The spring has arrived in the little village of Greenwood, which is positioned in the center of the Duchia of Yawl, in the Klaus Kingdom… It was a little village with surrounding colorful farmlands. The people of the Greenwood village are hardworking people, mostly that is…
There was an exception, a girl named Alicia. She was bedridden since late-winter, after she was running around the forest with her childhood friend, Samara. Alicia was a redhaired girl, with blue eyes, pale skin, lightly plump lips and a small arched nose. She had curly hair, as her hair was getting stuck on tree branches all the time whenever she went to the forest.
But the last time she went, things went different…
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Alicia always had a special connection with nature, and she loved to explore the woodlands and forests near her village. One day, while she and her best friend Samara were exploring, something happened…
Alicia tripped and fell into a small clearing. As she stood up and brushed off the leaves and twigs from her hair, she noticed the surroundings were different. Instead of the lush green forest, she saw a beautiful, colorful forest filled with flowers and birdsong.
As she looked around, Alicia saw a group of strange creatures surrounding her…
They were, ants! but they were acting funny… There were green antennae, a bunch of them, sticking out of the heads of those ants. She tried to touch them but the ants didn’t run away, as if they were… zombified. Due to their medieval era, their knowledge of fungi was limited to food when it comes to mushrooms, and poisons from poisonous mushrooms. But this time, she was seeing something that hadn’t been seen before: Zombie fungi, or more correctly a fungus that had evolved to hijack ants’ nervous system to control them until it was ready to bloom in correct conditions.
Alicia yelled at Samara:
“Samaraaaa! Come here, check this out!”
“I am heree! Look where you walk, so you won’t trip down when you walk…” said Samara, who jumped down next to Alicia. A cold wind was softly pushing the tree leaves above them, nature was mesmerizing with its sounds and colors as if they were in a piece of art.
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Samara was a blonde girl, with green eyes, tan skin, full lips and a round nose. She had straight hair, which she usually tied in a ponytail. She was Alicia’s best friend since they were toddlers, and they shared a love for nature and adventure. Samara was more outgoing and daring than Alicia, and often encouraged her to try new things and explore new places.
Samara leaned over to look at the ants more closely. She was fascinated by their strange appearance and behavior. She wondered what caused them to have green antennae and act like zombies. She reached out her hand to touch one of them, but Alicia stopped her.
“Wait, don’t touch them! They might be dangerous!” Alicia warned.
“Oh, come on, they are just ants. What harm can they do?” Samara said, brushing off Alicia’s concern.
She touched one of the ants gently, expecting it to run away. But instead, the ant just stayed still on her finger, as if it didn’t notice her at all.
“See? Nothing happened. They are harmless.” Samara said, smiling.
Alicia was still doubtful, but she decided to trust Samara’s judgment. She also touched one of the ants, feeling its soft fur and tiny legs. The ant didn’t react either, and Alicia felt a surge of curiosity.
“Maybe they are sick or something.” Alicia said.
“Or maybe they are under some kind of spell.” Samara suggested.
They both laughed at the idea, thinking it was silly. They continued to observe the ants, noticing how they moved in a slow and clumsy manner, as if they were not in control of their own bodies.
Suddenly, they felt a sharp pain in their fingers. They looked down and saw that the ants had bitten them
“Ow! That hurts!” Samara exclaimed.
“Let go of me!” Alicia shouted.
They shook their hands vigorously, trying to get rid of the ants. But the ants clung to their fingers, refusing to let go. They had to use their other hand to pull them off forcefully.
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They looked at their fingers and saw small bite marks with traces of blood. They also noticed that the ants had dropped their green antennae when they bit them.
“What the hell?” Samara said.
“That’s weird.” Alicia said.
They felt a sudden chill in their bodies, as if something had changed inside them. They didn’t know what it was, but they had a bad feeling about it…
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When they returned home, everything seemed to be fine. Spores of all kinds of plants and fungi filled the haze of the forest. People were walking around, doing their trade and business.
Alicia on the other hand, got some headache that she couldn’t get rid of. Samara was fine, and she was visiting Alicia day to day, but Alicia’s health was getting worse each day.
Alicia lost her father in a war when she was a baby, and her mother, Polina, was old and canny. She was feeding Alicia, giving her herbs and soups everyday to help her get better. But nothing seemed to work… When winter ended, Alicia’s situation seemed to get better. Her eyes opened up more than she usually could, and she no longer coughed, as if the weather had aided her health. Not too long, she was running in the streets of the Greenwood village together with Samara.
“My babygirl… My dear daughter, I hope I won’t ever see you that sick…” Polina mumbled softly to herself as she watched her daughter play in the streets.
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“Hey hey hey, slow down girls, what are you up to today?”
