Song Joon Woo woke up with a fright! He had a nightmare, the first one he ever had. Or did he? He wasn't sure. Heck, he wasn't even sure what was going on right now. When he opened his eyes and focused on the scene around him, he noticed he was no longer in his bedroom. He was in a room he hadn't seen in a very long time…his bedroom, his old bedroom. He assumed he was dreaming until he rolled off the bed and hit his head! It was real.
Getting up, he walked around and saw that not only was this his old bedroom, but he also glanced in the mirror, remembering where it hung, and saw he was in his old body. Not only that, he was back to being in his thirties. He gingerly touched his face to ensure it was the same dark circles and bags from sleepless nights, the same streak of white coloring his dull hair, and dark brown eyes that held no light or life. Only then was he entirely convinced it was real, and he was horrified!
Surely this was a dream…right? But he heard it and felt it, the voice of his long-deceased wife and his hand smacking the back of his head in that same spot she always hit! He fell to his knees and grabbed his head; he looked up, tears blocking his eyesight, and could only vaguely make the shape of his ex-wife, but he knew it was her, especially when he could still hear her awful voice barking orders at him to change, eat, then get out to work and do it fast. As his wife left the room, slamming the door behind her, he got up, and on shaky legs, fearfully, he fought against his thoughts in disbelief. It couldn't have been her…right?
Is this his old home? But…everything was just as he remembered it. Even his wife looked and sounded the same. He had to be sure. So he carefully made his way to the door, slowly opened it, and walked out into a very familiar hallway he hadn't seen in such a long time. Paintings and other wall decorations he knew by heart since he was the one to pay for them. He passed by the same faceless maids and servants he had hired to keep his mansion clean and his family fed. They never spoke to him, acknowledged him, or even cared for his situation, just as his wife intended.
Walking down the spiral stairs, carefully, slowly, one at a time, he soaks everything in. Taking in the sight of the vaguely familiar house around him, he mechanically made his way through the kitchen, where the same faceless servants cooked breakfast, all moving like machines, and no one was looking his way.
He saw the door that led into the dining area and stopped. It was the same imported white birch wood door he had installed at the behest of his wife. He looked at it, stared at it, wondering whether he should even try to open it. He glazed his hand over the door, feeling the grooves and indents he felt so many times before. Then he finally opened it.
At first, it was a creek, then a push, until he allowed the door to swing open all on its own. When it opened all the way, he was struck in frozen shock by what he saw! It was his family--his wife, his children when they were young teenagers, and worst of all, his parents!
They all sat around that huge mahogany dining table, impatiently waiting for food to be served. The kids were fighting or yelling at one another, his parents on the phone; no doubt bragging to their friends, and his wife sat with a shopping catalog, a pair of scissors, and a small stack of things she wanted to purchase for later. But something was wrong about this scene--very, very wrong!
He could see them, but he couldn't hear them--not his parents' boasts, not his kids' screaming, not even when his wife noisily cut things out of the magazines. Then, everything seemed to stop.
His family halted in place, like a video hit on the pause button. Then they turned their heads to him--slowly, wordlessly, and silently. They all stared at him for a long time, their expressions of disappointment and disapproval clear as day. He stood there, in the sight of his striped pajamas, and knew something was wrong.
Then they all exploded on him! A silent howling of insults and accusations thrust upon him. Something he knew, something he was used to, something he hated, something he feared! This was it; this was his old life. He was back, and somehow it was worse than before! But he didn't want to be back! He never wanted to be back! He had to leave! To escape! To be anywhere but here!
Then it happened: his family burst from the table and aggressively approached him! But as they did, they started to change with every step. Their eyes turned dark and hollow, dripping with something black! Seeing this, he backs away as their silent mouths begin to scream! Then their bodies distort and contort into unholy and unnatural ways!
The walls around him dripped the same black substance as the white world outside the window turned dark! Any and all pictures melted or melded into the walls while the servants vanished, with nothing but their clothes remaining in the air, stuck in the position of what they were doing.
