A World Below Us (Ark Aberration/Final Fantasy 14)

Deadly Mushrooms

I smiled as Alphinaud and I heaved the large door into place. Now, with our little cave sealed off with two behemoth doors, there was no way any predator would get inside! I remembered the Spinosaurus I saw outside earlier. It had chomped a dire bear right in half. Shivering, I turned to Alphinaud, who had collapsed on the floor. "Oh come on, it wasn't that hard!" I said amused. Alphinaud looked at me. "Well maybe not for you, Warrior of Darkness. Always fighting battles must do something to strengthen you, even if it doesn't seem like it." He laid his head back down. "Oh? And what's that supposed to mean?" He didn't reply. I walked over and looked down at the elezen. He had his eyes closed. "Alphi. I know you're awake." His smile gave him away. I scooped him up and held him over my head. "How's this for 'even if it doesn't seem like it?'" I asked. "Wha-?! Jackie! Ok ok so maybe you do seem strong, put me down!" Alphinaud panicked. We were both laughing, of course. It was all just a game. Setting Alphinaud back on the floor, I went back to work mining some of the rocks that were inside our base. As I strolled over to a certain one, a green mist released from a nearby patch of red mushrooms. As soon as the mist hit me, everything went haywire. The world was spinning at the speed of light, everything around me turning a wavy rainbow color. I fell to the floor, shaking and coughing heavily. I had forgotten how to breathe properly. "Jackie!" I heard a muffled voice from in front of me... or was it from behind? "Are you Alright? What's wrong?" I felt Alphinaud's presence from nearby. The spinning slowed and everything turned to its normal color. I gasped for breath. "It's ok, just breathe." Alphinaud said as I collapsed in his lap. After a while I had stopped shaking, and my senses were back to normal. "What was that?" I asked, my voice a little hoarse. "Those mushrooms..." Alphinaud looked over at the red fungus. I followed his lead, inspecting them closely. They all look normal... expect for one. "That one. Right there." I pointed to one of the mushrooms. This one had a weird pointy shape, while the others were round. The other mushrooms had white stems, this one had a red stem. Alphinaud got up and approached the shroom. He waved his hand in front of it, and jumped back as it sprayed it's green mist once again. "You're right." He said, walking back over to me. I stood up, feeling as if nothing ever happened. "Well we certainly can't have these in our base." I said as I started to put up stone walls around the several different patches of hallucination mushrooms. "They must be sealed off." Alphinaud nodded, coming up beside me and helping with the walls.