I sat for a long time, staring out into the stream. Dragon sat in the back of my mind, and I tried asking questions about our situation. For some reason, he ignored me, instead content in the simple pleasures of a peaceful world. The only rise I managed to get from him was when I’d begun skipping rocks into the water. He rose in my mind, like a giant blocking out the sun, and I quickly dropped the pebbles back to where I had found them.

  It was around that time that Vekrem, eyes red and puffy, appeared. “Sorry,” he said. “That took longer than I expected. I suspect it’ll be some time before I make my way back here.”

  “It’s no problem,” I replied, my stomach growling loudly as a pain shot through my body. “Ugh…” I set my backpack down, rummaging through the contents.

  Vekrem held out a hand. “Wait.” Setting down the sack of materials he carried, he pulled out another mushroom.

  I’ll tell you, at the time, I was already getting really sick of mushrooms.

  He held it out to me. “Here,” he said. “Eat this.”

  I merely stared at it as if it were a poisoned vial. Or another psychedelic. That’s all I needed… to be tripping in an already trippy world.

  Vekrem reached out, opened my hand, and placed the fungus in my palm.

  “Eat it!” he insisted, his rat-like ears flaring outward. “It’s called a Plump-Shroom. It’ll keep you full for hours—sometimes even days if you aren’t active.”

  Vekrem turned back down to retrieve his own.

  “Ah, it’s like lembas bread,” I replied, taking two to three bites. It tasted… okay—for a plain mushroom at least. “Hmm, not bad.”

  When Vekrem’s face turned back up to me, he gave me a start, and then laughed. “You’re only supposed to take a single bite!”

  I stood, panicked. “Now you tell me! What should I do? Make myself throw up?” I started to put fingers in my mouth and down my throat.

  “No!” Vekrem replied. “It’ll just make you… need to go. And it won’t be pleasant.”

  I pulled the fingers out of my mouth, grimacing. We were in a world without toilets and, most important… toilet paper.

  “… Shit.”

  Vekrem smiled. “Literally.”

  His sudden humor made me laugh in turn.

  “So, you can joke,” I said.

  “When the occasion calls for it.” Vekrem raised the mushroom to his mouth, took a single bite, and placed the shroom back into the bag. He hoisted the sack back onto his shoulder. “Well, come on—we can’t wait around all day.”

  He gave me a nudge with his elbow as he walked by.

  “I like him,” Dragon murmured in the back of my mind.

  I found myself in complete agreement.

  ***

  The rest of the day’s walk was surprisingly pleasant. At least up until the moment when the Plump-Shroom had reared its ugly head, causing me to defecate behind a bush. Vekrem laughed at my ill-timed misfortune, and then quickly moved upwind. I used the bush to wipe and then washed my hands with a bottle of water I’d brought from my own world. Probably not the best use of fresh water.

  Vekrem had stared oddly at the plastic container, as if he wanted to study it, but didn’t know if he should ask. Not sure if I should alter the world more than I already had, I pretended to ignore him, shoving it back into my pack.

  We continued on throughout the night, guided by the light of glowing mushrooms, and into the next day, where the sun gave a very different feeling to the forest.

  “How much longer?” I asked tiredly, yawning and rubbing at my legs, which burned from the long trek we’d walked thus far.

  And forget about my feet. My socks were slick with sweat, and I could feel the blisters already forming. Hiking always sounds better than it actually is—nobody tells you that. Sure, there is a nice view or two, but the damn bugs and the aching in my back just weren’t worth the trouble.

  “Not long,” Vekrem replied, swatting at a large mosquito-like bug that landed on his neck. “But before we arrive, there are some rules we need to go over; since you say you ‘can’t remember.’”

  I crossed my arms, ignoring his subtle accusation. “Rules?” I asked. “Like what?”

  Vekrem nervously twiddled his thumbs. “Well… how do I put this? Humans… are not exactly… well—”

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  “Just spit it out!”

  “Humans are considered property,” Vekrem replied, not daring to meet my eye, kicking idly in the dirt with his booted foot.

  “Property… So slaves? Humans are slaves? All of them?”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “So what? I’m expected to—”

  “Act like my servant?” Vekrem replied. “… Yes.”

  “And that means—”

  Vekrem threw his bag at me, and I caught it mid-air, the contents striking me lightly in the chest. “Carry my bags,” Vekrem said. “Wait on my every want and demand… that sort of thing.”

  “Not a chance,” I replied, setting the bag on the ground.

  Dragon rumbled in the back of my head, with a slight bit of anger in his words as he boomed, “This is your fault. The world is this way because of the choices you made.”

  “Me?” I replied incredulously. “All of this… is because of me?”

  Dragon sent a wave of approval, adding in a calmer voice, “Yes. Such is the burden of one such as you.”

