Template:Featured Articles/7-2022
 The marshland was noisy. Frogs singing their mating songs, birds shrieking, the buzz of insects, and the slorp of muddy water against reeds and plant life and trees along the also muddy shore. A twin splash barely disturbed the wildlife. "Ah, cachu hwch!" Megan swore, or maybe that was just the sound of her spitting out marsh water as she surfaced to waist-high muck. A wave of cold fear rippled through her as she looked around for the others, taking in the unfamiliar landscape. "Clea?" She began wading toward the other woman. Clea emerged with a gasp and coughed up water. She wasn't expecting to be teleported, much less straight into what appeared to be a marsh of some kind. Wiping away her eyes, she turned to look at the sound of her name, "Megan! Oh thank god that I am not alone." Once she was standing in front of her friend, Clea looked around. "I don't think we are in Druid Park anymore." She pointed to their left, "Looks like land is that way. Did the magic backfire?" "Something didn't go right," Megan admitted, hiking up her purse. She didn't want her phone getting any more waterlogged as they made their way to more solid ground. While she moved forward, her right shoe stayed firmly in the muddy bottom. After a moment's flailing, she freed it and trudged on. "Why can't magic ever be easy? I'm glad we're together, at least. Is anyone else here... wherever we are?" "Tell me about it. Though this is the first time being teleported to a swamp." Clea looked around. "AMANDA?! TOPAZ!? NIY?!" She stopped to listen and after a few beats shook her head. "Maybe they were brought somewhere else? We are talking about a Spirit Nature. Just be lucky they didn't send us to another plane. Do you smell that?" Clea put her hand to her nose, even if it smelled like swamp water, it was still better than the sudden decay smell that hit her. Megan was almost to the slope, pushing her way through some water reeds, when it hit her as well, but she was even more surprised by something else. "Ah! There's someone here. OH NO I don't think they're alive!" she exclaimed, scrambling back and almost falling backwards into the muck. Clea reached out to steady Megan before peering over to see the body of someone laying face down. "Bloody hell." Covering her hand over her nose and mouth. She walked past Megan and up the slope, her eyes traveled past and saw the legs of a second one. "There are two." "Two bodies." Of course they were dead. There was no way they could be mistaken for being alive, but panic does weird things to your brain. Megan forced herself to a place of calm and reason and followed Clea up the slope, digging in her purse for her phone. A small frog jumped out and she almost laughed, despite feeling sick. "This has to be related, or why would the Spirit send us here?" |
