A rock tortoise is a small type of tortoise, harmless at a young age. Rock tortoises are thought to be the closest living relatives to terrastue, a species of huge, intelligent tortoises. Their growing process is very rapid, growing several feet within a single day. They continue to grow for about 16 years. Some are born with telepathic capabilities for an unknown reason. It is to be noted that creatures with such abilities are more intelligent than others of the same species, but less physically powerful.

* Bestiary of Unknown Origin

***

I stared at the creature in front of me. Despite the fact that I knew they were harmless and this was not my first time meeting them, my body involuntarily shook as I recognized this as a monster. Overcome by fear, I stood with my feet planted in the ground until, suddenly, I heard a voice.

“Hello? Sir? Can you hear me?” The voice said before an ear splitting scream of frustration assaulted my eardrums. No matter how hard I put my hands onto my ears, the noise did not quiet in the slightest. I fell to my knees as I failed to hold myself up. I realized that this noise wasn’t even going through my ears, but rather straight to my brain.

Telepathy. I recognized this feeling. I once had a beginner mind mage practice on me, and I never did forget that uncomfortable yet warm feeling of telepathy.

A look of realization flashed across the tortoise’s face as it realized I could hear it, and that it was hurting me.

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” I heard the creature scream into my brain repeatedly, seemingly in apology, though the splitting headache it was giving me begged to differ. It soon stopped, but the damage had been done, and I passed out soon after.

***

I woke with a start, jerking my head off of the ground to come face to face with a rock tortoise, almost slamming it in the face with my head. It seemed just as surprised, as it retreated backwards a couple of steps before calming itself down.

The tortoise stared cautiously at me. Its eyes shone a bright red as the evening sun illuminated its face. It’s almost as if they were rubies.

Wait. Those uneven, jagged edges, that unusual lack of pupils… Those are real, genuine rubies. As much as I tried to hide it from my face, I felt greed building as I stared at the perfect gems.

Seemingly sensing the greed I felt for its eyeballs, it retreated a few more steps, and pinned itself against the wall, shaking in fear.

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“What are you planning on doing to me, human?” The tortoise worth thousands of gold coins asked.

Pushing back my greed, I managed to get out a non-incriminating answer. “I just want to cook you some food.”

The tortoise looked at me suspiciously before wearing a look of realization; a grin spreading across its face, which would be ear to ear if the tortoise had ears.

“Dad, can you come and help me make sure this human keeps his promise?” The tortoise asked towards the cliff.

“Sure.” I watched as the entire cliff rose into the air, a tortoise’s head extending from the side. The ground I was standing on started to shake as a leg extended from the small extension of the cliff. As I looked to the side, I saw another nearly identical extension on the other side.

A realization hit my mind as I realized that I was standing on its shoulder. I felt myself rise from the ground, falling over as the tortoise turned to look at me and its son.

“What do you need help with again, Micah?” The behemoth asked the rock tortoise, apparently named Micah.

“This human here says he wants to cook me food, can you kill him if he doesn’t?” Micah answered.

“Okay, but you’ll need to do some extra shell cleaning if the humans get mad that we killed one of them,” the father answered, strangely accepting of these unreasonable requests.

I started sweating as I pulled out some basic cooking supplies I had stuffed into my bag in secret. As I had taken some survival classes, I was able to start a suitable fire with the sticks and grass. I placed my pot into the fire, opting to make a soup.

I gathered up various ingredients, sadly no meat, and started preparing it all. I diced some onions and carrots and chopped up a tomato, celery, garlic, potatoes, and cabbage. I searched around and was able to find some fennel, and ground up the seeds.

After preparing, I looked at the turtle and judged that I needed only a little bit of the vegetables for it alone. I took a quarter of the onion, carrots, and tomato; half the celery, garlic, and potatoes, and a handful of cabbage, and placed it all in a bowl I found in my bag.

I froze in my movements as I realized something. I turned my head towards the tortoise’s dad nervously, sweat dripping down my neck as I begged the gods to let me be wrong. “You.. You don’t want some too, do you?” I asked the father.

The huge tortoise let out a laugh, the strong winds almost lifting me off of the ground. “Of course not. Not even the best human chef could satisfy my tastes, not to mention cook enough food for me with the amount of resources you have at your disposal.”

I sighed in relief, not caring in the slightest that he insulted human chefs by saying they couldn’t even cook satisfactory food for a turtle.

Just as I thought that I could do this easily, I turned around to find the tortoise looking at me with the straightest face I had ever seen, and I realized something was wrong. I walked over to my fire and pot, and looked down at it before a realization hit me like a lightning bolt.

I need water to make soup.