The Hidden Shrine

We walk around Camp O-Bag, and I show you the sights. I’m a natural at orienteering, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost. We’ll be fine. In fact, if you’ve read Everything Fails, you know this place already. It’s where I hid out with baby Mason to try to get away from the Ministry in chapter whatever it was.

Anyway, here we are, at this camp on the moon, the Jungle moon. It’s beautiful, but the stories here are sad.

The Moon Herself, for example. Her proper name is Lilamara, and She was a Jungle priestess of peace. The moon is Her tomb, and a place upon which one can stand safe on Her surface, and can be guided by Her light on the main planet below.

But, of course, then Onococho gets involved.

O-Bag is what we call Onococho, which is a pretty obvi portmanteau of the initial ‘o’ and ‘douchebag,’ right? So this fuckwad is a conquering demigod kind of figure, some distant cousin of Mars or something, and is allegedly a figure of hope. Hope for whom? For the conquerors, of course.

Onococho came to this place and broke Her back. He split Her skin, and pulled out Her precious minerals. Then he built temples on Her, like this place.

But, this place is not completely desecrated. There remains a small, hidden shrine to Lilamara, deep in the woods, high up the hill.

I take you there, one step at a time. Each one, a call into deeper mystery with this place, with me.

You are learning me, I say to you. One word at a time. One thought. Each step, you learn me more and more.

Play procedures

• If you’re tracking Mars chapters, be sure to keep Mars the planet separate from Mars the deity from Mars the Azza-Jono character. (If you don’t know who that is yet, or if you’re not following the A-J storylines, don’t worry about it.) Before you start whining about how hard it is to keep up with all these same names, it’s not that hard. You probably already keep Mars the planet and Mars the deity separate in your mind. And you probably know of, I dunno, Veronica Mars or Bruno Mars and you don’t confuse any of them. So chill, babe. It’s not a biggie. Just make separate notations, as I have on da Backbone.
• You can add the Hidden Shrine to Lilamara to your list of safe locations now that I’ve shown you how to get there.
• Think about a place that you used to connect with when you were young that perhaps you have not been to in some time. You may add that place to the list as well. Write about it, if you are keeping a journal.