LIPOVSKY– 

“Lipovsky, are you going to lurk in your cave all day?”

My head lifted at Hansen’s teasing remark. He was looming in the doorway, a ludicrous grin wide on his tanned skin. His blond hair was a mess (as usual for him), and his waistcoat was covered in dark ink stains. I sighed, pinching my nose. 

“I am attempting to work out the final details for our excursion to the Decoy Forest. If you’d be so kind as to allow me to do that, I’d greatly appreciate it.” Perhaps he didn’t sense the sincerity of my words, because Hansen rolled his eyes in response. I sighed before he even started speaking, and the scent of the pine desk drifted into my nose. 

Ever since my… transformation, Mozgrad had taken on an entirely new light. My office, which may have seemed sparse and drab to most, was to me a scintillating impression of an entire universe. Every grain of the stained wood walls stood out to me with as much detail as the confusing ouroboros designs engraved upon the ceiling. The soft pad of shoes upon the scarlet carpet was as fascinating to me as the copious research notes sprawled upon my desk. It was like seeing the world through a fresh set of eyes. 

However, none of that applied to Hansen. He was human, and mortal, and more importantly: always moving and rushing. “You’ve been locked in here for hours. It’s not healthy to get this little sunlight, doctor.”

Of course, he’d no idea the exact opposite was true for me. Indeed, I even recalled him mocking the heavy scarlet curtains I’d had installed over the office windows to block out the sun’s deadly rays. To Hansen, daytime was a magical time for him to do absolutely nothing but let me work in peace. 

“I have work to do,” I responded dully. “Let me be for once. Isn’t there an experiment you’re writing up a report for?”

“Ah, right,” he chuckled, throwing a gloved hand through his hair. “About that. My assistant is working on it, actually.”

“Your assistant?” I asked with clear disinterest. Had he hired one without my knowledge? Probably. Hansen acted with thought or peer approval in almost all circumstances. 

“Yeah, that’s right!” He beamed, suddenly excited all over again. Like a golden retriever about to go on a walk. “Her name is Vulkaa Okamy. She’s Sanukan– actually, she wanted to go to the Decoy Forest, too…”

“Really,” I deadpanned. “Looks like I’ll have to redo these papers. Now, will you please let me be, Doctor Hansen?”

LIPOVSKY–

The daylight began to wane and nighttime set in. A noticeable chill curled up in the office, sinking its claws into every surface. Mozgrad was never warm, and it was especially not warm at night. Laboratoriya wasn't an exception to that rule, despite how much effort Hansen and I had put into perfecting the heating system. I suppose it’s what we deserved for building a lab in a place as desolate and frozen as northeastern Kyngdom.

“Lipovsky! Are you coming?” Hansen’s joyous call carried up the hallway. With a sigh, I slipped the papers I was working on into my carpetbag. I carefully removed myself from the desk chair and made my way into the main corridor. Scarlet carpet still covered the floor out here. This was the second story of Laboratoriya, which was filled primarily with offices and other bureaucratic measures. The actual labs were on the first floor and in the basement. 

Hansen stood waiting in the hallway, along with a woman I’d never seen before. She had a quiet but steady heartbeat, and medium brown skin. Her eyes were dark and hooded, placed upon a round face. Her dark hair was tied back in a messy bun, and she wore a fur parka. Somehow, she was taller than even Hansen: this must have been the Sanukan woman he’d hired as an assistant.

Hansen was grinning. “There you are! This is Vulkaa Okamy, who I told you about earlier. Today was her first time here. Well, working here. She’s been here before…”

I held out my hand for Okamy to shake, which she did so with a firm grasp. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Okamy.”

“Vulkaa is fine,” she replied in a voice thick with a Sanukan accent. It was strangely melodic, like a seventh chord on violin strings. “It is an honor to meet you as well, Doctor Lipovsky.”

“I take it you know Doctor Hansen,” I assumed. Vulkaa nodded sharply, glancing over at him.

“I do. We met some weeks ago, yes.” Her voice was determined and clean. She had a fortified way of carrying herself as well.

“I met her at that opera house just north of Serdtse Palace,” Hansen explained. “She told me she’d moved here from Sanukaville and was looking for a job. So I offered her one.” Wonderful… Vulkaa seemed like a fine person, but was she even qualified for the job?

Though I wasn’t going to question Hansen on it now. He was already excitedly moving down the hallway, and Vulkaa walked beside him. I trailed behind slightly, clutching my carpetbag. I would have to deliver these papers tomorrow morning… already I was forming a schedule within my mind, and entirely disconnected from whatever conversation was happening ahead of me.

