Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch9: Rancid Stew

The knight looked back at Mono, who was now collapsed due to blood loss. The knight removed the bear trap from Mono's leg, and began to search for a place to put his injured friend. The knight picked Mono up, carrying them on its shoulders, and looked around for a place they could rest. It walked around the foggy gardens, searching so a small room, tunnel, or hidden area that it could use as a place for Mono to heal.

It wandered around for a while, and then found a small cavern hidden from the rest of the gardens. It looked perfect. The knight walked over to the cavern, walked inside, and laid Mono down on the grass of the cavern. It then walked outside, and began to cut down leaves and vines. It brought its materials back to Mono, and got to work. It placed the leaves around Mono's wound, then tied it all up with a vine, holding the leaves in place. For extra precaution, it found some hard, flat stones, and made a splint for Mono's leg, just in case he had broken a bone.

It sat down, and waited for Mono to wake up. While it was waiting, it heard a sound coming from Mono's stomach. He must've been hungry. The knight didn't get to hungry, as it didn't need to eat, but Mono was different. The knight looked through its materials, searching for something that it could use to feed Mono once he woke up. There wasn't much to work with, only a few rancid eggs, and a comb of honey. While thinking of a way to make something that was actually good to eat, it remembered a recipe that Tuk taught them a while ago. If it could remember what the recipe was, it was called "rancid stew" and required fungal mushrooms from the mushroom caverns, some herbs from the Queen's Gardens, a tiny drop of acid to remove the negative effects of the rancid eggs, and a comb of honey from the Hive. 

The knight couldn't make too much of a detour, but luckily it had access to most of the ingredients. It already had the eggs and the honey, it needed to get the herbs and acid, which could luckily all be found in the queens gardens, and there was a shortcut into the fungal wastes nearby which it could use to get some mushrooms. It ventured out of the cavern, and looked for what it needed. It found a small pool of acid nearby, and it dipped its nail into it. It only needed a drop of acid, so it could get that from the acid dropping off its nail. However it would need to do that on the way back.

The knight walked around, looking for the herbs, and found a few of them near the hunters house. It took what it needed, and looked inside of the hunters home, to see if it could find some pots to use for making the stew. It found a small pot inside a cabinet, that looked perfect for the job. The knight left the hunters home, and then began the trek to the fungal wastes. The knight wanted to get there as soon as possible, in order to be back in time for Mono to wake up. It also didn't want to leave him alone for too long, worried that some mantis traitors would find him, or if the infection would take hold of him.

The knight quickly made their way down to the fungal wastes, gathered up a few mushrooms, and started quickly moving back to the cavern where it had left Mono. The knight made sure to avoid contact with enemies as best it could, because it could lose some of its ingredients, and it could get slowed down. Luckily, the knight made their way back to the cavern without any obstacles, and began to prepare the stew. It struck its nail against a rock, causing sparks that fell onto some rocks which it had covered in acid. The fire lit well, and the knight placed the pot on top of the rocks. 

It cracked open the Rancid eggs, and an absolutely horrible smell emitted from them. The knight a small waterfall near them, and used it to fill the pot with water. It place the pot back on the fire, and began to continue the recipe. They grounded up the herbs, and sprinkled them into the stew. It sliced up the mushrooms, and put those in as well. The knight took its honey comb, and squeezed some drops of honey into the stew, and once that was done, it went outside to the pond of acid, dipped its nail in, and rushed back to the cavern to get one drop of acid inside the stew. 

With the meal smelling much better now, the knight took Mono's ladle, cleaned it off, and began stirring the stew. Not much later, the knight heard Mono grunting. He woke up, and looked around the cavern.

"What happened?" he asked. "And, *sniff* what's that smell?"

The knight took the small pot off of the fire, and offered it to Mono. He looked at the stew for a while, then looked back at the knight.

"Is that for me?" he asked.

The knight nodded, put the rancid stew down in front of him, and handed Mono his ladle. Mono lifted up his paper bag, and started to shovel the stew into his mouth. The knight sat down, and watched its friend eat. It had done a good job on making the stew. Mono quickly finished, wiped his mouth, and pulled his paper bag back over his head.

"Thanks," he said.

The knight nodded, trying to say "You're welcome."

"Man, none of this makes sense," Mono suddenly said.

The knight tilted its head in confusion.

"Why is the hunter still alive? How was he much stronger than before? What is going on?" Mono asked, a bit of panic in his voice. "Do you know whats going on?" he asked the knight.

The knight just stared at Mono, as it tried to find a way to answer.

"Oh, right, you can't speak," Mono said. "I wish you could just write down what you wanted to say or something."

Upon hearing that, the knight pulled a leaf of from the cavern, took out its quill, and began to write. Once it was finished, is tapped Mono's shoulder, and showed him the leaf. Mono looked at the leaf, and read what the knight wrote.

"I think it might be because of the infection," he read aloud. "Infection? What Infection?"

The knight pulled off another leaf, and wrote some more. It had a lot to write about, but at least it found a way to communicate with Mono. It handed him the leaf, and Mono read aloud.

"This infection appears in the dreams of the citizens, and drives them mad, turning them into hostile creatures, and making them stronger," he read. "But can it bring people back to life?"

The knight wrote on another leaf, and Mono read it aloud.

"I don't remember it being able to do that, but the Infection seems to have gotten stronger with all of these weird devices popping up lately," Mono read. 

Mono stared at the knight, and spoke in a slightly worried tone.

"I think that might be the signal tower," he said.

The knight tilted its head to the side, and Mono began to explain.

"The signal tower broadcasts these signals through TV's, and all the people who watch them become controlled by it," he explained. "But it needs a host to work, so who could be its host?"

The knight stared at Mono. It just might know who.

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Okay! That was a long chapter to write. Also, the reason I have been posting so frequently is because the past days have been "catch up" days in my school, so I've had a lot of time to work on this. Now that there are no more catch up days, I might no upload this often.

Just wanted to tell you all that, once again, thank you so much for reading this! I really appreciate it. See you all in the next chapter!