it's jelly form it began to liquify and fell unconscious.
I stared at it until morning wondering if separating it will kill it.
My experiments would have to wait as little jelly sleeps for days.
It had the properties of the oil Alia gave me drawing in energy from the surroundings softly but it didn't dissipate as fast and it was much thicker a pale shade of silver almost white.
Where as Alia's was oily and thin dissipating a day or two after its made.
'Okay now bring all that energy to a single point inside yourself' I said to it a week later.
I looked like a crazy person talking to a floating jelly.
I had it manipulate energy inside itself, it was more accurate to call it a mana converter.
All the unused energy would get sucked back into its jelly.
Where for me I had a mana core, over time if it didn't get enough mana it would be unconscious.
It brought all the energy generated over time and converged in the very center of itself.
It struggled for nearly a minute everything changed after it passed the marble threshold.
It turned into a small pebble and dropped on the ground.
I picked it up and sent my energy towards it, it all got sucked up to my surprise.
I felt it's feelings of anxiety as it was in darkness not even able to sense the things around it which was somehow worse than being in the cave.
I started sending it images of the scenery around us, to help with the sensation of being trapped.
Using mana vision I saw the ambient energy being drawn towards it, it cut my intake by half just being around it.
'This is too perfect' I thought while holding the little pebble in my hand.
When it was a silver pebble there was a one-way link but it wasn't a problem as I was feeding it images and sensations even some memories as we walked.
And it didn't effect me much since I was the only one sending mana.
Although it needs a lot of energy it doesn't emit a lot, quality over quantity perfectly described it.
Its mana control was amazing.
When I asked it to make a spark with just pressure my eyes bulged out as the light the energy sphere emitted bent creating different colors before disappearing in a blue spark.
It took not even five seconds where it takes me days of concentration, not even Rumi or Alia can do it that fast.
My doubts about my decision grew as It's understanding of the world grew.
As we walk through the desert, I learn more about it and am astonished at every discovery.
Its bouts of unconsciousness got worse over time.
When it turned into a puddle, I placed it in a stone vial corking it with a peace of cloth from my heavy cloak and hang it around my neck.
After nearly a hundred miles of walking it wakes me one night.
'A name! I need a name'.
After some silence I asked it "Male or Female name"?
"Better to be female" It said sending me images of Kirle with a hint of disgust.
'It really is alive…' I thought to myself.
'How are the laws of physics so bent'? I think to myself as I compare the jelly to myself.
I seemed to have painted an ugly picture of men through some of my thoughts.
'Guess I should start addressing it as her' .
"How about Siri" I suggested, "Siri" it repeated I showed it images of a women I used to date named Siri Gallardo.
She was an accomplished biochemist who worked on all sorts of different projects in the government and private sector.
She was clumsy and awkward and spent most of her times indoors, but when she began to talk about cells and biological networks her pale skin would flush, and a passion could be seen in her eyes.
We dated for five years before we called it quits, she wanted a family, and I was too scared to make the final steps of that commitment.
She was a good woman, a great one actually but my travels got in the way of her happiness, and there was always the accusations of cheating.
I rubbed my temple thinking about my early thirties and my only attempt at a normal relationship, it all seemed so small now.
It sent me a resounding no after sensing my feelings.
I keep running names showing her the people I met and the reactions they gave me, and she kept saying no to all of them.
That night while taking a break from the long trek the night sky was clearer than ever.
With the moon hanging high I had a lot of light that night and didn't have to dig a hole to sleep in.
Sending my energy downwards I felt water deep into the earth but it felt different, it was flowing.
I looked south following it upstream, if it was what I think it was I just lucked out hard.
Running for the rest of the night I came upon a desert oasis the bright morning light reflected on the waters surface.