Chapter 1    Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6

Aki and Ani had been in the strange new world for approximately seven minutes when they discovered three important things:
     - The glowing moss was a liar and not edible, no matter how much it smelled like mint‑chocolate chip.
     - The floating jellyfish‑thing that looks like it is made of taffy did not appreciate being petted or booped.
     - Many things here might be edible, but an alarming number of them might also explode.

This made navigation slightly hazardous. And sticky. They carefully wandered through the forest of crystalline trees, the leaves chiming like tiny alarm bells whenever Aki got too close. Ani suspected the trees were gossiping to each other about him. Loudly.

There was no sign of how they had arrived. No door. No swirling vortex. No tear in the fabric of reality. No British police telephone call box. Nothing. They didn’t expect a politely humming portal with a velvet rope and a sign reading “Please Exit Here,” but they came through a door on the other side, so why wasn’t there one on this side? Ani felt that was rude, frankly.

But then the forest opened into a meadow so enchanting it made Ani forget every concern she’d ever had, including the one about Aki’s impulse control.  The meadow shimmered with sugar‑green grass and honey‑gold flowers. A warm breeze carried the scent of vanilla and something else; something herbal and comforting, like a hug from a grandmother who always had candy in her purse. They began to wander.

Time passed, and Aki and Ani had been wandering through the shimmering new world for long enough that Ani had begun categorizing the local flora into three groups:
     1) Probably harmless
     2) Probably carnivorous
     3) Definitely watching us and possibly judging our outfits.

Aki, meanwhile, had been categorizing things into:
     1) Cool
     2) Super cool
     3) Things Ani won’t let me touch

They were debating whether a nearby bush was waving at them or simply caught in a breeze when they heard a soft, sticky glorp.
Ani frowned. “What was that?”
Aki perked up. “Adventure!” His eyes lit up like a toddler spotting cake.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. You can’t just yell, ‘Adventure’ any time something weird, bonkers, or aggressively sparkly happens. Sometimes, you really should just run screaming in the other direction. However… that did sound kind of dessert-y.”

They followed the sound, because Aki’s enthusiasm had the gravitational pull of a small moon and Ani’s even more powerful curiosity was piqued. The trees parted to reveal a river - wide, slow‑moving, and shimmering gold in the sunlight. It burbled gently, like a pot of caramel simmering on low heat.

Ani blinked. “Wait, what? Is that…?”
Aki knelt at the bank. “A caramel river. A literal caramel river.”
Ani stared. “Oooohh. That can’t be safe.”
Aki dipped a finger in and tasted it.
“Aki!” Ani smacked his arm. “You don’t know what’s in that!”
Aki’s eyes widened. “Deliciousness. That’s what’s in it.”
Ani reluctantly dipped a finger in and brought it to her mouth. It was caramel all right. Warm, buttery, silky, but with something else. Something bright and herbal. Something that made her brain go hmmmm! in italics, and possibly cursive. Ani murmured thoughtfully. “There’s a familiar flavor in here...”

They followed the river upstream, sampling and resampling here and there like the 1818 chocolates lab researchers they were, although they were now irresponsibly disregarding all lab safety protocols. The air grew fragrant, and sweet caramel mingled with something green and savory. Then they saw what was adding to the caramel. Along the riverbank grew tall, branchy elegant plants with thin green leaves and tiny golden blossoms. Roots were exposed, and dipped directly into the caramel river, pulling the rich liquid up into branches and leaves. In return, the blossoms dripped nectar back into the caramel river, each drop sending a ripple of aroma through the air.

Ani inhaled deeply. “Oh wow.”
Aki inhaled more deeply. “OH WOW.”
The scent was intoxicating. There was warm caramel, fresh rosemary, and a hint of citrus. Comforting and exciting at the same time.
Ani knelt to examine a blossom. “Aki… this is it.”
“‘It’ as in…?”
“The flavor. The mystery flavor. The thing in the caramel river we couldn’t identify.”
Aki gasped, “A rosemary plant which drinks from this caramel river, takes on the flavor and becomes caramel‑rosemary!”
They looked at each other, eyes wide with the same realization and they said simultaneously. “This could be the most incredible chocolate infusion ever.” This was the flavor that could make their Mother’s Day chocolate legendary.
Ani carefully plucked a single blossom. “We need to take this home.”

