*****WARNING: This story contains a graphic rape scene and details the mental effects it has on victims. If you find that content objectionable, please continue reading with caution or click away.*****


My name is Amelius Lauster, and soon, I am going to die. 

I was simply a man on a mission to visit the Dead Forest and document its wildlife with the Filokensia Wildlife Research Team. The Dead Forest happens to be a dangerous place, one that no normal stickfigure can traverse without others there to protect them. It's full of monsters, parasites, poison, dangerous weather, and deadly terrain. Nobody truly lives there, except for the rumored Darkborn deep within its heart.

So why, one might ask, should a crew of ambitious, intelligent, but ultimately foolish stickfigures choose to visit this place? The answer is simple, really. The more we know about it, the more we can protect ourselves from its gradual and pervasive spread. The Dead Forest is ancient, see, and over the past three hundred years has expanded approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. Without us doing documentation of its wildlife, it is entirely probable that aspects of the Dead Forest could and will expand beyond its borders.

That being said, I wish I didn't choose to go on this exploration.

That's something all of us on this team will think in time, no matter what we run into. The Dead Forest is something that changes your mind. It warps your perception of time and space, it brings you paranoia in times where you could never possibly be harmed in any fashion. The Dead Forest is a place where no man, woman, dragon, or faun should go.

So, of course, they brought along a sorcerer.

Said sorcerer being me.

I could feel the aura of the Dead Forest pounding at my mind as we trekked deeper inside. The howls of the wind and groans of beasts echoed in the distance. One of my teammates, Dr. Neste, crouched down next to a flowering plant and began to procure photos of it. As he did so, the rest of our team took an opportunity to set down our equipment and set up camp in the clearing. I felt an amusing sense of deja vu as I unpacked my bag. Was there not a song written about a man going through an area just like this? A soft hum escaped my throat while I rummaged through my belongings, pulling out a soil meter and pushing it into the soft, acidic dirt beneath my feet. 

See, I am a man who specializes in the less mobile wildlife. Fungi especially are my interest, and with the Dead Forest being full of rare species of colorful and toxic fungi, the lead mycologists at Filokensia decided I would be an excellent fit for this mission.

What a lucky man I am, I thought, to be able to trek deep into this hellscape and potentially be digested by the very thing I study.

I took a moment to read the measurements the meter gave me. A pH of 3.2. Quite normal for the Dead Forest, but it gave me second thoughts on the longevity of my rubber swamp boots. I took notes on the composition of the soil, the pH, and the texture of it. It felt almost wet in my gloves, clumping together as I squeezed it in my hand. Similar to that clumping play sand they give to children.

Leaning back on my heels, I proceeded to pull out the soil meter and stand up, my gaze darting around to search for any nearby fungi. I could see several species of carnivorous plant, and could hear many small insects buzzing around my ears, but I found it difficult to locate any of the life of my specialty. I looked over to Neste again. He had moved on to observe a large tree-like structure.

Seeing Neste reach out to touch the bark of the tree, I had a spark of realization and rushed over to him to shove him out of the way. He tumbled onto the ground, dirt and mud smearing his coat, and shouted in indignation as I held out my hand to silence him. We both looked up into the canopy of the forest, seeing a faint yellow glow emanating from the top of the strange tree he had been touching. 

“It's a mimpi.” I whispered to him.

Mimpi. Known in other lands as yumegui, sonivoro, night eater, or dream walker. Towering, terrifying beasts that eat nightmares and spread plague when they die. I was told in my youth to never explore the forests alone at night, or the mimpi would devour me. Their huge, woody legs helped them blend in with the trees, and they could snatch a child before they even knew one was there. 

But I knew better now.

I walked forward, staring up at the mimpi before my eyes, gently reaching out a hand to brush the tips of my fingers against its leg. It seemed to not notice my presence in the middle of the cloudy day. I ran my hands along the grooves in its skin, admiring the bark-like texture as it stood completely still in its spot. Its feet were nowhere to be seen, assumedly under the dirt it stood on. I could barely see the spike of its ovipositor reaching down through the branches. Its head crest, a collection of magnificent branching spikes, blended in well with the wicker trees it stood among.

Mimpi are fungi, too. They are in the cerastes family. Despite their deeply animal appearance, they possess mycelium like any other fungus and take nutrients from the soil during the day. Their bodies are an example of the things the Dead Forest will do to the life living in it. Huge, woody, and mostly stationary except when it is time to feast on nightmares.

They are peaceful, intelligent creatures. As intelligent as you or I. With that, they are beautiful beings, an excellent display of extremist evolution at work. They evolved to survive in an environment not fit for them. Their bodies nourish and spread the Dead Forest with the plaguestalks that sit atop their heads. And these branches keep them alive long enough reproduce and spread their spores.

Mimpi are truly terrifying, but they are beautiful too.

As I ran my hand across the skin of the mimpi, I could feel Neste's gaze glaring daggers into my back. I paid him no mind as he stood to his feet and walked in the other direction, leaving me behind with the mimpi as he and the rest of our group went further into the trees. The camp had been set up, and I suppose they decided I would be the one to stay behind and watch it while they surveyed the surrounding area.

I deeply hoped they didn't intend to sleep with the mimpi around. But this thought didn't stay in my mind for long; I had found myself alone with the massive, sleeping cerastes in front of me. The sounds of the Dead Forest began penetrating my ears once again, and I pulled my hand away from the beast to bring it closer to my chest. I could feel my fur raising along my body as a presence edged closer. Quickly, I walked away from the mimpi. With the fire in the center of our temporary camp going strong, I sat down in a foldable chair next to it and sighed, looking around and listening for any dangers.

Animals howled, hooted, chirped, and growled in the distance. Even the insects that landed on my shoulders would make me jump. My fur quivered on my body, my breath caught in my throat. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in. I counted. One, two, three.

I breathed out. One, two, three.

As I continued this exercise, I listened closer to the environment around me. A bird chattered in a tree near the mimpi. Bugs cried out from the bushes. The humid wind shuffled the wickered branches above my head. I opened my eyes again, feeling the scent of rot and death - normal again for the Dead Forest - wash over my face. I couldn't shake the feeling of some presence wandering ever closer to me. A presence that felt strange, unknown. Despite my attempts of calming myself, I still remained alert.

