Skeleton Mushrooms

Chapter 2, Narinder

Narinder is sleeping in pile of moss. The Damned cretin of a Lamb had mockingly said "You can have better sleeping arrangements when you "move up" in the ranks." Narinder glared at the tent attached to the Lamb's quarters. It was made out of soft cotton and silk, with fresh chamomile braided in every morning, and candles and scented incense burned around it at night. "A tent fit for God..." he thought begrudgingly. "I should be sleeping there." He suddenly regretted giving Lamb the ability to read minds. He finally drifted off to sleep a few minutes later. He was almost immediately (Or at least it felt like it.) awakened by a bucket of lukewarm water. "Pfffffffft" Narinder's ears went back. The Lamb....was snickering at him. "You should see your face." He grinned. "It's time for a sermon." The Lamb walked away. "See you in an hour...or else." Narinder scowled. He got up and waited in line for food. As he got to the end he was given a bowl of cooked grass. He looked up and said "What is this?" The otter at the kitchen answered "Our grand Leader's orders. You can get better food when the Leader says you can." Narinder almost yelled at the otter. But he knew it wouldn't do anything. He sat down in the grass by the tailor and started to eat. He almost threw up...the slop in a bowl was disgusting, with a texture of string. He sighed. All of a sudden he heard a bell ring across the village...or better described, cult. He walked towards the chapel, watching as the other followers dropped what they were doing to get to the chapel. It was almost...eerie, the way they did it. He shuddered at the thought of being the same in a few hundred years. "I won't be like that, I won't. I know who the Lamb truly is." He was outside the door of the chapel now. The place was grand...he had to admit. The place was a gloating shade of red, with thick vines and flowers around it. The steeple had a large bell, and decorative crowns of past bishops hung from stone pillars on the path into the chapel. There were shrines on the sides of the door, and a fountain was in the middle of the path. Narinder prepared himself and walked inside. The inside was... interesting, to say the least. Dark, finished walls, tall pillars of rock on the sides, and idols of that damned Lamb everywhere. They were staring into him, Narinder thought. Lamb really was a narcissist, wasn't he. With all these dolls and statues, he might as well have a small army. "Fellow friends and family. We come here to discuss our lives, and how to better ourselves for the afterlife." Lamb is on the alter, starting the sermon. Narinder tries not to think about how long he'll have to endure this foolish show. Lamb is wearing a cloak made of yellow silk, and gold. Narinder thinks about how terrible it looks against the white wool. "But first! Today I will be introducing a new person to our home! He was a bit of a surprise, I know, and those of you who were working the fields might seen him. Introducing our new member, Sozo!" Lamb looks a little worried. Narinder relishes in it before turning his head to look at this "Sozo". A lanky looking... Ant? Narinder isn't sure. A large and, frankly strange, looking mushroom sprouts out of his head. He wears a large backpack and a tattered coat. He has a furry ruff around his neck with more mushrooms, this time much smaller. A disgusting and brainwashed creature, he's sure. Lamb nudges Sozo. Sozo looks confused for a second before realizing and speaking "Oh! Yes. Sozo is veerrryy happy to be here." Lamb looks disappointed with the lackluster words, then sends Sozo down into the crowd. "Well, now that I've introduced our new friend, I'll start the sermon. *Ahem* The afterlife is a place of rest for our friends and ancestors. We have to work for it though. You must be a good person, to those around you, and your gods. I'll go over what it means to be a good person." Narinder starts to zone out. He doesn't need to hear about how to be a perfect servant to Lamb. He snaps back to the sermon when he hears "Now that we've heard the importance of our lives, and how they'll affect us in the afterlife, let's perform some rituals in order to show them. Let us start with a simple one, the fight ritual. How about... hmm... Firefly and Narinder?" Lamb looks at Narinder with a look of gloating. The crowd clears around Narinder and a black cat with yellow stripes, who Narinder can only assume is Firefly. "One, two, THREE!" Lamb shouts. Narinder quickly looks back at the cat, but is already slammed to the ground. He tries to get up, but with the wind knocked out of him, and repeated punches to everywhere Narinder could still feel...Narinder already had almost no chance of winning this fight. A pause in punching, Firefly was looking up a Lamb, presumably questioning if the fight was done. Narinder knew this was his chance. He knew even if he lost, Lamb would never let him die. He pulled his paws back and docked Firefly under the chin. He shook and pulled himself up. He started to do the same to Firefly. Narinder had to win. He wanted to. He needed to. For himself, and to stick it to Lamb that he was stronger than some measly creature of his. Firefly was on the ground like Narinder had been a few seconds ago. His body was sore, and he wondered if maybe he was hurting himself more than he was hurting Firefly. Lamb called out "Stop! We're done. And as an act of kindness, our gods have said to spare both of you." Narinder scoffs and tries to hobble up off the floor. Without the adrenaline of a fight...Narinder was in rough shape. "After this next ritual, take them to the sick tent to heal." Lamb said. "The next ritual will show us the importance of our fallen brethren. We will be preforming a funeral for my late wife, Snow. She was a beautiful worm. She was too good for this world, which is why I knew that the gods were doing her a favor when they asked me to send her to them."Narinder snorted. He probably got bored of her, or she refused something. Then he killed her and said it was "divine beings" he thought. Lamb held out his hand, and made a motion Narinder recognized as a summoning spell. "Simple..." Narinder said to himself. A coffin appeared on the floor, plain and black. A wolf paced forward and placed a flower. Then a cat. Then a bee. Narinder walked forward and picked up a flower from the bowl. He scowled and placed the flower on the coffin. Lamb clapped his hands and called out "Sermon over!" Narinder filed out with the rest. "Hey!" Narinder twitched and looked over to who had called him. It was a hawk. "I'm the doctor here. I already fixed up Firefly." Narinder scoffed. "I don't need any help." He said. "You sure?... you look pretty rough." The hawk coughed. Narinder nodded. He limped over to the farm, and started to prepare himself to farm. Someone taps his shoulder. "Hello? It's sozo."