Aki carefully plucked five and the plant smacked his hand when he reached for a sixth. “For research,” he said to the plant before frowning at himself.
Ani gave him a look. “Aki.”
He hid two behind his back. “For… extra research.”
Ani opened her mouth to scold him, but before she could deliver a well‑practiced “Aki, put that down,” the rosemary caramel plant leaned toward her and whispered - actually whispered - “Good luck with that one.”
Ani blinked. “Did that plant just pity me?”
Aki gasped. “It talks? It talks!”
The plant rustled its leaves indignantly. “I do not talk. I offer commentary.”
Ani sighed. “Great. Even the vegetation has opinions.”
Aki, delighted, bowed to the plant. “Thank you for your commentary.”
The plant flicked a leaf at him. “Don’t make it weird.”

They continued upstream until the caramel river narrowed into a sparkling stream, burbling like it had secrets and was terrible at keeping them. A series of what looked like stepping stones crossed it - smooth, round, and glowing faintly, as if powered by solar energy and whimsy.
Ani pointed. “We’ll cross here.”
Aki nodded with the confidence of a man who had never once successfully crossed anything without incident.
Ani gingerly and deftly made her way to the other side.
Aki stepped onto the first stone. It held.
Aki stepped onto the second stone. It held.
“No problem,” he exclaimed with a grin.
Aki stepped onto the third stone. It held.
Aki stepped onto the fourth and final stone. It did not hold.
The stone sank with a dramatic GLORP, and Aki plunged knee‑deep into the caramel stream.
“AKI!”
“I’M FINE!” he laughed, flailing like a caramel‑coated flamingo. “IT’S JUST VERY… VERY… STICKY!”
Ani grabbed his arm and hauled him out. Aki dripped caramel and smelled like a dessert buffet that had been left in the sun.

The caramel river did not seem to appreciate being stepped in. It began to bubble. Then froth. Then churn.
Ani took a step back. “Aki… I don’t like that.”
“Maybe it’s… happy?” offered Aki.
A caramel bubble the size of a beach ball rose from the river above the froth, wobbled ominously, and popped with a sound like a tuba sneezing. From the froth emerged a creature made entirely of caramel. A creature shaped vaguely like a moose, if a moose had been sculpted by a toddler with sticky fingers and no respect for anatomy. It blinked at them.

Ani whispered, “Aki.”
“Yes?”
“Run.”

The caramel moose bellowed a sound like a whale trying to yodel, then charged.
Ani grabbed Aki’s hand. “RUN!”
They sprinted through the meadow towards the dense crystal forest at its edge, dodging honey‑spun flowers and judgmental bushes. The caramel moose thundered behind them, hooves going SCHLORP SCHLORP SCHLORP with every step.
“WHY IS IT CHASING US?” Aki yelled.
“BECAUSE YOU STEPPED ON ITS HEAD!”
“I THOUGHT IT WAS A ROCK!”
“YOU ALWAYS THINK IT’S A ROCK!”

The moose gained on them, but Aki spotted a narrow gap between two crystalline trees. “THIS WAY!”  They dove through the gap just as the caramel moose skidded to a stop, too wide to follow into the forest. It snorted angrily, paced a little, flung a glob of nose caramel directly into Aki’s face, then stomped off in a huffy, sticky rage.
“Eeeeeewwww! Caramel moose snot!” Aki sputtered as he frantically wiped the goop off his cheek before collapsing onto the moss. “That was… intense.”
Ani collapsed beside him. “That was your fault.”
Aki nodded. “Oh, come on. It looked like a rock.”

The ground beneath them rumbled.
Ani groaned. “Oh no. What now.”
The strange, glowing moss split open beneath them with dramatic flair like a stage trapdoor.
Ani grabbed Aki’s hand. “Hold on!”
“To what?!”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
Ani screamed. Aki screamed. The rosemary caramel blossoms in Aki’s pocket screamed in tiny, offended voices. They slipped down into darkness.

Stay tuned for Chapter 3!

CTO
(Chief Tasting Officer)