The place that Mr. Deus suggested was called The Uncharted. Apparently the military had tried to explore this area, but canceled the expiration upon the discovery of all the toxic plants. They got approval from the King and Queen to reach out to anyone who might be able to help, and Mr. Deus recommended me.
Not many people know that I can gain resistance to poisons, and no one, not even my parents, knows that I can use it to increase the potency of my own. The military didn't like the idea of 'using a child', but after they got in contact with the King and Queen about it, they received news that they weren't expecting. My aunt and uncle told them that my file was considered 'Classified' but that they could trust me. Not having any other option, they agreed to let me and my godfathers enter The Uncharted. There were two conditions though. We could hunt any animals that we find, but we needed to take notes about them. That way, the military could add it to their files about the area. The other condition is that I also had to take notes about all the toxic plants and what kind of poisons and side effects they have.
I didn't mind doing this if it meant being able to shift. After all the necessary paperwork was done, we were led to the entrance. The military didn't go very far, so the entrance was more of a slightly beaten path that went about a dozen feet in. We had to be cautious because there was a chance that there were wild Dragon's Bane or Wolfsbane growing, but I couldn't help being excited. If all went well, then we planned on being here for three days. That would put us back home for the weekend before school started. Before walking inside, I took out a new sketchbook and a pencil. That way I could draw any plants or animals that I saw and record their information.
The Uncharted was like its own world. Brightly colored flowers, lush vegetation, annoying insects, and abundant wildlife. Today was spent walking until we found a suitable camping spot, and once we did, we would shift to hunt. Even though every Dragon doesn't specialize in poisons, they still had a higher tolerance to most of them than humans did. When we found a good campsite, I got my tent and sleeping bag set up and then began coloring in the pictures I had so far. Most of them were flowers or plants that included Deadly Nightshade, Foxglove, Oleander, and Monkshood.
The entirety of the Deadly Nightshade plant is poisonous and can cause blurry vision, rash, hallucinations, headaches, slurred speech, convulsions, and death. Foxglove is also toxic in its entirety and symptoms range from gastrointestinal pain to cardiac arrhythmias. Oleander poisoning symptoms differ on whether it's smelled, touched, or eaten, ranging from dermatitis to comas. Monkshood is the plant that Wolfsbane comes from. Symptoms of poisoning range from nausea to death.
Finished with the drawings, I put my supplies away and joined my godfathers in the space between our tents. After that, we shifted into smaller versions of our Dragons. Nigel was red since he was a Fire Dragon, Nixis was yellow for Electricity, Umbra and Donatello were black for Darkness, and then me. My Dragon form was different from normal Dragons since I had four colors and spikes. Normally, Dragons are solid colors that represent their elements, and they didn't have spikes. Magnis was mostly black, but the tips of his scales were red, yellow, and purple that represented poison.
We flew off into the trees quietly and soon found a small herd of deer. Not wanting to hurt the ecosystem, we only killed one deer apiece. I would let Nightmare out tomorrow so that he could hunt as well. Getting back to our camp, we ate some of the dried food that we brought with us. Eating in our beasts' forms filled their stomachs, but not ours, so we still had to make sure that we ate as well. When we were done eating, we called it a night and went to bed.
At some point in the night the ground started shaking, and a sulfur smell permeated the air. Opening my tent flap enough to peek out of it, I saw a scorpion about the size of a small pickup truck. Seeing Nigel peeking out of his tent as well, I sent him a question telepathically.
"What in the world is that thing?" I asked in a tone that was mixed with wonder and dread. Whatever it was, Magnis and Nightmare didn't like it. And it was almost impossible for these two to agree on something.
"That, Andrew, is called a Nightmare Scorpion. It rarely shows itself, preferring its underground burrow. The poison from its stinger causes people to be trapped in a mental nightmare, making it easier for the Scorpion to kill and eat its prey. It's also one of our few natural enemies, for Dragons and Ayakashi." Hearing that explanation made Magnis's and Nightmare's behavior understandable. Nigel told me to stay in the tent for now and that we would move camp after it leaves.
Agreeing with him, I quietly closed my tent flap and grabbed my sketchbook and pencils. I drew a picture of the Nightmare Scorpion with the facts that Nigel told me, and waited for it to leave. Luckily it didn't stay long, so after we packed up our camp, we decided to leave instead of staying. My godfathers let me shift into Nightmare so that he could hunt on our journey back to the entrance. I just had to shift back into a human before we exited.
When we exited, there were already two military trucks there. Apparently there were guards in place 24/7 to make sure no unauthorized people entered. They were informed that we were inside and that we would be in there for three days. Seeing as we were out early, the captain had two of his eight men take us back to their base camp. On the drive there, one of the men, Noah, tried to get us to tell him why we were leaving early. Nixis only replied that we would explain once we got to the camp.
Arriving at their camp, the other guy, Nick, went to get their leading officer, Staff Sergeant O'Harris. O'Harris didn't seem pleased about his sleep being disturbed, but upon seeing us, his mood changed. He was concerned as to what caused us to leave The Uncharted early.
"Is everything okay? Your group wasn't supposed to be out for another two days." O'Harris asked my godfather.
"That was the plan if everything went smoothly. However, it didn't happen that way. I'll be letting our godson explain to you why." Umbra was the one that answered the Staff Sergeant in his rumbling voice, before passing it on to me.
Taking out my sketchbook, I handed it to him before explaining. "This is everything that we had encountered so far while inside The Uncharted. You'll find the drawings with all the necessary information. Most of the plants won't do anything unless eaten or touched without protection, few will cause issues if smelled." I explained as he flipped through the pages until he got to the animals. "Most of the animals are normal for forested areas like this. The only issue occurred when we encountered the creature on the last page." Staff Sergeant O'Harris flipped to the last page and saw the picture of the Nightmare Scorpion.
It was the size of a small pickup truck, with a shiny dark brown exoskeleton, glowing red eyes, with its stinger hovering over its back. Looking at the drawing, he looked back up at us. Like he didn't believe what he was seeing.
"The creature is called a Nightmare Scorpion. I assure you, Staff Sergeant, that it is very real. All of the necessary details are included next to each drawing."
"Thank you for these. Do you mind if we take the drawings? We'll give you the sketchbook back." O'Harris's breathing was a little unsteady, but he seemed excited as well. "This is the most information that we have received since we first tried exploring this area. It's still hard to believe that you drew these in such detail. Can you tell me, how old are you? You don't seem that old, yet you know so much." Even though it seemed like a harmless question, I still looked to my godfathers to see if it was okay. At their nods, I answered the military official.
"I'll be 15 in 6 months. My godfathers deserve the credit of identifying the Scorpion, though. I didn't know what it was until they told me." At my answer, all of the gathered military personnel were shocked. They knew that I was young, but not that young.
Since it was around 1 in the morning, the Staff Sergeant gave us permission to set up our tents in the field and that they would have someone take us home when we were ready. Getting into my sleeping bag, I did some quick mental math. 4 days until school started again. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I did hope that this year would be a little better than last year.