The soft ground shook slightly beneath my feet, startling me out of my anxious gaze. I looked up, hearing a deep groan emanate from the void face of the mimpi next to me. How much time had passed with my team gone? The sky had gone dark, with an inky blackness creeping in from all around. Looking down at the fire, which had been reduced to a few embers, I lifted up a hand and summoned a small fireball in my palm. Gently, I blew the flame onto the fire, which relit the blaze into a calming blue light. I closed my eyes again, feeling safer with the flame in front of me.

The mimpi groaned again. I opted to ignore it as creaking echoed through the pervasive night, feeling nonthreatened by the large being standing next to me. In the distance, I could hear another, deeper groan. Perhaps the mimpi was communicating with another. Leaning back in my chair, keeping my eyes closed, I eased my nerves by listening to my large companions speaking to each other. It was a slow, complex language, those mimpi used. I could not understand a word of it. Peeking one eye open and staring up at the enormous cerastes, I jumped in my seat and clung to the back of the chair. Its yellow rimmed face pointed directly at me, glowing in the inky blackness of the Dead Forest night. Another groan escaped the mimpi as it slowly began to move. Its body creaked and cracked as it leaned down, one of its enormous hands slowly coming to rest with its thumb and forefinger landing right beside my deep blue fire.

I held perfectly still as its void of a face came ever closer to mine. I found myself in awe of the mimpi's sheer size. Its void of a face stood more than twice as tall as my entire body. Nothing seemed to exist within its cavernous maw, and yet it felt like it stared straight into my soul. Its four ears twitched and moved slightly while it investigated me. I slowly lifted up a hand, took a deep breath, and waved politely at it. The mimpi released a guttural bellow, which shook the ground beneath me. I couldn't help but chuckle at its politeness.

After its response, it turned and looked at my fire, its enormous hand lifting up off of the ground and hovering over the blue light. I had been so enamored by its magnificence that I didn't even notice when it began to move its hand down to quash my flame. However, I jumped to my feet, waving my hands around to catch its attention.

“Wait!” I cried out.
”Wait, I need that light!”

The mimpi paused its advance and perked an ear in my direction.
“There are many dangerous monsters out here and I need that light to keep them away.” I said, without even thinking about it. In return, the mimpi groaned again, seemingly in displeasure.

“I know you don't like it,” I said, attempting to sympathize with the cerastes that stood ten times my height.
“My team has not come back in many hours. If I stay here in the dark, I will die.”

The mimpi, of course, did not understand a word I said. Despite its display of intelligence and willing for reason, it made another annoyed, creaking groan and slammed its hand down onto my flame, which snuffed out the fire beneath its woody exterior. I made a choked cry of disdain, my fingers curling into claw shapes while I helplessly watched my companion flame die before my eyes.

Simply too shocked to respond, I stood there as the mimpi rose back to full height and became still once again. Within a minute, it blended in with the enormous trees once again, and the only thing keeping it apart from the forest would be the brightly glowing yellow rims of its face and chest. I slowly came to from my shock and fell back into my chair, the metal creaking under my weight. I made a groan of my own, hiding my face in my gloved hands.

My team had not come back for many hours now. Just now this had truly hit me. The realization of what could have happened to them caused me to jump to my feet and quickly grab my things, rummaging through the camp to find anything that could be considered a weapon in these times. I checked the tents, the boxes, the monitoring equipment. Above me, the mimpi stared down at me once again, filled more with curiosity now that the lights had gone out.

I could barely see in the dark. Not even Welune lit the sky above my head, leaving me running around like a headless hen in search of defensive weapons. Finally, my hands landed on a metal pole, which I grabbed and yanked out of the ground, brandishing it like a spear. I stood stock still in the overwhelming night. My breath hitched as I attempted to calm myself once again, but this was short lived as the ground shook from the mimpi choosing to move once again. I stared up at its glowing yellow rim, watching in fear as my only source of light began to turn away from my camp.

“Wait!” I cried out to no avail.
“I need your light! I can't see! I'll die!”

The mimpi did not respond except with a short, groaning creak. Its feet withdrew from the soil it stood on, shaking the ground as it slowly began walking away to begin its hunt for a nightmarish meal. I felt tears welling in my eyes as my only companion walked away. I couldn't just follow it; that'd be a death sentence, away from this clearing.

But it gave me the adrenaline-induced idea to run back to my snuffed out flame and relight it. Using the metal pole as a guiding stick to lead me around in the night, I waited until the mimpi had fully left before I summoned another, smaller fireball in my free hand to bring me back to my fire. Crouching down next to the dead firepit, I rummaged around in what was left of the kindling. I threw pieces of firewood onto the pit, covering it in dry leaves and twigs from nearby as I shakily held the fireball in my offhand.

While I had been distracted by the urgent need to relight a fire, the presence from earlier began to approach once again. Its overwhelming darkness seemed to loom over me while I lit the flame, my arcane fireball weakly sputtering in my hand. The moment I relit the flame, it died out once again, filling me with even more panic.

Something touched my shoulder.

I whipped around with the metal pole in hand, swinging it blindly at whatever had brushed against me. I heard a loud, heavy WHUNK as it connected with its target, and a hiss of annoyance and pain. In retaliation to my struggle, I felt a strong force push me to the ground.

I felt panic overtaking my body while the force grew stronger on top of me. It felt like some sort of hand, gripping my chest with a suffocating force as I struggled under its weight. Hot, rancid breath released onto my face from above. In my adrenaline-induced rage, I attempted once again to swing the pole against the beast holding me down.

To my horror and dismay, the pole simply bent against the beast's tough hide, leaving it unscathed. I dropped the pole, focusing all of my arcane energy into lighting yet another fire to save my life from whatever had come to try and devour me in the dark. Once a light had been summoned, I paused where I lay, my breath catching in my throat as I caught a glimpse of what stood above me.

