“OK, let’s just take this slow,” I said. “Left foot,” I stopped and waited before continuing into. “right foot.” And Being hit with yet another wave of exhaustion before starting over and instead trying. “Right foot, left foot.” And doing so without getting lightheaded. This is where I lived as I tried to find a comfortable walking pattern that wouldn’t cause yet another spell of exhaustion. It wasn’t going terribly. I was making progress in more ways than one.

Getting the hang of walking was delightful, of course. I’d even successfully fought back against the haze a bit more, which was an improvement. But the most shocking of them was one I had been oblivious to since I awoke. Poison resistance: This underground ruin I found myself in was infested with not only the scent of poison but

poisonous spores also littered the air I was breathing in, which I had been privy to due to my previous work as a seamstress. I tended to buy it from a local curer because of the vibrant purple dye you can make with its spores; most people know it as the purple death, and sometimes by its scientific name, Thanatoviolet.

It is a dangerous poison that, if not for the filtering process performed by a local curer, I’d be dead right now; it would have started with first inflaming my lungs while simultaneously causing me to go through full body-induced paralysis, which did nothing for the pain, I believe it’s actually supposed to make it worse if your lucky: you might die from suffocation well before the burning starts, but if luck isn’t your friend then the pain that misfortune gifts you is the only outcome. And immobile, soundless victim to the very blood that swims in your veins as it burns you from within.

Induced by the acidifying of your blood as it corrodes and eats through every body system you hold—all within an hour. Bleak, isn’t it? And to think such a vicious murderer is just a bunch of micro-sized mushrooms that tragically drown themselves in their own spores.

A little underwhelming for such a dangerous poison; regardless of that, the point is that these spores are not filtered, and somehow, I’m only experiencing a pleasant and intoxicating smell and a slight stinging sensation, which felt terrific.

And given how I felt an hour or two ago, it was almost nonexistent in comparison, and the number of spores in the air had tripled what it was in the forest. Why was this? Who knows. But one thing is for sure. The fact that I can breathe at all right now is unheard of. If not filtered, given the fact that Once you breathe in its spores, it kills you.

Moments ago, when the haze was at its strongest, I smelt and felt something similar to what I’m feeling now; I didn’t think much of it. Due to the cognitive trap I found myself confined to, but now that I could think through completely non-disorientated thoughts, understanding the cause of those sensations made me feel a little embarrassed that I hadn’t reached this conclusion earlier.

I won’t beat myself up over it, given my cognitive state at the time, but unfortunately, I was still somewhat disappointed in my previous lack of discernment, that fact aside. I now know that I somehow can breathe in poisonous spores, and the better I get, the stronger that resistance becomes, which is an exciting revelation given the fact that most super herbs and plants tend to be highly toxic but with a high poison tolerance, you can eat the best of them without having to have them cured and losing the best of their properties.

As fun as that sounded, it didn’t mean much if I couldn’t walk like an average person. As of right now, I was hunched over like a war-hardened elder, and any attempt at sitting up straight would just cause yet another episode of a strong case of vertiginous, so I just decided to walk as is. I don’t know how safe it would be doing so, but at least I know I’m somehow immune to being eaten. Why that was is truly beyond me; I didn’t even know where to start investigating it.

█▓▒▒░░░2 hours later ░░░▒▒▓█

I finally could walk without getting woozy, which was an improvement, but I was still hunched over, like the hag of old; the big stick I decided to use as a cane Only made that fact even more true. At least that’s how I feel; I haven’t seen a reflection of any sort since I’ve been down here, and the lighting situation wasn’t all that great. So I most likely wasn’t going to see one any time soon, but one success at a time, I guess, as my mother would say. All is not given at once.

Wise words, but ones I wish weren’t true. I was walking at least, and as I did, I could feel the presence of thousands of centipedes all around me, crawling about the walls and the floors. They weren’t attacking, but their gazes felt hostile. Fortunately, that didn’t matter too much. Looks can’t kill: at least there’s can’t. I’m sure there is some martial monster somewhere that can do that.

Unfortunately, their refusal to take a bite out of me was pretty dreadful. I needed to eat them, and now, if possible. I was nowhere near satiated, and I feared that if I didn’t, sometime soon, I would most likely regress. The thought of maybe provoking them crossed my mind.

Still, there was no guarantee that it would lead to even one of them taking a bite out of me. Especially given the reality that they were now aware of the dangers of doing so; there’s also the fact that I can only see a foot or something in front of me. So, trying to successfully coerce them into biting me was out of the question, given the verity that just one of them was capable of crushing me with just their body if they needed to.

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The Qi running through their channels was most definitely above the scope of me defeating in this state if only I resembled the hag of old in more than just in appearance. I can only pray that the dark lady may bless me with subsistence so that, maybe, if only by her grace, I may be satiated.

I’m guessing they work on some type of hive mine in my full two hours of walking. Not even one of them tried to attack me, and worst of all, I had no idea where I was; all I had for the frame of reference was the cracking stoned floors. Which honestly was interesting given most things are made of lithium metal, steel, or Gradual, which is just a bunch of grained-up metals and minerals made into fine concrete that makes up most of the roads and streets.

To see anything made of stone for anything other than decor or antics was unheard of. The idea of being in a cave with what looked like man-made stoned floors was unlikely. So I’m most likely in some kind of tome of a temple of old; what time of old was anyone truly guessing? It could be the time of the hag or the age of the dark lady.

