Still screaming, I appeared in a burst of light in front of a Being who was regarding me curiously.

Mouth shut now, I looked at the Being and then started screaming in panic again.

Only for the Being to stomp his foo... hoof on the ground and with the rumble caused - it shut my screaming off instantly as tremors ran through my body.

“Oof.” I cried out.

“Hoof,” the Being agreed amiably.

“No, I meant oof, as in pain. Not hoof,” I explained, dusting myself off, having calmed down a bit.

“You do not greet me back?” The Being said with a dangerous gleam in its eyes.

Hastily, I raised my hands and exclaimed in succession, “Absolutely not. Hoof, hoof, and hoof to you!”

“You insult my ancestors?” The Being thundered and raised its hoof for another quake.

Crying out bitterly in my heart, I shouted out frantically, “No, I... I was taught that ‘Hoof’ meant hello. So I said hello to you thrice.”

“By whom?” asked the being as the dangerous aura receded.

Sweating because I couldn’t say that the Being was the one who introduced me to the Baling “Hoof”, I nonetheless pointed at him and prayed to Falka that he wouldn’t rage.

And he didn’t! Praise be to Falka!

Rather, he scratched his head sheepishly and said, “I did say that, didn’t I.”

Nodding my head, I concurred, “You did say that, yes.”

Changing the topic, the Being looked at me and asked, “But why are you here, boy?”

Suddenly remembering, I cursed at the monkey with all the words I knew and others that the Being helpfully provided when I was running out of steam.

Then, finally heaving in a deep breath of satisfaction, I turned to the Being and said, “I chose the ox. So it sent me to you.”

Flexing his muscles proudly, ‘The Being’ - who was an ox-headed man with gorgeous long horns - said, “Indeed. I am the Ox.”

Nodding my head excitedly, I was about to speak when the Ox-man continued to say, “Now you can leave since you have met me.”

Bulging my eyes, I stared into his own naturally bulging eyes.

“What do you mean?” I cried out.

Digging his finger into one floppy ear, The Ox-man said casually, “You met me, so you can leave. Good hoof to you.”

Distracted, I mumbled out, “Good hoof to you too.” and then jumping up, I said, “Wait! The monkey said you were supposed to give me something,”

“Oh, what did that no-good banana eater say?” the Ox-man asked as he dug into his other ear.

Suddenly embarrassed, I replied, “He said you would give me a power.”

Then, looking at him with burning eyes, I asked, “You will give me a power, right?”

Taking a step back in discomfort, the Ox-Man said a single word, “No.”

Eyes bulging wider than before, I stared at him while I thought, “Why does nothing work out the way it’s supposed to in this Baling world,”

Uncomfortably looking at me, the Ox-man continued, “You’re too weak. You’ll probably explode with my power inside you,” The Ox-man underscored his point by flexing his muscles - quite magnificent muscles if I may add.

But I set my jaw and said, “Try me!”

Scratching his chin, the Ox-man looked at me with an “are you sure?” look.

Nodding, I even readied my guard.

Next second I was flying through the air, the sound of bones cracking sounding out, and mouthfuls of blood being spat out as I arced through the considerably spacious cave.

Landing heavily, I couldn’t breathe and red colors mixed with black were sprouting in my vision and my chest felt like a hammer swung with the help of a battering ram had hit it.

I lay there as the Ox-man sprinted over in concern, his every footstep causing a rumble that would send me into convulsions.

Tears almost dripping out, I wanted to beg him to stop but on he came, like a carriage with no brakes.

Skidding to a stop in front of me as another one of my - I think it was my rib- cracked out audibly from the tremors, he regarded me with worry in his gentle eyes.

“Hoof?” he ventured cautiously.

“No-oof,” I answered weakly.

Apparently, that meant something because the Ox-man became even more worried and pacing. He began muttering, “Oh, what do I do? I don’t know any healing and I don’t have any potions or anything. Should I call that monkey? But he sent him here, so why? Oh, what do I do?”

Meanwhile, lying beside him, I wanted to clutch his feet and weep out that all he had to do was not move, but I was the one who couldn’t move at the moment.

Then I felt the pain of ten thousand ants biting me at the same time. Or what I imagined ten thousand ants to feel like.

It was like a warm current in me compared to the pain of the cocoon, and I moaned in comfort.

Looking down at me, the Ox-man stopped and incredulously muttered, “He can’t be a masochist, can he?”

I wanted to protest, but at that moment I felt, or rather I heard, the sounds of my bones snapping back into place.

Shocked, I watched as my chest, which had caved in, began rising slowly until it was in its normal place.

Then the flood of ants seemed to recede, and I experimentally moved my limbs, only to find that they were perfectly normal.

Apart from my shirt, which had been blown to smithereens, everything else was fine!

Jumping to my feet, I threw a few punches in the air - bare-chested as I was - and I indulged in the feeling of power that was flowing through my body.

Turning, I looked at the Ox-man who regarded me, jaw agape, as he pointed and words failed to come out of his mouth.

Grinning, I said, “How about now? You will give me the power now, right?”

Decisively, The Ox-man hitched up his jaw and shook his head.

“No?” I asked incredulously.

He nodded in affirmation.

“But why?”

“Because I said no the first time,” and he looked at me bullishly.

“What kind of logic is that,” I cried out in my heart.

“But I proved I could handle your strength,” I said, as bullishly as the Ox-man was.

The next second, I was flying through the air again in a repeat of what happened, and a while longer than last time, I was up and gesturing wildly at the Ox-man like an angry, unkillable cockroach.

A few seconds later, I went flying yet again, and this time, it took even longer to get up and before I could say a few words in protest; I was... yes; I was sent flying. Again.

This time, the ten thousand ants felt like a thousand ants, and the pain was threatening to send me to oblivion.

But I gritted my teeth and stood up to an obviously unimpressed Ox-man.

“Again,” I cried out.

A few tens of minutes later, I bitterly cried as I thought of how fast the Ox-man had obliged to my words.

This time, when I shakily got up and was about to speak, the Ox-man interrupted and said,

“I see you have gained the healing ability from the damned monkey. But if you continue this way - healing or no healing - you will die.”

Shaking my head, I held out my hand and the Ox-man with a sigh rammed into me again.

This time, the ants took the longest time since I had entered the Ox-man’s cave to get me up again.

The next time... there were no ants.

I lay as my ribs lay shattered. I lay as blood pooled underneath me and shadows danced at the edges of my vision comfortingly. I lay as my heartbeat slowed, bit by bit.

Then my fingers clawed the ground, and I stood, eyes half-closed from the pain, and I formed a fist and stumbled toward the Ox-man and punched him.

Smiling as I fell down, I said, “I won’t g-o dow-n... withou- a- fight.”

But I didn’t touch the ground as the Ox-man caught me and his towering frame supported me as he gazed into the distance with light dancing in his eyes that eventually solidified into determination.

Reaching a finger to my head, he spoke words I could not understand, and suddenly the red tattoos from the cocoon appeared and wrapped around me - binding me tightly.

Then pain ten times worse than the cocoon flared into existence and I passed into oblivion.

--------

Laying the boy down on the ground and chanting more strange words, the Ox-man broke into a smile as the boy disappeared in the light.

“Good hoof to you, child. May you find what you have lost.”

Then he turned and walked to a seat that rose out of the ground and then slowly his right arm began turning into mist.

Regarding it calmly, the ox-man smiled even wider.

“Faster than I expected,” he murmured as more of his body began turning to mist.

“Time for me to sleep then.” He sighed as he closed his eyes.

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