LIPOVSKY–

As usual, there was a bitter wind cutting through the streets of Mozgrad. Vulkaa’s coat assuredly protected her from the frosty air, and Hansen seemed to run at such an absurdly high temperature anyway that he hardly ever noticed how cold it was. As for me, I could certainly feel the temperature more acutely than I could prior to my turning, but it didn’t bother me as much. Possibly because I was frigid to the touch all the time now. My body hardly needed to maintain proper homeostatic levels of anything. Theoretically, I didn’t even require air, but I still had to breathe in order to speak.

“So, we’re off to the Decoy Forest?” Hansen asked. He spoke, and walked, with jubilance, nearly bouncing down the street. 

“Soon, I hope,” I responded. “If I can deliver these papers, that is. They’ll need to be given to the administration building of Mozgrad University, and I won’t–”

“I can take them.” Vulkaa interrupted me with her determined voice. I paused, considering her offer. I hardly knew the woman. She didn’t seem especially untrustworthy, and Hansen seemed to like her– but Hansen had also liked that actress, who’d later gone on to steal half of the cash he kept lying about his flat. His judgment on people wasn’t particularly trustworthy. I wasn’t certain of Vulkaa’s competence, to put it bluntly.

“I am,” she continued, “Heading there tomorrow morning anyway. I have a lab report to drop off.”

That was a good point. She’d cornered me in a clever way. If I were to refuse her offer now, I’d seem at best a fool and at worse like I was intentionally keeping her from doing any work. With some hesitation, I opened my carpet bag and handed her the thickly folded papers. “Don’t lose them.”

“I won’t,” Vulkaa promised deftly. “I am hardly a clumsy or forgetful person.”

–

Vulkaa’s claim proved to be true, as the approval for the trip appeared on my desk the night after that exchange, and then the following week we were already preparing to make our voyage. There wasn’t a lot to pack, in theory, because the Decoy Forest wasn’t terribly far from Mozgrad. More concerning, however, was the war. Any number of things could happen to us while we were out there as a result of that. Even with how stable the northeast had been over the past ten years.

Hansen was, naturally, not at all concerned about the civil unrest in our country (well– his and Vulkaa’s country, I still considered myself more of a Ledyanayan) and Vulkaa was confident enough that she didn’t show any fears she may have felt. Regarding their demeanors, I decided to keep my own worries to myself and we made our journey without problem.

(Too lazy to keep going under an alias, haha.)

LIPOVSKY–

Snow had fallen thickly over the ground. Together we set up a small base camp just south of the Decoy Forest's borders. It consisted of a few tents, some for us to sleep in and some filled with equipment. In the distance there rose the telltale pine trees of the Forest, and even from here I could smell that sickeningly sweet scent of the tree sap.

Which was precisely what we were here to study. Years ago, early studies of the sap had been conducted by a scientist under Catastrophe during his army's occupation of Jökull. I'd heard rumors of special equipment created with the sap that could be used to brainwash people. It was like hypnosis– that kind of ability could prevent the effectiveness of mind-control and other dark magic techniques. That connection to the dark arts is precisely what had led me to become so interested in the Forest.

One of the Sanukan guides that would be accompanying us gestured to me. He was named Erskyoka Yokag; a tall and broad man of olive skin and long blond hair which he kept in a braid. He greeted me in thick Sanukan, which I didn't know. "Doctor Lipovsky, ja?"

"That is me, yes," I confirmed. He nodded pleasantly.

"Good, good. We are ready to head out now, if you have your things," Yokag said. "There will be blizzard in few days. It is good to go soon."

"You clearly have the expertise here. I am ready to venture out, if Vulkaa and Hansen are as well."

Yokag gestured over to the two of them. Vulkaa had nothing but her coat, though the pockets on it seemed stuffed. Hansen had a small pack with him. Since I didn't exactly need food to sustain myself, I was able to carry a small bag as well, which was filled only with equipment. "They are ready. Follow me, then."

The three of us soon fell into step behind Yokag. Vulkaa kept up a steady conversation with him, but it was in Sanukan so I had no idea what they were discussing. I trusted Yokag to know what he was doing. After their takeover of Jökull, the Sanukans had continued studies of the Decoy Forest, even publishing the first maps of it.

"I recommend you put masks on now," Yokag called back to us. He was already slipping on one of his own. It had been discovered that inhaling particles of the sap were what caused the intense hallucinations the Forest was known for. Now, all those who ventured near brought with them small masks, which functioned similarly to gas masks: filtering out anything harmful.