It was a hideous, wretched thing, this beast. A long, upturned snout with large blue nostrils hovered over my face, with its long neck curved over me as it observed me. On its face and neck were several pairs of black patches, and I couldn't make out any eyes underneath them. Two long tendrils erupted from the back of its head like horns. It felt the ground around me with its tendrils, making several soft clicking and chittering noises before it adjusted its stance to observe the rest of me.

It had two enormous arms coming from its upper back, one of which had been used to hold me down. The other pushed against the ground to support itself, and closer to its chest was another pair of much smaller arms which hung down below its ribs and twitched their fingers occasionally. I took a deep breath, struggling once again under its immense weight as those putrid tendrils came ever closer to my face. In a fit of terror, seeing as it seemed unperturbed by my flame, I gnashed my teeth at the tendrils, which pulled away quickly upon sensing my movement. It chittered and clicked once again, seemingly much more annoyed.

Down its abdomen, I could see a translucent blue stomach filled with some unknown substance. Its long tail seemed to have something similar, but I couldn't make out what in the dim light my fire had been producing. Completely unbothered by my retaliatory attempts to ward it off or escape, it pushed down harder on my chest once again, forcing a pained cry out of me.

I had been so distracted by its immense size and terrifying strength that I hadn't even noticed its smaller arms moving to paw at my clothes. The only moment I noticed is when I felt horrid claws brushing against the skin and fur underneath my shirt.

No. No, no no. Nonononono.
This couldn't be happening. Not to me. I'm just some guy. I'm just a mycologist from the plains. I didn't come here for this. I don't want this.

Realizing the fate this beast had chosen for me, I let out a horrid, guttural scream and began to flail under it. My hands balled into fists and I released a sideways, flaming punch into the beast's hide, which caused it to flinch and hiss at me threateningly. Undeterred, I threw more blows at the creature holding me down, shouting at it both in hopes to force it to leave, and to draw attention of any people nearby to call for help. Maybe even bring forth the mimpi that had kept me company. I didn't know. I just wanted help. I needed help. I wouldn't let this thing hurt me.

“LET ME GO!” I roared at it, winding up another punch and throwing it at the creature, which finally retaliated by using its other enormous arm to pin me down by my head. My head sunk into the soft dirt. I could feel the acid of the soil beneath me burning my fur and skin, and I cried out once again in defiance. 

“GET OFF ME! LET ME GO!” I cried again, feeling tears welling in my eyes. The beast held no interest in letting up its oncoming assault. I brought my leg up to ram my boot into its abdominal pouch, which caused it to flinch and shriek in rage this time. It used its enormous hand to lift me up by the head and slam me into the ground multiple times, attempting to subdue me. As it did so, it stared back at its abdomen, which had begun to leak a bright blue fluid from the injury it retained from my boot. Small, marble-sized spheres began oozing out of its wound, which encouraged it to hurry up and stop playing around with me.

The beast wound up its other enormous hand and drove a strong punch into my chest, which knocked all the air out of my lungs and forced a wheezing yelp out of my throat. Stunned by the blow, I saw sparks of light floating around in my vision before I went limp in its grasp. Its smaller hands finally ripped off my lower protective clothing, leaving me sitting in pain as I felt the acidic soil seep into the fur on my back.

Something sharp poked at my legs. Barely able to make it out amongst my dizziness, I kept releasing cries of pain and fear as I attempted to catch my breath. I felt my limp body being lifted from the ground, and the beast used its smaller arms to hold me to its chest. My fur brushed against its scaly skin, its cold body leeching the heat from my core. I weakly struggled in its grasp, but couldn't find myself strong enough to fight back anymore.

And then I felt it.

That sharp thing that had been poking at my legs moved to my rear end.

I released another whimpering cry of defiance as I tried to fight back yet again. My legs kicked weakly against the beast's body, but it refused to budge from its position. I felt the sharp object force itself into my body, whimpering and futily banging my fist against the creature's chest. It proceeded to lower its front half to the ground, bracing itself on the dirt as it shoved the back of my head into the burned out firepit to silence me. Its head and neck rested on the dirt, releasing soft chitters and growls while it held me tight. Its long tail vibrated and clenched as it violated me.

I could feel the shame and the horror crawling up through my intestines, into my stomach, up to my heart and throat. I couldn't believe I allowed myself to be caught in this situation. I should have just followed the mimpi. I could barely breathe under its weight, and any breath I managed to take was filled with the acrid scent of the Dead Forest.

The beast's spear-like ovipositor wriggled deeper into my guts while I tried and tried to escape its grip. It hurt so much. My chest, my head, my stomach. I wasn't strong enough to fight it off, and I could feel its horrid ovipositor violating every inch of my insides. Eventually the movement inside my body stopped, but the movement outside did not. I could feel rivers of tears falling from my face, smearing against the creature's scaly skin and soaking into the dirt underneath me.

A sharp pain deep within my guts forced another scream out of me, much louder than the past few minutes. The creature held itself in a still position on top of me, its head and chest on the ground while its rear end raised in the air to let gravity assist in its violation. It did not move anything else aside from its tail, which continued to clench and vibrate before something slid down the body of the ovipositor invading my guts.

I let out a terrified gasp and threw more weak punches at the creature, now just about sobbing in pain as the creature's ovipositor bulged inside me. Something heavy and enormous entered my body, passing into the area of immense agony where it had seemingly penetrated my colon's walls.

“Stop it.” I wheezed out, slamming my fist against its body once again. It didn't cease its assault.

“Please let me go, stop it. Please. Please let me go.”
I felt a cold fluid rush into my guts before the pain subsided ever so slightly and I could feel an extra weight adding itself to my lower body. After the round, heavy object settled in my intestines, I went limp again and could feel the beast slowly pulling its putrid ovipositor out of my body. It finally let me go, dropping me onto the ground beneath it as its spear-like shaft left my body behind. I could feel the warm ooze of blood leaking out from my anus as it stood and shook itself off, sniffing the air around it to ensure it had not attracted any potential predators.

I lay there limp on the acrid soil, sobbing softly as the pain of the acid and the creature's assault coursed through my body. Shakily looking back at it, I saw it reaching its enormous head down to tend to the wound I had inflicted on its abdomen. Its long blue tongue licked at the wound, which still oozed blue fluid and marble-sized pearls as it failed to heal. I felt one last rush of adrenaline course through my body as fear and rage overtook me.

