Cheep!?
Chapter 136
Niko, as he stepped deeper into the mixed domain of mushrooms and titanwood, had the feeling that there was something more to this place than he was realizing. Whatever it was hung in the air, settled just beneath his senses, but no matter how much he focused, he couldn’t place his claw on what the sensation was. The creatures here didn’t act especially different from anywhere else – hunting was just as common, territorial disputes, and the like – so he was at a loss for what it might be. Even so, they delved deeper, looking around for the tell-tale signs of an exit that was promised on the map. At this rate, though, Niko wasn’t hopeful, given the sheer level of overgrowth that teemed through the terrain. Even the bark itself wasn’t left untouched, the trees over their heads were filled with plateaus of mushroom caps and matrice-like formations.
It was almost like stepping into another world, given the sheer variety that the mushrooms could grow in. There were some that were vibrantly colored, some pale, some familiar and many not. He and Skye avoided those that they were in doubt of, but it was impossible to do so entirely in this place. The only thing that kept Niko calm was the fact that the many other seemingly otherwise normal denizens of the mushroom biome didn’t seem to show any major hesitation from their observations made from afar.
They stopped at an especially obtuse outcropping of mushroom caps, able to rest their entire weight atop of it and granting them a modest view of their surroundings. Niko and Skye both watched as a troop of Thimurge scuttled by, none of which were privy to their observers. It amused Niko to think that they were the most prevalent monsters here, given that they seemed to fulfill the role of predator and prey in one. Their higher tier forms were certainly formidable, but he couldn’t look at the tier two’s any longer and feel anything but… mildly disappointed in the lack of challenge. They were simple creatures, hostile, and with only enough intelligence to decide whether they wanted to fight or flee. Being monsters though, fleeing seemed to be designated only to forces of nature, like the flood.
“We’re close,” Skye spoke into Niko’s mind, “I figure maybe a few more minutes that way.”
Niko followed the pointed finger of his half-elf friend, realizing that she was gesturing into even thicker growths of mushrooms. He frowned at that, noting that no single bit of titanwood root was visible. Almost reflexively, Niko shuffled from one foot to the other on the mushroom shelf they stood on. It flexed under his weight, but held, “We’re gonna have to be careful of our footing in there.”
Skye nodded slightly, but he could tell by the slight grin on her face that she was withholding a joke about his weight. Niko snorted at that, thinking that Dachna would most certainly have not been able to keep it to himself.
He pulled his thoughts from that direction, knowing that there was a chance that they would be able to get out of this soon, if there really was an exit nearby. Waiting only long enough not to attract the attention of any wayward predators, the pair quickly moved upwards and through the denser fungal growth. Niko could feel the essence in the air grow denser, quickly surging from the low tier four to middle, and then high tier four. For the first while, Niko felt the mushrooms beneath his feet flex, some dangerously, but as they progressed deeper into the inner reaches of the biome, they became tougher and hardier. Soon, he could barely tell the difference between some of them and the bark of the titanwoods.
That was some peace of mind, he mused, before he turned his attention back to their route. The map hadn’t detailed much of this place, save for a flag marking near where the exit should be. Niko wasn’t certain whether that was due to an as yet undetected danger, or perhaps something else.
Whatever the case, Niko never ceased his surveillance of the area, his Aether Sight active at all times. It strained his vision for him to be using it so exactingly, but a combination of the unknown environment, and the sense that there was something different about this place unsettled him enough that he was unwilling to let down his guard even fractionally. Skye kept her own pattern at a low burn, her body covered in places with bark. Every few tens of meters they would stop, let Skye connect to the environment, then continue onwards. A few times when she did so, Niko noticed the mushrooms all around flex in an unseen and unfelt wind, creaking and groaning as though they were actually trying to speak to her.
Contrary to his nerves, Skye seemed oddly at ease with it all, even going so far as patting a few passing mushrooms in silent thanks as they went. When they stopped next to a gathering of red, barbed mushrooms, where Skye plucked a few longer stalks off and tossed them in her bag, Niko couldn’t help but squawk at her.
“What? They said I could take some.” Skye frowned at the bird.
“Do you even know what it is?” Niko tried not to sound as stressed as he was, but he knew he was failing. He could practically feel the spores settling on his feathers, and desperately wanted to preen himself clean.