Said Robert, the village’s herbsman, who has vast knowledge in herbs, and does their trade. He was a chubby middle-aged man with brown hair. His eyes have that curious look all the time, with some dark wrinkles under his eyes due to his non-stop studies and observations. He was standing behind the counter of his shop, smiling down at the girls who entered his shop. His previous customer, an old lady, had left the shop and was looking at the girls with a dissatisfied pout, as if she was jealous of the life energy of the young girls.
The 16-year-old girls, Samara and Alicia giggle and put their pouch on the counter, showing Robert what they have found in the forest. There were some mushrooms, some different looking plants and weeds. It was obvious that they didn’t know much about plants, herbs. Robert, with a smile under his thick mustache looked down on his counter.
“We collected all these, Mr. Robert! What would you pay us for all these!” Samara chuckled with excitement, she seemed proud of her gathering.
“Yes Mr. Robert, it was a long day in the forest. I bet this is worth at least 5 gold coins!” added Alicia with enthusiasm on her happy face. “Ho ho ho! We will be rich when we leave this shop!” Alicia continued.
Robert stroked the tips of his brown mustache with his fingers as he looked down at those, dirt basically.
“Well, everything has their worth so don’t put much thought in this girls.” he said with a smile, then he rubbed his fat belly and looked at the left side of the counter.
“Oh, here, take this…” Robert gave the girls one white cloth, which seemed to be made out of cotton. It was a very small cloth. Alicia took it in her hand and pulled it over her head, then rolled around while she was looking at that cloth. She looked at it in different angles.
“This… is a piece of cloth. Don’t tell me it’s magical!” Alicia exclaimed.
“Ahah, not as magical as your energy that never runs out. Don’t forget to stop by next time you find interesting stuff as well.” Robert said as girls nodded and left his shop. Robert knew that they never brought anything important yet, and he knew that they would never find anything precious. He just enjoys seeing young people having curiosity in nature.
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It was a hazy day in the village; the moisture in the air was high when the sun shined. Chicken and bird sounds filled the village as people started to wake up to head down to their farms and gardens. Shops are being opened, with the wooden sounds of the shop covers being lifted. Neighbouring shop owners were chatting and laughing, and clouds were gentle on the villagers as they were covering up most of the sunlight in this usual morning so far.
Polina gently opened up the bedroom door for Alicia and slowly walked towards Alicia's bed. The wooden floor cracks from time to time as Polina walks towards her daughter, then she whispers:
"Alicia, wake up, please, my beautiful girl. I need to ask you something." The old lady spoke softly as she was patting Alicia's hair in a caring way. Alicia was Polina's everything when her husband passed away, so she was adoring her daughter with everything she had. Meanwhile, Alicia started to rub her eyes and woke up.
"Mmmmh! Moom, why are you waking me up this early?"
Alicia was lazy, perhaps because of the way she was raised by her mother. Polina didn't like to risk anything with her daughter after her husband passed away, and Alicia got used to this lazy life while the rest of the village worked like ants.
"My baby, poor baby, you are so sleepy, aren't you? You can sleep again after answering my question, my baby." Polina whispers sweetly as she plays with Alicia's curly hair, which is messy on Alicia's pillow. Polina leans down and kisses the pinky part of Alicia's cheek.
"Mhm okay... What is it, mom?" Alicia asks with her sleepy eyes; her eyes were blinking cluelessly. She had nothing going on for her, as all she did was play around with her friend Samara, so she had no clue what question her mother would have that needed to be answered urgently. Polina moves her other hand down, which was in a fisted position, and then she opens her fist on the bed, right in front of Alicia's face. Alicia's eyes widen in shock.
"Wait, this. This is." Alicia gulps strongly; even a drip of saliva slips down between her lips and slides down onto her pillow. Her eyes were all open and locked onto her mother's hand. Alicia felt her heart beat fast, so fast that as if it wanted to break out of her chest, cold sweat was filled on her cute face.
"Yes, Mr. Robert arrived this morning and brought this to me. He told me that you sold him some herbs, and you told him that they should be worth at least 5 golds. Mr. Robert told me that he forgot to pay you, so he gave these to me. Is this true? What kind of herb did you sell him that was worth 5 golds, Alicia?"
Polina asked kindly, as she was staring down at her daughter. Alicia was frozen like a stone; there were five gold coins in Polina's hand. Each gold coin is worth 10 silver coins, and each silver coin is worth 100 bronze coins. There was a saying that a gold coin could support a single person for six months.
"He did WHAT?" Alicia finally spoke out as she gently took the gold from her mother and started to observe them. They seem to be the real deal. Were those dusty plants really that worthy after all? Alicia couldn't believe what she was witnessing.
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