In Another Forest

It didn’t take them that long after they set out that morning before they first saw the rot sprites. Manny pointed at a small bubble floating stationary in the air. It was green in colour and its surface was fuzzy. She raises an eyebrow. “Are they made of moss?”

He tilted his head. “Moss? Maybe? They are made of some form of plant, but don’t be fooled. Despite being plants, they are still very dangerous. Do not touch.”

“I understand.” She smiled softly. “You know, my world has dangerous plants to. Some of them are very poisonous. You don’t want to eat them?”

Manny made a horrified noise.

Augustus looked back from where he was walking ahead. “What happens if you eat them?”

“You could die.”

He shook his head. “Are there other dangerous things in your world that can kill you?”

“Yes.”

“Your world sounds like a terrifying place. It’s hard enough here as it is without having killing plants around.”

“Wait…” she thought. “Does that mean that these rot sprites aren’t deadly?”

“Of course they’re not deadly. They just clean up after the Roving City.” Manny explained. “If you accidently pop one you won’t die, though you may wish it did worse. It will make you smell forever. You cannot wash the rot off and all creatures in the forest will be nauseated at the scent.”

“Oh…” that was a lot worse than she thought. She wondered for a moment if tomato juice would be able to get rid of the scent like it’s supposedly able to help with the spray of the skunk. Maybe it would work, but she didn’t want to chance it. She swallowed. “Well that one is pretty small and it’s not moving they must be pretty easy to avoid.”

“Oh, there are more ahead.” Augustus said back to her. “That one likely strayed a little too far because of the wind. They move towards the nearest source of rot, but this one is so small that it looks like it has never picked up anything. They get a lot larger than this.”

“I see.” She said as she passed the bubble of moss. She gave it a glance and was shocked to see it move slightly.

“Yeah, wind sprites do love messing around with rot sprites. We move them all over the forest. It messes with everything.” Seirye said proudly.

“So it was you…” Manny muttered under his breath before looking at Calla. “What is it?”

“I thought I saw the sprite move.” She said quickly. “It must have been my imagination.”

Manny looked at the tiny rot sprite. “That’s okay, just let us know if you see anything else.”

“Will do.”

The four continued further and just like Augustus had said there were more rot sprites hovering in the air. They were of all different sizes, but in the normal forest the largest she had seen were about the size of a large basketball. They floated ominously and Calla continued to grow nervous as it looked like most of the sprites moved slightly and then stopped. She said nothing though. It had to have been all in her head. None of the others had mentioned that rot sprites would move when there was nothing rotten around.”

Finally they reached a large stripe of trampled forest. The thumping of the city moving was felt here stronger than ever. Her eyes widened as she looked over the many rot sprites that were scattered all over the clearing. These ones were a lot bigger than the ones she had seen thus far. Some of them were much bigger than she was. They looked like they could contain a car or a large horse, or maybe even something bigger. They were huge and because of this they terrified her. Her eyes widened.

“I… didn’t realize they got so big.”

“The more rot they eat the bigger they grow. I think they can grow even bigger than the roving city, but that never happens because there are so many of them. All of the rot sprites help clean this area up.” Manny explained. “We will be walking along the trampled strip because it’s easier for all of us.”

“But I’m perfectly fine walking through the forest and you’re a tree child.” Augustus grumbled.

“And I don’t walk!” Seirye said joyfully.

“Yes, but I have been growing tired in the forest. I need an easier surface to walk on.” Manny said quietly.

“Fine.” Augustus said. “We’ll walk here.”

She looked at Manny, happy that he didn’t tell the truth. She knew that he was actually going this way because of her. She had been having trouble walking through the forest. One thing she really missed in her own forest was how people built hiking trails all over the place to make it easier to walk there.

They continued to walk along the strip of trampled trees for a while, until it happened. She looked over at the rot sprites and it looked like a few of the bigger ones were moving, but these ones weren’t moving and stopping like the other ones. These ones were moving at a steady pace towards them. It was not her imagination.

“I thought you said that they would only move towards rot.” She said.

Manny looked over at the rot sprites and hesitated. “They’re not. I have one suggestion though. We should run.”

Augustus nodded. “I agree.”

That is how the four of them began to run past the moving rot sprites.