“Yeah, a powerful anticoagulant and hemotoxin. The plant says that it’s been called ‘Bloodfire’ by things that have been stung by it.” She supplied happily, not realizing the Phorus’ still growing concern.
“And why, exactly, does this Bloodfire want you to take some of it?” He eyed the plant, the many barbed spines swaying back and forth with joyful menace.
Skye opened her mouth to speak, then paused, turned and placed a hand on a portion of the plant uncomfortably close to a bushel of spikes. Niko felt his stomach tighten at that, like he was watching someone put their hand in a blender to pull something out, all without turning off the power first.
She turned back, none the worse for wear, and shrugged, “They like me, something about being a kindred… something or other, I don’t know the word.”
Niko felt that his brain was about to stop, but simply swallowed hard before shaking his head. “Allllrighty then. That’s good. Nothing culty and terrifying about that at all.”
Skye huffed, “There’s not, Niko. It’s just plant things, they’re just… different than people, and beasts. Why are you so worked up?”
“I…” Niko stopped before he even started, taking a centering breath and actually considering what about everything was making him uncomfortable.
This was unfamiliar terrain, with abundant fungal life. His knowledge of Earth only served to feed the fire, the knowledge that some types of fungus were capable of very creative solutions to spreading and propagating using other life forms doing nothing to assuage his fears.
There was an unknown sensation lingering here that he couldn’t put his claw on, but realized was similar to places like where Vol lived. Yet, it didn’t even feel remotely familiar to Vol, so Niko was left with the fear that there was something equally as powerful as a Titan here. Whether that was true or not, he couldn’t tell, it wasn’t as if he could actually sense everything about Vol in the first place.
Skye was communicating with vast networks of things with minds so alien that Niko probably couldn’t understand even if he were to figure out how to connect with them. ‘Probably, actually,’ he amended, ‘I guess it would depend if Alterra’s gift would translate anything for me.’
He wanted not to be trapped down here anymore, the trees, the closed in areas, the darkness.
It was then that Skye swayed on her feet slightly, putting a hand to her head with an audible “Whoa,” that pulled Niko from his thought spiral. Suddenly the connection between them seemed to slow, almost closing entirely, sending a flood of alarm through his veins.
Before he could even begin to look for the threat, she put her hands out and grabbed him by the head, “Easy, breathe, Niko. I’m fine, that was all just a little overwhelming. Sit down, breathe, alright? We’re fine right here.”
Niko let himself get dragged down by his head, but looked Skye right in the eyes assessingly. She looked worried, clear-eyed, and as Niko sat fully on his haunches, he had to take a few seconds to calm himself.
“Alright, we’re going to take a break. Nothing really comes near Bloodfire plants, since they can project their spi—” Skye paused, possibly realizing the growing wariness in Niko’s gaze, “—not important, we’re safe here. Just relax.”
With great effort, Niko remained rooted to the spot, pointedly ignoring the waving red spines of the fungus near them. What he couldn’t get was why Skye was so fine here, while he was rapidly becoming a wreck.
And then, he switched tactics and flipped the script. If he were Skye, would he be wondering the inverse? Why wasn’t he fine here? Where was the problem? He didn’t feel any mind-intrusive abilities. They’d tested the air, and in spite of being heavy in spores, they weren’t a virulent, take-over-your-body-and-zombify-you kind of thing. Skye herself was able to communicate with the fungus here, turning what might have been dangerous, such as the Bloodfire fungus, into a boon.
In the end, Niko had only a few things he could say with certainty. His past life was poisoning his perceptions here, and, perhaps more importantly, he was fearing the unknown too much. Also, maybe on an equal level, he was realizing that he might have some kind of claustrophobia, because they’d been stuck in tunnels and closed, tight areas for too long. The forest floor was a tangle of roots that they had to climb under and over. None of that might be that much of an issue, but Niko also realized he couldn’t remember when he’d actually had a solid night of sleep.
“Better?” Skye asked, Niko only then realizing that she’d been gently petting his head as his mind raced. He blinked at that, wondering when his head had ended up on her lap, but didn’t bother moving yet.
He pressed their mental connection, and after a few moments Skye opened it up from her end. “Yeah. A bit, anyways. I think it all just caught up to me. That and I need to sleep sometime soon.”
Skye hummed at that, “Then we should do that now. There’s a cavity over there that’s safe.”
