CHAPTER 12

Kopius awoke to the sound of snapping branches and a cold chill down his spine. Disoriented at first, he tried to look in the direction of the sound but was quickly reminded of being glued to a magical barrier. The steps grew louder and heavier, making far more noise than when Kopius had been walking.

It’s big, Kopius thought, sobering up from his nap quickly.

A mixture of emotions washed over him as the crunching grew louder. He was fearful, confused, but above all, he was angry. Angry that he was stuck; angry that he was confused; angry that he was afraid. Angry that life had been one pitfall after another and that he was to blame for most of it.

Being trapped, indefensible, and with the sound of impending doom bearing down upon him, Kopius let go of logic and screamed. Not the high-pitched, damsel-in-distress whine one might expect. Instead, it was a growling, snarling, guttural roar. He strained against the barrier, but no rage in the world could wrench him free. After the yelling had subsided, Kopius noticed a brief pause in the crunching footsteps before they picked up again. A few moments later there was a loud thud behind him like a huge boulder had been thrown down, accompanied by the clatter of metal and wood.

“It takes a special kind of village idiot to try and steal my plants!” came a booming voice from behind. “Ya must be a moron. Skirted all my traps, just to blunder into this one!“ The deep sound of his voice would have echoed off the cliff face had it not been for the trees. Kopius could sense the man was close and had stopped walking. The fact that the man hadn’t killed him on the spot was a huge relief.

“I should kill you on the spot!” The voice bellowed, an accent coming through. “How did ya find my camp and how did ya get past my traps?”

“Do you want the long version or the short?” Kopius asked with indignation. He heard movement and then felt something like a stick prodding the back of his head. Kopius tried to sway his head, but the constant poking wouldn’t stop.

“You are in no position to be a little priss,” the voice said, pushing the stick extra hard into Kopius’s head for a short while before releasing. “How did you find my camp? How did you get past my traps?”

“I was walking out of the valley,” Kopius began with gritted teeth, ”and I came across your garden. If you have any other traps, then maybe you aren’t so good with traps.”

“Walking out of the valley?” the man spat back with incredulity. A distinct, british-leaning accent present. “Nobody comes to this valley, let alone strolls out of it!”

“You’re in this valley!” Kopius shot back.

“That is why I am in this valley!” the man responded.

“Then you shouldn’t be surprised when someone else walks through a valley nobody else comes to!” Kopius said matter-of-factly.

WHACK!

The back side of Kopius’s head exploded in pain as splinters of wood sprayed about in his peripheral vision. He tried to grab at the throbbing lump, but his hands would not move. His mind rattled and hummed before finally settling on a dull ache. A blank window appeared and he closed it once he could focus.

“Pretty brave for a man positioned to suck off a horse,” the man stated.

“Says the horse carrying a stick,” Kopius retorted.

“Next time you get the blade,” the man said calmly; the sound of a weapon being drawn. “Now, answer my questions.”

“Listen,” Kopius said calmly, trying to keep his heart from exploding. “I came walking up the valley from that direction.” He extended one of his legs and used his foot to gesture in the way he had come. “I found your little garden, came over to smell the plants, and got trapped.” He felt the sharp point of cold metal rest against the back of his neck.

“Nothing comes from that direction except the shadows,” the man responded, then whispered a few hushed words. Kopius felt a sudden haziness and had to blink a few times before regaining focus.

“I don’t know what to tell you, man,” Kopius started, speaking like he just finished smoking a joint. ”I woke up in a cave, got chased by a bush, climbed out of another cave, and here I am. I got this quest from some old guy in the rocks so I can look at myself properly. He is going to read his dead friend's notes to figure out what to say to me when we first meet.” The haze vanished, snapping Kopius back to full awareness just as quickly as it had overtaken him. What the hell was that? he wondered internally.

“Who sent you to find my plants?” The voice behind the blade demanded. Again, Kopius heard hushed tones and another wave of dizziness hit him. Stronger than before.

“The weird guys in the rocks?” Kopius asked drunkenly.

“Whoever sent you,” the voice replied.

“Oh-boy sent me!” Kopius proclaimed. “Wait, no… Oh-no, Oh-my, Oh-jin–that’s it. Oh-jin sent me for starlight… eyebright, first star I see tonight…” For a second time Kopius snapped back to full awareness, further enraged by whatever the man was doing to him.

