Withering World [MCSM Fanfiction]

ENGULFMENT: Chapter 43

Petra

Sweltering traces of summer heat still sail around in the air. The more obvious thing, however, is the fog; clouds that are grounded at such a high concentration, it makes it almost impossible to see anything from just a few feet away. Nature's breath of vapor engulfs us both and everything around us.

It's been forty-five minutes since we left the temple. Lukas made it clear that the break we took helped 'immensely' though I'm not so sure. Apart from the two dark, squeamish rings of insomnia orbiting his eyes, his responses are milliseconds delayed and more exaggerated than they should be. He literally jumped when I reached out to pat his back in assurance this morning - jumped!

We haven't encountered a change in terrain for a while, us having moved along grassy plains for the past ten minutes. That's good though, definitely more good than bad since it's like this fog is rooting so bad for us to trip over.

"I can't tell if this fog's getting better or worse," Lukas says, squinting ahead.

"We just need to stay together. Then we'll be fine."

Okay, it's not the best form of encouragement, I know, but what else am I supposed to tell him? That we're no doubt lost? For now, we're just winging it, guessing which tree looks familiar or if there's a pattern in the grass we recognize.

I hear a distant snap, but give it the benefit of the doubt disregarding it as some splice in a twig.

"Petra... something doesn't feel right."

Something's prowling nearby, Lukas being smart about it and not moving another muscle. However, the only shadows I see when I investigate are two trees that my memories seem to wrap around. "Wait. These are the trees we fought by when getting the skull. We're close to the treehouse!"

"That's great, but..."

He frowns, pressing his lips into a firm, speculative line. There's no point wishing for the fog's generosity to thin, and I lightly slink around, Lukas better imitating me, so we can grope around blindly for something else. We need something, anything else we could use to mark our location.

To my right, there's a faint outline of a wispy entity, less than one block high. As I maneuver forward, the shape uncovers itself to be a wither rose. And another. And another! Further and further I go, unveiling oceans of patches of fiendish flowers. I jolt and step back.

"Oh shoot, it's a meadow!" Lukas yells. He's done his own search, playing detectives on the left.

My heart sinks. A hole is being drilled in my stomach. As the author tries hard to hide the terror from his eyes, jaw closed and tense, I feel a cold flash of dread stream down my face at the sight of the infectious swarms. "Freaking heck?! Lukas run!"

Out of the hundreds of flowers ahead, thousands more skeletons hatch, scattering across our paths in tremendous death waves. Our feet pummel with might as we escape in horror until a rose in front of Lukas spawns a wither skeleton that brings its sword at Lukas's shin, knocking him down. "Oh gosh, oh gosh!"

I just about have time to stab the skeleton once in the head with my sword, killing it instantly. I take Lukas's hands and pull him up before the burly arms of another could swing down on us. He thanks me. "The sea of zombies at the White Pumpkin's place. Imagine that but-"

"A million times worse? Uh-huh."

"This meadow's enormous!" He exclaims.

They're pouring onto our path now and the troublesome mist won't allow us to see the end. Dozens of them are in our way, them dashing towards us, us dashing towards them. To stop and fight even just one would put us on the worst level of stupidity to ever exist. So we can't stop.