First Chapter Of My New Book!

Gus & Copernicus & The Beginning

Gus was not enjoying himself.

He stretched out on the soft grass and let his uninterested gaze fall on the road he was sitting beside. A creature that looked like a mix between a walrus and a horse gallomped by, giving Gus a cheerful wave of its flipper. He half raised his hand and then let it fall heavily down. Returning to the grass he pulled a chunk out and flung it towards the small camp behind him; the wind caught the blades of grass and carried them to the ancient trees that towered alongside the road and clearing. One of the trees shook and closed its eyes as if unimpressed. A blue light containing a tiny, delicate figure drifted through the boughs and landed at the edge, watching the young human, who had already turned away with a sigh.

Things were not going the way Gus had expected.

Behind him, Copernicus crawled out of the tent, a bundled sleeping bag in his arms. He stood for a long moment, looking at the human, the question forming and reforming on his lips. Finally he asked in a timid voice, “Uh, Gus, would you mind helping me put this in my bag?”

Gus turned around and looked at the Sotyr. He had only met the half-goat half-human a short time ago, but already the shock and awe had worn off. There were more important things on Gus’s mind.

But he nodded and got up to help anyways.

“Thanks,” Copernicus said, handing him a backpack. “Just hold this open.” He started putting the sleeping bag inside, slipping it in easily. Not meeting Gus’s eye he said, “Can I ask you another question?”

“Sure,” Gus said with a shrug, noting with only an iota of interest that the backpack did not seem to be getting any heavier or bigger.

“What’s your story?” With this question out, Copernicus looked up and met the human’s gaze, his furry face shedding its nervousness.

“My story?” Gus asked, confused. “I don’t know. I don’t really have one.” He handed the backpack to Copernicus who dropped it next to the tent.

“What!” Copernicus shook his curly-haired head, all traces of timidness gone. “Everyone has a story.”

“Maybe it’s different in the human world?” Gus said. “Most humans don’t have stories.”

“That’s crazy,” Copernicus said, “How do you know who you are if you don’t have a story?” He scratched his head, “And what about you coming to Logos? That’s a beginning if I ever heard one, which as a Sotyr, I have.”

“Yeah…” Gus admitted, “But I’ve only been here one day. And it hasn’t gone that great so far…”

Copernicus nearly jumped in disbelief, “What! Didn’t you send a creature back through a rift? And you met a Wood Elf!”

Gus shrugged, “I guess that all happened, yeah… but—”

Copernicus sliced his hands through the air in excitement, “Gus, if there is one thing that Sotyrs know, it’s stories! Quick — tell me everything that has happened to you so far.” He then folded his legs and sat on the grass, gazing up at Gus in wonder.

Gus backed up a few steps, “Well it all started with a magic doorknob that opened a door in my wall—”

“In your wall!” Copernicus exclaimed, “And you walked through?”

“Yeah,” Gus said, warming up to the story, “It took me to a cave underneath a huge tree. When I crawled out I was in this jungle,” he motioned to the trees around them. “There was a trail, but a short way down it I found this monster—”

“—A monster!” Copernicus blurted in. “What was it? A bog beast? Swamp thing? I’ve heard so many tales of the creatures in this jungle!”

“Nope,” Gus said, shaking his head, “It was worse. A huge bleeding monster tree, with spikes and vines that tried to pull me into its mouth.”

“A bloodbark!” Copernicus said, eyes wide, “And you fought it off?”

“Well no, I didn’t exactly fight it—”

“— You killed it?” Copernicus’s mouth dropped open. “Gus, that’s amazing. Bloodbark’s are super dangerous! Hardly anyone has killed them. How did you do it?”

“Well…” Gus considered how to tell what had happened. It was either the boring truth or… ”As soon as I stepped on the path a vine grabbed me, pulling me towards the tree’s mouth.”

“Were you terrified?”

“Oh yeah,” Gus said, “But I am a human after all… I reached into my pocket and pulled out a—” he paused, trying to think of something, “A firework.”

“What’s a firework?” Copernicus asked.

“Sort of like a bomb,” Gus explained, his hand waving away the details. “Anyways, I threw it in the tree’s mouth and it exploded! Boom!” He mimed an explosion, “Bits of the tree went everywhere. It was awesome.”

“Wow…” Copernicus looked like he had been given his Christmas gift early. “What happened next? How did you meet Faldra and the others?”

Gus was now in the flow of his made-up adventures, “So I walked along past the exploded tree and found their camp. It was destroyed, wreckage everywhere— then I heard their calls for help off in the trees. I didn’t even think about it, I ran into the jungle, slicing vines and trees that were in my way,” he mimed heroic slicing movements, “I found them not far away — captured by a den of those trees…”

“Bloodbarks!” Copernicus offered helpfully.

“Right, Bloodbarks! Faldra, the Wolftopus, Nils, each was being held by a vine, dangling over a bloody mouth, about to be devoured. First I threw a firework into the mouth of the one holding Faldra, it exploded and sent her flying, and while she was still in the air I ran and sliced the vine holding Nils the Wood Elf. He scrambled to safety while I cut the trees teeth out, one by one, so that all it could do was chomp the air.” Copernicus was holding his breath in excitement, Gus continued, “The last one was holding the Wolftopus. It had him all tied up and he couldn’t do anything. It was going to squeeze him to death and then devour him. I checked my pockets, but I was out of fireworks. So I came up with the craziest plan yet…”

“What was it!” Copernicus asked.

“Um…” Gus was asking himself the same question, “Got it! When the bloodbark opened its mouth wide I jumped inside!” The Sotyr gasped, “Then, before it could close and kill me, I sliced upward into its tree brain. Boom! Splat! The whole tree split apart like it had been hit by lightning! The Wolf fell to the ground and it took us a whole hour to get him unravelled from the vines.” He did some more victory slices of the air with his imaginary sword. “Then we walked to the road and saved those eggs and met you.”

Copernicus was speechless, “Wow…” he breathed, “That was amazing. I had no idea you’d already had such an amazing adventure… and you said you didn’t have a story!” He suddenly thought of something, “But what about your sword? Did you lose it?”

“Oh my sword,” Gus grimaced, “Uh… I lost it in the tree. It got stuck in its tree brain and I bet it’ll be there until the end of time or something.”

“Wow. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah I know,” Gus said, “And it all really happened.”

Copernicus whistled in amazement and got up to finish packing up his camp. Gus stood heroically, feeling for a moment like his story had all really happened. But of course it hadn’t. Or at least not the way he had told it.

Remembering how it had really gone he sat down on the grass, a familiar heaviness weighing down on him. Maybe he should have never gone through the doorway in the first place…