Between a Rock and a Carapace

12. The Sophos Village

When our guide appears before us, I do a quick double take, as he’s remarkably similar to Formo in appearance. The impression is somewhat reinforced when he arrives riding on the back of a tremendously fearsome worm-monster.

The sophos are quite small, with thin, gangly arms and legs that support an unimpressive torso. Without eyes or perhaps even ears, the sophos have an impressively bulbous head that they can’t seem to hold up properly, resulting in a hunched posture that makes them look even smaller than they ought to. They appear completely hairless and somewhat wrinkly, which I can easily tell, since they don’t wear any clothes other than a loincloth.

[WHAT HO! ARE YOU THE DASTARDLY CREATURES WHO THROTTLED MY CREATION?]

I take that as my cue to step forward.

[Ah, yes. Hello there! We come in peace! Had we realised the creature we were battling belonged to one of the sophos, we’d have left it well enough alone, and—]

[WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE CORE FORGE IS THAT!]

I can’t help but frantically look around to see what he’s screaming about, but the guy doesn’t have eyes! How the hell am I supposed to know what he’s looking at? His head didn’t even move!

[I’m not sure what you mean?]

[YOUR PET! HOW IN THE BLAZES DID YOU GET YOUR GRUBBY MANDIBLES ON ONE?]

[Are you referring to Tiny? I mean. He’s a big ’ol gorilla. There’s a few of them in the Forest Expanse, I’m sure. We can’t be far from it, I’d be happy to take you.]

[NO, YOU BLITHERING NUMBSKULL! THE LIGHTNING FIST APE IS AS COMMON AS MUD AFTER IT RAINS ON A MUD FARM! I’M TALKING ABOUT THE SHADOW CREATURE!]

[Crinis? Uh. Just got lucky, I suppose?]

[GIVE HER TO ME!]

[Nope.]

A brief silence descends between myself and the sophos, who imperiously looks down at me—maybe—from atop his powerful worm-mount. I get the feeling he never considered the possibility I might say no to such a request.

[IT WOULD SEEM TO ME, THAT YOU OWE ME REPARATIONS AFTER DESTROYING MY CREATION.]

Even if the volume hasn’t changed, it feels as if his tone has become a little less demanding.

[You may be right about that,] I’m happy to admit.

[IF YOU GIVE ME CONTROL OF YOUR PET, THEN I SHALL CONSIDER THE DEBT ERASED.]

[No chance.]

Silence descends once more.

[WHY?] the sophos finally demands.

I don’t have to think on the answer.

[These aren’t simply my pets. They are my friends. You don’t just give away friends that have battled loyally by your side, that’s just nuts.]

The sophos glares incredulously. [BOY, THEY ARE MAGICALLY COMPELLED TO SERVE YOU LOYALLY.]

I shrug my antennae. [Don’t care about that—] Heeey, wait a second! [How in the heck did you know I was a boy!]

With his sightless gaze, the sophos is likely considering how to punish my disrespectful self, when a great, booming laugh rattles into my head.

[HOHOHOHO! IT’S RARE TO SEE SOMEONE WITH A TRUE RESPECT FOR THE MASTER/PET BOND OUTSIDE OF MY KIND. WHAT A TREAT! A TREAT, I SAY! AS TO THE OTHER, I MAY HAVE NO EYES, BUT THE BLASTED DUNGEON CAN’T HIDE MUCH FROM ME. WE SEE MUCH THAT IT WOULD RATHER REMAIN HIDDEN!]

In a surprising move, the sophos leaps from the back of his mount to land quite lightly before the head of his worm and draws near to us.

[MY NAME IS TIRIMON. ALLOW ME TO GUIDE YOU TO OUR CONCLAVE.]

[Hello, Tirimon. I’m Anthony, this is Tiny and Crinis. Nice to meet you!]

Our journey to the village is a little unpleasant. I can still remember the modes of transport I enjoyed back on Earth. Buses, cars, bikes—all that normal stuff. I never thought I’d yearn quite so hard to return to those simple times quite so hard as I do whilst riding on the back of a giant, slithering rock-worm.

You can’t see a thing, for starters. The worm is almost as thick as the tunnel, so we’re forced to squeeze into gaps where some of the body ring segments are smaller than the others. Tiny and I smack our heads more than a few times on the tunnel walls.

That would be bad enough, but then Tirimon turns around to apologise about having to shut our minds down a brief moment before my consciousness is smothered from within my own head.

I awake to find myself within a strange cavern with another sophos peering into my compound eyes. Something about the colouring of his leathery skin tickled my mind. Or perhaps that was the Mind Bridge that springs up so effortlessly between us.

[Formo?]

[NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN, OLD BOY!]