What are you doing here, strange creature?
I… I don't know… I was driving in a car and…
And you came in here unannounced, I have things to do you know!
I… I think I passed out on the wheel… oh god am I dead?
… Dead? No you look quite alive, the real question is, are you drunk?
… I'm not old enough to drink…
Well it doesn't matter too much, you can't stay here though.
Where am I?
Tell me, do you wish to pass on to the afterlife, or pass on to the world string?
I don't understand…
Do you want to die?
… No?
Alright, worldstring you go, wish you luck!
… Thanks…
----------------------------------------
I open my eyes to the sight of a ceiling made of wooden boards. My entire body lethargic and everything swimming, I take a moment to focus harder on the boards. There is a sickly cyan glow casting on them but they appear… pink? I try to prop my arm to sit up but then I realize the bed I'm on is… strange. It has give, but only in certain places, it's lumpy. And the texture is extremely rough and grainy. Like when I run my hand against the back of a…
I hear the soft but powerful raising and lowering of the lungs of something unnaturally huge. I look down. I appear to be laying atop the body of a huge animal, judging from the brown fur, the paws, and the deep rumble that sounds similar to a... lion… Finally, my situation sets in: I woke up on top of a massive lion, comparable in size to a semi truck if my eyes don't betray me. My entire body freezes up in fear, my heart rate skyrockets, and I try everything in my power to breathe as quietly as possible, my primal instinct was to bolt away from the lion but I also knew that that might get me eaten. So, for now, I stayed still as a tree. Trying to assess the situation, my eyes followed along the massive length of the lion until I got to one end, that's where I saw something even more surprising. While a giant fluffy mane obscured it a bit, unmistakably there was a pale fleshy orb with orange hair, ears, eyes, thick orange eyebrows, a broad nose, a mouth, and a grand orange beard reminiscent of those worn by fantasy dwarves. Very clearly there is a human head on this lion where the lion's head should be, almost like God was trying to assemble a lion the size of a semi truck, and at the last minute dropped the lion's head he had made for the creature, and out of desperation slapped on a human head. Or something like that.
While I really wanted to be freaked out by this sphynx like creature, my body was still frozen in place out of fear, so my eyes darted around the room for now. On one side was another pink wooden wall like the one on the ceiling, looking to the other side got me blasted with a faceful of blinding cyan light. Shielding my eyes, and forcing them to adjust to the light, I see that it looks to be an old timey cage lantern made of a brown metal and the size of an oil drum. Within the cage is a candle made of a deep blue wax burning a cyan flame, also comparatively big to fit with the cage. Looking down gives me a rush of vertigo as I see a long dropoff onto a wooden floor similar to the ceiling, and a massive black leather skin stretched and sewn to act as the world's largest hammock for this creature, along with a nightstand which the lantern rests upon made of the same pink wood. I also see a massive arched doorway in the shape of an upside down 'V' that leads out of this room, a set of red curtains obscuring my vision outside of this massive chamber.
Too scared to move from my spot, I resign to remain frozen in place. Nothing bad has happened yet from doing so, so why not continue staying still? Unfortunately, the grumble of the lion beast grows louder, and I watch as his eyes slowly begin to crack open. In a complete blind panic, I try to stand up and jump off of the lion's body. Everything felt lumpy, unstable, and sluggish, like trying to run away from something in a dream but your limbs just won't move fast enough. It doesn't matter though. Impossibly fast, the lion's paw hooks a giant claw through the neck hole of my shirt and out the underside. He seemed to take great care not harming me though, as it would take surgical precision or dumb luck to hook me like that. As he hoisted me up in the air, I did what anyone in that situation would do: scream, yell, bellow, and flail wildly around. He brought me in front of his nose and studied me closely with his deep oval shaped green eyes, very similar to that of a cat's eye. After what felt like an eternity of studying me as I acted like a screaming cornered wild animal, he began to speak, his voice loud, low, and powerful, and he had a thick gravelly voice that was accented by growls and purrs.
"Silence, little creature. I don't know how you got here, but you're strange enough that I bet you're an outsider. Tell me, are you aware of a planet called 'Earth'?" The creature's face gave me a look of expectation, as he watched me flail around. Instead of responding, I continue to fight against my captor. I don't know why, it just feels better to flail around wildly at this moment.
"Don't worry, I understand you're scared, I will wait for you to calm down." And waited he did. I got out every ounce of flailing energy from my body before after several minutes I slowed down and stopped. Eventually I resigned myself to stare up at him in a frightened manner.
"Well?"
"I… Yes, I am from earth."
"Ah yes, you are definitely an outsider. Good. Now, dear outsider, what is your name?"
