“A bit further now, chums. We will take a rest once we reach the knee!”

Foggy’s voice bounced off of the wide corridors of the leg as we moved forward. Aeronik had some kind of lanterns that floated behind him, which had apparently come from his grandfather; clearly the old bastard knew more than he let on, and this was just another way to make his grandson seem useful. Still, I was grateful for the light.

The inside of this body didn’t seem so much like a corpse at all. The walls, if you could call them walls, ran like a wide tunnel, with smaller tunnels branching off of them that seemed just a bit too small for most of our group; me aside. The expanse was overgrown with plush moss, crawling veins of Ivy, and all manner of smaller insects which really messed with my mind. I mean, I’m hanging out with an inch worm and then I literally see a tiny centipede rush by and scurry into one of the smaller openings. You’re telling me there are bug people and normal bugs?

Hate this place.

I took the time of the walk to do a little introspection. There was an… unfortunate conclusion that I had come to, and it pained me to admit it to myself. Now I needed to dwell on it, accept it, and move forward.

I didn’t belong here.

This world was harsh in a way different than how my own world was. The people here accepted it and built themselves on strength and power to combat those hardships, and I wasn’t sure I had the fortitude for it. Sure, I had fought and even killed in this world, but was that who I really was? The answer was no. No, it wasn’t. Even if I was changing and adapting, I would always be the fuck up from the bar back home.

With that fresh in my mind, my next move became obvious. I had to get to that town full of people like me. I had to find it, had to get an answer from it. Maybe I could live there, or maybe I could find a way back to my own world, and I could put all of this behind me.

I… I felt things for these people. I cared about them more than I thought I would. I watched Foggy leading the way, and Ak just behind him. I remembered how frightened I felt when Fogwarth was on the brink of death, and the guilt I felt after everything with Ix-Lok. No, I wasn’t made for this place. These people were strong and brave, and I was only holding them back. I mean, everyone already knows the entire reason the bees invaded is because of me. The orchard, Lucan, and everything after all involved me.

Quietly I hoped that Fogwarth would come with me to the Resurfaced town, but I couldn’t expect that of him. For now I would help find his freaky brother, try my best not to decay, and then free them of me.

“How will you know when we hit the knee?” Aeronik said, looking around in disgust. “I see nothing to indicate such a thing.”

Foggy laughed. “Oh, that is simple, new friend. I imagine the passage will widen as we approach the thigh, indicating we would be at the knee!”

“Perhaps for your thighs, you plump fool. Yet we could walk for hours more and see no such change!”

“Don’t talk to him like that,” I snapped, still lost in my thoughts. “Don’t hear you coming up with a better plan.”

The ground beneath us was soft, and outside of a few spots where thicker roots had taken hold it was a relatively easy walk. The only sound we could hear was the clinking of armor, and so far there were no tumor monsters. I mean, I would say we should have just stopped to camp right there while we knew it was safe. What good was heading further up going to do?

“Now, there is no need for such an argument on my behalf,” Foggy added. “I have learned time and time again that those who exhale hostility are the same who inhale hatred. Let our new friend live in misery, sir berry. It shall only harm him in the end.”

Aeronik huffed but didn’t reply, choosing to instead stomp along in quiet frustration until we reached an oddly shaped cavern that seemed to lead off into an even wider tunnel ahead. Aeronik hissed, clearly upset by what he was seeing, while Fogwarth could only grin.

“Ah, as I said. The knee.”

We searched the area for anything skulking about, worried that more of the tumors or even the mushroom infested beasts may be roaming around, but found it to be free of anything too dangerous. I raised the question of a campfire, as anyone sane would do in a damp, creepy cave, but was quickly shot down. The team was worried about issues with the smoke and smells flooding the leg and attracting whatever could be lurking ahead. We eventually settled on doing short rest periods where one would keep guard while the others slept. We would do two hour shifts, then rotate; Aeronik would not get a turn as we were concerned that he would murder me in my sleep. Ak-Lok was up first, and I decided to give us somewhere a bit safer to camp than just laying on some moss inside of a leg cave.

Besides, it would be nice to check in on Goomba anyway.