Limbs stretched, faces pealed, and bodies began to melt and merge until his rapidly mutating family resembled more of a blob of goo with eyes, mouths, and twisted reflections of their faces still yelling at him!
Although the thing had no legs or any that worked, it still moved fast, even as Song Joon Woo backed away as fast as he could. As the thing gained mass, the sound turned back on; the collision of many voices laughing, jeering, and yelling at him assaulted his ears and nearly brought him to his knees!
But he didn't have time. That thing was nearly upon him, and the house was changing into a horrifying reflection just like the thing! So he turned and ran as the walls darkened and the floors began to fall around him into a seemingly endless pit. He ran with all he had as the thing chased him! He ran as the house shook and nearly fell through the floor several times as the tiles fell under his feet! Luckily, so too did the thing.
He ran to the spiral stairs and flew up them as fast as he could as the shadowy darkness of two large eyes swiftly engulfed everything behind! When he reached the top, the thing tried to climb after but soon found itself falling into the same void and swallowing the shadow of eyes. White soulless eyes that Song Joon Woo overlooked.
But once he saw the thing fall, he saw how the darkness swallowed while little remained even quicker, and so too did the void cause the house to fall in around him! For whatever reason, he thought that his bedroom was his only chance of safety or escape, and looking back, he saw his door as one of the few things remaining in the dripping darkness. So he ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran! He ran until he realized that no matter how hard he did, he never got any closer to the door.
He looked back and saw the falling voice and swallowing darkness coming after him! Then he saw the eyes, the vacant, soulless, hollow white eyes, and that finally gave him back his legs! He ran to the door and, assuming there was no more floor between it and the door, jumped and made it to a small ledge. But when he tried to open the door, it was locked!
He struggled with all his might until he couldn't, as the tiny bit of floor around him fell, forcing him to hold onto the doorknob with all his might! As the rest of the world fell around him and the darkness swallowed up the black, he felt something trying to pull him into nothing.
Before he knew it, the void told him to fall, but he didn't listen. Then the darkness, swallowing the voice, began to suck him down! But he held on, even as his clothes were ripped from his body, leaving him bare and exposed! Even still, he hung on for dear life, tears streaming down his face as his arms screamed for relief! But then the door knob broke off, and he fell!
He fell into the darkness as it sucked him up and enveloped him whole. All while he screams silently into the grasp of the thing!
Basil then woke up with a scream! Thrashing about as his body poured out cold sweat. He finally flung open his eyes and stopped thrashing, only breathing in short, heavy breaths. He looked around and saw that he was covered in white. After his brain calmed down, he quickly realized he was wrapped up in his own sheets. He pulled them off his sticky body and saw that he was on the floor of his bedroom. His new bedroom, not his old one, in his old house, in his old life. He was still back in his new world.
As he got up and looked around to make sure he really was where he wanted to be, he recalled the dream in all its horror and, for a moment, wondered how he got hurt in it. He got his answer when his head began to ache. He felt the area and looked at the bed he had fallen off. Quickly, he realized that he had hit his head against the baseboard and then on the floor. Hence the pain and sensation of falling. He never remembered the eyes.
Then he remembered the dream again. That horrible, horrible dream! No, that awful, horrible nightmare! It was just like the many others he had throughout the week! Thinking about it, the others sickened and scared him! He put a hand to his face and breathed out a shaky breath, gripping his hair.
Suddenly, he heard a creak at the door and saw Teto standing in the opening with a candle in his hand. He was wearing one of his nightshirts that dragged like a long dress and a nightcap that acted like a hood. An expression of worry and exasperation on his tiny face, no doubt from running up the stairs.
Basil tried to be strong for many nights and assure the bird that nothing was wrong. But something was wrong, and he couldn't take it anymore. So, without uttering another word, the tears flowed freely, and he sobbed aloud without shame.
