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Toka was an average Venusian. He had no physical shape nor form nor any body part that’d identify him as a biological male, but his pronouns were he and him, and he was quite happy to be addressed as such. As an average Venusian, Toka lived in an amethyst geode—most Venusians lived in geodes, and only those who were generationally wealthy, or obscenely lucky, could live in the golden city. Toka had always dreamed about the golden city; according to the rumors, the city never slept. If a Venusian was lonely, there’d always be someone to talk to due to the sheer number of people and varied sleeping habits.
Currently, despite being located within an amethyst geode, Toka was following his Venusian instincts and residing in the dream of a woman. The woman was jogging, presumably to stay fit, but she was running as if she were underwater. As for Toka, he was sitting in the patio area of a restaurant, enjoying a meal whilst sitting out in the warm sun, his body looking very much like a regular human adult male. Toka ignored the woman whose dream he was in; after all, he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. If the dream shifted into a nightmare, his treat and sunlight would disappear.
As Toka sipped on his beer, which was totally acceptable to drink for brunch because he was in someone’s dream, where logic only applied when it felt like doing so, the woman’s dream gradually shifted locations to am abandoned house. A sigh escaped from Toka’s mouth; even though he hadn’t done anything to agitate the woman, the dream had shifted somewhere dark regardless. Some Venusians liked dark dreams, but not Toka; truth be told, he was a bit of a scaredy-cat.
Toka watched from the window seat he had been shifted to as a masked man with a chainsaw entered the house where the woman was now spending the night due to illogical dream reasoning. The Venusian figured it was time to go before things got gory, scary, and brutal. As such, Toka placed his beer down on the windowsill and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back inside of his … unopened … geode. Why was his geode open?
“Hello,” a voice said, figuratively startling the intangible poop out of Toka’s body.
“Who are you?” Toka asked, communicating through Venusian language which was similar to Sam’s activation of his throat chakra. Toka scanned his geode, and on the other side of the massive crack, which he was sure wasn’t there before he had entered the woman’s dream, there was another Venusian with an imposing presence. The Venusian’s aura was so thick it almost seemed solid. “How did you break my home?”
“I didn’t break your home,” the Venusian said. “I noticed it was broken, so I came to take a look to see if you were alright. It’s good that you’re unharmed. My name is Sam by the way.”
“Oh, thanks, Sam,” Toka said, inspecting the hovering standing before him. “Did you happen to see who destroyed my home?”
“No,” Vercedei said, speaking for Sam in the same way as Venusians. “Sorry. I didn’t see anyone else around.”
“Well, then, you must’ve scared them away,” Toka said as he inspected Sam. “Has anyone ever told you you’re very big?”
Considering Werchbite was also disguising the wooly pig’s presence, Sam wasn’t surprised the Venusian perceived him as huge. The Venusian was actually quite small, smaller than he had expected one to be. “Yes,” Vercedei said. “I’m quite large, aren’t I?”
“Indeed,” Toka said, not daring to approach the crack in the amethyst geode. Who would feel comfortable approaching someone they suspected to be a home invader? Not to mention said home invader was six times Toka’s size. “Well, thank you for checking up on me, but as you can see, I’m fine.”
“You say that, but are you really?” Vercedei asked. “You’re living in a geode barely larger than yourself. It doesn’t look like you have many neighbors, meaning you don’t have many friends.”
“I have a family,” Toka said, lying for all he was worth. For some reason, he felt like the Venusian in front of him was like a predator ready to eat him if he showed a single hint of weakness. If Sam found out Toka was all alone without anyone who would be missing him if he were to die, what would stop Sam from doing whatever he wished to Toka? Sam’s morals? Hah, as if Toka could trust someone else to do the right thing. “My three children come to check up on me every so often to make sure I’m doing fine. They’re married with their own families, so I can’t blame them for leaving me, but I’m far from lonely.”
“Is that so? That’s great to hear,” Vercedei said. “I was on my way to the city of gold, and I was going to ask you to come with me, but if you’re happy here, you should stay.”
Even if he wasn’t happy here, would Toka follow a stranger to the city of gold? Obviously, that depended. “I’m very poor. Even if I wanted to go with you, I wouldn’t be able to.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have to worry about that,” Vercedei said. Clumps of gold appeared inside of Sam’s Venusian illusion’s chest. “I wasn’t going to ask you to pay.”
Toka couldn’t help but lean forward to stare at the gold, approaching the crack in the geode. It took him a second to snap out of it, and he reeled himself back. If something sounded too good to be true, then it was. “What’s the catch? If I were to go along with you, I mean.”
“Truth be told, I’m not a Venusian,” Vercedei said. “I’m a higher-dimensional being.”
Toka froze. Weren’t the blue avians on the lookout for a higher-dimensional being? A calamity, they called it. Toka made up his mind. “So, what do you need me for?”
