Nay had the Tongue of the Hierophant simmering in a pot of water. The tentacle demanded that she prepare it as best as they could. Despite her chef’s sensibilities, she had considered consuming the tongue raw. She wouldn’t really taste it anyways and she wanted to learn more about what a delicacy was. But in the end, she opted for patience and succumbed to the tentacle’s demands.

Piero’s cooking kit surprisingly had both onions and bay leaves. He did have salt on him. In the other seasonings she found, she discovered peppercorns, onion powder and a few cloves of garlic. She had tossed it all into the pot, which the tentacle had made sure to lick clean of the zuppa.

She had taken the dirty pot back to the hot springs where she rinsed it in one of the smaller pools. She didn’t want to use any of the fresh water from Piero’s flask, because she realized they would still have to locate a fresh water source. She thought she saw a stream when she zoomed into her mini-map, but she couldn’t tell. There were no labels. She wondered if that would ever change, if there was like a magical upgrade or something.

She had decided to bathe again in the hot springs, feeling unclean after fighting and killing a man. But there was no washing away guilt. She had cleaned the rest of Piero’s dried blood off her arm and she even decided to soak and scrub his dirty shirt, even though she didn’t have any soap. She figured scrubbing it in the hot water was better than nothing. She hung his shirt to dry on a rock and returned back to the large cave that gave way to the ruins of the old subterranean city. The tentacle had already seen her nude. He was a tentacle, after all, and not some horny man or woman. She had a feeling he wasn’t horny. If he had any carnal desires, she was pretty sure she wasn’t really his type. Plus, she didn’t want to spend the next few hours with a wet shirt clinging to her.

The tentacle was hovering around the pot, basking in the aroma wafting out of it.

“What do I call you, anyways?” Nay said.

“What do you mean?” the tentacle said.

“Like, Nazxth – sorry – your full name, it’s a mouthful. What’s something that’s easier to say I could call you?”

“Easier?”

“There’s other, more practical reasons other than just convenience. If we’re ever in a situation like…” she nodded at Piero’s corpse, “…you know. And I have to get your attention or communicate with you. I need something easy to say on the fly. And I’m tired of thinking of you as the tentacle in my head.”

“Let me think on it.”

And think he really did. The tentacle grew silent for the rest of the time the tongue simmered. Nay could hear him muttering to himself, but she couldn’t make out anything concrete he was saying.

As she stirred the pot with the wooden spoon, her mind went back to her life when things were normal. Which, she figured, was just a few days ago. Before the horrific events in the Korean church. Before the El Diablo Burrito. Even before the encounter with the first tentacled-creature in an alleyway that night she almost died.

She wondered if Remi, Taco the Town’s sous chef, had called the police to report her missing. He would be the first to know that something was wrong. As the taco truck and her employees depended on her as she was head chef and owner. It was unlike her to not show up for a shift or be in communication with them. So, her absence would be immediately noticed.

The taco truck was her life. She had poured all of her savings in it when she had fled New Orleans for Los Angeles after her fallout with Chef Jean at Café Melville. After her experience there, pouring years of her life into her craft, after what he did, there was no way she was going to stay in New Orleans. The city became tainted for her and she had needed a fresh start. So, Los Angeles it was.

It was not just her dream to have a successful taco truck, but it was how she survived. Profits had slowly been growing and she forecast that within a year she’d be able to purchase and set-up another truck. And since they had been about to go viral after the El Diablo Burrito fiasco, that goal would have been a quicker reality. The truck and her co-workers were her life.

The only family she had was her mother who was back in Louisiana, but they talked every other week at best. Her mother worried over her choice to go somewhere like Los Angeles, but she had a busy life of her own with her bakery.

Nay didn’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend. No lovers. Other than drunken or high one night-stands with people she met in the bar. These people might have just as well been warm bodies. These encounters ticked off a physical craving. No strings attached. Which meant no emotions. She never caught a case over these brief flings. There was never time for anything serious. The restaurant worker’s life was a hectic one. They were creatures of the night, and the schedule wreaked havoc on relationships, especially if the partner was someone with a normal schedule.

So other than her Taco the Town people and eventually her mother, there would be no one really missing her. She’d just become another missing persons statistic or unsolved mystery, which Los Angeles already had thousands of. She was sure she’d be barely a blip on the radar.

She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it.

“Is it done yet?” the tentacle asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She rolled the tongue around in the water with the spoon, inspecting the color. The glowing, yellow motes continued to sparkle in the water and drift into the air with the steam. The color resembled the brown of cooked pork, and the skin-like covering on the appendage had turned yellow, making it look like it was encased in a condom. The onion had grown translucent and the bay leaves swirled around the edge of the pot. She fanned the steam into her face.

“Looks done,” she said. “Smells done.”

She took the pot off the fire and set it to the side. She fished the tongue out with her spoon and Piero’s dagger. She shuddered at the thought of using it to handle food, but she had spent a good amount of time cleaning it and there was no trace of blood left. She convinced herself the hot spring had sanitized the blade. She didn’t want to scald her hand in hot water either, which was another reason to use the knife.

