Chapter 35 - Hold Your Breath!
As if it was never there the beast had devoured the wombat. To make it worse it didn't even seem to have much of an impact on the beast its appearance. What was even weirder was the fact that I felt oddly acquainted with it.
When the shadows near the bond lifted I finally saw why the beast seemed familiar to me.
The limited light, shining down through the openings of the leaves revealed scales…
"Wait… Scales? I have scales!"
The shales looked like they stuck out a little almost creating a pointy and sharp layer of defence for the beast. It took its place near the pond allowing more details to reveal themselves. As it did, it became apparent why what it was I felt acquainted with.
A long body reflected itself as light gently shined down on it. The pointy scales all aligned towards the back finally connect at the tip of its tail. The colour… I honestly couldn't place the colour.
At times when the light collided with the scales it felt like it got reflected, almost like a mirror, but when the light began to shift of the surface, the mirrorlike effect suddenly turned green and brown. Almost like a camouflage effect. Within moments I lost sight of the huge I thought I had seen,
but memories of its appearance began to disperse.
Trying to make sense of what I saw I must have thought of going crazy.
A long thin scaly body? Did I see legs? Come to think of it, I had not even seen its face…
Now, what was I to make of its appearance?
The shadow began to vanish in front of my eyes, like snow on a spring morning and with it all thoughts of it. What had I seen? I honestly couldn't remember…
Not being sure of the situation something didn't feel right,
but one thing was clear I was dying of thirst!
The once crowded and lively forest suddenly felt cramped, not to mention it almost felt like I was the only one present, but was I? Not certain of this I tried to fight off my thirst for a bit longer,
yet was unable to fight it off completely knowing I had nothing to drink for a while.
Slowly but surely, step by step I began to inch towards the pond.
Certain something must have been there previously I stayed on guard, but oddly enough even the hole in my memory had begun to fade away. So before realizing and it and without a care in the world, I began taking small sips of water out of the pond.
My tongue rippled the water in a steady rhythm.
*sip* *sip*
*splash*
*sip* *sip*
"wait… splash?"
Before I could realize what the splash wash something lashed out at me.
Unable to comprehend what was happening I decided to jump in the water,
unsure if this was the best cause of action I tried to stay under as long as my tiny lungs allowed me to. But when the oxygen began to diminish from within my body it also rapidly began to ask for more.
A shadow had appeared where I stood moments ago, compared to me the size of it was unfathomable. As I looked hoping for it to go away I felt it… Eyes were glaring left and right when finally our eyes met. Not one or two… no… I counted four-eyes that saw right through me within the water.
At the time of jumping in, I didn't realize how big the pond originally was.
It was even deeper than I could have comprehended in that small window of an opportunity.
I dug down deeper, and just in time as I felt the beast brush by my back.
It must have felt it too since it instantly lashed out, again and again.
Water kept splashing everywhere, but by this time I was so deep that the sounds were muffled.
By now I still had not discovered what the creature was, other than it being horrifyingly big to me.
I kept looking for a chance to surface from the water.
The creature on the other hand looked for the opportunity to strike,
I knew once I would surface that it would be a losing battle. But what I didn't know…
Was that I wasn't alone in the water.
Thinking I was safe, I felt the pressure of needing to grasp for air intensify.
I thought I was safe… Oh, man… Was I wrong… The moment I tried launching towards the surface something sticky latched itself around my middle…
Within seconds I got dragged even further into the depths of the pond.
By now you should be asking; Mira, was this even a pond, to begin with? Honestly, who knew?! Certainly, I did not! With all my might I tried to escape… Unable to conjure strength as the oxygen got pushed out of every poor known to man. I began to lose consciousness…
Succumbing to the lag of oxygen I thought I was done for… That I would be ripped to pieces before I could realize my full potential. But for some reason before losing all consciousness I remember entering something sticky and slippery.
"Is this is? Am I going to die like this? Within this squishy substance?! Wait… How could I even think this? This should mean I'm still alive, right?"
I began to regain consciousness, slowly opening my eyes it appeared I must have been swallowed whole.
"L-Like… The… Wombat…"
"No… No… No! I refuse to be digested like that helplessly adorable creature! I didn't get eaten by the shadow did I?"
Because the creature lacked appearance, or more like because I had no chance of registering its appearance I needed to call it something convenient. Which led to the quick solution called "Shadow" as that was all which I could see, before jumping into the pond? No… Lake? Ugghh! I honestly don't know any more at this point!
One thing was certain, whatever had swallowed me whole wasn't that much bigger than me, or… honestly, it was still more than twice my size, but nowhere near was it the size of the shadow!
"Something else has eaten me… Seeing as how I'm not yet digested or seeing as how it has not started yet. It should be clear what I need to do now."
As the thought crossed my mind something else was more whimsical and instantly captivated me. I… Was able to breathe!
Quickly I breathed in my fill of oxygen hoping it was safe to do so, instantly regretting inhaling such a large amount. The air that I had inhaled was partial oxygen, but mostly gasses produced by intestines. To clarify, not the best smell in the world, it was horrible, to be honest… Even stinging my lungs… Thank god I was able to breathe… but now… my insides started to burn.
"Acidic fumes!"
I held my breath as quickly as I could. With the little oxygen that was left, I tried to move.
I tried wiggling my tail. With intense pressure, I was slightly able to move it around.
But when I tried moving my legs and arms… Not much happened… Being covered in mucus I struggled to move, I had to find a way… A way out of this mess…
Drenched in mucus I continued to struggle. Nothing much happened and I noticed the creature being docile as well. Was it sleeping? Was I still underwater? I couldn't be certain of the situation… Not until I was able to get out of here… I wasn't gonna be food for the first animal that succeeded in swallowing me whole, would I?
It didn't take me long to realize that the mucus had paralyzing properties.
As I was still unable to move… And every time I had to inhale the toxic fumes inside the intestines my lungs caught fire… Unaware of what might be happening on the outside I knew there was only one way out of this mess… I had to flood the creatures' intestines with my acid… Hoping it was potent enough to finish the job, I had to unleash everything I had in one go. I took one last deep and quick breath, knowing it would hurt me I had to prepare for a possible escape.
This meant sacrifices had to be made. Before I had the chance to unleash my acid a stinging liquid began to secrete from the intestinal wall. The Digestive process had begun…
I knew it was now or never, quickly I plunshed as much acid I was able to muster. Instantly flooding the creatures' intestines. Even if it was my acid, I too got struck by the dissolving properties of it… The pain burned throughout my body. But there was hope…
Hope that creature was in more agony than me. It had become a battle of attrition when I heard the words; [Due to the accumulation of enough experience
The pain felt instantly felt less taxing. I knew that this was the moment…
The moment that I would escape!