“Assist me,” Vercedei said. “I wish to become the ruler of the Venusians, and if you help, I’ll make sure your position in the new society is better than it is now. You won’t have to live inside a cramped geode, and if you’re generous, never mind yourself, you can even gift several golden buildings to your family members as well.”
Toka shuddered, his usually dull vibrations humming at a frequency so high he didn’t even know it existed. “What kind of assistance do you need?” the Venusian asked. “I’ll do anything as long as it’s beneficial for myself as well.”
“Quite honest, aren’t you?” Vercedei asked. The vibrations Sam’s illusion was releasing decreased in intensity, becoming ominously slow. “At least you know how to interact with one of my kind. Worship me, and I’ll bring you prosperity, all of your wildest dreams can come true; of course, you’ll be betraying your own kind. I’ll be asking you to lie, steal, murder, and maybe some torturing too. There’ll be plenty of unsavory tasks to complete as well: covering our tracks, disposing of evidence, public speaking.”
“I don’t mind speaking,” Toka said. “I’ll say whatever you want me to say, do whatever you want me to do. All I ask is you give my life a purpose, preferably a swanky one, but if we need to be discreet, I can and know how to be. I’m only being open and frank because I recognize you have greater means than I do, and my fate is in your hands.”
“How shall I address you, my follower?” Vercedei asked.
“Toka,” Toka said. “My name is Toka.”
Sam observed the twin-headed snake’s blue head lure the Venusian to their side. Wasn’t he basically in the exact same situation as Toka? Well, maybe, Toka was in a more expendable position since there were other Venusians out there while Sam wasn’t … expendable? He wasn’t, right? The twin-headed snake did bring him back to life after he was killed by Paula, so he was better off alive for his familiars’ purposes.
“Then, shall we head to the city of gold, Toka?” Vercedei asked.
The Venusian stared out the cracked geode at the massive mass of energy in front of it. “Yes,” Toka said after a brief moment of hesitation. In the end, what did the Venusian have to lose? As the higher-dimensional being had so bluntly pointed out, he was living a life of lonely squalor, and no one would miss him when he died. Here was the chance to change his life forever; he’d regret it forever if he didn’t take it. The Venusian slid out of the amethyst geode, and its body sank into the ground, over half of it sinking beneath the surface. Without a geode to support it, it could only exist whilst attached to a crystal.
“I am ready to depart,” Toka said.
“Good,” Vercedei said. “Your riches and bright future await you.”
***
Paula stood in a bear-sized-but-pig-shaped tunnel with their aura flickering. Blue avians were sentient, and it was only normal for sentient creatures to experience frustration. Nobody was perfect, and upon failing the same task several times, one was bound to feel irritated. As such, no one blamed Paula when they punched the tunnel wall ahead, another dead end. In fact, all the tunnels led to dead ends, leading Paula to believe none of the tunnels in the ground led to the calamity summoner’s actual destination.
“None of you caught up to him?” Paula asked, their voice traveling through the minds of the blue avians within the tunnels.
“You saw that dirt monster outside,” one of the blue avians said. “We needed everyone to work together to deal with it safely, and the small pursuit force we did manage to scrounge up got delayed; by the time they reached the ground, there were already too many tunnels for them to explore.”
“What about Tchaikovsky?” Paula asked. “Haven’t they partially mastered their Vasundhara? You haven’t found them yet?”
“There are tunnels expanding in every direction,” the blue avian name Tchaikovsky said. “They’re not connected to anything, and there are thousands of them. The calamity is likely the Earth Turner; my mastery of my earth star chakra pales in comparison to what a higher-dimensional creature like that can do.”
“Then, they escaped,” Paula said, their aura relaxing. The only thing they could do now was count their losses and prepare for the next time Sam was sighted. “Did they take anything from our nest?”
“No,” a blue avian said. “They weren’t brave enough to step foot into our home.”
But they were brave enough to target their lovely trees to destroy them. Paula flew out of the tunnel they were in and floated just above the ground. “If only I hadn’t failed in killing Sam the first time,” the blue avian said, “things wouldn’t have come to this point.”
“Yep,” Mozart said. “You should’ve nipped it in the bud back then, but you failed.” The blue avian flew to Paula’s side. “However, it’s not completely your fault. We all shoulder the responsibility when a calamity causes trouble in Oterra; we’re all as equally to blame as you. For three hundred years, humans showed no signs of being problematic, so it’s understandable we underestimated one.”
Paula’s aura flickered, and they flew up into the air, above the treetops to visually survey the surroundings. Unlike Sam’s vision, a blue avian’s eyes could see things clearly from hundreds of meters away like an eagle. However, there was nothing on the surface that’d lead them to Sam. Although the blue avians successfully defended their home from the dirt monster created by the Earth Turner, Paula felt like they had been played. The blue avians had originally split into three groups, but it was clear now that their forces couldn’t be divided that thinly if they wanted to deal with Sam.
