The huge beast slammed its wings down faster than Egosum could see and climbed high into the sky. The toad slowly fell back onto the muddy soil and stared after the beast's retreating figure.

The blinding show of agility and athleticism was inspiring despite the near-death experience that accompanied it.

He felt the air in his lungs leak out as the creature kept moving away in a leisurely pace.

“Hey! Where are you?” The caecilian’s voice stole his attention away.

“Right here.” He pushed himself up and called on his QI. It was sluggish and hard to control but slowly listened to his commands.

The pair he left behind made their way over to the deflated toad.

“Why do you look so sad?” Natan scanned his body for any wounds.

“You felt it too, right?” Cinera nodded her head.

“I still can’t really do anything with my mana. It's like the whole winds of magic crumpled when that thing flew by us the second time.”

He made the mud slough off of her hand and back onto the ground.

“I got it back pretty quick, but I definitely felt like a fish out of water. If that thing wanted to, I feel like it really could have killed us without letting us get so much as a move in.”

The caecilian blinked her eyes rapidly and scratched at her head in distress. What's going on?! Are you okay?” The salamander rushed to her side but relaxed as Natan calmed down.

“Sorry about that. Just a memory blip from my mom. That was a disarray darter. A young one. The adults are about 3 times the size and much scarier.” The pair stared at her with unhidden interest.

‘Memory blips? I thought those were from the mind enhancers only.’

“You just get pieces of information from your mom at random times?” Cinera interest was piqued as she tried to pry answers from the caecilian.

The creature merely shrugged her shoulders

“Yeah. Sometimes. Other times I don’t. Usually, it's about dangers or about good food, but this one was a little late. Can’t win em all.”

Egosum turned away from the discussion and into the distance where it had fled to. It was the same direction they were headed. Deeper into the swamp.

“This is going to be a rough time.” The trio carried on, brushing past razor-sharp reeds and the odd terrified animal, but never meeting anything so terrifying again before they stopped for the night.

“The sun is setting. Let’s hunker down here. I'll make some rooms this time so the incident doesn’t happen again.” The offender looked between the two with a confused look on her face.

Egosum sectioned their temporary home to allow for some privacy and passed the night tinkering with his Qi.

He attempted to tempter the energy he had saved within his body to no avail. Whatever the darter had done to scramble the energy they were drawing upon had happened far too quickly to understand.

His enhanced vision couldn’t follow its actions as it sent out the blast that crippled his ability to fight back.

Without his ability to diagnose the issue as it happened, he was stuck with no clues to grow and no ideas to counteract the attack.

His internal clock slowly hinted that the sun was peaking over the world's edge, ending his pointless attempts.

He peaked through the soil without disturbing the ground too much. A few reeds sat atop his head as he scanned the area for any signs of dangerous life. It was completely safe if his senses were to be believed.

He felt warry to trust himself with anything after the failures of his abilities but, with nothing else to lean on, he begrudgingly lifted himself into the humid morning air of the swamp.

While the ground of infused with the familiar wetlands energy, it wasn’t a complete picture in any way.

Each breath he took filled him with life, lightening his spirit and offering his hope for the future.

The light fog that had once hung far in the distance had encroached ever closer as the cool night clashed with the warm morning sun.

The silhouettes of trees and reeds in the distance were just barely distinguishable against the grey haze.

He opened the tunnels to his friend’s rooms and allied for them to stir.

Cinera quickly met him at the surface, well-rested and energetic for the day's journey.

Natan was much less ready. She pulled herself out of the hole with bleary eyes and a deflated appearance.

“Rough night?” He asked the long creature. She shook her head and dragged herself closer.

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“Tired. I am used to sleeping till midday. There usually isn’t much to do in the swamp that can’t be done in the safety of my pool so I think the last two nights finally caught up to me.”

The experienced amphibians shared a look before turning to the swamp ahead.

“This way forward. Keep close, the fog will make it hard to look out for any dangers but it works both ways so we will stick to the divots in the landscapes as we walk.”

They proceeded forward at a slower pace than before.

By the time the sun rose high into the sky, the fog began to slowly disperse. Random blasts of wind from above alerted them to hidden threats passing by, but no true danger came to fruition.

Their journey proved much safer than the day before.

A warm breeze slowly pushed the fog from the moist landscape and offered them all a view of the land.

The trees above their heads were barren of foliage and filled with bundles of sticks woven in complex patterns.

“Weird-looking tthings.” Natan gawked as they passed under the strange sight, bumping into Cinera by accident.”Oof! Why did you stop?”

She rubbed at her snout where she made contact.

“Cinera. Magic at the ready.” Egosum’s calm commands began to fly as the caecilian panic.

