That time Silent Salt found out about Shadow Milk’s secret
Silent Salt Cookie doesn’t know how long he has been searching for Shadow Milk Cookie. He knew the nefarious bastard disappearing without leaving a trace meant nothing good, and he felt it was his responsibility to make sure the other emissaries were in their rightful places, fulfilling their part of the agreement.
An agreement he expected Shadow Milk to eventually attempt to chouse. He’s only surprised it took this long.
Silent Salt had been to Ghost Yeast Forest before. It was the outskirts of the Spire of Knowledge. He at first didn’t spend much time in the region, thinking it too easy a place for Shadow Milk to hide his convalescing carcass, until he exhausted all his options and realized the clown could have been playing reverse psychology tricks this entire time.
A final look wouldn’t hurt.
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Much like the previous time he found himself in those lands, the townsfolk mentioned nothing out of the ordinary; still, Silent Salt investigated. Some spoke of rumors of a mirage making the woods act more eerie than usual, though none could pinpoint its location precisely on any map, nor give any general area to where it would happen. ‘Those woods are always eerie’ they would say. ‘Always prone to tricking travelers with illusions’. This was true, and these small rumors went ignored by Silent Salt before because of the location. Now, it was all the leads he had.
Thankfully, he wasn’t working blind—Pure Vanilla Cookie had created a braid of Vanilla Beholders that could sense out illusions from the soul jam of deceit. Just a small thing from when Shadow Milk Cookie was still in his custody. Now all he needed was to venture back into the woods.
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It took days. Ghost Yeast Forest had given way to the Ravenous Forest. Silent Salt Cookie felt more and more eyes gazing at his every move the deeper he went. Civilization was too far away now, and Nox Black Salt tried not to flinch at every step. They were a strong steed but the journey made Silent Salt Cookie consider not having taken them there at all.
The braid of vanilla beholders’ hums went from slight to a steady buzz. Something was afoot.
The eyes on the bushes of blueberries around him all opened at once and glared at him, and from the shadows appeared a full grown blueberry-vanilla cross Grand Beholder, easily twice the size of Silent Salt Cookie; and by the looks of things it was looking for a fight!
Silent Salt Cookie drew his sword and jumped out of Nox Black Salt, trying to get the Grand Beholder’s attention. Immediately its gaping maw and sharp teeth began chomping in his direction while the smaller eyes that crowned the bulbous bigger one shot multiple small magical lasers. Silent Salt Cookie readily parried it with his sword while taking steps back to build distance between him and the creature.
The Grand Beholder’s attacks were relentless but soon Silent Salt Cookie found a pattern, one that made him… confused more than anything else. It seems the creature’s intent was to push Silent Salt Cookie further and further back. To test his theory, he hopped back on Nox Black Salt and turned tail for a small distance. Lo and behold, for the Grand Beholder suddenly disappeared as if out of thin air.
So it was not a monster casually roaming those woods. It was guarding something.
Silent Salt Cookie returned to the beholder’s location and held up the braid of his own smaller beholders. The bulging eyes on the vanillas on the braid and their alert sound gave it away: this was the mirage, and he found the Cakeberus that guarded its gate.
It wasn’t long before the Grand Beholder was on his tail again, and Silent Salt Cookie decided to try and see what else could his braid of vanilla beholders do. Holding it up to the monster, the vanilla flowers on the braid had their eyes shoot open and glow with a yellow light, then a strong flash suddenly blinded the Grand Beholder, stunning it in its place!
Silent Salt Cookie wasted no time in getting a few hits on the monster before it was back on its feet—but now he knew what to do, now he had an advantage.
Flash. Blind. Slash. Defense. Do it again.
He quickly made short work of the Grand Beholder, its flowery body now fast decomposing into the same inky black liquid Shadow Milk Cookie’s illusions would. If he wasn’t sure that that beast was here before, now he was certain.
