Congue looked back at the village slowly getting higher and out of her window of view, it was a weirdly comforting sight, showing her that she was getting somewhere, even she herself didn’t know where the end of it would be. The slope after the village was slow and steady making its decline usually fairly easy, if it weren’t for the rain and thunder making the grass all mushy ans slippery, Coal had no problem, her size and weight made traversing most terrain very easy, albeit a little slow. Congue herself couldn’t properly dig her claws into the ground, making her own steps slower than she would like them to be.
The small village was soon gone entirely from her vision not long after, the bottom looked…much lower than it should be, it looked like they where descending a massive mountain already while the clouds where below them, grey almost unmoving clouds, occasional “Hilltops” of unknown black tipped objects, occasionally lined with a decaying green tree. It looked almost endless, at least it was stretching almost to the mountain in the distance.
The slope was starting to even out and they could finally see just what was awaiting them before reaching even close to the mountain, it looked unending, without an exit, half grown trees, many of them rotten, black of dead, a web of roots and fog spilling from every crevice available. Congue has never seen a swamp in person only ever read about them, let alone seen one of such size.
Looking back at her companion Congue couldn’t go around it, it would take god know how much longer to get the mountain she wanted to see. Not only that but swamps as she read about them supposedly have opportunities to get some food, supposedly. Stepping into the huge swamp problems and curiosity quickly arose. The fog made seeing far quite difficult, the water, mud and amalgamation of resources in the ground had Congues clawed toes vanish into dirt with every step. Coals own huge steps made a large splatting sound while even with how big they are, they are barely visible in the ground, an unfortunate soul stepping into them surely gets a wet surprise.
Despite how intimidating it looked for the pair the swamp was also feeling pretty dead, there was rarely a fully grown tree, let alone a blooming one reaching above the fog, Most where either half-dead, full of moss and no leaves, or even broken down halfway. Waddling through these wasnt too difficult if it weren’t for how deep the mud was going, deep enough that almost every step a vine or root was in the way, making Congue have to step over it awkwardly. After walking as straight as one can be here for longer than either of them could guess Congue was getting faster, unbeknownst to her.
It was a natural progression for Congue, she started her foggy journey waddling between vines and roots and stomping through the muddy deep ends, Congue slowly started to no just step between vines but actively step on them for higher ground. This was soon followed by her claws holding onto these roots for better grip, making her movement even slicker, it took Congue hearing her friends stomp getting faster to notice she herself started to go faster, once she did her subconscious forced into her conscious mind, causing her to splat into the muddy bellows, her front was painted brown as she was getting up, but she did so with a smile, she strangely enough had fun, more fun she thinks she ever had before.
Getting right back up Congue was quickly getting back to just…moving forward, slowly getting faster as she was now doing it purposely, moving onto the vines and roots and holding onto them to further launch herself forward, there was the occasional wobble and smack into the mud which was barely slowing her down.
The dead looking swamp was as silent as ever, there was no roaring, no chirping, as if no animal big or small has ever lived in here. Congue was breathing a little heavily, running a little too fast for a little too long she was taking a break against a particularly large dead tree stump. With Coal stomping up next to her the big loaf was slowly and creekingly moving down to kneel, just to make sure her small friend was okay.
If Coal could smile she would do so, Congue however could easily feel what her friend was and was smiling back at the unmoving face before catching a glimpse of Coals “feet, which seemed to have started growing moss on them, Congue didn’t think much of it especially once her body distracted her.
All of this running, all of this adrenaline filled hopping around quickly exhausted the girls little food reserves she had in herself. Stomach growling angrily, followed by a much more softer growl from its owner. If that wasnt already plenty of annoyance the growl was followed by a yawn, it was likely getting later or this just exhausted her a lot.
“*yawn*, ill get some food tomorrow…..”
Laying right where she sat down it was considerably fast, so fast that even Coal was looking down with a puzzling aura to her. But there was not much Coal could do right now other than ease her friend journey into dreamland, similar to last time she got down even more, hands above the girls head to shield some of the constant rain, and the warmth fo her core to provide further aid.
Congues sleep was strangely well and scarily uneventful, usually dreaming quite a lot this night was pretty..dead. By the time she woke up Coal was not right next to her as she expected, it made Congue jerk up like a mole coming out of the ground, quickly turning her head only for the familiar creaking to be nearby, getting closer Congue had barely a minute alone before her companion returned.
