Rite of Endurance fungi forest

Solpor looked between the two sisters, seeing very different reactions from both. One seemed grateful it was over, the other seemed angry that it had happened. Both understandable reactions, but one was more indicitive of future action. Whatever the case they would be more prepared to defend themselves in the future.

"We will go as soon as you two are able," he said, shaking his leg derisively to try to dislodge some of the goo that clung to his fur. "Where there is one there could be more. Try to find a long stick or a tree you are comfortable carrying so we can use it to ward them off."

He saw the effect it was having on the sisters and knew he had to try to fix this quickly. If any of it had gotten down Mckenzie's throat it could begin to paralyze her from the inside.

The creature that emerged from the skin of the nightmare was almost painful to look at. Its skin was pink and furless, black and green veins throbbing under the pink and giving the creature a sickly palor. Strings of bloody mucous attached it to the skin as it pulled itself free, black-stained mouth open wide to reveal a toothless hole that seemed to expand as its maw opened wider. It had eyes, but they were too big for its skul, bulbous and green, the pupils swirling independently of one another as it looked at its soon-to-be victims.

It crawled forward on spindly legs, its too-large hands and too-long fingers sinking into the ground. Any fresh leaves that had fallen from the trees above curled and blackened, turning to liquid rot under the rifter's touch. The area around it turned black with death as it stood on four legs of mismatched length and sizes, letting out low clicks from that hole in its face.

Solpor swung at the rifter and caught it on the side of the head. His claws tore through its skin like it was made of sodden paper and he hissed as he felt the skin around his claws burning. He looked to see the black liquid bubbling as it burned away the fur on his toes and filled the air with the stench of burning hair.

He limped quickly back, grabbing a slender tree between his teeth and ripping it from the ground in one swift motion. He looked back to see the rifter moving slowly toward Maddy, its mouth opening wider and wider as if it was trying to gauge how big it needed to be before it could swallow her whole.

Solpor took the tree in his hand, fumbling with it slightly as he planted his back feet. One arm hung uselessly at his side, but that didn't stop him from lifting the tree and driving the thicker end of the trunk at the root bundle through the rifter's head. It collapsed to the ground, black icor flowing freely between fragments of skull and rotting flesh, burning the roots of the tree like bubbling acid. The rest of the rifter melted into more of the black goo and Solpor limped over to Maddy, taking her by the ruff of her neck in his mouth and dragging her carefully away from the spreading puddle.

He released her a safe distance away and sat down heavily, breathing heavily and wincing in pain. As the puddle began to soak into the ground, the numbness in his arm started to let up. At least it didn't seem to last long once the rifter was dead.

The creature's mouth stretched impossibly wide as the sisters came to Solpor's aid, a hissing clicking sound rattling deep in its throat. The kicks drew forth greenish-blackish liquid that seeped from the gashes Maddy's hooves opened and it clung to her hooves, creeping farther up into the fur around them.

The tail that Mckenzie grabbed pulled away from the body with a wet squelching sound, the same greenish-blackish liquid exploded from where the primal's teeth sank into the flesh. Far more than seemed logical gushed into her mouth, flowing between her teeth and down her throat, soaking into the fur on her chest and dripping down her forelegs.

Solpor was also not spared, for as the hands were ripped from the body, the fluid flowed up the remainder of the fingers and along his forearm, soaking through his short, dense fur and onto his skin. His skin tingled where it touched and then went numb, that feeling spreading deeper into the tissues beneath his skin. His right leg was entirely numb by the time he stumbled away, teeth gritted and growling low in his throat.

"Get away from it!" he snapped. "It is paralyzing us." He eyed the rifter as he felt muscles in his chest beginning to spasm before they too fell prey to the effect. But he managed to see the skin of the nightmare writhing on the body, beginning to separate from the creature beneath.

He didn't know about them being hunted, but they were certainly being watched. He felt it like an electric charge on the back of his neck, making the smaller hairs there stand on end. Solpor didn't respond to the Maddy, focusing on listening.

There was almost no warning before the creature burst out of the shadows. In the ethereal lighting from the motes and the mushrooms, it was almost impossible to pinpoint where exactly it had come from, but Solpor saw it running straight for Maddy, angled to strike her left flank.

He lunged forward, striking the creature with a heavy forepaw before it could so much as touch Maddy. The blow sent it tumbling end over end backwards until it landed in the leaf litter, stunned. Solpor took this moment to rush it, putting a massive paw on the thing's chest to keep it from getting up and trying again.

"What...is it?" he asked, frowning as he studied the creature. It looked almost like a nightmare, but it was somehow wrong. Its limbs were in the right place, but it had been running on two legs. There was a jagged line down the middle of its chest stretching all the way down between its legs to its groin, and the skin along that line was rotten and black. It stared up at him through unsettling eyes, eyes that did not belong in the skull of any drakiri breed. They glowed sickly green and the pupils were mishapen, one significantly larger than the other. Solpor decided quickly he would rather not have his paw on it if it could be avoided, but he wasn't given the chance.

Appendages shot out from the middle of the creature's chest, impossibly long fingers wrapping around his wrist like vines. When he tried to pull back they clamped down hard enough to hurt and Solpor bared his teeth in a ferocious snarl, trying to shake it off.

When he lifted the creature he saw roots attaching it to the ground, growing out from the thing's back and digging rapidly into the ground. If one snapped, more replaced them, and as he pulled his arm away the hands extended further, stretching impossibly far and dragging him closer with surprising strength every time he stood still.

He didn't know exactly how to get there, but he did know that following the path was likely the best option. Solpor was content to walk until he found where he was supposed to be, it was his preferred method of travel--without rush or pomp and praise.

He walked quietly, the only sound coming from his footsteps. His ears twitched as he listened to the sounds of the forest, frogs croaking farther in, crickets calling to one another in the twilight cast by the canopy overhead. The various sources of light from the wisps that floated around them and the glowing mushrooms in their cracks and crevices confused him, but he had only to look behind him and see their footsteps to know they were going in the right direction.

"You two walk ahead of me," he said, eyes narrowing as his left ear flicked back slightly. Was that the breaking of a twig? The rustle of leaves underfoot? He was unsure, but it was better to be safe than sorry. If he could keep an eye on the two primal sisters, he could focus his other senses on the forest.