“Yo!” Kopius shouted. “Knock that shit off! This ain’t some frat party, so quit hitting me with roofies!”

“Roofies?” The man half asked.

“Listen,” Kopius said in the calmest voice possible. “I woke up this morning in a cave, naked. I located some gear, got out of that cave, and found myself in a valley. I got chased by some monster and somehow found a door on the valley wall. While hiding, I come to find I am in a lab, and there is an old man working. Maybe he’s a chemist or a scientist, I don’t know. It doesn't matter. Oh-jin, the old man, said he can help me figure out what is going on but that I needed some eyebright. Are you with me so far?” There was a long pause before the man replied.

“Have you been smoking horror-root, lad?” The man asked.

“I don’t know what that is,” Kopius replied, “but I will take that as a sign that you are following along.”

“Oh-jin has a lift that brought me up to another cave,” Kopius continued. “Once out of that cave, I started walking in the direction that I thought was out. I came across your place here and got stuck trying to smell your plants.” Kopius couldn’t hold back an uncomfortable chuckle. “But that’s not even the crazy part.”

“Do tell,” the man said.

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“The crazy part is, well, I don’t think any of this is real. This is all some huge virtual fiasco, and quite frankly, if this is somehow real…” Kopius trailed off, collecting himself. “Let me put it this way: I have been both attacked and trapped by two different plants. You would probably be doing me a favor by ending it now.”

The blade moved away from Kopius’s neck, and he prepared himself for the end. He felt numb, resigned to his fate. He couldn’t even summon the will to beg for his life.

Kopius didn’t have to wait long as he fell forward to the sound of a bubble popping; face-planted into the tilled dirt. He rolled to his back and stretched his body as a tall figure loomed over him.

A large man, face obscured by Kopius’s angle, stood above with a heavy stick resting on one shoulder. He wore calf-high, black leather boots with a variety of buckles. Skintight trousers ran up the man's legs, one of which had a sheath of knives wrapped about his muscular thigh. A heavy jacket covered the rest of him, but Kopius could see that the man was bald and had a full beard. He made no movement to get off the ground, unsure of what his release entailed. For several moments, nothing happened.

”What now?” Kopius asked, breaking the silence. At that, the man took his free hand and itched his face. He then flung the large stick off his shoulder, revealing at its end an opal colored, anvil-sized, rectangular shaped hammerhead. He twirled it in the air and it glimmered iridescent in the sunlight. Catching it on the way down he slammed the white stone head flat into the ground. The thud from the hammer shook the ground around Kopius.

“The truth is the truth, no matter how confusing,” the man said, resting a hand atop the long handle of the now inverted weapon. He reached down and offered Kopius his hand.

Hesitant at first, Kopius extended his own hand, and the two clasped each other’s wrists. With a firm hoist, the man lifted Kopius to his feet. Kopius took a quick step back, dusting himself off.

The man didn’t move. He just stood there leaning against his huge weapon, one leg crossed over the other. He was slightly taller than Kopius, and heavier too. The strong grasp of the man's hand and ease with which he pulled Kopius to his feet further suggested the man had significant strength. When the two finally met eyes, Kopius felt a blush creep into his cheeks, though he’d never admit to it. The man was strikingly handsome.

Cory had been comfortable enough with his sexuality that admitting another man was handsome was no big deal. He had introduced enough women to his cat Orwood that it was a non-issue.

I’d have coffee with this guy, Kopius joked internally; oddly smitten.

His beard was staunch, thick, and precise. The black strands intertwined about the man's face, woven together like a shield. Or a pillow, Kopius thought involuntarily and had to physically resist the urge to reach out to touch it. What daylight remained gleamed off the man’s head like a setting sun on the horizon. His skin was a healthy shade of dark brown, teetering on black and he had soft, green eyes; the kind a lounge crooner might have as he steals your date right out from under you.

Kopius was so caught up admiring the man that he forgot about the dull pain emanating from the back of his head. He rubbed at it, first wincing at the pain but then soothing it down to a low roar.

“Aye,” the man said as he pulled something that looked like jerky from inside his coat. “Sorry about the ache you got there. This will help.” Kopius stood there staring at the jerky-looking food, much the same as he had back with Oh-jin.