Teto took a pitiable expression, set the candle on a table, and pushed himself against the man's chest. Basil hugged the bird tightly, fell to the ground covered in his sheets, and sobbed bitterly into the night. Neither of them was getting any sleep again.
xXx
Upon the following day, when Basil reluctantly opened his storefront, and thankful no one came in that day, he was greeted first thing in the morning by the doors suddenly flying open by a pair of studded boots! Much to his dismay of his sleepless state.
It was Hagson, finally back from…wherever he went. As he power marched into the bakery, hands in his pockets and back still hunched over, he professed, "Basil! I'm so sorry I was gone for so long. I had some….unfinished business to attend to. But I'm back and ready for my human lesson–oh God, what's wrong with you?", He dropped off at seeing the young man's face.
Basil, for lack of better terms, looked awful. His bags were heavy, his rings were dark, his eyes red, his face pale, and his inner light gone!
It took Basil several seconds to realize he was being acknowledged. He frog blinked and said in a daze, "Oh...hey, Hagson. When you get here?"
Realizing that talking to Basil would get him nowhere, Hagson turned his eyes to Teto, who was not nearly as bad-looking as the man, and demanded, "You! Tiny bird thing! What's wrong with Basil?"
Teto, who was yawning before the Hag spooked him, quickly began to perform gestures as the male hag quickly became irritated after he froze. With the game of "guess what" on, Hagson guessed, "A lack of fish?", Teto shook his head and tried again, this time making the hag guess, "Oh wait, a lack of sounds!", Again, he shook his head and tried once more, this time trying different gestures.
So Hagson just rapid-fire guesses as Teto shakes his head more aggressively between each one: "No? A lack of lips, teeth, eyeballs, spinal column."
"Hagson.", Basil tiredly interjects, making the hag stop and look towards the man who straight up told him, "I haven't slept in days."
"Why didn't you say that from the start?", Hagson demanded from the bird who crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. Turning back to the man, he inquired, "For how long?"
"Since Friday."
"But today is Thursday."
Seeing the man suddenly doze off mid-conversation, Hagson became irritated and chucked a cold spell on him. The young man woke up with a fright, and covered in frost and ice, he exclaimed, "Ah! What was that for, you freak?"
"I can't talk with you while you're half dead. I already aided you in fighting with your magic and its advanced forms, but you still need to uphold your end of our deal and finish our human classes.", Hagson firmly told him with a no-excuse attitude.
After shaking off the cold, Basil began to say irritatedly, telling him, "Well, you still have a few more months to go. But the way things are going, you may-? Wait, what am I saying? Do you not realize I haven't slept in a week? I'm losing my mind!? I'm pretty sure I'm clinically insane. If I don't rest, there'll be no more classes, ever!"
"Well, what seems to be the problem? Can't stay asleep?", Hagson asked while leaning over the counter.
Pouring himself some tea, Basil replied, "Can't sleep, period. Every time I close my eyes, I have these horrible nightmares from my past. I can't even rest my eyes without screaming in a cold sweat, and it's driving me up the wall!", he says while pulling on his face and downing the cup.
Before the male hag could say or suggest anything, a familiar voice offered, "I knows what tis ails you."
Looking at the voice's location, all three spot the caged Kobold. His legs dangled between the bars, and he never moved from the spot. There, Basil asked again, "What?"
"I knows. What ails you. Truly, Wrinkles does!", the Kobold assured him.
Hagson was the first to approach. Placing a hand on the cage, leering over the tiny creature, he asked suspiciously, "How can we believe that? I'm sure you want to escape and run back to your tribe."
"All family was killed at Mistress Anaya's death, no home for Wrinkles to return.", Wrinkles answered, making Basil feel bad for having a hand in it.
But Hagson felt no remorse for the little lizard, and slapping the cage, he pulled out a knife while threatening, telling him, "I still don't trust you. You Kobolds are all alike. Scampering, simpering, whimpering little weaklings who backstab and follow the strongest thing or dragon!"
Scampering to the back of the cage, simmering in a corner, and whimpering for his life, Wrinkles begged meekly, "But Wrinkles promises to serve the new master, yes! Wrinkles will be good! Will show promise by helping! Please trust."
