Chapter 10: The best method for dealing with conversations with others

Olice awoke to the smell of sizzling meat. Toro had somehow managed to cook the horned hooded beetle that had died when the gap formed. It had a curious heavy smell to it, like the dim autumn sun.

“That actually smells good!” Olice remarked.

“We tried our best” Toro said, Gander nodded in agreement.

“Sir Yacobs! You’re alive!” Olice rushed over and hugged him.

“Ooopmh, careful there little miss, I’ll fall apart again!” Toro joked.

“Honessstly Missstresss, trying to ruin all our hard work like that” Gander mock chastised.

Olice stuck her tongue out at Gander and stepped carefully away from Toro. It was then that she fully took in the state of Toro’s body. One of his eyes swirled and smoked with shadows, and the corners of the other eye had lurking shadows. Across his face was a spider web of rippling shadow, though sometimes it would recede to below his neck. Most striking of all was that a lock of his hair had turned into more of a tuft of night than hair.

He had been saved, but he had not come out unaltered.

Toro chuckled, seeing the look on Olice’s face, the chuckle was a bit forced, but he really didn’t want the poor child to feel bad about not being able to save him more cleanly.

“I expect my daughter will be quite surprised when I get back to her” He said.

“Oh, yes, Hiko.” Olice was a bit interested in this girl she had been mistaken for. “What is she like?”

“I bet sshe iss ssssmarter than you” Gander offered.

Toro chose to ignore Gander.

“Well, I must have been quite out of it in that mimic, I can remember now, and she isn’t very much like you at all. Not very brave and very delicate. I think I may not have been the best parent.”

He looked at Gander.

“It’s hard to protect someone without keeping them so safe they can’t learn to fend for themselves”

“My father always told me about how hard it was for him when he was my age, mother said she was protected so much it felt like she was a prisoner sometimes. I think both of them wanted some of what the other had though! I think I understand how father feels now though” Olice said a serious look on her small face.

Toro laughed.

“Oh dear, I think you are smarter than my little Hiko. When I get back, I really do need to take more care”

“What about Hiko’s mother, surely she is helping?” Olice asked, confused.

Toro went rigid, he looked blankly out along the field of crystal gravel.

Gander quickly spoke.

“Olice, your… uh bug sssteak will get cold” He said, hoping it would distract her.

Olice, having just woken was not quite as quick on the mark as she could have been.

She picked up a piece of fried bug, she lifted it to her mouth, but stopped before taking a bite.

“Is this really safe to eat?” Olice asked.

“Of coursse it isss! Would I, Gander ever allow my Missstresss to eat sssomething that would make her unwell?” Gander asked.

Olice narrowed her eyes. She still remembered that time with the yoghurt. She turned to Toro, who was still looking distantly away with a bit of a bitter hint to the look on his face. He shook himself out of his reverie.

“It is safe, as far as I can tell with the equipment I’ve got” Toro nodded.

Olice smiled, and lifted the steak once again, it really smelt quite good, but again she stopped before taking a bite.

“Wait, how did you cook this?” Olice wondered.

Gander and Toro looked at each other uncomfortably, both grimacing.

“With great difficulty” Gander said.

“We don’t really want to think about it again” Toro said.

Olice decided not to press further, besides, the bugmeat was smelling pretty good.

She bit into it, instantly she felt a burst of strength, her heartflame was stoked. As it turned out, eating the meat of something that eats magic soaked crystal is good for the spirit.

Olice quickly packed away an amount that belied her size, and then Toro handed her a small thin capsule from his belt.

“Twist it, then press the bottom, water’ll come out” He explained.

“Amazing! How convenient” Olice said.

“Pity you look so silly using it” Gander remarked.

Toro took another device off his belt, a kind of t-shape object. This dispensed a kind of transparent film, which he used to wrap up the rest of the bugmeat. Gander, much to Olice’s dismay stored the meat in her shadow.

“I’ve been using it for all kinds of things!” Gander remarked to Olice when she objected.

That didn’t at all comfort her.

Shortly they were following the ribbon again, which Olice in her diligence had never once let fade away, even while she had been asleep.

The passed through the crystal gravel field, coming to the side of a liquid crystal river. Olice was getting quite sick of crystal. They came upon a place where humps of crystal gently moved about, sometimes even over each other.

They made their way undisturbed through the maze of humps until a voice called out, a voice that sounded so like Olice’s.

“Why do you continue? Give up, you will never escape this place!”

The other was there, standing atop a quivering hump, sneering at Olice, Toro and Gander.

“I will…” The other began.

Toro quickly pulled his red rod out, and a blast of crimson scoured the other. It shrieked as the magic energies ravaged it, however it did not flee, but kept staring enviously at Olice. That is, it kept staring until Toro blasted the chlan again.

It fled, smoking and screaming.

“Well, that was clearly something horrible” Toro said brightly. “What exactly was it though?”

“I musst sssay… I’m impresssed with your… lack of hessssitation?” Gander said admiringly.

“Something horrible, yes. It pulled us in here… I think it wants to… become me, steal my place?”

“Huh, good thing I shot it, I’ll see if I can take it out if it appears again, nobody can be you, other than you” Toro said.

Olice nodded.

“Thank you” She said, though, she was a little disturbed at how easily Toro had attacked something that looked just like her.

They continued on with their journey.

“Say, I’ve just remembered, but what is this place anyway?” Toro asked.

“It’s the Red Crystal Realm, it was made by Ceilron Shail, the sorcerer of spaces! Its a… what was the word, separated space connected to a load of red crystal artefacts” Olice explained.

Toro didn’t quite get it.

“Sorcerer of Spaces? Well, I suppose at least it makes some kind of sense that the Trans-Hazcarp would be drawn here.”

“Why isss your carp made from red cryssstal anyway?” Gander asked.

Toro tried to think. “I think there was a lot of it available… it was… attuned for trans-dimensional travel too?”

Gander found that interesting, as while Toro was not from Kigan or Awarth, he wasn’t from another dimension. If trans-dimensional travel was the objective of the Trans-Hazcarp, then it was quite probably a failure. Gander wondered if the device would even work when they got Toro back to it.

What they next came across was a circle of the roaming humps. Within this circle was a plain altar carved straight from the crystal.

“We’d be fools to go near that” Gander said.