Chapter 7
Calm Before the Storm:
My eyelids were closed, but my brain was refusing to rest. It was in overdrive from this adventure thus far. What human being would sleep at a time like this? I was tossing and turning on the bed, only to open my eyes in frustration, looking up at the ceiling. Then, suddenly, I arose from the bed, hearing commotion from outside. It sounded like an animal, a lot like a sheep, and there was an awful lot of them as I hear the baaing from the other end of my door. I pivoted my legs to the floor as my socks touched the large soft rug. I got up and made my way to the door, only to crack it open to glance at what was going on outside. Meeps were hopping about as the meep herder Mudokon was herding them to another pen to feed on the tall grass.
I smile and open the door all the way. I was eager to pet these critters. I have always loved animals since I was ten years old. I would give anything to pet all the animals of the world if I could—reasons why I became a dog groomer back at home. I strolled behind the Mudokon shepherd with his long wooded shepherd's hook. This Mudokon had white tribal paint, kind of like the shamans but less of them. White bands on their wrists and legs. He must have been a native Mudokon while others around the village seemed not to have these markings at all, making them Mudokon's Abe have rescued in the past.
The shepherd knew he was being followed and glanced behind him, seeing me with my arms behind my back and a smile on my face. "May I…help you?" The Mudokon paused his movements making the meeps stop as well.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to stop you from your job. I'm just fascinated by the animals you have around here."
The Mudokon clears his throat, trying to figure out what to say next. Every Mudokon in the village knew now about my presence, and the shamans must have told everyone to be respectful to me as I hear his following response. "Oh, well….These are meeps. We use them for just about everything but also treat them with respect."
He moved his hook around to have one of the meeps come close to me. I bend down, squatting to have a closer look while the one-eyed, one-legged creature bleats at me. I was about to pet it until I stopped, asking for permission from the Mudokon as I look up at him. "May I pet?"
The Mudokon nods politely. I didn't hesitate to place my hand on the meeps head, petting it and feeling the wool. "Woah. The meeps feel like sheep back on Earth." The meep shepherd tilted his head at me funnily. My only response to that was, "Never mind. May I check out the rest of your animals?"
"Go ahead. The pens are all around the village. Sadly, I cannot help guide you. I have ta move these meeps to the field." He explained, pointing his cook to the field.
"No worries." I get up from bending. "Thanks for allowing me to pet one of your meeps." I bow lightly with respect as if I was respecting a sensei master.
Even though this type of thank you might not have been their tradition, bowing was the appropriate way to say thank you. Which now that I thought of this, I never bowed to the Healer. I was mainly in awe when the shaman healed my wounds and didn't think of it at that given moment. However, I gave myself a mental note to bow to him once this is all over.
The Mudokon smiles and waves at me goodbye, replying out, "You're welcome."
I go the opposite direction, leaving the shepherd to herd his meeps while I trek around the village, casting my eyes all over. I glance over to the cave that stored The Almighty Raisin. I pause for a moment. I grew curious but shook my head soon after as my thoughts distracted me. I proceeded around, sighting more large pens of Oddworld critters. The first one that caught my eye was the elum pen. As I speed walk over to the fence, I grew more excited about what the elums would feel like; "Maybe it feels leathery, or perhaps more rubbery like a dolphin?" I thought to myself as I stop and rest my arms on the fence, seeing one sniffing the ground. Unfortunately, I didn't have any honey, which was their favorite food, to entice the elum to come close. Maybe if I presented my hand like I had something, the elum would make its way over to me? I place out my hand, forming a fist, making clicking sounds from my mouth to get the elum's attention. And sure enough, the two-legged, small-armed creature slowly made its way over to my hand. Finally, the elum was close enough for me to pet. And I was shocked to find out that it was thick skin, like petting an elephant. The horns above the eyes that look like a hammerhead's head brushed against my arm softly. The elum enjoyed the strokes on the neck that I gave it. It made a bellowing sound soon after I lifted my hand away. The elum seemed like it was upset that I had stopped.