I tossed my mushroom down, casting the summoning spell and unleashing the Goomba! I really should have thought it through, as the entire cavern rumbled and shook around us, raining down dirt and stone in heaps. Luckily it held, and Aeronik stared on in horror as the same giant mushroom monster that freed the king burst from the ground and announced his glory to the party.

“Freedom!” Goomba shouted, stretching his stalk and looking around. He quieted a bit, raising a shroomy brow and curiously surveying his surroundings. “Or… perhaps I spoke too soon. What is this place? It is… rather moist and stinky.”

I went to speak, but unfortunately Fogwarth was quicker.

“We are within the husk of the long deceased Vacel Juniperscar! Behold! What a wonderous thing it is that such a being has turned into this vast cave!”

Ouch. There it was.

“Not exactly the welcome I had in mind…” I muttered under my breath, watching the shifting expression on Goomba’s face.

“Oh… oh…” he muttered, eyes falling to the ground and voice lowering even further. “I see… inside of Lord Juniperscar… so this is what became of my Vacel…”

A long beat of silence passed as it settled in. We all waited, and I wanted to say more but was unsure of what to say. Eventually it was Goomba who broke our quiet pondering.

“I’ll have you know…” he said, looking around. “The irony here is not lost on me.”

“Sir berry,” a voice called out in my dreams. “Sir berry, wake up. It is your turn to watch whilst I recommence my slumber. Wake up, sir berry.”

Just a dream voice. A silly, obnoxious, inch worm dream voice. Nothing to be concerned with.

I tried to convince myself of that at least. Then, without ceremony, Foggy hoisted me up and shook me like one of those Shake Weight workout machines from the infomercials. Oh, come on. You remember the ones. They looked suspiciously like dicks? We’re a massive scam? Barely even registered as a fad?

Anyway, he shook the living Hell out of me until I finally woke up. His smooshy smile met my frown, and finally he placed me on my feet a few moments later.

“Ah! Terrific! I see that you are awake, sir berry. Good! Very good! I shall take my turn resting in this humble mushroom abode!”

“Oh, fuck you, man…” I mumbled, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

To be fair I had so far slept the longest, outside of the spoiler crybaby bee. To be honest I expected it to be more difficult to fall asleep than it actually had been. The soft, spongy floor of Goomba’s insides were shockingly comfortable, and the fact that we were inside of a living creature meant that it was unnaturally warm. I was out within only a few minutes of laying down; and it felt like I had only slept for a few minutes total.

I trudged outside of Goomba’s mouth, grateful that he didn’t have any commentary for me about it, and took my turn on guard duty in the dim cave knee. Aeronik had left one of the floating glowing lanterns for us since we couldn’t do the fire, which may have been his only worthwhile contribution, and I moved it out a bit further to get some extra visibility out of it.

“Anyone seen anything out here yet, Goomba?” I asked, trying to ignite some kind of conversation with the somber mushroom house.

“No,” was all he responded.

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“Uh, huh,” I huffed, getting the lantern to where I wanted it and then returning to the mushroom, carefully eyeing our surroundings. “How are you… uh… feeling?”

“Feeling? Me?” Goomba answered, gazing off at a spread of moss on a distant wall. “How original. Though it is better than the long, hard one who said absolutely nothing, or your chubby friend who went over his top one hundred favorite foods, argued with himself about his choices, and then forced me to make drum roll noises for each of his top five.”

“Was his top one bluebe-“

“Yes his top one was blueberries,” Goomba angrily interrupted. “But, how am I feeling? Well… how trivial. I am inside of the corpse of my long dead master, learned he had been betrayed and slain by one of our closest allies, witnessed him die before I could get answers, and apparently I am stuck with you since yet another former ally decided to gift you with my core for no apparent reason. So, how am I feeling? Well, I am far from erect and regal. I am but a flaccid cap of the mushroom I once was.”

“I mean… you didn’t have to say that last part that way, but okay. I get it. For what it’s worth I’m-“

“Do not apologize,” he barked. “As miserable as I am, I understand this is not entirely your fault. You are trying to survive, just as any would in this world. Just as… just as your Companions father had set out to do.” Goomba sighed, reluctantly shifting his eyes on me. “Just as all Resurfaced are one to do… at first.”

