With that Cederick excitedly skipped off into the ether again. With nothing better to do than follow Ozzy took up position where he’d been standing and felt for any connections. The first ones he could feel were the nine bonded rat havens that connected to more off into supposed infinity. Likewise he still saw the haven containing the mysterious oddball rat haven with significantly more strength and intelligence than the others. He was glad he still saw it despite having killed the previous occupant. He wasn’t certain it would still show up. There was now also an additional node he could feel. Not quite as obvious as the rest. Not even as bright as the ninth chained haven which he hadn’t visited yet. It was still discernible from the sea of indistinguishable possibilities out there though. While going over the different options he could now see there was an obvious difference in their feel. Like Cederick had claimed.
Taking a moment to pray to whatever would listen to him he asked for this not to be a trap. The next step found him standing on a stone pathway that led off into the distance. That last thought made him pause. The distance. The path wasn’t stopping as his eyes kept following it further and further. It didn’t stop at ten tiles, not twenty, and not even thirty tiles away. Granted, at around fifty squares out, he estimated, he could see the other side of this haven. Which wasn’t really that big, but compared to any place he’d been so far this place was downright gargantuan in scope. It wasn’t quite as wide as it was long at about 9 tiles. Though the length wasn’t the only thing blowing him away. On either side of that fifty tile long pathway there were squares of all different kinds of materials. Not just that, but buildings as well. Some made of bricks or stone, and others even made of wood. Though there were not many of those. Suggesting it was easier to gain access to the previous materials than the latter. The examination of materials and tiles and the magnitude of the place was wiped out of his mind at what he realized next. There were people!
“Ahahahaa,” Cederick laughed to himself while nodding emphatically with a clear sense of self satisfaction “I knew you’d like it!”. He was having trouble closing his mouth and he didn’t mind all that much that Cederick was getting a kick out of his reaction. “Usually I take some more time to get to know people before bringing them here, but I got the feeling you are good people. Plus I couldn’t wait to see your face! It was totally worth it!” Cederick snickered. “Come on I’ll show you around, and introduce you to everyone” He said as he started off down the path. Following along Ozzy kept glancing from one place to another. There was so much to see that it was hard to stay focused on any one thing at a time.
To the left he could see a small field of wheat, only a 3x3 square of it, but it was golden and ready to harvest as far as he knew. Arranged all around it were many other crops growing, or rather ready to harvest. Even a tiny little orchard of a few trees were lined up there as well. Something told him it wasn’t simply chance that he’d come at the right time for them to be ready. He suspected that there was instead some trick to rapidly growing them, and then keeping them at that state. He was willing to bet it involved showering them with energy and they did the rest on their own. There were likely caveats and maybes out the wazoo but that could be examined later.
“Eh, Yeah the food is good and all, but there’s something even better!” Cederick said dismissively. Though he seemed to change his mind for a moment. Making a detour he grabbed what looked like an orange pear and jogged back over. “Actually here this will tide you over. I forgot you’ve only had rat so far. We’ll grab you something more before too long anyway”
Biting into the ‘pear’ revealed it didn’t taste anything like one. There was definitely the sweet taste of fruit but it was hard to place exactly what it tasted like. Maybe a kiwi would be similar. It’s strange how much the taste of a fruit seemed to rely on what you expected it to taste like. Without recognizing the wrappings it was like your tongue had to let go of the preconceived notions it had about the fruit, before it could wake up and get to work. “So, is this your Haven?” Ozzy wondered out loud as he munched on the sweet treat.
“Huh?.... Oh, not this is Benjamin's place” They continued to trudge forward in silence for a moment before he continued. “I’ll have to introduce you to him and get permission for you to actually be here. I may have rushed the process we usually take. But, Benjamin has somehow convinced the haven to listen to me as well. He’s an old hat here and has lots of abilities I don’t know yet. So, I was able to allow you in. Usually it’s locked tight”
That made Ozzy a little concerned. He was walking into someone’s house without permission in what equated to the wild west. Who knew if his attitude would be shoot first and ask questions later. The fact that the kid had access though suggested that wasn’t the case. With it being the first time he’d broken protocol that might cause issues. With the sudden change in mood Ozzy remained internally focused for a good section of the walk down the central path in the haven. He was only brought out of his funk when Cederick took a sharp turn left suddenly toward the first building and opened the door. “TADA!!!” He said jovially while waggling his hands toward the interior.
Looking in and allowing his eyes to adjust he saw what might be generously referred to as a bathtub. The thing was a large mound of clay with the inside formed into a bowl large enough to easily fit two people that was filled with steaming water to the brim. Beside it there were a few rough cotton towels hanging up and what might be soap of some kind on the side. For a moment every little stain and stink he’d put on over the last week and a half brought itself to the forefront of his mind. Then the idea of scrubbing that all away sent a ripple of relaxation through him. “Oh, Now that’s nice!” He turned to Cederick to thank him and a thought struck him. “But, that makes me wonder what you’re trying to say? That I stink?” He continued jokingly.
