“So… you’re Val! Well, I’ll be!” His eyes snap back to me, beaming with an almost unsettling mix of excitement and hope. “You’re… you’re his last work, then!”

“You can read his notes! What else does it say?!” I grab his arms with both hands, my excitement mirroring his own.

“Oof!” he yelps, his smile faltering slightly.

“Sorry…” I quickly let go, wincing.

Whoops. Maybe a little too enthusiastic.

Bailey rubs his arm gingerly, giving me a slightly wary look. “Right. Well… that last bit… about you… that made sense. The rest… went right over my head.”

I bury my face in my palms, groaning. “Ugh. Why did you have such awful handwriting, Doctor? Are you even a real doctor? These letters are like a chicken scratching on parchment.”

Bailey’s brow furrows with worry. “But… you need to be careful. Keep yourself covered up. What Master Keyser did… well, it isn’t exactly… allowed.”

He explains that everything to do with creating artificial life and artificially prolonging life is forbidden by the Anunnaki, god-like beings worshipped by humans.

Apparently, they have some pretty strict rules about playing God, which, considering they’re actual gods, is probably fair enough.

He adds that I don’t look like anything else on this planet. Nothing has scales like mine, and nothing has golden eyes staring back at his own blue ones—which, he admits, was one of the reasons he was so suspicious. Also, nothing should have made it to his door alive; all the traps were laced with poison.

Which, you know, explained the whole screaming and gun-pointing incident.

He was especially surprised that the poisoned food hadn’t affected me. "I put enough Ionacoca in that stew to knock a Terraphanotos flat for a week with just one bite!" Bailey shakes his head in disbelief. "But it all makes sense now...knowin' you're one of Dr. Keyser's...creations. That explains why the poison didn't faze ya."

Well, you know, he was hiding in a cave… I suspected he was probably doing extremely illegal things. Especially after seeing what he did to those sea serpents.

He makes more food, and this time he joins me at the rickety table. I tell him that, being newly created, I have absolutely no knowledge of this world. It’s all brand new to me. So, as evening falls, Bailey pulls out a map. It has continents and oceans, much like Earth, but with a lot more scribbles and what look suspiciously like drawings of monster creatures scattered around the world.

Bailey points to a large, swirling mass of blue in the middle of a continent. “This is the Elemental Wilds. Like I said, no one in their right mind lives here. Too much… weather. I was actually just packing up to leave myself,” he explains, shuddering slightly.

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I point at the many large and small yellow circles scattered across the map. “Are these all cities?”

“Aye, cities and mines.” He pauses, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “Now, about those two gold-looking things in your bag… they aren’t gold. Not exactly.”

I pull out the two heavy bars and place them on the table with a satisfying thunk.

“Those are Adamantine. Dug straight from the ground of Mesoselenia, then covered in gold. They used to give ‘em to the Anunnaki. In exchange, the Anunnaki would give folks… well, knowledge. Truth. The Mesoselenians use ‘em for other things now, but they can’t dig up much of it anymore.” Bailey looks grimly at the bars. “That’s about what a big mine pulls up in two years.”

I’m rich! I’m loaded! I can practically see the piles of gold coins shimmering in my future.

Bailey’s expression turns serious as he sees my grin. “You shouldn't go showing those to just anyone,” he warns, his eyes darting nervously around the hut. “They're worth… more than you can possibly imagine.”

Rumble… Rumble… Rumble… Rumble…

Before Bailey can elaborate, a massive earthquake interrupts us. The whole hut shudders like a leaf in a hurricane.

We drop to the floor. Bailey dives under the table with surprising speed. Luckily, the hut is well-built, but even so, cracks spiderweb across the walls, making me wince.

"Right then! Uh… maybe… maybe we should… call it a night," Bailey says, crawling out from under the table, dusting himself off. He looks a little pale. I wholeheartedly agree. This whole shaking thing is getting a bit disruptive.

Bailey quickly fashions a makeshift bed of vegetation on the floor and gestures for me to relax on it. He heads back to his bed in the vehicle outside.

Handyman.

I lie on the makeshift bed late into the night, staring at the cracks in the ceiling. Just as I’m starting to drift off into my thoughts, another earthquake hits.

An aftershock? More like an after-shocker.

I head outside. Bailey is already there, looking down at the ground with a worried expression.

"Goodness! Look at that! All that shakin’ today… this isn’t safe. Not anymore,” Bailey says, gesturing towards the widening cracks spreading across the ground. They look big enough to swallow a small dog. “Say… would you direct me to where Master Keyser kept his… cavern?”

“I can show you where it is. But where will you be going after?” Looking into the dark jungle, I notice some small creatures flitting past. They look like large fireflies, but with too many legs.

"Well now, I can't rightly say about that just yet. But there's always a new pot to stir, a new road to wander, eh?" Bailey returns to the hut and starts packing with renewed urgency.

“Can I come with you?” I follow him inside. “It’s always good to have a companion, right?”

Especially when the companion has nowhere to go.

Bailey chuckles, shaking his head good-naturedly. "Just here for the grub, are we? Well, can't say I blame ya! As long as you leave a bit for me, you're welcome to tag along."

I help Bailey pack until dawn. As the moons fade and the sun rises, we load everything into his vehicle—a flying contraption that looks like a cross between a carriage and a dragonfly. "This little beauty set me back a pretty penny, I tell ya!" Bailey says, patting the side of the vehicle affectionately.

We lift off and head towards the beach.