CHAPTER 44

“Back so soon, my boy?” peeped a pleasant, high-pitched voice. Oh-jin stepped out of the shadows and greeted Kopius with a wide smile. “You are looking good, healthy! Please come in, come in. We’ve been through this before.” Kopius couldn't help but smile in return. The welcoming and attentive nature that Oh-jin continued to shine on Kopius was enough for even the most useless of men to feel an ounce of importance.

“Are you still broken?” Oh-jin asked as he pulled a tray of cups from a cupboard.

“In more ways than one,” Kopius replied.

“You know what I mean. Your interface, your profile—what of it?” Oh-jin's voice chimed in the most harmless huff a person could huff.

“I still can’t see it,” Kopius said, stifling a laugh. “But I am level 12 now.”

Oh-jin almost dropped the hot tea-kettle-looking thing in his hands as Kopius delivered the information.

“Already? That is—I’m shocked.”

“Yeah, I have had myself a little adventure.”

“That seems to be an understatement.”

“It is.”

“And the supplies, you returned with the list I gave you?”

Kopius scrunched his face a bit and shuffled his feet.

“I haven’t started that part yet.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“You came back all this way to tell me you are level 12 then?”

“Indeed.” Kopius answered, seeing this was going nowhere fast. “I have someone with me. Can he come in here?”

“You brought someone back to the valley with you?”

“I’m not in the valley.”

Wrinkles formed on the old man's head as Kopius continued to surprise Oh-jin.

“Where are you?” There was so much wonder in his high-pitched voice. “No, let me look. It’s been quite some time.”

Oh-jin stepped towards the open door, peered out, and immediately harrumphed.

“Kickshaw,” Oh-jin spat.

The old man eventually stopped looking around and locked in on Cici still engaging with his interface.

“An Astral Lumen,” Oh-jin said with a hint of reverence. “You do not see them in the wild very often.”

“Why do you say that?”

“They usually keep to their own.”

“He’s half-human, like me.” Kopius found himself getting a little defensive.

“Ah, I see. Then there is a story there.” Oh-jin stroked his goatee.

“We all got stories. Like the story about me walking through two different doors in two different places and ending up here.”

“An oversight on my part, Kopius. I do apologize. Does he have a name?”

“Yeah, Cici. Cici Beo.”

“Do you ‘owe him’ in some fashion?”

“Nothing official. But yeah, there's probably a good chance I’d be dead if not for him.”

“Fascinating.”

“Not how I would categorize the last few days.”

“Of course not, I am sure it was harrowing, challenging. Level 12, that's astounding. I very much want to hear your tale. And yes, Cici can come in too. Maybe he will tell me about that curse he’s holding.”

THE END