All of a sudden, his mind was clear. The constant chatter of noise from his senses melted away into the background. Qi stirred around him as he sat in the sweet silence of his dull mind.

“Uwaah!” The call smacked into his body once again.

It was familiar in a way he couldn't quiet place.

‘I know that from somewhere. I just can’t put my toe pad on it. A bird call? Can’t be. A thunder strike? Come on Egosum, you know this sound.’

He enhanced his hearing to the max.

It felt familiar. There was a longing within it that he fought with himself to identify.

‘It has to be a creature. Maybe it’s Cinera? She can talk like any sentient creature though. Who is it?’

“Uwaaah!”

He flinched slightly.

‘Uwah. Uwah? Meep? They just ring the right bells in my head. It’s on the tip of my tongue.’

“Egosum! Come quick! I think Coyotl is nearby!” The dull scream from outside his mound percolated through the thick isolating layer.

He snapped from his musings with an abrupt head turn.

“Coyotl? Coyotl!” He couldn’t believe it.

His first real friend and he failed to recognize his call. If it was any other time, he would have been beating himself up for the embarrassing slip.

Fortunately, he had more important concerns right now. He needed to go find his friend.

His Qi opened the mound up and he launched out of it, landing in front of the two amphibians.

“Woah!” The caecilian jerked away from the sudden entrance.

“Did you hear the calls?!” Cinera was almost bouncing in place.

“I did. What direction did they come from?” He got straight to work.

She tilted her head to the left and began to scuttle away.

“This way. Come on.” She was moving faster than he had ever seen, warming his heart at the deeper meaning.

“Glad to see I’m not the only one that misses him.” She scoffed at the remark.

“Ya know…I would probably miss him too….if you told me why we are running off so fast to look for him.” Natan was slowly falling behind as she tried to keep pace.

Egosum lifted the creature under his arm and caught up to the racing salamander.

"The friend that we lost as we climbed over the wall. He jumped into some kind of hole instead of falling to his death so we think he is still kicking somewhere.” He took bounding leaps, sailing through the humid air.

“And this call is his?” She asked between the jostling movements.

“Yep. The very same. He can be pretty loud but it means we are getting closer.” He could feel his heart pumping faster and faster as he traveled in excitement.

He pushed himself higher into the air than before to gain a vantage point of the area they traveled.

In the distance, a field of small, dark pools filled pocketed the sphagnum fields.

“Not much further.” He looked to Cinera’s scuttling figure.

“Okay. We just need to keep listening for his call to pin point his location.

They crested one of the roaming hills and got the first view of the ponds.

“Can’t be much-” He was cut off as the familiar noise shattered the silence that rained over the landscape.

“Meep!”

They both swiveled their heads in its direction and raced for the point it came from.

“Uwaah!” Egosum hopped into the sky and caught a glimpse of the grey-green skin of his friend's back.

“I see him. He is just up ahead.” He landed and before making the last hop required to finally reunite with his friend.

His heart sank as he smacked the ground and looked around.

The frog he saw was nowhere to be seen. The pool's edge rippled with motion.

He scanned around the small body of water and couldn’t see a thing.

“Coyotl!” Cinera came bursting over the top of the birl that collected the little pool.

Her face slowly sank from jubilation to confusion.

“I thought you said you saw him.” She scanned the area with a glimmer of hope still contained.

Egosum didn’t know what to say.

He could have sworn that the spotted pattern that he had grown so familiar with was right there.”

His eyesight filled with Qi as he scanned the area. It was the same as the rest of the ancient spagnum meadows except for the lifeless pit of tannin rich water before him.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The longer he stared at the slowly calming pool, the more uncomfortable he became.

It was almost a perfect remake of Coyotl’s dead eyes looking back at him.

‘Was I tricked? That can’t be. I was so confident. Nothing about it makes sense. I am certain I saw his back.’

“Meep!”

They quickly turned in the noise’s direction.

“There!” Cinera quickly rushed ahead

Egosum followed just slightly behind her before taking to the sky once again.

His Qi flared as he turned his sight towards the ground.

Every single pool around was full to the brim with a bottomless void he couldn’t help but to look towards.

Cinera beat him to the spot she was so confident the call came from.

“He has to be here! It doesn’t make any sense. You heard it too. Right here.” She slammed her slimy foot down on the pillowy moss.

He looked at the void, watching the ripples emanate from the side.

“I thought so too.

“Uwaaah!” It rippled through the air once more.

The trio stared amongst each other for a moment before rushing ahead once more only to be disappointed by an empty, wavy pool.

“What’s going on here?! Is this place teasing us? It is him. I know It. That loud cry is so unique.” Cinera let her frustration boil over into her words.

“I think so too, but have you looked at the pools? When I see them from the sky, they are a tranquil as a church’s inner sanctum. Once we get here, they are an undulating mess of water.”