Reflexively, Niko almost refused, but given what had just happened, he decided that he wasn’t in any position to be making any decisions. He followed her, moving towards a complex arrangement of hardier mushrooms, past a cluster of Bloodfires that grew in a loose pseudo-perimeter around where they were going. As the two passed, they retracted meter long spikes and flexed other longer limbs out of the way. He swallowed at that, but continued to remind himself that Skye knew what she was talking about.
When they reached the area Skye had detected, Niko couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion. His Aether Sight could easily tell that it had been dug straight into the side of a titanwood, the tough wood having been gouged out by what he imagined were large claws. Whatever had done it, though, was clearly no longer present, but in its place a wide space filled with many different types of mushrooms grew. To his eyes they blazed with essence, indeed they were more potently filled it than any other plant he’d laid his sight upon to that point.
“The plants here say that nothing has come in here in a very long time,” Skye said, “We’re safe in here.”
“And they’re… okay with this?” Niko blinked, looking around at the plants suspiciously.
Skye snorted, “They’re mushrooms, Niko.”
“And are your mushroom friends okay with this?” He asked flatly, glaring at the half-elf, nonplussed.
“Yes,” She grinned, “They’re okay with us sitting around doing effectively nothing to do with them.”
Niko shook his head, before looking around for a good spot to lie down, before finding a more-or-less uncluttered area. He pulled out a rough blanket and draped it over the spot, before settling in.
He’d thought that sleep would not come easily to him, given the situation, but even before Skye had finished setting out her own bedroll next to him, he already felt his eyelids grow heavy, before his awareness sank away entirely.
-------------
Niko stirred from sleep slowly, feeling stiff, but well rested. He stretched out, carefully once he realized that he was being used as a pillow again by Skye. The half-elf stirred as he moved, seemingly mirroring his own stretch as their limbs shuddered from awakening muscles.
“Good morning,” Skye uttered automatically, still coming to fully. The Phorus did the same, taking a brief look around them to be sure that nothing had changed. A soft glow still permeated the space, no different than before, but Niko allowed his eyes to settle on the many mushrooms once more. Just as he’d noticed before sleeping, there was far more essence concentrated in these mushrooms than the others. Even to his normal sight, they seemed to feel more real than everything around them, though he didn’t know how or why that might be the case. He had noticed that anything with an especially large amount of essence seemed to somehow seem like it was more than it otherwise should be.
While Niko was interested in finding out why that might be the case, he figured that he would most likely have to wait until he was a higher tier to find out for himself. In any case, though, he couldn’t help but stare at the mushrooms hungrily, but turned his head away before he got any ideas.
“These are really good mushrooms,” Skye commented, having noticed Niko’s gaze. “We’ve got plenty of space left for them.”
Niko turned to her with a question on his tongue, but even before he spoke, Skye preempted it, with amusement, “Niko, they’re mushrooms. Just because I can talk to trees doesn’t mean they’re all suddenly thinking creatures. Besides, we’re leaving the roots intact either way.”
With nothing to say to that, Niko and Skye broke away to take care of their morning needs. It didn’t take long to find a water source, thanks to Skye’s ability to communicate with the vegetation of the forest. In short order, they’d made a simple breakfast, gotten their fill of water, and were now preparing to harvest the glimmering mushrooms. Some of them shimmered with a light orange sparkle, while others were tinged with something closer to a golden color. A part of Niko was still nervous when Skye stooped over, and cleanly cut through the stalk of one such mushroom before placing it in an unslung pack beside her.
Nothing happened, of course, and so Niko pushed himself to start helping. He took slightly longer, needing to move his head into position as his claws weren’t especially suited for cutting the stalks cleanly.
“These are the most enriched plants I’ve ever seen,” Skye said, almost giddy in her tone, “It’s almost like these were made to be eaten.”
Niko had to agree, everything had essence in them, but for some reason these mushrooms weren’t even using all of the essence they had stored. Perhaps they were ordinarily a major food source type of mushroom, no different from plants that regularly produced fruit to make their seeds more appealing.
‘Or they were bred that way,’ Niko considered, but he didn’t see anything that especially rang as a sophisticated process as of yet. The hollow had been carved by claws, not tools, and the growth seemed rampant in any case.
They cut through the stalks rapidly, picking up speed as they went. Niko happily went to work, his misgivings put to rest as nothing happened as they progressed. Hopefully they could find the exit soon, he figured that Ronald could make great use of the mushrooms they found here in some meals.
