Scientific Sorcery : 64 Hydrological Hazards (Patreon)

Stormy led me through the treacherous bog with an uncanny sense of direction. 

Her meows and gestures, though sometimes cryptic, guided me past hidden traps, barely visible ghostly webs and dangerous plants. We navigated the dead and rotting forest until we reached a putrid swamp that seemed to pulse with malevolence. Silver, suffocating, sulfur-smelling fog blanketed the air.

Following Stormy's insistent meows, I pushed a rotting tree into the muck and used it as a makeshift raft. As we floated through the fetid waters, the stench of decay became even stronger, making my eyes water and my head throb. 

The very air here seemed to be poisoned, incompatible with human life. Every few minutes, I had to sip some life-water, giving it to Stormy to heal ourselves from the fog that seemed to drain my energy, wishing to unmake me.

Finally, we arrived at the heart of the bog. What I saw there was a truly alien scene.

Two massive spirals dominated the area framed by floating islands of dead rotten moss and entwined tree roots - one pitch black, the other blood red. The black spiral seemed to devour light itself, creating a vortex of absolute nothingness that hurt to look at directly.

Magic and life seemed to drain into the black spiral, currents of air sinking into it. The red spiral, in contrast, pulsated with an unholy radiant energy, as if ready to birth something horrid at any moment, shimmering ruby-tinted threads dancing over it in the Astral.

Between the two abominable spirals, the water constantly bubbled and churned, releasing noxious fumes that made me grateful that I was already sorta not really alive. Stormy meowed urgently, pointing at the space between the spirals with her paw and making diving motions.

I put a hand into the bog and watched as my fingers began to dissolve, skin blackening and peeling away. It hurt as if a thousand needles were stabbing my hand. The edge of my Nordstaii sweater boiled away, fabric fraying away.

Great, this stuff was super acidic. Acidic enough to melt sweaters.

Stormy motioned for me to dive once again.

I hesitated, my mind rebelling against the idea of submerging myself in the foul, bubbling, clearly incredibly deadly liquid. But Stormy's insistence grew more frantic, and I knew that this was crucial to our mission.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled off the invisi-cloak as not to melt it and focused on stilling my body completely. I forcefully stopped my heart and ceased breathing, becoming as lifeless as possible. Then, I swallowed several big gulps of life-water and slid off the log and into the revolting muck.

The sensation was indescribably horrid. The liquid felt thick and slimy, clinging to my skin and burning me all over. I forced myself to open my eyes, peering through my Astralscope goggles. The muck seemed very determined to flay me alive and I quickly sank down.

In the murky, bubble-filled water, I saw a network of twisted roots stretching between the two spirals. And there, nestled among them, was a composition of black crystals arranged in a snowflake-like pattern that seemed to glow with an otherworldly red and blue light. This had to be the rock that Stormy wanted me to retrieve.

I reached for the Knell-blade at my belt, struggling against the viscous liquid. As I began to cut through the roots holding the crystals, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was severing something fundamental, something alive, something that should not be disturbed.

But I pressed on, driven by the urgency of our mission and the trust I had in Stormy's guidance. Whatever this amalgamation of black crystals was, it was clear that they held immense importance.

The roots gave to the power of the dragonglass sword, coming apart and bleeding black fluid. In another few minutes of a struggle, the snowflake was free. I clipped it to a ferronite chain on my side and tried to swim up. The bog didn’t want to let go of me, pushing me down in its depths, desiring to drown and dissolve me away. 

As I struggled against the bog's grip, a sudden realization struck me. 

This wasn't just a swamp; it was a domain, much like my own, but perpetually liquefied. The way it clung to me, trying to dissolve and absorb my essence, was similar to how my own domain behaved when I liquefied it.

If this was indeed a domain, then there had to be something controlling it, projecting a field to keep it in this state. My mind raced, trying to piece together a solution as my skin and clothes melted.

I quickly reached into my pack, my fingers closing around the vials of Cali's stardust and powdered dragonglass. These were precious resources, ones I'd been saving for further research. But if I didn't act now, and didn't free myself now, I might never get the chance to use them again.

I uncorked the vials and released their contents into the muck around me. The stardust and dragonglass swirled in the viscous liquid, creating a dazzling display of light and shadow.

