--- KOLEN ---

He might have started hallucinating by the tenth day, after all Kolen really couldn’t tell if the voices were real.

They were faint, like little whispers at the back of his mind, some were louder than others, some were more…vibrant than others, some had a sense of power about them that Kolen really couldn’t describe. Some sounded female, others sounded male, most sounded like they might contain words if only Kolen could listen just a bit harder.

They were his constant companion as the days passed by. They never stopped, they never slowed, and the only time there were simply less of them was at night. They pulled at his mind, it felt almost like Kolen was unraveling, like each of those voices was a piece of his mind that had fled his grasp.

He stopped counting the days when the voices started getting louder, he still couldn’t make out what they were saying, but there was so much pain with those voices, so much hatred and anger, so much annoyance. He felt like his own mental voice was lost in the downpour.

And so he searched, he looked for anything that might be positive, he looked for even a hint of joy, but…there was nothing in the voices he could hear.

That’s… I don’t like that. Is this how people see the world? Is this… how I should see it?

And then he heard something almost quieter than his own mind, something that was simply content.

To Kolen, that was good enough.

He stood up with firm legs and walked along the abandoned halls, looking for the source of that positivity.

-

~Peace, content, beauty, see it? See it!? Beauty, moments of now, emotion, content. Content! Peace!~

Kolen knelt down beside a patch of fungus, tilting his head at the small white mushroom that poked out of the wall. Feeling strange, he addressed it. “Are you the voice?”

~Peace, contentment, curiosity, curiosity? Human! See it! See beauty, moments of now.~

Kolen felt a slight smile tug at his mouth, “Can you hear me?”

~Hear! I hear! You hear? Humans hear! Peace peace! Joy!~

“Who are you?”

~Difference! Beauty, ancient spores and ashes.~

Kolen grinned and slid to a sitting position, leaning against the wall, “How long have you been here, my friend?”

~Time? Timeless things there are. Many facts, many joys, small small small thoughts.~

Kolen nodded slowly, figuring that the mushroom meant it didn’t know. “I’m Kolen.” He explained, “I’m down here…waiting for them to get rid of me.”

There was silence for a long moment.

~Death? Destruction and sorrow? You are?~

He nodded slowly, and then, not sure if the mushroom could detect that, Kolen explained, “I think I maybe got magic, they’ve been taking my blood every few days and the guard keeps cursing my name.”

~Sorrow sorrow! Not all bad! Soon will end!~

Kolen cringed, figuring the mushroom didn’t really understand that that was a bad thing. “I’d rather escape somehow, but I really can’t find another exit.” He’d spent most of the first few days looking for one, but any other door that led upwards was blocked off or guarded.

~N nnn content, have peace?~

Kolen shook his head, “I don’t think I could have peace. But your peace is nice to listen to, you can forget about my problems if you want, there’s not really anything you can do.”

~You hear others.~ it was a statement made with certainty. ~They are angry? Sad, broken?~

Kolen nodded, “It’s hard to really hear anything else.”

~There are those not sad! Here, the humans above made the others sad, but other places there is joy!~

That was the most coherent sentence he’d gotten out of the mushroom the whole time. “I don’t know why, but they are very angry people.”

~Affirmative! Peace peace! Soon! End will soon!~

Kolen smiled at the energetic optimism, and nodded slowly, “Thank you, I think maybe I would be fine to die here.”

~Others anger… no freedom, no movement. I have peace.~

“They think they aren’t free?”

~Stuck, they are stuck.~ It corrected itself. ~Not always.~

That part really didn’t make sense, so Kolen simply nodded and leaned back against the wall, trying to hold on to the little haven of positivity that the mushroom was emitting.

--

Kolen gently prodded a section of mold, sensing the absolutely pissed mind that was inside it.

~anger anger anger, no room, no food, no light, dark dark, anger.~

“But why?” He asked softly, “Why are you angry?”

~Reason? REASON?~

“Uh…yes, reason.”

~...reason.~

“That’s rough, buddy. Could you maybe…stop being angry?”

