Saccy’s maw opened. I wasn’t even sure if I ordered it myself or if I had simply lost control of her as the Folding Seed’s big sister had come close to us.

It was very hard to think… hard to focus. I was so tired, tired of living, tired of struggling, tired of existing. I felt… very thirsty.

I stepped forward, walking towards heaven.

Paradise awaited me. In only a few steps I was inside of her domain.

The interior of the greater Folding Seed shimmered with a brilliant pearlescent glow projected from a flower-shaped basin that stood inside my new, perfect, twenty-armed goddess.

Someone was yelling something from behind me, begging to be untied. I think it was… Alessi? Perhaps she was praying to our goddess? Whatever. It didn’t matter. She could chew through the ropes herself. Nothing mattered to me now but my quest for Heaven.

My goal was the basin in front of me, filled with the divine essence, a gift for us mortals that would extend our lives for eternity and grant us the purity of heaven.

Other devotees were prostrated around the pearlescent basin, their flesh bloated, pale and relaxed. Big, wide, happy smiles sat on their faces as they suckled on the roots of the goddess for eternity.

Soon, I would join them in eternal prayer. Soon…

Faces? They had faces. They weren’t Chasm monsters! They were… just like me. The real me, not the chimera-me. Just for a second, I froze, shocked that I had finally found my kind… jumbari… err… humans!

I reached out to the nearest one, touching her bloated, blue-tinted hand. I would not be alone in Heaven.

“Partake of the drink of eternal life,” the goddess sang with the chorus of her five Basquenate devotees. “Inhale. Accept my gift. Be mine.”

I turned away from the catatonic, blue-veined, distended human and looked into the pearlescent basin, inhaling the vapors emanating from it.

“Yes, goddess,” I whispered.

No matter how many hearty breaths I took, I couldn't smell the vapors, couldn't enjoy her gift! My mask… my mask was in the way!

"Take off your helmet," the goddess sang. "Drink my elixir of immortality."

I pulled at the unlocking belt. Something clicked… something whirled, sparks rained down and then my entire body… ignited with little burning flares.

What have I done?!

Twenty Molotov cocktails on my body caught fire at the same time, flames rapidly spreading as the oil-coated ropes ignited.

“No, no, no!” I screamed, tagging at the belts on my body. "I'm sorry, goddess!"

"Put them out! pUt tHeM OuT at ONce!" The Folding Seed's chorus grew discordant as smoke filled the air.

I was too late, couldn't possibly put out all of the fuses. The song of my goddess was slowing down my movements, dulling my rational thoughts. My hands kept shaking, unable to do anything properly! The belts suddenly came apart. Oil-covered bottles slipped from my hands, falling to the floor. As I blearily staggered around, the bottles shattered beneath my feet.

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More flames blossomed all around me, spreading out. The goddess wailed and choked, her song ceasing.

My mind was mine once more. Fire… fire was spreading quickly all around me! My insane kill-switch had worked. Thick, wet mud coating my armor hissed as the flames licked at it from beneath.

People… There were five people here! People that I had accidentally doomed to the flames, with my anti-allure kill-switch, not expecting this situation.

I grabbed the person nearest to me. It was a short, jet-black-haired girl with Asian features. Old, leather armor sat on her body. Her hands were swollen and blue. I pulled my soul-cutting knife and slashed the pearlescent root that was sticking out of her mouth, dragging her behind me through the fire. Her body was light, far too light for someone so bloated. There was a happy smile frozen on her puffy face, her eyes closed.

I dragged the girl after me, right through the wall of flames, cursing in Ukrainian.

Water started to drip from above. I knew, expected what was coming next, so I ran faster, rushing towards the exit. With all of my strength, I leapt into Saccy’s open maw, commanding her to close the petals and to move away.

Water poured into the fire behind me as the Twenty-armed seed tried to put out the flames inside it. It was a fatal mistake. I had learned so myself, when I set my grandfather’s workshop on fire trying to put a grease fire I had made with a bucket of water.

The pouring water didn’t put the oil flames out - instead it had caused a catastrophic detonation that threw the flames all around. The blast flung me and the human body I carried forward. Saccy’s petals slowly closed behind me.

“Move, move, move you stupid plant!” I growled, rolling in the mud to put out the flames, making my Folding Seed move away from the fire. It had managed to attain the speed of a very slow old man. Parts of Saccy’s petals were on fire and didn't close all the way.

Having dealt with the flames on me, I momentarily glanced at our enemy through the gaps in the petals. The inside of the twenty armed Folding Seed was completely covered in flames now. The abominable plant-monster screeched and hissed as it died. All of its attempts to put the flames out with water resulted in further disaster. It was too late to rescue any of the other people inside it.

“Is that a human?!” Alessi gasped, staring at the smoldering body right in front of her.

Together, we slapped the flames out with dirt and furs, depriving the oil-fire of oxygen. I had learned this simple fact at eleven when my grandfather rescued me with a blanket from my oil-fire birthday-candle disaster.

The poor girl’s hair and eyebrows were gone. Red blisters, first and second degree burns covered the body. Old, dirty, leather armor flaked off beneath my muddy gloves. A blackened, scorched leather bag was hanging from her side. I felt her neck for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak, absurdly slow… her heart beating about once a minute.

I opened one of her eyes, pulling back the eyelid. There was no life in it, no recognition. The girl simply stared at nothing, badly burned, swollen, pale body not moving. I noted that she was breathing incredibly slowly too. Right… the Folding Seed’s sap was still in her system, keeping her paralyzed.

“Juni! The flames! We need to roll!” Alessi yelled pointing towards the flower petals.

The entire tunnel around us was now on fire, flickers of flames and black smoke coming through the slightly warped, not-completely closed petals.

I quickly bound the human girl and myself in ropes and belts, tethering us down. There was a way to make Saccy move quickly, but it wasn’t particularly safe. However, our situation had become very desperate as the tunnel ahead of us became covered in flames.

I folded two of Saccy’s legs closer to her body and thrust off with one leg, trying to get us away from the flames. Mud and tent parts flew around us, coming from the walls as Saccy started to roll.

Thankfully, the tunnel sloped downhill, away from the flames.

I had no idea where we were heading, because our speed had increased. Another whoosh resounded from behind us as the Folding Trees poured water on the fire.

I felt nauseous, felt that I was losing my Dominion threads in Saccy as her legs snapped off and were torn away. Gravity had let go of us.

We were falling. We were plummeting down… right into the valley of the clouds!

“Still your body!” I yelled out to Alessi and dove into my meditation trance, stopping my organs, crystallizing my blood, waiting for the inevitable impact.

Saccy groaned, splitting open as we landed, the horrific collision knocking consciousness right out of me.