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Cederick turned red as his hands went limp “Uh, Not… I didn’t mean anything like that!” Looking about it appeared he was trying to find the best way out of this awkward situation but couldn’t find a way. Turning back to Ozzy his following words tinged with a tiny bit of anger. “I nearly cried when I first saw this cause I hadn’t bathed in ages.” Clearly he was expecting a much more appreciative response.
Raising his hands placatingly Ozzy tried his best to backpedal. “I am honestly impressed… honest.” It was now Ozzy who was babbling earnestly. “I wasn’t sure when I’d ever be able to get clean again. I was just…” He shrugged “flipping you some shit. Like messing around. Sorry…”
Cederick eased up a bit and eyed him for a moment. “OK,” he said simply “Well take your time. There’s no clean clothes in your size but maybe we can get you some new ones made. There’s a guy here who makes the clothes and he doesn’t charge much. I’ll go talk to Benjamin and be back in an hour or so” He finished with two thumbs up and ran off. He’d still had a bit of color on his cheeks but it appeared Ozzy had at least partially saved his faux pas. Or at least that the kid was resilient enough to get past it himself. Not that ribbing someone was wrong per say but maybe it was a little too soon.
Unfortunately Ozzy was missing his friends back home and the comradery of a good natured ribbing so he’d, for the second time taken a leap he should have thought better of. At least this time it didn’t end up with a Giant rat snacking on his leg. On the contrary. He looked at the steaming bath again and smiled. He would be having a nice relaxing hour or so where he could maybe forget about all the insane experiences he’d gone through for a while.
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Cederick trudged away from the bathhouse a little dejected. For some reason he felt like impressing Ozzy and He’d for a moment taken the lackluster response personally. Compared to everything else he’d been through it was nothing, and Ozzy had apologized. It even seemed like he’d gotten flustered himself which made Ced feel a little better for his own embarrassment. Allowing the awkward moment to pass like every other problem he’d had here, he continued down the path in a little better mood.
At the end of the pathway he took a right to Benjamin's little hut and found the door already open. Inside a man looking to be in his forties sat staring intently at the wall. The angle of his stare suggested what he was looking at was the bathhouse. “Hello Cederick,” came a mild greeting. No obvious indication in his voice that he was either upset or had any opinion yet. Meanwhile he never looked away from the wall or even adjusted his point of view.
“Heeey, Ben,” Ced said cautiously. It was never a good sign when he was looking off at nothing. The reason was almost always that he could see something Ced couldn’t. Ced had tried several times to pry the how or why of it from him. The results had initially been something along the lines of ‘ignorance is bliss my friend’. With continued pestering he’d gotten something more, but not much. Benjy had compared it to the feelings Ced got from the different havens he could feel. Which had of course only spurred Ced into even more questioning. Ben had turned into a stone wall then.
“I see you’ve brought us a new prospect” Ben said, still looking off into the distance. At that he squinted and tensed for a few moments then relaxed again. Ced nodded but realized Ben might not actually be able to see him. He was about to say something when Ben continued. “I guess finally a good time to tell you a bit more about what I can see. And why we absolutely cannot let this one stay”
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Ozzy had jumped into the bath as quickly as he’d shucked his clothes off. The water was perfectly steamy. That temperature where it’s ever so slightly close to getting too hot, but still warm. Whoever had made this bath was a master. Either that or he just happened to step in at the right time. Despite his best efforts since originally awakening on his recliner he still had little bits of blood under every fingernail. Not to mention a tiny bit smeared here and there from either rat bites or skinning them. After dunking his head he found he’d even had a decent amount in his hair. Which was surprising and disgusting. The bowl of what he hoped was soap smelled a bit like aloe vera but sudsed a little bit when rubbed into his hair. While it might not be as good as some soap from back home it was at least getting the job done.
For the first couple minutes he’d washed away the grime and let the heat wash away his stresses. There was something therapeutic about being clean that nothing else could really compare to. Afterward, leaning back and relaxing he noticed the water hadn’t cooled even a bit. When he looked about to see what the cause might be he realized something else. He still had his new senses shut off from when he strangled the last rat. With all the sudden revelations since then he’d completely forgotten to restore them. Opening himself to them again he was amazed at what he saw. This place was drowning in energy.
Not the type in the cores. This was made up of the different kinds of ‘waste’ energies he’d seen when testing with barriers previously. It was quite distracting but he could still see his own domain and first metaphysical appendage. It was a bit like different wavelengths. A slight adjustment, similar to squinting, could bring one or the other into better focus. As he did so something else entirely came into view. The bath had its own core, and domain!
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Cederick sat stunned as Benjamin finished his story. Things that hadn’t made any sense to him were starting to piece themselves together. Some he didn’t necessarily agree with but even discarding those the puzzle as a whole was clear. “So he really can’t stay here…”