Bogtown Day 5: The Shade
Plop… Plop… The sound of Selene’s careful footsteps echoed around her as she tread ahead slowly and mindfully within the bog. She soon came to a stop to survey her surroundings, something she had learned very well to do within this very bog. It was a dangerous, murky place, filled to the brim with harmful fauna and flora that were out to get her... as wild nature normally is. Already she had obtained some damage from a wild bogtoad-- quite the nasty creature it was when compared to the average frog she was much more fond of the sight of. With a sigh, after confirming the coast was clear with her fog lantern, she trekked on forward.
Serene had been on this mysterious journey for the better part of a week by now in hopes of figuring out what was going on. Initially, she had received a distress signal from the area she was walking in right now, but… it was really peculiar. The signal itself came from a seemingly abandoned village-- one that supposedly had no inhabitants nor power enough, at bare minimum, to power such a device that could send a strong enough signal. It perplexed her to say the least, and while she normally didn’t like getting into dirty business… she decided to just this once, or else she might have a good amount of guilt weighing upon her conscience with the knowledge of a potential life-- or potential lives-- being lost because she couldn’t help. At least she could snap some possible photos for her photo album, so things wouldn’t be as rough, right?
The journey up to where she was at now was nerve-wracking, to say the least. A dense, fog-covered boggy weald coupled with what now seemed to be a suddenly abandoned settlement of the area surely had to be on her top ten spooky places to be… and she was not the biggest fan of spooky things. She continued to press on though, trying to make out the mystery in her head as she tread through the murky water and muck. From what she saw the day before, the town itself was most certainly abandoned-- though in a way as if it was a sudden rush to escape. That, or almost as if the residents themselves may have disappeared out of thin air! Those were her top two theories at the moment.
Just when Serene thought things were still clear enough to begin thinking on unravelling the mystery some more, she heard a crunching noise off to the side, her ears perking to attention as she swiftly turned herself in the noise’s general direction. It was a normal thing to hear in such surroundings, yes, but this crunch was different-- not like the other sorts of minor crunches of leaves, twigs, and the like. As her fog lantern lit up the sight before her, her eyes widened and jaw dropped. Before her, in a relatively short distance for the creature, was some form of beastly-looking shade. It had scraggly fur, piercing-red eyes, a set of thick, battle-worn horns, and quite a monstrous-looking body with a long, kinked tail. Never before had she seen such a creature, so she was completely clueless as to how she should go about the situation. It could be a particularly scary-looking herbi or omnivore, or it could be something much, much worse. Slowly, she began to back away, trying to avoid direct eye contact while still keeping her sights on the beast. It kept staring back at her as she moved, not showing any sign of going towards her direction just yet… at least, that was until she nearly tripped over a rock hidden beneath the much behind her, which made her guard falter for a moment. When she looked back towards the thing, she saw it walking towards her on all fours, which struck her with a panic that caused her to potentially make a mistake-- turn tail and run for it. As she did, she could hear the beast huff and pick up the pace behind her, the stare-off turning into a full-on chase in the bog. She didn’t know this place like the beast most likely did, so all she could do at this point is run and hope she makes it.
Serene had been running for a couple minutes now, and the wear it was taking on her was painfully obvious. The beast was still on her tail, though she was able to tell one thing-- while it could see her, among the other things of the bog, it seemingly couldn’t smell her. She was close to losing it a couple of times already due to this, and she was hoping she could lose the thing for good sometime soon. She’s not sure how the beast can’t smell her, but she’s chalked it up to its sense of smell having been damaged in some way or another… if its species could smell at all. After a few twists and turns, she finally managed to lose the beastly shade again for a moment-- a moment that she was incredibly lucky in and thankful for, as she managed to find a hollowed-out standing tree trunk that she swiftly jumped and hid inside. To keep from giving herself off, she made sure to remain completely quiet as she tucked her lantern into her jacket, as it too could blow her cover. There she remained for about a minute before she heard the shade’s footsteps again, which sent a shiver down her spine. A few crunches here and there, then… it started to fade. When she could no longer hear the shade’s footsteps, she allowed herself a little relief, though she remained in the trunk for a while longer… just to be extra safe and sure.