Chapter 3

Riley examined the tome's first few pages with a racing heart, quickly discovering a preserved maple leaf hidden between the sheets. He picked it up delicately as he studied the faded leaf for a moment before looking back at the book.

Flipping to the front once more, Riley examined the sketch on the first page. He eyed the thick paper and took a moment to admire the even more detailed design of the tree that had been etched into the cover.

The bathroom door suddenly opened with a whine as echoing footfalls approached Riley's stall. Someone pulled the door, rattling the lock and causing Riley to look up anxiously.

"Occupado." He remarked, looking up at the cracks around the stall's door and the body shuffling behind. An eye peeked into the booth as Riley kicked at the door. "Hey, asshole!"

Looking down, he watched as a pair of red and black Swoosh Air Jefferys walked away from him and went into the accessible stall at the end.

"Some people's children..." Riley cursed silently to himself, trying to think whose feet those shoes could have belonged to.

But the thought eventually passed.

Settling himself down, he looked back at the leaf in his hand and the book in his lap. With a free hand, he touched the tree on the page.

"Home." A voice, clearly different from his inner monologue, whispered in the back of his mind.

"The fuck?!" He yelped, dropping the leaf to the floor and nearly kicking the book from his lap.

Frozen, Riley held one hand over his mouth and the other to the stall’s wall. He silently stared down at the tree etched into the cover. For what felt like an eternity, the bathroom seemed to hold its breath before Riley heard the subtle plops of nuggets dropping into a distant toilet.

"Home?" He mouthed as he observed the book, hearing the word in the back of his mind as he reached for the leaf.

"Myzeequahma." The voice commanded in the back of his mind as he touched the plant. Riley paused, letting go of the leaf but remaining leaned over it.

"Myzeequahma?" He repeated quietly, so as not to disturb the other bathroom occupant. But nothing happened as Riley waited for a second longer before eventually reaching down and picking up the leaf.

"Myzeequahma. Beim'eltee." The voice commanded as he touched the leaf and pulled it to his face.

"Myzeequahma. Beim'eltee." Riley replied hesitantly.

The leaf quickly disintegrated into his hand, forming a small pile of fine mulch before a single maple seedling sprouted on top of his palm.

"Shit!" Riley yelped as he stood up, knocking the tome once more to the floor with a loud thwomp!

Pivoting around, Riley threw the sapling into the toilet and watched as its roots writhed in search of something to anchor itself. With a quick flush, he watched as the plant disappeared from his sight, and silence fell once more.

Riley released a panicked exhale, placing his back against the flimsy plastic walls as he looked down at the tome. Reaching out, he hesitated for a moment before picking up the book and turning to leave.

He escaped the stall, the bathroom, and the labyrinth, eventually finding his way to his car, where he sat in silent denial. Occasionally glancing at the tome in the passenger seat, he couldn't help but feel himself being drawn to it. Like the roots of the seed writhing in his palm, something twisted inside his gut, growing upward towards his consciousness. He touched the tome.

"Home." It whispered back to him.

"Nope." He withdrew his hands, quickly placing them on the steering wheel. "I am not going to be—" 

Riley breathed to calm his racing thoughts.

"The book is not talking to you." He reassured himself eagerly, reaching over and grabbing the tome as he exited the car.

Walking to the edge of the parking lot, he looked down the small hill to the runoff pond at the bottom. Cocking his arm back, he threw the book with all his might and watched as it tumbled end over end before splashing into the water.

"You're just exhausted, Riley." He reassured himself, walking back to the car. "Yeah, just tired. That book was—it's fine—it's totally fine,"

Getting into his car, he sat in the driver's seat and stared beyond the steering wheel, allowing his mind to wander. He wasn't sure how long he sat there as his inner monologue raced to remediate the conflicting fact and fiction of the last twenty-four hours.

"Just go home, get some food, and come back." He said to himself as he turned on the car and began to drive.

Riley wouldn't stop repeating those nine words the entire drive home and would continue until he walked through the door of his apartment. Slamming the door behind him, he raced to the fridge and began to examine his food options. Eyeing some leftover ground taco beef, he reached for the container and felt the root squirm once more inside of him.

Standing upright, he was overcome with an irresistible urge to speak, doing so without question.

Opening his mouth, he spouted the words that had held a place in his mind, "Fuh ach'quooie'whyjay ze'el Ak'zi'key'my."

Schplat! The waterlogged tome landed on the counter behind Riley.

"Fuck me! No!" He yelled, mostly at himself for what he had just done, but also at the book's continued existence. Turning around, he stared at the dripping leather cover and the bone-dry pages beneath.

Closing the fridge, Riley grabbed a nearby apple from its plastic bag and walked past the tome.

"I don't know what psychosis you are, but I don't want any!" He announced to the leather cover as he walked out of the kitchen into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he reached out and threw the book to the coffee table.

"What the fuck?" He snapped confusedly as he looked at his hand and then the tome. Thinking back, he clearly remembered grabbing the apple before walking away, but not the book. "I didn't even pick you up. How...?"

Taking a bite from his apple, he leaned into the table and inspected the tome before mindlessly flipping it open to the first page again.

Riley examined the intricate image of the tree inked to the page and admired the branches of the canopy that reached towards the sky. As he traced the roots digging to the bottom of the parchment, he began to notice they mirrored the tree's canopy. Beyond that, he saw that where the branches hung lowest, kissing the earth, roots curled up to meet them, creating a closed, oblong circle.

As Riley examined the egg-shaped form created by the tree's canopy and roots, he began to notice a subtle lemniscate at the soil level.

