The geography of the Sweet Kingdom is designed as a 6 to 7 layered tower cake, with the top layer as the Sweet Kingdom itself, followed by the Cotton Candy Forest, then the Rainbow Taffy Grounds, Peppermint Hills, Pop Rock Desert, Soda Wetlands, and the Gumdrop Coast.

So far, both Marsh and Choco made it past through the Cotton Candy Forest which was considered the safest and easiest layer. Each layer would be more prone to danger with each layer having its own infamous legends, guardian beasts, and unsurpassable obstacles that anyone can ever imagine.

Rainbow Taffy Island is known for having plenty of sticky grounds. Some would say that it would take more than a day to escape these sticky grounds, and getting stuck on these traps makes one more vulnerable to predators like the arachnotoffee.

“Gah! We’ve been searching for hours and we barely found anything to eat in this place.” Choco complained.

“Don’t you want some nougat berries?”Marsh offered some of his berries, but Choco declined. “No way, we can barely chew on this stuff. I mean, look at you! It’s like you’ve been chewing jawbreakers, you look ridiculous!”

“Hey, it’s better than nothing! Would you rather starve or have at least something to eat?”

“I’m not going to starve, but I’m not going to eat that thing.” Then at the corner of his eyes, Choco noticed something shimmer. It caught his attention right away and tracked it down along with Marsh. And he was surprised to see the ground below the nougat oak tree grew a bundle of–“Caramush!” Choco exclaimed.

Marsh instantly thinks it was a bad idea to eat caramush, he’s not so fond of eating things from the ground. “Are you serious?”

Choco started plucking the seemingly edible fungi and retorted, “Like you said, better than nothing!”

“I’ve read about fungus, and it says that not all fungus you see are edible. Some can be poisonous, some can act like some sleeping drug, then some can send you to hallucinate–“

“Yap all you want, I’m eating these Caramushies!” Choco took a bite on the largest Caramush he had. He grinned after tasting its soft and chewy texture, it doesn’t taste as bad as well. He then proceeds to offer some to Marsh. “It’s pretty good, try it!”

Seeing how the Caramush did not affect Choco, Marsh got tempted to try and get a taste. He threw away the nougat berries he had and bit on the Caramush that Choco offered to him. “Mm!” He liked it as well.

The two shared and ate the Caramush until they were completely stuffed. They were quite happy to have found such delicacy and finally fill their tummies after days of eating jelly bean fruits repeatedly. “I wouldn’t mind eating these until we reach Peppermint Hills.” Marsh said and burped loudly.

“So do I, brother. So do I.” As Choco was rubbing his full stomach, he glanced at Marsh and furrowed his brows. “Uhh, dude? What is wrong with you?” He was starting to see double visions of his friend.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“I can ask the same, what the crumb happened to your face?” Then in Marsh’s perspective, Choco’s facial features were in scrambles; he can see him having two mouths for eyes, his nostrils had eyeballs, and inside his mouth was another face doing silly expressions.

Choco tried to get up, but the Caramush’s magic was starting to take effect on him. He felt dizzy, as if he was being swayed by a tornado, slowly lifting him up the ground to make him fly with the Pelicandies. “Ohoho, this feels nice! Hello there, little birdies.” He greeted, the wind felt nice and every cloud he touched evaporated into the thin air.

One of the pelicandy replied, “Wanna dance?”

“Do I wanna dance?” He asked himself, a tiny Choco version appeared on his shoulder. “Of course you do!”

“Hmm, well alright. Let’s dance!”

And through Choco’s hallucination, he very much enjoyed dancing with the nougat oak tree that he was holding. Meanwhile, Marsh lays on the ground, trying to get himself together, but the effects of the Caramush were too strong that he started to see stranger things.

“…who are you?” A marshmallow woman in plain clothing appeared beside Marsh, her face was blurry, but the atmosphere surrounding her felt warm and cozy. “My little squishy Marshy, have you done your homework for today?”

“No momma, I’m sorry.” He unconsciously replied to this figure.

She gasped, “WHAT?! After all I’ve done for you…” her high-pitched tone turned lower, her appearance has also change gradually into a more masculine figure. “…THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILD!”

Marsh transformed into a little puppycorn that hid behind a glossy red velvet furniture. The nagging man kept going and going, as if he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Then the scared little puppycorn Marsh felt something tapping from behind, he turned to look and saw a strawberry with little arms and legs inviting him to play with her.

“Come with me! Come with me!” It spoke. Marsh happily obliges and his surroundings instantly changed into a colorful playground.

As for Choco, he was still dancing with that pelicandy up in the air, but suddenly his dance partner transformed into something more familiar.

He felt strangely close with this figure, but he also felt somewhat sad and distant with this person. “…so reckless yet graceful, I’m envious people see you in good light no matter what you do.”

Its statement made his heart ache, even though he had no clue to who this person might be. He gave this figure a twirl; the surroundings slowly changed into a fancy ball with those fancy dressed people he used to dread. His held this figure’s hand tighter, as if he didn’t want to let it go.

“Tell me, who are you?” Choco asked.

The figure spoke without replying to his question, “It’s a rough way ahead, but I can see good things await in your path… walk that way and you’ll see yourself out.”

“What?” He grew confused as this figure stopped dancing and pointed at a door leading out this place. He unconsciously follows the path and soon, everything else started dissolving into darkness while his path of red carpet transformed into a gravel of rock candy pathway that’s headed to a bright glowing passage leading to who knows where.

Then as Choco reached the end of the path, he finally woke up from that strange dream.

“Ugh, I don’t feel so good…” his stomach didn’t feel so well, he eventually threw up and felt a little better afterwards. “Geez, remind me not to eat Caramushies again Marsh. Hold on, where’s – Marsh!!!”

Choco recalled that Marsh also consumed some of the Caramush, he began to look for him. Fortunately, he wasn’t far from where he found himself. Choco tried waking up Marsh who was whimpering like a dog, and as Marsh woke up, he yelled out loud. “DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“Woah! Calm down, Marsh. You must be having a nightmare.” Choco said.

When Marsh realized it was all a dream, he felt weak and laid back down on the ground. “That was some crazy dream.”

It can be seen on Marsh’s face that he was drained and exhausted from that experience, Choco sighed and laid down next to him.

“It was the Caramushies, Marsh…” Choco felt a bit guilty remembering when Marsh warned him about eating mushrooms. “It’s my fault, I should’ve listened when you said that mushrooms can, err, make you crazy.”

Both can barely recall what they went through those hallucinations, but they both see it as a terrible experience. “Maaan, let’s never eat mushrooms again.” Choco groaned.

“Agreed.”

By the time they recovered from the side effect of the Caramush, the two continued to move forward. They were still sluggish, moving in a zombie pace, but it was better than making no progress at all. And yet again, they soon find themselves in another dilemma.

Marsh was bewildered that he couldn’t pull his leg up the ground. “Hey! I think I’m stuck!”

“Same here!” Choco panicked as well.

It was already late when Marsh realized what they got themselves into. He slaps his forehead, “Crumbs, why didn’t I realize this sooner!?–” He glanced at Choco and cried out, “–Rainbow Taffy Grounds is filled with taffytraps!”