[ OSAS: Stage 2 - Gormlaith/Glowstick ]

Having encountered the corruption that had been spreading around the depths the last time the two were out, Mudfish and Ram moved through the expanse of the open ocean with a new sense of caution. Thankfully after licking their wounds the two were doing much better, they had even asked around and found out a bit about what this whole corruption thing was. In fact, they had even been given a few vials of a weird vicious liquid and told that it should help anyone struggling under the effects of corruption. Ram had a sling around his shoulders holding the few vials they had on hand snug to his chest.

Mudfish was swimming a ways ahead of the silver rayfin as per usual she had notably more energy than Ram, even with that looming worry over the top of the two of them Mudfish couldn’t help but blow bubbles at Ram encouraging him to hurry up and be a lil playful with her. Ram merely gave her a sigh and thrusting his tail would speed up to catch up with her, the silver rayfin would give his brown companion a few friendly nips. Mudfish returned the nips with a smack of one of her fins.

The ocean around them was mostly an expansive valley, a deep ditch to the side sharply dropped off into inky darkness. Sea sponges, shells, and barnacles coated the smooth sandy rocks nestled around the seafloor. This portion of the oceans had less bioluminescence compared to some other parts causing this stretch of the depths to be on the darker side. Thankfully both Ram and Mudfish had eyes suited well to the darkness as well as their feelers to fall back on as needed. Every now and again some glowing shrimp or shimmering fish would flicker past the two leviathans giving a small glow of life to the underwater desert.

Ram and Mudfish’s travels would be interrupted by two figures way off in the distance however, upon spotting them the pair would immediately slow to a stop giving each other a quick glance. Neither of them really wanted to run into any more rayfins suffering from this so-called corruption that was going around but at the same time perhaps those were non-corrupt rayfins that they could warn about all this nasty corruption stuff. The two would both think over approaching the strangers, exchanging curious clicks back and forth before deciding that they might as well get a slightly closer look. They had these anti-corruption vials now didn’t they? Surely that would help them if anything went wrong, at least the two young rayfins hoped so. Though perhaps they were a bit naive…

Slowly creeping forwards Mudfish and Ram would intently watch the two rayfins ahead of them, both of which were rather stunning colours. One was a wonderful blue and teal colour with swirling markings while the other one was almost completely black with bold pops of blue and purple. The two stranger rayfins did appear to just be lounging about, both idly floating about some stacked rocks that cradled their large bodies allowing them to rest. Sadly there wasn’t much cover for Ram and Mudfish to take advantage of and so the two decided to stay a little ways away.

It didn’t seem to leave them unnoticed however as both the stranger rayfins would turn their attention to the two youngsters. Two pairs of gleaming eyes locked onto Mudfish and Ram who both let out nervous trills towards each other, however neither of the strangers moved they just stared unblinkingly. Unnerved but itching with the curiosity that plagued most youngsters Ram and Mudfish would head forwards ever so slowly, there was care and hesitation in their movements as they tenderly investigated the two strangers. Yet again, neither of them moved, while creepy that was at least better than being rushed and slammed against rocks and torn at. 

However, as Ram and Mudfish began finally closing the distance they noticed an odd feeling to the two strangers. They weren’t just unblinking they were completely still only moving their heads the bare minimum to keep both of the younger rayfins in their direct line of sight, they were also oddly synced up causing both Ram and Mudfish to feel even more nervous. Eventually Mudfish snapped, no longer enjoying the curiosity gnawing at her; the brown rayfin would swim forwards with a slight bit more confidence wanting to see how the two strangers would react.

However, there seemed to be an invisible line that Mudfish crossed because without any warning both of the older rayfins rushed her causing her to yelp and duck under them. Ram immediately flared his fins and rushed after Mudfish, with a hiss the rayfin let out a sudden burst of concentrated light from his maw. It wasn’t aimed at anyone nor did it hit anyone but it did cause a sudden flash that harshly illuminated the nearby waters stunning both of the strangers and earning him some hisses. Slipping under the two older rayfins Ram would brush his fins against Mudfish’s leading her away from the two strangers. 

Twisting her neck around to look back at the strangers as they both darted away, Mudfish couldn’t help but notice those weird growths on these two as well. Mudfish couldn’t help but come to a sudden halt nipping at Ram to get him to stop as well and look at how those two were also seemingly afflicted with corruption. Ram would merely frown before letting out a growl as the two strangers recovered from their stun and spun around ready to charge the two smaller leviathans.

Healing others was the reason they had these vials but how were the two of them actually supposed to get these into the mouths of crazy zombie rayfins? Ram didn’t really have a moment to think about that before Mudfish was throwing herself towards the two notably larger leviathans much to the young male’s horror. Thankfully Mudfish was slippery and capable of twisting and weaving in ways the larger rayfins struggled, though that didn’t necessarily save her from every nip as every now and again one of the two of them would snag her fins or tail.

Ram letting out a huff would rush to go help Mudfish with… well whatever she was trying to do really. Noticing that the blue and teal rayfin was closer and not quite as close to Mudfish’s tail as the dark coloured one Ram would get an idea. Suddenly speeding up the silver rayfin would smash his horns into the blue rayfins side earning a roar, just as the larger leviathan went to snap at Ram he would harshly shove two vials into its gaping mouth. With a harsh snap the two vials were shattered within the blue rayfin’s mouth leaving it bleeding from its lips and shaking its head as shards of glass dug into its maw. Interestingly instead of lunging at Ram again the blue leviathan would just rush past him knocking the smaller rayfin to the side.

Whatever was in these vials seemed to be a deterrent at the very least, though Ram did hope they were truly some sort of treatment or cure… Either way Mudfish was still left dancing through the water with the black and purple rayfin. The brown leviathan was twisting away from snapping jaws and grasping fins as the darker rayfin tried to grapple and tear at her. Not taking another moment to ponder what these vials did Ram would rush towards Mudfish just as she was grabbed.

Mudfish would let out a snarl as teeth dug into her scales, she could feel the larger leviathan’s body weight pressing down on her as it tried shoving her to the sandy ground below. Ram was quick to slam into the black and purple rayfin similarly to what he had done to the blue and teal one. This time the larger rayfin didn’t really seem to care, nonetheless Ram fiddled with his sling grabbing yet another two small vials. With a harsh growl the silver rayfin would smash both of the vials into the side of the black rayfin’s face causing it to flinch and lose its grip allowing Mudfish to squirm away. While not a direct hit to the inside of its mouth the larger rayfin still shook its head and snarled, clawed fins raked at its fins as it tried to claw the viscous liquid away from it as it too rushed past Ram and Mudfish to disappear into the nearby trench.

With a slight sigh Ram would switch his attention onto Mudfish who was bleeding after that last bite, with a worried look the silver rayfin would lead her over to the smooth rocks the two older corrupted rayfins had been resting on before. The two youngsters would allow their bodies to sink down and land on top of the rock outcropping, relaxing into the cool smooth stone. Ram huffed at Mudfish as he licked at her wounds before handing her their last current vial, just in case that corruption was capable of spreading from a bite. The two of them were definitely going to have to restock weren’t they?