"Hmm," He remarked to himself as he took another bite of the apple and placed it down.

Touching the page, he flipped to the next and stared over the nonsensical words and artfully drawn runes. Without a second thought, Riley slowly began to mumble his way through the language.

"Teev'kayzee elah'oowhy tee'kayache, you'kayuh ketkaywache ceewhy..."

Raising his head, he looked around the living space to make sure nothing had begun breaking down into a plant or randomly appearing. But as far as he could tell, the room seemed the same, and so he took a moment to feel for his phone to check the time. As he searched, he read another passage and became mesmerized by one of the artistic runes.

The first thing Riley noticed was that the almost three-dimensional mushroom at the design's center appeared to fold over itself. Staring into the pattern, he felt his eyes cross as the inner ring around the mushroom's shaft gave the illusion of expanding and contracting.

Riley wanted to pull himself away, but like with the tree, the longer he examined the image, the more pieces he began to uncover and the more interested he became.

Leaning in, he traced his finger over the symbol, first with the mushroom but eventually finishing with the three-cornered knot that he had only recently noticed overlaying the rune.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! A loud, repetitious banging on the door snapped Riley from the tome with a start. He flung back into the couch, grabbing at his chest before bouncing up to his feet. Turning towards the front, he quickly realized the sound was coming from the balcony door.

Rushing over, he looked past the glass at the worried and suddenly frustrated face of Abel.

"Dude, what the hell?" Riley asked as he opened the door.

"What-THE-FUCK, MAN!" Abel yelled back even louder, storming past Riley and into the apartment. "Where have you been?"

"I came home for lunch?" He replied defensively. "Sorry, I didn't call you, Mom."

Abel turned around and shot a sharp look at Riley. His eyes flashed with annoyance that caused Riley to literally bite his tongue. Reaching the front door, Abel opened it and motioned a person in. Johnny, a friend of Abel's and an acquaintance of Riley's, entered the apartment with quiet thanks.

"Hey...John?" Riley muttered as he looked at Abel. "What's up, man?"

Abel leaned over, picking up Riley's phone from the counter.

"First of all, check your goddamn messages," His friend reprimanded him with a frustrated growl. Walking across the room, he placed the phone in Riley's hand.

Looking between Abel and his phone, Riley quickly typed in his code and noticed the dozens of missed texts and calls. He also saw that the time now read a quarter to five.

"What the fuck?"

"Yeah, nice lunch, bro. Thanks for the invite to, what, sit here and read a book for five hours?"

"No, no, no—" Riley muttered to himself as he swept through the texts, muttering out loud. "Dude, where are you...there was a bomb...someone blew up a bathroom?" Looking up to Abel, his eyes were wide and his voice weak. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Abel replied, his body relaxing slightly. He looked to John and then back to Riley. "We were evacuated to a safe location and had to wait forever before we could get back into the building."

"But what happened?"

"Some asshole dropped cherry bombs into the toilets." John injected from the corner. Riley looked over to him and tried to listen as he talked, having just remembered he was there.

"Yeah, and..." Abel regained Riley's attention. "They found a pipe bomb down in the basement near the filtration system."

"What the hell? So someone was literally trying to blow up Silica Nine?"

"Goddamn radical Annihilation Rebellion," John remarked quietly from the corner, gathering the attention of Riley and Abel once more. "Why can't they just leave the pipes alone?"

John looked at the silent duo and gulped nervously before pointing to the door with an awkward laugh and cough.

"Anyway, I should, uh—get going,” John mumbled. “Glad you're alive, Riley."

"Thanks, John," Riley said with a forced smile. "Glad you're alive too, buddy."

"Thanks for the ride, bud." Abel reached out for a fist bump that John returned.

With an awkward smile and nod to them both, the man quickly escaped from the situation. He gently closed the door behind with a subtle click, leaving Abel and Riley in silence.

"Why are you friends with that guy?" Riley asked quietly.

"He's not all that bad," Abel replied with a shrug. "Give him a chance."

"He just gives me this whole, like, narc vibe."

"Because he made a protester joke? Now he's a narc? Did you limber up on your lunch? Because that was a stretch if I've ever seen one."

They both released a fit of laughter, eventually calming down and looking at each other.

"What's going on, man? Abel finally asked as he walked over to the coffee table and eyed the tome. "You straight-up ghosted me last night pre-dungeon, then showed up late to work today, and then ghosted me during a bomb scare. To what? Read this? That just ain't you, man."

"It's..." Riley started but stopped as he searched for the words. He feared that honesty would make him sound crazy, or worse, would confirm that he had indeed lost his mind.

"Don't you dare say it's a good book!" Abel snapped. "Bitch, I will smack you. I know damn well you haven't read a single book since Beowulf sophomore year of uni."

"I..." Riley thought to himself, looking into Abel's hazel eyes before thinking of a solution. "The game."

"The game? Great, now that I'm thinking about it, we both lost." Abel remarked with a half-serious smirk.

"No-no-no-no." Riley moved past Abel, reaching the table and the book. "Not THE game—League Wars...the Druid."

"The new class? Man, now I'm angry again. Why would you skip out on work to play games without me?"

"No, Abel, listen. I think I'm going crazy or something—because I feel like I'm a Druid in the game."

Abel stopped and looked around the room.

"Like some virtual reality shit?" He asked.

"Ugh—no," Riley released a frustrated groan as he picked up the apple from the table and held it in front of Abel. "Myzeequahma. Beim'eltee." He yelled out and watched as the apple decomposed into his hand and a single seedling sprouted from his palm.

"I think I'm a Druid!"