Skye mumbled something, catching Niko’s attention.
“What’d you say?” He asked, slowing his pruning spree long enough to look to her.
She was frowning, looking over the already harvested stalks, “Well, it might be nothing.”
Detecting the flag, Niko suppressed a groan, “No, no, now you definitely should share.”
Skye snorted, but gestured to the chopped stalks. Niko followed her hand, not sure what he was looking for, when he came up short. As they’d chopped through the mushrooms, the stalks themselves twisted every which way, leaving no discernable pattern with how closely packed together the knee-high fungus were. Now, however, he could see that their bases were arranged in neat, straight rows, each relatively equidistant from one another. If he didn’t know any better…
“They look like a crop arrangement, right?” Skye noted the way Niko’s gaze grew tight.
“Uhh… I thought that nobody had come through here in some time. That’s what the trees said, right?” Niko cringed, wondering if they’d just wiped out half of someone’s harvest.
“That’s what they said,” Skye bit her lip while drumming her fingers against her thighs in thought. With a yearning gaze, she assessed the rest of the mushrooms before sighing and shaking her head, “Better stop here. We’ll take what we’ve already harvested, since we have no idea when the owner might be back – if they’ll come back – but it’s a different matter entirely if someone placed this with intent.”
Niko nodded at that, though it pained him to leave the harvest as it was. Still, while he wasn’t against a little bit of mischief, outright stealing an entire harvest belonging to someone else was a little much. Together, they quickly stuffed their packs, now full to the gills with materials, and once more set off into the forest outside. Niko cast one last glance back at the tree-hollow, trying hard not to think about the poor critter that was going to come for their harvest, only to see it half wiped out.
‘Well, there’s always the chance that happens.’ Niko shook his head, ‘At least the Bloodfire plants should keep the rest safe.’
As they continued on, Niko did his best not to consider the other question in his mind too much. What manner of creature made a farm in a hollowed out titanwood amidst lethally dangerous plants? As much as he tried to avoid lingering on it the thought urged him on just that much quicker, eager to put some distance between them and the farm.
Cheep!?
Chapter 136
Niko, as he stepped deeper into the mixed domain of mushrooms and titanwood, had the feeling that there was something more to this place than he was realizing. Whatever it was hung in the air, settled just beneath his senses, but no matter how much he focused, he couldn’t place his claw on what the sensation was. The creatures here didn’t act especially different from anywhere else – hunting was just as common, territorial disputes, and the like – so he was at a loss for what it might be. Even so, they delved deeper, looking around for the tell-tale signs of an exit that was promised on the map. At this rate, though, Niko wasn’t hopeful, given the sheer level of overgrowth that teemed through the terrain. Even the bark itself wasn’t left untouched, the trees over their heads were filled with plateaus of mushroom caps and matrice-like formations.
It was almost like stepping into another world, given the sheer variety that the mushrooms could grow in. There were some that were vibrantly colored, some pale, some familiar and many not. He and Skye avoided those that they were in doubt of, but it was impossible to do so entirely in this place. The only thing that kept Niko calm was the fact that the many other seemingly otherwise normal denizens of the mushroom biome didn’t seem to show any major hesitation from their observations made from afar.
They stopped at an especially obtuse outcropping of mushroom caps, able to rest their entire weight atop of it and granting them a modest view of their surroundings. Niko and Skye both watched as a troop of Thimurge scuttled by, none of which were privy to their observers. It amused Niko to think that they were the most prevalent monsters here, given that they seemed to fulfill the role of predator and prey in one. Their higher tier forms were certainly formidable, but he couldn’t look at the tier two’s any longer and feel anything but… mildly disappointed in the lack of challenge. They were simple creatures, hostile, and with only enough intelligence to decide whether they wanted to fight or flee. Being monsters though, fleeing seemed to be designated only to forces of nature, like the flood.
“We’re close,” Skye spoke into Niko’s mind, “I figure maybe a few more minutes that way.”
Niko followed the pointed finger of his half-elf friend, realizing that she was gesturing into even thicker growths of mushrooms. He frowned at that, noting that no single bit of titanwood root was visible. Almost reflexively, Niko shuffled from one foot to the other on the mushroom shelf they stood on. It flexed under his weight, but held, “We’re gonna have to be careful of our footing in there.”
