Soul Harvest Prompt:

"The yellow flowers that grow alongside the pumpkins on the Harvester’s Soul Vines tend to grow in strange patterns. On a ledge, you get a bird’s eye view of one such patch. Thousands of flowers bloom in squares, like soldiers in opposing battalions. Uneven scars of emptiness mar the field. At night, it is said, the entire valley resounds with the clatter of armor, screams of Coursers, and shouts in human language. Do you dare to visit the dead in the dark?“

Dungeon Dive Prompt:

“Your path is completely blocked by what seems at first to be a smooth boulder. Upon further inspection, it is the shell of an enormous snail. What do you do?“

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Nero‘s jaw dropped as he raised his head to examine the huge object that was blocking the passage in front of him. At first he had thought that it might be a boulder which had collapsed, but after taking a closer look, the object‘s surface didn‘t match the rest of the dungeon walls around him. It was way too smooth and too light in color, almost as if it was made out of limestone. But that was a material he had never seen down here. 

The stallion stepped closer until his muzzle gently touched the smooth surface. It was cold, but not as cold as rocks. And if he wasn‘t completely wrong, he could even hear something; a very dull… thumping sound - a heartbeat?! 

"H-hello?“, Nero tried reluctantly, not sure, if it was a good idea to disturb whatever he had encountered here. But he didn‘t have much of a choice, that thing blocked his way and walking around it would mean a detour of several hours. 

"Hey! Hellooo, I need to pass through here, please.“, he continued and pushed his shoulder against the object. To his surprised, it budged a bit. For a few seconds, nothing else happened, but then the strange boulder started to rotate all of a sudden. Earth and dust were trickling from the high ceiling as the object ground against the walls and Nero made a few steps back - just in case. 

The object turned upwards and its smooth surface suddenly ended with the edge of some sort of opening. And something was inside. 

Two big round eyes peeked in his direction, stretching further towards him on long, glistening stems. The mass was moving slowly and it didn‘t take long for the stallion to recognize what he had in front of him: A snail. A frikkin huge snail. 

"Oha...“, he made, a mixture of relief and amusement washing over him. A snail wasn‘t that bad. As long as it didn‘t have a mouth full of sharp teeth or the ability to spit fire, that was. But this one didn‘t appear to be aggressive. 

"Sorry for bothering you.“, Nero said, not sure, if the snail could even understand him, but being polite was never a wrong approach to start an interaction. "My name is Nero. I am a traveler and I really need to pass here. Could you please move to the side?“

The snail just looked at him in silence, its eyes wiggling from time to time and Nero was about to give it a second try, when it suddenly raised its head for a single word. 

"Food...“

“Food? I carry no food with me.“, the bay stallion said, hoping that. he wouldn‘t anger the snail with his response. 

"Food.“

“What kind of food do you like? I might be able to get you something.“, Nero offered, looking around for something that might be of use for him. On his way here he had passed several vines with patches of leaves and flowers. They weren‘t too uncommon during this time of the year and as far was he knew, snails ate plants. 

"Do you want some of these?“, he asked, trotting a few meters back to grab a branch with several yellow flowers on it. He ripped it off and brought it closer to the snail. To his positive surprise, the animal reacted, stretching towards the flowers in an attempt to get them into its mouth. 

"You like them? Good! Follow me, there are more of them right down here!“, Nero encouraged the snail and lured it step by step away from the narrow passage. The massive shell scraped along the dungeon walls until the corridor became a tad wider, allowing it to move quite freely. 

"There you go.“ Nero stopped at the vines he had picked the flowers from and dropped the branch to the ground. That had been surprisingly easy. The snail didn‘t pay him much attention as soon as it had reached the vines, munching on the brightly colored petals one by one. 

Now there was enough space for Nero to squeeze past the snail‘s body and step through the passage. He had expected more darkness behind it, but to his surprise several beams of pale blue light reached the ground - probably from cracks in the ceiling. 

The stallion found himself at a ledge and in front of him a wide valley, the cold floor covered in vines full of yellow flowers. It was an odd scenery, gloomy and foreign to the living, but also weirdly peaceful. The air was thick with fog and the flower’s growing pattern suggested that it wasn‘t all of natural causes. No, history had left a very obvious mark here. 

A narrow path at the side of the ledge led down to the valley-like hall and Nero didn‘t hesitate to approach the flower fields. But with every step he took, the air seemed to grow thicker, the noise of his hooves against the stone sounded strangely far away and even though he couldn‘t see another living being or creature down here, the feeling of being watched creeped upon him. 

He stopped at the end of the path and took a moment to scan the wide area. It certainly didn‘t look like a dungeon cave-

"Run.“

The stallion jumped as an unknown voice ripped him out of his thoughts. He looked around in discomfort, but there still was nothing.And noone. 

A cold breeze brushed his legs and as it flowed past his body, dull voices and shouts were carried with it. They were gone as fast as they had come and in the corner of his eyes was sudden movement, but as he moved his head, it was just a thicker patch of fog. 

No, something definitely wasn‘t right down here. 

"Run.“

Another voice disguised as wind flowed past him, but it wasn‘t the only one. 

"Not your place. Run. They will get you. Run. RUN!“

The last voice felt so loud as if someone was shouting directly at him and Nero decided to follow the voices order. He turned in place and hurried back up the path, into the corridor and right past the snail. 

"Another time. I will just come back at a later point and with some reinforcement.“, he told himself, still feeling the goosebumps all over his body. This place carried to many secrets and memories. The darkness of the past was way too strong for a single living being to be here.