I'm taking a bit of a hiatus from my Mirror's Edge story to work on this for awhile. Yes, I did make up the name of Asa's hometown. If you don't like it, you can kiss my ass. That being said, enjoy!
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Chapter 4: Backstory and Mushrooms
A Miasma stream is a place where the miasma becomes concentrated, and forms a violently flowing stream. The trio stood outside the Miasma stream forest, staring in. It was black as night, and eerie howling sound drifted out from the trees. "Well, let's get going." Kyre said, staring off into the forest, Gale and Asa followed behind him. Asa thought about his companions to take his mind off the eeriness of the forest. Both were taller than him, Gale about five foot four, and Kyre was about five six. Kyre's brown hair was messy, and he was constantly pushing it out of his face. His eyes were brilliant green. Gale too had brown hair, which fell down to her shoulders. Her eyes were dark brown, and she was always smiling.
The sky continued to get darker and darker, and the howling was becoming a roar. When they finally reached the stream, they stood staring at it. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The miasma was so concentrated you could actually see it. It flowed over a natural bridge, blasted everything in it's path. Asa gripped the chalice tightly, and started forward. Every Miasma stream is associated with one of four elements; wind, earth, fire and water. This particular stream was aligned with the water element, so the trio had changed the chalice's element back at River Belle Path. As Asa got closer to the center of the bridge, he felt the miasma physically repelling him. He dug in his feet, and fought forward. When they finally reached the center of the stream, the chalice reacted so drastically that Asa nearly dropped it. The protective sphere that encircled them suddenly became visible. It looks as if they were encased by a paper thin crystal sphere.
"Woah." Kyre breathed.
"It's beautiful!" Gale cried, looking all around her.
"It sure is." Asa said, looking at the protective barrier, then down at the chalice. As they left the miasma stream, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. They were now in Iron Mine Downs. To the north was Marr's Pass, a small trading town. To the north east was the Mine of Cathuriges, a once thriving, now abandoned iron mine. To the east was the Jegon River and their next destination, the Mushroom Forest. The trio started off toward the forest, when Gale suddenly blurted out, "So, Asa, where are you from originally?"
"A little town in the Plains of Fum called Valtue. It's about the size of Marr's Pass" Asa replied, hopping off the caravan to walk with her.
"Oh, what made you guys come to Tipa?"
"Well, Valture was kinda falling apart. There were a lot of rumors that the towns crystal was failing, and it wouldn't be able to last a whole year without more myrrh. But I think the biggest thing was that, umm, the people weren't exactly….friendly toward us."
"How do you mean?" Gale asked, cocking her head.
"You know as well as I do what the other tribes thinks of us! Thieves! Brigands! They said we were 'bad for the community' and pushed us to the edge of town!" Asa was practically yelling at this point, "My father was working day in and day out, and we still could barely afford food! They made us live up to the stereotypes!" Asa realized he was yelling, and blushed slightly. "Anyway, my dad found out that there was land we could afford in Tipa, so we left."
"That just horrible!" Gale exclaimed, crossing her arms, "no one should be judged on their race!" Gale put a hand on Asa's shoulder, "Don't worry, we aren't like that in Tipa."
"Thanks." Asa said, smiling.
"Look alive, you two, we're almost there." Kyre called down from his position at reigns. The Mushroom forest certainly live up to it's name. There were no trees to be seen, just giant fungus. Most of them were bigger than tress. They secured the caravan, then headed into the forest.
"I wonder if you can eat these?" Asa mused, running his hand over the enormous stem.
"I'll give you 20 gil if you try." Kyre replied with a smirk.
Unlike River Belle, they didn't have to wait long to fight. Within five minutes of walking into the forest, they were confronted by two hell plants, as well as a gremlin. The hell plants began shooting large seeds at them, while the gremlin rushed in. Asa cast a fire spell on one plant, then finished it off with his racquet. Kyre used his shield to deflect the second's plant's projectiles, and cut it neatly in two with his sword. The gremlin charged Gale, waving it's flail over it's head and cackling wildly. Gale simply kicked it's feet out from under it, then stabbed it in the back.
As they moved deeper into the forest, the monsters became more plentiful. More than once a hell plant almost took Asa's head off, and a gremlin actually jumped off a mushroom onto Kyre's back. The chalice's crystal resonates when it gets closer to the myrrh tree, and the trio used that to help them navigate through the maze of fungus. The chalice was vibrating wildly when they reached a huge clearing. Sitting in the middle was a little green creature. It hissed at them as they got closer, and puffed itself up to it's full size.
"Awww, it's so cute!" Gale cooed.
"I dunno about that." Asa said, eying the creature. He had a bad feeling about this.
"You sure have odd tastes." Kyre said, drawing his sword, pointing it at the creature. The creature began to shake violently.
"Stop it! You're scaring it!" Gale yelled, punching Kyre in the arm. Kyre into it Gale, yellomg back at her, but Asa was too interested in the creature to notice. It seemed to be sucking in air through the tubes that stuck out all over it's body. Asa heard a loud rustling, and saw the giant mushrooms shaking off their spores. The spores flowed toward the creature, and it sucked them in. Asa thought he was imagining it at first, but the creature was growing as it sucked in more spores. And it was growing fast.
"Get away from it!" Asa yelled. He turned and ran, and the others followed. They didn't really have a choice, unless they wanted to be left outside of the chalice's protective boundary. Asa stopped once they put about twenty yards between them and the creature. It was growing faster and faster, and the sound of the spores flowing through the air was mounting to a crescendo . The creature stopped growing when it was about thirty feet tall. Kyre leaned over to Gale and whispered "Still think it's cute?"
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Done and done. Can you tell I'm no good at writing fight scenes? Up next is the fight with the Malbolo, then gang goes to Marr's Pass. Before the year is over, a new character will be introduced, and I've already got it in my head to torture poor Asa. Mwuahahahhahahahha!