Chapter 115: Chapter 112: The Mushroom Man

Staring into his cocoa-brown eyes, so mundane and hardly mystical, I decide to make the leap. Lobo is on board, I know.

[Tell us.] I’m resolute. [I need to know how to defeat System. I have an amulet.] I show him the Amulet of Beast Power.

He nods once, slow, wise. [Excellent. You found a booster. They are strewn throughout this realm. Courtesy of me.]

[Really?]

His chuckle ripples through the link. [They are not all for you. Others who are fighting System will need them.]

That seems logical. [Oh. Of course.]

Lobo jumps in. [But these other players may not know where to find these Easter eggs, these over-ups, or even that they exist.]

[Yes, but that is not your battle now.] The Mushroom Man looks at us gravely. [Your battle is to defeat System in a way that it understands.]

I give a little "mrrrp" of acknowledgment. [You are talking about the tournament.]

[Yes, in a way. The tournament is the vehicle.] His eyes glitter. [You placed a wager with System. Freedom if you win, worse than slavery if you lose. A classic hero move. That kind of willing self-sacrifice goes a long way to restoring the balance. System is very good at playing on our fears. Our desires. What we think we lack.]

I offer a disgruntled "mrrrp," because it’s true. [Yes. System played on my need for love--the love I neglected out of ambition.]

Lobo’s voice is a wake-up call. [All I wanted was to be close to my brother, who was slipping away because of our parents’ demands. And playing the game was one thing I could do well. It wasn’t what our parents would consider important, or a good use of my time. And maybe I should have quit playing long ago. But honestly, my parents being opposed was part of the fun.]

A remarkably mature and self-aware analysis from my little brother.

My heart stutters. I had no idea that he felt that way. How blind I was! I made him feel lesser. It’s small comfort that our parents were also blind. They focused so much on me that he got lost.

[Our parents meant well.]

He woofs. [I’m not saying they didn’t. And I know that they want you alive. No law degree and academic honors are worth losing you. But they took it to extremes. They didn’t see that you were burning out.]

I snortle. [I could have asked for help.]

The Mushroom Man intercedes. [Hark, my young friends. I think your companions approach--]

Gussie lands right on the Mushroom Man’s vine-decorated shoulder without preamble. Sometimes she isn’t exactly the most subtle. Peridot drapes herself all over the mushroom, establishing a further foothold.

"Welcome," the Mushroom Man says to them out loud. As if he weren’t telepathically communicating to us just now. But then, beasts can’t communicate telepathically with anyone but their tamer. A nice little worldbuilding limit that System imposed. Can’t have everyone communicating and working together, right?

Gussie squawks. "Welcome! Will you come down?"

The Mushroom Man just blinks.

And the mushroom descends to earth, joining the ground seamlessly, like someone picked it up with a giant hand and then put it back down when they were finished.

Lamant stares up at him, awed. "You are the wise man of this forest?"

The Mushroom Man spreads his hands. "Who wants to know?"

Very good. Well played. He can’t reveal our private conversations, and he wouldn’t anyway. Besides, this is all part of the game storyline.

Lamant clears his throat. "We do. The allied Houses of Riddlehoeven and Lammermoor. We were told you might know about beast thefts."

The old man chuckles. "What business would I have with beast thefts? I have the sun. I have the vines. I have the mushrooms. Don’t need to take what’s not mine to have."

Niall relaxes. "That’s an earthy view and no mistake. Which means a certain someone sold us a load of compost."

Hans makes a disgusted sound as the realization hits. His mother never really intended to give them any reliable information on the beast thefts. I suddenly feel so much better that we deceived her about any reunion with Hans.

The Mushroom Man’s eyes sharpen. "I don’t steal beasts."

"Then we were misinformed," Lamant says apologetically.

Hans bows his head. "The people that fed us those lies will pay."

The vines snake out from the Mushroom Man and tease my feet. Yuck. Slimy on my fur.

"What exactly did these people say?"

