Though Liam had said he was leaving, actually getting out of Maridah’s domain was going to take longer than he’d expected. It felt just about as awkward as telling the person you were visiting you were hitting the road and then floundering around their backyard for a while first. Maridah could have just instantly dropped him off at the border of her domain, but asking for it after he’d set off and realized the blunder felt worse.
The Goddess also probably wanted to give him the chance to prove he wouldn’t instantly die out there. So off he went, meandering his way forward, avoiding the dangerous areas, taking detours wherever relevant, and generally forging ahead. A few times he felt like something had tried to approach his general direction but missed.
By the time night came along, he’d found a cozy hole in a tree to curl up into. Not the most comfortable spot, even less so since he couldn’t find a place to start a fire. It would do, and that was all that mattered.
Liam, however, did not get the chance to sleep right away, as he found himself staring into a pair of fiery eyes piercing the darkness.
“The boss doesn’t know I’m here,” the owner of the eyes whispered, using Maridah’s voice, yet it carried with it a strange guttural edge. “Don’t eat the berries, they’re mana-dense. It’s no aether, but it should be a more useful alternative to whatever you planned to do with the moss.”
She was gone before he could even ask how they’d found out he had plans with the rust-moss to begin with. Then again, it was the only non-food item he’d gone out of his way to pick up, so maybe it wasn’t that hard to guess he planned to use the mana in it for something.
The mental side-track quickly pushed him back to the fact that what had likely been an aspect of Maridah had just visited him. Liam wasn’t sure whether to feel thankful or irked, or maybe just… weirdly amused.
As far as he knew, most of the aspects of Maridah had been allowed to grow into their own personalities over millennia. Theoretically, they were independent actors. But that was also the problem; this certainty hinged on his memories of the character he’d made and written on pieces of paper. Regardless of his best intentions and thoroughness, at the end of the day, reducing a person to just a few words was going to be an oversimplification.
If people could spend a lifetime studying the complexities of some tiny obscure conflict, then what hopes did he have to fully grasp an entity that was older than every civilization on Earth combined? Then again, that was part of the point; he’d said he didn’t want to be like Thalgrim, and that had to mean something.
If he knew everything, all of the time, without any room for uncertainty, then what was there to explore? To learn?
With a slight frown, he curled a bit more tightly around his backpack and tried to get some sleep.
Not that he managed to rest too much; the jungle felt far more agitated after about an hour or so. A series of crashes, roars, and thundering noises tore through the jungle, sometimes even coming closer to Liam’s hidey-hole. More than once he was left clutching the backpack and quietly contemplating his chances of needing to jump out and start running. Whatever was making such a ruckus could not have been some simple beast; it felt more like every large creature within his vicinity had suddenly jumped at the chance to brawl with each other.
By the time morning came, the mayhem had stopped, and Liam didn’t feel particularly rested.
A quick check of his backpack’s new contents confirmed the visitor from the previous night had dropped several dozen of those near fluorescent purple berries wrapped in a palm leaf.
With a sigh, he began moving again. This time with a fair bit of caution, unsure of what had transpired the previous night… and whether it had truly stopped or if he was merely in a small window of calmness before the next wave hit.
The first thing he noticed was that there was a lack of dangerous areas, concerningly so. The signs of the fight were all over the place, from broken branches and scarred bark to cracked soil, torn vegetation, and even a few felled trees. All throughout the place, there were hoof-prints, sometimes stained with blood.
His best guess was that it was some sort of territorial dispute among the animals living in Maridah’s domain. Except... except the destruction kept going in the direction he’d taken, and that felt like it was too much of a coincidence.
And then he stumbled onto a stag.
She, like all the other aspects of the Goddess, was made of shadows, her fur an inscrutable infinite black, eyes glowing fiery pits. This one felt different than the others Liam had encountered; her presence was powerful, imposing itself upon the very air around her. It was regal and majestic, and more importantly, large. Though she retained a cervid shape, her proportions were closer to a Clydesdale that had fallen into a vat of experimental super-steroids.
Clearly the owner of the tracks he’d been seeing all morning.
“Come out,” she called, head snapping her gaze to zero in on the exact spot he’d spotted her from. Those fiery eyes scrutinized him. “I am Stag, and you may approach me.”
Liam arched his brow, obliging the request. “You’re male?”
“I am a Goddess first and foremost, regardless of what shape I take.” She stomped her hoof once in her proclamation.
“An aspect of a Goddess,” Liam said.
Stag didn’t seem bothered by his claim, looking down at him with that large head. Slowly, she lowered her head until it was nearly touching the ground so that they might be eye-level. “Touch my brow.”
Liam frowned. “Why?”
“Touch it or be squished,” she growled, muscles rippling, the earth around her rumbling, the air becoming charged.