Without hesitation, Basil ran from behind the counter with a cage key in hand, ready to use it. But Hagson stopped him with his arm and asked in a worried tone, "Woah, hey! You're not actually going to believe it, are you?"
Basil sighs, exhausted, and asks in return, "What other choice do I have? And what do I have to lose?" Hagson gives no response except a thinking expression before just letting him go. Basil unlocked the cage, allowing the Kobold to touch the ground for the first time in months. "Okay, you get your chance. Just make it fast.", Basil swiftly tells the little lizard.
"First, Wrinkles has to be sure of what ails you is what he thinks.", Wrinkles stated while holding up a finger as if to make a point.
Basil sighs again in exhaustion and agrees, "Fine, fine."
Then, the little dragon grabs two chairs and sets them up like a bench, motioning for the man to take a seat. So Basil gets into an uncomfortable position and waits. Wrinkles then grabs several things from both the kitchen and the front yard garden beds. Bringing them back inside, he sets up a mix of rocks and leaves in a circle around him.
He then mixes the herbs, flowers, and other things into two dishes. Lighting some of the leaves in the circling, he dances and sings some strange tribal-sounding song around the man while sprinkling the three bowls of ground-up…whatever, Leaving Hagson and Teto to watch in utter starstruck confusion. Each time Wrinkles does, Basil sneezes at the second concoction thrown on him.
After finishing his dance, Wrinkles makes several thinking noises over several very long and drawn-out minutes until he finally says, "Wrinkles is now sure of what ails you!"
With no immediate response from the dragon, Basil exclaimed in a hurry, "Well, don't leave us in suspense. Spit it out!"
"You are being haunted by…a Tantabus!", Wrinkles stretched out the last part while looking around for suspense.
"What's a Tally-bus?", Basil asks.
"Tantabus! Do you do that on purpose?", Hagson asks in an irritated tone, only getting an annoyed look back from the man. The male hag sighs and tells him, "It's a spiritual being that causes and feeds off fear through…nightmares.", He falls off the last part, putting all the pieces together.
"And?", Basil prompted him after he went unnervingly silent and still.
After shaking himself back to reality, Hagson told him, "And no one knows what they look like or where they came from.", Basil made a hand gesture to elaborate, and the witch explained further.
"They just kinda…", Hagson tried to find the words, eventually coming to say, "Showed up one day, and no one, not even the gods, knew how or why. Some say they are manifestations of fear itself. Or some crazy God made them. Or they're the remains of a dead god. Like I said, no one knows.", Basil just raised an eyebrow, and Hagson continued to tell him, "What's worse is that they can't be seen by any being, magic or not, can't be sensed or repelled by ritual or tome, and they are virtually unkillable. Since no one has ever killed one."
Basil panicked and shouted, "Then how do I get rid of it!?"
Hagson, unfortunately, shook his head and answered, "You really can't. Tantabus can't be controlled, except by the devil's, and do as they please. They come, they eat, and they leave. But this one has been feeding off you for days. If we don't do something, it'll drive you mad."
Basil made a small, manic laugh before saying, "It's almost there."
"There are some preventives we can try-.", Hagson began to offer until he was cut off.
"No needs, Wrinkles knows what thou shalt do to rid of the Tantabus.", Wrinkles said out of the blue.
Snapping his neck to the creature, Hagson snapped at him, "Did you not hear me, Kobold? Tantabus is practically untouchable! Nothing can stop or kill them."
"Nothing, but one.", Wrinkles argued before pausing to say, "A Baku!", followed by the striking of lightning.
"A Baku?", Hagson questions, followed by lightning striking.
"A Baku.", Wrinkles assured, followed by another strike of lightning.
"A Bak-", Basil tries to say until the lightning cuts him off. This caused him to slam the doors and shutters closed, and he asked, "Can someone tell me what a Baku is?"
