Praecantatio

      If in some places magic thrived and bloomed, then in others it poisoned any life, gave birth to freaks.     Alex returned to this lousy biome at times. A few days ago, she lost one of the cows here, which she was taking to her home, where the cows were not found. She didn’t hope to find the cow safe and sound — she wanted to make sure that the animal was no longer suffering.     From the hill, she watched the taint grow. The progress and maturation of the hostile environment did not please her; the damage was spreading toward the plain where pigs used to graze — now instead of them, creatures vaguely resembling quadrupeds were staggering over the dirty purple thickets.     The same thing would have happened to her if she hadn’t taken the Thaumonomicon with her, which at first sight seemed like garbage from a chest under a huge tree. Alex glanced at that tree, already poisoned by taint and rustling otherworldly because of clods of old cobwebs in the crown, and decided to walk around the perimeter of the biome.           The landscape was still as bleak as it had been a few days ago, with no potential threats. Alex stirred up a couple of swarm nests and carefully examined the area: somewhere nearby there should have been a node that caused the infection to spread. Probably, the tainted land was protecting its node, otherwise it was difficult to explain why Alex hadn’t found it yet.         She was already thinking of heading home when her eye caught on a rather massive four-legged figure trudging through the thickets.           The cow.             The hum, from time to time heard from the unfortunate animal, vaguely resembled a lowing. Alex froze, feeling a pang of guilt, and then pulled out her sword and headed towards what had once been a cow. As far as she knew, tainted creatures were aggressive to everything that seemed alive to them, but Alex didn’t want to find out if they were contagious.           She walked at a slow pace, so as not to attract the attention of the cow and not waste her strength. Magic poisoned not only the soil and plants, but also her; passing by a rotting oak, whose wood looked more like fibrous flesh, Alex held her nose — the stench made her head spin painfully.           She got close enough, but the cow had not noticed her presence yet. Good. Alex quietly took out her Bow of Bone and shot a couple of arrows at its head to end its suffering.           The four-legged mass staggered, howling hysterically, but did not lose its balance. Its head turned unmistakably in the direction of Alex, who, startled, hesitantly stepped back. The animal had to die from two arrows shot in the head! Apparently, it didn’t know about it.         Her knees buckled, and Alex held back a fit of vomiting. She couldn’t afford any distractions; she grabbed the sword again and peered into the thicket of something between the plant and the meat, through which the creature was screeching in pain.           The ridge covered with the remains of the skin was still floating above the bushes, and Alex waited until she saw… a muzzle. The horns, or what’s left of them, were the only thing that reminded of the creature’s origin… The whole body was entwined with purple fibrosis, which wrapped around the skinny back and painfully bit into the swollen belly.             Seeing this, Alex felt sick, a wave of darkness enveloped her eyes. During this time, the creature approached too close, breaking out of the vines. Alex managed to dodge and, barely discerning the hostile silhouette, struck the cow with a swing with a blade.           The cow dodged. twice. In both directions at once. And instead of one cow there were two.     Two cows, thirsty for blood.             The failure did not stop Alex, so she began to thoughtlessly shower the creatures with blows of the blade, while her heart was pounding furiously in her throat. With each blow, the monsters seemed to melt: the fibrous tissue flowed together with the remnants of the flesh, gathering into a purple slush, until only lumps of mucus remained from the cow.             The remains of the exhausted animal accumulated around Alex in the form of dirty purple slimes gnawing into boots, and she continued to smash them, trample them into the dead ground until nothing remained of them but the stench. As soon as she realized that the threat was no longer there, all her disgust, pain and recently eaten meat escaped from her mouth, mixing on the ground with the remnants of flesh and purple mucus.           Life became much better as soon as Alex left the Tainted land and breathed fresh air.