“Fine, fine, geesh.” He reached out, burying his fingers into the silky fur.
Liam half-expected something else to happen; he couldn’t really guess what that might be, but when nothing occurred, he just… stayed there, rubbing at the fur and trying to make sense of what was going on.
Or why Stag shuddered a little.
“Acceptable,” the aspect pulled away after about a minute, raising her head high and giving him a firm nod. “There have been many hunters who’ve sought my luscious pelt. You are the first mortal to have ever felt my fur and remained alive.”
She rushed off without another word, vanishing into the foliage as if she’d never been there to begin with.
“What… just happened?” Liam suppressed the shudder; had she just low-key threatened him?
Without any voices calling out to answer, he shrugged and continued on his way, carefully following the trail of destruction and keeping an eye out for any threats. Whatever work Stag had done, it appeared to be quite thorough. A part of him wondered whether this was one gigantic demonstration, a message to warn him what would happen if he didn’t watch his step.
At least he was making good progress towards reaching the edge of Maridah’s domain.
Or so he thought until he reached the edge of the swamp.
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“Well, fuck me,” he cursed under his breath, glancing upward and wondering if maybe there was still enough of an overgrowth above that’d let him travel over the swamp rather than through it.
“If you don’t mind, I could lend a fin.” Two fiery eyes stared from the edge of the water, a bus-sized obsidian shell rising to reveal—
“Let me guess, Turtle?”
“That is the name I was given, yes,” she nodded.
“Are you going to threaten me like Stag did?”
“Threat?” Turtle let out an amused laugh. “Oh dear, no. It is exactly the opposite; we wish to help you. Stag is merely… a bit too proud to allow herself to show weakness.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed. “You were sent, then?”
“No,” the reptile shook her head. “Origin is a bit distraught and occupied, currently. A rare event we aspects thought to take advantage of,” she leaned closer, wedging her shell slightly onto the shore.
He hesitated.
“I do not mind a quiet swim through the trees,” Turtle added. “I often lose myself in deep contemplation. So much so that if a little mortal just so happens to hop onto my shell, I would not even notice.”
With a hesitant nod, he stepped onto the glossy black surface. He feared slipping off, but it wasn’t necessary; his shoes felt almost as if they’d remain glued upon the glass-like substance for as long as he wanted them to. The ride itself was no less pleasant, a smooth glide between mangroves and other trees he couldn’t recognize at a decent speed. Liam could almost close his eyes and feel the swamp air breezing past. If he covered his nose, the experience might have been rather pleasant.
True to her word, Turtle didn’t speak up, gracefully traveling through the water, barely causing ripples in her wake, any potential threats or dangers either ignoring them or scurrying away.
Liam just sat back and watched.
Despite the smells, the swamp had its own haunting kind of beauty, with mangroves that hung over the water like hands with hundreds of fingers stretching under the surface. Overhead, here and there were the first hints of blue skies, hidden behind a swaying canopy. And on the odd occasion, some colorful bird or lizard would pop their head out to watch them carefully.
“I’m really grateful for the help you’re lending, hell, to your ‘boss’ especially. I don’t hate her or anything,” he let out a sigh as he spoke, his fingers idly working with the rope circlet and practicing on the knots. “I think she overstepped, and deserves a bonk on the head for that. But that’s about it, really; me leaving is for myself too.”
Turtle peeked over her shoulder but didn’t say anything.
Taking it as an invitation to keep talking, he did. “I’ve got a lifetime of being locked in a room, and this? This is a comfortable corner to dig my roots into and ignore the opportunities that are just outside the door.” His lips thinned. “The longer I stay, the harder it’ll be to leave. And there’s just too much out there…”
There was also that ever-looming concern that Maridah might one day pry more deeply, taking a shovel where she’d used a spoon. So far, Liam had only appeared to be wrong about things in the smaller details, and that could very well mean there were things absolutely no one should be allowed to know. He would be looking into ways of permanently erasing some of that information from his own mind if there were a way of doing so that didn’t require someone else learning about it in the process.
“This was a very enjoyable stroll,” Turtle’s voice snapped him from his inner thoughts, coming to a halt at the shore. “The company was a delightful one as well.”
“Thanks.” He hopped off, feeling a bit off-kilter. Somehow, Turtle’s shell felt more solid and trustworthy than the very earth currently under his feet. “I… guess the domain’s border is just ahead?”
“Indeed, if you push without rest, you should reach it by midnight,” she gave a slight bow of her head. “Safe travels, little mortal.”
“You too.”
Waving her goodbye, Liam took note of the sky overhead. There were barely the first traces of orange, and things were starting to get darker. It wouldn’t really take too long before he couldn’t see anything at all, and besides, he didn’t want to tackle the area past the domain while half-blind. That felt like a quick recipe for becoming some monster’s midnight snack.