How dare this creature violate me. How dare it take advantage of me.
I held up my hand where I lay, shakily pushing myself up just enough to point at the beast that had the gall to rape a sorcerer. With my hands splayed, my fur bristling, a growl escaping from my throat, small sparks emanated from my hand as I prepared the thing that would make sure this wretched creature would never see the light of day again.

The beast looked up from where it sat, staring straight at me, baring its teeth in response to the light that formed from my palm.

“CAHAYA NARAKA!” I shouted with a rasp, the spell erupting from my palm as enormous sparks and explosions overtook the dark and putrid Dead Forest in front of me. The creature shrieked in agony as the overwhelming heat began to vaporize its armored skin. Despite its best attempts at escape, the resulting explosion sent the creature flying hundreds of meters away, the blasts flattening thousands of plants in its wake. The blinding light illuminated my dirty, agonized face, and as the magic devoured the land around me, I felt my hands losing their strength and my body shakily falling back down to the ground with a groan.

Explosions echoed in the distance while the bright flames died down around where I laid. Eventually, the sounds came to a halt, and the forest around me turned silent. I groaned in pain where I lay, completely nude on the ground, my clothes in a tattered and burned heap around me. I couldn't force myself to get up. I couldn't move. My stomach felt so heavy and I could feel my blood leaving my body. Panting and groaning in pain, I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the flow of tears only grow in intensity as I attempted to move. Black, inky tears poured down my furred cheeks while I ever so slowly rolled onto my side, then onto my stomach.

I let out a gasp of pain as my belly touched the ground, panting and whining as I lay prone on the dirt with the acidic soil eating away at my fur and burning my skin. Using my arms to drag myself forward, I slowly eased toward the bent metal pole I'd left behind in the attack. I shakily reached out to grab it, stick it in the ground, and pull myself to my pained, shaky legs. I took a deep breath, bracing myself on the pole.

“HELP!” I cried out, flinching as I exerted the force needed to project my voice. Undeterred, I took another deep breath and tried again.

“NESTE! SHINZHA!”
The pain grew stronger in my abdomen as I weakly clung to the pole.

“ZHA'KUL! PLEASE...”

Nobody responded.
Nobody came.

The inky tears grew in intensity as I collapsed onto the bent pole, sobbing in pain and fear. I could only assume the worst as the sound of the forest slowly returned around me.

My name is Amelius Lauster, and now, I want to die.

I slid down onto my knees and held a hand to my burning stomach. That beast had put something inside of me. Whatever it had been, it hurt terribly. Thoughts rushed through my head as I tried to make some sort of sense of this terrible situation. My hand slowly guided itself down my body, passing over my pubic fur, my sheath, and my perineum. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there, aside from residual slime that had dripped onto my fur from the monster's wound while it was violating me.

I let out a pained sigh and hunched over the pole, continuing to explore my own skin and make sure nothing had truly been injured. My hand moved back up to my chest, where the creature had hit me with enough force to daze me. Pressing my fingers into my skin, I checked each rib. The top ribs seemed undamaged, but I flinched and cried out in pain as agony emanated from my sternum upon contact. That beast had done a number on my ribs, and I panted and groaned as I pushed myself through the horrible clenching pain in my chest.

Hesitantly, shakily, I removed a glove and placed my bare hand against my rear end, where I could feel warm blood leaking from my anus. Pressing my fingers against the area, I felt a sharp pain from the sphincter and winced as I noticed a distinct tear where the beast had inserted an object far too large for my body into my colon. I didn't bother exploring more, simply bringing my hand back up and staring at the blood smeared into the short fur on my fingers. I put the glove back on and went limp against the pole, sobbing yet again.

“Why me...” I cried softly, shaking as the ground began to rumble nearby.
“Why did it have to be me, why did I have to come along...”

I kept murmuring and pitying myself as the tremors became stronger. A faint yellow ring of light, followed by several other glowing rings of different colors, began to approach me from the branches as they investigated the immense explosion that razed their home. A group of mimpi had come to greet me, this pitiful excuse of a mycologist, as I lay limp on a single metal pole that remained the only evidence of people being in this clearing. Rumbling speech escaped their void-like faces as they communicated with each other. One of them had found a singed mimpi body nearby, and another seemed to crouch down and investigate the plant life I had incinerated.

Yet another one, the mimpi from earlier with the yellow rim, gently scooped its enormous hand under my body and lifted me up. Its woody skin felt comforting to me after the horrid experience I had just gone through. I couldn't bother giving it a thank you, simply laying there limp in its hand as it brought me up to its face to observe me. Several other mimpi craned their long necks to stare at me as well, but the one holding my limp body grumbled slightly at them to encourage they keep their distance.

I felt the ground shake once again, but this time as the cerastes began to walk away from its group, the tremors echoed through its body. It slowly meandered through the Dead Forest, letting out guttural booms and groans as it communicated with its kind across the forests. I could feel myself dozing off in its hand. I knew, I knew deep down I could not sleep around it. But the energy I'd spent to fight off that monster, the pain in my body, the screaming, they all added up and my eyes slowly shut as it carried me through the forests.

—————

“You disgust me.”

A woman stood in front of me as I lay there bleeding, her expression unrecognizable. My superior at Filokensia glared me down, arms crossed, the world around her hazy. I sobbed softly on the ground.

“I'm sorry.” I wheezed out.
“It attacked me. I tried to fight back, but-“

“Don't lie to me.” She hissed.
“You sorcerers are all the same. Filthy animal-fuckers, the lot of you. You can't go five minutes without fucking the nearest thing with a hole.”

“It attacked me!” I cried, trying to push myself to my feet.
“It broke my bones and violated me against my will!”
Despite my complaints, my superior continued glaring at me. Even though I tried to make out her face the best I could, it seemed unrecognizable, or plain nonexistent. I crawled toward her, and she kicked me in the head, sending me back a couple feet. I gave her a gasp of pain in response.

