Morchel had yet to regain consciousness. He groaned and moaned in pain, but he remained unconscious. His body was littered with lacerations and blood began to drain through his leg.

The color in him had started to recede, and he was genuinely at the doorstep of the afterlife.

Soaked in a puddle of his blood, he awakens to be greeted by the excruciating pain and warmth of drowning in his blood. It should have knocked him out again, but he refused to lose to the agony.

Life had tormented him far too much in recent times. Yet he wanted to persist, at least delude himself to. A terrible shriek reverberated throughout the cave.

“Aughhhh!!!”

He grits his teeth and opens his eyes.

He gasps for air, but his exertions lead to more suffering.

He slowly comes to a realization.

‘I’m truly done. It’s a wonder that I have even persevered this far.’

And he was right. No normal human could endure such extreme pain. Morchel, with his endless determination, battled the pain. He was unyielding to it. But it seemed like he no longer could hold on. He started losing sensation at the ends of his arms and legs. Little by little, it crept towards every part of his body. He could feel his body losing its warmth, turning cold and rigid. His eyes were now unfocused. They wandered around aimlessly.

However, right at this moment, he noticed a weird-looking mushroom.

It was an insignificant discovery at one’s last moments, but something about it was alluring. He could not take his eyes off it.

It had a wooden exterior, and its cap resembled a honeycomb. The honeycomb cap had flaps and various defects.

At a closer look, perchance it bore a resemblance to a small brain.

It was all unusual...

‘Just looking at it makes my pain disappear, and it’s all oddly hypnotizing... Was it always there?’

It was frankly a bit too peculiar.

As he gazed at this bizarre mushroom, an odd compulsion filled him, urging him to consume it. It wasn’t forceful, but it was highly persuasive. It was as if he was meant to eat it. Only him...

For a moment, everything that existed for Morchel pertained to the abnormal mushroom.

He felt his head spin; the directions turn into mere suggestions. A Plethora of colors bordered his vision.

He felt completely drawn to it, and his death no longer mattered. He hastily reaches out to it to gobble it up, or so he thought he did. His arm remained planted on the ground.

His reach, once not long enough to grab onto it, was now enough. It appeared right beside his palm. It appeared to latch onto his arm, goading him to consume it every second.

His once waning body regained vitality at just a grasp of this magical mushroom. His once frigid body regained its warmth. Without wasting any more time, he throws the mushroom into his mouth without further thought.

He cares not to chew and immediately swallows. At almost the same time, his hazy thoughts turned normal.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

‘What an odd feeling. The sizeable mushroom that I swallowed in a daze clearly became a liquid as soon as ate it.’

Before being able to grasp what had just occurred, he felt as if he was lit ablaze.

The countless gashes and the missing limb magnified the torment to a gross extent. He was, in every sense of the word, on fire.

He growled in agony.

‘Ughhghh! Ahhhhhhhh!’

The sounds he made reverberated throughout the cave. If there were birds left in the forest, they would fly away in terror. It was akin to a dreadful monster having landed nearby. Innumerable echoes resounded along every corner of the cave.

Unrelenting numbness accompanied the burning sensation and his mind went numb from all the sensory overload. His once rooted limbs lashed around to the unbearable pain and torture. But all this brought about was more suffering and affliction. There seemed to be no end in sight to this unceasing misery.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the perception of being torched and the constant tingling subsided.

Morchel started panting heavily as he looked around. He could finally evaluate his surroundings.

The world regained its sound and color. He could hear the water dripping off the stalactite, the critters moving about in the cave and the underground river running freely. As his gaze turned up, bright sunlight blinded him.

‘Too bright!’ By instinct, he lifted his arms up to his face and shut his eyes tight.

It had truly been hours, perhaps even longer, since he ate that wretched mushroom and now he could finally relax.

After having taken in his surroundings, he finally began examining his body. His eyes instantly widened in shock at the state of his body. His wounds turned into mere scars and pale spots. He was also no longer missing a limb. The blisters and red sore spots had disappeared, but his fever lingered, perhaps a residue of that inferno he endured.

“Thank the gods... or that accursed mushroom.” He unwillingly accepts the truth of what had just taken place.

“Whatever it was, saved me from certain doom! I need to get back to the village. Flint should still be out there. I hope he is.”

Morchel stood up with renewed determination.

‘Let the past be past. My parents are gone, but my brother is still there. We will head to the capital or another city to restart our lives. Living in the village was too small for us, anyway. We will achieve great things.’

‘The pandits might already be there. I have to hurry back before they arrive.’

Recounting his thoughts, he got on his feet again. Confused, he mutters to himself.

“Weird!! My body feels awkward! I can’t quite explain it, but I feel lighter than normal. My belly is still there though... Wish it had gone away too.”

He attempted to climb the rocky interior walls of the cave, which were overgrown with moss, in a bid to return to the village.

‘So slippery!’

He clung tightly to the cracks in the wall and leaped adeptly from one position to another. One could not differentiate Morchel from a monkey. He scaled the twenty-or-so-meter wall within a few minutes.

Although astonished by this feat, he wished not to dawdle, and so he quietly runs towards the village in a plea to reunite with his brother. As his optimism faded, innumerable thoughts ran through his head.

‘How long has it been? Has it been barely a night or a few days? I really couldn’t tell then, but maybe it has been more than a mere night?’

‘I need to be faster. Regardless of what happens, I have to be there faster!’

Desperate to be there sooner, he rushes without any regard for his well-being. A great number of branches and thorny plants tear away at him, but they disappear soon after they appear. The warmth to accompanied with it.

He paid no heed in his endeavor to arrive at the village promptly.

‘Please be there Flint, Don’t go away. Please be safe.’ He yearned in genuine for the safety of his brother.

And soon he breaks away from the shelter of the forest and sets foot on open land. The village now was right in his sights.

He rushed even faster. His breath turned heavier and harder every moment. His feet struck the ground with great strength. With each step, he reached greater speeds. And within a matter of mere minutes, he had reached the village.

He rushed to his home without slowing down. As fear painted his face, he yelled out.

“Flint!!! You are there, aren’t you? Answer me?”

Nobody called out.

He slammed open the door in fear that something has occurred. And inside he found... His brother sound asleep. Morchel’s feet finally gave out, and he collapsed to the floor on his butt.

‘Heh - what an idiot. He’s drooling.’

‘Phew... Thank god he’s safe.’ He held his head in relief and adopts a mellow expression.

Crawling to his side, with a faint smile, he wipes off the drool. Alerted to his touch, Flint was quick to awaken. Still wounded by the passing of his parents, he breaks down into tears as soon as he meets Morchel.

“It’s okay bud... It’s okay. It will all will be okay. It’s just the start of our lives. Your life. We’ll make it.”

He hugged his brother firmly. He was not going to let him suffer anymore.

“It’s alright...” He reassured again.

At that precise moment, numerous footsteps crowded his ears. Morchel was rightly alarmed. Immediately he ordered.

“Get behind me!”