Blobby wanted to be a god. Not a small god. The god every marshmallow-shaped blob across every colony would kneel to. But gods needed a temple, and Blobby's temple was empty. The stone walls were carved to look just like Blobby, with a wide mouth for a door and two round windows for eyes. Inside, though, there was nothing. No offerings. No glowing stones. No worshippers. Just Blobby, sitting alone on a cold floor, hungry for something to fill the hollow space. "A god needs treasure," Blobby said. "Shiny things. Rare things. Then the others will come." Blobby needed help, so Blobby called for the one blob who never said no. Bobby squeezed through the mouth-shaped door and stumbled, then caught himself. Bobby was a round white blob too, but a small triangle sat on top of his head like a little hat. He'd been Blobby's best friend since they were both tiny drips. Bobby grinned. "You said treasure? I love treasure. Where do we start?" "The glowing pools past the ridge," Blobby said. "Blobs say bright stones grow there. We gather enough, and my temple shines. Then they worship me." Bobby didn't ask why he had to do the carrying. He never did. That was the problem and the gift of Bobby. So the two set out, and Bobby led the way because Bobby always walked first into scary places. The pools glowed soft blue. Stones sat under the water, round and bright. Bobby reached in and scooped one up. It fit his little arms. "Got one!" he called, beaming like the win was Blobby's alone. They worked for hours. Bobby dove, Bobby lifted, Bobby carried. Blobby pointed and praised. By dusk they had a pile of glowing stones, more than Blobby dreamed. Blobby pressed close, greedy and thrilled. This was it. This was the start of the temple's shine. Then Bobby reached for the biggest stone of all, deep in the center pool. His small arm strained. He grabbed it. He grinned that grin. And something under the water moved. The stone wasn't a stone. It was an eye, opening. The pool churned. A wide mouth full of jagged edges rose beneath Bobby and swallowed him whole, then sank back down. The water went still. The glow snapped out. "Bobby?" Blobby said. Nothing answered. The pile of stones sat there, useless now. Blobby had the treasure. Blobby did not have a friend. Blobby stood alone at the dark edge of the water. A god was supposed to be worshipped, not to lose the only blob who ever believed in one. The stones could wait. Bobby could not. Blobby stared at the black pool where the thing had taken him, and knew the next thing to do was jump in after it.

Blobby stood at the black edge of the pool where the creature had swallowed Bobby. Blobby could not breathe underwater. A god who drowned trying would worship no one. So Blobby needed a way down. Blobby remembered the traders who passed the ridge, and the strange gear they carried. Blobby waddled back to the temple, dug through a crate of odd things, and found it. The diving mask sat there, round glass lenses staring up. Two hoses curled from its base like sleeping snakes. Blobby pressed the mask over the soft front of their body. The straps stretched tight. The breathing part sealed. Blobby sucked in air and it worked. Cool air, dry and clean. Blobby's chest filled and did not sink. Blobby rolled back to the water. The pool was silent now. Down there, somewhere, Bobby waited inside the thing. Blobby's whole marshmallow body shook. Blobby was not brave. Bobby was the brave one, the one who always walked first. But Bobby was gone, and no one else would go. "I'm coming," Blobby said into the mask. The words fogged the glass. Blobby jumped. The cold hit hard. Water pressed in from every side. Blobby's soft shape squished thin, then bounced back round. Through the glass lenses, the pool glowed faint blue. Stones still sat on the bottom, dim now. Blobby kicked downward, clumsy, arms flailing. The hoses trailed behind. Air hissed steady into the mask. Blobby sank past the shallow shelf into the deep dark center. Down here the glow died. Blobby squinted. Shapes drifted. A long shadow slid below, wide as the temple door. The creature. Blobby froze, then forced their body lower. Bobby was inside that shadow. Blobby had to see it, had to know. Blobby drifted close. The creature lay still on the mud, jaws half open. Between its jagged teeth, something small and white was wedged. A triangle sat on top of it. Bobby. Blobby's heart slammed. Bobby was not sinking into the belly. Bobby was stuck in the teeth, caught at the very front of the mouth, one arm still gripping the biggest glowing stone. Alive. Trapped. Not swallowed all the way after all. Blobby reached out. The creature's eye rolled open, huge and yellow. It saw Blobby. The jaws twitched. Blobby yanked. Bobby did not budge. The teeth held him tight. The creature shuddered and began to rise off the mud, dragging Bobby with it, straight up toward the surface. Blobby grabbed the nearest hose of the mask with one hand and Bobby's arm with the other and held on. Blobby did not save Bobby. Not yet. But Blobby knew the truth now. Bobby lived. The creature knew Blobby was here. And the whole thing was surging up, hungry and awake, with both blobs caught in its rush toward the light.