~Halt? Stop? Cease? Continue no longer? Why?~

“...Because it takes more energy? I’m sure your…reason is a very good reason, but it’s making me sad to listen to. Maybe you would be more happy if you weren’t so angry?” This was like talking to a particularly dense child. It struck Kolen that perhaps the reason only one of the mushrooms was so much nicer than the others was just a higher capacity for thought. None of the others were getting philosophical on him at least, it was kind of disappointing actually.

The mold thought about it for a moment. It thought harder. And then it thought for a little bit longer, just to be sure. ~Alright.~

And…just like that, it stopped.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It was strangely fulfilling to sense the mold transition into a more peaceful state, it was like Kolen had succeeded at something. He grinned down at it, moving his hand across the wall and to a slimy substance that had been constantly screaming as far back as Kolen could remember. It wasn’t any louder than the other voices, but it was really annoying anyway.

“Heyyyy… could you stop doing that? Isn’t there something more interesting you could do with your time?”

~AAAAAHAHAHAEHEHEHIHIIHIYIYAHAHAAAAAHHHHHHH~ Was the only response, the sheer amount of tonal shifts in that mental voice was rather impressive actually.

I’ll call that one Screamer…

That thought struck him, he glanced back at the easily swayed mold, its bright orange coloring was the only distinguishing feature that Kolen could make out. Mango. It's mango colored.

He made his way back to the happy mushroom, “Do you have a name?” He asked, figuring that it might.

It sent joy, ~Happy happy! Of course! Alrasi!~

Kolen frowned, Alrasi… “How do you have a name?”

~Abashment, apology, sorrow.~ It explained, ~Do not…know.~

Kolen sighed, “Well thank you, Alrasi. I’d like to call my friends by their names.”

--

It said something about how ingrained he was in mushroom drama that Kolen noticed immediately when Screamer and Mango started acting funny. Mango was a bit too happy for its little vengeful self, and Screamer seemed to be testing whether it could shorten and lengthen its constant yell, as if trying to get Kolen’s attention.

It was only a moment before Kolen was in their area, anxiously examining the two fungi like a worried parent. Oh how far he’d come.

~AAAAHHHHHHH~ The green slime exclaimed.

“Yes, that’s great, screamer.” Kolen said absently, glancing it over.

~Strange strange! New thing!~ Mango explained, ~Happy? New thing happy.~

Kolen frowned and tried to follow the mental map that Mango was sending him. It was really odd the way fungus senses worked, so at first he went too far, and then he didn’t go far enough. After quite a bit of finagling, Kolen spotted what the two had sensed.

It was a new kind of mushroom. It looked a bit like Alrasi, but not as big yet, the mental voice was absent for some reason, though there were some species he just couldn’t read.

Mango seemed excited though, which was the last thing Kolen would have expected. Most of the time it was just…salty. Kolen examined the new mushroom from above, but he figured that he’d poked Alrasi a couple of times and hadn’t died yet, so this one was probably similar.

He felt at it, gently so as to prevent bruising, and peered at it with a frown as he felt something stir from it. He got the sense though that any consciousness it had was far far away.

He shook his head and wandered over to Alrasi, “Can you sense the new mushroom?”

~Affirmative! He is here!~

Kolen frowned, “He?”

~Joy joy! Contentment! Excitement! Soon soon! The end is soon!~

Kolen sighed, “Awesome…”

~Joy joy!~

~Master of the light of the sight!~ Wordy exclaimed, ~Stars of the ash of the beyond!~

Kolen nodded slowly and made his way to Wordy, wondering again what that was supposed to mean. Wordy was quite a ways off from Alrasi, hidden in an alcove. Wordy was one of those more colorful mushrooms, it had a bright blue-green cup shape with white speckles and Kolen was almost completely sure that it would kill him if he ate it.

“Wordy? You good?”

