My eyes formed in my goo head as I heard the beauty of birds chirping, and a gentle breeze brushed my round ball form. I was surrounded by blue plastic with a flap in front of me, letting the wind in through a small opening.

Around me was a charcoaled burnt orange rock in the shape of my round form but bigger. To the side of the charcoal rock is the shield I carried on my back. In the center of the burnt rock is a hole.

I shake off the sleep and take on my humanoid form. Instead of my normal seven-foot-tall self, I am five feet ten inches and much thinner than I would prefer. I need more time and food to recover my size. Yet before that, I need to know where I am.

I stepped out of a tent made of metal scraps and a tarp I would see in emergency kits. The metallic fabric was sturdy, insolated, and light. The floor was made of the same material on top of burned clothing to soften the burned wood under it used to keep me off the dirt.

Stepping out revealed a fire pit, a cabinet, a clothesline with clothes drying, two old lawn chairs, a pile of books in a box, and a large ice cooler.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I started to look at all the stuff. I had to know all I could about my kidnapper or savior. The cabinet was filled with random canned food and an abundance of toilet paper. The collarr had salted curedmeatt.

There was a tree by the cabinet. Carved on it were a multitude of tally marks. The first few were slippy and rigged, but the tallies became clean and straight the further I counted. I don’t know what they meant, but I remember giving up counting after 392 tallies.

The sky above is clear, and the trees shuffle and sing with the winds drifting into the forest domain. I could hear two rivers nearby. One is freshwater teaming with life, which is essential to life on most planets to produce life. I put my hand in the water and noticed something peculiar.

The magical energy known as the Source is found everywhere, from the depths of the cosmos to the smallest bacteria. When someone uses magic, it is spoken through a spell or used by symbols to bring the idea to life. Then, the Source is absorbed through the body and channeled out through an emitter, a wand, ring, or anything with a potent amount of Source.

Housing the Source gives it a magical fingerprint. People use this to determine if a fire is naturally occurring or caused by a spell. They compare the Source energy of flames or ashes to the surrounding area if they are too late. If they don’t match, then they can determine the flames were made by magic as a natural accurring fire would be similar to the Source energy around the area. Someone with immense talent can tell them apart from the individual. I am not one of those people. However, I can tell that this water Source does not match the area around us.

The second river is called the LIFE VIEN. The planet's other water source is dark purple. I remember reading a book while trying to wind down in Emanuel’s mansion, which stated that the thicker purple water is a source of life on the planet. It allows plants to grow and animals to evolve on the planet; it's the lifeblood of everything.

Putting my hand in it, I can feel two different sources. One is familiar with the same fresh water from the other river. The second is a powerful energy. Its power envelops me as if i am back in space, staring at the void. Instead of feeling isolated, I feel like i am being stared at from all angles. I pull my hand out immediately, fearing I would be pulled in forever if I focused on that half too long.

It’s clear that LIFE VIEN is a diluted combination of both. It provides great health benefits to everyone who drinks it. This may be a small planet, smaller than some other rock moons, but it provides life, shelter, and care for everyone who is on it. I fear, though, anyone who is able to get a pure dose of the other half. It holds great power, but the cost to harness it may be too great for some.

I return to the tents and transform back to my small form. I spread thin wires made of my goo all around the ground. After the mess at the mansion, i can’t risk getting caught off guard. The negative is I can’t move from my spot as it requires me to be still.

The threads spread all around the campground and a few miles out. I don’t have enough slime to stretch far, but it will work for now. I need to figure out how to keep this form while I am asleep, as thats is when it is most needed. Then, CRACK.

FUN FACT

I hear through all my goo. Talking to any part of me is as if you're saying it to me. I won’t hear what is said to any detached part of me, but once it rejoins my body, i hear what was said like a stored message. So, I don’t talk behind my back to spar my feelings because I will hear it and be hurt worse. So much worse.

I morph into a slender, limbless form and slither to a tree branch, hiding within the leaves. Emanuel emerges in dirty clothes, and a filled satchel slung over his shoulders. He is four inches taller than I remember, and his hair now reaches past his ears. I pop my head out of the leaves with my eyes wide.

“EMANUEL!” I scream with enough force to shake some leaves on the trees. He looks up at my long, tube-like body. His mouth is gaping, and he drops the bag as his eyes light up.

“CID!” He shouts back.

He runs to me as I leap from the branch. My body morphs into my humanoid shape. Emanuel hugged me as soon as I landed. I could feel the warmth of his tears on my cold chest as he buried his face. I can’t tell if he is embarrassed to show his face or caught in disbelief. As if he pulled away, I would fade out of existence.

“When did you wake up?” He asks, still hiding his face. I pull back and lower my body to look at him in the eye. I don’t know if it's because I lost slime or he got taller, but I don’t have to lower my head that far.

“Only a short while ago. Looks like I’ve been asleep a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” Emanuel shouts back. I stumble back from the sheer shock his anger carried. “You were asleep for so long. I thought you would never wake up. I didn’t know how to tell if you were alive. You were much smaller than when you slept before. Once I saw a chip where some slime was exposed, I panicked as you didn’t respond to me. I didn’t know if shoving food in you would help, but every time I did, it would start to dissolve, so I kept putting more food and more food and-

I place my arm on his shoulder as he looks up at me.

“No, that is right,” I say. “When it comes to me, shove food into my body when in doubt. That is always the right call.”

He wiped his tears as he felt safe enough to pull away fully.

“I have no idea where we are,” I say as we return to camp. “Now’s a good time to fill me in on what is happening. What happened to Crimson? Is he chasing us?”

Emanuel sat me down and wrapped a blanket with a large hole in it. At first, I thought it was a cardigan, but he corrected me. He told me what I missed while a pot of milk heated on the campfire.

He said that after the mansion exploded, he ran into the fire to find me. The flames towered over him, but he pushed through. He found his family shield propped up by a slime body, part of which burned and the other clinging to the shield. He took off his jacket, wrapped it around his hands, and grabbed the shield. He pulled me out of the fire.

He tries to hide his hands, but I can see the scars on the palms of his hands. The jacket mediated some of the damage, but it was not enough. It was because of me that he suffered. i caused that pain.

After grabbing me, he stole Crimson’s bike. He returned the next day to see if there was anything he could scavenge but only found burnt items that made up this campsite. He mentioned he found the chard hand sticking out of a pile of rubles where the garage used to be. He assumes it belongs to Crimson. That brought me ease as i never wanted to see that hauntingly handsome face again.

I asked how he could ride a bike, and he said. “My dad taught me for when i was going to take over the business.”

Since then, he has been in the woods, only going into town to steal food and other items he needs. He was worried that the thievery was tainting his morality. I placed my hand on his shoulder again and offered my godly wisdom.

“It’s all good. I forgive you.” His confused blank stare reassured me that this eased his heart even though he said it meant nothing to him. With me awake, he wanted to charge toward the docks and follow the original plan.

He stood up with eager bravado, but I stayed seated as I spoke.

“No.”