A Grandeur Unforetold

Its glow was faint, but perceptible, assisted by the fact the nearest light was a crystal a skip down from the one here as it was broken, with the dim lighting through the grates further up giving way to the dimly lit area they were in, not to mention the cavity as it was almost pitch black.

As they were turning the corner, for some reason, a kind of ethereal feeling approached, an encroaching hand towards Cari, similar to how he felt the pain from the flower and Olivia before, but this was more ambiguous.

Inside the dark cavity, a faint shape protruded in the middle of the overlapping skins of the three mushrooms, buried, only a faint pinkish glow amidst other barely visible, blurred colors making their way through.

It was small, Cari's size and approximate shape.

To Cari, this feeling was different, it didn't feel like something earnestly crying out in pain, more that something was simply asking for his attention.

Olivia walked up with the three behind it, silent in wondering what it is, a moment of pure curiosity nicely shared between them all but Cari.

The first layer was pulled away, the glowing more defined in a stronger bleak pink, spots of varying colors moving about chaotically surrounding it.

'Something's off.'

The second layer coming off and laid to the side, the lights growing more gripping on their attention, the lights shifting more frayed almost in response.

What was overtaking Cari felt akin to a stranger crooking their finger, crooning to come closer, yet something was telling you inside, to keep your distance and more...

Her hand took off the third and final layer.

'To run.'

Before Cari could realize he was feeling fear for the first time, the thing was revealed.

Another mushroom, its top clear, inside a rainbow of colors apparent, primarily pink in the center with other colors swirling around and across, the base a loose twirling pattern.

It reminded him of those flowers he first woke up to, if not for his state of mind just awakening then, he may have stared at them indefinitely.

Already having a bad impression, with that added on, he felt he needed to speak up to grab their attention, or in his case...

~PEEEEEEEP!~

Make as loud of a sound as he knows how to.

The moment now broken, the three paid him heed.

"What is it Cari?!", Arron unconsciously loudly spoke.

Now out of that state, they found themselves abruptly aware of themselves compared to that second of sound, but empty, mind.

The four turned back to him, Ag the most disoriented not only due to proximity of the blaring sound, but he was the most subconsciously aware of his previous mind-less-ness.

For how little he talks, he thinks quite a lot; staring at his hands, he was wondering.

'What was I doing?'

Unable to have a chance to respond as the mushroom's top suddenly seized, emanated spores from unseen pores through apparent holes on and underneath its cap speedily, of differing sizes but sharing the trait of being of different coloration.

They began splitting apart forcefully, rapidly directed towards them in a chaotic flurry.

If that outreaching feeling before felt like a hand, now it was more of a claw, reaching to grab something that narrowly escaped its grasp.

It took a split second to understand this was one of nature's natural signs, speaking one of its most inherently understood threats.

Do not play with nature.

Getting out of there without second thought, none managed to get touched...almost...

It got the one it wanted.

"Everyone okay!?"

"Good." Qier sounded out.

"Safe.", Olivia said in a relative panic, not wanting a second taste of mother nature consider her last touch-up with one of its plants.

Ag in the middle of the three of them didn't say a thing, for not only did he knew who was missing, not just from the absence of comfort and glow of green around him, but of the memory of something small jumping from behind him onto his shoulder...

To the spore that was about to hit his face.

• • • • •

Lying motionless on the floor inside the gap of the wall, the spores just taking the majority of the space now, only leaving a small space between him and the mushroom only a few feet apart, their duplication pace slowing their pace.

In front of the new shroom, was Cari, the two dots that were his eyes not there, blown out like a flame on top a candle.

Shifting within the dirt almost invisibly, something made itself known; at the same time, faint outlines of stars began to shape where Cari's eyes were.

Faintly, his brain was waking up, thinking on how his instinctual thoughts were more trustworthy than his conscious ones.

'No time to warn them or even think with that orb in his face....'

His eyes were fighting to stay open through the extreme drowsiness, aimed at the mushroom in front of him; he noticed thin, white tendrils wrapping at the base of his stump.

'What did I do wrong to be her-.'

Unaware of his own roots that were being released as he finally succumbed to the sleeping spores, they began to circle around the thin tendrils, tightening around them before pulling this mysterious mushroom's fibril's off of Cari's body, only to grip tighter, beginning to test its durability; they tried to pull back, as if surprised and shocked, but met a resistance stronger than their own.

His roots began to break down at the tips like when they would when retreating back into Cari's body, but instead they compressed together, making themselves, thinner than even the filaments of this pink mushroom, like a hair, they filtered into the mushroom's own 'roots'.