~Merely interested. I can feel it approaching, a mass unlike any. I want the attention of this mind, I can feel that it is good and gracious to those it sees.~

Kolen nodded slowly, the whiplash of hearing an almost intelligent being was stark here. But Wordy had a tendency to… pick up new words and use them in ways that they weren’t meant to be used, while making it sound entirely correct. It also had a terrible memory. So while it sounded coherent, Wordy probably had no idea what it was talking about.

Kolen wondered if there was a tradeoff with memory and vocabulary for mushrooms… an interesting thought because that would make Screamer the greatest at remembering things out of all of them.

He smiled, happy that the last few days had had something to occupy him.

--

Breathe in… and out…

In…

And out.

The voices in the back of Kolen’s mind slid out of focus slowly. It had been a long day of focusing on the mushrooms, but he figured it was probably nighttime by now. He still wasn’t tired, and he still wasn’t asleep, but well, this was close enough.

In and out.

And there it is.

Kolen didn’t exactly see anyone, but as his mind stretched and flowed about, thinking and processing the events of the day, he felt like there was someone nearby, someone with him. He could still vaguely sense Screamer and Mango in the back of his mind, he was closest to their area at the moment after all, but two different minds seemed far stronger.

One seemed like Alrasi’s mind, it looked a bit like a little boy to Kolen, a child full of hope and joy. The mind seemed to encourage him as it gestured enthusiastically at the unfamiliar mind. A mind that was far far larger than the simple mushrooms and molds.

It couldn’t seem to see him though, whatever consciousness this thing possessed was far away, connected, but not here.

Alrasi pulsed slightly. He seemed to be pulling at that mind, for lack of a better term. ~Friend! Friend! Who is this friend?~

The mind slowly and ponderously turned its attention toward Alrasi, sending a sense of curiosity and intrigue. It examined Alrasi. This mind seemed the shape of a tall man, contemplative but exuberant, powerful but calm. ~I’m Netun, I’ve been looking for you. Alrasi, is it?~

--- ALRASI ---

Contentment, joy, curiosity, excitement, and a carnal desire to know.

Alrasi wasn’t the brightest mushroom in the cave, but he did know that he wasn’t like any of the molds and slimes that lived in this basement. He couldn’t talk to them like Kolen could, but he knew that there was just something different about him.

Sometimes Alrasi just had a feel about how things would turn out. It wasn’t anything magical, at least, he didn’t think it was anything magical, but Alrasi knew the moment that he met Kolen—a person that could hear him! Wasn’t that exciting!?!—he knew that things were about to change drastically. He knew that someone was coming, he could sense them from somewhere far away, occasionally he would find a spore or two from someone like him.

And now, Alrasi was actually talking to him. That, above everything else, was amazing. He felt like he should be vibrating with excitement.

But… he wasn’t. He couldn’t really vibrate, sometimes he could shape his mushrooms into other things, once he’d made a tiny form in the shape of what he thought a human looked like, but he didn’t remember if it had worked.

Oh! Right! Friend! ~I’m Alrasi! Yes! Hellooooooo!!!~

Netun sent amusement at his enthusiasm. ~Thank you, Alrasi, but… why is your mass so small?~

Alrasi thought for a moment, remembering all the mushrooms around him. ~I don’t want to hurt! I want to be small, it feels right!!~ Yes, that sounded like the reason, maybe there was more to it that Alrasi couldn't remember, but it was the reason, and that's really all that mattered.

Netun seemed a bit confused at this, but he seemed to understand the concept. ~You want to not be in the way?~

~n..nnnn maybe-possibly-perhaps?~

~Alrasi, I'm here because your parents are worried about you. Do you remember them?~

Soft arms, protection, safety, an impossibly resilient trust and love. ~Maybe-possibly-perhaps?~

~Do you want to come with me and meet them?~

Alrasi felt excitement bubble up inside him, along with curiosity and a bit of fear, ~Yes! Can you help my friend too?~

Netun sent curiosity, ~Who’s your friend?~

Alrasi couldn’t find the words for it, so he moved his attention towards Kolen, who was listening to the conversation, the little fart. He directed Netun toward the human, ~This friend!~