They began their journey heading North, it was more of the same: rocks, trees, more rocks, some bushes. However, it was still new. There were new plants, and new caves.
"Hey Mercer, come look at this flower!" Lera called to mercer from accross the clearing. They were almost to the mountains.
"Woah, what is that?" Mercer froze upon seeing iit, his mouth agape. "It looks like it's glowing!" He quickly pulled out his notebook and began sketching it, as well as writing a few notes. While he was observing the flower Lera went off to see if she could fin some more new specimens for mercer to study.
"Hey Lera, I think this plant might have some sort of magical property! I can feel the heat coming off of it!"
"Really, we should mark this location." Lera pulled out their map that they had been filling out and marked down the clearing, along with a little flower symbol. "Probably shouldn't pick it till we know there are more."
"You're right of course, I've got some data, we can move on for now, I'll check it out again on the way back. I know you're very eager to see some of the caves on this side of the mountain."
"Thanks, we better get on with it then, it can't be too much farther." They set off for the caves that they had seen and began marking them off.
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"Hey Mercer?"
"Yeah what's up" Mercer turned around and headed back towards Lera who was standing at the entrance to a cave.
"Doesn't this cave look and feel a little odd?" Lera had been standing there staring for a couple of minutes.
"I mean kinda, I'm not the expert though, I don't reall like caves. Too dark for me."
"Yeah, I know, but this one is different from the rest." Lera glanced at Mercer, then pointed out a few markings and scrapes. "These scrapes and marks are not made by any animal that I know of..." Lera took a few steps back and tried to get a better look around the cave. "It feels almost... lived in... like someone has been staying here. Either that or it is some kind of beast I haven't seen yet. Might have to ask Ara for that old sword she keeps around."
"You know, I think maybe we should move on. I doubt it's a big creature, the marks are all fairly small, no need to worry right?"
"You're totally right, Probably just like a rabbit den or something. Well, only a few caves left from what I saw." They began moving off and marking the remaining caves. Unfortunately they had not seen anymore of the mysterious flower.
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By the time they had finished mapping the caves, it was already getting close to night.
"Shoot, we need to get back, we promised mother Ara we would be back by Dinner. I hope she isn't waiting." Lera turned and packed up their map.
"Let's make a quick stop at that flower, I want to see if it changes at night." Mercer packed up his tools and they set off. The forest seemed a lot denser at night, with trees coming up out of nowhere. A few times Mercer stumbled on bushes, his night sight being a bit worse than Lera as she constantly dove into dark caves and trained her sight to see in darkness.
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"Wait, ssshhh..." Lera held her hand up then waved him forward. "There's something in that clearing we found. Mercer moved forward and saw what she had been talking about, it was the mountain nymph he had been studying earlier.
"What's it doing?" Mercer strained forward trying to get a better look at the nymph who appeared to be dancing in the clearing.
"Why don't you go ask it?" Lera smirked at Mercer.
"oh, shut it. It's not that easy." Mercer was watching the nymph closely. Suddenly he saw a flash of light and remembered the flower. His eyes shot towards it. The flower appeared to be swaying with the nymph. It's color changed and flickered with each new move the nymph performed. He reached over and tapped Lera then pointed at it. Lera's mouth dropped. The colors reflected in her eyes, she was mesmerized. Out of the blue the Flower abruptly stopped shining. Mercer looked at the nymph and saw her staring directly at him. They sat like that for a few seconds before she dashed into the forest. Mercer and Lera glanced slightly at each other before moving on towards the flower. Lera reached it first, and as se got closer it began glowing a deep blood red. She stared at it, her vision trapped by it. It was calling to her, screaming at her. She held no will to look away. It was blaming her for suffering and death. It was shouted and cried. It hated it her, and it was furious. Suddenly it stopped and she stumbled back. When Mercer caught up the flower went pitch black. Then the edges began glowing a beautiful orange like fire. Mercer stared deeply for no more than a second then it went dark.
"What was that..." Mercer was still looking at the flower. "I felt like I was staring into the very heart of the Universe. I can't comprehend anything I just saw." He turned to look at Lera who had fallen to the ground weeping. "Lera! What happened?!" He dropped down beside her.
"the screams... the hate... I can't handle it... it held so much anger, I don't know what happened." Lera could barely speak, her voice was ragged.
"We saw very different things... We need to get back to mother Ara, maybe she can tell us what is really going on." Mercer sat with Lera for a few minutes while she recovered, then helped her up and they set off. The journey was much slower than when they had come this way.
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"Lera, Mercer, where have you been?" Mother Ara had been waiting outside the door. As they drew closer She noticed the totally absent Lera, whose eyes just stared as if they could not see, and Mercer who was only barely able to keep Lera steady, though he himself looked pretty shaken. "What happened? Hurry get inside." Mother Ara rushed them in and got them sat down in chairs.
"mother...." Lera tried to speak but still couldn't say much. She was shaking, and still could not quite focus on her surroundings.
"Lera what happened, what's wrong?" Mother Ara rested a hand on Lera's arm. Lera winced away and curled up.
"I'm not totally sure what she saw, but I'll tell you what happened." Mercer grabbed his book and began flipping through it's pages. "On our way to mark down the caves, we spotted an unnusual flower that seemed to glow and radiate heat." He showed Mother Ara the entry in his book. "I had studied it for a short time, before we moved on, I decided I would check it out on the way back. The only strange thing at the caves was one that appeared to have a species of small animal living in it." He took back his books and set it aside. "When we made it back to the clearing it was dark. we saw in the clearing the mountain nymph dancing, except the flower was changing color based on how she moved. after she left we went over to the flower, it turned blood red when Lera went near it and Black with Orange when I did. When I looked at it, it was like seeing the universe. I saw nebula laid out before me, worlds with creatures i could never imagine. Beings that sailed in ships like in your stories. However, my last sight was a massive space vessel that was a brilliantly polished gold." Mercer then looked down. "Lera on the other hand, had collapsed when I turned to see her. I didn't know what happened, I can only imagine what she saw."
There was silence for a long time before mother Ara looked up. "I think I may know more. I will tell you guys more tomorrow. You both need rest. I will tell you one thing though, I believe the plant you saw is actually a piece of one of the Eldritch beings that lived in the world, Nymphs were supposedly very attached to them, and plants were one form the beings enjoyed taking. What it showed you was a vision, the colors match the comet and it confirms what I was worried about. Tomorrow i will give you the explanation you deserve."
Mother Ara helped Lera get into bed, and stayed with them until she was sure they were both well asleep. Then she left and headed north.