“Wat?! Non!” I scream and spit, already sprinting over to uncover Ha’koff and wake him up.

  “Hm?” he moans after being rudely jostled back to reality.

  “Agobs gew. Fras. Fier fier!” I rapidly explain, trying to remain calm and controlled for his sake but already somehow sensing that the mousy creature’s words are true.

  Firmly tying the leash back to my waist, I verify that everything’s in order before attempting the departure.

  “Peed. Con dur. Gew peet,“ I loudly recite as practiced into the garden.

  However, nothing happens. Those are clearly words that I’ve successfully used before. Is that stupid thing right? Are we stuck here?

  “Peed. Con dur. Gew mund! Peed!”

  “I told you, that won’t work from this end. Here there’s only this lovely, little peace for everyone. No concerns with the outside means no more blood weighing us down. No more strife. No more conflict. Only eternal ease, safety, and goodwill for all!”

  While I’m still repeatedly attempting and failing to issue the commands, the little beast scurries up to and affectionately embraces my left foot.

  “Non!” I frantically scream again, thoroughly confusing and scaring poor Ha’koff who’s only just joined the conversation. “Min mud. Fras mud! Gud gud. Non tak!”

  “Afraid to lose your first mud? What’s the big deal? It’s only mud. There’s plenty more mud in the pits! Think of all the fun we can have waiting for you both to change. I used to play all these wonderful games with the heart. I can teach you! There’s so much you can learn. So much fun you can have! Don’t you worry yourself about a little bit of old, insignificant mud just waiting to be cast off.”

  “Non non!” I futilely yell again, before realizing yet again that this awful, awful speech simply won’t solve this problem.

  The mousy creature immediately draws back from its embrace and sulks at my use of the written word.

  “Is that so? What’s so important about your first mud anyways? It’s only meant to be a short, little practice run, so it’s barely even real. Why, at your age, you should have had many, many muds already! Look at all your peers. Even that one there’s on his second!”

  “How… edifying. Is this sort of noble stubbornness how you became such an anomaly? Why you… borrow so many of our given responsibilities rather than staying in your own lane? Why can’t you just give in? Let it go. Allow the Will to guide you, as it does for us all. Be at peace!”

  This isn’t working. That stupid mousy thing has a clear agenda, and no amount of reasoning will change his mind. I have to find another way. There must be something!

  Slipping down into a sitting position, I tightly close my eyes, reattempting my search of the entire garden. Yes, get back into that same state of minds. Expand as far as possible, lay claim to even more, and then obsessively inspect every tiny, little detail. This can work. I’ll find something.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Yes, that’s better. Push it. Push it even more. Harder. Greedier. Take in the entire thing and then even more.

  The very excessive exceeding of my limits is making my head throb, but I can’t accept the situation as it is. I have to do more. Have to break through. What’s the worst that can happen? The exorbitant stress of it takes my first mud anyways? There’s literally nothing to lose in a situation like this.

  My consciousness slammed up against the boundary fences long ago, redoubling itself multiple times over within the little garden. However, there’s nothing inside here. Plants, plants, and more plants. An occasional post or trellis. The beast’s singular hidey hole. The fences. Who cares about all this worthless minutiae! There must be something more, or else how is he keeping us here?

  It’s the fence, right? That must be related. After all, it’s keeping that awful fog out. Is it also keeping us in? Maybe if I expand past the fence, then whatever’s been carefully hidden out there will reveal the way out. However, as soon as I attempt to impose my way past the barrier, it resists. It forcefully pushes back.

  I refuse to accept this! In a rage, my instincts wildly squeeze their way down along the over extended tendrils of energy, crudely transforming my misshapen probes into giant sized replicas of my fists.

  Yes, yes, this may work. Repeatedly smashing them against the slipshod fence, I’ll break it to bits. Then out we go into the mists to find the answer. After all, anywhere is better than being trapped in here!

  “What are you doing? How could you be so… creative?”

  However, the hard pounding isn’t working. This fence is so strong! I’m barely rattling it. Or no, whatever it is that my energy is striking is rattling. The physical fence isn’t moving at all, rather it’s something else that the fence represents. I don’t understand, this doesn’t make any sense. How is so much brute force so fully failing and accomplishing nothing?

  Of all things, the slime sitting atop my head reacts to my agitated state, spreading its own tethers down to join the clearly urgent search for danger. Following my angry probes, its smooth, skilled fingers also ram up against the fence and shrink back in shock. However, rather than retreating entirely, it wraps around and embraces my furious, energetic fists and guides them. Helps to completely and artfully reshape them with the countless aeons of practice and tradition inherited from its kind.

  What a precious gift. The stable energy slowly transforms from rugged fists into far more purposeful claws. Of course, a much better representation of what I am. When energy and self match, the resonance is that much more. That much greater!

  With a huge slash, the physical fence remains, but something else gives way. My eager probes immediately spill through and exit this awful place, fleeing into the mist to see whatever lies beyond. However, no matter how far I stretch and no matter what ground I claim, there’s nothing hiding there. No threats, no danger, no pain. Simply infinite stretches of misty nothing, on and on and on.

  “Ha, ha! Good one!” the ears exclaims, clapping loudly. “That was a fun new game. Next time make a rabbit. Or maybe a fox?”

  If there’s always been nothing out here, then where is the chain? Where is the thing that binds us to this awful place?