"A Baku is a celestial chimera whose main goal is to…eat nightmares.", Hagson begins to explain until, once again, the pieces fall into place. Looking over, he sees Wrinkles with a smug look, and Hagson admits, "Granted, while your idea is genius on paper, how are we to even get one and convince it to start eating Basil's nightmares? Celestials don't just give out their services for no reason. And Baku is almost no different from regular animals."
"That's why we have to attract one, and I knows how to.", Wrinkles tells him.
Teto then taps Basil and performs some gestures that he understands. The man asks, "Hey, how do you even know all this?"
"Many years ago, when mistress Anaya was younger and alive-er, she was beset by a Tantabus. So tis I that discovered Baku and the means to call for it.", Wrinkles answered.
"Okay, how do we attract this thing? Ritual? Sacrifice? Ritual sacrifice?", Basil desperately began to list as Teto readied his knife and pulled out an occult mask made of wood.
Wrinkles shakes his head and hand while answering, "No, no, no. Baku doesn't need anything like that. Baku only needs one of two things. A prayer to it, or a picture to place under thine pillow. Also…lavender helps."
"That's it!?", Basil exclaimed after blinking at his description, to which the Kobold nodded. Basil sighs and asks, "So how do I pray to the Baku?"
"Just say it's named twice when you start prayer and twice when you end it. And ask for the nightmares to be gone. I shall make a picture of Baku with mine autistic skills.", Wrinkles tells him while taking a quill and a bottle of ink. So Basil shrugs, gets on his knees, and prays the way Wrinkles tells him. After he finishes the prayer, the Kobold returns and proudly holds up the picture he made like a child to their parents. "Here is Baku masterfully crafted in all its glory by mine skills!", he boldly professes while rubbing his nose in pride.
Basil had no idea what the Baku could look like, especially from Hagson's vague description, but it was undoubtedly wasn't whatever Wrinkles produced!? It certainly was a chimera of sorts, but even he couldn't tell what animal was what and where it started or ended. It was like a pig, elephant, and boar all had a kid.
Basil didn't want to hurt the little dragon's feelings, so he said, "Well, art is certainly…subjective."
"Now we wait until night.", Wrinkles told him while handing off the drawing as Teto returned with fresh lavender.
Shocked by this, Basil jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "What? Why do I have to wait till then?! I'm tired now!"
"Baku only comes at night. If you don't, it won't come.", Wrinkles told him matter-of-factly.
Basil lets out an irritated and exhausted sigh before accepting and saying with dissatisfaction, "Fine!"
xXx
Night fell far slower than Basil had wanted, doing everything Wrinkles told him to. He placed the picture of the Baku under his pillow, said another prayer to the Baku, and hung fresh lavender with his window open to attract it. Then he threw the covers over himself and sat up, mentally wondering if he should even try this. But he was out like a light the second his head touched the pillow.
When Basil opens his eyes again, he's sitting on a picnic blanket with a large spread of food set before himself, and a clear blue sky hangs overhead. A drink of something was in his hands as he heard the sound and saw the sight of children playing nearby. Then he heard a soft laugh and turned his head to see a woman in a bright yellow sundress with a large sun hat nibbling on one of the sandwiches. She turned her head to him, and Basil could see that it was none other than Marigold sitting beside him.
Basil was stunned to see her, but even more so when she reached out her hand, interlacing her fingers in his and then leaning closer and closer to him. As if by instinct, Basil leaned in, ready for what was to come. Just when their lips met, he closed his eyes, only to reopen them to something else.
Stuck between sleep and awake, he looked out through half-lidded eyes in aggravation at the dream's abrupt ending. Then he heard what woke him from the dream: the sound of…chewing? Looking up, he saw something thick and dark exiting from his head and listened to the chewing sound in only one ear.
Looking off to the side, he saw a strange…something standing near his bedside with piercing eyes that glowed in the dark. It used a strange appendage from its face to grab and place the dark stuff wafting off his head into a pink mouth. Basil immediately thought he was having a fever dream and returned to sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he walked through a field of tall wildflowers. The same children ran through the field just ahead and out of view. Next to him was Marigold again, this time wearing a pea-green dress and holding a sun umbrella. She looked over at him and smiled like the sun overhead.
