The Swamp of Spirit-Calming Mud
The swamp breathed like a living beast. Mist coiled around tree roots. The ground gurgled beneath every step. It was a place where silence had weight, and the only music was the plop of bubbles rising from dark depths.
Ahmed staggered forward, Nana perched on his back, singing her endless chant like a war hymn:
"Dada Mama Idddoit!Dada Mama Idddoit!Bite-bite tasty Mama!"
Each note drilled into his skull. Each bite sent another shiver down his spine. His eyes were hollow, his soul already halfway in the grave.
Tsu-Nan studied him with deep, unnerving calm. "This will not do."
Ahmed groaned, swatting at Nana as she gnawed his collarbone. "Oh, what now, oh wise master of pain?"
"You are unbalanced," Tsu-Nan intoned, voice heavy with authority. "Your spirit is noisy. Chaotic. You argue with the wind, wrestle with illusions, and allow a child to dominate your soul. This is unacceptable."
"EXCUSE ME?!" Ahmed shrieked, pointing wildly at Whorina, who floated smugly beside him. "I ARGUE WITH HER BECAUSE SHE'S RUINING MY LIFE!"
Liuyue's brush scratched across parchment, her tone clinical. "Observation: subject continues conversing with an entity visible only to himself. Prognosis: advanced mental instability."
Whorina pressed a finger to her lips, smirking. "Oh, honey, don't let them make you doubt yourself. You're not insane. You're just… deliciously broken."
"STOP GASLIGHTING ME!" Ahmed screamed, sinking waist-deep into mud.
Nana patted his head sweetly. "Mama Idiot loud. Mama Idiot crazy."
Ahmed's knees buckled. "Even she thinks I'm insane…"
Tsu-Nan closed his eyes, lifting a hand toward the swamp. "Then we must cure you."
The "Cure"
The cure began with horror.
Tsu-Nan waded into the swamp, dipping his gnarled fingers into the bubbling mud. He muttered words older than the trees themselves, pulling vines, frog legs, and unidentifiable writhing things from the mire. A glowing beetle. A fish with too many eyes. Even a chunk of bone that may have belonged to something that once begged for mercy.
Ahmed gagged. "Uh… is this a cure or a recipe for biological warfare?!"
The old master did not respond. He stirred the ingredients together in a wooden bowl, the mixture glowing sickly green. The swamp seemed to shudder around it.
Liuyue leaned forward, fascinated. "Interesting. A spiritual tonic derived from environmental decay. The balance of elements is grotesquely unstable, yet… functional."
Whorina hovered gleefully. "Oh, darling. You're going to drink that. And when you do, I'll never stop laughing."
"LIKE HELL I'M DRINKING IT!" Ahmed snapped, backing away. "NOPE. NO THANK YOU. I'D RATHER SWALLOW POISON!"
Tsu-Nan turned, his expression calm and absolute. "This is poison."
Ahmed froze. "What?!"
"Poison to your noise," Tsu-Nan clarified. "A cure for madness. Drink, and be balanced."
Nana clapped her hands. "Mama drink! Mama Idiot drink!"
Before Ahmed could flee, Liuyue jabbed a pressure point in his shoulder. His arms went limp. The bowl was forced to his lips.
"No—WAIT—DON'T—"
The mud-potion slid down his throat, thick and slimy, burning like acid.
"UGHHHHH! OH BY THE SWAMP'S MOTHER, IT TASTES LIKE DEATH!"
He collapsed into the muck, writhing, his stomach heaving. The others watched in eerie calm as his skin began to shimmer.
Side Effects
It began at his fingertips. A faint shimmer. Then a deep glow, spreading across his arms like paint. His cheeks flared, his neck gleamed. His entire body radiated like a cursed lantern until finally—
Ahmed was bright, shimmering blue.
From head to toe.
He stared at his reflection in the swamp water, jaw dropping. "WHAT. WHAT IS THIS. WHY AM I… WHY AM I A… A FREAKING SMURF?!"
Whorina's laughter pierced the sky. "OH, HONEY! YOU'RE GLORIOUS! A glowing beacon of fashion failure!"
🔊 [NOTICE: HOST IS NOW HIGHLY VISIBLE TO ALL PREDATORS. AND FASHION CRITICS. YOU LOOK AWFUL.]
Ahmed choked. "EVEN THE SYSTEM IS MOCKING ME?! THIS ISN'T A CURE—IT'S A HATE CRIME!"
Liuyue scribbled calmly. "Observation: subject displays full-body chromatic mutation. Side effect—intense visibility. Probability of predator attraction: 500%."
Nana squealed with joy. "BLUE MAMA! BLUE MAMA!" She bit his glowing arm, her teeth leaving luminous bite marks. "Mmmm, shiny Mama taste better!"
Ahmed sobbed. "She's seasoning me! I'm literally marinating for predators!"
Tsu-Nan nodded serenely. "Balance restored. Your madness has been transformed into illumination."
"WHAT KIND OF WISDOM IS THAT?!" Ahmed screamed, flailing as frogs began hopping closer, drawn to the glow. "I'M A BUG LAMP WITH LEGS!"
The Predators
By nightfall, every creature in the swamp had noticed him.
Glowing insects swarmed around his head, attracted to his light. Crocodile-like beasts surfaced, eyes gleaming, their jaws snapping hungrily. Shadows slithered in the water, circling.
Ahmed sprinted through mud, shrieking, his glowing blue body visible for miles. "HELP ME! I'M A WALKING TARGET! THIS ISN'T A CURE, IT'S AN EXECUTION!"
Whorina floated beside him, cackling. "Oh, Mama Ahmed. Look at you. The swamp's very own lighthouse. Shine on, darling, shine on!"
Liuyue jogged behind, taking notes even as the ground shook with predators. "Remarkable. Subject's suffering has reached unprecedented levels. Pure science."
Tsu-Nan strolled serenely on the water's surface. "This is progress. Pain is the first step toward serenity."
Nana bounced on Ahmed's shoulders, biting his glowing ears like candy. "BLUE MAMA TASTY! BLUE MAMA TASTY!"
"I'M NOT TASTY, I'M TOXIC!" Ahmed wailed, slapping at her tiny hands. "STOP BITING ME, YOU DEMONIC GUMMY BEAR!"
The Cave
At last, Ahmed spotted salvation: a cave in the swamp's cliffs. He stumbled toward it, tripping on roots, dragging Nana along like cursed baggage.
Panting, glowing like a bonfire, he hissed, "Okay, okay, I'll just… hide here until it wears off… twenty-four hours, right? Twenty-four miserable hours. I can survive this. I—"
The cave floor crumbled beneath his feet.
"—oh no."
With a scream, Ahmed plummeted into darkness. Mud, rock, and glowing blue limbs tumbled downward.
Whorina's laughter echoed from above, cruel and ecstatic. "Oh, honey! You've done it again!"
Liuyue's voice drifted into the hole, calm and curious. "Observation: subject has fallen into unknown subterranean chamber. Hypothesis: further torment imminent."
Tsu-Nan's words rang with gravity. "The true lesson begins below."
Nana's giggles echoed as she clung to him during the fall. "Blue Mama Idiot fall! Blue Mama Idiot faaaaall!"
The ground rushed up. The dark chamber swallowed them whole.
Epilogue Cliffhanger :
Ahmed hit the floor with a wet splat, glowing like a fallen star in the underground abyss. The cave around him shimmered with strange carvings, the walls alive with forgotten secrets. Something stirred in the darkness.
And Ahmed, blue and sobbing, realized with soul-shattering despair:
The cure hadn't ended his torment.
It had only taken him deeper into it.
[TO BE CONTINUED....]