Morphling

The light of dawn couldn’t come any sooner. Throughout the night, the little jelly tucked its legs and kept its eyes open since it didn’t really know how long it would take for the light to come back. The concept of sleep was still foreign to it despite the state it generally arrived into this world.

The reason for this was that its original body acted as a low maintenance energy preservation state, so it didn’t really need sleep if it maintained its jelly form. Its current situation, however, was brought about since it wanted to keep its senses while getting ready to depart once the light returned. If anyone wanted to know what a paralyzed moose with bloodshot eyes would look like, the current state of the jelly is a perfect example.

Unable to move due to cutting blood flow by lying on its legs throughout the night, the jelly had no choice but to revert back into its original state. As soon as it changed back, relief came over it as it no longer felt the soreness of its eyes and the numbness of its legs.

It took note that in the future, changing into these types creatures would require a different kind of bodily maintenance.

Hopping out into the warm light, the little jelly basked in its warmth for a few minutes to replenish some lost energy via the sunlight. The speed and rate of conversion was bad, but it was low effort energy replenishment, thus it was convenient.

As soon as it felt its reserves were good enough, it immediately turned back into the four-legged beast. Amplifying its sense of smell via the flying and tiny red creatures’ bio data, it took a whiff of the air to detect any familiar smells.

Coming across a known scent, it immediately locked onto it and found it coming from a direction with multiple unfamiliar smells. Excited at the prospect of finding more genetic sources, it immediately trotted towards it.

***

In a small camp, five figures were having a discussion over the burnt-out campfire just as the morning came.

“Let’s see… passing over the Glade of the White Lilies… the tracks seemed to be heading deeper into Prismordia’s woods.” said a plain looking middle-aged man in tattered leathers dressed like a frontiersman.

“At least this means Rakai’s village should be fine. They’re further up north while this thing seems to be heading southeast.” noted a blonde man wearing a hood and light gear, while performing maintenance on a bow.

The large horned man, Rakai, only grunted in response but everyone could sense the relief he had in that small gesture.

“Hmm… Imri, what’s your opinion? You and Geral are our best trackers. Any idea yet on what this thing could be?” voiced Jortus, the bearded man holding a staff.

The only woman in their group, Imri, had an athletic figure and wore similar light garbs as that of the man with the bow, Geral. The only difference in their gear is that she wore a cloth over half of her face revealing only her light blue eyes, and the twin daggers at her sides.

She stopped going through and checking her equipment upon Jortus' question then shrugged as she faced him.

“We’ve only discovered just as much as your divining magic found, Jortus. We couldn’t see it as anything but the tracks of a slime, albeit a very large one. The only other thing strange about it is the increased amounts of corrosion in its later tracks. Almost as if it was in a constant state of digesting everything it touched on the ground.”

“Which brings in another odd point.” interjected Geral. “Digesting things take up a lot of energy for a slime, especially the more solid whatever it is it’s eating. Continuously expelling acid would only dry it out faster. Sure, it’s a big slime, but the acid trails go on for hours. At the size we’re seeing, there’s no way it should have enough liquid in itself to corrode even half the trail we’ve seen.”

“Hmm…”

The others looked towards the last of their party who grumbled, the most journeyed among them.

“Is there something you’d like to share, Loen?” Jortus asked the man in worn leathers.

With a heavy sigh, the man solemnly asked. “Tell me Jortus… could it be Niskari?”

As they heard this, everyone except Jortus tensed at the word.

Jortus looked at Loen with a calm gaze before he smiled. “I can understand your concerns, Loen. No worries. The taint of the Niskarii is volatile and noticeable. While there are possible signs of Outworld involvement, there are no signs of Niskari magic. Should there be any, this region of the forest would‘ve been corrupted already.”

Hearing the conviction in Jortus’ words, the rest of the party sighed in relief.

“Though I do think it’s imperative that we conclude our business here as soon as possible. A tear in space, no matter how clean in appearance, would always leave traces. And these traces are what attracts some unwanted attention from the Outrealm, including Niskarii.”

Everyone’s looks grew solemn once more when they heard this. Indeed, the sooner they finish their field investigation, the sooner the Tower can send a mage that specialized in assessing and repairing any damage to the Materium, the physical world they exist in.

“Now that that’s settled, tell me Loen. As the Western Warden, how would you assess our current situation?”

Loen crossed his arms as he went into deep thought. After some time, he looked towards Rakai then said, “Based on the evidence, it seems the creature we’re tailing is heading towards the heart of Prismordia, the Green Cradle. Considering it’s headed to the most dangerous region; we’d be putting ourselves in greater risk for what could end up being a wild goose chase. Though we’re not really pressed for time, do you still want to chase after it, Rakai?”

