"Adult mossbear." Or rather just [Mossbears] as the Lattice called them.
"You've had the pleasure, girl?" my potential mate responded, picking up on my stray thoughts bleeding through the human tool.
"When the Fae dumped me here. I... I had a pissing contest with one of them."
He laughed - not aloud, of course. "Let me get this straight: You made a Cognizant run away, caught the Fae’s attention, had a pissing contest with a mossbear, turned Castiana upside down, and the animals seemed to adore you.”
"Then," he continued, still chuckling, “you waltz up to a beast that would make anyone shit their pants and even convince him to adopt you as his own and train you. Girl, I swear, I’m smitten."
"I'd rather the Fae leave me be, and it's not my fault that - wait, what?" As my brain caught up with what he said, my heart went wild, my head burning as blood rushed to my face. Did he just say...? 'For fuck's sake, stop it, Sage!'
"What's up with the wagging tale?"
"Um, nothing," I said quickly, lying, forcing Sage underneath me so that I could sit on her. I had gone along with my beast urges so far, mostly because I had bigger things to worry about, but this fervor about my potential mate's interest was pushing the limits.
"You sure, girl? Anyway, how long has it been since you ran away? Two weeks?"
"Yeah. But it's not like I wanted to..."
"Listen, I've trained hundreds of girls and boys into soldiers. I'd have to be blind not to see the diamond in the making. You're a rough one, for sure, but... Look, it's not the best time to ask this, I know, but what do you say to being my apprentice?"
Of course, that was what he meant by saying he was smitten. The sting of disappointment was sharp. He didn’t see me as a mate, and why should he? Weak as I was, no one would. But if I trained under him… well, maybe then...
'Seriously, can't you just drop it? Now’s not the time for a partner.'
On the contrary, it was the best time - or so my beast self believed. Times like these showed what someone was truly made of - quite literally, in my case. Cowards fled. He stayed, ready to fight. The thought of him going head-to-head with one of those adult mossbears sent a shiver of anticipation through me. And there were plenty to choose from. The clearing grew more crowded by the second, mossbears pouring in, turning the forest's edge into a writhing wall of fur, flesh, and moss.
Rather unnerving sight, to say the least.
The Sacalehoofs huddled together so tightly it was hard to see where one animal ended and another began, and the young human, left free to go, huddled up to them too. Vara and Elira fared no better, kneeling on the ground just a few steps away from them, clinging to each other while cautiously peering around. Even those who stood on their feet, deemed to fight, could not help being intimidated by the sight. Some more, some… less.
"No! No, fuck this!" growled the shadow-thieving male, eyes narrowing as he watched nearly a dozen adult mossbears, one of them his challenger, came to the clearing. Without another thought, he simply disappeared into the shadows.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
?You… dare?!? roared Esu in beast talk, his fury rumbling like thunder at the human's insolence.
- 115th glyph inscribed on Indomitable Will (?????)
- 22nd glyph carved on Spatial Domain (??)
- 10th glyph engraved on Equilibrium (?)
Arguably, being this close to Esu was worse than the mind attack of that thought fuddler. It rattled me whole. Honestly, I was surprised I hadn't passed out - and regretted not doing so a heartbeat later.
At the clearing’s far edge, where the ruins of a human dwelling stood, its crumbling walls leaving a gap in the wall of mossbears, once more moss shoots had sprouted from the ground. Same as before, maybe even faster, they pulled the male out of the shadows. And to my surprise, he wasn't the only one to end up tangled in shoots. The same happened just a few steps away, where a woman appeared in the magic light of a setting sun, trapped just like the shadow-thieving male. And then there was a third spot, a little closer to the middle of the clearing. Like the female, a male, one of the Shadowbreaker pack, no longer brainwashed, got caught in the moss shoots during his cowardly escape.
'What were they thinking?' Or maybe they weren’t thinking at all. Maybe it was pure instinct - just like I had done so many times before. They ran, no plan, just desperation.
Whatever their reasons, it didn’t matter. I stood with the others, frozen, horror etched into every face. We watched, silent, as humans with a number of sigils more than twice mine were helpless against the moss slowly covering them. They fought back, giving it everything they had, but it wasn’t enough; shadow magic, whatever light magic the woman used, daggers, sword, skills, nothing worked. The moss just kept spreading, covering them inch by inch.
The woman’s defenses were the first to break. Her scream shattered the tense silence, piercing through me, grating on my nerves. And when I thought it couldn't get any worse, she started sinking, her body dragged down like quicksand had her. The worst part, she wasn't sinking - the moss was eating her alive.
Just as in the case of those dead mossbears, the unassuming green plant was making her into nothing more than a fertilizer for the forest.
A terrifying realization.
Like many others, I couldn’t help but peer down at the mossy floor, wondering if it would claim me, too. Back on Earth, moss was harmless, just a nuisance if it got you wet. Now? I saw it in a whole new light. 'Remarkable, and those black flowers on it - beautiful.'
No, I had no hidden sadistic tendencies. I didn’t enjoy watching her die such a horrible death. Quite the opposite. If anything, my mind was scrambling to shield itself, latching onto something it knew, something safe. Something that didn’t make me want to claw my own eyes and ears off.
Worse still, the female had not yet stopped screaming, and her packmate followed, their voices twisting together in a dreadful chorus. The last to lose his battle with the man-eating moss was the shadow-thieving male. But in the end, the moss claimed him, just the same.
Glancing up at Esu’s antlers, I found them glowing again, but my eyes went straight to the flowers in his mossy crown. White, vibrant, full of life, nothing like the black ones on the man-eating moss. Was it a different kind of moss? What about the one on his back - I didn't see any flowers? Questions I didn't dare ask. For all I knew, all the moss I saw could be one and the same, ordinary moss, and it was the mossbear who had the knack for shaping it. Their name would suggest so.
[Man-Eating Moss]. Sounded like a powerful weave - one I didn’t recall seeing among those at my disposal. Not that it would make much difference even if I had just overlooked it. I was under no illusions that it would take years before it reached the same horrific gluttony as the moss under Esu's command. No, with my rotten luck, I would be fortunate if mine managed to choke down a ladybug.
Not that I wanted to be able to bring such a horrible death on my adversary in the first place - it was a gruesome thing to witness. Even the mossbear in me, savage as it was, preferred the honor of claws over something so… distant. Yet, it didn’t lessen Esu in my eyes. To him, those people were no more than ants. And truth be told, I wouldn’t think twice about ants either.
The screaming, though - it tore through me, grating on my nerves. It was far too familiar, not unlike what I used to hear locked in that cellar as the mutations twisted the bodies of my cellmates. Fortunately, it didn't take anywhere near as long.
The female’s voice was the first to fail, followed by the male’s. The shadow-thieving one held out the longest, but he, too, fell silent in the end. Then came the stillness, thick and eerie, smothering the clearing. Eyes flicked down to the moss, fear bubbling up, everyone wondering if it might rise to gnaw at their toes. No one dared to make a sound, let alone speak, no one except the Lord of these woods himself. His voice rumbled, slow and final: “Cowardly… and… week. Now... they... belong... to... the... forest.”