The Astralaceaes

Chapter 25: Escaping the Caverns

Haledon's fingers continued to trace the walls as he walked. As he stared at the stone, he thought about the mushrooms and their purpose. He watched them as they withered and fell, concentrating their nutrients internally before they joined his bramble armour.

As he travelled farther along the cavern, he noticed the glow of the mushrooms gradually beginning to diversify. The hall soon radiated a complete, though unbalanced, spectrum of light. The yellow colour of drifting pollen outweighed the green for most of the walk. Still, as Haledon neared the corridor's end, the red began to dominate his vision.

Stopping for a moment, Haledon inspected one of the peachy-yellow mushrooms curiously. Plucking it with his hand, he was caught off guard by its immense weight. His hand lowered as he tightened his grip, flexing his arm and bringing it close.

"Wow, you—you are heavy," He muttered, and with a twist of his fingers, it decomposed into his armour. The weight rested in his arms briefly before evenly distributing into his torso and remaining body.

"Better..." Haledon said and continued walking.

As his march continued and the fungi fell from the wall, attaching to his body, he could feel himself physically slowing. As though he had begun walking through a thick sludge, his feet became weighed down with each mushroom-laden step. And even though the organic matter had spread across his body, he could notice it becoming near impossible to move under the weight.

"Forswyn," He grumbled as he forced himself forward another step. Stopping, he placed a hand against the wall and breathed deeply. The coolness of the stone matched the ice in the back of his mind. "I think I've obtained too much yield, and it's become a waste."

Igniting his hand in spores, a hot, red light shone and dimmed the mushrooms around him. Haledon instinctively shielded his sight with his other hand.

"Ahg, by Nature's—" He mumbled before continuing in Druidic and dimming the light. "Rhizomatous Fractalis. Sphagnum Tessalae." Haledon followed, and as his fingers danced a familiar waltz, moss consumed the ground beneath him.

Lowering himself down into a sitting position, he fell with a dull thud against the mat. Haledon placed his back against the wall and released another deep sigh. He examined the faint red glow of the tunnel.

"Observe and interact. Catch and store energy. Obtain a yield. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback. Use and value renewable resources. Produce no waste. Okay...Sparrow, what am I missing here?"

He muttered again in Druidic, and his body relaxed as the nutrients from the armour began to transfer into him. And even though he wasn't eating, he was occasionally presented with a sweet flavour or a sudden tang as his senses responded. As he sat and observed the tunnel around him, the suit nourished him, and he started to feel satiated for the first time in days.

"Observe and interact. I followed the sun, observed my surroundings, and found this cavern and mushrooms." Haledon mused to himself, recounting various examples and trying to prove he knew what he was doing.

"Catch and store energy. I opened myself up to the sun's morning warmth. My clothing was the energy that allowed me to get up safely. The plants caught my energy and transferred it into heat—but I don't understand why yet." He touched his chest, the burl having been covered by the new organics.

"Obtain a yield. Yes, I yielded plenty of organics from the tunnel...but the fungus was already there." He thought for a moment. "I yielded an appreciation for warmth and companionship." Haledon thought of Gazeas momentarily before thinking of the rest of his Guild and ship. He had been so focused on escape that he hadn't taken a moment to realize that this had been the longest he had ever been alone.