The Spirit Wilds: Magic of the Green Sage (Fall of the Sages Book 1), стр. 10
This time around, she didn’t see anything too dangerous, though she saw a manlistore in the distance, which was a hulking, shadowy spirit monster with a white porcelain mask for a face. They fed off fear and needed to be avoided at all costs. This one didn’t notice her, thankfully.
After a while, she jumped over a stream and came to a flowery clearing with a few felled trees. She sat on one and stretched her legs out, her eyes to the sun that had found a hole in the mushroom canopy to shine through. It was a perfect day; one she would enjoy thoroughly until she had to return home and ruin it with a confrontation with her mother.
On that front, she decided to pick a bunch of the yellow and white flowers growing around her. Carnations, she recognized, and something that looked like lavender, but she realized wasn’t quite it.
As she was picking, she had to stop and admire a flower that she’d never seen before.
It was breathtaking. Bright petals that seemed almost iridescent in the light, flitting between hues of blue and purple. The center of it was a deep golden orange. She’d never seen anything quite like it. With a smile, she pulled out her sketchbook and drew it. People thought she just liked to come into the wilds and goof off—which she did—but her real passion was plants.
She loved them. Loved drawing them and studying them. She experimented with petals and nectars in drinks. They didn’t have a professional apothecary anymore since Miss Caldwin died a few years back and she hadn’t left an apprentice to take up the practice, so Tuni had no one to learn from, but still, her passion was hers and she would stoke that fire whenever possible.
She sketched and studied animals too, of course, but she obviously couldn’t do experiments on them, no matter how curious she might be. Nature was perfectly balanced, beautiful, and she would never disrespect that. Everything out here was precious, a gift that needed to be cherished.
Of course, meat was still on the menu, but she always sent a prayer to the nature gods when she shot something. It was only right.
Once she was finished with her sketch and wished that she had some colored pastels so she could really capture the essence of it. Instead, she packed her journal back into her pack, picked a few more flowers, gripped her bow, and continued on her way.
Another hour south and a few conversations with some playful spirits later, she came across something else she’d never seen before: a new creature, one that she had to draw.
Ahead of her and sitting beside a rotting mushroom stalk was a strange little animal. It looked very similar to a rabbit, only it had purple fur, and instead of a small fluffy tail, a long and slimy snake tail adorned its backside. Tuni had never seen an animal like it, but she had heard stories of it and knew the creature to be a cobrunny.
Tuni absolutely loved any and everything that she deemed to be cute and adorable, and the cobrunny fit that description. She tiptoed her way toward the creature, trying her best not to startle it in any way. It lifted its head from eating grass and stared at her. It wiggled its little button-like nose and looked at her with what Tuni guessed was both caution and curiosity. She kept creeping toward the animal and it in turn kept eyeing her with suspicion, but it did not flee. Tuni expected the little thing to bolt any second, but it stood pat.
The cobrunny still hadn’t moved and now Tuni stood before it. She crouched down so that it was almost at face level with her. It continued to watch her with curiosity. She reached out and began to scratch the hairs on its cute little head, between its long ears.
“What a nice little pet you are,” Tuni said with a giggle. “We have nothing like you back home.”
Tuni couldn’t help but smile brightly as she gently caressed the cobrunny. She adored its fluffiness and desperately wanted to bring it home with her. She was sure that Telli would love it too. For several minutes more, she continued to pet her new furry friend and they both seemed as content as could be.
That was when it all went wrong.
The hairs on the cobrunny’s head and spine rose and a sudden air of hostility unfurled from the creature. Tuni looked down at it and saw a new reddish glint in its eyes. Suddenly, her sense of wonder was shattered, immediately replaced by fear. The cobrunny reared back from her hand and revealed two long, sharp, and wicked fangs and before Tuni could even think to pull away, the cobrunny lunged and bit down on her arm.
Tuni screamed.
The cobrunny’s fangs tore into her tattooed forearm and caused a terrible, burning pain to race through her. Tuni swatted the little demon away and then unceremoniously recoiled and fell onto her bottom. She clutched her injured arm to her chest, willing the pain to leave her, but it only got worse. Tears stung her eyes as the hot ache spread throughout her whole arm. She looked down at the wound and what she saw made her want to cry even harder.
The wound had already turned black and the veins running away from it were black as well. Her whole arm was turning black. Venom… a powerful venom.
Tuni looked back at the beast that had bit her, and her heart nearly stopped. The cobrunny was no longer alone but surrounded by dozens of its fellows. They all sat silently and stared soullessly back at Tuni, ready and waiting for the venom to take