Silent Salt Cookie knew he had to be brief. At any moment Shadow Milk Cookie could manifest another monster to guard his hiding place and he was not eager to start another fight so soon. Holding his braid of vanilla beholders close to him he applied the flowers like a doctor’s stethoscope, but nothing changed. The vibrations were still at maximum no matter where he went, he just needed to find the exact entrance, the exact door, the exact… Why is Nox Black Salt chewing on that curtain of ivies?
Oh.
An innocuous wall of stone may not be a wall after all, for there were ivies covering a hidden passage between the rocks, just large enough for Silent Salt Cookie and Nox Black Salt to pass through…
———🫐——————🫐———
Silent Salt Cookie didn’t know what to expect when he crossed that small passage, but a peaceful sanctuary was not one of the options.
Clear blue skies, small glittering waterfalls, fields of blueberry and vanilla beholders and at the center a small idyllic cottage on a hillock. The dream of a peasant. And all an illusion.
This was far too below Shadow Milk Cookie.
He crossed a thick tree trunk above a creek to reach the fields of blueberries and vanilla. (Blueberries and vanilla. Why vanilla?) only to be met face to back with a woman picking blueberries.
Shen flinched when she heard his steps but then resumed picking berries with a fake nonchalant demeanor.
She couldn’t fool him though.
“Shadow Milk Cookie.” Silent Salt Cookie drew his sword
The Lady in Azure turned to him with a smile. She had an aged appearance; deep and dark bags under her eyes and wrinkles all around her face. You could tell her dough wasn’t the crispiest.
“Silent Salt Cookie! What a pleasure to welcome you into my new abode!”
“Cease your games! I don’t know what it is that you’ve been plotting but I am taking you back into Pure Vanilla’s custody be it with your consent or by my sword!”
Shadow Milk Cookie laughed but Silent Salt Cookie could notice the exhaustion and fear behind it.
“Silly Silly Salty~ You just got here and already want to leave?” She shook her head and her smile turned into a frown “Can’t you see I am tired? I’m not planning anything. Pinky promise. Now is that all?”
Silent Salt Cookie pulled the tip of his sword to Shadow Milk Cookie’s throat.
“You don’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation, clown. We made an agreement to the ancient heroes for the balance of Earthbread. Our life has been forfeit from the moment we lost our purpose, we only live now for the sake of maintaining this balance. You do not get to traipse around planning witches knows what without supervision while skirting your responsibilities. Do I make myself clear?”
Shadow Milk Cookie feebly raised her hands. “If it’s the soul jam of deceit you want I cannot give it to you. I use it to maintain this illusion but…” she sighed. “I guess I can lend it to you if you return it to me later”
“Lend—you insult me! I am NOT leaving this place without you Shadow Milk Cookie!!”
suddenly a small voice called from some bushes away.
“Maman? Who are you talking to?”
The panic in Shadow Milk Cookie’s face was palpable. “Go back inside! Maman is busy right now!”
“Who else is here, Shadow Milk Cookie?”
Silent Salt Cookie’s question would soon be answered when two cookies, no older than toddlers came waddling in from the direction of the cottage. Silent Salt Cookie looked at them in shock. A pair of identical baby cookies, with blonde hair with light blue streaks, bronze dough and bright mismatched eyes looked back at him. They wore matching outfits and one couldn’t tell them apart if it weren’t for the toddler wearing a pair of glasses.
“Maman…?”
They were all stunned in place for what it felt like hours, Silent Salt Cookie’s sword still drawn to Shadow Milk Cookie’s throat. When the toddlers seemed to have assessed the situation they ran to their “mother” and clutched at her legs.
“Please mister! Please don’t hurt maman!”
“What… is the meaning of this…?”
Silent Salt Cookie drew his sword back and Shadow Milk Cookie immediately crouched to hug the twin cookies close to her chest.
What was Silent Salt Cookie to do? What was going on? And most importantly… who were those baby cookies?
