Breaching Light (2)

"Human!"

"Fairy!"

"Woohee's name is Woohee, not fairy!" she exclaims.

"I told you my name, but you called me human."

"Not true."

"I told you my name is Nick."

"Nick! Woohee forgot."

"Hi, fairy."

"WOOHEE'S NAME IS WOOHEE!" I laugh as she pounds on my chest with her tiny fists.

"So, what brings you here today?" Woohee falls away at my question.

"Woohee was just looking around." She's lying, but I don't really care to find out why. I decide to just go back to what I was doing.

"Okay. Well, it was good seeing you." I walk a small circle around the den and look for anything worthwhile. About two feet off the ground, I see a slime attached to the bottom of a Pons Fungus. It's a semi-transparent green color about the size of a volleyball, with the viscosity of oobleck. Slimes can be killed easily by breaking the Monster Core floating around its center. The problem is that the core is the most valuable part of the monster and a broken core isn't worth much. According to the book I was reading, the Slime's body is just liquid held together with the mana emanating from the core. The Monster Core changes the properties of the mana to act as the membrane that holds the Slime's components together. The way to defeat it is either by draining its mana. One option is to stress the membrane with physical attacks, or by breaking the Monster Core. I pick up a stick from the ground and strike it. The Slime quivers and presses itself tightly to the trunk. It scrunches down before lunging at me. I dodge to the left and take a few steps back. The Slime sits in place as I watch it carefully from a distance.

[It isn't moving, so it must not be able to see me. That makes sense considering it doesn't have eyes. Let's test that.]

I walk around the Slime and try to get its attention. I smack the ground with the stick and shout. Nothing happens.

[Am I fighting Kenpachi? It just waits until it gets attacked and tries to counter? This doesn't seem like a very effective fighting style.]

I think about the show Bleach while I circle the small Slime. While keeping a safe distance, I wear the creature down by striking and dodging. It seems to have some ability to learn as it starts trying to predict which way I dodge but it doesn't move very quickly, so it isn't very difficult to avoid. After about fifteen minutes, the Slime stops moving. It just sits there as I hit it over and over again.

[This feels terrible.]

I deliver the final blow, and the poor Slime dissolves into the ground leaving only a purple sphere. The air stills. I pick up the small object and inspect it. The orb seems to be made of glass. The cold surface feels smooth in my hand. I can see small purple blobs moving around inside of it. The blobs look like tiny Slimes wriggling against each other. I sigh and place the core in my pocket.

"You killed it." I hear Woohee call out in a sad voice.

"Yeah, I feel really bad. I'm not going to kill any more Slimes. It feels wrong to hunt a creature that can't even defend itself." Woohee glares at me from behind a log. I can feel her judging me. It hurts. I turn and stare at her as she clearly has something to say.

"What?" I ask, exasperated.

"You shouldn't kill the Slimes!" She leans over the log to yell at me before retreating behind her wooden fortification.

"Okay, then what should I hunt?"

"Hunt?"

"I need to make money to survive. What kinds of things can I get to sell? Some monster parts and plants are useful."

"Hmmm… We just eat plants that grow around the forest." Woohee says while she crosses her arms and nods her head.

"Well, I can't survive like that. I need to make money." I'm struggling to figure out how to explain the concept of money to this fairy.

"Oh, why don't you kill the mean stars?"

"Mean stars?'

"Yeah, they're big and pointy," she says as she stretches her arms wide.

I think back to the book about the creatures of the Argon Forest. If I remember correctly, the Punctastars are similar to starfish but they walk around on land and have sharp tips at the ends of their legs. The Cornuvaris could also be a target. They're centipedes with three pairs of wings and two large scythe arms that extend out from their torso near their heads. The Cornuvaris are much less tempting as they're among most vicious monsters in the middle layer.

"Why do you want me to hunt them?" I ask

"They eat Slimes, so it's good to kill them. Woohee was told to kill them whenever she sees them."

"Why are Slimes so important?"

"You don't know?" She flies right up to my face with her question.

"No," I answer, leaning back from her piercing gaze.

"Slimes eat the fungus that hurt the trees. If there's too much fungus then the trees will die!" She slowly raises her voice throughout her explanation.

"Okay, okay, I got it. Just stop yelling."

"Woohee's not yelling!" she yells.

"Why don't I hunt the fungus, too, if it's such a problem?"

"Oh, you hunt fungus?"

"I can. Certain types of fungus are worth money."

"Which types?"

"Well, the Suffigo Fungus, which is black and grows on the big blue fungus, and the Musculus Fungus, which is circular and glows yellow at the tips."

"Oh, I know where that is."

"Why don't you show me?"

"Okay!" Woohee guides me around the area and points to the various fungus that I then pile up inside the fort. I manage to bring in a substantial haul with Woohee's help.

[I should get her something as thanks.]

"Thanks, Woohee."

"No problem, Woohee needs to take care of the forest; that's what Woohee was told."

"Well, I'll get you something, so come back here tomorrow."

"Okay!" Woohee raises her hands to the air as she shouts. I chuckle at her antics and head down to the den to check on the kids. Sakura is sitting back-to-back with Josh while he crafts a chair. I see five benches in one corner of the room and what appears to be about fifteen meters of rope coiled up in front of Sakura. They're both concentrating so hard they don't even notice my presence. I walk over to the finished benches and lay down on one. The construction is very sturdy; Josh built them almost exactly as I described. With a little padding, they'll make excellent benches. Thoughts trickle through my mind as I lie down on one of the benches. My eyes dart around the rough ceiling. The fight with the Slime is still weighing on me.

♪ In restless dreams, I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone ♪

I'm struck by the image of the Slime lying defenselessly on the ground in my mind. My heart sinks when I remember how it broke apart and soaked into the ground. What was it feeling in that final moment?

♪ 'Neath the halo of a street lamp

I turned my collar to the cold and damp ♪

I try to imagine what it's like to know you're about to die and not be able to do anything about it; what it's like to be bled dry. Cold fear runs up my back at the thought of that nightmare coming alive.

♪ When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night ♪

I lay motionless and allow myself to grieve, not just for the death of that Slime or mine but for the collective knowledge that we all will die. This is by no means the first time I've had this feeling. I try to maintain my perspective by always holding this thought at the back of my mind and allowing it to surface occasionally.

♪ And touched the sound of silence ♪

For now, I'm alive. I sit up and check on the kids' progress. Josh looks like he is finishing up. I walk over and inspect the chair that he has been pouring himself into for the last couple of hours.