Chapter 18: Gomi

“Haa… Haa…” I panted for breath.

Tears streaming down my cheeks, I tried to catch my breath. I wasn’t in pain, and when I looked down at my body again, I realized that I was no longer on fire. I was perfectly fine, and in fact, I was standing on dirt ground instead of that godawful black sand.

I was back.

My eyes registered that I wasn’t even in the test chamber anymore. I was surrounded by trees and shrubs again, but they looked different from those on the test chamber or the first floor.

However, I wasn’t ready to deal with this sudden change just yet. I could tell that I wasn’t in any immediate danger, so I stood there for a while.

It took some time for my brain to begin working again. And when it did, a million questions rushed through my mind.

What was that movie about? More importantly, was it even really a movie? Because I didn’t just watch it.

I was IN it. I lived through it.

My first thought was that I probably hallucinated after losing so much blood. I mean, it happened after I was fully healed by Gomi, but I was still feeling pretty weak.

Oh, wait, Gomi!

I jerked my head, trying to find the fuzzy pink monster who was standing on my left before the movie began.

“Gomi?” I called out to her, unable to hide the sense of alarm creeping up in my voice.

Was she gone now?

So many things happened, and they all happened in one rush after another. As you can imagine, I didn’t get the chance to process them all, if that was even possible.

I couldn’t understand what had happened in that test chamber. I didn’t know what I saw in that “movie”. And I certainly still had no idea who or what Gomi was.

But in my mind, I must have decided that this Halloween baby was going to stay with me. I don’t know why, especially because I have only just met her in the most unusual circumstances, but…

I couldn’t explain. All I knew was that when I didn’t see her, I felt like I had lost something very important.

I muttered, “Ugh, why am I so fucking emotional all of a sudden?”

“Watch your language!”

“Gyaaah!” I jumped when I heard the sharp yet adorable voice from behind.

I turned around, and to my relief, I saw the familiar tiny figure standing with her arms crossed.

I Instantly felt calmer the moment I held her in my eyes It was like I myself was a big baby who just got her security blanket back. You know, the one that’s tattered from a child abusing it for months to years at a time. I’ve never had one before, but I now understood how those kids must feel.

I stared, and I was just about to bombard her with gazillion questions when she raised her finger at me. It was a clear gesture to “shush” me, but her chubby baby finger only made me want to pull it just to see if it would make her fart.

I don’t know why. I think that maybe the shock was finally getting to me.

With a solemn voice unbefitting of an itty bitty baby, Gomi announced, “We gotta talk.”

***

“A Moogi? What’s that?” I asked.

Gomi and I were sitting down under a large plant I could only describe as a huge elongated pineapple. Its trunk was covered in some purplish scales where the sharp ends pointed outward. Its top was adorned with long spiky leaves that looked rigid.

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It was official; I had passed the first floor test. I now knew that I have reached the second floor of the Door.

For all other Rhombics, this shouldn’t have been notable at all. As far as I knew, they just marched right along to ascend higher. But for me, I needed to take a pause to process what had happened.

Gomi repeated what she said a moment ago, “Yes, as I said, I’m a Moogi. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I know for sure that I’m it. My name is Gomi, and I’m a Moogie. Hey, that rhymes!”

“...”

Oh boy. This conversation has been going on for a while now, and there were several things I learned so far. I felt sure I could get more information out of her, but it was going to be like pulling teeth.

So Gomi claimed that she was a thing (or being?) called Moogi. Frustratingly, this didn’t mean anything to either of us, but she seemed adamant that I should know this.

But the most definite thing I learned about her was the fact that she had an attention span of… well, a baby.

Gomi was an odd mixture of sternness and giddiness, and competence and ignorance. I have only known her for a very short while, but I have seen all of these in her in abundance. She had helped me, saved me in fact, with useful combat skills. She was apparently an incredible healer and a weapon at the same time. Gomi has also shown that she could be focused and calm in the most stressful situation.

But to my frustration, she seemed to be ignorant of many things. A prime example was that she didn’t even know who she was. She knew certain things about the Door and the test, but it was obvious she was missing a lot of crucial information.

It didn’t make sense because her knowledge wasn’t linear. It was like she had gaps in between her memories, and possibly in her brain too, like she had selective amnesia.

Then, there was the problem of her getting distracted so easily. She was as bad as a goblin sometimes. More than once during our conversation, I saw her point at some nearby vegetation and exclaim, “Oh, so pwetty!”

And all of this wasn’t helped by the fact that I didn’t particularly like babies.

If this makes me a horrible person, so be it.

Listen, it wasn’t that I HATED them and wanted them gone from this world. I just didn’t want to spend much time with them, that’s all. I was fine looking at them, as long as they kept to themselves and left me alone.

Truth be told, if I had to take care of something, I would prefer a puppy over a baby any day.

But strangely enough, I felt an unmistakable connection to her even though I was extremely impatient with her as well.

Gomi suddenly blurted out, “And I’m a weapon too! I am many weapons! Yay!”

“Okay, that’s great. I know you can turn into a sword because I’ve seen it. Umm, thanks for that by the way.”

“No, I’m not just a sword! I’m much more! I’m many more! And I’m gonna help you, sweetie!”

Well, I didn’t know why she kept calling me with odd endearments, but then, she was a strange one. Gomi was certainly confident, and I kind of liked that. I felt encouraged because I believed her. I could tell that she was going to make me so much stronger.

“So, what about that movie? I guess that was the Gift for passing the test?” I asked, trying to hurry along the conversation.

Suddenly, Gomi stood up. I tensed a little because her eyes lit up with seriousness. We were sitting close by, so it only took a step for her to reach me.

She raised her hand slowly, and I didn’t know what to think. I saw firsthand how powerful she could be. Gomi could transform into a sword at this very moment and slice my head off.

But although I didn’t know what she planned to do, I knew… I just knew… that she would never hurt me.

So I remained seated and waited. It was strange, but she had my absolute trust.

Her hand, more specifically her index finger, floated toward me.

It got closer and closer, and…

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