I was in a trance, staring intensely at the creature until I got jump-scared by a voice from behind me. "Now the elum will never stop crying until you keep petting him." I look behind me as I held my breath, thinking I was in trouble for petting the elum. "You have ta give him honey now to get him to stop bellowing out." The native Mudokon offers me a bowl of honey as I slowly take it and turn to face the elum. The elum stopped whining and perked up, digging into the bowl of honey with his interesting ant eater-type tongue; this makes sense, knowing that they need a long tongue to get the honey from within the beehive. "You have a way with the creatures of Oddworld." The Mudokon smiles and leans on the fence, getting a better look at me.
"Well, I have to be. Back at home, I take care of critters kinda like slogs…but with fur... like fuzzle fur." I tried my best to explain our dogs on Earth the best I could to the Mudokon. "I give them haircuts."
The Mudokon gave me the funniest of looks only to try to imagine the creature I tried to explain to him. "That sounds like one ugly critter. I mean, slegs have very short fur but not as much as a fuzzle does."
I burst out laughing, now imagining a slog with fuzzle fur all over it, replying as I chuckle, "It's hard to explain….unless I show you a photo of one." The bowl was now empty; the elum licked it clean. I give the bowl back to the Mudokon and say, "Thank you for letting me feed your elum and pet him."
"You're welcome." The Mudokon starts to walk off to finish his duties around the elum pen.
I start to make my way to another area that housed the meetles and mugs. They were in a field together, surrounded by a heavy-duty wooden fence. It was understandable seeing how massive and tough their shells looked. They reminded me of beetles. "Maybe that's why they were named meeltes and mugs?" I spoke within my mind. Sadly, I was not as eager to pet these creatures this time. They looked to be more grumpy while I watched two mugs slam their heads together like rams challenging one another to mate with a female. All I did was watch their movements in awe, daydreaming once again.
A paw pressed on my shoulder as I freak out and turn around quickly, pressing my back against the thick wooden fence. Then, I see who touched me; it was Big Face. I hold on to my chest, feeling my heart race. "Don't scare me like that…." I sigh out.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But The Almighty Raisin would like to have a word with you."
"Uh…." I paused. My face turned a bit white. "Why?"
"No need to worry, I'll be in there with you along with the Shaman Healer that's waiting for us to arrive inside the Raisin's cave." I gulp and allow Big Face to take me to see the Raisin as he pushed me along softly with his paw up against my back until I moved forward along the path to the cave.
We both make our way into the cave that slowly descended. Green spooce, a type of fungi from the game, sprawled all along the walls that lit up the way to the opening. My heart began to pound, unsure of what to expect when I made it to the end of the tunnel. I heard humming in the distance, spotting more shaman Mudokons cross-legged on the ground as they floated in the air, chanting before the large seed in the middle of the large opening with a subtle shade of purple to the walls. The Shaman Healer was standing to the left, waiting for us to enter completely. On either end of the large Raisin sleeping away in his cave, two thick tree roots wrapped in vines looked like trunks of trees. I was now looking up at the large round seed with tribal markings along his face while his four orange eyes start to open slowly. Big Face was to my right as the Healer was to my left. I wait patiently for this seed to open his mouth to speak.
The Raisin opened his eyes completely and slightly looked down upon the shamans and me. His voice was deep and slow, hearing the echo of his voice filling the room quickly. "Greetings, young lady. I must congratulate you on a job well done for saving one of our shamans, Big Face, here." His eyes pan over to Big Face before eyeing back to me in the middle.
It was a bit funny hearing the Raisin calling me "young" when I could have been older than the Mudokons all around me. I remember how Mudokons only live to be 30 to 40 years old, and me being in my late 30's, I could only guess that Big Face and the Healer were younger than I. But I knew that The Almighty Raisin was much, much older. Not only that, there were ancient Mudokons as well, for instance, The Keeper, deep within the Necrum catacombs that could be well over 40 years old.
All I did was give a slight smile, waiting for him to speak again. "With the bird portal Luksin stole, safely back with their rightful owners, we can rest assure that this type of thing won't happen again."
I felt guilty, but why? I had a theory about how this could have happened. I scratch my head, thinking out of the box about this matter. "You don't think….I caused this to happen….do you? With…well, you know? I point to my head, indicating the humans' imagination and how we can create these alternate universes with just a single thought.