Then, the two came to a large tree stand atop a hill where a swing was hitched to one of the limbs. As the children rolled down the hill, they sat on the swing next to one another. They looked over the cloudy skies, guessing the shapes, listening to the birds sing, and laughing. Then, the two of them turned nose to nose.
Just as they both leaned in again, Marigold suddenly grabbed his shoulders, shaking him roughly as she yelled in a manly voice, "Basil!"
Basil woke up from his dead sleep. His eyelids were heavy, his mouth drooling, and his mind filled with hate and murder at being awoken. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw Hagson standing over him with an expression mixed between worry and irritation.
Basil groaned, blinking his heavy eyelids, and complained, "What the hell, dude? I was having a good dream."
Just as he turns over to try and go back to sleep, Hagson forcefully pulls him over and asks, "Say that again?"
"I was having a good dream?", Basil repeats his statement, only to pause, wake up, and repeat more firmly, "I was having a good dream! I slept and haven't woken up in a panic! It worked!", he exclaimed in zeal while sitting up.
"I'll say you were asleep for a whole day. I almost assumed you were dead. I was about this close to eating you", Hagson commented, only to get an irritated look from the man. "What?! No sense in letting good meat go to waste.", the male witch argued.
"No wonder I'm so hungry and thirsty.", Basil said to himself while smacking his dry lips.
"Has the master awoken?!", a shrill voice called from down the hall.
"Yes, Kobold, he has.", replied Hagson.
Just then, little feet were heard running up the stairs, and in bursts Teto, who looked as happy as could be to see Basil awake! Until Wrinkles jumps on top of him, mushing the little bird on the ground and bouncing over him. He holds a tray with a top over his head. Running to his bedside with the tray, the Kobold says, "Wrinkles is glad master is awake. Was worried Master would never wake up. But Wrinkles made something for the master."
Placing the tray on his lap, Wrinkles sings before taking the top off, "Da-dun-dun-nuuuu! Presenting the master with a meal fit for a dragon. And resized for human body."
In front of the man was a bowl of what looked like soup. But it was the most unpleasant-looking soup he had ever seen! It was lumpy and brown with things that shouldn't be put in or have been chopped up first! Also, it bubbles from time to time like a tar pit. It was so bad that even the man-eating witch was appalled! It was so unusual to look at that once Teto got up from the ground, ready to stab the Kobold for running him over, only to catch sight of the dish and freeze in place before its horror!
"Oh, Wrinkles, you..." Basil began to say until he saw Wrinkles's excited face, then backtracked to say, "Really shouldn't have. What is this?"
"Whatever Wrinkles could find, catch or kill, put in a big pot and mixed with green things. Please try!", Wrinkles asked with earnest innocence.
Basil wanted to refuse, but seeing the Kobold enthusiastic beguile with sparkling eyes of excitement. He ultimately decided to take a bite and keep a healing spell at the ready. As he brought a spoon full of what looked like dirt, broth, and a whole lizard, he looked between it and the excited Kobold.
He looked at his other two friends and saw Hagson brewing an anti-poison while Teto wrote his eulogy. He looked back at the food, gulped, and slowly brought it to his mouth. He opened and quickly closed his lips over the spoon while Hagson cringed and Teto gagged!
After chewing the concoction, his eyes sprung open and glittered with shock.
After swallowing, he said, "Wow. This is actually really good."
"It is?", Asked Hagson with skeptical curiosity.
"Try.", Basil offered while holding out a spoonful.
After a brief moment to ponder, Hagson finally took the meal into his mouth and made the same expression that Basil made. After swallowing, he said with delightful shock, "By the locks of Potentate Sammanar. This is delicious."
Even Teto opened his beak and pawed at the sheets for some, which Basil happily chucked into his mouth. Like all birds, he swallowed the food while making a satisfied expression and sound in his throat.