“How many humans have we captured?” Paula asked.
“Around two hundred,” one of the blue avians said. “We could’ve caught more, but we only grabbed the promising ones.”
Two hundred humans…. “That should be enough for the breeding program, right?” Paula asked. Humans reproduced quickly, and the blue avian felt like it shouldn’t take long for a talented human capable of locating calamities to be born. “From now on, rather than splitting into three smaller groups, we should maintain one large group while sending out scouts. If the scouts find Sam, then we’ll move as one to crush him.”
“What if we move as one, and he gives us the slip and robs our home while we’re gone?” a blue avian asked. “Wouldn’t it be better if all of us stayed in our home, so once he shows up again, we’ll all be prepared to take him down? If he doesn’t show, then, in due time, we’ll have bred a human with calamity-detecting talents.”
Paula tilted their head back and stared up at the sky, letting their mind relax as they stared at the blue color. After a bit, the blue avian lowered their head. “Fine,” Paula said. Everything they had done to deal with the calamity summoner, Sam, had failed, so since that was the case, wouldn’t it be better to let someone else take charge? If someone else wanted to put forth a plan and implement it, then that was great. It’d allow Paula a chance to recollect themself and obtain a second perspective. Besides, didn’t Mozart have a point? Sam was all the blue avians’ responsibility, not just Paula’s. “Someone else can decide how to deal with Sam. I’ll go along with whatever plan they propose.”
***
Toka thought it’d take a long time to reach the city of gold; he was correct, but he was right for the wrong reasons. Venusians had difficulty with traveling in general, and traveling was even more difficult when the distances were long. They could only exist whilst attached to crystals, and depending on the crystal they were in, its purity and structure, it’d be easier or harder to wade through—wading was the only word appropriate for the Venusians’ half-submerged form of walking. The only exception was gold; it was incredibly easy to travel through gold, and a Venusian could practically walk on top of its surface without sinking more than a couple of toes inside of it. Since the way to the city of gold didn’t have any roads made of gold, if Toka were alone, the only choice he’d have to travel was to wade his way all the way there at a snail’s pace. However, he wasn’t alone, and there was more than just Sam, the higher-dimensional entity, traveling with him.
Instead of moving by himself, Toka was sitting in an amethyst geode with part of himself poking out of it to get a good look at his surroundings. Around Toka’s amethyst geode, there were dozens, maybe hundreds, of other geodes, all of them housing another Venusian. All the geodes were dragging and scraping along the ground as if they were empty cans tied to a horse’s ankle, but instead of a horse, the geodes were attached—through a method Toka couldn’t discern—to Sam. The geodes moved quickly, much faster than a Venusian could travel on their own through the ground of Andeland, but they hadn’t reached the city of gold yet because Sam wasn’t heading straight there. He was traveling around from isolated Venusian to isolated Venusian, picking them up and convincing them to join his group.
At first, Toka had thought he’d be of importance to Sam, but after realizing he was just one Venusian of many, Toka couldn’t help but be disappointed. However, the disappointment didn’t last for long. There was safety and strength in numbers, and the more discontent, lonely, and bitter Venusians Sam gathered, the better their chance at flipping the script. They’d be the ones living in the city of gold while all those elite and pompous gold-dwelling Venusians would be taken care of by Sam. At least, that’s what Toka assumed would happen. Sure, they might have to worship Sam as their leader, but so what? It would still be a better life than living alone in an amethyst geode with nothing to look forward to except death.
There were plenty of Venusians being dragged after Sam, but none of them spoke to one another, which wasn’t really a surprise given their origins. They were the Venusians deemed as undesirable, and they didn’t feel the need to interact with one another. Some were distrustful of others, unwilling to form bonds less they get hurt, and others felt worthless, keeping silent because they felt their ideas and words had no value. Regardless of their reasons, the journey to the city of gold was a silent one save for the scraping and jostling of geodes against the crystalline ground.
When the city of gold appeared on the horizon at last, the attached Venusians couldn’t help but peek out of their geodes to get a look at the fabled city. Around the city, there was a moat made of sand; if it was difficult for Venusians to travel through crystals, it was nearly impossible for them to walk across sand. A golden drawbridge was standing vertically by the city’s walls, and if one was a Venusian, their only option to enter or exit the city was to be given access through the drawbridge. Of course, if one had outside help, they could occupy a geode and have their assistant fling the geode into the city, but that would be way too conspicuous. To the Venusians’ disappointment, Sam didn’t head straight towards the city. Instead, he circled around it, even going further away at times, to pick up more Venusians who had been deemed undesirable. However, they knew it wouldn’t be long before they set foot into the city, and the usually dull vibrations the Venusians emitted were excited and colorful.