  Remembering my conversation with the hooded figure in the void between this world and my own, I asked, “Because I’m a World-hopper? A traveler?”

  “Do not speaketh that word!” Dragon boomed. Then, more softly, “It will bring you naught but trouble and misery. I merely wish to convey to you that your judgments matter… and have reflective consequences.”

  I held my hand to my temples at the sudden pain in my head. Vekrem looked concerned, and, not wanting to explain myself, I picked up the bag.

  “Fine…” I said with as much attitude as I could muster. “But just until we leave town. I’m not interested in being anyone’s servant.”

  “Of course,” Vekrem replied. “I’d never expect you to. But, and this is most important, do not intervene. No matter the manner in which you see others treated, you must walk away. There is nothing you can do for them. Nothing!”

  “Yeah, yeah—” I replied half-heartedly. “Let’s get on with it then.”

  It was a short walk until we reached what appeared to be a stairway carved into stone. In front of us was a looming mountainside that, in our walk here, I’d not even noticed—the density of the forest shrouding it from sight.

  “It’s a long way up,” Vekrem said, pointing to the sky. “Can you make it?”

  I shifted the bags on my back. “Guess I’ll need to, won’t I?”

  Vekrem smiled, and we began the trip up, one grueling step after another.

  It felt like we walked for days, although, from the sun, it’d only been a few hours at most. Still, my legs burned with agony, my mind was unfocused from lack of sleep, and the higher we climbed, the more difficult it was to breathe. Vekrem shot me one piteous look after the next, clearly torn that he was unable to help me.

  We turned a corner, heading through a passage in the cave and coming out the other side, and the tiredness that claimed my body was washed away by a stunning sight.

  There atop the peak, looking down, was a valley of faintly glowing buildings. I could see the silhouettes of people scurrying about like little ants, going from one building to the next.

  As engrossed as I was, I didn’t notice as someone from behind brushed against me. I turned and saw a peculiar sight. Before me was a smaller creature, anthropomorphic in nature, with both human and rat qualities. Unlike Vekrem, he was more-so on the rat side. Like the chitik, they were short, no taller than four’ish feet, and they wore a bright green robe with gold inlays and golden cuffs. Their rat ears were also pierced, adorned with a multitude of golden rings.

  Catching my eye, this rodrant, unphased by my hanging mouth, pulled a single whisker with two long, black fingernails. “Why is your servant blocking the way? I—” Turning to see Vekrem, his tone changed. “Oh, it’s one of your types. Surprised they let you own a servant at all, seeing as you’re so closely resembled. Is this your cousin?” The man barked a laugh. “Bah, sometimes I fear for our kind’s future knowing that yours is allowed to exist. Well then, what are you standing there for? Move! Make way for your betters.”

  “Apologies,” Vekrem murmured, his fist bunched up so tight that I was surprised he didn’t cut himself with his own claws. As the shorter Rodrant moved away, he whispered, “Prick.”

  “Language,” I reminded him with a false smile.

  He didn’t return it.

  Dragon reared up in my mind. “This place seems so full of conflict. I fear we’ve done much harm.”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “But nobody can know the future. Maybe this was how everything was always supposed to turn out. Or it could have been even worse if we’d never come at all.”

  Dragon was quiet, and I took his silence for disagreement as he settled back into his quiet corner.

  “Sorry,” Vekrem finally said, releasing his grip. He shook his head in disappointment. “There is a reason I lived alone.”

  “And you’ll need to tell me about it some other time.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get to know why soon, regardless. To some of my people, I am but a step above humans, no offense.”

  I waved my hand dismissively.

  He continued, “We are all very similar, biologically speaking, but they see it differently. To take on more of a rodant’s qualities is seen as being purer. A return to the natural order… as if there is anything natural about the hybrid’s curse.”

  “Hybrid’s curse?”

  “Another long story—perhaps another time.”

  I ran my hand through my hair, pondering what it all meant. “So, your kind typically rejects their human side?”

  “Very much so.”

  “And is that how all hybrids feel?”

  Vekrem put his hand to his face as he considered. “Unclear,” he replied. “I’ve never thought to ask.”

  “Are humans slaves everywhere in the world?”

  Vekrem narrowed his eyes, looking around suspiciously. “Perhaps this conversation would be better had outside this place.”

  I turned to see another group of rodrant’s with a human entourage carrying a pile of various goods in tow as they began their way back down the mountain.

  “Understood,” I replied. “Should we make our way? I can’t wait to see the city. And to find a bed to sleep in—if there are any. Hell, I’d even take one of those mushroom beds you had. Actually, that reminds me, where are we going?”

  “To visit an old friend,” Vekrem replied, frowning.