She set the steaming tongue on a rock to let it cool. Then she emptied the water out of the pot, walking towards a depression in the cavern floor, where she poured out most of the broth. Before she emptied it, she wondered if she could use it as stock. She set the pot back down, walked back to find an empty clay pot in Piero’s kit. Which, she figured, was now her kit. She used it to store some of the broth.

She poured some of the cooking oil into the pot. She sniffed it. It smelled exactly like olive oil. She put the pot back on the fire and went to the task of removing the skin-like covering on the tongue. She perforated it with the tip of the dagger and pealed it off, tossing it to the side. It clung to her fingertips for a second like used sausage casing. Then she proceeded to slice the Tongue of the Hierophant into thin slices. The meat was soft and it parted, smooth and buttery as velvet.

She knew from its texture it was a quality ingredient.

If the tentacle had hands, she was sure it would be clapping in anticipation. “For tongue, that looks pretty good! I actually can’t wait to try it!”

She gingerly dropped the slices into the hot oil in the pot. It immediately started to sizzle. She was hit with a pleasant aroma that actually made her salivate. She let it cook for a minute on one side before flipping each piece with the dagger so it would evenly cook. She took some of the flatbread from Piero’s pack and cut into two pieces, forming a pocket, creating flatbread pouches. She took a nibble of the flatbread, but other than the dry texture and the hint of wheat, she couldn’t really taste it.

The seared and cooked tongue now emitted an even brighter glow, as if the preparation process had activated the dormant magic within. There was some satisfying char to each side and it looked tantalizing. She took each piece with the dagger and tucked them into the two pieces of flatbread.

Nay set the tentacle’s serving on a stone next to the creature. “It’s a shame we don’t have any condiments or sauce, as I think a good purple cabbage slaw would go great with this, but maybe it’ll still be good.”

The tentacle hummed with hunger and excitement. It moved to devour it, but then stopped. “Wait. Since you’re the chef, you do the honors.”

“I think you’re just afraid that it’s poisonous or something,” Nay said. She held up her serving. “Well, down the hatch!”

She took a big bite and the first thing she noticed was that her tongue was hit with an explosion of flavor. It had been almost half a year since she had been able to taste anything so the sudden activity in her palate almost bowed her over. She closed her eyes and had to lean on her hand as the waves of taste rolled over her.

The tongue melted like butter in her mouth, releasing a savory and rich umami flavor. The slight sear on both sides created a crispy char that gave way to a juicy bite. The flatbread sang of olive oil and dough, and was the perfect carb-laden counterpart to the tongue itself. Together, the harmony of mouth-feel and taste was simply debilitating in its power of pleasure.

It was pure ecstasy.

She wasn’t sure if her problem with her taste buds had finally been cured, if the Delicacy had awakened the sleeping nerve receptors. She didn’t know if it was a magical temporary thing, or if it was a permanent effect. Either way she was enjoying the moment. She wanted to hold onto it forever, in case the effect was fleeting.

As that first bite hit her gut, a warm feeling birthed in her stomach and began to spread throughout her body. She imagined a gold light going supernova in her belly, and following the trail of her veins and painting everything gold. Waves of dizziness made her lie down as the light made her circulatory and nervous system glow so bright it was visible through her skin as if she was translucent.

“Uh,” the tentacle backed away, “what is happening?”

Nay saw stars and a galaxy before her eyes as if she was given a glimpse to the heavens like she was having a celestial visitation or experience. She was aware of a series of dings before more prompts floated into her vision, the letters exploding like part of a galaxy being born.

---

[Delicacy Unlocked!]

[Tongue Delicacy Unlocked!]

[1/3 Delicacies]

---

Then another menu opened up beneath it:

---

[Marrow Ability Path Unlocked]

[Prerequisite: Yes]

[Marrow of the Tongue]

[Rank: Base 2%]

[0/12 Ability Slots in this Tree]

---

Congratulations, you have unlocked a Delicacy [1/3] and have activated Marrow Abilities. Since you meet the Prerequisite for Marrow Abilities, you may now consume Marrow to awaken Abilities [0/12] within the Marrow of the Tongue Ability Tree.

To help you find and identify Marrow, you’ve been granted the Passive Ability of Detect Marrow.

Detect Marrow means your senses have been awakened to the existence of Marrow.

You’ve also unlocked the Tongue of the Hierophant Delicacy Passive, Chef’s Kiss, Rank 2. (It appears you possessed Chef’s Kiss, Rank 1 as a Traveler Passive Ability.)

Chef’s Kiss gives you the ability to prepare Delicacies for proper consumption.

Note: Only Delicacies prepared by those with the Chef’s Kiss ability can be properly unlocked and harnessed for consumption.

Nay sat up, overwhelmed. “Holy shit.”

The tentacle looked at her, jealous, and immediately bit into its serving. He released little grunts of delight and glee. It sounded ironically like, “Nom nom nom!”

Dazed, Nay had another revelation in this series of awakenings as she watched the tentacle eat.

“I got it,” she said. “I know what I’m going to call you.”

He looked up at her as he ate.

“I’m going to call you Nom!” she said.

“Nom?”

“As in, nom nom nom.”

The tentacle devoured the rest of its tongue flatbread with gusto and shrugged.

“Works for me,” Nom said between bites.