Rakai closed his eyes then took a breath before he opened them again. “No… if the creature is going to the Green Cradle, then there is no need for us to pursue. We, the Kaijin, believe that nature will take its due course.”

Loen nodded in understanding. Rakai was a native to these lands and knew it better than any of them did. While they can’t guarantee that the creature won’t alter its course, there was no way for them to continue pursuing it without forming a proper expeditionary force into the heart of the forest. The Woods of Prismor was simply too dangerous, especially the Green Cradle. Starting an expedition into the heart of the woods requires too much expenses and manpower, and usually only the Kingdoms could afford forming one.

If an appeal is made to the Guild, then it’s possible to form one depending on the reason for the expedition, and the rewards involved. This means that it’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to convince anyone to join them on an expedition simply for an unknown type of slime that ran into the heart of the most dangerous region of the untamed lands.

Knowing this, they simply gave up and decided to conclude their investigation.

“Jortus… Loen… I…”

Rakai wanted to say something, but hesitated.

“If it’s about heading to your village, then go. We’re pretty much done here and it’s a clear way back. There are some unknowns, but it was an uneventful trip. I’ll hold on to your reward until you return to the Guild.” assured Jortus as he warmly responded to Rakai. Loen also nodded in approval.

“Thank you. I owe you both once again.” nodded Rakai.

As their plans concluded, the party of five cleaned up their camp as they prepared to go on their way.

***

Traveling for almost an hour, the little jelly finally arrived at the source of the smells. What lay before it was a vast lake where many woodland creatures came to drink.

Seeing the many sources of biological data, it couldn’t help but become giddy with excitement. There were so many different kinds of creatures, monsters and beasts. There were so many different types, it’s a wonder how none of them seemed to be fighting each other. Looking at the spectacle, the little jelly thought to itself that there may be an unspoken rule of sorts for the creatures to not attack each other in this place.

It scanned the area and was excitedly deciding on which creature to stalk and pick first. It definitely wanted a predator at the very least so that way it would find the means to defend itself as well as be able to take down prey much easier.

As it was looking, it soon got startled by an oddly familiar call behind it. Turning around, it saw a more massive version of the creature it was currently borrowing the form of. Another stark difference was that the creature sported a massive intimidating pair of horns that were wide and spiked, looking as if it could tear any creature apart. Realizing that there's a stronger and more impressive version of the four-legged beast, it was upset at itself for thinking that the beast it consumed was impressive at all.

This massive beast completely dwarfed it and showed much more splendor than its current form could hope. The concerning thing, however, was that the great beast was calling at it again and gradually came closer.

It wasn’t sure how to respond since outside of the physiological functions of the creature, it didn’t really know how it acted in nature. Before it was able to respond in any way, however, another horned beast arrived that was as large if not larger than the beast that was previously calling it.

Suddenly, the two beasts bared their horns against each other, and started scraping and pushing against the other.

The little jelly wasn’t sure what was happening, but it was certainly excited to see how these creatures fought and used their natural weapons. Seeing this would give it ideas on what to do once it was able to consume one of the specimens.

As the two great beasts continued their struggle, the smaller one of the two gave up and ran away. Seeing the fight conclude, the little fellow was satisfied with the insight it gained.

Strangely, the winner didn’t go away and actually started circling the little jelly. It even made to sniff its behind. Was it trying to figure out if the jelly was actually one of its kind?

If this was the case, the jelly had to figure out a way on how to fool the beast, but before it could think of anything, it suddenly felt a heavy weight suddenly getting on top of its lower back.

What was this beast doing? Uncomfortable at how close the creature was sticking to it, it suddenly felt something sticky and warm pulsing at the entrance of its behind.

Time seemed to slow down for the little jelly as the sensation sent violent shivers across its spine. Whatever this creature was planning to do, its own instincts rejected it with every fiber of its being. Something in its mind screamed for it to stop the beast in whatever way possible, so as soon as time seemed to flow normally again, it reflexively sent the most powerful kick it could throw behind it.

Its hooves struck through as it felt hitting something soft and vulnerable, and managing to tear it off. It didn’t feel like it hit something substantial so it was getting read to kick again, but stopped when it felt the weight fall off its side.

Turning to look at the beast, it saw it twitching on the ground, eyes rolled to the back of its head, and frothing at the mouth. It was also bleeding somewhere between its two hind legs.

Whatever it hit, it concluded that this was this creature’s fatal weakness and thanks to this discovery, it was happy that it finally caught satisfying prey.

Looking to the sides, it noticed that some of the horned creatures kept really far away from it and appeared to be trying to hide their behinds. Perhaps its action sowed fear and wariness among these creatures, so it believed it wouldn’t be able to approach them anytime soon.

Knowing this, it wasted no time and started dragging the twitching beast by the horns towards the cover of bushes. Here it would take its time to consume the beast and finally take a worthwhile form.

***