One-Eyed Monster

The ever-changing moon in the night sky finally returned to its original, irregular spherical shape. Its silvery light tightly enveloped this irregular sphere, as if fearing it might escape again.

This silvery radiance couldn’t cover the entire dark night. There weren’t many bright stars around the moon. It fought a lonely battle, outnumbered, and darkness still dominated the entire space.

So, when Igor slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was still pitch darkness.

Although it wasn’t as dark as before, there wasn’t much light either. The overall sensation was similar to before.

Didn’t I break the eggshell? Why is it still pitch black? Did my speculation fail again? Igor’s mind was muddled; once again, he felt like a failure.

”You… have finally awakened, Igor…”

A familiar voice suddenly echoed from mid-air, instantly jolting Igor from his confusion.

”Where am I?” Now alert, Igor still found it hard to believe. He looked around but recognized nothing familiar. This plunged him back into a state of bewilderment: had he truly escaped the Time Gap or not?

”I am beneath you…” The familiar voice, weak and unsteady, echoed again. The owner of this voice seemed to sway into Igor’s awareness.

Indeed, the owner of the voice was Kadi, the one-eyed monster. He was currently lying on the ground with Igor sitting on top of him…

”Hmm? How did I end up sitting on you? Did I hurt you?” Igor leaped up, utterly confused about what had happened. He had been in the Time Gap before; was he back in the present now, or still in that Time Gap?

If I’m still in the Time Gap, how could Kadi be here? But if I’m not in the Time Gap, why is it still so dark around me…?

”How would I know why you suddenly sat on me like a madman? My tail was already wrapped around you, making it hard for me to move.” Kadi rubbed his waist, which Igor had nearly broken. ”Besides, you were as stiff as a wooden doll and twitching constantly. I didn’t dare touch you.”

”Huh? You mean you didn’t enter that Time Gap?” Igor felt a surge of excitement. From Kadi’s words, he could roughly gather that he had indeed escaped the Time Gap.

”The Spirit Book said we couldn’t enter the Time Gap you went into. You jumped in by yourself; we couldn’t follow your rhythm.”

”The Spirit Book?”

”Yeah, that fellow exhausted itself just now trying to help me send you a message. It used up all its accumulated Spirit Power and has fallen into a dormant state again.” Kadi turned his head to look at the Spirit Book lying on the ground. Moonlight happened to be shining on it, making it look peaceful and serene.

”So, that means I’m not in the Time Gap anymore?” Igor asked, half-convinced.

”Well…” Kadi couldn’t answer him. He hadn’t noticed any difference in the Timeline, let alone a Time Gap.

GURGLE—GURGLE—

Just then, a peculiar sound echoed from mid-air, as if to shatter the night’s silence—clear, distinct, and very loud.

This sound felt incredibly familiar to Igor and instantly swept away his inner doubts. He recognized the sensation, one he hadn’t experienced during the Timeline chaos or within the Time Gap…

It was the sensation of hunger…

GURGLE—GURGLE—GURGLE—

The sound seemed contagious. Immediately after, Kadi’s stomach, not to be outdone, also began to rumble, even louder than Igor’s.

”Now I’m sure I’ve come out of that gap.” Igor happily lay down on the ground, ignoring his gnawing hunger and the night’s chill.

”Although I don’t understand what you’re saying, this has certainly been an eventful day.”

”One day? You’re far too naive. Who knows how many days this Time Leap by the Time-Leaper People has made us lose.”

”Uh…”

”But, it doesn’t matter now. We’ll still have to experience the lost time again. Time Leaps have this side effect: they muddle parts of our memory.”

Kadi didn’t understand a word Igor was saying. He only knew that Igor was back, and they could move forward again. Perhaps by daybreak, he could achieve his dream of meeting the monster leader of Guru Mountain.

”Thank you and the Spirit Book for passing that message to me. That information was very useful. Without it, we might not have had any chance at all.”

”Er, that’s mostly the Spirit Book’s doing. The Spellcraft it recorded was transmitted through a Medium. I just acted as a Medium once, er, and also as a Puppet.”

”Puppet? Medium?” Igor was clearly interested in Kadi’s words, but there was nothing he could do. His stomach was rumbling fiercely; he’d been hungry for too long and had practically no strength left.

Kadi was no better off, just as weak from hunger. He had initially planned to go find something to eat, but now he just lay on the ground, not wanting to move a muscle.

Whether monster or human, once they relaxed, laziness took hold in the exact same way.

The only things that could break this spell of laziness were either a suitable antidote, like a pile of delicious food, or, if they were unlucky, the appearance of some new danger…

Our Igor and Kadi probably belonged to the latter category—the unlucky ones.

The two, unwilling to move, lay there gazing at the moon, as if waiting for pies to fall from the sky.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE… that familiar sound again.

”Is your stomach rumbling so merrily?” Igor turned his head to look at Kadi, asking in confusion.

”I thought it was your stomach,” Kadi replied helplessly.

”This sound… Damn it!” Igor suddenly leaped to his feet, hunger and fatigue instantly forgotten.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE…

Isn’t this the sound the Stone House makes!

”Oh my god!” Kadi finally understood, also instantly shedding his hunger and fatigue.

Igor and Kadi stood shoulder to shoulder, warily facing the direction of the sound.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE… Under the night sky, stones began to roll, and soon, that familiar song drifted over.

”Can you still dodge it?” Igor whispered to Kadi.

”Barely. You?”

”Same!”

Igor and Kadi exchanged a smile. This day had truly been eventful; they were about to switch into escape mode again.

Moonlight, singing, rolling stones… such a familiar scene, such a familiar rhythm.

Igor and Kadi steeled themselves. They quietly waited for the Stone Monster to attack again.

However, many things don’t go as expected.

The rolling stones didn’t combine to form a Stone Monster. Instead, they just tumbled past them…

Igor and Kadi were both very surprised.

Then, something even more astonishing happened.

Luminous flowers suddenly bloomed one after another before them, brightly illuminating the entire ground. The rolling stones, meanwhile, lined up to form a neat path.

And at the other end of that path stood a large Stone House, also brightly lit from within.

”This isn’t another trap, is it?” Kadi’s jaw dropped. Having been tricked a few times, he was much warier now.

”It’s not a trap!”

A deep voice came from ahead; it sounded somewhat familiar to Kadi.

From the Stone House opposite them, out walked a… monster. It had several horns on its head and a scruffy beard.

The monster glanced at Kadi and Igor, then grinned widely and let out a hearty laugh.

”Welcome to Moonflow Stream!”

Kadi and Igor looked at each other, nonplussed.

”You are the qualified ones, children. What are you still standing there gaping for?”