[Jaykobell]

The mud dried up her throat, and she coughed. Her eyes stung from the dirty water, and her entire body felt heavy, dirty. Only with massive effort did she manage to find some sort of solid ground, where she could pull herself out of this murky water.

The Kalamarei wheezed as she finally pulled herself onto solid ground. She struggled for breath, breathing hard and loud in an attempt to fill her lungs. She shook her paws and her tentacles, mud flying everywhere, but the feeling of wet soil still clinging onto her body. But with her paws somewhat cleaned, she rubbed them over her eyes and face so she could see where in Evelon she had ended up.

[Jaykobell]

Her eyes still stung a little, but with the mud off, she squinted; and then she opened her eyes.

She gasped and squealed at the same time, slapping her paws over her mouth. Where had she ended up? The ground squelching under her weight; the water, opaque and disgusting; the ground; the trees! This wasn't home at all! Where had the current taken her?

And the colors! Where had the colors gone?

She had sat there, frozen, for a few moments. Just as quickly, she scrambled up on all fours, her hard breathing now from stress and fear. This place, this swamp — it was nowhere for a Kalamarei like her to live.

[Jaykobell]

He was relaxing in his favorite little corner of the swamp when his whiskers vibrated.

His eyes flung open, but he remain frozen as a rock. He scanned the area, his eyes glancing this way and that, as his whiskers continued to alert him of a change in the water nearby. He liked this secluded patch of water because it didn't experience this. No predators came this way, no annoying pests showed up either. He could relax and nap here, with no one to bother him.

He groaned as his whiskers refused to stop. Something was up ahead, shifting the mud, changing the water, shaping the swamp. A predator? A friend? A foe?

He sighed internally, and then he slowly swam along to find out.

[Jaykobell]

As he slowly made his way through muddy water — barely visible, with only some of his tail and the top of head visible, just enough so he could see — he stayed alert for anything suspicious. A predator could be hiding anywhere, waiting to catch an easy meal.

He squinted when he spotted something. This colorless world, this complete lack of color made this all so much more difficult. All he could tell from this distance was that it was a Kalamarei — strange enough to begin with — and that, since she was such a bright grey, she had to have a light coat, under normal circumstances.

But why was a Kalamarei here in the swamp?

[Jaykobell]

As she looked around, she tried to retrace her steps, to piece together everything that had happened. Right, right: the colors were gone. The colors were gone, and in the commotion, her group hadn't been careful. Gorgeels had surrounded them, and in order for her to escape, she had swam down an unknown current. She remembered the Gorgeels following her, but she had managed to lose them at some point.

And, well, clearly, she had lost herself, if in a completely different way.

She turned around to check the water where she had emerged. She could just imagine it: brown, filthy, laden with green bits of moss and other plants. By the Triumvirate, there was no way she would swim back through that.

[Jaykobell]

She frowned, now more annoyed than afraid. "Ugh, gross," she hissed under her breath, and she turned around to look at her surroundings again. The soft, wet earth under her paws was somewhat comforting, but it did little in the grand scheme of things. "Okay, okay," she whispered, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "We're fine. I'm fine."

Talking out loud might not be the brightest idea, she realized, but putting her thoughts out there helped her think. If she kept her voice low, she hoped it would keep her safe while she tried to figure this out. "Think, Vivi, think," she said, willing her brain to put this all together. "There's gotta be a way to get out of here."

[Jaykobell]

She tried to look over the swamp that stretched in front of her, but it was difficult to tell things apart when they had no color to help. As she squinted, she became rather confident that she knew what was what, but even still... "The water probably leads out to the sea," she reasoned, mumbling. "Maybe if I follow that—"

"You're gonna go further inland if you do that."

Hearing a voice behind her made her jump and spin around, a loud screeching noise escaping her at the same time. Heart hammering through her chest, she stared bug-eyed at the slimy creature that was staring right back at her from the muddy water.

[Jaykobell]

He had heard the Kalamarei talking to herself, trying to calm herself down. Kalamareis weren't native to Baian, so her panic was understandable. Even as travelers with humans, he couldn't remember ever seeing one wandering in here. The waters were too contained, too tainted.

So he thought he was helping by answering her questions, but he jumped when the Kalamarei screeched like a banshee in the middle of a swamp filled with hidden predators. "Shh!" he hissed loudly, raising his paws out of the water to motion for her to calm down and keep quiet. "Shh! Shut up! Are you nuts?" Did this Kalamarei want to get eaten out here?

"What are you doing here?!"

[Jaykobell]

The Slikey blinked at the question. "Oh, that's rich, coming from a Kalamarei," he scoffed, hiding his hands back into the water. Well, if it stopped the squid dog from screeching, it was better than nothing. "I think I should be asking you that question," he pointed out. "What's a Kalamarei like you doing here in Baian Swamp?"

Maybe it was the size, or maybe it was the friendly conversation, but upon taking a closer look at the Slikey, the Kalamarei relaxed. Hopefully, nothing but the two of them had heard her yelling out in fear just now; especially considering the Slikey was giving her some interesting information. "Baian Swamp?" she echoed, the name ringing but the faintest of bells in her mind.

[Jaykobell]

He had heard the Kalamarei speak, so it couldn't be that she hadn't understood him. "Yeah, Baian Swamp," he echoed, and he spread an arm over some of the scenery. "You're in Baian Swamp. Ever heard of it?" Judging from her earlier confusion, most likely not. Or maybe she had, and the confusion was from the fact she wasn't supposed to be here.

She frowned, trying to jog her memory. "It rings a bell," she admitted, "but I've never been here. And I don't want to be here," she clarified.

"Figured," the Slikey said dryly. "Never seen a Kalamarei hanging out in these woods before. I bet you come from the fancy big ocean on the other side of the swamp." How the squid dog had gotten washed away so far from it, the Slikey had no clue.

[Color Harvested]