“I keep hearing that,” I answered. “That we are all ‘hellbent on gaining’ power and destroying the ways of this world or whatever. But dude, I have no intention of that. Look at me. I’m a fucking blueberry. I’m just trying to get by over here, Goomba” I watched the seconds tick down in my decay timer as I spoke.

“It is always the same. I do not cast judgment, however I have seen this cycle. I had felt the repercussions of it. You are not like the others, but that is just for now. Just in this moment.” The mushroom shook its cap. “And stop calling me Goomba, use my name given to me by the great man that I now find myself cap deep inside of.”

“Huh? Name? You didn’t have a name when I met you, hence the prompt making me give you one. What’s your actual name then?”

“Oh, it is a mighty name. One that lets my enemies know that, while I may be stout, I can grow for the occasion, should battle be met. A name that many fear, knowing they cannot take me all at once. When I am erect on the field of combat there are none that can avoid my thrust!”

I closed my eyes, shook my berry, and squeezed the bridge of where my nose should be. “Just tell me the damn name,” I groaned.

“Well, I do not remember it.”

“You what?!” I barked. “After all of that nonsense you said?”

[Quest Received: All That is in a Name. Quest Giver: Goomba. Description: The honored familiar of Vacel Juniperscar, God of Growth and Harvest, has lost the memory of his name. Success Condition: Find the true name of the Toadstool Lord familiar. Reward: Experience, Lore]

The giant mushroom just sort of… shrugged. It was more of a flex of its cap and a shimmy wiggle kind of movement, but I understood it all the same.

“There is so much that seems lost on me now, blueberry. So many of my memories are buried. It is as though I can see them… see them through the mounds of dirt. Yet I dig, I search, and they are ever deeper than I expect. But… when I saw him, when I saw Fogrick, some seemed to shake loose of the rubble. That bastard… that lowly Resurfaced bastard…”

I sighed, feeling unable to help the giant mushroom. “Look, Goomba. I don’t know your history, or what Fogwarth’s dad did to you and to your old master. Truth is the guy didn’t do anything to me except help me along. But I know that there is something there, some kind of painful past, and if you ever need to talk about it then I’m your berry. I promise.”

“Thank you, Barry,” Goomba answered with a drawn out exhale. “Perhaps there is a day when the full scale of all that I know can be shared. It is a past life that I believe warrants sharing, both the memories of the light and of the dark.”

“I agree,” I answered. “Let’s see how this series does first and then circle back for the prequel. Anyway, how would you feel about something a little more positive?” I asked, passing a smile as the mushroom met my gaze. “Want to help me pick my new ability? I’m giving up summoning a whole ass dragon for this so we need to make it count!”

I had tossed around the idea for a while. It was always my struggle; deciding the present versus the future. I historically always thought of the present. Why get a better job when the one I have pays the rent? Why not have a few more beers tonight? Why eat Little Ceasers even knowing it will absolutely wreck my stomach? Those were all problems for future Barry, that was my thought. But now…

Well, now things are different. A whole dragon was incredible, beyond incredible, and could give us a massive edge if we find any other demon tumor things, but then there was the risk Fogwarth mentioned. If he had a path that required him to not choose an ultimate ability then it’s possible I did too, and I needed all of the path options I could get. No longer could I be a blueberry of the current, I was a blueberry of the future. A future berry. And maybe future berry will get a redo for summoning a dragon. Who knows.

I brought up the skill tree, winced as I saw the dragon fruit option again, and chose not to accept it. Within seconds it dissolved away, leaving only emptiness behind. It stung, I won’t lie. A moment later I saw three options return, and it was good to see some familiar skills come crawling back for a second shot.

“Oh this will be good fun!” Goomba answered, perking up a bit. “Bound familiars do not receive skill options, they are simply given skills, and the Structure category familiars have even fewer options than others. I have never been a part of the selection process before! I could practically erupt with excitement! Now, do not tease me any further, blueberry!”

I rolled my eyes then read him my current options.