Did it matter? This is the rarest of finds either way, given that it was hundreds of thousands of years ago since any of these times; there’s definitely something worthwhile down here, not without obstacles, Unfortunately. There are most likely some real nasty ancient beasts down here, things I probably couldn’t survive taken bite from, even if I did happen to kill them with my anti-bite, or whatever might my rear affliction be called; what truly mattered was my safety, given all the spores down here.

I can make a pretty good guess that these creatures are all poisonous, which you’d think wouldn’t be a problem for me, but honestly, you never know. My vision is drastically limited at the moment, not that seeing would be all that helpful. I’m not a combative spiritualist, and I barely can even do low-level infusing, but for whatever reason.

I strongly feel like I know where I’m headed. Logically, I know I don’t, unfortunately, the misguided sense of comfort and the threatening warm feeling of trust, as if I somehow felt safe while haggishly limping my way into the very jaws of danger herself. With luck, I’ll find something helpful, and if misfortune rears his head, I’ll be smashed to a pulp.

As I’m getting closer to what has to be some hypnosis technique, I feel the presence of multiple very dangerous auras. I’ve always been good at discerning whether something is dangerous. But this is my first time feeling it on such an eerie level. I don’t know if my ability to do so has just heightened or if I’m just that much in danger, but regardless, I’m going to keep heading this way; I’m unfortunately too weak to even try to resist. And the closer I get, the stronger the delusion of peace gets.

As if a long lost piece of me, once violently stolen and ripped from my very flesh. Blooded and battered, with the wombs of its efforts, but now countless failures be dammed, here I am, finally. If only by the skin of its teeth, it found me and beacon out all its dread and relief my way. Arms open for our much-awaited Reunion.

Convincing. The feeling, anyway, the story alone is quite vague: what was ripped from me, and by? Who, and why? But I guess it didn’t matter because, regardless, my body was still reacting to it, like a moth to a flame. I’m surprised I’m even conscious and not full-on mindlessly trudging toward it, violently complicit in its advances

Sadly, the closer I got and the more danger I could sense, the more I felt I needed it even more. So I walked through stone insects and what I believe is grass—very long, untamed grass that is now up to my chin, which was disturbing. Given the fact that somewhere close, there was definitely something that could kill me in seconds, I was getting the urge to run.

Although my body was still as hopeless, determined, and unfaltering as ever, it was an interesting turn of events given that the old me would have never even gotten this close to whatever was forcing me to come to it. The feeling of insects and plants all over my naked form itself was dissuading. The buzzing air-born insects traversed my head, and none of it bothered my body one bit; my mind and body were two separate entities at the moment, my mind highly concerned while my body was eager and desperate.

I was nothing but a passenger while my mind was a pilot, one without the credentials to do so, as it piloted me to my doom, and I could do nothing but accept my fate. Now, as I limp about, I am hoping to stand up just a bit and maybe fall uncontrollably so that I may not die, only to walk deeper into the grass as it slowly rises past my head and beyond the entirety of my body, walking who knows where. Given the floor was still very much stone, I at least knew I was still in the tome or temple.

The grass blades were now wet with something thick and slightly sticky, and surprisingly, I hadn’t been attacked. I was damp but unharmed, at least. I couldn’t tell you why that was; there was a point when I thought I might after I felt the colossal figure of what I believe was a centipede.

However, it was humongous and way bigger than maybe the ones I ate combined and bursting with Qi, so much so I couldn’t guess its stage, but surprisingly, it just passed by and left me to my own devices

As assured as that was, the true danger was just minutes away. As I drew closer, the wetness only increased, and the stinging in my throat was now a burn, painful, signifying the flames I was being drawn to were only seconds away from indulging me in their flame.

Red beamed through thick blades of grass, and I finally could see more than my feet and the floor, although everything was coated in red by the looming light. Sill limping through the grass as I watched while what looked like red liquid dripped from my hair and leaked down and moistened the entirety of my nude body as it clung to my skin and dried in some places.

Others still dripped and leaked down my body as bugs still cradled about my flesh, slipping and sticking to my skin, as others just crawled about me freely, some smaller centipedes along with a few strange winged bugs. With large wings with beautiful patterns and a fury body and head

There were other smaller bugs that I couldn’t quite make out—probably nothing I knew formerly. The closer I got to the light, the fewer bugs crawled about me, although none of them seemed to hurt me. It was the best feeling, but unfortunately, I had a new problem, one separate from the looming threat only moments away.

Although most of the liquid on my body had dried up, which felt rather familiar, soon the wondering of unplaced familiarity didn’t matter once I noticed that I now seemed to be walking in a pool of it, which with every step only got deeper. Coming up on the end of the tree-length grass, I could see that I had a way of it to walk through, as well as what I assumed was the progenitor of the red light.

Giving its hug looming ray, illuminating everything around it, it lay in the middle of a river of the liquid I’d been trudging through, hovering above a stone pillar in what looked like a translucent doom. Behind it was a beastly huge millipede, endlessly spraying and gushing out the liquid I slowly seemed to be descending into, as its venomous blood burned with more intensity with every step.

Whatever might happen from here, whether I drown in blood or be destroyed while forcibly being made to free whatever is trapped in that prism, I only pray this “black lady of the night, war-born mother, bless me so that I may live through your will. And protect me with your grace, this I offer, oh gracious dark lady”