It had become a poison more potent than the combination of toxins in their bodies and other poisons, an upgraded version that their bodies might not be able to resist.
Night was fast approaching, and as the fruits on the vines were about to vanish, the giraffes couldn't afford to think further. Some of them let out a comforting call to the grieving mother giraffe before resuming their work.
As darkness slowly fell, the giraffes, having toiled all day and having gone without sleep for a full day and night, subsisted solely on the husks of the fruits, continuously storing the physical materials into their storage spaces throughout the night.
Their hectic work, of course, was to harvest all the fruits on the vines before dawn, for they would disappear automatically with the break of day.
They fed on the petals and the vines' husks, which wasn't just a matter of plant consumption; these were resources for their strenuous cultivation.
