The forest slowly disappeared as they trekked through the tall grass that covered the roaming fields.

There was nothing as far as the eye could see besides greenery.

“When do you think the mountain will come into view?” Cinera spoke up just out of sight.

The density of the grass made it difficult to keep track of his friends. As soon as they went quiet for too long, he began to hear them veering off into the distance like they were being told to get lost.

“I guess it would be in a few days if the map is right.”

‘I feel like I am herding some wild animals.’

A constant hum of crickets and the whistling of wind blew through the world like a constant reminder of the wild they found themselves in.

Hours upon hours of uneventful travel finally ended when a quiet rumble caught Egosum’s sensitive hearing.

“Get close!” The two other amphibians pushed their way through the grass and huddled near the toad.

The noise grew louder and louder with each passing second when he felt the ground begin to shake.

His Qi surged to life and the earth around him sunk deeper into the ground and encased all three of them in their own tombs of dirt.

He could make out the muffled shouts of his salamander friend at the sudden entrapment, but the increasingly deafening quakes soon dominated the area.

It finally came to a peak as the noise washed over the ground above them and continued battering his Qi-enforced earth for many grueling moments.

‘What in the world is going on up there?’

The peak of the noise finally started to fall away as the sound retreated off into the distance and Cinera’s shouts soon replaced them.

He waited with uncertainty as the ruckus finally ended completely.

His qi lifted them back up and through the soil.

The sights told them more than they were expecting.

The tall grasses that carried on for untold distances were no more.

They had been replaced by trampled stalks and exposed roots.

“Holy shit. Any idea?” She looked around in wonder at the alternate world they found themselves in.

He squinted at the ground and made a new discovery. Hoofprints dotted the surface everywhere he looked.

Far larger than his hand and innumerable in number.

“I guess some herd of beasts ran through here. Look here.” He sat his hand in one of the massive depressions while Cinera gawked.

“That is insane.” He found it hard to disagree.

“They were really heavy too. My Qi began to strain pretty hard when they trampled overtop of us.”

The salamander turned in a circle to spot the culprits only for them to spot a massive cloud disappearing into the distance.

“Well, good going on keeping us alive. That herd was thousands of hops wide and no telling how deep if they are moving that fast. Now, which way are we supposed to go? I kinda got turned around.”

He sighed before nodding in the correct direction. He had developed a newfound sense of direction as he practiced Pangu’s exercises. Undoubtedly a good sign for the future if the old dirt was to be believed.

The flattened grass made for easy travel as they followed in the beasts’ footsteps. The lush greenery was replaced with the bare soil reminiscent of the village clearing.

The longer they moved, the more he noticed small green shoots coming up from the ground.

Soon the dirt was replaced with a nice, lush cushion of fresh grass

“This stuff grows back fast. Pretty interesting. Does your mana sight tell you anything about it?”

He enhanced his vision and looked at the shoots. They were nearly devoid of mana like most mundane plants but the important difference became blatantly obvious. The ground was saturated with rich life mana that suffused the earth everywhere he looked.

“The dirt is the real star. I think the grass is just harnessing the mana present to grow quickly.”

She nodded her head and pondered a few other things as they continued on.

-

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The sun above their heads slowly fell and an intense darkness overtook the fields they wandered, freezing them in place.

“This is the darkest it’s been in my memory. The caves were even brighter than this.”

The hills around them had become more reminiscent of small mountains than anything else as they got deeper and deeper into the plains.

“Can you light a fire, Cinera?” He turned in the direction he heard her heartbeat. The low thump jumped slightly as he said her name.

“Gladly.” A surge of mana brought to life a small bundle of embers. The light source lit up the surroundings better than he could have hopped as they began to feed it with the dead stocks that littered the ground.

Egosum’s spine shivered as he sat in front of the fire. He turned to his friends to watch their reactions.

The salamander curled around the warm embers for comfort as they waited for the darkness to pass while Coyotl circled the small camp, pressing the shoots of grass down like it was the most fun game he had ever played.

“I feel like we are being watched. I don’t like this.” The salamander perked up before scanning around them.

The sounds of the crackling fire and Coyotl’s activities dampened any other noises from making their way to them and the darkness enclosing them cut off all light beyond the edge of their camp.

“I’m not sure. I don’t feel anything like that around here. Could it be just some cold wind or something?” She laid back down near the fire and unfurled the map to look at what was written about the plains.

