Toka wasn’t used to being stared at, and when the residents of the golden city looked at him with their perfect faces scrunched up in disdain, he couldn’t help but want to melt away into the ground and disappear forever. The only thing stopping him from running and fleeing was Sam, the higher-dimensional being who was posturing as the most handsome Venusian to ever exist. Sunrays literally shone out of Sam’s ass, causing the ground he was on to look holy.

Sam was standing on a golden platform in a plaza, one raised high enough to overlook all the Venusians present. There were thousands of them gathered, having assembled due to Mayor’s calling. Even the Venusians that had been lurking in people’s dreams were woken up by their neighbors and forced to head towards the plaza. It was a lot easier than Sam had expected to gather all the Venusians. If someone had entered a human city and demanded everyone within to congregate in one spot, well, there were bound to be some people who wouldn’t give one hoot about that person’s authority.

“Hello,” Vercedei said, the snake’s voice resounded through the whole plaza. As the vibrations from its greeting washed over the Venusians below, the dark masses inside of them trembled and buzzed, elevating to another level.

Toka swallowed, or made the illusion he was projecting swallow, and looked around at the crowd. Their eyes were focused on Sam, their toes were pointing in his direction. Everything about them seem entranced by the most handsome Venusian they had ever seen as if he had a magnetic voice. Toka himself couldn’t help but feel the energy within the crowd rise, and goosebumps appeared on his illusionary flesh.

“My name is Sam,” Vercedei said. “I’ll be straightforward with all of you. I was an ordinary Venusian—perhaps so ordinary I was on the verge of being labeled as an undesirable. However, through a stroke of luck, I entered a higher-dimensional entity’s dream.”

Faint murmurs rippled through the crowd as those who had been informed by the blue avians about Sam and his connection to the higher-dimensional beings put two and two together.

“Before you contact the blue avians and notify them of my existence, why don’t you listen to what I have to say first?” Vercedei asked, causing the ripples of dissent to die down. It wouldn’t have been so easy to placate the nervous Venusians if it weren’t for Joe the sloth yawning and relaxing on Sam’s stomach, the sloth’s aura contaminating the Venusians in the plaza with complacency. “Whilst I was in the higher-dimensional entity’s dream, I saw the future, and a terrible ordeal awaits Oterra: over ninety-nine percent of all living beings on this plane will die in an extinction event of unprecedented proportions.”

Although the twin-headed snake’s blue head was spouting some ominous words, Sam didn’t take Vercedei seriously. It wouldn’t be the first time Vercedei lied to trick people into acting a certain way, and if the twin-headed snake wanted to take a whole species underneath its wings, it’d have to conjure up a scenario as desperate as an apocalypse to make them move.

“I know you might not believe me,” Vercedei said to the Venusians, who were calm despite hearing such terrible news, “but it’s the truth. Oterra may be big, bigger than any of you can explore in a lifetime, but that doesn’t mean it’s invincible. We’re simply like bacteria living inside of a person’s body; when our host dies, we all die, and Oterra doesn’t have much time left.”

“If what you’re saying is true, then you must know the source of Oterra’s demise,” Mayor said, one of the only Venusians capable of speaking in the current atmosphere. A ripple traveled through the crowd as they murmured in agreement with Mayor’s words, turning to look at the beautiful Venusian. “Why are you telling this to us and not the blue avians? They’re the caretakers of Oterra, and if anyone needs your knowledge of the future, it’s them.”

“It’s good you were here to ask that question,” Vercedei said as the illusion Werchbite projected swelled in size, taking the breaths of the surrounding Venusians away. “The reason I’m not going to the blue avians is simple: I’m at odds with them because I am the one who is going to destroy Oterra.”

The Venusians fell silent at Vercedei’s declaration. Sam understood how they felt; he didn’t know why Vercedei would state something like that. Wasn’t that just asking for the Venusians to turn against him?

“I’m giving you a chance,” Vercedei said, “a chance to escape the fate of dying with this plane. The Anunaki have already pledged their loyalty to me, and as such, their race shall be spared from destruction. Join me, or go against me. What choice will you, as Venusians, make?”

Sam wasn’t sure if this was an appropriate way to convince a race to follow them. If it was built on lies from the start, wouldn’t misunderstandings be inevitable? What if the Venusians really prepared for the end of Oterra, and their way of life changed drastically? How was he supposed to experience what Andeland had to offer if Vercedei and Werchbite went around and terrified the locals? Of course, there was the other possibility: the twin-headed snake was telling the truth. “Are you planning on destroying Oterra?” Sam asked, communicating with his familiars through his mind.

“Are we?” Vercedei asked, responding in kind. “Haven’t you? You’re curious because our thoughts agree with yours.”

Sam took in a deep breath through his nose, concentrating on his root chakra to ground his emotions. “In the past, I might’ve wanted the world to end because of the unfairness, but—”

“But you haven’t felt that way in a while,” Vercedei said, cutting Sam off, “not that long after you made your wish and obtained power.”