”No… thanks,” Kopius replied, raising his hands to decline.

“Suit yourself,” the man shrugged, sliding the food back into whichever pocket it had come from.

“So… ah,” Kopius began slowly, ”No more need to kill me on the spot?”

“Nah,” the man said. He studied Kopius in a way that was much different than Oh-jin’s dissecting glance. He’s not sizing me up, Kopius thought. Is he checking me out? I was NOT serious about the coffee!

“My name is Cici Beo,” Cici said with a flourish of his free hand and a slight bow. “This,” he continued, gesturing at the open space, ”is my private garden.” His voice was low and deep. Now that Cici wasn’t yelling at Kopius, the man’s voice was soothing in its tone and it was accompanied by an accent, British in tone. It reminded Kopius of a Sunday afternoon radio host. Someone who would play smooth jazz and had a voice that could lull you to sleep.

“I’m Kopius.”

“Very well then,” Cici said with a grin. “That is quite a tale you told me. Maybe I can hear more later. As for that quest you mentioned…” Cici paused and reached into his large coat. His hand moved down to his crotch area, and there was a lot of hand movement happening behind the coat. After a few short uncomfortable moments, Cici produced a white flower with a yellow center. “I only have the one,” Cici said, reaching to hand it to Kopius. ”They are easy enough to come by, though.” Kopius did not reach for the flower.

“Just like that?” Kopius asked.

“Just like what?”

“You were going to kill me. Now you’re giving me flowers. What’s the deal?”

Cici chuckled.

“That does seem a bit odd,” Cici started. “I cast a spell that, ah, motivates you to tell the truth. Twice actually. Some can lie the first time, rarely the second. Not foolproof but rarely steers me wrong.” It was like listening to Idris Elba giving him a lecture. “Besides, from what I can gather, you seem more harmful to yourself than to me. You know you are wearing that wrong?” Cici finished, gesturing to the impromptu belt/sheath wrapped about Kopius’s waist.

“Yes,” Kopius replied with a huff. “Do you know how it is supposed to go on?”

“No,” Cici said, itching at his beard. ”But not like that.”

“Fair enough,” Kopus said with some resignation. “Is that the eyebright I mentioned?”

“It is,” Cici said with a smile, offering it to Kopius for the second time.

“Thank you.” Kopius said, taking the flower and placing it into the pouch that Oh-jin had given him. A blank window popped up into Kopius' vision, but he blinked it away. There was an awkward silence that held after the two men exchanged the flower. They looked at one another, a steady grin on Cici’s face while Kopius felt the unnerving feeling one gets when caught staring too long at someone.

“Alrighty then,” Kopius said after clearing his throat. ”I am going to get these back before I run out of sunlight.” Kopius had zero confidence that his Night Vision would allow him to navigate back to the cave’s entrance. Dusk had settled in, and he figured that he had an hour, at best, to find his way back. He started to turn the way he had come when Cici decided to clear his throat.

“Are ya really going back that way?” Cici said with genuine curiosity.

“Yeah,” Kopius said, stopping to face Cici. ”By the way, if for some reason I need to come back through here, how do I go about getting past your traps on the other side?”

Cici’s grin grew the slightest bit. He looked over his shoulder at the pile of tree roots and then off towards the horizon.

“Next you’ll will be asking for the whereabouts of my hidden treasure,” Cici said with a laugh. “It will be night soon and unless you like to wander in the dark, join my camp til dawn. You can tell me about these caves, and we can discuss the traps?”

Kopius would have to run through the forest to reach the cave mouth at this point. A brisk walk was the fastest he could manage before. Yet if he took off now and had to come back this way later, he was screwed.

Cici seemed to be on the up and up, but a wolf in sheep clothing is charming too. With dusk literally happening in front of his eyes, Kopius let out an audible sigh. Oh-jin will have to wait a little longer, he thought.

“Alright,” Kopius replied. ”There isn’t much to tell, but what do you want to know?”

“Excellent,” Cici said, clapping his hands together, ”First we set up camp!”

“What, pull up a log and have a seat?” Kopius asked, looking around the open space.

“Yes,” Cici replied as he made his way to a large sack that had pieces of chopped wood strewn around it. Gesturing to the pile of tree stumps, he continued, ”Grab a stump from there. I only have the one seat. I will set up the rest.”