Egosum watched the cat fly through the air with its paws flexing outwards, extending its massive nails.

His hand grasped the hook tightly as he waited for the perfect moment when it was too late for the monster to react.

Each second seemed to tick by slower and slower as it inched ever closer.

He saw his chance and flung his arm back. It sailed in an arc straight for the beast’s forwardmost paw, knocking it to the side and off course.

The cat slammed into the toad with its full weight and tumbled on the ground like a rolling boulder.

Egosum felt the air leave his lungs as it crushed him under its momentum but refused to get off after he successfully deflected the original attack.

The surrounding fighters started moving in to capitalize on the faint when the cat began to thrash around.

The animals rolled all around the ground with claws and hooks flying in a bid to get the upper hand. The large beast failed to stand upright multiple times as Egosum had its leg pulled tightly to his body as he held on as hard as he could.

The onlookers attempted to rush in only to be rebutted once again.

The ball of death finally broke apart as the stalemate ended.

Egosum flew to the side of the clearing with blood covering his hand and the hook was gone.

He took in a few ragged breaths as he finally got the chance to fill his lungs.

The cat kicked back from the encroaching group as the tides of battle turned in the hunting party's favor. Its large maw gnawed briefly at the weapon lodged into its hand before flinching at the pain and surveying the battlefield.

Its eyes darted from side to side as it searched for an escape. The woods behind it were clear and devoid of obstacles.

As fast as it arrived, it disappeared. The sounds of plants being brushed aside retreated further and further away by the second.

“Bitch! That thing still has my hook. Goddesses, damn it. I really started to like that thing.” Egosum swore as he dusted himself off and stood on his back legs.

The party members kept their eyes on the forest in fear of it circling back to get them for a few minutes before relaxing.

“It’s headed away. We were upwind from it earlier. That was why it could get so close without me knowing. Its scent is widening and getting weaker, so it is still fleeing.” Thunkar collected the rat corpse and turned to the unmoving body of the human host.

The group turned to the limp being as the rest of the parasites rushed over to it.

The expressions on all of their faces turned murderous as a deep and violent growl crept out of their throats.

“They killed him. Those bastards.” The quiet furry was palpable as the largest host closed its glassy eyes and sat him back down.

“One day, we will have our revenge. Mark my words. This attack will not go ignored, Isn’t that right men?” He turned to them and watched as they all thumped their chest with their fists.

The body on the ground didn’t miss a beat as it followed along with the other hosts.

Every normal creature in the clearing had their jaws on the floor as they watched the body the parasites were mourning stand up and get back in formation, entirely unharmed.

“What the hell!” Thunkar fell on his back, landing on the squishy rat.

“Hehehe. I know we got you guys good with that one. Come on, high fives.” They walked up to the other party members and held their hands out.

All but Coyotl left them hanging as they watched in horror and confusion.

“Ay, one person gets it!” The parasites grouped up to exchange their own high fives when Egosum finally spoke up.

“How is he not dead or at least not a crumpled-up ball of meat?” He watched with developing fascination as the host in question turned to the smaller group.

“We were literally skeletons. The hosts can be in horrendous shape and it doesn’t do much to stop us. We just link some worms together like stitching and the bones are as good as new.” It held its hand up and watched as its arm folded halfway down the forearm from a clean break.

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A fake panicked expression covered its face as it quickly put it back in place.

“So funny, now Thunkar, do we need to worry about that thing following us?” He turned to the boy who was just now recovering from the shock.

“Uh, no we shouldn’t. They are cowards unless you really piss them off. If we get out of here quickly then we should be good and safe from it tracking us. Just let our scent get lost in the forest amongst every other struggling animal.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here. Cut our losses and consider this one a success. Some prey is better than nothing.” Egosum nodded for the beastman to lead the way and told the parasites to return back to the lake.

The hosts waved themselves off as they split up and the smaller living group headed back home.

When they were finally out of earshot of the other group, Thunkar finally spoke up and addressed the amphibians.

“I do not like what just happened. Those things are a danger to this planet, not just this forest.”

His tone was fierce as he choked out every word.

“Oh relax. You see how chipper and funny they are. I am sure you are overreacting.” Cinera tried to dissuade the boy once again.