The Mushroom Man’s question takes us by surprise. Lamant has a ready answer from Minette. "’The Old Man of the Mushroom Forest. That is our contact! He gave us our assignments, including taking Blaze.’ It was ex-Lady Rosabel Lammermoor, really Viscountess Rossa, who told my wife this."

"Then she told you wrong." The Mushroom Man looks unfazed.

Hans’ shoulders slump. "Then we are no farther along than when we started."

"Not necessarily. Do not let this fog blind you." The Mushroom Man is ever mysterious. "I did not take the beasts...but this forest conceals an ancient evil."

The fog brushes my face with its icy fingers. Cold. This place is more eerie than I thought. Also, I notice a creeping sense of dread.

This place is the source of the beast thefts? How can that be?

But Demos senses it, ears twitching, teeth bared. His growl says evil lives here.

Niall looks thoughtfully at the Mushroom Man. "You stay here among the evil."

"Someone must," the Mushroom Man says, with a humble, selfless air. "Someone must oppose it, otherwise it will infest the land."

The hair stands up on my ears. He’s talking about System.

System lives here. This must be a node to access it. A place where its power is strongest. As wondrous as it looks, I don’t want to be here.

Sniffing the mushroom stalks, I smell something off. Electric. Charged. Dark. These mushrooms are conduits for System.

System orchestrated the beast kidnappings. They weren’t really kidnappings. They were deletions. So, why kidnap me?

Obviously, to tighten its control over me. It couldn’t take the risk of deleting me. For whatever reason, it still can’t. Maybe it needs players too much.

I wonder how Rosabel and Rossa received their orders.

[Kaline. Ask him whether or not these mushrooms can communicate, or whether there are other beings living here.]

Kaline puts the question to the Mushroom Man. He rubs his bearded chin. "While the mushrooms do possess a certain sentience, there are dark beings here. Beings that I am sworn to resist. They’ll not overrun my home."

Lamant summons up magic, his hands glowing, and Gussie surrounded by a halo. "We can help you defeat them. This is insidious. Too much for one man, no matter how powerful."

With an enigmatic smile, the Mushroom Man strokes his beard. "I am legion, my friend. I am everywhere. They think they have me, but..."

Abruptly, the fog turns ghoulish and grimdark, plunging the forest into deepest, darkest night. We are left bewildered, standing in a velvety black landscape of darkness and gloom. This, is System’s domain.

Lamant bursts out, "What in all our nightmares?"

The darkness separates, multiplying, becoming nightmarish dark crazy mushroom-like creatures carrying torches. Demons.

They speak as one. "We have captured the beasts. We make them disappear."

Demos growls and Lobo howls. Peridot hisses, and Gussie flaps, trying to create a violent windstorm with her wings.

"WHY?" Vedette shouts. "What did those beasts ever do to you?"

"Nothing compared to what we will do to you," the mushrooms cackle. They look truly frightening, and they surround us. Of course, System controls all of them.

Hans whips out his dual wielding swords. Kaline and I summon up all our energy. All of us combine our beast and tamer powers.

The Mushroom Man sheds his vines and stands on top of the mushroom cap like the king of the forest. "No. Not in my forest, you pathetic bunch of spore-laden plant people. These individuals are under my protection."

The demon-mushrooms cackle. "We will take the beasts. ALL of them."

A terrified cry pierces my brain. Lightning! Lobo howls, feeling something from Minette.

I tug at Kaline’s cloak. [Your mother and Lightning are in trouble! We need to reach them, right away. Come on!]

Kaline’s stress is palpable, and it gives off a strong salty scent. [We can’t leave everyone!]

Vines shoot out from the Mushroom Man, lassoing the demon-mushrooms. However, more of them spring up and advance on us.

A fierce battle begins. Shooting Stars. Super Jumps. Anything and everything in our arsenal. But I move sluggishly. Torn, I want to be with Lighnting and Minette. I have to get to my mate! Our cubs could be in danger. System should go down for this!

The way back beckons me. Lightning needs me. Sorry, everyone, but I have to go.

Rotating around, I sprint back the way I came. Nobody try to stop me. Hang on, Lightning!