The little snake reacted to the familiar presence of the hole, dragging its battered body in and beginning the long journey down to the hollow. In it’s weakened state, the little snake felt comforted by oppressive miasma and chill that grew stronger as it quickly rolled and stumbled its way deeper into the ground, oblivious to the searing pain wracking it's body. Entering the hollow and hanging on to its last spark of consciousness, the little snake did everything it could to alleviated it’s hunger, circling the perimeter of the hollow, it ate all the mushroom caps, ingested a sizable portion of muddy dirt from the central ground and washed it down the moat's putrid liquid.
Sated, the little snake could no longer hold on, only managing to slip into the moat before finally losing consciousness as it's body sunk beneath the surface, just it's muzzle breaching the water line allowing the little creature to breath. The little snake's battered and scared body lay suspended in the stagnant liquid, stretching down into the depths below. The breathing of the little snake softened and it's pulse slowed, seeming to cease for minuets at a time as it once more entered a comatose state, in moments changes began in the little hallow.
Within the little snake’s stomach, the body of the frog was brimming with chill after the two's last life and death struggle. The chill within it flowed deep within into the body where it’s own power once flowed, propagating and becoming denser as the body turned to gruel to be slowly digested. The white mushrooms within the little snake’s stomach released minute sparks of chill that mixed with the chill beginning to radiate from within the frog’s corpse. The toxins from both the frog and the mushrooms seeped into the noxious liquid the little snake had drank, where they began worming into the little snakes already battered body, damaging internal tissues.
At the same time, the chill from the frog, mushrooms, putrid liquid, the ground, and other things it ate while on the surface mixed and condensed, flowing into the deepest parts of the snake. In the depths of the little snake’s body a seen very similar to when it devoured the Cormic Rat occurred, from the stagnant liquid of the moat, the miasma in the air, and dead ground, toxins and chill seeped in to the little snake’s body.
Both the chill and toxins moving inward and outward met the chill and toxins already naturally present in the little snake's body, where they met the chills and toxins mixed and flowed, turning the steady circulation within the little snake into a roaring tide. A wave of chill and toxins surged through the little snake’s body, touching upon the little creature’s merrow and innards, a small trace even entered the small and delicate brain. As the surging wave passed through the little snake’s body it began suffusing into the bones, joints, muscles, blood and skin in greater and greater amounts from one to the other, tearing, burning, and dissolving the body, especially where there were injuries.
With pain that assaulted the little creature's unconscious mind, the wave front of chill exited through the snake’s skin, entering the surroundings and causing a small current to form in the stagnant waters once more. Changes were wrought in the little snake’s body as it became the center of a strange and subtle cycle, chill and toxins flowing in, circulating and flowing out again, however, something new happened this time.
Though unconscious, fear tormented the little creatures dormant mind, causing a change in the currents pervading the little snake's body. Within the raging waves of circulating toxins and chill, a small wave front of pure chill rose from deep within the violent current. With no life or death threat this small wave front circulated relatively slowly, building up momentum overtime so as to not place unneeded strain on an already heavily damaged body. The wave front slowly increased in both size and strength, eventually surging up the little snake’s throat, and with a shallow breath the chil came pouring from the nose as a fine, pale blue mist.
The mist slowly spread, shrouding the moat and enveloping the central ground in a thin haze of pale blue mist. The haze did not just hang there, as the temperature in the hollow plummeted, the mist suspended just above the surface of the moat condensed imperceivably, forming little droplets of chill that floated down and touched the moats liquid surface. The little droplets of chill rolled upon the moat's liquid surface, drawing in and exuding chill, condensing and dispersing to join the miniature clouds above, even seeming to defy all logic and flipping from the surface to just beneath, only to continue rolling around.
The cloud of chill seemed to slip into the walls of the hollow, worming into the dying roots of the great tree above and the broken mushroom stalks, down into the hyphae below. The haze began circulating, drawing toward the little snake as it breathed in, drawn from the ground, the moat, the roots and the mushroom stalks, only spreading out again as the little snake breathed out. With each cycle the pale blue mist grew denser and denser, evolving from a thin haze into a dense shroud. The morbidly beautiful display of twin currents in the moat and air though complex, took only moments to from, however, it only lasted for mere moments before it was suddenly and brutally disrupted.
Out side the hollow a short time after the little snake’s disappearance into it’s hole, the sky seemed to grow minutely darker and the silence became overwhelming and oppressing, only to be shattered by an enraged croaking. The lone croak was joined by others, none of them quite as impactful as the first, yet the enraged din was enough to send a shiver down the spine of every living thing in the putrid marsh. A light thumping was soon audible in the distance, closing in from the same direction as the Zin Frog now being slowly digested by the little snake.
The thump continued, only to be followed by a sudden splash sounding out over the turbid waters surrounding the isle of land the tree sprang from. Ripples spread along the water as a dark shape quickly swam through it, closing in on the shores of the isle. From the murky waters two yellow eyes appeared, flashing as they glared into the small sea of tall marsh grass where the little snake caught the tadpole. The eyes swiftly disappeared back into the depths, only for a dark mass to come flying from the water, and crossing the marsh grass in two hops, before coming to solid ground where it become still again.