Her small clawed hands went to work, sifting through the earth with ease.

He watched as the shadows of mysterious creatures flashed overhead.

As quickly as he caught sight of them from the corner of his eye, they fled from his vision to another bundle of sticks high in the trees.

“What is it?” She spun in circles, trying to catch a glimpse of the enemies.

“I don’t know, but they are everywhere. They waited until we were deep in their woods."

A shuffle of sticks stole his attention away. He flung his head back and caught his first glimpse of the hidden creatures. The glint of sunlight reflecting off of smooth, wet scales trained his vision onto te beast.

It had thin lobbed fins in several places around its body with one large set of see-through fans along the slimy back.

Its head was large and was topped with two bulbous eyes that stuck out from its head like a telescope.

‘A mudskipper with wings?’

The thought flashed through his mind as he saw another one in its full glory.

Their scales showed the rainbow every time the sun hit them in the right way.

He would almost consider the sight beautiful if it weren’t for the pit in his stomach deepening with each new enemy he caught sight of.

He felt the soil below him churn slightly as the grey face of their new companion shoved its way into his vision.

“Hey, what’s going on up here?” He hesitated as he looked down at her before diverting his attention back up.

“Mudskipper fish things are running around the trees. I don’t know if they are enemies or not.” She pulled herself from the hole as he answered.

“Sky skippers. My mom used to show them a lot. Apparently, they aren’t too dangerous if the male isn’t nearby. It's much larger and more colorful.

Egosum grit his teeth before making a decision.

The fog was still too thick in the distance to see where the nests ended but he had a horrible feeling creeping high into his chest.

“We are going underground for a while. No reason to risk ourselves more than we need to.”

A small tunnel opened up in front of them.

The ladies headed inside first with Egosum watching the skies.

With his friends safe, he started to follow them inside when a familiar blast of wind stole his attention back to the trees.

A beast far longer than Natan and bigger than the toad landed on a thick tree.

The sky skipper stopped moving as it arrived.

He looked at it with a rapidly increasing heartbeat.

Its wings had bright red dots lining the edge and yellow helixes along its entire length.

The beast's mouth was not fish-like compared to the others of its species. Instead, it was replaced by a thick crushing beak common on the most specialized seed-eating birds.

Its neck swiveled like an owl, scanning the ground for a few moments before freezing as it saw the brown eyes of a toad looking up.

Egosum swallowed the thick spit in his throat before diving into the hole for an escape.

The sudden motion stirred the beast's instincts. It launched for the floor, unleashing deep grunts from its wide beak.

“Move!” He shouted at the two deeper in the tunnel, pushing dirt aside faster than ever before.

His Qi collapsed the soil behind him in hopes of stopping the beast only for it to be pushed aside in a flurry of movement from the creature.

Its huge mouth clacked behind them as it forced itself into the hole, squeezing through with little difficulty. The pure strength held in its piscine body made the task simple.

Natan's little arms slowly failed her as she began to fall behind the other girl.

Deep pants and a desperate wheeze filled the tunnel only for it to be eclipsed by the fish breaking through another rock barricade the toad had set up to block its path.

Egosum scooped their new companion up as he began to pass her.

“Woah! Watch your hands big guy! I want to marry someone from my own species!” He fought back a roll from his eyes as he grabbed Cinera as well.

The salamander turned to their enemy with her magic ready. Lightning bolts raced through the air before landing ineffectually against its large form.

“Shit!” She looked forward once again and formed a sizzling blue glow in her hand, lighting up the black tunnel with her mana.

Egosum’s gate was anything but graceful as he tried an actual run for the first time in his life. Each leg slammed into the mud, forcing him to lurch forward awkwardly before the other one took over to repeat the process.

‘Bipedal motion might actually be overrated. This shit kind of sucks.’

His training for the next realm changed the attempt from impossible to challenging. He split his attention among his various needs as he noticed the creature growing closer with each moment.

He pushed the tunnel as far forward as possible before turning his Qi to the creature once more.

The fight against the burrowing worm from days prior was fresh on his mind.

He willed the hardest spikes he could to pierce into the monster's sides. It barely registered the attack as his energy raked along its colorful patterns, shattering as he tried to force it deeper in.

‘Fuck. Come on. Something. Any idea? I can’t think.’ He struggled in his mind as he felt its warm, rotten breath tickling his back.

“Split the tunnel into two paths. Fifty-fifty chance it just misses us entirely.” The caecilian in his arm looked back at the beast hot on their trail, lifting her dangling rear end away from the massive crushing jaws that bit the air in desire.

“Its eyes are closed! It isn’t even looking where it's going! Try it!”