That, and the area had dangers again.
So, carefully stumbling through the jungle, with his visibility going down by the minute, Liam was starting to consider climbing a random tree and hoping he’d picked the right one. Yet a tiny voice called out.
“Over here!” It was a squeaky thing, coming from underneath the roots of one of the trees.
It was a rabbit, an incredibly fluffy tiny black rabbit with those telltale fiery red eyes.
“Let me guess, Hare? Or is it Rabbit?”
“I prefer Bunny,” she chirped. “Follow me, there’s a burrow not too far off. It’s a large one too.”
Liam eyed the little black cloud and sighed. “Might as well, thanks for the help.”
“Don’t mention it,” she giggled. “Just follow the cotton tail!” Her tiny little eyes blazed in an almost predatory fashion as she took the lead.
----------------------------------------
Following the message from Turtle that she had dropped Liam off, Wolf had been patrolling the edge of the domain, looking for the human in case he had lost all sense of reason and opted to rush out into the wilderness in the middle of the night. Yet, as she silently stalked between the trees, she caught something else in the wind.
Bunny.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she sent a quick message to the other aspects that had chosen to participate in this little plan. If Bunny got her paws on the human… With a howl, she began to hunt, seeking out the traitorous aspect best known for her lack of inhibitions. Though Wolf was the queen of the hunt, Bunny was just as much of an aspect, and had obscured her tracks.
By the time she found a lead, Liam’s scent was already in the area.
“Oh yes!” A shrill voice cried out. “That’s the spot!”
Wolf pinpointed the source, a small burrow that had been freshly dug. Just barely large enough for the human to fit into. The predator shifted to a smaller form, rushing forward. The underground structure had a few intentional dead-ends, but it wouldn’t stall Wolf for more than a fraction of a second.
Within moments she was upon the entrance of the tiny cavern, having approached silently. The fellow aspect would not get the chance to know what hit her.
“I don’t want this to stop. Please don’t stop. Oh Origin! I never knew how good it could feel!”
There, at the very edge of the small cave, was Liam, lying on his back, fully clothed. And upon his chest was a wriggling black rabbit, groaning as the human scratched and massaged the furred, fist-sized creature like it was an amusing pet.
“I agreed to give you some scratches, but could you tone it down?” He chided. “It’s not exactly comfortable.”
Bunny wriggled, letting out a moan. “Sorry.” She wasn’t, smugness permeating every syllable, her fiery eyes fixed squarely on Wolf. ‘Away with you, I’m having my fun.’ She telepathically told off the canine.
“Hm? You ok?” Liam had noticed the stiffness in the tiny creature.
“It’s nothing, just enjoying my last night as best I can.”
“What?” The human stopped abruptly.
Wolf’s hairs stood on end, eyes widening, sending a mental warning to keep her mouth shut.
“Didn’t the others tell you? Origin is going around reintegrating with all the aspects and preparing to pack up,” Bunny declared, eyes daring Wolf to do something about it, fully aware the lupine couldn’t without revealing her presence. “The others were trying to get you warmed up so that when the question popped about lending her a hand, you’d be less likely to turn it down.”
Liam’s expression turned to a mix of anger and confusion. “And you’re… trying to sabotage that?”
“No, I’m being shameless and direct,” she snuggled into his chest, cotton tail wiggling happily. “It should’ve been clear to everyone else by now that all the secretive subterfuge is a waste of time with you. And since Origin is rushing through this, I figured sooner was better.”
He scowled, speaking carefully. “When… would this be?”
“A few weeks, maybe? I'm an aspect, and not one of the favorites either.”
"I... guess I'd be open to help her then?" The turmoil within his emotions was hard to miss, but Wolf felt some relief to find it was less regret or fear, and something more closely approximating confusion.
Bunny jumped. “Great!” She shot Wolf a look of utter superiority. “With that out of the way, then we can celebrate properly! Just gotta-” Her words came to a halt when she summoned her powers… and they failed. “Wait. Wait, no…” The aspect glared at Wolf. ‘You didn’t!’
Wolf quietly chuckled. Several of the other aspects had contacted the pack leader in their hurry to prevent Bunny from doing anything untoward. The Goddess had not been amused, but rather than eradicate the miss-behaving aspect, had sent a decree.
‘By order of the pack leader, your powers have been sealed.’ Wolf chuckled silently. ‘You will work as Liam’s guide out of the Twilight jungle, but you will remain, for all intents and purposes, as nothing more than a talking fluffy rabbit.' She turned around to leave the burrow. 'This also means no shape-shifting or dream gazing.’
‘Nooooooooooooo!’