as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Out of all the caverns, nowhere was fungus so abundant than in the dark quagmires of Cetus. However, as of late, Thothaga noticed that they were becoming a little too abundant. At first, she took advantage the fungal boom, harvesting all different kinds of caps and studied their effects- even making a mushroom garden for those she found useful- but then, it started to get out of hand.

They began to infest everything.

She would find them blanketing the ground and trees, wake to find them over the Divine (which she would then have to pluck off). A few times she even found them growing from the kills she stored in tight cocoons, ruining her food. It seemed shrooms and rot ran rampant. They puzzled her to end, and even infested her dreams.

It was more like a reoccurring nightmare. Mushrooms sprouted everywhere. Like twisted, white fingers, their mycelium would thread through everything. Blanketing everything, eating everything, rotting everything. Eventually, they would come for the Divine, then for the Spire, and their was nothing Thothaga could do to stop it. Sometimes, the dream would end with them digging her exoskeleton, trapping her in her own body. Helpless, she could only watch as they buried alive an cocoon of mycelia. Each time she dreamed, grew more and more unnerved by her findings.

As if that wasn't enough, one time, she saw a cave deer white fur sticking out its ears. It stopped in its tracks and stared at her with glassy eyes, then took off into mist. The encounter made her uncomfortable, and she began to worry about her neighbors.

Thothaga decided it she should on Dragon and his Children of Rot. She hadn't heard anything from them in a while, but this did not raise concern, not at first. The Children of Rot were as a secretive bunch, but she hadn't visited them in a while either. However, something her gut urge her to find them, and soon. Something wasn't right with Cetus and she hoped they had answers. So, she set off into the Heart.

The deeper she went, the more quiet the swamp became. There was no chirping of frogs, no usual buzz of insects. All was quiet in the Heart. Thothaga flicked her abdomen. This wasn't right. She felt watched. "Dragon?" At first is was a whisper, then she dared to be a little louder. "Dragon?"

Thothaga crept a little further into the ferns. Her hairs caught the faint taste of rot. It drew her attention to a blur laying half-buried under the ferns. The spider crept towards it, and carefully lifted the fronds up with a leg. It was the carcass of cave deer, half-eaten but somewhat fresh. Whatever killed it must have left in a hurry.

She peered closer. White hairs had grown from its ears, just like the one she saw before. The same white hairs also threaded through its exposed muscles, some broken off along with meat and probably consumed. It reminded her of that dream; a connection she feared to make. Thothaga felt her gut twist. What is this? If it was a fungus, it was unlike any she had ever seen.


"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

@Zutar (if she cares to join)

The small bird was inside their chrysalis. The time felt like it could go on forever, infinite, never stopping. The chrysalis was the same color as their gemstone that was on their beak. Yellow, with golden strings weaved through it. Maybe time would go on forever. Everything outside independent from the inside. At least, it would have for not the chrysalis cracking and the small creature emerging from it. Blue and white feathers bristling. The feathers on their belly were starting to become black, but weren't quite there yet.

Wiggling on the marsh floor, the bird used their legs to push themselves upwards. Taking the first few steps of their lifetime. As they grew, the little bird would grow, and would walk more, fly more, but as of right now. They were small, light, and in a lot of danger. They would be able to protect themselves one day, but not now. Not yet.

Wandering, the small bird spotted something... odd. Very odd. That was the largest spider the world had ever seen! It was saying something strange... Dragon? What was a dragon?

The blue creature chirped in the direction of the big.... thing.

@thothaga