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Sitting among the detritus was a Zin Frog, unlike the little frog currently being digested in the little snake’s stomach, the Zin Frog sitting here was a true example of its species, capable of striking fear into creatures even stronger than it. The size of the Zin Frog was many times larger than it’s deceased kin, reaching roughly the size of a human head, it's body was mostly light blue dotted with vibrant violet rings filled in with a murky green, glistening all over with an ominous sheen. The Zin Frog’s eyes glowed a sickly yellow as it scanned the area, with it’s senses the frog easily made out where the live and death struggle of the two smaller creatures occurred, with a small leap the large frog landed in the area of the battle.
Three places stood out, one was peppered in little craters and troughs, indication where the little snake attempted to avoid the little frog’s spit projectiles. The second area of interest was a trail of corroded ground leading to a patch of grey, where the ground itself seemed to have been poisoned, and though the toxic haze was no longer there, the air around it was still quite foul. The place that stood out the most was where the frog and snake entered their final entanglement, the place filled with the signs of a struggle and reeking of death.
The sent of death and foulness usually pervaded the air of the putrid marsh, and the light breeze had slightly dissipated the scent, however, to the unimaginably enhanced senses of a demon beast like the adult Zin Frog, the scent from the little snake was easy to detect. The scent of death was so clear the Zin Frog could even detect the small trace that left the area, overlapping with a disturbance in the ground that looked similar to a small wave pattern. The Zin Frog’s eyes narrowed, the sickly yellow glow growing in intensity as it followed the wave pattern with it’s eyes in the direction of a great and decrepit tree.
With a single hop the Zing Frog landed only feet away from the beginning of the tree’s tangle of roots, immediately sensing a stronger scent of death upon the air and locating a hole in the ground that exuded an ominous aura. The faint trail of death scent from the scene of the battle disappeared into the hole, leading to the conclusion of the Zin Frog’s search. The Zin Frog paused, seeming to think over some things before slowly opening its mouth, the mouth opened to a preposterous degree before stopping, the eyes disappearing as the frog seemed to open nearly in half. From the Zin Frog’s open mouth, a thin dark green smoke began to pour, slowly pooling around it, growing thicker and darker with every passing moment. With a slight exertion of the Zin Frog’s will a mysterious power within caused the dark green cloud began to move, flowing along the ground as more smoke poured out of the frog’s gaping mouth, creating a moving stream of smoke that extended toward the hole in the ground.
When the dark green smoke reached the hole in the ground the smoke seemed to part around it, only leaving a thin haze, as it it dared not get to close, however, with a grumble of irritation the Zin Frog, mobilised the smoke. The stream of smoke seemed to condense slightly before it enveloped the hole, causing a seen that would turn stomachs with dread as the slowly swirling smoke poured down the hole like a slow moving liquid.
As long minutes passed the smoke continued to pour from the frog’s mouth without ending, weakening or pausing, causing a small whirlpool to form over the hole. Within the hole the smoke fell slowly, as it fell the miasma of death grew more oppressive, becoming an almost physical force as the smoke seemed to slow down even more when the oppressive traces of chill began appearing in the tunnel. On the surface the Zin Frog’s closed eyes flashed and the green smoke pouring from is mouth became thicker and the speed of the stream and whirlpool grew quicker, causing the smoke below the surface to fall faster as it pushed against chill that began appearing like a haze as it pervaded the air and walls of the tunnel.
As time passed the Zin Frog lost all patience, with a withering flash of sickly light the dark green smoke pouring from its mouth began to contain traces of blue gas that contained even greater power, the flow began to speed up yet again. Deep within the tunnel the cascading smoke began to hold traces of blue gas and began plowing through the thickening chill and miasma of death, slowly whirling as it imitated the flow of the whirlpool above.
In the hollow the shroud of chill grew thicker with each passing moment as the twin currents grew stronger, however, the peaceful moments were shattered as a tyrannical, dark green smoke, containing wisps of blue gas ploughed into the hollow. The rolling wave front of smoke and the power within clashed with the shroud of chill, causing an impact that shook the hollow, shaking dirt from the ceiling and wall to fall into the moat bellow. The clash soon became vicious as chill poured from the walls of the hollow in a dense, pale blue mist, clashing with the invading smoke and the power within, causing the walls the tremble again.
The smoke overpowered the chill no matter how it viciously it defended against it, soon the hollow was filled with the noxious smoke, leaving only a miniscule space between it and the surface of the moat. The tenuous balance lasted for a mere moment before all the chill in the hollowed flowed into the body of the little snake that hung suspended in the putrid liquid of the moat. With subtle yet overwhelming force the smoke came in contact with the surface of the moat causing a violent reaction, the moat began to spit and boil as the vicious acid, noxious toxins and mysterious force within the smoke clashed, mixed and melded with the mass of putrid liquid in the moat. The violent reaction reached deep into the moat, enveloping the battered body of the little snake as the smoke assaulted it's exposed snout.
In a comatose state there was very little the snake could do, the overflowing chill contained within it's body ferociously clashed with the forces of the moat and the smoke, flash incinerating it's scales and damaging all the tissues below. The protective scale over the little snake's eyes disappeared and the white orbs underneath dissolved, inflicting enough pain to awaken the little creature before it lost consciousness once more. In it's moment of awareness, fear and pain shattered the little creature's mind, letting lose a shrill, blood chilling screech beneath the boiling waters, as chill tore through it's body.
Above the ground, the flow of gas ceased at last and the Zin Frog closed its mouth, as the last of the smoke disappeared into the ground the frog's eye opened with a flash, overflowing with killing intent and pride from crushing a creature much weaker than itself. with a final croak of triumph, the Zin Frog turned around and jumped into the waters of the marsh with two grand leaps, disappearing into the murk of the putrid marsh.