The gooey, gelatinous mass wiggled toward me like a gelatin mold on the bed of a pickup. It left a trail of a thick, dark blue substance behind it as it moved, staining whatever it touched.
Slimes were the lowest of low when it came to monster strains. They were barely more than a collection of cells held together by nothing more than the simplest of brains and respiratory systems, yet somehow, they still thrived in the wilds all across the world. On every continent and biome on Earth, the Slime species could be found in some capacity or another. Some were actually relatively dangerous; most were just slow-moving nuisances.
And right now, it was fucking up my hike!
The morning started like most since we moved into town.
Eligh was up and out before the sun rose, rarely making a sound despite how massive he was. Not that it would have mattered anyhow, as my bedroom door was always shut tight and the air conditioning unit cranked up to max(with my floor fan directed at my bed). I'd slept until around 10am before my consciousness slowly began to creep toward the waking world and take me away from the beautiful dreamland I'd visit on a nightly basis.
Lately, all of the dreams I have had would have me paired up with an indescribable figure. I'm not talking about how we rapidly forget what we dreamt about after waking up. I'm saying that during the dream itself, my partner was just a shadowy figure that never coalesced into anything slightly describable.
Yet every dream was happy, fulfilling even. They gave me a sense of happiness that I still felt for minutes after awakening before the weight of reality set in.
The reply I received from Eligh this morning was still left on Read. I told him I'd be going out this morning to walk the trail again and that I'd have my phone on Do Not Disturb until further notice. I doubt I'd be hearing from him much anyway, given the town funds committee had approved his project declaration.
Brickhedge was getting a Pride Month event! It wasn't public knowledge yet, so I can't say much more than that, but somehow, I doubt you're going to go around telling anyone, but I'm sure you'll hear more about it from Eligh the next time he's around.
Anywho, my mind kinda started to wander a bit there. It tended to happen when waiting for Slimes to make their move.
The sun was high in the sky now, and the mercury was rising rapidly, coinciding with the changing of the seasons as the summer equinox loomed overhead in the coming weeks. The heat made identifying the presence of the Slime all the easier, as the gunk that made up their mass tended to smell like a cross between rotten onions and decaying flesh when exposed to the sunlight. It was unique enough that one couldn't mistake it for a corpse and pungent enough that one might lose their lunch.
I'd made it a good mile into the trail at this point, far enough away from the town that the monsters were more comfortable coming out into the open. This little snot thought he'd(it?) try and ambush me as I pushed through the brush off the beaten path, but the joke was on them that I'd smelled them long before I saw it.
I was just waiting for it to come out into the open before I tossed a weak Fire spell at it. No sense in damaging the surrounding flora for a single slime.
The gelatinous mass tumbled endlessly over itself as it crept towards me, sure of itself and its hunting abilities. Boy, did I ever have a surprise waiting for it.
I kept my right hand at my side, slowly gathering my Mana and focusing it into a small collection that I'd simply toss like a ball. The difficult part was imbuing it with an elemental, Fryt in this case, and making it into a fire spell that wasn't going to scatter upon impact, thus making sure it stayed tightly knit.
Yeah, I could have just walked away at a brisk pace and left the thing in the dust, but I didn't like the idea of my otherwise peaceful hike being undermined by a gurgling, onion-smelling mass of slime.
A few swipes with my Aether daggers could have made just as short work of it, but I liked my magic. I liked the range.
The slime had finally moved far enough away from the brush that I felt comfortable throwing the Fireball at it, so with a quick, silent enchantment, I cocked my arm back and motioned forward with more force than probably necessary. Like I was pitching in a baseball game. The then invisible ball of mana sparked to life in a fireball that hurtled through the air at a velocity that wasn't at all connected to the force I had used to toss it.
This was the part of magic casting that pissed me off. I could have put so much force into the throw that I would have torn a muscle, and still, the ball of magic fire would have cruised through the air as if I had just gently tossed it underhand. I'd been working on my magic speed, but it wasn't exactly something that was easy to develop and buff up.
The magic fireball hit the slime with an impressive explosion of sparks that instantly vaporized the monster and left the surrounding area seared with magical burns. They'd heal quickly, much faster than if it was an actual fire.
I still ran the risk of catching things on fire as magical fire can quickly translate into actual fire very quickly if the conjuring is too powerful.
Whipping out my phone, I snapped a selfie with the aftermath, magic fire still burning in rapidly dying pyres from where the splash effect occurred because I didn't ball it up tight enough. My right eye closed, tong lolling out the side of my muzzle. It was my trademark selfie face. I sent it to Eligh with the text: "Took out a slime. Even less damage than last time!"
Now that the inconvenience of the slime was in the past, I could continue on my trek across the Greenway. My plan was only to go about two miles in and explore some of the areas off the beaten path. The drop-off/overlook at the halfway point was intriguing. Still, I really wanted to save that for when Eligh could come with me so we could see it together the first time, so seeing the areas that that bulky mass of muscle would have trouble wedging himself through was the order of the day.
I sat down on a large rock that looked like it came tumbling down the hillside above me. Granted, there was no longer any indication that this had happened recently, but what had happened once before...
The little brook that babbled beside me gave off a relaxed air that felt nice under the shade of the heavy pine trees that covered the area. I had worn my hiking shorts today, ones that stretched down to my knees. Resting my legs, the cool air crept into the sweaty coves that were the pant legs and cooled the humid moisture within.
I let my paws rest in the flowing water, the cold stream soothing my aching pads. Leaning back, I allowed my head to loll as I closed my eyes to absorb the sounds.
Brickhedge was unlike anything I'd experienced back at home. Even at the epicenter of town, it was nowhere near as loud as the city was on the slowest of days. The air was clean and crisp and always smelled of something, be it cedar, pine, or wildflower. The beasts were kind and helpful for the most part, though there were still the bunch that gave me weird looks.
The best part of it was I didn't have to drive thirty minutes just to find the nearest hiking trail. Here, it was just a ten-minute walk down the road.
Leaning back farther on the rock, I let myself get lost in the atmosphere of the moment. I wore only my shorts and a sports bra today, though a plaid button-up was tied around my waste. My chest pushed outwards and created, I imagine, an impressive image for any beast that may happen to me right now.
"I could stay here forever," I thought to myself as a gentle breeze swept through the little grove. The area looked untouched by any other beast, making me wonder if anyone else actually knew about it.
It could be my little secret spot, hidden at the base of a hill, beside a creek, and tucked away behind several tall pine trees.
Further up the brush, I could hear other voices, young, high-pitched ones mixed with multiple deeper tones. They didn't appear to be coming this way, but that told me that others had decided to challenge the trail today as well.
I didn't really want to have to share the walk with others, kids in particular, so I decided to pack things up and head back to town. It was near lunchtime anyway, and I was jonesing for a sandwich and a cold root beer.
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