“What do you think those dark shapes are?” Zen said, peering over Devan’s shoulder as he narrowed his brow and raised a flat palm above his eyes to see more clearly.

“Not sure, but they definitely do not look like other horses and carriages. Let me pull out my binoculars. Those should help.”

“Binoculars? What is that?” Zen asked as Devan pulled a black conjoined twin tube from the inside of his nobility waist coat.

“It’s a device that helps us see things farther away. Uses a series of glass lenses to help us do that. Made in the imperial period, and perfected in the industrial and modern ages. Bloody helpful sometimes.” He turned a small knob on the side, squinting as he peered through.

“Ah shit.” Devan said in a hushed tone.

“What’s happening?” Zen said, before being cut off and having his head pressed down into the wooden floor of the carriage.

“There are crosserfangs in the canyon, probably waiting as an ambush.” Devan said roughly. “I’ll bring us to the side of the road, and then we can plan our next move.” Zen lay on the floor, as Devan slowly moved the reins again, gesturing for the horses to remain quiet and move to a small clearing beside the forest edge.

“Alright. We’re by the forest, behind some tall grasses, and far enough away from the edges of the mountain cliffs and the canyon pathway that the crosserfangs won’t be able to see us.” Devan said, dropping down from the carriage onto the soft and slightly wet grass.

“Why are we getting off now? Do we need to get something?” Zen asked, peering out from the front of the carriage, looking at the dense and natural wildlife. The recent storm had given the grass a satisfying reflective luster, and the air was thick with the smell of morning mildew.

“Of course.” Devan said, moving to the back of the carriage and taking out some boarded crates and boxes. “There is no way we are going into that canyon without being prepared, and the only way to the city of Tampatown is if we go through that canyon route. The geography of this enclosed area is quite weird. Large snowy mountains to one side, and these plateaus and canyons circle the forest and grassland on the other. Apparently, there’s an underground cave system that connects the area here to another hole past the canyon, but the underground caverns are choked with so much water and vegetation, it's nearly impossible to get through. No one’s been able to get through and make it out alive.”

“So we’re going to have to prepare, and make sure we can get out in one piece. Luckily, there is a reason why I stopped at this particular part of the forest.” Zen watched as Devan dexterously pulled out a chisel-like tool out of his toolbox and wretched the wooden lid off of the box, revealing a bunch of bottles, tubes, and other scientific looking equipment. Another box contained masonry and carpentry tools. Things like hammers, chisels, iron nails, saws, and springs.

“Should I get out of the carriage?” Zen asked. It felt like he should. It seemed selfish if he left Devan to do all the work.

“Sure. Come on down. I’ll need your help to get some ingredients while I do some hacking and crafting.” Devan fumbled his hand through one of the open crates sitting in the grass and fished out a large glass bottle with a soft cork. “I need you to go into the forest right here and fill this jar with water from this salt water spring. The spring is not far from the forest’s edge, and you won’t be able to miss it. If you’re really lost, stay on the left hand side of a trodden path. If you don’t see a path at all, look out for yellow and purple spotted marigold flowers. They should either lead you towards the forest edge or the salt water spring. It’s almost impossible to lose your way in there.”

Devan tossed the bottle in the air, in which Zen promptly caught it. “Hey, look where you’re throwing things like that! I could’ve missed and dropped it.”

“But you didn’t!” Devan countered, pointing his fingers at Zen finger-guns style. “Now go on. It’s not hard. You’ll be in and out in about ten minutes, max!”

Devan patted Zen on the back and pushed him towards the forest, where Zen immediately saw traces of the golden and purple petaled flower. Zen sighed, and began to walk through, watching the yellow rays of warm sunlight refract through the many leaves and fir needles while he followed the trail.

He felt…unnaturally warm… and light headed? Was this a property of the forest? Whatever it was, it felt nice and cool. He could feel himself feeling giddy and light headed. Zen passed by lush green foliage, beautiful yellow tree mushrooms and a wonderful flowing river. It was too good to pass up on the wonderful nature, so he took a peek at the sounds of the rushing river.