Sam took in a deep breath. The wish he had made all those years ago for a talent capable of changing his life for the better, the wish where he promised he’d pay any price, it was finally coming back to haunt him, or, the option Sam wished to believe was true, Vercedei was lying, and the twin-headed snake thought it’d be funny to use Sam’s past against him. “Raindu?” Sam asked. “Are you thinking about destroying Oterra?”

The ferret stared at Sam and chattered before shrugging. “Maybe.”

Sam wasn’t surprised by the ferret’s response considering it had derailed a train and felt nothing for the passengers; however, he was a bit disappointed. If his familiars did decide they wanted to destroy the world, would he be able to stop them? No. Even if he killed himself, Werchbite and Joe were both capable of bringing him back to life.

“Excuse me,” Mayor said, cutting into Sam’s train of thought and his conversation with his familiars. “The blue avians have defended Oterra since its conception. Higher-dimensional entities have tried to destroy Oterra time and time again, but they’ve never succeeded. What makes you so sure you’ll be successful?”

“No other higher-dimensional entity has destroyed the blue avians calamity detector,” Vercedei said. “But I have. Why do you think the blue avians aren’t here right now? They can’t locate me anymore, and they have no way of getting rid of me. If I were scared, would I be announcing my existence so openly?”

“The blue avians are more than their calamity detector,” Mayor said. “I’ve seen them, and they’re scary. There’s no way for us to fight against them; if they wanted to kill us, they could do it easily. If we join you, the blue avians will target us; you might not be scared of them, but we can’t exactly flee with our city, and without it, we might as well not even be alive.”

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“Your city is holding you back,” Vercedei said. “You think it grants you freedom since you can move and support yourselves so easily through gold, but have you considered the restraints it places on you? You’re forever bound to this golden city, unable to explore the rest of Oterra, and for what? A gilded life?”

The Venusians seemed to resonate with each other as they communicated. “What do you mean?” Mayor asked. “Without the existence of our golden city, we’d be stuck in geodes and traveling slower than snails to reach one another. In that case, the lack of communication between one another would lead to a decline in our race; it’d be too difficult to share ideas and progress without a hub of communication.”

Vercedei snorted, and Sam didn’t have time to react before Manga bent its legs and leaned to the side, causing Sam to tumble off the wooly pig’s body. He hit the ground, and his palm made direct contact with the golden pedestal beneath him. A vortex formed above Sam’s head, and a familiar sensation ran up his arm as the golden city vanished, the warm sensation traveling up his arm to the top of his head where it streamed out of his crown chakra before entering the vortex.

The Venusians let out alarmed cries as they fell, their bodies sinking into the crystalline ground that was underneath the golden city’s foundation. Some of the Venusians didn’t react for a few seconds before realizing something was wrong, their thoughts slowed heavily by the sloth.

“Where did the ground go?” a Venusian asked. “Where did the buildings go? What happened to all our gold!?”

“I’m stuck!” a Venusian shouted as they tried to climb out of the ground, attempting to stand on the surface with their feet. Unfortunately, the crystals weren’t as conductive as gold, and the Venusian’s climb was futile as if it were stuck in a bog. “Someone, help!”

“We’re all stuck,” another Venusian said, not bothering to struggle. With all the Venusians gathered in one spot, they were like sitting ducks once the golden ground was replaced by a crystalline one. Only the Venusians on the outer edges could move away while the ones in the center couldn’t go anywhere without bumping into another Venusian.

“Sam!” Mayor shouted. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I made your choice easier for you,” Vercedei said, the illusion Werchbite had created standing in the air over the Venusians. “Now that your city is gone, is there any need to fear the blue avians destroying it? You’re free to make better choices now that your shackles no longer bind you.”

Sam would’ve been burning with shame, but he was grounding his emotions with his root chakra. He had absorbed the golden foundation along with every single golden building attached to its surface. There were a few geodes and personal items of the Venusians on the crystalline ground, which looked like someone had taken a giant spoon and scooped out a chunk of it, but other than those few items and the Venusians, the city was now barren. Through his All-Seeing Gaze, Sam focused on what he suspected to be his external chakra floating above his head. Unlike the previous times where an animal popped out, the golden light above his head showed no signs of transforming. It remained in place, rotating while its interior swirled with white and golden light.

“So,” Vercedei said after the Venusians were done panicking. It didn’t take them long to settle down, but it would’ve taken much longer if it weren’t for the sloth’s interference. “Who is willing to follow me? Which one of you is willing to join me in the destruction of Oterra?”

“Is that your only goal?” Mayor asked. “The destruction of Oterra?”

“What follows after destruction?” Vercedei asked. “Obviously, there’ll be a period of recreation once everything has been wiped clean. As it is right now, Oterra contains too much suffering; the plane is crying for relief. When I rebuild it, I’ll create the perfect utopia for my followers. Think of this like changing a fish tank: out with the old, and in with the new.”