“Hell no. That was not funny and I won’t let you trick me into thinking it is. You need to be careful with what you bring back into this world. Why were they stuck in that cave if not to trap them in there for eternity.”

“I… well, you might be onto something with that, but they are definitely on our side for now. Maybe they can even help you bring the fight back to the humans. They seem reasonable enough.” Egosum tried to convince the boy in whatever way he could. Thunkar turned away from the toad while shaking his head as he continued to lead them back home.

The walk was quiet outside of the random small animal jump scare and they quickly made it home, dropping off the corpse near the entrance and then snuck around back to enter from a sneaky gap the boy had made.

With their trip cut short and night still in full swing, the living members went to sleep in their tents waiting for the morning to come.

-

“So, you figured something out for the smell realm?” Pangu startled him from his mind slowly flowing into his domain.

“Let me adjust to the space before you just wake me up. Come on. I just fell asleep.” Egosum tried covering his face when the voice spoke up again.

“The world isn’t waiting for you to sleep. Your enemies are growing stronger, and your problems are getting bigger.” The toad groaned before lifting himself up to address the soil.

“Fine. Yes, I figured some scents out. Swamp gas and peat are the most distinguishable scents to me. Kind of combines with a bunch of other stuff to make that iconic smell.”

“Okay. That sounds like a good start. I am sure you remember what you did to incorporate sight and touch into your dao. All you need to do is repeat the same thing and you will be golden.”

Egosum stepped away from the talking dirt and closed his eyes to isolate his senses. His extraordinary sense of sight slowly ebbed away from him as the wet and sticky mud under his foot became the only thing dominating his mind.

The thoughts of the parasites and hunters were long gone, only leaving his senses to run wild. He took deep breaths of the bland air that filled his domain.

It was strangely sterile for how natural his swamp looked and felt.

The longer he sat in silence, the more familiar he became with the repetition. The feeling of the wetland around him began to fall away as his sense of touch began to loose meaning.

He was finally alone in his mind with nothing but sterile air coming in and being blown out for what felt like hours on end.

The acrid and tangy odor of the swamp gas started to leak in with each breath he took. It started with the faintest of scents and slowly began to take over each breath he took.

Memories of his youth came crashing back as he thought about every time he popped his head above those comfortable waters. It was lightly hidden behind the cacophony of other smells that he could place.

The odor began to equalize to a normal level in the air as he became more intimate with each identifiable characteristic of it.

He finally became comfortable with the swamp gas and turned his attention to the scent of peat.

It trickled in the same way the other odor did before it began to ramp up. The familiar pine and rain smell that was soured from sitting in motionless water came to him quickly. The acrid feeling in his nose reminded him of the scent of wet burning wood.

It quickly followed suit with the swamp gas and fell into its own place within his domain. Each deep breath he took reminded him more and more of what a proper swamp was meant to smell like.

He slowly opened his eyes as he stretched his arms. It was just as vibrant as when he closed his eyes but the picture he saw felt more complete and whole than ever before.

The swamp was healthier and richer with every plant nearby. The herbs became tangy and sweet smelling with the mixture of scents and mud under the water periodically bubbled up with the same gas he created in his tent not long ago.

He let out a deep breath that he had been holding in and took in his domain's existence like he had just entered it for the first time.

It felt completely natural to just sit and stare around the place.

“Good job. That was pretty fast, all things considered. If you have a hangup in the condensation realm, then usually it takes a few days to consolidate it even if you already figured out your problem.”

His calm was broken by Pangu’s voice.

“Thank you. I know you said the realm of touch influenced the connection of my dao to the rest of the world, so what does scent do?” The question gave the dirt pause as it stopped to think.

“That is an interesting point. I would say it helps to familiarize yourself more with your dao like the rest do but It really just lets you pick up hints of those familiar smells. I found it helped me locate things attuned to my domain better in the real universe. You eventually learn to smell the actual Qi that drifts around.”

“So, I have super-smelling?” Egosum deadpanned at the new ability.

“For things related to your dao, yes. Nothing else will really jump out to you though.” He swore he could hear the shrug in the dirt's voice as it trailed off.

The world around them flickered, signaling the end of his time in the domain.

“Well, thank you for the help today. I’m going to familiarize myself with it and then we can move on to the next realm.”

“I think you will like it. It is the realm of sound.”