Caruso couldn’t help but feel anxious about his cultivating contest with Kactus. It loomed before him. A mountain to climb. He was desparate to prove himself infront of Ferris and Niko, but at the same time, terrified of humiliating himself infront of everyone. Of course word had since spread and everyone in the compound knew about it and spoke about it. The worst thing was the waiting. He couldn’t start anything until Orange returned—which he said should take a week. Until then, Caruso would have to suffer sleepless nights, dwelling on the countless ways he might lose and how embarrassing that might be.
He shook his head and forced himself to think of something else. He was pacing around the compound, waiting for Miles, when Ferris approached.
‘You’re coming with me today, Caruso.’
‘I’m not training with Miles?’
‘Did he not tell you?’
‘He doesn’t tell me anything.’
‘I’ve sent him out to track down some Urchins. This is a good opportunity for me to see where you’re at.’
Ferris led them to the compound wall, Caruso became aware that Miles wasn’t there to lower the wall for them.
‘Uh, should I…’ Caruso could now consistently get himself over the compound wall, it wasn’t always silky smooth, but it worked. He had never walled someone else though.
‘Please,’ Ferris said, waiting expectantly at the wall.
Caruso swallowed and tried to banish the thought of him launching Ferris seventy paces into the air. Would Ferris find a way to survive that?
He stood beside Ferris and reached for that icy drip in his spine, and let it flow. A wall jolted up beneath them, forcing them to steady themselves, but after that, Caruso got them up and over the compund wall without further embarrassment.
Out in the clearing, a bunch of Foresters were already busy training. Serene was doing sprints, back and forth between the tree line and the wall. Kumiko and Blue were practising blinking, Kumiko was laughing about something that Blue clearly wasn’t finding funny.
Instead of heading straight out, Ferris steered them to the left.
‘We’re not going to the same boar patch?’ Caruso asked.
‘No. Today will be different. I’ve been meaning to do this sooner with you, but lately, my duties have spread me thin.’
There was still a lot of mystery surrounding the Forresters. Caruso longed to know more about them and the mushroom forest. Like what lay beyond Zone 4? What was in the centre? How did the Foresters overcome sporesickness? And what was with everyone being the same age? Caruso wasn't told anything. He knew there was some secret information he was forbidden to know at this stage, so he normally avoided asking about anything for fear of overstepping his station. But he felt more comfortable around the Foresters now, and it seemed like a good time to push his luck. ‘I noticed you haven’t been around the compound much, is there something important happening?’
‘There is. For reasons I cannot get into, things are coming to a head.’
‘Is it to do with those Urchins that were killed the other day?’
‘Basically. We are trying to run experiments on this new shroom, the animashroom. The Urchins are trying to stop us because they don’t want us becoming more powerful.’
‘Is that why you killed them so violently?’
Caruso’s question hung in the air between them as Ferris lead the way through a stand of pine trees. Vines drooped in their path, but Ferris used his threading to yank them aside. On reflection, Caruso knew his question to be too blunt, but it was too late to recall it.
Ferris said, ‘You probably thought us a group of blood thirsty monsters.’
‘No, I didn’t think that. It didn’t bother me. I assumed you had a good reason.’
‘We know exactly where the Urchins live. They have a settlement out in a valley on the western edge of Zone 3. If I wanted, I could rally the Foresters and go to war. The Foresters would follow me, deep down that is what they want.’
‘So, why don’t you?’ Caruso asked the question he felt prompted to ask.
‘The risk of life is too great. What if the Foresters lost? No. We do not want war. Neither do the Urchins.’
‘So why kill the Urchins at all?’
‘To prevent war.’
Caruso looked questioningly at Ferris.
‘You must understand, Caruso, if you get two groups of people, and tell them they are enemies, the tension between the two groups will rise and rise until war naturally occurs. Read any history book and you will see the same pattern repeat itself. I cannot simply tell the Foresters to ignore this tension, just like you can’t tell two young lovers to ignore their attraction. By killing the Urchins in front of everybody I release this built up tension. This is why I make a spectacle of it, why I rally their emotions. I call upon their blood lust then give them a satisfying release. I’ve found this keeps their spirits high and allows me to maintain control.’
‘Makes sense.’
‘Glad you think so. I don’t want you worrying about any of that. I have everything well under control. It’s best for you not to question my methods and keep your mind on your training.’
