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2. You are suddenly, urgently parched, and must drink at the oasis. Even if you have already indulged there, this time you realize as the water hits your stomach that perhaps things are not exactly as they seem. You are first drowsy, then sleepy. The effects cannot be mitigated: you fall asleep--but first you feel an urgent need to lie down at the foot of the tower.
You awaken where you'd fallen asleep, exactly there and nowhere else, before you'd found yourself far from home. The time you spent away is there, but the memories are strangely elusive, like snippets of a dream. You can, if you focus, call them back up, but some of them are distorted and strange.
So it was a dream, then, you think, and you rise, and are alarmed to find that your hooves ache, your legs burning (and perhaps you shed sand from your coat, or snow, or the petal of an alien flower--perhaps you feel a lingering ache where something attacked you in the dream, or taste for an instant on your own breath the foreign fruit you'd eaten), as though you have walked a long, long way...
You awaken where you'd fallen asleep, exactly there and nowhere else, before you'd found yourself far from home. The time you spent away is there, but the memories are strangely elusive, like snippets of a dream. You can, if you focus, call them back up, but some of them are distorted and strange.
So it was a dream, then, you think, and you rise, and are alarmed to find that your hooves ache, your legs burning (and perhaps you shed sand from your coat, or snow, or the petal of an alien flower--perhaps you feel a lingering ache where something attacked you in the dream, or taste for an instant on your own breath the foreign fruit you'd eaten), as though you have walked a long, long way...
Kiss of Death - Kiss of Death
She did not get to travel that far after she had drank the water from the oasis. Within minutes she felt her lips start to dry out again. Tongue hanging out of her mouth, she started to breathe heavily as she felt her throat going dry from the desert's heat. It did not make sense to her since she had already consumed a lot of liquid to quench her thirst. She felt like droplets of sweat were forming again at the top of her head where the hot sunlight shone down on her entire body.
The doe looked down as all four of her hooves slowly sank further and further down. Quicksand... If she does not hurry up the sand would consume her whole. Kiss of Death pulled her front legs free and thrusted herself forward as her hind legs broke free from the soft sand. This new environment challenged her to be at her fittest to survive. Not far after breaking herself away from the quicksand, there was a scorpion in her path striking its tail madly at her while it clipped its pincers. She jumped aside, avoiding the attacks, and ran away from the insect as fast as she could with the pain in her back and thigh. It was not all that fast, but still, it was faster than the scorpion as it had given up chasing after her and divided its attention toward something else in its sight.
Soon enough, she got back to the same oasis that helped quench her thirst after she had woken from a long slumber. The achas were not there anymore. This time, she noticed a green plant with thorns not far away from the body of water. Was it there before? Is it poisonous?
The doe limped her way over to the oasis again beside the tower and decided to question about the plant later. She bent her head low and drank the water again. This time, it had a different taste to her, almost as if it was tampered with.
Kiss of Death licked her lips over and over with her tongue and tasted the inside of her mouth. It was more sour than sweet.
What exactly fell in the water?
Then it hit her. At first she did not notice how drowsy she was but as she stirred her hoof in the water for any sign of dead bodies to add to her bones collection, even with that in mind so far out away from home, she could not focus her eyes too well. Her vision started to blur in front of her. The colours blended and swirled as she tried to find her way back to the tower. Her legs started to get heavier and heavier with each step, as if turning into rocks, she managed to find the foot of the tower and laid down beside it. The smooth slab of stone felt cool against her body in this extreme heat and her body relaxed. She blinked once, twice, and fell back into a deep sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she smelled the sweet fragrance of decaying flowers and fresh wet soil. It smelled like home. She was home.
“How did I get back here so fast?” It confused her at first but as she became more awake and aware of her surrounding that she loved so much, she started to stand back up again. The jolts of pain shot through her thigh again. Eyes wide and surprised, she tried to stay calm and collected. Did I really fall and hurt myself in the desert? Or did I already have this before I went to sleep from overworking myself digging for bones?
She shook her head to clear her mind, and came to conclusion that what she experienced was just a dream. Getting to the desert takes days and requires her to leave the swamp. She looked down at her hooves and saw it covered in mud. Yes, it was just a dream.
Kiss of Death whistled out loud to fetch her familiar somewhere nearby. At a time like this she wished there was another kin nearby to share her dream with, or someone that specializes in explaining dreams. She gave a sigh and walked down the same old path she always took since she was young. Sand trickled out of her hair and onto the wet soil between the tall grass. She thought she felt something brush past her hide but as she turned around, no one was there. The sand now, remained hidden between the grass and out of sight. She shrugged one shoulder up and continued to make her way back to her grove.