Shoff watched as a butterfly alighted on a purple flower in front of them. The flower extended from a vine that went up, up, up a tree so tall that Shoff could not see the end of it. The butterfly twitched in contentment and the breeze shifted the leaves above so that its wings shimmered from navy to blue in a splash of sunlight.

Shoff smiled and shuffled closer. "How are you today, my friend?"

The butterfly twitched its wings -- a nearly imperceptible movement -- and Shoff nodded. "Very good, thank you. Might be best for you to find shelter soon though. I feel a storm coming again."

The butterfly twitched again, communicating in the way that butterflies do.

"That sounds lovely. Tell your friend hello from me, and I'll see you another time!"

The butterfly alighted on a breeze that swept by at that moment, carrying with it the scent of rain, which Shoff would have noticed if they could smell. Shoff shuffled away from the tree. They couldn't smell it, but they could feel it in the air. The promise of more water made them feel excited. It had been raining for weeks, but there was just nothing better for a mysum than a good soaking. 

The shuffled over the forest ground, deciding to head back to their clan, as the breeze picked up speed. A large leaf flipped up and slammed in Shoff's body.

"Well that's not particularly polite," Shoff muttered, shaking it off, then moving over it. It wasn't even a tasty leaf. Just a rude one.

Raindrops tapped on the leaves above Shoff before making their way to splash onto their cap. Shoff smiled and absorbed the drops. The rain tasted like a warning of fall -- cool, but a little sharp. There was something else to it though...a warning, perhaps. Shoff scuffled on. Perhaps Fash would be able to interpret it better than they could.

The trees swayed as the wind intensified and larger droplets plummeted on and around Shoff. They scooted around a large puddle that had already formed and more leaves caught by the wind tossed themselves into Shoff. A gust of wind passed through the trees, carrying with it a large shudder of fear. This wasn't an ordinary rainstorm. The trees leaned away from the direction Shoff was headed. Shoff peered ahead, not believing how far he had tottered away mindlessly this morning. 

A screech wrent the air. A horrible sound that made Shoff's eyes widen. They had never heard anything like it. What was it?

Shoff charge forward, now cursing every puddle they had to move around. Again, that deafening call. It sounded painful and forlorn. A siren? Not this far from water. Wyverns sometimes sounded similar, but whatever this was seemed much larger. The sounds of trees crashing and branches splintering came next.

Shoff trembled as they neared the site of their family. Everything in their body told them to flee the other direction, but they had to know what was happening to the other mysums. It took far too long to get there and Shoff heard the horrible scream twice more. When they neared they felt the trees shuddering in pain before they saw the broken branches and dirt flung from deep claw marks in the ground. One tree, two hundred years old or so, had been ripped from the ground and lay on the ground, branches from it and other trees in its bath strewn about. The tree had crushed a lone berry brush that the clan had been using as a site the past month. A few broken branches stuck out from it haphazardly.

Shoff shook a raindrop from their eye. Whatever had been screaming was huge, larger than anything Shoff knew lived in the forest.

There were no signs of any mysums.

Shoff tried to tell themself that was a good thing. Fash probably sensed the creature coming and rushed everyone to safety. If Shoff waited a bit, the clan would come back. 

They berated themself for wandering so far this morning. They knew better than to leave the clan so far behind. Roshi had warned Shoff so many times not to go quite so far.

Whatever the creature was probably didn't have any actual interest in the mysums. Shoff's family was just a humble Bolet clan. They were peaceful wanderers of the forest. Something this big probably wouldn't have even noticed a mysum. Shoff only stood two and a half oak leaves tall. 

Shoff just had to find where they went, that was all. Or maybe they'd come back for Shoff.

Yet the sick dread settling in every cell of Shoff's body lingered. Shoff could sense death in the air. They hoped that it was just the fallen tree. 

Shoff shuffled forward and peered into one of the deep grooves presumably made by claws. The creature had churned up even the brown soil underneath the ever present layer of black compost. Then they noticed across from them on the other side of the gouge a reddish-brown lump just lying on the ground. The dread tingling across Shoff's body increased. It was a Bolet cap.

Shoff felt almost sure that it belonged to Fash. The color was more on the brown side than orange, suggesting the fellow Mysum's age. Shoff shivered. Just because Fash's cap was here didn't mean the mysum was dead. Caps can grow back with good care. They probably just lost it helping the rest of the clan.

Shoff decided to shimmy up a tree, one with knotted roots and ragged bark which was easy to grip to get a better look. If their family had fled, they couldn't be too far from here. Every movement was starting to feel like they were disturbing something though. Shoff knew death, that was the nature of a mysum, but this was unnatural. They made to move around one of the deep claw marks, but something in the groove caught their notice. Something yellowy-white.

Pieces of a body like theirs protruded from the ground in the groove, jammed into the dirt from the force of whatever horrible creature had been here. Shoff shuffled back, eyes closed. The pieces were so mangled Shoff had no ideas which of their friends it might have been.

All mysums knew that death was their responsibility, in a way. They helped old things pass on so that new things could be born. But something about this creature, this space, felt wrong. This wasn't meant to happen. Shoff wasn't sure this creature was supposed to exist at all.

They tried not to look too closely as they rushed forward to the tree. The first branch on this particular tree was several feet off the ground and Shoff's going was slow. Even on this especially gnarled trunk, Shoff found horizontal grips very difficult. Finally, Shoff pulled themself up onto a branch and shuffled to the edge of it, pushing around some damp leaves and sending water droplets to the ground.

Shoff peered around from their perch. They could clearly see all the claw marks fin the ground and Shoff found themself avoiding looking directly at the place they knew the dead mysum lay. There was more wreckage further out, as if the creature had flown over a few trees and then landed again. A few white things speckled the ground there. More than a few.

Shoff swallowed. They knew what those spots were, almost glowing in the shadowy space.