Ferris squeezed Caruso’s shoulder and gave a reassuring smile which helped to soften his rebuke. They stepped over a fallen pine tree, riddled with yellow shrooms Caruso didn’t recognize. Caruso wanted to ask more about the Urchin-Forester conflict, about the animashroom, about everything, but Ferris was clearly done answering questions. Caruso decided he would ask Kumiko instead. Tomorrow he was to accompany her to the caves to gather truthbuttons. He was looking forward to the trip.
A silence developed between him and Ferris as the canopy thickened with elm and ash trees. There was nothing but the thick sound of insects and birdsong, the rustling of leaves, and their footfalls on the forest floor. This was a part of the forest Caruso had never been. He turned his attention to all the new sights.
Megashrooms stood tall as trees with pink, purple, and white gills that flapped in the wind. Others had wide brimming caps with undersides pocked with little holes instead of gills. Some trees sprouted large drooping fungus tentacles instead of branches. Sometimes it was impossible to tell what was a tree and what was a megashroom, as they clearly shared characteristics of both. But the deeper into Zone 3 they travelled, these became the norm. Caruso began referring to any tree with mushroom like characteristics as shroomtrees.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
As they continued, the land undulated and rolled into forested hills with rivers meandering between them. To ford the rivers, Caruso would wall up a bridge. Eventually they came to a large clearing shouldering the river. The ground was red with poppyshrooms which thrived by the sunny riverside.
Ferris stopped by the river’s edge and pointed out the sleek shape of animals grazing and basking in the poppy patch. They were pitch black. ‘Forest cats,’ Ferris said. ‘Similar size to boars, but usually a lot more dangerous. Have you seen one before?’
Caruso took a small step back. ‘Only at the zoo, I used to watch them feed.’ He remembered well how vicious they could be, how far they could jump, and how long their claws were. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the forest cats fascinated him the most. As he watched their shapes lazing in the field, the sun revealing their dappled patterns on their coats, he also remembered how beautiful and elegant they looked.
‘These beasts are all addicted to poppy,’ Ferris said with a trace of distaste to his words. ‘Makes them more territorial, but also slower, both mentally and physically.’
‘And I guess you want me to walk in there and face them?’
‘I’ll shadow you at first. Remember, cats scare easily. A single wall in front of them will be adequate to frighten them off.’
It sounded simple. A single wall that didn’t even need to hit its target. Caruso stepped into the poppy patch. It was about sixty paces to the tree line, and the nearest cat was no more than thirty paces in front of him. The cat noticed Caruso and immediately began spitting and hissing. Then it prowled towards him, making a guttural howling sound.
There was a similar sound to Caruso’s right as another cat stalked his way. As soon as Caruso turned his head, the initial cat began to sprint. Oh fuck. Any confidence he might’ve had, evaporated. He tried to calm himself and feel his spine. The cat to his right began to sprint as well. Two deadly cats charging at him. He felt his spine grow cold, and ran through the motions and threw up a wall towards the closest cat.
Too slow.
The cat leapt over the short wall, then leapt again, through the air towards Caruso, sharp claws bared. Flying death. I’m going to die. Caruso ducked down and covered his head.
He felt a cold release and without looking, knew he had boxed himself in. The muffled sound of two cats impacting his walls confirmed this. He breathed out, but felt more frustrated than relieved. This is how I act under stress? I tell myself I’m going to die then cover my head like a baby? Pathetic…
‘The cats are subdued,’ Ferris said.
His four walls dropped away.
‘Miles warned me about this habit of yours,’ Ferris said.
‘Why does it happen?’
‘It’s a natural survival instinct. In your case, yours is an unusually strong tendency towards safety and defense.’
‘But is it normal to have it trigger my walling like this?’
‘It’s not unheard of. But it is definitely not something we should encourage.’
‘Why not? Isn’t it a good thing if I can protect myself?’
‘It can be, if it’s controlled. But you have no control. And if left unchecked it will only get worse.’
Caruso recalled a moment during training with Miles when a loud lightning flash had triggered his walling. Miles had not been amused.
‘And another point,’ Ferris continued. ‘What if I was standing beside you when it occurred? Would you have launched me into the air?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Caruso admitted.
‘Well, let’s find out.’
Together they walked into the poppy patch and the cats snarled and ran at them. Ferris now stood a couple of paces from Caruso’s side. It played out exactly the same as before but this time Caruso forced himself not to duck and cover his head like a baby—which was not an easy thing to do. He did close his eyes though. When he opened them he noticed that his normal tight box of walls had extended to include Ferris.
