Journey and the Mind

Ruger sat slumped against the rock wall, touching it as he stared into space.

In that pitch-black world, everything seemed still. Gradually, only his breathing remained. He slowed it without thinking, and then he could hear his heartbeat.

A drop of water fell from the cave ceiling.

It landed right on his face.

He wiped away the water, then scratched the sparse, patchy bristles on his head. The movement tugged at the wound on his left ribs, bringing a flicker of life back to his vacant eyes.

He spent every day scraping by in the caves, never seeing the sun. He had lost track of how many days had passed, as if time no longer had anything to do with him. All he knew was that he had gone hungry many times, eaten many times, and sometimes had to stay hungry.

Footsteps sounded.

A figure a little shorter than him came feeling her way through the darkness.

She reached him and rattled off a stream of words, her concern unmistakable.

Ruger put aside his sighing.

He looked her over.

His one stroke of luck lately had been rescuing the Kobold before him by chance. Her name was Aisijin, and she was a little shorter than him.

Aisijin was one of the few Kobolds he had met who could hold a conversation.

"Ruger, I knew I'd find you here. How's your wound?" Aisijin came closer and looked up at him. Picking at her teeth with a claw, she said softly, "The lord is gathering everyone. The lord might lead the tribe out to hunt."

Ruger paused, then braced one hand against the cave wall and swayed to his feet.

"The Blackclaw Lord's appetite has grown again," he said.

"Not the Blackclaw Lord. The Blackclaw Lord... became food. The new lord swallowed him in one bite! Now we follow the stronger Gray Longneck Lord. The new lord definitely won't get eaten so easily." Her speech had improved a great deal. At least it was nearly fluent now.

Leaning one shoulder against the cave wall, Ruger rolled his eyes.

He usually preferred being alone.

For one thing, it meant fewer beatings. Kobolds never held back when they swung their fists at their own kind.

For another, he liked experiencing hunger on his own. Going hungry was, after all, a major part of every Kobold's life.

He had not been alone for long this time.

He had only gone hungry once, yet the regime had already changed. From the sound of it, their new lord had a rather long neck.

Aisijin kept picking at her teeth with one hand and held out the other.

"For you."

Ruger raised an eyebrow. He already had a guess.

He leaned down for a closer look.

A charred piece of meat the size of his palm lay in her hand. Up close, he could smell the rancid stink beneath the scorched odor.

The Kobold girl knew he liked cooked food.

He glanced at Aisijin's other hand. A faint, gentle glow clung to the claw she was using to pick her teeth.

"You ate those glowing mushrooms again?"

"Not many. I listened to you. I didn't eat many mushrooms, so I'll be fine. I'm strong."

Aisijin patted her belly and held the meat out to him again.

He scratched the long fur near his ear. Kobold ears sat almost at the backs of their heads, and he had never quite gotten used to it. Lately, he had also noticed that he seemed to have picked up some bugs.

He scratched at a few stray tufts, then scratched some more.

The Kobold girl held out her hand patiently.

"Let's split it."

He took the charred but undercooked meat and strained to tear it apart, then put half back in her palm.

Aisijin smiled and stuffed her share into her mouth.

Ruger watched her cheeks move as she chewed, then bit into his own share and chewed hard. But his patchy-furred Kobold face held none of Aisijin's happy satisfaction.

He swallowed the blackened meat before he had even chewed it properly. His stomach felt better at once.

That'll keep me alive another two days, he thought.

Taking food from a Kobold girl who barely had enough herself felt awful, but he did not want to starve.

He let out a long, sour-smelling breath.

Then he frowned.

An inexplicable sense of déjà vu came over him.

He seemed to remember scolding Aisijin for eating those glowing things before.

"Ruger, why haven't you swallowed it yet?" Aisijin asked with a smile.

"I..."

He suddenly realized the meat was still in his mouth.

He held out his hand and spat. Sure enough, the meat landed in his palm.

He had heard that many old Kobolds lost their wits when they were close to death. Some even lost control and died screaming.

Am I about to die too? His thoughts began to race.

But I'm not old! If I die, it'll be from starvation! Has hunger damaged my brain? And I haven't even become a Wizard yet!

He was wailing inwardly when a sudden jolt went through him.

He looked down again.

What he held was no longer a piece of meat, but a round bead that gave off an eerie glow.

Its shifting light was strikingly beautiful.

The surroundings began to sway, then shook as though the earth itself were quaking.

He instinctively reached to shield Aisijin, but before he could finish the movement, everything vanished with a crash.

He opened his eyes.

A flash of anger crossed them.

The world was calm again. The distant dripping continued.

Ruger looked down at the bead pinched between his fingers, then at the cultivation pouch on his waist, still vibrating furiously.

"Thank you, little one. You can rest now." He patted the pouch.

"Your mental power is so weak. Are you a low-level Wizard Apprentice too?"

He stared at the smooth bead and began talking to himself like a fool.

"It's dangerous for an apprentice at your level to wander around. Did you grow up in a big city? One of those Grotto Cities? The dangers of the Cavern World are beyond anything you can imagine..."

"Are you really not going to say anything?"

"I met a snake a few days ago, and even that snake could speak using mental power."

As Ruger spoke, he had already finished empowering two spell models. The first was Mental Boil, a precaution that would sharpen his mind and offer some resistance to mental confusion. The second was what he was doing now: quietly placing an Arcane Imprint on the bead to mark it.

"You rude creature!"

A wave of mental power surged from the bead, laden with indignation. His Arcane Imprint failed to take hold.

An eerie glow flared, and the bead darted wildly up and down. Ruger gripped it, his hand jerking along with it in every direction. He had sensed it was about to flee—that was why he had tried to mark it. When their struggle reached a stalemate, he quietly cast Strength of the Savage Bull on himself.

"I'm a Limit Wizard Apprentice, yet you're actually making me... You're a Kobold! If I'd known, I'd never have lured you into a dream! What a waste of my mental power!"

Halfway through, the bead's voice shot up an octave, and its words struck Ruger where it hurt.

Ruger was about to snap back when he suddenly froze. The bead stopped too.

"Friend, I think you've cracked."