Basil then began to go ham on the soup until there was nothing left, especially since he hadn't eaten for a whole day! After licking the bowl clean, he got a window notification telling him he had learned a new recipe. It was called Kobold Stew n Brew.
The ingredients were listed as follows;
1 cup of this
2 cups of that
A pinch of that over there
And another pinch of that over here
Meats and meats and meats
Some green things
4 cups of bone broth
Cook over fire in big pot. Hot, hot fire!
Spit and serve!
Basil really didn't want to know what the Spit and Serve part meant.
Wrinkles claps his hands and exclaims as Basil digs into the food, "Wrinkles is overjoyed; yous like it!"
After letting the tray be taken away by Broomy, who was equally happy to see him, he licked his lips with satisfaction and said, "I have to give credit where it's due, Wrinkles. Your Baku plan worked like a charm. I guess you really proved yourself."
"Wrinkles is so glad to hear that. But has the master soiled his sleeping spot? Wrinkles can clean.", Wrinkles offered while pointing to the other end of his bed.
Looking over, he saw a huge lump of something under his sheets! Before he could even react, Hagson asked, "Basil. Did you crap the bed while you were asleep?"
Immediately getting defensive, he exclaimed before calming down, "No! At least…I don't think so. How long has that been there?", to which everyone shrugged. Basil gulped and then said while reaching for the covers, his morbid curiosity outweighing his common sense, "I really hope I didn't poop myself."
Carefully as he could, he reached for the bed sheets, taking his sweet time and thus making the other three occupants in his room die from the anticipation! When he finally grabbed hold of the sheets, he quickly threw them off after a brief pause and found something he had never seen before. It was some kind of creature that had made itself comfortable on his bed and curled up fast asleep beside him.
It was an actual chimeric creature with the body parts of several different animals, ranging from the tusks and trunk of an elephant, the ears of a rhino, the tail of a cow, the body of a bear, and the paws of a tiger. It also had a ring of purple smoke encircling its neck like a mane, and last, of all, It was colored several different shades of violet and pink with distinct patterns and markings along its back and rump with a cream-white underbelly and pale markings on its shoulders and back. And now that Basil got a good look at it, you realize that this thing pretty much looked like a very brightly colored Tapir.
After looking over and trying to figure out what it really was, Basil looked to his three compatriots and said, "Okay, I have no idea what this is?"
They also looked confused by this creature, except Wrinkles, who, with a shocked and bewildered expression, exclaimed, "Baku!"
"Baku!?", Hagson exclaimed in surprise.
"Wait, this is the Baku? Then that means…it wasn't a dream.", Basil said in a vague tone.
"Huh?", Hagson questions him.
"I had a dream that stuff was coming out of my head, and this thing was eating it. But it was all fuzzy. I thought I was just dreaming.", Basil explained in more detail before turning to the creature in his bed and stating, "If this is the Baku, why is it still here?"
"Maybe your nightmares are so tasty it doesn't want to leave.", Hagson guessed as Teto hopped up to poke the creature, who retaliated by throwing some of its smoke scarf rings into his face. Thus making the Kenku's eyes water and sneeze uncontrollably.
"Oh yes, nearly forgets.", Wrinkles suddenly said before telling him, "Since Tantabus is haunting you. Bauku will need to stay until it starves Tantabus."
Although Basil wasn't particularly thrilled about the Tantabus not going away after just one night, he expected this to happen. So, with begrudging acceptance, he said, "Well, if it means a full night's rest, then I don't mind letting it live with me. But I gotta give you a name. How about…Puca?", He offered to the still sleeping creature, who seemed entirely disinterested, only opening an eye.
So instead, he offered, "Want some soup."
Only for the Baku to summon the pot that Wrinkles made his stew in, slurped the whole thing through its trunk, make the pot vanish, and fall back to sleep.
Basil could only compare this creature to a very lazy and moody teenager. But before he could do anything else, Hagson asked out of the blue, "By the way, when did you get a wyvern?"
Basil knew he and the witch had much to catch up on, especially with his human classes.