“I don’t-” His response cut short as another shiver crept up his back. “Nope. Something is definitely not right. Coyotl, stay still for a moment.”

“Meep.”

The only sound left was the crackling fire and a light whistle of wind.

He looked around the clearing with extreme paranoia.

‘I know something is just outside of our sight.’

He willed his Qi to empower his vision once more. The darkness remained in place, but the bright outlines of titanic figures welcomed him.

“Oh, look, it has these weird bullheads dotted around the place. That is probably the herd we ran into earlier. There are these things too. Whatever they are. Kind of looks like weird a praying mantis mixed with a bird. It’s drawn way too big though.”

He was frozen in terror as he watched the massive figures. They turned their heads to the side as they watched the three of them sitting around the fire.

Large wings were tucked in around the side of their bodies as massive blade-like arms hovered around their sides.

“Put the fire out.” He whispered just loud enough for the salamander to hear him.

“Why?” She looked over to the toad and saw him tensed more than ever before.

“They aren’t drawn too big. Put it out.” His tone left no room for arguments.

She stole her energy away from the light source and watched it taper off as the wet fuel began to go out.

The hulking monsters above them leaned in closer with each second.

The faint embers that still contained a bit of life offered just enough light for the amphibians to watch as the reflective head of a massive inside broke through the darkness. Three pairs of eyes many times larger than the trio stared at them without a hint of a soul behind them.

Egosum felt his heart hike up in his chest as the tension and fear began to boil over. His Qi came to life as the soil around them soften to welcome them inside.

The beasts’ arms began to unfurl as they appeared ready to strike. The trio slowly sank into the ground in fear of them lunging if they moved too quickly when a familiar sound caught their attention.

The same rumbling from earlier picked up in the distance. The beasts that hovered above them threw their heads in the direction of the noise.

Egosum immediately willed his Qi to suck them deep into the soil, away from prying eyes.

His body tensed as he feared the massive beasts would tear the ground apart to try and pluck them from their cocoons of safety.

After a few moments of nothing, he let the tension fall from him and pulled his friends closer.

They quickly joined together in one large hole as the rumbling grew louder once again.

“That was fucking terrifying. What were those things?” He could do little more than shrug his shoulders as she vented her stress. “Monstrous bird bug reaper creatures? What kind of god allows those things to roam this planet?!”

“Calm down. We know what we need to do now. Once it gets dark we will duck into the ground and wait for daylight to come. It will be fine. It will be hard to miss those things during the day with how tall they are.”

She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm her fried nerves.

“Coyotl, how aren’t you freaking out right now? You saw those things too, right?”

The frog responded with the most hushed call he had produced to date, barely injuring their ears.

“Ugh. I am the only sane one here. Those things were bigger than those massive trees the elves lived on and it doesn’t rock your world? Really. I just can’t follow that. It was insane.”

She ranted away as Egosum focused on the noises on the surface.

The rumbling was in full swing but had a different sound mixed in with the constant drumming.

Scuffling and moans shot through the air above them when he finally zoned it out.

“And another thing. Look at the map. Do you see all of this stuff on here? What does this cross with eyes near them even mean? Is it some kind of temple or a monster of unimaginable terror cause I am really beginning to lean to the latter.” She took a deep breath to continue ranting only for Egosum to stop her.

“Now calm down. I understand the fear. Those things were pretty scary but that doesn’t mean we need to fear for our lives the entire time. We have only been in danger for a small portion of the trip compared to all of the downtime. We will be fine if we pay more attention to the symbols.”

“Fine, fine, fine. I get it. I am just scared is all. They were ready to eat us like a bird swallowing a seed. No need to even chomp on us. Just straight down the throat.”

He nodded along in a show of sympathy before speaking again.

“What else does the map say is in the fields?” She looked down at the hide and let her eyes roam the symbols.

“Just some weird worm-looking thing, but it is a lot smaller than the other two. Do you think that is the danger or the size because I doubt the herd above us is made up of animals only slightly smaller than those bug things?”

“They do have pretty big feet. You know what they say, big feet, big danger” She cracked the first smile since the harrowing experience at his poor joke.

“This is serious.”

“I know. Might as well relax for now if they haven't broken through the earth to eat us. The bunker might be the only way we can sleep around here from now on.” She look down to the cool ground and pulled her ushanka over her face and tucked her arms into her sweater.

“I am going to sleep. Don’t bother me.”

Egosum turned to his froggy friend and shrugged before making himself comfortable for the night.

“Sweet dreams Coyotl.”