Below my hands, a pool of blood and blue fluid formed. My superior, the one I'd known for so long as the kindest person I'd ever met- she now viewed me as nothing better than an animal. Black tears dripped from my eyes as I sobbed and wailed in front of her, the pain in my abdomen growing stronger. I could feel my hands and knees sinking into the pool of foul liquid beneath me. I couldn't even be bothered to fight against it anymore. The most humiliating moment of my life hadn't been the beast attacking me.

It had been this.

The person I'd cared about the most reduced me to nothing.

I went under the pool fully, feeling my fur raise and flow around me as I sunk deeper into despair. Faint yellow stars appeared in the nightmarish void around me. I curled up into a ball, languishing in my own pain and misery. Clicks and chitters almost resembling laughter filled my head as I agonized in the darkness. My hands rose up to my head, gripping my hair and fur and pulling on it in an attempt to escape, to die, to leave this hellish land.

“I didn't want this,” I cried out, wailing as the darkness became ever more encompassing.
“I didn't want this!”

My voice faded into silence as the agony overcame me.

—————

My eyes slowly opened as I groaned in my laying position. Dim light entered my pupils while my mind came to consciousness, feeling the heavy vibrations of the ground beneath me. I stared down, seeing the same woody hand that had picked me up what felt like mere minutes ago. Above me hovered the yellow-rimmed face of the mimpi, which pointed away from me as it continued walking through the forests. The sky had brightened slightly above us, the atmosphere being tinged with maroon near the horizon. I took a deep breath and sighed. The mimpi's ears perked slightly at my movement, seemingly noticing that I had awoken.

“Where... are you taking me...” I murmured. The mimpi only gave me a rumble in response.

I couldn't see the edge of the forest from my vantage point above the branches. If anything, we had gone deeper into the Dead Forest, and the stench of death became stronger the further the mimpi had walked. I clutched my sore stomach with a hand, muttering softly as my broken body lay there on the woody hand of my savior. The blue liquid from the beast's wound had dried into a crusty, foul-smelling solid on my fur, and I could feel dried blood rubbing against the skin and fur of my rear end. At least during my rest, the injury had stopped bleeding.

In the distance, I could see some sort of clearing within the trees. Smoke rose up from below the canopy. Small shapes moved ever so slightly, but I couldn't make out what they could be. The mimpi trudged ever closer to the clearing. It let out another heavy groan, being responded to by another of its kind closer to the clearing. The other mimpi raised its hand in a greeting.

As it brought me closer, I could feel my body being lowered down to the ground. The distant hum of voices touched my ears while I lay limply in the cerastes' grasp. It gently placed me upon a bed of maroon grass, releasing another murmuring groan before it rose to its full height once again and became still. The hum of voices grew stronger as several beings came closer to my body, talking among themselves hurriedly. 

“Lauster!”
One of the voices sounded familiar to me. I opened my eyes slightly, staring up as I watched a shorter individual come hurrying toward my limp, nude, injured body.

“Lauster, we were looking for you for days! What happened to you?”

...Days?

I stared up at the individual, pressing my hands into the grass beneath me. Like all of the grass and soil in the Dead Forest, it had caustic properties and burned my skin slightly. But at this point, I had gotten used to it. With their help, I situated myself into a sitting position, clutching my painful stomach and groaning again. The person who had shouted my name turned out to be Zha'kul, the leader of our expedition who happened to be a faun local to the area.

“I...”
I took a moment to think about what had happened to me. The wretched dream that had wracked my body. I clenched my fist against my stomach, grimacing.

“I was... attacked.” I said softly.
“By some sort of monster. One we'd never seen before.”

Zha'kul looked at me with concern, using their tiny body to support me as I sat there. Several other people, ones with dark auras I could not recognize, hovered over me and spoke among themselves in a language I could not understand. Zha'kul, however, seemed to understand their speech and responded in turn.

“The rest of our team went missing when we were looking for you.” Zha'kul said to me. I hardly moved where I sat, unsurprised. Losing one's life would be an average risk in this job.

“I haven't been able to find them. And all these nice darkborn have been helping search, but we aren't very optimistic.”

I felt a writhing in my guts as I hunched over where I sat. Using my teammate's shoulder as support, I forced myself to my feet and limped closer to the fire in the center of the clearing, not even caring about how the others would see me. As Zha'kul saw me from behind for the first time, their eyes widened and a small hand went up to their mouth. I had dried blood running all the way down my legs to the back of my knees.

I didn't care about how anyone would react. I slowly laid down in the middle of the fire, feeling the warmth overtake my body. It steadily burned away the encrusted abdominal fluids of the beast, and burned the blood into ash as I lay there. I took a deep breath in. I sighed out.

“Lauster...”

I didn't respond to Zha'kul's whisper. The fire felt excellent on my sore, tired body. Perhaps they and the darkborn feared it, but I reveled in the comfort the flames brought me.

“Lauster.”

Hearing them call me again, I gazed over in their direction with a dead, tired look in my eyes. We exchanged a long, quiet look and I let out another sigh.

“What is it...” I murmured, curling up in pain.

“Lauster, we need to get you home immediately.”

I couldn't find myself objecting to the suggestion. Once again I pushed myself up, my knees wobbling beneath me. I shook off my fur to the best of my ability. Limping over to my companion, I stared down at them in silence for a few seconds before speaking up again.

“How... do you suggest we go home.” I muttered.
“The mimpi brought me even further away from the edge of the forest. Our magic doesn't work this far in. I can hardly walk...”

“They can take us.” Zha'kul responded with a low chirp, pointing at the group of darkborn around us. As if my body agreed with their notion, a sudden flash of heat coursed through my chest and neck, leaving me stumbling where I stood. I held my hand to my chest, clenching my teeth in pain, and gave Zha'kul a short nod.

As I agreed to this idea, I felt shadowy hands reaching up from the ground behind me. Dark smoke rose in tendrils and wrapped around my legs. Knowing what they had planned for me, I held my breath and allowed the darkborn to pull me under the ground.