The salamander turned to the pool at her side.

“What are you trying to say? That he is hiding in the water? If you think that’s it then get what are you waiting for? Get in there!” Her tone picked up in intensity as she spoke.

Egosum looked back at the water with a tense expression.

“It doesn’t seem right.” His hand slowly reached to the rippling surface with trepidation.

“Don’t! At least not with me in your arms.” The caecilian screamed from his grip, startling both of them.

He wormlike figure squirmed for freedom.

The slowly let her drop to the ground with a light thud.

“Ouchy, ah. I wouldn’t go in there.” She rubbed her grey head with her clawed hands.

“Why? Another memory blip from your ancestors?” Cinera was eager for an answer.

“Uuuuh, no. I mean, just look at it. Looks scary, doesn’t it?” They all turned to look at the deep brown waters.

There was no bottom in sight and the edges disappeared into the depths.

“She isn’t wrong.” Egosum agreed.

The salamander hissed in annoyance.

“Meep!” The call ripped through the air once more.

He stopped her before she could chase after the source.

“What are you doing?!” She was clearly upset.

“Relax. If we don’t rush over to the source, its not going to change the outcome. You taught me to be more analytical and now you are falling into the same trap I did a long time ago.” She moved to respond before biting back her words.

“Fine, what do you suggest.”

Egosum looked at each of the amphibians before continuing.

“I think I should get as high as possible and see if I can spot our friend before we even get close. We can decide what happens next if I succeed.”

She shook her head in agreement and he empowered his legs. Tension built in them as they waited for the call to ring out.

“Meep!” He pushed as hard as he could against the soft ground and went flying higher than ever before.

He scanned the pools for any sign of his friend when he caught sight of something dart into the water.

He felt his stomach raise in his chest as he slowly began to fall back down.

‘Oh shit. This might hurt a bit.

He extended his legs and hardened himself as he made contact with the fluffy vegetation. They sunk into the ground to his elbows before his stomach hit and stopped him for sinking any more.

“How graceful. What did you see?” Cinera joke earned a light chuckle from the caecilian.

“I did see something alive. I couldn’t tell what it was thought.”

She looked unimpressed.

“So, you're saying that you might have seen Coyotl or you might have something completely different? You said it yourself. It sounds just like him.”

“Uwaah!” They turned to the source. It was closer this time. Much closer than any time before.

“What do we do this time, genius?” The sarcastic tone settled over them.

“Underground?” He asked the question, fully expecting to be berated within an inch of his life.

“Thats… not a bad idea. Get to it.”

He willed his Qi into the earth and pushed through the decaying mosses another rot.

“Follow after me.”

The tunnel was just large enough to offer them space to walk but not large enough to continuous divert their path to avoid the pockets of water.

A few alterations to the tunnel later and they were quickly approaching the source.

He could almost feel his friend's presence nearby when he paused.

A light vibration attracted his attention.

“You hear that?” His voice was a whisper.

The other looked confused but stayed silent.

He heightened his hearing to the extremes and listened in.

He could pick out both of his companions' breathing, their shallow heartbeats, and even the twisting of their guts.

Behind all of that, there was another noise. The low and repetitive trill of a frog's call. One meant to travel across the water, not the open air.

He could open his tunnel right on the other side of the pond and Coyotl would have no clue they were coming.

He pushed his Qi upwards, funneling the rot to the sides as they made their way to the surface.

Sunlight broke through the top.

They held their breaths as Egosum peaked over the edge of his hole and around the pool's sides.

He noticed his friend immediately. Sitting in all of his mottle grey-geen glory, Coyotl was calling silently with just his front half in the water, entirely unaware of the onlookers.

Egosum went to call out to him only to pause a fraction of a second beforehand.

Something was off. The frog before him looked nearly identical to their friend, but his finely tuned senses and keen memory picked out numerous details that just weren’t right.

His face tensed up in uncertainty.

He felt the two other amphibians pushe up his sides to get a look.

Cinera squeezed her head out just far enough to see the new amphibian.

“Coyo-” He quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

“New frien-” Natan chirped in as well only to receive the same treatment.

Its eyes shot open as they spoke. One was a clear, glossy black like his friends while the other was slightly clouded from some past injury. He could see its expression morph from tranquil and happy to utterly terrified in a matter of moments.

“Weh-bububub!” The scream was cut short as it launched into the water, sending air bubbles to the surface as it kicked deep into the pool.

“What are you doing? Go after him.” He let the confusion fall as he shot out of the hole and into the water, giving chase to the mysterious amphibian.

The dark water enveloped him completely, swallowing his body and mind in one quiet blip. The water barely rippled as his large figure disappeared from sight

The pair watching from above looked at each other with an expression ranging from confusion to worry.

“He’s coming back right?”