Tim didn’t exactly know who was speaking to him. It was hard to figure things out, because he didn’t see anything either living or undead in front of him. He was supposed to be alone right now, yet he wasn't! The goat skulls which were littered across the tunnel, ripped his attention-span into pieces as well, he was overwhelmed, and didn't know what to pay attention to first.
In that disturbed state, he decided to answer the strange voice, he said. “I'm from the sea, guy, erg, are you a guy? Doesn't matter. I'm looking for a soul tampering cave, that's all I'm here for, so, can you help a brother out?”
“Brother,” The other followed along, “We are not of kin. You are a fish, and I am a rodent!”
“A rodent, huh?” He asked, “Well that means you're alive, right? We're kinda like brothers, cuz we're both breathing.”
Tim tried to be political here, or diplomatic too, in a way. He tried, but neither of those things were part of his trump cards, and they hadn't been in any universe. He was just yapping!
Yet, the rodent was intrigued, in fact, he bursted out laughing. The creatures within this tunnel were typically mindless, indefinitely, so it was really refreshing to be a part of a debate of sorts, for once, rather than a one-sided slaughter. The rodent was amused.
With that considered, it followed along. “Alright, you've convinced me, kid. I usually eat little guys like you, but you're an exception, cuz you don't deserve to be used as food. That would be a waste of life, and I have this feeling about you, I feel that you have a lot to offer, in whatever way.”
Afterwards, the rodent popped out of the left side of the tunnel walls, and created quite a dusty mess as a result. Once the dust cleared up, Tim grasped the details of a rather muscular and big, six-inch long (tail excluded), gray-haired rat!
It was quite the scene. If one looked at this rat for a single second, they could understand how it survived this long. The thing looked huge, capable, and dangerous! He was built to battle the challenges that these tunnels posed, undoubtedly.
Anyway, apart from the rat, Tim noticed another important detail. He noticed that all the goat skulls were suddenly gone, as if within a blink! This was weird, so he couldn’t help but question his own sanity.
He also vocalized his burning question, he asked. “Where the hell did all those dead goats go, man?”
“Oh, they're mowing the dandruff off of my backside. I have a bunch of fleas for them to feed on too, hehe! So, don't worry about them, they're doing fine.” The rodent answered.
Afterwards, he introduced himself. “I'm Skendus, by the way, and I'm an illusionist from the radiant one-eye sect. Pleasure to meet you, sir fishy spider.”
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“Another sect… that’s great.” Tim thought.
“I heard that,” Skendus added, “I’m an illusionist, don’t forget that so quickly. Your brain is like a sponge to me, and I love squeezing sponges. You know, cuz they squirt out all that water and stuff, they’re fun!”
Tim had a lot of questions to ask, he certainly felt stumped by this encounter. His questions were mostly heavy, though, so he decided to start with an easier one. He ignored the fact that the other could read his mind, and tried to act normal for a moment.
“You sound very smart, erg… friend?” He first said, and then he pressured. “You know what a sponge is though, huh? It is to my knowledge that only humans know about that stuff, sponges and all, so, does that make you human in any way? You know some stuff that you aren’t supposed to know.”
“Oh, I’m just a rat.” Skendus answered, “But I’ve infiltrated those bumpy, human homes before, multiple times even. I can’t understand how they live topside, the sun is very annoying, but… erg, I’ve touched sponges before. Funny story, I thought it was trying to eat me! Turns out it was just really soft.”
At this rate, it was easy to go off topic. Skendus was really articulate, he could understand spiders, even, so one could not challenge his intellect and or his ability to confuse or distract someone by just talking. He was a motor-mouth. Tim was a motor-mouth too, without a doubt, and yet he didn’t appreciate how Skendus went far enough to mock his way of speaking, it was disrespectful, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it right now.
Instead, he simply followed along. “Okay, so that’s how you understand what sponges are? Your stories are funny! Eh, can you tell me more about illusions though, how much of my brain can you read, for example?”
“Oh, enough not to kill you, Timeeth.” Skendus said, and it was apparent that he wasn’t willing to answer any more questions, so it was best not to ask them.
Instead, he said. “Follow me.”
…
Tim did not expect to run into an illusionist today, one who was also a rat. It wasn’t surprising to find a rat underground, no, but he simply had forgotten that rats existed. He had no particular reason to remember them, just like he didn’t have a reason to remember that seagulls existed, or hippos. His brain was constantly being challenged in this new world, so he wasn’t the best at remembering things.
In this case, he was lucky enough that he ran into a nice rat, or in other words, a slightly intellectual rat. Those latter words didn’t fit well together, but Tim was a witness that it was possible! Not all rats were gross, some of them were pretty interesting.
Anyway, they walked across the tunnels for about fifteen more minutes, and since Skendus took the role as the guide, it was impossible for them to get lost. This was his home, and as science would so willingly encourage, rats were pretty good at figuring tunnels out. Tim was pretty safe now!
Skendus didn’t speak much along the way, but considering that he could read minds, it may not be necessary for him to speak at all. They shared common thoughts, and weren't just walking around randomly either.
At some point, Tim noticed that the presence of entities became more and more frequent around them. They walked past several bundles of ghostly entities, but these entities weren’t as violent in comparison to the ones that he had run into before. These ghosts were either calmer, or respected Skendus the rat far more. Either way, Tim could finally relax a little bit, he felt safe!
However, since he noticed an increased amount of entities flying around, he couldn’t help asking himself a solid question.
“Is he taking me to a soul tampering cave?” Tim thought, “That’s gotta be it!”