Lurid Dreaming: Once in the Jungle... {Story}

Post by Neonhyper

Twas leveling in the Southern Barrens. Enjoy.

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The heat was nothing less than unbearable. It came down in unrelenting waves, combined with the permeating moisture that seemed to choke away the air, and made it sickeningly humid. Tearsa was soaked to her skin in sweat, causing her leather armor to feel like a sweltering furnace. Whenever she breathed, she took in a mouthful of sticky warmth that smothered her lungs and left her throat burning and convulsing. Her aching legs did nothing to help as they felt like they might give way at any moment.

Ahead on the overgrown pathway, the worn stones completely hidden underneath a cover of twisting vines and mossy leaves, Mell didn't appear to be in any better condition. The human woman glanced over her shoulder, and exclaimed, "Don't ya go droppin' on me now, Tear!"

Despite it all, the kaldorei druid couldn't help but smile. Mell had never managed to shake her accent, a skirting twang across her voice that she gained from her homeland of Westfall. She always shared stories of the land of golden plains, where the sun beat down as you worked the fields with a steady, laboring hand. Yet it was still nothing like this unnatural growth of a jungle, but Tearsa knew Mell would work it the only way she knew how.

The slashing of blade on foliage was lost in the dense clusters of soft barked trees with drooping branches and hanging strings of leaves. A symphony of squawking birds preceded the flapping of a thousand wings, what little light filtered through the overhead canopy of large, thick, and thorny stems was blocked in their shadow. Mell swept her arm against her forehead, pausing her relentless machete strikes against the jungle.

Her tanned skin glistened as the sun's slit rays returned when the flock passed, slicked wet from all the physical effort. She was a young human, evident in her face when it was not creased with pained concentration, with a lean and ropey frame gained from years of tiring farm work. Tearsa admired her in a way; she always pushing forward, no matter how hard the circumstances pushed back.

"I'm right behind you, Mell, just keep moving," Tearsa nodded, failing to fan the heat way and had to settle on squishing one of the cluster of mosquitoes that had insisted on landing on her.

In that regard, Mell had been far more prepared than she had, considering the fact that neither of them had been prepared for this. The human had shed her jerkin early on, tying it up as a headband to keep the sweat out of her eyes, leaving her in only her linen undershirt, the sleeves of which she had rolled up to her shoulders. Her mane of scarlet-orange hair was haphazardly tied back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face, while Tearsa's viridian tresses were soaked straight against her head.

"I will, just give me a second," Mell bit back a moan as she slipped the heavy weight of her rucksack off her back and unlatched it. She pulled out one of the many waterskins the pair had packed, and despondently groaned when nothing came out.

Tearsa's face fell and her shoulders slumped, "We have to find a spring somewhere."

With a scowl, Mell pulled out a sharpening stone and spent a few moments fixing up the edge of her machete before packing everything together, "That shouldn't be too hard. All this stuff has to be growin' from somethin', right?"

She picked herself up and twisted her arm before continuing to hack away at the overgrowth that surrounded them. Tearsa warily glanced at the plants that were slashed open, their stems bouncing before beginning to regrow at an abnormal rate. The druid watched her feet, where the mossy ground made squelching noises beneath her stride and gaudily colored buds appeared and bloomed in the few seconds it took to pass by them. It was beautiful, but horrendous. This much life was wrong in a region that barely knew lushness.

"Oh for Light's sake, some of these plants need to stop growin' already," Mell muttered as they passed by an enormous flower, twice as tall as Tearsa. The flora writhed, as if acting with a will of its own. In response, Mell shook her machete at the flower until it stopped, and then proceeded onwards.

They continued on like this for a while, keeping to what they thought was the road. Neither of them was sure anymore, as it was completely hidden and they had to divert so many times because of vegetation that was obviously not friendly. As Mell's machete slashed apart a knitted wall of vines and slinking tropical buds, the way opened forward onto the banks of a great divide. The plants had grown right to the edge of the water filled ravine, some of their roots digging into the sides of the chasm.

Tearsa glanced over her shoulder as the pass Mell had just cleared already repaired itself, but the human paid no head to the disturbing signs of nature as she rushed to the edge of the flowing river. The rucksack was already at her side as she dipped her hands greedily into the water, but was cut off as Tearsa pulled her shoulder back, "No!"

Mell looked up at her friend, the demanding accusations already upon her lips, but were silenced at the druid's wide-eyed stare of horror at the water's surface. She followed Tearsa's gaze, only now seeing the odd green haze that drifted atop the river, yet even that paled in importance when the ripples began to spread outward. The pair scrambled backward, Mell barely grabbing their supplies as the water parted in a tidal spray, giving way for the monstrous form beneath.

Huge arms made of roped together vines reared up, crashing down upon the spot at the river's banks where the two women had been only moments before. The earth buckled beneath the creature made of undergrowth; still the plants continued to weave even in the absence of something beneath them. Tearsa grabbed Mell's wrist, the one not holding the pair's only weapon, and dragged her along down the edge of the ravine. The monster's sploching moans were lost behind them.

They came upon a number of ruins, the elven masonry almost completely taken over by the rampant jungle. Mell slashed away, managing to get them through to the one spot of cold stone that still remained untouched. Tearsa panted wearily as she set her hands against her knees, bent over and gasping to catch a proper breath in the smothering air.

"I feel something... so evil here," the druidess couldn't hold back the sob that escaped her lips. "It's everywhere. This isn't right."