‘While I am glad something in you wants to protect me, this needs to be stamped out immediately. Imagine if we were attacked by Urchins right now. You need to rely on me to protect you. But if you trap me in your walls, we will be an easy target for any blinker.’
Caruso thought about it. A blinker would be able to simply run up and blink themselves or a pole into his four walls. They would know where he was, he would have no clue where they were.
‘But how do I stop doing something that I’m not even aware of doing? I need to change my survival instinct?’
‘You can’t change your instinct. But we can tweak its response.’
‘How?’
‘Look at forest cats. Babies and adults have similar instincts. If you scare an adult, it will jump and run up the nearest tree. But if you scare a baby, it will run towards its mother. You need to have that same level of trust for me.’
‘You want me to be the baby cat?’
‘Yes. And so you must be until you are fully trained. Until then, you need to count on me to protect you.’
‘But I do, obviously I would look to you to help me during an attack.’
‘Yet against the forest cats, you still walled me in. There will come a time, Caruso, when we will fight together. When that time comes, you need to trust me on a deep instinctual level. If you don’t, you will be a danger to all those around you.’
Ferris knelt down and produced a couple of thin threads. He wove and knit them together, too fast for Caruso’s eyes to track, before long he had an intricate length of cloth. He cut it from the ground and tied it over Caruso’s eyes, blocking out all light.
‘You’ve seen what I’m capable of,’ Ferris said. ‘I am powerful. And if you learn to rely on me, to trust me, to follow me without question, my power can be your shield. And it will prove a far more potent defence than your four walls.
‘Now, this time,' Ferris continued, 'you will face the cats blindfolded. I will stand beside you and tell you what you need to know. This will force you to rely on me, to build up your instinctual trust. You will learn to take everything I say as fact, and follow orders without hesitation or thought or question. This needs to be trained into you. Do you understand?’
Caruso nodded.
‘Now, walk forwards. When I give a direction, I want you to summon a wall at twenty paces. That’s all you need to do. We will keep at this until you can stop the cats with singular, controlled walls, or until you no longer wall me in with you.’
At first it was difficult. Caruso had trouble orienting himself or picturing where the cats would be. Often he would get flustered, lose track of the instructions, and wall them both in. And a couple of times he thought he erected a wall on time but then heard Ferris forced to use his threads to subdue the attacking cat.
They were at it for hours. The cats never seemed to learn not to attack them. Caruso slowly got used to relying on what Ferris said. And after adjusting, he actually found it easier to wall with the blindfold on. All he had to do was follow orders. There was no need to think or make his own decisions. It removed an entire level of responsibility. He stopped trying to picture the cats, or second guess his own walls. Ferris would say a direction, and Caruso would summon a wall there. Nothing could be simpler. He barely even needed to think.
Towards the end, several cats happened to attack at once and Caruso knew he had let at least one through. He panicked and felt his ice flow out to box himself in. Once it was safe, he pulled off his blindfold and realized that for the first time, Ferris wasn’t in there with him. When his walls sunk back down, the man had a large grin on his face.
‘Good job, Caruso.’ There was a single forest cat bound to the ground, Ferris pointed to it, ‘Now, kill it.’
‘What?’
Ferris’s expression darkened. A thread jumped from the ground and snapped around Caruso’s neck. ‘Do not think. Do not question. All you need to worry about is doing as I say.’ Caruso felt his vision blacken at the edges. Ferris held him there, staring at Caruso, anger flaring behind his eyes. Caruso kicked himself. Just as he’d been making progress, he’d gone and messed it all up.
Finally, both the thread and Ferris relaxed and Caruso could breathe again.
Ferris pointed again to the cat. ‘Kill it.’
The cat’s head and hindquarters were securely fastened to the ground, so Caruso summoned a quick wall through its midsection. The cat gave a brief shriek that cut off as its body was ripped from its head and flung high in the air. A light shower of blood rained down on Caruso and Ferris before the torso thumped back down to the ground.
Ferris nodded. 'Good work. That's all for today. Let's go.'
It was sad to see the ruined remains of the cat, Caruso had never killed anything larger than an insect. Yet it didn't affect him as much as he thought it would. There was a curious sense of pride in what he’d done. It wasn’t that he had killed something as large as the cat, more that he was powerful enough to do so.
Caruso had never thought of himself as powerful before.