Fluffy Rabbit

"Alright, but if it seems like it's gone over my head then I will have to abort this request you have for me." Said Mari.

"That is fine. I would rather a calm outcome took place instead of what is going to happen if you don't interfere." Said Vola.

Mari was mostly surprised that one of the followers from the goddess of the undead requested something from her. She could tell that this was something personal and that Vola might have seen this happen before, so now that she has the chance she would hope to not see it occur.

Mari hesitating picked up her right foot as to take a step forward. She took a moment because not that long ago she was struggling to walk a foot forward and make any progress but right now is different. She is undergoing a trial.

"First step." Mari said.

She faced the berry pickers who were across the lake and faced the dirt path that lead towards the village.

Mari took her first step and was relieved. A subtle grasp of breath could be heard from her.

"Take care of the berry pickers, and find the plague. I've got this. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle. I can get this done within the hour." Said Mari.

She was extremely confident in her prowess to solve this trial and not fail. She knew that she couldn't take up her sword or fall asleep, so the only outcome she wanted was to make sure this all happened in a very fast manner.

The dirt path that Mari started to walk down was very normal. It was leveled and taken care of by the many times footsteps would cross it. On the other hand the foliage around the dirt path was far worse. There was hints of decaying berry bushes and decayed trees that started to limp. The trees were tall in height and seemed like if a few were to fall that it would cause a disaster to the living beings in the forest.

"Are there any living critters around here?@ questioned Mari.

At the moment that Mari uttered this remark a small pack of rabbits ran across her legs. The smell of death was subtle but they ran away in complete fear.

"Okay, maybe the plague is something I really need to worry about." Said Mari.

The pack of rabbits were small and could easily fit in the palm of her hand. On top of being so small they were fluffy, this might have been the reason Mari was so attracted to the idea of picking one of them up and pinching their cheeks.

"Come over here little one. I'll keep you safe." Said Mari.

One of the small rabbits that were running in fear saw the large person hovering over them and saw that this person was bending down to put their hands out. The rabbit being in this situation thought death was inevitable but this large creature might be able to save it from death.

"You're so cute!" Said Mari.

The rabbits heart was racing and seemed to have been running out of breath. It looked like Mari came at the perfect moment because any longer and the rabbit might have died from whatever it was running from.

"Let me pinch your cheeks!" Said Mari.

Mari looked at the rabbit and pinched the small cheeks of the little critter. She also looked around the body of the rabbit to check if it had been bitten or if there might be something wrong with it.

On the rabbit's back side on top of the tail was something that interested Mari.

"What is this? It looks like the decay I saw on the tree not too long ago. Is whatever you're running from doing this to you?" Asked Mari as if the rabbit could answer her.

Mari waited a moment to actually see if the rabbit would respond to her.

"I mean of course you can't talk. It's just that so many strange things have been happening that I wouldn't even doubt that you would if you could." Said Mari.

The rabbit was just a rabbit. This rabbit in particular had grown very tired and started to rest inside the palms of Mari.

"Well let's go see what you were running away from. It looks like it's on my way to those ladies anyways." Said Mari.

Mari was sidetracked and sold her attention to a cute critter. At this moment she was more entertained by the fluffy rabbit that came across her instead of the imminent danger that might happen to the ladies across the lake from her. She knew this but the voice that was telling her to stay alert was a whisper compared to the one that was focused on the rabbit.

"It's this way right?" Mari asked the rabbit.

Mari averted her gaze from the area that the rabbit came from. There was nothing that immediately popped up. Mari was expecting for some sort of predator to appear and try to swipe the fluffy rabbit from her hands, but there was not a sound of anything else moving. She only hear her footsteps and the little hops of the other rabbits running away.

"Oh. This is interesting." Said Mari.

When she moved a few tree branches out of the way she spotted something. It was small and appeared like a pool of water. The pool wasn't clear like water but splashed the same way water would.

"Did you guys mistake this for water?" Asked Mari.

"Yeah I think you guys did. Well just don't go out and be drinking water from the floor like a bunch of weirdos and you wouldn't find yourself in danger." Said Mari to the rabbit.

The puddle of mysterious liquid was stagnant but didn't raise any flags to Mari. To her it appeared like a small price to pay to hold onto something so fluffy.

"I'll just throw some dirt over it and you guys can forget about it." Said Mari.