"'Ey, don't give out on me, please don't give out on me!" Mell cried. Tearsa tried to focus on her friend's voice, but for some reason it was slipping away, smothered in the air that was drowning her further with every hasty breath. "Fort Triumph is just on the other side, you can make it!"

Anything else was lost. Mell's voice faded like it never even existed. The ground buckled, the edges of the ravine past the ruins beginning to crumble away like dust, leaving only the flora to remain. Water flooded underneath the canopy, shooting out in jets that glowed with an unearthly green light. At the edges of her feet, the vines wove where sanctuary had been only moments before. Constricting, tightening, the vines crept up her frame and threatened to pull her down. Down where? There was only ground beneath her.

Tearsa reached out, hoping to latch onto to the true nature beneath this nightmarish horror on the surface, but only brushed past something haunting. Something monstrous. She recoiled back into reality, where Mell was dragging her out of the grip of the vines and soon out of the ruins themselves. The druid caught her balance, remembering how to run on her own accord, and followed the human faster than she had ever thought she'd be able to run.

Dreaming. Waking. Delusion. Reality. Where are you, dreamer?

The world began to shake again. Tearsa latched onto Mell, but her friend faded away and she fell into the ground where the human had been only moments before. Bursting forth from the earth came large vines, no, they were flesh and plant woven together, separate and yet whole. She scrambled to her feet, outpacing, dashing, as her vision clouded, the green haze withering together and blurring the lucidity she thought she grasped.

Blooming. Flourishing. Life unrestrained. Corrupted. Withering. All the same.

Mell was there again, catching the kaldorei as she stumbled, and standing Tearsa upright, "Come on now, don't you go runnin' off like that! We're almost to the other side! What did I tell ya?"

Tearsa blinked as everything slowed down again, at a pace she could keep up with. Mell smiled brightly at her, waving her off back down a path with her machete and began to cleave through the jungle once more. The druid's steps were careful and precise and she followed the human as if in a daze. Mell didn't seem to notice, or didn't mention anything if she did. Around them, the jungle still buzzed with the air of activity. A bright pink plainstrider, followed by a mutated raptor, dashed through the foliage ahead of them.

Dream. Reality. They are one. This is one. Balance no longer.

She turned at the sound of howling wind, the world flickering from shrouded light to pitch blackness faster than she could recognize. Then the jungle was illuminated, this time in soft pale green. Everything was seen in such clarity, the trees and the flowers stood out sharper, along with every blade of grass beneath the cover of moss. Tearsa's breath nearly left her as she saw it all at once.

Then it twisted. Every beautiful tree became gnarled and tangled, the green leaves were flecked with diseased blacks and yellows, the plants upon the ground writhed and gnashed together like a gaping maw. The druidess backed up, before being stopped by the presence of something behind her. She twisted, horror stricken across her face.

Mell was hung up by the appendages of vine and flesh, pierced through the tentacles through her skin, their ends coming out through her gouged eyes and mouth. Tearsa cried out shrilly, staggering back towards the jungle that wanted nothing less to devour her whole.

Your dream is mine. Your reality is mine. They come together. It will consume.

Tearsa huddled her knees against her chest, weeping as her head swam. It was gone, the nightmarish jungle, replaced once again with the unnatural lushness. The squawks of birds became an unrelenting cacophony that reverberated in her head with a rebounding wail. Beautiful flowers seemed to leer from their perches against looming, sharp trees. She sucked in a sharp breath, as things blurred then focused, hazed over and then became clear.

Hear the call. Serve the dream. Serve the reality.

Her head reeled again, but she saw it clearly. Mell stood at the foot of a tree and was waving her over, nearly jumping on the tips of her toes. Tearsa wept with joy and rushed towards her companion, ignoring the jungle completely.

"We're almost there," Mell stated.

In relief, Tearsa followed Mell back through the jungle. Deeper in the jungle. Ignorant of the corpse that lay behind, being taken by the flora. A young human woman, with scarlet-orange hair, with a leather jerkin around her forehead, and her eyes gouged out.

Post by Aimsyr

An entertaining read as always Hyper. And with a nice, or to be more accurate; gruesome twist ending to boot.

Post by Morec0

Very, very good and creepy. To be honest I think that Old God fan fic stories are the most numerous on this forum board, with good reason; they're almost always as excellent as this. Poor, poor Tearsa, she's going to need therapy for sure.

Post by Behelich

Serve the hive. Feel the groove. I control the way you move.

Post by 236602

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Neonhyper

Thanks everyone ^.^

To be honest I actually had no idea what I was trying to get at when I wrote this. So I just kept writing until some place worked to stop.

And I kind of miss Mell...

Post by 292559

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 355559

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 236602

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Morec0

In relief, Tearsa followed Mell back through the jungle. Deeper in the jungle. Ignorant of the corpse that lay behind, being taken by the flora. A young human woman, with scarlet-orange hair, with a leather jerkin around her forehead, and her eyes gouged out.

Entertaining read throughout, but what I don't understand is the purpose of this last sentence. Should it have been "... and her eyes gouged out walked away (Or something else)."? or was this intentional

I don't think so. I read it as the the scarlet-orange haired woman was the corpse.

Post by Neonhyper

Morec is correct, the final sentence was to sort of prod you to believe that the Mell that Tearsa followed back into the jungle wasn't real-- and the real Mell (the corpse) is dead.

Lurid Dreaming: Once in the Jungle... {Story}

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