Different sizes of multicolored fish zipped downstream, some colored bright cyan and neon pink, and some swarms and fish moved upstream in a snaky wavy pattern, clouds of them bouncing along the walls of the creekbed. What a wonderful place! What a beautiful sanctuary for nature of all sizes, shapes, and colors! Zen stood up and began prancing around the forest floor, the grass cushioning his feet, and the warm sunlight dropping dopamine to every cell in his body.

He began to giggle. He tried to stop, but the sudden freedom and happiness he had been experiencing was too much for him to handle, and he began to howl with laughter. He held his chest from laughing, but his body kept on laughing on and on anyways. Now, he was on all fours on the plush floor rolling on the ground. It was insane. Maybe he was insane. But that couldn’t be it. The great freedom and beauty of the forest was to blame. He was perfectly sane and happy!

Zen decided to bear his abnormal but totally normal laughing, and began to prance deeper into the forest. Trees of all forms and shapes towered over him. Trunks of deep crimson orange and Frankenstein velvet stretched all over the floor and sky, the sky itself being colored a deep neon magenta pink. The clouds, even more fluffier and three dimensional like ever before! It was almost as if he could grasp them straight from the air. Zen attempted to, but felt nothing. He ignored his slight disappointment to look at all the other new attractions, like the shiny and silver lustered birds with three sets of wings sitting on neon blue colored branches!

Dancing and screeching, Zen picked up a rock and threw it at the floor, making a sound like squelch. He giggled at the noise, and like a toddler, began picking up rocks and stones, building little ringlet formations all over the ground. He traced shapes of sharp points, circles, squares, and a spider shape. Even from his scary encounter with spiders just the day before, he didn’t care now. It was just a picture.

Zen danced around, until something caught his eye. Looking down, at the base of a tree trunk was a yellow and purple spotted marigold. He grinned, happy to see another beautiful flower, until a sudden thought entered his mind, making his smile flicker. Wasn’t he supposed to be following these marigolds to find a salt water spring? What was he doing out here in this multicolored forest? Where was the glass jug he was carrying to collect said water?

He patted his metal breastplate and his hand-me-down adventurer’s clothing. He had nothing on him. Not even the jug.

With the façade shattered, and so did his mind, his brain exploding in a violent, seething pain. Zen doubled down in mind-shattering agony, fumbling to the floor and gripping his head with gritted teeth. His environment flashed and changed. His once jubilant environment of brilliantly lime green grass and beautiful golden sunlight flickered to reveal a dark and hazy fog in the dense and dark forest, with nowhere out of the heart of the unknown woods.

The flickering, shattering, and static of his environment continued. The pain was immense. It was almost as if the fake environment he was so happily playing around in was attempting to regain control of his mind and his consciousness. He had to fight to regain control! It was his only option! But the pain, the pain as if your blood boiled and your individual hairs and nails were being pulled out. He noticed that the pain seemed to dampen when he glimpsed at the false environment and resurfaced when he saw reality again. The new information only made him fight harder.

The marigolds! The marigolds Devan had told him about had reminded him what to do, so maybe they could help him! Zen made a panicked, and mad dash towards a patch of golden marigolds and stared at them. They seemed to glow in the damp haze, almost as if they were alerting him to another patch of flowers, which they did. Only a few yards away, another patch of marigolds sat.

The flashing cacophony of shattering minds and environmental static in his vision seemed to realize what was happening, as when Zen began to follow the path the marigolds were giving him, the pain exploded even more. He wailed and screamed, before punching his fist into a nearby tree trunk over and over again. His hands bled but he didn’t care. The pain numbed slightly, partly from the shock and the temporary distraction.

As Zen hobbled over, from marigold patch to marigold patch, his vision began to haze over. Sure he was making progress, which was giving him some very small drops of happy juice, the pain from his wrecked hand was beginning to subside, and began being overtaken by the mind shattering pain again. This time, Zen decided to ram his head into a tree, the reverberations stunning and dazing him quite a bit, and making him hit the ground in a clump in the process.