It wasn’t enough. 

The bog still held me in its embrace, refusing to permit me to swim up.

More disruption was required. I pulled the container with a liter of blood of Bobliss out and uncorked the jar, releasing all of its contents.

The champion’s blood ignited the bog, sucking power into itself, creating a warping, bubbling vacuum of magic.

Holding onto the near-solid, hissing sphere of blood, I shot upwards, swimming with all of my strength. The muck seemed to part around me with bubbles escaping from the sphere of blood, no longer fighting my ascent.

I burst from the surface of the bog, gasping for air despite not needing to breathe. The acidic muck clung to me, burning through my clothes and searing my skin. I crawled onto the rotting log where Stormy waited, her eyes wide with a mix of concern and triumph.

In another minute, of painful gasping, I shoved the blood sphere back into its container, resealing it.

"I got it," I wheezed, showing the crystal snowflake to Stormy. "Whatever it is, I hope it was worth it."

Stormy nodded and meowed insistently, pawing at my arm and pointing back towards the shore. I nodded, understanding her urgency. We needed to get out of here before the Gygr brought her minions to check on what was going on in her own domain or showed up herself. 

As I paddled our makeshift raft back to solid ground, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had just done something monumental. The crystal snowflake, now submerged in the liquified and resolidified wood inside of my bag seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy, and I could feel its weight like an anchor of wrongness prickling at my domain.

Glancing behind us, I noted that the black and red spirals slowed their spin, no longer sucking in energy nor radiating malevolent red threads.

Once we reached the shore, I stumbled out of the bog, my legs weak and shaking. My Nordstaii clothes were in tatters but the armour and Zemy’s banners somehow held, the crystalline mesh of stones held by metal wires thankfully still intact. My backpack filled with earth was coming apart at the seams too, barely holding together. Thankfully, after my near-death experience with Bobliss, I had reinforced the backpack and everything inside it with ferronite chains.

I gulped the remainder of my life-water, limping away after Stormy, avoiding the same traps on our way back through the dead forest. Once we got far enough away, I rubbed myself with snow, to clean off the horribly acidic bog water and then pulled the invisi-cloak on myself once again.

I trudged through the snow, following Stormy's lead as we made our way back to the river. My body ached from the ordeal in the bog, telling me that I had almost perished. Not even life-water seemed to be able to repair the damage the bog inflicted on my body.

As we reached the riverbank, I collapsed under to a fallen log, exhausted. Stormy curled up next to me, her eyes vigilant as she kept watch.

My eyes closed. Whatever the bog drained from me, it wasn’t merely life, it was magical power that was drained from my domain and I needed time to rebuild it.

I awoke the next morning and noticed a faint violet shimmer on the log's surface. Hexacite was beginning to grow within it. This gave me an idea.

I pulled out my remote and activated it, softening the hexacite-infused wood. Then, I unsheathed the Knell-blade and began to carve the wood apart. With careful, precise movements, I shaped the log into a simple boat, just large enough for Stormy and me. Then I fashioned a pair of paddles from the branches, using the same technique.

Once I was satisfied with my handiwork, I gently placed Stormy in the boat and climbed in after her. 

With a push off the shore, we set off down the river, heading North.

As we floated along Glinka, I couldn't help but feel a sense of victory.

We had managed to pawn something of great value from the Gygr's domain, but I knew our journey was far from over. The crystal snowflake in my bag felt like a ticking time bomb, and I couldn't shake the feeling that our actions would have far-reaching consequences when the Gygr realized that I taken something incredibly precious from her.

“Hey, Stormy,” I said. “Why didn’t we see ol’ George at er’ farm?”

“Nrrro booo-drrry,” the kitten replied.

“No body, huh?” I blinked at her. “George doesn’t have a body then?”

Stormy nodded tiredly.

“I see,” I said, contemplating how the Gygr functioned without a physical body. 

Did she somehow manage to push herself entirely into the Astral, enough to convince idiot heroes in their dreams that she was a god? 

Stormy nestled herself at the bow of our makeshift craft, closing her eyes and snoozing. I dipped the makeshift paddles into the water, guiding us northward, hoping that we would soon reunite with Teya and figure out our next move in this dangerous game we found ourselves in.