The Raisin could only assume that's the reason why, but he didn't know for sure. For the first time, he was not as wise and all-knowing. Moreover, he could only use his all-seeing powers in the Oddworld universe. "I do not know for certain if it's you or the humans doing, but this has awakened us for any troubles that could occur in the future. But please do not fret, my child; you didn't mean for this to happen." I exhale with a sigh of relief hearing the last sentence the Raisin spoke. But his voice became more stern as he lectured me, "Yet, I warn you that you must keep this a secret with the inhabitants of Oddworld or else we will have to take matters into our own hands."
I began to sweat as I went weak at the knees for a moment until I pulled myself together. My brain processed what I said in the past, thinking if I said anything that might have triggered red flags of Oddworld being a game, a thought-form, or a tulpa, as theorists call it back on Earth. "I assure you, I have no intention of harming your world by any means or to causing panic. Humans of my world would give their soul to have an opportunity like this!" I grew excited soon after. The shamans give me an odd look but said nothing as they just listened to what the Raisin had to say. I then changed the topic and thanked the Almighty Raisin, "I have to thank you for helping me back at the lab. If it weren't for your ratz, and if you've never told the Shaman Healer about me, I would have died for sure!" I look to the shaman, bowing to him with a soft smile. He returned with a mute; you're welcome by patting my back softly.
The Raisin closes his four orange eyes and moved his round seed-like body forward, nodding, "You're welcome, young one," He then sees me in deep thought as I look down at the ground, thinking about Abe and the others. "I sense you are worried about something….or someone?"
I stare up at his four eyes, not stumbling my words, "Can you tell me if the boys are okay? I'm kinda worried about them." I rub my neck soon after. I had forgotten about my camera; I was more worried about their well-being.
"Abe and his followers are on the blimp safe and sound. They should be here shortly. But don't get too comfortable once they land. I fear more trouble is yet to come." Both the shamans and I look towards one another. I hoped that Big Face knew what the Raisin was talking about, but all he did was shrug, not giving any answers. Finally, the Raisin spoke his last sentence, "Once all is right within Oddworld is when you can go home, back into your dimension with the help of Big Face and the bird portals. Now go out there and help Abe. Only then….you will….you will…." The Raisin, yet again, fell asleep in mid-sentence.
All I could do was just chuckle, not pondering about the Raisin's warning of the danger when Abe would arrive back at the village. Both the shamans and I started to walk out of the Raisin's cave into the tunnel filled with spooce that lit the way.
The afternoon had hit, with the sky partly cloudy. The clouds made the perfect cover for the airship to vanish from the naked eye. Luksin was high above the clouds but close enough to lock his eyes onto the small blimp Abe and the crew were aboard. Their blimp was a mile away from the Mudokon village. The natives out in the field, tending their meeps, shot their gaze up into the sky, spotting the blimp Abe was on. The shepherd waved his cook back and forth in the air with excitement waving at the blimp from afar. He left his meeps to graze the fields while he tells the others that Abe had come back. In no time at all, the villagers knew of Abe's arrival, making room for the blimp to land in the middle of their village. The blimp's rutters flapped like bird wings while Alf steered the large craft to the spot where the Mudokons signaled him to land. After the soft landing, thanks to Alf, the first to jump off were the Mudokons Abe had saved.
After that, the fuzzles scurried off the blimp. They pounced about under the Mudokon's feet, making their way back into the forest. Abe, Munch, and Alf were still in the cockpit. Abe grabbed his bag and strapped it on his back while he gripped it tightly. He knew Mudokons would bombard him once he stepped off. Alf grabbed the backpack that stored the camera. He was nice enough to put the camera back into the bag for it not to get damaged. He, too, strapped the backpack on his back, waiting for Abe to make his first move as both he and Munch followed him from behind. Abe gave out a long sigh and started to make his way out onto the deck. Only to hear the cheering grow louder. The three made their way off the blimp while being greeted by the villagers. They almost got smothered from being patted on the back as the Mudokons jumped up and down with excitement. Finally giving them room, they stepped aside to have Abe proceed.
Meanwhile, the Glukkon blimp hidden within the thick clouds hovered in position. "What should we do, Sir?" The Slig asked Luksin by his side.
"Call for backup before we proceed to attack."
"Yes, Sir, Luksin, Sir!" The Slig obeyed and started to use the phone to call for backup of any remaining Sligs that made it out of the lab alive.