In response, a sudden jolt shot through Cari's mind, causing his barely unconsciousness state to shift into an even more abnormal condition, more awake in some areas but now sleepier in others.

Everything went dark, but that dark was instantly filled as his eyes were blasted with various colors, swarming around, shaping into a system of constellations, shapes like those in the night sky were in front of him, stars which were allowed to be different colors, of contrasting sizes, galaxies in the distance, some seeming right in front of him.

However, through it all he found a constant flow of green connecting the stars together, housed by streams of white, with one star right in front of him, pink in hue.

In the form of a tendrils before, powdery-whitish pink orbs spaced out greatly from each other connecting, shaping a more literal constellation in front of him, multiple were retreating from him, some already in his hold, however, as solid and magnificent roots similar to his own but bigger held some of the fleeing, with sprawlings of patterns across them depicting something Cari couldn't quite tell as they were in motion, constantly in a tug of war with the white offshoots.

New branches from his roots were growing, catching some and missing others, in a constant battle of catching, succeeding, failing, reinforcing their grip on what was this star's clawing grasp.

'Clawing?'

Making a weak connection to the feeling this mushroom previously directed towards him, he was partially aware of what was going on.

Cari's mind was everywhere, thoughts erratic, different trains running at once, somehow not clashing with one another.

In one, he understood something was trying to take something from him, and instinctively, he fought to take back.

In another, he was thinking something utterly ridiculous.

'Is this how it feels when someone eats a mushroom and gets...what's the word?'

As Cari figuratively put a hand on his chin, his roots were succeeding where he wasn't doing much of anything, his body responding in his place.

They had leveraged what they had grabbed to pull the star, close enough to grasp it instead, once that was done, it was all but assured what happened next.

'Ah! The word was 'hi'? Right? No, something like that?'

The disparity was a bit nuts, between his actions and some lines of his thoughts.

His roots began to shrink, or rather empty around holes at the tips and surged around the star in a show of the miniature orbs that ran throughout this space, only these ones had a goal.

Covering every bit of the star till its light was smothered.

Looking up towards where this star connected to the others with an awkward, perturbed gaze, like how a child would, he felt inclined to pull all the more, to allow himself to spread further, associating what this one did, its goal of taking, with all the others.

However, a pressure on time was weighing more heavily on him, not knowing where it was coming from, one of the trains of thought had determined that it was nearly done, only one goal to remain.

The orbs on the star began to cluster even further, tightening, attempting to pressure the star, the roots also joined in, creating an immense pressure.

It didn't take a second for it to break, a flash of its pink before it died, a brighter shine of green, a flood of green orbs being released from within.

The connection this star had snapped away like an elastic band from the grander scale of stars this one was connected to, returning to the one that connected to this one.

As the original orbs returned into his roots, the ones released gave the impression of joining, but they were unable to.

"You all belong to nature, not me."

Unsure in why he felt to say it, Cari did so anyway.

"Follow."

As his roots retracted back to him as the orbs followed suit.

Only now did Cari think to look around himself.

His previous translucence that made him look mystical completely took over, an overpowering green making up the whole as they outlined his mushroom body, nothing between the lines, at his center the source bright enough to where you could barely tell that was the only thing inside his see-through body.

Encased in a ball of entwined roots, their pattern shaping of that like a tree had grown around a rock at the base, holes between the patterns of smaller trees with their roots interconnected all together, if not for it, his light would be stronger than all the others, spreading across this space.

Only filtering in between the lines, the only place his green light could escape along with all the orbs of life energy both inherent and from the roots as they broke down could enter.

His task complete, arbitrary and not complete thoughts finished, some others left hanging, everything flickered away into black, along with him.

Unaware of just what was his impact in this grand space to what he destroyed, and what remained to bear witness.

• • • • •

"He's in there?!"

It took a couple of seconds for them to realize Ag wasn't responding to the callout despite so clearly being in the middle of the three, at first thinking that he was shaken up, but it was only for an instant till they realized why he was like that, as a small individual that they had forgotten wasn't with him, Qier responding for them all on first realizing.

"CARI!?"

Olivia stepping towards the hole, innately calling for her, which had already filled to a point they could no longer go in without risking contact with the spores.

She not only owed Cari saving her life but not being over the experience she had with that bestial plant, intruding into her body and draining everything of her, she didn't want anyone to experience that, especially those she cared most for.

Cari already being one of those people.

"Ag! Run to get the shovels! There are spares below, you know where to look!"

Arron knew better than to race time and ordered what he knew they could do, expand the hole to allow the spores to escape, hopefully creating space to grab him before whatever reason this plant did this for.