“And if we aren’t willing to follow you?” Mayor asked.

“That’s simple,” Vercedei said. “If you aren’t with me, then you’re against me, and I never show mercy towards those who’d get in my way.” A crystalline structure, which Sam suspected to be an illusion, appeared in the sky above what used to be the plaza. It looked like a giant, crystalline pen. The outer surface of the structure rotated, and the whole thing glowed as if it were about to vaporize the Venusians with a laser. “Make your choice; join me, or exercise your so-called free will.”

“I’ll join you,” Toka said, not giving his fellow Venusians time to think. Toka had been nervous when he first hopped on the higher-dimensional entity’s pirate ship. He had been told he’d have to lie and cheat and do reprehensible things, but influencing a crowd with his voice wasn’t so hard or against his morals. Though, he was promised buildings of gold, and those seemed to be destroyed, but maybe he’d be given them later? “But, as you know, it’s difficult for us to travel without gold, so I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.”

“Naturally, I’ll provide you with lodgings,” Vercedei said.

Sam watched as Big Fish left Joe’s shoulder, flying into the air underneath the rotating, glowing pillar. The whale grew, and Sam couldn’t help but be a little amused as Werchbite casted an illusion on Big Fish, turning its skin golden.

“Is that a flying golden whale?” Mayor asked as Big Fish’s mouth opened. A golden rod extended from the whale’s mouth towards the ground, the rod coming to a halt in front of Toka’s feet. The Venusians watched whilst half-submerged in the ground as Toka walked up the rod as if it were a bridge and entered Big Fish’s mouth.

“It’s not going to eat me, right?” Toka asked, a bit nervous about voluntarily entering such a large creature’s mouth. However, he comforted himself by recalling his lack of physical body. Even if he were eaten by this whale, he wouldn’t be digested or anything. Besides, from what he knew from delving in people’s dreams, whales might’ve been large, but they didn’t eat landlubbers. Toka took a look around the whale’s mouth, and found it to be surprisingly spacious, the volume inside even larger than the whole city of gold had been, the interior not matching the exterior at all. Then, Toka remembered his job. “Wow! There’s so much space! It’s like an ark from the legends!”

“An ark?” a Venusian asked, turning towards their neighbor.

“You know,” their neighbor said, “an ark. There’s always an ark in the apocalypse stories. The rain floods the world, so the residents build an ark to escape. Or the world’s about to be destroyed, so they build an ark to flee the planet.”

“An ark doesn’t sound so bad,” the first Venusian said. “Since our homes are gone, isn’t the ark a better option than just living in a geode somewhere?”

“But you’re forgetting who destroyed our home,” another Venusian said. “There’s no way we’ll be treated nicely by the entity that made us homeless in the first place; we’ll be at his mercy.”

“We’re already at his mercy,” a Venusian said and pointed at the weapon of mass destruction in the sky. “Do you not see that energy beam getting ready to vaporize us?”

“He did say it,” Mayor said and sighed. “We can work with him by doing as he says, or we can choose not to work with him and be exterminated. Personally, I want to live.”

Sam was relieved when he saw the Venusians climb up the golden bridge like ants walking on a twig. If they didn’t listen and chose to resist, Sam wasn’t sure what the twin-headed snake would do when its bluff was called, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be pleasant. The Venusians congregated towards the bridge, their steps slow as they trudged along the crystal, but once they reached the golden rod, they sped up; they reminded Sam of tapioca balls being sucked up a straw.

Although Sam was using his All-Seeing Gaze to observe the Venusians, he still noticed the ball of golden light above flash. His chakra emptied out, and a golden color appeared, taking the form of a long worm … inside of his body. Even with his emotions being grounded by his root chakra, Sam’s expression couldn’t help but darken as he examined himself internally with his All-Seeing Gaze. Did his talent really give him a familiar in the form of a tapeworm? A very disturbing sensation answered Sam’s question as something rose from his stomach, through his esophagus, and into his mouth. Then, it slithered into the gap behind his uvula, up behind his soft palate, and out of his left nostril. Werchbite’s head shifted, allowing Sam to physically see the golden tapeworm’s head extending out of his nose.

“Damn,” Sam said, communicating with his familiars through his mind. A lot of emotion was packed in that one word, but it was mostly filled with defeat and depression. “Damn.” He had to repeat the word to fully release the emotions bottled up in his chest—or maybe, it was just the tapeworm he was feeling inside of him.

“Well, that’s just rude,” the tapeworm said in Sam’s mind. “Haven’t you ever learned to avoid judging a book by its cover?”

Sam sighed through his nose, the action stuffier than usual thanks to the worm occupying his left nostril. He thought he was safe after leaving Et Serpentium, but in the end, he still became a noodle human.