Skye nodded slightly, but he could tell by the slight grin on her face that she was withholding a joke about his weight. Niko snorted at that, thinking that Dachna would most certainly have not been able to keep it to himself.
He pulled his thoughts from that direction, knowing that there was a chance that they would be able to get out of this soon, if there really was an exit nearby. Waiting only long enough not to attract the attention of any wayward predators, the pair quickly moved upwards and through the denser fungal growth. Niko could feel the essence in the air grow denser, quickly surging from the low tier four to middle, and then high tier four. For the first while, Niko felt the mushrooms beneath his feet flex, some dangerously, but as they progressed deeper into the inner reaches of the biome, they became tougher and hardier. Soon, he could barely tell the difference between some of them and the bark of the titanwoods.
That was some peace of mind, he mused, before he turned his attention back to their route. The map hadn’t detailed much of this place, save for a flag marking near where the exit should be. Niko wasn’t certain whether that was due to an as yet undetected danger, or perhaps something else.
Whatever the case, Niko never ceased his surveillance of the area, his Aether Sight active at all times. It strained his vision for him to be using it so exactingly, but a combination of the unknown environment, and the sense that there was something different about this place unsettled him enough that he was unwilling to let down his guard even fractionally. Skye kept her own pattern at a low burn, her body covered in places with bark. Every few tens of meters they would stop, let Skye connect to the environment, then continue onwards. A few times when she did so, Niko noticed the mushrooms all around flex in an unseen and unfelt wind, creaking and groaning as though they were actually trying to speak to her.
Contrary to his nerves, Skye seemed oddly at ease with it all, even going so far as patting a few passing mushrooms in silent thanks as they went. When they stopped next to a gathering of red, barbed mushrooms, where Skye plucked a few longer stalks off and tossed them in her bag, Niko couldn’t help but squawk at her.
“What? They said I could take some.” Skye frowned at the bird.
“Do you even know what it is?” Niko tried not to sound as stressed as he was, but he knew he was failing. He could practically feel the spores settling on his feathers, and desperately wanted to preen himself clean.
“Yeah, a powerful anticoagulant and hemotoxin. The plant says that it’s been called ‘Bloodfire’ by things that have been stung by it.” She supplied happily, not realizing the Phorus’ still growing concern.
“And why, exactly, does this Bloodfire want you to take some of it?” He eyed the plant, the many barbed spines swaying back and forth with joyful menace.
Skye opened her mouth to speak, then paused, turned and placed a hand on a portion of the plant uncomfortably close to a bushel of spikes. Niko felt his stomach tighten at that, like he was watching someone put their hand in a blender to pull something out, all without turning off the power first.
She turned back, none the worse for wear, and shrugged, “They like me, something about being a kindred… something or other, I don’t know the word.”
Niko felt that his brain was about to stop, but simply swallowed hard before shaking his head. “Allllrighty then. That’s good. Nothing culty and terrifying about that at all.”
Skye huffed, “There’s not, Niko. It’s just plant things, they’re just… different than people, and beasts. Why are you so worked up?”
“I…” Niko stopped before he even started, taking a centering breath and actually considering what about everything was making him uncomfortable.
This was unfamiliar terrain, with abundant fungal life. His knowledge of Earth only served to feed the fire, the knowledge that some types of fungus were capable of very creative solutions to spreading and propagating using other life forms doing nothing to assuage his fears.
There was an unknown sensation lingering here that he couldn’t put his claw on, but realized was similar to places like where Vol lived. Yet, it didn’t even feel remotely familiar to Vol, so Niko was left with the fear that there was something equally as powerful as a Titan here. Whether that was true or not, he couldn’t tell, it wasn’t as if he could actually sense everything about Vol in the first place.
Skye was communicating with vast networks of things with minds so alien that Niko probably couldn’t understand even if he were to figure out how to connect with them. ‘Probably, actually,’ he amended, ‘I guess it would depend if Alterra’s gift would translate anything for me.’
He wanted not to be trapped down here anymore, the trees, the closed in areas, the darkness.
It was then that Skye swayed on her feet slightly, putting a hand to her head with an audible “Whoa,” that pulled Niko from his thought spiral. Suddenly the connection between them seemed to slow, almost closing entirely, sending a flood of alarm through his veins.