There he lay, on the wet and patchy grass, screaming and grunting in agony and holding his most likely broken hand. From flashes of his once stress-free environment, he saw a swarm of flying fish swimming in the neon purple sky. A voice in his head rang through him. It seemed to be coming from the flying fish.

Come on and play! We’re all happy here. We have everything for you. There’s nothing to worry about. You can play in the creek, eat the delicious fruits and vegetables we have everywhere! Come to us! You will never feel pain again! No more trauma, no more spiders, no more horrible conditions and no more chaos! Only happiness and stability, as far as the eyes can see!

The flying fish gave him a wink.

This, however, only made Zen angrier. He shut his eyes, and forced himself to resist, seeing glimpses of the somewhat disappointing but also relieving reality again. The control-freak happy forest did not like this, and a new wave of pain erupted in his mind.

“Get out of my head!” Zen screamed at no one. “Get out of here! Leave me alone! Anyone! Help! Help me!”

Zen rocked himself back up to his feet, pounded his head with his bloodied fist, pain rocketing up his very spine. The shock and agony was too much for his supple body to handle, so his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he simply fainted. Relief washed over him, as if he knew what was happening, and that he had won the battle. A great grin welled up on his face before he even hit the ground.

Zen!

ZEN!

Wake up Zen! Get UP!

WAKE UP!

A wet rag hit Zen in the face HARD. Zen, who was lying down, sat up, sweat and blood all over his face, head and arms.

“Huh? What happened! Where am I? All I remember was pain and seething agony… Is the pain gone? The flying fish? The neon trees?” Zen said, rapid fire stammering, looking around frantically before his eyes slowly drifted upward, where a confused and worried Devan stood above him. He offered Zen a hand.

“I have no idea what you’re going on about, but we have to get out of here. You left a trail of all your belongings, including the jug and some of your equipment, which led me straight to you, screaming and yelling and also, strangely, giggling in glee and euphoria. And I know what caused this. Pick yourself up, Zen. We need to leave. Now.”

Devan didn’t bother to get a response, as he grabbed Zen by his bloodied left arm and pulled him to his feet, and began sprinting down the beaten trail back towards the forest’s edge, dragging Zen along.

“Ah! Shit! Don’t pull my arm like that! It fucking hurts!” Zen yelled, grunting trying to suppress the pain.

“No shit it hurts. You smashed your hand into a tree and most likely broke your wrist and your fingers. And don’t worry about the water, I got it when I was looking for you.”

“Oh. I was… okay. I’ll just follow you then.” Zen said meekly.

They managed to run out of the forest, back into the real world and the open air. Somehow, even though it was only a few minutes, he felt relieved and nostalgic to finally see the horse and carriage again. Surrounding the carriage seemed to be a makeshift workshop, with oil lanterns, wood contraptions and numerous wooden stumps all over the place.

“Seems like you’ve been busy Devan,” Zen said, cradling his left arm. “How did you do all of this so quickly?”

“I am a very quick and skilled artisan of course,” Zen said smugly. “I’ve been able to do this for years, and especially after I learned the art of on-the-spot jerry-rigging. But seriously, I need to tell you why I pulled you out of there so quickly.” His smug expression quickly turned towards Zen with a look of dead-panned seriousness.

“The reason I took you out of the forest wasn't because the forest was bad, it was because of the intruder that somehow took root in the forest.” Devan said dryly. “If I had known what was in there, I would have never sent you in there by yourself. What you just witnessed, and more likely felt, was the effects of an illusioner crosserfang.”

“An illusioner crosserfang?” Zen said, quizzically. “Is that a crosserfang that produces falsehoods?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Devan responded. “Illusioner crosserfangs are hard-to-spot bastards that evolve from smaller crawler crosserfangs that secrete this chemical hormone in the atmosphere, causing any living animal to essentially go into a trance-like state of euphoria and happiness. It’s a means of entrapment so the illusioner can go over to its prey and gorge on them without them realizing. From what is known, when those who try to resist, essentially only humans, the illusioner tries to pull you in harder with more psychedelics. It seems in our case, you realized that you were in a fake world, and tried your best to get out.”