The creature shot upward, dragging Bobby in its teeth. Blobby clung to Bobby's arm with one hand and the mask hose with the other. Water rushed past the glass lenses. Blobby pulled hard, but the teeth held. The yellow eye rolled toward Blobby, hungry and awake. Then the water burst open above them. A shape dropped down fast. It was a pink square blob, hard-edged and blunt. A jagged scar split its face. In its hand it gripped a long metal harpoon. Blobby had seen this one before, among the traders who crossed the ridge. Blobby never learned why he swam these pools. But he swam like he owned them. "Kyle," the pink square said, jabbing a thumb at his own chest. Bubbles poured from his mouth. He did not wait for thanks. Kyle kicked straight at the creature. He drew the harpoon back. Then he drove it deep into the creature's side. The creature convulsed. Its jaws snapped wide. Bobby popped loose, still gripping the glowing stone. Blobby caught Bobby full against their soft body. The two blobs spun in the dark water. The creature thrashed and dove, twisting off the harpoon. It sank into the deep and vanished. The pool went still. Blobby kicked upward, hauling Bobby along. Kyle followed. They broke the surface together. Blobby ripped off the mask and gulped real air. Bobby coughed. The triangle atop his head drooped, then straightened. He was alive. He still held the biggest glowing stone in one arm. "You came back for me," Bobby said. "I did," Blobby said. The words shook. "I said I would." They dragged themselves onto the flat rock at the pool's edge. Kyle climbed out last. He planted the harpoon and leaned on it. Water dripped from the scar. "That thing will heal," Kyle said. "It'll remember your smell. It'll remember mine too, now." He looked at the glowing stone in Bobby's arm. "You dove all this way for a rock?" "For my friend," Blobby said. "The rock came with him." Kyle snorted. He pried the stone from Bobby's grip and turned it over. The glow lit his flat pink face. "These are worth trading," Kyle said. "I hunt the thing down there. You want more of these? You'll need me." He tossed the stone back to Bobby. "But I don't work for free." Blobby looked at the pink square with the scar and the harpoon. Blobby had planned to fill a temple with these stones. Blobby had planned to be worshipped. Now a hunter stood between Blobby and every stone left in the deep. "You saved us," Blobby said slowly. "So what do you want?" Kyle grinned. It was not a kind grin. "A share," he said. "Of whatever you're building up there." Bobby clutched the single stone. Blobby stared at the dark pool. One stone would not fill a temple. And now the only path to more ran straight through Kyle.

One stone would never fill a temple. Blobby knew that on the flat rock, staring at the dark pool. So Blobby made a new plan. If worship could be stolen, Blobby would steal it. Across the ridge stood a temple already full of followers. Its master was the Sun God of Power. Blobby would learn how he did it, then take his crowd. The temple rose in white brick, capped with golden suns. Blobby crept up the cracked steps with Bobby close behind. Kyle came too, harpoon in hand, uninvited. "If you're building something," Kyle said, "I want to see the competition." Inside, the Sun God sat before a polished mirror. He was a yellow star blob wrapped in glowing light. Every corner of the temple was famous. He was the blob whose name lit the sky. Now he leaned close to the mirror, dimming and brightening his own aura, practicing. A messenger waited by the door. An interview, Blobby guessed. The star was making himself shine for it. "Wait outside," Blobby whispered. But Kyle shoved the door wide. It banged the wall. Three blobs spilled into the bright room. The Sun God turned. His aura flared. "You broke into my temple," he said. No fear. No question. "Speak. I am busy being adored." Blobby froze. The plan had been to watch quietly, to copy the trick. Now the trick stood glaring right at Blobby. "I came to learn," Blobby said. "How do you fill a temple? How do the crowds come?" The Sun God studied Blobby's soft white body. Then he laughed. "You want my worshippers. A marshmallow wants my sky." "I only wanted to see how it's done," Blobby said. "I will show you," the Sun God said. He lifted one bright arm toward a window. Beyond it stretched a dark stretch of land, cold and gray. "That corner used to feel my heat. Now it is dark. My light does not reach it anymore." His aura shrank a little as he spoke. "Worship is not filling a room. It is reaching the dark places others cannot. Fill your temple with a hundred stones. Empty light. They will leave you the moment a brighter thing appears." Blobby stood silent. The words landed hard. Kyle snorted. "So the famous star can't warm his own backyard." He hefted the harpoon. "Sounds like a job. Dark places, dangerous things. That's what I hunt." The Sun God's eyes sharpened. "You would go where my heat cannot?" "For a price," Kyle said, grinning. And Blobby saw it. Not stones. Not stolen crowds. The way to be worshipped was to light the dark corner the Sun God had failed. Reach the place the famous god could not. "Then that is what I'll do," Blobby said. "I'll bring light where you couldn't." The Sun God's aura flickered. For the first time, the famous star said nothing.