Introduction
It was a bright and sunny morning in the foothills around Eastmarch, a small town with little to do these days. It was a town protected by a stone wall from when armies of men and elves were common. Now, in quieter times, it was also surrounded by verdant and fruitful farming lands, beyond which lay the tropical jungle. Eastmarch was located quite far from the big city of Lursk, and as such had the men, skills and resources to hold its own against any foe.
There were many other such outposts around Lursk, all of them situated a similar distance from Lursk.
All had been similar to Eastmarch in terms of size and capabilities. Several years ago Romain had been the first to fall. It was a shock to everyone at Eastmarch, especially when there was no indication of the enemy, and no survivors at all. What was even stranger was the fact the town looked intact and undamaged. The scouts had reported no human movement at all in or near the town. Since then, several other towns had also fallen in a similar way, with all people seemingly having just disappeared. Scouts were sent into the fallen towns and ordered to report on anything they saw.
None of the scouts who ventured into the towns had ever returned. Armies were raised to retake the towns of Ravenswood, Shorwell and Don, but had all ended in total defeat and the capture of all troops, presumably by the same enemy that had originally conquered the towns.
The elders of Eastmarch, very aware of their situation, had started an intensive regimen of training their best men and women to act as guardians of Eastmarch. Every one of them were highly trained and conditioned with years of combat, magical and survival training until eventually they "graduated".
Their mission was simple: Patrol the jungles surrounding Eastmarch for any potential foes strong enough to assault the town and report back immediately. Each graduate, upon successfully completing their last test, were immediately dispatched and set off out the gates, past the farms and into the jungle with their best armour and sword.
For years each warrior who had set off on their mission had found nothing, and all reports from them were positive.
It was an average Autumn day, not hot but not cool either. A gentle breeze washed against the skin of many. Only one thing of importance happened that day.
It was the day Shannon failed to return.
***
He ran.
Ran as fast as he could. He had long ago lost his weapons; they were too heavy and cumbersome. He needed speed, and his magically enhanced feet gave him what he needed.
His breaths were deep and bordered on panicked, driven by a primal fear that held him tightly in its grip.
Chapter 1
It had been two years since Shannon had graduated and set off into the jungle to patrol and discover.
His training had been heavily focused on combating Morphagens; a large and wide ranging species of life that inhabited the continent alongside elves and men.
Morphagens were plant and animal based life forms and had no recognised genus or even similar DNA structures.
Morphagen life forms were both static and mobile, ranging in size from a small domestic dog to the size of an elephant.
Most of the morphagens that appeared as humanoids were all said to mimic a female in appearance, while other, plant-like beings could be very hard to distinguish from actual plantlife.
Records of Morphagen types were well documented.
Their eating habits were also well documented.
Every morphagen ever encountered saw humans as prey and would attack at nearly any opportunity.
They all fed off human sexual fluids and sexual energy.
All morphagens were well adapted to be most effective and efficient at "eating" their prey.
There had only been a few isolated cases where a person (elf or human) or animal had been wholly consumed.
Oddly enough, such cases, of which the type was documented, were never seen again, as if the meat they had consumed had killed them.
All in all, Morphagens were considered a low level threat to regions, and more of a serious inconvenience to individuals.
No one had ever heard of a Morphagen conquering a town before.
Some Morphagens had shown a willingness to forgo their attempts at assault when they were familiar with an individual. Others could even be tamed.
It had been almost a year after he started his patrol when Shannon had met a particularly friendly Boa. She had a dazzling array of coloured scales on her body, and she seemed to control a small clearing and hold it as her domain. Initially she was indifferent to Shannon and had even refused to attempt an assault on him.
The clearing was in a new area of the jungle that Shannon needed to explore and map out as best he could, this clearing would make the perfect staging ground to return to and recoup from his patrols.
The snake was not going to leave her domain though, so Shannon had decided to attempt to tame her. It had taken many days as well as obvious shows of trust, mainly by sleeping within her clearing and by providing her some food as tribute to show his willingness to share and provide small boons for her. Eventually he had formed a trusting familiarity with her by encouraging her to eat with him while she had curled around him.
The feeding extended to grooming, with Shannon helping her by removing several ticks from between her scales.
During the next several weeks Shannon ensured he visited the boa daily. Each time he did so, the bond between them deepened further.
On one particular day Shannon had finished mapping out a small hill and decided to stop by her clearing. He entered it and spent some time cleaning it by removing dead leaves, fallen branches and other things that he thought detracted from the beauty of the place.
Once done he approached a large fallen log and sat down on the ground with his back to it, then started stripping off his shirt and armaments.
The snake slithered up behind him, onto the fallen tree then slithered down beside him to gently coil around his feet and legs. Shannon, unfazed about her sudden appearance, watched her as she looped around his upper torso several times before resting her head on his shoulder. He saw her close her eyes, seemingly content to stay that way for a while to stay warm. Shannon returned the hand of friendship by removing several small ticks from between her scales then started stroking her skin near her head. The boa responded by gently tightening around him, causing.Shannon to sighed happily, feeling nice and snuggled within her loose coils.
***
Many animals and plants in the jungle were strange in nature, especially to Shannon. He did not have a lot of time to study in her younger days, devoting most of his energies into combat and survival techniques. However he did know that Morphagens could slowly change over time. They could alter their shape, appearance and even climb trees. Some could grow limbs, become larger or smaller, change colours and shapes completely. It wasn't just animals either, plants could grow taller, or shorter, and some could even uproot and walk to a new place close by. Even insects had the same ability, growing larger, changing themselves as they needed to.
He was also taught that many of them had psychic abilities, being able to read the minds of other beings around them. Others could even alter the minds of their victims.
During his training though he never discovered any species of animal or plant that could do any of these things.