"Tara…"
"Any last names?"
"Uh… Tara Button"
"Tara Button, a fine name. Mine is Raze Ravshok." He attempts a smile at me, but unfortunately I genuinely did not feel like smiling as of this moment. He paused to reflect on this.
"Do you wish to be set down Tara?"
"… Yes."
"Would you prefer the floor or the night stand?"
"... The nightstand please."
My stomach lurches as I am gently lowered down from his face to the night stand in which the lantern sat upon, his claws retract to free me from my binds. This is better, but I am still being blinded by the candle light of the lantern.
"... … … Could you possibly dim the lantern a bit?"
"Oho? Comfortable enough to make a demand now I see? Of course." He reached over to turn a knob on the lantern and suddenly the candle flame shrunk by about half, making the light much more bearable.
"There. Terribly sorry for frightening you Tara, I didn't expect to have any small creatures crawling around on my stomach. It's my natural instinct to snap up anything small near me."
"That's alright…" I don't even know what I am saying any more really, my brain just feels it safer to be polite. We both sat there awkwardly for a couple minutes.
"So Tara, I assume your bursting with questions about anything and everything?"
I finally realize that, yes, I do. "Where am I?"
Raze lays on his side, and faces me, purring in relaxation. I decide to sit down criss-cross applesauce to match. "You humans, you know of something called translocation correct?"
"Yes?"
"When you enter the 'ruins' as you call them, sometimes you hit traps of some kind that makes your comrades disapear, am I correct?"
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"That seems correct…"
"You're missing a piece of the puzzle, when you disapear, you're coming here."
I nod "Makes sense in a way that makes no sense, so I'm in a different dimension?"
"Yes, this dimension is where you go when you ‘translocate’, as you call it."
I look around the room a bit. I finally notice that there is an odd movement to the floor and walls around me. An odd churn. I take a moment to think about it, before getting an idea "Am I perchance, on a boat?"
"By sheer dumb luck yes you are on a boat. And speaking of that, I think I should bring you to the deck, it should make explaining where you are specifically within our world easier."
"Okay." I say, before realizing that I wouldn't even feel safe jumping off the end table without spraining my ankle.
"... Can you take me there?"
"Not too easily no, I have paws after all, Hm." Slowly, Raze rolls out of his hammock while the leather creaks loudly underneath. He hits the ground with a very grand, but oddly graceful thump, before walking up to the side of the end table and lowering his legs so that his back is level with me.
“Well, climb on I suppose.”
Now, I am quite hesitant to get back onto the beast after I went through all the trouble of getting off the beast, and it’s not like he has a saddle for me to ride on. But, he was giving me an expectant look, and thinking about it more he could probably kill me at any moment. I decided to resign myself to jumping the tiny gap in between the end table and my incredibly odd steed and cling to his spine like my life depended on it.
“Are you ready, Tara?”
“A-as I’ll ever be…”
And with that, Raze stood up to his full height and left the room. He was keeping his back extremely level and still so I didn't get flung off, which I am grateful for. When we passed through the cloth doorway we entered a massive (relative to the things in my world) rectangular hallway made of the same pink wood. I look down both ends and I see a half dozen red curtains like the one on Razes room, assumedly to other beasts like Raze. At one end of the hallway is an opening that leads to a much larger room. Peering as hard as I could, I could see row upon row of barrels and crates, assumedly that is a storage room. The other doorway leads to a set of wooden stairs leading up, which we are heading towards. A faint magenta glow bathed the staircase, originating from something above
I stayed quiet as Raze climbed the staircase to the deck, but once my head was brought above the floor I audibly gasped, nearly fainted even. While of course there is much to say about the ship run by beasts, the view was unreal.
“This is what I wanted to show you, Tara.”
The ship appears to be within an ocean of opaque glowing magenta water as far as the eyes can see, almost like we are floating in bubble gum. There is no sky, at least in the traditional sense. Instead, it was like we are in an impossibly huge cave with a pyramid shaped roof made of a black material patterned with magenta crosses. I turn my head to the other side of the boat, and I notice that the horizon on that end is much closer to our ship. Odd.
“Is… is this world flat or something?”
“Wrong, it’s in the shape of a cube.”
Now, I have been accepting all of the strange things happening around me fairly well, all things considered, but something about hearing that the planet I am standing on being a cube melted my brain a bit.
“How the fuck is this a cube?!”
Raze shrugs “Magic.”
So the nearer horizon is the edge to a cube. Got it, great. Marvelous
“Are you ready to ask some more questions, Tara?”
Oh you wouldn’t believe how many questions I have you damn cat.
“Who are you?”