Ag remained still, eyes locked in what he remembered in that rush of a moment, he had pulled Olivia away as she was the closest, leveraging himself to harshly push her behind him, unfortunately making him the first to be hit.

Only for Cari to take the hit as he jumped from behind.

In the blitz of all this, he could only run with the others, turning his head to see Cari fall to the ground, motionless.

"AG!"

His eyes remained locked to the position Cari's body should've been, despite being clouded with the spores growing clustered.

Why was he reacting like this when he dealt with worse?

Inside, these thoughts were running rapidly, emotions similarly albeit with an experienced leash, loosened with the thought of losing this person he hadn't developed much a relation with.

Part of him even questioned why he should react, smallest parts like that, to more extremes he couldn't quite register. 

Suddenly-

A few spores as the brims of the crevice's entrance had combined, forming bigger ones.

A moment later, a rock was thrown.

~Shshhhh~

~Shshhhh~

Qier had thrown it, and multiple spores in the middle had popped as a result before losing its momentum.

"Grab some rocks and begin throwing! No knowing if Cari's already in danger considering why a plant would this without warning."

Only then did Ag react, with the other two looking back and nodding.

They ran around, reaching down and throwing rocks.

Popping rapidly, the room was already clearing, seemingly like the plant had ceased it creating of the spores.

Ag had the most vigor, seemingly pushing his body to not stop for a second, a face still plain, but hints of regret and inner conflict were written obvious for such a contrast.

Straight away, their actions had results, the room was clearing up, inside a strange scene was found.

Both mushrooms were standing, glowing with an intensity that matched Cari's the night of the celebration, lighting the entire whole, now shining through to the outside, Pink on one side with spots of various colors, Cari with his telling green glow, but there was something different.

Strangely, certain areas it covered were shifting, parts weaker, others stronger, not evenly spread out, and they were moving about, almost like invisible shapes were there.

Rocks littered around them, a few a tad too close to the mushrooms, but both seemed unscathed.

The room was almost manageable to enter, but before it could, a change emerged.

The pink mushroom's light dampened significantly, to where the spots of different colors were stronger, although they slowed in their brazen movements to being almost still.

Cari's light encompassed the room; if one had good eyes and were in the right position, they would notice the invisible shapes made Cari's glow look like a grander figure of Cari took the majority of the room, the position where its eyes would be focused on the dimming mushroom.

With a pressure and weight untold, the mushroom's lights went out completely, leaving only an empty translucence of the cap, the twirling stem unraveled, being made of large tendrils, falling apart with the cap hitting the ground with a quiet ~thud~.

The conflict was resolved almost perfectly.

The group finally being able to enter the room came in with a restrained effort to avoid the still present spores.

The glow which normally felt comforting and relaxing had a new quality, ahead of the other yet tying them all together, a sort of overbearing weight, telling them to grow, to flourish.

Qier noticed the change more strongly, along with the odd changes in intensity.

Only subconsciously perceiving a shape similar to Cari as the glow shrunk, the feeling disappearing faster than what they felt instantaneously, practically to where it didn't even register in his head, a retreating thought that he fought to grasp amidst the chaotic mess of this event.

Once the glow settled around Cari, they ignored what they felt before best they can phsyically and mentally to check on him.

Olivia and Ag knelt down on his left and right respectively, eyeing him from bottom to top, while Qier and Arron were further, more standing across each other between the two shrooms.

The village leader's eyes focused on the dead mushroom, while Qier's was on trail of tendrils leading from the dead mushroom to Cari, his mind running too quickly to focus on one thing.

"His eyes aren't there; he must be asleep."

"Don't assume.", Ag reminded Oliva.

Her concern only rose higher from Ag's comment, as that comment was mostly to comfort herself.

"It definitely did something to her; this trail points out it latched to him."

Arron left their discernment for them to figure out for now, passively listening while he focused on the key points.

This mushroom was hidden between the three Ginerero mushrooms, almost uncannily so in chance and in how it disguised its existence with its position, and considering the rarity of mushrooms, while the three were of the same species thus have better explanation, this was the third coincidence, which he didn't like, plus how he didn't recognize it from the books he has...

'Although they are outdated.'

Shifting from thinking into action-

"Qier, gather the Ginereros, I'll collect this mushroom, see if I can find out more with a few colleagues of mine, Olivia, help Qier, Ag...you good to help Cari?"

He worded those last ones carefully as he knows that look Ag gave before, similar to recounting Olivia's injuries.

Ag nodded, a gentleness on his face as he recognized the kindness in those words as he attempted to hoist Cari out of the dirt.

But on tugging gently.

"Uhhh... he's stuck."