There was some clear purpose to Coal and Congue quickly caught onto that feeling, the big loaf wanted something from her friend. Little more convincing needed to follow Congue hopped right up and got behind Coal, which lead the other barely away from the current direction towards a small patch of moss with a small handful of mushrooms growing on it.
“Whoa!”
Coal was bending down, using her giant pointy finger she pointed out the mushrooms, clearly to eat and most importantly where they where growing, despite how childish Coal is emotionally she as extensive knowledge of the nature she was coming from. There was no words spoken during this show and tell from Congue, who absorbed this interesting and new information like a sponge, once it was over The girl snatched the mushrooms from their growing place and stuffed one into her mouth. There was no grilling or warming up needed due to her physiology.
Congue was letting out an audible satisfied groan before she popped all but one mushroom into her filling stomach, it was not enough to truly make it rest, but enough to settle her stomach for a while again. Coal earned herself (and her core) a big soft hug from the little girl which in turn earned a small satisfying indiscernible sound from the big loaf.
After sharing such pleasantries the two where going back to their journey towards the huge massive goal of the mountain, which has yet to get any bit closer in their eyes. While moving forward Congue was now looking out for the signs she was just shown, moss and certain rocks that could grow mushrooms. Occasionally eating them on the way while letting some be taken with.
Yet no matter how far they where going, barely any notice as they where in the middle of this dead swamp, the only real noises where coming from Congue and the big loaf, neither was there any other fruits, to be found other than this wide brown mushrooms congue had been eating for a while now. Occasionally looking back at her companion Congue took more and more notice of how the moss on Coals legs was getting thicker, growing taller, both fo which was far far faster than it really should be.
The day had barely begun for them and yet Congue felt…tired, she neither ran nor did much excessive work, other than travelling and picking mushrooms, yet she felt like she hadn’t slept for so long. Coal noticed that as well and whenever Congue looked like she was about to take a rest Coal urged her mentally and physically to keep going, whatever is happening Coal had some kind of idea that it wasn’t good to rest anymore, least of all so soon.
While more difficult to move when feeling to sleepy Congue was pushing forward, walking along the same trees, the same fog, the same rocks and the mountain wasn’t moving any closer still, something was wrong, even Congue could feel it now, they reached the middle of this swamp and it didn’t feel like they where going anywhere.
Congue was looking around, slowly more carefully now, looking for rocks and mushrooms had her spacial awareness skyrocket in a short amount of time. Almost all dead trees looked similar..almost, there was two in particular that stood out to her, one was halfway covered in moss and another had a single leaf on it. If Coal didn’t teach her about mushrooms and moss before Congue might have chosen otherwise, deciding to go the direction of the mossy tree she could see in the distance another mossy tree, only one, like a light of a wayward towards somewhere.
Following these trees finally showed they where getting somewhere, the trees started to change in appearance, rocks where getting fewer and far between and even coals moss seemed to stop growing as fast as it was before, which now raised all the way up to her “Knees”. After travelling for awhile again the mountain was finally getting closer, Coal dreaded what would have happened in this weird swamp if she hadn’t had coal with her.
Most of this dreaded day was spent trying to get out of this forest, fighting the sleepy urge to just lay down, following the single line of trees, finding mushrooms and occasionally Coal being spurred on by the big loaf behind her when she looked like she was about to take a break, Coal didn’t like to push her friend like this but both feared something could happen if it where to happen.
Finally the fog was starting to dissipate, less thick than before, dead trees where slowly filling with leafs and greens, moss was vanishing rocks where getting smaller, the edge was visible and the mountains shadow was looming over them. It was imposing and intimidating, but compared to the Swamp it was quite inviting, especially when Coal really wanted to see…everything the mountaintop had to offer to a curious girl like her.
The mountain and the swamp had a clear empty line of muddled grass between them, one side greyish and had while the mountainside was green and full of life. As if nature itself was fighting this dead line in an eternal struggle. Birds where chirping, other animals can be heard again and yet not a single flying or grounded animal dared to breach this invisible battlefield of nature into the swamps.
Luckily Coal and Congue where smack in the middle of it eagerly going over to the other side, getting up only a few meters on the increasing height of the bottom of the mountain Congue looked back at the swamp and it was…small, it looked very small compared to when she was on the other-side, the mountain was feeling like it was days, weeks away yet from here she could even make out the village she came from.
With this weird swamp behind them and some survival skills the big loaf taught her Congue was back to full curious vigour to climb this mountain and find herself at the top.
Jumbled thoughts 