As we resurfaced, I saw around me a blank plane of dark, reflective ground. The darkborn that had grabbed me held on to me in the between-land, hustling along as we traversed the empty plane. Darkborn happened to be one of the best methods of fast travel in the world, with their ability to move near instantly through the shadows. Despite how fast we moved, I felt nothing more than a stale breeze on my fur as we traveled. I simply let my mind wander as they dragged me along, but that didn't last long.

“What really happen to you in forest?” A soft, wispy voice came from my dark companion. I let out my breath, testing the air of the between-land. Interestingly, I felt no need to breathe in this dimension. I looked away from the darkborn.

“I'm afraid if I tell, I will be judged.” I said simply.
“I was attacked.”

“Are many attacks.” They said in return.
“Never see attack like you.”

I frowned at the darkborn, watching them come to a stop so they could look at me and listen more intently. They kept holding my hand as they eased me into a sitting position, forcing me to speak about the wretched experience I'd gone through... who knows how long ago. It had been some days, according to Zha'kul.

“Why fear of judge?” The darkborn asked me. I took a moment to think about it, gently clutching my chest.
“If forest come of hurt you, could be bad if not tell.”

“It's...” I frowned.
“...something that people do to people like me. I get judged for existing. I don't want to tell you about it.”

The darkborn cocked their head at me, then made a sighing sound similar to the one I had made at them earlier. Their dark eyes glanced to the side of the empty plane, watching another darkborn rush by with Zha'kul in their grasp. The darkborn turned to look back at me.

“If not tell of attack, at least of creature?” They asked.
“Must prepare for if attack darkborn.”

I rolled my eyes, giving in. I wracked my core for the horrible beast that had assaulted me. I remembered very little of it, just some very... distinct features. A shiver went down my body as I mentally relived that horrible feeling.

“It was dark, I couldn't make out much of what it looked like.” I muttered.
“But it had large arms, and smaller secondary arms. It had a long tail with a blue tip. It didn't seem to have eyes. It was scaly and shaped somewhat like a dragon. I kicked it in the stomach and it started oozing blue liquid. That's all I remember.”

The darkborn's eyebrows raised in disbelief as they listened to me, then they averted their gaze. Someone who lived in the Dead Forest had almost certainly seen a creature like that before, and this person definitely did.

“Ceretorem never attack humans before.” The darkborn whispered.

“...Ceretorem?”

“Ceretorem is parasite.” They said in response.
“Normal attack large creature, like dragon. Have terrible effect on body. Must get you to home right now.”

Without even giving me a chance to respond, the darkborn yanked me from where I was sitting and began the rush to leave the Dead Forest. Even in the airless dimension of the between-land, I could feel the distance being closed on my fur. I held on to the darkborn's hand tightly, flinching as I felt the pain in my chest return with a vengeance. But soon... soon I would return home.

At least... I had a name for the wretched beast that had taken advantage of me in the dark. Ceretorem. Disgusting creature. The name echoed in my mind as the darkness of the between-land gradually faded away. Eventually, they reached a point where they could go no further. The Dead Forest had come to an end.

“Must stop here,” they told me, “is too bright beyond.”
I sighed, holding my breath once again as they brought me above the ground. What greeted me outside was nothing other than the searing light of dawn, the sun shining directly onto my tired, weary face. I let out my breath, closed my eyes, and held out my arms.

“Thank you.” I said to the darkborn, not looking at them.
“I would have died if it weren't for you and your friends.”

The darkborn didn't say much beyond a grunt, and simply rushed back into the forest where they lived. I continued holding out my arms, breathing the fresh air of the Aegis plains and letting it course through my body. The stench of the Dead Forest still permeated my skin, but overall... I had been freed from that hell.

Over the gentle sound of the wind blowing and the grass rustling beneath my feet, I could hear footsteps approaching. I opened one eye to look in that direction, seeing Zha'kul running up to me from nearby. They ran into my leg, hugging it tightly. I flinched in response, but chose not to do anything about it aside from slowly lowering my arms to their level.

“I've called us a dragon cab to get back to the park,” Zha'kul reassured me, still hugging my leg.
“We have to have the medics look at you.”

The idea of someone probing my body after all that sent shivers down my spine. I grit my teeth in response, pulling my leg away from the faun's grip as I walked forward a few paces. I looked back at them, staring them down firmly.

“I'm not going back to the park right now.” I told them.
“That dragon is going to drop me off at home, and you're going to tell the higher-ups that I was injured on the job.”

“But you-”

“But nothing!” I snapped.
“I know a healer who won't prod me like an animal. I'm not letting you take me back there yet.”

Zha'kul stared up at me with a concerned frown. They then looked away from me, silencing shyly. As they did so, a large shadow passed overhead. I looked up, spotting a dragon with a chariot in tow that had begun their descent toward us.

The dragon landed in front of us both, revealing himself as a mature male gilded wyvern with a scarred face. His golden feathers shimmered in the sunlight despite his age, and he stared down at us expectantly without a word. I gave him a polite bow of greeting, which Zha'kul quickly followed suit. After which, the dragon turned around and revealed the chariot to us.

The chariot, a bulky, magical vehicle with fins on the sides and no wheels on it at all, attached to the dragon at the hips with telekinetic chains. The roof folded down from the top like a convertible, allowing us access through the side doors. The frame of the chariot exuded a strong magical energy which seemed to line up with the energy the dragon's body emitted.

I delicately climbed into the vehicle, clutching my pained stomach as I lifted a leg up and over the step. I made a pained sound of distress, but held my hand out to Zha'kul in defiance when they reached out to help me. Pulling myself up, I could feel a sharp pang of hunger in my abdomen as the fear and adrenaline had finally started leaving my system. 

“Rrrrghhh...” I groaned. Leaning back in the chariot's seat, I tried to recall the last time I had eaten. How... How long had I been out here? I'd eaten before the run in with the ceretorem. I... I didn't remember eating after it. The pangs of hunger grew stronger the more I thought about it. I bent over in my seat. The dragon, once we had both gotten in our seats, magically lifted the roof over the chariot and took off with a simple leap into the air and strong flap of his wings. 

