Baulus and the Pez Azul Plague

The sun was hot. The sand was rough. The water was cool. Baulus didn't know how long he'd been walking, but it had to be a while. He looked down at his feet, his face bathed in sweat, and saw the small pez azul swimming in the sand beneath them. It was blue, like the sky that hung above him. He bent down to pick it up from where it swam and noticed it seemed to be breathing faster than normal. But he did not think much of it. He walked for another hour or so before stopping to check on the pez again, this time noticing its color had changed to a sickly greenish-yellow color. Some sand clung to its scales, but otherwise it appeared as if it were swimming in pure water. Baulus picked it up once more and continued walking until he came upon a small pond surrounded by rocks and weeds with a dark hole in the middle of it.

"Where are you going?" asked one of the rocks, who was covered in moss except for two eyes that were open just a slit on top of its head. "What's that you've got there?"

"I'm thirsty," said Baulus as he stared at the pond below him. He lowered himself onto his stomach and laid the pez azul on the ground beside him so that it could swim freely into the water if it wished to do so. "But I'm not sure I should drink from this one."

"Why not?" asked the rock as it raised itself out of the ground a bit further so Baulus could hear him better. "It looks quite clean."

"It does," said Baulus, "but I just don't know what's in there." He pointed at the hole at the bottom of the pond, which had begun to bubble lightly as though something was boiling and swirling within it without ever being able to break through the surface.

"Oh," said the rock as he settled back into his spot on top of one of the other rocks surrounding him and closed his eyes again. "That's nothing," he said after many moments had passed with no further action from below, "a whole lot of fish live there."

Baulus thought about this for a moment before reaching into his pouch and pulling out a small piece of dried meat wrapped up tight in cloth that he unwrapped and began gnawing on while watching the whole time to see if anything interesting would happen around him. After what must have been an hour or two, he noticed a small fish swimming around inside of the water column that rose up from inside of the hole at the bottom of the pond, but aside from that nothing happened for some time until finally he fell asleep with one hand resting on top of his pack and one hand still propping himself up off of his stomach so that he could continue watching whatever was happening inside of that hole beneath him as well as keep an eye out for any animals approaching from behind him. When Baulus woke up again, he saw that someone had set down a large pitcher full of some sort of liquid at his side while he slept along with a spoon sticking out of it right next to where his head had been laying when he fell asleep earlier so that when he awoke he would be able to reach over and grab hold of it without having to move very far away from where he lay now. He took hold of both spoon and pitcher between his fingers and moved closer toward where he could reach down into the water with them without getting too close to where that strange column rose up from within its depths since now that he looked closer at it again, instead of seeing a regular column rising up through its center as though something were actually bubbling inside of that dirty old well like hole beneath him, now when he gazed down into its depths all that was visible was an enormous white mouth with countless rows of teeth lining every inch of its fleshy gums, all grinning up at him menacingly.

A loud roar sounded off somewhere behind him, causing Baulus to jump with fear. He could see nothing among the rocks and realized it must have been his imagination or perhaps a sudden gust of wind. As he sat there, contemplating the peculiar situation, he felt increasingly unnerved by the unknown voices that seemed to echo in his mind - questioning, demanding, begging, sobbing, and eventually devolving into screams and curses. These unsettling thoughts plagued him, making it difficult for him to recall the reality around him and determine what, if any, threat he truly faced.

"Baulus? Are you awake?" asked a distant voice, struggling to pierce through the maelstrom of noises in his head. "Baulus?" repeated the voice, but all he could hear were the incessant questions, accusations, and demands that seemed to consume him.

He tried to focus on the present, to push away the cacophony of ghostly voices