Night Sentinel's Tribute

I gathered the pale celestite crumbs that had rained over my beetle captive and lined them along the ledge. Night had sealed the vertical shaft in icy stillness. Using the flat of my claw, I nudged three chunky slate flakes into a protective perimeter around the sleeping nook, walling us off from the rushing draft. My captive rested quietly in the center, its pyrite crown glowing softly in the dark beside the freshly crushed mineral dusting. I pressed my back against the basalt entry, eyes wide open into the black void. Nothing enters my domain while my captive sleeps under crystalline guard.