“I am Raze Ravshok, I am a priest and a self taught doctor.”
“How did you know about earth?”
“You’re not the first outsider from Earth, every once in a while one of your people translocates themselves here. So we have paintings and books describing you.”
“Why, of all places, did I end up on top of your sleeping body?”
“That is strange actually, normally when one of your kind gets translocated you end up atop a nearby piece of solid ground. If that is correct, my best guess is that you ended up on my belly by complete and utter chance. Quite awkward it must be for you…”
"It was utterly terrifying that's what it was…"
He averts his gaze "Yeah, you do find us terrifying dont you?"
I pause, feeling a bit of pity.
"I'm pretty darn sure a mouse is terrified of anyone who is hundreds of times larger than them."
"... A mouse?"
"It's… basically a small furry animal with a tail that likes cheese. They are synonymous with being small basically."
"Ah…"
I sit there for a bit, looking out to the ocean of glowing Pepto Bismol and the flat angled roof I am supposed to call a sky. Squinting, I can see the vapors of clouds, nearly invisible with the relatively low lighting, but being highlighted by the glow of the ocean below. At a glance they look like magenta paint strokes in the air. I notice the faint ocean currents churning up and down, and I take a whiff. It smells salty, but there is a very minor tinge of sweetness to it. Like caramel but not caramel. There is something unnatural about this world, but also soothing at the same time. Like staring at a painting someone made. You wouldn’t think that natural life can exist here, but I assume this beast’s species is natural.
“Raze, we are called Humans, what would I call your species?”
“Our name uses vowels that you simply cannot say, but if I had to say, call us the Headra, people will get the idea of what you’re trying to say.”
“People… what’s going to happen to me now?”
“Basically there are laws that we have to follow with you outsiders. It’s hard to explain, but the best way to think about it is that the Soft God of-”
“Wait a fucking second, slow down, world string? Soft God?”
“... Oh yeah your world is just a big round one… hm… okay so, you know how this looks like an enclosed chamber?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s because it is. There are millions of enclosed chambers like this one that are radically different from one another, connected by thin strings of space.”
“... Kinda like a pocket universe?”
“A bit, but no, more like a universe shaped into an extremely long string with orbs of beads evenly strung along the string.”
I was half tempted to be suprised by this revelation, but I decided my energy would be better used on my mouth. “Is it because of magic?”
“Yep, pretty much.”
“Tell me, what is magic?”
Once again, Raze shrugs, but his eyes avert my gaze “I don’t know.”
“Ooookay… and what is this Soft God you mentioned?”
“Essentially they are a sentient thingamajig that makes up arbitrary laws for us to follow. Even if I wanted to eat you, it would be against the laws and there will be consequences.”
“So, do you worship the Soft God?”
“Eh, not really. Other chamber people might, but we don’t.”
“What is this god like?” At this question Raze shrugs
“We don’t know.”
Again, not knowing what to say, I stare forward into the horizon of the ocean. My mind is swimming, but there is something about this view that wow’s me more than anything being told to me. I think it’s hypnotic. A scientist would die for this data and yet my mind can only wander to the magenta ocean
“Okay… so now I know what a world string and your ‘Soft God’ is, can you tell me what happens now?”
“Well, there is a reward for whoever can deliver a human to the king alive, so I will probably do that…”
That sounds extremely concerning, I look up at Raze.
“What will happen to me once I'm delivered?”
“Don’t know. All I know is that it's related to the laws, so you would not be harmed there."
The heavy but soft sounds of foot (paw?) steps become audible from the stairway we came from. Raze and I both look over to see another Headra stepping onto the deck. This one looks to have a much thicker black fur and a solid black tail. It reminds me of a cat actually, now that I think about it. His human head looked to be much younger than Raze, with an unkempt head of black hair, no beard, and he looked to not have the same pock marks and scratches along his face as Raze does. As he comes up he does a big yawn.
“Raze, are you talking to yourself again? You woke me up, damn shame too, I was having the best dream ever…”
Raze looks down at me, giving me a ‘We will talk later’ kind of look “We are going to have to delay our hunt for the Yungsi.”
The cat Headra tilted his head in curiosity “What’s this all about?”
Raze gave me a glance of concern and looked back over at the Headra “An outsider just so happened to appear on our ship, in my room even.”
Finally, the Headra’s gaze shifted down to me, doing a double take. “Oh my gods! A real outsider!” He quickly came over close to Raze, his gaze fixated on me like one would look at a jewel.
“How come it isn’t caged? Aren’t you afraid it might scurry off?”
“She was very cooperative once I explained the situation to her, she hopped on my back of her own free will.”