The sudden jump into the air made my gut lurch in defiance. I curled up even further, groaning in pain and panting as the agony from my cracked sternum and guts combined into an unbearable, nauseating sensation. Burning came from deep in my stomach, travelling up my throat. I held my other hand to my mouth, gagging slightly on the sensation rising in my throat. I could feel my faun companion staring at me with concern, but I swallowed my bile and hung on to the edge of the chariot.

In front of us, purple flames licked the corner of our dragon driver's mouth, before being released in front of him in a spiral. He flapped his wings powerfully, which launched the three of us and the chariot into a magical portal. Something in my stomach writhed as we traveled through the teleporter. The deep, intense pain finally got to me.

Just before we left the tunnel of magic, I swung forward and vomited onto the front dash of the chariot, earning a gasp out of Zha'kul and a disdained roar out of our dragon driver. Bile and acid fell out of my mouth, burning my tongue and lips. The horrible sensation forced another retch out of me. More fluid flung out from my lips, this time much clearer and foamy. I hunched over in agony, staring at the yellow and greenish liquid that had splattered all over the interior.

“I'm - hhhgh- I'm so sorry-” I wheezed out, retching again as we left the tunnel and returned to the mainland. The dragon, clearly disgusted by my reaction, hightailed into a dive. He hurried down to the ground, shouting loudly to warn civilians of his landing.

The chariot hit the ground with a thump and a rumble. This forced one last dry retch out of me. Tears welled in my eyes while I tried to prevent further destruction of this poor driver's vehicle. The dragon driver detached his chains from his body and chariot, then shouted for me to get out of his vehicle. I obliged, shakily opening the door and flopping down onto the ground where I curled up nauseously. The force of my body hitting the ground sent another pang of pain through my stomach and chest, but I was just happy to get out of that chariot.

We had landed at the entrance of Filokensia National Park. Several people in various uniforms ran up to me, voicing their concerns at my state of being and my nude, dirty body. Zha'kul had begun apologizing to the dragon for ruining his chariot, and had only gotten shouted at in return. Someone grabbed me by my arms and dragged me away from the chariot. Another person lifted up my legs and took me off the ground. I hardly had the strength to fight it. I could only wallow in my own shame as they took me into my own future nightmare.

“Ame!”

A feminine voice called out from within the commotion. I instinctively fought against the grip of the people holding me up, getting a kick in the face on the person holding my legs. They made a grunt of surprise, letting me go, and the person holding on to my arms did so as well to check on them. I quickly pushed myself to my feet. My legs shook under me as I avoided eye contact with the woman who called my name. Shame creeped up through my veins like acid as I stood in front of her. Nude, filthy, starving, defiled. Unacceptable for a sorcerer such as myself. My breath picked up in pace while my legs began to buckle underneath me. I fell back to my knees not even a minute after standing up, bracing myself with my palms and letting out a loud, agonized scream.

“I'M SORRY!” I roared, silencing the crowd around me. A long, painful quiet followed my shout. 

The woman who stood in front of me slowly crouched down and reached out to try and help me up. I flinched away from her touch, gritting my teeth.

“I'm sorry.”

I stood up once again, my legs nearly giving out beneath me.

“Ame, wait-”
She futily reached out once again, but could not touch me before I scrambled off in another direction, leaving the shouting people behind. I couldn't look at her. I couldn't be near her. I couldn't let her see me like this, not today. Tears fell from my eyes as I ran, stumbling and tripping repeatedly. The heavy weight in my gut felt like it had gotten heavier since I left the forest. 

—————

Eventually, I found an isolated part of the national park I could lay down and rest in. A small wooded area filled with fruiting trees and bushes revealed itself to me. I could hear the bubbling of a creek nearby. Rushing in, I stumbled my way over to the water, kneeling down and dipping my sore, burned hands into it. The cool water soothed my wounds. I let out a long, drawn-out sigh as I sank my arms further and further into the water. The dirt, grime, and acid all dissolved off of my arm fur as the creek flowed over it. It helped with the pain so much that I almost didn't notice the pangs coming from within my abdomen once again.

My stomach screamed in pain and hunger, threatening to devour itself if I didn't eat something soon. I huffed and panted where I sat, staring up above my head as my arms bathed in the clean water below me. Fruits hung from the branches above me. My gaze darted between each of them, searching for the most ripe of them all, but the hunger clouded my judgement slightly as I lifted one hand out of the water to point it at a branch above me.

Sparks erupted from my soggy hand, small puffs of steam spewing out instead of the flame I intended to summon. I looked down at my hand, shook it off, and tried again. With it sufficiently drier, I shot a small, weak, precise flame at the base of one of the most fruit-loaded branches. Cutting through the wood like butter, the branch creaked and rustled before it fell down nearly on top of me. Fruits came crashing down from above, several hitting me on the back or the head.

I picked one up, stuffing it in my mouth without even knowing what it could be. A soft, sweet taste filled my mouth, almost like warm cream and peaches. My mouth salivated violently as I bit into the fruit. Drool dribbled down my chin in response to the meal. I hardly even chewed the fruit before swallowing it, grabbing another from the ground beneath me and shoving it in my face as well. My hands and mouth moved before I could even think about how much I ate. It was so good...

Time passed without me realizing it. The sun had moved a good distance across the sky, illuminating the wooded land I sat in and covering the ground in dappled shadows. I must have eaten dozens, if not hundreds of fruits by the time I came to from my furious hunger-fueled daze. My face was covered in drool and fruit juices, which had dribbled down my front and dried into sticky knots in my fur. I held the final fruit in my hand, looking at it... and finally deciding I didn't want any more. I put it back down and sighed, panting slightly from the exertion. I had eaten so much and yet it felt like so little. How long had I gone without food?!

I stared down at the creek once again, dragging myself over to it and laying down in the cold water. I let the water wash over my tired, filthy body, weakly pulling my hands over the sticky residue the fruits had left behind on my fur. It washed out easily enough, but I couldn't be bothered to try and truly clean myself in this condition. I simply laid down belly-up with my head on the bank, letting the clean water soak into my fur. 

The gentle bubbling of the creek and the distant chirping of birds and griffons lulled me into an exhausted daze. My eyes slowly drifted shut once again as for the first time in how long, I could finally relax. Away from people, away from monsters, away from... that thing. I let out a long, deep sigh, and allowed sleep to take me one more time. 