[Concord Barrier - Active. Type: Nature. Cost: 35 Mana. Cooldown: 120 Seconds. Effect: Summons a barrier of 13 Concord grapes that surround and orbit the caster until unsummoned or barrier limits are met. Each Concord grape explodes on contact, rendering a foe immobile for 3 seconds. Immobile effect of Concord grapes may stack up to 5 times]

[Curative Spores - Active. Type: Nature, Light. Cost: 65 Mana. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Effect: burst a cloud of spores around you for an area of 10ft. Spores recover 15 Health per second over a period of 10 seconds for all allies in the vicinity. 3% chance to summon a Spore Medic familiar on casting. Spore Medic lasts for 30 seconds and provides an additional 3 Health per second]

[Radiant Harvest - Passive. Type: Nature, Light. Cost: N/A. Cooldown: N/A. Effect: Adds a 21% chance that a fallen foe or ally within 10 yards of the Angiomancer will yield a temporary Life Stem. All allies within a 5 foot radius of the Life Stem gave 2X health per second, where X is equal to the Angiomancer’s current rank]

This is how ABC’s The Bachelorette must feel towards the end of the season, standing there looking out at the options she hadn’t picked and wondering if she would have found a greater love with someone else. What? You’re going to act like you’ve never seen The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? I get it, they are all in it for the social media hype and publicity, but let me have this one. Me picking my magical blueberry spells is exactly like late-season Bachelorette. Exactly.

Whatever omniscient system chose the abilities really was looking out for me here. A healing passive, a healing active, and a defensive ability. Realistically I needed all three of them. There was no single one that stood out more than the others. The passive was the least appealing just due to needing someone to literally die for it to prompt, but at the same time I knew at some point I needed to add some passives into the mix.

“So do I go defensive with some bonus damage, or some healing?” I asked Goomba after reading him the options.

Yes, I know his name isn’t Goomba, but we literally don’t know his name so it’s better than nothing for now.

“Strange,” he answered, eyes gazing up at the ceiling; Or kneecap I guess. “In my youth my master had a similar conundrum. To choose a boon for others, or protection for himself. It was a critical moment for our party back in our early days of adventuring. That day he chose to honor his allies and obtain what would best serve his friends.”

A long pause stretched, but I heard Goomba speak under his breath and say, “I see now it may have been foolish…”

Not wanting to comment back on his shattered past, I decided to press forward with the ability selection.

“Defense is great, and necessary,” I said, pulling him from his fungi funk. “I’m not exactly the one in our group that’s the most capable fighter, ya know? But there’s something calling to me about the healing… Can’t place it, just feels like I’ll regret not picking up a healing move again. The small chance to summon some kind of familiar isn’t so bad either.” I stopped and gave Scrappy a pat on the head as he was balled up sleeping atop of mine. “As I get stronger I think these little guys might be a real help for us. Hell, just look at you.”

Goomba managed a brief laugh. “Yes, I suppose so. If it were up to me, knowing what I know and seeing all that I have seen, I would choose the spores. It is what Vacel would have done.”

Without wasting another paragraph on it, I chose the spores and watched the other choices vanish. I mentally waved them goodbye, genuinely hoping to see them again in the future like a pair of old friends. Or like the runner ups on the Bachelorette.

“See that? Teamwork right there,” I said to Goomba. “Someday soon I might finally be able to call it quits with all of this. Get rid of this decay timer for good, not stress about fighting and dying, and just post up in some town. Maybe then I could keep you out for longer, or even permanently. That is…” I gulped, not wanting to say the next part but also wanting to cheer Goomba up. “That is as long as you’ll allow me inside of you.”

Goomba smiled, its door mouth flattening into a wide grin. “You may come in my mouth whenever you please, blueberry friend.”

I shuddered but tried to play it cool. “When that day comes we will work on some better phrases too.”

We both were joined to share a laugh, then a slow, rhythmic slap permeated the air. It pinged off of every wall, growing louder and louder with each of the cracking sounds, and for a moment I feared the knee was caving in on us. I rushed to my feet, questioning if being inside of Goomba would be any safer than being out here. We would be crushed or trapped, potentially surrounded by hostile gross creatures. I spun, searching for the noise as Goomba seemed to do the same.

That’s when we heard it. A whispering, scratchy voice that seemed to call out from all around us like a rush of wind or the rustle of old leaves. It sent gold chills racing over whatever counted as my blueberry spine. I raised my sword, waking Scrappy and already prepping my spells in my mind just as the slow clap stopped.

“You should not be here… little berry…”