Misadventures: Letter 3

Dear Thaire,

Here I find myself, once again, trapped in my study, eagerly awaiting the times when I will be able to go back to my beloved worlds. Although, I remind myself not to be greedy. I have you, after all, and I already spent longer than planned in this most recent world. You must’ve been worried. I had kept up a month average for the past two worlds, though I stayed 2 months in this most recent one, and I’m sorry if I worried you. That was not my intention, but Wouagi was simply far too interesting to explore in just one month.

Now, what of Wouagi, you ask? I decided to try yet another new thing, as I am fond of doing. I summoned a world that one of my many fans made for me- yes! I know what you are thinking. How could I possibly get enough information from a small excerpt! That’s the thing. This was no ordinary excerpt. This was a two page long summary, just for the world! Its creator had to put its characters in an entirely separate section, it was so long. So, I had ample material to work with, and I thank the anonymous fan who sent me this, though I will never know their name.

In other news, Wouagi was more wonderful and fantastical than the world of Aruna. Though I very much enjoyed Aruna, Wouagi was far more interesting. If only you could see the swamps of Wouagi, it was a beautiful sight at night! The rainbow tides rolling in, their slimy afterwaves sludging against the wooden stilts as the moon shone down, highlighting the oily surface of the waters…

But enough rambling about the rainbow waters, though they are one of the more important features of Wouagi. The people in this land build entire cities on stilts! Yes, you read right, stilts. Houses, massive ones, on such a flimsy structure! Though the flora and vines help to support it, I never did feel safe in these cities, for I feared that I would fall.

Though the people in this land are far more interesting. Especially one in particular… someone I met about a week into my travails through Wouagi, named Lux. And what a peculiar fellow! Most certainly interesting looking, I can say that for sure- tanned, tall, pale blonde hair, sounds too similar to a certain cliche. Though Lux is far from a cliche. Far, far from it.

I was walking through a large city, still unsteady due to the creaking and groaning constantly caused by the rolling tides. I cautiously stepped through, ready just in case it were to collapse at any moment… enter Lux. Broad shoulders bouncing with every step, swinging a large trap to and fro. As we looked at each other, immediately Lux rushed to me, appearing very excited.

“Hello, stranger!” Lux said, smiling widely. “How are you today?”
“Good,” I responded, still slightly cautious on my feet. “Are you native here?”
“Yes, yes! In fact, I’m hunting salamanders… king salamanders.”
I paused for a moment, soaking up this information. Though none of the other Wouagians had talked about these “king salamanders”, you know me. Always eagerly searching for the next bit of information to rack in my endless shelves of knowledge.

“How interesting. Why?”
“The king salamanders’ tails and heavy strides damage my crops.” 

“What crops?” I then asked. I had seen no crops sold in Wouagi, after all- I wanted to know more so badly.

Though Lux, the crafty one, ignored my question, flinging me directly into another.

“Want to help me catch them?”

Now, this was an offer that might have been fun. And I certainly did think it would be at the time. A chance to catch a creature who was so legendary that it was called “king”? I just had to agree.

“Sure,” I said.

“Wonderful! Now, come with me, there’s not much time to waste!”

Though, as we walked, the people around us sighed to themselves as we passed. I caught small snippets, though nothing that was significant enough to make me change my mind about trying to catch one of these salamanders…

“Oh, there goes Lux again… and who’s that with him?”

“Another one of his victims. Sweet girl, though, I met her the other day briefly. Too curious for her own good, but we can’t stop her now…”

“Too bad, too bad… Lux and his hare-brained schemes…”

Though this wouldn’t stop me. Lux kept our hands firmly clasping together, the trap swinging calmingly, metal scraping against the strap. I, meanwhile, had already begun to imagine these magnificent salamanders… slimy, spotted, and very large… just the thought sent my mind to racing.

Though what I thought was most certainly not what I got. We sat there for hours in the humid Wouagi swamps, a rain coming and going, watching a single trap bob in the water. Lux seemed… excited? Confused? I could hardly decipher his expression. I was eager for the first few hours, but after the fourth, I soon became bored…

Now, you may be thinking it turned out to be a very boring and uneventful day for me. It certainly seemed so. Between the hours of sitting there, and the villagers being wary of Lux as well, I got a sneaking suspicion that king salamanders weren’t real… but you’d be wrong.

Five hours had passed. The sun was beginning to set over the rainbow swamps, the slime and oil glittering in the light. I was close to asking Lux how long it would be before we could leave. I turned my head away from the trap, and that was when it happened- the trap snapped up and caught something.

Lux, who had been surveying the trap far more than I, cried, “Look, stranger! We did it! We caught a king salamander!”

My head snapped back to the trap, where, behold… in it sat a salamander, large and plump, barely fitting in the trap with its mouth wrapped around the bait. It slowly unhooked the bait and looked at us, its black eyes glistening in the faint light.

“Wow…” I said, looking at it in awe- not often was it that you got to see a salamander the size of your arm.

“I knew they were real! There was only one explanation!”

We approached the trap carefully, not wanting to scare the salamander. Though, it was rather calm. We looked at each other, one of us more excited than the other. I would tell you to guess who, though it would be hard to tell. Lux now carried the trap much more delicately as we entered town, the heads of many turning as we passed…

“What is that!”

“Is that a king salamander?”
“Wow, they caught one, after years of Lux’s ramblings!”

“Is she an animal whisperer or something? Why was she the one to help catch it and not anyone else?”

There’s only one thing I know for sure, now that I have left the world of Wouagi, now here in my dimly lit study. Lux is no longer disputed among the locals- at least, the ones that were on the street that day.

 

With Great Love,

Jordini