On the trail: The hour of the Rat.
Slowly padding forward Mitsu followed the twisted trail of spiderwolf blood and mucus deep into the undergrowth cautiously moving forward, careful of his surroundings. As he moved forward, what frightened him the most was wondering what had caused the rampant trail of destruction the trail he was following through what had obviously once been a deeply tangled mess of roots, thorns and branches.
Growing more nervous as each step passed Mitsu followed the trail of destruction into the heartland of the forest. One candle later and Mitsu was crouching nervously inside the broken undergrowth at the edge of a riverside clearing looking out across the broken earth at the sight of battle field.
Six, half chewed spiderwolf bodies lay dead, haphazardly strewn across the clearing in front of what could only be described as the entrance to a what appeared to be a rather large river cave.
Hearing noting stirring, Mitsu crept out onto the clearing, closer to the river, eyeing off the dead spiderwolf bodies as he took in the sights.
Examining the cave entrance spanning the river appeared to be about fifty meters high and about one hundred meters wide, and the sound of birds could be heard coming from deep within. On the left-hand side, apart from the dead of the spiderwolf's bodies Mitsu could see that the trail of blood and mucus that he'd been following from the beach continued back into the dappled darkness of the cave.
Edging closer to the cave entrance Mitsu activated his skills enhanced sight and hide in shadows before hesitantly peering in, the bloody scene lying near the entrance almost put him off further investigations. The dead, mangled bodies of dozens of dismembered spiderwolf's lay strewn in the dappled light, littered across the broken rocky ground, their corpses spilling out across a gentle slope to the river, their stale stagnate blood sitting in a darkened pool that almost overflowed the ridge it lay on.
The dappled light filtering into the cave was rife and countless tiny creatures buzzed endlessly around the nearby bodies, while Mitsu's enhanced sight could just make out the numerous crawling things feeding on the bodies and blood near the stagnate pool.
Carefully venturing into the caves past its threshold Mitsu padded his way his way in, examining the bloody scene as he went.
'Who or whatever did this....' Mitsu started as he examined the bodies near his feet. 'Was merciless.' He concluded as he slowly moved forward towards the back of the cave nosing aside the legs of the larger spiderwolf that was blocking his way forward.
Once inside, the full extent of the massacre became apparent. What had once obviosity been a thriving spiderwolf nest or colony of over thirty beasts was now nothing more than strewn bodies and blood. But after viewing the scene, what concerned Mitsu the most was that the 'thing' capable of doing this had left any noticeable evidence of its passing.
Ok. Yes, there were torn body parts limply hanging in the remains of the colony's webs. And Yes, the walls of the cave were covered in a mess of splattered blood. And Yes, the cave floor was clearly covered with drag marks. But frighteningly, there was no signs of what could possibly have done this.
Taking his time, Mitsu carefully explored the extent of the cave, eventually arriving at the narrowest, web covered, rear most point of the colony. Strangely, not only was it the warmest point in the cave but an almost vague crimson light could be seen to be leaking out from the edges of the mass of webs plastering the walls.
Examining the area more closely with his enhanced sight Mitsu could just make out that the was definitely something behind the mass of webs in front of him.
'Well that's different.' Mitsu thought as he started scrapping the webs off the walls, chipping the edge off one of his front claws as he dug into the mass.
Half a candle and several blunt claws later Mitsu was staring at the large, swaying, pulsating mass of spiderwolf eggs that had been pinned to edges of the alcove that he'd uncovered behind the webs. A warm gently breeze was blowing in from the crimson glowing crack in the rear of the alcove gently massaging the hanging eggs, brushing past each of them in turn as it swirled around the alcove before exiting past Mitsu.
Lowering himself Mitsu carefully examine the edge of crack, and was almost blinded by the intense light and heat radiating from the edge.
From what he could see what lay beyond was a crimson red lava edged passageway heading deep into the mountain, the likes of which reminded him of dead Lava Tubes that he'd once seen on a certain discovery channel. Unfortunately, the light and heat emanating from behind the wall prevented Mitsu from getting any more information.
Feeling somewhat parched and slightly hungry, Mitsu turned to examine the spiderwolf with interest. Finally deciding that he had nothing to lose Mitsu experimentally bit into the smallest egg he could find.
It popped like choice caviar, exploding in his mouth like a little flavour bomb, tasting like the finest salmon roe he'd ever eaten. Spurred on by the taste, his thirst and hunger Mitsu ate his fill of eggs, clearing about one sixteenth of the alcove in the process. After which a message suddenly began scrolling across the bottom of Mitsu's vision.
Status:
Spiderwolf Poisoned / ACTIVE
Spiderwolf Poisoned / Nullified by passive skill: Poison Res 30%
Spiderwolf blood / ACTIVE
Spiderwolf blood /Nullified by passive skill: Dark Res 30%
Passive skill increase: Poison Res from 30% to 35%
Dark Res from 30% to 35%
Sighing with relief that he hadn't ended up dead from spiderwolf poison Mitsu resolved to find another source of food.
In the cave, the waning hour of the Rat.
Having finished what he could of his cave investigation, Mitsu proceeded to destroy almost all of the remaining spiderwolf eggs leaving only a small cluster near the rear of the alcove untouched, mostly because he was unable to destroy them because they were out of his reach.
That completed Mitsu left the cave intent on returning to the beach before searching for life's essentials, food, water and somewhere to shelter from the elements so he could sleep, in other words, a base from which he could explore his new 'home'. Finally, half a candle later Mitsu returned tothe beach to begin his search.
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Tomorrow the Stars (I have no Voice)
FantasySeventeen-year-old Japanese Australian student Toyokada Mitsuyo who's Japanese father died in a tragic motor cycle accident six years ago now lives with his had working Australian mother in Sydney. For his Seventeenth birthday Mitsuyo receiv...