“But, it wasn’t all me.” Zen said. “It was the yellow and purple marigolds that rooted me back to reality.”

“Yes, there are many things that will root you back to the real world. For some people, it’s loved ones, maybe a goal, or your friends. But most of the time, seeing a physical object that you had before going on the psychedelic trip usually brings you out of your trance quickly enough that you realize you’re not in the right mind. Knocking yourself out is the best option to get out of a trance, as you did a couple minutes ago.”

“So if these illusioner crosserfangs secrete chemical hormones into the air, how come you weren’t affected very much?” Zen asked.

“It’s because I have a detoxifier gland in my liver.” Devan said. “It’s a highly advanced gland bionic that can only be accessed in modern or spacer societies, and these things cost a pretty penny. It can detect the chemical composition of the air and environment that you breathe in, and sends signals to the brain to tell if anything is out of ordinary. If something is wrong, the gland automatically neutralizes it. There are good alternatives, especially for Moros like us, like a psychedelic tolerance chip. The more you have it the more you’ll be able to resist the chemicals you just witnessed.”

“Well, I am really pissed at these crosserfangs for ruining my head and dragging me off into the forest.” Zen nearly smacked his knuckles together as if to imitate a beatdown, but stopped shortly after quickly realizing his left arm was still a mess. “Is there a way we can stop them from spraying their pheromones? And anything to fix my hand?”

“Of course there’s a way to stop them. And I’ll fix your arm after I finish this trinket. The salt water that we got is now way more important, as we can actually defend ourselves from forced LSD.”

Devan took the salt water over to a mess of beakers and glass bottles. Some were ablaze while some were spewing steam. Zen watched, twiddling his right fingers together, as Devan mixed and boiled the salt water, taking several smaller glass bottles from his shirt pocket and mixing them together in little metal cans. It got so complicated that Zen decided to turn around and look back at the forest that attempted to drag him into the darkness by the toes.

“All done Zen! No more waiting!” Zen turned around, to find Devan holding several metal cans connected to glass bulbs. The bulbs seemed to have bits of metal in them.

“What are those?” Zen asked, as Devan gingerly put them into a crate in the back of the carriage.

“Oh, my boy, those are flash bang grenades. Makes a bright flash and a loud bang. These can easily stun crosserfang spiders and the illusioner crosserfangs, as they need to use their hearing to find their targets. Oh, and your arm, let me fix that back up. I still need you.”

Devan walked over to Zen, pulled out a white pad with a red cross on it and slapped it on Zen’s left arm. He winced, but his pain immediately dissolved as the bones seemed to immediately orientate themselves and merge into the correct positions. After only a few seconds, his left arm was good as new, as if nothing had ever happened.

“Wha…what.. What was that?” Zen stammered, marveling at his arm, moving his fingers and his wrist around, astonished at the speed and the lack of agonizing pain.

“It’s an Ez-Heal gauze pad. Used in the spacer militias as a quick way to heal bones. Cost me a load of credits to purchase. You should be thankful. Now let’s get back onto the carriage, I have a plan that will let us get through the canyon.”

“Yeah, I’m really thankful! It’s… It’s a miracle! Thank you so much!”

“Heh. It’ll be a miracle if we make it to the other side of the canyon. But with my hard work, this should be totally possible. Come on. We don’t have a moment to lose. I already created a bunch of makeshift weapons.” Devan pointed to a wooden box with a bunch of wooden contraptions. From the looks of it, it looked like a wooden crossbow with a connected box on top… filled with arrows?

“You still haven’t told me our plan, Devan. What will we be doing?”

“Heh. Let me ask you this,” Devan said with a shit eating grin on his face, before leaning in a little too close to Zen’s face. “Ever done a drive-by on a horse and carriage?”