—————

“Ame?”

The woman's voice permeated my mind once again. I didn't want to deal with her. I didn't want to see her. I didn't want to hear her call me a freak again. It's just a dream, I told myself. 

“Ame!”

Her voice got... closer. I brought a hand up from under the water, rubbing my tired, teary eyes as I finally awoke long enough to hear her call for me again.

“Ame! Where are you?!”

“Ugh, Sheila...” I groaned. This woman... she wouldn't ever let me rest. I rolled over onto my stomach, wincing as my cracked sternum once again hit the ground. I made a small hiss, which earned me a distant gasp in response from the woman who had been searching for me.

“Ame! There you are!”

I looked up in her direction, finally spotting her and making eye contact for the first time since I'd gotten back. I immediately felt that rush of shame wash over me again as I watched her approach me, laying face down in the nude in the middle of a national park in the middle of the night.

Sheila Lin. My superior at the national park, and one of the lead mycologists in our field. She was truly a splendid woman, always going out of her way to help the newbies and lead explorations had been entrusted with. She, also, happened to be the only person in the entire staff that called me by that nickname.

She was the only one I allowed to call me that.

“What happened to you, Ame?” She asked me, watching as I slowly rose out of the water into a sitting position. Nude, soaked, and utterly humiliated in front of my superior, I gave her a hesitant bow of respect. Ignoring that, she came forward and immediately started to try putting her hands on me to check for injuries. I flinched away from her hands yet again, keeping my gaze low and my legs crossed to at least give myself some form of decency in front of her.

“The Dead Forest wildlife survey went awry.” I responded curtly, refusing to make eye contact with her.

“Dr. Neste and Dr. Shinzha did not make it out of there alive. I am unsure what happened to them.”

She gave me a curt frown, reaching out toward me again. I scooted away from her, my fur puffing up slightly in response as I shivered in nervousness and shame. 

“Ame. I don't care about them right now.” She murmured, staring at me with fear and worry in her eyes.
“What happened to YOU?”

I hissed slightly as I inhaled, continuing to refuse to look directly at her.
“...the Dead Forest wildlife survey went awry.” I repeated.
“The forest has much stronger warping effects on the mind than initially thought. I will not be returning there.”

She looked at me long, quiet, and sad. Finally, her grabby hands returned to her chest, and she leaned back and sighed.
“Zha'kul told me you met a new monster while out there.” She whispered softly. I didn't respond.

“...”
She stared at my chest, then down to my legs.
“I won't force you to talk about it,” she said, “but I want to at least make sure you're healing from whatever injuries you have.”

“I'm not seeing the medics.” I said in turn.

“I know healing spells.” She chirped back at me, pointing at my chest. 

This woman... A stickfigure, much younger and yet much wiser than I. She had a gruff looking face, yet a kind personality. Despite her being so much smaller than me, she always made me feel tiny when she spoke to me. I let out a huff of displeasure and moved my arms away from my chest, lifting my head up to let her look at it.

Sheila eased forward toward me. As she did so, she began muttering words in a language I did not know, her hands forming different shapes and gestures while yellow spheres of light rose from her palms and the ground around her. She made a hand grabbing motion toward her shoulders, then curled out her pointer and middle fingers from the fists, tapping them together at the palms. She touched her curled fingers to my chest, earning a flinch out of me, but a gentle, kind warmth spread through my body only a few seconds later.

I could feel the crumbled bones of my sternum shifting and squirming back into place. The cracks bridged themselves as they healed until the pain vanished entirely. Once she removed her hands from my chest, I put my palm over my bone and felt over it. I could touch it without the horrendous pain. I could breathe as normal. I took a deep breath in and let out a sigh. As I did so, Sheila's eyes wandered down to my legs and stomach, and she pointed to them as well.

“...What about-”

“No.” I responded shortly. 
“No, that one will be fine. It's just bruising. Don't touch me there.”

I curled back up where I sat, continuing to refuse eye contact. Sheila gave me a worried stare, reaching out once again to try and comfort me. Seeing the way her arms extended, the way she tried to embrace me, my mind once again thought back to the wretched beast that had held me down in the forest. I scrambled back away from her, involuntarily letting out a soft hiss, before I promptly stood up and shook myself off.

“Well.” I said firmly, looking down at her the best I could.
“It was nice seeing you again. But I will not be coming back for a while.”

Sheila blinked in confusion, then stood up as straight as she could. At her full height, she only came up to just below my shoulders. She reached up to put her hands on my chest, which I begrudgingly allowed her to do.

“I hope you get better.” She said to me.
“When will you be coming back?”

The question turned over in my head for a little while. When would I be coming back? Frankly, I didn't know. I didn't want to answer.

“...Perhaps, never.” I whispered.
“I am not built for these situations. I'd just like to rest at home.”

I could feel Sheila's gaze turn from worry to sadness. She finally looked away from me, pulling her hands away from my fluffy chest. Without a word, she reached into the bag hanging from her shoulder and pulled out two pieces of folded clothing. A shirt and some pants. She handed them to me, placing them in my palms.

“At least put this on.” She said firmly.
“You shouldn't be walking around nude in your condition.”

After that, Sheila gave me a curt bow and turned away, walking off in the direction of the plains without any further words or goodbyes. I watched her leave for a minute before moving to put on the shirt and pants.

They were rather tight fits on me, being hastily taken from the nearest gift shop in an attempt to find me as soon as possible. The pants, a pair of sweatpants with a repeating dragon pattern on it, barely stretched around my waist enough to stay on without being uncomfortable. The elastic bottoms of the pants stopped just below where my darker brown markings started on my feet. The shirt had Filokensia's logo on it, and my matted chest fur caused the front of the shirt to bulge as if I'd developed a pair of breasts. I let out an irritated sigh. It was better than full nudity, even if I looked absurd.

With my bare feet still exposed, I began walking the opposite direction Sheila had gone, in the direction of my home by the shore on the northwest of the peninsula. Food in my belly and rest in my mind, I had started to feel a lot better ever since I'd arrived here. 

—————