Before he could even begin to look for the threat, she put her hands out and grabbed him by the head, “Easy, breathe, Niko. I’m fine, that was all just a little overwhelming. Sit down, breathe, alright? We’re fine right here.”
Niko let himself get dragged down by his head, but looked Skye right in the eyes assessingly. She looked worried, clear-eyed, and as Niko sat fully on his haunches, he had to take a few seconds to calm himself.
“Alright, we’re going to take a break. Nothing really comes near Bloodfire plants, since they can project their spi—” Skye paused, possibly realizing the growing wariness in Niko’s gaze, “—not important, we’re safe here. Just relax.”
With great effort, Niko remained rooted to the spot, pointedly ignoring the waving red spines of the fungus near them. What he couldn’t get was why Skye was so fine here, while he was rapidly becoming a wreck.
And then, he switched tactics and flipped the script. If he were Skye, would he be wondering the inverse? Why wasn’t he fine here? Where was the problem? He didn’t feel any mind-intrusive abilities. They’d tested the air, and in spite of being heavy in spores, they weren’t a virulent, take-over-your-body-and-zombify-you kind of thing. Skye herself was able to communicate with the fungus here, turning what might have been dangerous, such as the Bloodfire fungus, into a boon.
In the end, Niko had only a few things he could say with certainty. His past life was poisoning his perceptions here, and, perhaps more importantly, he was fearing the unknown too much. Also, maybe on an equal level, he was realizing that he might have some kind of claustrophobia, because they’d been stuck in tunnels and closed, tight areas for too long. The forest floor was a tangle of roots that they had to climb under and over. None of that might be that much of an issue, but Niko also realized he couldn’t remember when he’d actually had a solid night of sleep.
“Better?” Skye asked, Niko only then realizing that she’d been gently petting his head as his mind raced. He blinked at that, wondering when his head had ended up on her lap, but didn’t bother moving yet.
He pressed their mental connection, and after a few moments Skye opened it up from her end. “Yeah. A bit, anyways. I think it all just caught up to me. That and I need to sleep sometime soon.”
Skye hummed at that, “Then we should do that now. There’s a cavity over there that’s safe.”
Reflexively, Niko almost refused, but given what had just happened, he decided that he wasn’t in any position to be making any decisions. He followed her, moving towards a complex arrangement of hardier mushrooms, past a cluster of Bloodfires that grew in a loose pseudo-perimeter around where they were going. As the two passed, they retracted meter long spikes and flexed other longer limbs out of the way. He swallowed at that, but continued to remind himself that Skye knew what she was talking about.
When they reached the area Skye had detected, Niko couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion. His Aether Sight could easily tell that it had been dug straight into the side of a titanwood, the tough wood having been gouged out by what he imagined were large claws. Whatever had done it, though, was clearly no longer present, but in its place a wide space filled with many different types of mushrooms grew. To his eyes they blazed with essence, indeed they were more potently filled it than any other plant he’d laid his sight upon to that point.
“The plants here say that nothing has come in here in a very long time,” Skye said, “We’re safe in here.”
“And they’re… okay with this?” Niko blinked, looking around at the plants suspiciously.
Skye snorted, “They’re mushrooms, Niko.”
“And are your mushroom friends okay with this?” He asked flatly, glaring at the half-elf, nonplussed.
“Yes,” She grinned, “They’re okay with us sitting around doing effectively nothing to do with them.”
Niko shook his head, before looking around for a good spot to lie down, before finding a more-or-less uncluttered area. He pulled out a rough blanket and draped it over the spot, before settling in.
He’d thought that sleep would not come easily to him, given the situation, but even before Skye had finished setting out her own bedroll next to him, he already felt his eyelids grow heavy, before his awareness sank away entirely.
-------------
Niko stirred from sleep slowly, feeling stiff, but well rested. He stretched out, carefully once he realized that he was being used as a pillow again by Skye. The half-elf stirred as he moved, seemingly mirroring his own stretch as their limbs shuddered from awakening muscles.
“Good morning,” Skye uttered automatically, still coming to fully. The Phorus did the same, taking a brief look around them to be sure that nothing had changed. A soft glow still permeated the space, no different than before, but Niko allowed his eyes to settle on the many mushrooms once more. Just as he’d noticed before sleeping, there was far more essence concentrated in these mushrooms than the others. Even to his normal sight, they seemed to feel more real than everything around them, though he didn’t know how or why that might be the case. He had noticed that anything with an especially large amount of essence seemed to somehow seem like it was more than it otherwise should be.