“Are you sure that’s wise? It- I mean- She could jump off at any moment.”
“I highly doubt that, plus she is on a ship, nowhere to really go.”
I was getting really odd vibes from the Headra.
“Couldn’t we at least put her in one of our Shellon cages just to be safe?”
“No, she doesn’t need to be treated like one of our catches. She is a guest.”
“Alright, alright, you win, guest of honor she is. Just don’t lose her okay? I don’t want our million Skaves making a blind dash for the drink.”
“... One million Skaves? Did the king up the bounty again?”
“What? No, no, that’s the bounty Dogson gives.”
I looked back and forth between the two, my head once again refilled with a billion questions at all these new terms.
“You know that the laws state-”
“The laws state that we have to turn in any outsider to the highest available authority in our chamber or nearest worldstring chamber, Dogson is in our Neighboring chamber, and he certainly is much richer than the King, no?”
I see Raze’s eyebrow furrow begrudgingly as he thought about this, the other Headra looking at him expectantly.
“Alright, alright, yes, it is definitely within the laws, we aren’t delivering her to dogson though, we are delivering her to the king.”
The Headra’s face turned from fascination at me, to confusion, and then anger at Raze.
“He only gives pitiful amounts for outsiders, why would we ever deliver it to him!?”
“She would experience a fate far worse than death if we took her to Dogson. You know that’s why he has such a high bounty, no one wants to give outsiders to him, including me.”
This drained the color in my face. A fate worse than death? Normally I would think that someone is exaggerating, but looking at the serious look on his face, and what I have seen and heard by this point, I fully believe him.
The big cat looked back and forth in between me and Raze, calculating his words “Do you know how much we could do with a million skaves? With only a thousandth of that wealth all of us here would be set for life!”
Raze crosses his arms “I would never forgive myself, and no amount of money would fix that.”
“Well stop thinking about yourself then! You know that we are fishing out here to pay for things at home, are you really going to tell everyone you made the decision to pass up a million skaves, dooming them to years of hard work and toil to settle off debts and pay for bills, just because you have cold feet?”
“Yes.”
He sputters for a good second “W-well, I will not let you make that decision for us! Give her to me, I know if I leave her with you you’ll just let her go before we ever get to Dogson.”
Raze just stared at the Headra cooly “I will not let her go because we aren’t going to Dogson.”
“YES WE ARE GOING TO DOGSON YOU OVERZEALOUS TRASH! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? GIVE HER TO ME OR I WILL TAKE HER.”
Suddenly, the air around them went ice cold, coming from Raze himself. “Oh? Are you really going to take her from ME?”
“I am going to give you the count of five to hand her over or I will get ugly! FIVE!”
Raze did not move an inch, but the gaze he was giving the Headra bore into him with a ferocity and anger I have never seen. It makes my heart race and my muscles tense, as if they are screaming at me to run away.
“FOUR!”
The air itself now began to pick up, flowing around Raze like a miniature hurricane. That’s when the ringing in my inner ear went silent once more and I recognized the source: Magic. There is something magical around me right now, and if I had to bet it’s coming from Raze.
“THREE!”
Suddenly, the air billowing around Raze compressed itself down into a thin layer just atop his fur, spider webs of blue light began to appear and web out all around Razes body until everything but his mane and face were covered by them. Raze began to calmly walk towards the Headra.
“t-two!”
When Raze got close, the compressed air around his skin exploded outward into an angry red ball of pure malice, a red sun of pure ferocious intention to murder. If he wanted to attack me, I know that not only would he crush my bones instantly, but he would also hunt down every last member of my species to the end of the earth like an unstoppable force, the fifth horsemen of death. Even though I felt pure unadulterated terror like none I have ever felt before and my body was so tense it was causing me extreme physical pain, something about it made me know that the air was avoiding me as best as it could. The air made of primal malice and desire to kill was all boring down on the Headra. I then saw him piss himself right there on the spot.
“o-o… o… o… on…”
Suddenly, he fainted, slumping onto the floor like a sack of meat the size of a semi truck falling from a chinhook helicopter. The air around Raze dissipated, and he looked back at me concerned, “Are you all right?”
My heart was pounding so hard I felt like I was going to die, but still like the doofus I am I gave a reply.
“Yeah…”
“Good, I suppose I will have to act as your guard as we sail over to the king, huh? You're valuable.” He chuckled.
“Y-yeah…yeah...” My body finally caught up with how tense it was, and I relaxed it all, causing me to collapse face first into his fur.
“Please don’t do that again Raze…”
“I will try.”
I have a quintillion questions now to ask Raze, but considering how exhausted I am, I suppose they can wait a bit. I pass out.
End of chapter 1