"Firstly, no-one actually tried to rob the place, not that first hundred years. Fortunately, I spent much of it in a combat fugue, so I don't actually remember that much, just the darkness, and the hunger, and my purpose. There were informational wards the priests could check, but they simply told them I existed. They also tied into the geas that made sure I wouldn't even try to escape to find food or even the light of day."<br/><br/>She hung her head. "I think I told you I can go without food completely for long periods of time. They fed me once a year, by unsealing a shaft and throwing a criminal or slave down it. It was the one time I saw more than the dimmest glow from fungi or the glyphs that embodoed the various internal wards. They unusually landed intact enough that they could run... but not fast enough, and without my low light vision and knowledge of the paths..."<br/><br/>She swallowed, and put her face in her hands. "Some of them were evil people, but most were not, just unfortunate enough to be considered... expendable. And I enjoyed it! It was the one time a year I got to see light, hunt, eat... My reformation ability was part of the Nubian pursuit package I was built with, like the wings... but I nevr got to use either. Heck, I never wanted to recover anyone... I never even saw them as anyone, not then, just food."<br/><br/>She sighed, and looked up. "At least, until Upen Atem. He was a priest of Bastet, I never got the straight of why he was condemned, but I'm certain it was some political chicanery, rather than a genuine crime. He was a cheetah, an old one, his fur was all over white patches, and he was crippled by the fall, never moved above a slow walk. He didn't run, didn't cry out, and... to be honest, I still don't know why I didn't just pounce, but I didn't. He didn't scream, didn't plead, just talked to me."<br/><br/>"It was the first time I'd had someone to talk to in a century, and I found I liked it. For the first time in a long time, I was a person, not a monster. I did eat him, eventually, but without hurting him, and reformed him. Of course his old body stayed to nourish me. In fact, I ate him several times, and reformed him each time. In return to keep him alive, I hunted down rats, about the only type of creature that existed down there, and even on occasion, cut my own flesh to provide him with food, because, after all, my regenerative ability meant any ordinary wound healed in moments. Fortuantely, he still had some of his power, and could create potable water for himself."<br/><br/>"He became my friend, the first one I'd ever had. He taught me the meaning of the symbols on the walls, and some basic magic spells, including how the wardings and the geas that held me worked, even some of my family's history. He never actually said, but I think one of his ancestors may have contributed to the source material for my grandfather's creation. Maybe that, or the fact that my feline componebt was beholden to Bastet was what stopped me attacking him in the first place. He even managed to help me expand my control of my regenerative ability into full on shape shifting, including gaining a humanoid form."<br/><br/>"Unfortunately, I couldn't learn the powerful healing spells that would have healed the injuries and infirmities that were not inflicted by my eating him. He reformed, each time with the damaged body he'd had when I'd first met him. He lasted less than a year, but that year changed me. It's odd, there are centuries which I remember only brief parts of, but every moment of that single year, over three milennia ago, I remember with crystal clarity. I... I still miss him... oh Horus... I still miss him so much!" She teared up, and wiped her forearm across her face, sniffling.