While Niko was interested in finding out why that might be the case, he figured that he would most likely have to wait until he was a higher tier to find out for himself. In any case, though, he couldn’t help but stare at the mushrooms hungrily, but turned his head away before he got any ideas.
“These are really good mushrooms,” Skye commented, having noticed Niko’s gaze. “We’ve got plenty of space left for them.”
Niko turned to her with a question on his tongue, but even before he spoke, Skye preempted it, with amusement, “Niko, they’re mushrooms. Just because I can talk to trees doesn’t mean they’re all suddenly thinking creatures. Besides, we’re leaving the roots intact either way.”
With nothing to say to that, Niko and Skye broke away to take care of their morning needs. It didn’t take long to find a water source, thanks to Skye’s ability to communicate with the vegetation of the forest. In short order, they’d made a simple breakfast, gotten their fill of water, and were now preparing to harvest the glimmering mushrooms. Some of them shimmered with a light orange sparkle, while others were tinged with something closer to a golden color. A part of Niko was still nervous when Skye stooped over, and cleanly cut through the stalk of one such mushroom before placing it in an unslung pack beside her.
Nothing happened, of course, and so Niko pushed himself to start helping. He took slightly longer, needing to move his head into position as his claws weren’t especially suited for cutting the stalks cleanly.
“These are the most enriched plants I’ve ever seen,” Skye said, almost giddy in her tone, “It’s almost like these were made to be eaten.”
Niko had to agree, everything had essence in them, but for some reason these mushrooms weren’t even using all of the essence they had stored. Perhaps they were ordinarily a major food source type of mushroom, no different from plants that regularly produced fruit to make their seeds more appealing.
‘Or they were bred that way,’ Niko considered, but he didn’t see anything that especially rang as a sophisticated process as of yet. The hollow had been carved by claws, not tools, and the growth seemed rampant in any case.
They cut through the stalks rapidly, picking up speed as they went. Niko happily went to work, his misgivings put to rest as nothing happened as they progressed. Hopefully they could find the exit soon, he figured that Ronald could make great use of the mushrooms they found here in some meals.
Skye mumbled something, catching Niko’s attention.
“What’d you say?” He asked, slowing his pruning spree long enough to look to her.
She was frowning, looking over the already harvested stalks, “Well, it might be nothing.”
Detecting the flag, Niko suppressed a groan, “No, no, now you definitely should share.”
Skye snorted, but gestured to the chopped stalks. Niko followed her hand, not sure what he was looking for, when he came up short. As they’d chopped through the mushrooms, the stalks themselves twisted every which way, leaving no discernable pattern with how closely packed together the knee-high fungus were. Now, however, he could see that their bases were arranged in neat, straight rows, each relatively equidistant from one another. If he didn’t know any better…
“They look like a crop arrangement, right?” Skye noted the way Niko’s gaze grew tight.
“Uhh… I thought that nobody had come through here in some time. That’s what the trees said, right?” Niko cringed, wondering if they’d just wiped out half of someone’s harvest.
“That’s what they said,” Skye bit her lip while drumming her fingers against her thighs in thought. With a yearning gaze, she assessed the rest of the mushrooms before sighing and shaking her head, “Better stop here. We’ll take what we’ve already harvested, since we have no idea when the owner might be back – if they’ll come back – but it’s a different matter entirely if someone placed this with intent.”
Niko nodded at that, though it pained him to leave the harvest as it was. Still, while he wasn’t against a little bit of mischief, outright stealing an entire harvest belonging to someone else was a little much. Together, they quickly stuffed their packs, now full to the gills with materials, and once more set off into the forest outside. Niko cast one last glance back at the tree-hollow, trying hard not to think about the poor critter that was going to come for their harvest, only to see it half wiped out.
‘Well, there’s always the chance that happens.’ Niko shook his head, ‘At least the Bloodfire plants should keep the rest safe.’
As they continued on, Niko did his best not to consider the other question in his mind too much. What manner of creature made a farm in a hollowed out titanwood amidst lethally dangerous plants? As much as he tried to avoid lingering on it the thought urged him on just that much quicker, eager to put some distance between them and the farm.
